Hanging out...

I walked by the children's bathroom last night and found this. I thought it was so funny.

The Luau

We had our luau today and it was fun..I made the best ever kabobs(even if I humbly say so myself), there was salsa, an Arabic meat dish called 'Gus', beer bread with this amazing garlic dip, and the most chocolaty brownies, that were so moist and chewy.you couldn't just eat one. Well maybe it was just me, cause I had two pieces of that heavenly sweet. I had a few sips of a strawberry daiquiri..not into it I guess. Also for the first time I chatted with some of my tenants, that I've only said hello to in passing. They are so nice. They are all into renicanse and mid evil stuff. The guy even brought out some 16th century fencing swords..he also had some daggers, but didn't bring those out. They showed pictures of them 'renewing their vow' in a beautiful mid evil ceremony. It was really cool. I am actually going to go with them in October to help cook a mid evil feast for about 70ish people..is around All Hallows Eve..I think on October 27th..not sure. But i will be outfitted in a cool getup. Fun..can't wait. It is actually called a Harvest Festival..do to different religious people who don't celebrate Halloween or something. Anyway, should be totally fun. I love to cook. So learning to cook with methods that were used in that era is going to be neat.
Well off to bed I go..
P.S. I totally forgot to take pictures..Oh well...

Saturday Yummies...

Today I made home-made clam chowder for Justin. I have made this once before and i didn't like it. This time I used a different brand of clams. I actually liked it alot. Justin liked the first batch better. Lily even gobbled some up. The first batch was to fishy tasty for me. I am not a huge fan of fish. He's the one who wanted the chowder in the first place.

Second I made a beef and rice casserole and it was splendid. This could actually be used for nachos or a burrito. Yummy.

Some of my tenants wanted to have a Luau at the pool. So today is the day. There will be tiki torches, grass skirts and frozen drinks. I am making chicken kabobs. There will also be beef,burgers and dogs for the kids..(don't think their palate is developed enough to appreciate kabobs just yet). I am doing 2 batches of kabobs...one with terriayki and peppers,onions, mushrooms..the other I marinate the chicken in Italian dressing and some of the veggies. That is my favorite. Its so tasty. I am going to have only one drink. Justin is having zero..not even beer. He is on a diet and doing so good! I am so proud..he is really keeping at it and won't budge, there is no more beer in the house. I am starting too. Here are some pictures of the dishes I made Saturday. I will post Luau pictures later.

Wondering the neighborhood....

Its muggy, sticky, icky and downright nasty. So we decided to go out and about the neighbor look for our insect friends. Jack equipped with his water bottle, Lily sporting her net and bug container.

Jack squirted us, the ground, trash cans and peoples parked cars. He loves to squirt things. He hates to be squirted though. He likes to swim, but hate it when I get him wet with the hose. Go figure. Lily found a red and black beetle. We examined it and then Lily let it go. When we got back I took Lily swimming. Jack was just content to sit at the table and of course, squirt her with that water bottle. Justin gets home about 3ish today, then we are going to watch 300...finally. We were going to watch it the other day, but i forget why we didn't. Oh well. Justin asked Lily to 'babysit' Jack while we attempt to watch it. Basically that means she plays with him in her room or his room while we are in the living room. But it never really works out because they always come out here for a snack..then there is inevitably a fight, then Jack has to poop, then Lily needs a drink. You get the picture. Lily still gets her $5. At least she tries. It usually works for about 20 minutes. Oh well.

Tonight's dinner is baked chicken with thyme and rosemary..steamed broccoli and sweet potatoes. Oh so good. I am not looking forward to turning on the oven though because it is too hot. Maybe we'll do something else.

Anyhoo..happy Friday!

Shoe Store Chaos!

I went with my dear friend to Payless last night and we took the kids. Jack found some girlie red shoe that he was obsessed with for about a half hour. He promptly removed his sneakers and slipped them on. He thought they looked like fire trucks. And they were red. He LOVES firetrucks and he LOVES red. Every morning when he eats his bowl of strawberry hemp granola, he has to have 'the red spoon'. If I don't give it to him, he goes into hysterics and has a complete meltdown. Even if it is dirty or in the dishwasher, I have to clean it and give it to him. I much rather do that and avoid the drama that early in the morning. Oh well. Lily found some black boots..and she also wanted some airwalks shoes. Not to mention there was *gasp* High School Musical shoes too! OH my! I ended up buying Lily the black boots and a white Nike look alike sneaker. Maybe for her bday she'll get the the airwalks and/or Bratz shoes. (I forgot to mention they were there too..cute lil velcro ones). Its crazy how these girls are so into style and fashion and at the ripe 'ol age of 8. (Lily will be 8 in September).

I didn't find anything for the little one. Sorry hun, no firetruck shoes today. So there you have it folks, my very exciting blog about shopping with tweens for shoes. Fun times yo!

P.S.

Lily got those boots becasue she thinks they make her look like Lara Craft from Tomb Raider. She loves that game. She often pretends that she is Lara on some sort of exotic adventure. Its so freaking cute, its disgusting!

Thursday Dinner

I made this beef and broccoli dish tonight served it over some fried rice. I added a bunch of other veggies too. Success! Lily had to pick out the green and red bell peppers, also she didn't like the celery, *whatever* so picky these days, sheesh. The boys seemed to like it.

In a few minutes I am off to go with a friend shoe shopping..(I wish it was for me!) but Ms. Lily won't stop growing and i am having to buy her bigger things. We will take the girls (she also has a daughter a year older than Lily, they are totally BFF, its cute) to the shoe store than we must hit Starbucks for our Thursday Chai. I may take the camera to document two tweens going wild over Cheetah Girl Boots and Bratz Sandals...stay tuned!

Salt Dough Bakers...

I was going to make bread with the children today, but I apparently suck at that. So..a net friend suggested salt dough. Brilliant! We got all the stuff together and the kids had a blast. Lily swears she is going to be a baker. Awesome.

We made a bunch of butterfly shapes with a nifty cookie cutter and some random other shapes(still not sure what I am going to do with those) We baked them for about 20 minutes and let them cool. Then we painted them and poked holes and used my knitting yarn to hang them. It was fun. I am so making our holiday ornaments this year with that. Thanks B!!

Here are the pictures I took with the kids hard at work! Oh ya, Lily also used some of it to create a cute little sculpture. Its mushrooms in a forest with a pond. I love it to pieces! Its adorable!