Friday, July 8, 2011

The Lazy Song

Last summer was The Summer of the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.


So we have decided this is our Family Motto for the Summer of 2011. We dance around and sing like crazy to this song every time we hear it. Even Benjamin can sing parts of it! Not sure whether to be happy he is talking or upset that he is singing a song that is so obviously not a children's song. Whatever. The "Monkey Men" make him laugh.
I hope you like it too!
 


If you call our house and we aren't home you have to get to listen to this before the BEEEEP!
Thanks, Hubby!


I found the Kid Safe Version

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Fun with the Cousins

What have we been up to?
Besides being Pirates Who Don't Do Anything; we are also pirates wo play hard and explore uncharted playgorund territory.



Green Park







                                                                         Rooks Park



Saturday, July 2, 2011

Farmer's Market and Fun with Friends

One of the things that we have in our town is The Farmer's Market. This is one of our my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning. This is how we spent last Saturday.


Eating tiny delicious cupcakes



Taking random photos

Thank you, Sarah.

Thank you, Madison

Listening to our favorite local band, Bizarre Love Triangle






And finding old friends

But the fun wasn't over yet!

Tramampoline + Sprinkler = Water Fun!

4 Wheelin'


Digging to China

Being cute

Being a stud

Get your weapons!

Aim!

Water play date at our house!


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Teacher's gifts

I made Teacher Appreciation gifts for the girls' teachers. Sarah already gave Mr. Paul his gift but here is Madison's teacher's, Mrs. Pettyjonh's.

Materials:
Some kind of cup or water bottle
Flavor packets for water
#2 Pencils
Smarties
Pretty paper
Pretty String (I just used pretty yarn)
Pretty Scissors
Hole punch

The first thing I did was decide what I wanted to say. I found the pencil and Smarties sayings online by googling "teacher appreciation". The "thirst" quote was given to my by one of my students this year which is what got me started on these in the first place.
I just printed the quotes, cut my pretty paper with my pretty scissors and glued them on.
You will need to punch a hole on the pencil tag to string the string (:o)) through. I tied 5 pencils together with the string and then tied the tag's string to the pencil string. Got that?
Throw your flavor packets in the cup and put the lid on. The cup tag needs a hole on the top and bottom to fit on the straw. (You'll see.)


The Smarties tag says, "Thank you for making me such a smartie." I took 10 Smarties and rolled them in my pretty paper and tied the ends off to look like one GIANT Smarties. Then I glued my Teacher quote on.



 And put it all together to deliver.

Guaranteed A+

Monday, June 20, 2011

Best French Dip Sandwiches EVER

I make these all the time. So easy. So delicious. And it smells good all day!

Disclaimer: This recipe breaks the rule* about only using one dirty dish because you have to pan sear it before it goes into the crock pot. The rest is so easy and the taste is amazing so it makes up for the dirty pot.

*"I only have a few rules when making a crock pot meal: no browning or sautéing anything prior to cooking. Okay, I guess I only have one rule. The beauty of a crock pot is that meals made in it only require it to do the cooking. Why mess with a good thing by creating more dishes to wash?"
~Leila~ from Spinach and Skittles
She writes an awesome blog and just happens to be a personal friend from middle school (yes, I still have those pictures). She has tons of great recipes and recently took up marathon running. She inspires me to live healthier.

Back to the roast. 
~TIP: I use a crock pot bag so I never have to worry about the messy crock pot. I think it cancels out the dirty pot so the crock pot doesn't actually get dirty so it doesn't break the dirty dish rule. It also comes in handy to save the aju sauce. I just stab it with a knife and let it drain into a Tupperware to put into the fridge for later.

I got this recipe from one of my favorite foodie web sites, Our Best Bites. They have tons of great recipes that even I can make.

Ingredients:
2.5-3 lb. beef roast
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper or House Seasoning from The Best Fried Chicken EVER
2 packages of dry onion soup mix
2 c. water
2 cans beef broth or I used 3 beef bullion cubes and 24 oz boiling water
6-8 hoagie buns
I use mozzarella but you could use Swiss, or provolone, shredded or sliced. Go crazy with it.

What to do:
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat while you season the roast with salt and pepper or House Seasoning.
When you drip a water drop into the oil and it "fries" your oil is ready.
Carefully throw (oxymoron?) your roast in the pot and let it get nice and brown. Just a quick pan searing on all sides to seal in all the juicy roast goodness. This is also going to get the succulent smells circulating (alliteration too!)  throughout the house. I wish I could bottle this smell so it always smells like I slaved the day away.

It already looks and smells aMaZiNg!

Then you prepare your crock pot. *Place crock pot bag in crock pot.*
Again, carefully throw the roast into the crock pot.
Add the water, beef broth and onion soup mix.
Set your crock pot.

I have a probe on my crock pot that allows me to set a temperature. When the food reaches that temp, my crock pot stops cooking and just warms the food until we are ready to eat. Can't go wrong.


When you are ready to eat, cut your roast however you want. I prefer to shred it while the Hubby prefers his cut into strips.
 
Open hoagie buns and put cheese on top.
Broil in oven until buns are toasty and cheese is bubbly.
Place roast on buns.
Ladle aju into a cup.
ENJOY!

*I would have taken more pictures but they were eaten so fast I didn't have time. :o) Next time I make this I will snap a few pictures so you can see the finished product.
Don't worry; it will be soon! :o) 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Crustless Quiche

I love this quiche recipe because it is so easy and delicious. The hardest part is having to smell its deliciousness while it cooks.

Ingredients
6-8 eggs
3/4-1 cup cottage cheese
1-2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
8 oz hashbrowns
1/4 cup salsa
diced green onion
diced, cooked bacon

Heat oven to 375.
Mix all ingredients together and pour into Demarle mold. I think mine is the Sunflower mold. I use the ingredient measurement that is more (8 eggs, 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 cups cheese).


Cook for about 45 minutes or until the center is set.
This of course is the bottom. You flip it over...

to reveal this:

FYI: It is not burnt. It is crustless but gets a little "crusty" around the edges.

Father's Day Part II

Here is the second half of our Top Secret Father's Day Projects.



I got this printable from oopsey daisy. I think I may be addicted to blogs. I just can't stop looking at all the cool tutorials and such.

Anyway, I couldn't think of anything the Hubby needs; or anything practical that he wants. So we decided on this since he likes soda and mom has a blog addiction found more Father's Day printables.

Warning: I had a hard time finding a six pack of soda that is "regular" sized. There are lots of mini six packs and lots of 12 pack cases. You may have to do some searching but the finished product is pretty cool.

I had a hard time saving it for Father's Day because it turned out so neat.

I can't wait to see all the excitement when the kids give him this and this tomorrow morning.  :o)