Summer Grillin'

We are a grilling family; spring, fall... even winter, but especially summer! Ironically, Daniel had never grilled before meeting me! Now he is a pro! The other night he made these feta-stuffed turkey burgers. He marinated them in something all day. They were so moist and delicious!

I found the recipe for these fire roasted artichokes from Our Best Bites. This was the first time we tried anything other than steaming our artichokes, and we fell in love! Personally, I didn't think they even needed a dipping sauce. Paired with a filet mignon, it was an awesome dinner! (Side note: Our Best Bites is currently having a giveaway for a feta cheese prize pack HERE).

We have our good old favorites like rosemary-garlic pork tenderloin, only in honor of summer time we pulled out the charcoal for fun. Daniel even charcoal grilled the corn for our yummy corn, tomato, and avocado salad. It's especially yummy in the summer with our homegrown tomatoes. Hooray for summer grilling!

A Game and a Story!

Directions for making your own Family Memory Game:

1. Get an empty Crystal Light container, and some baby jar lids.
2. Have your daughter arrange them on a piece of cardboard outside.
3. Get some spray paint.
4. Spray paint the baby jar lids and the Crystal Light lid the same color.
5. Trace a cute piece of scrapbook paper in the shape of your baby jar lid.
6. Cut out circles and write your family member names on them.
7. Print and cut pictures of your family in circles, just smaller than the scrapbook circles.
8. Put sticky stuff on the back of your circles.
9. Stick picture circles and name circles on the inside of your lids.
10. Make a circle for the Crystal Light lid with your family name on it.
11. Put the lids inside the container.
12. Get ready for a Family Fun night!!
    

I'm not exaggerating when I say this was one of the best family nights we've ever had. I can't tell you how much fun the girls had -- especially if they found themselves as a match! We all laughed a ton, and it was a great learning tool for the girls to recognize printed names. Surprisingly, even Natalie had no trouble recognizing a match!





We added one "extra" rule to this traditional game of Memory -- the winner gets to arrange the lids in the shape of the first letter of their name for the next game.


So, here's the story:

We've had ants at our home, lately. LOTS of ants. In every room... ridiculous, disgusting ANTS! I absolutely hate ants. After six years of living on this ant hill, we finally broke down and called Terminix. Why we waited so long, I have no idea! (The guy said he had never seen so many colonies out back!)

There is one positive that came out of it all -- we have been forced to clean out our cupboards! In that process, Daniel came across a bunch of baby jar lids that had no baby jar; (I had used them for MOPS last year... see THIS post!) When he asked me if we should keep them or throw them away, I told him to keep them; if I couldn't find a use for them in the next few weeks, I would throw them away! (I don't want to be a pack rat!) The next day, I thought of this idea for the Family Memory game, and I was SO excited! I saved if for my Friday Family Fun day, so that is what we did this past Friday!

I am reminded of a story that Corrie Ten Boom told, as she was a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Her dorm was invaded with lice... absolutely everywhere; disgusting, yucky lice! Her sister told her to thank God for the lice, as His word commands us to be thankful in ALL situations. Corrie just couldn't... what good could possibly come of it? But, her sister insisted and they thanked God for the lice. It was only after their prayers that they later found out the lice were keeping the guards out of their dorm, thus allowing them to do a Bible study!

I've never forgotten that story! I think of it often when I am tempted to be upset with my own situation, such as with the ants. If the ants had not come, I would never have found those lids and consequently been inspired toward a fun family game. And, of course, my situation doesn't even compare with Corrie's, but I just had to share! Her book, "The Hiding Place," is filled with many more incredible stories, and can be found at Amazon here.

Ice Cream

As promised, we cleaned our ice cream maker of the sorbet, and immediately stuck it back in the freezer for real ice cream. The recipe was quite simple, but did involve some planning as you have to cook the ingredients, mix, cook again, and then let cool in the fridge for 8 hours. Then you have to mix in the ice cream maker that you needed to freeze 24 hours prior. So, a bit of a pain, and definitely more expensive than just buying some ice cream.

Was it worth it? I'm glad we did it... just for the fun of it. And, it was delicious. However, it really wasn't any better than store-bought, I'm sad to say. So, we'll definitely do it again, but next time we'll have to find a recipe for a creative flavor, not to be found at the grocery store!

MOPS Leader's Brunch

This morning was our MOPS leaders' brunch. What a blessing to be surrounded by such fun, beautiful Mommies who love the Lord and love to serve!

Summer Has Arrived!

Summer arrived with a bang, today -- 104 degrees here in Rancho! Yikes! Luckily, Daniel is on a 5-day break from work, so we headed straight to the beach! Even at 10:00am, right on the water, the weather was hot!

