pretty pretty Sunday...

I thought I'd catch the munchkins while they were looking clean and not in swimsuits.

B and Z looking so old (and still matching... which is getting to be a rare thing these days)
The squirrely twins...
Emerson and his attitude as of late. It's been an adventure to say the least...

Summer fun pies...

My mom has a legendary apple pie recipe that everyone always goes nuts over. I thought I'd give it the old Leca twist and try it a new way. Instead of making the recipe with apples I tried peaches and strawberries. (separate of course) It makes for a fun twist on an old favorite. They smell heavenly and I'm ever so proud of my new found fun.

Mom's recipe goes like this...

Mom's Dutch Apple Pie

Mix...
6-8 apples pealed, cored and sliced (the thinner the better)
2/3 C. Sugar
2 Tbs. Flour
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Place apple mixture into uncooked pie crust.

Topping...
3/4 C. flour
1/3 C. sugar
1/2 C. butter

Place mixture over the top of apples and bake @ 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes.





My twist was using different fruit and leaving out the cinnamon. It is a fun way to include a little fresh summer fruit into your baking. Next time I'm going to try raspberries. It's almost picking season in our yard! Enjoy!

Dancing Queens...

This is it, the blog you have all been waiting for..... the big dance show! The girls have been working very hard on their routines and today was their day to strut their stuff. Here is the whole dance class. (...and yes, they were all just as excited as B and Z)
Z was stoked but, B was a little nervous. Zoey picked out just the right hair accessories so she would look good on stage. They all taped and spray painted matching shirts in class for the finishing touch. They wore their shirts like a giant badge of honor. They were just so proud of themselves and it shows in their dancing.

This is the pom pom routine...

This is the infamous hip hop routine...

summer buzz...

Here are a few pictures from our lazy summer...

The Beans...
Jodi let me borrow this sweet hammock. I'm in love with it!
Em kickin' it in the pool...
We've taken the kids to pick strawberries this year and yesterday we went back for more. They are the most fragrant smelling red juicy sweet strawberries I have ever had. You'll have to come to Elkhorn to enjoy them with us. We were having "who can pick the biggest" contests with the kids. It was a lot of fun for all.

For family night tonight I decided it was time for a lesson in manners and etiquette. So, I dusted off my china and fancy glasses and started our lesson. We talked all about the dos and don'ts of table manners. They really enjoyed it (mostly because of the fancy glasses).

Here they are using utensils and all of their best manners.
B and Z thoroughly enjoyed telling the boys what really happens in a fancy restaurant. Em drank his weight in juice and never really made it to the food part.
Their reward for making it through dinner without incident was going out for ice cream. It gave them another chance to practice in public. Em tried not to get messy but he perhaps set the bar too high by ordering a dip cone.
Mr. Cool was all about behaving for ice cream (and trying what everyone else got... a boy after my own heart).
What could be better than ice cream?

Mr. Taylor enjoyed his reward just as much as the kids did (and he didn't even get any on his face). Go Team Taylor!

On Saturday we had a girlie party for Maddie's birthday. We will have the family party on her real birthday (Tuesday). But yesterday we partied hard-- girls only (plus Grandpa-- but he totally doesn't count). We let Maddie choose whatever she wanted to do...

We started with a wonderfully elegant meal at the O.G. (Olive Garden), one of Mads' favorites. (It was either that or Taco Bell... the grown-ups pulled hard for the O.G.) The girlies poured their drinks into the wine glasses for added glamour. They were lovin' it!
Then we were off to the pet store to snuggle some new little puppies. They each fell in love with one. (but no worries, we didn't take any home)
This one was Zoey's favorite. She is still talking about it.
We headed to the mall for a flashy fashion show.
Maddie kept her T-shirt on because the dresses were, "way too immodest!"
We were off to the hat department and lookin' gooooood!B and Z lookin' fiiiiine...

....even Grandpa got in on the action!

