It's Pinteresting

Have you heard of the insanely addicting website called Pinterest?  Well, if you haven't then don't go there!!  Consider this your warning.

In an effort to keep track of things I thought that it might be fun to blog from time to time when I try new recipes.  Lately my obsession with Pinterest has ignited in me a desire to try new recipes so here is my first post. 

This morning I was going to try Blueberry Oatmeal Bake but was out voted 2 to 1 by my children who thought that the Pancake Muffins.  The deal was that I had to have all the ingredients in the house and sure enough I did.  Well, I actually went out on a limb and modified the recipe just a tweak and thankfully they were a huge hit!!!

My recipe for Pancake Muffins:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line muffin pan with liners (I always try to use liners when cooking muffins because it is such a pain to try to clean a muffin pan!)

Mix: 1 cup of Bisquick, 2/3 cup water (I think the next time I am going to use milk), 1 egg, 1/2 cup syrup

Fill muffin cups about half full

Sprinkle chocolate chips/blueberries/whatever topping you like

Bake for 13 minutes

Enjoy!!!

Two happy campers at breakfast!!!

Other recipes I have tried and the result:

Quinoa Cakes: they were all right, the recipe I tried called for tons of pepper and let's just say they turned out extremely peppery!!  Might have to try that one again.

Oven Fried Zucchini chips: very tasty!!  Definitely have to put this one on the rotation to break up the steamed veggie train we ride in this house.



Happy 4th

Fourth of July is always so much fun!!  It is about spending time with family and celebrating our country and our freedom.

We swam with Grammie on Monday.  JP is definitely becoming very brave and agile in the water. 

He also had his first driving lesson with Uncle Matt. 

"Look Mom!  No hands!!"

Okay, so we have some work to do (thank goodness he is only 5).

Fourth of July is also about wearing matching t-shirts!!  We almost looked like twins except for the whole eye color, hair color and skin tone thing.

 Happy Fourth of July from our family to you!!! 

Lakehouse

Last weekend we enjoyed an amazing, relaxing weekend at the lake house.  This place is very special to our family and never disappoints in fun and memories! 

As soon as we got there the children put on there suits and headed out back.  JP spread out this towel beside me and as he was laying down he said, "I just love days like this."  I said, "Days like this?"  And he replied, "Yeah, just relaxin' and..."  He got distracted by something mid sentence and ran off.  I laughed out loud!  What five year old boy says he likes days just relaxin'???

Even though the rope swing was broken, the children (and adults) had fun swinging on the rope that was left.  Pratt was amazing at it I must say.



Pratt and Gerrit thought it would be great fun to throw the children in the lake with their clothes on.  The children thought it was the best idea ever.  JP is still talking about swimming with his clothes on.  They giggled and laughed and had a ball!

It is hard to believe how much these two girls are growing up.  We have a picture of Shelby and Neely when Shelby was just a few days old and Neely was a few months old.  They are propped up next to each other on our couch.  Now look at them!!!!  Practically adults:(





Sawyer and Sienna

On May 16th, 2012 the Arquez family grew by two.  Pratt's sister Suzy and her husband Patricio along with Sebastian welcomed their newest members into the world.  Sawyer and Sienna were a little early and a little itty bitty but they were healthy and we are so thrilled to have them.  Sawyer weighed in a 3 lbs. 6 ozs. and Sienna was 4 lbs. 5 ozs and every bit of them is precious.

Shelby can't get enough of "Sianna" (a true southern girl always elongates syllables:).  She asks everyday if she can hold her.

JP isn't quite sure what to make of these tiny little beings, but he humored me long enough to capture this pictures.  He is pretty content with a quick glance and then runs off to play boy stuff with Sebastian.



Uncle Pratt and Sawyer getting in some guy time.  I can't even begin to describe how little these sweet babies are.  What a blessing!!!



