Boas, Lizards, and Pythons! Oh my!

Happy Birthday Marcus!

Marcus (my nephew!) had a big birthday bash today and had the "snake guy" come. I really didn't think Rich the Reptile Man would be all that exciting, but boy was I wrong! WOW! It was amazing- super fun and the kids LOVED it. We learned a lot about snakes and lizards and he brought 8 different ones to show us... Half the fun was just seeing how enthralling it was to Syd, Mia and Colby. Colby was touching the clear tupperwares, with the snakes and lizards in them, the second Rich pulled them out of the truck and was so overly anxious to touch all the snakes we had to keep reminding him to sit down. My kids are scared to death of dogs, but apparently the snakes and lizards looked really nice?!? ha ha!AND what shocked me the most is when Sydney and Mia weren't afraid to touch them and in fact put a 20 pound python around their neck! Syd said it felt so soft and smooth and Mia was hesitant and then decided to do it too! Love that grin!Colby was absolutely fascinated.

Just when I thought I knew my kids well, I was dead wrong. I had no idea how amazed they would be.So thanks Marcus for the fun party. Enjoy the slideshow above!

When the kiddos are bored...

send them outside to paint with water! This time the boys got a little creative and they were painting their bikes and scooters with the water, saying they were "cleaning" them! They worked very hard for a good while on this project! And didn't make any messes doing it which made it even better.

They also love how sidewalk chalk looks more like paint when they paint over their drawings with water OR color with the chalk in the water on the cement... the options are endless when it comes to a paint brush and cup of water. ;-)

Playgroup, Suns Game, and GIrlS NiGHt OuT!

We LOVE Colby's playgroup!

They are the cutest kids and all get along so great. So much fun to have over. I love watching them interact with each other with their cute little voices and different mannerisms. They are so polite to me and kind to one another which is especially nice at this age. AND they were cracking me up. They say just the cutest and funniest things. Mia was my assistant and boy was I glad to have her there to help! ;-)

As you can see, Colby was super excited to head out on a date with Daddy to the Suns game Friday night. They "doubled" with JJ and George and had such a fun time!

So since they took off to the game, we had a "girls night out" (plus Marcus!) and made homemade pizzas, breadsticks, cookies & watched the animated Pippy Longstockings! But, YUM! Susie is the pizza connossier and I LOVE the barbecue chicken pizza she makes. It is actually easier than I thought to make so I've posted the "recipe" below.
BBQ Chicken Pizza

• Make dough, or pick some up at Fresh & Easy (We did a taste test and Susie's dough beat out Fresh and Easy, but their dough is still actually really good!)
• Roll out dough on parchment paper
• Pour on BBQ sauce and spread thin (I like Sweet Baby Rays Original)
• Sprinkle on diced red onions
• Sprinkle on diced tomatoes
• Sprinkle on diced chicken (cooked Costco chicken works great)
• Sprinkle on cheese (she mixes mozzerella and cheddar)
• Cook according to dough instructions. YUM! I promise you will love it. And it's a super easy meal... So make it and impress your hubby!

For fast and easy breadsticks:

• Roll out dough
• Brush with butter (melted or soft butter works)
• Sprinkle with kosher salt, italian seasoning, and garlic salt
• Top with parmesan cheese (if using mozzerlla cheese add during last 3 minutes of baking
• Bake!

Syd's 1st Grade Performance@!

Hello Kitty Cuteness!

Man, I think I am going to have to make these! They are just too cute to resist.

Sammy! I wish you lived here and I would make them for your birthday this weekend! (My little niece is turning 4.) And they are so yummy too- filled with cake mixed with frosting inside... and covered with chocolate! yum! They are a little time consuming, but worth the effort. Check our http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ to get instructions on these and other sweeet treats.

(Next post I promise will be about something healthy! ha ha!)

Bake It Pretty

You all know that I LOVE to bake... Well my friend Angie just told me about a site that has FABULOUS ideas and products for baking that are super reasonable. Look at how cute these vintage buttons are! They are candy, made out of molds like the hearts I used for Valentines. Think how adorable these would look atop a big swirl of frosting on a cupcake! Cream frosting.. or colorful frosting... even with sprinkles. Mmm. I'm going to have to order the mold.

The website is http://www.bakeitpretty.com/. They also have a Bake It Pretty Blog that has several tutorials on creating these candy buttons and chocolate skeleton keys, and tips on making the perfect icing.

AND! I LOVE cupcake baking cups that are bold solid colors. They are grease free and VERY reasonably priced compared to other sites. So thanks Ang! I'm off to shop!

