Summer Fun

Summer has finally arrived at last around here! I only say that because until this week I had been working pretty much full time except for a few days in Chicago. This past weekend we (Darrin, his mom, Lyn, and myself) embarked on the ever horrible task of having a garage sale. Ugghhh...what a yucky task, but one that must be done. For the last several months I have been trying to slowly clean out all the cabinets and closets and get stuff set aside for the big sale. We have so much stuff in this house it is almost unbelieveable that two people could possibly have so much, but we have and do. So in order to make room for a new little person, we decided to purge what we could and get ready. While all of this was going on we discovered that the downstairs AC unit had quit working. After a few phone calls it was determined that the compressor had gone out and the earliest it could be fixed was Monday. Hmmm...go figure! So we went a head with our garage sale and endured a horrible day of heat on Saturday. We didn't get rid of any of the big stuff and only made $250, so we decided to open the doors again on Sunday. According to the weatherman the temperature was supposed to be at least 10 degrees cooler and overcast. Well luck was with us and Sunday was great! All in all we made $575 and we got rid of all the BIG stuff! Thanks to Darrin's mom coming out from Chicago we successfully had another garage sale. Every time we do one we swear we won't do it again and two years later here we are! This time I'm not saying that because I know with a baby on the way we will certainly need to purge again sometime in the next couple years!

Now that I am officially on vacation for a few weeks, I figure I'd get all those things done that have been on my "TO DO" list. I have about decided that it is a good thing I work, because when I'm home all day I'm not the most productive person. Monday of this week was an absolute bust and I didn't even get out of my pj's till about 8PM that night. Tuesday we got up with a plan that included swimming, cooking dinner, being home for the AC repairman, laundry, etc. Darrin reminds me this is what summer is about-relaxing, enjoying the kids, sleeping in, staying up late, etc. Well that would all be totally acceptable EXCEPT we have a lot of things to get done in less than 3 months before the little one arrives, so all I can think of is how I'm going to get everything done. So for any of you moms that have been there, done that and have some advice-send it my way! I'm just a "nesting" pregnant lady trying to get ready! Below are some pics from this week of summer fun!

Hamburger Casserole Recipe

1.5 lbs of lean hamburger

2-3 potatoes

1 med. onion

1 can green beans or frozen corn if you prefer

1 can cream of celery soup

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

seasoning to taste

This is a super easy recipe that the kids can help prepare. First peel the potatoes and then thinly slice and layer in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. I usually sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper after I have them in the dish. Next chop your onion and brown with hamburger. I season my onion and meat with garlic powder, season salt, and pepper. Next open a can of green beans and drain the juice off into a bowl where you can mix the juice of the green beans with the can of cream of celery soup. If you use frozen corn which I have used as well, just mix water with your cream of celery soup to dilute it a little. Next layer your corn or green beans on top of your potatoes, followed by the hamburger/onion mixture. Take your cream of celery soup mixture and pour over the top of the hamburger and then put a layer of grated cheddar cheese. Once this is all layered pop in the oven for 45 min. to an hour until your cheese bubbles at 350 degrees. BAM! Dinner!

Here is Samantha layering the ingredients into the casserole dish. All of these pictures are real high quality b/c we grabbed the closest camera we had-our iphone!

Payton was helping season the hamburger. Not a very glamourous shot of the two of us in swim attire and just coming home from the pool, but we had fun making dinner!

When we came home from the pool on Tuesday, I decided I'd cook dinner. This was probably the first homecooked meal we've had in two weeks, so as soon as I started Payton came in and wanted to help. Once Samantha saw how much fun it was and how much attention Payton was getting she decided to jump in on the action. Here they are cutting up the green beans for the casserole. I didn't notice the Raid can still on the counter until this picture came out. We have had to deal with those pesky little black "sugar ants" this summer and have always had the Raid within and arm's reach-hmmm...maybe I should put it under the counter! DUH!

Samantha decided it was time for some nachos!


Here the girls are hanging out at the pool, enjoying a break from the heat!