Random Ramblings

Two weeks ago Luke got super duper sick with strep.  I mean the boys was sick.  One day I went to Kroger to get him some movies to watch while he was laying on the couch and two of them I had seen before.  The other, I had not.  Well, five minutes into the PG movie that I had never seen, but read the summary of and had determined that it would be okay, they were showing a girl being pulled out of a body bag in the morgue for her dad to ID her.  I jumped of the couch in record breaking time to get that movie out of the blue ray player and told Luke he would need to choose another movie.

MUCH to my delight, the boy asked if he could watch Labyrinth.  And because I will NEVER say no to watching that movie, we watched it.  That is one of my all time favorite movies from my childhood.  I know David Bowie is slightly creepy in that movie, but it is just part of the charm.  Josh got home from work and Luke told him about watching Labyrinth and Josh looked at me and rolled his eyes.  Yep, I rock as a Mother.  I know, no need to say it.  Josh hates that movie and there is just no reason why.

You remind me of the babe. 

What babe? 

The babe with the power.  

What power? 

Power of voodoo 

Who do? 

You do Do what? 

 Remind me of the baby

Yes, Luke is learning the lyrics and yes, he will randomly say, "You remind me of the babe."  And he FULLY expects for me to ask, "what babe?"  I do not disappoint.

When Josh signed Luke up to play baseball this season he was told they did not need any more coaches.  Josh was a little disappointed.  Because of Josh's love for baseball and his desire for kids to know and understand how to play, he would help them out and give pointers from the sidelines.  After two games, many of the parents of other players went up to the coaches and told them Josh needed to be a coach.  Coach Josh is now on the roaster.  And Coach Josh is helping those boys get better.  I love watching him.

 

And speaking of baseball.  These two baseball crazy guys went in together and bought season tickets to the Ranger games.  Here they are in their seats. 

Luke made me cupcakes the other day.  They were delish.  (gotta love a boy with an imagination!)

The Sister and I went out walking this past Saturday morning.  I absolutely loved having two hours to ourselves.  It was much needed.  I love spending time with our families, but the girl time is fun too and it has been hard to work it in here lately.  We passed a wheat field on our walk and I just had to stop and take a picture of it.  Beautiful!

Yes, my Easter candy.  Please tell me that you understand that the Reese's Egg tastes different, and even BETTER than a regular Reese's cup. 

I have become fully obsessed lately with making tostadas.  I've been baking corn tortillas in the oven until they are nice and crispy.  These contained grilled chicken, corn, black beans, avocado, cilantro, tomatoes, cheese, and maybe something else, I do not recall.  Oh, and some lime juice.  LOVE them!!

The other day Luke was all mad at Hank and yelling at him for getting his cars.  I went over to get onto Hank and noticed that the dog did not have a car in his mouth at all.  So I told Luke Hank was not bothering his cars.  "Yes he IS!!"  Luke said.  "He walked by and MOVED one!"  Um, this boy is a little particular about his cars when there is a Grand Prix race going on!  

And speaking of Hank....well, let us just say he will be a little less of a manly dog after today.  

Poor Hank.

Happy Friday y'all and have a great weekend!!

 

Mexican Chicken Stuffed Bell Peppers

All you working Moms out there this is for you! Really, the stay at home Moms can make it too.

Super easy, super good!!

recipe here:  http://www.lifeasaplate.com/2011/03/06/mexican-pulled-chicken-stuffed-peppers/

The only thing I changed from the recipe was I used an entire can of the diced tomatoes and I realized I did not have jalapenos at home, so I used a can of chopped chilies-- pretty much the same thing to me.

You will toss all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook all day.  Then shred the chicken and stuff into the peppers.

I baked mine at 450 for about 20 minutes.  Then put the cheese on top and baked for another 5 minutes or so.

They turned out great!  The leftovers also warmed up great in the microwave.  

Happy Wednesday to you!

Flying for Fun

What do your kids do for fun?

Not to brag, but my boy flies. 

See.  I'm not kidding.

Obviously, the cape helps him in this great feat.

He had been doing this a while before he got the brilliant idea for me to take a picture of him.  The picture above was taken on our first attempt.  Even though the focus is not great, it is my favorite.  That boy got air.

He of course wanted more than one picture, so we took many.  I like this one too.

 

I like the shadow of his foot on the ground.  

Boys are fun.

Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake

Posting an Easter cake on, or before, Easter would have been the thing to do.  Obviously I failed. 

However, this cake is so easy to make and is so good, that one should not wait until next Easter to make it.  Make an April 12th Strawberry cake.  Or, if someone you know if having a birthday soon, such as my brother, make this for their birthday cake.  But, only if they like strawberry cake.  I guess if you are a chocolate freak such as my son, this cake might be a little bit disappointing on your birthday.

You can grab the recipe here.

To make this SUPER easy cake, you toss all the ingredients in a mixer.  

Mix it up.  

