Happy Birthday to ME!

**WARNING: This post contains NO pictures. Zero. Nada. Zilch. 

We seem to have misplaced our camera. 

The good news is we are fairly confident it is in the house somewhere, we just need to find it.**

Mr. Man and the kids planned a surprise getaway weekend for me for my birthday which was Saturday. Mr. Man asked me to take off work at 1:00 pm on Friday. After I got off work I came home to a yummy lunch waiting for me. After we cleaned up that we got on the road and headed south of where we live (about a 2 hour drive) to Colorado Springs. We stayed in a fancy hotel that had TWO pools... an indoor one and an outdoor one.

After we got settled into our hotel room a bit, we decided to go get some dinner. We went to a super cool pizza parlor. It was very cool and good food too! The kids had a great time!

After we ate we just drove around town looking at the town, at nothing in particular really. Then we got back to our hotel and went swimming for two hours! We accidentally left the air conditioner set to pretty cold so when we got back to our room we were Freezing!! We took our turns taking a warm shower and getting into our pajamas then settled in to watch a movie.

They let me open my birthday present before going to bed... it was a George Foreman grill that I have been wanting! I was so excited I may have even squealed! {NOTE: I have always enjoyed all presents, even the practical ones. I have a friend who chewed me out for "allowing" my husband to give me practical gifts for my birthday. She said I should only "allow" him to get me fun gifts as presents and the practical stuff can come in between holidays. BUT, that isn't how I roll. I enjoy the practical and non-practical gifts, no matter what holiday (or non-holiday) it is!}

Then Saturday morning, after sleeping in, we casually got ourselves up and about. We headed out for breakfast, then made our way up the mountain to one of the larger peaks in Colorado, Pikes Peak. We rode the Cog Railway to the top of the mountain (Gorgeous view! But you'll have to take my word for it since I can't post pictures!) They tell us that the elevation is so high that the temperature difference is 40 degrees between the top and the bottom. Considering it was 102 degrees in town Saturday, it was still pretty warm up on top.

After getting back down the mountain we stopped in some gift shops to let the kids buy a souvenir. Then we drove around to find a place to eat dinner. I ended up getting a nice steak dinner for my birthday - YUM!

My kids sang happy birthday to me no less than 30 times this weekend! It was awesome! I love my family!

Friday Recipe - Mediterranean Beef Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

I made this salad using left over grilled steak and it was delicious and refreshing. I found the recipe in a "diabetic living" magazine or something when I was waiting at the dentist office. It is quick to throw together, especially if you already have the steak grilled.

Mediterranean Beef Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
INGREDIENTS:
1 lb boneless beef top sirloin steak
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 c romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 c small red onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings (Optional)
1 c halved cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 c crumbled feta cheese (2 oz)

Lemon Vinaigrette
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
3 Tbls lemon juice
1 Tbls snipped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Trim fat from steak. Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper. Grill or pan fry steak to desired doneness. Thinly slice the steak.

Divide romaine lettuce among 4 dinner plates. Top with sliced meat, onion, tomatoes and feta cheese. Drizzle with Lemon Vinaigrette.

To make lemon vinaigrette: In a screw-top jar combine all ingredients. Cover and shake well. Makes about 1/2 cup of dressing.

What's the haps?

I haven't had much to post about lately so today I thought maybe I would just give a short run down on each us:

Mr. Man - after having a week off from work and spending it at home with the kids, he has now worked 8 days straight. He will have a day off tomorrow, work on Wednesday and Thursday and then off again on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.


Spirit - is 9. He thinks he knows it all and he is sassy. But then he can also turn around and be the sweetest kid ever. The roller coaster is really annoying me. He has decided he ONLY wants to wear basketball shorts and t-shirts every day so over the weekend I made him help me sort through the 20 pairs of shorts he has and pick out the ones he wanted to keep. I also insisted he keep a few pairs of jeans shorts for the times I want him looking a little nicer. Even with all that and even though he fights a lot with his siblings, he told me last night that one of the neighbor boys was being mean to Lefty and he told the kid if he couldn't be nice then he should go home. I was pretty proud of him for protecting his brother like that!


Lefty - is 8. He is struggling with trying to be "cool" like the older boys in our neighborhood, but yet he still enjoys playing things that aren't "cool". I watch him try and try to fit in with the older boys and then he gives up and will find Lady Bug to play with. She enjoys playing school with him,  he pretends to be the teacher and helps her with worksheets (so she can earn computer time). The other day Spirit was with a friend and so Lady Bug and Lefty and I were driving to run errands and she got upset by something. He looked at her with concern and asked what was wrong. I didn't hear her response to him, but he said "Well, don't worry about that. You're my best friend." That melted my heart! I am preparing for him to turn 9 next year and act like his brother is now (Lord help us all if he does!)

Lady Bug - is 5. She is preparing to go to Kindergarten in August. She is very excited about it all! This weekend we were out shopping and she asked me if she could get her "first day of school outfit". I encouraged her to wait just a little bit. She is growing like a weed right now and I don't want to get her an outfit that won't fit in August. She has been a little whiny and sensitive lately, if she doesn't get her way we all hear about it! Her preschool teachers had been working with the kids in reading preparations. Lady Bug and I were reading a few books last night and she can read some words, I was very impressed! She will be a good reader like her brothers!

