A few of my favorite things!

I haven't posted a favorite in quite some time. Probably because I just haven't thought of it. But I want to share one of my favorite kitchen tools with you. The Pampered Chef Mix N Chop was introduced about four or five years ago & I have used it to my hearts content ever since! I don't like it when the meat clumps, I like it to be small fine pieces. If you do too then you need one of these!

If you are interested in getting one of these they are $10 & you can click here: MIX N CHOP to go to my personal Pampered Chef Consultant's website & order one today! They make great gifts & stocking stuffers for the women in your family!

Number next:

About a month ago I jumped back on the wagon of healthy eating. I had gotten out of control with the busyness of life & convenient foods. Well, I'd had enough. I reached back into my memory for many of my old tips & tricks (yeah..I've been down this road before) & started looking for new ones too. During this I discovered this wonderful popcorn seasoning that only has 2 calories per serving & 0 fat! I have been enjoying it on my Orville Redenbacher SmartPop. First I cook the popcorn then I spray it a little with Parkay Spray (so the seasoning has something to stick to) then sprinkle on the seasoning! You don't need a lot. YUM~O Eat the whole bag (6 cups) because it's only 100 calories (2 points for Weight Watcher fans)!!! Sound to good to be true? I know! But it isn't! Enjoy!!

I haven't tried the Ranch yet but I like the Parmesan Garlic and LOVE the Nacho Cheddar! My kids like them too.


By the way, I've lost 7lbs. It's a teeny tiny dent in the grand scheme of things but it's 7lbs less than I was one month ago today. Yay!

South Carolina

Just before school started we took the kids to see Uncle Jeff, Auntie Teri (Nick's sister), Gabby & B~Bop in South Carolina. We didn't take a vacation this summer since we had just gone to Disney in May but in the boys minds, this was vacation.

We got to see them test for & receive their yellow belts in Tae Kwon Do.

Pretty Teri busy in the kitchen
Kiddos playing with Pixos
B~Bop teaching Rocco how to play the Wii

Usually the girls come visit us & they have to play with the 'boy toys', this time the boys had to play with the 'girl toys'. They thought they were pretty cool!

On the way to the Naval Base water park we visited Home Depot for the boys first workshop.

Rocco had a great time!

Dallon loved this!

Roman too

Not sure why Rocco was crying but it probably had something to do with leaving.

The girls have some neighbor boys close in age to our boys so they were back & forth to eachothers houses. This is Rocco & Easton.

Their little sister Braelyn was in the middle of all the action!

Jeff & Teri's beautiful home

Dallon asked me to take a picture of him in front of each car. First, Uncle Jeff's truck.

Auntie Teri's truck

And our Jeep

Roman with Easton, London & their doggie.

Pink? So what!

Waiting on Uncle Jeff & Daddy to come back from a motorcycle ride.

Did he just mark his territory?

There they are! And yes, Jeff does have a pink cast on his leg. He injured himself at work & had to have surgery. This was only about a week after the surgery.

Nick was in his element.

Dinner then a movie in the living room!

'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'

Oh yeah?!

Teri's taking pictures too! I caught her in her Australian garb. They spent the last year in Australia for Jeff's job. It's good to have them home!

Nick enjoyed the movie but I think we were torturing Jeff.

After a great visit we had to head home.

Almost there

Look what was waiting for us in the yard when we got home! Praise the Lord for Teri's family only being 4 hours away. Most of Nick's family is in CA.

Wordless Wednesday

Same rainbow from a friends view.

The grass withers, the flower fades,but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8

Guess who is growing up?

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Oh my snug buggler Roman...

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A

We went to a handful of birthday parties for some very sweet friends at the YMCA this summer. We didn't remember our camera for all of them. Here are some of our favorite pictures. Jake Franklin turned 5!

His Aunt Amy made the cake. They are a family of loggers on Jake's mother Tara's side. So this cake was perfect!
Our kids probably ate a normal years worth of hotdogs all in one summer! It was a hotdog kind of summer.
Goofin

Daddy likes to play in the pool too!

There's a cool little splash park that connects to the pool that all my boys love!

The water spouts go higher when you stand on a few of them.I love this picture of Roman in the air, under the spash!

Dallon has a plan...

Great idea for a HOT summer evening! However, Nick & I guessed there is probably some YMCA rule against doing this so it didn't last long.

They all have their own preference of cooling off.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think Rocco's diggin it.

SPLASH!

I love this one of Roman & Rocco bracing eachother for the splash!

OK, let me explain this one incase you haven't ever noticed Rocco's smile. Rocco must have bumped his tooth at some point over the last couple of years (we don't recall anything in particular) because it is grey. (This also happened with Dallon at the same age but we recall that incident.) He also had a cavity in between his teeth which the doctor drilled out and fixed. But about a month ago the filling popped out and he goes late August to have it replaced. Well his daddy calls him the 'Black Toothed Pirate' and told him to go rinse it off in the water spout. I thought it was kinda gross because that water can't be the cleanest. But Daddy won and the Black Toothed Pirate is rinsing it off. Like it was going to fix the two problems? Ha Ha.

Another angle

My guess is it simply cleaned out his nose.

Ha! Love this picture of Dallon! If we are even close to water he wants his goggles. I'm surprised he doesn't ask for them when it's raining, heehee.

Lauren turned 6!

The yummy lady bug cupcakes were strawberry inside!!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

We gave her the Pocahontas DVD, bubbles & a Barbie because every little girl loves Barbies! Right? I love picking out little girl gifts.

We are sad to see our YMCA close this summer. We have had so many great memories at the YMCA since we moved here. We joined when we first moved here then I became an employee for about three years, working in Child Watch, which gave us a free membership. After I ended my employment we didn't join again but we participated in all the sports they had to offer throughout the eight years we have lived here. Nick coaching multiple teams every season except for one. We will miss the YMCA!

We're hoping the town finds a way to keep the pool up & running next year. Today is the last day of the pool for this season.

This matter was such a heartbreak to our Community that Gammy (who did hold a membership) contacted Ken Amaro from firstcoastnews.com. CLICK HERE to go to the article. (The video wasn't available anymore.)