And divide into three pans.

The recipe calls for 9 inch pans.  I used 8 inch and all still seemed right in the world.  

(Clearly you and your son will lick the bowl clean because it is right thing to do.) 

I let mine cool on the table a while and then put them in the refrigerator over night.

The following day I made the icing (no pictures, I forgot!), which is also super easy.  Again, toss all the ingredients into the mixer.  Then just layer your cake.

Super Duper Easy!

My Dad said the cake was not good at all....and went back for seconds. 

I totally forgot to take a picture of the cake before taking it over to my Dad's house, so a picture from my phone is all I have of the completed cake!  You get the point....strawberry galore and yummm!

Texas Rangers Weekend Fun!!

Joshua and his best friend went in together and bought season tickets for the Ranger's baseball season this year.  We did not realize that Luke was out of school last Friday, otherwise they would have bought two extra tickets for Luke and I to attend opening day with them.  Luke was a little disappointed that he was not able to go to the opening game, but Josh had bought extra tickets for us to go for the rest of the weekend games!

On Saturday we were there early so we could watch batting practice.  

Within five minutes of getting there, one of the bullpen pitchers, Alexi Ogando, spotted Luke and tossed up a ball for him.  Thank you to Josh's friend for catching the ball for Luke...who had left his glove at home!  

Luke was so excited to have his batting practice ball!

Once the Rangers were done with their batting practice Luke came over to sit with me and watch.  As we were sitting there Luke noticed this group of about six girls who looked to be just a little bit older than him.  They would start screaming and yelling for the balls that were hit out to us and Luke would roll his eyes.  He was so annoyed by the girly yelling AND the fact that they wanted a baseball hit by the other team.  "Don't they know the Ranger's are NOT hitting these!!!!"  It was hilarious. 

I have no idea why he has started with the peace sign, but it cracks me up.  His Aunt Charity would be so proud!

We had so much fun Saturday night at our first family game of the season.  We yelled and cheered our Rangers on.  Once the game was over we let Luke get a souvenir and he choose this cute monkey, which he named Nolan.  Luke said Nolan would be attending all the games with him this year.

 The four of us went again to the game on Sunday night!

We got there early again, and it was raining a little, so they dropped Luke and I off at the gate and we went in and went to the new Kids' Zone area!!

It was so neat!!

Luke loved going down the huge bat slide!

We were able to get into the park early with our season ticket passes so there were hardly any other kids in here at the time.

Luke also played Plinko and had TWO home runs in a row!!!  He won a pack of baseball cards!

We also played tic tac toe on a HUGE board with bean bags and he was able to play video games with the teenage boys who were working there. 

They had all these things the kids could limb in and shoot balls around.  Luke is swinging a bat around in the picture below. 

 There was also this HUGE Texas Rangers "T" on the wall.

The kids could jump on these squares that would light up the "T". 

Luke jumped and jumped and jumped, but he did not weigh enough to light it all the way up!

So some boys helped him! 

Luke played in the Kids Zone area for almost an hour before he was tired and then we went on to our seats.

We had so much fun at the game and enjoyed watching all the home runs! 

It is going to be a fun season of baseball for the Stewarts!!   

Luke and I will be watching from home tonight while Josh and his friend go out to watch Yu Darvish pitch his first game with the Rangers. 

GO RANGERS!!

Game Ball

My Luke wanted to get the game ball bad.  But he also knew he must earn it.  So, he has been talking about it.  Talking about what he has done well in past games.  And we talked about how if he continues to do the best he can; he too will receive the game ball.

During his game last Wednesday night he went one for two at the plate.  He struck out his first at bat and got a single at the second at bat.  He scored too.

His shining moments came on defense.  He played center and left field, like one of his favorites Josh Hamilton.  The boy was stellar.  He was stopping some balls that were hit pretty hard and throwing them in fast.  I thought he was going to catch his first fly ball.  But, he just missed it.  He looked good though.

He also got a ball while playing center and looked up and no one covering second, so he ran it in and tagged the runner.  It was a tie, so of course the runner was safe, but BOY did he look good doing it!  

Josh and I yelled a lot.  A LOT.  Our boy did so well.

 

And after the game the coach was talking about who would get the game ball.  "This player has been playing so good and has improved so much already in the short pre-season."  He said, "give a BIG round of applause for…..Luke".  Luke was so happy.

Luke’s parents were so happy.

We have been talking about what makes Luke a good baseball player.  He knows it is not Luke.  It is not Luke’s dad and not Luke’s coaches.  It is Luke’s God.  We congratulated him and gave praise to God.

I am so happy Luke’s baseball role model is an outfielder who has stumbled and failed, but gives God all the credit for his abilities.  It makes it easier on us parents who are trying to teach out kids to do the same.

Congratulations Luke on that game ball, you earned it for sure!  But more importantly, congratulations for knowing where your abilities have come from.  Your Dad and Mom are beyond proud of you!