silent saturday ~ MudQuest

Playtime at the park

Yesterday we met our friends Vanessa and Jake at the Trinity Park duck pond.

Look at the baby ducklings. They are so cute!

Hayden and Jake had so much fun running and exploring.

and of course I was in picture taking heaven!

Look at the turtles!

There was a steep hill and we brought cardboard boxed to slide down.

Hayden wanted to slide down like he was surfing.  I was laughing so hard at him.  He has no fear.

Sliding on his hiney didn't really work, so he decided to roll down!

I am so thankful for these days I get to spend with Hayden.  I spent so many days with Layla when she was younger and I sometimes have mommy guilt about Hayden not getting time with just me like I gave her.  Okay... I'm rambling, but you know what I mean.

Bubbles!!!

And football.

The boys had a fun time at the park and so did us mommies!

I LOVE this picture of Vanessa!!  

We laughed so much yesterday and this picture paints a perfect picture of our play time.

I'm king of the world!!!!!

bagel bird fest and a caterpillar

I just had to share this cute idea with y'all today.  It is a fun activity for spring!

Hayden made this bagel covered in peanut butter and bird seed at school yesterday!

 

The kids couldn't wait to hang it from our front yard tree.

While we were in the front yard they found a caterpillar.

So you know the drill...we got a jelly jar and poked holes in the top and made a home for Mr. Caterpillar.

We are so thankful for this beautiful weather.  The kids have been outside every day after school.  We hope it stays springlike for a long time!

In other news, Layla's eyebrow is looking good.  The Dermabond is slowly falling off.  After four weeks of a huge glob of glue invading her face she is now basically glue free.  Yesterday when she got home from school the dried glue was dangling.  We helped it off by cutting a few of the pieces.  She ended up losing almost half of her eyebrow, but I have caterpillars for eyebrows.  If her brows grow like mine she will have a full eyebrow again in a few weeks!

Ok, go get a package of mini bagels and make some bird food!  We can't wait to look out our front window and see the birds feasting on bagel goodness!  

Hayden says "Thank you to my teachors" Mary and Vanessa for the fun bird food!

my 2 cents for today

homemade baked sweet potato fries

Sweet potatoes are all the rage lately huh?

Sweet potato tots at Sonic, sweet potato waffle fries at Chic-fil-a and we just recently swapped regular fries for sweet potato fries in our house.  We bought the frozen bagged style a few times and then I decided we should try them homemade.

Gary made homemade griddle burgers on Sunday after church and I knew sweet potatoes would be a perfect pairing with those juicy cheeseburgers.  

I used a potato peeler and took the skin off.

Then I sliced them into strips.

Honestly I wish I would have made them thicker.  I think they should be steak fry sized.

After I washed, peeled and cut the sweet potatoes into strips I threw them into a large bowl.  I drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled them with spices.  I used garlic salt, black pepper and paprika.

I evenly spaced them on a cookie sheet and ended up cutting to many so I added a cookie sheet.

I knew they wouldn't get wasted in our house!

I baked them in a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes and then I flipped them and baked them on the other side for another 10 minutes.  Finally, I sprayed them with a little butter cooking spray and put them back in for about 3 minutes.

The end result was delicious.  I typically don't like burned parts on my food, but the crunchy little dark places on these were dancing in my mouth.  Sweet potato fries paired with a cheeseburger = the best Sunday lunch ever!  

What do you dip your sweet potato fries in?  

 I do ketchup.  Gary is a ketchup dunker as well.  Hayden is a ranch dunker and Layla just eats them plain.  I think we need a recipe for a fun sauce to dip them in.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!