Keeping Cool and Hydrated

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on August 3, 2011

Cooling off in the water is one of our favorite things to do on hot summer days, like today. Ben and Noah are just about swimming on their own, and Timmy just loves to splash and play with his older brothers and sister.

Good times!

Ethan and Timmy staying cool

Ben and Noah guzzling the Gatorade

Did you publish your favorite picture/s this week? I’d love to see YOUR Wordless Wednesday posts! Link up here::

For more inspiring photos, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, The Bonafide Life, Better in Bulk, Shanamama, Not Your Momblog,The Divine Miss Mommy, Colorado Moms, Rajean Blomquist, High Impact Mom and Zensible Mama and link your own photo stories.

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A Summer Evening

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on July 27, 2011

The weather in these parts have been fairly mild as of late.

Sure, the days have been warm, but the evenings have been beautiful.

For more inspiring photos, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, The Bonafide Life, Better in Bulk, Shanamama, Not Your Momblog,The Divine Miss Mommy, Colorado Moms, Rajean Blomquist, High Impact Mom and Zensible Mama and link your own photo stories.

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Keeping Cool at Sonic

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on July 20, 2010

What do the Youngs do to keep cool on a hot summer day? We go to Sonic for ice cream, of course!

ice cream

Last Sunday was particularly sweltering, with the mercury rising over 100. It didn’t seem quite so hot, though, when noshing on Sonic Blast’s made with real delicious ice cream and chunks of Reese’s, Snicker’s, Butterfinger and Oreo. Yes, we ordered at least one of each. You should have seen the kiddos’ eyes when our server brought them all out on her rollerskates!

Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month? Well, instead of teasing you with details about our ice cream experience, I’d love to offer you some goodies from Sonic, so you can celebrate with some ice cream of your own!

Leave me a comment telling me about your favorite ice cream concoction and I will choose three winners. One grand prize winner will receive a $50 MySonic Card and two second prize winners will each win a SONIC lunch box that contains a “Keep it Real” ice cream t-shirt, a $5 MySonic Card and a few other fun goodies.

Winners will be randomly chosen at 9pm (pst) on July 31st and notified by email.

Benefited review/giveaway

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Peach Crisp {A Delicious Summer Treat}

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on July 2, 2010

We simply love peaches. Fresh is best, of course, but we’ll eat them out of a jar, in a cobbler, or even in smoothies.

I was jonesin’ for a dish-ful of warm peach crisp yesterday, so I searched for a good recipe. None of my foodie friends seemed to be of much help (I still love ‘em all!), and what I found online seemed lacking. So… I decided to experiment and create my own recipe. From scratch. The end result? Delicious! Yay me!

What’s that, you ask? Oh, you want me to share my recipe? Why, certainly!

YoungMommy's Peach Crisp

YoungMommy’s Peach Crisp

Topping:
peach crisp topping

3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup butter, cut in pieces

Filling:
peach crisp filling

8-10 medium peaches, sliced
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar (optional)

In a medium mixing bowl combine oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.
peach crisp step 1

Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
peach crisp step 2

Thoroughly mix the peaches, flour and sugar.
peach crisp step 3

Place peach mixture into baking dish.
peach crisp step 4

Sprinkle dry mixture on top of peach mixture.
peach crisp step 5

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
peach crisp step 6

Serve and enjoy!
Peach Crisp

Would be great with some vanilla ice cream, don’tcha think?

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Huck Finn?

June 23, 2010

Tweet Or, perhaps, his twin?

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Backyard Discovery

June 21, 2010

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Borders’ Summer Reading Tip #2

June 18, 2010

Tweet This week’s tip on encouraging your young’ens to read is brought to you by HarperCollins:: Encourage your children to read books about people who are different from them. In fact, Katherine Paterson, recently named National Ambassador for Children’s Literature by the Library Of Congress and author of many award-winning books for children, including Bridge [...]

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Borders’ Double-Dog Dare Summer Reading Challenge

June 10, 2010

Tweet Even though most of my older kiddos love to read, now that summer is here and all of the neighbor kids are knocking on our door, I’m having a tough time getting them to sit still with a book. Even my younger tykes would rather be running around outside or playing on their new [...]

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Warm Summer Nights

August 6, 2009

Tweet A fire pit is often overlooked, it seems to me, when people are putting their backyards together. BBQ, check. Patio furniture, check. Fire pit…do we need that? The answer is, “Yes.” But, only if you want to have great fun on many a cool summer evening with your kids. I can bet that they [...]

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Water Play

August 5, 2009

Tweet We love to play in the water on these hot summer days! Two of my kiddos are missing from these series of pics… They were with us at the park, but didn’t feel especially open to having their picture taken. I’ll get ‘em next time! Visit more Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for [...]

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The Sounds of Summer

August 2, 2009

Tweet This post was written by Ray, our resident grilling expert. Imagine two gleeful and pyromaniac eight-year old boys watching your every move as you rotate the T-bone steaks sizzling on the wood fire. Earlier, they wanted free reign of the matches to light the brickets (which of course you said no way) and now [...]

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Days of Summer

July 31, 2009

Tweet As I sit here, on this last day in July, I can’t help but allow myself to get caught up in the laughter and joyful noises emanating from my yard. My children are so full of life, so full of energy. I’ve always said that if I could bottle up their energy and sell [...]

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Summertime Learning

June 4, 2009

Tweet As a homeschooling family we enjoy so much freedom. The freedom to take a day off here and there. The freedom to “do” school on a Saturday, a Sunday, or even an observed holiday. The freedom to work on math problems at the beach, have a science lesson on the way through the Nevada [...]

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