Happy Friday

It's Friday - I love Fridays!

We packed a lot of fun summer things into our short week. Here's a peek:

Brotherly love - first thing in the morning.

Fort building.

Little man got 2 more teeth.

I replaced the weatherstripping on our back door - all by myself. (Just call me Bob Villa!)

We made homemade pizzas for lunch.

I love these boys!

We made Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yum, yum YUM!

Gigi screenshotted (Is that even a word?) a pic while we were FaceTiming her. (Seriously? Are these even real words?)

Dylan found a cute craft on Pinterest {here}. And he was working hard on it.

Here's how it turned out.

Can you believe it was from a glove?

He gave it to Chris for his desk at work. His name is Twitchy.

Here's the obiglitory naked baby in a pool photo. (He's got cute buns!)

I finished this great (short) book. I can't wait to get the next one at the library!

Dylan is getting a kick out of Rylan's swearing . . . How do you correct a 2 year old who thinks he's saying it correctly!?!?!

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By the way he's saying "more sandwich".

Cranberry Almond Snack Mix {recipe}

As you know, Chris recently got diagnosed with diabetes. I've been super good about not buying sugar and sweets that he can't have, and moving the things we already had out of view. I don't need to tempt him and make this transition harder on him. He's got great will power but it also helps to have someone on your side supporting you.

That being said, I still have a sweet tooth. I'm working on it (and I didn't realize how bad it really was), but sometimes I just want something sweet!

I have been carrying a small bag of raw almonds around with me to snack on and then added some Craisins and some chocolate chunks. It was awesome. A little healthy and a little sweet - perfect. Then I had a genius idea (yes, I'm patting myself on the back) - Cranberry Almond Snack Mix. 5 ingredients and less then 10 minutes later I had this yummy goodness:

Cranberry Almond Snack Mix

Mini Pretzel Twists

Raw Almonds (whole)

Dried Cranberries

Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Coconut Oil

(1) Spread out a single layer of pretzels on a baking sheet.

(2) Sprinkle almonds and cranberries on top of the pretzels.

(3) Microwave chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small bowl stirring every 30 seconds until melted. *I used 1/4 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil approx.

(4) Drizzle melted chocolate all over the top of the pretzel/almond/cranberry layer.

(5) Refrigerate until hardened.

(6) Break into pieces and store in an airtight container - way back in the bottom shelf of the refrigerator so your diabetic husband can't see them. =)

Memorial Weekend

After our drive down to Papa & Sasha's we hung out for a bit and then headed off to bed. We woke up the next morning and headed outside.

Yaya (aka Sasha, my MIL) got some clothes for all the kids. Here's Payton sporting an outfit:

And Rylan in one of his:

Dylan was too busy playing with the triplets.

Rylan has been so good lately about napping.  I hope I didn't just jinx it!

Slip & slide fun.

They create the silliest games. Payton is dragging the boys around on the blanket.

Movie time!

Jungle Gym Dylan

At lunch Rylan was making this face, when I asked him what he was doing, he pointed to the Kentucky Wildcat.

Lounging around.

Sleeping.

Memorial Day we woke up and headed back home (hoping to beat the traffic - and we did!)!

Look at what was blooming when we got home!

More slip & slide fun. Chris had he hose and was spraying them, so they were hiding behind the boards.

Everyone barbeques for Memorial Day but Dylan wanted Breakfast For Dinner.

I L.O.V.E. finding random pictures On my phone!

Especially when they are followed by an awesome video.

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Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day. We are so thankful to each person who fought for our freedom in America.

Summer

Bees-a-buzz, kids that blow dandelion fuzz . . . Did you start singing that too?

Wednesday I was checking the kids out of school at 9:30am. Why did they even have to go to school??? I don't get it. But that is okay because we got an early start kicking off summer.

The Voss' met up with us to go swimming. And we all had a blast.

Ry completely took to the ring and had no fear.

I got some fun mail too that day from ShutterFly. I ordered a magnet of this picture of Payton.

The next morning, our full official day of summer (and I didn't have to drive anyone anywhere first thing in the morning - woot woot!), we went to the library and signed up for the summer reading program. Then went to get some Aloe Vera. Yes, first day in the pool ended in burns. Ouch!

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Rylan was going for his 80's old man look.

My lilies are bursting with beautiful blooms.

It's 85° yet the kids snuggle and play in a furry blanket - crazy!

Friday morning we hit the pool again.

And found out that Chris was getting off early from work so we hurried home, packed everything up and hit the road, headed to Papa & Sasha's house for the weekend!

Playing at the pool before leaving for a road trip was a GREAT idea. Dylan isn't asleep, just playing a game.

We thought we had a great idea to leave early, but we hit tons of traffic anyway. At one point we were completely stopped and people were out of their cars walking around. My kids were doing this:

We made it safely to Papa & Sasha's hung out for a bit then the kids crashed.

Yes, Dylan is sleeping UNDER furniture.

Sleeping babies are so sweet.

Last Day of School!

It's the last day of school! Yippee!

Last day as a 4th grader . . . 

And last day as a Kindergartener . . . 

Remember how tiny they looked back at the beginning of the year? Yeah, me neither, so here you go.

And now back to today. WOW! I cannot believe how much they have grown!

Ry (of course) wanted to get in on the action.

And I ended up with a really cute picture of all 3!

Here's Mrs. Whitaker & Payton.

And Ms. Stapleton (her long term sub) came back to say good bye to everyone too!

Dylan and Mrs. Yarger.

Look whooooooo graduated!

And now the summer fun begins!