Family Dinners

I'm a big believer in family dinners. We try to eat together every night. John (not me) usually cooks most of the meals. On the nights we're really tired, it could be just hot dogs or cereal, but we still try to eat together.

This year's New Year's resolution was to work on the kids table manners. Things such as keeping their bottoms on the seats of the chairs, asking to be excused, and taking plates to the kitchen when they're done. We've done a pretty good job of this so far, but still have a ways to go.

This week, we haven't done much in the way of dinners. We've had swim lessons until 6 every night and then still have to drive home and eat. So, Alli came out and made us dinner last night for helping her move last week. John wanted beef stroganaff. Yes, it's a really easy dinner, but I don't make it for him very often. It's just not in my que of dinners.

So, Alli came out with all the ingredients (which was nice since I haven't been grocery shopping.) Here she is getting ready to cook.


The meat ready to go.


Adding the mushrooms (yuck). I ate around them and gave all mine to Alli. (Double yuck.)


Adding some milk.


And, the finished product - beef stroganaff. With, of course, salad. Alli always brings salad whenever she comes over and makes dinner for us.


Thanks Alli. It was a great dinner.

Super Heroes to the Rescue!!

Will's really been into Justice League lately which is Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Hawk Girl. I got him a Justice League coloring book while we were at the lakehouse and he spent most of the week doing some really serious coloring. He's gotten very good.

When he was getting dressed after swimming on the Fourth, he decided to be a super hero. He put his underwear on the outside of his shorts (because that's how Superman and Batman wear it) and wanted to make a cape out of daddy's shirt. Kaity, of course, followed Will's lead. Grandma then pitched in and made them masks out of capri sun boxes and yarn. They came out pretty good.

Grandma wanted to make sure she got pictures of them being super heroes so we can use them at their weddings later in life. She took all of these pictures. If nothing else, it kept them busy for an hour or two.

Blog Changes

Well, as you can see I've got a new look for the blog, which I really like. But, I also have another cool new feature. If you look to the top right, there's now a subscribe by e-mail feature. So, every time the blog is updated, you'll get an e-mail notifying you. Pretty cool!

St. Augustine

We spent last week at the lakehouse. It was great, close, and free. On Wednesday, we took the kids over to St. Augustine to see the fort. John and I have been a number of times over the years, but I don't know if Kaity's ever been and it's been awhile since Will's gone. It was interesting to see that they've closed some of the rooms we remember and opened up new ones. They seem to have shifted their focus to more of a "life around the fort" - how soldiers lived, slept, and cooked.

Will and Kaity did a lot of posing for us. Here they are with a cannon.


This was my favorite picturesque (spelling?) photo that I took.


I told Will to stick his head in the cannon. It turned out to be a pretty funny picture.


Kaity's "pose" that she did for us all week.


And, of course, we can't go anywhere without the blankie!