A Few Randoms

Will, modeling the new ear protection for the Monster Truck event Craig took him to downtown in the Huntington Center. They had a blast with Jason & Addison.

This is Sophie's new "thing". She carts around the changing pad we (still) use to change her diapers on, the Pillow Pet our babysitter got her for Christmas and the green "polka-bot" receiving blanket from when our babies were babies... and makes a "bed" in random places. Pretending to sleep is so mysteriously appealing to both Will and Sophie. And actually, the kitchen floor is her favorite place to make lots of random messes that we have to step over.

One warm, rainy/sunny evening, we received a nice surprise...

Craig and Will discussing March Madness and the teams left in the running. Craig was explaining that Baylor was in Texas and asked Will if he remembers where Texas is on the map. Will said "Yep! It's below Oklahoma." ;-) Will cracks me up, too, with his knowledge of The Ohio State basketball team's stats. He doesn't forget a thing!

On March 23rd, Will had another special helper day at school. Craig's mom got to be his special guest and he looked forward to it for weeks. I tried to send our compact camera in Will's backpack for a picture of the two of them, but apparently the memo was not received. Only a couple pictures came back. But Will had a great day and can't wait for his final helper day in May with Great Grandma Verna. Thank you, Marilyn, for making this day special!

After karate this past week, we sorted our mail and Craig and Will immediately RSVP'd to Cecilia's 2nd Birthday party. Will dialed their number and left a voicemail that said something to the effect of: "This is Will! I'm coming to the party!"

What's For Dinner? Week 4

{Week of March 24-30}

Chipotle Tamale Pie and tossed salad (+kids had fruit). The "pie" is sorta like a Mexican chili casserole with cornbread crust on top. I've been making it ever since that episode of Simply Delicioso aired on Food Network.

Heavenly Baked S'mores for dessert. Can't get enough of them!

Burgers on the grill on Tuesday. They're becoming a weekly request again.

We borrowed Madagascar from the library and had a movie night and floor picnic for dinner on Wednesday. I made Paula Dean's Baked Mexican Bean Dip from Pinterest and it is/was soooo yummy! There's a LOT of cheese in this recipe but it's still relatively healthy... except for the chips. ;-) It was a fun treat to make a meal out of it. The kids never eat very well when we have our floor picnics anyway. They're always too distracted by the movie.

Big plate of fruit and raw veggies. A staple "side dish" for quick weeknight meals as well as ALL THE TIME in summer. I often throw some sliced cheese on plates like this too, but not this time given the main dish.

Our set up for movie night.

We invited Craig's parents and grandpa over for dinner on Thursday night. The kids were looking so forward to our "special guests" and I prepped the whole meal on Wednesday night, of course.

I made Weelicious spinach lasagna rolls, tossed salad, Wee garlic bread and Bon Appetit's marshmallow-laced hot fudge sauce for sundaes. It was a tasty meal, if I do say so myself. It was funny... I asked Craig what we should serve for dessert even though I already had the fudge sauce in mind and he said the very same thing. We LOVE it. And it's so easy. Planning to serve it for Sophie's birthday party in a few weeks.

These lasagna rolls look so pretty and fancy even though the preparation is really very simple. Perfect for serving company!

Grandma reading to Sophie after dinner.

And on Friday, we had a really fun night with our friends in honor of our friend Jill's birthday. (More pictures to come.) We grilled steaks and asparagus and served rosemary potatoes and a big green salad with strawberries, whole pecans and an AMAZING homemade dressing. I made Wee guacamole as an appetizer and for dessert, we served some fresh strawberries to dip into the same hot fudge sauce (I made a little extra) as Thursday night. Everyone contributed to the meal and we all enjoyed every bite!! Great friends. Great night!

Counting down the weeks now till CSA season! Our farmers were in the paper this past week for a rally to protect small farmers. And I helped support a promotion booth they had set up in the hospital cafeteria a couple weeks ago as well. We saw a lot of interest in the program and passed out quite a lot of applications. Business is growing for Riehm Farms thanks to our Promedica family! Yipee!

