Delana's Halloween party

Today was Delana's very first Halloween party. Well her very first at school! She decided she wanted to be Minnie at school and she looked so adorable!


My friend Kristina's daughter also attends and she tagged me in a photo on Facebook where all the kids are singing Halloween songs (wish I had known that was going to happen!) and Delana is of course in the background. Still though when I came home from work and asked her about it, she said she liked singing the songs but "I really liked the candy! I got a lot of CANDY!" Yeah, that's what it's all about little girl.

Tomorrow it's Tyler's turn! Bryan and Delana are going and they're pretty excited about. Me? I'm bummed and again, if I had known......

Mr. Smartypants

Tyler's report card came today. I'm very proud to report that he got all As! His reward was being allowed to pick out ANYTHING for dinner. I figured we'd be heading back out (once I got home from zumba) to McDonald's but he surprised me when he requested homemade waffles. Well that's easy enough.

So a feast was had! And man I need to make homemade waffles more often!

Fall Foliage

This past weekend, Delana and I went with my parents to southern WV to um, well look at trees, what else? Cause you know there just aren't enough trees to view here in rural Ohio. No seriously, if you've never been to this area it really is quite beautiful. We've been there many times but never in the fall. WOW!

We left about noon on Friday and took our time going on a bunch of winding back roads and through several towns - my dad loves this kind of stuff and really this trip was "his" since he obliged on so many camping trips this summer that were for us or the kids to see stuff. We finally came to the town where we were going to stay for the night, Lewisburg, and we were all pretty much starving. We debated where to go but my dad wanted to go one more exit and man am I glad we did because we found a really nice "mom and pop" kind of place called Granny's Kitchen (or something) and man was it GOOD and CHEAP. I had pulled pork and it was seriously to do for. After a fantastic dinner and a wonderful dessert of oreo cream pie, we headed to the hotel for the night.

Saturday we got to do a little sleeping in (this is easy with Mr. Rooster aka Tyler not around) and had a late breakfast and then it was into the van for another drive. Again, my dad is famous for this. We had no idea where we were headed next or anything. We wound up driving around for a little while just taking in some sights and then back to the town of Lewisburg for a little shopping in their art district. Then it was back into the van for another drive and a short hike to see a waterfall. Delana got a big kick out of going for a walk and an even bigger kick out of the water. She is obsessed with water actually - even when we cross the Ohio River (which we do quite often) she gets all giddy. Before we knew it, it was almost dark and time to find another hotel. This time we stayed in Summersville, WV and we were all pretty tired from the busy day and wound up going to bed pretty early.

Sunday it was time to head back home but not before another drive down another winding road or two. We found ourselves in Fayetteville - which is where the New River Gorge Bridge is and like I said if you haven't been there you NEED to go at least once. It's beautiful and it's amazing!
(See for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_Gorge_Bridge)

And man it was even more beautiful and amazing in the fall. Delana was just in complete awe of the big bridge, the water (and how close we could get to it) and the pretty leaves. We took the old road that was in existence before the New River Gorge Bridge was put in and marveled at how difficult and long that had to be back in the day when now you can be across the gorge in oh, 5 minutes. We also went to a lookout area we had never been to before and I am so glad we found it. It was a really nice little spot and Delana and I had a blast picking up leaves. She even insisted on picking a red one out just for Tyler: "Red is Tyler's favorite color mommy. He likes red!" Then we pretended like the lookout area was her "castle" and she promptly declared "I'm a princess!" Yep that's right you are.

The only thing that was a complete bummer about the entire weekend was that I forgot my camera battery so I have no pics of our fantastic weekend. But hey, I've got it all written down now.

