Summer of George

You may have heard that it is the Summer of George. This means that George is off from work during the summer while I still toil away at my job. This is a good thing for our family - it is great that George is home with the boys and that they can really enjoy the summer, the pool and the time off from work and school.

On Thursday George took the boys up to Storyland to meet up with his old roommate from college. I opted not to go as work is very busy now and I wanted to save my vacation time. Of course the weather on Thursday was picture perfect. During the day I called George to see how everyone was doing. That's when he told me that he and Benny went on the Swan boats and that Jacob and Benny were enjoying all of the rides. I then regretted my decision and wished that I was up there with George and the boys.

Later I heard that Ben and Jacob went on the Tilt-a-Whirl. George opted not to accompany the boys and let his buddy's wife chaperone the kids on that one. I wish I had seen it! Next time I won't make this mistake and won't miss out on the fun again!

Battle of the Desserts

I made two very different desserts this weekend to have for our family get-togethers. The first was an Apple Tart from Cooking Light. The second was a Candy Bar Pie from this month's issue of Southern Living. These two magazines are as different as night and day and I enjoy them both.

Cooking Light is all about healthy eating, low-fat cooking and their recipes often call for eclectic ingredients that I can't find at our local Market Basket. Southern Living is Cooking Light's evil but fun loving twin - it is about comfort food, butter, bacon, frying and makes no apologies for fat grams.

Here are the two desserts (the pictures are from the magazines):


The Apple Tart - recipe here.


The Candy Bar pie - recipe here.

I love rich desserts with chocolate and peanut butter so the Candy Bar pie was right up my alley. I have to say though that it was super rich and you could only have a very small slice without feeling sick to your stomach. Everyone else who tried the pie agreed. (I did have a small slice this evening and it was yummo - so serving size is important!)

On the other hand, the tart received good reviews right from the get-go. Folks thought it was light and just right. It is also super simple to make - give it a shot - you'll be amazed at how easy it is and how nice the tart looks.

So tart wins out over pie. Until the next battle....

See Ya' Later Alligator!

We enjoyed a quiet day at home out by the pool. Jacob dug out some pool floats that we had forgotten about and so started the fun of conquering the alligator and crocodile. The kids had no trouble sitting, balancing and jumping on these floats and neither did George. It was a different story when I tried and we don't have any photos of that ordeal (not pretty).

In a while Crocodile.....

Oh Say Can You See...

We headed back into Portsmouth tonight to see the city's fireworks display. We met up with our friends the LeClerc's and watched the fireworks from Mike's office. The kids enjoyed some ice cream, popsicles and sparklers before the big event. Ben did not like the sparklers but the rest of the kids had fun playing with the sparks and shooting embers!
Here are a couple of pictures of the kids.

Ben and Jacob with the required 4th of July items - glow sticks and bracelet, popsicles and American flag.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Or I should really call this post the Five Degrees of Blogging and how I found the world's best potato recipe!

It all started with my friend and neighbor Mary of The Shaughnessy Tribe who lead me to her sister Katie of the The Betts-Levine Family who then found a great blog called The Pioneer Woman who then posted the best ever potato recipe - Crash Hot Potatoes and then it leads back to me.

I made these potatoes last night and it was the best potato dish I ever tasted. They almost taste like potato skins but these aren't fried and the recipe is very easy. The recipe just calls for potatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper. (I did add some shredded cheese and fresh basil for fun.)

Here is the picture of the finished product from the Pioneer Woman's site:


And here is my version - after George and I had hefty portions with our dinner.


Oh, and what is the green thing in the photo? That is our butter boy - a little contraption that the kids like to use to butter their corn. I thought he'd add some interest to the photo! Every house needs a butter boy.

My Graduate

 

Ben graduated from daycare/pre-school today.  Here is a picture of him in his cap and gown. Ben and his classmates entertained the parents by singing some songs before they received their diplomas!  Check out his big boy sandals!

Where is Steve?

We have not seen Steve, our pool visiting frog, in a couple of weeks now. This makes me nervous because we have seen this cat hanging around our yard. One time the cat was chasing Steve and I had to holler to scare the cat away. I sure hope Steve can fend for himself but sadly I don't think Steve would fare well in a cat vs. frog match up. Hopefully, with all of the rainy weather, Steve has been enjoying a more natural habitat and has not felt the need to visit our pool.