We've come a long way, baby!

Parker is 5!!!

Wow, not only is Parker in kindergarten, but he is a little 5 year old! As usual, we had a low key birthday celebration. Because Parker started school this week and we are all getting up an hour earlier then normal, we tried to take it easy. Unfortunately, Parker had had it. We only continued the celebration at Camden's insistance.

Parker does not like birthday cake, so I bought birthday cake ice cream and formed it into a little cake. Unfortunately, Parker still thought it was a cake, and this was his reaction: (poor little guy!)

After putting it in a bowl and showing him it was, in fact, ice cream-he was much happier
We then went to open presents, but Parker was ready for bed. Camden wrote Parker a pokemon story and made him some homemade pokemon cards (to him, this is of great value!) He told me he would have bought Parker something, but that he didn't have any money and $1 wasn't enough ;) I guess I really need to start allowance!



Overall, not the best birthday, but oh well! We are having fun hanging out this weekend, so we will make up for it :)

What's for dinner?

So, every week I do what my mommy taught me and make a grocery list with the dinners on one side, and all the ingredients I need to buy at the store on the other. Some weeks it's easy to decide what is for dinner, and some weeks it's hard. So, I thought I would list my weekly dinners, and then you can use the comments section to tell me what you are having and give me some new ideas! I don't pick which days I'm going to have what (since I never know what I'll be in the mood for) and usually have at least one extra dinner planned per week just in case I'm in a rush, or don't feel like something I planned or whatever. I will also include a recipe of the week to share. I made some yummy new dishes last week (lemon shrimp on parmesan rice, herb artichoke ravioli-yum!) So will add the recipes when they make the dinner rotation again!

Dinners for this week:

Santa Fe Chicken with yellow rice
Chicken Tandoori with brown rice and naan
Ravioli with salad and bread
Beans and rice wtih fruit salad
Spinach pizza with salad and fruit
Breakfast for dinner (we do this every Sunday)-smoothies, bacon and eggs
Loaded baked potatoes and fruit salad

I also have peirogies, gnocchis and a bertolli's pasta dinner in the freeqer in case an evening gets too hectic!

So, here is the recipe of the week from my list (also will post on relative recipes)

Santa Fe Chicken:

Marinade:
juice from 3 limes
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. chile powder (I'm a wimp, I only put in like 3/4 tsp.)
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. coriander
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp. honey
2 whole chicken breasts (4 pieces)
1/2 c. white wine
3 T. chopped cilantro leaves

Marinade chicken in ingredients. (The recipe actually says to add the wine and cilantro 1/2 hour before cooking-but I can never remember, so I just add it all when I make it) Bake at 375 degrees till done, or grill. Serve with papaya salsa.

Papaya Salsa:
1/2 c. cilantro leaves
1 c. cubed papaya
1/4 c. choped red bell pepper
1/4 c. diced red onion
1 small jalapeno pepper-seeded and minced (again-wimpy girl puts like 1 slice in)
2 T. lime juice.

Mix together and serve over chicken. I like to make this the night before or earlier in the day so that the flavors meld together better. You could also pulse lightly in the blender if you wanted a smoother salsa.

Enjoy!

Catch up time!

Well, the Olympics are officially over. Time to go back to cleaning my house, reading with the kids and blogging :)

I will go chronologically backwards to let you know about our past week!
Today was Parker's first day of Kindergarten! He is in a fabulous classroom with high ceilings and lots of room. There are 6 kids, 1 teacher and 2 TA's. His teacher seems very nice and really wants to challenge the kids and help them reach their full potentials. He loved visiting on Meet the Teacher night, but wasn't as keen getting dropped off. But I've heard that he is doing great and having fun. Camden was a bit jealous of his cool classroom..but oh well! I am sad that they are on different schools and different schedules, but it will give me some alone time with each child every day and then different times throughout the year! So that will be great. Here is a picture of my big boy (more on that later!)


Over the weekend, we had lots of fun. On Saturday, we had an Indian dinner (well, my americanized version) and converted 2 men who said they hated Indian food to now knowing what to order at an Indian restaurant! We made a curry chicken, curry potatoes and spinach, Chicken Tikka Masala and naan. We also had some non-Indian alternatives ;) The men really liked the Chicken Tikka Masala. Their wives, who like Indian food, were so grateful :) I will post the recipes on the "relative recipes" blog for anyone to copy and make at home!


On Friday, the whole family went out on the boat with our friends. This was the first time for either Parker or Camden to be on a motorboat. Camden had fun tubing and swimming and we all had fun powering across the water. Parker really enjoyed the wind in his face as we went. Camden did mention, though, that it was "too much fun" and wanted to know why we didn't have a boat to take out on a regular basis. Ummm....that was fun to answer :) Luckily, they are older then us, so I pointed out their older children and how we aren't really able to buy a boat right now, and it would be tough to take Parker out regularly anyways. That will hopefully hold him off for a few more years!

Look at this sailor boy!


Lovin the wind in his face!


On Wednesday, Paul took off of work and we headed to the beach for the day! It was really fun. Camden went boogie boarding for the first time and really enjoyed that. We picked up terrible seashells (seriously, they're bad!) and pretty rocks on the beach and, of course, played in the sand. The kids both enjoy the beach so much, it makes it an enjoyable day for all!

Boogie boarding!

