We Celebrated

Happy Birthday to BOTH of you......

 

We celebrated my mom and sister's birthday with girls lunch date at House on the Hill.  Delicious lunch crepes, I had the rendez vous- eggs, ham, tomato and a whole lot of other goodness. 

Doesn't that fruit cup just make you smile?

Celebrations continued with dinner and of course CAKE!  Bundt, pound cake with fresh berries and homemade whip cream.

Unfortunately yes even I sang, Happy Birthday To You..... but who wouldn't for a piece of cake.

 

Cy insisted on a piece of cake, which is rare.... turns out he wanted the candles in his cake so he could have a turn blowing them out.  Practice I am assuming for that other birthday he keeps reminding us about that is coming up next year.

Have I mentioned I hate having my picture taken, even worse while I'm eating.

Sage doesn't mind....anything that involves food he's down.  If he really likes something he sings, hums, while he's eating its pretty funny.  If he wants something or gets excited he pinches his lips together and says Ooo, Oooo...

 

Grandpa and his boys, a rare photo of my dad, this only happens when he doesn't know you taking it!

Happy Birthday to two very special people and beautiful women in my life!!

Paletas please

 

These look delicious beyond words.....

Paletas- Mexican ice pops 

pureed frozen treat that's either ice or cream based

Here's a few recipes I came across:

Watermelon Lime Cilantro, same page includes recipes for Avocado Mango, PB banana

Spicy Cantaloupe, Cucumber

Banana Paletas

some other combinations sour orange, strawberry...... mmmm... must give these a try!

Hello Green Beans

HELLO Green Beans.....

 

Our garden has sprouted meet a few of our new friends...

 

Silly Squash soaks up the sun....

Perfect Peas picked this picture.... 

The gang in the garden grew and grew, tremendous tomatoes chill next to the cool cucumbers, spiced with some bustling basil, cute chives and radicial rosemary.

Okay I might have read too many bedtime stories tonight or maybe when I bumped my head at the playground...but anyway that's our new summer garden gang.

We'll keep you posted on their progress! 

1,000 words

This Picture is worth a 1,000 words......

priceless, love, joy, family, cousins, superheros, dress up, make believe, imagination, childhood, memories, fun, summer, birthday, play, laugh .......

You get the picture, no pun intended

and then there's Sage, my little wild man he always looks crazed or just surprised.

Happy Wednesday- Half way through the WEEK!

I can almost see you WEEKEND here we come.....

My Menu

I cannot make decisions, I hate it, I procrastinate until I absolutely have to or run out of time.   With that in mind you can understand why I plot out a weekly menu.  Seriously if I had to think of what to make every night when we get home we wouldn't eat until 8 p.m.  So here's a sneak peek for this week:

Woman's Day BLT Pasta Recipe

• Spiced rubbed spare ribs (Wegmans did the work there- packaged ready to grill) with corn on the cob, Cy's pick and I'm going to try and reproduce Amish coleslaw- cabbage, apple cider vinegar with peppers.
• Sweet n' Spicy Chicken Stir Fry over brown rice, fresh snap peas and peppers
• BLT Pasta Salad 
• Grilled Salsa Burger with Avocado 

 I have to laugh.... we've been making a big batch of fruit salad every week.  We all LOVE fruit.  I can't remember when but Cy and I had watched a sesame street episode where a mother and two kids were cutting up fruit to make a fruit salad.  They were naming each type of fruit then they started some kind of song while they mixed it in a bowl..... but all Cy and I can remember is the part that goes:

Fruit, Fruit, Fruit S-A-L-A-D...

I can't find a clip or what episode it was so for now that's the only part of the song we can sing.

The Battle

The Battle

It came down to it, everyone had hit there limit......after the dust settles you have to take a look back and find the lesson to learn.  Where is it breaking down, where is it not working and how can we change this??  Sean and I stayed up late and talked and talked some more trying to figure out this parenting stuff.  How can we regain our sweet little four year old and curb the monster of terror, whining, screaming and not listening.  

I don't know who it hurt more us or Cyrus but every single toy in sight got packed up and "given away" until someone could show us how he can behave.  As the dust settled the next morning and his toys were still away we talked about what happened, that we loved him but he needed to take control of his behavior and attitude.  Heavy stuff for a four year old right?!  

Cy and I worked together and made Cyrus's Be Good Chart.  There's a column for everyday of the week and a row for morning, morning playtime, lunch, afternoon playtime, dinner and bedtime.  On the outside of his chart we wrote down things that are expected of him or how he should act- no whining, screaming, listen the first time, be nice to his brother, pick up ect.  Depending on his behavior and actions he can either earn a smiley face or a check mark.

Overall its been going well, Cy has taken charge and even likes to draw in his own smiley faces.  Boys will be boys and he does get wound up, to a point you need to let kids be kids and get some of their energy out.  When its about to get to be too much or out of control he gets asked the question, Do you want a smiley face or a check mark?  

This weekend he re- earned his toys back and we re-claimed half of our living room.  It turned into a morning project but as his stuff returned it got organized!  We brought down a canvas organizer from the playroom and found a plastic crate for all the coloring books.  Everything was sorted and put away, well besides the piles that went upstairs to the playroom that's next weeks project- for now lets shut that door!

just some of the essentials potato heads, legos, toy story, action figures and cars- this kid really has WAY too much stuff!

Life will always have its battles, but I appreciate the calm after the storm.  After you feel bad for the breakdown you have to build everyone back up- look for the simple things that make you smile. 
Cy drawing those goofy smiley faces on his chart put a pretty big smile on my face.

Baked Potato Salad

 BAKED POTATO SALAD

6 small or 4 large potatoes- baked

I used the microwave 10 minutes on each side

corn, 

green pepper, onion diced

combine with 1 1/2 cups sour cream

1/2 cup mayo optional

salt and pepper

Top with bacon bits and cheddar cheese

Enjoy!