So, I channeled Sandra Lee and Rachel Ray tonight to make dinner for me and Boyd. We fried catfish last night and had one large filet left. I put it in the oven to heat up. I make what I'm calling a salsa slaw to add to it. I had some cabbage which I sliced and added a can of corn, a can of Rotel tomatoes, half of an orange bell pepper and about one tablespoon of mayo and 2 tablespoons of sour cream. Oh, and a squirt of rice vinegar.

I chopped up the catfish, put it in warm corn tortillas and topped it with my salsa slaw. Turned out really great!

So, it's 4:00 on Easter and my big kids ask to dye eggs. I don't have any official egg dye, so while I put the eggs on to boil, I scrounge the cabinets for food coloring. The lucky winners were yellow blue. Green is Dalton's favorite color, so we'll call this a win.

Taking the easy way out, I called the kids inside when they were cooled. I poured some vinegar in the water they were boiled in and then let each kid squirt in a color. I gave it a stir and let them sit. When the kids were back outside, I put a few more drops of the yellow & blue in the water and did not stir it. 

As you can see, it didn't give me world class art, but the kids were happy.

Nacho was chilling out and resting on Dalton and my shoulders. He likes to stay close to his boy.

Maggie Anne just brought me a rubber ducky and told me it was a present for me. She said I should keep it in my room, but I had to be careful because Swiper the Fox might come try to take it from me.

She told me that if Swiper comes to my room, I'm suppose to call God. In her very elaborate description, God will fly into my room and throw Swiper the Fox out of the house. God will then come back to see me and tell me to call Him again if I need him. Then he will fly away.

She started to walk away, then came back to ask me if I remembered all of her instructions because they are very important.

Like I said before . . . totally doomed!

Yes, that is my kitchen table!

Yes, I cleaned it after this.

Dalton had a fun Spring Break hanging out with Mike, Honey & Papa and his Uncle Andrew. They went exploring in the swamp and found this turtle. I'm as impressed that the turtle isn't scared as I am that Dalton isn't scared to touch it.

An announcement for the masses: The Nintendo DS will survive a dip in the bathtub! There's a spot at the corner of the screen that may not fully recover, but it does not interfere with game play. 

Poor Maggie Anne was pretty devastated when she thought that she has ruined her toy. We'll get to tell her tomorrow morning that it survived. 

On our way home tonight, a motorcycle zoomed past us. My 3-year-old daughter said, "Hey mom! That motorcycle is so cool!"

I am doomed!

This is the same young lady who simply must have an artificial tattoo somewhere on her body at all times.

Like I said . . . doomed!

plus

equals

My chance to sit outside the bathroom door and eat birthday cupcakes!

Made a yummy cole slaw recipe tonight that I got from my Food Network In the Kitchen App. I totally love this app. You can search by celebrity chef (for when I remember who I saw make it, but not exactly what it was) or by ingredient or recipe name.

Waldorf Cole Slaw

1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar substitute (I used Splenda)
1/2 cup shelled walnuts, coarsely chopped (I only had almonds and it was great!)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (I only had rice & regular, so I did one TB of each)
12 ounces white cabbage, shredded
4 ounces red cabbage, shredded (didn't have this so I used all white)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
(I added Tony's & garlic powder, as well)

This says mix everything together in a big bowl, but I mixed the dressing up separately and was able to get the lumps of sour cream out much easier. Says to chill for 2 hours, but it was yummy right when I made it.

This is going with a Boston butt roast that Boyd has had on the smoker all day long. Made some mashed potatoes too that was a recipe from Ree Drummond on that same Food Network app. I am never making mashed potatoes without cream cheese ever again!

I let Maggie Anne choose the style of noodles tonight for spaghetti. While I was waiting on the water to boil, she walked into the bedroom with the bag and noodles and with her hands on her sassy little hips asked me why I wasn't cooking her dinner. I explained that the water had to boil. Realizing that this didn't really mean anything to her, I explained that I was waiting for the water to get hot and bubbly.

