Let's talk about some delicious food, shall we?

As I may have mentioned before, I like Pinterest.  Like, a lot.

You may call it a love affair.

With all of the ideas for parties, decorating, crafts, quotes, gift ideas... and all of them readily available with a click of the mouse.  Could a girl ask for more?  Well, maybe someone who comes to your house and creates everything you pin on there, but that would just be weird (or would it be awesome?).

I have also been using Pinterest when I plan our family meals.  And it is the bestest thing to break up the monotony of the same old, same old recipes we usually eat.  I have found some real gems; the kind that you wonder how did I ever live my life before having this recipe.  I've also found some real stinkers.  Stay away from the cowboy quesidillas, people.

I thought that I'd share a few of our favorites, you know, just in case all that legal stuff with Pinterest goes sour and I loose my collection :)

Let's start with breakfast.  Oh, and you can just click on the picture and it'll take you to the recipe.

8 Minute Mini-Cinnamon Rolls

These babies are made from crescents.  I personally like to roll 'em, cover 'em, and stick 'em in the fridge until morning so all I have to do is pop 'em in the oven in the morning.  Actually, we just ate these this morning.

French Toast Bake

Another recipe I can make the night before and keep in the fridge till morning.  Seeing a pattern here?  Really, really good.  These take a little bit more effort, but they are delicious.

Sticky Buns Breakfast Ring

Ok, so I like sweet things for breakfast.  So sue me.  We actually do eat a lot of eggs and fruit for breakfast, but I don't exactly need recipes to show me how to prepare those.

Moving on to Dinner.  THE Meal.  The one that I have to start thinking about right after breakfast so I know that I have everything I need and whether or not I need to put everything in the crockpot right then

Skinny Texas Cheese Fries

Yes, this is as good as it looks.  I left off the green stuff because I didn't have any of it, also because I'm sure the kiddos wouldn't have even tried any if it was on there.  Trust me, make this.


Ultimate Chicken Fingers

I know what you're thinking:  a Bisquick recipe, really?  I know because that it what I first thought when my sis-in-law linked this to me.  They are amazing.  And they're baked, not fried.  Although, when I made them, I just used whole chicken tenderloins instead of cutting up breasts. 

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Yes, yes, yes!  These are so yummy and so simple that it makes you feel like you're cheating when you call it a homemade meal.  I like to pair these with these baked taco bowls.

Baked Chicken Fajitas

I usually make two casserole dishes of these: one chicken, one steak.   I also make some pinto beans to serve with 'em. 

Fettuccine Alfredo

As with everything Pioneer Woman, this is good.  Seriously good.  It is rich though, so I only make it about once every six months. 

Potato Skins

Another Pioneer Woman recipe and Piper's most favorite in the whole world.


And now, for the desserts.

Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars

Please tell me that someone else remembers these babies from elementary school lunches!  I loved them and now my kiddos to do. 

Sugar Cookie Bars

These babies are exactly what they're called: sugar cookie bars.  So darn good.  Just be aware: this recipe is  cookie sheet size.  I made the mistake of making it in a casserole dish instead and it was nasty and doughy.  I usually just half it and make it in the casserole dish.

Cake Cookies

These babies are the easiest thing to make.  I have taken up the habit of keeping white cake mix on hand so that I can make these if I need cookies in a pinch (which, surprisingly enough, happens quite often).


There ya go.  Some of our favorite recipes from Pinterest.  I still have an entire board full of recipes that I have yet to try.  Hopefully I'll get to 'em soon.

Let's go swimming on the last day of school. Oh, and you can bring a friend.

That's how it starts, isn't it?  You can bring a friend.  Meaning one.

But then, if you bring just one, someone else ends up with hurt feelings.  And we just can't have that.

So I ended up with a car like this, driving to the pool on the last day of school:

Wyatt stayed home with Dad since he's still on medicine.

And we had a couple more girls meet us there.  Once again:  I am so very happy that my parent's moved into a neighborhood with a pool.

Luckily, another Mama was crazy kind enough to join us there (with a few more kiddos in tow), so we had ourselves a real end-of-the-year swim party.

Adi and her friends (missing one lil' girl- she came a bit later).

Pipe's and her gal pals:

And poor lil' Porter, swimming solo in the kiddie area.

There were a few teenage girlies there to help herd the younger kiddos in the water (thank goodness for older siblings).  Oh, and there were also a couple of teenage boys who were even more difficult than Wyatt to get a picture of, so you won't be seeing them on here.

You may find this difficult to believe (seeing as how it is almost June in the Arizona Desert), but the pool was cold.  Somehow this pool is able to keep the water near-freezing level all summer long.  Maybe they have ice pumped in there?  Well, Thursday almost happened to be only 95 degrees, so we had a lot of kiddos taking a break from the water and warming up in the sun.

Porter finally found some friends from his church class to hang with.

Before we started swimming, I warned all of the girlies that they couldn't go past the 4'5 swimming area, since the deeper end is hidden behind some tall landscaping and I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them and Porter at the same time.

They were all good with that for about ten minutes, and then the begging to go into the deep end started.  And it was lead by my eldest (and it included a lot of tears and stomping away in anger).

