best weekend like, evar.

  Nah, that's a lie. It was an ok weekend with some good highlights.

Friday, the husband picked up two pizzas so I wouldn't have to cook. Well, I mean, I asked him to pick up the pizzas...and he did it... and I didn't have to cook. Yeah, folks. That's a highlight.

Saturday, Valentines Day was just like any other day. Husband had to work and then the in-laws assuuuuuumed we didn't already have plans for Valentines Day evening and invited us for dinner...

Sigh. They were right. We didn't have plans because all our spare money was going towards this:

BEHOLD!!!

 We got together with some friends and pooled our money together for the "Sweetheart Special". The special was offered at a local crawfish shack for Valentines Day weekend and it included crawfish, shrimp, boudin, sausage, corn, potatoes and mushrooms. I'm not sure how many specials we got but it was about 14lbs of crawfish, 4lbs of enormous shrimps and all that other good stuff.

I ate my weight in goodies. I could have gone all nigh devouring those little red bugs but we ran out. Sad face!

Daddy caught off guard.

 The hostess of the gathering was nice enough to make River a nice plate of yummies since most of the food was way too spicy for little mouths.

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Since I didn't wear anything you guys haven't seen before, I didn't bother getting outfit pics... so here's what Cedar wore instead. Sunday morning for church, she wore this vintage hand-sewn cotton dress for the first time. I bought it from Goodwill for $2 and it was supposed to be her first faire costume but she's growing so fast there's no way she's going to be able to wear it at the next faire we go to.

 Lookee the details!

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And that brings us back to Monday.

Sigh.

See you guys next week! Maybe sooner?

Bye, luv yoo!

What's happening on the other blawg?

"How to be broke.... gracefully"

Check it out if you wanna.

dumber summer

I hate summer. I really do. Too hot. Too humid. Too hot.

And it's hot too.

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  Every since me and my husband had a nice long chat about how boring our town is and how desperate I am to get away, we've decided to try harder to find free local family fun to keep us entertained until we can make our move outta here. There's not much to choose from here but something is better than nothing, right?

Saturday, we went to Spring Lake Park for a yum yum summery dinner picnic and also to check out the new "splash pad" that opened last year.

I kept the picnic foods simple this time: fresh honey glazed strawberry with mint, grilled chicken caesar salad, naan and baked potato chips. 

I stayed on the sidelines and took photos while the husband supervised the little dude.

The splash pad was pretty crowded and a lot smaller than I expected but it looked halla fun.

This rooster/seagull looking thing kinda weirded me out.

 After a while I got pretty antsy to venture into the splash pad myself so I did only to discover the water was a little too cold for my taste. As soon as I got doused in ice water by a crazy-eyed zebra thing I bolted out of there. I'll leave the one for the kids.

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Bonus:

Only 14 weeks left!

pick a nick

Saturday evening I went on my first picnic with my boys, sister-n-law and nephew.

Yeah, I'm almost 30 and I've never been on a picnic. I don't know why. Well now that I think about it, I guess maybe it's because I didn't come from a "fun family activities" kind of clan. 

 I went to the grocery store and bought some tasty foods for the picnic, but the plan was to go today, (Sunday) after church but the weather was cooling off rapidly and it was only going to get better. I was already hungry and it was dinnertime so I figured, why not now???

 The park is what I would call "infested"with ducks and geese. They're everywhere, they're friendly... and horribly greedy. I made the mistake of giving them some stale breakfast cereal from River's bag. That resulted in them following us everywhere so it was impossible to lay down a blanket in the grass to set up a spot to eat. 

Stupid foul fowl ain't got no manners!

 Luckily a pavilion with picnic tables has been recently built on the grounds so it was very clean, perfect for meal set up and best of all, duck free.

I've never packed a picnic dinner before so I was super excited and kind of went overboard.

ON THE MENU:

Clover honey glazed strawberries

My own combo of dried berries with coconut flavored toasted almonds

Pears

Nutrigrain Bars

Mandarin orange slices and Goldfish Crackers for the kiddies

 Grilled chicken caesar salad wraps

Sea salted kettle cooked potato chips

Tuna salad and cracker kits just in case I didn't bring enough food. HA!

TO DRINK:

Bottled water

Bottled green tea with honey and ginseng

Blue Powerade (for me)

Rootbeer

 And the coup de grâce:

 I didn't know such a thing existed - especially not in a Texas grocery store. I bought this canned octopus out of curiosity and one taste was enough for me. The texture was surprisingly firm and rather pleasant for canned meat but the smell was outrageous and the taste was no better.

I imagine this is what a whale fart would smell like.

 After our meal we went for a little stroll to let the kiddies run off some energy.

Yes, my son is on a kiddie leash. Some of the pathways at the park are super narrow and there's water on either side of the path with no rails or anything to keep a wild toddler from slipping and tumbling into pond. So yes. We leash him when necessary.

 Only three months left to go! 

So tell me. How often do you picnic? 

Are you like me? A late picnic bloomer? 

What's your favorite picnic food?

someone's in the kitchen with Hollie

It might be you.

After a long day of faire work followed by my nieces' junior high band concert and a dinner of awful Chinese buffet food with my mom I decided to end the day by making breakfast for me and the husband at 10:30pm.

 Breakfast foods are my favorite. Pancakes, oatmeal, bacon, cereals - anything breakfast related has my heart. Croissants, biscuits (American, not cookies), coffee... I love it all and I want it all the time.

Hardcore. 

 Yes we buy eggs by the crate and yes, this whole post was about me cooking breakfast for dinner.

Ya hungry now?

 What about now?

and it's important too...

Yesterday I had an important meeting with a group of important people that belong to an important organization here in Texarkana. I had to make an important presentation to make an important proposal regarding and important partnership between an important event and aforementioned important organization...
Could I be any more vague?!?!
Sorry, I just can't give out too much info on this just yet. I don't wanna put the cart before the horse if you know what I mean.

{source}

  The meeting was held at this preserved Victorian here in Texarkana known as the Ace of Clubs. You can see why it's called that in the areal photo. The house was "built in 1885 in the shape of a playing card "club" with money won from a poker game; now a tour home and museum."

Unfortunately the meeting wasn't held inside the house, it was in the "carriage house" located behind the home instead. Boooooring... I wanted to go inside! Whine, whine, whine. See what's in there?? In the 40s-60s the last woman of the house had accumulated 500 pairs of shoes from  Neiman Marcus. There's a lot of fashion in that house and I wan't in!

{source}

The boring carriage house.

At the meeting I was so nervous that my legs were weak and wobbly and I had to sit down to finish my presentation. That's very unusual for me. Public speaking doesn't bother me at all, even if I'm not prepared - but this time my nerves decided to work against me. I think I played it off fairly well though.

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Since the meeting rolled over well past dinnertime, me and the family stopped at a Chinese buffet and stuffed ourselves silly - it's the American way! Even River was full to bursting on imitation crab and lo mein.

...passed out in the car with his big full tummy hanging out...

He slept through the trip into the house, a diaper change and all of my attempts to rouse him since it was 7pm - WAY too late for a nap.

I wish I could sleep like that.

Alright party people. I've missed out on 50 blog posts so it's time to get caught up!

See ya on the flip side.