More Catching Up......

It's been a busier summer than I thought, as you saw from last post, there were some unexpected issues, which we have muddled through somehow, and everyone's okay for the time being!  Thoughts like this, from my Pinterest Inspirations board, help keep my head on straight sometimes!



One super great thing about today is that in about 5 hours I finally get my husband back, and Violet gets her daddy back!  He has been on a business trip for a month!  Thank goodness for Skype!

He did send me this awesome orchid, which arrived as a lovely surprise!!!

All of this mommy daughter time brought a lot of focus onto this little girl!  Not that she's not always a huge focus, but I just really had intensive mommy/daughter time!  We had some fun adding to her closet, indulgent but fun.  I'll admit, it can be an addiction, as she loves clothes as much as I do, which adds to the excitement!  I'm loving the upcycled look these days, as well as our Etsy favorite, Kangacoo!  ***(More on Kangacoo coming soon, as I'll be doing a feature on them)***  Here's the fun upcycles we got!  Needless to say, our Back-to-School clothes shopping is done!!!  She's chosen the Minnie one for the first day :-)

And speaking of this last dress above, is anyone else's daughter obsessed with Monster High?????  Violet can't get enough of it!  She takes her two dolls everywhere and likes to draw for them and chat about them all the time!

Not a bad drawing for a six-year-old :-)  Have a beautiful weekend everyone!!  I definitely plan to!  ♥

Catching up, Part 1



Things have been all over the place around here, and I just feel disorganized, and that took it's toll on my blog, too!  So many things happened in a whirlwind blended with "normal" summer stuff.  Thinking of where to begin....where did I leave off?  Well, one thing is that I had a big "Well Woman Physical."  Yeah, JOY, we all love the invasive female exam, and I also had my first mammorgram.  I'm happy to report negative reports all around and great cardio health!

Just days before mine, my sister had a mammogram as well.  She is just two years older than me.  Well, turns out, hers was not negative, and all in a rush, she has undergone a biopsy, and then a lumpectomy. (sp?)  Needless to say, another part of the craziness.  Fortunately, her post op appointment went well and they feel they caught it early enough and that it has not spread.  She does need to have some radiation just as a precaution!

Between a math teaching conference I have been doing all week, and all of the above, we have also tried to fit in fun, because well, ya gotta!  It has mostly been mommy/daughter fun, since hubby has been away a few weeks out of the country on business (sure, why not, on top of everything else!!)

In a nutshell:

Hip Hop class and Zumba class.....

Good food, awesomely healthy mostly, with some indulgence here and there...

Gotta love Pho!

Merely Sweets in Brea, Ca

 A couple tortillas make a great pizza crust!

 She loves to cook!!!  Yay!

Double Yay for her chompin' down greens and asking for more!!!!  We made the salad from all fresh stuff, chopped up fresh romaine, cooked chicken breast with fresh garlic, mozzerella, and a light ranch dressing made with yogurt!  Oh, we did add Texas Toast croutons for a rustic splash.  It came out sooooo delicious!  Violet was proud, and happy to eat a salad she helped to prepare!  Kids in the kitchen are good things :-)

Well, stay tuned if you wish, for more catching up, and some fun getting back to all those great blog hops and link party topics!  ♥ to all, and stay healthy!!!

This is what I've been doing....

So sorry to have been a negligent blogger!!  I love my blg so much but this sinus cold has knocked me on my rear-end and made it unpleasant to even look at the screen.  Starting to feel better....now, so I should be back in the swing of things this coming week!  I will have a lot of catching up to do!! 

♥

Our simple family 4th...in a nutshell....

Visting the firefighters, before they would get busy dealing with careless firecracker users....
Building a bug house, with the Home Depot workshop for kids:



Proud of her project!



Hanging out with reptiles....



Being in a bubble....good times!



And FIREWORKS, of course!!  They sure are hard to photograph!!!  Timing, etc, but my Nikon did a pretty decent job!


I hope everyong had, or is having, a lovely holiday, or any good, old-fashioned summer fun!

Happy 4th!

♥  Happy 4th of July Everyone!  ♥

♥

Simply Strawberries

Gotta love the summer berries!!!  Now these two quick recipes are not amazing Pinterest-worthy ones, but simple, instantly do-able, to allow for busy or lazy summer days!  These are the yummy California berries I had to work with:

I was out of bananas, which make for an easy smoothie, but had this yummy yogurt in the fridge!

I threw them in the handy Magic Bullet (of course a blender will also do,) with some milk.  Voila, a healthy after swimming snack/meal!

Another fun, quick thing I made with strawberries involved these three ingredients:

I love the Laughing Cow cheeses because they taste good and are not high in calories or fat.  And wow, they have this fun strawberry flavor out now.  (Annnnnd.....it's PINK!)

Nutritious and Princess approved!!!!

I'd love to hear/see what YOU do with berries!