Me - Been working and working. I was doing some contract work a few weeks ago which meant I was gone from the house a lot, but it was a short job and I earned some extra cash which was nice! I will be taking a week off in August just before school starts. We don't have any child care coverage for August so Mr. Man will take the first week off, a friend of mine will watch them the second week and then I will take that third week off. I plan to use the time to prepare the kids for school, we'll start adjusting the bedtime to a more reasonable hour and I am planning a Back-to-School party for that weekend. I told a couple neighbors that they could come too if they wanted to. I have a birthday coming up this weekend... WOO HOO (or not!)

Friday Recipe - Goulash

This is a version of American goulash that my dad used to make when I was growing up. I still make this today and my kids love it.

Goulash
INGREDIENTS:
10 oz macaroni noodles, cooked and drained
1 lb hamburger
16.5 oz can diced tomatoes
small onion, diced
6 oz tomato paste

Brown meat and onions and season with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Add browned meat to cooked pasta. Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Mix well. Heat thoroughly.

*NOTE: Spirit says this has too many tomatoes for his liking - but the rest of us like it! Mr. Man tops his with parmesan cheese. I always serve this with bread on the side.

Lovin' it!

Last summer, to save daycare costs, Mr. Man worked his schedule so that he worked every weekend and in turn got 2 days off during the week. The kids spent most of the days when both Mr. Man and I were working with my sister-in-law. They had a wonderful time with her. She is a very active person and took them boating, fishing, camping a time or two, to the park, picnics,  bike riding, etc. They really had a great summer.

BUT, we didn't get a lot of "family time" because the weekends are when I am not working, but Mr. Man was and during the week when he had days off I didn't have time off. So from that angle I had a hard time with the routine.

This year, we have a lady who watches the kids in her home. Lady Bug's preschool closed it's doors (for good, after 20 years) and so the staff was suddenly unemployed. The assistant director asked me if she could watch the kids in her home. I was elated! What a relief to have someone so wonderful to watch the kids. It has basically been the ideal situation for us. She can only do daycare for June and July because she found a full time job that starts in August. The kids are having a blast, she does crafts and activities and does a good job of keeping a variety of things for them to do! Today she is taking them on a little field trip which should be fun for them!

I am enjoying all the family time we are getting and even though the kids had a super fun time last year with their aunt and cousins I hope they are having fun this summer too!

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Last night the boys and I sat and read a book together. It was really nice to have the boys snuggled up on either side of me reading. At first we took turns reading, but they were so tired that they were having a hard time reading so they asked me to just read. We read two chapters out of a book and then we all headed off to bed. I sent them off to brush teeth and go potty and told them I would be in to tuck them in, by the time I made it to each of their rooms they had already fallen asleep.

Life is so good!  I love my family!

4th of July weekend

Saturday morning we got up and immediately got busy cleaning the house, doing laundry and steam cleaning the carpets. The house feels so clean and smells so yummy too!

Saturday evening we loaded up a table top grill, some burgers and all the fixings and headed to a little place over by my office that we have gone to for several years now. We met some friends over there, had a little tail gate party and waited for fireworks. What a great day/night!

Sunday we were pretty lazy most of the day and then went to a Lacrosse game in the evening where we were supposed to watch the game and then fireworks.... it started raining. Just a little at first, then it was really coming down. We sat it out for a bit and then decided to head out. We waited inside for a bit but then it got to be such a severe storm we decided to just head home. There ended up with streets flooding all over the place and people hydroplaning in front of us (scary!). But we made it home safely, even though it continued to pour rain in a storm like I have not seen in quite some time - it was a lot of rain!

On the way home though we turned down this street and right in front of us was a city fireworks show and we could see it so perfectly...we only got to see the finale but it was still awesome (and we weren't getting drenched watching it!)

Hope everyone had a great, wonderful and safe Fourth of July!

Friday Recipe - Breakfast Bowl

This is very filling and is good topped with salsa! We like this with toast or tortillas on the side. This is a good late-breakfast or brunch meal. For those days when you sleep in and don't want to fix breakfast and turn around and make lunch too! This dish will tide everyone over for quite some time.

2 Tbls butter
8 large eggs
1 (16 oz) bag of cubed frozen hashbrown potatoes
1 lb pork sausage
1 lb bacon
shredded cheddar or colby-jack cheese for topping

In a large skillet, melt the butter and scramble the eggs.

In a separate large skillet, cook hashbrowns according to package directions.

In a third skillet, cook and crumble sausage until browned. Drain off excess grease. Put sausage in a large bowl while you cook remaining ingredients. In the same skillet you cooked the sausage, cook the bacon. Drain bacon on paper towels and crumble into bite sized pieces; set aside.

In individual sized bowls, layer hashbrowns, sausage, bacon bits, eggs, and top with cheese.

**OPTION: You could also saute some diced bell pepper, onion and zucchini in a little olive oil and then add that to the eggs to cook in. Then follow remaining directions.