Saturday Night

I know everyone is dying to know what we do when we have a free Saturday night, well, this is it...we throw our kid around and take pictures!

Gavin's Week

He has discovered that it makes mommy laugh when he presses
his face against the screen, especially when he has a "pig" nose.

He wants to put his own shoes on..ha..ha..

The lion is still his favorite at the zoo
(it probably would have been a toss up if the porcupines would have been there)

He loves to fly his airplane kite
This was at the 10th annual Kite Festival

When he is tired he just wants to be carried

He insists on pulling his own wagon which makes us look like mean slave driving parents to the people who see us and just think that Cody and I are lazy and Gavin has no choice but to pull the family wagon around!

It's gonna be a long one...

If you drove past my house last Friday this is what you would have seen. An All American truck in the driveway with my garage full of stuff drying out. Similar to what you would have seen a few months ago. Let me explain. (Like I said, this is going to be a long one!) A few months ago I went downstairs to go into one of the extra bedrooms and the carpet was wet. Upon further inspection we realized that the entire hallway was wet and the doorway of the extra bedroom and it was coming from the water heater closet where a pipe of some sort was leaking. We weren't sure how long it had been doing it but when we realized the walls were wet we had better call a professional. It ended up that it had been leaking for quite a while and it was into the family room, an extra bedroom and in the bathroom under the linoleum and in the padding under the carpets. Luckily (other than the flooring) nothing else was damaged and our house was in shambles for a while as we put in new flooring, painted,etc. etc.

Fast forward a few months. The second extra bedroom (the one that didn't get wet the first time) is where we stored everything while the other rooms were being refinished. Most of it was moved back to it's respective places except all of my scrapbooking things and some other misc. items.
It's Thursday night and Cody and I are watching a movie (it's like our Friday night because we have 3 day weekends). It's a little after ten when the movie gets over and the house is quiet and we heard a beep-beep-beep from somewhere so we sit and wait and again beep-beep-beep. It was coming from downstairs.
We head down there and when we walk into the family room (onto our new carpet) it's wet. At first I think "what did Gavin spill" but we soon realized it was much more that just a spill, it was everywhere. We go in the extra bedroom and EVERYTHING is wet. The outside faucet where the hose attaches to the outside of the house comes in that room through the wall and the wall is all wet and saggy. Cody went outside and turned the faucet on just to see what would happen and I got wet standing in the middle of the room. He had washed his truck earlier and had the hose on for about an hour not knowing that over the winter the pipe had apparently frozen and broke. So for an hour it was like everything in the room was in the shower because it was coming from overhead. And the beeping: it was our smoke alarm that was still sitting on my hope chest. We had taken it off the wall in the family room to paint and never put it back up. It was beeping because water was dripping on it.
I felt so overwhelmed. We have been trying to save money for another adoption and it seems like every time we get a good nest egg going something happens and we have to spend the money on something else! aaahhhggg! So what did I do? I did what any overwhelmed 31 year old would have done, I called my mom @ 10:30 at night crying. No matter what is going on if you call your mom suddenly everything is much better, and it was. We also called All American and the insurance company because that's what responsible adults do and we are responsible adults, right?
any way on with my ramblings. I am so thankful that we found it so soon and that no one was hurt and in the end it's just stuff and stuff can be replaced. There were only a few things that can't be, but what can you do? There is no use crying over spilled milk right? So all we can do is just chalk it up as a blessing in disguise and move forward.

This is the current condition of our family room. It's like a tornado when you go downstairs because of all the fans blowing and our downstairs bathroom is out of commission because all the hoses from the dehumidifiers and running in there, but we don't really want or need to be down there right now anyway.

Some of the "stuff" that was ruined. The scrapbooks were both done, but luckily I have all my pictures backed up on disks. All the wet stuff ended up in the garage where it wouldn't ruin anything else and it's easy access to the garbage cans.

This was Cody's train set from when he was a kid. Ironically we had it in a plastic garbage bag to "protect" it, but the very top of the bag was opened about 5 inches and the water was coming from above and there was about 3-4 inches of water in the bag

This is what upset me. Gavin's scapbook was partially ruined along with his baby book. I was able to salvage his blessing certificate and his Certificate of Birth out of it, but the rest was toast. I have a whole new respect for people that have to deal with floods, tornadoes and house fires. We only really lost a baby book and a scrapbook as far as things that really matter and it was a pretty emotional weekend. I have no right to complain about anything. It could have been so much worse and I could have lost so much more.

Also, I want to say Thank You to all of you who offered to help and bring meals and those of you who brought meals, etc. etc. You are all so wonderful and we love you and we are so blessed to have you in our lives and I hope I can repay the favor someday.

P.S. Sorry I rambled and sorry I got so sappy. It's just been one of those weekends! The great news is this post is over! ; )

Test Run

We bought Gavin a new kite last weekend for the kite festival that is in a couple of weeks. Monday afternoon was warm, with some wind so Gavin and I took it out for a test run. At first he was worried that his kite wasn't going to come back as I was letting more and more string out, but after I handed it to him life was good and he was having a great time!

