Happy Mother's Day

The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.
~William Goldsmith Brown

I love you Mom.

I hear my Mother has chosen Italian as her choice for dinner today.
In honor of that, I say "Felice festa della mamma!"

In honor of my Irish Grandma and all of my Aunts ( her daughter's) I say "Lá na Máithre sona duit"

And for ALL of the beautiful and amazing women in my life I Love You.
Happy Mother's Day!



My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~Graycie Harmon

Word of the Week

Hopefully my schedule is back on track and I will regularly post the word of the week from now on.

Here is what I've chosen for this week.

HACKNEYED


function:
adjective

1.lacking in freshness or originality

Here is my first use for it-

My goal is to keep my blogging from getting hackneyed by finding a new word to add to my vocabulary each week.

YUM!

Trust me that you should try this recipe. I guarantee you will enjoy it and it is healthy too! It's a can't lose situation. Holly, our long time family friend passed this recipe on to me. Evidently her sister and nephew came up with this after eating something like it at a restaurant a year or so ago. I have changed it up a bit to suit us and everyone that has ever tried it, LOVE'S IT!

I call it FIESTA SALSA DIP because of the colorful look to it.
My kids are somewhat picky eaters when it comes to vegetables however they too love this dip.

Here goes:

1 green bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 onion (I use red)

1 bag of coleslaw mix with carrots

1 bunch cilantro

I lemon

sliced jalapenos in juice

olive oil

red wine vinegar

Use a food chopper or your blender to shred each bell pepper, the onion and I also run the bag of cabbage through . Some people I know leave the cabbage mix like it comes but I like the consistency smaller and more uniform.

Pull all the leaves off the cilantro stems and shred those as well. Combine all of those in a large bowl.

Cut your lemon in half, remove seeds and squeeze well over all of the vegetables.

Add approximately 3 tablespoons of Olive oil and 1 tablespoon of vinegar; mix well. This part is mostly to your own taste. I like the dip to be a wetter consistency; you may like it drier. After I add the Olive oil and vinegar I add about 2 tablespoons of chopped jalapenos and a little of the juice from the jar. Add this part slowly. If you add too much it takes away from the dip. By the same token, don't leave them out. They add something that is missed when you leave them out. All you need is a little.

Lastly I add the smallest bit of garlic salt.

Serve with dip chips.

(I had a friend take some leftovers I had and she added them to her eggs too. She said it was awesome.)

Scott's Birthday

We didn't get to do much on Scott's birthday. He and the girls went out to dinner but otherwise it was a little disappointing. :(

The highlight of the day was Cali's most special gift, which she picked out ALL BY HERSELF!

Cali is Playing Soccer- And it is a VERY Different Game

Cali started soccer this year. Since her birthday is late in the year, she started later than many of her fellow teammates. Now that I have seen her play, I realize it may have been a good thing!

Here's why,

When her practices started Scott was out of town. After her first one, I had to call him and explain that soccer for Cali was going to be a different game than it was for Cori and Cassi. She wanted to wear a dress to soccer that day. I explained that we don't wear dresses in soccer. Cali said " Well I do!" And she did. :)

One day, during a game I was watching her run down the court (indoor soccer) and all of a sudden I couldn't see her. I stood up and started looking thinking I really had to pay more attention. Asking all around me if anyone knew where Cali was, I was told she had climbed into the bleachers and off the court to chat with some friends she hadn't seen in a while.

And one day I had to miss a game. I called Scott to ask how she had done and he said she did great. She spent one quarter making pretend snow angels (while she was playing defense) with one of her best buds Cavin. I was also told the next day, by her one of her coaches, she wouldn't be playing defense with Cavin anymore!

Definitely NOT THE SAME GAME!

Living the Wild Life

Still catching up...
I took this picture March 23rd. I only mention this because I didn't want you thinking I left my St. Patrick's Day decorations up through April. Of course, they were still up on March 23rd which isn't any better but still, April? No way, not me! :)

This guy was being incredibly bothersome. He left the area outside my window and planted himself in front of my door. I finally poked my foot out the dog door to make a bit of noise only to have him nearly licking my shoe. Can you see him looking down at my foot?

Finally, he walked around to the other side of the house allowing us enough time to get out the front door and into the car, but not before I took this picture right outside the window on the side of the house.

It is most definitely a WILD LIFE!

Getting the Jump on Spring

A few weeks ago the girls were getting very antsy for Spring to arrive. On a warm day we wrapped up, threw Booger in the car and headed for the beach. I was sure there would be little snow and the beach would be a playground. Ours alone since I expected few people there.
Well, I was right that there were few people but wrong in that there was TONS of snow.
It made little difference to the girls. Instead of heading to the water's edge which was plagued with ice dams, they decided to climb the snow covered dunes. Wacky kids!

I adore this picture above. It isn't the quality of the photo (in fact it is rather out of focus) it is the mind's eye view of their future I see when I look at it. I know there will be times in their lives they will depend heavily on each other and I believe if they trust in their companionship and love for each other they will conquer every mountainous obstacle they face. It is one of the many dreams I have for them. I remind them often that no matter how frustrated or annoying they seem to each other at times, there will come a day or days when they are all each other has. I pray they recall my reminders to love and support each other when that day comes.



Cali and I stayed in the car as did Boogs (it was a bit windy) to watch their eventual triumph. It was nice to watch from afar and imagine the kind words they were sharing and the memories they were making. I also think it was a nice example for Cali to see. We talked a bit about it and giggled with them from our warm places in the car.


The girls were there just long enough to get a work out. Finally, being a bit chilled we headed home for hot chocolate.

It may not have been Spring but it was in our sights and that was good enough!