Weekly Menu

(Sorry to all y'all who wanted an update on our latest trip to Montgomery, Alabama. It's getting late and I have a movie to watch tonight while Matt is downstairs playing poker. I will post the good stuff tomorrow.)

Sunday: Lebanese Chicken Pita Salad & can of soup
(I made this yesterday and it was awesome. Matt and I loved it. The kids ate the pita bread, chicken and some of the tomatoes...with time they will learn to enjoy the salad part too.)
Monday: Chickpea and Feta Cheese Salad over whole wheat couscous
(I made this tonight and it was good. I couldn't find the recipe on-line but it's basically salad greens, chickpeas, and feta tossed with a lemon zest/juice, garlic & olive oil dressing served over couscous.)
Tuesday: Sauteed Pork with Peaches & roasted potatos
Wednesday: Tomato, Avocado, and Black Bean Tacos & frozen veggies
Thursday: Onion-Smothered Sirloin Steak & mashed potatos & salad
Friday: Red Snapper with Easy Pesto Sauce & bizkits
Saturday: Asian Vegetables in Coconut Curry over rice
Sunday: New Orleans-Style Chicken and bizkits

(all recipes from my "Weight Watchers in 20 Minutes" cookbook)

We have a new nephew/cousin...

Welcome to the world baby Crisstopher Jackson!

7 lbs 13 oz, 20 3/4 inches

He is accompanied by his parents Todd and Jennifer

(Jennifer is Matt's sister... and isn't she looking A-mazing?!!)

Rumor has it they are going to call the precious boy C.J. (for his first and middle initial) however, I'd like to take this opportunity to suggest he be called JAX.

Jax is one of my most favorite characters (dare I say FRIEND) from General Hospital.

Think about it, okay?!

While my sister-in-law was giving birth, the kids and I carried on as usual.

Lauren dressed up as a beautiful "Southern Belle"

with white gloves and all!

Lauren and Tyler played very well together for most of the morning.

At one point Lauren made Tyler boiling mad though. I think she said she didn't want to play

Mr. Potato Head anymore.

Tyler erupted.

Tyler has suddenly began a stage of not being able to control his anger. When Lauren didn't want to play Mr. Potato Head with him he yelled, cried and threw himself on the floor and refused to calm down.

This reaction was so new that I didn't know what to do. In the future he will be directed to the "naughty chair."

I do remember Lauren going through a phase where she would scream in anger when she was mad. If I remember right the phase didn't last very long and I hope Tyler gets over it just as quick.

Soon after the Mr. Potato Head incident Kylie's Mom came to pick Lauren up for a play-date with Kylie. While Lauren was playing at Kylie's house I made sure to play Mr. Potato Head with my favorite boy until it was time for his nap.

About 2 hours into the play-date I received a call from Kylie's mom saying Lauren cut her hand on a toy and wanted to call me. (She also said that the wound was not bad, not even bleeding, but Lauren was still very upset.)

On the phone I talked my little drama queen down from this "oh-so-serious" situation.

It went something like this.

Me: "Hi Baby, are you okay?

L: (sniffles and the "I'm about to cry" sounds)

Me: I hear you got a little cut but that everything is okay.

L: yes, ma'am

Me: Do you need a band-aid?

L: NO!, ma'am

Me: Do you want me to come pick you up right now?

L: no, ma'am

Me: Are you ready to go play with Kylie again?

L: yes, ma'am

Me: Okay, put Kylie's Mom back on the phone. I love you.

I feel bad for Ms Diane because I'm sure Lauren had an absolute meltdown. She is quite the drama queen and I am a bit hesitant to admit she gets that from me. (Cuz I'm so cool and laid-back.) I'm thinking it must come from Matt's side. Any thoughts?

Lauren ended up playing with Kylie for the rest of the scheduled play-date.

On my way to pick her up I stopped by Publix and bought some chicken breasts for Matt to grill on the BBQ. I didn't do a weekly menu since we will be leaving for Montgomery tomorrow.

Here's Matt's new chimney starter.

While he grilled the chicken, the kids (at my suggestion) kept him company out on the back deck.

In the meantime, I roasted some potatoes, tomatoes and olives (the recipe called for Kalamatas but all I had was green olives.) The entire meal was delish-us.

I love the flavor of grilled chicken!!

Even the kids cleaned their plates.

After dinner we cleaned up the house, put a few puzzles together and then sent the kids to bed.

Currently Matt is in the basement with his Monday Night Poker Buddies and I am watching the heart-wrenching documentary titled "4 Little Girls." So sad. So sad!

weekend recap...I'll try to make it sound interesting.

