Stickers

This afternoon at In-N-Out:

Mama: Who wants stickers?

Sarah: Me!

Stephen (smiling, pointing to self)

Chili

Papa made a big batch of chili the other day. Not sure which ingredient it was but it made us all ill (or so we believe). It did tast pretty good, though. Last night Mama and Papa worked together to make a new batch.

However, nothing compared to Mama's own apple cake recipe she prepared for us last week. Mostly apples with a little bit of breading. Yum!

House Church

Still recovering after some traumatizing church experiences in the recent past, this weekend we went to a "house church" with friends. What that is is basically a couple of families getting together at someone's house for church. It was fun and we got to meet some incredibly well-mannered home-schooled kids.

Another especially memorable moment was that the hosts had an orange tree with some perfectly ripe naval oranges that they shared with us - very juicy and delicious!

Phoenix Zoo

We went to the zoo today. The kids loved seeing all of the traditional animals, like monkeys, a baby elephant, a tiger,  lions, zebras, giraffes, big hairy orangutans, and even a real Big Bad Wolf. They also got to ride a carousel (although neither kid liked that) and play in some great caves and another play area with a bit of water Stephen found to splash in.

Sarah made a friend in the last hour we were there, another 3-year-old girl, and the two were holding hands and running around everywhere together, which was a nice added touch.

And on the way out, we noticed some things that we didn't manage to see, which means we'll have something to look forward to for next time.

Then back at home... Mama had some delicious beef and veggies in the crock pot, which we tore into like ravenous wild beasts. Yum!

Oatmeal

This morning Sarah helped Papa make oatmeal for breakfast. She of course wanted to do each step "for myself," and Papa tried to let her help in as many ways as possible. We added chopped-up apples, cinnamon, and raisins. Sarah also demanded to add huge chunks of banana to her portion.

However, when it was done, she absolutely refused to touch the stuff. Even her bananas.

Stocking Up

The family took a trip to local restaurant surplus store American Discount Foods this morning after hitting the Y. The store was having a big 1/2 price sale so we took advantage to buy a whole bunch of junk food for our upcoming cross-country trek to visit Grandma & Grandpa's house. Anything to not spend too much on food on the way, I guess.

Stephen is at that age where he does not like to sit in the cart but rather likes to wriggle out of the straps, stand up and almost fall out until Mama or Papa grabs him and carries him. Or maybe it's because he's a boy.

Chipotle

Mama made delicious Chipotle for us today. This is a holdover from years ago when she used to work at the restaurant making burritos. Chipotle for us is a big plate of Chipotle-style burrito material - beans, rice, meat, shredded cheese, guacamole, cream cheese, corn, and salsas. "Either we were really hungry or it was really delicious!"

Leftover "Chipotle" From Later In The Evening... Mmmm!

Repainting Chairs

Mama has started a project that seems like something Grandma used to do: finishing furniture. She has wanted to paint our green dining room set black for some time. Now she is getting the chance.

Bagel Pizzas

So the tortilla pizzas experiment inspired us to try bagel pizzas, which Grandma used to make sometimes when Papa was little. Except these were technically English muffin pizzas. They were pretty good.

Then Mama made some pizza dough with a tortilla dough recipe and made another big pizza. It was good except the dough was too thick so even though we left it in the oven for almost an hour, the crust was pretty raw. So we had to peel off the toppings and cheese and re-toast the crust until it became crusty. It was still delicious but next time we will make it much thinner and probably pre-bake it, too.

Tortilla Pizzas

So Papa got the idea to make pizzas on a couple of tortillas we had lying around. We'd use the mini toaster oven. Too bad Mama threw away our cookie sheets because they would have really helped. Papa thought it would be a fun activity to start teaching Sarah how to cook.

After The Spaghetti Sauce, The Chopped Green Pepper
(Thanks Mama!)

After The Onions & Pineapple, Some Chopped Mozzarella Cheese
From A Big 10-lb Bag We Got At American Discount Foods
(Mama Loves Cheese So Much The Bag Has Almost
Disappeared In Just A Few Days)

Waiting For The Cheese To Be Golden Toasty

We Were So Hungry We Tore Into The
First Pizza Before Pausing For A Picture
(Sarah Only Wanted To Eat The "Peepee-ronis")

At Our Second Breather For Photos

Verdict: Tortilla Pizza sounded like a good idea, and was quite delicious, but the tortilla is flimsy and floppy and harder to eat than regular pizza dough. Also, it cools off faster than you might expect. The house still smelled delicious in the morning!

Fruit Plate From Mama

From Mama to Papa

It's Kinda Cold in Arizona

Snuggling in Bed

Delicious Apple Cake

Mama made some delicious apple cake the other day, which we enjoyed very much. It's mostly apples with some breading that comes from a recipe of Grandma's I think. She used some huge sweet/tart green apples we got from Food City.