Lake Winnie

Last month we took a trip to visit John's parents. His sisters were in town, and we all went to Lake Winnepesaukah. I had never been, but it was a great place for kids! Anna Kate really broke out of her amusement park shell. She rode just about every ride in the park that she was tall enough for. The one that certainly surprised me the most was the OH-Zone. It's a 14-story free fall ride. OH-NO-WHAT-HAVE-I-DONE was more like how I felt! Once she got to the top, I got very nervous. She liked it but only wanted to go once :) I couldn't ride much since I am pregnant, so her daddy and aunts got to ride with her. Here are pictures!

I took a picture of her on the OH-ZONE, but it was nighttime, and it did not turn out :( Her favorite was the green frog looking ride (last picture). Just look at her face! We want to take another trip up there before Halloween so we can see all of the decorations. We're beginning to run out of time!

Motivation

I haven't had much motivation to post anything lately. I've been feeling very tired instead. So I thought I would just post a few pictures from our 4th of July weekend with our family. We had a very fun time!

What's for Dinner?

I used to make a very yummy chicken pasta salad. Everyone who ate it seemed to love it. I haven't made it in about 5 years, so I decided to make it the other night. I got the recipe from All Recipes. It is the best chicken pasta salad I've ever had! Here you go...

Best Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 3/4 cup steak sauce - I use Heinz 57
  
• 1 (12 ounce) package fusilli pasta
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1 Vidalia onion, diced - I use about 1/2 of this
  
• 2 avocados - peeled, pitted and diced
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup Ranch-style salad dressing - I use Naturally Fresh Lite Ranch
  

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Place breasts into a glass baking dish and marinate in steak sauce for 15 to 60 minutes.
2. Grill chicken until no longer pink and the juices run clear. Remove from grill, and chop into bite-size pieces.
3. To a large pot of boiling water, add bouillon cubes and pasta. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, and rinse under cold water.
4. In a large bowl, combine chicken, pasta, onion, avocados and tomatoes. Mix in salad dressing, cover, and refrigerate until chilled.

ENJOY!

Sick Day

AK is sick today. She spent most of last night with a high fever, sore throat, and vomiting. Yuck. She seems to feel fine today, but the doc says it's strep throat. The first thing AK said was, "That means we have to stay at home all day." She did not say it with excitement. So to make her day a little more fun, we made these.

We used the shells we collected at the beach a couple of weeks ago. From the top we have a spider, a butterfly, a whale, and a girl (for some reason this one reminds me of Janice from the Muppet Show!)

Lake View

We went to visit my aunt and uncle at their house for Memorial Day weekend. There was lots of fun, food, swimming, sunshine, and family time :)

Saturday

I have been busy lately. It is the end of the school year (5 more days!!!!), and I have so much to do at work around this time. I haven't thought much about my blog until today. I think it's because I took some time this afternoon to do some enjoyable things. Things I like to share here. I broke out the camera, and got busy!

One reason I haven't been blogging much is this.

DROID. I have been trying to figure out how to use it. John and I spied new phones last weekend when we were actually supposed to be helping my mom pick out a new phone! She still doesn't have a new one, but we went back and got these.

Back to today...
We did a little gardening.
I made this. What do you think is in it??? Look hard.



Oops! Wrong end! Look again :)



I found this post at Elizabeth Anne's Designs. I had tried to make a topsy turvy style planter out of a plastic soda bottle, but ended up getting too frustrated. I came across this much prettier version and knew I had to do it instead. I had a planter I got for Christmas just waiting for this project! I hope it works. I broke a few limbs of the tomato plant when I put it through the hole, but hopefully it will survive.

I had a helper when it came time to water the plants.



Remember when I was so excited about this hydrangea bush?



Look at it now!



There are lots of flowers about to bloom on it! I'm so happy it is thriving.

I started a new project tonight, but I will save it for another post :)

Dishing It!

Last month I participated in the Dishing It! Party over at Serenity Now. It was fun a fun way to meet other bloggers and discover new blogs. I am partying again this month!

Here is this month's topic:

Moms

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A MOM TO PARTICIPATE. Please feel free to use this as a question and answer post, or use it as a loose guide to write your post however you like. Add or omit any questions you like, and feel free to embellish with photos!

~What's the best thing about your mom? She is so giving. She's always there when I need her! And she puts up with me no matter what :)

~What's your relationship with your mom like (do you just tolerate each other, or is she your best confidant)? She's my best confidant. I talk on the phone to my mom daily, if not more often. I tell her pretty much everything. I can always count on her to comfort me when I'm sad and celebrate with me when I'm happy.

~What's the best advice your mom has ever given you? Hmmm...I can recall any specific advice, but she always has good advice for me. I rely on her opinion for most of my decisions!

~Describe the most embarrassing outfit your mom made you wear when you were growing up. (If you have a photo of this, I will give you ten bonus points!) I don't really remember any specific outfit she made me wear. She was always on my side when it came to the frou frou dresses my grandmother wanted me to wear. I hated them, and she didn't make me wear them!

~If you're a mom, what's your favorite thing about motherhood? What's the most difficult? The most difficult is staying calm during the 5 year old tantrums. Ugh. Give me strength! My favorite thing is the unconditional love I receive from that 5 year old!

Wanna dish about your mom or about being a mom? Head on over to Amanda's at Serenity Now and check out the party.

She won't be happy about this picture! But, it's all I had handy on the computer :)

What did you do this weekend?

Our Saturday was stormy and wet, so we didn't do much. I did attempt to make lasagna in the crockpot. Ummm...I won't be doing that again. John was oh so sweet, and didn't admit to how bad it was at first. He finally caved when I expressed my opinion about it. It wasn't horrible, but it was reminiscent of cafeteria lasagna that's been sitting under a heat lamp. For a long time.

The little wrens were working hard renovating the nest I left in the cat bird house from last Spring. They are so fun to watch and listen to. Look at all those twigs in there! How do they fit them in there?

Sunday was a much brighter, beautiful day. AK spent time playing with EG, our neighbor. They were having a blast in this. Except the one they were playing in was made for rolling in the grass I think. Anyway, I wish I had had my camera! I did have my camera handy for some cooking show action...

But the chef wasn't too cooperative for the paparazzi.

AK and I decided to get a bit crafty. I have been looking for some larger art to hang in my living room, but I can't find anything I like. So I thought, well I love AK's art! So I bought 2 large canvases at Hobby Lobby yesterday with the thought that she could paint something for me.

Not quite what I had in mind.

So I think this will hang in her room. Maybe I can get her to paint it a little more. She got tired.

I started looking around my crafty blogs that I have bookmarked, and I came across this at Simply Modern Mom! This post was the inspiration for my creation.

I still have not decided on the bird. She looks a little big. I haven't Mod Podged it yet just in case I want a smaller birdie. What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

To wrap up our day I made Andes Candies Brownies. All you do to make them is bake brownies as you normally would (we used a mix of course). Then when you take the brownies out of the oven, lay about 30 Andes Candies on top. Wait for them to melt a little, and swirl with a knife.

Oh.my.goodness.

These are so yummy. And definitely not on my "look decent in a bathing suit" plan.

Easter Sunday