5 hour energy and then some

Yesterday I mentioned how much Tyler has improved in football since the start of the YMCA flag football league. It is really amazing actually. Today during Delana's nap he requested to "pass some football" and of course I obliged. It was a beautiful day out and I was more than happy to get outside and enjoy it. He goes through spells of catching/not catching. It seems if he catches one, he catches 10 and vice versa. So in the first half (Tyler insisted we play halves, with a halftime break and some kind of scoring system he made up on his own) he dropped nearly every pass. We took a break on the swing by the fire pit, errrr.....locker room and then started the second half. This half he turned it ON and caught 4 or 5 passes in a row right from the start. He then informed me: "Wow Mom! I guess I had my 5 hour energy today."

This wound up being a good thing because later on that afternoon some of our friends came to visit and Tyler really needed that energy. (If you know Tyler, you sense the sarcasm here - the kid has 15 hour energy!) We had a great afternoon/evening visiting and playing. It was really funny because for the first time the boys did their own thing (cars) and the girls did their own thing (coloring. I was unable to get a pic of the boys - imagine that but my friend Aimee got a great one of our 3 girls coloring.

Fall festival and other things

Tyler's elementary school's PTO puts on an annual event and well it's called...guess. It's a very nice event and I can't understand why more kids/parents don't attend. They put inflatables in the gym for the kids to play on and have many games for winning prizes/candy. Then there's a Chinese auction as well. Last year I won a gift certificate for dinner out but this year I wasn't so lucky. Ah well. The entire event is just FUN for the kids and the PTO raises a little money from it. I'm all about getting something for my buck that isn't a candle, pizza kit or some other useless ornamental somethingorother I really don't need.

Our day actually started out much much earlier than that because Tyler had his last football game at 9:00. If they had won this playoff game, they actually would have played another game this coming Saturday. I was torn between wanting them to win and hoping they wouldn't (BAD MOM!) because it's been a lot of running around for us. Well they lost so it's over. I feel really bad for the boys because they didn't win a single game this entire year. Oh well, they learned a lot and improved so much over the course of the season. I saw it in all the boys and especially in Tyler. He is catching really well and I swear this kid is going to be a punter - he has a great boot. (They don't punt or kick at all in the games, he just loves to do it and he's pretty good.)

After the game, we attended the previous mentioned Fall Festival and then headed home to hopefully watch the Ohio State Buckeyes kick some butt. That didn't quite work out as planned. Overall though we had a good day despite the outcome of the game.

Another great recipe, another wasted dinner for Delana

I have the pickiest 3 year old on the planet when it comes to eating. She has always been a light eater, even as a baby. I don't remember her ever eating more than 6 ounces of formula at any time and so her current pickiness/lack of eating should come as no surprise. And yet, it still frustrates me to no end! Tyler was a picky eater at this age but he's got NOTHING on Delana. I could always bribe him with a snack later or threaten to take away something he loves or wants to do. But Delana, oh Delana - she just plain straight up does not care about the consequences of not eating breakfast, lunch or dinner. (Although typically dinner is our biggest battle.)

Last night I made a fabulous recipe and at first even Tyler turned his nose up at it but as soon as he tasted it (something Delana wouldn't even attempt) he exclaimed, "Wow Mom, this chicken is GOOD!" Oh yeah - SUCCESS! Delana basically sat there and pouted and wouldn't even consider touching the chicken or the carrots. Thankfully she did eat the cheese cubes and the banana - which honestly were only there because I knew she'd at least eat those. Perhaps that's the issue, I don't know. I can't exactly let her starve though, right?

Readers (all 6 of you): I'm accepting any and all tips for dealing with this by the way.

Now on to the recipe!