And, referring to the "big boy" comment. We took Parker to his GI Dr. last Monday and he had gained 6 (yes SIX) pounds in the last 6 months!!!! He is now 36 pounds. He went from finally making it on the growth chart last visit to being in the 20th percentile! Now wonder he grew out of all his clothes this summer! We actually have to cut back his feedings to get him back between the 5th and 10th percentile (why make it any harder for him to move!) Now that we aren't stressing about his weight for the first time in almost 5 years, we can work on getting him to eat!



Well, life has been good and busy! We are sad the olympics are gone :( Camden is now determined to be in them-we figure 2020 or 2024 :) He hasn't picked his sport yet, but we will keep you posted!

Nothing much to report...

Sorry for my lack of blog posts! I haven't taken any pics and just haven't been doing much except watching the olympics, which, by the way, I am TOTALLY addicted to! My favorite parts have been some of those amazing Phelps races, the women's beach volleyball team, women's gymnastics (favorite since I was little) and watching the 100 meter dash last night. Wow! What an impressive showing!

Parker just finished up his last week of summer school and Camden has finished 3 weeks of first grade. I was out having fun until I sprained my elbow-seriously, I am such a klutz! I fell while playing tennis-you know, that contact sport that results in so many injuries...yeah...So we have just been hanging out! Paul is taking Wednesday off and we are planning on heading to the beach, unless weather dictates otherwise. It will be fun to take a family day-he has been working so hard this summer! Everyone is doing well! Parker has his GI appointment tomorrow, so we will get to see just how big this growth spurt has been. He is almost looking his age (well, until he turns 5 in a week and a half.)

So here are just some tidbits about the kids. Camden is still very much into Pokemon (stupid easter bunny for putting them in his basket...) He is doing well in his new school and has finally taken a liking to reading-which has resulted in massive improvements in his reading and writing! He finally sees the utility in it (he can read and write pokemon stories...) We are going to preview a gymnastics class in a few weeks that is at the same time as Parker's PT-he liked the olympics too!

Parker is sweet as always! He did a good job of adjusting to summer school, so I hope his transition to his new class will go as well! He will start horseback riding in the Fall, and keeps doing his physical therapy at the gym. He continues to work to try and communicate better!

I hope all of you are doing great! I'll add pics after our beach trip!

Yep, that's me! Still not too old to try new tricks :)

I had a very fantastic Friday! :) I got to go out on my friend's boat and learn how to water ski!!! The weather was absolutely fabulous and the water was nice and calm. It took me 3 times to get up, and a 4th time to actually get going! The first try, I told her to "hit it" and when she gunned the engine, I was just not prepared and got water up my nose and totally biffed it. The second time, I prevented the water up my nose, but still didn't go anywhere. The 3rd time, I got up, but leaned back too far and flipped myself back...but the fourth time...I was money!!! I had a HUGE smile on my face the whole time-it was really cool!

It was SOOO fun! She ended up sinkng me by going too slow over some bumps, and I wasn't sure what to do and just let go. Not only was it fun, but I got a good workout! We also had a picnic on the water, and I went tubing with her kids (also a good work out!).

It was fun to have a mini vacation for the day while the kids were at school! It was also quite the pick me up since I had been feeling a bit down...I did feel a bit guilty that Paul was off working hard, and I was on the lake...but he'll be going white water rafting next month with his coworkers, so it all evens out :) Hopefully we'll be able to get the whole family out one day-I'm sure Camden would love tubing, Parker would love speeding along on the water, and Paul has never been able to "pop up" while water skiing because the water has always been choppy-so he deserves a try! Here's to living less then 30 minutes from a lake! Ahh, I just love it here!

A kid this cool deserves a cool room to go with it

This first picture is of Camden and his homemade costume. He got this idea in his head and started collecting supplies, then told us that he was making himself an Iron Man costume. I so wish the movie was appropriate for him, he would love it! Anyways, he stapled and taped everything together, put it on, and came over telling us, "I Am Iron Man!" He is so creative!

Yesterday, Paul was out of town, so I redecorated. I decided to continue my painting binge with Camden's room. I have been thinking about this a long time, and finally did it! The stripes were time consuming, but I think that they turned out fantastic! I still have a little touching up to do since the tape doesn't create a perfect line, but I am really happy with how it turned out! Camden also thinks that it's really cool (although he would prefer a Pokemon, Speed Racer, Transformers room.) I like it so much, I think I'm going to post it on ratemyspace.hgtv.com and see what everyone else thinks! I painted 2 walls khaki (cheaply using leftover paint from the house) and then painted the other 2 1/2 walls blue (there is a diagonal doorway which creates another wall.) the stripes are onl on the khaki wall using the color scheme/style from the quilt.

So, I was thinking, why do I tend to redecorate when Paul is gone? here is what I came up with:

1) I don't feel guilty staying up till 2am finishing my project (I get kinda obsessed with my "projects"), or ditching him all day and evening.

2) I don't make him feel guilty for not helping-I actually prefer to do these projects myself, because I have an idea in my head but can be flexible if its not turning out how I want (and I'm kind of bossy...)

3) I like to stay up late when he is gone so I am super tired and don't have enough energy to be afraid of the dark when he's not home.

4) Because I don't have to worry whether he really likes my idea or not, or whether he prefers it "the way it is."

5) Paul doesn't leave very much, so it just gives me an excuse to get of my behind and do it!!!