A taste of the South…

{We’ve sold just over 30 shirts!!! Yay!!! We’ll be selling these shirts all week–so it’s still not to late to buy one! You can read about our Zambia July trip here and see the shirts here too: http://www.babeofmyheart.com/africa-t-shirt-fundraiser-every-t-shirt-purchase-enters-you-to-win/ Thank you so much to all my sweet blog readers who have bought one AND to those of you who have shared that post with others. THANK YOU!!!

Just had to pipe in and tell you all about my most favorite summer recipe:). I feel like it’s officially summer–and ALL summer long our family keeps a gallon of fresh fruit tea in the frig. (YUM!) All of Rico Suave’s aunts and sweet grandmoms did the same…and we carry on the summer tradition in our home too. (Along with fresh tomatoes with a bit of cottage cheese mixed with mayo + Vidalia onion + salt, pepper and paprika (SUPER YUM!)

Here’s the recipe for our yummy fruit tea–a taste of the South for you. We have a herb garden so we also top our glass off with fresh mint…

To make 1 Gallon of Fruit Tea…

You’ll need 2 teabags (I use Lipton), 1 cup of sugar, 1 can of orange/pineapple concentrate, 1/2 can of lemonade concentrate & mint (optional). {If you can’t find orange/pineapple already together-you can just buy seperately and double the recipe to make 2 gallons and add 1 can of orange, pineapple and lemonade concentrate}

Boil your water and turn off as you put 2 tea bags in to steap. Let sit 5-10 minutes. Add 1 cup sugar to gallon container and pour tea in (toss your tea bags of course). Add your concentrates and fill water to make 1 gallon. Add your mint and enjoy!

Another sweet thing in the South this week…this time last year–we had just passed court for our sweet boy who was waiting for us across the world in Ethiopia. My stomach was in knots wondering how he was and knowing he had some physical challenges and really not knowing what they really even were. Last year–we didn’t take our family to the beach as we were penny pinching like crazy cakes to complete our adoption craziness and get ready to travel to Ethiopia AND Richard had to make a trip over to Zambia too. THIS weekend–we took our sweet boy on his first family vacation…

This momma was just so excited watching him climb the stairs knowing at the top he’d see the ocean for the first time. I wondered what this almost 2 year old would think about it all…

Wouldn’t you just love to be able to read his mind???

I think he likes it just a little bit:)

SUCH a happy boy.

We came with some friends..decided to split a 3 bedroom place with another family {we’ve made a 4th bedroom out of a office room and Isaac and Frank and SHARING it…I think they are totally ready to share a room at home now as they have LOVED it!}…so we have 4 adults and 7 kids–and while it might sound crazy…it has actually been pretty calm! Of course I use the term calm lightly–it depends on what you compare it too;). Here are the kids BEFORE the beach + one of the Dentons kiddos…

Seriously–Isaac’s smile just cracks me UP! He does this on the bike pulley thing every where I drive and you can imagine almost EVERY passerby comments:). On the beach–he is quite the social bird. He even walked up to a tiki bar and gave a group of about 6 guys high fives–momma had to run go get him and pull him away! SO FUNNY. THEN…he saw a game of kick ball. AND do you think he cared that he didn’t know them??? Nope. Where SOCCER/FUTBOL is concerned…he feels the need to just jump right in. AND THEY LOVED HIM! So funny:)

FRANKIE baby on the other hand–he wasn’t quite a fan of the beach at first. He said, “Frank no like big pool MAMA!”…

He warmed up though with the help of his little brother:)

And after a long, hard day at the beach;)…it was time to get gussied up and go grab ice cream at Harbour Town…{I’ve learned once you have 4 kids…and I’m sure it’s even more so with 4+…it’s so much easier to keep up with everyone if they are dressed alike. Momma made everyone matching outfits for our week last week}…

Here’s another picture of one of the outfit sets I made for the kids–BUT as you can see my kids do NOT always want to have their pictures taken!!!!! I need to tell ya’ll about this shorts pattern though b/c it is SO easy and I love how they fit! (they are flat front with elastic in the back only)…

When all else fails–take a picture of momma and Rico Suave…because we really don’t have any of those. Waiting for our dinner at the Salty Dog and thankful to be here with some of our dearest friends…

Happy Memorial Day!

XOXO,

andrea