Today's creations

Joseph plays webkinz while Isabelle bakes banana bread for her teacher!

Mom!

Ok, I'll smile, but my arms are already tired from all that swimming today!

Twelve Years

We went out for dinner to celebrate twelve years together!

Tasty Pasta Dish

I came across this recipe on the blog Gluten Free Gobsmacked. We try to avoid gluten as much as possible. It doesn't seem to agree with most of us. However, this recipe can be made with regular wheat pasta with no problem. If you use gluten free pasta, I think Tinkyada is the best brand, hands down!

I used just canned tomotoes, because I didn't have any fresh ones in the fridge. Substituting sausage instead of ground beef. I believe they were bratwursts actually. I cooked the sausages and then cut them in half lengthwise and then into little bite size pieces. I also did not have any mozerella, so I put in half a carton of sour cream instead. It was very delicious, and made enough for two meals.

Collard Greens are in!

Our garden grew some very pretty collards.

We ar going to cook these and freeze them already cooked.

There are about twice as many as you can see in the picture.

Yummy!

Mothers Day

A Pretty Dress

Every month the new Anthropologie catalog arrives in the mail, and I drool over it! Why do they want to charge so much for their products? Unfair! Thankfully they do not carry this particular dress in petite sizes, so I know it is never a possibility to think of buying it! I really need to get my sewing skills up to speed! It would be so fun to make these clothes, and so much easier on the budget too! My current sewing skills are, however, rather elementary.
They also have some of the cutest household items too!

Pinto Beans

I was looking for a new way to prepare pinto beans. I mentioned this to my weekend cook (Brendon) and he found this recipe! I do love the traditional bowl of beans (sometimes with the sliced up sausage thrown in) and a side of cornbread, but this recipe was super tasty and worth trying. He made more than double, so we have another couple of meals in the freezer. I love extra meals that are healthy and only require heating!

A Cartoon by Joseph

Potty humor reigns right now!

Rest assured he is learning his manners!

A neat blog

I found out about a blog called Simple Mom via Sorta Crunchy, which is listed in my sidebar.
It has some really neat ideas in there for your home and menus etc. I don't think she means that we are "simple" though!
http://simplemom.net/
Check it out!

My dish towels stink!

Do you have any good ideas or have you seen anything on the web about how to get rid of the musty smell?
At the moment my dish towels and cloths are all sitting in a heap in the garage, because I can't get the odor out!

Peanut Butter? I prefer Somosa's!!!

You Are Peanut Butter Sandwiches / Do-si-dos

You are easy going and naturally happy. You don't need a lot to make you smile. You genuinely care about people and are a great friend. You're always doing your best to make the world a better place. Even though there isn't an immature bone in your body, you still are like a big kid sometimes. Why make life complicated when the best parts are actually quite simple? You enjoy the small joys of life.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatgirlscoutcookieareyouquiz/">What Girl Scout Cookie Are You?

We're back!

We had a few relaxing days at the beach. The weather was perfect during the day. We could have sat out all day and never gotten too hot. The water was not it's usual beautiful self, like the previous post shows. The first day some algae seaweed came in and turned the water the color of tea. The next following two days were red flag, with big waves and more rip currents than normal. There was a soccer tournament going for kids about 12-14, and when they weren't playing soccer they were in the water giving the life guards fits. I've never heard so many whistles the beach. Anyway, I did not mind the water too much as the weather was so perfect, but normally I am someone who likes to get in and swim around. I don't have too many great picutres because I was lazing around so much!

Isabelle and Joseph

The first day..see the brown water?

Doing some homeschool lessons..yes it's thrilling working at the beach!

Brendon and the rascals fly the kite.

Tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We celebrated Mom's birthday this past Sunday!

You can read more about it here.

Mom and Dad

Freezing....

...the mustard greens.

blanching

After the ice bath.

Ready to go in the freezer!

Garden Update

Our mustard greens were ready to harvest today.

Isabelle pulled them out of the ground!
There she is carrying a bunch!
This is the garlic.
Here are the lettuces.

A flowering strawberry plant.

The Second best Mom!

Last night Joseph said: "You're the second best Mom."

Feeling a little slighted I said, "Oh, really! Just who is the best Mom?"

Joseph: "Mary the mother of Jesus!"

"OH!!"

I'll take that! And, here's hoping he believes that one forever!

Happy Easter!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Isabelle's 9th Birthday!

Isabelle woke up very early to start celebrating her ninth birthday!

She walked into my room and sat on the edge of my bed, and I made no movement because I was very tired from being up late the night before. However, I was awake! Isabelle wanted to make sure I knew she was there, so she gave a few little bounces on the bed! Ha!

Her gifts were waiting for her!

She has been longing for bonsai tree forever and here it is!

Joseph looks on as she opens a present!

The computer age and ds are the rage around here!

Isabelle totally enjoys watching food network. Here she is overseeing Daddy's food preparations!



Her favorite salad: Caprese! (Mmmm..I have to agree!)



Oh yeah..helping Mom bake! I guess!

She requested marble cake with butter cream frosting!
It's vanilla/chocolate on the inside. We cheated and bought decorations!

Talking to the Aussie grandparents!

Dinner is ready. Her other request was fettucini alfredo!

Singing Happy Birthday!

Blowing out the candles!

We had a wild storm last night, so we spent the remaining part of the evening in the basement!

That is the crazy hail coming down.

Joseph's 7'th Birthday!

We all celebrated Joseph's birthday yesterday! Starting at around 6:15 AM!!! Isabelle woke up first and was excited for him! He opened presents in bed first! We have surely reached the lego stage of life!

Joseph requested a vanilla cake with chocolate chips in it. I made it the day before and yesterday we iced it with chocolate cream cheese icing! I sent the rest off to work with Brendon today, because we must not keep evil things (cake!) in our house!


Later on in the evening our good friends came over for pizza and cake! YUMMO!

Singing Happy Birthday!

We love to be silly! That was DK from Mario Kart on his cake!
It was hillarious to lick the chocolate (poop) off of his bottom!
Hahahahahah!

Good night everyone!

Joseph loves smilebox creations, so below is a scrapbook with music of his day!