Cute Toe Time

In our little slice of the world, today is sunny and almost warm. Love it! Yesterday was just as nice! The Girl and I repainted our toes to match our mood. Yep, polka dots! Wahoo! We are so ready for sandal weather!

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Our Easter

Ok - I was such the bad mommy this weekend. I totally forgot my camera! I KNOW! When was the last time I did that? Seriously don't remember! Awful me!

So, let me sum up. On Friday we took off for the land southward and celebrated birthdays with the extended fam! So much fun! The kiddos played outside and downstairs until WAY passed their bedtimes but had a FUN time! I have to admit that some of us stayed up past my bedtime, too! Then after breakfast we headed home. We pulled in, cleaned up and got back into the car for a quick drive to the family lunch and egg hunt at the in-laws! That was AWESOME! My sis-in-law was terrific and put lots of fun little toys and not a lot of candy in the eggs! AWESOME! We got to play card games and visit and do a little shopping (cuz I was the bad mommy and forgot to get The Boy a shirt and tie, which he desperately needed!) As a family, we don't always spend much time together but it is so fun when we do!

Sunday dawned bright and early. So I got lots done! I worked on my lesson for my Primary class and cooked breakfast and just enjoyed the morning. We kept the food REALLY simple with one huge ham steak between all four of us, pasta salad and fresh veggies. (Sometimes keeping it simple is best!) My camera was a home so... tons of pictures as usual. I won't bore you with all of them - just my favorites!

After church, we snacked and then made cookies for Family Home Evening!

Tons of fun for everyone! Yep, more pictures - this time from my phone.

My New Favorite Appliance... sorta

Yep, there he is. Our new favorite appliance.

Let me explain...

It seems that on Mondays and Wednesdays we are a bit strapped for time. Either I had to have all the cooking done before the afternoon mayhem began (yeah right)

OR

I would have to plan ahead and have something simmering in the pot.

I found a cook book at Costco called Slow Cooker Revolution which I promptly bought without even looking inside! CRAZY!

LOVE it!

Ok yeah - it is sorta a snooty cookbook that uses slightly crazy things like "canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce" and chickpeas (which will NEVER come into my house EVER).

That being said, everything that I have cooked has turned out as expected or better except one that was totally my fault. I guess there are some ingredients that cannot be left out!

We have only tried a few but ...TASTY!

Here is the list of what we have tried:

• Chicken in a Pot - my fault. I left out some spices (oops) but the chicken fell apart literally while we were wrestling it out of the crock.
• Sicilian Meatloaf - crazy good! Crazy that I cooked it in a 1980's crock pot and it turned out fabulous!
• Maple-Glazed Pork Loin - FABULOUS!!! The cayenne pepper added just a wonderful little kicker!

Next up is the Barbecued Drumsticks (tonight) and then the Everyday Shredded Pork Filling (burritos), and then Huli Huli Chicken and Sweet and Sour Sticky Ribs.  I can't wait!

As I was planning menus, I kept thinking that I needed a new crock but then I remember that there is only 4 of us and we only eat about 2.5 servings of anything! If I got a bigger and better slow cooker then I would have to recruit people to eat at my house every other day so I didn't have to throw great food out! So, we will still use our lovely old crock pot and I will start looking through the crafty blog world for ways to "cute" up the crock.

Spring?

Could it possibly be spring? I certainly hope so and I am not the only one! The Girl couldn't resist the sunshine and the warmer temps (50*)! I have to admit to buying flipflops for everyone last week - I couldn't resist either!

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Pinewood Derby is NOT for Moms!

I just wanted to get that out there! A mom gives birth to a son and should not be expected to help AT ALL with the subsequent Pinewood Derby cars. That is what Dads are for! Just sayin'.

Of course, this year I helped. Actually, The Hubby only nailed in the wheels. Everything was all me and The Boy.

The Design: A Twinkie

Now, a quick history lesson: The Boy has never had the fastest car EVER. The highest he has EVER placed was 2nd in one race out of 16. So, we have pretty low speed expectations around here. We usually strive for originality.

The Boy and I got working. We rounded all the edges except the bottom!

Seriously, all we did was round the edges. That is it! The Boy did most of the work.

 And then, the paint. (Which we didn't document.)

The weights and wheels were added by The Hubby and we were set!

Race Night Re-Cap:

With Grandpa and Grandma looking on, The Boy placed CONSISTENTLY either first or second in all 16 of his races! Once he placed third. REALLY!?! What is up with that!?!

There is the best picture I got the entire night! The Twinkie - the car to beat! The Boy did not win in his den but missed first by ONE SECOND! (The software tracks each racers time across the line and then adds them all together.)

On a side note, how cool is it that all the boys in his pack raced 16 times? I think they had over 90 races in one hour! It was AMAZING!

Here We Go....

The Boy has been taking Tae Kwon Do for over a year and a half now. He loves it! We love that they expect great behavior in and out of the gym and MORE. The Girl is coming up on her 3rd birthday and we thought that she would do well in TKD also. With permission, we started her a little before her birthday. Last week was her first week and she did fabulous!

Look how cute she is in her little uniform!

Ahhh!

Since both of the kiddos will be here, The Hubby and I also joined.

WARNING!!!! CRAPPY PICTURE AHEAD!

Please ignore the fact that my hair looks like a dead rat and I have almost no make-up on. Yep, we are keeping it real.  Sorry!

By the way, the Hubby hates that I take pictures of him all the time. Maybe that accounts for his grumpy face? Anyway, we are enjoying it and The Boy loves the fact that he gets to tell us what we are doing wrong!

I do not usually consider myself old but this is going to seriously kick my butt! After the first class, I have never felt so old and sore and overall yucky! It should get better but I am not holding my breath!

Busy...Busy...

Yes, we have been busy!

Hopefully I will show you some video and pix from the last couple of weeks soon!

One of our projects was to re-arrange The Girl's room to  minimize space for her toys. Yep, minimize. She has a tendency to

S P R E A D

 her stuff from hither to yon. I also repainted her table to match her room and not The Boy's room (in the old house). Think it turned out ok!

By the way, that is a TON of pink! We, as a family have hit our up-most limit of pepto pink!