Branson, MO!

So, we just got back from Branson last night. We were there Wednesday evening and most of Thursday. We saw 3 shows. Wednesday night Tony's dad, some friends of Tony's parents from France, Tony, Logan and I went to the Dixie Stampede. Grandma stayed at the condo with Avery, and had some good grandma/Avery bonding time. It was really fun. Logan was totally entranced. The show hadn't even really started yet, but the lights were shining everywhere, and he sat there with a look of awe on his face and said "Wow". This show was a dinner show, so they served you dinner while you watched. They had a really nice meal, but they don't give you any silverware, so you have to eat with your hands. Very interesting. The server came around first to ask us what we wanted to drink. Pepsi or Iced tea. Those were our options. Tony said "neither" and the girl laughed. I think she thought he was joking at first. She then asked if we would like water. Yes, please. So then, they brought us creamy vegetable soup, and a cheese biscuit. We used the biscuit to dip in the soup, and then drank it right from the bowl. It was quite tasty. Then, they brought our chicken. Tony's mom had been before and told us she thought the dinner was chicken, and you had to eat it with your hands. I was thinking like a drumstick, or a piece of fried chicken. I was definitely NOT expecting a whole chicken.It was funny. I had smuggled a plastic fork, because I knew Logan would have issues using his hands. He is funny like that. I tried to dig at my chicken with the fork, but it wasn't very successful. I just couldn't bring myself to just chow on a whole chicken with only my hands and mouth. Sorry...couldn't do it. I had to get a doggy bag to take it home.

The next item was a half a potato. It was baked and seasoned, and pretty easy to eat with your hands. I ended up eating Logan's as well. And his biscuit, and Tony ate his chicken and his soup. He wouldn't touch it. They then brought out a pice of pork tenderloin, and Tony's dad ate Logan's. Corn on the cob was next, and the server brought two for Logan, which he did eat. But not until we were all eating our dessert of an apple turnover. I got Logan's. Lucky, very full, me.

The show was great, and the stunts on the horses was really fascinating to watch. They had an ostrich race, and little pig race. They had some dancing as well, and overall it was a fun show. Logan really liked it, until the end when he was getting tired, and decided it was too loud, and had his hands over his ears. I am glad we took him though.

Thursday morning we all went to the Brett Family Singers. It was a good show. Logan was soooo tired, and was really fidgety and not interested in a lot of the show. There were some parts that he paid attention to. Avery was fascinated by it though. This was her very first show! She really loved the disco ball, and watched the lights going around and around. She fell asleep for part of it, and didn't get fussy until the end. Overall, it was a nice show, but not as entertaining as some.

We went to lunch at Olive Garden, and then Tony's parents took the kids back to the condo so Tony and I could go see a show by ourselves. We went and saw Six. It was FANTASTIC! It was such a great show! I was so amazed, and laughed my head off, and overall just felt really happy, and truly enjoyed the show. It was great. I am so glad we chose that one to go see. It was awesome. They are really all brothers, and there are even 4 more of them that don't perform with them. Their mom was told when she was 17 that she wouldn't be able to have children. Then she had 10 boys! Incredible. It was so sweet. They did a tribute to their mom (she passed away 15 years ago from cancer)and played a slide show. One of the sons wrote a song called 'Love times Ten" and they played that song during the slide show. It was such a beautiful song, and it made me cry.It really was a great show! I wish all of you could come to Branson and see it. Fabulous.

Now we are back home, and Logan is sick today, and Avery is catching up on her sleep, and I am being lazy. Our neighborhood is having their annual sale this week-end, so maybe when Avery wakes up we will go for a walk and see what kind of stuff people have for sale. That's our plan for the day!

Am I a bad mother?

So, I am starting to feel like I made a really big mistake. It seems like every other person that I know with a child the same age as Logan has them enrolled in pre-school this year, and I don't. I didn't think about it enough when it was time to enroll them, and I didn't think I was ready for that yet either. I wasn't sure if he would be ready either, but now that it is too late, I am really feeling like I need to get Logan involved with something. He needs it. He isn't a baby anymore, and I can tell he is needing "more" right now. I am worrying about how he will be come January when it is time to go to sunbeams at church. I taught sunbeams last summer. They were horrible.I do not want my son to be one of the horrible ones.Anyway, I just had to get this off my chest. I think it is too late to get him signed up for anything at this point, because I think they all go for the whole year, and not semesters. Perhaps I just need to make an effort to get out in the community and take him to story time at the library, or other fun things like that.I will think of something.

***** I need to add a clarification. Not ALL of the sunbeams I taught were horrible. In fact, most of them were pleasant normal 3 year olds. There were 2 horrible ones, and that seemed to make the rest of my memories of that class horrible. And I mainly say it out of amazement that 2 little 3 year olds could cause such grief. It is actually almost funny.

Some recipes to share

So, I feel like sharing some recipes. I have a new found favorite recipe. It is so good, I can't even tell you. I am not good at describing food like people on food blogs, but it is yummy!

