Back to School + LunchBlox

This just doesn’t feel right…  In 3 weeks my babies will be going back to school.  It ain’t right. 

Last year I waited until the very last minute to buy school supplies.  I will never again make that mistake.  In our VERY small town we have one VERY small Wal-Mart.  And while I do feel our local Wal-Mart does scan the local school supply list when stocking their inventory, things like oh I don’t know…  a plastic yellow folder with brads and pockets can be a real pain in the rear to find.  I was super thankful that Uncle Darren still worked in Austin and was willing to help me find some of the hot items on his lunch break.

This year I’m all over it.  As soon as they started stocking the shelves I was there with list in hand.  Can you believe that same damn plastic yellow folder with brads and pockets is haunting me again this year?!? 

The girls backpacks from last year still look almost brand new so I really can’t justify buying them new ones.  Especially since they aren’t asking for a new one.  I did however let them pick out new lunch boxes which I got for a steal during one of Gap’s big sales! 

Nylon Lunch Box

By the way, that side bun hairdo of Kelby's is her "signature style" I've been told.

I also ordered these Rubbermaid LunchBlox Kid's Flat Lunch Box Kit which fit perfectly into their lunch boxes.  What I really love about the LunchBlox is that all the compartments snap into the blue ice tray.  Kelby’s old lunch box had a mesh pocket inside that I slid a freezer pack into.  The new ones from Gap do not have the inside pocket, but with the LunchBlox it is not needed.

The girls plea with me on a daily basis to let them use their new lunch boxes.  I’m holding out, but I too am secretly excited to start filling up their LunchBlox. 

Which brings me to my next topic…  Have y’all heard of Family FreshCooking?  I’ve been following Marla’s blog for some time and have made several of her recipes.  Several years ago she started Project Lunch Box (you can read about that here) and many of her posts are of lunch box meal suggestions.  You know, more than just a PB&J sandwich and chips (which by the way my kids would eat every single day if I let them).  I find it all incredibly inspiring.  You should check her out.  :)

I’ve also started a Pinterest board to collect more lunch ideas.  You can view that board here. 

Now off to savoring these last few weeks of summer!

~becky

the big catch

We’re back from another fun and totally relaxing weekend at the lake Sommerville!  The weather in Texas this summer has been pleasantly mild and we’ve been spending as much time outside as possible to enjoy it.  I woke up early Saturday morning and went outside to drink my coffee and needed a blanket to keep warm.  That’s nuts!  It’s July!  IN TEXAS!

Our highlight of the weekend would definitely have to be Saturday morning’s big catch.  The guys had set out jug lines the night prior so Saturday after breakfast we all hopped in the boat to see if they had caught anything.  You can usually tell if you got a fish by if the jug is being tugged or pulled.  As we were approaching the third jug you could tell something big was on the line.  The jug was being pulled on pretty good.  We ended up catching a rather large buffalo carp.  It was exciting, but since buffalo carp don’t exactly taste great we ended up throwing it back. 

As the guys were re-baiting the lines, Kevyn noticed that another one of our jugs was being pulled on pretty good.  And as we got closer you could tell the guys were getting pretty curious too.  It took the three of them to pull the line up and to their surprise they had caught a 44” and 48 lb blue catfish and another 7 lb blue catfish below that!  It was pretty exciting to watch them pull it in and then figure out what to do with it once we got it in the boat.  There was no way it would fit in the live well.  It was as big as Neely! 

A catfish of that size might not taste that great either, but we still decided to keep it and hope to give it a try in a few weeks. 

I also figured out why Kevyn had a new found interest in fishing.  As she was watching all the commotion I heard her say “Mmmm, catfish!”  And then lick her lips.  Geez…

On the way back to the campsite, the guys got a lot of attention for their big catch.  They had several people stop to take pictures.  My sister-in-law and I thought it was quite funny that Jeff was stuck carrying the fish and therefore forced to be in all the pictures since we know how much he loves taking pictures.  ;)

She's going to hate me for this picture when she is older, but I love it! :)

By chance, Saturday was also the Dam Lake Fest at Welch Park.  We stayed at Yegua, and our campsite looks directly at Welch.  We had heard on the radio that they would have fireworks that night so we positioned our chairs to look out across the lake at Welch.  At about 9:45 we were able to watch a pretty magical fireworks show across the lake.  It was awesome.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well!

~Becky

summertime

Hi all!  We are deep in the heart of summer and loving every bit of it!  No homework.  No cheer practices, soccer practices or swim practices.  Our evenings are open to do whatever we please which is a rare treat!

Although the girls are enrolled in the Sonshine Adventure program at our church, they really haven’t had a chance to go much.  Which stinks because they really enjoy going.  Sonshine takes them on day trips to nearby attractions, transports them to the library for the summer reading program, and plans special activities for the days they stay on location.  Over the past few years I’ve watched this program really grow into something awesome and I feel the need to do something at the end of summer to show my appreciation to the director and all the young people they have working there.  Fingers crossed I can actually pull something off!  J

After the first day of Sonshine and headed to swimming lessons.

The girls have attended two summer camps.  One was a day camp at Camp Lone Star.  Our church provides transportation two weeks out of the summer (which is awesome!) and allowed me to drop them off at the church versus making the 30 minute trip 2x a day.  You have to be five or older to attend, so there was one unhappy little girl left behind on the first day.  Kelby definitely had some jitters the night before their first day (not surprisingly) but by day 2 she acted like it was all no big deal.  When I picked them up on that Monday and asked them how it was, they almost couldn’t contain their excitement when they told me that Kevyn ordered a diet coke and candy bar from the snack bar and Kelby ordered a RED gatorade and candy bar.  I don’t allow them to drink soda and we try to avoid red food coloring.  Clearly they were enjoying their independence.  Oh well, I guess it could be worse.

