Sic 'em Bears!

Two weeks ago, the kiddos and I took a road trip to Waco, Texas. Home of the Bears. My college home. And the home of my sister and her husband.

We had a great trip...I'll share more pics later...but no visit to Baylor is complete without seeing the Bears. And so we did. Twice.

Our first visit was one hot Wednesday evening. And they were asleep in their "caves", trying to stay cool. Slightly boring, but the kids were excited to see them anyway.

So we stopped back by the next morning on our way out of town:

We were delighted to discover that not only were the bears awake...but they were the most playful I have EVER seen them!
This one above was staying cool, just swimming around her pool. We decided to move around to the clear viewing window, and then...
she got out of the pool, walked right to us and stopped, shook the water from her fur, walked around in two big circles and then "ran" towards the pool and splashed back in.
She repeated that exact cycle 4 or 5 more times, much to our enjoyment. I think she knew she had some fans. The kids LOVED it.

Of course, she then tired of entertaining us, and clumsily pushed her way past her resting friend, waking her in a way to suggest that it was now her turn to perform.

A special Baylor moment, for sure!

Picnic meals

We love picnics...and I especially love picnic meals that are easy on the prep at both home and the picnic site.

Yesterday, we took this delicious sandwich to the water park with Aunt Katy and Uncle Alex. Super easy...and a little like our "French dinner" meal in one sandwich!

Antipasta Loaf Sandwich

one loaf french bread
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
1/3 cup basil pesto
4 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. Provolone cheese, thinly sliced
8 oz. salami, thinly sliced
1 medium banana pepper, seeded and sliced
1/2 of a medium red onion, thinly sliced
olives, sliced

1. Place tomatoes in a bowl and cover with boiling water; let sit for 10 minutes. Drain and place tomatoes in a blender or food processor. Pulse until chopped well.
2. Slice loaf horizontally. Remove some of the bread from the bottom portion of the loaf, leaving a 1/2 inch thick shell.
3. Spread both cut sides of bread loaf with cream cheese. then spread the pesto on the bottom half of the loaf. Spread the tomatoes on the top portion. On bottom loaf, layer cheese, salami, banana peppers, onion, and olives. Place top of loaf over the sandwich.
4. Wrap securely with plastic wrap. Cut into slices. Serves 8.

Treats.

It's no secret that we love treats.

Especially sweet ones.

...like freshly whipped cream and strawberries...

and monster cookies.

Packages in the mail...

Spending time with friends over coffee and cupcakes...

Pretend picnic tea parties at child-size tables...

Good books...that's another post...

Good movie discoveries ...I'm enjoying the Little Dorrit miniseries right now...

And fun blog giveaways, like this one at Fabulous K. Have you seen Magpie Lovely? Cute stuff!

What treats are you enjoying lately???

August begins with a bang...

literally.

I love the month of August. (It is after all my birthday month...the end of summer...the time for buying school supplies and new books!) But this was not what I had intended for the first day of August.

Madeleine leaned back in her chair after lunch, fell backwards and hit her head on the hinge of the door. Bit her tongue. And scared herself (and me) nearly to death.

We made a quick beeline for the ER, where I stayed with my littlest for almost five hours. It was a painful visit...given the waiting time (we were in triage after an hour but then back to the waiting room)...Madeleine was happy unless something touched her head. She colored. And rearranged furniture. Played with the activity table. Sipped on a water bottle. Ate M&Ms. Spilled her water bottle. Colored some more. Rested a little. Took three trips to the bathroom. :)

I'll spare you all the details and venting of our visit...suffice it to say that at the end of waiting, those attending her decided that all she needed was a pressure bandage.

Here is my sweet little, no-nap trooper...who thought her "headband" was very fun. Thankful for that...and ultimately thankful that her wound didn't require anything more painful to help it heal.

We proceeded to get Mexican food for dinner. Yum. And then ice cream and a movie for our little injured one. :) The day had a better ending.

Poor thing...I hate it when my babies hurt...