Memorial day SCORCHER.

 This is the 'crazy eyes' face metta made when I told her we were going outside to a bbq for Memorial day.

 It was ridiculously hot. Record breaking. Hotter than almost any other place in the country.  Here's another set of her 'crazy eyes'.

and here's how she actually coped with the event.

and the boys coped with water.   I just sweat off a few pounds- which made up for the pounds of delicious watermelon I ate.  We went to a super fun barbecue at a friend's house and had fabulous food.  Check out the post after this one for the recipe to the KILLER souvlaki (homemade marinade, naan bread, and greek yogurt dill sauce) I made.  It was amazing.

 I promised myself I'd get a picture of me with the kiddos- or with my food- or SOMEthing.  But I didn't.  Kent's leg is holding Metta here.  He had to work both Saturday AND Monday of the holiday weekend- but he got off early on monday and made it to the barbecue.  Honestly- the hours of residency can be pretty crappy- but they don't bother me all that much unless it's a holiday.  and then I get a little grumpy. I've got to work on that!  my rugrats' behaviors/attitudes directly reflect mine.

and here's miss metta chomping vigorously on kent's finger.  We're 95% sure she's teething. Zeb had just gotten a tooth at this age.  And this girl has turned into a slobbery chewing and spitting monster.

And here are some super cute picture of our ragamuffin.  every day she gets better.

here's some slobbering evidence.

 I've really got to get a better backdrop for her when I take pictures.  My hideous bouncy chair just isn't cutting it!!

world's BEST chicken souvlaki

Seriously one of the best meals I've made in a long time.  Greek Chicken Souvlaki. with homemade tzatziki sauce and naan bread.  plus fresh lettuce, cucumbers, and diced tomatoes.





































Souvlaki Marinade:
2/3 c vegetable oil or olive oil
1/2 c lemon juice
1/4 c soy sauce
1tbs worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
2 tsps garlic

Mix together and marinate chicken at least four hours in a ziploc bag in fridge.

Naan: adapted from the Novice chef.  These are sooooooo good.

1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling 
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup Greek fat free plain yogurt
1 large egg
olive oil for cooking (you can use butter if you prefer)
garlic salt


In a large bowl, stir together the water, yeast and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.

Stir in the flour, salt, oil, yogurt and egg and stir, then knead until you have a soft, pliable dough. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled in size; about an hour.

Divide the dough into 6-8 pieces and on a lightly floured surface (add more flour if the dough is pretty sticky still) , roll out each piece into a thin circle or oval.

Cook each naan in a nice hot skillet drizzled with oil (just a teeny tiny bit--you're not frying it) until blistered and cooked, flipping as necessary. (When the surface has big blisters and is golden on the bottom, flip it over and cook until golden on the other side.  Brush with melted butter and garlic salt.

Dill Tzatziki Sauce

the rest of the greek yogurt from the naan (about 3/4 cup)

1/3-1/2 tablespoon dill weed

1-2 Tablespoons light mayo

garlic salt to taste

mix together and let sit for at least thirty minutes. 

Buffalo!!!!

Last week we made a weekend trip to Buffalo to visit Laney and Taylor! Taylor graduated with his law degree and urban planning masters.  Woohoo.  congrats!  even more congrats that you got a job :)

Kent had to work and couldn't come (LAME!) so my WONDERFUL parents flew here to Dayton and then drove with the rugrats and me to Buffalo.  Thanks again, mom and dad! I'm not sure I would have made the trip alone!!

Milly was OBSESSED with Metta.  Here they are at their first meeting.  I wish I would have captured metta's face at a better angle.  Milly couldn't get enough holding, kissing, (s)mothering, hugging, etc.  Since the boys are usually pretty hands off with metta- I think she was a little shell shocked by all of the love.

I can't wait for my little sis, metta, to have her baby girl!  the cousins will be an even 3 girls/3 boys!

Of course I got lots of pictures of the kids- and very few of any adults.  But I promise we were all there and had lots of fun and ate lots of delicious food.   

