Take me to the River 2009!

Andy and I joined our friends again this year for the trip to the Roaring River State Park in Missouri and Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It was a little rainy this year, but still beautiful. I love this place more and more every time I go. It's so spiritual and peaceful and though the first day is hard without it, I really like that I get zero cell phone coverage. It was our 4 year wedding anniversary as well. Happy Anniversary Farvre!

This is the view from our balcony patio. We were in new cabins this year ... totally not roughing it!Of course I had to make some treats for the trip. Fishing bobber cake pops. Oh Lordy, I'm becoming obsessed.

I thought I made way too many, but they were gobbled up like candy. Wait, they ARE candy!

All of these things, plus bubbling, steaming, perfectly combined, Laura's - uh hem ... Chris' World Famous cowboy stew equals ...

Three very happy boys home from a full day of fishing and three very happy girls (not pictured as we ate our chili for breakfast and it was way too early for make-up and curling irons and botox injections).

Now ... that's better! Here we are before indulging in our spa treatments at the Palace Hotel in Eureka Springs. I'm SO FREAKING jealous that that Val and Laura both got Curtis aka Kip from Napoleon Dynamite aka Magic Hands. He's so awesome, seriously, marriages are in danger.

Here's me in the steam room channeling Lucille Ball.

The story about this hotel: this crook Dr. Baker "treated" cancer patients with his magic elixir. Total crap, he wasn't a doctor and people dropped like flies around this place. The "hotel" had a morgue if that tells you anything. Dr. Baker was later figured out and finally arrested.

I love coming to the Crescent but I'm 100% sure I could never spend the night.

Not with pictures like these hanging on the walls. I mean what's wrong with a good "ole sparky" demonstration displayed outside of the bathroom which is down a long, creepily quiet hall, which has antique fire hoses on the walls like... "The Shining"?

Nothing is wrong. Just like there is nothing wrong with these "Sleeping Angels". Umm..Sleeping's ass...they are dead and they creep me out.

So does this owl/gargoyle/demon thing that is on the mantel in the hotel lobby.

Then we leave the hotel and see this. THIS I love. Hippies make me happy.

So do hula girls and Snoopy, and tiny monkeys and troll dolls and Burt, and frogs and snakes. What... snakes! Yes snakes glued to the side of hippie vans make me really happy.

But not as happy as naked Barbies doing the splits - hot glued to a top of a mini van. Yes ... that really rocks. Don't judge me.

And please don't judge my sweet friend Chris. He didn't know that he had a Guinness Award Winning eye brow hair. He also didn't know that my other sweet friend Bryan would be - oh so willing -to pluck it for him. Dude on dude plucking ... ummm yeah.

P.S. Happy Four Years My Andy. I love you more that you can ever fathom. It's too much sometimes. But it's always fun and it's always real and it's always just the way it's supposed to be. I'm sorry I didn't get any shots with you on the fly rod. You did great this year! We ate soooo good.

And we played really fun new games. A game in which I ruled at by the way. Sorry about your luck Val-a- wa!

And we saw things like this hanging outside of a bread and breakfast downtown.

And we saw this in someone's front yard. We're so not in Kansas anymore. I sure do love me some Arkansas.

And Laura made this. This is the best, most addictive thing EVER. Chex Mix to the extreme. Sweet and Sour. I gained 10 lbs and I loved every second of it.

Then Val and Laura made this. This is not camping people. This is gourmet on a paper plate. This is why I really, really love camping with the Tolar's.

See how happy we are. Cheese and noddles and friends and salad and laughter and bread and memories and wine and a baby growing in a belly and cake pops and SNL = one dang good night.

And on our way home we saw this in someone's front yard. It's about 7 feet tall and they dress him up for the seasons. Jack the rabbit. Get it?

What's been going on ...

October so far has been busy ... 6 days in (Happy Birthday Rylie Girl) and it's already nuts.

So I'm choosing to start of on a positive note:

Flowers from my front flower bed. This year I was determined to keep at least 50% of the things I planted alive. I was so unbelievably happy that these not only lived but are thriving. Everything for the past three years that I've planted in the front beds have died...finally success. Other winners this year: purple sage (4 out of 5 bushes), elephant ears, St. Augustine grass (after three seasons of trying), lantana, these random "bushes" that ended up being trees - still trying to figure out what these are, 1 out of 4 Crape Myrtles. Not too shabby considering I killed almost everything last year. This green bottle of baby poop looking gunk, plus a two year old who loves makup =

A 2 year old with baby poop all over her face. Nice move Lulu.

