Menu-Plan Monday (on a Wednesday)

 

A week of vacation followed by a holiday weekend has thrown me off my game a little this week, so pardon my tardiness!

 

On Saturday, we got our first CSA box for the summer.  It contained green kale, red russian kale, swiss chard, sweet potatoes, green onions, lettuce, broccoli and strawberries  Yummy!

 

 

Here are a few meals I plan on making with our goodies.

 

grilled salmon and spicy Asian stir-fried swiss chard

 

sausage and red russian kale soup with tomatoes, chickpeas and herbs

 

easy garlic chicken, steamed broccoli and baked sweet potato fries

 

tilapia, sauteed kale with garlic and onion, baked sweet potatoes

 

ginger cilantro baked tilapia, wild rice and roasted veggies

 

Can't wait to try it all out!

Claire's Birthday Trip

Claire turned 7 in April (still last month ... I'm only a month behind).  I talked her into a day trip to Atlanta to shop at the American Girl Doll store in lieu of a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. 

 

{FYI ... After 8 hours driving by myself in one day, I was kind of wishing we were at Chuck E. Cheese.}

 

At the last minute (like on Monday night when we went on a Wednesday), I decided to make Claire and her doll matching dresses to wear on her birthday trip.  Claire's dress became a top because I didn't have enough fabric for a dress.  Fortunately, I had a cute pair of MJ pants that matched perfectly.  I always hate that it takes me just as long to sew the doll dress as it does the big girl dress.  She was really excited and it turned out cute.

 

 

We headed out early and made it to Atlanta just in time to eat lunch at Moe's Southwest Grill ... Claire's all-time favorite restaurant.

 

Then, it was time to shop.  Little Claire and all the other AG dolls racked up!  And this is the time I think ... maybe the birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese would have been cheaper.

 

We love Molly and Emily (Claire has both of these dolls).

 

She was so excited to see Saige!  We had just finished reading her book before we went.

 

Look!  It's little Claire!

 

We opted to do the afternoon tea at the AG cafe.

 

Little Claire even got her own cup of tea.

 

And Claire got a Happy Birthday cupcake.

 

 

Claire and I.

 

Drink up little Claire.  We've got to hit the road!

 

What a fun day with my girl!

Dance Pictures

To tide you over until I get some time to do some MAJOR catching up on the blog.

 

Claire's ballet picture and her pretty feet.

 

Claire's ballet group photo.

 

Claire's jazz group photo.

 

 

Claire's tumbling group photo. 

(FYI ... these cute rompers came from The Children's Place and we will definitely be wearing it to play this summer.)

Spring Soccer

Claire and David both played soccer this year.  David played up in U6.  He did fine.  I think he would have been bored in the younger league another season.  Claire is still playing U8.

 

It was a cold spring, which is surprising since we had such a mild winter.  We wore long-sleeve tees under our soccer jerseys almost every single week.  I even took a blanket one week!

 

Some pictures of David one Saturday.  He was kind of hit or miss as to whether he was really into a game or not.  Sometimes, he preferred to play with the scenery.

 

 

Most of the little boys from Claire's awesome fall soccer team played baseball this spring so we had a whole new team with the exception of her buddy Griffin.  This is her team at practice one night. (I get better pictures at a late afternoon practice than I do at an early morning game.)

 

 

 

Here David in action again.

 

 

David missed his last game because he was running a fever ... and it was 38 degrees that morning.

 

Here is Claire's team photo that Will took on his phone.  (I stayed home with David.)

 

 

Claire and her friend Griffin.

 

March Snippets

March and April are always such busy months for us.  I usually just let the ole' blog fall to they wayside, but I'm trying to do better this year.

Here are a few March highlights that didn't get their own post.

 

David made this cool rocket ship at school.  I did not save it so I had to take a photo.  He loves all things SPACE!

 

 

Kid's watching Wreck-It-Ralph in our bedroom.  We affectionately call Luke "Wreck-It-Luke" because he is so destructive.  The movie is really cute and so is Luke!

 

Claire painted this picture in an after-school art class she took this winter.

 

 

Claire and David playing with our neighbor.  I'm not sure what this contraption was but they were all connected with jump ropes.

 

Claire and her friend Avery at church.  Twinkies!

 

David tries really hard to keep busy in the afternoons while I work a couple of hours after he gets home from preschool.

 

Sometimes I just put out a bunch of craft items and let him go to town!  It gets pretty messy!

 

And sometimes he spills a container of dry beans and pasta on the floor and dresses up like a pirate.

 

We played soccer this spring.  And it was cold for most of the games.  38 degrees the last game on April 20th!  We've had to bundle up this season. 

 

Claire finally got some PINK soccer shoes.  Before we've always gotten neutral shoes to pass down to her brothers.  I finally caved on the pink ...

 

Luke needs lots of snacks to keep him entertained at soccer.

 

And he has a nice big boo-boo on his cheek where he fell out of a chair at the kitchen table.

 

Claire went to a roller skating birthday party.  They wear me out!!  She had so much fun though, I had to drag her out of there.  After about an hour of skating round and round, she finally got the hang of it.  I'm just glad I didn't have to skate too.

 

Claire and McCall-the birthday girl!

 

It snowed on March 26th-the week of spring break.  Not much, but SNOW!  SPRING BREAK!

 

Luke and I got to hang out a couple of days while Claire and David were at spring break camp.  I've never been home alone with him much and we had a grand time!

 

Palm branches from church on Palm Sunday.  Luke was a big fan!

 

Claire looking cute in her MM shirt-sequins and all!  (You can't really see them in the picture but Mickey is covered.)   And she is always ready to strike a pose!

 

 

Will has been practicing his guitar here and there.  The kids like it when he plays "Our God" which is slow-going at times.

 

 

Claire has been making her bed every morning-a new chore.  It's not as neat as I would like it but it's made.  It's hard for me not to go in there and re-do it, but I'm trying to let those things go!

 

 

David has been working on riding his bike without training wheels.  He does pretty good but hasn't picked it up as fast as Claire did.  (I think Claire was older when we taught her.)

 

 

There he goes.

 

And down he goes.  We're not quite ready to move to the blacktop yet.

 

Maybe next month ...