Recipe links

Chicken Not Pie
Colorful Cupcakes

April First

So there I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner

when the phone rang. It was Amy calling to see if we wanted to come over

for an April Fool's dinner. Sadly, I had to say no as Bob has been getting home around 6:30 and we leave at 6:55 for Gospel Meeting. So...we did the next best thing. Emma and I headed over to their house after lunch to make dinner together.

While Amy and I were cooking, the kids became artists.

Wyatt was making fireworks on his paper...

...while Emma was hard at work...

...on the flower I'd drawn for her.


They did take a quick break to brush the tops of the Chicken Not-Pot Pies
with the egg wash.


Okay, so our menu was
Chicken Not-Pies and
Warm Up-Cakes

Here are the peas, carrots and corn for the Chicken Not-Pie

(This is later at my house when I was assembling everything.)
Doesn't that look just like the filling for Chicken Pot Pie?


Mmmmm...dinner is ready.

I feel kinda bad now because Bob was quite excited to see

what he thought was chicken pot pie on his plate. We haven't had it forever and

it did look quite tasty. He dived right in...breaking the crust to get to the center.

But, wait...it's cold?

And you should have seen Ryan's eyes when he saw that there were

cupcakes on the table. That's unheard of it our house...I've learned to keep dessert well

away from the regular meal. Otherwise, the kids have a terrible time resisting it.

But, wait...they're hot?

Emma really liked the crust.

This is Ryan's face as he discovered that they were not, in fact, cupcakes, but meatloaf

with colored mashed potatoes on top. You see...he loves cupcakes and detests meatloaf.

He did eat it though...with just a little bit of grumbling.

This is actually vanilla pudding with different pieces of

candy to resemble the vegetables.

Thanks, Amy, for the very enjoyable afternoon. Emmalee and I had a

wonderful time. Just for Ryan...since he enjoyed last night's dinner so much...I'm trying to figure out how to disguise liver and onions for dinner tonight! (Kidding!)

It's Raining Pigs and Noodles

The kids and I reading

"It's Raining Pigs and Noodles"

by Jack Prelutsky

~~~~

This book, along with any by Shel Silverstein, is a great

way to get kids interested in poetry. The kids find them quite entertaining.

~~~~

I thought this poem appropriate for today, as we wait for our sunshine to come back.

~

It's raining pigs and noodles,

it's pouring frogs and hats,

chrysanthemums and poodles,

bananas, brooms, and cats.

Assorted prunes and parrots

are dropping from the sky,

here comes a bunch of carrots,

some hippopotami.

~

It's raining pens and pickles,

and eggs and silverware.

A flood of figs and nickels

is falling through the air.

I see a swan, a sweater,

a clock, a model train-

I like this so much better

than when it's raining rain.

-Jack Prelutsky

A little ray of sunshine

Spring Break

Before we moved back here, the kids and I would normally come here for

Spring Break while Bob worked his long tax season hours.

Now that we lived here, we weren't sure what we were going to do.

So, we were so happy to have family come to visit for the week.

R & J spent quite a bit of time in the mornings and evenings on their DS's.

Both of them had a new

Pokemon game, so they enjoyed playing it together.

Emma convinced J to play a game with her within minutes of his arrival.

I love this picture of Emma

Since J had spent some time at the airport and on the plane, we

braved the cold wind for a walk to Ryan's school.

Notice Emma upside down behind J?

She's a little monkey!

On Tuesday, we went to the Discovery Museum.

The kids love it there...there is so many hands-on activities for them

to enjoy. It's so nice not to have to tell them to be careful

as everything is geared towards them.

All three of them enjoyed the big bubble exhibit.

We headed over to the Bardenay for lunch.

Uncle Max (Annonymous) took a break and spent some time with us.

J declared it the best burger he's ever eaten.

We had dinner that evening at the kids' local cousin's house.

They have quite the set up for skateboards, so Ryan practiced on that for a bit.

Then, they got out their derby car and road it down the skateboard ramps.

Even Emma took a turn, though not from the top!

Five of the seven cousins

A little Hungry Hippo

Wednesday was cold and rainy, so we spent the morning at the Y.

I don't have any pics of the boys as they were in the other pool.

They all had a great time, and the particulary enjoyed the stop

at Krispy Kreme on the way home.

We played Life and Apples to Apples several times.

On Thursday, Dad and Mom came up. While H, Mom and I went shopping, Dad took the kids to see Ryan's plane. He was very excited for his cousin to see it.

Thanks, Dad, for takings the pics!

On Friday, we went to the zoo. The kids and I really like our zoo as you can

usually see the animals out and about in their enclosures.

The lions are new this year.

Their size was pretty impressive.

Emma loves to ride the carousel.

The boys were so sweet to ride it with her.

No trip to the zoo is complete without a trip down the giraffe slide.

Wildlife checking out the wildlife.

The boys helping with dinner.

Battle!

Emma's uncle sent her a new princess purse full of dress-up/play accessories.

Here she is trying out a few...complete with attitude!

And, no, that's not a princess cape.

It's a Superman cape...one side effect of having an older brother.

Before they had to catch the plane on Saturday, I took the kids to the

best playground equipment we've ever seen. For those of you in the area, this is on Cloverdale, just north of the freeway overpass. The kids love it!

There is a regular playground here also for the smaller kids, but Emmalee usually chooses to

play monkey and hang out with the older kids.

H and J, thanks so much for spending your spring break with us.

We had a wonderful time and hope that you did also.

We hope you are able to come again in the summer!