the great outdoors

The weather boasted of higher temps and sunshine so Jake and I headed for the hills of Cherokee Park. First we played at the playground, then collected sticks that were strewn about, then shingles from the roof of the covered picnic area. Then I said let's go for a walk, so we decided to hit the trails this time. I had never noticed them before and boy were they a gem! Some of the were a little muddy, but that just made room for an obstacle course along the way! 

"Take a pic of me, Mom"

We were both kind of Tuckered out after our 2 mike hike and on our way home grabbed a quick bite at McDs before heading to the home front. We warmed our bones before gathering up our things for the next evening adventure planned. 

There has been a new park in the works over by Beth's house that will take another 2 years to complete but the central part of it is finished now. Tonight, Jupiter was going to be in sight, aloingf with a full moon, and the seven sisters constellation. The program was called 'Constellations and Marshmallows'. Basically the Louisville Astronomy Club brought out their giant telescopes to view said stars/planets. I've never seen bigger telescopes in my life I was amazed they let the kids climb up and take a gander! These things were worth more than my car! Oh well, it was pretty neat. The kids were really more interested in their glow-stick necklaces and hot cocoa, but that's to be expected :-) . 

So by this point, it was 8 pm and this Mama had had enough child related activities for the day. Unfortunately, I still had to go retrieve Kevin at 9:30 so we were only home for an hour before we had to hit the road again. What a fun day!

Spinach Dip Stuffed Chicken Breast

So another pinterest recipe :-)  Next time I'll try homemade spinach dip with less fat and actually use artichoke hearts instead of artichoke tapenade. I hate capers and it was super briny for me. 

stuffed chicken breast recipe

Lego Project

So we have legos. Have had legos since last June. No directions, no idea what sets we have, I'm clueless. Just as clueless as when he discovered Thomas the Train. Just when I've become the depot director, he switches it up on me! Oh well. I'd been wanting someway to store them so we wouldn't have to dump them iutnof the tote each time he wanted to play with them. Thankfully, Grammie surprised me with this wonderment. Jake was thrilled because "I have that in my school". Now the question was, HOW do I organize it: shape, size, set or color?

Love his toy room, again!

Happy Valentine's Day

This year was the first time doing Valentines for Jakes class and they were asked to write them themselves. Unfortunately, I chose to buy ones that left an inch or two to write the kids names! Well it took about a week for all to be completed and jut one day for the envelopes. He was very excited to deliver them! 

It was the last day of Kevin's 10-day vacation and it was pretty low-key. Glad he got a break though because he's back in the swing of things already. 

 We decided to go out to dinner as a family for dinner and it was fabulous as always, minus our server. Not the worst, but also not the best :-)  Here's me being pretty for an hour before immediately changing into comfy clothes while Kev went out for a 'last hurrah' (one out of many) before work began the following day.

I bought a red velvet cupcake mix that had frosting in the middle, but they didn't turn out lovely. Good thing I had an extra thing of frosting and chocolates to make them 'heart-worthy'. Jake approved :-)

Drawing and Dinner

January and February sure are awful months for me. Not everyone has a winter depression, but I certainly do! I make the most of it and try to stay optimistic but the eternal gray days are simply disparaging. I was eager to get back into the swing of things when school started up again, even if it was just a few hours left to my leisure. So to cure my boredom and Jakes tumbling, climbing the walls days, we headed to the indoor gym to exert some energy.  We've been there so many time he has grown a bit bored after an hour so the next time we go, we will attempt to swim.

Anyway, Jake is all things transformers at the moment, and in my attempt to write more, we decided to draw ALL the characters and label them. Yeah, that took three hours! That's fine, he enjoyed it, and he was focused :-) 

After our long drawing session and tumbling, it was time to rustle up some grub. I felt like steak so we headed to Longhorn, just the two of u and had a fantastic meal, service, and no dishes!

Jake with finger puppets from kid menu

Tortellini creamy tomato sausage and spinach soup

Before

After

Yeah, so I don't remember the name of this soup but seriously I loooove this soup. I had 4 bowls the first day and tried to make it last and last.... This has sauteed onion, breakfast sausage roll, then add 4 cups chicken broth, Italian diced tomatoes, fresh spinach, frozen tortellini, and an 8 oz softened block of cream cheese, kind of cut up.  Let everything cook together and melt! You can add other seasonings like Italian seasoning and s+p and garlic. Like I said its delicious! 

Imitation is the purest form of flattery