My Favorite People

Man, I love these people! I'm so glad I get to live with them and love them every day!

Hair Styling

Some post-bath hair styling, just because they're so cute

Peppers

I find it very interesting how my taste buds have changed as I've gotten older. Things I wouldn't dare eat when I was little, I now love! Jay says he's very proud of me. One of those things is peppers. I remember in high school my dad paying me $50 to eat one strip of a green pepper that was covered in ranch dressing. $50!! And I gagged on it and burped the taste of that pepper the rest of the night. But you better believe I ate it to get my money :)

Since learning to eat and LOVE Thai food over the past few years, I really have grown to love peppers cooked in things. (Green peppers still aren't my favorites though.) I'm also on the lookout for yummy recipes to make at home with them. Last week I tried a new one that everyone in the whole family loved, even Catherine and Will. And while cooking, they actually ate half of the orange peppers off the cutting board.

Here's the recipe in case you're interested: It's from Good Housekeeping.

Beef and Pepper Stir-Fry

1-2 cups of rice

12 oz beef top round, thinly sliced

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp veg oil

2-3 peppers (red, yellow, orange) thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2 in wedges

1. Prepare rice. They recommend using a quick cooking brown rice. I used white rice and cooked it with coconut milk for some extra flavor. I sauteed 1/2 onion in some olive oil for 2-3 mins, added the rice for 2-3 mins. Then I poured the can of coconut milk (I used lite) in a 4 cup measuring cup and added enough water to make a total of 4 cups. Boil until rice is done. This gives the rice a sweet and sticky flavor. Yum!

2. In bowl, combine beef, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp black pepper

3. In 12-in skillet, heat 1 tsp oil on med-high. Add beef in single layer. Cook without stirring, 1 min. Transfer to plate. (Beef will still be pink in center.) Return skillet to med-high without cleaning.

4. Add remaining oil to skillet. Add peppers and garlic; stir-fry for 4-5 mins until crisp/tender. Add tomatoes and remaining sugar. Cook 3 to 4 mins until saucy, stirring.

5. Return beef to skillet. Add remaining black pepper and soy sauce. Cook 1 min (or more until beef is done to your liking). Serve over rice.

Enjoy! And sorry I'm not one of those fancy chefs who takes beautifully elaborate pictures of their final dish. We ate it all instead.

Bedroom Final

Here's the final bedroom decision. Jay helped me decide which one he liked best. We decided the other was too fancy and more feminine. And Jay said it looked elderly! I disagree with that, but whatever. I do love, love, love the pattern on the curtains and pillows and feel like the room is very comfortable and simple and peaceful for us.

Cleaning out the Garage

I moved all of the strollers, bikes, and other various items with wheels out of the garage to sweep it out and I found the three cutest little people in there! See if you can find them too.

At "Our" Park

Yesterday we headed over to "our" park--Butler Spring Park. We could walk to this park from our old house and is probably the thing I miss most about living there. We grabbed some lunch and went to the park to eat and play. This was the first time Anna has really played at the playground. She thought she was a big kid too and was crawling all around, even managed to give herself a bloody nose! We're looking forward to many more warm days to play at the park.

Wacky Wednesday and Silly Sock Friday

Catherine dressed up for Wacky Wednesday in my 25 year old dance costume. It brought back memories to see her in it! Really she looked more beautiful than wacky, but she thought it was pretty funny to wear something of Mommy's from so long ago. What I really thought was funny was that most of what the other kids wore for Wacky Wednesday (things like striped shirts with mismatched pants) looks pretty much like what Will wears every day.

Today was silly sock day, so she wore one Christmas sock and one Easter sock. Even the smallest things, such as wearing different socks, can make the whole day seem different when you're 5.

I think this whole week's crazy days are for Dr. Seuss's birthday. But I don't know. I always forget to read the newsletter. Regardless, Catherine had fun dressing up.