Whats Cooking Good Looking!

So for the last four days I have been CRAVING nachos and not the kind from some to go place with the nasty fake cheese (don't get me wrong I do enjoy the fake cheese, but only on occasion). So I finally decided to get my butt in gear and make nachos for dinner tonight. I went to the store for the ingredients I didn't have on hand, mainly the ground beef and chips and started to the prep for dinner.

Since nachos have been running through my mind every 5 minutes for the last four days I thought I would do a post about my be loved NACHOS! :)

I started with the prep for the pico de gallo. Diced the tomatoes.

Then placed the diced tomatoes in a bowl with kosher salt and into the fridge to macerate .

 Cut Jalapenos in half and scooped out the membrane and seeds. My husband and I love spicy food. Boog enjoys it too, but Littles can't handle it at all. She can't even handle something super mild like linguica . One bite and she starts to cry and spits it out.

Lay the Jalapenos on a sheet pan and roast them under the broiler.

While the jalapenos are roasting, cut up 1/2 a red onion and one clove of garlic

Check the oven because the peppers are ready! Yummy roasted jalapenos. I like how they add a smokey flavor. After pulling them from the oven I dice them up and set aside.

Now chop up cilantro, my husband love it so I use a lot.

After rising and draining the salt and juices of the tomatoes off, I mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with fresh squeezed lime.

Now for the meat. I like to add green chilies and kidney beans to it for Nachos. It is filling and stretches the meat. More bang for your buck :)

Season the ground beef with garlic, paprika, onion powder, chili powder, salt and pepper. Then brown it.

Once the beef is browned I add the kidney beans and green chilies

After it is cooked and combined I drain the fat off by putting the mixture in a strainer over a bowl

Now comes the assembly of the Nachos. First a layer of chips then cheese.

Then the meat, bean, chili mixture

And repeat!

Into the 350 degree oven it goes

While the cheese is melting and getting nice and gooey I chop up my avocados

Aww, perfect! Yummy cheesy goodness!

Top the Nachos off with the Pico de gallo, avocados and sour cream, delish! The whole family loved it and my craving was satisfied! A successful dinner if I do say so myself.

What did you do for dinner tonight?

And Summer Classes begin

Today was Boog's first day ever of Little Gym. It was a blast, we both really enjoyed ourselves. He enjoyed running around and I enjoyed watching him.

He was so excited about class that I had to snap a before getting in the car picture. Over the top, maybe but I really enjoy having a record of their lives and I just love pictures in general.

 So here he is at one of the stations. The photos didn't turn out very well, I was watching through a window in the seating area and my camera sucks! I curse at it every time I use it. My dream/goal is to get a really nice one in the next year or so and go to the local JC and take some classes in photography. Fingers crossed!

I love that he is always so full of energy, here he can get it all out and I get a break from chasing him around ;)

Maybe he should take ballet too, this pose screams dancer to me! I really love to dance and my husband Mr. R isn't really a fan of it. So I am hoping that I can get my kids into it. We do dance party for half an hour everyday. Boog usually joins in for a bit and then sit while Littles and I rock out.

After class we went and got frozen yogurt with strawberries and little bits of mochi in it as a treat. He gobbled it down and then passed out on the car ride home. I guess class really tucker him out.

Next week they both start music class too and I know they are going to love the theme, Creatures of the Ocean. Can't wait!!!!!

Summer Break Begins

This week was Boog's last day of Preschool until the fall. It was a fun last day filled with goodies, outside play, they made t-shirts and got a certificate of completion. Boog was so proud, I mean just check out the big smile while looking at his name on the certificate!

Summer is going to be busy, filled with Kindermusik classes, Little Gym gymnastic, play dates and lots of playing at the park.I hope to take the kids to the beach and zoo a couple of times too.  I can't wait for the fun to begin!

What are your favorite summer vacation activities?

Wordless Wednesday

Littles Vs. the Cupcake!

And so it begin.....who will win, Littles or the cupcake!

Making sure she gets as much in as possible without dropping even a crumb

Part of the cupcake tried to escape so I picked it up and nearly loss a hand

Stuck the rest of the cupcake in all at once....

