Pinterest #25

Two TASTY recipes...  Neither of these are my pictures, but my versions DID look just like these.  We all loved the casserole.  Owen ate three helpings!  Plus it made enough for two meals.

 Loaded Potato Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Can you really go wrong with cream cheese, dried beef and dill pickles?  Not in my world.

Pickle Dip

"Vacation"

I took the kids to Omaha for a few days (we'll call this their vacation).  It's always a little bittersweet to go back.  Although I love Manhattan, I still miss my Papio teachers.  As usual we stayed with the Boudreau's.  The kids had a blast with Olivia, Ben and Sam.  We swam, went to Orange Leaf, made friendship bracelets, had a French braiding tutorial for Lori, shopped/had a 3+ hour lunch with the girls (while one of my all-time favorite students/cheerleaders baby-sat), stalked the old house, played some intense kickball, lost a tooth, and trashed their house/ate all their food before heading home today.  I think I have three tired boys on my hands.

Pinterest #24

Tasty side dishes!  All five of us like cucumbers (strange for three boys to like cucumbers, isn't it?) so this was a nice way to make a cucumber into a pseudo-side dish.  Cucumbers, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and topped with chili powder.  

The kids don't care for "regular" potato salad, but everyone liked this one.  Adam grilled steaks and this side dish was the only other thing we needed.  I'd consider it a meal in itself, but the pigs in my house expect meat.  Mine wasn't quite this decorative, but very tasty... and of course, you guessed it... EASY!  Adam even said this was as good as my mom's potato salad (although if she made the same one it would probably be better :)

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

T-Ball (2 Down, 1 To Go)

Miles' T-ball team (Astros) wrapped up their season this week.  He really liked playing and is eager to move onto coach pitch next year.  His favorite positions were pitcher and 1st base since you get the most action playing these spots.  All of the grounders he takes in the street in front of our house paid off in the games.  So long T-ball; we'll be back in four years!

Graham spent most of his T-ball time covering/feeding himself with shaved ice that they sell in a little trailer out at Optimist.  Definitely the best $1 spent this summer.  Owen usually watched the games from the sideline, giving Miles "tips."

Wildcat Creek

We have taken complete advantage of our membership at Wildcat Creek this summer.  Owen and Miles are old enough that they can go use the putt-putt course, batting cages, and driving range independently while I work out (or watch them from the sidelines).  I bet we've been through a hundred batting cage tokens!  For $35 per month, it's a GREAT deal for these sports-minded boys!

Pinterest #23

Sharla and I have continued our friendly exchanges.  Recently we both recreated something found on the other's Pinterest boards....  I think these are especially good projects!

Sharla had this jewelry organizer pinned.  Well, I just happened to have an old printer's drawer that I wasn't totally in love with anymore (at least how I was using it) and decided to give it new life.

Before and after:  I went for more turquoise/less aqua and also chose to distress it and leave the old hardware intact.  I didn't include the cheap looking dowel rod across the bottom, but did add some hooks for necklaces.  I don't have any earrings (maybe I should pierce my ears??) or rings (not my thing) so this wouldn't work as well for my million bracelets and necklaces.  I added a few things just to take a low quality "after" photo.  I think it does the same job as the $89 + tax and shipping version on Etsy!

I had pinned these mercury glass lamps, not necessarily for the lamps, but for the tutorial on "fake mercury."  Sharla made me this glass jar (also a candlestick, currently in hiding from Graham) using the Krylon looking glass paint.  Love it!

If I didn't teach, I'd look for a job whose description included:  "researching" and recreating ideas from blogs and Pinterest while your kids trash the house and ask how much longer until swimming/if they can have friends over/eat more snacks/use my phone/download something from iTunes.....

Finally!

Yes, we are the loser only family in Manhattan that had not yet been to City Pool.  We finally took the boys yesterday and they had a great time.  I thought this bouncy hemisphere was the coolest thing there.  Miles bounced off of it over and over.  I so badly wanted to try it out--is there an age cap?

July 4th

I took the boys to Lebo on the 4th since Sharla and Amy were both going to be around.  Lebo has its own little celebration that includes a parade, kids' games, free swim, etc.  We took advantage of most of the activities.  Graham gave Aly a ride on the mule.  He loves to ride (drive) this and insists that he be the one to turn the key and take the key out.  He has very specific rules as to who should hold the key.

Miles won a bunch of pop in a ring toss game.  I think they were wanting to close up shop so she let him toss rings from about 6 inches away!  He also won a $10 Lebo gift card in a game of heads or tails.  I'm sure he will expect a trip to the drugstore to buy "toys" next time we are in town.

The pool was our stomping ground growing up--every day 1:00-4:00 while my mom worked!  My kids enjoy "Grandma's Pool" as well, especially when buddies Brady and Brett are around.  Forgive the lame hair; I'll do anything to prolong not having to wash my hair!

Are your kids into Fun Dip as much as mine are?  Maybe because it's only $0.25 or maybe because it's straight sugar...  I try to talk them into letting me eat the sticks (best part), but it's usually a no go.

Color Run

Sharla and I participated in the Kansas City Color Run last weekend.  It was a lot of fun--not exactly a race where you really get busy and run fast (tons of walkers, lots of kids), but a great opportunity for people who don't normally do a lot of running to get motivated to sign up for a 5K.  You can see that we reverted to our younger  years and decided to go as twins.  (PS--on an unrelated note....as I was working with one of my friends setting up her blog, I figured out that I had commenting features blocked, so if you have wanted to comment before but could not get past my roadblocks, I removed all of those features)

Before and after shots.  We didn't actually get this colored during the race, a lot of it was from the color throwing party at the end.  We were mild compared to many people.

This was the finishing area as we were leaving.  The line of people in the background is another wave of people just finishing.  I don't know if this is a yearly thing for KC, but if you are looking for a fun way to get running, sign up for it next year.  I'll be working on Sharla to do a 10K with me :)

Baseball Wraps Up

We traveled to KC this weekend for one last baseball tournament.  Luckily, we were able to take the scenic route and drop Graham off in Lebo on the way.  It was so nice not having to try to bribe him to stay in the shade/sit down/stay out of people's food/etc.  The Braves played well and made it into bracket play where they lost a close one.  Owen struggled to hit in the first two games, but turned things around in the later games.  He played great defense and pitched really well--lots of strike outs.  He was definitely sad to see the season come to an end (me too).

The U9 Braves (minus two players) being serious, and then silly.