Gavin and I

It started out with blue skies and white clouds...

...and ended with dark clouds, no sign of blue skies and his kite stuck in a tree courtesy of Gavin who thought it was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!

(and the next day we had 5 inches of snow on the ground! Welcome to Idaho ; )

Mystery Monday #3

I really should start taking pictures of everything, but I always forget until it's all gone!

Elegant Chicken Rolls (Pampered Chef cookbook)

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (4-6 ounces each)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, snipped
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
6 tablespoons sweet roasted red peppers drained and chopped
1 1/4 cups seasoned croutons, grated (1 cup crumbs)
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
12-18 large spinach leaves
6 ounces thinly sliced deli smoked ham (I used Black Forest Ham)

Preheat oven to 375*. Butterfly cut each chicken breast half by inserting tip of knife into thickest side of chicken then cutting lengthwise through middle of breast, almost to the other side. Spread chicken breast open flat. Place each chicken breast between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Flatten to at least 1/4 inch thickness by alternating with pounding and rolling ( I used my rolling pin)

In a small bowl combine cream cheese, feta cheese, snipped basil and pepper. Blend well and set aside.

Chop red peppers, drain on paper towels.

Grate croutons into a shallow bowl ( I cheated and bought Italian seasoned bread crumbs)

For each chicken roll, cover chicken breast with single layer of spinach leaves. Top with scoop of cheese mixture and spread to 1/4 inch of edge of chicken. Sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon of the red peppers and cover with two slices of ham. (I put the ham on top of the spinach then the cheese mixture etc. It was easier to spread that way). Roll up, jelly-roll fashion, tucking ends when possible. ( I had a hard time getting my chicken to stay rolled up so I skewered mine)

Dip rolls in egg mixture and coat with crumbs. Place seam side down in baking dish. Bake 35 minutes or until chicken it no longer pink and juices run clear. ( I used my meat thermometer and set it at 165* to make sure the chicken was done)

Yeild: 6 servings




Savory Pilaf (Betty Crocker's New Cookbook)

2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 cup uncooked regular long grain rice
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt

Melt margarine/butter in 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion in margarine about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender. ( I also added about a tablespoon of leftover red peppers from the chicken)
Stir in rice. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in broth and salt.
Heat to boiling, stirring once or twice: reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 16 minutes (do not lift cover or stir); remove from heat. Cover and let steam about 5 minutes.

Yeild: 4 servings (about 3/4 cup each)

Cody's Super Salad (from Cody's head)

1/2 bowl green salad mix
1/2 bowl spinach leaves
2 boiled eggs, cut up
1/3 cup shredded italian cheese
Bacon bits (to your liking)

Mix all together and eat!


Butterscotch Bubble Loaf
(www.sallys-smorsels.blogspot.com)

24 Rhodes rolls, thawed but still cold (about 2 hours)
1/2 small box NON-INSTANT butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup chopped pecans ( I used sliced almonds instead)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar

Spray bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Cut rolls in half and roll in dry pudding mix. Arrange in pan alternately with nuts. Sprinkle remaining pudding mix over the top. Combine brown sugar and butter; heat together until butter is melted and a syrup is formed. Stir well. Pour syrup over rolls. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap.

Let rise until double in size or even with top of bundt pan. Remove wrap and bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes. Cover with foil the last 15 minutes of baking. Do not underbake. Immediately after baking invert onto a serving platter.

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Everything tonight was super yummy and we added it to our yummy foods list! I did double the chicken and rice recipe since we were feeding two families.

No love for the Easter Bunny

Cody: Hey Gavin the Easter Bunny came

Gavin: No Daddy!

Cody: Come on. Come see what the Easter Bunny brought you.

Gavin: No, I DON'T LIKE HIM!!!

No love for the Easter Bunny

He decided he wasn't so bad after all when he discovered that the Easter Bunny had left him his very own Bunny Bubble Gum dispenser

Easter Egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa B's

He had so much fun finding all the eggs and wanted to
keep looking even after all the eggs were gone

Gavin, Faith & Taylor with all their loot

Coloring Easter Eggs (and the floor)

The Eggs!

One of the eggs had a crack in it and Gavin was inspecting it while we waited

When I was little it was always a tradition to mix all the colors together when we were done and make one really UGLY egg with it. It was all fun and games until Gavin bumped the cup of red which in turn knocked over the green...

...and VIOLA! Christmas at Easter!

I grabbed a towel and cleaned up the coloring. The liquid came up just fine, but everywhere where the coloring had sat (while I was taking this picture of course) stayed green and red, O crap! Luckily Cody had mentioned to me a few days earlier that vinegar works well to clean floors and just about everything else. I tried it and sure enough it came up! Whew! (Note to self, color Easter Eggs outside next year, even if there is snow on the ground!)