Cooking with Dora and Diego

As you all know, Esme loves to "make recipes".  Today she got out her Dora and Diego cookbook and picked out a recipe to try.  Chicken, cheese, broccoli empanadas.  Yummy!

Here's how they turned out.

Not too bad, right?  However, just like usual, Esme didn't want to eat the final product.  She just wanted to eat the broccoli.

Go figure!!!

Not quite ready

Esme got a new bike for her birthday.  Because she is so tall, we got her a bike that is a little bigger than the one she rides at Grandma Barb's house.  When we first gave it to her, she was so excited and actually rode it down the street and back that day.

Even a month later, she was riding it a bit.  This picture is a few weeks ago.  She wasn't going far or fast, but at least she was going.

Oh, how things change.  Now she has no desire to ride her bike.  She's scared of it and as soon as she gets on it starts whining and crying.  She wants one of us to be holding on to her the whole time and holding on to the bike at the same time.  Even then we have to really convince her to peddle.  It IS a bit big for her, so hopefully next year it will be perfect and she'll be ready for it.

Here she is actually crying because she doesn't want to go.  

 And lately it seems this is always how it ends.  Walking the bike home.

So until next year, she'll be tooling around on her tricycle which she still loves.  Here is one last picture that I took that I have no memory of taking.  And by looking at it, I would guess that it was a complete accident.  But it's cool as heck and I really like it, so it makes the cut!

Fashion Advice

After it's rained, you're going to want to wear your goulashes outside.  Even if you ARE a mermaid...

New Toy

My poor old laptop is driving me bananas.  I've been thinking about getting a new one for awhile now. But then there's the debate between PC and Mac.  I love my iPhone like crazy.  Mac's are pretty.  But they're expensive.  Do I really need that?

One night Aaron said that he would buy me a Mac on one condition.  It would be ALL my presents for the next year.  I thought about it for a few days and then...

Here it is!  My birthday, anniversary, Christmas, Valentines, Mother's Day, and anything else that I've forgotten present.  Definitely worth it! :)  Now I just have to figure out how to use it.  I can't wait to get started!

A few more pictures

Here are a few more pictures from Esme's birthday at the Children's Museum.  These are from Papa Rex's camera.

There is one place at the museum where the kids can pretend they're on TV.  It shows them on a blue screen and then they have TVs up where they can watch themselves.  Esme's showing off some of her dance moves here. :)

Esme's Tree

On Esme's first birthday we planted an oak tree.  Here she is with the dogs.

Here she is around her second birthday.

And here she is at three.  June was super busy for us so we actually didn't take the pictures until July.  Oh well.

My fantastic girl! ~

Strawberry Clafoutis

Remember this?  Now what do we do with all those strawberries that we put in the freezer.

Esme wanted to make a strawberry cake.  For whatever reason, today that felt like it was going to be too difficult.  I just wasn't in the mood.  I wanted something really easy.  Last year I made a Cherry Clafoutis that my friend Laurie put on her blog.  It was amazing!  And most importantly, SUPER easy to make.  So that was the "cake" we made.

Esme assumed her usual position in the kitchen.  On a kitchen chair, by the dishwasher, with whatever utensil she needs.  In this case it was a whisk.

And this was our final product.  Sooo Yummy!  

Although I didn't get a picture of it, we served it only with a little powdered sugar on top.  That's really all it needs.

Because the strawberries came out of the freezer, there was a lot of juice rendered as they thawed.  I didn't want it to go into the clafoutis because it would be too runny.  Instead I made a little cocktail.  Pineapple juice, Malibu rum and a little strawberry juice on top.  

Equally Yummy if I do say so myself!

Oh, and for those of you remember that Esme doesn't eat cake - she didn't want to eat this either.  I did get her to take one bite and she made her ugly face and declared it yucky.  Maybe someday she'll be a skinny pastry chef.  She loves to bake and "make recipes" but she doesn't want to eat anything that she makes.

Happy 4th of July!

Yesterday Steve, Jodie, Annika and Laurel invited us to go to Elm Creek Swim Pond with them.  We had never been there, but it was a perfect place to spend a super hot day and a great opportunity for Esme to practice everything she is learning in her swimming lessons.  

She was practicing all of her moves, including kicking and "ice cream scooping" and scariest of all - putting her whole face in the water.  We were there for about three and a half hours and because it was 100 degrees, we spent the entire time in the water.  The water where we were at was just the right height for Esme to stand up in and the rest of us to sit/float in the water. We were there so long she was pretty much going completely under water by the time we left!

Go Esme!!!  

I think we've got a little fish in our family and I see many swimming adventures in our future. :)  We all had such a GREAT time, we will definitely be going back to this pond soon and often!  Thanks Ericksons for inviting us! :)

Hard work!

It's been sweltering here.  95+ degrees outside and humid as heck.  Just stepping outside makes you sweat.  Yuck, it's not pretty.

Leave it to us to take this opportunity to do some pretty heavy yard work.  Rip out sod and plant trees and shrubs and plants.  What can we say?  There was a great sale at our local nursery!

Here is a view of our backyard taken a couple of months ago.

And here is what it looks like now.

We (Aaron mostly - but I did help a bit) took out all the sod along the east side of the yard and up on the top as well.  Look where the garden hose is going, to the left of Cricket is some peony plants.  The sod was taken out to there.  We planted several shrubs and flowers and even a cherry tree!

We have a lot more work to do on our yard but every step makes a difference.  Less grass to mow!  Happy 4th of July!

A good sign

I think it's probably a good sign that there are tomato plants growing out of our compost bin.

It should make for a fabulous garden next year!  I can't wait! :)