Teaser weather

Here's some pictures of the sunset the night Ike hit Houston. It might have been a devastating storm, but it made for some beautiful skies.

Here in Central Texas, the weather changes all the time. But for about 6 months of the year, it's just some variation of HOT. I am not a fan of hot, humid weather. Deserts I can handle, hot, humid plains aren't my thing. So waking up to 60 degree weather for the past couple days has been heaven. Yesterday it didn't even make it above 80! So we are living it up while it's here. The weather here is always changing. We've been throwing open all the windows (and trying to ignore the ensuing allergic reactions) and taking advantage of being outside and not melting! Today Toby, Hazel and I went for an 8 mile bike ride. (Which is quite the workout pulling a trailer on a gravel trail.) It was beautiful. They say we'll have a couple more days of this! Sounds good to me.

Volunteer

Remember this?


It volunteered in one of the flower pots on my patio.

It turned into this:

This cantaloupe wasn't very big (about the size of an orange), but it was pretty good!

Ninja Game Player

We have a giant trunk full of dress up clothes. Sometimes it gets out of hand and I debate getting rid of most of it. But my kids still love dressing up. All of them. Here's Isaac (I love the white gloves, which used to belong to my mom.) Anyway, when I see this, I'm glad that I've kept all the dress ups.

Little Chef's

Aspen and Toby have been practicing their culinary skills for us the past couple weeks. It is so awesome that my kids know how to cook and want to do it.
Aspen has been busy with desserts. She's made Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, streudel, cinnamon rolls, and Pumpkin Pie. Aspen just goes to the cupboard, picks a recipe, and goes to town. She did all these desserts without any help from Nate or me, but lots of help from Hazel! She even figured out substitutions for Hazel, who is lactose intolerant!

Toby made Chicken Makhani (our family's favorite indian dish) and Thai Red Curry Chicken. He did an awesome job, I might add.

They both even clean up after themselves! I have been waiting for my kids to get to this stage. It is so wonderful to have their help - and they really enjoy it too!