smarty pants

This kid likes learning.

Lily asks all the time to "do learning" she really enjoys flash cards, letters, writing, math, anything you teach her. She prefers to count in Spanish over English because she says "English is too hard for me." She also prefers Spanish colors to English. I hope her preschool teachers know some Spanish.

The other day she called me over to look at what she was learning (independent study) and she showed me this.
I believe she started writing her name and then just kept going with any letter she could think of. Then she drew a person. She was very proud of herself and wanted her picture taken with her board.

We'll see if she's still so interested in learning when she actually starts school in the fall.

It's funny how different the ladies personalities are. Ava could care less about learning. She'd rather be doing something outside. Ava can't write her name yet so if she needs her name written on something Lily does it for her. I think this may also be a problem in the fall.

project

We did a project yesterday. I handed out glue sticks and construction paper and cut out words and pictures from an old magazine. I put all the pieces in the middle of the table and let the girls choose. This was great fun for me considering they can't read and were choosing words strictly on color, size, and font.

This is the result.

ugly shoes

I love Hanna Andersson.

If I had my way every piece of clothing my kids wore would be Hanna. I love the simplicity of the fabrics and the bright, childish, colors. I love the lack of embellishments. I do not love the prices, but I really think it's a you get what you pay for kind of a thing.

I have bought several of their dresses for myself because I'm a dress person in the summertime. Simple, cool, easy. Perfect. I also have one pair of shoes from Hanna; a pair of leopard print clogs that I love.

But these? I just don't get these. I think I'm going to buy them for Anne. Something about them screams Anne to me. Maybe it's the heel? I just can't put my finger on it. Is it the buckle?

http://www.hannaandersson.com/style.asp?from=SC%7C4%7C7%7C237%7C306%7C7%7C83%7C4&simg=15234_128

food boredom

Alright Anne, here you go.

I think I need to spend a little time with my cookbooks this afternoon and get some new recipes to try. Even though this week I've tried two new ones (both were really good) I am still just bored with food. The only thing that usually gets me out of a rut like this is a trip to Whole Foods (there isn't one here) or Trader Joe's (there is one!) or a brand spanking new cookbook/ food mag.

Oddly enough the only food that sounds good is Greek, Ethiopian and German, how about that combo eh? I looked up the recipe for naan bread and it just looked like too much work. I'm pretty sure there is no Ethiopian restaurant in this part of Ohio so I think I'm pretty much SOL. German I can do but that would require a big fat trip to the grocery store and I am avoiding that place right now, same with Greek. However I am going to make a big fat Greek meal when my friends are here next week. I am going to attempt to make skordahlia, I friggin love that stuff.

Ok, so, some foods...

1. Blue Pasta Salad- I made this the other night for dinner with T&K Pack. It was well received. A friend gave me the recipe after she brought it to my house for dinner. I changed it slightly. This salad looks crazy boring but let me tell you it's got a kick. It also looks nasty as hell the next day but still tastes good (it's the avocado). You defiantely have to make it fresh. (too spicy for my kids)

2 Avocados
1 tomato (cherry or grape tomatoes work well too)
1 red onion
2 T Olive oil (I used more)
Chopped garlic
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 oz Blue cheese crumbles
spaghetti

Cook, drain, and cool the spaghetti. Chop up all the junk and toss everything together. Add the avocado last and toss one more time.

2. Curry chicken salad with smoked almonds- Just make chicken salad how you normally would but add in lots of curry powder and smoked almonds. Smoked almonds are awesome by the way. Try them in a trail mix kind of situation with raisins and m&m's.

3. Chocolate frozen custard with marshmallow and peanut butter. I really don't have to explain myself here do I? Culver's two scoop sundae.

4. Zucchini Casserole- I was given this recipe by a friends Aunt. I was intrigued after hearing them rave about it and had to try it myself. My kids wouldn't eat it but Jer and I devoured it and both had it the next day for lunch. It reheats really well. I didn't add carrots cause I didn't have any and it was fab.

4 C. diced zucchini squash
¾ C. shredded carrots
½ C. chopped onion
½ C. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 C. Pepperidge Farms Stuffing Mix (cubes)
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
6 Tablespoons margarine
1 lb. Hot Sausage (Bob Evans) – or mild if you are wimpy
Cook & drain sausage, and set aside.
Sauté onion, carrots and zucchini in margarine.
Combine all ingredients and put in a pan sprayed with Pam.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20 – 30 minutes, until bubbly in the center.