Once porter was chilling with his homies,

I finally relented and walked the ladies over to the deep end.  Where they did this:

Seriously?

So, being the fantastical mother that I am, I pushed Adi into the water.  Take that for all of your whining!

Then the girls all jumped in and started swimming after that.

My girls, never satisfied with merely swimming, tried to kill themselves repeatedly and called it "doing a flip into the water".

Yay for summer!

Yay for finally getting my kiddos all to myself and not having to share them with dumb teachers!

Have I mentioned how much I love summer?

Schools out forever... well, more like 2 1/2 months.

Let's all take a moment to let out a huge sigh of relief.

*Sigh*

There.  I feel better.  I would like you to know that I, Courtney Merrill, survived another school year.  Why am I complaining?  Because I make everything about myself, silly.

Yes, yes, the girls may have been the ones going to school for seven hours a day, but I was the one helping them through an hour of homework after school everyday (and that didn't include the 20 minutes of reading every night).  I had to calm Adi down when she received a most dreaded "C" in math on her report card (no worries- she pulled it up to a "B" by the next semester and has now been solidly standing on an "A" for the last two semesters).  I had to practice multiplication facts with Pipes until I passed out- ok, ok.  I kinda had to relearn my multiplication facts.  I co-authored a total of 12 book reports this past school year (maybe it was only 8- but I'm going for the dramatic so I'll stick with 12), and once again learned how to write a cursive Q.  I had to dry Adi's tears when Piper won Principal Pride and she didn't , and then dried Piper's tears when Adi chose her friends over Pipes.

Together we've read fairy books, vampire books, Harriet the Spy, Pippi Longstocking, three of the Harry Potter books, Cam Jensen, a Taylor Swift biography, Franny K. Stein adventures, all about Ramona, traveled in the Magic Tree House, Joody Moody, and last, but never least, the colorful princess books.  Yeah- I totally took advantage of my Prime Membership on Amazon.  Bet they regret giving me free two-day shipping!

There were, however, some things that they had to do on their own.  Adi had to learn how to give up some control with her friends and let them choose what they play (yes, she is so my daughter).  Piper stepped up and played peacemaker with her little group of friends... a roll which I see her at home stepping into more and more these days.

Look how they've grown!

From this:

To this:

And from this:

To this:

You can also tell a few other things from these before and after pics.  First off, their uniforms are worn.  They are ready to be retired permanently.  Mostly because I didn't buy them any more of them all year long.  Good job Old Navy uniforms!  You have served us well.

Another thing:  I have stopped ironing their clothes.  Pure laziness.  That's the only excuse that I have.

In August, Adi will be moving up to fourth grade, Piper to third, and Porter *gulp* to Kindergarten (so very thankful that it is only half-day out here).

That's right, lil' buddy.  You have graduated from Mom-Preschool (first day pic right there, baby) and will be movin' on up!  You know your letters and all of their sounds (and have even started sounding out basic words), can count to 20, know numbers 1-10 by sight, can name all of the basic shapes and colors, almost know Mom's phone number, can say the Pledge of Allegiance, know the days of the week and the months of the year (as long as we're singing them), memorized 10 nursery rhymes, and can whoop Mom's butt at Go Fish.  Thank goodness for the internet.  

Lil' Wyatt has probably grown the most over the past nine months.

Yikes!  He's a monster now!  He runs, not walks, everywhere he goes.  He climbs everything- you will most often find him sitting in the middle of the kitchen table just smiling.  He waves good-bye, "arfs" like a dog, blows kisses, throws massive head-slamming tantrums, now drinks from a sippy cup instead of his bottle, gave-up on pacifiers (he has been sucking on one again, though, since he's been sick), watches 5 whole minutes of Caillou or Sesame Street if Mom turns it on, and likes to be read a book and sang to before bed time. 

Yeah, Wyatt's been a little sick so he wasn't too fond of having his picture taken this morning.

This past school year was full of such fun, learning, and growth, but I am so looking forward to lazy days of just doing nothing.  Well, I still have to cook, clean, wash clothes, fold clothes, break-up fights, yada yada yada...  But I won't be getting up at 5:30 to make breakfast.

SCORE!

To eat an ice cream cone

Poor lil' Wyatt. 

Can you believe that he has never had a McDonald's ice cream cone?

For shame!

I finally decided that this was the day to just forget about the massive mess that will follow, and just let the poor kid enjoy one of the finer things in life.

Here is step-by-step instructions on how to eat some soft-serve goodness.

Because you obviously don't know how.

For the first taste, you do not lick.  Never.  You use your hand to scoop some of the creamy goodness into your mouth.

Once you have decided that the ice cream is to your liking, take a tentative bite.

Consider the vanilla flavoring and the coolness as it gently melts in your mouth.

At this time, please feel free to dig into the cone with very little regard for your shirt or face.

Perhaps you would like to set your cone down and give yourself a rest from the heavy lifting.

Oh, no!  Cone down!  Cone down!

PANIC!!

Phew.  Mommy saved the day and even licked the nasty table germs off the ice cream so you can continue enjoying your treat.

Now, take time to stare off and consider life while you let the sugar course through your body.

Also, the chicks really dig this pose.


And that is the correct way to enjoy a McDonald's ice cream cone.