Sugar overload...the cupcake lost the fight but is getting its revenge........ sugar coma!

Pulling herself back together and chewing the last bit of the cupcake

And the winner....Littles. The cupcake never had a chance :)

Memorial Monday

We spent Memorial Day at the Airshow. My Dad is a huge Aviation buff and has passed on the love of airplanes to Boog. When we got in the car I asked Boog if he new where we were going, his response was "Nana home". So I asked what else, "Papa". Then I told him we were going to see airplanes! Boog got super excited and began to chant " Nana, Papa, Airplane, yeah (propeller noise)" over and over again.

Here are some of the pictures of us all at the Airshow.

Hope you all had a fabulous three day weekend. What did you on Memorial day?

Lunch Date

A dear friend of mine came over to give Boog his handmade belated birthday present and for a lunch play date with her son EJ.

Boog with his new Dino (that was made with love from my friend)

Littles eating lunch with EJ

The Kiddos

I have always felt socialization for young children is incredibly important. That being said I will admit that when Boog was a lot younger I didn't know many people with children his age, so most of his socialization was with adults instead of peers. I feel this was some what of a mistake on my part and here is why. Boog has always been super social, but he tends to gravitate towards adults and older children (around 8 or 9 years old).

When we are at the playground he ignores other children his age and tries to play with the big kids, the problem is most of the big kids want nothing to do with him because he is so much younger.

Even in preschool (I found out at the meeting) he will play side by side with kids his age (totally normal, that doesn't really change until 4 years old) and will constantly try and engage the teachers in play instead.

So with Littles I have changed my approach. I now have several friends with children right around Littles age so I do as many play dates a possible. It give both Boog and Littles more peer interaction. I have also been taking Littles to music class and this summer I also signed Boog up along with Tumbling class. We are going to have a busy summer filled with plenty of peer playtime :)

What do you do to insure your children have enough peer socialization?

End of Year Meeting

Yesterday morning I had my first preschool review meeting. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a wonderful experience! The meeting was set up, because when Boog started the special education preschool, I had been pushing for the 5 day a week program. The teachers at that time felt it was a better fit for him to start in the 2 day a week program and do a reevaluation at the end of the school year. I agreed since the school year only had 3 months left and the reevaluation would be here in a blink of an eye. Sure enough the 3 months have come and gone and next week is the end of the school year.

I new Boog was doing well in class because of the short conversations with the teacher when I came to pick him up. This was a 45 minute meeting were I got to sit down and have all my questions answered and be told his progress in a more detailed manner.

Once in the meeting I was surrounded by four wonderful women (Boog's current teacher, his speech therapist, the school's child psychologist, and his new teacher for next year) who dedicate their live to improving those of young children.

The speech therapist was the one who began. She started off by telling me how he was in March (when he first started preschool). He was not willing to leave the classroom for speech and would have a meltdown. I had already know this so it wasn't a big surprise, but what she went on to tell me was.

Then in April he would just say "no, no" and wave his hands and wasn't very compliant during speech. But in May he was her "Super Star"!

Que the tears, yes hearing that he was her super star made me begin to cry. I consider myself a fairly even tempered person, at least in public. Generally I don't show too many displays of extreme emotion to people other than family and very close friends, crying being one of them. But when it comes to Boog and his improvement with his speech delay and the people who help him, I become overwhelmed with so much joy and happiness I can't seem to contain the tears.

The speech therapist continued on to tell me that he now comes to speech prepared to learn and when the others kids don't cooperate he sits and waits. "He almost seems annoyed that the other kids won't sit down and pay attention" she said and then told me that he walks over to the cabinet where she keeps her flash cards, pull them out, bring them to the table and start doing them. (At this point they needed to bring me a box of Kleenex).

The meeting continues on and I find out that he is doing great and passed all his objectives in his IEP (individual education plan), but two (there were 12). They want to have him start the 5 day a week program in the Fall, to create a more consistent routine. The theory is that since he has improve greatly in three short months with only two days a week, 5 days will really help (hopefully) him blossom.

I say hooray to this!! The more school and speech service the better, anything to get him a head start to a bright future. What a great meeting!!!