School again!

Well, summer is over and school is back and will be taking all of Dan's time for the next four months! Dan is so excited for it to start, and I think he is ready to go back to school, even though he says he'll miss Emmy and I. I know he will have such a great semester.

Emmy is growing like a weed lately, and getting so much more talkative. She sleeps in a big girl bed now, thank you Alana and Kenny for the toddler bed! She started almost a week ago, and here is the play by play:

Night 1 - would not sleep in her bed, cried until we put her in her crib.

Night 2 - Only fell out of the bed three times and cried until Mommy picked her up and tucked her back in. She was so excited to sleep in her 'big girl bed' though, and told all her family about it.

Night 3 - Fell right asleep, and at eleven, found her sleeping in the middle of the floor of her room! Put her back in bed, and checked at 3 a.m., same story, middle of the floor. She fell out at 6:30 a.m. and cried, but went back to sleep until 7:30.

Night 4 - only fell out once during the night, found her on the floor. And once in the morning which she cried about.

Night 5 - Slept great! Only fell out early in the morning and cried about it.

It has been that way since. I know toddler beds are really close to the ground, but I am ready for her to just stay in her bed! By the third night, I started looking for bed rails to add to the bed to help her not roll out. Finally found one that will work, and will go to Ikea this week to get it!

Grandma Fae and Aunt Nanny are visiting for a week! We are so excited they are here. We went to Tucson to visit Roger and Kelly, it was great to see them. The drive back took four and a half hours! There was a huge accident, in which two people died, and a semi truck burst into flames! Needless to say, Celeste and I were dying in the car with both our kids for that long! They really both did great, just a few tears toward the end of the drive as they got so tired of being in the car!

Dan's parents are coming to visit later the week, and we are so excited to see them! It has been several months since we have seen them, and we are excited to spend time with them!

Me, I'm plugging along in normal everyday life. I am working on a quilt for the MASD Fundraiser (work), which always drains me, it is a lot of work, but always fun to do as well. The summer seems to be dragging for me, and I can't wait for cooler temperatures. I start to feel cooped up and depressed as the hot summer days drag on and on and on! I'm sure most Arizonans feel the way by the end of the summer. Okay, I've talked enough :) Till next post!

Yum - Oh!

In the words of Rachael Ray, this recipe is yum-oh! Lots of friends have been asking for it, so here is the famous Cafe Rio Pork Salad recipe. . . . . . .

Café Rio Dressing
1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño (Use the seeds too if you like it spicy. You could substitute a few drops of green tobasco for the jalapeno.)Use a blender to combine all the ingredients well. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Café Rio Rice
3 c water
4 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic –minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
¾ t salt
1 T butter
½ of an onion
3 c rice
Blend cilantro, green chiles and onion together in food processor. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes.

Cafe Rio Pork
2-3 lbs of pork loin or shoulder
1 can of coca cola
1 small can of red salsa
1 cup of brown sugar
Cover pork with water and cook in pot until cooked through (about 1-2 hours).
When pork is cooked through, remove all the broth except 1 cup. Remove the pork and set aside. To the reserved broth, salsa, brown sugar, and coke (regular old coca cola) to the broth. Cut the pork into six to seven large chunks, fairly even, and place back into pot with the broth mixture. Cover and cook for another hour or two (the longer you cook it, the better the meat will be). Cook until the dark brown color of the broth mixture has colored most of the meat dark. Then shred the pork in the pot, and continue to simmer with the lid off. Let the sauce reduce until it is more thick and coats the pork completely, and its ready! The more you let the sauce thicken, the more sweet and tasty the pork is!

Assemble the salads like so:
Tortilla (home cooked are better than pre-cooked. you can buy them uncooked anywhere and just cook them at home, i promise it makes a difference )
Café rio rice
Black beans
Meat
Romaine lettuce
Pico de gallo (fresh made salsa with diced tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and fresh lime juice on it)
Tortilla strips (can buy the my nana’s brand in the frys on recker and mckellips)
Cotija cheese (can buy at the walmart on mckellips and Greenfield, or fresh and easy)
Dressing
Squeeze lime wedge on top

Enjoy! This is a family favorite. I know the pork isn't the most healthy thing I've ever made, and the recipe was made up by yours truly :) similar but drastically modified from other ones I have read. Feel free to adjust how you wish!

Cabin Fever

Living here in Arizona has its challenges - namely June July & August! These months are killer, and we all suffer from a little cabin fever.



Here are a few inside moments from the last few weeks.

We were re-arranging Emmy's bedroom due to a rain leak from the huge monsoon storm. We pulled out the bassinet, and she decided it made a great bed. She has also been climbing in and out of cardboard boxes with her blankets and toys. She thinks its a great hiding spot.

Emmy loves to read. I recently bought a basket of book fair books at a charity silent auction. She has read just about all of them, and just loves all the new books. She pulled out this book last week, and began to dance around the house with it call it the 'LIN book' (Layn book).

At first I thought she was trying to say alien, so I asked her. She gave me a blank stare when I asked, I didn't think she knew what an alien was. Then I asked her who she thought this was again. She replied 'lin' (Layn), and i repeated, Uncle Layn? 'Yeah!' she replied.

She is silly, I don't see any resemblance between Layn and this alien, do you?

Dan and I still don't see the resemblance, we love you Layn!