Greek Chicken (from my friend Amie)

Ingredients
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 roma tomato (seeded and diced)
1/2 cup red, orange or yellow pepper diced
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
2 minced garlic cloves
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (I actually just use a 6 oz container from the store)
1 Tbsp olive oil

Procedure
Place chicken in a greased baking dish and sprinkle with pepper

In a small bowl, mix tomatoes, peppers, parsley, oregano, garlic and feta
Evenly spoon over chicken and drizzle with olive oil

Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes in a 375° oven or until the feta is lightly golden and chicken feels springy (Ours took closer to 50 minutes)

Corduroy Makes a Cake (or Tyler reads his first real book)

First grade has proven no different than Kindergarten in terms of what they expect the kids to learn. I am in awe just about every day when I go through his folder. I just want to yell, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THEY ARE LEARNING TENS AND ONES? SPELLING TESTS?!!!" I know for a fact we did not have spelling tests until 2nd grade. I remember it very clearly because well, I tried to change a word on a pretest "knead" that I spelled "need" and Mrs. Murphy caught me trying to fix it. Man I was humiliated.

Okay, anyway, how about I talk about what this post is actually about. Tyler read what I consider to be his first official book tonight! He's been reading little stories that were sent home last year and this year in his readers. You know, 5-6 pages of sight words basically. And he's even read a few books that are more what I consider to be preschool age appropriate. But tonight, he read a 32 page book (well probably more like 20 b/c some of the pages didn't have words) with minimal help from me. It was a Corduroy book if that means anything to you. I admit it didn't to me but I guess there's a whole series of books about this bear named Corduroy. The one Tyler read was "Corduroy Makes a Cake."

Oh and he read it to Delana too. It was so cute!

Awesome recipe

One of my fall projects is to start cooking more again. I've been doing pretty well. Although considering that I maybe made 5 meals the entire summer that didn't involve Bryan grilling or making something over the campfire, it wouldn't take much to improve.

I'm not an exotic cook. Heck I'm not even a good cook. If the recipe calls for more than oh 5 ingredients, I start breaking out in hives. Even worse if it has multiple steps on top of that. Egads - get the benadryl! But I am determined to get better and to be less intimidated by recipes that are a little more difficult. Today's recipe fit the bill, well it fit my bill. Some of you will probably laugh that I actually considered this recipe diffcult. Well you know what - bite me.

So shut up and post the recipe! Okay then.


Chipotle Pork Quesadillas

Ingredients:

* 2 boneless pork chops (about 3/4 pound)
* Salt and pepper
* 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 onion, chopped
* 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus leaves for garnish
* 8 medium flour tortillas
* 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until browned, 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool; cut into thin strips.

2. In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice, the garlic, chipotle and cumin and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes; stir in the pork and chopped cilantro.

3. Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Brush one side of each tortilla with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Working in batches, cook the tortillas oiled side down until grill marks form, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Arrange 4 tortillas grilled side down on a baking sheet. Divide the pork mixture among the tortillas and sprinkle with the cheese. Top with the remaining tortillas, grilled side up. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and top with the cilantro leaves.

Summer's notes (see now I'm an expert!)
1. It's not really needed to bake them really but if you do, I'd spray the heck out of a glass baking dish and bake them in it next time. I had a bit of a mess on the baking sheet today.

2. I omitted the cilantro. I don't even know where to find fresh cilantro. Clearly I have just lost my expert status.


Bryan and I loved it! And I liked that I only had to change it for the kids by making them their own pork chop.

When I grow up....

I don't really remember what I wanted to be when I grew up when I was little. I know in Junior High I had thoughts of being a lawyer. I will say though the one thing I never dreamed of being was a doctor or a nurse. Why you ask? Well because I can not stand the sight of blood. Yeah, imagine that!

Anyway, last night Tyler declared his current aspirations for when he grows up while we were in line at the McDonald's drive-thru following the PTO meeting. (And for the record, a PTO member wasn't something I aspired to be either, LOL!)

"Mom when I grow up, I'm going to drive a bus on Monday through Friday then on Saturday and Sunday I'm going to work at McDonald's. *pause* But I'm not going to take orders, I'm going to make the ice cream."

And there you have it - my son's lifelong goals. Shoot high buddy! Shoot high!

And just where the HELL have you been?!

Boy if I could count how many times I heard that from my mother growing up.....

I disappeared from the blogosphere. I have no excuses - just horrible, horrible shame.

