Just Rowan being Rowan

A video of Rowan, just being himself. I kept trying not to laugh because he didn't think he could talk to me through the camera, so he kept trying to peer around it. It makes it hard to get a good video, but I still think it's pretty cute ;)

Bean and beef chimichangas

I made these chimichangas for dinner tonight, and they were sooo good! My kids even gobbled them up, and I've had trouble getting them to eat meat lately. Here is the recipe I was given, and I'll show the changes I made in italics.

Bean and Beef Chimichangas

· 1 pound lean ground beef (a tube of ground turkey)
· 3/4 cup chopped onion (left this out)
· 1 cup whole kernel corn (left this out)
· 2 cups salsa
· 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
· 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
· 8 (12 inch) flour tortillas (whole wheat)
· 1 (16 ounce) package shredded cheese
· 1 tablespoon butter, melted (butter-flavored Pam spray)

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drain excess grease, and add the onion and corn. Cook for about 5 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the salsa and season with cumin, stirring until blended. Cook until heated through, then remove from heat, and set aside. (I skipped the veggies and just used salsa, cooking it until it thickened up)
3. Open the can of beans, and spread a thin layer of beans onto each of the tortillas. Spoon the beef mixture down the center, and then top with shredded cheese. Roll up the tortillas, and place them seam-side down onto a baking sheet. Brush the tortillas with melted butter.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.
5. Cover with the remaining cheese and bake an additional 3-5 minutes, until melted. (I skipped this step) Serve with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, salsa and guacamole (as desired)


Now, the much asked for recipe for strawberry cornmeal muffins:

Strawberry Cornmeal Muffins

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (whole wheat)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (substituted Sucanat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped strawberries, plus 1/2 cup for garnish

In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add beaten egg, oil and milk, stirring until just combined. Fold in 1 cup chopped strawberries. .

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, then garnish with a few chopped berries. Bake at 400F (200C) for 20-25 minutes or until testing done.

Allow the muffins to cool before removing from the muffin tin.

Just another lazy Sunday

We had another carefree summer day today. We are so ready for Jason to come home, the only downside is that means our summer is almost over. We've had such a lazy summer that I'm not looking forward to getting back on a schedule.

Today we woke up, talked with Jason for a while on the webcam, ate breakfast, then biked to work at the church nursery. Then we biked back home and played "airplane."



Rowan tried to "airplane" Ellie, and luckily she was gentle with him.

They posed for a sibling picture

And Rowan and I posed for Ellie

For lunch, we made some strawberry cornbread muffins.

And then painted. Yes, I followed my sister Tara's wonderful mothering example and went through all the work to let the kids paint. Of course they loved it, and I found a genius way to hang up the paintings to let them dry.

I used magnets to hang them from the stove hood. Isn't it a great idea? ;)

Then I copied Tara again and gave the kids some shaving cream to play with.

Rowan jumped right in to the fun

Ellie used her shaving cream to wash her doll's hair.

After cleaning up, we went outside to play for a long while. Our building is now full again, so we have lots of fun neighbors to play with.

Rowan likes to give rides

and get rides too!


When we were outside, I put my hand down in the grass, right on top of a bee. Apparently that bee did not like being squished, so he stuck his behind right in my pinky finger. The poor bee flew off and left half his bottom in my finger. I think it hurt him more than it hurt me, although now my finger is quite swollen and hard to bend.

For dinner I made mango fried rice. I think it turned out great, although Ellie wouldn't touch the mangoes, which made Rowan not eat it at all. Once I made him take a bite though, he ate the rest of the bowl. By the time we finished dinner and ice cream, it was time for bed! And now I'm watching the newest Harry Potter movie online. I know, I know, it must have been illegally downloaded, but there's no way I'm going to make it to the theater to see it.

Sunny Saturday Snapshots

Look Mom!


Monkey see, monkey do


Raspberry for you


Secret smile

Beautiful girl

Perfect pout

Fun with sticks (she is getting so tall and slender!)

