Great Summer Recipe

We love this recipe... it is delicious, simple, and very pretty. Great for cookouts, picnics, and summer celebrations.

Summer Fruit Salad

You judge how much of each you want depending on the size of your salad. Sorry about the lack of measurements, but you can judge all to taste.

Watermelon (chunks)
Raspberries
Blackberries
Blueberries
Strawberries (quartered)
Fresh Pineapple (chunks)

Place in a large bowl.
Finely chop about 7 mint leaves and place to side.
Make a simple syrup (1 part water 1/2 cup , 2 parts sugar, 1 cup) Bring to a boil, toss in mint leaves and boil for one minute. Careful not to burn syrup, stir constantly.

remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Pour over fruit to taste. (store any leftover syrup for quick salads or snacks) Toss and serve or chill until serving time. :)

Enjoy a fresh fruity treat!

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful day Celebrating the Gift of Salvation! God has been and continues to be so good to our Family. We were a little down with allergies for most of Sunday, but did manage to squeeze in a little egg hunting. :) And in Case you noticed and were wondering.... yep. We got a puppy... She found us at the park last Monday and I just couldn't leaver her there. A week later we decided to call her ours. Her name is Sally. Our sweet warrior, William Luke. 5 years old.

Brennan getting started on the hunt.

Happy Cade. He was so excited to find his eggs.

Cade Michael 3 years old. :)

This is the funniest pic to me. When you ask Brennan, "Where is your smile?" This is the face he gives every time. Cracks me up.

Brennan George 20 months

Here is Sally! :) We think she is a Lab/Heeler Mix.

My Bare Bodied boys coloring eggs...

Hope you all had a very blessed Easter!! I know we did!

MY HUSBAND ROCKS!!

One reason that My Husband ROCKS is his selflessness!! Michael has made so many sacrifices for our family and not complained one time! I am so blessed to have a husband that works so hard to provide for our family, and has made it a priority to allow me to stay home with our boys! Because I don't work, he will probably never have the biggest TV or the coolest clothes, or the nicest cars... however. I am blessed to have a man that knows there are more important things in life. Thank you for playing ball with William in the backyard. Thank you for holding Cade and playing horsey with him, Thank you for the books you read, and the tickles and kisses you share with Brennan. If you haven't noticed you are their Hero! Thank you for sharing God's word, and setting such a good example for all of us! Thank you honey for making our family and our families relationship with God your priority! Thank you for sacrificing so much of your time and your self to me and the boys. YOU ROCK!! We/I love you so much.

Quick Update.

Well, I haven't updated and I promise I'm trying to do better, but sometimes other things just take priority. Here are some things we are working on this week/month.

1. Financial Peace!!! If any of you have not heard about Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University... I encourage you to look it up!! It is getting Debt Free... and doing it with the right priority, GOD FIRST! Anyways, I am a "spender" so to stay within the allocated money I have to much better planning, which takes a lot more of my time. This is a good lesson for me, but it also means I have to have better self control and self discipline to keep myself out of situations I may want to send money. Defiantly a hard lesson for me, but totally worth it!!

2. Cade is now Potty Trained, and we have almost mastered the idea of actually hitting the water while tee teeing... For any of you with boys you totally understand what I'm talking about. :) He has learned to dress the lower half of himself, which is nice and he is so proud. We are currently trying to learn all the letters of the alphabet.

3. Michael has been having some knee issues and after a series of x rays and MRI's, the test showed nothing and the Dr.'s advice for now is to work out! Strengthen muscles and see if that fixes the problem before we head to scoping/surgery. Along with that also comes the effort to eat healthier.

4. William is growing, becoming more responsible, and more ready to read, every day. He wants to read so badly! Practice, Practice, Practice!

5. Brennan has obtained 4 new teeth since Christmas... which means we have had a lot of fever, runny noses,gru mpy baby, and attention in our house this month. We are hoping that is almost over for a while. He now has a total of 10 teeth! His favorite word right now is NO, and he uses it well and often. He has also learned to say "love you" or rather "lub oo" so so sweet! and loves to give the slimiest kisses you have ever had! :)

Well I guess that gets you caught up for the month. Sorry no Pics this time. I'm not really sure if anyone is still reading this anyways, but if by chance you are... please leave a comment saying you are. I don't want to write all this just for me. :)

William Turns 5!

On January 7th, William turned 5. I still Can't even believe he is 5 years old. His activity of choice was also Chuck E Cheese, so we had a great time together as a family. William is defiantly a big boy and takes on so much responsibility with his little brothers. We love his watchful spirit.

This year William Asked for a Star Wars Cookie Cake, so here is my sad attempt, William still liked it so I guess it was a success. :)

William got a wolverine costume for his birthday, and wears it all the time. He asked to wear it to Ladies Bible Class last week, but I told him I didn't think he would need to fight any villains there. Here are my two superheros.

Caderade turns 3

Our Sweetest Cade turned 3 on Janury 3rd. We spent the day at Chuck E Cheese and just spending the day together as a family. He has reached so many mile stones recently. I just can't believe how independant he is becoming.

Cade is very into Spiderman, so here is our little man with his Spiderman Brownie Cake.

And his new spiderman costume... I hope that isn't a robber in that car... Spidey is on his way to save the day!

He also got a set of guns with a holster and everything. They all love it!! He was so proud.

Happy Birthday Cade!!!

New Years Fun!

It never surprises me what I get up the nerve to do when Jeanifer and I get together. I have always had blonde or light brown hair... but of course you all know that. Anyways, with this new year came a new look... Here is my new color...

We spent New Years Weekend at my brothers house in Austin. We played games, watched football, and opened christmas presents. Fun Times.

Here are all 8 of the Grandsons. That's right NO GIRLS!!

Dont't they look like trouble?!?

My dear Brother Jared's Birthday was on the 2nd. Callie had a surprise party for him that night and this is what we all got to see.

This is our "Mullet Maestro" .

For those of you who don't know...

Jared is a band director and actually has NO HAIR. That's right it's clean as a whistle(by choice). :)

Love you Brother! Hope you had a great Birthday!!