Flashback Breakfast

I came across a recipe on a blog that took me back to my childhood. In 1981, I was seven years old. Grandma and Grandpa took me with them on a trip to Oklahoma. It was there that I was introduced to CHOCOLATE GRAVY but I've only dreamed about it since. That was, until this morning!

Here's the recipe-

CHOCOLATE GRAVY

1/3 stick butter

2/3 C. Sugar

2T flour/or cornstarch

1/3 C cocoa

2 C whole milk

Melt butter, add dry ingredients, whisk, add 1/2 C milk, whisk, add rest, whisk until thick.

Serve over open biscuits.

I'm sure these would have been heavenly on their own....

but THIS was certainly to die for!

Biked 6 miles with Noah after we ate this morning. Probably need to bike another 20 miles to make up for the calories but so worth it!

Snake Swim Party

Our pool area is completely screened in so I'm surprised when we get an occasional frog in the pool.

Imagine my surprise to find this guy doing the backstroke in our pool this morning!

We slowly learned that he had invited FOUR of his closest friends...

One tried to hide up under the pool deck until Matt fished him out with a screwdriver.

Not sure what these are called but they are harmless. The bright orange underneath is almost pretty. Here are #s 1-3.

That's my man!

I spotted two more while Matt was releasing the first three at the park across the street.

Meili and Paige

Well, the cuteness at our house today was almost too much to take! Paige, and her mom Michele, were a part of our China travel group almost 2 years ago. We had the opportunity to visit Paige in Georgia last summer and were lucky enough to get a visit from the C family in our neck of the woods this year. So grateful that the girls were able to spend some time together and to keep in touch with all four members of the C family! The girls are at an age where they can really enjoy spending time together. I loved that within 2 minutes of arrival, the two of them were holding hands. So sweet! We definitely missed the rest of our travel group. One of these days....:)

Brave smiles as a thunder storm was rolling in...

Chelsea

I can't remember how long we have had this dog (more than 6 months, less than a year?) It's probably because it seems like she has been a part of our family forever. Nonetheless, I thought she deserved a blog debut. Chelsea is part lab and part husky, and probably part something else that is smaller in stature than both of those breeds since she only weighs about 40 pounds. What a bundle of love she is!-loves to curl up with us on the couch and is lying at my feet no matter what I am doing. Never thought I'd be able to say that I had 5 children AND TWO DOGS but I do. People who know me well know that I'm not a dog person by nature but I think I have officially converted. Aren't her eyes cool?

Final Shuttle Launch

We live close enough to the Kennedy Space Center to be able to see a launch from our front yard on a clear day, especially if the launch happens in the dark but this is the best we could do with the cloud cover we had today.

The end of an era...

Proud to Be Chinese...

Our girl has just barely turned three years old, but she knows that she was born in China and can easily recognize things and people who are Chinese. That in and of itself isn't anything too spectacular, but to me the light in her eyes when she talks about China is. She recently found a drawer full of the Chinese dresses that we bought for her in China and you would have thought that she discovered the lost city of Atlantis. Her latest addiction is the Mei Mei and Me series of videos and it blows me away to hear her recite Chinese phrases along with the video. Her brain is definitely wired for tonal language. She wants to go to China and 'dance with the kids' in the video. Hmmm. I can't wait until she is old enough to travel to and learn about her China. My hope for her is that she will be as proud to be Chinese as I am to be her mother.

Getting ready for bed-favorite pjs.

Meili's Beauty Shop

Matt made the mistake many months ago of letting Meili paint his toenails. Now she wants to to it everyday. My favorite part about this particular nail appt. is that Matt forgot the polish was there until he took his tennis shoes off at the beach the next day!

Just One Of The Boys...

We have done the 'Velcro Baby' thing with Meili for much of the almost two years that she has been home so it is still strange for me to lose track of her for more than a few minutes at a time. When I looked for her today, this is what I found. The boys are so good with her! They gave her a stack of their useless cards and really made her feel like she was part of the game.

Meili and I are both going to miss them when they head back to school!

Happy 4th of July!

Living in a state where fireworks are legal is still a new thing for us. The kids had a blast and Matt wants to seriously up the budget for next year!

Jackson wasn't a fan of the fireworks. Will definitely be medicating him next year!