Colors

The Perfect Day

We had the best day yesterday. We left our house around 9 and drove to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware. The kids have flown over the Atlanta a few times, but it was there first time seeing and stepping in the Atlantic Ocean. It was an easy, but kind of expensive, couple hour drive. Thank God for EZ-Pass. We stopped for lunch and a little shopping at an LL Bean outlet and then hit the beach. The weather was perfect - beautiful blue skies, 70 degrees with a cool breeze. I had the kids dressed in shorts, short sleeve shirts and jackets to begin with, but Dan had on pants and long sleeves. If Dan thinks it's going to be cold and covers up, you need to pay attention. I changed all of us into pants. We were a little over dressed, but there were some seriously crazy people under dressed in bathings suits getting in the frigid water. Crazy! Next time, I'm bringing an alternate set of clothing.

Anyway, the state part was really nice. It has easy, short hiking trails and bike trails all over it. We are going to try tent camping there soon. Stay tuned for that post. It might turn out to be a comedy of errors, but it sounds fun now!

We spent almost 3 hours on the beach digging a humungous hole, throwing a frisbee and playing in the surf. I haven't had that much fun in a long time.

I even impressed Dan with my frisbee throwing skills :p. Jaelyn is the one with skills. She can throw and catch the frisbee almost as well as me and Dan. Caden got in a few good throws, but wild child Allie was, well, wild!

We were sad to leave the beach, but we knew the kids would be hungry and we had a 2 hour drive home. Dan cracked me up with his unevenly rolled wet jeans and his white socks. I'll let the picture speak for itself!

We got home a little after 8. We went straight in and put the kids to bed. It was a perfect day. Thanks for planning it, Dan!

I've discovered the continuous mode on my camera. All I have to do it focus, hold down the shutter and it keeps taking pictures until I move my finger. It's been great for capturing action shots and for getting that perfect 1 shot out of the bunch. I took literally 450 pictures yesterday, of which I saved 68 good ones. Here are a few of my favorites...

Pass the Pigs

A Day at the Beach

Toad

The kids came inside screaming a little while ago. They had discovered a huge toad in our yard. By the time I made it outside, the poor thing was covered in cobwebs and sand from where it had most likely been trying to evade my children. I saved his life by scooping him up on a shovel and putting him through a hole in the fence. The kids are sad. No more Toady to play with.

Scarves

I'm going scarf crazy at my house. I grew up in Florida so I have never really understood the need for a warm scarf. 2 winters ago, I remember making fun of my friend, Angie, for her love of scarves. I never saw her with the same one twice; she seemed to have so many. Fast forward to last year, when I was given my first scarf for Christmas. I am now an avid scarf fan and realize their true potential to help you keep warm. I totally get Angie's obsession with her scarf collection. In preparation for this winter, I've been busy. This week alone, I've knitted me a black furry scarf, knitted Caden a varigated blue scarf and sewed the girls boa scarves out of polar fleece. Dan has yet to place his request, but I'm waiting! Watch out, if my momentum holds, everyone on my Christmas list might be getting a scarf for Christmas :p.

Flu Shots

Chicken Marsala

I Miss Dan

Normally when Dan is on vacation, I can only stand so much of him before I'm ready for him to go back to work (please don't take that the wrong way). Too much togetherness is normally a bad thing for us. I start to annoy him. He starts to annoy me. It's nothing major...little things. I was a little concerned when he decided to take a month off after coming home from Iraq. That's a lot of uninterrupted togetherness.

Fast forward to the end of his vacation and I really enjoyed it. I was not ready for him to go back to work this week. We've had so much fun in the last few weeks. I've missed him this week. Think the Army would let him go to a one week on/one week off schedule? That would be perfect!

Prayers for our Friends

Our good friend, Danny, is on his way to Afghanistan for a year deployment. Seeing the pictures on his wife's blog are heart wrenching and hit so close to home after getting our Dan home. Would you please pray for Danny's safe and quick return and for Kim as she becomes everything to her kids (again) Jacob - 4, and A.J. - 2?

Thank you, Danny, for all you do to keep us safe! And thank you, Kim, for keeping things running at home while he's gone. YOU CAN DO THIS!

