Introducing...

Spot Nick.  He's our new Jersey Wooly/Mini-rex mixed rabbit.  The kiddos love him.  I love him.  DH loves him.  He's learning to love us.  We've had him for just over a week.  He loves to explore our backyard (with supervision.  I think he'd love to eat our garden and might be able to go through or under the fence.  He's small!)  

June Menu

With the heat of summer coming (not as much as my brothers have, of course), I decided to base our monthly menu around salads.  So, DH and I made a list of salads and I plugged them into the calendar.  Monday's are greens (lettuce is in the salad), Tuesday's are pasta, Wednesday's are whatever, Thursday's are creamy and Friday's are greens (again).  The last week of June I'm gone to girl's camp and DH said he'd take care of it, so I haven't planned anything.  And there are a few days when we don't have a plan and that's because I know that something will change (it already has, in fact.  Multiple times!) and we'll shift what we have.

June 2012
Here are some salads ideas that didn't make it into our menu, but might still get used, either this month or a different month:

• Grilled Chicken Salad
• Cobb Salad
• Chicken BLT Salad
• Antipasto Salad
• Cucumber salad
• Potato Salad
• Mandarin Orange Salad
• Spinach Strawberry

Have I Mentioned...

How much I love yard sales?  This morning I was on my home from volunteering with Bountiful Baskets and passed a yard sale sign in the neighborhood.  I'm a sucker for yard sales and thought I'd do a drive-by.  I noticed they had a 3-wheeled scooter.  "A" has been wanting a scooter.  I decided to stop and if it was in decent shape and $5 or under, I'd buy it.  Turns out, they had 2 scooter - a pink 2-wheeler and the 3-wheeler.  Each for $3.  Ummm, yes!!!  I didn't have cash on me, but the girl was nice and held them for me while I drove home to get money.  Both of the older kiddos were thrilled with their scooters.  "J" was quite disappointed that there weren't three.  

Flowers of California

I love the flowers in California!  I love that they grow all over the place!  I love that they're so colorful and beautiful!  Too bad they won't all grow here.

It's A...

BOY!

And I'm still hoping for 10-11-12.  Just for the record.

May 2012 Menu

May 2012

So, I meant to publish this at the beginning of the month.  We're not quite at the beginning, but we're not the the middle yet!  I decided to plan our menu this month around the cookbook Our Best Bites.  It looked to have a lot of real people food in it and things that my family would eat.  So far, we're doing good.  I've had to make a few changes (our oven stopped working - but not the stove-top).  And Sunday's somehow didn't get planned, but we haven't starved yet!  I put links in to the recipes that are on the website and the others, if they're good, I'll try to post on the recipe blog.

Really? (a slight rant)

Today we took a picnic to a nearby park with some friends.  We let the kiddos play for a bit, then we sat down to eat lunch.  Not long afterwards, 2 school buses pull up and students (1st or 2nd grade) start pouring out.  The teachers and parent volunteers lug big coolers full of sack lunches, the students eat their lunches (because the teachers say they have to before they can play) and then the students go at the playground with excitement.  Now, I have no problem with any of this, except:

WHY WOULD THE TEACHERS PLAN A FIELD TRIP TO A LOCAL PARK WHEN THERE ARE WAY BETTER THINGS TO DO ON A FIELD TRIP?  DON'T THEY HAVE A PLAYGROUND AT THEIR SCHOOL?  REALLY?  A FIELD TRIP TO A PARK?  REALLY?

I know this picture has NOTHING to do with the rant topic above.  But we are all of us enjoying strawberry season.  YUM!  A box of strawberries is only good for one meal around here.  And nobody gets as many as they want.  

Fruit Trees!

I am loving our fruit trees!  Their flowers are so pretty!  Hopefully we'll get some fruit from them, but if we don't, they're worth it for the flowers!

Kid Speak

N: Mama, how do you bow up?
M: What?
N: If you don't bow down, you have to bow up.
M: What are you talking about?
N: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego wouldn't bow down to the king, so they must have bowed up.


Reading a book-
N: Her eyes sparkled liked rhinoceros.
M: Rhinestones.
Both: {Hysterical laughter}


Dropping "A" off at his speech class, with a previous discussion about how I wouldn't be staying-
M: Can I have a kiss?
"A" runs over and gives me a kiss.  Followed by a tight squeeze.
A: I miss you!
M: I'll miss you, too! (except I don't think he heard it because he was already running back to the toys)


Singing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" with "A"-
M: On his farm he had a ___
A: Daddy pig.
M: E-I-E-I-O.
A: Not you.  Just me.  There a daddy pig  (pointing with his foot).  There a Daddy pig  (pointing with his foot).  In sister's room a daddy pig  (pointing with his foot).  There a daddy pig  (pointing with his foot).
M: Old MacDonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O.
(repeat with mama pig, piglets, milk cow and beef cow)


"J" isn't much for words yet, though she tries.  But she has learned the hand motions for "Popcorn Popping" and it's adorable to watch!

Our "Popcorn Popping"!  So pretty!

Lots to Catch Up On...

I've been a little MIA on the blog front.  Not that it's abnormal for me.  But I have actually thought of blog posts and then just not written them.  Apparently the ideas weren't that important.

I remember there was one about fried chicken.  My friend (whom I knew a long time ago and then her family moved and then we happened to see each other and the grocery store - except that it's awfully good that she recognized me because I totally didn't recognize her - and now we're friends again) told me about this place that sells their pre-fried day old chicken in 5lb bags for $6.  All you have to do is reheat in the oven and it tastes fabulous.  So I tried it.  And it really is good.  And with no mess from frying?  I'm all over that!  So, if you're ever in my neck of the woods and want to get some for yourself, let me know and I'll give you the phone number.

Then, of course, there's the annual "SPRING IS HERE" post where I show you all of my pictures that prove spring is here - tulip leaves, crocus flowers, popcorn on the apricot tree - but you'll have to check out my 365 blog to see those, because I want to jump straight to...

We're having a baby!  My official due date is Oct 10, but I'm hoping (right now, because by October things could definitely change) to but it off for a day, because I think that the birthday 10-11-12 is incredibly fun and want my child to have it (again, by October I could change my mind and want my child to share my birthday 10-1).  This has been my easiest first trimester, with more (not complete) energy and only feeling sick at night, usually after the kiddos are in bed.  We're super excited!  The older 2 kiddos are excited, though they don't understand that they're going to have to wait a LONG TIME until the baby comes.  They're ready to have a baby RIGHT NOW.