Monday, June 27, 2011

ACK!

We, like so many other people, have eaten out quite a bit. I'll take the blame for it. I know it's not as healthy, but I've managed to overlook that for convenience sake, I guess. I've tried so many times to learn to love cooking. Or at least like it better. I'm still working on it.

For the last year or so, I've been reading more and educating myself on what we're eating when someone else prepares it. Not to mention the stuff that's in packaged foods. Disgusting. We have made changes and eat healthier overall. And we've cut our eating out considerably, but we still stop and grab something if we're in a hurry...especially in the mornings.

A friend of mine on FaceBook posted THIS link yesterday. Please read the article. I'm sure so many of you are like "Well, DUH! Gina" but guys, it's really hit home with me. Cody loves McDonald's chicken nuggets. But how could I have that information and continue feeding my family and myself with that toxic crap?

I can't.
I won't.

HERE'S a link to McDonald's ingredient list so you can check that out for yourself.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Z-Bread and BNB

Donna brought over a couple zucchinis from her garden and my immediate thought was to saute them for dinner tonight. But then I remember Brit saying just the other day how much she likes zucchini bread so I did that instead. I also used up the rest of the bananas and made two more loves of BNB. Hmm...seven loaves of goodness put away for the winter.


And yes, Esther...I'm like a squirrel with nuts:)

Saturday with friends

Esther had called and invited Brit out to spend a couple nights with Chandler. Something about Chan and too much time spent with brothers. Brit understood the feeling:)
After the original plan didn't pan out, we decided to go to their house on Saturday. That way we could also celebrate Matt's birthday a couple days early.

Suzette, Dave, Emily and Zachary were able to come out too. We had a blast just talking and laughing and eating. There's always food. Hahaha! And the three dads were all together for a change. It's been over a year since that happened!




It was a wonderful evening:)

Day @ Dad's

We went to Dad's on Friday, which turned out to be a nasty weather day. The power was out for about an hour. Dad's already had some recent storm damage. A huge tree fell on the chicken coop/yard. Max and Dad were cleaning some of that up when we got there. Luckily none of the animals were hurt.

Max's horse, Stormy waiting for the...storm.



These guys are quite friendly!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Preserves, Pickles & Banana Nut Bread

Yummy, late breakfast.
Multiplication and division...while laughing!
Trip to BAM, bank and Walmart.
Picked, washed and cut up peaches from our tree.
Made 4 1/2 quarts of peach preserves.
Picked, washed and cut cucumbers from our garden.
Made 5 1/2 quarts of pickles.
Made up a batch of banana nut bread.
Grilled hot dogs.
Took Britney to her Jam Session.
Put two more loaves into the oven.
Picked Britney and Kaitlin up...took K home.
Watched Percy Jackson.
Ate some BNB.











Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Day @ Karen's

Karen invited us all out to her house. We've never been to her house before
and I'm so glad we were able to spend time with her and Brad today.

They live in the country and have a beautiful home with a garden and lots of animals to watch and play with.



This is Chuck...as in ground and roast.






Wonderful day with LOTS of laughter, food, conversation, and rain:)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Tango :)~

Tango shed last night. Boy is he in a better mood! He's always so miserable right before he sheds. I guess I would be too. I measured his skin and he's a whopping 35"! Our little guy isn't so little anymore.

Father's Day w/ Grandpa

Mom, Britney, Cody and I drove to Scottsboro yesterday to visit with Grandpa. I had several paragraphs discussing why this was such a huge feat for me, but it's personal and decided to hang onto that information. At any rate, we had a great time. The kids had a blast playing with Max and talking to Grandpa, who told us stories about his childhood.

The swing was a big hit.
Hmm..literally. At one point Brit slipped off and the seat whacked her in the head.



Cody pretended he was on a hover board.








Max was doggie sitting this huge Great Dane for the day. His name is Atlas.

Four Generations



Max's cat recently had kittens.
Britney loves to snuggle a kitten.

Me!



Saturday, June 18, 2011

Tennessee State Museum & Parthenon

While we were at Heather's on Monday, I walked up on a conversation between Suzette and Cathy. Suzette was talking about this museum in Nashville that they had visited and absolutely loved. She was telling us about some of the exhibits and it really sounded awesome. Cathy was excited about it too and was ready to go the next day. But she was nice enough to wait for Bobby to work off so we could go together.

We picked Cathy and Kaitlin up on Wednesday morning and hit the road. We made a pit stop at a McDonald's and while we were there, Cathy offered to buy everyone a fruit smoothie. Cody drank mine and got a brain freeze.



We opted for the full day parking pass which is $18. We didn't think we could get out of there in two hours and we were right!
The museum is huge! There's absolutely no way we could read/see everything in one day. Their permanent exhibits include The First Tennesseans, The Frontier, The Age of Jackson, Antebellum, The Civil War and Reconstruction and The New South.

Also now through September 4th, they have an Ancient Egypt exhibit, which we all found fascinating. Cody especially enjoyed this exhibit and viewing the replicas. He fell in love with King Tut this past year while we were learning about Ancient Egypt.

Britney said she doesn't have a favorite thing. She said "It was all awesome!"

We still can't believe there is no admission fee!







Cody thought all of the uniforms looked like headless horsemen. That's my boy:)



Britney and Kaitlin came up with this photo idea. I'm afraid it didn't turn out very well. I'm still learning how to use my new camera.


















After we were finished at the museum, we decided to grab some lunch. Suzette had told us about an outdoor food court area that is close by. We asked the lady in the gift shop and she gave us directions. It's about a half a block away, and even though we checked it out, we had passed a Subway and it was voted the place to eat.


Eat Fresh!


We've been wanting to go to the Parthenon for years. The museum and the Parthenon are 2.5 miles from each other. Talk about being geeked! We were so excited to finally go:)

$6 ~ Adults
$4 ~ 4 - 17
Free ~ Under 4
$4 ~ 62+



Cathy with all of her Wisdom.

Me with all of my Integrity.

Bobby and his Hammer of Justice.

Our Courageous kids.


























It was 4:30 when we started to head home. Rush hour in Nashville...eh...not cool. It was bumper to bumper. Then it rained like crazy, which made everyone sleepy. Cody took about a 20 minute nap. When he fell asleep it was dark and when he woke up, it had stopped raining and was light out. He thought he had slept all night and we were still driving. :)


We made it back to Cathy's house around 6:30 and just in time to meet up with the ice cream man.





The kids ended up spending the night at Cathy's. The next day, Bobby and I picked everyone up and we spent a couple hours at Point Mallard along with Karen and Keilee.

Awesome memories!

Where we've been as a family