Another Nest, New Recipe & Concert

I think the Daddy Phoebe built his own nest to relax in. I just noticed it today.

The baby Phoebes are now out and about. I took a picture of them a few weeks ago.

 I didn't have my camera with me when I went to check on the nest or I would have captured them all sticking their heads out with their beaks wide open.

Noah had fun jumping from the house.  It's not a high jump.

Kate enjoyed looking out the window.

I made a new delicious chicken recipe for dinner. It's called Easy BBQ Bake. Anything with easy in the title gets my attention! Kate & Zach loved it!

Ingredients

3/4 cup barbecue sauce 3/4 cup honey 1/2 cup ketchup 1 onion, chopped 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used 8 thighs and should have cooked more!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine the barbecue sauce, honey, ketchup and onion and mix well. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour sauce over the chicken and cover dish with foil. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until chicken juices run clear.

Super easy and yummy! I love allrecipes.com!

Zoe & Emily weren't around for dinner because they were with Caitlin & Cassidy getting ready for their Spring Band/Chorus Concert. This was my 6th time listening to the middle school students perform and tonight was my favorite performance! The kids sounded good and the music selection was awesome! Eye of the Tiger, Wipeout, Pink Panther (which the younger kids recognized), The National Anthem & Take Me Out to the Ballgame to name a few. We enjoyed listening to you play Emily & Zoe!

Yukonless

I dropped my Yukon off at Dave's Auto this morning to get an estimate for inspection. Dave called this evening and it is going to be one expensive inspection. The good news is that we sold our rowing machine today. Yay! Coincidence? I think not!

Zach went to the High School today with his classmates to see some cool science tricks. He came home with fun silly putty! It was funny to hear his older sisters reminisce about their silly putty from 1st grade. There were comments about it getting thrown away and blankets being thrown away after the putty got on them. Zach got concerned about his silly putty being thrown away and I did break it to him that it would eventually get thrown away. BUT, he could probably keep it longer than his sisters if he keeps the putty in the kitchen and stores it in the bag.

Thanks to Matt & my Mom, everyone was able to get where they needed to be this evening. Matt dropped Emily & Eleanor off at the field for their game. Then he came back home to get Zoe, Zach & Noah to bring Zoe to young women's. My Mom picked me & Kate up to go to the game.

Eleanor walked and she was cracking me up when she got on 3rd base. She was dancing while she waited for the next batter.

Eleanor took her lead

and then headed back to the base after every pitch.

My Mom treated the kids to McDonald's after the game and Matt brought the boys to McDonald's during Zoe's activity. Zoe was not impressed that everyone went to McDonald's except her!

Unofficial Family Home Evening

We have had a fun, relaxing evening together as a family. :-)

We have been waiting weeks and weeks for a new Pretty Darn Funny episode to air. We saw the first 2 episodes and then the show went on Spring Break...and then stayed on Spring Break! They made it up to us by posting the remaining 4 episodes of the season this evening, plus a bonus clip called The Hungry Games. Now, we will be waiting again for the next season of episodes! I hope the episodes are longer next season. We watched the last of the episodes during a thunder/lightning storm. It was fun until the episodes ended and Kate & Noah were too scared to go to bed. I need to go convince Noah that it is okay to go to bed now.

Memorial Day Parades

We had a fun day together as a family remembering those who have died serving our country.

My Mom & Emily brought Zoe over to Prospect at 11:30am to line up for the parade. The rest of our family meant to get there in time to see Zoe march by, but we arrived late and we missed her!   We did get to see her perform in the ceremony.

The kids were super excited to see our friend, Emily!

We went over to my parents' house for yummy hamburgers and hot dogs. My grandmother was there, too.  My Mom bought my Dad a new grill, but it didn't arrive until after we ate. :-( He still had his old grill to cook on, though. 

I loved the flag hanging over the street in Bucksport for our parade.

The High School Band

We attended the brief ceremony in Bucksport

and then we got ice cream with Patriotic sprinkles!

