The afterparty and the aftermath - 08.01 & 08.02.2009

What's the best way to soak up a lot of alcohol after a big birthday party? Papa John's pizza, of course.

Several people came back to our house after Tony's party. After scarfing down some pizza, each of us immediately found a couch, bed, or spot on the floor (mom!) to crash on. Don't drink and drive! Carpool and have a sleepover at a friend's house if you need to! It's fun!



Breakfast the next morning - McDonald's!

A Royale with Cheese - 05.06.2009

It's been a while since I've taken a picture of Connor's lunch box. This is as healthy of a lunch as he's ever packed - water, granola bar, popcorn, fruit snacks, and a Crazy Feet fruit rollup.

I spent this morning helping out in Connor's classroom. His class has been raising caterpillars through the cocooning and butterfly stages. The cocoons will be hatching in to butterflies soon and in celebration, each kid made their own butterfly t-shirt. My job today was to take the shirts that were already decorated with permanent Sharpie marker and use rubbing alcohol to create a tie-dyed effect. Here's Connor's completed shirt. His shirt was the best out of the entire class. Obviously I'm biased and loved his design just because it's his, but the other parent volunteers all commented about how well his turned out. It was really fun hanging out with each of the kids. I even stayed after the t-shirts were done worked with each kid on counting change.


Here's another one of Connor's projects that is hanging in the hallway outside of his class room.




After the t-shirt project was complete, it was time for Connor's class to break for lunch and recess. I signed Connor out for lunch and took him and Ian to McDonald's. Ian had a chicken McNugget Happy Meal and Connor shocked me by ordering a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (and no other toppings).

There's no way that he can eat an entire Double Quarter Pounder....

Wait, he's not showing any signs of being full... Maybe he can finish it.

So close! Connor couldn't finish the last few bites.

Okay, so my kid had a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese for lunch instead of his "almost healthy" lunch that I had packed. He can pack his lunch tomorrow. It was great to surprise him today by taking him out for lunch.

The Day's Events - Saturday, 4.11.2009

Thank you Tony Stewart for picking up breakfast while I slept in on Saturday. It was very nice to wake up to a McDonald's Sausage McMuffin.

The neighbors recently spotted what they thought to be a fox in our neighborhood. Connor and one of the neighbor's kids also claimed to have seen the fox. I didn't believe any of them, so my killer attack-Beagle and I set out on a walk through the field and wooded area at the end of our street. Shadow picked up on a sent and took off racing through the wooded area and in to someone's backyard. I'll be damned, but what did we see? A wild animal that appeared to be a fox! I called my dad that night and asked him to bring his live-trap over in the morning so that we could try to catch the fox. He showed up bright and early on Saturday, dressed in head-to-toe camouflage. My kids were already wearing their camo, so we put Shadow on his leash and went out to looked for the fox. We quickly spotted him near the same spot that I had seen him the previous day. The animal was wandering a construction area behind the neighbor's back yard. We got a good look at it and it was huge! Bigger than Shadow and bigger than a fox... It was a Coyote!

We put some apples, carrots, and raw eggs in to the trap in hopes of humanely capturing the savage beast terrorizing the neighborhood... We decided to give it a day and check back in the morning to see if we had caught it.

You can really work up an appetite while Coyote hunting. The kids and I agreed that a trip to White Castle was in order. Ian and I like the chicken rings and Connor likes cheeseburgers, without onions or pickles. De-licious!

I have no objection to convenience foods. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed boxed macaroni and cheese and Noodle Roni. But Hamburger Helper just does not appeal to me. I don't like the look of it or the smell of it. Ick. BUT Connor and Tony like it, so I make it for them every so often.

As an alternative to the Hamburger Helper pictured above, I had Stroganoff flavored Noodle Roni for dinner. Yummmmm....

Lunch with the Kids - 4.10.2009

The kids had Friday off of school. Connor and I got Skyline. In a shocking development, Connor actually got chili on his buns with cheese. He still won't eat hot dogs though. I had a deluxe black bean burrito covered in tons and tons of hot sauce.

Ian hates Skyline, so I got him a Happy Meal at McDonald's. He finally got the Monsters vs. Alien toy that he's been begging for - Insectosauris!

Thursday - 4.9.2009

Lunch date with Ian at McDonald's

I don't know why I bought this cheese. It was an impulse buy. I wanted Brie, but this was sitting right next to the Brie so I decided to try this instead. I should have just gotten the Brie because this stuff was inedible.

Ian killing two birds with one stone - playing outside AND eating Frito's at the same time.

Dinner - homemade mac & cheese. This is my not-so-secret recipe. What makes it special? I simmer crushed garlic in the cheese sauce and use half and half instead of milk.

I don't care for mac & cheese that has been baked in the oven. My secret is to combine warm noodles with the warm cheese sauce, top it with a little more cheese, and then throw it under the broiler for a minute.

You get the bubbly and crispy cheese on top without drying out the rest of the casserole.

Check this out! Tony cooked this all by himself... French toast.

Tuesday - 3.31.2009

Here's breakfast... Like an Egg McMuffin, only better. I used smoked ham, sharp cheddar cheese, one egg, and a whole grain english muffin to make this sandwich. It was tasty!

Here is Ian enjoying lunch with his recently collected Happy Meal toys. He has 8 chicken nuggets, a small order of fries, B.O.B., Ginormica, and The Missing Link on his plate.


My cousin Olivia has been helping me out this week by picking the kids up from school and baby-sitting them while I work. Here is Ian in her car, waiting for Connor to get out of school. He managed to find the one toy in her car, a rubber ducky. Of course he proceeded to grab her water bottle and drown the duck in it. That's just how his mind works.


Shadow loves to go for car rides and always goes with me (or in this case, Olivia) to pick up the kids from school. He's a happy, and spoiled, dog.


Judging by last week's posts, it would appear that I almost never cook at all. That's actually far from the truth. A lot of nights I end up cooking not one, but two meals. I don't like red meat and Tony won't eat anything even remotely spicy, so that rules out us ever having the same chili recipe for dinner. Connor and Tony had chili for dinner on Tuesday.


I love spicy food, as does Olivia. She stayed for dinner on Tuesday and I made homemade Chinese Hot Pepper Chicken. I used 10 jalapeno peppers, a lot of crushed red pepper, garlic, onions, and scallions to make this. It was yummy.