Calling all Shoppers!

As you know, Chris and Abby will be getting married in May and we are on the lookout for outfits! We found these adorable dresses and ties at Childrens Place for the kiddos (thanks Susie!) and now are looking for outfits for the sisters/sister in laws. Abby is getting dressier outfits for her bridesmaids, so we just are looking for something nice and dressy but not fancy or too formal. Even if we just find a cute top in one of the colors and wear a black or white skirt with it... If you're out shopping and see anything in this light lime green or bright baby blue, let me know!

Some Tough Cops...

Thank heavens for cute and creative kiddos- they keep me laughing! I was setting up for my Valentines Class a few weeks ago and Brescia came around the corner all dressed up like this! And she was all business. Don't you love her sign? "Security on Duty. Smile, You're on Camera." It's amazing what kids pick up on! (I had the chairs lined up since I was cleaning the floor...) She was cracking me up- from her deep voice, to how well she played the role, to her signs, etc... Whenever she comes over, usually she and the girlies go downstairs and set up a school, a hotel, a gymnastics class, a dance class, etc. complete with signs, a receptionist desk, tickets to the performance, a receipt for your hotel room, or just whatever creative thing they come up with. They have put on many performances!



JJ and Colby went with me to the Dollar Store one day and got to pick out one thing- they chose the Police Officer Kit! And boy, they still are getting use out of their badges and hand cuffs! Susie snapped this cute pic of them looking oh so serious. Watch out! ;-)

FoNduE nIghT!

Here are the yummy recipes from our fondue night post!

DIPPING SAUCES:

Rouille
PREP TIME: About 5 minutes
MAKES: About 1 cup
In a small bowl, mix:
1 cup reduced-fat or regular mayonnaise
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Combine and Chill! Can be made a day ahead of time. This is a great dip for chicken and veggies cooked in Coq au Vin.

Sour Cream Mustard Sauce
1/2 pint sour cream
1/2 mayonnaise
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
Dash of Hot Pepper Sauce, such as Tabasco
Combine all the ingredients, mix well and chill.

Horseradish Cream Sauce
A good accompaniment to beef fondue
1 cup sour cream
3 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.
This sauce is best if prepared at least an hour in advance. Cover and chill.
Other dipping sauces we used were: Spicy Peanut Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, A1 Steak Sauce, Barbecue Sauce (straight from Salt Lick in TX!), Honey Mustard, Garlic Aoili Sauce...

Creamy Veggie Fondue
WOW! Even if you don't have a fondue pot, cook this up on the stove and serve it up for dinner with veggies, crusty bread, green apples, etc. YUM!

• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup white wine (substitute grape juice or broth)
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 teaspoon ground dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix together milk, white wine, Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese and cream cheese. Cook, stirring frequently, until melted, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in green onions, spinach, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and black pepper. Continue cooking until all ingredients are well blended, about 10 minutes.3. Transfer mixture to a double boiler or fondue pot to keep warm while serving.

NOTE: The wine keeps the cheese from seperating and becoming grainy, so if you choose not to add wine, you will have to add some lemon juice to whatever you are subsituting. Squeeze a few teaspoons of juice into the broth or grape juice and this should keep it from seperating!

Coq Au Vin Fondue (from The Melting Pot)
15 min 15 min prep

• 3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup burgandy wine (I added grape juice)
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2 green onions, sliced

Heat vegetable stock in fondue pot until it begins to simmer. Add all other ingredients, bring to simmer. Place individual pieces of desired meat or veggies on fondue fork and put in pot until correct temperature has been reached. Lobster and shrimp may take under a minute to cook while beef and pork will take slightly longer. Take the necessary precautions so you don't eat raw meat.

Chocolate Fondue

• 32 ounces milk chocolate, grated
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/3 cup hot water

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate with the heavy cream. Mix in the vanilla extract, sugar, and hot water. Continue to heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth. (I halfed this recipe since it makes so much! This is another recipe that is easy to make without a fondue pot and would make a great FHE treat!)

Caramel Fondue
1 14 oz package carmels
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (i used Lowfat)
Optional: 1 cup coconut or 1/2 c chopped nuts

Place unwrapped caramels into slow cooker or fondue pot and add condensed milk and coconut or pecan pieces if you choose. Cook on low for 1 hour, stirring occassionally. Serve with sliced apples, bananas, mini marshmellows, pound cake cubed, nuts, pretzels, rice krispy treats, brownie bites, etc. You can also have chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, toffee bits, mini M&M's or whatever else on the side to dip items into, after they have been dipped in caramel.

