Monday, June 30, 2008

Weekend Review: Part 2

Saturday morning we headed out as a family to yet another local park. This is a really great park and even had functioning water jets! Maggie had a really good time.

I brought some bubbles for Maggie. She got a few minutes alone with the wand before she was practically attacked by every kid in the park either popping all the bubbles the second they were made or begging for a turn with the wand themselves. I ended up refereeing a group of kids to make sure everyone got a chance to make bubbles while Maggie sat on the sidelines wondering what the heck just happened!

Sunday we spent a little time outside before it was deemed just way too freaking hot. I have no idea why she's wearing that bib. Patrick couldn't explain. Maggie is trying to learn how to shoot the water out of the hose like her mom does when she puts her thumb over it.

We ended our weekend at the good ole Dairy Queen. Maggie really loves this place lately. She's a big hit with the white-hair crowd that tends to flock there on lazy Sunday afternoons.

Weekend Review: Part 1

Because I want to post lots of pictures, I've decided to split the weekend review into two parts. This is Friday.

We made our first visit to Kanemoto Activity Pool. After how timid Maggie was in Las Vegas I was concerned we'd spend the entire time 3 inches in with her clinging to me. Oh, no! That girl ROCKED Kanemoto. She could not get enough of it. I was thrilled and I can only hope she's this excited when we hit Florida next month.
It looks like we were the only ones at the pool. This wasn't the case but we did get there right when it opened which gave us probably 10 minutes before the place was packed!





After a long nap we went shopping. Trying on clothes was, for some reason, super fun for Maggie. Every time I pulled off her dress to try on something or other she would break free and run a full lap around the store all the while screaming (either just plain screaming or screaming "naked baby, naked baby!"). The sales lady loved us I'm sure.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Willow Farm Park

We had a mommy group activity at a park I'd never been to--the Willow Farm Park. After getting lost, having my cell phone die, driving to a gas station in order to call Patrick from a dirty pay phone (and therefore showing up 30 minutes late), I had a fabulous time! It's a very cute park indeed and now that I know where it's at we'll be visiting it again soon.


Thursday, June 26, 2008

Family Time at the Park

Maggie was told that after dinner we would go for a walk. She couldn't wait so she spent a little bit of time in the backyard.

When we finally got going we headed to the park. Daddy was kind enough to push her in the swing.

Patrick told her to run while he pushed her so she's saying "run, run, run" in the video.


It's so nice having a little walk after dinner. The weather is perfect and it's great to have Daddy around for the fun!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Working Off Dinner

Patrick made a delicious crock pot roast dinner. We even had mashed potatoes with real cream. Mmmmmm....and fattening. We decided to hit the sidewalks to burn some off.

Notice the front wheel is not on the ground. This is the ONLY way to move along. If you let Maggie steer she goes directly into the ditch. I've tried numerous times to teach her the concept of steering. No good.

Patrick got bored of the slow pace (he clearly does not go on our daily "walk" around the block with the tricycle) and handed over trike to me. Maggie got bored of the relaxing ride and bailed. I walked the empty trike and took this shot.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Maggie's Daddy Shares His Recipes

Every big holiday or birthday that celebrates Patrick he wants only one meal--BBQ chicken which he makes himself. I've offered to make him something else so he doesn't have to put forth the effort but he always refuses. Here is his recipe for the BBQ sauce concoction:

BBQ Sauce:

These are estimates – I never measure anything.

1 bottle store-bought barbecue sauce (anything will do)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 large onion chopped
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup brown sugar

Mix in blender until liquefied.

If I’m cooking chicken I use the sauce as a marinade and then brush on during cooking. For ribs, I just brush on during cooking. Use it all.


We love it when Daddy offers to make his homemade pizza. His crust is from scratch! It's a basic recipe that comes out perfect every time! He makes a thick crust pizza for me and a super thin crust for him. The dough is great for both.

Pizza Crust:

1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 teaspoon honey (more for sweeter crust)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3-4 cups flour

Combine yeast, honey, and water. Let proof in warm place until foamy (5-10 minutes). Put 3 cups flour on work surface, make well in center and add oil and yeast mixture to well.
Stir flour into yeast mixture. Add additional flour until slightly sticky. Knead dough about five to ten minutes until smooth and elastic. Form into ball, place in lightly greased bowl and let rise in warm place and let raise until 2-3 times original size.
Roll to appropriate size (depends on size of sheet and/or desired thickness). I use a pizza stone but question what this really does for cooking or taste.
Once dough is rolled onto sheet/stone, brush with light covering of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 475 degrees until the crust starts to brown. Remove from oven, add toppings, and cook until cheese is melted (reduce cooking temperature to about 400 degrees).

