Kid's Meal!

Both of my children officially require their own meal at restaurants! That's not to say there isn't any Robin Hood action going on from mommy and daddy's plates to the kids' - especially since they eat as much as we do.

Ella had her very first kid's meal at McAlister's a couple weeks after her first birthday:



And Kyle had his first kid's meal at Yes! McAlisters! A couple weeks after his first birthday!



Ella likes to point out that SHE is the one with "boy hair" in these pics. Here she is three years later with real girl hair.

How Could I?

The Horror!!
I totally forgot our 5 year anniversary. OMG. Josh completely, completely busted me last night! Well, technically it is today, but he came in last night being all nice and sweet (clue #1 I was about to get slammed) and then asked if I wanted him to make reservations for a nice dinner (#2). I kinda feel bad! How could this have happened?

Oh, well. We are going on a vacation later this summer with some friends, and we upgraded our room (to the swim-up beachfront suite with service! Yay!) in honor of our anniversary. I guess I just filed it away as "done." I'm sure he'll forgive me, luckily we're pretty low key about stuff like this, so it's certainly not going to cause any dramatic episodes :) I always cringe when I hear stories of people going crazy because someone forgot their 6 month anniversary or ridiculous things like that. Thankfully neither of us operates that way. Actually, I think he's glad to be honest. There were no high expectations to be met.

The night we got engaged in Key West:


In other news, I am starting a new job soon! I am really jazzed and excited. I'm sad not to spend so much time with the kids, but really, I am just not satisfied at present. I need to be doing more, making something else happen for myself. That's not to say don't savor every second with my kids, but I think that's because it has always been my plan to stay home for X amount of time and then get to work.

AND - we are getting our new countertops over the course of today. Which is why I am holed up with the kids in Ella's room watching Nemo for possibly the 1000th time and bumming around on my macbook. Love it! Although I am ready for it to be finished. I can't wait to see what the stone actually looks like - Josh and I spent an hour at their shop pouring over all the options and carefully choosing one, and then when they came out to the house to make a template of the kitchen, I spotted a corner of a slab leftover in his truck and changed the order on the spot. So we shall see. Hopefully I wasn't suffering hysteria after running around with Ella on her big girl bike in the Texas heat.

They finished pulling the old ones out, so now I'm left with this, waiting for the OTHER crew to come and install. At least it gave me time to sweep out under the stove! Although I did have to complain that they brought the wrong sink to install. Stink!

Our demolished kitchen! (It's really not that bad)

Czechs-Mex 2009

Kyle's first baby pool experience, thanks to his bud Ian.



OK- still trying to figure out how to mobile in pics.. I'll get it eventually..

Circus

Not long ago we took Ella-Ka-Bean-Ka-Bob to the circus!





It was the mini-circus, only one ring, some of the animals and no real clowns, much to Ella's dismay.



She lasted until the lion show, which was a bit ?sad? - there was a lot of whip action...



Anyhow, it was fun, and the $10 cotton candy came with a free hat which provided a majority of the entertainment for the evening, to be honest. She asked me a couple days ago when it will be back, she's ready for another.

Cookie Bar Update

Nevermind on those. Maybe I should have cooked them on parchment paper, or made the oven cooler since I used a glass pan, but they came out WRONG! I call them the "Teeth Crackers." Seriously. And finagling a plate-full of decent looking bars for Josh to take was difficult, taking two different offset spatulas, a knife and a cake server. For reals.

But- I also made cheese soup last night. I have in the past given out another recipe, one my MIL passed on to me, but I kind of like this one for the simple fact that I tend to always have the ingredients on hand. (Which never includes chicken bouillon, but it's still good)

Garden Cheese Soup (thanks, Allrecipes!)

