The To Do List

I think this week is going to be slower. I might have said that same thing the last few weeks, but I really think it's true this time. I've been crossing off some of the more time-consuming, significant To Do's and I finally feel like I'm gaining momentum on life. Meanwhile, we found plenty of things to pack into our week attempting to ignore The To Do List.

Fly a kite

Make a mess at Angela's
Make really loud noises at Angela's
Take family pictures (remember last year?)
Wonder if Jason is trying to look like Steve Erkel
Juice oranges

Bake cookies

Take a walk

Playdates

Dance party
Hang out with beautiful weather
Climb into things
Not poop in the toilet
Temple*

Softball games
Sleep in on Saturday (8:51am!!)

Found out how to rescue pictures from my old phone (I love nerds!), here's a few:

Jason jammed his finger and his wedding ring doesn't fit over his knuckle so I drew a ring on for him
Hazel's first intro to stairs, she climbed straight up without hesitating or looking back
The picture from Olive Garden - she's saying cheese (and is about to shove that broccoli into her mouth)
Jason patched his own shorts - awesome, right?
Celebrated a very special occasion with some very special friends.
After which, Hazel threw a fit when we ripped her from Dan's arms, poor, poor Hazel

Additionally, I was pretty good at cooking dinner this week. I will say, towards the end of the month, our meals tend to get creative. I try to still prepare healthy meals without fresh fruits and vegetables since I hold off until the next month to try to salvage an already over-budget grocery budget. This month was no exception - both the creative meals and the over-budget parts.

M: Steamed asparagus, mashed potatoes, chicken (leftover from our lunch at the park - HA!)

T: Frozen pizza, green smoothies (I feel better about myself when our less than healthy main dish is offset with a spinach laden fruit smoothie)

W: Egg rolls, miso soup, steamed vegetables
R: Cheese Enchiladas**

*My goodness, I saw this Carl Bloch picture again and the coveting started all over. For someone who's not very artistic, I've always loved beautiful and grand art and this piece just speaks to me.

** This was a new experiment. Absolutely no recipe and it turned out pretty good. Criteria: use things I had on hand, mostly healthy, quick and enjoyable for the entire family. The tortillas were a little tough for Hazel, but I would rather that than soggy. Besides, what good are mother birds if we don't follow their example and chew up some food and then pass it along to our young?

Combine in a sauce pan over medium heat and simmer, stirring occasionally:

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can beans (I used cannellini), drained

dried onion (I would have used fresh if I had one!)

1 small can diced green chilis

1 T. chili powder

salt and pepper

1/4 C. teff***

18 corn tortillas - I almost fried these but decided to save the oil and time and just cook them, 6 at a time, on my griddle, until they were crunchy

3-4 cups of grated sharp cheddar (if you're concerned about calories, you could cut this back, for sure)

Then I sprayed a 9x12 glass pan, layered tortilla, bean/tomato mixture, cheese, tortilla, bean/tomato mixture, cheese, tortilla, cheese and baked it for 15 minutes or so.

Jason liked it, I liked it and both my kids loved it.

*** This does not affect the taste at all, I added it for extra nutrition, but it would taste just as good without it.

Wow, this ended up being way longer than I anticipated.