Weekend Review

I didn't take any pictures of Maggie on Friday but when I connected my camera to download I discovered that Patrick had. He never takes pictures but this somehow compelled him to pick up the camera.

Saturday was no good for pictures either. We spent the first half of the day with Micaela and Addy playing and shopping. This is the only half-hearted picture I took.

After nap our afternoon was filled with finding an umbrella for our backyard and then out to dinner. Maggie was so hyper it was tough just to get through it all.

After a huge breakfast on Sunday morning Maggie noticed her dad sitting down with his meal and started begging for some. He would graciously give up his food for her.

After each bite she'd jump around wildly. This was a funny shot of her mid-jump. I like it because of the teeny pinky finger in the air.

After church and nap we did dinner and the local Dairy Queen. She's getting really good at eating an ice cream cone--hardly any melting and spillage.

I wanted so badly to get a picture of myself with Mags but she didn't wanna cooperate.

The evening was so nice we spent some time playing around.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Sand Everywhere

We did a morning at the park. I saw Maggie off in the distance throwing sand and thought I should tell her to stop but getting off the bench proved too much for me and I just watched.

When she finally reached me as I sat on the bench I put my hand out to pat her head and realized it was covered in sand.

Later that day I let her help with dinner. Notice how she gets an extra couple of inches by standing on the chair's back.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

New Mommy Group

Apparently there has been a little bit of turmoil in my old mommy & me group which ended in a new (supposedly more friendly) group. I signed up and went to my first play date yesterday. It was quite nice and good to see some old friends I'd not seen in a long while.


Here she is getting a bird's eye view of the kidlets playing:

It's a tiny pic of her out there trying SO hard to keep up with the older kids as they ran around:



She was so busy playing she really didn't eat much at the picnic so I handed her a full bag of Pirate's Booty to eat on the way home. Bad idea. This is where the booty ended up. Of course I was driving so I couldn't clean it up despite her insistence that I should. I finally convinced her to eat some of it to "clean up". She complied and when we got home I let Patrick come out and remove her from the car seat.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Maggie Makes Pizza

On the menu for Monday night was Patrick's homemade pizza. This was Maggie's first time helping out. She had a really good time as she helped spread the shredded cheese and pepperoni.

After helping out, she asked for a wipe to clean her hands. She does not like to get her hands dirty. (This can cause problems of all sorts with eating as you can imagine.)

Monday, June 16, 2008

Weekend Review: Farm Fun & Fathers Day

Oh what a crazy, busy weekend we had! Friday my friend Julie and I made some way too yummy cupcakes. Recipe HERE. I also had to do some emergency babysitting for little Owen. Everyone played very well together. For a good while all of them sat at the little table and colored. I'm pretty sure it was Maggie who covered the boys with marker. Good thing they were the non-toxic washable variety! The whole day was wildly busy, loud, and fun!

Saturday morning Maggie gave Orange Tebby Dare a ride while her parents packed up for the big Sunflower Farm trip!

We spent the morning at Sunflower Farm for their Kids Fun Fest and boy was it F-U-N. I'm pretty sure Patrick and I enjoyed it just as much or more than Maggie did. We were jumping around snapping pictures and making her play with, and look at, every single thing.

We saw pigs, chickens, cows, sheep, horses, goats, llamas, ponies, ducks, I think a turkey, turtles. We played on trikes, swings, tractors, sandboxes, tree houses, etc...phew! The only way to show all the cute pics is by slideshow.





After the farm we headed over to Two Dog Diner in Prospect for some food. We all agreed the food was great (Maggie did so by eating almost everything in front of her). Nap time started in the car on the way home.

After her nap I thought we'd hit the park and get wet in the water jets but they were turned off. Maggie was sad so I brought her home for some backyard fun.

Sunday was nice and relaxing. Maggie, who rarely lets me clean ran around the kitchen playing and yelling "mommy cleans" while I did my thing. Patrick made his famous BBQ chicken with corn on the cob (a new favorite of Maggie's--so funny to see her eat off the cob). I topped my day off by watching Patrick and Maggie have a pillow fight and giving my dad a call. It was a really nice Fathers Day.