Princess festival

This afternoon while her brother was napping, Haven had her friend, K, over for what she decided to call a "princess festival." We watched "Cinderella" and snacked on popcorn, licorice and pretzels. Princess attire was not optional. They only watched the first hour of the movie and grew restless the last 15 minutes despite my encouragement that it was the best part! A fun way to end the week and something we'll be doing again very soon.

Weekend roundup

A family photo- this was the best we got with two cameras!

We had a great weekend with friends visiting and enjoying the fall-ish weather. Haven went on her first canoe trip with Cale and loved it! We walked around the arboretum and took a ton of pictures on our new camera. Ate some good BBQ for dinner and spent the evening sharing pictures and stories from our trip to Ethiopia. Sunday was just a relaxing day and again found us enjoying the beautiful weather. We had a fire in our pit in the backyard and cooked dinner over it. It was a great way to end our weekend and makes me ready for some cool fall evenings!

Oh how I love this picture!

Why walk when you can run?


Mom, my ears hurt!

Peek-a-boo!

I wish she were more comfortable in front of the camera.

My cute boy!

Thanks for letting me steal a few of your pics, Jess!

friday

today...
...it's bright and sunny and so is my mood.
...i got up when my alarm went off.
...haven is loving this new (to us) dvd.
...i was thrilled to find a cheap eggplant and am making this for dinner to celebrate.
...mati cried for bananas and i cried when he didn't nap for very long.
...i'm excited because she is coming to see me tomorrow.
...i read a few more pages of my book. verdict still out.
...i am happy because it's friday.
...i am trying out my new camera. pictures to prove it later.
...i can't wait for my man to get home from work so we can get this weekend started.

Still here, still summer

Another week gone by and no news...I guess that's what happens when your family takes turns being sick all week! We traded around a bit of a stomach bug and now Mati's fighting off an ear infection. Stomach bug sounds so polite, but it was truly not pleasant. Thankfully we all seem to be healthy or at least heading in that direction and I'm thankful.


The last three weeks of our life seem like such a blur (in a kind-of-good way) and I'm ready to just enjoy our family and friends and these last few weeks of summer. I could do with out 90 degrees, but it is August isn't it? We have much to look forward to in the coming weeks... friends visiting, a vacation at the lake, introducing Mati to more of his family, and squeezing in some outdoor summer fun like the splash park, hiking at the arboretum and trips to the pool.

It feels so good to finally have found our new normal and to fall into a rhythm for our days. Our family does not do well without a schedule or a plan and that's part of what has made the last few weeks so off-kilter. But now we've got our feet back underneath us and are ready to enjoy living life together as a family.

Our two silly kids!

Summer's bounty

We have been blessed with wonderful neighbors; wonderful neighbors with a big garden. During summer months when produce is a-plenty I keep a large pottery bowl on my counter. Thanks to our neighbors it hasn't been empty in weeks! Here are a few recipes we've been enjoying with our abundant yellow squash, zucchini and tomatoes.

Yellow Squash and Corn Casserole I'm making this for the fourth time in three weeks. We all really love it!

Oven Roasted Tomatoes Tomatoes taking over every inch of counter space? Then please, please make these! I have made a few batches and we just devour them! We enjoyed them on paninis with fresh mozzarella and basil. Also the perfect way to jazz up a turkey sandwich. SO good!

Double Tomato Bruschetta My favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes. Give me this and a loaf of fresh bread and I'm set!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 fairly packed cup grated raw, unpeeled zucchini (1 medium)
1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional)


-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside.
-In a medium bowl, stir together melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the egg mixture and the zucchini to the flour mixture and stir by hand until almost combined; add chocolate chips and flaxseed and stir just until blended.
-Pour into an 8” x 8” pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the edges are springy to the touch but the middle is still slightly soft — a slight indentation should be left when touched. Do not overbake! Cool in the pan on a wire rack or eat them warm from the pan.
Makes 12 brownies.
Per Brownie: 148 calories
from the book "One Smart Cookie"

What's your favorite way to enjoy summer produce?

Sometimes happiness comes in the mail

My love for football has been well documented here. I just love the game-from tv shows about it to my Super Bowl winning team. Imagine my delight when I picked up the mail yesterday and two of my favorite things arrived at the same time.

My sweet, wonderful, knows-me-so-well husband bought me a Dillon Panthers t-shirt!

Coach Taylor's famous phrase on the front!

And it brought me great joy to buy Mathios his first Steelers jersey over the weekend. Thank you ebay! I can hardly wait til the season starts for him to wear it! I can assure you I will be posting pictures of our cute boy in it.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Has it really been almost three weeks since you've seen me here? Wow! At least I had a good excuse! We are slowly finding our footing and figuring out what our new normal is.

Monday was a special day as it was Haven's half-birthday. We celebrate those in this family! It required a trip to Chick-fil-A, a stop at the dollar store to spend her money and then we went to see all the goings on just a few minutes from our house where Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has taken over. Marisa invited us to park in their driveway and then we just had a short walk to the house site. We had only been there for a few minutes when we were spotted by Marisa's husband, Brian. Brian has been helping out with the house and was filling us in on some info. He asked us if we wanted to get into the VIP seating area. Um, yes! Not only was it shady, they had refreshments, chairs and a wonderful view of the action. It was amazing to see how quickly they are getting things accomplished and we were only there for a short time.

The T family's new house in progress

Haven posing with the signs that are all over our area

My boys enjoying the shade of the VIP area

Haven was a big fan of the free refreshments!

See, I really was there!

This was such a fun way to spend the afternoon and we are so excited for this family!