And more sticks

Rowan on his big bad bike

Local biker's hangout

Creating genius

What a belly (but nothing to rival Ashlyn's)

Who knew Kmart had good deals?

All of the talk on the coupon thread I post on has been about Kmart toy clearance. Since there is not a Kmart in my city, I tried to ignore all of the hype and not get too jealous. But I just could not take it anymore! So I drove the kids and I to 2 Kmarts today, one of them is an hour away, and then the other is a 1/2 hour further. Was it worth it? I think it was. We didn't really have anything else to do today, so why not? This is what I bought:

All of the toys were on clearance, plus an extra 50% off this week. So, most were 75% off (or more). Many of these toys will be for my kids for Christmas, and a lot will be for birthday parties and other gifts for others. And of course I had to give a couple of the toys to the kids to play with on the car ride home. :) My combined total at both stores was $117.65. But, I had $105 in prepaid debit cards (from instant wins and trades), so I only paid $12.65 out of our bank account. Score!

Here is a list of everything I bought, for those who are interested:

Shake and go car $4

Imaginex jungle toy $5

Imaginex animals $2.50

Imaginex jungle set $17

Pearl quest electronic game $3

Barbie flip phone $2

(2) Barbie dress-up slippers $1

Thomas the train laptop $11

Play-doh caddy $8.50

(2) Play-doh 50 pack $6

(7) Play-doh make and display $.75

(2) Play-doh ez crafts $1.75

Care Bear $6.50

Little Puppy pack $5.50

Leapster Backyardigans game $7 (after coupon)

Disney princess card games $2

Playmobil pirates $1

Playmobil knights $1

(2) Anne Geddes beanies $1.50

(2) Little Einstein play set $3

Little People 50th anniversary school $6

Magnex set $4.50

(2) Moon sand $1.75

Just in case anyone tries to add it up, I also used a $5/50 coupon at each store, so $10 off my total :)

Garden goodness

Doesn't it look good? 2 giant yellow squash, 1 giant zucchini, green onions, carrots, cilantro, a bowl of lettuce, and a cup of raspberries. Some of the squash got a little out of hand in the couple days I didn't get to the garden. They are huge! I guess I need to go check on them more often. I have a lot more onions and carrots to harvest!

New accomplishments

Both Ellie and Rowan have some new accomplishments they would like to share.

Rowan:



He can go on command now, but he hasn't learned how to hold it or tell me BEFORE he goes. So he's still in diapers, however, I haven't had to change a poopy diaper in over a week (besides this morning when all three of us had stomach bugs).

Ellie:





She is really moving along the Kindergarten Hooked On Phonics set, and she really enjoys reading. Next we move on to Spanish!

Burgers and fries

We have visitors! Yesterday my dad, grandma, and aunt drove up from Iowa just for the day, and although it was short, we had a great time. Now our former neighbors are visiting and staying in our place for a couple days. It has been so much fun having all the kids together again. Don't they look like they are having fun? As you can tell by the pictures, Rowan just adores them.

These four are best buds. Ellie (4), A (5 1/2), N (2 1/2), Rowan (2). I've been asked before if all of them are mine, and it could almost happen, if Rowan was prematurely born. There are only 8 months between N and Rowan.

Ellie took this picture. She is becoming quite the photographer!

Tonight we had a neighborhood BBQ, and all of the families we know and love were able to come. We had a blast! I organized the BBQ to get all the neighbors together, since we have two new families to our building, and our former neighbors were visiting as well. But I have to admit, I've been searching for a reason to make these, my main contribution to the BBQ:

Burgers and fries. Every BBQ has burgers, right? But these burgers are made out of cupcakes, brownies, and frosting. And those delicious-looking fries? Those are actually sugar cookies. The idea was stolen from http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/, who also provided me with recipe for the cake pops I made for Ellie's birthday. Isn't this the cutest idea? And even better, they are soo good!