Thursday, July 26, 2012

It's TuTu Tuesday!

It's Tutu Tuesday! We visited the Museum of Nature and Science. The Princess and her caretaker for the day wore their tutus. Clearly, the Princess needs to get on AET's level and get some colors in her tutu.


This was not the only other little girl that we noticed wearing her tutu  on Tutu Tuesday. This was just the only one we could snap a quick picture of.

Under the big nose. It kept sneezing on them.


Even in the funny mirror, her tutu is still cute.



When you wear a tutu this colorful in public, you gotta be ready to get silly with the kids.




Monday, July 23, 2012

I'm Missing The Cosby Show for This?

Some of the best ideas come from my kids. We went for a walk one morning and my oldest son asked if we could go to the park. I quickly said no due to the sweltering heat. I was actually trying to figure out why I was outside at that hour anyway.  I told my son that we could go to the park if we got up really early the next morning and went then. Well... early morning outing means, breakfast outing. So, we had breakfast at the park the next day. Having breakfast at the park also meant that I didn't get to watch The Cosby Show that morning. Geez, what these kids do to me!

I fixed bowls of foods that we could all snack on together. Since my kids don't really eat a lot for breakfast, I simply wanted to give them little bites of good calories.


                         
             

Friday, July 20, 2012

Things That Make You Say "Duhhh"

I just can't believe that our local dollar store does not sell muffin tins. Every time I went into a dollar store in the last week, I was looking for muffin tins. I had zero luck. Well... I finally decided to go to a larger all-purpose store. I do not like going in those stores with my kids because it's just too much work. So when I finally got a moment to shop by myself, I went to the store and got some muffin tins. I got the 6-cup muffin tins.

I am so happy that I finally got them. I got to put this concept to work. It was such a "duh" when I saw it on the Muffin Tin Mom blog. Even though it made so much sense, I did not think of it myself.  Today I doled out lunch to the Hurd in muffin tins. Perfect portion sizes and variety. I am elated. This method ensures that I am giving each child a healthy serving of each component that I wish for them have.

Today we had corndogs with yogurt and grapes. I gave the two big kids a small portion of yogurt (this way they won't fill up on that yummy goodness).  The Monster cannot have yogurt yet so he missed out. I gave them each a whole corndog with ketchup in its own compartment; I cut up the Monster's and put in 3 compartments. They all had a small serving of grapes. And lastly, they had a cup of water (the cups fit perfectly into the tin also).

Great ideas should be passed on. So here ya go!




Monday, July 16, 2012

There is Beauty Everywhere... Just Look Thru a Child's Eyes

When our Realtor brought us to visit our house for the first time, she did not mention to us that it was located in a questionable neighborhood.  Being from another state, we were unaware of the area that we were interested in. We simply arrived at the house and fell in love with it. I can say, for me, I just thought every neighborhood in this southern city was a little dusty and "tumbleweedy."  The block seemed quiet enough. And there were plenty of families standing around. 

Well... After moving in and living here for a few years, we're figuring out the many colors that our neighborhood has to reveal.  Our strong Christian faith has driven us to persevere through all of the debauchery that is prevalent here.  Our strong commitment to teaching our children to love and be respectful to all people also drives us daily.

Today the kids and I took a walk around the neighborhood.  The Monster is just getting the hang of his little legs and he wanted to do it all by himself.  That was fun!
Yes, the Princess is wearing a tutu. She does that sometimes.

This is the root of a tree that stood on the side of our neighbors' house.  There was a storm last week and when we returned home, this tree was on it's side.  I drove by this tree today. How long has it been like this?  The homeowners have to clear the part of the tree that is on their property first. So sad.

When people don't want something they just throw it out. They don't wait for the appointed dates for bulk pick up.  Sometimes piles like this stay out for weeks.

These kids could care less right now about the trash that impedes their neighborhood walks.  I adore the innocence in their eyes; and the silliness.

Happiness is A YELLOW TUTU!

Brother and Sister love!


They enjoyed their walk together and finished it hand-in-hand.  Life is beautiful to these three. I pray that we can nurture their love for life for many years. 

It is the little things that make them happy. The Monster found this rock and was taken by it. I love that he and his siblings can appreciate the simplest things.

Friday, July 13, 2012

I Feel Like a Cow!

Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A was today. The kids woke up talking about chicken. We cut spots out of black felt cloth and glued them to old white t-shirts. We made tails out of black yarn. This project started out fun, until Mommy wound up doing it by herself. Nice, huh?! T.V. and board games proved to be much more entertaining.















As soon as Daddy got home, the kids were dressed in their cow outfits and racing to the door for Chick-Fil-A.  The trip was worth the outfits and the kids really enjoyed their time with Daddy and Mommy.











Mighty did pose for this picture. He's such a ham! 

The Princess was serious about that dipping sauce.








My Monster can really eat now. We're thankful for places like Chick-Fil-A that don't make this allergy prone baby sick. 







Thursday, July 12, 2012

Figs Aren't Just for Newtons?

They sure aren't. They make tasty additions to smoothies, yummy jams, and great snacks when that sweet tooth starts itchin. 



We're celebrating 5 years in our house this year. I did not know until two years ago, that I had a fig tree  blessing my front yard. What a loss.  Now that I know, I'm not wasting them.


I finally got myself a ladder.  My son gets so excited to go out and climb on Mommy's ladder to pull down the sweet figs. This is some serious Mommy and Mighty time out in all this heat! Figs love the summer heat.  We should be picking every day to get the most out of the tree but it is way too hot for all of that.



This is one happy bowl.  As I'm typing this, my son is trying to sneak the yummy tree candy away. As long as he washes them first, I don't mind the filching.




Sweet and gooey, is the inside of this wonder-fruit. Our friend at La Original Michoacana in the Bishop Arts District concocted a tantalizing fig sorbet from a batch of these.  I have never had so much ice cream in my house at one time. He gave us an entire ice cream shop sized carton of sorbet. Yeah, you know the one that the ice cream shop employees dip out of to give you one scoop. That size! It is so good though, we're not even going to complain about the girth.  It's not taking up that much space in our deep freezer.

The Importance of Family

AET wearing the Princess's beautiful jewelry
Another summer at home with the 3 baby Hurds. This year we decided to hire an assistant for Hurd Camp 2012.  It is awesome having a large family. There is always someone that can do something to help you out. My sister's daughter is a certified babysitter with CPR certification. It doesn't get much better than that. 

During the school year I can run off and do my errands while my kids are at school. It was not so easy to do that last year without an assistant. Now, I can skip off to lunch with a friend or to the grocery store and know that my kids are well taken care of in the hands of someone they love and enjoy seeing everyday.

This summer is shaping up to be great!