Headband Party!

Last weekend Eaden's gymnastics team had a headband party. Basically, they get together and make headbands. They practice 9 hours per week and are about to start learning their routines for the upcoming meet season which starts at the end of August. So this was sort of a break for them. A time to just be together and have fun.

Eaden with her coach.

Swimming in the fountain. They had a conversation about whether they would go to jail for this but came to the conclusion that they were too young for jail.

A surprise headband with extensions from their coach.

I have come to accept gymnastics as a huge part of our lives. I'm over trying to get Eaden to quit. She will not. It was more of a financial issue rather than a time issue, but we have decided that as long as Eaden wants to continue, she can. Yes the practice times get longer and longer with each season and the financial commitment only rises, but it is clear that this is her passion. Thank goodness her gym has a booster club that pays a large majority of the meet fees!

The Creek

We went to a headband party yesterday to celebrate all of the hard work Eaden and her gymnastics team have been doing. For a while I didn't think we were going to go because no one had called to give me directions. So I told the kids we could go to the creek instead. Well someone called me at the last minute and we went to the headband party (it was fun and I will post pictures soon I'm sure). Anyway, to make a long story short, we had to go to the creek today to make up for not going yesterday.

Sinking.

Treasure.

I thought he would learn after tasting the mud that he probably should not put it in his mouth. Nope. He kept trying to shovel it in.

This butterfly hung out with us all day.

Naia's illustration of the day.

Linking up with Friday's Nature Table.

Perfecting the art of housekeeping and cod liver oil in the butt

Since we started eating "real food" I feel as if I spend my entire life in the kitchen. Obviously, it's worth it. However, I have had to let other also important things slide. I want to become master of it all lol. I recently saw something on Pinterest that I am going to do - create a household notebook. There are printouts and everything! Since being a stay at home mom is my job, I feel like I should perfect it. Learn how to balance, accomplish goals, and remain sane.

I have not had much to talk about here on this blog because I spend all day in the kitchen. And I think food posts are super boring. Plus, my food doesn't look all that appetizing.

This is actually a Julia Child recipe (chicken, potatoes, onions, and bacon) and it's very good. Just doesn't take pictures well I guess!

Chili is always a hit around here. Here is Mirek with his chili face.

I used to put beans in the chili because they are cheaper than meat so it goes further. However, I recently read that beans are hard for kids to digest so I took them out. Besides, it's a super Yankee thing to do and is actually quite sacrilege here in Texas. Anyway, my kids loved the new meat only chili (even though it is more expensive).

So my reason for talking about food, I guess, is to say that it is time consuming when done right. BUT it is a crucial part of housekeeping and raising a family. I have been reading about how to save time, like cooking in  large batches, but haven't quite gotten there yet. Obviously, if I hired a maid, heated up frozen shit, and sent the kids to school, things would be a lot easier. But that's not me! I view housekeeping as my profession and I will get it right!

In other news, here is some random egg laying.

The baby chicks live outside full time now and it has confused the older hens.

Something funny Taven said this morning: I saw him playing with the medicine dropper and I asked him if he wanted to try to take cod liver oil today (he still has not after the first time). He replied: "No! I'm going to squeeze cod liver oil in your butt."

That made me think. I bet my kids said a lot of funny stuff while I wasn't blogging that I could write about. I went to look at my facebook from that time. However, I realized I got off of facebook as well. Boo!

Here are some pictures from Naia's 4th birthday though. We had a snake party and it was awesome!

And here are some pics from our beach house trip in February or March.

My husband caught this redfish that we are still eating!

Mother's Day

We started Mother's Day off with a visit from the kittens of the stray cat that hangs out in our yard. We noticed she was pregnant and then not pregnant, but we had never seen the kittens until today.

Then we made Mother's Day pictures for Grandma.

And then to hang with family at Grandma and Grandpa's house.