MMMMM Chocolate

The lost art of the Fondue

Tonight was Fondue night, and I believe that eating Chocolate Fondue with children is and should be a bloggable event. For Christmas this year I got a fondue pot and we began enjoying the lost art of the fondue. Quentin saw the pineapple in the grocery bags yesterday and suggested we dip it in chocolate. This was Joely's first time to be involved. She was more interested in licking the marshmallows and feeding Robert.
This was a great way to end day two of Robert's vacation, oh and Joely called him Robert today, very cute!

Aunt Elaine's Birthday

Robert's Grandma, Annie Mae Elizabeth Johnson Mullens, (from now on to be called Maw Maw) was girlhood friends with Elaine. Elaine married Maw Maw's Uncle Cecil Kirkland and became her best friend's aunt. We love Aunt Elaine and were happy to get together with her family and friends to wish her a happy birthday. I hope when Robert and I are 85 our birthdays will be filled with that many friends and family.

Let Freedom Ring

Freedom Fest Fireworks in Baytown Texas

Ok so my camera isn't great at taking pictures of the dark night illuminated by incendiaries, but it is great at taking pictures of cheesy kiddos

Joely just hit David and took his Glasses, He still gave her some Kool-aid

Joely now says CHEESE

It's officially a Mullens family tradition, we go to Baytown for the fourth of July Fireworks. It's a tradition because we've now done it two years in a row. We head down Garth Road and park at the Harris County Annex building for Mental Health. We have a great view and no crowds, we just have to fight with the extra large Texas Size Mosquitos. This year Grandma and Grandpa Mullens came and enjoyed the show. Last year they stayed behind and kept little Baby Joely at their house, this year, she is far too old to be left behind.

While I was driving to get groceries today, I saw several U-Haul Trucks, which gave me some horrible flashbacks to indedpence days of the past. Twice Robert and I were messing with U-hauls, one that was just a move across Houston and the one two years ago when we were getting ready to move to Crosby from East Texas, I hope we never revisit the U-haul company again, on any holiday- especially in the middle of summer. Both times I was pregnant, aah the nightmares of those days!
The show continues in Crosby, our neighbors are setting off all manor of fireworks, roman candles and things that I'm pretty sure you should have special schooling and a liscense from the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to light. It reminds me of Nightime over Baghdad during the first Gulf War or New Years Eve in Laredo- either way, we can watch from the comforts of our front room.

Alice Doing the Boot Scootin' Boogie

This is from Mrs. Carol's Dance Recital - Alice's class was by far the best!

Crazy Joely!!!

The Next Food Network Star

Nothing says "Daddy is on Vacation" like Robert taking over the kitchen. He always gets lots of help and he's patient enough to enjoy the help. Right now the Mullens Men are making some "salsa fresca." The Princess Alice washed all the veggies and handed them off to the big boys for cutting. Later tonight we will enjoy Fajitas and salsa. Tomorrow's Menu includes Grilled Chicken, Grilled Corn on the Cob and Asparagus.

Last night when Robert came home from work, he was dancing because he is on vacation, for "ten sleeps." When the boys were small we would help them understand the concept of time and waiting by letting them know how many times they would sleep before the event would occur.

We all agree, it's great to have Dad home!

Greetings From The San Jacinto River

In the Newport Subdivision of Crosby Texas, for a mere $40 a month you get such amazing ammenities like your street being torn up, a lovely duck pond with a fountain, an olympic sized pool, an elementary school for just third and fourth grade and the best of all, the River Beach! Located on the picturesque San Jacinto River, we have a private beach. We love to come here more than the pool. If you ask David it's beacuse he hates "adult swim"-- it seems everytime we go to the pool, it's the ten minute adult swim time, that turns into 20 minutes of the lifeguards flirting with each other while we bake. If you ask me, I like that for the most part, nobody comes down here, its real peaceful and there are gorgeous birds to watch. Some "old salts" have told me that alligators swim up an down the San Jacinto, but this is our third summer here and I havn't seen any. I did see a snake once, and I'll be honest, it freaked me out a bit.
This is kind of a bad picture of my friend and her kids and my kids. We've been friends with them since Quentin was one-- we each have 4 kids and they are all about the same age-- I'm so glad we've stayed in touch over the years and the kids still love to see their faux cousins. If you look closly at the grainy photo you can see the lochness monster...

Oh we also have a Marina that goes into Lake Houston and we can camp here too, but we don't have a boat, and if I'm going to camp, I'll go a little bit further than the back of the subdivision. I complain a lot, but I love our neighborhood. One of my favorites is that I often don't have to use my own electricity to listen to music, my neighbors are very generous with their music, we can hear it all night long! Their house is for sale!

