The Queen’s Chronicles

It was a fun filled summer week for us!  Temperatures are up and we are filling up the days with lots of fun activities for the kids while I’m gearing up for phase II of our annual budget process.  Here’s a look back at our third (what?  flying right by) full week of summer!
Carly Jo attended summer camp hosted at our church which was part of the Pine Cove camp in the city.  Looks like she was having a hooping good time on day one! 
Dillon attends Elite training (basically just endurance and strength training) all summer long at the local high school but he also participated in baseball camp all week.  Guess this is one time it paid off to have the tallest kid there as I had no issue finding him in this picture!!  
Monday night we had a quick meet up with sissy and she snapped this adorable picture. People often say when they see these two together they can see some resemblance.  
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We also made some break and bake cookies and picked up some Blue Bell for a sweet treat.  
I made a few cookie sandwiches and wrapped individually in the freezer for the kids to have during the week.  
Tuesday morning we woke to what sounded like gun shots and then sirens and then more gun shots.  What we later learned was instead of gun shots it was only fire bombs being used to raid a house in the adjoining neighborhood on a drug bust.  WTH..that’s all I had to say.  
 We headed for a much needed hair cut on Wednesday and I grabbed this before shot.  Sadly I have no after shot because she was suppose to be headed for a swim party so we skipped the blow dry.  
When the girls made it to the pool everyone was out of the pool…because..umm…vomit in the pool. Ewwww….not staying for that.  So Holly treated the girls to blizzards instead!  No complaints.  
On Wednesday night I decided to bake up some brownies and create some little surprises for a couple of friends.  One of Carly’s friends has so generously offered to take her to camp each day so they definitely deserved a treat.  I bought the Duncan Hines Fudge Brownies because they were cheaper and made two batches in one pan which made them so thick and perfectly soft.  I lined my pan with parchment paper so they were super easy to lift out with no messy cleanup.  
I created this cute little printable (you can find it here) and so enjoyed sharing a little fudgy goodness. 
I also made this brownie pie…oh my word…if you love brownies and you love cream cheese then you definitely wanna hop on over to find the recipe here.  Next time I think I will use a rectangular pan and spread the layers a little thinner.  It was delicious but also really, really rich.  
Carly’s sweet group from Pine Cove camp.  She’s been singing songs all week.  So worth it to have some extra time with friends and Jesus!  
So part of my job is working on the funding of capital projects and one of the perks is sometimes being included in fancy lunches and receiving little mementos such as this plaque.  The Gardens really will make a beautiful addition to our campus so I was super excited to attend.  
Lunch started out on a good note with this lovely salad.  I love beets and the little salad was perfect.  
Then things became a little interesting with edible flowers, icky chicken and tasteless veggies.  I ate the beef but that was it.  I just cannot eat a flower.  
The desserts looked promising but neither was worth more than a bite.  #majordisappointment  At least they all looked pretty!  
I was super excited Riley made it home again and joined little miss and I for dinner.   These two act so crazy together….similar personalities for sure!  I think it’s kind of crazy how these two have similar coloring and personalities and my other two have similar coloring and personalities.  
We dined on sushi which I have been so longing for.  I had to get the California roll for Carly and that is not my fave but it was still yummy. 
Carly’s counselors chose these three words for my girl.   This is always my fave part of picking up from camp.  
On Saturday we headed for San Antonio to meet up with Keith and Dillon for baseball.  Dillon played two games on Friday so we missed some of the fun but picked right up with burgers at Chris Madrid’s after his Saturday games.  Emily at Simply a Rough Draft posted some suggestions when visiting San Antonio and she noted this was a must.  The burgers were amazing! 
But this…this mango margarita was tops!  I sucked this booger down in no time and promptly took a 3 hour nap at the hotel!!!  
Sunday morning Carly and I grabbed a bite at the Bakery Lorraine and oh goodness my body is like what are you doing with the calories here?!!  My cheese danish was tops and Carly had the orange blueberry muffin and a raspberry macaroon.  
This girl is just always up for trying new things!  My fave is hearing her sing in the car these days.  She is always asking me to turn the radio up and she has such a sweet little voice.  
And this guy….well this guy finally beat the mental game.  His last two outings were so frustrating for him as he couldn’t even get out of an inning without being pulled.  Sunday he pitched 3 innings with 4 k’s and no runs.  He looked confident and strong and the best was his smile!  
We didn’t make it home to watch but did follow along with the Frogs playing the first CWS game against Texas Tech.  All I can say is Luken Baker is a beast!  
While I’m not sad to be watching from home this year all these pictures keep popping up in my timehop.  We have been to Omaha for the past 3 summers in a row!  If you love baseball,  you must find a way to go.  No place else where you will be surrounded by other people who love baseball and it’s just a total spectators dream to watch all the talented athletes compete regardless of who you are rooting for.  
Of course we celebrated this guy on Sunday too!  We dined at his favorite, Pappadeux, which hasn’t happened in probably five years!  So grateful for him and the sacrifices he makes for our kids and for my big kids.  
Here’s to week 4 of summer!  It’s definitely heated right on up here in Texas and I will spend some time this week getting ready for our vacation…..it cannot get here soon enough!