Wild Prints

We were walking on our north road and found some barely damp mud, so we looked for animal prints and here is what we found.

Can you see the deer hoof print? Honestly, that deer must have slid clear across the road because this was the best print.

I am hoping you appreciate the closeness of this shot. I was laid out flat on the road to get this close. Good thing no one came along to see me. I wanted closer, but my camera didn't want to focus that close.

Magically when we got home, we found this on the flowers.

The little people in my family are fascinated with their shadows lately. Nothing could match our dog's shadow when we got home last night though. It was quite fun to see his tail wagging shadow!

Rainbow Cupcakes

The need was for a low sugar dessert so I used an angel food cake mix. I then stole the color ideas from http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/taste-a-rainbow-cupcakes-842128/
I used the same number of drops as they did. I also bought Cool Whip Free to put on top with strawberries, but they didn't make it into the picture. My children loved them; we'll see what hubby has to say. I am not sure why the yellow, pink, orange ones were taller since they were the third pan in the oven. I had intended to put all colors in one cupcake, but they seemed to fill up with just three colors. I did make the last one all colors and it was so pretty I decided not to waste it on pictures. I think next time I will experiment with adding some flavor. Perhaps lemon or strawberry.

On another note... potty training is hard work! It also didn't help that they got up at 5:30 am with me to get their dad out the door to work. Anybody remember those Sesame Street books? I found them on a garage sale and unfortunately we have had to read them everyday!

4th Birthday

Retired Cafe

We went to this awesome place and were seated right away. They knew we were hungry and didn't bother with taking our order. The children were entertained with whatever was new since the last time we were there. We ate roast beef (that melted in your mouth) cooked with cabbage, carrots, onions, and potatoes. This is my favorite meal to eat at this place! We also had yellow and green beans cooked with bacon, my grandma's spaghetti salad, bread and butter. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with as much chocolate syrup as you wanted. This included at least a drop of syrup on each child's finger. One of the owners then drove us around for a tour of the flood waters. Not many places you can get service like that! Have you figured it out yet? We had this wonderful lunch at my parents! Thank you mom and dad for the great food and tour.

Nelson's Landing

Hubby has been begging to go for a meal and with it being so close to Father's Day, I caved in. Again (like the other times I have been), it was expensive and not that great. Side note - our waitress was born when I was waiting tables myself, makes me feel old!

On to the review:
-First I would like to say, that if a customer walks in to your establishment with children, offer to help. They may refuse your help or they may gladly accept it. Help would include offering/getting high chairs and the removal of normal chairs to fit the high chair at the table. I will give Nelson's kuddos for the BEST child's "supply kit". It had crayons, wet nap, and a sheet to color that stuck to the table like those fancy children's placemats you can buy and never remember to bring with you. These "kits" were brought to the table quite fast, which was awesome for us.
-Hubby ordered sweet potato fries. They were badly in need of salt. That is partly our fault because hubby does not salt anything, so if it was my order, I would have added my own. I do still prefer salt added as soon as they come out of the fryer. I tried my children's fries and they also seemed to be salt free.
-Next hubby had a 1/2 order of nachos. I believe they are called loaded nachos. I loved the crunchy multi-colored chips and there were enough nachos in that 1/2 order for several people.
-I ordered the chicken quesadilla, 1/2 order. It came with refried beans (sprinkled with cheese) and a small lettuce salad covered with pico de gallo (yum). The pico was excellent. Next time I will order extra of that. The beans were quite thick so I added my sour cream and salsa to them to dip my quesadillas in. It didn't help. The quesadilla lacked taste. More or a different type of cheese, onions, or something was needed to give that chicken some flavor! I received two large pieces of quesadilla loaded with chicken and with the beans and salad there was more than enough to make me miserably full and give my husband more food in order to make him miserable!
-The children had mini corndogs and grilled cheese, both with fries. Similar to Danny's, I wish there was a choice other than fries or chips with a kid's meal. Robert is to the point he likes salad and he gobbled the little container of applesauce the other night at Whiskey Creek. Have I mentioned we eat out a lot? We don't get the chance often during the school year, so this seems to be the time to do it!
-I almost forgot the pie. Hubby was too full to eat his coconut cream, so it got boxed up and is in the fridge along with peach for Dad's help tomorrow. We had my peach pie with ice cream to share. I will say I prefer mine without spices, so unfortunately I was still tasting spice after I swallowed. I am assuming it was just cinnamon, but I very well could be wrong. I have been before!
Thank you for reading my rant and bon appetit!

Party

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Doll!