5. Orzo, Parm, and Basil- this is one of those sides that is super simple, goes with everything, and looks kinda fancy. When we lived in CO there was a pasta lady at the local farmer's market and we were able to get orzo in every flavor imaginable. She had an orzo mix that was so great with this recipe: chestnut, squash, and spinach, yum. I miss her and her orzo... (my kids love this stuff btw)

1 C Orzo Pasta
2 T butter
1 can chix broth
½ C grated parm cheese
2 tsp dried basil (I always sub Oregano and it's good)
1/8 tsp black pepper

In a large skillet, sauté orzo in butter for 3-5 minutes until lightly browned
Stir in broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, simmer for 10-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and orzo is tender. Stir in parm, basil and pepper

6. Tuna Cakes- Yeah, I know. Not exciting. But seriously the kids eat 'em up and sometimes it's nice to eat something in happy silence without the kids bitching cause they don't like it. Especially when you're having a rough kid day, ya know.

2 cans (6 oz. each) light tuna in water, drained, flaked
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise
(the original recipe had shredded carrots and pickle relish in it so feel free to add that weird shiz if you feel the need)

Mix everything and use an ice cream scoop and a frying pan. Easy peasy. Don't screw with them until they are ready to flip or they will fall apart on you. You're going for a grilled cheese kind of golden. If you don't have a griddle or huge ass frying pan you will have to do them in small batches. Throw a plate in the oven set to warm and just keep adding them to the plate so they don't get cold and soggy.

it's about to get crazy

I was just looking over my calendar and planning out my to-do's for the week when I realized that this is the calm before the storm. I have a lot of shiz to get done -and don't want to do any of it- before this weekend.

-My SIL just informed us she's coming for a day or two starting on Saturday. I may have to bitch about this later, I'm trying to remember if my husband gave my blog to his family...

-Sometime around the 3rd of June our good friends Harry and Theresa are coming to stay with us for a couple of days. I am so excited. Theresa and I have known each other since we were born and over the last few years have gotten pretty close again.

-Then we have Strawberry Festival. One of the big reasons we picked Troy and decided to live in the Historic District. I have prepared myself with not one but TWO strawberry outfits for my kids. Why you ask? Because that's how I roll. BTW, they will not actually be dressed as strawberries. Laugh all you want. No really, it's fine. It has been my experience that if you have cute matching twins you get free shit and people let you go first a lot. Old people eat it up.

-A day or two after Strawberry Festival the girls and I head to WI and then on to MN to see my new niece Tess Amelia, I am looking forward to holding a baby again. I'm not sure what that will do for my baby fever. We'll have to wait and see I guess. Then we'll be attending my cousins graduation party and heading back to WI. Also included in that trip will be celebrating my parents birthdays and Father's Day. Any ideas as to what I should buy them?

-Here's the kicker. When we come home from WI (on the 16th of June) we will have a teenager with us. Our niece (J's Sister's daughter) will be staying with us until the fourth of July. Brenna will be 14 this year. I have a lot to say on this topic in another post. I am thrilled that she will be here with us and I'm looking forward to spending time with her. I am also hoping and praying to God that she won't turn into some crazy hormone witch while she's here. We have a lot of fun stuff planned and I hope we all still get along when it's time for her to go.

-and then I'm turning 30 on the 14th of July

frozen fruit "ice cream"

This stuff is a great to make on a hot night before bedtime. It's super easy and reasonably good for you. I'm sorry I don't have any actual measurements for you, it's one of those things that you just have to make up as you go along. I have tried just about every kind of frozen fruit (peaches, strawberries, blueberries, mixtures) and all of them work except blackberries, the seeds were just too big so the texture was icky.

Start with the ingredients pictured below. Throw the bag of frozen fruit (straight from the freezer) into a food processor. Add about 1/2 cup of yogurt (you'll probably end up adding more), one teaspoon of vanilla, and a little bit of sugar. The sugar is totally personal taste, you may not even want to add any. Some fruits don't need it, other's do.

Just process until it resembles ice cream and the big chunks of fruit are gone. (Or not if that's your thing) Last night I got a little carried away with the yogurt and it ended up a little too thin.
I probably used about two tablespoons of sugar in this batch and it was plenty.

I have never tried to freeze this stuff because there is never any left. So if you try it and have success freezing it let me know.

rite of passage

We took the girls fishing on Saturday. They're actually really good at casting, but we've never let them have a hook or bait. Saturday we decided we'd let them fish with us, hopefully we'd catch something and we'd let them land it.

This is what happened

Ava named the fish AK. AK as in the gun? AK as in Alaska? Who knows. They loved fishing and are already asking when we're going back again. I think soon, considering there is a box of live worms in the fridge right now.