Tyler told me the engine on the TV is named Mavis.

It seemed fitting to get a shot of "Tyler the Train Conductor" (or "Engine Caller" as Tyler kept calling himself) watching a Thomas the Train show on TV.

Saturday we hung out at home. Matt made us a scrambled egg and bacon breakfast. It was good except for the bacon. I bought the 'uncured' bacon from Trader Joes and it just wasn't nearly salty enough for us. What can I say we are sodium freaks when it comes to our bacon.

A good hour after breakfast I took advantage of the cloud cover and went for a humid 3.5 mile jog around our neighborhood. I did 3.5 miles in 34 minutes...which means I average less than a 10 minute mile. Yay! This was my last LONG run before my 5k race I'll be running next Saturday.

For dinner on Saturday,

I made Spinach Fettuccine with Tomato-Soy Ragu.

Everyone loved this.

Matt devoured his pasta and his sauce.

I waited until he was on the last bite to tell him that the "sausage" in the sauce was actually "soy protein crumbles."

(it was a meatless meal night...whatcha gonna do?)

Of course after I told him (and ONLY after I told him) did he say that he could tell something was different and next time I should just leave the protein crumbles out.

Silly Boy.

Lauren and her spinach fettucine mustache.

After dinner we went to Saturday service at church. This was the first service at the brand spanking new church. It's been a few years in the making and we felt proud to be able to attend. It was huge and spacious and the children's area was amazing.

After the kids were in bed Matt and I watched Taken. We were both enthralled and taken aback by the movie. In the end though we decided we would do the same thing if anyone kidnapped one of our kids.

Today, Sunday, we hung out around the house. It was a beautifully hot day so we filled up the kiddie pool and played in it for awhile.

I didn't take any pictures of the kids while they were playing but I did take a picture of the grass they left in the pool.

See the chair? That's where I sat with my new book while the kids played in the pool.
We played until Lauren clocked Tyler (TWICE) in the head with a hard pool toy.
After that it was Time For A Nap.
After nap the kids played in the sandbox.

Tyler wouldn't smile when I asked but he was more than willing to stick his tongue out when I suggested doing that.

I wanted to document Lauren's "favorite outfit." She told me it was her favorite shirt, her favorite pants and her favorite socks (which she found in Tyler's room.)

Doesn't she look awesome?!!

the Crocs most definitely add to the ensemble

This afternoon Matt took a trip to Home Depot to use up some gift cards which have been burning a hole in his pocket.

He bought some stuff to get the basement shower ready to tile. Hardie-Backer and the Shower Pan Membrane. The bathroom down there is definitely coming along...slow but steady.

Here's Matt looking super HOT in his safety glasses.

While he was working hard, I also worked hard. I made dinner from my 20 Minute Meals cookbook (again) while listening to XM Radio channel 56...the (for a limited time) Dave Matthew's Band station.

Dinner was good and it also (just barely) passed the Matt test. He said it was Almost too salty...but not quite. He's quite the critic, no?

Tilapia with Spicy Tomato Sauce over brown rice & a bizkit

I loved this meal but you'll be hard pressed to find a meal that I don't like

...unless of course...

it contains peanuts of any form: wal-NUTS, pine-NUTS, almond-NUTS, coco-NUTS etc. etc.

Currently the kids are in the bathtub and later tonight Matt and I will watch

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on our Blu-Ray.

Tomorrow he goes into work and then Tuesday the family will accompany him on a work trip to Montgomery, Alabama.

If any of y'all have ever been to Montg'mery and have any suggestions...

please send them my way.

maybe a good title will come to me as I type this post

Thursday morning (after the sneaky snack break) I dragged the kids to K-Mart. I needed to buy a couple of cheap pillows to fill my new King Size pillow shams I recently bought for the guest bedroom. This trip to K-mart and especially the fact that my children performed WWE Wrestling while in the store brought back memories from my past. I remember INSISTING that I remain in the car while my Mom did her K-Mart shopping. (for fear someone from school would see me.)

Why, oh why, is it not okay anymore to leave the kids in the car while I do some quick and painless shopping?

Since I couldn't leave them in the car, I eventually succumbed to their begging and pleading and ended up buying them a $7 Slip-n-Slide. (to my credit, however, I was planning on buying them this ever since playgroup at Ms Carey's house.)

After our K-mart trip/fiasco we picked up Kylie (Lauren's friend from school) to come home with us to play. The three kiddos were on the go the entire time so I was amazed that I actually got this shot of the 3 of them sitting still on the sofa.

Lauren had so much fun playing with Kylie that she can't wait until they can get together again. Maybe this coming Monday.

