Cars 2

State Farm was the lead sponsor for the movie Cars 2, which made me happy because I’ve been with State Farm since I’ve been driving (we won’t mention how many years that’s been). Anywho, a local agent, JD Snead (I have no affiliation and no perks for mentioning said agent, but come on! Does an agent get any cooler than this?) hosted a free screening of the movie for local families who had RSVP’d. A whole mess of our friends attended, it felt like a private screening with just our friends practically! We had friends from out of town visiting and they were able to join us (hence the yummy recipe included at the end of the post, what I made for lunch for all of us!)

It was so well organized and we felt like we received the red carpet treatment! We arrived to an orderly line in which our names were checked off and each child received an adorable Cars 2 shirt as well as a little goody bag with pencils, a decoder, etc. My in-laws joined us. Here we are below checking in, can you see little Allie’s car seat?I was so excited because the ONLY picture I captured the whole day was the one below (not the best, although it cracks me up that he’s holding his trains), but when I checked out JD Snead’s facebook page, he had some pictures of us on it! Lucky me!   After we walked through the front doors, they had the State Farm Good Neigh Bear awaiting us for pictures. Here’s Cooper’s reaction… We were told which theater to enter and when we walked in, as I mentioned, we saw friends galore!! My neighbor was sweet enough to snap the picture at the beginning of the post for me, thanks friend! And here’s the excited theater awaiting the feature movie! All our friends were in the upper right corner (probably close to the exit in case little ones couldn’t sit the entire movie), and I’m below the arrow holding little Allie. =) JD himself (who you can see in the far right of the picture) welcomed everyone and sang Happy Birthday to a little boy in the audience who was turning 4. What a fantastic host, here he is again… Cooper and I were so looking forward to this movie, and felt extra special that we got to see it for free (particularly since I had no idea how Allie would do, thankfully, she was an angel!). It helps to have a network of mommy friends to help find out about fun activities such as this going on in your area. If you’re not in SOME type of mommies group, I highly recommend finding one, or heck, start one yourself! =)

This was definitely a fun memory for our Cool Summer June activity.Oh yes, our yummy lunch following the hilarious and fun movie! The picture is from foodnetwork.com, it’s a Rachael Ray recipe (we were busy chasing all our kidlets after the movie, no time to take pictures of food). Here’s the recipe, I was able to do most of the prep ahead of time, so we just stood around the stove frying up the chicken.

Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders

and Salad with Tangy Maple Dressing

Vegetable oil, for frying

1 ½ to 2 lbs. chicken tenders

Salt and Pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk

1 cup plain bread crumbs

1 cup pecans, processed in food processor to finely chop

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 orange, zested

Dressing:

¼ cup maple syrup 6 radishes, thinly sliced

¼ cup tangy barbecue sauce 6 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1 navel orange, juiced

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped

Directions: Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil over medium high heat. Season chicken tenders with salt and pepper.

Set out 3 shallow dishes. Place flour in 1 dish, eggs in a second and combine bread crumbs with ground pecans, nutmeg and orange zest in the third. Coat tenders in batches in flour, then egg, then bread crumb mixture. Fry tenders in small batches 6 to 7 minutes. Drain tenders on paper towels.

Combine maple syrup, barbecue sauce and orange juice in a bowl. Whisk in oil and season with salt and pepper.
Combine romaine, radishes and scallions in a large salad bowl or on a serving platter. Toss with 3/4 of the dressing. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste. Top salad with pecan crusted chicken tenders and drizzle remaining dressing over top.

June 25th, 2010

Concert at the Park

My husband had the day off…thank goodness after his hellacious week! We were supposed to see Cars 2, but we have a fun opportunity to see it tomorrow…I’ll explain in tomorrow’s post. So, today we had a relaxing day at home including watching my husband remove his big toenail!! Ewww!, followed by a relaxing evening listening to music at the park.

Seriously, look how relaxing this looks! I snapped this adorable photo op of hubby and my daughter… And, while it’s a bit John Elton-ish…how cute are these?  I’ll spare you the photos of my husband’s minor toe surgery and sign off with the cuteness above…=)

June 24th, 2010

The Zoo? Riiiight!!