There's this greek restaurant in Buffalo called Pano's and it's AMAZING.  We go every time we are in town.  If you go to Buffalo- it's a must.

Here are the boys having a peeing contest.  Nothing like peeing with your cousins.  Ike is telling me: "STOP! we need privacy!".  It's his favorite thing to say when he goes to the bathroom.

During the actual commencement exercises- I stayed home with all of the rugrats.  Because who wants to go to an almost three hour graduation with five toddlers/babies?!  NOT ME!

Zeb and Henry are such good pals.  Laney lives directly across the street from the Buffalo zoo so we wandered over for awhile while everybody else was at the graduation.

I love this picture. It makes them seem so grown up.

Growing up my cousins were like best friends to me- so I hope my kiddos can have the same relationships with their cousins!!

Here's an actual graduation photo from the big event.  Too bad it's a tacky kissing picture :)

My boys (and laney's kiddos) love when Nannie Annie and gramps are around because it almost always means a hotel with a pool.

and it also means lots of Mcdonalds (much to nannie annie's chagrin!).  I've always associated Mcdonalds with grandpa- and I think my kids will, too.

we went on walks through old historic buffalo to see the frank lloyd wright houses and go yard sale shopping!  I found a super fabulous yard sale with GREAT baby girl clothes.

Zeb loved sitting on Taylor's shoulders and being seven feet tall. literally.

Overall there was just lots of good times. and I am still trying to catch up on sleep!!  I'm so glad that my sister lives close enough for weekend trips!!

We miss everybody already!!

smiling rugrats.

Smiling kiddos are the best thing ever.  Sappy, I know.  but true.

soccer season!!

I ♥ the Ymca.

We just finished our spring soccer season and the boys had so much fun.

Our team- the coaches- everything was awesome.

 Here are some of the teammates.  We are so lucky that Zeb and Ike got to be on the same team!

 Before every game- the kiddos had to recite a ymca good sportsmanship pledge.

 This little Zeb was amazing. I think he scored several times at almost every game- and really got competitive.  We played two teams that were incredibly good for peewee soccer- and we had several conversations about how soccer is more about fun and exercise than winning right now.  Zeb isn't crazy althletic- but his competitive spirit more than makes up for his lacking athleticism.

 Here he is in a breakaway about ready to score!

 He chose number five because he's SOOOO excited to turn five in a couple of weeks.

 Ike is such a turkey. He was definitely the smallest kiddo on the team (just turned three) but he weaseled his way around players and managed a goal or two this season.  and he LOVED his pink cleats.  Cleats in his size are almost impossible to find- and I wasn't about to spend a lot of money to order some. Luckily we found these pink diamond encrusted beauties at a yard sale for one dollar.

 These kiddos get more and more fun the with age!

We can't wait for fall soccer!!

more quinoa and a cute baby.

For whatever reason- even though I really don't like newborns- I miss when my kids stop doing that itty bitty baby stretch where their arms go up and their bums do too.  Miss Metta does the arms still- but the tucked under feet and bum up are mostly gone.  Now she's an infant. Not a newborn. Hallelujah :)  and her 'crazy eyes' are far less common.

She'll give us cute happy eyes instead.

Does anybody know of anywhere to buy the teeny boys that I glue to her head?!  I don't think I could pull off making them.  I can't tie big bows and make them look nice- so my teeny ones would be a disaster.  Laney got them at some little store in Cottonwood, Utah, years ago- but I only have a few so I need more.

and I'm still trying lots of new recipes with quinoa.  this time: Hawaiian Haystacks!  Super easy and very tasty.  My trick is to always cook the quinoa with chicken stock and not just water.  Top it with tomatoes, onions, peppers, fresh pineapple, crunchy noodles, broccoli, and sauced chicken.  Voila. super good.

My sis says she thinks I should try bulgur wheat in all of my quinoa recipes.  I think I'll give it a try this week.