Soccer Season Has Come and Gone

I love soccer and I'm always sad for it to end. This year was no exception. While I am sad for it to end, man, those 6:30 games were the pits! Games at 6:30 never seem to start on time or they seem to run over. We don't leave the field til 8. Home by 8:20 with kiddos going straight to the showers. That puts us having dinner at 8:45! UGH! I want to be in bed, not fixing something to eat. Plus, that late...we weren't eating our best.

The kids had a great time and they both improved by leaps and bounds. The only negative (other than the afore mentioned meal time dilemma) was the fact that a kid from his team told Colin that vampires were real. This was a couple of weeks ago and we are still dealing with occasional nightmares. He has his moments where he wavers on who is smarter: his parents or soccer kid. But, that's another post for another day..."Help! I have sensitive kids!" Just kidding...no, not really.

Anyway here are a few pics from a couple of games.

My Italian Obsession

What could it be? Shoes? Purses? Italian. It's gotta be fashion of some sort, right?

Not in this house! It's food!

At the end of August we went to Pensacola for the birth of Brandon Xavier Edmonds. We spent a couple of days as it was late on a Sunday night when he was born.


We left the hospital on Monday afternoon after visiting the new family of 3 and went to lunch at Macaroni Grill.

How divine!

The kids thought "how fancy!"

I just thought "how delicious!"

It might have started before this, I'm not sure. But I'll get on a kick for a certain food, flavor, or type of food. No matter what I'm currently obsessing over, Italian is never far from the top of the list.

Basil, oh how I love fresh basil.....basil on fresh tomatoes...basil on pasta...basil on my eggs...you get the idea.

Anyway, this sandwich recipe was not what we ate at Macaroni Grill but we've had it a couple of times in recent months and I'm always amazed at how EASY it is! I've seen it called Chicago Beef, Drip Beef Sandwiches, Italian Beef....call it whatever you like but you'll definitely call it yummy!

You only need 4 ingredients, well...maybe 6.

chuck roast
2 or so cups of beef broth
packet of dry Italian dressing mix
a handful of pepperocini peppers, the kind in the jar (I don't think I spelled that correctly but spell check could not find the correct spelling either!)

Put all of these ingredients into the crockpot. I like to cook it on low for about 8-10 hours. About an hour before I want to eat, I like the shred the beef, removing as much fat as possible. Then, continue cooking the shredded beef another hour or so. This does wonders for the flavor!

This is what it look like going into the crockpot.



Split hoagie rolls and toast the cut side under the broiler. Top with the beef and peppers. Add provolone cheese and enjoy. Be sure to use some of the broth for dipping.

The leftovers freeze well. Oh, if you refrigerate the leftovers, be sure and remove the fat from the broth after it chills. It's that solid white stuff on top. Hey, a chuck roast isn't delicious because it is lean!

And for dessert...oh, the dessert. We DID have this at Macaroni Grill. I've used a combination of recipes for this and honestly, I can't locate the one I used at this moment. But this wonderful tiramisu was heavenly.

See, I like to eat out but when you like in a small town you have to improvise. I like to take my restaurant faves and make them at home. And I thought this was a ringer for Macaroni Grill's.

It had lady fingers
heavy cream
mascarpone cheese
Kahlua
coffee
egg yolks
sugar
vanilla
cocoa

Just look at those luscious layers.....


I've made it twice since but only because our waistlines could not handle handle it if I gave into my weekly desires for this dessert. Let me now if anyone wants the actual recipe and I will post it. Don't hate me if it's all you can think about after having it once.....psst...it's even better after a day in the fridge!

Where oh where have we been?

Not blogging, that's for sure. Let's see.....we had a great, relaxing summer! We spent most of it at home, hitting the beach whenever possible. Whitney had a 3 day work week for most of the summer and it was GREAT! Plus, he's begun to feel the best he's felt since back surgery 2 years ago. So we fully enjoyed just having fun this summer.




We spent a few days in Alabama with the Spraggins family at Terrapin Creek. It was a great time. We kayaked, canoed, swam, and just had a relaxing time! The kids had a great time playing with cousins they rarely get to see.