So on the calendar for today, we were supposed to go downtown to visit the zoo (after all, it is zoo month and it’s Twilight Thursdays). Well, after my husband’s 4th night in a row of getting home after 7:15, mom did NOT feel up to that! Plus, I had a boxing groupon I was hoping to use scheduled at 7:10pm (let’s face it ladies…this baby weight doesn’t just go away by itself! Okay you who fall into that group, I DON’T want to hear it from you!!). I was SO hoping to go that I resolved to have dinner on the table and both children bathed so hubby could just waltz in the door and enjoy the evening with them while I went to my boxing class. This is exactly what happened, fairytale kisses on my way out the door, boxing wraps in hand. I decided on pasta for dinner, easy peasy, right? Oh wait, no pasta sauce! Hooray, neighbor to the rescue! And trying to get the kids bathed? Yeah, my 2 year old decides he wants to scream and cry at every given turn throughout bath time. *sigh* 

Well, when hubby still hadn’t called to say he was on his way home at 7 o’clock, I realized boxing was NOT happening (his commute is about 25 minutes).

At this point, I had 2 options. Pardon my french, but

Option #1: Get pissed and have a horrible evening, dwelling in self pity that my husband works such long hours and I never get to do ANYTHING I want to do!

OR

Option #2: Be thankful that my husband is committed to serving people in his line of work, and 90% of the time, LOVES what he does AND…turn the evening around so that I could enjoy what was left with my kids.

I’m proud to say that I chose Option #2. HOWEVER, allow me to preface that “pride” with 2 notes. First, I called the gym, and they said it was NO big deal and I could show up any day I wanted. (phew – what a relief).

Second, and for those of you that are not “spiritual”, feel free to disregard this, but I cannot deny it! I’m a Christian, and one of the fruits of the Spirit is peace. I’ve got to chalk it up to the Spirit on this one! It was Him that gave me peace! Particularly regarding this aspect of the evening…

So, I had decided to have a happy attitude for the evening. I finally called my husband at 7:10 to find out where he was. Guess what? He was about a block away, I probably could’ve made it to boxing! When he came strolling in the door and saw me bathing the kids, he cocked his head in a confused manner.

I patiently said, “I was trying to have them ready for you so I could go to boxing, but I realized tonight was not a good night.”

He said, “Oh. Thank you.” in the most sincere voice ever! I was so glad that I remained calm and didn’t chew him out, which was my first thought as the evening began to go awry, which wouldn’t have accomplished anything good, right?

So, my life lesson to you is…take a deep breath when things seem to be going…umm…to put it delicately, not your way, and make a CHOICE to turn things around. Yeah, things might not have gone as you’d hoped or planned, but they can still be pleasant, but it IS a choice. What are you going to choose next time?

June 23rd, 2010

National Clay Week

Well…it may not be this week, but at least National Clay Week is in June. And really, honestly, does my 2 year old know this? No…all he knows is that he just got a new batch of play-doh (here’s the recipe I use)! We made it green (because green is his best!! Oh, and I added mint to make it smell yum-o!) and had a friend over to play. So sweet! June 22, 2010

First Day of Summer!

Today is the official first day of summer on the calendar! I found a slip and slide at Target for just $5 and knew this had to be our way to celebrate! It was so sweet, when we set it all up, we realized Cooper had no idea what to do! I tried to explain, and he ended up just sort of crawling on it. So mommy got to bust out her bathing suit and give it a go. I must admit, I was slightly nervous I was gonna hurt myself, but I had a blast! I think we’re gonna have to bust it out when daddy’s home sometime in the near future. So fun! Yay for summer!

Ice Cream Soda Day-but not for little boys who don’t eat their dinners =(

Cooper was going to enjoy his first ever Root Beer Float! Well, until he didn’t eat his dinner. =( Hey, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do as a parent. Ryan and I enjoyed them anyway! (Allie wanted too, hehe) If you haven’t yet, you should enjoy your own Root Beer Float this summer. Delish!

June 20th, 2010