And then he turned 4

Today is our Dylan’s 4th birthday!  I’ll have a complete round up of the birthday happenings later on, but for now – I have pics from his school bday party and a sneak peek of his cakes (yes, cakes is plural.  I must be crazy to make TWO cakes). 

Dylan with his friends during circle time.  The little guy with the glasses next to him is Evan, his best buddy at school. Apparently Dylan is the class of 2025???  How did I not know this?   Here he is getting his birthday crown and fake cake.  When we were leaving school (I stayed to help out – tho, I’m not sure how much I really helped, but oh well!) he was like, “where’s my cake?”  Yeah, not a real cake D.   W

e were asked to bring a baby picture so he could show his class.  He was pretty funny showing his picture.  He went around the circle twice.  The first time, he had the picture facing down and no one could see.  So he had to go around a second time.  The second time, he went soooooooooo slooooooooow, so it was pretty funny.

Boys being boys.

His birthday tracing.

Coloring his tracing with Evan. Sponge painting with Evan (yeah, they were pretty much inseparable until at one point they had to be separated for talking too much – uh oh!  Already???).

  And here is what I did from 7am to 3pm yesterday.  Lots of colors!

The TWO cakes. And a sneak peek of the cakes.  Come back later for more pics!! 

The Pervy Santa Book

Well, this post is a day late again.  The good news is the birthday DVD is DONE.  Woohoo!  I’m still busy planning the party but at least the video is done and out of the way. 

Dinner last night was fab once again!  Grandma made Maple-Glazed Salmon and I made Tomato-Dill Couscous – both from Cooking Light (the couscous recipe was not on their website, so I have it posted below).  They were both awesome!  Dylan was eager to help. 

As was Avery.
Mmmmmm salmon. Couscous….looking good!

The finished products with crusty bread.   Here is the couscous recipe:

Tomato-Dill Couscous

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 cup + 2 tablespoons fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions:
Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan. Stir in couscous; saute 1 minute. Add chicken broth and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Stir in cherry tomatoes, red onion, and dill.

Yield: 4 servings

And finally this evening, I have a funny for you.  Eric was recently complaining about having to read a little dollar store Christmas book to Dylan.  I thought it was just because its not “in season” but he kept insisting that that wasn’t the reason he didn’t like it.  He said he didn’t like it because it appeared that Santa was robbing the cradle.  I just shook my head and dismissed the comment because sometimes Eric says weird things – who’s with me on that?!    Then, a couple days ago, Dylan asked my mom to read it to him.  She starts reading it and remarked that Eric was right and that I need to read the last page.  Here is the last page:

  Yeah.  You were right, Eric.  This Santa IS pervy! 

G’night!

Mushroom and Sausage Ragu with Polenta

  Sorry for the lack of post yesterday!  As many of you know, Mr Dylan turns FOUR on Saturday.  And many of you also know, that I somehow roped myself into making a DVD slideshow of pictures each year to play at his party.  WHY I don’t start this thing earlier, I’ll never know.  Anyway, I sorted thru thousands of photos (I’m not even kidding either, it really is a lot of pictures) to pick 400 of the greatest DD pictures from the year.  And I haven’t even gotten to the tricky part which is putting it all together with music.  Ugggg.  So anyway, my eyes felt like they were going to bug out of my head last night so there was no way I could write a blog post. 

Dinner last night was SUPERB.  Grandma Toni is here for the week while Eric is in the cities working all week.  So we are taking turns making fabulous dinners all week.  Last night was my turn and I made Mushroom and Sausage Ragu with Polenta from Cooking Light.  First, I had to have my assistant take out every pot and pan we own.  Had to make sure we had it all before we could begin, right Avery?

Had to have a beer while cooking.  This was okay.  Very light tasting.  Went well with dinner. And

here is the food!  This was seriously really, really good.  It might look strange and I know a lot of people probably aren’t familiar with polenta (I know I’m certainly not!) but it was very good!  

I seriously can’t wait for lunch time today so I can have MORE!  This recipe is definitely a keeper (already in my “favorites” binder!) and I think even my pickiest eater will eat it right up (that’s you, Eric).   Lacy thought it looked good too.  Poooooooor Lacy!

Well, my people should be getting up soon, so I gotta soak up this “mama time'” while I can!  Have a loverly day!

Cabin Cats

  We spent a good portion of the afternoon visiting with the neighbors and playing with the new baby kitty “Cabin Cats!!”  I will let the pics speak for themselves and you can squeal with delight on your own at their cuteness!

The kids obviously loved them, but what you might not have guessed is that Mr “I don’t like Cats” was hanging with the kitties the most.  He was the Cabin Cat Hog.

Avery kept squealing at them.  Give them to me!  Give them to me!

Someone must think Dylan is older than he is.  This craft case definitely overwhelmed him.

Behold – the SweeTango apple.  Oh MY these are good apples!  Its a cross between a Honeycrisp and some other apple and comes to us from the apple breeding center at the University of Minnesota.  Apparently, they are hitting stores across the US, so look for them people!  Seriously good apple.  Very, very juicy!

This cabin cat bids you farewell!