Possum Fun

What a fun Monday for the boys! Doug had all the boys today since Patti is having her arm operated on - and he was a bit nervous about surviving the day.  However, it turned out to be a great day all around!  Doug took the boys to 'the Big House' and when they were playing in the sun room they found a little baby possum that had fallen into a big cardboard box and gotten stuck.  They probably saved its' life - as it seems to have been there a few days and was really thirsty. 

 After Doug made sure it wasn't injured and in relatively good spirits (as far as possum's go) the boys picked him up and delivered him to outside to a nice puddle on the concrete so he could drink.  Then they took off across the yard looking for a good place to let him go so he could "find his momma."  And yes, Gabe kissed his tail. 

I don't know how it is that they always find this cool stuff when they are with Doug.  In the last few weeks they have seen the possum, a swarm of bees, and several snakes.   They are outside boys if there are were such a thing!

Meal Planning Monday : May 7

Another crazy week on tap at the Bowen house.  It seems like every week gets just a little more jam packed - just when you think 'surely this is as crazy as it can get,' it goes up a notch!  This week is going to be a lot of quick and easy standby meals.  I have to make sub plans for Wednesday, a meeting after work on Tuesday until 7 - and Grayson has ST after school, then Wednesday I will be running around taking Reece to his 18month well baby appointment followed by Grayson's IEP meeting, then more ST for Grayson on Friday - and I have an assignment due that I haven't finished.  Throw in Amanda being induced on Wednesday, a chance to work on my Scrapbook on F or Sat, AND the Mother's Day plant sale over the weekend and it is one INSANE week!

Monday: Grilled chicken w/ mango peach salsa, grilled zucchini, and Acini de Pepe side dish
      ALSO -- make bread!  Whole wheat sandwich bread + cinnamon raisin bread

Tuesday:  Kalua Pork in corn tortillas

Wednesday: Beef and Gorgonzola Gnocchi with salad

Thursday: Tofu with Peanut Noodles

Friday: Grilled bread with goat cheese and other yummy toppings

Linking to OrgJunkie, where MPM lives

Snakes and other fun stuff

The boys love to go look for the snakes that live up in the garden rock wall.  This weekend was a little dreary, but apparently it was just right for the snakes to come out.  They found one in the garden and one in the front flower bed.  And despite his fear of snakes, Doug caught them BOTH so the boys could look at them up close.  Now they know that the snake sticks out his tongue and that snake poop really, really stinks!

Gabe wanted to kiss the snake, but Doug convinced him this probable was not the best idea.  He did, however, like touching it and seeing how smooth it felt.  Grayson really liked the way its' tongue darted out - and Reece thought the whole thing was a riot.

I'm so glad our boys are growing up outside, enjoying nature and learning new things about the world around them everyday.  I think (hope) it is setting the stage for a life long love of learning.  It makes us odd man out amongst a lot of folks that our kids don't watch a lot of TV, play video games, or go to movies -- but I think this is really the way kids should grow up. 

Meal Planning Monday : April 30

We seem to be moving at break neck speed these days.  I just have realized I've really slacked off on taking pictures and that means I'm missing some cool things the kids are doing.  I am going to really try and get my act together and get back in the swing of things!

Despite the mayhem this past weekend, I did manage to sit down and meal plan for the week.  It isn't a fancy menu, but it is a plan - and that is what we are aiming for these days.

Monday:  Black Bean Soup (Moosewood) and Cornbread
Tuesday: Pimento Cheese Burgers (yum!!)
Wednesday: Roasted Carrot and Potatoes with Chicken (or turkey if it gets defrosted!)
Thursday: Ordering Pizza - a rare treat!
Friday:  Big Salad with grilled tuna and other yummy stuff

Walk around the yard

Everything is blooming really early this year and it has kind of messed up our purposeful color combination and staggered bloom time plantings.  So right now lots of things are in full bloom - even though they shouldn't be for about 3 weeks!  It looks great right now - but is probably going to be pretty barren in a few weeks.  So I walked around and snapped a few pictures of things that were open.  It had rained over night and many still had droplets on them, which made them look pretty cool.

Now if I could just the web page to put them on the way I wanted to - I'd be all set.

Meal Planning Monday : April 23

Another crazy week - and I had let the meal planning slip, so I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  Nothing fancy going on this week, just trying to make use of what we have and eat at least semi-healthy.

Monday: Soft Tacos and make 2 loaves of bread for the week and some Preschool Crack (ok, Bunny Bait) for the kids to take for snack week at school

Tuesday: Pasta w/ sauteed sugar snaps, red peppers, walnuts and lemon ricotta cheese
Wednesday: BBQ Ribs in the Slow Cooker, fried okra, and corn
Thursday: Loaded Baked Potatoes
Friday: Left overs or homemade pizza

This weekend I'm hoping to get a turkey breast thawed and cooked so we can munch on that for a few days early in the week.

Rainy Day

It has been raining most of the weekend and the kids are going absolutely stir crazy.  This, of course, leads to melt downs, tantrums, and general destruction of the house.  At one point the boys wanted to go outside and play so badly that we simply had to give in and let it happen - even though it was rainy and 48 degrees.  We warned them it would be cold, that they needed a jacket, and shoes. 

No luck.  Out they all bolted half dressed and full of energy.  This little outing lasted about 15 minutes before they all returned shivering and requesting dry clothes and warm snugs under a blanket.  But while they were out Doug snapped this picture of Reece - mowing the pavement - in the rain - in his jammies - barefoot.  Apparently, we are "that " kind of parents...

Planting Tomatoes and Dinner with the Brothers

Gabe planting tomatoes with Daddy

All the boys eating together at the kid table.