The ladies also reached a big milestone. They took their first pee in the woods.

new door

While the plumbers were working on moving all of the plumbing in the bathroom the contractors did a side project. They replaced the side door on the landing. We found out accidentally that the old one didn't lock correctly, so it became a priority. All of the wood was rotten and had water damage. It was a lot bigger project than we originally thought it would be. We got the doors at Menards. Nothing is painted yet but someday soon...

i'm done now

With Jer gone this week has been long and tiresome. It started out really good and has slowly gone downhill. I am ready for him to come home now and for me to leave for an hour, or five. I would also like to talk to a person and not be interrupted by a whiny child. I am so sick of never being able to have a complete conversation.

At least I got to talk to my honey this morning for a little bit before another meeting. Tonight he's going to our friends house for dinner and I'm jealous.

I would also appreciate a break in the rain today just long enough to go for a walk or else we'll be walking in the rain. I can not take the inside of this house any longer.

Wouldn't it be great if contractor's were also babysitters?

good song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE7rkSELM3I

This song will get stuck in your head and make you buy two albums on itunes. Proceed with caution.

the salmon recipe plus some more

Orange-Glazed Salmon
3 T Cajun Spice
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
4 boneless, skinless salmon fillets (6oz each)
2T Veggie oil
1/4 C orange marmalade
1 T lime juice

Combine cajun spice, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and rub mixture on all surfaces of the fish. Saute fillets in oil over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes, turn and saute an additional 2-3 minutes.
Blend marmalade and lime juice; swirl in pan until melted. Carefully turn fish to glaze on all sides. The salmon is done when it begins to flake easily with a fork.

My note: This was a bit too spicy for my kids, but great for adults. I think the next time I make this I'll coat the kids with a tiny bit of the seasoning instead of the full amount.


Charbroiled Salmon
1 cup soy sauce
2 T red wine
½ t ground ginger
½ t ground black pepper
2 lbs salmon steaks

Combine in a large re-sealable plastic bag and squeeze out excess air, refrigerate for no less than two hours.

Grill at 400-500 for 7 minutes on meat side first, then flip to skin side for 6 minutes


Parmesan baked Salmon
¼ C Real Mayo
2T Parm cheese
1/8 t ground pepper
4 Salmon fillets, skin removed
2 t lemon juice
10 ritz crackers crushed

Heat oven to 400. Mix mayo, cheese and pepper until well blended, set aside

Place salmon on foil lined shallow baking pan. Drizzle with lemon juice. Top with cheese mixture; spread to evenly cover salmon. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork

a yummy post

Anne and Deb said they wanted another food post. So yesterday I decided we would have a nice dinner. Of course those days are always the ones my husband is home late. Good thing I knew better and didn't start cooking until he was 15 minutes from home. I was going to make Herbed Lentils with Rice to go with this but we ran out of time.

The menu:
-Orange Glazed Salmon (I got the recipe from one of those junk mail cookbook teaser things) it's actually spicy and sweet, very yummy.
-Tomato stuff that I don't have a name for cause I made it up. I serve it with bread or pita chips. Ingredients include: Feta, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, olive oil, garlic

Ava and Lily were not fans. They usually eat Salmon but this is a bit too spicy for them. Jer tried to get them to eat it by telling them it was his secret recipe. Ava said to me this morning "Momma, I don't like Daddy's secret recipe. I never want to taste it again"

If you want the recipes I'll post them. I am too lazy to do it right now.

annoyed, sorta

Hubby will be gone all week next week, Monday through Friday, for work. I can't remember where he's going, it doesn't even really matter. Then he'll be home late Friday night, here Saturday, and then leaves again on Sunday afternoon for another week somewhere else.

I hate when trips are back to back. It's even worse that Lily is so attached to him right now. She wakes up every morning and asks where Daddy is. We've taught her the days of the week so she knows when the weekend will be here and he'll be home. She is going to be a mess on Sunday when he leaves again after just getting home.

Not to mention the fact that we're under construction right now. I'm betting I end up doing all of the painting by myself while he's gone. It'll probably be finished when he's gone so he won't get to see it until much later.

I suppose I should count my lucky stars that he's not living in Korea by himself for a year like he would be if he had stayed in the military. Or I could just be happy he has a job he likes that pays all the bills. But instead I just want to bitch about how I hate feeling like a single mom every few weeks when he leaves and I have to pick up the emotional pieces of the Lila Bean.

I better get started on figuring out what I'm going to do with them to keep them (and myself) distracted.