We came home to have Family Home Evening.  The ice cream was our treat, so we talked about doing the rest of FHE in a backward order, but we ended up doing it our usual way.  Instead of a treat, the kids ate a late dinner since they have growing bodies that need to be nourished constantly!

Hired

Sharing Time went pretty well for me today.  Brother Millis (a counselor in the Branch Presidency) came in toward the end of Primary.  I had him conduct music while I plunked on the piano.  He was super fun and the kids LOVED him!  What are the chances that we could get him released from his current calling and call him to be our chorister...SLIM!  Oh well.  It was fun while it lasted.

We had a family dinner after church (yummy terriyaki chicken) and then we had Family Council.  Then I brought Zoe & Emily over to my parents' house to spend the night.  It always amazes me how the dynamic of the family changes when 1 or more of the children are gone.  

Our Garden

We planted our garden today. :-) We hope to have corn...

and carrots...

and green beans...

and butternut squash...

 Kate had a rough day.  I think camping wore her out!

and pumpkins...

 and zucchini...

and tomatoes and lettuce.

I planted Eleanor's tree that she brought home from school...

I also planted flower seeds around the edge of the garden.  This is what our garden looks like.

 The weeds around the garden drive me nuts, but I'm hoping that the weeds will fill the deer up and the deer will leave our plants alone!

I love watching for the seedlings to poke through the dirt!  We buy tomato seedlings, but the rest are seeds.

Matt & I took a much needed break this afternoon and we went to Pizzeria Uno for lunch.  I enjoyed their landscaping creativity. :-)

Camp Bravo

Zach stayed home from school today with an earache, which means he missed his field trip to see "Charlotte's Web" at the Alamo and he is missing the family camp out at camp Bravo. :-( His ear hurt this morning, but it has felt fine the rest of the day. He knew he was going to miss out on these fun activities, but he still chose to stay home. I did take him down to Camp Bravo to eat dinner and dessert. This is how the kids looked before dinner.

Food makes for a happier people!

Dessert makes us even happier!

Everyone came in to the house after we ate to get ready for bed. Zoe was appalled by this! Camping means wearing your clothes to bed, going to the bathroom in the woods & not having to brush your teeth! Not at camp Bravo.

Zach is in the living room, laying in his sleeping bag and playing on my Xoom. His camp is inside for the rest of the night.

We love brownies!

Zoe is done track. They had a pizza party after school today and they received their awards. Zoe received a certificate, several ribbons for placing in the meets & a track pin. :-)

I went for a beautiful, peaceful walk this evening while Emily & Eleanor had their softball practice. Zoe did some cleaning with my Mom & then they ate dinner at the Harbor View Grille. Zoe is liking this cleaning arrangement. :-)

Zach likes the fact that I have been making homemade treats this week instead of buying Little Debbie snacks. Adding frosting to the baked goods is a must! It has been fun baking with Kate & Noah and the treats are delicious!

Feeling like a tourist

I went into the new house today to check out the nest. I haven't been in there since I discovered the nest. We have hungry baby phoebes in there. They were so cute poking their heads out, waiting for food. Zoe didn't have young women's this evening because Patti had her district school board budget meeting to attend. My Mom & I went to our school board budget meeting. I'm still reading through the numbers to see if I approve of the increase of my taxes for the school budget. At the meeting I voted no, but I will take a closer look at the numbers and make my final decision before voting in June. My Mom & I ate at the Harbor View Grille before the meeting. Matt & I didn't have a great experience when we went there, but I was willing to give it a second try. I'm glad I did. We sat outside, which was quiet, peaceful & beautiful! The birds serenaded us. :-) There are too many tvs on inside to have a peaceful meal. My food was better this time, too. This may be my Summer restaurant. It was fun to pretend that I was a tourist on vacation while I ate. :-) Matt took Emily & Eleanor to Activity Days this evening. I think they painted pictures of flowers and fish.