3 New Fabulous Recipes :-)

Ok! I think something is wrong with me. Instead of rotating through the same yummy meals... or going through my cookbook and cooking meals I have forgotten about that are yummy... I am ALWAYS looking for new recipes and trying new recipes! Last week was a little out of control- I tried 3 in one week. Seriously, should I be worried about myself?!? ha ha! Two of them were highly recommended and one just looked good. So anyways, here they are...

Orzo with Roasted Veggies

This recipe was given to me by Ashlee- I went to her house and she was baking it up and it smelled SOO yummy- I had to have the recipe! She got it from Barefoot Contessa off the Food Network. If you like feta cheese, pine nuts, and lots of veggies, you will love this recipe. Ger and I both loved it! Get the recipe here.

And I learned something new too- how to julienne basil leaves! Roll them up and then slice them to make long thin strips. :-) NOTE: I would half the oil- both times you add it... but that's just my opinion. I need to try it halved first I guess before I recommend it. AND I would cook the veggies for 1/2 the time- maybe mine just cooked up fast... I just didn't want them too soggy! Also, Ashlee and I substituted zucchini or squash for the Eggplant. AND I love way more veggies than pasta, so I added less Orzo.

Chicken Fajita Tostadas

This recipe came from Susie! and YUMMY! Loved loved it. I really didn't think it sounded all that fabulous, but the roasting gives it so much flavor. Definitely a keeper recipe. She got it from Martha's Everyday Food Magazine. As you can see, I didn't do the tostada part... we just used Costco's tortillas that you cook up yourself. And of course added some fresh salsa, homemade Cafe Rio Ranch, Cilantro Lime Rice, and cheese!

2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 box frozen corn (10 oz)
1 cup fresh salsa
2 TBS Olive Oil
Coarse salt and pepper
2 cups cooked/shredded chicken breast
4 corn tortillas
½ cup shredded sharp cheddar
Cilantro Lime Rice

Preheat Oven to 450. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. On foil, combine onions, bell peppers, corn, ¼ cup salsa, and 1 TBS oil. Season with Salt and pepper.
Roast, tossing ocasionaly until veggies are tender and lightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Add chicken, stir to combine, and continue to roast until warmed through, 5 min or more. Transfer chicken and veggie mixture to a serving bowl. Discard foil.
Arrange tortillas on sheet. Dividing evenly, brush with remaining 1 TBS oil; top with cheese. Bake until edges are golden and cheese is melted, 5-8 minutes.
Divinding evenly, top tortillas with chicken and veggie mixture and remaining salsa. Serve with Cilantro Lime Rice, if desired.

Cilantro Lime Rice
1 cup long grain white rice
C oarse salt
½ cup fresh cilantro
2 TBS fresh lime juice
1 TBS olive oil
1 garlic clove
In a medium saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups water to a boil. Add rice and ¼ tsp salt; cover. Reduce to a simmer. Cook until water is absorved and rice is just tender, 16-18 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a blender, combine cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, and 2 TBS water. Blend until smooth. Stir into cooked rice. Fluff with fork.

Penne with Shrimp, Feta, and Spring VeggiesThis recipe also came out of Martha's Everyday Food Magazine. (It's that little mini-purse-sized-food magazine you have probably seen around!) We LOVED it too! I always half the pasta in recipes like this because I like more veggies. And I always love a good healthy shrimp dish- it adds variety to our chicken meals!

Coarse salt and ground pepper
12 oz penne rigate
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1 inch lengths
1 lb. shrimp, peeled/deveined, thawed
8 oz. snow peas, trimmed and halved on diagonal
3 TBS EVOO
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves minced
1 cup crumbled feta (4 oz)
¼ cup thinly sliced fresh mint leaves (I didn't add these?!?)

Cook penne 4 minutes less than al dente. Add asparagus; cook 3 minutes. Add shrimp and snow peas; cook 2 minutes. Reserve ½ cup pasta water, drain pasta mixture and return to pot.
To pasta mixture add oil, lemon juice, garlic, and ¼ cup preserved pasta water. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Gently mix in feta and mint. Adjust to desired consistency with some pasta water as needed. Serve immediately.

