kites, cousins and fun with friends

today was a kite flyin' day while we waited for our friends Trey and Reese to visit!
The kids were so good playing together. Trey is going to be such an awesome big brother (again) in November!


We were so excited to see the Charlie Man! Dad's teaching me baseball defense....

Charlie admiring his homerun! Gooooo Charlie!

Cheers to a fun July Fourth Weekend! Auntie Meg comes from the city tonight!!! Wahoooo! I am more than sure she is going to offer to get up with allll the kids tomorrow morning! (right, meg!? ;))

sun is out and...

we are pool bound! lunches are packed (pbj, cantelope, yogurts, pretzels), swimmies are packed, and we are excited for the pool!

throw a shrimp on the barbie

Tis the season for BBQ! Father’s Day is rapidly approaching and if it ever stops raining I know that our fam will likely be celebrating outside on the grill. (No one said Dad’s actually got to rest on Father’s Day, right? I joke, I joke, AJ will do plenty of relaxing on the golf course, I am sure) After all he deserves it ;).In an effort to ensure we are all eating some tastetastic BBQ I found these great tips from National Champion Pit Master Mike Davis of Lotta Bull BBQ. I am guessing he sports a title something along the likes of "Master BBQer" (just like you, Aje...only his title was actually given to him by someone other than himself! hah!) He published some tricks of the trade on how to keep your grill in high demand this Father’s Day and I thought I would pass along:

• When cooking larger cuts of meat, always use an indirect heat as a source. Using the direct heat method will char the outside of the meat without allowing the inside to cook properly.
• When grilling, use a "smoker" box of aromatic hardwoods such as mesquite, hickory or pecan to give that distinctive wood smoked flavor. **Note to self: Purchase a smoker box for Father's Day :)
• Use olive oil or any other cooking oil to coat the surface of vegetables to add crispness and to hold on spices and seasonings.
• Pay careful attention to pork and poultry when grilling, you must make sure both meats are properly cooked through.
• Just like I prepare for my competitions, frequent heartburn sufferers should come prepared to enjoy the foods you love and start your 14-day course of Prilosec OTC in advance of your BBQ event. **Note to self... purchase Prilosec OTC to put with smoker box for Father's Day... we are approaching our mid thirties you know...grey hair, hearing aids and heartburn are on the horizon. hah.

Mike's Basic BBQ Rub
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper

Who knows... maybe AJ will post with a few BBQ tips of his own!

summer summer summer- time!

*pics courtesy of www.socialclimbers.net; www.fotosearch.com

It's here! It's here! Summer is FINALLY here! And even mother nature got the memo cause the sun is a shinin'! Aje is off to golf at o' dark thirty and the boys and I are headed to the pool. And don't think I haven't said, "stop touching your brother or you are not going to the pool!" 17 times this AM and it's only 7:30! This little threat (That just for the record, is so empty it is not even funny. I could never deliver on cause I am as excited as they are to get out in the sun!) might be resulting in better behavior than Santa threats. Had I known how well this pool threat was going to work I would have been throwing it out WAY sooner! I know Jack is going to be a water rat and given his lack of fear, his swimmies will be put on in the car and not taken off until we leave the pool premesis. I can't wait to see what Thomas thinks of the water and all the kids to watch play.

And, not for nothin', around oh, 1:30, I should be poolside by myself with my first Pool Read (Social Climbers) in hand. Is 1:30 too early for a Skinny Girl Margherita to wet the palette?? I think not! Aje will meet us for lunch and then take those sweet and tired kiddos home for naptime. Which does make him pretty much awesome, but let's not kid ourselves, THEY WILL BE NAPPING... does it get much easier than that!? ;)