End of summer fun

Yesterday we drove 40 minutes to Lodi, WI, where our good friends live. They have 2 girls the same ages as our kids, and our kids have a lot of fun together. And Lodi has a free pool and kiddie pool perfect for warm summer days.

Ellie hoarding all the pool toys


Enjoying the chilly water on a warm day


Go duckie, go!


Goofy little boy. On a side note, he wore undies throughout this entire day, no diaper!

Can you tell Ellie is thrilled to have her daddy back home?

Ellie and her best friend

Remember this slide from Starline? Well, they have one in Lodi, WI too :)

What other fun can we cram into the last days of summer?

Are we slowly turning into vegetarians?

No, I don't think we could really give up chicken and fish, but we do eat a lot less meat than we used to. Not only can it be healthier, if you can make meals with well-balanced meatless proteins, but it is better for the environment to eat less meat (mainly red meat). See here: http://www.good.is/post/red-meat-is-bad-for-the-environment-the-chart/

On that note, today I made these meatballs for lunch, which actually shouldn't be called meatballs, because there is no meat in them. Hmm, nut/yogurt/bread/cheese balls? Does anyone have a good name for them?

From: http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/theres-no-meat-in-our-favorite-meatballs/ Notes in italics are mine

The Ingredients
1 cup finely ground walnuts
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup yogurt cheese or drained cottage cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon salt

And:
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs… I make my own from 6 slices of bread and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons dried parsley, and 1 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil, and garlic powder… OR (as specified in the recipe) 2 cups purchased seasoned bread crumbs

And:
3 or 4 whole raw eggs


My Method — Preparing the Ingredients

The taste and texture is what “makes” these meatballs, so how the ingredients are prepared is extremely important.

The walnuts must be ground very finely, almost to the “nut butter” stage. (The food processor does this in a couple of minutes.) Chopped walnuts won’t give the meatballs the right texture. For those of you with a Trader Joe's, I used almond meal

I grate the cheddar cheese separately in the food processor until it too is very finely grated.

The yogurt cheese is made from my own yogurt, drained overnight in a colander (in the refrigerator). I used (also from Trader Joe's) plain nonfat greek yogurt, it is thick enough without draining overnight.

I chop the onion, cook it until it is transparent, and then run it through the food processor until it is pureed… this gives flavor but no chunks of onions in the meatballs.

I make the seasoned bread crumbs from six slices of dry bread and oregano, basil, parsley, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese, pulsing all these ingredients together in the food processor until the crumbs are very fine. (The original recipe called for purchased seasoned bread crumbs, which probably would not have Parmesan cheese as an ingredient. We really like the addition of the Parmesan cheese.)

Making the Mock Meatball Mixture

Combine all of the prepared ingredients… walnuts, cheddar cheese, yogurt cheese, onion, and herb-seasoned bread crumbs… in a large bowl. Add the salt, basil, and sage, and mix well. At this point, before you add the egg, taste the mixture and add more herbs, salt, etc., to suit your taste.

Next, add the eggs… one at a time… and mix them in thoroughly until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed. How many eggs to add depends on the size of the eggs and the dryness of the bread crumbs. You will want the mixture to be the same consistency as for regular meatballs or meatloaf. Be careful not to add too many eggs and make the mixture too wet.


I shape the mixture into meatballs that are slightly less than two inches in diameter. The original recipe then went on to bake the meatballs in tomato sauce for 35 to 40 minutes. I bake my meatballs in my homemade spaghetti sauce (tomatoes, basil, oregano, parsley, and garlic), but before I add the meatballs to the sauce, I bake the meatballs in the oven on a baking tray until the outsides of the meatballs are lightly browned. I think browning the meatballs adds to both the flavor and the texture, although this was not in the original recipe

We ate some alone without sauce after browning them, and the kids loved them. Jason didn't even mention that they tasted different until I told him there was no meat in them. They held up well in the sauce and seemed like normal meatballs with the spaghetti. Personally, I think I will make them and serve them plain to the kids; I think they tasted even better that way. They look more difficult to make than they really are, I promise :)

Like sister, like brother

For the past few months, Rowan's main goal in life has been to copy Ellie. Whatever Ellie says, Rowan says. Whatever Ellie does, Rowan does. Sometimes this is cute, like when they both chant, "Go Mommy, go!" as I bike them up steep hills. Sometimes this is annoying, like when they are jumping on either side of me on the couch screaming like monkeys.

The other day, Ellie thought it would be funny to put her shorts on her top and her shirt on her bottom.


Then of course Rowan had to do it too. Well, he tried.


And he tried.


