Sam's #9

On Sunday afternoon, we had a small party for my eldest son Sam. It was tough for me because I was a bad mom and went out the night before. Ugghhh!!! But nevertheless, it was fun.


As always, I made my food to fit the theme. I think that it is better than decorations. At least you can eat it...I had donut tires, graham cracker stop lights, and checkered flag cookies. UMMMMMM!! I didn't have any, but by the faces on the kids, I knew it was good. The cake was like a street race, with cops even...Sam's idea!




The theme of the party was racing. I had the kids paint some wooden race-cars at the start of the party. So for games... we did races. The best one was the 3 legged race. I paired up the kids as evenly as possible. They were falling all over the place. We also did a fill the jug game. I took empty milk jugs and wrote "gasoline" on them (to keep with the theme) and then had the kids do a relay to fill them with sponges. The boys were against the girls. Being that there were more boys, the girls got extra sponges. Ya know, females can totally multi-task better. The best part of that game was the fact that my nephew T, kept pouring his sponge in the girls' jug. He got it after three or four times. It was probably the reason the girls won, because it was very close.




For all the pics go to:

From Sam's Birthday

Worldwide Cleanup Day

A few weeks ago, I received a cause invite from one of my fellow facebookers. I accepted! The event stated that today, April 21, 2009 was Worldwide Cleanup Day. It was asking that everyone around the world pick up at least one piece of trash today, instead of throwing it out. I decided that this would be something good for my family to take part in. Well, unfortunately, I now see that only one of my three children are truly concerned with the protection of the planet. The one I am speaking of is my youngest. He is great. He volunteered to go with me today.



We decided to go to Biscayne Nat'l Park. I figured that would be great considering that he was now sworn in there to be a Jr. Ranger. Plus it was his idea, how could I say no. I think that he also had other things in mind because he took his wallet with him. He had spotted a compass last time we were there and now he had money to buy it. Kids are pretty smart!


We both grabbed gloves and a trash bag. As we drove to the park, we couldn't help but notice all the trash everywhere all over the road. It definitely takes more than just two people to do this. I certainly hope that we were not the only two out today doing so. In fact, as a fellow facebooker had stated, we shouldn't just wait to do this one day a year. We should always do this as a community, no matter where you live. The fact of the matter is...it doesn't happen as much as it is needed. So, if people all over the world can take part on one particular day, it will still help to clean up some trash. Something is better than nothing! It even rained while we were there and that didn't stop us.



We spent two hours at the park and were able to fill half a kitchen trash bag. Not bad considering that the park was just cleaned up this past Saturday. Much of the trash we found was recent. Some of it was fishing line that had been stuck in trees for some time, just missed I guess. Nevertheless, we felt great about what we did today and hopefully we can continue to do this on a more constant basis, and all over. I do know that we do our part by not littering, so why not do our part in cleaning up. Unfortunately not everyone sees things the way my family does. There would probably be less trash if everyone was even a little more concerned with the planet.

Pics on grill

Well, I know it was about a week ago that I promised the pics, but here they are...

We grilled Orange Glazed Carrots and Smoked Beer Can Chicken. Jeff did a great job! He is really getting good at this.

Grilling Gods!

Two weeks ago my bf decided that it was time to buy a new grill. We had a grill, but it was just not enough, I guess. Never had complaints about it, but it was still not enough. Now when a man says that it is a little hard to understand. How is it not enough. There is plenty of space for charcoal and definitely enough space to put food on for 6 to 8 people. I just didn't get it. Until he came home that one particular day.

First of all, he comes in and says that he bought something for me, yeah right! No idea what it could be. This was obviously a spur of the moment purchase. He explained that it was one of the credit card deals, whatever. So after it was all put together, I then figured it out. Ahhh the grill! Now, the one he got has enough. It is a dual grill, with gas on one side and charcoal on the other. It even has a little side burner for oh, side dishes I assume. Wow, very cool I tell him. Now what, "I hope you get your money's worth out of it!" Well he was sure that was going to happen. He must have had grill on the mind or something because everything was about grilling. Any store that we had been in since the purchase, we were looking for grilling accessories.

So...we decided one day last week that we were going for a relaxing walk at The Falls, a shopping mall. Crate and Barrel (love that store) was one of the places that we hit up on our walk. After walking around the store for about an hour, we are on our way out. Suddenly, bf sees a book on the lime green Weber grill sitting in a front display. Loved the grill I must add. Well, its a grilling book with techniques and of course, recipes. We literally sat there looking through this book so long, that the store was in the process of closing. A store clerked approached us and asked if we were going to buy it because they were closed. Well, not hard to decide, so we got it.

On the way home we were amazed at the recipes we found in there and the wealth of information. These are 5 star recipes. We couldn't wait to get grilling...

So far we have made, about 7 or 8 of the many recipes in this book and I tell you what. What? This has got to be the absolutely best recipe book I have ever had. I mean the food is sooooo mouthwatering. We now want to grill everyday. Unfortunately, I have not yet taken any pics of this wonderful food, but I promise I will, next grilling, which is tonight!

Some of the recipes already made by us are:

Porterhouse steaks with Red Wine-Shallot butter,
Flank steak with Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Stuffing,
Chicken Involtini with Prosciutto and Basil,
Cedar -planked Salmon with Tarator Sauce,
Roasted Peppers, Grilled Onions, and Feta Cheese Salad,
Asparagus and Prosciutto with Lemon Vinaigrette,
Yellow potato salad with Pistachio Pesto (minus the nuts, couldn't find them),
and dessert.....Grilled Banana S'mores....to die for!!!

Tonight we are having Smoked Beer Can Chicken and Orange Glazed Carrots. Ummm good! I will try and take photos and keep you updated. Or... if you so desire check out the book yourself and try some or all of the recipes at http://www.weber.com/cookbook/WayToGrill/.

I am sure that if you like to grill, you will thoroughly enjoy this book!!

Bored!

Here it is Spring Break and I am bored out of my head. My kids are gone to their dad's and I find myself with nothing to do. Yes there is always housework, but I do that all the time anyway. So what to do??? I went grocery shopping, not eventful! I have a few things that I can think of, but nothing that really strikes up my interest enough to get motivated. I have a book I could read. I have a bike, should go for a ride. But the truth is I just want to relax. There is a part of me that feels that I should be doing SOMETHING!!! Ahh. Why is it when they are home, I go crazy trying to get everything done. When they are gone, I don't feel like doing anything. Should I stay bored and just catch up on ME time??? I think I will.

Boy, it's going to be a long week!