Strawberries!

We've been doing great things for spring break (you should check out our beautiful yard!), and this morning we went to a local farmers market to pick our own strawberries.  It was such fun!  Katelyn was really more interested in eating her apple, but Mike and I got two buckets full!  We're going to make strawberry ice cream tonight! Yum!!

We love the Library

Katelyn and I have been going to the Library on Wednesday mornings for story time.  Each week is a new letter of the alphabet, and we've been having so much fun!  Sometimes after story time we have a picnic lunch, and sometimes they have special guests come to visit...like this last week.  'R' is for Reptile!

They had special visitors come to see the kids...snakes, alligators, and turtles, oh my!  Katelyn loved it!  And to make things even better, Daddy got to come with us as it was his spring break.  I forgot my camera, but thanks to Kadens' mom, we have some cute pictures!

Snakes

The turtle

Another snake--the host called this snake 'cute.'  I'm not so sure about that! 

Another snake

And a baby alligator!  

Katelyn was so brave.  I suppose she didn't have any reason to be scared, but she was holding all the little critters.  At the end they asked for parent volunteers to hold the animals and watch while the kids came around to see the animals again.  Mike got to hold the alligator! It was so neat!  We had a great time!

Loves!

Iron Chef...Venison!

It's not a Williams Family gathering with some fancy cooking...and while Mom and Dad Williams were staying with us during their spring break we did some Iron Cheffing...Venison style.  It was fabulous!

Team parents brought to the table: Venison Stew over Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Soup with Venison Meatballs.

Team Boys brought to the table: Venison Thai Lettuce Wraps and Apple Filled Venison Steaks.

Our first experience with venison was not all that favorable, but this was much better!  Yum!  Team Boys was declared the winner, but Team Parents wasn't far behind!  If you'd like a recipe, let me know!  And send me all your venison recipes--I'm optimistic that this will be yummy!

Love it!

I saw this shirt today on a little boy at the library...loved it!  I think we need one!

Add me to your bloglist...

So, until everybody adds my new Texas Letters blog to your blog list, I'm going to double post! Here are some fun new things that we've been working on...neato!

Personal Portrait Silhouettes...we can make one of these of your babies!

A fabulously neat tree...sort of country, sort of contemporary....lots of brown...very me!



Don't forget to check out the actual blog for all the great details!

http://texasvinylletters.blogspot.com/

Something that gives me much joy...

I hate little critters...bugs...crawly things.  They have their place outside, but it's war when they come in my house.  Except for ants...specifically the horrible, nasty, red fire ants of Texas.  These things are nasty...they need to die wherever they are. 

That's why these new Ortho Red Ant Commercials fill me with so much joy.  This is a product we will purchase!

http://www.stevemorris.net/voice-over-ortho.html

Thursdays Thoughts and Things...

Thursdays Thoughts and Things

**Katelyn has been a wild, wild, wild, wild woman the last few days.  She runs around the house, around the library, around the store dancing, prancing, doing somersaults, clapping, singing, twirling.  It's very cute, but very exhausting since she also chose this week to not want to take any naps...whew!

**I'm grateful this week for the fact that we are not a one car family anymore (well, we are currently, but not usually).  Our truck has been in the shop this week, and the sharing of a car is interesting.  I don't mind taking Mike to work, or picking him up...it's the remembering to shuffle the car seat (like if I'm going somewhere with a friend) that is tricky!

**I'm headed to Hobby Lobby this morning to buy some matte board to finish a vinyl lettering project.  It is going to be so awesome!  I'll post it when I'm finished.

**I'm trying to decided how to decorate my upstairs family room.  I think I'm going to write into all the decorating shows and see if someone can't give me any help...I'm stumped!

**I realized that this 2nd baby doesn't have his/her ultrasound pictures up yet.  Tsk, tsk!  Guess it's true that first babies get all the attention! :)

**We thought we lost our camera...but I found it yesterday! This is happy and sad, because we were actually really looking into buying a new, nicer one...like a Nikon.  Bummer...

It's up!

We started a blog...and it's super cute thanks to my friend Danielle Jones.  We're still waiting for some functionality, but we decided to post anyway!  Check it out and enjoy...yeah!

http://texasvinylletters.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Ky-Man!

Today is Kyron's birthday...Happy Birthday Dude! He's got the first birthday of the year (it used to be me that had the first birthday of the year...but he stole that 14 years ago!) We wished we could have been there to help celebrate today...his birthday dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, his ordination, and the opening of presents; but know that we were thinking of you, Ky-man!

I think it's time for a trip home already--would somebody plan something cool, so I have an excuse to come!? :)

Ode to Swiss Chard--

We have been growing Swiss Chard. It's beautiful growing in the bed, and in the south...it's the thing to have. If you are southern, you love the stuff. We decided to grow some in our garden, and tonight was the night to harvest and enjoy! Check it out!

Here it is growing...see, beautiful! So colorful and lush looking. And I'm throwing in some extra pictures as well...look at our beautiful garden. Yes, it's March 1st. :)


Katelyn LOVES the peas. We actually haven't ever eaten these for dinner, cuz they never make it all the way inside before they are eaten! Yum!

Brussels Sprouts...I think I'm going to like these, Mike is not as sure!
One of our beautiful garden beds! Yum!!


We found two recipes that we thought we would try. There are two basic ways to fix Swiss Chard--you can make it into something saucy (and serve with noodles, etc), or steam it down with garlic, bacon, etc. We decided to try them both.


(Wertlet with the chard...and a chocolate face!)

It was fun to cook something new...it felt very culinary school and southern.
Here's our finished product...it even looks pretty on the plate!



And the verdict is...drum roll please...

It tastes just like dirt smells...very earthly...an acquired taste (which we're not going to bother to acquire)...something we would eat if we were starving, but not really by choice...we'd rather have the space in the garden for something else, anything else!

Here is dinner...after dinner. It ended up being a cold cereal night, afterall! :)