Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Newest Food Stars!

Emma and Dougie have always loved helping out in the kitchen. A few weeks ago, Emma and I were talking about the duty joy of cooking supper. I shared with her that some friends of ours have each of their teenage children be responsible for one supper a week. Well, Emma thought that was a great idea and asked if we could do that, to which I responded, "SURE!"

So this past Saturday, we were doing basically nothing. I was napping in my our room and Emma came in and asked what we were having for supper. I think I mumbled something like, "I have no clue." and then rolled over. Then she asked if she and Dougie could cook something and again I mumbled, "sure."

After a few minutes (I think), they came back to tell me what they had chosen. They would be making Parmesan chicken, spaghetti and a fruit dessert. At this point, I realized that they were serious about this so I gave a quick lesson on cooking with chicken safety. They informed me that they had the chicken thawing and everything was under control. I went into the kitchen to make sure they had enough chicken for all of us. Once I heard them put the chicken in the oven, I peeked in to see how things were going. Emma was opening some packages of ramen noodles. When I asked why, she informed me that we didn't have any kind of spaghetti noodles or pasta, so they were going to use the ramen noodles without the seasoning. I thought that was pretty inventive! After that I was banned from the kitchen, which you can see from the sign on the door.
Within an hour, dinner was served!
Parmesan Chicken (that's a tomato on top. Notice the noodles!)
Garlic breadsticks!!!
They even went out in the yard and got some fresh flowers! So sweet!
Everything was so good! The chicken was cooked to perfection and tasted so good. Emma told us that the recipe called for italian bread crumbs but we had plain bread crumbs. So she just took some different spices and seasoned the bread crumbs. My girl is definitely not afraid to cook!
I forgot to take a picture of the dessert. We were all given a choice: blueberry, peach or strawberry. (Because that's what we had in the freezer.) They took your choice of fruit, put it in the blender with a little bit of sugar and blended it. They placed it in a bowl and put it back in the freezer. It was soooo yummy, light and refreshing!
It was a wonderful evening and I was so proud of Emma and Dougie. We will definitely be letting them cook dinner again, soon!
Here's the recipe for the Parmesan chicken:
4 chicken breast
4 tsp. Italian bread crumbs (not sure what spices Emma used)
1/2 c mayo
1/4 c parmesan cheese
Combine mayo and cheese and spread on chicken. Then sprinkle on bread crumbs. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.

Monday, August 9, 2010

First Day of School 2010-2011

Emma and Dougie started back to school today. Emma is going into the 7th grade (I can't believe I just typed that!!) and Dougie is going into 4th. They were both a little nervous this morning. Emma was nervous about being in the "high school" hall. At our school, 7th -12th are on the same hall. Dougie was nervous about having the "meanest" teacher in the whole school! ; )

Dougie wasn't happy that I made him take a picture without his cap!
But Emma helped him turn his frown upside down!!
Hope you have a great day!!!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

St. Augustine 2010

Warning there will be A LOT of pictures!
We had a great time at the beach this year, as we do every year!
Asher loved bonding with my cousin's new husband, Jacob. Not sure if he was overwhelmed by the trip but we sure had fun getting to know him better!
The kids had a little too much fun riding in the raft....oops!
Hanging out on the beach.... Learning to boogie board..... Loving the boogie board........ Catching sea critters...... Eating snacks...... Sharing secrets....... Reading and relaxing.......Smiling........Family pictures........ Getting spoiled......... Loving.......
Surprise baby showering..............
Feeding sea gulls......
Running from sea gulls.......
Eating ice cream........
Posin'.........
Eating sand................. Building sandcastles........Loving the water...on the LAST day......
Playing in the waves....... Eating....can you guess what? sleeping......... Entertaining........laughing.......
One last sunset........
And making memories that will last a lifetime!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

St. Augustine Light House

Sometime earlier this summer, Caleb began talking about light houses. I don't know where he learned about them but all he talked about was how fun it would be to go to the top of one.
Then when our beach plans had to be changed, one of the positives of St. Augustine was the light house. I was so looking forward to taking him to visit it.

We decided to go first thing in the morning to beat the heat. Emma, Dougie and Asher didn't join us. It was just Steven, Caleb, my sister Laura, b-i-l Phil, Chaz, Cole and myself.
Caleb was beyond excited as we saw this
We all walked in the gift shop, so excited about walking the 216 steps to the top of the light house. As Steven walked up to buy our tickets, the lady at the register informed us that there was a height restriction. Anyone who goes up the light house must be at least 44 inches tall.

As Caleb walked over to the measuring stick, my heart was sinking because I knew that he was no where near 44 inches tall. It took Steven explaining it to him before he understood. Notice that he even wore his stripped shirt because it looked like the light house! Poor baby! :(

Laura, Phil, Chaz and Cole went up and we went into the museum. This is them at the top. I don't have a very good zoom on my camera.After they came down, then Steven and I went up.
Once Steven and I came down, Caleb was pretty much over it. He and Chaz were playing and having a good time. They did give us a free pass to come back when he's taller but I think we'll make a trip to Tybee instead.