Here it is:

PASTA, SPINACH AND CHICKEN SALAD
3 c. cooked shredded chicken
1 pkg. (12 oz.) rotelle pasta
1/4 c. sesame seeds
1/2 c. salad oil
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. white wine vinegar
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. chopped parsley
1/2 c. thinly sliced green onion
8 c. lightly packed, torn spinach leaves
Cook pasta, drain, rinse.
In small frying pan, combine 1/4 cup oil and sesame seeds. Saute until seeds are golden. Cool. Stir in remaining oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour over cooked, cooled pasta and chicken. Toss gently. Cover and chill 2 hours or overnight. Before serving, add green onions, parsley and spinach. Toss gently. Serves 8+.

* I use bowtie pasta instead of the rotelle. I also used the parsley the first time I made it, but left it out the second and third times. I had the curly parsley, and I felt like the texture was a bit too rough compared to the other textures in the salad. This is seriously delicious. You will want to eat it all day!

I also made this really easy recipe for dinner the other night, that I thought I would pass along. it isn't gourmet, but it is pretty tasty.I fond it on this blog

Lasagna Soup

1 lb hamburger (I use ground turkey here)
1 chopped yellow onion
5 c. water
5 T parmesan cheese
1 can undrained corn
1 can undrained peeled tomatoes (I am using diced)
1 box lasagna hamburger helper
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. shredded cheese

DIRECTIONS: Brown meat with chopped onion. Then in a pot, put water, parmesan cheese, corn, tomatoes and the sauce packed from the hamburger helper. Add meat and onion. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Then add the noodles and boil ten more minutes. Add a handful of cheese and spoonful of sour cream on top when serving.

So, let me know if you try these and what you think!

RYKA

Ok, my friend Christy mentioned this cool contest from Ryka where they are giving away 50 pairs of shoes and shirts a day for the entire month of September. So of course, I had to enter. I want a pair of running shoes! I was hoping that if I won a pair, then it would motivate me more to get crackin on my attempt to do the Couch to 5K program. Anyway, I went to get the mail today, and guess what I got? A shirt! Well, that's cool, but not as cool as the shoes. My friend Gigi called me tonight, and she won the shoes! She got the walking shoes, which retail for about $80! So cool! My friend Ginger also won a free shirt. Hers is Cool Carribbean, or Soft Sky and mine is like Rose Red, or even Purely Pomegranite, for those of you who refer to colors in Stampin' Up! colors. So, go enter to win while before the month is over! It can happen to you!

I am back!

I have been meaning to blog for several days now, but for one reason or another, I never got the chance. And then we had internet problems for the past day and a half, and I have felt like I had lost an appendage! My brother is right. I need computer rehab. When Tony came home tonight, and got the problem fixed, he described my excitement as one who was finally getting their "fix" after being in withdrawal. Ok, nice. Maybe I am a tad bit addicted to the computer. But I really had important business to take care of, and I couldn't do it without the internet!

I guess it was a good thing that we spent almost the whole morning at Chuck E Cheese's. We went for our playgroup. Logan had so much fun, and Avery slept in the sling, so she was happy too. Logan's little friend Dakota came over to play afterwards. She is my friend Hillary's little girl, and she and Logan play well together. I decided to walk her home instead of drive, so I piled the kids into the double stroller(Avery rode in the stroller, and Logan and Dakota took turns racing and riding) and we walked her home. She lives 0.6 miles away. I clocked it once on my pedometer.It was a good excuse to get some exercise, and it made Logan get some exercise too, which I think helped send him off to bed by 7:30 p.m. Sweet. I love it when he goes to bed before 8! He wakes up at the same time in the morning regardless of what time he goes to bed, so one hour earlier is great. Hopefully it will inhibit the whining. Sleep is a good thing.

So my little Avery is a little piggy! She seriously would eat anything if she had her choice. She has eaten graham crackers, club crackers, french fries, mashed potatoes, pumpkin bread, an apple slice (I know that was risky),dehydrated apple bits, cheerios, gerber wagon wheels, vanilla wafers,bread, gerber puffs, peas (real peas, not baby food peas) and she would eat anything and everything else within her reach if we weren't careful. I am so much more relaxed with her than I was with Logan at this age. Maybe that's why he is such a picky eater. She does have two teeth now, but they are barely poking through. It's good enough!

Avery's Photo Shoot

 

Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen? I can't help but smile and laugh at how sweet she is! I love her sooo much! It is so fun having a little girl. I LOVE it! So, these pictures were taken at the end of her 6th month, rather than the beginning, but at least I could say she was still 6 months old! She turned 7 months old on Sunday. The photographer had been having a rough day, and when I showed up I could tell he wasn't very happy. Avery was so good, and just smiled up a storm at him, so I think it brightened his day. He told me thank you for having such a good baby.That made me a proud momma!Plus she is so darn cute, how could she not make you happy?

So, Kayli, your designs by Kayli hair flower made it in the picture! I admit, I should have slid it over to the side so she doesn't look like a flower unicorn head, but oh well. too late now. It doesn't do her little curly sprout justice! But it was perfect for the photo!

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Have you seen this? This is hilarious!I love it! It really makes me want to get 8 treadmills so I can re-create the choreography. It looks so fun!I am usually the last to see these things, so sorry if it has been overviewed by you all. It made me laugh. Enjoy!