A Yard Sale and A Pinata

We started off this morning with going to a neighborhood yard sale. I let Vincent take $2 out of his bank and Tyler took out 50 cents to spend. The boys were excited to go.

Tyler bought himself an overpriced cup of lemonade with all his money. C'mon people, cut the boy a deal, he's 2 years old!  We did get him a couple of books, though. On trains and things that go, of course. Vincent bought a cup of lemonade as well, a "Cars" book, and a "Cars" bat. I also got a couple of kids' CDs. I guess those all made up for the pricey drink.

Vincent looking at the book he just bought.

This afternoon, I took the boys to a birthday party. Sabriya turned 4 years old. We've known her since she was just a newborn. I remember she was still pretty curled up when I first met her and her mom. It was a strawberry themed party. So cute.

There was a little kiddie pool. Luckily, I had their swim trunks packed in the car, cuz Tyler was ready to go in butt naked.

The kids played a game to see who could keep a strawberry on a spoon while walking around the garden the longest. The highlight was the pinata. It was a little treasure chest with a strawberry on it, and all the kids got to have a turn - two even!

The pinata got knocked to the ground and the kids kept giving it whacks. Sabriya's oldest sister was the one who was able to get it smashed enough to dump out candy. Soon as the first one dropped, they all rushed to grab the booty.

Instead of cake, everyone had birthday strawberry shortcakes!

David cooked dinner tonight. The recipe comes for Cozi.com's Dinner Club - Beef Orzo Skillet.



Prep time: 30 min Cook time: 30 min Servings: 6

Ingredients

• ½ tsp salt
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes ( I use the garlic, basil, oregano flavor)
• 1½ cups beef broth
• 1 tsp minced fresh oregano or ½ tsp crumbled dried oregano
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 8 ounces orzo pasta, dried (1 cup)
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• ½-¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Sprinkle salt into a 10 to 12 inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Crumble beef into pan and cook, stirring often, until meat begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium, stir in onion, and continue to cook, stirring, until onion is soft but not brown, about 5 minutes. Spoon off and discard excess fat.
3. Add garlic, tomatoes (break them up with a spoon) and their liquid, broth, oregano, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil then stir in pasta. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently until pasta is tender to bite, 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, squeeze as much liquid as possible from spinach. Stir spinach into pasta mixture just until heated through. Serve with cheese to add to taste.

**YUMMY IN OUR TUMMY'S. Tyler ate up all of his and even asked for more. Vincent didn't love it, but he wanted to eat party candy, so he finished his (scant) amount.