Here is an update on Todd and Evan's spring garden, which I would call a success. Here was the blooming garden in it's Hey Day (It has really dried up now in the heat!).
Remember how it looked when we started?
We harvested a lot of tomatoes, green beans, jalapenos and corn. Here is a sampling of the green beans. Evan was so excited at how big they were he had to measure them!
Evan's Sunflowers grew to over six feet tall. Here I am standing in front of them and they are way over my head!
Todd took some of the tomatoes and jalapenos and canned some homemade salsa. Yum!
On Friday, we kicked off Mother's Day weekend with Todd bringing home an ice chest with 50 pounds of shrimp. They were big and gorgeous! Luckily, Evan doesn't mind getting his hand dirty and jumped in and helped Todd peel them and get them ready for the freezer. Todd cooked his first batch of them on Sunday and they were awesome.
My boys working hard on the shrimp.
Todd loves his shrimp!
Evan displaying the biggest shrimp he could find.
On Saturday we went to a HUGE sporting goods store called Cabela's. When I walked in, all I could say was "WOW!" It is incredibly big and has everything for the outdoor person. In addition to the merchandise, there is also an aquarium with fish and turtles, a wildlife museum, tons of displays and a restaurant! How did I live so long and not even know a place like this existed?
Evan took my picture in front of one of the wildlife displays.
Evan was thrilled that they had an escalator and I couldn't resist filming him and his big smile (though Todd was a little impatient with Evan's fun):
Todd enjoying the store.
On Sunday we went to Todd's sister's house and had a wonderful bar-b-que lunch. She made five desserts and I had to taste them all1 Needless to say, a nap was in order when we got home. It was a fun, relaxing day!
Two more photos to complete this post. First, a shot of me and Gwen from last week:
The boys are so happy to be out of school for Thanksgiving week. On the last day of school, Chad's Food and Nutrition class had a Thanksgiving Feast. He is learning his way around a kitchen and made a seven layer dip for the class. I love have multiple cooks in the house!
Chad's Seven Layer Taco Dip
Putting on the finishing touches.
Evan hanging out with Gwen.
More Evan and Gwen
Todd is on vacation this week as well and took the boys to the firing range yesterday and today. Chad and Todd both shot the gun yesterday, but Evan was a little worried about the kick after he saw them shoot. Today Evan got his courage up and shot the 20 gauge shotgun himself. Here is the video:
It looks like Evan still has the cooking bug and pancakes are his specialty. Last night he told me that he couldn't wait for Saturday so that he could get up and cook. He must be getting that from Todd! I told him that he could cook, but he had to wait for me or his dad to supervise him. Before I could grab my first cup of coffee, Evan told me that he already had the batter ready and asked if he could fire up the pan.
I showed him a photo last week of someone who had made a bear face out of pancakes.
He loved the idea so much, that he decided to try it for himself. He made pancakes in different sizes; smaller for the ears and mouth and a big one for the face. We didn't have any chocolate syrup, so we came up with the idea of using chocolate pudding to make the facial details. He took the pudding from a pudding cup and spooned it into a zip lock bag. He pushed it all to the corner and clipped off the tip so that he could squeeze out his design. He had a great time in the kitchen and the pancakes were delicious!
First, Chad had the cooking bug and it seems like it caught Evan this weekend. He woke me up this morning, pancake batter mixed, all ready to start cooking. He did everything by himself and was kind enough to share some pancakes with his brother.
Evan's class has been studying Indians and his teacher assigned a fun project for them. They were each assigned a different group of Indians and had to make display of their living environment. The catch was that the display had to be edible. How fun!
He was assigned the Plains Indians and said that he needed dirt, a tee pee, a fire and some bushes. We went off to the grocery store to get supplies. This is how it all came together and what he used:
Ground: chocolate icing
Tee Pee: Pizza sticks, peanut butter and a fruit roll up
Fire: Candy Corn
Bushes: Pieces of a cereal bar covered with green icing and dots of red icing for berries.
He didn't like my idea of using carrots for the fire or incorporating any vegetables. I also thought that broccoli would make some great bushes, but he would have none of that either. That's my picky eater with a sweet tooth for you...it had to be all sugar!
All the supplies and ready to go.
Spreading the chocolate ground.
Ground and base of the tee pee.
Putting icing on a bush.
The completed project!
Evan came home with an almost empty container this afternoon. Each child in the class got a spoon and was able to take a bite out of the display. Evan said he got to eat the tee pee. He also said that his teacher gave him an "A" on his project. Way to go Evan!
One of Todd's favorite things to do is cook. One thing that makes cooking even more enjoyable for him is making Lebanese food from his mother's recipes. On special holidays throughout his life, his mother always made meshee, which is a traditional Lebanese dish that involves wrapping a meat and rice mixture in grape leaves or cabbage and then cooking it. It includes the traditional ingredients such as tomatoes, garlic, mint, lemon juice, basil and cinnamon.
Rolling meshee can be a job so Todd's mom was nice enough to come over and help him cook. The boys didn't want to miss out and even offered to help out a little. My mouth is watering and I can't wait for Easter lunch!
Todd prepping the meat and rice mixture.
Todd rolling the grape leaf meshee.
Cooking is a family affair!
Evan adding some butter to the dish prior to cooking.
Here is a short video of Todd demonstrating how to roll the meshee:
My family met my sister's and brother's families at Toledo Bend for Thanksgiving. We rented a house on the lake, bought tons of food and had three great days of family time. The weather was great on Thanksgiving day, but got cold and rainy on Friday. On Saturday it warmed up and cleared out, so we were able to spend more time outside. We had a blast and can't wait to do it again!
The house where we stayed.
View of the deck from the water. Myself, Tom and Chad are chatting at the top of the stairs.
The nice large deck where we hung out a lot!
View of the lake from the deck. It is getting cloudy!
We were there about 3 minutes before Evan got full of mud! Here he is cleaning off his only pair of shoes.
Caleigh, Chad, Evan and Caitlin enjoying the glider.
Caleigh on the slide.
Caitlin on the slide.
The nice play area where the girls loved swinging.
Cutie Clark!
Evan getting the wood ready for marshmallow roasting.
The weekend was gorgeous here and the boys were extra excited because they don't have school Monday or Tuesday due to Fall Break.
We had a busy Sunday. In addition to the Saints game, Todd decided what he wanted for his birthday...a new grill (now, isn't that really a present for all of us?). Anyway, since his birthday is next weekend, he decided to go ahead and pick out his grill this weekend. While he worked on putting it together, I took the boys our for Baskin Robbins ice cream. Every time we go there I have to tell them about how I worked at Baskin Robbins in Victoria when I was 16 years old. It was my first job and I have a lot of fun memories of my time there.
The Saints ended up losing, and we ended up with some sausage cooked on the new grill. You win some, you lose some, I guess!
I'm glad Todd is handy at putting things together!
