april happenings

After I get caught up with the next bunch of posts, I'll try to stay more "on top of things" so I don't have ALL recipes for a while, then ALL pictures.  Here's hoping.

These are a few funny scenes we found at our house WAY back in April.

Jackson- he thought he was pretty funny walking around with his head in his shirt like this. Honestly, he was busting up and thinking he was pretty clever. Silly guy.

We came into the kitchen one night after putting the kids to bed to find this hunk of cheese out. Looks like a little mouse was in it! Sure enough, it was our JACKSON mouse! This boy LOVES his cheese! He'd eat it all day if we'd let him, but we've learned the sad lesson of letting him have too much cheese (leads to trouble in the lavatory). So, we've scaled him back to 1 or 2 slices (or chunks) per day.

On this particular day, he'd already had his quota of cheese. BUT, that wasn't enough so he helped himself. HAHAHA When we asked him about it later he said, "Yeah. Me just wanted some cheese." Of course he did!

About a week before Easter, Alivia's preschool class had an Easter egg hunt. Each child brought in 6 eggs filled with candy for the hunt, then they each were allowed to find 6, then be done.

 Below are some of the shots I captured. She had a fun and Jackson and I enjoyed watching her. Nice sunny day.

These kids in line have all found their 6 and are cheering on the rest as they point them to more eggs.

I think I said it before, I just can't get enough pictures of Levi sleeping. It's so sweet and I could just hold him all night, but I don't because I'm TRYING NOT to spoil him too much... :/

her favorite things

I asked Alivia to get out her favorite toys so I could take a picture. I want to remember what Alivia's favorite things are for her right now.

Here's what she laid out for me.
-Eunice, her Unicorn pillow pet (named her herself), Snow White, and Ellie

-a little unicorn tablet from the treasure box from preschool, her Dora hat, Snow White talking mirror, and pink purse.

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-Also her microphone, Snow White again, hula lei, and Snow White book.

I guess this could be her time capsule or something. I'm sure her items will be different when I ask her again in a year or so. Let's wait and see! :)

memorial day fun

Our Memorial Day festivities included a family get-together, complete with yummy food and swimming.

The girls finished off the day with a ride on Pap's tractor.

Levi lounged in his car seat while we splashed around the pool, as usual. *Note: He's wearing his cute blue striped outfit that I LOVE! It has a little monogram or plaque or something on it (under his chubby left arm) that reads "Captain Adorable". I LOVE IT! So true!

The boys swam for a while, but are always done well ahead of the girls. Here they are all changed and having a snack, poolside.

 Alivia LOVES her swimsuit. It's a tankini 2 piece and she says "it's just like Mommy's" (in that mine too is a tankini). I remember wearing 1 piece suits and find them SUCH A PAIN when you have to go to the bathroom. I hate having to take it all off to go, then put it all back on all cold and wet. The tankini is a BRILLIANT, WAY OVERDUE invention. Thank you fashion world!

The girls pause for a snapshot.

Looks like it's the boys' turn for a tractor ride. So pretty as the sun was going down...

 I caught this cute shot of Grandma Nana and Levi laughing. I love it!

mr. jax

So I'm finding I started to post some entries from May or June but they were never published, for some reason. So, we're playing catch-up.

A couple funny things about Mr Jax that I wan to remember:

1. I think he has a thing with feet.  He always wants to be sitting on the floor near my feet, have his feet on me or near me, or (as pictured below) physically sitting on my feet. What? I don't know either...

2. He loves Spider-Man, not that this is a NEWSFLASH to anyone who really knows him, but I had to capture a candid moment of him captivated by Spider-Man on TV whilst in his Spider-Man socks. He thinks they're pretty stinkin' cool.

3. This kid is 100% boy! He's always bumping her or there and getting a bruise or scraped up. The incident below was the result of him climbing up, slipping and coming down on the dresser (or something...). YIKES! That's a doozy! And just about the time it got healed up about 10 days later, he fell again and got another bit bruise above and around his LEFT eyebrow.

As you can see, he was hardly phased by the incident. He still happy and smiley. :)

skillet mac & cheese

I'm in heaven!  I finally found a homemade mac and cheese recipe that is JUST like the one my mom and sister used to make at home! It's so creamy and cheesy and just the way I like it. I found it at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Skillet Macaroni and Cheese


3 1/2 cups water, plus extra if needed
1 (14-ounce) can evaporated milk, divided
12 ounces (about 3 cups) elbow macaroni
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (1 1/2 cups)
6 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (1 1/2 cups) I didn't have any Monterey Jack so I used about 3 slices of American, and shredded swiss to make up 1 1/2 c. I'm sure whatever combination you have in your fridge would be tasty too!
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small chunks oops, forgot this part, but it didn't need it! It was great!
Ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Bring 3 1/2 cups water, 1 cup of the evaporated milk, the macaroni, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a simmer in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat. Cook at a vigorous simmer, stirring often, until the macaroni is tender and the liquid has thickened, 9 to 12 minutes.

Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk, the cornstarch, mustard and hot sauce together in a small bowl, then stir into the skillet. Continue to simmer slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Off the heat, stir in the cheddar and Monterey Jack, one handful at a time, adding water as needed to adjust the consistency of the sauce (I didn’t need any additional water when I made it). Stir in the butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Ham and Pea Variation
Follow the recipe, adding 4 ounces deli-style baked ham, diced medium, and 1/2 cup frozen peas to the skillet with the cornstarch mixture in step 2.

Because we have a picky toddler, I chose NOT to add in the ham and peas (although I think I'd really like it) so I'd have better chances of him eating this. Which he did! Woowhoo!

mango chicken

I bought some Mango Salsa at the store, unsure as to what I would do with it but it sounded fun and different and I'd seen it in other recipes. Then I found this recipe, and it's a keeper. It's similar to this Cafe Rio Pork recipe, but with chicken, and possibly lighter flavors with the mango salsa.  It was SO easy AND so yummy! Next time I might try mango (peach) chicken over coconut rice.

2 lbs. chicken breast, sliced or 15-20 frozen chicken tenders {in bag from costco they are quite small.}

2 cups mango salsa {costco kind with peach is the best.}  No costco around here so I used regular mango salsa.
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 TBSP salt

Directions
Put salsa, brown sugar & salt in a mixing bowl, and mix. then add frozen chicken tenders. leave 8-10 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high. shred chicken.