Summer is in the air

Today I was in the mood to cook. This is probably because I feel like summer vacation is HERE! It is so close I can taste it. All summer long I cook and experiment, and with my mom leaving today and the last long stretch of school in front of me I felt the need to get in touch with my "summer self".

I made this all up and threw in what I had on hand so I can't give you a recipe : (

1. Ground Turkey "PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps" - I made this with ground turkey, green onion, red pepper, water chestnuts, jalapeno, soy sauce, lots of garlic, hoisin sauce. Plan to have this for dinner tomorrow night in lettuce wraps!

2. Tex-Mex Chile - I made this with ground turkey, onions, green pepper, garlic, kidney beans, white beans, jalapeno, green onion, crushed tomato, chicken broth, and chopped cilantro

3. Lemon Potatoes on the Grill - just lemon, herbs, and Mrs. Dash.

My mom was here for 10 days and it was absolutely wonderful. The weather was warm and so was the water. The kids have been running around non stop since they arrived. The week has consisted of swimming, Easter eggs, shopping, baseball , dance lessons, and Abel being out of town for a week. Both Saturday's consisted of loading up the car at 8am and not returning until 8pm. Off to Gianni's baseball game, taking Carmen to dance class, then up to Nonna's and Papa's house for lunch, swimming, and then appetizers, a meal, and games outside. Throw Easter in and has been a whirlwind 10 days with the grandparents. Lots of fun!

No picture of Carmen swimming because we are in the water with her. On Saturday, April 23rd...the fishy came off and she is officially swimming. Now...I say swimming...because she is swimming on her own and not just sinking but she is not great about coming up for air. She doesn't want the fishy anymore so it takes two of us to monitor her. I AM SO PROUD OF HER! She has no fear. I knew she would swim earlier than Gianni. My guess is by the end of summer she will be swimming around just as well as Gianni.

Tonight was just the 4 of us and the wind was perfect to TRY and fly a kite. We did our best but it might have been too windy. Weeks like this with Nonna and Papa make me feel like I am on vacation....which is probably what brought the cooking on today. I know it isn't just me though. Tonight as I was tucking Gianni into bed he said to me, "mommy...I wish it was summer vacation already. Is it getting close?" He feels it too. It is in the air. 5 more weeks of school!

Sunday Morning Run!

This morning Gianni and I ran at Westgate. Gianni and his friend Caleb ran the one mile fun run together and did great! They finished in about 10 minutes. Look at my little champion go! Mommy finished 3.11 miles (5K) in about 31 minutes and 26 seconds. Not bad considering that my music player died half way through. I didn't walk and that was all that mattered.

Last night we partied at Papa's house for his 63rd Birthday! We had steak, baked mac and cheese, and salad. It was a wonderful celebration except the Nonna was missing. We can't wait for her to arrive on Friday!

Earlier in the week miss Carmen had her first official swimming class. She is the only girl and did a great job. She is fearless! I'm so proud of her!

Baseball Days Are Back!

Go Eagles! Gianni (#25) is back in action again! Gianni played his first game of the season today. Although he didn't get much action in the outfield he hit the ball very well. I am proud of his progress and we love to see him play. Carmen did not have dance class today but the next few weeks will be a challenge because Carmen has dance at 9am and Gianni's games are at 9am. Abel is assistant coaching and is pitching to the kids so I will probably be the one to take Carmen to dance class. I was so happy to see him play today.

Gianni and daddy went out the night before to see a basketball game. I am surprised Gianni had any energy to even play baseball today because he was up so late. They watched the Suns win and had ice cream.

And what is miss Carmen up to you might ask. Well, Gianni has been invited to a birthday party every weekend for the past three weeks (everyone in his class is turning 6) so Carmen got a chance to catch up with the Roseland kids one afternoon. She loves the water!

And mommy and daddy have had some fun too! Last weekend was our Spring Supper Club. The menu consisted of two cocktails: Mojitos and a Pomegranate Sangria, two appetizers: Mushroom-Apple Pierogies and Spring Pizzas, salad: Mixed Fruit and Spring Green Salad with White Chocolate Orange Vinagrette, main course: Mini Lamb Burgers with Feta Sauce and Spinach, and a Minted-Squash Orzo Salad, dessert: Apple Bread Pudding Cake and Homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream. I managed to get a few pictures but I am way to tired to edit each one so here is a collage of them. Mom, check out Jenni's blog (I hope you know how to do that from my blog) to see pictures of us and a close up of each dish. It turned out great and Holly and Adam did a great job.