The Ergo and Monkey See Monkey Do

 Katie got an official Ergo baby doll carrier for her birthday!  And Magnolia or Lily have been in it each and every day.  Earlier she was doing her chores with her babies because they were so fussy.  Soooo cute.   Thanks Aunty Pie and Uncle Dustin for the super neat birthday gift!  It's g r e a t!

And Owen not to be left out, has Moe his monkey on his back...like a boy Ergo, aka, a shoulder ride.  :)

Happiness

We are so blessed to borrow the property truck and all the lawn mowing equipment for our yard.  We hope to very very soon get a shed up and buy all the necessary things, but until then Owen LOVES LOVES his ride in the truck for yard stuff.  The ride is about 3 minutes and in his mind it is worth the hassel of moving the carseat over each and every time.  Thanks Mr. Benson and Mr. JoJo for letting us use the equipement!!  It is a hugs blessing.  And Owen obviously thanks you also from the bottom of his heart!  Here's to simple happiness.  :)

Wordless Wednesday

A 5 Year Old Birthday Party

 Katie's 5th birthday party was wonderful! We were so excited to celebrate with her, her past five beautiful years.  

At our house we have decided to celebrate every birthday with family, but not necessarily a large party.  Then we throw a birthday bash, where the kids can plan the event themselves every few years. And this was Katie's first official birthday bash to invite her friends. She choose to invite 5 families since she was 5.  :) And even though one family could not attend, another family has two kids Katie enjoys playing with so there were still five friends.  :)  The Lord worked it out perfectly.

It was a beautiful day out at the Hope Reins Pavilion topped with Mimi (my mom) who was able to make it out from KS to attend.  

Soon, I will blog about all that Katie is becoming and has accomplished so far in her great life.  But until then, here are the photos of her P A R T Y!

Katie's choice of dessert.  Sno Cone Cupcakes!  It was fun trying to pull these off.  I found the paper cups at Trader Joes samples table and they graciously gave me some for free.  I got the mini spoons from Harris Teeter and they graciously gave them to me for free.  And I got the recipe and ideas from Food Network magazine and bakerella blog.  I do think they look like Mini sno cones and Katie was thrilled that I could make them.  I loved seeing her SO excited about all the details.  :)

 She was definitely blessed with lots of gifts this year.

 Love this sweet hug!  Love this sweet friend, Catie Beth!

 Owen was JUST as excited for the party as Katie.  It was wonderful to encourage him to be excited for Katie.  I do think he thought at first it was a party for him too.  Daddy had to talk to him about letting all the girls play together and Owen not jumping into the middle of a group of girls.  If Owen could have he would have joined in on all the hand holding and tire swinging.  

Thanks buddy for loving your sister so well!

 "Okay, lets all hold hands and go see the horses!"

 These are two of the cuties mini ponies out here at the ministry of Hope Reins.  What a wonderfully neat organization.  We are blessed we got to celebrate out there at the farm.

 We made sponge flowers to throw for our water games!

 Hi Mercy, thanks for coming!  Love your colorful flower and love you!

 Alexia, we were SUPER glad you came to celebrate! It's been great getting to know your family!

 Yes, we did.  It was a hoot!

 Squirt gun fight, flower power and water balloon!

Mr. Hunter got in on the action too.  Sorry Ms. Robin, I didn't get a photo of your great skills too. :)  Thanks for being such a great sport and getting pretty wet.

 Dished out more then he could handle....

 Get him...get him....get him...

 Back in the action!

 filling more water balloons

 keeping her stash large and in charage

 Happy Birthday to you

Zoe, we are SOOOOO glad you are neighbors with us and could come.  We loved it!!!

Rieka, Thanks for coming and sharing in the fun.  Katie LOVES getting to play with you.  It's been a treat-first your birthday and now hers!

 We also ate turkey roll ups, watermelon, pretzels, pasta salad and juice boxes-all Katie's choice for yummy food!

 So. much. fun.

 Oh Mimi, we love that you came for the party and stayed for the past week!  It. Was. Great.