Selling the House

We are selling our house and hopefully sooner rather than later, as the longer it is on the market the harder it is to stay on top of cleaning and keeping organized.  The children are really into it and so excited about moving to the new neighborhood.  Last month one Saturday morning we got a call from our realtor that he was going to be showing the house so we kicked it into high gear getting things put up and cleaned up.  As I was moving from room to room I found myself in Shelby's room making her bed and putting things away.  She had a small stack of clothes (like 3 things) that needed to be hung up so I just laid them neatly on the edge of her bed so I could hang them up later because we were running out of time.  I moved on and started focusing on getting JP ready for his ball game.  About 3 minutes later Shelby comes flying out of her room with her hands in the air proclaiming, "Nobody is ever gonna buy this house!  My room is a mess and no one is ever gonna buy this house!"  I said, "Shelby, what do you mean your room is a mess?  I was just in there."  She said, "My room is a mess!  There are clothes everywhere!"  Needless to say, I promptly hung up the three items of clothing and she was satisfied.  Pratt and I are still laughing about how into it she is:)

May Days

Let's see, where to begin.  May was a busy month as we wrapped up school, celebrated a wet Mother's day, took a trip to Belize, welcomed our new baby cousins, and did whatever else we did.  Hey, May ended like forever ago and I can barely remember what I did 30 minutes ago so you will have to bear with me:)

I actually think this first picture is from April (oopppss).  Shelby went to a birthday party at some stables and they did pony rides.  She loved it!!!  We recently purchased approximately 2.6 acres of land at auction in a horse community and Shelby decided that we needed to buy a horse.  We are NOT buying a horse, but it will be fun to be close to horses and maybe we can make friends with some of the neighbors that have them.

One of our favorite activities to do around here is go to Lovin' Spoons.  It is one of those fro-yo places and we are all ADDICTED!!!  Can we say "support group"?? 

JP's tball team wrapped up another fun filled season!  It was truly amazing how much he grew and changed from last year to this year.  His confidence on the field was out of this world compared to last year and there wasn't one game that we had to twist his arm to get him to go to.  He truly loved every game!  It is kind of scary to think that next year he will be moving up to coach pitch.  There are some bigger boys on those teams.  Oh my baby is growing up:(

One of the biggest things we did in May that didn't involve the children is take a super fun trip to Belize with two other couple friends of ours.  YIIIPPPPEEEE!!!  It was so amazing and soo much fun!  Here is a girls pic at one of my favorite Belize places, The Palapa Bar. 

The day after we got back from Belize we celebrated Pratt's 34th birthday.  Shelby and JP really got into it and spent time decorating the house for him.  When Pratt pulled into the driveway Shelby had us all hide, she turned out all the lights and when Pratt walked in we all jumped out screaming "Surprise!  Happy Birthday!"  It was so much fun watching Shelby and JP get into celebrating their daddy.

Then we wrapped up school with the end of the year parties.  Here is JP with one of his buddies, Harrison.  They had a blast together.

Shelby and one of her buddies, Lauren.  Shelby, Lauren and Kendall are like the three musketeers; when you see one usually the others aren't far behind:)

We closed out May with a visit from Uncle Matt.  It was so great to see him!!  Hopefully soon we will get to see him more often.  We love you Uncle Matt!!!

And that my friends is the short version of May.  Soon I will post pictures of our new baby cousins.  My sister-in-law delivered twins the morning we left for Belize.  They were teeny-tiny and healthy!

Sandbar Sundays are Back

One of the best things about summer in Bluffton is Sandbar Sundays!  Our whole family loves them and looks forward to spending time out on the water the whole winter and spring.  This past Sunday was the first Sunday we were able to get out there. 

Now, some of you may be wondering what exactly is "Sandbar Sunday"???  Every other Sunday when the tide is low during the late morning/early afternoon time frame there are two sandbars that pop up out of the May River.  People come from all over to hang out, swim, and enjoy the sun.  Our favorite spot is the upper sandbar.  It is a little bit more calm then the lower one and there tends to be less people.

Shelby and Daddy all smiles:)

JP and Daddy all geared up for fun in the sun



My little surfer dude

It was the most beautiful day!  The sun was shining and just when it was about to get too hot the clouds would roll in for a bit.  The water was surprisingly warm for this time of year.  Shelby and JP had tons of fun swimming with their new friends (people are so friendly and someone you may have never met before suddenly becomes your best friend at the sandbar).  We even found a live horseshoe crab!! 

The next available Sunday we will be out of town, but since Pratt has the weekends off now I see a lot of Sandbar Saturdays added to our list:)