Veggie enchiladas for a mama friend

I spent a lot of time today working on my final paper. It's 11 o'clock at night. I should head to bed soon, but first I thought I'd share a recipe, again.

It was my night to take dinner to one of the moms in the MOMS Club. She has a 10 day old baby boy who is utterly adorable and smells delicious. You know the smell. It's that new baby smell that makes all women ovulate instantly. Ah, the memories of my little ones actually being little...

So, I had given her a few options because I know her husband is a vegetarian and they picked the vegetarian enchiladas. Good choice.


We love this recipe. It's so good. Plus, I told Susan I'd give her the recipe. I got an email from the mom this evening telling me how much they enjoyed it and her husband wanted the recipe! See, I told you it's yummy. I wonder if he'd work on my house in exchange for meals?

Don't wait, go get the ingredients and make it yourself!

MIA

Sorry, to have abandoned my little blog. I know all three of my faithful readers were sitting on the edges of their chairs anticipating a blog post from moi!

The semester is ending and I have LOTS to do over the next two weeks. Final exams and papers, you know, the stuff you do in college. To make it interesting I'm going to spend this weekend hanging out with one of my bestest friends and attending the wedding reception of an awesome couple. Then I leave on the 6th for Florida. My cousin is getting married and graduating from college. It was very nice of her to do both at the same time so I could be there for both occasions. In my family, ok my dad's side of the family, graduating from college is a HUGE thing to do. Usually, we're celebrate the select few who complete high school. Sad, but true. Anyway, Florida will be awesome. I will have lots of fun. I will be there by myself!

Hopefully I'll find some time to study philosophy and religion...

So, what's been happenin' since my last post.

Seth insisted on riding a two wheel bike, without training wheels. Which equals a pain in the back for me! I think he'll get it fairly quickly. On his first try I could let go briefly and he'd hold his balance for a few seconds.



Hannah had a Skills Meet for gymnastics. She came in 3rd place with like 4 other kids. It was an in house thing they did to give the girls the experience of being judged on their routines. Everyone got a trophy.

Seth loves his big sister!

Simon tested for his next belt in Tae Kwon Do. I totally forgot my camera and I left my cell phone at home too. I didn't get any pictures. I suck, I know. But, there is a Belt Ceremony on Saturday, so I can get a picture then.

I'll try to pop in here over the next two weeks if I can! Then once the semester is done, then I can quilt, quilt, quilt!

Dad's quilt and playdough cookies

Memory quilts are hard to make. I think this one will kind of make itself. The largest t-shirt I had looked good as a 16" block. Ok, then they can all be 16" blocks. How many blocks will I make? Don't know yet. I hacked apart the shirts and printed out lots of photos. It was hard going through pictures and realizing I have so few of my dad with Hannah. He died when Hannah was 17 months old and he never got to meet his two grandsons. He really wanted a grandson. He would have loved them too.

I love that I am finally making this quilt.


After a busy Saturday full of Pinewood Derby Racing (Simon didn't win and he burst into tears over it. Someday he'll control his emotions better... someday.) and a rollerskating fundraiser for the Gymnastics Club, we took it easy on Sunday. On Sunday we made cookies with dough that was colored like playdough. I don't actually want to think about how bad the unnatural dyes are in them. Sometimes you just have to have fun. They mixed, blended, and created. They don't listen very well, so we had some HUGE cookies. Oh, well.


In the wake of disaster, this is what we had. Colorful sugar cookies!


I better get off of here and get my tush to school. Only a month left, but who's counting?

Yard

I love, love, love to see all the signs of spring! It's like everything that was asleep just wakes up!

I took a few picture about a week ago and a few more yesterday.


We might have missed the cherry blossoms in DC, but we didn't miss them at home!

Strawberries!!!


It won't be long before we can go pick some for making jam! I might want to clear out the freezer first though. I still have some frozen blueberries from last summer. I guess I could make some blueberry jam too. School will be out in a month, then I can play around with my garden ideas, make some awesome jam, and in general play! I really think I've done well so far this semester.

Guacamole

I have so many different blog post ideas rolling around in my cluttered brain right now. A recipe for guacamole, pictures of the yard in bloom, my memory quilt for my dad, our weekend so far, etc. One at a time, eh.

My Version of My Mom's Kick-ass Guacamole

2-3 avocados
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 small tomato
1 clove of garlic minced
lime juice
sea salt
jalapeños (if you like it spicy!)


This is a completely ish recipe. If you want to add more or use less, it still works. It's very forgiving. You could use garlic powder, add less onion, etc. Mix (with a potato masher) all of the above ingredients together. Use just a little lime juice and salt though. If you live some place awesome (not NJ) then you can find cans of diced jalapeños to use. Me, I had to roast mine. I used one in the guacamole and the other two in the home made enchilada sauce. Enchilada sauce is really easy too. (Thanks Said, for teaching me!) Let me know if you want that recipe.

