some video of the kids swimming

Samantha went to girl's camp

for the first time this year. She had so much fun staying up late and eating lots of treats. Plus there was the whole building your testimony thing, and that was the best part. She was determined that her cabin would win the cleanest cabin award and they got it on the 3rd night. Yay?
here she is with her bunk mate
self portrait
her decorated bunkwith the mandatory "camp braids"

Father's Day

was kind of a wash here. The kids were bummed because we didn't get Marshall anything. We're trying to save money and all that. We did make him a cake though. From scratch, of course. And you know what? It was even better the next day.

NASA Space Center

is not really all that great in my opinion, but it was still cool to see and was a fun way to fill the day. It was just kind of expensive. Scott wants to be an astronaut now and requested some astronaut toys. Have I mentioned that it is HOT here? They are about 10 degrees above normal. Ouch!

Amy and I have established a strange partnership

in the kitchen. She cooks and I clean. Somehow I'm thinking she got the better end of the bargain. Tonight it was french toast and sausage. I'm not a big fan of either, but it was quite tasty, and she was happy. Can't wait to see what she cooks up next!
We had just gotten back from the pool so she just put on her pajamas and we don't even bother doing hair anymore.
The finished product. Yum, Yum!

I'm so proud of Amy

She made waffles tonight all by herself, except for the bacon, which I did. I should have taken pictures of her. They were really good. I posted the recipe on my recipe site. My girls really love to cook. I think it is so cool. Nothing irritates me more than teenage girls who brag about NOT being able to cook. Not my girls. They are Awesome!!

I am so bummed

that the stupid Houston Marathon is on a Sunday. That's so not cool. That means I'm not going to run it. They have one in Ft. Worth a month later on a Saturday but it has hills and even if I wanted to run a marathon with hills, where would I train for it in Houston? There are no hills anywhere. Now I'm depressed and I might have to make some cookies so that I can eat them all because that makes me feel better, until I'm done. I just can't win.

You have to try

this frosting recipe next time you make a cake. It is so weird. Seriously. Click here.

Samantha really wanted to

build a fort last Saturday.

She was bored out of her mind and so I thought it was a good use of imagination and it would keep her occupied. All three kids slept in it for 2 nights.

They thought it was so fun. Then I made them clean it up and that wasn't fun, so they groaned about it.

Kids playing in the rain

These pictures are from the first week we moved here. The kids wanted to play in the rain because it doesn't get cold when it rains, only wet.

Samantha must have blond in there somewhere...

Samantha, opening the fridge door: What's in that bag sitting on the plate?

Me: I'm marinating chicken

Samantha, dead serious: Oh, we're having sweet and sour pork?!

School's out,

scream and shout! Samantha actually has a book with that title that she got a few years ago from her friend Hanna. Their last day was Thursday. It's good to be done for the summer. They had a couple of weeks to get an idea of what the school's are like here in Texas, but now we can relax and have fun. We went swimming yesterday and today. I did a few laps. Someone once told me the reason I could do distance freestyle easily, even though that wasn't my event, was because when my arms came out of the water, for a brief second, I somehow relaxed them and let them rest. I could never feel that I was doing it, and he was the only one who ever noticed. Well, I'm not sure I do that anymore. Today it hurt like crazy and I had to rest every 100 meters. But at least I'm swimming again, somewhat.

Scott went to a birthday party the last day of school, so Samantha, Amy and I decided to make dinner and rent a movie. I offered to get pizza, but Amy decided it would be more fun to cook. That's my girl! We made Tuscan Garlic Chicken from what's cookin (They got it off the olive garden web site) and strawberry shortcake. Click here for the recipe.

The chicken was okay; too much cream for my taste. For the shortcake we actually did white cupcakes and just topped them with strawberries and whipped cream. Amy made the cupcakes herself from scratch.

I don't think it was the best recipe for white cake, but they still turned out yummy. We rented Bride Wars (Samantha's choice) and Bedtime Stories (Amy's choice).

And here's a picture of Amy just because I think she's cute.

And we're up and running...

literally. I did a very short run this morning. It was good to get out. I am totally in the wost shape of my life, but at least I've gotten started. And i plan on signing up for the Houston Marathon. Anyone want to join me? Clarks? Hansons? Someone pass this along to Suzanna. I'll bet I can get her to run it. It's in January, and it's flat and you're at sea level. All good things.

But enough about that. What I meant by we're up and running is really the internet. It's good to have it back. Now I can get back to blogging.

First things first. This is the house we are leasing, hoping to purchase.

It's a little older and needs some updating here and there, but it has new cabinets and counter tops, though not granite. 5 bedrooms, one of which is Marshall's office/my exercise room. 3 1/2 baths. Lots of closets for storage and Samantha has a large walk in closet. She and Amy's rooms also connect to a jack and jill bathroom. It's in a nice neighborhood with lots of trees. We like it so far and the schools seem to be good. Plus there is a community pool that we got to go to for Memorial Day. It will be open everyday after school gets out which is this Thursday. It's really just down the street, and there are 12 tennis courts and a running path, (but it's only 1/4 mile). Not too bad.

Then there is a beach.

It is 1 1/2 hours away. We went Saturday. So fun. The waves are small, which is perfect for Scott, but not so much for taller people, and the water is super warm. I almost couldn't believe it. Scott loved picking up sea shells,

and Samantha found a sand dollar.

She also took the picture. Oh yeah, and she also got stung by a jelly fish as we were leaving. Not so much fun. Her arm was so red. When we got home we googled home remedies for it and it is better, but really I would like to know how to NOT get stung.

Overall I guess we're doing quite well. Today we're going to venture out to the library and maybe some tennis.