Swimming with Friends

School has officially ended and we are loving it! We have been so busy since school got out just having fun, fun, and more fun! The end of school and the start of summer can only mean one thing for our family...POOL TIME! We are LOVING our pool because where we live it's already so incredibly hot! Doing some sort of water activity is the only way to beat the heat. 

We love getting to share our pool with friends and family so we were so excited when the Hargons and the Shirleys got to come hang out with us by the pool two weekends in a row. The kids had a blast swimming and playing with each other and the adults cooked some fabulous food! That is what summer is all about-swimming, playing, great friends, and great food! You can't beat it!

Eli and Hannah...BEST FRIENDS!

They loved jumping into the pool together.

Josh and Diane's oldest, Joshua, trying to catch the football.

Time for a chicken fight!

Eli gave it his best, but Hannah's a tough little girl!

He did beat Marlie though :)

The Winner!

Time for some crawfish! YUMMY!

Looking at all the crawfish and declaring that they were NOT going to eat them!

Josh and Diane

Our strong men shucking oysters for us :)

Some of the kids playing in the sandbox

Chargrilled oysters...OH.MY.GOODNESS.

They were FABULOUS!

My crazy crawfish man

Louisiana's finest!

All the kids ate hotdogs and chips and then went right back to playing. They all played so well together!

Molly, Eli, Hannah, Meredith

Jackson driving the Jeep.

Diane loved the crawfish! 

Josh and Diane, Whest and Dara

Hannah, Jackson, Meredith, Molly, and Eli

Lots of fun was enjoyed by all! I can't wait until we can all get together again!

Dinnertime Blues

I think I've mentioned on the blog once or twice that one of our main struggles with Eli is eating at the dinner table. This child has hated to sit down to eat since he was born. He is a wonderful on-the-go eater. He'll eat as many healthy snacks as you can put before him, but asking him to sit down to eat a full meal is just torture. Torture for him and torture for us. We've been very persistent and it's starting to pay off, but sometimes it's just so frustrating. 

The same night we made the Oobleck, I made Pioneer Woman's chicken pot pie. YUM-O! I've said before just how much I love Ree Drummond, but she has certainly helped make me LOVE to cook. I actually enjoy it now and don't treat it as something I have to do just because we have to eat. I love looking up new recipes and trying them out on my family and friends. This chicken pot pie was not a new recipe, but I hadn't cooked it in a long time, so it was time for it to make a revival in our house. 

(Sidenote: Chicken pot pie is actually one of the meals my hubs doesn't like to eat that much. Crazy, right? Well, when we first got married and I thought cooking was awful, I made chicken pot pie, taco soup, chicken spaghetti, and shepherd's pie all the time because they were easy. Josh got tired of those meals because he had them the first 5 years of our marriage. Every now and then one of them has a great comeback, but for the most part they've been sidelined for years!)

This particular night I called Eli to the table and he immediately said "I don't like that." Well, that doesn't fly in our house. If Mommy cooks it, you're going to eat it. Eli wasn't too thrilled with that idea. He sat there and pouted for quite a while. Josh and I finished our food quickly (it was SOO GOOD!) and then it was just Eli. I told him he had to start eating and couldn't get up until he finished. He really didn't like that and started to cry. I just happened to have my camera sitting next to me, so I started taking pictures of him crying. I just wanted to distract him and get him in a better mood so he would finish his food and be done! At first, he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of Mommy taking pictures of him...

Then it was kind of funny...

Then it became a game....

My trick worked. He turned that frown upside down and was able to finish ALL of his meal. Maybe I should keep a camera near me at all times...

Sweet Treat Prescription

He gets it honestly. Josh and I both love sweets. The other night I thought I'd give Eli a treat and let him have some fresh strawberries and Nutella for dessert. To say he enjoyed it is an understatement!



Then as if it couldn't get any sweeter, a couple days after this we found out that Eli had contracted some sort of virus that gave him ulcers all down his throat. Talk about breaking a Mommy's heart. On the way back from the doctor, a sweet treat was definitely a MUST. We stopped at Sonic (I heart that place!) and got him a vanilla cone. Just what the doctor ordered...no, seriously, she did!


For those wondering, the ulcers cleared up on their own and in a couple of days Eli was back to his normal self. I hate it when he's sick, but I'm very thankful that it doesn't happen that often. We've been very blessed in that regard!

All Aboard!

Thursday was our last day with E. We started it by going to eat at the best hamburger place in town, Kincaid's. The locals didn't lie, those burgers were very good!

Since we were in the area, we decided to go to the Grapevine Mills mall and do a little bit of shopping. When we got there, the first thing we saw was a train waiting for kids to climb aboard to ride. We asked Eli if he wanted to ride on the train and he answered with an emphatic, "Uh huh!" (his most favorite word these days). He and I climbed aboard the train. Josh tried to get some good pictures of Eli smiling, but he was kind of in a daze during the entire train ride. He did have fun though. He waved to all the people in the mall we passed and was rewarded at the end of the ride with a Dum-Dum sucker. I love being able to do fun things like this with Eli. It's one of the things that makes being a Mommy so special!

All aboard the choo-choo train!

Obviously, whatever was on the ceiling was much more interesting

than looking at Daddy and the camera.

Chef Point Cafe

After Eli woke up from his nap, Ed said he was going to take us to a very special place for dinner. We got in the car and started driving. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up to a Conoco gas station and Ed announced that we were at the restaurant. You would never know it from the outside looking in, but Chef Point Cafe is a five star restaurant located inside the gas station. It was even featured on the Food Network's show, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.



Everything on the menu looked and sounded so yummy. I knew that Eli wouldn't eat all of his food, so I ordered the lobster bisque because I knew I'd end up helping Eli finish his meal.


Josh ordered the blackened chicken stuffed with pepper jack cheese and crab meat served over pasta.


Ed ordered the blackened pork chop stuffed with pepper jack cheese and crab meat and served over pasta.


Fine dining in a gas station :)


Eli seemed to enjoy his pizza. He didn't eat all of it, but loved the part he did eat. Pizza is now our go to food for him. He LOVES it! (He gets it honestly from his Mama...pizza is my all time favorite food.)


I packed Eli a bag full of toys, books, Play-Doh (Thanks for that tip, Audra!), but Eli just wanted the camera so he could look at pictures and then take some pictures. Here's one last photo of our neighbors at the restaurant courtesy of Mr. Eli Wilson. He might make a career of this one day!