Michael Jackson

He even influenced me!

(Halloween 1984)

This is what happens when you let your children choose what they want to be for Halloween! According to Honey, I didn't ask for my face to be painted black. That was all her!

Licking My Bowl

If you don't know already...I don't cook. If I can't make it in 5 minutes, we don't eat it. That means our typical weekly fare is: salads, baked potatos, BLTs (I buy the pre-cooked bacon), chili (from a can), pasta, hamburger helper...you get the picture. I should be ashamed but I am holding down three full time jobs: CPA & mommy (that's the equivalent of two according to some study). ANYWAY, I found a website for "fast" healthy meals and tried this one. I JUST finished licking my bowl and had to blog about it.

10 min prep
30 min boil and simmer

Here's the recipe according to me (original measurements in parentheses)...

4 chicken breasts (1 1/2 lbs)
2 tsp olive oil
5 celery stalks (1 cup diced)
1 medium yellow onion (2 cups chopped)
2 cloves garlic
1 Tblsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried oregano (I used "ground")
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (yes, it's sold at Walmart)
3 cups chicken broth (a little less than 2 regular soup cans)
1 can evaporated milk
4 cans beans - drain 2; I used 2 light kidney and two pinto (2 cans white beans in original)
1 can corn - drained (no corn in original)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream

1. Cut chicken into cubes
2. Heat olive oil in a big soup pot. Add chicken. Cook until no longer pink.
3. Add celery, onion and garlic. I put my celery and onion into the food processor bc I don't like to crunch on them. Put the garlic through a press. Mix well and cook for a minute until veggies soften.
4. Add chili powder, cumin & oregano. Stir well. Cook for a minute.
5. Add flour. Stir until chicken is well coated.
6. Add the broth and evaporated milk. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.
7. Add beans, salt, pepper & corn. Stir and simmer 15 minutes, stir occasionally.
8. Remove from heat. Add sour cream right before serving.

DO-OVER!!!!
Yummy.
P.S. Let me clarify: I love to bake sweets. I hate to cook.

Happy (Belated) Father's Day

Ace got his photo taken for Father's Day because Daddy's photos at work are two years old! Here's the one sitting on his desk now. This face was priceless!

After a photo that makes Ace look so old, I couldn't leave without this one in which he looks little. I just imagine that he's looking up to his Daddy in it.

Honey wouldn't let us leave the picture place without this one. The scrunched nose and toothy smile is so typically Ace. We loved that he was kicked backing in the chair with his hands full of animals (which is also typical Ace)!

Ace loves his Daddy. Happy Father's Day.

Philanthropy, Fun & Father's Day

Ace and I took a long weekend to go to San Antonio while Daddy was working. Honey bought POUNDS of candy for Ace to hand out in the factory at Sashi's work. I was really nervous because we just started focusing on sharing with Ace and here we were asking him to share CANDY! He made us so proud. He told them "I name Ace" and that he was two. He said "You're welcome" to everyone.

We managed to fit in a lunch date with Pierson and mommy-Kate. Pierson really wanted to hold Ace's hand. They played "Ring Around the Rosies" and sat in the store windows together. Thanks for a delightful lunch!

After a nap, Ace continued his philanthropic work by delivering Honey's cookies to the Ronald McDonald house. First we ask him to share candy and then we asked him to give away COOKIES!

Saturday morning, Ace went out to help Sashi paint the new building that the Lighthouse for the Blind bought to house their navy jacket manufacturing operations. He wanted to paint everything but the building so we didn't stay long.

This morning, he visited the firemen right down the street from Honey and Sashi's house. He loved climbing all over the truck and said "Thank you firemen" in the sweetest voice when we left.

Before we left, Ace got to ride the train around the park. He insisted he saw bunny rabbits, a fox and a bear. This kid has a wild imagination.

We had such a wonderful weekend. Thank you Honey and Sashi for all of the yummy dinners, the Noah's Ark toys and to Honey for kissing Ace's bo-bo and making it feel (according to Ace) "all better." We love you.

I hate bullies...

I got so upset today...after a wonderful morning.

First - the morning:
Ace and I had a really busy morning (Daddy had to work). We went to Lowes at 9am to build a putting hold for Daddy. Too bad that the workshop didn't start until 10! AH! Instead of going back home, we played at Lowes. We touched every flower in the nursery and explored every cabinet in the kitchen section (it really made me want to overhaul my kitchen with all of the neato drawers and cabinet choices they have now). 10am rolled around and after 20 minutes of hammering and chasing after the golf ball, wa-la!
From there, we hit the bookstore. I wanted some toddler devo ideas. Ace found a sticker book that he HAD to have and finally gave to the cashier so we could buy it.

After that, it was off to the McDonald's playplace where my subject line comes into play...

Watching my most precious Ace crawl all over the playplace was fun until the little bully came in. I watched him bar Ace from going down the stairs, tap Ace's head and twist another little boy's ear. I think he pushed Ace over at one point but there was a plastic thingy in my line of vision and Bully's older brother went over and picked Ace up off the floor. My heart just hurt watching this little bully's meanness. Bully kept looking at his mom and smiling at her. It would have been a sweet smile if I hadn't been watching his behavior.

I wanted to go comfort Ace each time the bully reared his ugly head but I didn't.

I wanted to spank the little monster but I didn't.

I want to protect Ace from little bullies.

I want to prevent Ace from ever becoming like that.

I need to go take my anger out on something. Off to find some chocolate.

Pillow Fight

Tonight we made a pillow fort on the bed. Ace kept saying, "I want hide." It was tough work having fun and Ace kept saying he was thirsty.






















And here is some video of the dive bomb into the pillows.

Free fun...

We've been looking for free fun around town so Wednesday we went to Sonic for free root-beer floats. Ace LOVED his. He slurped his down like there was no tomorrow. This morning we went to Home Depot for Ace to build a little box. He wasn't as interested in the box as he was with the stickers that came with it. Daddy let him hammer and he was REALLY into that.

Aubrey turns 3!

Aubrey turned 3 on Monday and we helped her celebrate yesterday at Bridgeland's pool. They had watermelon (which Aubrey was exceedingly happy about) but Ace couldn't quite figure out how to eat. I never thought I'd have to teach JONATHAN'S child how to eat watermelon!
Ace and Aubrey turned into the cheeseball-bandits after Aubrey accidentally tipped over the container. No matter that they had fallen on the floor. We scooped them onto a plate and they ran from the plate to the pool and back a million times.

I ended up with a horrible sunburn. Mental note: Put on sunscreen BEFORE heading to the pool because once there, there will be NO time to apply it.

Happy third birthday Aubrey, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jonathan and Ace love you.