And he tried. Some things he just can't do as well as Ellie.

Did you notice Rowan is now wearing undies? He is doing a great job at potty-training. At home we are usually safe, especially if I make sure to prompt him every so often to go at least try. We haven't tried leaving him in undies when we leave home though. Maybe we should, since at the park yesterday he stopped playing, ran over to the grass, opened one side of his diaper, and peed. How could I not praise him? Now peeing standing up, that is one thing Ellie cannot do.

But they can both make muffins in their swimsuits.

Ellie has been begging me all summer to let her ride her bike without training wheels. I told her she had to wait until daddy came home so we would have someone to watch Rowan while she practiced (but really I just didn't want to run back and forth with her bike). But now that daddy is home, she's got us out there running back and forth. Do you think she is padded enough?

And of course Rowan has to be just like Ellie :)

Now I'll leave you with two videos of Ellie biking. Don't laugh at the parents struggling to keep up and keep her balanced at the same time!

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!

Wonderful, lazy summer days

I don't have a creative caption for this photo, but I just had to include it


Happy Birthday Rowan!


Rowan had his birthday yesterday. My "baby" is two years old! We didn't have a party for him (but don't tell him that when he's older and actually cares), but we did have a pretty fun day. First we went to a theater that has a free movie every week for kids. Then, we went bowling! We only played one game, because it took the kids 1 hour to bowl that one game. Plus Rowan thought it was hilarious to run across the lanes and bother other bowlers. I don't think the bowlers thought it was as funny as he did.

So, we came home and made these cookies to share with the neighbors.



They turned out pretty cute for having four grubby little hands helping me :) And don't tell my neighbors how many times Rowan licked the cookie dough (because I didn't tell them!). I guess I wasn't in the mood for birthday cakes this year, because I didn't make a cake for any of us. Poor Jason had nothing, Ellie had cake pops, my mom (and kids) made my birthday cake, and Rowan had cookies. The kids sure didn't complain; they will accept sugar in any shape or form.

Today was a pretty good day too, although it was more fun for me than the kids. We went to Old Navy this morning, because there was a great $5 sale on swimsuits, t-shirts, and shorts for the whole family. My lovely sister Tara was kind enough to send me a $50/100 coupon she scored at http://www.oldnavyweekly.com/ (they update coupons that you search for on that site at random times, so it is very difficult to get the good ones). And, I was lucky enough to win $50 in Gap giftcards through http://www.enjoytheriderewards.com/. Since Old Navy and Gap are owned by the same company, I was able to use my Gap giftcards at Old Navy. So, I had basically free $100 at Old Navy to spend! I bought: for Jason - swim shorts and 2 t-shirts; for me - 2 tankini tops and 1 bottom, 1 pair of shorts, 3 t-shirts, and one splurge on a full price zip-up sweater; for Ellie - one bathing suit, one bathing suit top, one sweater, one pair of pants, one long-sleeved shirt. Rowan didn't get anything, because I am well-stocked from Tara (well, Bryson) and neighbors. For those 16 items, originally priced at $258, I paid $6.39. CRAZY!!! Oh, and in addition, because I "spent" more than $50, I received a coupon for $20 off of $20 valid July 6-9. That coupon will be sent to Tara to thank her for the $50/100 coupon.

Then, for lunch we went to a stir-fry restaurant I had never been to before. It is a neat place, you go through a salad bar-type line and add everything into a bowl that you would like stir-fried together. You give it to the chef, and then your waiter brings it to you when it is cooked. Let me tell you, it was pretty crazy trying to fill my 3 bowls while keeping my kids from tripping up the other restaurant patrons. I must have apologized to the whole restaurant by the time we sat back down at our table :) The food was pretty good (well, I did pick it myself, didn't I?), but the kids didn't really eat theirs. It's okay, because I brought it home for me to eat later. Oh, and did I mention that I had a coupon for a free stir-fry from my birthday? Oh, and that when I arrived there I saw the sign that kids 4 and under eat free? Yes, our bill was only $2.09, to pay for the lemonades I ordered for the kids. CRAZY!!! I'm sure our waiter thought he was not going to get much from us because all our meals were free, but I paid $10, so his tip was pretty good :)

I guess all the crazy deal-shopping was tiring for the kids, because when we came home I sent them to their beds for a rest (after Ellie had a HUGE meltdown over something silly). After about 10 minutes, I realized that neither of them were making any noise. They both fell asleep! Neither of them nap anymore, so I was very (pleasantly) surprised. I even had to wake up Ellie so we could go to the splash park with our neighbors. We stayed there for almost 3 hours (!), shopped at Trader Joe's, ate dinner, then bathed and the kids went to bed. Ah, what a great day!

