Freezer Jam

Who doesn't love homemade jam, I made my figures batch ever today (our Wal-Mart just started selling pectin) I had no idea how easy it was! Took less than an Hour for these beauties. I just followed the recipe on the can for no cook pectin instant freezer jam.We are waiting for it to set up, I have my fingers crossed. YUM!

Royce uses the potty

Royce loves the potty! So today just for fun James got out the kids potty seat. To say the least he loved it. He probably spent an  hour sitting on it tonight, not all at once but total. He even refused to take a bath because he just wanted to sit there (he loves bath time). The most amazing part is that he managed to poop right next to it once this afternoon and once tonight and then he pooped in it and he peed in it once. We were very impressed unfortunately for him I am not interested in potty training him at present so for now it will just have to be a fun thing to play on.

Royce 19 months

We went to Royce 19 month check up yesterday. He is going heat minus the ear infection I didn't know he had. Here are his stats.
Weight 29lb (95%)
Height  above 100%
Head 95%

I always think Roy is so skinny compared to how Luke was (he was 30lb at 12 mos) but when we got to these checkups they remind me that he really is a solid kid. He is still our little smile box, lighting up the room when he enters it. The past few months he has learn and done so many new things. He is learning and trying to say new words everyday. He still uses body language a lot and is very good at expressing himself, it's really cute when he gets disappointed about something, he tilts his head to the side, scrunches his face and moans, he also like to waggle his index figure at you if you do something he doesn't like. He is enjoying being helpful and loves being silly and snuggly. He is still our little adventurer knowing no bonds and climbing and getting into everything. Bella loves having a little buddy who will do things for her, even if he does eat her crayons and Luke loves to wrestle (he thinks it's hilarious when Roy sits on his head) and is such a sweet attentive big brother. One of my favorites is every morning when Roy wakes up and Luke finally gets him out of his crib he immediately runs to our bedrooms yelling " Mama, Dada" he has a huge grin on his face, he checks both sides of the bed to make sure we are both there, then climbs in  and  snuggle us and then insistently asks for a baba. His enthusiasm is contagious. It reminds me to be grateful for everyday and every moment I have with these sweet babies.

38 weeks

So babie is doing good growing bigger and bigger. I am doing good, excited to meet him soon, I am staying positive and being patient. I figure if we are going by Royce time by the end of Sept we should have a baby. Crazy to think about and I am just going to enjoy what's left of my full nights sleep for a while.

Butter boy

I can't seem to hide the butter good enough. I have found several bars laying around the house with little teeth marks in them! Funny kid!

The laundry party

So since we got back from vaca some of my house hold duties have been difficult to catch up on. One of them is folding the laundry, it gets cleaned just not put away sooooooooooo last night after dinner I declared it a folding party and our whole family help sort and put away the laundry. The kids really got into it and by the end Bella was folding and refolding the towels. She made a mommy very happy comment by saying " Mommy folding laundry is fun! Can we do it again"? lol and again today I was washing some bedding and she asked if we could have another folding party. At first we were having a little bit of a hard time keeping Royce from making his own sorting piles but we quickly solved that by trapping him in a tall stand up laundry sorter with his "Bobo" or favorite brown blanket. He just hung out in there for like half an hour playing peek a boo.

Homemade cherry frozen yogurt

Our family loves frozen yogurt bars but it gets pricey taking 5 people out, and since we had a ton of yogurt from my previous post i decided to give it a go at home. Fyi you need an icecream maker.
Heres how i did it.
1. I strained the yogurt to thicken it. I did this by placing a cheese clothe in a collander that was inside a bowl. I pored the yogurt in the cheesd clothe and pulled the clothe closed over the top. I put it in the fridge and let it sit 3 hours. (This is also how you make greek yogurt:-).
2. Mean while i chopped up about 1.5 Cups of cherries, placed them in a bowl and mixed in 1Cup of sugar. I let it sit in the fridge probably an hour to develop its juices.
3. At dinner time i turned on the ice cream maker and put in 4cups of yogurt and cherrie mixture for about 30 mins. (This will depend on your machine).
4. Served with chocolate syrup and yum! It went so fast i didnt even get any picture. We will definately do this again and try out some new flavors!

