Cucumber and Tomato Salad

As anyone who has ever dined at my home can attest, I am no chef. I'm not even at mess hall cook status.
But, I did find a fabulous recipe for Cucumber Tomato Salad that I tweaked which turned out to be really, really good... if I do say so myself.

Cucumber Tomato Salad
1 large cucumber
3-4 tomatoes (depending on size)
1/8 c chopped red onion
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
2-3 T olive oil
1 t salt
1 t sugar

Mix oil, vinegar, salt, and sugar. Add cucumber, tomato, and onion. Chill, serve, and enjoy.
A great way to use the cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden.

Criss Cross Hair

I did this hairdo on Adrienne for the parade we went to with Grandma and some extended family. I was thinking it would be nice to have it up off her neck to keep her cool, but the day was cold, and we ended up wearing jackets!
I took the pictures while we were at the parade, so she wasn't the most cooperative (focus was on catching candy).

We Have Winners!

I was nominated for this award by my sister. I am so honored. I would like to thank her, my parents, my husband, my children, and my agent, and the academy... Oh, right.
Anyway, it's kind of fun to get an award, even if the giver is my sister. I'll take what I can get.

I like to read her blog myself, she has many adventures with her husband and kids with varied and particular issues. Yet she handles everything with an aplomb I am not blessed with.

There are some rules to this award:

1. Put the award on your blog
2. Include a link to the person who gave you the award
3. Nominate 6 or more blogs
4. Leave a message on their blog letting them know that they have been nominated

I will do what I can to think of 6 blogs to nominate:
1. The first blog is from a friend of mine who I don't get to see very often anymore. Emily is an amazing person who helped me during a very difficult time in my life. I will be eternally grateful. Her kids are the same ages as mine, so it is fun to follow their adventures and see that my kids aren't the only ones who do crazy things. She has also been through some difficult trials this past year, and watching her struggle has helped me focus on the things in life that are the most important.

2. The next blog is a friend of mine from the past, Jen. I haven't seen her for about 4 years, but our kids are the same ages as well. She always has lots of fun ideas for things to do, even if I never do them because I don't have the patience or energy she does.

3. I love to read blogs of women who have strong goals and work to achieve them. The next one is my friend and first counselor's, Camille. Here is another amazing woman who has done amazing things and has amazing children to boot. Did I use enough "amazings"? She is. Amazing.

4. I nominate my sister in law's blog because she is just too funny. Her view on the world is sometimes a bit different... but often is spot on and she says those things you would never dare... Love ya AJ.

5. My other sister in law, Kellie has a blog that is also a view on adventures with children. She has given her children opportunities to experience many different things, including travel, academic opportunities, music lessons, and other types of classes.

I guess that is all I have to nominate.

Happy reading.

Summer

I think I lost July somewhere along the way.

We are getting ready for school, and we haven't done everything on our list yet.

Just a little while longer and then it will be too late to get it all done this summer.

Lots to do still... but lots has been done.

You can see the summer slide show I compiled at the bottom of my blog.

It is all the things we have experienced this summer--good and bad.

We still have the drive-in, the mine, and the art museum to do... Wanna come?

My Baby's Birthday

She is four! I cannot believe it. I was pregnant with her when we left Michigan. It wasn't the best pregnancy I ever had, and the delivery wasn't that great either (a horrible spinal headache, then a patch that was almost worse).
But despite all that, we are so glad she is here. She has been so much fun to have in our home, and everyone is always happy to spend time with her. She is a sweetie who climbs into bed with me every mornning for a hug. She loves to play dress ups with her sister and can usually get her brothers involved as well. She loves her daddy and goes running to the door to greet him when he gets home from work. She calls him her "Best Daddy", which leaves him wrapped around her little finger. Even her brothers check up on her and take time to look out for her. We all love her very much.

We celebrated her birthday by going to her favorite "big girl" Mexican Restaurant. She would gladly make a meal out of the chips and salsa supplied before ordering. The servers sang to her and put a sombrero on her, which she loved and wanted to take home.

After dinner, we came home and she got to have her cake. I decided not to make one this year, so she picked out a cute watermelon with ants crawling on it. A little untraditional, perhaps, but it was a hit with all of the kids.


She got her favorite book-- The Snowy Day, some cute puzzles, and a Tag reader which I hoped she would spend hours playing with... However it is not looking hopeful on that front. She hasn't picked it up since her birthday. Oh well, I have had some fun playing with it...
She has had lots of fun playing with the dress ups that her grandma and grandpa gave her, however. Snow White was never so demure.

Because I didn't check things out, this video cut off just as she was making her wish...for a puppy or a kitty.
Overall, it was a great day for her and for us to be able to celebrate four years with a sweet little spirit who is generally a joy to be around.

Love you, baby!

Rodeo Queens and Kings

The weekend after Grandpa's funeral we went to the rodeo that has been tradition in Burke's family since before he was born. Despite Burke leaving the tickets in his other pants, we got into the rodeo and were able to sit in the box and really have a great time. We shared the box with some of Burke's extended family, which was fun for the kids. They love to meet "new" people. Despite sitting in the box with them every year, the kids still act like they have never met them before.

That means Annika spends the entire night talking them to death.

Thanks for the tickets, grandma. We had lots of fun.

this one is blurry. sorry.She may be slowing down, but she's never too tired for the camera.

Stinky

Burke took my van to scout camp.

Before he left, we cleaned it out and vacuumed it. It was looking pretty nice.

It carried him, another parent, and two scouts to camp.

The morning after camp, I got in to go somewhere and the stench inside bowled me over.

It was awful.

I looked around under all the seats, under the carseats, in the drink holders, but could not find the stinky culprit.

The kids and I sucked it up and rolled down the windows as we went on our way.

I thought it would get better through the day, but it got worse once the sun came out and warmed things up.

I got an air freshener, but that just made it smell like a stinky van in a rainstorm.

The next day was the same, except Burke had to ride around with me.

He got up the next morning and took out all the seats, carseats, and jumper cables, first aid kit, and 72 hour kit we keep in there to find the offending item.

By this time, I had decided that Webelos are just stinky.

He finally found it in the bottom of the van where the seats latch into the floor.

It was an apricot from grandma's house.

The kids had picked them the last time we were there.

I guess one of them dropped it, it rolled into the latch, and Mr or Miss Not-Me didn't bother to pick it back up.

We cleaned it up.

It smells much better now.