Vegetarian Tamale Pie

Our new recipe for the evening was inspired by Laura Kyle, borrowed from A Couple Cooks blog (see links on right) and I have to say I am thrilled with the outcome. A little room for improvement but it was tasty and I can now say I have cooked beans from scratch and feel liberated! :)

Check out their blog for the recipe

I substituted a can of creamed corn and put my ingredients into a big casserole dish instead of the little singles. It was a bit loose and hard to serve but the flavor was fantastic. A bit too spicy for Ellie at 2 1/2 yrs but Levi enjoyed his serving (but just one).

Hair-do

Random Ellie photo in my glasses

This evening the children were pretty quiet. As a parent you always have to assume kids are getting into trouble when you can't hear them. Well I was delighted to find them playing so happily together in the bathroom, where Levi was doing Ellie's hair. He was using water and all the barrettes he could find. "Doesn't she look beautiful mamma?" was his question as I discovered them.

"I am pretty mamma!" was Ellie's input.

Game night

This afternoon we had some more reasonable weather (for January) so the kids did some riding on their three-wheelers.

Levi thinks faster is better.

Ellie believes it is possibly too cold.

Tonight we played some games with the kids.

Levi had gotten a Monopoly for kids for Christmas, so he and Matt played that, while Ellie and I got out her gift of Humpty Dumpty. We all had fun.

Rose City Classic

The Rose City Classic was a larger show then I remembered. It was pretty nerve-wracking to be there as an exhibitor. BeBe looked ancient compared to the other dogs and many people came over to love on her because they thought she was a senior citizen. She placed 3rd two of the days so I think her show career is over.

Ellie, my budding photographer.

BeBe in the ring.

The kids seemed to have an ok time. They are probably glad that I don't drag them to shows all the time, but it was something new to see and do. Plus, they got to play with their cousin Natalie most of the weekend.

Trip to Portland

On January 16 it started snowing. We had a couple days of nasty weather. Snow, freezing rain, ice. The roads were not looking very good for our trip to Portland for the Rose City Classic dog show. I watched the highway webcams leading up to our departure and we decided to give it a shot. It was slow going and what normally would have been four hours of driving turned into seven.

Guns 'n' gifts

Today when I was home for lunch Levi brought out his little cap gun. We reloaded it and shot off some caps. The kids were both delighted and afraid at the noise. They both wanted to have a turn firing it off.

We also got some Christmas presents in the mail from Matt's auntie Julie. Check out the cute outfits.

Bennington Lake

Today I took the kids and Missy to Bennington Lake to get some exercise. It was great weather to be outside. The Lake was really dry and the kids played in the dirt where it used to be. We hiked around a bit and had a nice time.

Missy is 10 years old here.

I have also been working on a model project for my friend Lara, a portrait model of Imaginn. She is finally done.

The 'mane' event

The kids found a new use for Ellie's hair barrettes, pony tail holders and headbands. Decorate the horses!