This is Coco. She is my baby. I think she really believes I'm her Mom. I think we got her when she was just too young. She is constantly at my side or in my lap whenever allowed. She began to favor one leg and within a few days had great difficulty walking. Vet visits revealed a sort of neurological problem that we have treated as best we can. A specific problem or solution hasn't been found but she does seem better. She can no longer jump and has difficulty walking and running at times. But she doesn't hurt and she is happy. This pic was after a trip to the groomer. Isn't she cute??? ;o)




Daniel spent a good part of the summer with us. The younger kids were in HEAVEN! They love when Daniel comes! He was here for a few beach trips and the trip to Alabama. While we were at Terrapin Creek he had a blast jumping off a rope swing over the creek. I really wish I had pictures of that! He is a daredevil just like his father! This picture is of Daniel with the mohawk he talked Whitney into giving him. And, of course, Colin has begged for one since! Daniel kept it for as long as he could. A few weeks into school he was told that it was against dress code so he had to cut it. LOL!



We spent Fourth of July with friends. We swam, had a cookout, and watched fireworks. I took a few pics of Grace and Colin at home with the flag in the background.





We had our 11th Lullabies and Mudpies in Pace in August. We ran this sale for 2 weeks and we had the biggest sale ever. Here are a few pics as the presale started.




Dear friends of ours had their first baby at the end of August. It was a very intense delivery for the new mom to say the least. We drove over to Pensacola and got there a couple of hours before Brandon Xavier Edmonds made his entrance into the world. He is a cutie!! Here are a few pics of Brandon along with mom and dad, Yvette and Brian. Congrats Edmonds family!



That pretty much concludes our summer. It came to an end and Daniel had to go home much too early. We actually started school in July. Early, I know, but it allows us to have a more relaxing year. We can take breaks or finish early and we don't stress out when something comes up and throws us off schedule.

I'll update on soccer and a field trip later this week. Hope your summer was as blessed as ours!

Dance Recital

Grace had her dance recital this weekend. She did a fantastic job and I kinda think she had a great time too! I wanted to share a few pics.


This first one is of her jazz number. It was "Madagascar Moves" and she was a giraffe. It was her favorite. It was cute and looked really fun for the kids!

The next picture is from her tap dance. It was "Family Vacation" and they just wore swimsuits and coverups. It was cute too.

Her last dance was her ballet and it was by far my favorite. They all looked so pretty and graceful. It was called "Heaven is the Face of a Little Girl".

And of course, every dancer deserves a bouquet of flowers after the show!

Can you guess who in our family chose orange and white flowers? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count!

Critters

We like critters around here. We have several. Not as many as I'd like but still, quite a few. If I had my way we'd add chickens, rabbits, and maybe baby goats. Whitney doesn't share my opinion. Probably because he doesn't want to take care of any more and he assumes he'd be the one to do that. I have the best of intention and the kids and I pretty well take care of what we have but he's right. He'd probably be the one gathering eggs, feeding goats and cleaning rabbit cages. So we are happy with the critters we do have...mostly.


This is Coco. She's my baby. We got her at 6 weeks and she literally believes I'm her mommy. Whitney reminds me that my parents gave her TO THE KIDS for Christmas a couple of years ago.





We currently have eight of these adorable things running around. Two mama cats had kittens within days of each other. These kittens don't seem know which cat is their mother and the mama cats don't seem to mind. It's like a kitty commune. We love having outdoor cats for a reason. We'll get to that later.






Of course, here's Chuckie. Chuckie and Buddy are still alive and well. The kids have also added a third frog to the mix and that's Chuck. Colin is not very original with names it seems.

This is one of the butterflies we raised from caterpillars. It was so fun! I'll have a blog about that whole experience soon.

As you can see, we have cute and cuddly critters, critters that are green and slimy, and flying critters. We like them. The kids learn responsibility and it's just plain fun!

We have them for other reasons than just fun. For example, we got an outside cat shortly after moving into our house five years ago. After seeing a large snake in the driveway we decided a cat was a good idea. Of course the cats have multiplied a bit but we don't mind. We like them. And we've only seen 2 live snakes in the yard in five years. Until today. Grace almost stepped on THIS!

Seems to be about 1 foot and a half long. Whitney just about shot it's head off. Then Colin beat it with an ax handle. Seriously, he did. Whitney says is a copperhead. I sincerely hope he's wrong and that it's just a rat snake. But I'm sure he's not.

