Chicken and Rice Tacos

I'm sorry that I do not have a photo for this ... it was just a quick, throw together meal.  I used the left over meat from my The Easiest Roasted Chicken EVER.  But you can used any cooked chicken.

1 lb cooked and shredded chicken
1/2 instant rice (haven't gotten my family to like brown rice yet)
1/4 cup Mom's Taco Seasoning
1 cup water
flour tortillas and your favorite taco toppings

Combine water and seasoning in a pan and bring up to a boil.  Stir in rice and chicken, cover and reduce to simmer.  Cook until the rice is tender and the chicken is warmed through.  Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and your favorite toppings.  Enjoy!!

Awesome Summer Fun - Part 2

One of my kids' favorite things is when we do an evening campfire and roast hot dogs for supper.  We happen to have one of those inexpensive fire pits that they sell in the outdoor section of many large retailers, but you don't need one to do a campfire.  You can form a circle out of large rocks, bricks or landscaping stones that you might have around the house.  Please make sure that you closely supervise your children around the fire. 

We roast the hotdogs and set up camp chairs or our Little Tykes picnic table to eat.  Afterwards, we usually do marshmallows and s'mores for an extra treat!

Since we are outside already, we always take advantage of the time to play outdoor games with them.  Don't be afraid to look silly, have fun with them!!  Blowing bubbles is a favorite (mostly because our dog chases the bubbles too), hula hoop, kick around a giant bouncy ball, play on the swing set, a game of washers (we let the kids cheat) and when it starts getting dark ... catch lightening bugs!!  All simple activities that our children love and are sure to remember as adults.

Too hot or rainy to go outside?  I have the perfect solution!  Set up a pretend campsite in the family room.  Try this:  lay down a large blanket to be your "staging area"; have your kids make a play fire using colored paper; throw another large blanket over some chairs to be a tent.  Turn off electronics and dim the lights.  Voila!  You have a campsite!

You can use your stove burners (gas or electric both work) to roast the hotdogs and marshmallows!!  I still remember doing this with my parents when I was a kid!  We would get out those long meat forks to put our hotdogs or marshmallows on and turn the electric burner on high.

Project 52: Week 23 - Water

I recently discovered an amazing photographer, Kent Weakley, via my sister-in-law.  I have been going through his posts and tips like they are candy!  One thing that particularly caught my attention was Project 52.  Each week he posts an assignment for a photo and then at the end of the week you link up with his post.  Since I am new to photography, I love being challenged to go out there and get creative!  This week is #23, so I am a little late to the game, but I still plan to participate.  The theme for this week is water...argh!  My nemesis!  I have not mastered water photography by any means!  I love the way great water shots turn out, but I have yet to capture one.  Nevertheless, this is about stretching and challenging myself!  So here is my attempt.

May Photo Scavenger Hunt

I just realized that I never shared my photos for the May scavenger hunt that I did!  Shame on me!  The exciting this is that now I am able to tell you that I won 3 categories! 

Button - WINNER

Left

Moon - WINNER

Park

Blue

Do You See What I See?

Foot

Memorial - WINNER

Awesome Summer Fun - Part 1

For us, Fridays tend to be very busy days.  I have to work and we have our weekly errands to run.  This Friday, I was determined to not allow the day to end with out doing some type of activity with my girls.

Like many grade school children, my oldest is pretty savvy when it comes to electronics.  She knew how to use my iPhone before I did!  She especially likes using it to listen to music, so I created her very own playlist.  We sat together as she picked each song that she wanted to include.

When we were finished with her list, we turned up the volume and had a dance  party!  I came up with some reasons why a dance party is a great activity:

• Kids love to dance and have a lot of fun doing it
• Lots of movement makes for good exercise for you and the kids
• It's just you and the kids, and they think your dance moves are the greatest they've ever seen!

I am pretty confident that our late night dance party (I let them stay up past bed time since it's summer break) will be a lasting memory for my kids.  Someday they'll say, "Mom, remember when we used to stay up late dancing together?"  And I will remember it too.