Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy is turning 40!  I know this scares him-it scares me too.  It means I am not far behind.  We are having a more formal celebration with family this coming holiday weekend, but the girls and I got our craft on and did up dinner for Daddy one night this week to celebrate.

Yes, we made him wear the hat. 

But no, he would not let me get a picture.

A little b-day puzzle action!

Happy Birthday to one good Dad!

Summer Bingo!

My sister in law sent me this great link for a game called:  Summer Bingo.  She got the idea from:   From the Fence Post blog.   Each child gets one card per week with a variety of activities, chores etc. listed on the sheet.   When they complete the task they get to put a sticker in the square.  When they get 5 in a row they receive a ticket.   When they get a certain number of tickets they get to choose something fun to do, like get an ice cream at our local ice cream stand, have a family movie night, go the beach etc.   (You will see from the blog-From the fence post she did a prize bucket.  I skipped that in the name of "we don't need anymore junk around here"!)

Here is the link from From the Fence Post where you can download the templates and change them to fit your kids. 

Today was our first day.  Abby took to it right away.   I had to remind her that the whole card could not be completed in one day.  Olivia is working at her own speed and I made sure some of her "tasks" were simple and her level.  For instance for Olivia I had:  Give Plumpy (the cat) a treat and a hug or Use the potty by yourself.   For Abby I had harder things like:  Practice your diving in the pool or help Mommy put away the laundry. 

Here they are working on the task of writing Nana a letter.

Garden update- the ground hog

For weeks we have been watching as our newly sprouting garden is mowed down again and again.  The other day my husband took the dog out and was able to obtain photographic evidence of what appears to be a ground hog, our prime suspect. 

Okay, so it is weak photographic evidence. 

Heck this could be a Big foot sighting.

What is clear is the damage this little rodent has done.  Notice the bean plants on the right.  Big and leafy.  Notice- not one leaf remains in sight on the left.  Funny how it did not touch the other row of beans??

To the left of flower mountain (that mass of green on the right planted by the girls) you would have seen big watermelon plants growing at one time.  Now completely missing! 

Same for my herb section this year. 

The one in the front-just a twig remains. 

Besides beefing up our fence, which we have done, there is not much we can do.  We have discussed trapping and re-homing if anyone would like a pet ground hog??  Another suggestion from a neighbor was to let Hershey out after him. However, I fear Hershey would lose that battle.  He is a bit of a wimp and is afraid of bumble bees.  (Is it a coincidence we did not have this problem last summer when our 88 pound Rottweiler was around?)   My favorite suggest thus far came from an avid gardener that shall remain nameless.  In their exact words " When my friend so and so (another avid/professional gardener by my standards) sees them in her driveway they run them over with their car!".   While that does sound like a permanent solution to our problem, I am not exactly sure if that would be such a good idea to maliciously run down ground hogs in my mini van with the kids in the car......

Too good not to share. White Bean Enchiladas-kid approved!

Recipe below.  These are a few tips that have helped me along the way:

1.  The enchilada sauce is normally in a can and located near the salsa in the grocery store.

2.  If you were to accidentally buy one can of white beans and one can of garbanzo beans (traditionally used to make hummus) like I did.  It still tastes just fine!  Don't ask me how I did that.

3.  I make the bean mixture for the middle ahead of time and then just assemble at the end of the day.

4.  As you can see in the pic I used a 9 x 13 pan and used 4 large wraps for a family of four and had left overs.

White Bean Enchiladas

tbsp. sour cream

2 16-ounce cans white beans (I used Great Northern), rinsed and drained

1- 1 1/2 cups shredded blend of cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheese, divided

4-ounce can chopped green chilies (I use mild)

4 tbsp. fresh, chopped cilantro, divided, optional

2 tbsp. sliced green onions, optional

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 15-ounce jar/can of EITHER (but NOT BOTH) enchilada sauce or green salsa

water

10 8-inch flour tortillas

Combine the sour cream and white beans in a food processor until smooth. Stir in half of the cheese, all of the chilies, onions, half of the cilantro and all of the cumin. Set aside.

In a large non-stick skillet, combine 2/3 cup of enchilada sauce (or green salsa) with about 1/3 a cup of water. Heat until warm. One at a time, drop a tortilla into the sauce mixture and coat it on both sides. Lay it on a plate and fill it with 1/4-1/3 cup of the bean filling and lay it seam side down in a 9x13 inch pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat, making more sauce/water mixture as needed, but trying to reserve about 1/3 of the full strength sauce. Top the enchiladas with the remaining (full strength) sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with remaining cilantro, if using.

Recipe from http://thyhandhathprovided.blogspot.com/

Crazy Hair Day at School!

Yes, Abby has graduated Kindergarten, but because of the number of snow days we experienced over the winter she still has another week of school.   They are calling it Spirit Week and the first day of Spirit week was Crazy Hair Day!

We braided pipe cleaners into her braids and sprayed with some colored hair spray.

and yes, it all washed off in the tubby that night!

Class of 2023!

Kindergarten graduation was last week.  Lots of songs, diplomas, talk of the class of 2023! 

Gosh, this picture to me makes her look like a teenager.  yikes!

 First grade here she comes. 

Quick, somebody grab me the tissues.



Worth $55 all day long......

Recently friends of ours decided to put a pool in their yard and pass along their older swing set.  I had my doubts at first.  I did not want an old heap of wood in our yard that was going to be an eyesore or be unsafe.  But my husband assured me for just a little money "he could make her what she ain't" or some saying like that they use in the boat business along with putty and glue. 

So with a little time and effort from Daddy and $55 spent at the hardware store lo and behold we have a really nice swing set/jungle gym!

and two very happy kids!  and you can't beat a bargin like that!!