This tells us maybe the big cats don't need that second big bowl of food every evening. They need to use their God-given instincts and HUNT and KILL things like SNAKES!


Just sayin'.

Now THIS is summer vacation!

We finished school today. Yippee! Our first homeschooling year is complete and it was great though we are happy to have summer vacay! Well, complete except for grades, filing, and other record-keeping....I guess it's not summer break for me just yet!

I have a few things to blog about our school year...a field trip and the butterflies we raised but today...today was about the beginning of summer vacation in the Chastain house!

Grace had an extra dance practice tonight so that meant a late dinner. While she and her Dad were gone I made dinner and thought I'd make a special dessert to celebrate. I had been talking to Mom and she told me how great a recipe for Chocolate Cobbler had turned out. Yes, a recipe for THE Chocolate Cobbler from Cracker Barrel. I found the recipe here.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/chocolate-cobbler/

I was a bit skeptical but Mom said it was THE one. I had everything on hand and it looked easy. Plus, my kids LOVE anything chocolate so I gave it a try.

First you melt butter in a casserole dish. Butter is good, very good!

Second, you spoon your batter over the melted butter but do not stir!!!

Yes, this picture is of chocolate batter sitting in melted butter. Is anything wrong with that? I think not! Please tell me nothing is wrong with this!

Third, sprinkle sugar and cocoa over the batter/butter. I won't tell you that this step calls for a full cup of sugar and we won't mention the 3/4 cup that's already in the batter.

You're welcome.

Don't stir it!

Last, pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water over dish of butter/batter/sugar. What? Water? That just seemed odd to me. But, I followed the directions. Oh, don't stir it!

And THIS heavenly thing is what came out of the oven. Remember the water? The sugar/cocoa? Well that together makes this delicious, rich fudge sauce. Serve it with vanilla ice cream and, oh my! It was good.

But the kids, they were hesitant to try it. They weren't sure. Chocolate, fudge sauce, and ice cream?? That can't be good. They fought it. We forced them to eat it. They kicked. They screamed. They hated every bite.

(Anyone who knows my kids knows that I'm just kidding.)

As I was spooning out his dessert Colin said "Now THIS is summer vacation!" That statement and their pure joy about such a simple thing....that's a great part of being Mom!

Happy summer vacation to all of you!

Chuckie

This is Chuckie. I posted earlier about Grace and Whitney building a habitat for a tree frog. Grace named the frog Chuckie and since we took these photos, Chuckie now has a roommate named Buddy.

This is the habitat they created. Yes, it is peanut butter jars. We have them everywhere and use them for everything. Right, Mom? Anyway, after a bit of reading, we learned they like/need both water and earth. So, there is water and a sponge on one side. A tunnel connects the two sides. Dirt is on the other side. I think we need to drop some grass seed on the dirt side but we haven't yet. There are plenty of large air hole on the water side.

Grace catches moths to put in the jar to feed them.

I was pretty impressed with their habitat. It took an evening to build and a full day for the glue to dry. Gorilla Glue is an amazing thing. It expands as it dries filling the crack connecting the pipe to the jars. After it was dry it took an hour or so to scrape all the extra glue off. Now, for those of you that know Whitney, I am sure you cannot possible imagine him overdoing it by using WAY TOO MUCH glue, can you? That's what I thought. =)

Oh, and there are little "feet" made of pvc pipe so it doesn't roll around. This is Chuckie and Buddy's habitat not an amusement park ride!

This is how we catch moths. Now, I thought it might be easier to just catch them flying around the outside sights in the evening. I was sorely mistaken! This, another ingenious idea from the hubby, is Grace's moth catcher. It is a bucket with a flashlight in the bottom. And yes, that is a ziploc bag. And YES!!! The moths actually fly into the bag where they are promptly zipped up and taken to Chuckie and Buddy! How smart is that! Not on the moths part of course!

Anyway, we've had a good time with it. Grace is fervently keeping her room clean. She wants to bring Chuckie and Buddy into her room but we told her she has to keep her dresser and bookshelf cleaned off before something else comes in to sit on them. Saturday is the big day when she gets to bring them in off the porch. She's so excited!