Eric's birthday

I could wait for Eric to post about his birthday, but it might be awhile.

On Saturday night we went out with his best friends, Vlad and Larry, and Vlad's girlfriend Brittney. They went out to dinner while I babysat, and then I met them at 5th Avenue in Novi. I was the driver so I didn't drink, except for one shot called a Jolly Rancher that was really good! I don't know what was in it but when Larry ordered it he asked for the girliest shot they had. It tasted like the strawberry jolly ranchers!

I don't even know what all of the drinks Eric had were, but the first picture below is of the guys doing a Jagerbomb, which he said he really liked.

Happy 6th Birthday Anya!

Veggies!

My seeds are sprouting! I have 3 burgundy bean sprouts...all growing at different speeds for some reason...one is really tall, I'm very proud of it. All of my brussels sprouts sprouted, a bunch of little beet plants, 2 yellow summer squash, 2 zucchini, just 1 spinach for some reason, and 2 of my 12 sugar snap peas are just now starting to sprout...I don't know what is taking them so long.  And no peppers yet. :( but all the other things are doing really well!  Oh and the salad mix became a victim to the cats, who decided to learn how to get on top of the fridge right after I planted. 

Ok, the top right are my burgundy beans, the egg carton below it are brussels sprouts, top next to that is yellow summer squash, below that is zucchini, top next to that is beets, below that is spinach, the egg carton on the bottom is the sugar snap peas. 

How cute are they! I can't wait until they grow veggies!

Zoo pictures

Leah sent me the pictures from the zoo and they came out really cute! From left to right Kaylee, Thomas, David, and Ella.

Watching the deer

The deer are back! They were running around in back this evening (one of the top reasons we bought this house!) and the first ones to notice were...the cats. They always come out as the sun goes down so its hard to get a picture of the deer, but we got a cute picture of the cats!

From left to right Kya, Zoe, Kiara, Ian, and Max

Best job ever!

I seriously have the best job ever. I'm so glad I found this family. David and Kaylee are getting so big, they'll be 5 and 3 next month. Its a little sad, because when I started, David had just turned 2 and Kaylee was just a teeny baby, but its also really cool because they can do so much now.  David is in school 3 days a week so Kaylee and I get a lot of one on one time. She's such a girl, she loves to go to the mall and go out for coffee (she gets chocolate milk). And she loves to dress herself in the morning, and has come up with some very creative outfits! David is getting so smart, he's really interested in math lately, and we spend a lot of time trying to figure out things like 12 + 7 and what comes after 129. Its so cool to see him thinking so hard and then be all excited when he comes up with the right answer.

A couple of weeks ago we had a pajama party, and invited their cousin Thomas, who lives across the street, and his nanny Leah. Leah and I get along really well so its fun to get the kids together and then we can hang out and talk too. We were sitting on the floor playing Uno in our pajamas and slippers when we realized that we probably have the best job in the world.

Today we went to the zoo with Leah, Thomas, and another little girl that Leah nannies for, Ella. With the new car we could all go together, which the kids loved. It was a great day to go to the zoo! It got a little warm as we got into the peak of the afternoon but overall it was a good day. I didn't take my camera but Leah took a couple of pictures that I'll post when I get them.

So, yeah, pretty much loving life right now. I always feel much happier when it starts warming up outside. We got a bunch of vegetable seeds to plant in my mom's garden so we can have vegetables this summer. I planted some of them inside yesterday, I figure the sooner they sprout, the sooner I'll have veggies and with Michigan weather I don't want to plant outside now and have a blizzard next week. We got sugar snap peas, burgundy beans, beets, brussels sprouts, bell peppers, spinach, a salad green mix, zucchini, and yellow summer squash. My mom always buys tomato plants and Eric wants to try potatoes too but we'll see about that. Luckily my parents have a huge yard! 

Farewell Barney

Barney the truck has been good to us, but our lifestyle has outgrown him, and we decided it was time for us all to move on. He will be dearly missed. A lot of us have a lot of memories in that little purple truck.

Today we bought a 2008 Honda Pilot! I don't know all the car words, but it seats 8 and has a 6 cd changer! Its raining so I took a picture of it from the window for now. The color is called Nimbus Grey.

Even though I started out driving a minivan, its going to take some getting used to after driving a tiny car for 4 years, but we're both really excited about it!

Hillers

As many of you know I love shopping at our local Hiller's, they have the best selection of produce anywhere, and a lot of other things you can't find anywhere else. I was SO excited that we bought a house so close to Hiller's!

When I was there yesterday picking up some things for dinner, I had a question at the u-scan about the kind of potatoes I was buying. The cashier seemed kind of rude, but I brushed it of as maybe just being her tone of voice. Then, as I was checking out, there was an elderly woman who didn't speak much English who was having trouble with the machine, and the cashier got really frustrated with her and started yelling at her! I was shocked! Nobody deserves to be treated like that, especially not the elderly or language impaired. If you don't want to deal with people that don't speak English, don't get a job at Hiller's!

Anyway, I couldn't believe this lady, so I finished checking out, and went right over to customer service to let them know. They didn't have me fill anything out or anything, so to make sure something was done, I went home and went on the website. I sent out an email describing exactly what happened and how upset I was, and within a couple of hours, I got an email back from Jim Hiller himself! He apologized, and had already taken care of the situation and suspended the woman who acted so egregiously. 

I was very impressed with the swift and personal care he took, it was so different from when I complained about an employee at Target, when I got just a "thanks, we'll look into it" email the next day. These are the kinds of stores we should be supporting!

What's Cookin'?

We've been making some good stuff in the last few weeks! We've tried a few new recipes, all of which have been very good! I found a new favorite cook book at our library, called The 5:30 Challenge. The idea is that it is recipes with 5 ingredients, that takes 30 minutes. There are a lot of great recipes in the book, a few that don't sound too appealing, but a lot of  good ideas.

One dish, which I adapted a little, (Lemon Caper Chicken in my recipe blog) has become my new favorite, and we have made it twice in the last week! I'm going to have to start making bigger batches, because there are never enough leftovers. 

Today, I made egg rolls for the first time, it was so cool! It was easier and faster than I expected it to be, and they tasted sooo good! 

Check them all out here

Something new to try

If you haven't had a French Vanilla waffle, you haven't lived! They caught my eye in the store yesterday and I wanted to try it (toaster waffles are a guilty pleasure of mine) and they are soooo good! They're sweet and taste a little bit like cake, only hot and crispy. Mmm!