Fresh Veggies

Someday I really want to have my own garden. It really isn't feasible or necessary right now though. We have 2 dogs that, I'm sure, would help themselves to anything we decided to grow. My parents have a nice large garden though (hence it not being necessary for us to have one). Every summer they are generous enough to share a lot of their fresh veggies with us. Over the weekend we got our first crop of green beans and peas. I've wasted my share of fresh veggies over the years and I am going to try my hardest not to do that this year. So tonight I set out to just snap the green beans but ended up doing about half the peas as well. Bodie helped snap the beans and then took the peas out of the pod for me. Hopefully he'll be just as excited to help me finish up the peas tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's day. We spent the morning at a local state park with my parents and my brother and his family.

Here are the boys on the drive to the park. I love how they keep each other entertained, at least until Barrett fell asleep shortly after this shot.

Barrett wasn't very excited when we got to the park. He was still a little tired and I don't think he enjoyed his flowery hat much (it was the only one I could find that fit his head).

Barrett perked up a little on the swings. This is the first time he seemed to enjoy being in the swing.

Bodie on the balance beam.

Hanging from whatever-this-is-called. His cousin climbed up this but Bodie is too cautious to do that. And this mama is ok with that!

Bodie on the paddle boats. By this time the sun had come out and it was starting to get hot but that didn't damper our spirits. After the boats we headed back to the park area to eat a picnic lunch. I honestly can't remember the last time I ate a picnic but I think I need to find the picnic set we received as a wedding gift so we can go on more, it was a lot of fun.

Bodie also got to take his first pony ride but we didn't get a picture of that. I was feeding Barrett at the time but "people" couldn't wait for me to finish before they went. I know my mom got some shots so hopefully they turn out, since she can be a bit camera challenged.

Real words

I think I'll write a post with real words and everything. I've been meaning to post for awhile but just put it off and off and then off a little more. A little update on us...

Me and Curt - Well not too much with us. How exciting of a life can you have when you don't have time for a life :). One fun thing for me...I hit the driving range with a couple girlfriends yesterday and it was fu-un. We are planning a return trip in 2 weeks. I actually hit the ball up in the air and everything. Usually I go and skim the ball across the ground. It is nice to get a little leverage under it.

Bodie - Potty training and almost 3. Glad we are surviving both of these events. The potty training has actually been a non event. I completely credit his daycare for potty training him. We did tackle nights this weekend (no choice since we ran out of pull ups and I didn't want to buy any more). He had an accident Friday night but woke up dry Sunday morning and got up at 4:30 this morning to go. So hopefully that is as bad as it gets.

Turning 3 seems to be a little more challenging. He definitely seems to be all boy. He likes to ride his trike fast, fascinated with planes and trains, and needs to do things his way! He has bad dreams (he tells us he has a dream in his ear and asks us to take it outside). I'm not sure if he is really having dreams or just says that because I asked him once if he did and then Curt told him once he'd take the dream outside. It has become a nightly ritual to take the dream out of his ear before we leave his room for the night (and if he wakes up during the night as he just did while I was writing this).

Barrett - Our little guy who may or may not have been on the verge of baby physical therapy at 9 months is a crawling and a cruising. He is all over and into everything. Curt thinks he'll be walking by the end of the month, but I would really be surprised. I remember thinking Bodie was going to be walking for the longest time before he ever did. You never know though, he might surprise us. He also loves to eat and really does great feeding himself and drinking out of a sippy. Hopefully this will ease our transition away from the breast and bottle in the not so distant future. He babbles, loves his dogs and watching his big brother. They truly seem to be great friends and I hope that continues as they get older.

Bargain Meal of the Week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

The new Hy-Vee.com is available and I have to say I like it. You can click on items as you sift through the 3 on-line ads to add to your shopping list. Also you can "browse the aisles" and essentially price check any item you need. I wish that other sites had that feature - it would make it easy to get the best deal if you plan on hitting a few different stores.

Easy Chicken Bake

1 pkg Chicken breast ($0.88/lb split breasts)

1 can cream of chicken soup ($0.67)

3 oz sour cream ($0.37)

Broccoli florets ($2.38/bunch organic)

1 package stuffing mix ($1.25)

Boil or steam broccoli until it is slightly tender (don't overcook it as you don't want it to become mushy later). Place chicken breast in pan. Mix sour cream, chicken, and cooked broccoli and pour on top of chicken. Top with stuffing mix. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Food Stuff

Tonight I took my weekly trip to the grocery store (yes on a Friday night. I feel like shopping eats too much into my weekend if I go during the day). Anyway, lately I've been thinking a lot about the food we eat and how we really don't eat healthy enough. I grew up as a overweight kid and really don't want that same fate for my boys. Each day I instruct Curt what to make for dinner (he usually cooks since he gets home from work earlier than I do) and every night this week I came home and he hadn't made a vegetable to have with our meal. Now I usually instruct him just on the main dish, figuring that he knows enough to make a veggie to have with it. Every night I found myself pulling a random veggie out of the freezer and tossing it in the microwave. Boring. Also our side dishes are really lacking. Mac & Cheese? French Fries? It just makes me feel bad to keep feeding this stuff to the boys night after night. So this week I took the time to plan a meal and a nice side dish and a veggie for each night. Ok, one night I did plan Mac & Cheese as the side, but we are having fish that night and I need a good back up for Bodie - and me since I don't eat fish :). Fish night is becoming a weekly staple in our house now (for two whole weeks so far). I grew up very picky and hated fish (still do) and, even though I won't eat it, I still want the boys exposed to it. Hopefully all of these little changes and planning ahead will help us form some more healthy habits.

Bargain meal of the week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

According to their website there is a new Hy-vee.com coming on June 8th. It promises meal ideas and coupons so it could be worth checking out.

Parmesan Chicken II

12 chicken drumsticks ($0.99/lb or you might be able to use the chicken leg quarters that are $3.90/10lb bag)
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese ($1.50/5-8oz pkg of Kraft Naturals - $1/1 coupon here)
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (on hand)
1 teaspoon salt (on hand)

In a shallow bowl, mix together salt, pepper, and cheese. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Dip chicken in egg, coating well. Roll in cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until brown.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.