DC

Wow! DC is awesome. I've heard it's not a nice area to live around, but what a great place to visit. We saw quite a lot, but also didn't rush it. We can go back again. It's about 3 hours in good traffic to get there. I took so many pictures. I think this should do though as an overview of the weekend.

First, the Capital building. Our hotel was two blocks from there.



Then the one place everyone wanted to go. The Air and Space Museum! I know we didn't go in every room and we were there for hours. Guess we will have to go back...



We called it a day after that and went back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner we did the most important thing for the kids. We took them swimming. I think that was what they all looked forward to the most. Seth unfortunately choked on some water and decided to puke (I got him out of the water before it happened) so his swim time was brief.

At 2 am the fire alarm sounded. That isn't a sound you want to be woken up by! We hastily threw on shoes and grabbed coats so we could get out... from the 9th floor! It wasn't a real fire, thankfully, and we all went back inside within a few minutes. Crazy though!

Sunday, after breakfast we aimed for the other end of the mall where the Lincoln Memorial is. We walked by the Vietnam Memorial Wall first. I looked up the name of an uncle I never got a chance to meet, Kenny Seward.



The Lincoln Memorial was next.





Then, the American History Museum. Dan wanted to see the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner. No pictures were allowed. I however found a quilt and Julia Child's kitchen!



A brief jaunt into the Natural History Museum.



Then, then it was time to head home. Fun was had by all. I can't believe it took us this long to go down there as a family. We have lived in Jersey for almost four year now. We still haven't gone to Boston... yet...

Zoo

Ah, the zoo. What a good idea, right?

Tiff and I took the kids down to the Philly zoo for one last hurrah before my season pass expired. Things were good. We saw lots of animals. This is a zoo after all.


We played in the Children's area.


Saw some neat Lego displays too.


All was well until we had ice cream...


Seth ate very little of his ice cream and then decided he was done. I double checked that he didn't want it anymore and then threw it away. After he chewed the gum, that came with the ice cream, he spit it out and asked me for his ice cream. I told him it was gone...

That was the end of the road for Seth. He lost it. He wanted me to go back and get it. Out of the trash no less. Obviously, the answer is no. If it were appropriate in company and around children the answer would have been more colorful. More like, "WTF? Are you of your mind!" So, our day at the zoo was over. They were all hot and tired anyway. As was I. I wish kids didn't throw fits because they never get their way as a result of the tantrum. I wish they had even a shred of logic to pull them out of it. Once he realized we were leaving the zoo he wanted me to go back to see the animals he missed! Heck, no!

He calmed down at the car. Ate a few bites of food and slept the whole way home. His world is unfazed. My day had a huge crimp in it! Ah, the joys of parenting.

We're going to DC as a family this weekend. Hopefully, the kids will all be wonderful darlings while we're there and not wee little heathens...

Easter and quilts

It turns out I didn't get any really good pictures on Easter. Well, of my kids anyway. They wouldn't hold still. I got great shots of the back sides of them. We had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard at John and Tiff's house, followed by dinner with friends.

I did get one picture of all of them when they sat on the couch to play Super Mario Brothers. I'm one proud mama...


Over the break I have done a little bit of quilting. I've spent a lot of time doing things with the kids so I didn't have a lot of free time. With Seth getting a little bug we spent a few days hanging out at home, so I did complete the baby quilt. I took a couple quick pictures of it today before dinner. I also took a picture of the quilt I did the binding on over break. I need to start naming my quilts so I can easily refer to them. I'm up for suggestions.


I pieced a heart block for the charity quilts we do in quilt guild. Not my favorite, but I didn't pick it out.


Speaking of quilt guild, I somehow got roped into doing a rag quilt demo at the May meeting. Yeah, good idea, Ellen. Right at the end of the semester too!

The next quilt project I'd like to do is another baby quilt for a couple we know in Denver who are due this summer. They're having a little girl. I know what fabrics I want to use and now I need to pick out a pattern!


This post is loong enough. I'll do a separate one for the zoo...

Frist week of break

Here are a few of the pictures I took with my iPhone this week. I have more on my camera too, but I thought this would give a good idea of how I've tried to keep the kids entertained so far...

An impromptu roller skating trip on Wednesday.


Seth's first time too!


Thursday was a day that went from the dentist to the library, lunch, park, grocery store, and finally ice cream!


Friday we went to Six Flags. It was a zoo, but we had fun with a few of Seth's friends. The big kids ran off to ride roller coasters while we hung out in places like Wiggles World.


Flying airplanes...


Taking a break at the fountain.


Seth fell asleep in the long line to get our season passes taken care of. Hannah offered to hold him for me for a while, that kid is getting heavy!


That evening Dan and I went to the Flyer's game that I won tickets to! Not quite an Av's game, but it was so awesome to go out to a game with my husband.


I've Easter pictures on my camera and once my computer upstairs cooperates, I'll get the photos uploaded. We're just hanging out at home today. Seth threw up this morning a couple times. Yuck. Cross your fingers that it isn't contagious! I think I'll sew a little bit today even though it's a beautiful day outside...