Wild Turkey

You are never going to beleive what was in my back yard this morning. It started out walking across the yard, and then flew up into the tree.

See anything in there? Look right in the center, torwards the top. It's a wild turkey!! In my tree!

Breakfast for dinner

Since I've been sick, we have zero food in the house. So, we decided it was either pancakes or ramen noodles for dinner tonight. The girls voted for pancakes. I asked Mike to make them for us so I didn't breathe my cooties all over them, but he mysteriously dissappeared. No problem for me, because Briana stepped right up and made them! She mixed them, she poured them, she flipped them and she served them. It was delightful!

And what was Mike doing while he wasn't cooking, you ask? Well, he turned up just as the pancakes were being served looking like this.

I hope it's not permanent.

Sleeping Over

Look who had her first sleepover at a friend's house last night!

And...

Briana's name was in the school newsletter for her outstanding reading!

Mr. Mom

Two days ago, I came down with a virus. Not just any old virus, but the kind that knocks me out for a few days. I couldn't get out of bed and it was horrible. Yesterday, Mike offered to get the kids ready and drive them to school. It was a lifesaver. However, he doesn't do things exactly like I do, and the girls felt they had to help him along a bit. Today is the first day that I've ventured downstairs since Wednesday, and I had a nice chuckle when I found this piece of paper on the kitchen table.

It's a list of things to do in the mornings, as well as a map to the school. He he he!

My Top Ten Reader!

Remember the week before last when the girls' school had the Read A Thon week? And we went to the Snuggle Up With A Good Book night? And, I got to read to Briana's class for the read in day?

Well, every day, the girls had to write down how many minutes they read after school, and turn them in at school.

It's a really big week at school, and the girls did a fantastic job of reading all week long.

Wednesday was the big Read A Thon celebration. The mayor came to school, and he announced the top ten readers for each grade.

Guess who won for the third grade top readers?

That's right! It's Briana!! She the one in the purple shirt, back row, on the right.

She came tearing out of school on Wednesday and showed me her certificate, and all of her goodies that she had gotten. I'm one proud mama!

And, to top things off, on Thursday, they had a special waffle breakfast at school for all the top readers in each grade. Briana got to leave class and go eat waffles, which she said were delicious.

Broccoli cheese and potato soup

1 carrot, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 T butter
2 T flour
2 C chicken broth
1 C milk
2 med. potatoes peeled & diced small
3 C chopped up broccoli heads (I just used one head of broccoli and didn't measure)
1 1/2 C shredded cheddar

Melt butter in large saucepan and saute carrots and celery about 5 minutes. Add flour and stir till smooth. Add chicken broth, milk, and potatoes. Cover and cook till potatoes are soft, 10-15 minutes. Add broccoli and cook till broccoli is tender, about 5 more minutes. Add cheese and stir till cheese is melted.

Serve with Panera asiago cheese bread.

Yummy!!

Sharing a room

About a week ago, the girls came up with the crazy idea that they want to share a room. I didn't give them an answer right away, thinking they would change their minds and that would be the end of it. Nope. The other night, while they were supposed to be sleeping, they wrote us notes. I read Briana's first, and found it to be quite clever.

It reads:

Dear Mom and Dad,

Me and Sydney want to have the same room really bad. We would do chores for 5 weeks and our prize would be having the same room cause we really want to have the same room really bad and it would make our life easier without hearing any foot steps (only if we have to go to the bathroom). I hope this makes you say yes cause of the chores! Can we?

Briana

P.S. My room would be the play room so we could play and Syd could put her toys in my (old) room if you say yes.

Then she leaves a space for me to write her a letter back.

Dear Briana,

Love,

Mom

circle the answer yes or no

(if you circle no, no chores will be done)

I think the last line was really the deal breaker for me.

I won't rewrite Sydney's not because I think it's pretty clear in the picture.

I also really liked her last line that reads: you won't have to give us any money!

Great bargainers, they are!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

It has been a food filled day, that's for sure. We started off with shamrock waffles for breakfast.

They turned out super cute, if I do say so myself!

For dinner, we had our usual corned beef and cabbage. It was as yummy as it was last year. I should say, most of us had corned beef and cabbage.

(Mom and Dad, skip this picture! It is too torturous!)

One of us did not like the looks of corned beef and cabbage AT ALL and had to have something else entirely.

For dessert, we had some delicious rainbow cupcakes.

Tomorrow I will be going for an extra long walk.

My first afghan

I finished Briana's afghan!! I LOVE the way it turned out. She requested purple and black yarn with sparkles in it. The whole time I was crocheting that afghan, I kept thinking, these aren't the right colors for Briana. This should be pink and green or at least pink and black. But, she kept insisting that she liked the purple and black, so I carried on. Once the whole thing was done, I realized how much I liked it and how cute it was. I added a ruffle to the top and bottom, and I think that made it look extra cute.

My hard work was deposited on the floor for a short time during dinner, and guess who else likes it?

Smothered Enchiladas

I made the yummiest dinner tonight! It's smothered enchiladas and I highly recommend them. Here's the recipe:

1 pound ground beef

1 package taco seasoning

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 16 oz. container sour cream(I used about half of it)

8 flour tortillas

2 C. shredded cheddar

chopped fresh cilantro

Cook ground beef as directed on taco seasoning package.

Stir together soup and sour cream. Pour half of sour cream mixture ( I just used enough to cover the bottom of the pan) into a lightly greased 13 x 9 baking dish. Spoon beef mixture evenly down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place seam sides down over sour cream mixture in baking dish; top with remaining sour cream mixture ( I just used some of it-there was a ton of the sour cream mixture!) and cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 25 minutes.

Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.

For our side dish, we had corn, served on a beautifully crafted trivet!

Snuggle Up With A Good Book

This week is the Read A Thon week at the girls school. It's always a super fun week for the kids and Monday night started things off with Snuggle Up With A Good Book night. We barely stepped foot inside the school when Briana saw a friend of hers and ran off.

Sydney stayed with Mike and I and read us all of the books from her browsing box in her classroom.

And she showed us her scroll, which she has been working very hard on for a long time.

They have to count as high as they can. Guess what number Sydney is on? 2530. She is the highest counter in her whole class!

Briana spent most of the night in her classroom with a bunch of her friends.

She told me they didn't read at all. Stinkers!

After the fun of Snuggle up with a good book night, we made our own snuggle up with a good book in our living room.

They are both hoping to read more than anyone else in their classes this week. They are quite motivated, and they have been reading nonstop!