Today was absolutely gorgeous! The sky was bright blue and cloudless, and the temperature was in the upper 60's. Too nice a day to stay inside.

After we finished school this morning, I decided to take the boys to a nearby park to play for a while. I asked Caleb if he wanted to walk or drive, to which he responded, "I want to walk. I need the exercise." I warned him that it would be a long walk, but he insisted that was what he wanted to do.

We set out for the park around 11:45 a.m., strolling along the curving sidewalk through the greenbelt. We stopped atop the two bridges along the way to look for fish, and we stopped along the creek bank a few times to watch the turtles sunning themselves. By the time we finally made it to the park, it was 12:15 p.m. I didn't realize it was going to take half an hour to get there! I knew the boys wouldn't play long before they started getting hungry and we'd need to head back.

They headed for the huge wooden pirate ship while I went to the swings. (I love to swing!) I wasn't there long before a bunch of kids from the church school next door came running over with their teacher to play after their lunch. I vacated the swings and helped Jacob climp up the big plastic-covered chain net on part of the ship, then I stood near one end of the monkey bars to watch the boys play.

All of a sudden a bird flew overhead and fired a missile. I wasn't able to get out of the way. Splat! Right down the front of my shirt and jeans. Jacob saw it and asked, "What was that?!" I told him, and that's all he could talk about on the 30-minute walk back home.

We didn't head back home immediately. I wanted the boys to get a good chance to play, to wear themselves out a bit. The school kids had gone back and the playground was fairly empty again, so the three of us went back to the swings for a little while. I mentioned the time to Caleb and asked him if he wanted to play a little longer or start heading back home. He decided he was ready to go since he was starting to get hungry. Thankfully - and surprisingly - I didn't have to fight to get them to leave.

On our walk back, between Jacob's questions and comments about birds and poo, Caleb kept complaining that he was tired and thirsty and hungry. Jacob and I stopped a few times to watch the turtles and ducks (9 of them!) in the creek, and we stopped on the bridges again to watch the fish - all while waiting for Caleb to catch up to us. At the last bridge, I heard a big splash, but I was too late to see what it was - most likely another big turtle that we surprised when our footsteps echoed off the wooden planks. I got tired of Caleb complaining every few minutes about how hungry or thirsty he was, so I finally stopped walking and said, "Okay, I'll wait while you get yourself something to eat and drink." He looked around with a puzzled expression and asked, "Where?" I answered, "Exactly. We're going home now and as soon as we get there, I'll fix your lunch." He didn't complain anymore after that.

For the most part, our outing was fun - except for the bird bomb. Next time we'll drive, and I may keep a spare set of clothes in the van...

Delish!

Tonight we had Jamaican grilled pork chops with pineapple chunks, sweet carrots, and green salad for supper. It was amazingly good! Billy said it's in his top 10 meals (something Caleb is always interested in sharing or knowing...). The boys loved the pineapple, but thought the pork chops were just okay.

I marinated the pork chops in Pampered Chef's new Jamaican Jerk Rub and olive oil, then grilled it in my grill pan. When the meat was fully cooked, I dumped in a can of pineapple chunks (drained) and grilled them until they were golden. Fast, easy, healthy, and delicious. What more could you ask for? It's something I'll definitely make again!

...read the directions!

I got my first "bad" grade (B) in school in the second grade when I didn't read the directions on a worksheet I completed. I cried. I thought I had learned a lesson then, but apparently not.

Last night at our monthly sales meeting, my director handed out a math "quiz", part of an object lesson in host coaching. She went into great detail explaining what it was and that we had 2 minutes to complete it. She handed them out face down, set her timer, and told us to begin. I jumped right in, answering the second-grade-level subtraction problems as quickly as I could. I even had time to go back and double-check my answers. She commented on how quickly we were working and that she must have given us too much time. After the timer beeped, she read off the first answer and asked who had gotten it correct. It wasn't the answer I had. About half the group raised their hands. She grinned and asked who had read the directions at the top of the paper. Not me. Hey, hadn't she just gone into detail explaining what to do? Not really...