She stuck those noodles out at me and sassed, "Then go put some soap in it!"

The only request that I had made for my birthday was that Maggie Anne sing me Happy Birthday this morning. When morning came, she refused because I did not have a cupcake. Evidently in preschool terms, a cupcake is required before you can have Happy Birthday sung to you.

I'll try my luck tonight!

Maggie Anne is watching Dancing with the Stars with me. She asks me what each girl's name is, but then has to say, "I'm going to call her . . . (insert Disney Princess name here)." What is cute is that the name she assigns each dancer coordinates with the color of the dress that dancer is wearing - yellow is for Belle, light blue for Cinderella, purple for Tangled (Rapunzel) and so on.

I enjoy her commentary more than that on the show.

Maggie Anne has spent a couple of hours out with her dad helping him with the grocery shopping. She asked for a snack before bed and I got creative. It's fun because she really likes the cutesy stuff. I was overly proud of my hot dog flowers. 

I caught Jessie Anne chilling in her carseat. Check out where she stuck her hands.

The zoo has a very cool new playground. The girls had a great time checking out all of the new places to play.

I took the girls to the zoo this past Saturday while Boyd took Dalton to meet up with my dad. Of course  Maggie Anne had to use the potty as soon as we got inside. She ran into a stall and almost instantly yelled her announcement that she needed to poop. I acknowledged her quickly, but she went on the give a play by play of before, during and when she was done. She mingled in between random versions of Gangnam Style.

Everyone else in the bathroom found it far more entertaining that I did.

Soooooo, this is how I found my wonderful children when I called them inside this evening. It takes a lot to completely floor me, but they succeeded tonight. 

When we finally got them inside, Dalton walked circles around the house exclaiming that it is the best day of his life.

Funny thing is that I had just finished telling Boyd that I was worried because they were being so nice to each other. Just knew there had to be trouble.

My sister Elise shared her Fried Rice recipe with me a while back. It is an awesome way to use leftover rice and also a great way to stretch any leftover meat you might have! Anyway, I never remember her exact recipe, so it has kind of developed over time with different things I have around and love adding to it.

Use either leftover cold rice or cook some new rice and let it cool completely. Tonight we were having leftover Chinese food and I needed extra rice. I made 3 cups in my rice maker (I LOVE my Black & Decker rice cooker), then I spread it out in a pan while I ran to pick up Dalton from school.

So, after your rice is cooled, heat up about a Tablespoon of veggie oil in a big non-stick skillet. I use about 1/2 Tablespoon of Sesame oil too. It is a recent discovery of mine and adds a really strong nutty flavor. When it heats up, throw in your rice.

The rest is really up to your taste preferences. Scramble an egg or two and throw in there. Toss in a handful of frozen peas and carrots. You can stop there for a side dish or you can add in a meat to make it a main dish. I think Elise's called for sautéed onions in the oil before you add the rice.

Enjoy!

Jessie Anne and I play a bathtub game where she lines up her toys on the edge and I know them off. I didn't realize until tonight that I had caused some confusion. She handed me the duck, and I asked her what the duck says. She grinned and responded, "Uh Oh!" This is what we have said every time that we knock down her toys. I quacked over and over again, but I never won her over. For now, I guess ducks say "Uh Oh!"

This weekend was our annual trek to the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds (www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com) in Murfreesboro. It's a huge field of dirt where our kids love to dig and get filthy. This was not our weekend for find a diamond, but we find had a great time anyway. Here's some of our adventure! 

Jessie Anne got into her first TP. I had just cleaned it all up when her sister gave it back to her.

Maggie Anne just came to me and rattled off the following list of instructions (including counting on each finger as she went):

1. I am going to find a pretty dress
2. You are going to put it on me
3. I am going to be beautiful
4. You are going to give me a crown

Sound enough like a princess yet?