Boogy Boarding Divas

Bella loved boogy boarding at the beach and Luke got really good at it evem going out and catching some of the big waves with Daddy. (The middle pic is of cousin Brynna catching a wave and Lukes head popping out of the water behind her)

Happy Fathers Day

We love you James you are a wonderful father and husband. I did this a couple years ago with Luke and Bella and thought it was time for a new batch with Royce. I truely hope that each of our children grow to fill your shoes, you are a uniquely wonderful man and we are so blessed to have you! I can never say that enough.

Homemade yogurt

This turned out really good and was super eash and inexpensive.
What you need is
-1/2gallon of milk
-4tb powdered milk (helps to thicken it)
-1/2c starter, i used store bought yogurt with active cultures (after the intial batch you can freeze half a cup and use it in you next batch)
Put the milk in your crockpot on low heat till 180 degrees (kills bacteria) i dont have a food thermometer so i guessed and cooked it for 2.5 hrs. Turn off crock pot and cool to 110 degrees (or till you can put your finger in for 10 seconds). I did three hours with the lid on.
Get one cup of wilk out and mix with half a cup of yogurt, pour in crockpot. Wrap crockpot with a towel to create a dark warm enviroment for cultures to grow and let sit for 8 to 12 hours. If you want thicker yogurt put cheese clothe over a strainer and pour yogurt in to strain out whey for 30 mins. Add fruit or honey as desired. I stored mine in mason jars.

San Antonio

We had the chance to go down to James brothers Joes graduation from residency. They are moving to Idaho in about a week and we wont get to see them as much. It was a lot of fun, we stayed at a resort part of the time called the Westin la Cantera. It had super awesome pools, bouncy houses including a giant blow up water slide and slip n slide as well as a kids club. Of course the kids loved seeing their cousins. Sadie and Bella were 2 peas n a pod. It was just a really nice trip visiting with family. We are so happy for Joe and Lisa and wish them lots of luck with the coming changes in there life.

7 Years! Happy Anniversary!

James and I had the wonderful opportunity of going on a little anniversary get away this weekend. Sonya came up to watch the kids (Thanks you Sonya!) and we took off. It has been a couple year since we got away like this so it was a lot of fun. We went to dinner, watched a movie, got some dessert at the Cheese Cake Factory, spent the night in a hotel, exercised, went shopping and just enjoyed each others company. I can hardly believe we have been married 7 years. It has flown by. I feel incredibly lucky to have James as my husband, he is a uniquely wonderful man perfectly designed for me. These have been the best years of my life and they just keep getting better. Thank you James for picking me! I look forward to eternity. I Love you!

Week of Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! We are so grateful for all the people who serve and have served  in our country.

 We took a trip to the mall the kids of course had fun.

Here is my baby bump at 26 weeks

 

On Tuesday night we went down to Houston with James on a work trip. It was a lot of fun to to just relax at a hotel and swim in the pool.

Mother's Day weekend

We had a great Mother's Day weekend! Aunt Sonya (James sister) came down and we just had some good family fun!

 The kids and I got James this shirt it Says Who's your Daddy.

We went down to Going Bonkers with the kids and they went Bonkers. It was a lot of fun but man Royce was all over the place.

 Afterwards we went to lunch at Chick-fil-A and Bella was being a silly pants

Jasper is snoozing on the plant pots. It was funny.

James did a good job making it a special day for me he made me breakfast and got me a nice present and of course it was just wonderful to have Sonya there. I just have to say that I really feel like I have the best job in the world. It is a joy to be a mother and a wife.

Luke end of Kindergarten

Luke finished off kindergarten in May. They had lots of fun events for the end of school

Here is Luke on field Day his teacher Mrs. Collum is standing behind him.

 

He was very good at this game meticulously pouring the water into the bottle. 

They let Bella participate in some of the games to Luke's left is his good buddy Tyson who was in his class.

 They had Splash Day and again Bella got to be involved. Luke was so sweet with her. He always watches out for her and make sure she is taken care of. He is a really good big brother.

Climbing up

 Luke going down

Bella going down the slide. I think because she was so light she just flew down!

Luke loved being in school this year, more than I ever thought he would. He thrives off structure and routine and he is very precise person he likes things to be the way they are suppose to be, so we have set up our own routine during the summer to keep him busy and happy, here they are doing their workbooks one morning.