Eat LOCAL!!!

Say Hello To My Little Friend!

Woot! Woot! It's finally here!!!

After almost two months of using a compact camera, I am FINALLY back to a digital SLR and an awesome upgrade from our previous SLR! I am ECSTATIC!!!!!

Allow me to introduce the Canon EOS 7D: Keep in mind: the pictures of our new camera are taken with the compact camera, so I am not able to capture the crispness of its beauty. ;-)

Also, we've only ordered the body of the camera so far. The lens pictured belongs to Craig's dad and we are borrowing it temporarily until we order our new one. Our old lenses still work, so we can continue using those too, but the new one will be able to capture far more of what this camera is capable of. My biggest complaint about our old camera and lenses is that I couldn't capture decent quality in low light (which is most of our house) or up-close crispness. The lens we plan to order, after LOTS of research and reading of reviews, is the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. I may do nothing but take pictures... ALL DAY... when that arrives. ;-)

I love the sound of it snapping.

I love the larger viewing screen.

I love the heavier weight in my hands.

I love that it is reminding me of what a good quality picture looks like.
And... I have a LONG way to go in learning all of the features and settings. But in the meantime, "auto" is suiting me just fine. :-)

The compact camera is going back in our storage tub until further notice.
And we are saying goodbye to our old EOS Rebel XT (body only) at the age of 6 1/2. Canon has a loyalty program that we are taking advantage of in which we are mailing them the inoperable body of our old camera and in turn receiving a discount on the purchase of our new one. We keep our lenses and they provide us with a free shipping label to return the old as well as free shipping on the new.

I remember our first vacation after purchasing this camera in the fall of 2006 and all the fun we had playing around with the new features. And how I found out we were going to be parents upon our return from that vacation. I have appreciated this camera tremendously in capturing so many memories if the last six years!

Goodbye, old friend. It's been real.

Now, be prepared for an unhealthy amount of picture posts to follow... Mmm-kay?

Painting

Tonight was karate night again and Craig's turn to take.

I asked Sophie what she'd like to do while the boys were gone and she said "paint!"

So we did!

We finally got out our big package of easel paper and no-spill paint cups and brushes from Nana & Papa. I really don't know why it's taken us this long, but we will definitely be doing this more often. Those little cups are SO nice and she had so much fun with this!
We have this Lakeshore brand, 3-way, tabletop easel and love it. It's not too big and not too small. Perfect for our needs!

I was so excited when Sophie said (completely on her own): "I made green, mommy! Yellow and blue make green!" [Insert LOTS of praising and agreeing from mommy.]

She created three different sheets and had so much fun with it.

Cheese!

Then she helped me wash up our brushes and we made some more green! [water]

We went back downstairs to jump like crazy on the trampoline and then a little hoola hooping followed. Finally, we went upstairs to set the table and get dinner ready. It was a leftovers night so we didn't have much work in the way of meal prep this time.

Jumping Rope

We got outside again on Sunday when the sun came out and warmed up to the 60's.

Saturday had been overcast and cooler. And did it rain? I can't remember now. But Sunday turned out lovely around lunch time.
I had just returned from a four-mile run when the kids were waking up from nap, so we grabbed our "new" candy-stripe-jumbo-jump-rope from Santa and headed outside. Craig set up a hook for us to practice swinging and jumping with only one person controlling the rope. Very helpful! Will and Craig did this for a little bit and Will did okay for his first time. It takes some coordination to time it right, though, so we'll keep working. After his turn, Will bounded off playing again and I only ended up getting pictures of Sophie.

She mostly liked whipping it into snake-like waves.

Jump!

Sophie insisted we go in and get her sunglasses and she always reminds me of my Grandma Skees when she wears these.

Love her. :) Guess who dressed her this day... Yep. Daddy.

She's had an obsession for worms lately. After all the rains, we've had a plethora of them on our driveway and garage floor and she's so curious! We "rescued" one that seemed to be struggling a bit in the heat of the sun and the middle of the driveway by picking it up and carrying it back to the grass. She kept going back to check on it until it disappeared.

Loving this weather!