Oh Spring!

Spring pictures!

I love our backyard.  We see every season with these trees.  That may not be impressive to anyone else but, growing up in Florida, we didn't have seasons. 

This is a family picture in front of the trees in fall.
 

And with Spring comes the lawn mowing:

I can't imagine anything more fulfilling in a man's life than having a son who completely adores him.  Mike went out to mow the lawn and Weston stood at the window and yelled "HI DADDY" on the top of his lungs for 10 minutes before I just put on his shoes and took him out there to watch.

 

I had to add this video on to the end of the post.  One of Weston's favorite movies is 'Cars' and one of his favorite parts is when Doc goes out and races on the dirt.  I wanted to shoot a video of his reaction.

Mike vs. Dinner

Weston shouldn't be the only one who gets funny stories told about him.  

I hurt my back yesterday and didn't want to stand and cook dinner.  So Mike volunteered. 

On the Menu: Beef Stroganoff -from the packet.  Straight forward directions: Cook beef in oil, add one cup water and packet seasonings, simmer for 10 minutes, remove from heat and add 1 cup sour cream.

I went into the kitchen to see how it was going.

In the frying pan: Beef in one cup water, a cup of sour cream plopped on top and Mike is measuring out a tablespoon of oil to add to the mix.

Me: What are you doing?

Mike: Just following the directions.

Me: That's the ingredient list.  The directions are down here.

Mike: Oh,,, Well now what do I do?

Me: *laugh* I don't know....

Note: Dinner did turn out just fine.  Thank you sweetie. 

skinned knees

Isn't there a saying about little boys and skinned knees? Weston had a bad combination of lack of sleep and the concrete porch (daylight savings gets us all, baby). He ended up with some pretty banged up knees over the weekend. I just have to remind myself that it's all part of being a boy.




More updates on Weston:




His new favorite phrase is, "You ready daddy?" or "You ready mommy?" So for fun, Mike started asking Weston "You ready, Weston?" and Weston responded with "Yeah, I'm ready Daddy".

Whenever Weston accomplishes something he has been working on like climbing up the slide or getting a big bite of food on his spoon he proclaims as loud as possible: "YOU DID IT!"


I took Weston to a different Grocery store than usual recently (they had Breyer's 2 for 1!!). That night daddy asked Weston what we did that day and Weston kept saying "Lion Food" (?!?!) Finally, I figured it out, the name of the grocery store was Food Lion!


This is something that Weston has done for a while but he has done it a lot more lately- walking backwards. I don't know what the obsession is, but we have started calling him "Mator" when he does. "Don't gotta know where I'm going, just gotta know where I've been".


The other day Weston wanted to swing, but he was standing on the wrong side facing the fence. Mike just picked him up and put him on backwards, but Weston started fussing about it. When Mike asked him what was wrong Weston said "UPSIDE DOWN!!!".


This morning while I was getting dressed Weston walked into my closet, examined all my clothes and then yanked a dress off its hanger. He handed it up to me and said “THIS ONE”.

STROMBOLI

This is our family recipe for Stromboli. It is always a crowd pleaser and there is always someone who wants the recipe. The only problem is, it is so hard to explain. So I finally documented the process with pictures.

Dough: (this dough recipe doesn't get any easier. I use it for pizza crust also.)
3 cups flour (or half wheat/half white flour)
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 Tablespoon oil
2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water
Mix together and separate into 2 lumps (makes 2 stromboli). Roll out into a rectangle shape.

We have always filled our strombolis with salami, pepperoni, sausage, cheese and black olives- but you can use whatever stuffings you like. Place toppings on bottom 2 thirds of the rectangle, less in the middle so that it is easier to roll up.

Fold the top layer of dough over the middle layer of toppings then the middle part over the bottom. Seal it up with water.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Cut into 1" pieces and serve with spaghetti sauce for dipping. (Side note: Don't go cheap on the spaghetti sauce. You may not dip my family's stromboli into spaghetti sauce from a can!) -but a jar is okay. ;)

Moments

I am one lucky mama. Lucky for me, in the rush to get ready for church Sunday morning the camera was within reach so I could snap a picture of this: A handsome daddy getting his adorable son ready for church.

Baby's Room Updates

I have been having a blast lately updating the baby's room. Can I tell you how much I love Craigslist.org? I bought an old dresser for $35, sanded it down and painted it. I also found a king size bed set on the 75% off rack at Target. The set itself was kinda dull, but I loved the colors and figured if I chopped it up, I could turn it into a pretty cute room.
The before picture showes the ugly dresser and wall color. The room needed to be painted, it was a brownish/pink color. We painted it a lighter neutral color that matches the bedroom set.



This is the 'before' shot of the bedroom set.

Next, I'll get around to the crib bumpers, bed skirt, and a blankey.

I also got a shelf off of Craigslist recently. Weston needed a
new place to put all his books. I got it for $10 and then painted it white. :)