The girls went for a virtual ride at the mall arcade. They got to have chocolates and an Orange Julius. I'm pretty sure they tried on almost everything in the mall. We had an extra long stop at Claire's (they totally have an awesome HSM section with sweet earrings).Next time we'll take it off the hanger before we try it on. We all had a great time and I'm sure we'll be doing it again soon. Happy Birthday Maddie-- you sure know how to party!

Aleca's Favorite Things...

I've been thinking for a while now that it would be nice to have people tell me about a product that they really love. That way I could skip all of the blah blah blah in the store and go straight to the good stuff. So, I figure I'd start my own list of must haves that perhaps you might be interested in trying...

1. I'm totally hooked on Nicole nail polish by O.P.I. You can find it at Target or Wal-Mart and it's not as expensive as the regular O.P.I. but it's just as good. It stays on your nails really well. I also like to garnish my toes with some stickers finished off with a little top coat. It looks like I've just been to the Salon (Salon Leca that is...). (I've also tried a new nail polish remover with the pad already in it. They come in single packets and they work really well. Yes, one pad lasts for all 10 toes.)

2. I've already posted about the amazing eyebrow razors. I've been using them like crazy on everyone. I LOVE these things because they are so easy to use and they make a once painful experience do-able.

3. I tried the new Scrubbing Bubbles disposable scrub pads and I'm sold. When I clean the bathroom I put one of these in the shower for the next showerer to clean with. It's that easy! You can do it before you shower really quickly and you're shower is sparkling.

4. I've also been a big fan of the Aquafresh whitening toothpaste for a while now. It's super "spicy" according to my kids but it makes me feel like my mouth is getting a proper scrubbing in the morning. It rocks!

5. My latest summer pleasure is Pudding Pops. It's an oldie but a goodie. These are a must have for those hot summer days in the back yard. If you can't find them at your store just buy predone pudding and put a stick in it. Toss that puppy in the freezer and you've got yourself some Puddin' Pops. Plus if you have the kids do it, it makes them feel like they are "making" something.

6. Every backyard BBQ needs some Sun Chips. I'm lovin' the Harvest Cheddar these days. Yum!

7. I recently took a chance on some face cleaner and it turned out to be really good. I bought the Target brand blackhead scrub and I'm feeling oh so pretty.

8. I've been buying the "Buddies" products from Johnson and Johnson and man are they awesome! I tried them to teach the boys how to shower themselves and they are so easy for the kids to use it makes showering a breeze. The shampoo doubles as a body wash (which all the kids use) and it's in a pump bottle for easy use. I got pumps for the girlies shampoo and conditioner because the pump system worked so well for the boys. Now I'm not buying shampoo every week (seriously they were using a ton without the pump).

9. My sweet sweet addiction is Macadamia Nuts. Although Emerson is highly allergic to them, I still love them. (Don't worry, I hide them and he knows that he will "die" if he eats them.) My favorite way to eat them is in chocolate of course! Mauna Loa, I LOVE YOU!

10. Jodi turned me on to this next lovey item. It's Red Baron pizza Singles. We all have those nights where dinner is just not happening. I pull out these bad boys and everyone is happy. They are cute little personal pizzas that the kids love to pick out themselves. It's one of the few meals I actually get many thanks for (go figure).

11. I know I'm going to take some heat for this one but I'll admit it, I love rubber cement. There I said it. There is nothing I can't craft with my trusty glue. It's so easy to apply and it sticks really well. Rubber Cement you are my friend.

12. Since my kids have grown past diapers I never have wipies with me anymore and I've been in some sticky situations without them. Recently I found the Pampers Clean n' gos. It's in it's own little container and it has some germ killers in it and they are a little larger size then a wipie which is perfect for big kid messes. I keep one in my car and I have them stashed around the house. They rock!

I would love to hear some of your must haves. Consider yourself tagged and be creative. If you'd like to hear more of my favorites just let me know. I've always got an opinion about something. I just love trying new products especially if they can clean really well or taste really good. Bring it on...