This morning I woke up with the kids. (no way were they going to have free range of the pantry!!)

We played some dress up this morning. Tyler dressed himself as a Southern Belle.

(have I mentioned he needs some little boy friends?)

and Lauren discovered another pair of sparkly pink flip-flops for her to wear.

she also found one of my old watches to decorate her outfit.
I've been waiting for this day when she wants to accessorize with my old jewelry.

Lauren wore the watch to Trader Joe's today.
The closest Trader Joes is about 30 minutes away from our house. We tend to visit every Friday to take advantage of their low prices on cereal, bananas, chicken sausage, bacon, vanilla soy milk, agave nectar and of course, vino. I love Trader Joe's and can't wait until they come to their senses and open a store much closer to my house.

This evening, while I cooked dinner, I sent Matt out to set up the Slip-n-Slide for the kids. Even though it was only 77 degrees, mostly a cloud cover and a chilly breeze...the kids didn't care. They had a blast sliding down the hill on the slip-n-slide.

Apparentally they became thirsty after all their playing.

Dinner tonight was Spiced Turkey Burgers with Yogurt and Chutney.

I served it with Brown Rice and Sauteed Mushrooms.

It was DeLish.

isn't the picture below too cool? Lauren, absolutely DID NOT catch the ball like this but what an AWESOME shot?!

I believe this is a picture right after Tyler threw a super fast shot right into one of my potted plants.

Daddy's trying to teach him a lesson here. =)

I don't know what Lauren is doing here....

(she did dress herself after changing out of her swimsuit)

Tyler, however, changed himself into a Train Conductor.

He was busy on his "Walkie Talkie" for the rest of the evening.

And since I haven't come up with a better title for this post, please don't think I'll come up with a creative ending. All you're going to get is a...

And that's ALL FOLKS.

chocolate carrot sticks

The kids woke up this morning at 7am sharp. Tyler had actually opened his door a couple of times earlier to check if Lauren was up yet. He'd go back in his room after seeing her door still closed.

They came in and snuggled with me for a bit and then decided to go play downstairs. 20 minutes later when I came downstairs Tyler told me they had a snack. I asked what kind of snack and Lauren looked guilty while she told me they had a giant chocolate chip and also a chocolate carrot stick. Due to the guilty look I knew it wasn't play food. A quick glance in the garbage told me they had a Hershey Kiss and a Tootsie Roll each.

Sneaky. I reminded them of the (new) rule that we don't have snacks until after breakfast.

let's play catch-up

Last Saturday Matt mowed a race-car track in our back yard. Tyler kept a close eye on the race car.
Later that evening we had a BBQ.
In the South, however, it is NOT called a BBQ. If you say BBQ you are met with rolled eyes and laughter.
The correct term is a grill-out or a cook-out depending on the number of guests and number of dishes. Who knew?!
Anyway here is part of the spread for our grill-out. Hamburgers and Hot Dogs and a number of side dishes and desserts.
After we finished eating we took the party down to the basement.

Buddy and Dana

Dana and meBuddy and Mary

an after dinner hoe-down

the older boys chose to watch a movie instead of danceMr. Gabriel

The next day... Tyler and Lauren played some dress-up.

Matt wanted me to mention that he had some hesitation while taking this picture.

I think Tyler looks great...he just needs some boys to play with...pretty darn quick. =)

Monday we recieved the video of Lauren's dance recital. It was fun to watch, especially for Matt since he had to miss the actual recital.

Lauren made the back cover. I used my cool new camera to draw an arrow right to her.

Yesterday we caught up on some computer time.

Dinner was from my Weight Watchers 20 Minute Meals Cookbook.

Potato Pierogies with Wild Mushroom Sauce and sauteed asparagus. YUMM.

After dinner we went to Rita's for some Italian Ice and Frozen Custard.

The best part was sitting by the fountain on such a beautiful and warm evening.

whatever this kid wants...he gets!

Today was our weekly Playgroup get-together. We met at Ms Carey's house and she set up the slip-n-slide.

Tons and Tons and Tons of FUN!

Dinner tonight was Cornmeal-Crusted Chicken with Nectarine-Basil Salsa. I don't have a picture but I found a link to a recipe which was VERY close. I cooked up a number of veggies from my fridge as side dishes since Matt informed me he has a surprise in store for us tomorrow which includes dinner.

I can't wait.

Since the kiddos ate such a good dinner

they got to enjoy the Ice-Cream Truck when it came around. Lauren chose a Tweety Bird ice-cream bar and Tyler chose a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (yes, they still make them!) ice-cream bar which thoroughly stained his face.

A perfect evening if you ask my children.