Cream Scones

Recipe from Joy of Baking:
We enjoyed them with Lemon Curd- Yum!

My favorite colour

Family Room [view from kitchen] Before:


After:


Do you like?

The red won't be as bright when I paint the walls and hopefully install the "built-in" shelving on either side of the fireplace. We now have room for all four of us on one couch- sweet!

Menu Plan Monday

Last week I did Chicken Carbonara on Tuesday, Chicken/Mushroom Marsala on Wednesday, Turkey Sandwiches on Thursday, Marinated Flank Steak on Friday, Dan and I went out for a date Saturday night and the boys had leftover Flank Steak with beans in a quesadilla. Sunday we didn't go to the Lacrosse game and had another marinated Flank Steak with salad and leftover garlicky potatoes.

Dan went to the Butcher's which prompt me to think of the menu in 2 minutes and was how we ate flank steaks last week.

Monday: Lunch: Turkey roll-sandwiches
Dinner: Bacon Cheese Burgers or Rachel Ray's Beer Braised Bacon Burger and salad.
Tuesday: Lunch: Quiche and strawberries
Dinner: Kids eat free at Roadhouse Grill [they have an amazing Texas Egg Rolls that Dan will love; the boys love the kids ribs with bbq sauce]
Wednesday: Lunch: Pasta- probably a light Alfredo sauce with lots of veggies
Dinner: Chicken and vegetables curry over brown rice
Thursday: Lunch: Canadian Ham and Pineapple Pizza
Dinner: Asian styled Burgers [Teriyaki sauce and grilled pineapple], coleslaw, and homemade baked beans.
Friday: Lunch: Ploughman's Platter
Dinner: Greek Burgers, cucumber salad, and leftover beans
Saturday: Lunch: National Guard BBQ [I'll bring a fruit salad and vegetables with hummus to keep us healthier] Dinner: Eating Well magazine's Chicken with Honey-Orange Sauce, broccoli, and rice
Sunday: Lunch: Eat out
Dinner: Cream of Asparagus Soup, crab cakes, and salad

Then we should be promptly sick of burgers at the end of the week :)

For more menu planning ideas go over to Organizing Junkie!

My how the time has flown...
We have been enjoying having Dan/Dad/Husband home for these last few precious days. Dan and I even had the opportunity to go out on a wonderful date last night.
And the clock is ticking as we have one last week left...

Cyrus speaks

Tautology or otherwise known as "self-evident truth"

Example: When you jump. You go up and down.
As he is eating strawberries he tell you "Mom I am eating strawberries." Yes I can see that.
"I will win or I will loose" [when playing a game]

The examples are true- straight from Cyrus' mouth.

Living Lovely

Another post for the Living Lovely series hosted by Mt. Hope Chronicles and this week focuses on:
Share on your blog your thoughts and ideas for making connections and memories with our families in simple, but profound ways through special treats, random surprises, and seasonal activities.

Special treats is code for dessert around here. My kids love it when I make waffles every Saturday or Friday morning [or any other time of the week], our weekly [at least once a week if not more] we'll have tea time and sometimes I'll bake something like scones, brownies, or cookies. The boys love gelato and ice cream but I don't keep any at home so we have to go out and about to enjoy some and hence Cyrus has put an ice cream maker on his birthday wishlist. Snow days mean hot chocolate days! Last year I had a new year resolution of learning to make pies and those are a special treat that even the boys like to help me make. Last week we had two pies in one night: Beef Pot Pie and Banana-Coconut Cream Pie! Any time it is sunny outside the boys ask if it is warm enough for a BBQ because BBQ ranks very high for a special treat! For your birthday, you get to choose your resturant [usually Sushi] and dessert which has been ice cream cake lately.

Random surprises I love to do: go for a hike, drive, or visit someplace new. We would make a fort inside and have a "camp-in" day that we'll be taking outside with a tent this summer and hopefully camping in the great outdoors a couple of times this summer. The fun and excitement of a new lego set to build together. Checking out a family movie at the theatre. Giving everyone money at a bookstore- literally can spend hours looking over books until we each figure out what we want most.

Seasonal activities that we look forward to are: cutting down our Christmas tree and decorating it, sledding, walking through the Rose Garden, theatre shows, Thanksgiving for the yummy food, Dr. Suess Birthday and everyone's birthdays, baseball games [Our first Portland Beavers game will be April 20th this year as the boys help me celebrate Mom and Dad's Wedding anniversary], military/air shows, when family from out of state come and visit us are always special events, picking out pumpkins [and making pumpkin pies for Halloween season], playing at water fountains when the weather is warm, pumpkin soup for Day of the Dead, and some events we'll be adding this year are St Lucia Day [Swedish Holiday], gardening in our own garden, and making homemade Christmas gifts together.

A real person writes this blog...

Here I am on St. Paddy's Day with Cyrus. Solomon took the picture and has trouble with half way clicking to auto focus and then clicking to take the picture but maybe the out-of-focus makes me look prettier. You can see my hair getting pretty long and staying naturally wavy... Anyways just thought I would let you know what I look like in case you are having a hard time picturing the person who writes this blog :)

Monday Menu Plan

Monday: Fish [Snapper], rice, and asparagus
Tuesday: Chicken Carbonara or Chicken Marsala Pasta
Wednesday: Quiche [Bacon, onions, spinach, and possibly asparagus] with country potato
Thursday: Since I didn't make it last week [I made Beef Pot Pie instead]- Salmon with a Vodka Lemon sauce over Noodles with asparagus
Friday: Honey Glazed Salmon with roasted vegetables
Saturday: Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Caramelized Baby Onions and Honey [Morrocan], Sweet Potato salad, Couscous with Spring vegetables, and Tabbouleh
Sunday: We're thinking of catching a lacrosse game so probaby take-out

For more menu ideas visit Organizing Junkie!

It is not Spring until you can play baseball...

and Mom is the cheerleader slash sports-photographer!