This is why I love my husband. Mickey Mouse pancakes with M&M's and bacon...

No wonder he's their favorite. Well, I figure I will give him this time of their lives. Once they start dating at the age of 25 they will come running back to me. Oh yes ... they will.

Ba de ya - say do you remember...Ba de ya - dancing in September...Ba de ya - Never was a cloudy day!

September has been so fun for our little Loco Lopez family. It finally cooled down enough to go camping. Lennon has decided it's not so bad getting dirty as long as there are s'mores and swimming involved. We found a great camp site with lots of room to run around and find fairy food and eat bag after bag of cheetos. Man we love camping.

We really don't let the girls eat too many chips at home so when they get a chance they go a little nutty. Lucie turned a righteous shade of orange by the end of the weekend.

Lucie chilling at our world class swimming pool. It had a fig tree umbrella, towel service, a sunscreen valet, water games and a super hot cabana boy.


Fairy food. We found all kinds of different kinds of food, but we learned that they preferred these little red berries the best. They like to save the skin to rub on their cheeks for that perfect healthy fairy glow.

Eating Laura Tolar's world famous cowboy stew in the camper.




Ahhh... the perfect marshmallow. Burnt to a crisp and melted to goop in the middle.


You know it's good when the chocolate runs down the side of your face.


Our campsite was a short walk to the lake. This area was knee deep about 20 feet out into the water. Perfect for little ones just learning to swim. Lennon shocked us by swimming out all by herself and not freaking out. She loved it. She even made friends with some other little girls. I laughed so hard when one little girl was singing "Poor Some Sugar on Me" at the top of her lungs and then asked Lennon if she knew that song. Lennon said no, but I like the "No One on the Corner Has Swagger Like Us" song. That's my girl.

Lucie wasn't so sure about this whole swimming thing. She didn't like the squishy mud, but once she figured out that she could splash us, she was sold.

Hi, I'm Atilla. I love to camp. I love to swim. I love to eat hot dogs. I love to get water dumped on my head over and over again by a two year old. Seriously, I do.

I can not even put into words how much the girls LOVE the camper. They have all kinds of little hiding places and they like to close the curtains that separate the bedrooms and have their own "houses". The area under the table was their store and they would take their babies grocery shopping for, of course ... cheetos.


We took the girls to my favorite restaurant in Grapevine during Grapefest. If you ever get the chance please go to Into the Glass on Main Street. The food is amazing - get the truffle macaroni, the tingas tostadas, the fried okra and the crab enchiladas. The wine selection is even better. They only buy wines from smaller eclectic wineries so there are some really fun choices.



Andy and Lu waiting for their grub. I thought Wayne (the owner) was going to puke when he saw me come in with toddlers to his wine bar. The girls were really good though, they swirled their glasses and sniffed the bouquet, checked for legs and decided that they liked the more oakey tasting Chardonnay over the buttery one. I mean geeze, give them a little credit. They may not be able to color in the lines, but they know a good wine.



Yummy yum, truffle macaroni makes us happy. They serve it in a tiny little blue enamelware pot with a lid. So its piping hot and buttery and garlicky and super cheesy. He doesn't use regular elbow macaroni either. No way ... he uses big fat penne noodles. Truffle oil people. I mean come on.

See how happy she is. Truffle oil. It's natures cure all. Makes three year olds sit still in wine bars, makes tummies full, makes mommies smile, makes daddies really really really mad because they are lactose intolerant. Sorry about your luck dude.





After drinking all that wine, Lennon was ready to ride some rides. That's right folks Lennon rode rides all by herself. We couldn't believe it. She cried when she couldn't go on the bigger rides because she was too short.


WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My friend Kate asked me if I thought I could come up with a way to do cake pops for her daughter Reece's 2nd birthday which was Little Mermaid themed. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to shape them into fish or mermaids so I just went with a Little Mermaid color scheme. Turned out pretty dang cute. My next attempt will be fishing bobbers for our upcoming fishing trip to Missouri and little puppy dogs for a baby shower later this month.




Blue and turquoise for Flounder, Green and Purple for Ariel, Pink and Red for Sebastian.





I threw in some baby blue "bubbles" for effect. Kate served them sticking out of a aquarium at the party. Turned out quite swimmingly if I say so myself.





Especially this little guy.



The girls hanging with their friend Logan at Reecie's party.




I caught Lucie being super silly the other day. She has the funniest facial expressions.

This is - Whoops, I just got caught taking books off of mama's shelf



But look how cute I am when I make my cold face.

See ... I knew you loved me mama. You can never stay mad at me. Can you? I win!