We LOVE Macaroni Grills yummy foccacia bread. I have tried several times to make it and it just hasn't turned out the same. Well, Fresh and Easy now has breads in their refrigerator section!!! We picked up some of their Foccacia Bread and look how yummy! The kids were BEGGGING for more. In fact, Ger got home late and got a little piece, but was lucky I had saved him any at all! They keep asking for it so I need to go back and get some... Also they have wheat and white pizza dough- this is great for french bread or obviously homemade pizzas, which the kids love making themselves. Look what a good job they did!
While you are at Fresh and Easy pick up some of their brand name OJ- yummy! We like it better than Naked and it's cheaper which is nice. AND their Granola is what keeps us going back too- the Almond and Maple Pecan are both so good. I also love their washed veggies... let me know what you love there!

Vday Adventures...

I love that you can take a heart cookie cutter and use it on anything from a sandwich to a brownie to a pancake or a ... waffle! Yum! We LOVE waffles with syrup and yup, that's ice cream. Sprinkles add flair and excitement to any food so the kiddos loved that. I'm just a kid at heart too- mine is the bottom left with nuts and sprinkles... and Breyers amazingly yummy low fat ice cream folks. ;-)After that we headed up North to watch our niece Shalayne (the kiddos cousin) play a game in a Soccer Tournament! She played great and they won the game. Sydney, Mia and Colby LOVED watching- Shalayne is so cute with them and they think she is pretty fun. Shalayne is signed to play on Scholarship at the University of Wyoming! Very impressive and exciting!We went with Mindy (Ger's sister) and Daenon for lunch at a local outdoor mall. They had this fun jumpy thing for kids and Colby just had to try... The girls weren't so certain though, until they saw Colby go and saw him having such a BLAST! He loved it. (Mindy reassured me I wasn't teaching my kids to love doing scary things but just giving them confidence in trying new and safe things. phew!)
Daenon did great and liked it... jump!And Mia and Sydney just couldn't wait until it was their turn!

I was surprised how much Syd loved it- she even did 2 backflips at the end. Chris you would have loved this! We thought of you...

And Mia was flying sky high and loving it. With 5 seconds left on the timer, she pulled out a backflip too! WAHOO!

After that we headed home and got stuff done around the house! We got pizza for dinner and the kiddos all picked a movie to rent too, which they love. I just love beautiful sunny days spent together as a family!

Feelin' the Vday love...

WAHOO FOR VALENTINES!!
The girlies were so excited to head to school with their valentines to exchange! They had fun little class parties planned- Mia made valentine ice cream sundaes (she said she ate 2!) and Sydney played lots of fun games at hers...Syd took these cupcakes to school that we made... YUM!These were Syd's Valentines (the perfect way to get rid of all my M&M's in my big jar!)Colby wore his new vday shirt on Tuesday to his class party, so I had found this on sale at the GAP (thank heavens they are making Superman and Spiderman shirts that look so cool instead of ghetto :-)) and so I gave it to him Friday since sissy's got new shirts!Mia came out of class wearing this with all her classmates! The front of it says,

"Some Valentines are Roses

Some Valentines are sweet

Some Valentines are verses

Your Valentines got FEET!"

The back says,

"When I think of how I love you

It gives my heart a tug

If I can be YOUR Valentine

Show me with a HUG!"

I thought that was so cute and clever- she had decorated it and was so pleased!

We really surprised Gerron with a Valentines Fondue Night! I mean, he was seriously surprised so it was fun. Everything was really super yummy. Our first course was veggies, bread, and green apples with cheese fondue (recipes coming soon!). 2nd course was shrimp, lobster tails, filet mignon, and chicken cooked in a broth fondue called Coq Au Vin. YUMMY! Then I had 10 different dipping sauces... The kiddos had their dinner served up in muffin tins! They LOVED it! I had a lot of the same foods as us, but had cooked chicken and hot dog for their meats... They kept saying, "Can we do this again?!?" They love dipping their bread in Olive Oil (like Macaroni Grill) so I had that in one tin... ketcup and ranch were their other dipping choices... and the thing that may look weird is cottage cheese sprinkled with seasoned pepper! They LOVE eating that- especially on Ritz Crackers.

After dinner we gave our tummys a rest! Sydney and Mia and Colby surprised Daddy with a jar full of valentines for him! They took turns reading all the reasons they loved him. Colby had drawn him lots of pictures on the doilies and I wrote down what he said.

After a walk around the block, we were finally ready for dessert! We did caramel fondue and chocolate fondue with a variety of dippers... My fav was green apples dipped in caramel and rolled in chopped walnuts... The kids loved everything really from the bananas and strawberries to marshmellows and pretzels! And again they kept saying, "Can we do this again?!?" It was so fun to just sit and chat for a while! We will for sure do it again!

But boy were we stuffed!

So that was our Friday Vday Celebrations! Saturday was definitely low key compared to Friday's festivities. :-)