Ok, I'm done.

top 10 for the week

1. My bed, it was a pain in the ass to get into the house but it's proven to be a keeper.
2. My porch swing
3. Sangria
4. Plants/Flowers/Trees that live outside and I don't have to water
5. That damned brown sugar ice cream.
6. After dinner walks with the family
7. My dogs ears
8. Parties
9. Patsy Cline
10. BB King

notice anything amiss?

If you saw my last post and the picture of our backyard in Colorado you know that trees are not common. The only trees we had were the tiny sticks someone would try to plant and then, when they had consumed hundreds of dollars worth of water would die anyway. We pretty much had tree skeletons everywhere. It was the most depressing place we have ever lived.

(Disclaimer: There are trees in CO. I swear, I've seen some. Just not where we used to live)

When the girls became able to communicate and we would drive to Wisconsin to visit our family they would get so excited to see trees and green. It would start in Nebraska with corn, Iowa with corn and trees, IL ramped up the green, and then finally Wisconsin. Hills, green, trees...ah, home.

I can actually remember Ava saying "Whas dat?" while pointing up to a canopy of leaves we were driving under. I remember thinking to myself, we have got to get out of here.

We were outside a good chunk of yesterday working and playing. I had one of the girls on me laying back in the swing and looking up into our gigantic maple tree. I turned to my husband and thanked him for moving us here.

The ladies have become dandelion experts. They just don't know that they are called dandelions. I've tried to tell them but they prefer to call them yellow flowers. They pick and sniff all.day.long. Which brings us to our next set of pictures. Notice anything wrong here? I was rolling my tongue and Lily was trying to do it too.

Let's get closer. This is what Ava does when you roll your tongue in her general direction. Notice anything?

Isn't this the saddest face? All I did was tell the kid to smile, I swear. Notice the dandelion nose? My kids have had a dandelion nose everyday that we were able to go outside this week.

Oh, and this is not a dandelion either. This is a "wish." As in "Momma, Momma, wishes!"

look at what I got

Part of the fun in moving in the middle of winter is you have to wait and see what kind of yard you will have in the spring. We were told the previous owners had done a lot of planting. Still, you never know what you're going to get.

We are starting to find out. In a big way. I am up to my eyeballs in green here people and I'm loving every minute of it! Colorado.....not so green. I know, I know. But the mountains? The lakes? I'm sure they exist, just not where we used to live in Strasburg, CO. Here's a picture...

Ok, back to the pretty. My parents have Lily of the Valley growing next to their house and I always loved them. I just love how dainty and un-flowerlike they look. I love the color of the leaf against the super white of the flower. They just make me say, ahh. I always said I wanted them in "our next house."

And here they were, waiting for me. ALL over my house! I am so glad we moved!

you have got to try this stuff

I made an impulse purchase last weekend at the grocery store.

http://www.haagendazs.com/products/five.aspx

I bought the brown sugar flavor and it.is.so.fucking.good you have to try it. I dare you. I double dog dare you. Did you notice preggo friends that it also comes in ginger, maybe y'all should try that one and see if it puts a stop to all that puking you're doing. Then you can try the brown sugar...seriously.

I had to go back to the store a couple nights ago to buy more. Did you see that's it's also lower fat! I don't know how, but hey, works for me.

Go forth and report back.

my agenda for the night

"I am so glad it's the weekend."

I think I probably say that every Friday, though as a SAHM of kids that are too young for school, my days are really all the same. Regardless of the letters that come before the word ____day. I still wake up with the girls, feed, and clothe the girls, and then put them to bed. The only thing different is having a husband in the mix.

Which leads me to my plans for the night. My husband will be home late, I don't know why, I didn't pay attention. I called him and informed him that we were having a date tonight. There will be no reservations or babysitters involved. No tickets to buy or people to tip. No bartenders, strangers, friends, neighbors, just us.

Sometimes we get wrapped up in other responsibilities and obligations. We have a tendency to be so exhausted by the time the ladies are in bed that we just veg in front of our computers or video games. We get lost in books or homework instead of hanging out together.

While the days of all nighters, clubs, and house parties are long gone we still have a great time together. He is my best friend and the person who is my exact opposite. I mean, the guy actually likes math, what the hell is with that?

So tonight after we put the ladies to bed we will watch LOST, eat some unhealthy yummy food and I will kick his ass at Boggle. He will then try to convince me to play Stratego and I will claim that he has an unfair advantage in that particular game, since he has military experience and can read my mind. Maybe we'll even sit outside on the porch swing and have a drink.

It's going to be a great night.