So where have I been since May? I think the question is more like where HAVEN'T I been?

End of May
Tyler graduated Kindergarten and started baseball. We went camping with friends for Memorial Day.

Early June
Tyler turned 6 and we had a very nice party attended by great friends and family. He got a bike WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS for his birthday and rode it all summer long. He is starting to be quite the daredevil actually. He also played his last baseball game on June 13. He just loves baseball and we were sad to see it end but also HAPPY because then the camping season can begin!

June 18-21: first official trip of the year (Bryan was able to come)
We went to Canaan Valley Resort/Campground and had a great time. It's so gorgeous there. The kids loved Blackwater Falls.

July 3-10: Family vacation at Topsail Island, NC
AWESOME TRIP! We went with my parents, my sisters and another family that we're friends with. The beach there is gorgeous and everyone had a great time! Lots of good food, good drinks and just fun! We did wish there was a little more to do in that area but it was still very nice!

July 15-18: JAMBOREE IN THE HILLS!
Like always, mom and dad had a blast while the kids stayed with grandparents - two days at Bryan's parents and two days at my parents. Jamboree is one of the best times - good friends, good music and lots of beer.

July 23-25: Camping trip to Akron/Canton area
We spent Saturday at Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom. We lucked out because the weather was perfect during the day. Not so perfect that evening and the next morning. We really had a great time here though - their kids area rocks!

July 30-Aug 1: Took a break, well kinda
We hosted friends at our house for a weekend of fun. But, hey we did STAY home!

August 6-8: Kansas City for a girls weekend
I am a nerd and I have a lot of online mom friends. We've been friends for YEARS. And this year, we had a huge GTG in Kansas City (it's centrally located) and it was a blast! I had so much fun with all my girls! We ended up with around 22 attending which isn't too bad considering we have about 50 really active members on the board and about 100 total. SO MUCH FUN!

August 13-15: Took another weekend off, just chilled and got ready for.....

August 18-22: Last camping trip - Washington DC
We stayed in a nearby state park in Maryland and saw plenty of sights during the trip. The highlight for me was (NERD ALERT) the Holocaust Museum. The kids really enjoyed going up in the Washington Monument. In fact the day after, Delana requested to go up in the "castle" again and cried when I told her we couldn't. I thought they would like the Smithsonian museums a little more but oh well. Maybe next time. We had to go inside them though because it was SO HOT out that week. Wow! We also toured the Capitol and if you're a FB friend you already saw that I felt that was a huge bust. Bummer! It was way better when I was a kid - the tour now isn't nearly as nice. Too many people!

Unfortunately during the trip, I caught the flu BIG TIME. I wound up missing two more days of work and really didn't feel 100% for about 3 weeks. That kind of stunk.

August 25: Tyler's first day of school - FIRST GRADE!
His teacher is Mrs. Cook and she's awesome so far. Tyler is really enjoying first grade, that's for sure.

September 7: Delana's first day of PRESCHOOL!
Don't you dare call it preschool in front of her though. It's school by god. She won't even entertain the idea of it being pre. She's too funny. I really thought she would struggle but she has surprised us all and hasn't cried once. I totally did not expect that. She attends two days a week - Tuesdays & Thursdays.

September 11: Tyler's first flag football game
He loves it. And you know we do too! WOOHOO!!! Every week he & the team have gotten better. Unfortunately they haven't won a single game yet. But oh well.

September 23-25
Thursday I took the kids to the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival which they always enjoy. That night is the night to ride for the low, low price of $9 per person. (HA!) Friday night we had a sitter and were able to enjoy the Festival without kids for a while and then headed to Wheeling Downs to party it up with some college friends of mine. Saturday, Kenna and I went to the Ohio State football game. They kicked some serious booty and we had a great time. (It was Kenna's first game.)

And there you go....all caught up! Last weekend was a chill weekend and we really needed it. Whew.