Day 268--Cox Farms

Today dawned with rainy skies, but after consulting the weather forecast we decided it should be a perfect day to make our annual pilgrimage to Cox Farms in Centreville. I pulled Emma and Adam out of school, joined with our preschool friends, and made our way to the land of hay and pumpkins!

The clouds seemed to keep the crowds away and we had the run of the place to ourselves. As per usual, the kids loved the rope swing ....

the super fast slides...

the fun and slightly scary hay ride where an alien comes out to give everyone high fives....

and of course the free mini pumpkins at the end (and the one giant car-sized pumpkin)...
which of course made for great head wear?! Silly kids!

And it's not even Fast Sunday...

Usually cooking in the winter is so much more fun for me than in the summertime. I love savory soups and freshly baked breads that just don't seem to lend themselves as well to hot weather cooking.

Sometime last year though I did something drastic that's changed my whole outlook on summer food!

I took lessons from Glen and totally took over the big manly appliance out on our deck and suddenly we went from eating hot dogs and sloppy joes every other day to....


things like Grilled Chipotle Chicken Fajitas...


and Roasted Salsa with Fresh Mint and Cilantro with charred vegetables...


and one of my favorites-- Grilled Honey-Lime Chicken Sandwiches.

Then in an effort to get even more excited about my summer cooking I did something even more drastic, I planted my very first herb garden!

(There are absolutely NO weeds in my garden...HAH!)

Right now all it has is fresh mint, cilantro, and basil, but we are in LOVE with this new-found jolt of flavor into our cooking. Now we've got...

Bruschetta Pizza with fresh basil...


and Spaghetti with Fresh Tomatoes (and basil)...


and even this Thai-Style Black Bean Salad (with fresh cilantro) added to our summer menu!


Of course we're still in love with our old classic summer food, like ....
watermelon (and every other fresh fruit)...

and yummy treats made with fresh fruit like this watermelon smoothie...


and the kids' very favorite of all....POPSICLES!!!!!

Rumble, grumble, rumble....

Now excuse me while I go find something to eat...

Day 188--Cooking Up Some Fun!

Today Ellie went to her good friend Bradford's fourth birthday party.  They had a great time cooking up some fun and good food.  Emma and Adam got to stay and "help" too and I got to check out their new house again.  It was a great time for everyone!  

Day 174--Lazy Summer Days

Just chilling on the trampoline with their friends--popsicles in hand.  What could better epitomize a lazy summer day?  Too bad with 10 kids at my house at one time my day was anything but lazy.  :)  

Day 155--Preschool Party and We Haz Jazz

It was one of those days that I was hardly home the entire day.  We started off with some early morning panic getting ready for Cami's "We Haz Jazz" performance today, driving them to school, dropping Ellie off at Eve's house, and taking Spencer to the doctor for a check-up.  Then I went straight to Ellie's preschool end-of-year party where she had a fantastic time starting the summer off by playing with her friends.  Of course I didn't mind the opportunity that I got to "play" with my friends too.  :)   

After the party I had about an hour and a half at home before it was time to run to the school to help count the money from the PTA book fair, from which I went straight to pick up Ellie & Emma from the Tippets', and then to the bank to deposit the book fair money, then back to the school for Cami's performance.  

Cami made a stunning performance as Thelonius and then finally we came back home just in time to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner and put the kids to bed!    Now it's my turn for bed! 

Day 113--Take Your Child to Work

I thought it sounded like so much fun to take my kids to work with me that I kept all but one home from school to hang out with me, yet somehow I was still unchallenged. I needed something a little more.

Five extra kids and a big messy project. Sounds perfect.

Day 111--Mr. Tree

Preschool was at our house today. While learning about leaves and trees we took a walk around the neighborhood to "meet" some trees up close and personal. They were seriously waving and talking to our neighbor's friendly maple tree they dubbed, "Mr. Tree".

Day 99--Adventure Playground

Day 86--Short Sleeves!

As per usual, our house was host to eleven kids this afternoon. Thankfully it was a beautiful day and they played outside for most of it!

Day 76--Feeling Green

Preschool was at our house today. I felt like I cheated since I had the whole lesson handed to me on a silver platter, when the mom who was scheduled unexpectedly had to cancel. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed all the little tricks the leprechaun played on us today. Green toilet water, cupcakes, starbursts, little hats, shamrocks to decorate...he was a sneaky little green guy.

Day 69--Running Late

I'm going to bed. It's been a long day. I took a few pictures, but haven't uploaded them to the computer yet and don't want to tonight. So here's a picture of Ellie's friend Bradford. We hosted preschool last minute this morning and had fun learning all about Peter and the Wolf. Bradford was trying out the clarinet.

Bonus points for anyone who can tell me which character the clarinet represented.

Anyone? Anyone?

Day 51--Petland

One of our favorite preschool field trips each year is to Petland pet store. The kids are always completely enamored at the wide assortment of animals and all the moms have an excuse to hang out and talk with each other!
Here they are ogling over the guinea pigs!

Then it was off to lunch at Subway where there was a lot of giggling and silliness and a whole lot of Cheetos and chocolate milk being consumed!

Me? Dress Crazy? No Way!

When my brother-in-law left a comment blaming my daughter's crazy clothing choices on me...I did not actually have to stop and think about whether he knew me at a particular point in my life when that may have been true. Not me, I've never dressed crazy in my life.


When Bradford (a little boy I was watching) pulled his pants down to his ankles and started peeing smack dab in the middle of the park, I wasn't even the slightest bit tempted to take a picture of his indiscretion. No, that would have been most cruel of me.

"Thank you Miss Lara, for not giving my Mom something to blackmail me with when I'm 16."

And then when Valentine's rolled around and we spent six hours (yes you read that right) cleaning out the girls' closet, I didn't have the gall to suggest that we take all the kids with us on our Valentine's date and go bowling. No, that would have been completely unromantic of me.

And there's no way that I started bragging and dancing to the music when I actually got a score of 151 and beat EVERYONE...including Ellie!

Then when Glen accused me of cheating for bouncing all my shots off the bumper guards, I never even thought of giving him a dirty look and bragging even more. No. I would never rub my victory in his face. I'm much more sophisticated than that.

Sure cure for a bad day ...

Having a bad day? Ellie has the magic cure.

Ellie's version:

Cry, cry, and cry some more. Stop crying in 2 seconds flat when you lay eyes on your friend Bradford. Calmly suck your thumb through an entire concert.

Shriek in delight when you get to meet Dora.

Shyly meet Santa and Mrs. Claus and whisper repeatedly, "Polly Pocket. I want a Polly Pocket..."

Walk back in the door at home and pick up on the crying jag right where you left off.

Add in a little carrot cake and a nap and it's a guaranteed success.