Weekend ....birthday and a garden invasion

We celebrated a birthday this weekend!

Here is the "birthday boy" enjoying the backyard living room with a beverage.

Notice the blanket...yes it was a little cool in San Diego this weekend especially at night.

We made homemade barbeque pizzas!

A Chocolate Cream Pie from Hans and Harry's!!
(I usually make something but my oven is broken!)

We also had a garden invasion!!

Can you see the culprit!

No it is not "E"

You can see it better here!

Tomato Worms!

Yuck!

I hand plucked over 20 of these guys!

I looked it up on the internet...

they turn into large moths the size of hummingbirds!

Gross!

So we bought some safe spray...and I will start vigilant supervision of the garden!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Photo

Last weekend we were in Del Mar

and there was a lady doing a photo session with a family.

"E" asked, "can she take my picture?"

She said yes and took this cute photo of "E".

She told me she would post in on her blog petite feet and there it was.

You can see her blog here. Maybe we need to get some professional photos done?

True Friends...

"M" has some good friends!

As you may recall she recently got her braces removed!

Monday, she received her retainers!

Tuesday at the end of lunch she realized

they were in the trash at the middle school!

Yikes!

What did her two good friends do?

You guessed it ...

They were right there with her digging through the trash!!

And they found both retainers!!

Thanks Girls!!!

Summer is Here!!

OK Summer was supposed to start in June...I know.

But, really in San Diego it just started this week!

Yeah!

So we have been enjoying the pool!

"E" is getting braver!

And, "M" got her braces off!!

Look at those pearly whites!

Have a good weekend!

First Day of School Traditions....

Do you have a first day of school tradition?

I think many people take a first day of school picture!

Our tradition is to take it in front of the door.

(This was started by my mom.)

Why you may ask? It gives a gage of how much they have grown.

We have been doing this every year.

These pictures were taken in 2004...then 5th and 2nd graders! There is always the group shot!

The individual shots!

I really like it if you can see the doorknob because that is a good marker, but sometimes I forget about this in our rush to get out the door. (Madeline really wanted a jumper for the first day of school that year...we looked high and low!...memories)

Now look what happened to them 6 years later.....

11th grade, 8th grade and preschool!!

The kids are big now!

But, they appease me!

They know the drill!

Stand in front of the door, smile and they can be on their way!

This was "E's" official first day of school!

She was eager to carry on the tradition!!

Homemade Popsicles!!!

Remember when I showed you this book?

Well I finally made my first batch of popsicles using one of their recipes.

Meyer Lemon Creme! "E" and I put them together in the morning.

And the girls enjoyed them when "big sister" came

home from school!

I finally bought these 3oz. plastic cups at Target.

80 for either $2 or $3.

The beauty is they can be washed and reused.

(I am not reusing popsicle sticks for some reason

that seems yucky!)

This recipe was super easy.....

"M" thought they tasted like a lemon cheesecake!

Lemon Myer Cream
(William Sonoma Cookbook)

1TBSP Meyer Lemon Zest
3/4 c Meyer Lemon Juice
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

Now let me stop here and say I did improvise.
I did not have Meyer Lemons!
So I cheated I used Minute Maid Lemon Juice straight from the bottle!
No Zest!
Still Delicious!

Mix above ingredients in a bowl until well blended.
Pour into ice pop molds and freeze until solid.

(Note: insert popsicle sticks about an hour in
if you are using poor man's method that way
they will stand up.)

Enjoy!