Dolphins -- tons of them! I SO wanted to swim out to them. (I actually did end up swimming in the waves, later. Haven't done that in at least a decade; very refreshing!)


Not sure letting Sierra practice her crawling in the sand was a good idea... she had fun until it was time to clean her up!







Of course, we came home and went straight in the bath/ shower! Immediately following, the girls begged for a seashell craft. I gave them some paper, butterflies, and glue and let them do whatever they wanted.... Awww, the simplicity of crafts at this age! Such joy for them, and no work for me!

The Gift

I could go on and on about all the gifts the Lord has given me. I am blessed beyond measure! But, today I was pondering one gift in particular... Today I am thankful for my keen awareness of the shortness of this life. I know that may sound a little funny, so let me explain.

• Someday I will miss having MOPS summer swim dates, like the one we had Monday.
• I will miss my girls wanting me right there as they swim, because they will not want me to catch them when they jump in.
• I will miss having to pack picnic lunches, because they will probably go get fast food with their friends.
• I will miss the fussing baby falling asleep in the swing, because she will no longer need naps.
• Someday I will miss running to grab the camera during breakfast and laughing at the mess, because she will no longer get Nutella all over her face.
• Someday I will miss lazy days of no school and learning to ride bikes like this past Sunday.
• I will miss Natalie asking me to sing "Help me Mama, help, help me Mama," as I push up the yogurt stuck in the bottom of the tube, because she won't need help.
• I will miss Sierra putting grass in her mouth, because she will be asking for candy instead.
• I will miss throwing the dog the ball every time we come outside, because he will grow old and tired, too.
• Someday I won't have to move all the knives away from the sink before giving Sierra a bath, because she'll be taking a shower, instead.
• Someday, I'll no longer be asked to do a craft every day.
• I will miss walking into Michael's and looking in the clearance section for fun ideas for the kids, because they will need College books, instead.
• I won't have to wash brushes every day or collect baby jars, because there will be no brushes to wash nor baby jars to collect.
• Someday I will miss telling the girls their slumber party is over, and it is time to stop talking.
• I will miss hearing giggles, finding funny sleep positions, and kissing their heads because the house will already be too quiet.
• Someday I will miss being asked to gather fruit and veggies in our "special" harvest basket.
• I will miss the insistence on a close-up of the "window" because it will be filled in all too soon.
• I will miss the joy on Allison's face as she sneaks a tomato or discovers another ripe one!

Growing up will happen all too soon. For now, I am thankful for each precious day.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17

Bass Pro Shop Tour

Today we joined about 40 other MOPS kids to take the Bass Pro Shop Tour. They do a fabulous job! And, it's a 3 minute walk from our house.

Deer caught in headlights? No, it's my husband who wanted to tag along with the mommies. After all, it is the Bass Pro Shop! Luckily, another husband was there, as well!

Waiting for the tour to begin...

First stop: The fishies! Each kid was given a handful of food to feed them, as well.

Nest stop: The shooting range. I found out I am really bad at shooting, but since I don't plan on becoming a hunter any time soon, I'm not too worried...


Some crazy lady was found riding a beach cruiser all over the store. Oh yeah, it was Sarah!

A cot with a tent over it; interesting!

A favorite stop... the fudge shop! So many fun flavors to choose from, and they were very generous with their samples! Glad I made Daniel stop at Starbucks on his way home from work.... coffee and fudge.... mmmmm....

And, the kids favorite -- The boats! a.k.a. chaos Great time had by all!


One tired baby...
Four happy friends...

Strawberry Nectarine Sorbet

A couple of years ago, Daniel bought me the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid. And, not unlike the sewing machine, it has sat untouched for the past 2 years ***sigh***

Enter my friend Karen, and her tree FULL of nectarines. She has made pies, sorbet, and jam... and still has plenty to share! So, I not only stole a bag of nectarines from her, but I also stole her nectarine sorbet recipe. (Thank you, Karen!) I added strawberries as well, just for fun!

I mixed the ingredients, only to find out I needed to use my Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment. Ok, no more fear -- it was time to figure it out!

It was pretty simple, really -- the instruction book is terrible, but now that I've done it and know how easy it is, there is no stopping me! Time to look up recipes for some yummy ice cream! Perhaps if I see how much cream, sugar, and egg yolks actually go in it, I won't eat as much; perhaps. But, I digress...

Alas, the consistency and flavor were what they should be, but it was not my favorite; nor the girls. I looked up several other recipes since then, and most of them call for a little water and salt, which I think would have made this a tad better. It wasn't bad, but next time I will make ice cream and put the fresh nectarines on top!

For now, I've conquered another fear!