Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

This is a yummy dessert that I love in the summer. Here's the recipe:

Combine 1 1/2 cup preztel crumbs, 1 1/2 sticks butter (melted), and 3 T sugar. Press in the bottom of an 10"x13" glass pan and back at 350 for 10 minutes.

In a bowl combine 1 8oz package cream cheese (softened) and 3/4 cup powdered sugar. Fold in 8oz Cool Whip. Spread over cooled crust. Place in refrigerator.

Boil 1 1/2 cups water, and dissolve an 8oz pack of strawberry Jello in it. Add a quart of frozen strawberries. Stir and remove from heat. Let it cool a bit and begin to slightly thicken. Pour over the cream cheese layer, the let cool in the fridge for 2 hours.

Additional tips: So I am going to be real with you and let you know that this never turns out right for me. First of all, I don't have a food processor, so I have to crush the pretzels by hand. I put them in a baggie and smash away with a food mallett. My pretzels are never "fine" enough for my liking. I realize that you can probably buy a box of pretzel crumbs, but I've never looked.

You really want to let the middle layer cool before you pour the strawberry mixture on. I never have patience for this step (probably because I'm exausted from beating the pretzels to pieces), but the Jello will run through the cream cheese and saturate the pretzel mixture.

Hope you enjoy!

New Tubes

We learned a couple of weeks ago that Preston's ear tubes were clogged and no longer functioning. He had fluid in his ears, so the ENT wanted to replace them. We took him this morning, and the surgery went well. But boy was he mad when they woke him from the anesthesia! He cried the whole way home, so I layed him down for a nap. When I went to check on him, I found him asleep on his floor. He's been great the rest of the day.

7, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2

No, those are not the numbers from a fortune cookie. Or lottery numbers either. Those are the ages of the 6 kids I had the pleasue of keeping on Sunday by myself. About 5 minutes into the play time, I learned that one little girl flushed Maddie's swim suit bottoms down the toilet. An hour or so later, the swim bottoms turned up, so I'm no longer sure what actually got flushed. The final consensus from the kids was stickers. Our plumbing appears to be working just fine, so I guess we will never know! It's probably for the best.

Our playdate was a happy last minute surprise. Sunday morning, we were getting ready for church, but some friends had a medical concern, and we happily offered to watch their kids. Then Marty and Matt went to help Marty's mom and step-dad, so I had Matt's girls join the fun.

I set up play stations all over our driveway and yard. We had a pool, a sand table, bubbles, chalk, and more. I managed to keep everyone outside for about 2 hours, then they started getting tired. We came in to cool off and watch a movie. We had a great time!

I walked into the kitchen and found this:

Heather's Birthday

I had a great time celebrating Heather's birthday with the girls. We really need to do it more often!

A fun 4th

We had our annual street party to celebrate the 4th. We block off both ends of the street, all the neighbors wheel their grill out, and the kids run and play. We had some pool time in between grilling and eating. I was so happy to have my parents and niece Hailey here with us. At the end of the night, everyone piles on our back porch for the fireworks! Enrique and Phil put on quite a show right in our backyard while everyone enjoyed Marty's homemade strawberry, keylime, or banana cream pies!

Princess Camp

Maddie Grace and her friend Tessa are attending Royal Princess Camp this week at church. They are learning to become princesses in the Kingdom of God. I want to share a conversation we had on the way home. Let me preface it by saying that Tessa is 6 and Maddie is 3.

Me: What did you learn about Jesus?
Tessa: We learned that God is happy if we share with others.
Me: Tessa, that's right. Guess what? I got you girls princess cupcakes today, and you can each share them with your brother.
Tessa: Ok, thank you.
MG: I'm not sharing mine. I want to eat it myself.
Me: Maddie, it's your decision. You can make a good decision and share, or you can make a bad decision and keep your cupcake to yourself.
Tessa: Maddie, if you want to please God, you are gonna need to share that cupcake.
MG: Well, I'm not.
Tessa: Then good luck with that bad decision, Maddie Grace.

I laughed hysterically at Tessa's response. She recently asked Christ into her heart at VBS, and I love that she is setting a good example for Maddie. By the way, Maddie happily shared half her cupcake with Preston!

Silhouettes

We had a great opportunity to meet Tim Arnold and have him make silhouettes of the kids this past weekend. He had a show at Little Star in Cool Springs (my new favorite kids store) and he cut each silhouette in 5 minutes! The kids didn't even have to be still. I think they turned out great. Tim is known as "The Silhouette Man" and he is recommended by the Smithsonian as America's most collected silhouette artist.

You can check out his website here!

Southwestern Corn Dip

I haven't posted a recipe in a while, so when my friend Amanda made this, she gave me the recipe. It is SO good. I have made it twice in a week.

You need:
2 8oz packages of cream cheese
2 cans Rotel (NOT drained)
2 cans yellow corn (drained)
2 cans white corn (drained)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 to 2 Tbsp cumin (we love cumin, so I add a lot)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until melted together. Feel free to adjust the spices until you like the taste. Serve with tortilla chips. This makes a party size portion, so you can cut the recipe in half.

Olivia turns 4!

Olivia had a great 4th birthday party! The girls got their make-up, nails, and hair done. They got to dress up, dance, and walk the runway in a fashion show. Happy Birthday Oil!!

Toy Story 3 school party

Our preschool had a party to celebrate the opening of Toy Story 3, and the kids were supposed to dress as a character. Preston was Woody and Maddie wanted to be Barbie. Her outfit came together pretty well with help from the clearance racks at Target. I cut the feet out of socks to make the leg warmers, then I sprayed her all over with glitter hairspray to make her shiny. What do you think?

Maddie Grace's 1st VBS

Maddie Grace and Olivia were old enough to attend VBS this year. I picked them up one night, and on the way home I asked them what they learned about Jesus. This was the combined response I received "Oh, nothin. We put some stuff on our legs and pulled it off like this. And we ate jelly beans and sang Taylor Swift. We didn't talk about Jesus." I'm sure their teacher would be horrified by their response! I think the girls need to repeat VBS!!

We took Preston to the ice cream social for the final program. He loved dancing to the music.

Busy Summer!

We have been going to lots of birthday parties!!
Nicki told me about these great water wings called "Puddle Jumpers". They are made from the same material as a life vest, and there is a piece that goes across your child's chest to keep their head out of the water. You can find them at Target!




Guess who loves pizza and cake?

Our favorite Preston words - interpreted

Our big boy has turned in to quite the talker. He uses full sentences, and we understand most of what he says. Now thats not to say that he says everything correctly, but we all know what he means. Here's our favorite Preston words:

oosh : shoes
ick-e-yul : cereal
luggie : lovie
noot nak : fruit snack

We love you sweet boy! You make us smile and laugh all the time!!

Krispy Kreme

Maddie has been in VBS all week, so we have tried to do some fun things with Preston since he isn't old enough for VBS. Unfortunately, the first night I received a work call from a hospital downtown that needed something special for a baby. Daddy was still at work, so Preston had to go with me. Across the street from the hospital is a Krispy Kreme. I took P in and let him pick a donut. The sweet girl also gave him a hat! On the way home he told me "mommy, I want 2 donut"!

Our 5th Anniversary

Pompano Joe's in Destin

May 28, 2005

May 28, 2010

A little more beach time