We now interrupt...

One of my favorite pillows in the house {which reminds me, I have to go get it out of the closet} says "We now interrupt this marriage for football season}. So appropriate for our house! Meetings started last week, and luckily the guys have Thursday - Sunday off before the kids come for two-a-days next week. Truth be told, I love the Fall so I am ready! By the end of next week, I will be ready to head back to school and get another year under way!

We've just been staying busy with every day things. Last week we took the kids for the well child check ups. Yes, they are both still off the charts...shocker. I expressed a little concern to the Dr. about Emery's speech. Everything that is of utter importance to her, she says just fine. Other things like cracker and fish, she will shorten it. He suggested just having her evaluated to see if there's anything wrong with her hearing. At first I thought it was a good idea because he was 'prescribing' an eval. Yeah, our insurance doesn't cover it. Do I think her speech is $250 worth of behind, nope! Since we went in, she really has started doing better, and we are just working every day on breaking her stubbornness/laziness. She'll say something correctly one time, and you ask her to repeat it and she looks you square in the face and says, "No." The girls is sassy! Also, Emery will NOT say please. We have gone all day for her to finally break down and whisper it because she wants her night night back. We are parents of the year, and outsmarted her....she will now say, "por favor". Success!

I've been super busy with this lately...love it!

We've also painted four rooms this summer, and have one more that I want to finish...the guest room. I want something like this bed with light gray walls and black furniture. I've got the furniture, just have to paint it...

I'm about to head out for some mommy shopping time, SOLO...woo hoo! Then tomorrow is cleaning day around here, followed by a maternity shoot tomorrow evening, and the beach on Sunday. FUN times in store! Have a great weekend!

It's Under Way...

What's under way? Football season! Coaching school is over, which means only one thing...Joe is back at school almost every day! While daddy was at the party on the lake coaching school, we did some of this...




I had put off getting this girl a hair cut for too long. She had a little too much 'party' in the back! :) I couldn't let my little girl have a mullet!



Thank goodness for Mrs. Cynthia! She did a great job.


Here's the 'after'...


We don't have much more going on the rest of the summer, except getting ready for the upcoming season and going back to school! This morning we are off to get both kids their shots...think the Dr. will give me one when they are done? I will probably need it! :) Have a good rest of the week!

Happy Birthday Emery!

Little miss Em is 2 today. SO hard to believe! We had a little swim party for her Friday evening {thank goodness, the last two afternoons have been yucky!}...we have yet to bite the bullet and have big parties for the kids...maybe when they are 5/6?! I decided I would make her cake/cupcakes again this year...this might have been my last hurrah at that, it's too time consuming! However, they did turn out pretty cute! We stuck with a zebra theme, since Miss Em is on the sassy side!


Cake/cupcakes...
{I layered the batter to have swirl/stripes when it cooked}


Blowing out the candles...


Friday morning, we got up really early and headed downtown to take Emery's 2 year pictures. She did really good, even if I did forget her shoes at home! :)





At 2, Emery is such a fun loving little girl. Our big task with her, is getting her to say, "please"! She can, but she acts like it pains her for those words to leave her mouth! We thought Trey was strong-willed, but Emery is giving him a run for his money. She definitely keeps us on our toes! She eats anything and almost everything! As soon as Trey sits his cup down, you can guarantee that she is right behind him finishing it off! Trey and Emery are really starting to communicate with each other and play together...SO fun to sit back and watch. She definitely keeps him in check though!




And to finish this post off, I'll leave you with one of my new favorites!

Recipe! Charro beans

Last Thursday afternoon we drove up to Dallas to drop Trey & Emery off for the weekend. Joe's mom cooked dinner for us. Fajitas! YUM. She also made Charro beans from Sandra Lee's Semi Homemade cookbook. They were delicious. I try Charro beans from all of the Mexican restaurants we frequent. These were up there, restaurant style quality. I will be making them in the near future, seeing as how there is no bean soaking overnight...these were super duper easy!

Ingredients

• 2 (16-ounce) cans pinto beans(recommended: Bush's)
• 1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles (recommended: Ro'tel)
• 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chilies (recommended: La Victoria)
• 1/2 cup frozen diced onions (recommended: C&W)
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic (recommended: Christopher Ranch)
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) Mexican beer (recommended: Negro Modelo)
• 1/3 cup real bacon pieces (recommended: Hormel)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• 1 lime, sliced into wedges

Directions

In a medium pot over medium-high heat, stir to combine all ingredients except the cilantro and lime wedges. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

The Best

One of the best organizations out there, in our biased opinion, is Coaches Outreach. It is a ministry set up for coaches, by coaches. We have now been to 3 of their summer marriage retreats, and plan on going EVERY year from here on out. Lord willing. This weekend was in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma at the Quartz Mountain Resort. Our speaker was Joe Loughlin, of Rekindle Ministries and music was by Michael Bridges who is just downright amazing. Here are a few pictures from our weekend...

This is what you see as you drive in...


That's going towards the lobby, from our rooms...


Joe hiking up one of the trails...


On one of the trails, back towards the resort...


This place was beautiful! Thanks again to Grandma and Papa for keeping Trey and Em! I'm sure they will be sleeping well tonight! When we got back to Dallas yesterday, it was nice to hang out with the kids in their little pool in the backyard...Joe got some fun shots of the kids...




This little diva is turning 2 this week! Yikes!


This one knows NO fear...


Maybe we need to start her on lessons...lol.


That's all from us this week! We've finished up our last road trip for the summer, and don't plan on anymore for a while! I've gotta get busy making Em an outfit for her pictures/party. OH, and I need to share the recipe for the Charro beans Grandma made for us before we headed to Oklahoma! They were so GOOD, and easy! Stay tuned, it's a slow week, so maybe I'll have more than one post!

Countdown

The countdown is on for our new yearly commitment...Coaches Outreach marriage retreat. If you are a coach/coach's wife, it is a MUST. We absolutely love it, and it always gets us in the right frame of mind before another grueling season starts up. This year we are headed to Lone Wolf, Oklahoma...yes, I think it is as small as it sounds, and that is fabulous. Thursday afternoon we are headed to Dallas to drop off the kids with Grandma & Papa, and then Friday morning we will make the rest of the journey. To say we are excited, might be a bit of an understatement. Here are a few pictures of the place we will be staying...


Go ahead, be jealous.







You may not hear from me again this week, as I have to get another room in the house painted, kids packed up, a minimum of 2 photo shoots, and the list goes on!

Oh, by the way...I made Cafe Red Onion's pineapple salsa today. YUM.

Here's the recipe:
1 - 20 oz. can of pineapple chunks, drained
1/4 jalapeno {fresh/seeded/diced small}
1 tbs cilantro {I probably used a little more}
1 - 2 tbs corn oil
juice of 1/2 lime

{additional: I added a little juice from a jar of jalapenos, which was suggested in the recipe I had found}

Directions: Add all to blender/food processor, pulse until you get the consistency you like for salsa! Add salt to taste, and if you want to sweeten it up you could add a little sugar/Splenda. Serve with tortilla chips. I actually tripled this to take to our pool party of at least 20, and still have quite a bit left. {I'm super excited to have for a snack this week!} Enjoy!

Day of Blog Silence for Cohen

{click on the image to learn more about sweet Cohen}