Some Fun in Austin

The two darling princesses and I went to Austin to see Mom, Dad and Uncle Brian. It was entitled, Alice's Vacation. David and Quentin had gone to Florida with Robert's parents and we wanted to make sure Princess number one had a very special time. She was able to see two movies, Kung Fu Panda and Nim's Island and eat pizza at Gatti Land. The best part for all three of us, was just lounging in the pool and eating cookies from Grandma. My friend Carla Salas came over for dinner and a swim one night and it was great to see her, we've been friends for 19 years or so and she's still as beautiful as ever. In fact every time we get together she is more amazing than the last. I wish I would have been smart enough to take a picture!

You may be asking yourself a good question, Why is Kareena up early again? The answer is simple. I'm meeting some of my girlfriends at nine in the morning. If I go back to sleep now, I"ll still be asleep then. I recently was given a beautiful piano from my friend Gala.

So since I have the piano, I really have been practicing. My friends Brianne, Meghan and the aforementioned Gala are going to be singing in church soon, and I want to accompany them, this morning will be a run through practice, with just the melody. I'll practice the piano part later. I'm also the pianist now in Primary, and i'm enjoying that. It's funny that I can play a lot of songs, but then some songs really throw me, like Do as I'm Doing, which you'd think would be an easy song. If you did not ever go to a Mormon Primary, you may not know this song, but it's super fun and the kids request it every week. Last night I practiced "I love to see the Temple" which before last night I could play it ok with my own version of the bottom hand, but I thought that I owe it to the chorister and the kids to be able to play the core songs perfectly.

Houston Texas Temple

So since I'm playing "I love to see the temple" This is what the closest temple looks like.

Speaking of "Doing as I'm Doing" This is Quentin with his little Clone, Joely. She has to help practice the piano. David, Quentin and Alice are all now taking lessons. They are doing great and they seem to enjoy it. David asked me why I wanted him to learn the piano and I said, it's because I want them to be able to play the hymns while they are on their missions.

Today our plans are to do laundry and then go to the River Beach with The Hutchings after lunch. I'll be sure to bring my camera! Have a good day y'all!

The Great Battleship Texas

Looking at the San Jacinto Monument

So one of the scout leaders, John Goetschious, thought it would be fun to sleep on the battleship with all the scouts- HE WAS RIGHT- There were 28 scrub scouts and 18 adults who got to tour the ship and sleepover, for only $25.00 you coul sleep in these luxurious quarters...

The mattressed hung 4 deep, Robert was able to sleep with all the boys, sadly the ship is still segregated, and men and women could not sleep together, so I was FORCED to sleep on a single cot in a room with 5 other mommies. I didn't hear a thing.... It was pretty warm during the tour but it was very informative. It really made me pause and think about the brave men who lived and fought on this ship. I am greatful for the freedoms I'm allowed and the life that I take for granted. My heart goes out to these brave men and women, who fought and continue to fight for our freedom! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Here are some more fun pictures that Robert took of the boys and their friends.

Good Morning! I'm up early because David and Quentin had their friends Jacob and Daniel come over, at six am.. What was I thinking???? They are rockin' the house to the sounds of Super Smash Brawl, my least favorite Wii game. I am, apparently in the minority because any other kid beleives this is the best game since Lego Star Wars. So Since I am awake and there is no chance of going back to sleep, I decided to post some photos from our crazy weekend-

This is Quentin waiting for the parade to start.

In Crosby, Texas, the fourth of July parade was on June 28th. Which makes sense. Technically I was the LIC (leader in charge) which was not a good use of pack resources. What do I know about parades? It had been 29 years since I was in my first/last parade. I don't know about floats, but we did have a nice family offer to pull a trailer, they made benches for the boys to sit on and we deocorated with dollar store things. I'm not from Texas, I wasn't raised around parades for football games, festivals and pageants.

And here is her Royal Higness, wearing her dance hat from Mrs. Carol and her official "ME TOO" uniform, it says, "little scout buddy"

When Alice and I were at the party store getting the candy for the floats, she gravitated to the Mardi Gras Isle to pick up necklaces and gold coins to throw

I decided it would be fun to walk along side the float- It wasn't. The parade went a lot faster than I thought it would. I just was glad I wasn't marching with a Tuba or something. At one point I was running - and finally I ran right into the back of the truck and sat down in the AC.

This is what David would have looked like, had he come to the parade. He asked me if he "had to go" and I said, he could make the choice to go or not, he quickly changed out of his uniform and said he'd go to the Battleship that night, but he had no interest in the parade. Thankfully Quentin and Alice wanted to go, or I would have been an angry scout mama.

This is the actual float

Ok so I'm going to publish this, I'll post pictures later of the Battleship overnight experience.