Lewisville has a big Western Day with a parade and all that good stuff. Brandi and Jeff and the boys met us and while it was insanely hot we had a really good time.

Lucie watching the parade and super stoked that she caught a tootsie roll.

This sweet little werewolf went over really well. All the kids watching the parade couldn't wait to run up and pet him. Universal shrieks of, "awww he's so cute!", could be heard from all. My kids especially loved the guts hanging out of his blood soaked muzzle.

After the parade we walked over to the main street area where the bands and food and beer were and we were stopped short by the longhorn cattle drive. They were literally right in front of us. I was so freaked out. Especially when the last two dudes decided to have longhorn "relations" with one another and abruptly started moving towards the crowd. Thankfully they got their hormones under control and we were saved.

Corny dog- corny dog -corny dog! Now if I can only get her to be a normal person and put mustard on them. Ketchup really?

Lennon spotted the Lewisville High School dancers and jumped up and down screaming, "Cheerleaders Mama"!!! These girls were so nice a posed for a picture with her. Love the hands on the hips and the tilted heads. Ahhh ... the good ole drill team pose.

It was after corny dogs that we heard the announcement for kids to come sign up for the stick horse rodeo. There is nothing better than publicly humiliating young children, especially if they are your own. But that's just me though, so we ran like the wind to sign all the kids up.

The concept was simple. Kids in three different age divisions 7-6, 5-4, 1-3, ride around on a stick horse which they have named themselves, in a rodeo ring that has three large pumpkins in the middle that they are supposed to pretend to gallop around. There were bleachers for the 150 or so spectators, a judges panel table and a creepy rodeo clown. Perfect.

Alec who's seven was the first of our brood to compete. Alec does not like to be publicly humiliated. At all. I mean the boy is so shy he barely talks and when Jeff told him he better participate or else I thought he was going to pass out. After the first contestant ... a girl wearing sparkly pink boots and pink cowboy hat came out of the shoot and pranced around and did a few tricks (riding backwards, jumping over the pumpkins, waving at the judges) I knew Alec was in his head figuring out a way to blow up all of Lewisville. None the less when his name was called he very slowly walked out on his stick horse and glared over at all of us and promptly walked right out of the ring, took the blue participant ribbon from the friendly lady at the exit and sat down in the bleachers and didn't say a word. The announcer even said, "well isn't he a spunky guy". Awesome.

Next up was Blayne. Blayne LOVES public humiliation and ran out of the shoot when his name was called, like a bullet. He ran so fast that he he tripped and ate it big time. He got right up and with a big smile continued running so fast you could barley see him. He ended up winning 3rd place.

Then it was time for the 1-3 year olds. Here are the girls practicing. Lucie had that special twinkle in her eye that told me that she was in it to win it.

Lennon on the other hand, while at first excited, quickly melted into pure panic mode when she realized that she was up next and that I wasn't going to go out with her. It went down like this: "And now riding her horse, Winner, is Miss Lennon!" The shoot door opens, Lennon takes three big gallops out, looks to the left sees all the people, her eyes bug out then well up and she screams "Mommy!", and turns right around and runs back to the shoot. I turn her around point her to Andy who was waiting for her on the other side and push her back out into the ring. She gets about half way to him crying the whole time and for some reason turns around and comes running back to me again. The crowd at this point was dying laughing. I'm telling you this public humiliation thing is great!

Here she is with her participant ribbon. Look at that poor little face. Love it!

Then there was Lu. She waited patiently while all the other little guys went out with their mom and dads helping them around the pumpkins. Most of them crying or just walking while timidly looking out at the crowd.

Then it was her turn. She went right out galloping her little heart out.

Round and round the pumpkins she went, smiling all the way. At one point I think she even winked and blew a kiss to the judges. When the air horn blew telling her it was time to exit the ring she just kept right on galloping. I ran out into the ring to grab her and she galloped faster right away from me. Laughter and cheers and harmony spread through the audience and I knew right then that my little baby was a shoe in.

She politley received her participant ribbon and took her seat next to the - stilll plotting how to wipe us all out, Alec, the still smiling Blayne, the still blubbering Lennon, and never took her eye off the judges table.

And then we heard it. "Our 3rd place winner, riding Champion (yes, I was trying to sway the judges a little with their horse names) is Miss Lucie"! She walked back out to the arena got her belt buckle award and posed for a picture with the rodeo clown. No fear, no hesitation.

You go girl. I seriously was so proud of her. It made my heart explode.

Lennon honey you did just fine. We love that you tried. But you better get used to the pubilc humiliation. Mama's hooked!