The girlies signed up for a dancing as one of their summer school classes and they have been coming home with some sweet moves. This week the teacher gave them a copy of the dance music so they could practice at home. They have been carrying around my old CD player and jammin' out every chance they get. One of the songs is "Vanilla Ice." They were so excited to show me this awesome new song and they wanted to know if I had ever heard it before. Have I ever heard it before? Are you kidding me? I only had the tape ("Mom, what's a tape...." another topic for another time....) and listened to it until it wore out! I only danced to that song one million gazillion times in the mirror practicing my sweet dance moves for the big dance. Have I ever heard of Vanilla Ice..... geesh, give me a little credit here girlies! Mom looked wicked in her Hammer pants sporting a fresh perm and bustin' a move to a little 80's rap. How cool was I? And so the next generation music saga continues. I'm sure my parents were just as annoyed when I was surprised that they knew some Beatles songs. Who knew parents were once cool kids too?

Here they are in all of their glory...

This was the encore... I'll be posting the final concert at the end of summer school. They are going to have "outfits and pom poms and everything!" Needless to say, they are super excited. This was the perfect class for the girlies, they love it!

Summer's here...

Since coming home I've been itching to relax in the backyard and that's just what we did... Chloe caught red handed trying to get some of her new sweet sweet passion-- gum!

Emerson will eventually get a hang of the whole goggle thing... I think.

Rugs made good use of the foot bath because he said it was, "way warmer than the pool!"

Em gave up trying to get on the parana in the pool and went for an easier approach.

Tang anyone? This mustache is what summer is all about, good friends, good weather and good Tang.

Oh the rains came down and the floods came up...

It's been raining A LOT here and we're starting to get a little water logged. The water has been slowly creeping towards the house and almost all of our lawn is now sloshie. The road to our house is flooded in several places. You have to drive really slowly to get through. (The kids think it's really cool how it sprays up all around the car.)This is the view from our back yard. It's never been this close before.

The pond has started pouring into our back yard too.

It's been almost impossible to make it to Yaya's without getting wet.

This is a view of Hwy. 11 and Briggs Rd. right in front of Rustic Realm. It flooded next to the shop and it's pouring over onto the road keeping traffic pretty cautious. Tim has already pulled out our extra pumps and we have several going through out our yard to try and prevent any major damage. We've put the go-carts on a temporary freeze because of all the water. It's crazy! Check the news for the really big stories of damns breaking and towns underwater in our area.

My Trip to Utah...

I've been away visiting my sisters in Utah. As you know, Cassie just had her second baby and it was a boy again. She is recovering well and the baby is doing just fine. He is so handsome. He looks a little like a darker version of his brother and oh so tiny. He was actually pretty big for a baby but I'm always surprised at how tiny they feel now that my baby will soon be 4. Anyway, on to the good stuff...

Cam and his new train table that totally rocks. He even let me play with it a few times.
Here is the new little puppy-- Cooper. Look at those eyes...
My favorite newborn pose...
He was a snugly little bundle.

Here is baby Rex who I came to visit last summer when he was born. He's not so tiny anymore.
Cam, Rex, Cheri and I ran into a few firemen who let Cam take their truck for a test drive. It was sweet!
More Cooper in his big boy clothes.
He was just so cute!
Rex didn't find me too entertaining in the back seat so he checked out.
I came home a few days early because I'm a little embarrassed to say that I missed my gang a really lot. Tim has been having some serious back pain and I think he was ready for a break. It gave me a great excuse to come home and baby my babies. Z left me this note so that I would know how much she missed me. (I think that's me parachuting down from the plane-- yeah, I didn't do that just in case you were wondering.)
Finally, thank you to the man who made this weekend possible. You are quite the trooper T! You made it through hair-dos, wake ups, pee pees, meals, outings and back pain just so I could squeeze that new baby. You are the best!