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons margarine
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups water
1 cup chopped carrots
1 large potato, peeled and diced
6 cubes chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3 cups milk

1. In a 6-quart pot, saute celery, onion, and garlic in butter or margarine until soft.
2. Stir in flour. Gradually add water, and then vegetables, bouillon cubes, and chives. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat.
3. Cover the soup, and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Stir in cheese and milk, and stir until melted. Do not boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I just dump in however much vegetables I have on hand, and to make it really awesome you can add a cup of sour cream right before it's done and stir it in. YUM!

OK I have a mountain of clothes to fold. I figure if I fold while watching all the TV shows I like on the laptop, I can make it take all day and not feel guilty :) I'm still cleaning all day, I mean, dang.

Hello darkness my old friend

I'll just let you know now there are no pictures in this post. You can go ahead and click away now. Now that that's out of the way- I am sitting in the kitchen at midnight waiting for the cookie bars Josh suddenly remembered he needs for work tomorrow (today?) to bake. Although I am proud that I came up with the cookie bar idea, which are a one time bake, as opposed to the requested cookies, which take at least an hour and a half to make and then bake in batches. Plus, the dough has no eggs in it, so I scooped out a tiny bit- Okay, a big girl bite- and had a late night sneaky snack.

The recipe is really easy, and kid friendly- in case you want to give it a shot: Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I have been feeling a little funky this week so far, you know- fever, snot, crabby - the whole nine. But I have high hopes for tomorrow and even promised my friend (and myself) I would be at the gym at an ungodly hour tomorrow. And I will. I will. I will.

Let's see, what else can I cover.. hmm.. We had a fun weekend going to some friends house a little ways out of town. The drive was really nice and the people were really fun. I love getting away for super fun get-togethers like that. I hadn't laughed that hard or been that goofy in a long time. I even lost a tiny bit of coin in a bean-bag tourney. My partner and I participated in a match that might possibly qualify for the Guinness Book of Records in that it lasted longer than any game has ever lasted before. Mostly because we were all so terrible, nobody could score a point. It would have been wise for us to start awarding points for "closest to the board" - I would have said "hole," but same difference for us...

Anyhow- My timer just went off, so I can go make a cookie plate and hit the sack! Yay! I wanna be on top of my game for the early morning butt-whoopin' I'll be getting tomorrow. :)

Much Love

Time Flies

Ladies and -who am I kidding, ladies, we have an official 4 year old! Her birthday was this past monday the 16th. Although, we have taken a page from Aunt G's book and she has really been celebrating all week. Monday she had a breakfast date and then a coffee (well, coffee for mommy) date with a friend, then lunch and ice cream with extended family, a free for all at WalMart, from which we returned with a new fish among other things. Later was her choice of dinner and a chocolate cake!
She has been really fun, and very excited about #4, more than 3 for sure.
She did have her Dr checkup, where she did all kinds of fun tests- the vision, hearing, it was so so cute! I wish I had taken my camera, seeing her in that little room, perched on the chair with her curly pigtails and those giant headphones on was so funny...
She's still tall, I know, are you shocked, too? She soldiered through the 4 shots with not a tear, although, she did decide she would pass on having her ears pierced. :) She said "We can just go to the mall and buy some ear piercing another day, okay?"
So that's about it, she has been really fun lately, she is really changing. There is not much baby left, which is sad but she has such a fun and lively personality it's hard to dwell on that! She is sharp and witty already, which is more scary than anything. She has "wicked eyebrows" according to my mom, and uses them to the full extent of her ability.
She loves loves her daddy and waits for him to get home every day, even if she plays it cool when he does walk in. I think it is so funny to see her yelling excitedly that "Daddy is home!" and then he will walk in and she will barely look up...
What else can I tell you? She loves to fly her kite, ride her bike, drive her barbie jeep/golf cart/go cart, play with her new puppy (a live acting toy), and read read read. All books Bernstain Bears, Franklin, Max and Ruby, and Diego and Dora are for her!! And Cheetos. And baking, she's a great help in the kitchen, most days :) In fact today we are going to make some cupcakes, so wish us luck!! I'll leave you with some pics, some even have Kyle in them! Shocking!