Animal Planet in my yard....

As you all will recall, we already have a dog named Titan.....

And I am sure that you all remember the stray that lives in our front yard, which the kids have named Pilchard (from Bob the Builder). Oh and I have now learned that he has always been a stray and the old owners feed him, which is why he hangs out here all the time! Anyone in San Antonio want a really sweet cat??? I would love to find him a home since I am allergic and we can't take him in.

Well we now have even more "pets" living in our yard.....of course my kids have named them all!

If you look closely between the pipe and the wall you will see the lizard. Kayla has named him Lenny the Lizard. Lenny has taken up residence in Kayla's play house, but when the kids are outside he hides behind a pipe.

While we were outside we noticed another lizard on the neighbors house...he has now been named Lenny's Big Brother....She named him that because he is bigger than Lenny.

So slowly but surely, my yard is turning into Animal Planet...whats next??? Hopefully no snakes!!!!!!

Garden Update

Well the garden is coming along really well so I thought I would give you a photo update!

These are some strawberries that started sprouting from an old pot that our neighbor gave us. Hopefully they keep doing good.

Adam's jalapeno plant is doing AWESOME! I think he has like 8 or 9 peppers growing on it already.

Here is the 1 tomato that is ready to be picked...there are about 15 more on this plant in various sizes.

Our green beans are doing great too! I can't believe that the rubbermaid tubs actually work!

Even the peas are doing good...although we did have a few casualties in the right hand tub...

Our strawberry plant out front is doing good too. The kids have each been able to eat a strawberry off of it and we have about 4 more that are about ready to pick.

More strawberries


These are our bell pepper plants...they are slow growing but still doing really good!

You can see some pepper buds starting to show so that is a good sign.


I am really excited that everything is growing so well....I just wish we could have a bigger garden!

Homemade Bread

Ok, in case you hadn't heard, I have developed an obsession with homemade bread. For starters it is WAY cheaper than buying it in the store, and there is something to be said for eating fresh from the oven bread with dinner! In the last few weeks I have come upon a few new bread recipes that are amazing! So I thought that I would share the links to them with you all!

I use my bread machine just to make the dough, and then I bake them in the oven.

The first recipe is for Artisan Bread (perfect for soups, pastas etc). The recipe makes enough for 4 loaves. You can either make1 loaf and refrigerate the dough for up to a week (it gets better and better each day) or you can separate it into 4 loaves and freeze the dough, then thaw it in the fridge when you are ready to make it.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx
(Thanks Heather for the link!)


The second recipe is for homemade Hamburger Buns. Adam says that they are the best buns he has ever had, and will not let me buy buns anymore! They are good with burgers, hot turkey sandwiches, lunchmeat, bbq etc etc etc. They are super easy to make as well!

http://www.recipezaar.com/Homemade-Hamburger-Buns-Bread-Machine-80413


So enjoy the recipes and let me know how they work out for you!

There's a Princess in the house....

We are planning a trip to Walt Disney World for this coming December (thank you Disney for giving free tickets to Military personnel!!). I would be lying to you if I said that the kids are not excited :) They have a special coin jar already where they are saving all of the loose change they find for their trip. One of the most exciting things for Kayla is that she gets to meet the Disney Princesses! She already has a Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty dress. She decided to beg her Aunt Jackie for a Belle one for her birthday, but Jackie couldn't find one anywhere.....so she went with Snow White isntead. Well Kayla got her Snow White dress from Aunt Jackie, Uncle Adam and Andrew today....what do you think? Do you think she likes it???

Look out Disney World....Princess Kayla is headed your way!

Legal age to eat turkey???

Adam started his first mid-shift today (2-10pm) which means that dinner time at night is just the kiddos and I. I spent the whole day doing stuff around the house, so I decided that dinner was going to be leftovers. Last night we had bow-tie pasta with chicken and broccoli. It was delicious and as such I didn't complain that I was going to be eating it again :)

As we were sitting down for dinner Carter started stomping his feet and banging on the table. He then proceeded to yell at me "NO NO NO!! I not eat turkey! I not old enough to eat turkey!" Well too bad for him that #1 we were not having turkey and #2 I am not currently aware of any law setting a minimum age for turkey consumption.

So if any of you are aware of this law that Carter is referencing please let me know....that way I don't force my child to do something illegal again :)