 Can't believe that our first born is now 5.  But we wouldn't trade it for anything.  Love you BIG girl!  You did a great job helping us plan your 'water' party.  

I can't do reading workbooks today

"Mom, I can't do any reading workbooks today because my arms are tired.  Don't you remember I did a whole workbook with Daddy yesterday? My arms are sore so I can't do school today."

-As told to me by Katie a minute ago-

:)

Owen said and Katie said

1. 

I made monkey bread for breakfast this morning.

Katie asked, why is it called monkey bread?

Daddy responded, because it makes you bounce like monkeys

Owen said,  yes, like bouncy balls, bounce like bouncy balls!

2.

Then we were playing Uno and Katie said it was an excellent game.

A few minutes later she told Daddy he was an excellent player.

3. 

My parents visited for this past week...and when my mom and dad were reading to them they asked what this animal?  And Katie without hesitation said a cantaloupe.  :)   Or in other words an antelope.  

940

The number of Saturdays we have-from birth until our children are 18.

WOW. 

Gyros

Gyros

These are delicious, easy and at least our kids love them. 

Serve with a greek salad and/or hummus and pita.  

Oh and don't forget to add some cucumber yogurt sauce!  :)

*Sorry about the strange font colors and sizes*

Gyros (serves 6)

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 lb lean ground lamb 

• 
  
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano (crushed)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. 1
   Combine ingredients in a bowl, and shape into 1/2 inch thick patties.  Place on cookie sheet.
2. 2
   Broil 8-10 minutes until no longer pink.
3. 3
   Slice thinly and serve with pita bread or naan bread, sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, lettuce, cucumber yogurt sauce.

Here is the Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

• 1 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber
• 3 garlic cloves
• salt
• olive oil (optional)
• fresh dill (optional)
• 1 Peel the cucumber and remove the seeds. Grate coarsely. Put the grated cucumber in a bowl and sprinkle generously with salt. Let sit for 10 minutes, then drain and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you're concerned about salt, rinse the cucumber and squeeze again.
• 
  
  2 Peel and mince the garlic. I love garlic, so you may want to use a little less.
• 
  
  3 Mix the cucumber, garlic, and yogurt. Let sit for a bit to mingle the flavors.
• 
  
  4 Optional: Add olive oil and or minced fresh dill-I think dill makes this delicious!

Wordless Wednesday

when Katie wakes up it is so sweet-its like she is telling me her dreams

Today I woke Katie up from another short nap and then is what she said, half asleep, but wanting to get up.

Me-Katie you sure seem tired!

K-yes, Lily is not sleep well at night.  These past 4 nights have been rough and I am tired.  We gave Lily a new vitamin and it is keeping her awake at night.  We've tried to take her for walks later on in the night, called 'Kindergarten walks', and then to nurse her, but she has been up a lot.
And I am have been really tired lately.  So this nap was nice.  Thank you mom.
Oh and Lily and Magnolia are in kindergarten and they are doing a lot of reading and this is not helping them sleep either.  Short or long books don't seem to help.  Lily will even cry out and then go back to sleep, but Magnolia wont.

:)--Imagination of our 5 year old.

Wet n Wild

I remember it.  My days of running in the sprinkler for hours on end.  Trying to beat the heat of the summer haze.  It was refreshing.  Many games were made up while my sister, brother and I played. Memories made. 

Now I am thankful we can offer a simple sprinkler to our kiddos. :)  And 25 years later the same things happen...a refreshing feeling, games created and plenty of smiles. 

Look at those long legs!  :)

 Are we having fun yet?  Yes, and more YES!

 Mostly what Owen did...drink water!

 Dancing to his own beat

 Hi there pretty girl.

And while we played in the cool water, Daddy mowed, trimmed and blew off the yard.  

This is his tired smile. I can't believe you are taking a photo of me looking this gross. :)  

Thanks for all your HARD work to take care of the yard for us!  We love that we can play outside in the grass.  

 :)