Shrimp and Broccoli Packet

Ingredients
2 sheets (12x18-inches each) Reynolds Wrap® Non-Stick Foil (or more for more servings) 1/2 pound medium raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined 1 cup instant rice 2 teaspoons seafood seasoning 2 cloves garlic, minced, divided 2 cups broccoli florets 2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces 8 ice cubes 1/2 cup water

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F or grill to medium-high. Center one-half of shrimp on each sheet of Reynolds Wrap Non-Stick Foil with non-stick (dull) side toward food. Arrange rice around shrimp; sprinkle shrimp and rice with seafood seasoning and half of garlic. Place broccoli over shrimp; sprinkle with remaining garlic and top with butter. Place ice cubes on top. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and one end. Through open end, pour in water. Double fold remaining end to seal packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Repeat to make two packets. Bake 15 to 18 minutes on a cookie sheet in oven OR GRILL 9 to 13minutes in covered grill. Stir rice before serving.

Footnotes
SERVING SUGGESTION: Squeeze fresh lemon juice over shrimp before serving. THE REYNOLDS KITCHENS TIP: To pour liquids into packets, hold packets at a slight angle. After folding ends to seal, turn folded ends up to prevent leaking.

I made this for the first time today. I messed up and didn't buy instant rice, so I cooked the rice in the rice cooker. This is a very yummy meal! It smelled so much like The Olive Garden! I think I might try adding pasta to it instead of the rice sometime. I got the recipe at allrecipes.com.

Zach was sweet this evening when we sat down to eat together as a family. He told me how much he loves our family dinner time and he was very sincere and excited! He loves how we are together and we talk and tell stories. He never mentioned anything about the food. I guess being made to eat broccoli isn't a highlight. :-)

We made confetti sugar cookies after school and topped them with frosting. Yum! It was a baking kind of afternoon.

I took Kate & Noah to the Maine Jump this morning. As I watched them play, a wave of sadness washed over me as I thought about Noah losing his playmate next year. Kate & Noah get along really well. They have their squabbles, but it is nothing compared to a few of their older siblings at that age. It will be interesting to see how Noah does by himself. I think we are going to have a blast, but it will be different.

I had no intention of going to the High School Spring Concert this evening, but Zoe talked me into it. It was a girls' night out with me, Zoe, Emily, Eleanor, Kate & my grandmother. It was good, but long. Almost 2 hours long. Kate fell asleep in my lap. Zoe was beaming as we left. She really enjoyed it. She said, "See! Wasn't it worth it?!" I think she was mostly just happy that we were out of the house. We had a fun ride home in the dark as we cranked up the Rio soundtrack in the car. That was my favorite part of the evening.

Kindergarten Screening & Track Meet

Kate went to her 1st Kindergarten screening today

and I went to my 5th. Kate had no problem going off to do her part while I did mine. It's funny to hear the staff at the school say that I could run the screening myself. I met with Mrs. Peters and when she was talking about calling in for absences, I added that a written note is needed now, too. She had forgotten that and she added it to her notes. Too funny! Eleanor, who stayed home from school today with a headache and Noah ate snacks and played while Kate & I were busy. The screening was near Zach's classroom, so we stopped to see him on our way out. I love getting big hugs at school from a 1st grader!

Zoe was invited to participate in the final track meet of the season today at the University of Maine. She ran the 100M, 200M and the relay. She wasn't happy that her 100M time was slower today than at her last meet. She placed 2nd in her heat during the 200M, so she was pleased about that.

Having her compete at the beginning, middle & end of the meet makes for a long meet! Fortunately, my Mom offered to watch the kids for me while I went to the meet by myself. Sweet! She even brought the kids over to the field to watch Emily play her softball game. I sat by Belle, whose Mom was at the same game with Belle's daughter. Helpful Moms who live close by are WONDERFUL!

Zoe was pretty serious throughout the meet, but I did catch her smiling and laughing as she waited for the relay.

You did great today Zoe! You should be proud of your accomplishments!