Tonight I was going to cook something new for supper, a recipe for mini frittatas that I found in an old Family Fun magazine. Caleb cut up ham and mushrooms while I chopped the tomato, onion, and bell pepper. Then I made my substitute half and half, added the eggs and seasoning, and poured up the little servings in my muffin pan. We took turns dropping our add-ins into our individual cups, then topped them with cheese. We oohed and aahed over how great they looked and I put them in the oven to bake. I went back to the magazine to look over the recipe again and read how much half and half I should have put in - half as much as I actually did! Uh-oh! I didn't mention my mistake to the boys, and I hoped they would turn out halfway decent. I ended up baking them an additional 8 minutes to be sure the insides were not too runny! Caleb liked his but commented, "They're kind of juicy." Ugh! He ate all of it, though. Jacob ate about half of his. I was surprised he wanted any because he likes all his omelet ingredients separate. I ate most of mine, but I didn't like the texture very much. The flavor was good, so I'm definitely going to try them again. Next time, I'll have half and half on hand so I won't have to mix up any substitute. And I'm going to read the directions more carefully.

Caleb participated in his first spelling bee today. He did great - second place and a good attitude. There were only 4 first graders taking part, and he was the only boy. The word that got him out: "what". He spelled it "w-a-t". I realized that I had consistently overlooked that word on his list, focusing more on simple words he wasn't very familiar with (cuff, moss, suit) and words he was having trouble with (people, would, could, should).

He waffled on whether or not he wanted to participate, and I didn't work with him on his word list like I should have. I think we didn't start on it until right before Christmas, and we didn't work on it any during the Christmas break. I'm going to download the second grade list early so we can start working on them in plenty of time.

After the second graders finished with their bee, we walked around the library and looked around. We were in Rowlett, a small town north of Garland. We don't have library cards for Rowlett or Sunnyvale, but we do for nearly everywhere else around here. (We don't have Dallas because we'd have to pay for one since we don't live in the city limits, and then it's not for full library access. Isn't that dumb?!?)

Next we headed to Braum's for ice cream sundaes. Caleb is enrolled in Braum's Book Buddy reading program. After every six books he reads, he gets a coupon for a free ice cream treat, six total. The first time we went, he got a scoop of Rocky Road on a cone. This time he ordered a Rocky Road sundae with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and nuts. Jacob ordered a Cookies 'N Cream sundae with chocolate syrup and a cherry. I ordered a Peanut Butter Cup sundae with peanut butter topping, hot fudge, whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry. Mmmmmm... Was that ever good! Now, in order to keep with eating fewer calories and less fat, I think I'm going to have to eat only carrot sticks and lettuce for supper tonight. I have some tortillas, so maybe I'll have a low-fat wrap with a little meat and a lot of salad.

Tomorrow night's menu: chicken and dumplings, garlic bread, and salad. Can't wait for that!

From the files at Ten on Tuesday...

1. turkey (Dark meat, please.)
2. ham
3. dressing (Ginny's cornbread dressing seasoned with sage. Mmmmmm....)
4. sweet potato casserole (With a pecan and brown sugar topping!)
5. cranberry sauce
6. cheese straws
7. pecan pie
8. broccoli rice casserole
9. sweet potato pie with whipped topping
10. LEFTOVERS!!!!!!

I guess it's time to start exercising again.

Speaking of food, I found a recipe for an excellent - and easy - apple crisp the other day. Caleb had a math project where we taste tested red, yellow, and green apples to see which one we liked best. Caleb and I like red apples better; Jacob and Billy prefer green. (No one we've polled so far likes yellow apples.) With all the apples around, I decided it would be nice to make an apple dessert. I started to make Apple Bundles, but the recipe calls for orange juice. I wasn't sure how that would taste, and I didn't have any on hand anyway. I jumped online and searched for apple crisp on All Recipes (one of my favorite go-to places for new recipes) and found one that looked quick and delicious. I was not disappointed! Caleb loved it! Jacob wouldn't try it. (Of course Billy and I liked it.) I even had enough topping left over for a smaller one, which I think I'll make next week some time.

I made Baked Potato Soup last night and it was great! Jacob ate two servings and wanted more. He even wanted some Tony's sprinkled in his to spice it up a bit. Caleb liked his, too, but I think he preferred the Asiago Cheese Bread we picked up at Panera earlier in the day. Plus, I think he was holding out for some leftover apple crisp.

My cousin Josh and a guy he works with are coming to Dallas next week for training, and I've invited them over for dinner one night. I guess I need to talk to him soon and find out the details so we can make definite plans. I have a few ideas...