The very next week the girls went to family camp with my mom (aka Granny), Aunt Joyce and Uncle Dave at Camp Lutherhill.  The week ended with them coming straight to the July 4^th parade in Round Top.  You can see all that action here.  Lutherhill posts pics from the week online so I stole a few of the girls. 

Between camps and a week of VBS, we’ve snuck off to some nearby lakes and the beach for long weekend trips.  Seriously y’all…  my girls have tans like nobody’s business.  It’s ridiculous.  They’ve also gotten over their fear of the tube.  Memorial Day weekend 2009, when Kelby was 2 ½, I thought it would be a good idea to ride with her on a tube while the boat went really slow.  Let’s just say it didn’t end well and was a total mom fail.  We’ve dealt with the repercussions since.  But, that phase is now over and we love the tube!

my picture.  kelby's edit.

Another fail on my part…  I decided the best way to get in the water one day would be just to jump in since the water was slightly cold.  So I took off my hat and quickly jumped.  When I came back up my sister-in-law reminded me that I had also been wearing sunglasses.  Had.  They were now gone.  I’ll be finishing out the remainder of the summer in some old Ray-ban’s that have seen better days.

We’ve also been able to spend some time in Port Aransas.  Jeff’s family has made it into an annual trip and the girls really look forward to it.  I commented to Jeff on 3.5 hr ride there how the girls have come so far from the days where we had to stop what seemed like every 10 miles.  I remember the first trip with Kevyn being a nightmare!  This year we only made one stop at Chucky Cheese for lunch.  (Which in my opinion is kinda nightmarish.  Bad food and lots of germs.  It definitely was not my pick.) 

Sorry for the bad iPhone pics.  I really thought I was taking pictures with my "real camera" only to find out nothing was saving because I didn't have my SD card inserted...  duh!

Our first evening in Port A.

Grandma took Kelby, Kevyn and cousin Lyla shopping one morning and Kevyn and Lyla both came back with new flip flops.  Kelby however came back with a hermit crab that she named Brittany.  Her name has since been changed to Krabby.  Did you know if a hermit crab gets stressed they could lose appendages?  Not joking.  I read it in the handy pamphlet they send with the crabs.  I’ve used this to my advantage by reminding Kelby when she starts to get loud (which is like non-stop) that she needs to quite down so she doesn’t stress out Krabby.  I like Krabby.  I really do.  So much that that very same day I went back to the souvenir shop and bought Krabby a bigger cage and a friend.  Her name is Patty.  Krabby Patty.  Get it? 

Funny story, on the way home Kelby was reminiscing about her time in Port A and said, “I thought I was going to go to the beach and just come home with some flip-flops….  Instead I got crabs!”  HERMIT crabs Kelby!  HERMIT crabs!

Well it’s time to wrap this up.  We are headed to the lake again this weekend and I’ve got laundry to do and packing to get done.  I hope you all have had a great summer so far! 

july 4th

i hope you all had an amazing fourth!  in keeping with our annual tradition, we went to round top for their annual fourth of july parade.  it really never disappoints.  and each year the attendance seems to grow.  i was told that it attracts over 20,000.  20,000 people.  round top is listed as having a population of 91.  that's nuts.

jeff, darren, dad and myself got there plenty early to claim our spot alongside the parade route.  mom (aka granny) was finishing up a week of family camp with the girls and would be meeting us there.  when i called to touch base with her and let her know where to look for us, she warned me that the girls would be looking rough and not to judge her.  rough was putting it nicely.  they were sticky and smelly.  their hair still showed signs of it being sprayed with various colors earlier in the week and was crunchy.  i'm guessing that was from all the pool time and chlorine.  and i'm pretty sure i saw a cloud of dirt following them much like pig-pen.

it was very clear they had a great time at camp with granny.  thank you!  and thank you to aunt joyce and uncle dave for also going to camp to help out!    

kevyn watched a few of the fair queens wave and then began to practice her own wave.  you know...  for when she is on one of those fair queen floats.

lloyd & harry

after the parade i followed granny back to the camp to help clean up and attend the closing.  it was our intention to come home, get dressed, and head out to another july 4th celebration, but that got vetoed by the guys.  we made them pinky promise us that we would go next year.  (see guys, i now have it documented!)  instead we bbq'd at the house and did fireworks later that evening.

my pictures of the fireworks are not good.  i still haven't figured out the best way to take them.  but i did think that these were cool enough to share :)

the next evening we headed to bastrop for dinner and then their patriotic festival.  this was our first time going so we weren't really sure what to expect.  my mom and dad brought lawn chairs while i just opted for quilts on the ground for the rest of us.  big mistake.  we had to layer the blankets since it had rained pretty good earlier in the day which made our spot pretty small.  and for whatever reason our girls decided to use the small quilted area as their wrestling mat.  not kidding.  it was like wwe smackdown until the sun set.  we are definitely going to have to remember lawn chairs next time.  

bastrop put on a good fireworks show while the austin symphonic band played.  it was great and i would highly recommend it for anyone who lives nearby.  

oh and check out my instagram feed in my sidebar to see my house looking pretty patriotic for the 4th!

~ becky