It's so HOT!

I know, our temperatures are nothing like those of you in AZ. But add in the fact that humidity is high, we have no air conditioner at all, and we live on the second floor of our building, our apartment is so miserably hot and sticky. Two weeks ago the high was 59 and today it hit 100. It never came close to 100 last year. Ugh.

So, we spent all of today out of the house. In the morning we went to a friend's house to watch her 3 kids. They are (almost) 4, 2, and 5 months, and my kids have a lot of fun with them. Unfortunately, they did not have air conditioning either, but their house was cooler than ours. Here was our schedule for today:

6:30-9:30 = wake up, eat breakfast, check Facebook, email, coupon thread, and a bazillion blogs. Listen to Ellie read a couple of her Hooked on Phonics kindergarden books. Eat a snack, draw some pictures. Put together a crockpot dinner.

9:30-12:30 = friend's house. Chase two 4-year-olds and two 2-year-olds around while carrying 5-month-old baby. Also make grilled cheese for everyone while holding 5-month-old baby.

12:30-1:30 = pick up a couple of things from Target, sloooowly because Target has air-conditioning. Call Nichole to ask if Warren wants a clearanced video game

1:30-2:30 = drive to the McDonalds on the other side of town because it has an indoor play area. Call mom to complain about the heat. Sit in the car (with the air-conditioner running) for 1/2 hour in the parking lot because Ellie fell asleep and she NEVER does that and she desperately needs it. Call Tara and ask her how long I should let Ellie sleep.

2:30-4:30 = play in kids' area, buy ice cream cones and eat them, wash up, play some more, buy double cheeseburger and fries to split three ways, play some more (because it is air-conditioned!)

4:30-5:30 = play in a nearby splash pad that thankfully is mostly shaded by trees at this time of day

5:30-7:00 = drive home, eat dinner from the crockpot, take a cold bath.

7:00 = Bedtime for the kids!

Tomorrow our day will be similiar, because it will still be hot, although the high is only 88. I hope this warm front moves out soon!

Trying out new recipes

I feel like I have a little more freedom with trying new and different recipes, since it is just the kids and I eating here. Jason is great with my attempts to branch out and try new meals; he always eats at least some of what I make and never complains, but there is a lot less pressure to get it right when I know I can just whip up a couple of sandwiches or scrambled eggs if my cooking experiments turn into disasters, and my kids would never know. There is no one to witness my failures :)

So, last night I made a strawberry salad. I tweaked a recipe I found on allrecipes.com to include ingredients that I already had in my refrigerator. It was DELICIOUS! Here is the recipe I made:

Dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3/8 cup white sugar This is a guesstimate. More than 1/4 cup, less than 1/2 cup :)

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 Tb. minced onion.

Mix all that up, refrigerate at least an hour. Then toss lettuce (I used mixed greens, but spinach is what the actual recipe calls for) and strawberries, pour enough dressing over to make it yummy. I only used half of the dressing for a huge salad. For a little crunch, you can sprinkle on poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or slivered almonds.

Then tonight, I made this veggie cereal recipe from here. Yes, it sounds gross. But it intrigued me, because I dislike eating veggies, and so do my kids. So I figured it was worth a shot to find a way to get them in our diet.

Veggie Cereal

3 T raw pecans

3 peeled baby carrots

1/2 cup cauliflower

1/2 cup broccoli

1 large peeled, cored apple

Chop the pecans and carrots in a food processor. Pulse until all they are chopped into small pieces. Add the cauliflower, broccoli and apple and pulse again until all ingredients are about the size of couscous. Scoop a generous serving in a cereal bowl, add cinnamon and almond milk.

I thought this was okay. I made a huge bowl of it and served it for dinner. Ellie said, "Eww, yucky!" (we are still working on politely refusing foods). But I told her it was rainbow cereal, and that got a couple bites out of her. She didn't really like it, but at least she ate some. If she knew what was in it, she wouldn't have taken even one bite! Rowan didn't really eat any, but he usually doesn't eat dinner anyway; he snacks too much. I ate my whole bowl and the kids' portions and saved the rest for breakfast the next couple mornings. Even if it's not exceptional, I'd much rather eat my veggies this way :) The kids ended up eating carrots and whole-wheat pita bread dipped in hummus, which is pretty healthy anyway.

And here is a bonus picture of Rowan eating blueberries for his bedtime snack. Isn't he sweet?

I caught some smiles!

I met up with a friend in Madison at Chuck E. Cheese, and I caught some smiles with the camera.