Tuesday Treats: Look on the bright side...

I planned to come here and tell you all about the delicious fruity lamb casserole we enjoyed last night. But, I also planned on enjoying the fruity lamb casserole.

It was such a great smell and concoction of lambchops, dried apricots, red onions, tomatoes, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and coconut oil. But, there was nothing about the fruity lamb casserole that I enjoyed. I did eat it. But, I did not enjoy it. I won't confuse you by giving you the recipe. I'd hate to lead you down the wrong path. If you're on the path searching for Julia Childs, this would be a wrong turn down recipe lane.

I don't want to come here and be a Debbie Downer, so I must tell you one thing that was fabulous about last night's fruity lamb casserole: My Pampered Chef Mandoline. I LOVE MY MANDOLINE. If you don't have one, get thee to a store or PC consultant or nearest online shopping site and get a mandoline. I can slice up anything in a jiffy with this tool. It's amazing.

So, dinner wasn't a complete dud. I had the chance to use my mandoline and be reminded of how awesome it is. I like to call that: Looking on the Bright Side.

Grandparents' Day

Today was Grandparents' Day at school. It was the first time Abigail and Cooper have had grandparents in attendance at the annual event. Abigail made sure to call Gran last week and invite her. She was sure I hadn't already informed Gran and Grandad of the occasion. Gran and Grandad were so sweet to take time off from work and travel to Round Rock for the event.

The morning kicked off with Abigail's class singing two songs at chapel. I wish I could show you a video or even a photo of the performance. I was irresponsible and showed up with uncharged electronic devices. If you were there this morning, I was the lady in tall boots at the back of the auditorium looking for a plug to charge my camera battery. Fortunately, I found one. Unfortunately, I missed the photo op of the performance.


After chapel, we visited Cooper's classroom as they had snacks and went through the morning circle time routine. I'm pretty sure this pre-kindergarten class is already smarter than me. They knew the day and date of the week. If it weren't for the calendar on my phone, I'd never know the current date. Would anyone like to join me in a circle each morning to sing about the day and date of the week? It might help me keep up with these details.


Cooper showed off his "Smurf Hands" painting and poem for Gran and told the class that Grandad gives the best hugs. He doesn't even try to hide that he's quite partial to Grandad.


In Abigail's class, Gran and Grandad helped her fill in her family tree.


We got to meet Abigail's teacher, which was an added bonus. Daniel had yet to meet Mrs. E. Abigail is usually mortified at the thought of being seen with us at school. Apparantly it's okay when there are grandparents to show off.


Daniel was busy being the WatchDOG on campus today. (Each day one dad is on campus all day to help corral the kids and do any tasks the administration needs help accomplishing.) The kids love and look forward to these occasions. I'm so glad he has the chance to do this several times during the school year. We love being a part of a school that invites our entire family into the classrooms, and today was a special day to share with Gran and Grandad.

You DO Bring Me Flowers Anymore

My hubby brought flowers to my office this morning. He reminded me that we will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in almost one month. Yeah, he's pretty great.

A New Swimmer in Town

Cooper is officially registered as a USA Swimming swimmer and signed up for his first swim meet.


He's so excited that I had to create a countdown for him to keep track of how many sleeps until the meet in San Antonio October 15-16.


I'm amazed at how much progress he's made since he learned to swim in April. We owe it all to Coach Adam who Cooper completely admires. We're pretty fond of Coach Adam, too.


I mean, this kid has seriously come a million miles from being the kid who would only scream bloody murder when we forced him into a pool. It was Coach Adam who finally convinced Cooper that he wouldn't drown in the pool.


Now, we have a fish on our hands for an hour every day after school. He can't stand to get out of the pool once he starts swimming. I can't wait to see what he does at his first meet. Go Cooper! 

Tuesday Treats - Clean Eating Pineapple Pork

We have challenged ourselves to eating a paleo diet for two weeks. (The Paleo Diet mimics the types of foods every single person on the planet ate prior to the Agricultural Revolution: fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and seafood; we aren't eating refined sugars and grains, saturated and trans fats, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and processed foods.) In other words, we are mainly eating everything except grains, potatos, beans, dairy. So, I was in search of new recipes and even found quite a few paleo crockpot recipes. This was my first venture into the paleo pot world. It was speedy and tasty!


Mix 1 t. paprika with 2 T sugar-free dijon mustard and rub onto two pounds pork roast. Top roast with one pineapple cut into 1" cubes. Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred pork before serving.


The recipe actually calls for pork ribs, but I can't stand to eat anything but french fries and sandwiches with my fingers. Go ahead and try out the rib version if you're a lick-your-fingers-while-you-eat kind of person.

Star Student

Today is the first day of Abigail's Star Student week. She's terribly excited.


I wish I could show you the Star in all her crowning glory, but that would involve going into the classroom with her. There's no chance she'll allow anything that embarassing to happen.

Mason Money

A few months ago we set out on a new financial journey. It's called A Budget. We decided to take the kids with us. I even bought them new luggage for the trip.


These mason jars are now the keepers of all things needed for the trip. Cooper only has one jar, because anything further would be difficult to understand. Abigail has three jars: spend (70%), save (20%), tithe (10%).


The kids earn money by doing chores. We don't give them an allowance, but do pay them for any tasks beyond what is already expected of them, i.e. clean rooms, beds made every morning. Cooper has become wonderful with the vaccuum cleaner. Abigail likes to clean out my car. And, I was able to let my housekeeper go.

Cooper's jar is mostly empty, because he recently spent all his earnings on a used Nintendo DS with five game cartridges. Abigail's save jar is empty because we opened a savings account that is used when the jar becomes full.

I love that the kids are learning that money must be earned. And, I especially love to see them making choices of how to spend their money.