 Spending a nice day outside is always fun.  Gabe planted tomatoes to snack on with Doug and we finished up by having dinner outside.  The boys all wanted to eat together at the 'little table.'  Good times.

Let me tell you a secret...

It is so fun to watch the boys figure out new things - like what is funny, what is silly, what a secret is, etc.  We were doing an 'everybody wash your hands' event before going to dinner and the cutest thing happened.  Gabe went over to Grayson and told him to he had to tell him something. 


Then he leaned in and whispered (as well as a 3.5 year old can) "Grayson, I'm telling you a secret!"  That WAS the secret, but still, pretty darn funny.

Worn Out...

I don't know why this insists on loading upside down!
Today Doug took the boys to work in Berryville and wore them out completely. 

Beautiful Flowers

Gabe has become our dandelion control system this spring.  He has taken to picking every little yellow flower that opens up and bringing them to me with the instruction to "smell the beautiful flowers, Mommy!" My kitchen is now full of them, and yes, I literally sneeze every time I enter the room.  But really, who could resist this:

For you, Mommy!

Meal Planning Monday - a day late! April 10

We have really fallen off the meal planning wagon the last few weeks.  I have resolved to get my act together and do a better job.  I hated that each day we had no plan - which meant Doug and I ended up eating crap a lot. 

So - with that said, this week we are having:

Monday: Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Tuesday: Ham (left over from Sunday) and Cheese Frittata w/ salad
Wednesday: Pasta with sauteed Broccoli Rabe
Thursday: Navy Bean Soup (made in crock pot overnight with ham bone from Tuesday)
Friday: Homemade pizza with prosciutto, ricotta, and asparagus

Linking to OrgJunkie where MPM lives

On a much happier note, I have continued to purge from our overcrowded/outdated closet.  I am happy to report that I have gotten rid of three large totes of clothes - about half were mine and half were things Reece has outgrown.  It feels great!  I have been trying to get Doug to do the same, but he is just not as willing.  He has managed to get rid of all of 3 articles of clothing.  That's it - even though there are things on his side of the closet he has not worn in over 5+ years.  He just won't part with them.  I fear it is his pack-rat gene kicking in.  I'm not sure what to do about it - but I am going to keep at it.  I am finding the process really liberating and I feel great getting rid of things I have been packing up/pulling out and not wearing for several seasons now.  I figure once I see what I have that I am actually wearing I will be ready to look at getting some new clothes - which is exciting, as I have been pregnant twice in the last 3.5 years - so my clothing options have been pretty limited!

The Easter Egg Store

Today the boys decided to play "Easter Egg Store."  They worked together to get the wagon where they wanted it, then flipped it over.  Then Reece and Gabe retrieved the little chairs and brought them to wagon - where Gabe was selling and sharpening the eggs on the wheels.  (?? I don't know, this is what he kept telling me.)  When they ran out of eggs, they picked more.  Apparently, my kids have Easter eggs growing on our maple tree - because that is where they went to get them.

Trampoline Hair

This weekend was pretty dry - and Grayson suffered from some serious trampoline hair.

There was so much play and outside time that around 2:00 Grayson simply gave in to the need for sleep and laid down and fell asleep on the trampoline for over an hour!

Kool-Aide Easter Eggs

This year we decided to dye Easter eggs for the first time.  I saw a blog post on how to use Kool-Aide to dye your eggs and decided to give it a try. 

The kids were super excited (we've never done it before) and I was excited that it didn't make my whole kitchen smell like vinegar.  All we had to do was mix a packet of Kool-Aide with 2/3 cup of water and dip them.  The color developed really fast and we even mixed some colors to try and make new colors.  (This only worked on some colors - like yellow and blue did make a nice light green - but we never managed to get a nice lavender.)

Flowers and hats, but not flower hats...

Apparently Gabe wants to go skiing/snowboarding.

First tulips to bloom in the yard

Another really nice day today!  The boys are loving all the outside time after school.  We even ate dinner outside again today.  As usual, we played on the trampoline numerous times, went up and down the slide, ran around the yard, dug holes, looked for worms, played with water beads, make silly putty, and eventually made it back inside to wind down.

Why?

Why must boys do this?

Weekend Rodeo

Another great weather weekend!  The boys are loving all the outside time.  We spend all day outside, even eating lunch and dinner out there.  Now that it is getting warmer, the trampoline has become a very popular place again.  It is fun to see how much the boys have grown and gotten stronger since last summer.

We have been playing chase a lot.  They have also decided it is great fun to have you try and bounce them off balance.  This weekend we added the 8 second rodeo to the mix.

Needless to say, I see Doug having to do this a lot this summer!

Early Spring

We are enjoying unusually warm weather this week - upper 70s to low 80s.  We have been playing outside with the boys most of the afternoons.  Last night it was so warm we even had dinner outside.  I've got some pictures from the trampoline I'll add later when I find my camera cord.

On the closet rehab front, I am making slow progress.  I have set my self the task of purging TWO items of clothes each day.  So far I am on target - three days = 6 items in the 'to-go' box. 

Meal Planning Monday: March 12

I think we have finally returned to the land of the healthy in our house.  Woo Hoo!  After a bit of a disaster of a week last week where we went without a plan, which meant I shopped without a plan, which means I spent a ridiculous amount of money ($120!) on random food and we still had crappy meals - I hope we are back on track.  I made a plan and a list and made it out of the store for under $55.  Shocking the difference!

Here is our plan for the week:

Monday: Mac and Cheese w/ grilled chicken
Tuesday: Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Wednesday: Big Salad with lots of yummy stuff
Thursday: Loaded Baked Potatoes
Friday: Fritatta with salad

And on a random food related note... the boys helped make pancakes this morning.

Linking to OrgJunkie, where MPM lives.