Success...

Little tiny successes, but we must celebrate even things that may appear to be mundane.

This week we are celebrating:

Andrew sitting through (most of) story time at the Library. How cute is seeing a room full of small children bounce around to the tune of "shake your sillies out?"
Seriously cute.

I got a haircut. It felt so good. I haven't had my hair even trimmed since March and my sister paid for it then. Before that I had a haircut the previous October (over a year ago). At this point we are buying only one haircut for me a year. I got bangs. They're also seriously cute (if I do say so myself).

After my haircut on a whim we went into what looked like a cute ice cream place called The Purple Cow. Well, we were surprised to find it was a super cute 50's style diner inside. We had an improptu lunch date. The kids were surprisingly manageable and well behaved. Everyone got to finish their food. Mike had a giant club sandwich for lunch and still had some left for his 2 p.m. snack. We all shared a chocolate milk shake. Pretty tasty. Andrew couldn't get enough. What's not to love? Ice cream? Good. Chocolate? Good. Blended together....sure. Emma loved the Purple Cow poster they had hanging. It is such a true little rhyme. I WOULD rather see than be a purple cow.

A NEW revamped menu. A couple of weeks ago my husband said to me (in the most grateful-for-your-efforts voice he could) "yeah I'm pretty much done with chicken." Hmmm....a menu with no chicken?? What would I do: Here's what the chicken-less menu looked like:
-Broccoli Cheddar soup with "homemade" bread. The quotes are because it's not actually homemade. It's frozen. I buy it, let it rise, bake it. My house smells yummy, everyone gets yummy bread and I don't have to pull any of my hair out or throw any cooking utensils because I ruined another baking project. Everyone is happy
-Southwestern chicken and rice soup (the chicken didn't count in this one because it was a soup. Mike agreed.) Take 2 cans of Chicken and rice soup, add 1/2 cup salsa, cook until heated through. I add a couple of shakes of crushed red pepper for a little more kick. When in the bowls add some shredded cheese, chips and a dollop of sour cream to the top. Good (and cheap!)
-Monte Cristo sandwiches. Ummmm, if you've never had one then you are missing out. They are so FAB-U-LOUS. Look up a recipe online. I use cheddar cheese or provolone instead of swiss because I don't like swiss. They are yummy.
-Shredded beef tacos: Cook a London broil in the crock pot all day with 1/2 cup water and as much taco seasoning as you like. Shred after about 8 hours. So good.
-Toastadas- in addition to re fried beans you can add the shredded beef to the tops of them left over from the night before.
-Sliders. Why are mini hamburgers so much more fun to eat than regular size ones? Just make mini hamburgers and serve them on dinner rolls instead of hamburger buns. We suggest adding cheese and BBQ sauce.
-I also made a Greek pasta salad for a picnic we went to yesterday. Bow tie pasta, Greek vinaigrette dressing, olives, chickpeas, feta cheese. I added a cucumber sliced up and a yellow pepper. Pretty tasty.

Speaking of the picnic. The sun was out for a couple of hours yesterday. Just long enough for the fall picnic at church. The kids ran around like monkeys in the parking lot where we all ate. We talked to lots of nice people.

Mike and I both got callings at church. Mike was asked to be in the Young Men's presidency. This is all new to him, but he's excited. Working with 12 and 13 year old boys can be a challenge, but I think it will be a lot of fun as well. I was asked to work in the nursery. That's all I'm going to say about that.