Sunday

We went jet skiing & kayaking at the bay. When we do this, the girls go first and set up the food and start the grill. The guys load the kayaks and jet ski and follow.

While we wait for the guys, we amuse ourselves.

By taking pictures among other things.

Poor thing has my freckles. And my eyes. Not really my nose. I have the Sims ski slope nose. I think she has the Adam's nose. Can't tell by this picture though.

Guys are here. When they get here, Jessica goes around and pulls the jet ski around from the launch. Tyler doesn't like to drive anything.

Jessica

Kayla in the one-person inflatable.

Kaleb ready to go.

Tyler. He likes to explore by kayak.

Jasmine can kayak by herself now, but she doesn't go far from shore.

Jasmine. Tyler rescued her hat which went flying. He happened to find it while he was kayaking.

Me pulling Adam and Kayla on the tube.

Adam and Kaleb.

Today was a little more crowded because of it being a holiday weekend. This bay is restricted but they don't always check who comes in. Unfortunately, one couple decided to be intimate in the water right near where my six-year-old twins were playing!!! It was pretty bad. We won't even go into the guys who were totally drunk and putting on a show. There are a lot of behaviors that do not belong at a family beach. We were getting ready to leave by then thankfully. Too many people were half drunk by then. But it was a good day and beautiful weather. A few storm clouds, but they went by.

Jessica getting ready to pull the jet ski around to trailer it.

Adam unhooking the inflatables. Both Tyler and Adam had to work Sunday evening.

Jessica's had a rough week and needed comfort food. Pretty obvious what it is?

Tyler had an interest in Legos and kinex that lasted well into his teen years. No complaints. I think kids grow up too fast and of course it's unheard of for guys past about ten to play. He's been cleaning his room (at my insistence since he's going away to college in the fall) and pulled out this kinex set and built it to show the twins.

If you are reading this on Monday, we are already on our way from the FL panhandle to the IN/MI border.

Food!

April and May were such busy months that I think we had more pizzas on the go than real food. But here's what the kids did cook in April and May.

Chicken Drummette Dinner
16 chicken drummettes thawed
8 mini corn on the cob
8 small red potatoes quartered
1/4c creamy mustard-mayo sauce (didn't know what this was so we mixed gray poupon with mayo)
1 tbs vegetable oil
½ tsp garlic-pepper blend (didn't find anything like this so we mixed our own)
¼ tsp salt

Place corn in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes to partially thaw.
Heat overn 425F. Spay 15x10x1 pan with cooking spray (we used 10x13 baking pan)

Place drummettes and potatoes in a large bowl. Drain corn and add. Add mustard sauce, oil, pepper blend and salt. Toss to coat. Place in pan and bake 40-50 minutes turning chicken and vegetables once during baking.

Jessica doesn't remember where she got the recipe for this breakfast pizza.

Adam made the recipe from the back of a box of Rotini. He didn't care for it so we didn't add it to our recipe book. It wasn't bad, just too much cream of chicken soup. It also had chicken chunks and cheese. It might be really good with a sauce instead of the soup.

Tyler made Tuna helper on a Wednesday which is our crazy day with people coming and going for dance, church choir, orchestra etc.

Adam made a recipe from the back of the Parmesan cheese container that had bow tie pasta, spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Jasmine made something my friend Megan suggested. Two boxes of Beef Rice a Roni cooked according to the box but add a pound of ground beef browned and a can of corn drained.

Tyler cooked a dish with macaroni, sausage and buttermilk.

Macaroni Sausage Skillet Meal
2 lbs ground sausage
1 lg can chopped tomatoes
½ c chopped onions
½ c green peppers
4 c buttermilk
2 T sugar
2 tsp salt
2 T chili powder
4 c uncooked elbow macaroni

Brown sausage with onions and peppers. Add tomatoes, buttermilk and macaroni. Heat up until simmering. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Kayla made linguine with Alfredo sauce and peas.

Yesterday

We were going to visit a strawberry farm to pick strawberries but behaviors weren't good enough, so we bought some at the grocery store instead.

Before the recital.

Sisters relieved that the recital is over.

Dress rehearsal

Dress rehearsals get long and require food!

Waiting for her turn.

Zorba. Tap dance. Jasmine dealt with the two neck surgeries and expansions this year as well as learning her technique and dances.

No flash allowed so these are without flash. Rick shot these while I took video. No cameras at all tonight during the recital.

Jessica-tumbling to Kung Fu fighting. She's in back upside down for a handstand roll.

Jessica on her hands.

Little Birds jazz dance

Finale

Jasmine was expecting flowers so we surprised her by having them Wednesday evening at the awards presentation. The boys took them up to the girls.