Sick Little Girl

Allie started throwing up after dinner last night. She threw up all over the carpet in the living room and a pillow before we could get her a trash can. Bless her heart. She felt so bad. She continued to throw up till bedtime. We put Jaelyn and Caden in their beds and let Allie stay in the living room so I could help if she got sick again. She was asleep in 5 minutes. I got up several times with her throwing up in the night. I kept her home from school today much to her and Jaelyn's chagrin. Jaelyn kept asking "Why doesn't Allie have to go to school?" and Allie kept saying "but I need to go to school to tell Alex I threw up." (yes, that love affair is ongoing) She stayed put in front of the TV this morning and kept down 2 pieces of dry toast. By lunch time, she was starting to bounce. She ate a cheese quesadilla for lunch and is currently in time-out in her room for being sassy with me so I'd say she's feeling better.

Knitting

*with the help of a tripod :)

The Last Munchkin

My To Do List

I had a long list today and I think I've almost completed all of it...

Update blog - check
Grocery shop - check
Put food away, clean, repackage and freeze meat - check, check, check, check
Wash, fold and put away 3 loads of laundry - check, check, check
Get dinner planned and started before the girls come home - check
Homework - check
Dinner - check
Girl Scout Meeting - check
Fall into bed from exhaustion - CHECK!!!!

The Ultimate Meatloaf

I watched an episode of Tyler Florence's Food Network show on the flight from Baltimore to Atlanta. I love cooking shows, but I hardly ever watch them. Tyler made his Dad's meatloaf with tomato relish and it looked amazing. He kept talking about how good it smelled. It stayed with me and I was inspired when I saw ground pork at the commissary this morning. I made it for dinner tonight and it was unbelievable. Tyler was right about the smell of the tomato relish...heavenly. Let me know if you make it.

Dad's Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

Ingredients
Tomato Relish:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Meatloaf:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks by hand
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 bacon slices

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes to create a base flavor. Throw in the red peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften. Now add the tomatoes; adding them at this point lets them hold their shape and prevents them from disintegrating. Stir in the parsley, ketchup, and Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes to pull all the flavors together. Remove it from the heat; you should have about 4 cups of relish.

Place the torn white bread in a bowl and add the milk to just barely cover, swish the bread around in the milk and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients for the meat loaf together.

This is where you get your hands dirty! In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork with 1 1/2 cups of the tomato relish, the eggs, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the soaked bread to the meat mixture. To test, fry a small "hamburger" patty of the meatloaf until cooked; the patty should hold together but still have a soft consistency. Taste the patty for seasoning.

Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Transfer the meat mixture to the center of the cookie sheet and form into a log about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Coat the top of the meatloaf with another 1/2 cup of the tomato relish. Lay the bacon across the top lengthwise.

Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the bacon is crisp and the meatloaf is firm. Rotate the meat loaf while it's baking every now and then to insure that the bacon browns evenly. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool a bit before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side. Unbelievably moist!

It took me about 1 1/2 hours to bake it, but I had to turn the oven up to 400 after an hour to get it done. I skipped the parsley and used dried thyme. I also halved the recipe. It was the perfect amount for us for dinner tonight and left over lunches tomorrow.

Sewing Project

Flower Power

Last year, Jaelyn had a poncho that she loved from a hand me down bag. It was too small this year so I found her a similar knitted poncho at Children's Place. I was so proud of myself and I really thought she'd love it. She wore it once before she complained that it didn't have arm holes. The poncho was given to Allie, but Jaelyn still wanted one. I took her to Joanns this weekend and let her pick out fleece material. It was a hard decision and I had to steer her away from leopard and puppy dog boy prints, but in the end, I think she picked the perfect thing. We worked yesterday evening and this morning, she wore her new poncho, complete with arm holes, to school. I think she rocks the whole hippie flower power thing!

Scrolling Required

I've spent at least 2 hours updating the blog. All of Pensacola is there. Now that I've figured out how to change the posting date, I can insert posts in chronological order so scroll down!!!!

A Walk on the Trail

Outings with Friends

We met a friend of Caden's from school today on the Ma and Pa Trail. I've wanted to check the trail out for a while, but it just hasn't happened. We met near the equestrian center and walked on the trail to Annie's playground. It was a nice walk; although I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Krissy thinks it's about 3 miles round trip. The trail was paved in some places, gravel in others and a lot of it was a wooden foot bridge through pretty woods, over a stream, around farm land...you get the picture. Just really nice and well maintained. Annie's was pretty empty and the boys had a great time playing in the castle type structures. I brought our light sabers so they chased each other around. Nathan is as into Star Wars as Caden. As a matter of fact, Miss Krissy is going to let Caden borrow their red light saber so that he'll have the right color to be Darth Vader for Halloween. He'd already informed me Vader has a red one and his purple and green ones will not do.