Yard Sale Mayhem!

Ryan here. Ok, these pictures need little explanation. Upon arriving home from a Swim Meet (gals did great, video and pics to come) H & N saw that our neighbors were holding a yard sale. They ran inside, grabbed their money and came back less than two minutes later with the following:

1. N purchased a new outfit. SIZE 12 MONTHS - there were tears when she discovered she couldn't wear it. Thank goodness for a flexible return policy.


2. The grand prize of all garage-sale-dandy's goes to H. I don't even need to explain. The look on our faces when she presented us with her treasured prize. She bought it because she loves the Nutcracker Ballet and has wanted a Nutcracker. Ahhh...innocence is great. And yes, it does say "Stainless Steel Thighs."

We have been teaching our kids the value of earning their own money so they can use it however they like...little did we know that would come back to us in such a way as this. We'll be enjoying walnuts for years to come.

Perhaps we can get used to uttering "Please pass me Hillary" as common as "Please pass me the salt and pepper. Ok, maybe not.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Our family's twist on the old wedding saying:

Something OLD:
We have fallen in love with "America, the story of US" on the History channel. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

Something NEW:
L and I decided to try our hand at Latin rythms and went to a ZUMBA class this morning. This was entirely out of my comfort zone and my body was sure not going to move (or look) the way the instructor moved but I giggled the entire time. SO much fun! No, I'm not telling anyone where or what time we went because I certainly don't want anyone I know to see me trying to shake my fanny. (you're welcome)

check it out! http://www.zumba.com/us/



Something BORROWED:
Once again, my favorite recipes are from someone else. L told me this recipe as we were running one morning and I craved it all day. I made it for breakfast, ate it for lunch, and dinner and had a bit of stomach troubles. I DO not recommend eating it for three straight meals. However, if you just eat it for one meal in a 24 hour period, you'll be fine.

Quinoa Corn salad

Quiona Cooked (add as much or as little as you like. I like a lot)
Roasted Corn (canned works fine too)
Grape tomatoes, halved
Fresh avocado cut into small bites
Black beans
Cilantro
A little red onion

Mix together and add cilantro dressing. L has used different things like vinegarettes and ranch and they work well too. ENJOY!!!
(Sorry, the picture below isn't the corn salad but is a black bean salad with quinoa. For those who don't know what quinoa is, see picture below.)


Something BLUE:

I found SMEEKS through http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/ and had to make a stop. We went and thoroughly enjoyed all the candy and novelty gifts. Particularly enjoyed looking at the wall of photos from the in store photo booth.

Note: none of these photos are mine. All are photos found online.

A call for help!

Grandpa Peterson gave all of his grandkids (ME!) a set of the state quarters that he collected and carefully assembled. It is really a treasure to me mostly because it is from HIM!

My kids were interested in the quarters so we bought ourselves a coin collection poster from Hobby Lobby and we've been filling out our own state quarter collection. We have been carefully and thoroughly going through every single quarter we could find to fill in our states and we are down to only 5 more!!!! ( I had to cheat and buy the territories and district of columbia quarters..6 quarters for $20 from the US mint, nice.)

I'm begging anyone who reads this blog (all 3 of you) to check your state quarters. We are missing Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Iowa. A total of 5 quarters left! Grandpa P. has told us he has extras of all the state quarters but I am determined not to cheat, yet.

So, take a look through your money jars and see if you have any of the above state quarters. We would be so grateful!!!