Cucumber Salads

I have an overabundance of cucumbers in my garden, so I made some cucumber salads. They both turned out delicious and were both JoJo approved!


    Greek Cucumber Salad 

• 
  Ingredients
  
  2 cucumbers, diced
• 1 box cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  Directions
  Combine the cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onions, cheese and parsley in a large bowl.
  Drizzle the vinegar, oil on top and add salt and pepper to taste 

The library Gives Me Ulcers…is there a book for that?

I love the library.
My kids love the library.
I dread taking my kids to the library.

Seriously, the library causes me to have an anxiety attack. I feel like the libraries are not very kid friendly. Yes, they all have this big beautiful children's area, with tantalizing books about Dora, Pirates, Imaginary Friends and Real Friends. BUT, the kids areas are filled with shiny computers placed right at kids eye level and of course they are equipped with big red signs that say "do not let children play with the computers." REALLY??? So fine, I remove my child from banging on the keyboard, because of course that is the first thing they go for, and the screaming ensues.  Everyone starts staring at my screaming child; so I take them over to look at the Guinea Pig. But the nice sign on the side of the cage says do not let children put their fingers on the cage. Well, for little ones interested in animals, thats a hard feat…to just sit and look. So I remove them from that and again the screaming ensues. But wait, they just found the scissors and crayons that are laying out. Perfect, now I can chase them around with scissors in their hands. After manhandling the scissors out of their hands they find the basket of pencils and trivia slips that are conveniently located in the middle table of the children's area and they decide to scribble on some slips of paper that are asking how far the sun is from the earth and how hot it gets. Well, the Children's librarian is now glaring since I am pretty sure my kids did not look up the answer in the books provided to do so, so we take the books we picked out to her to check us out. She says she can't help us, we have to go into the main library to the circulation desk…perfect, let me carry the kids and the books across the library. And once we get there the words, "I have to go potty" are uttered. I just want to pull my shirt over my head and hide.  I am pretty sure our picture might be at the all of the libraries in a 2 county radius on their DO NOT LET THEM IN list.

Maybe its just me…but I thought libraries were supposed to be calming?

harvesting

The veggies we harvested so far this week…minus a few cherry tomatoes and strawberries that were eaten as they were picked! :)

I have been fighting with the squash bugs though this week…I hope its a battle I am able to win for a little bit more at least!!!

No Bake Chocolate Granola Bars

We tried another no bake granola bar recipe which I got here from pinterest and this one was by far the BEST!! I mean seriously good…taste like no bake cookies good…

No Bake Chocolate Granola Bars

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup natural peanut (I used almond) butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup oats 
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used mini)

Directions:

1.  Melt  the butter, peanut butter and honey in a pot over medium to low heat, stirring constantly.  Turn off the burner when melted.

2.  Pour in the cup of oats and the wheat germ.  Stir til combined.

3.  Wait til it cools a bit and stir in the coconut and chocolate chips.  

4.  Pour into foil-lined 8 X 8 pan and stick in the fridge.

5. Once cooled, flip out  (the bars….not you) onto cutting board  and cut to the size you like.

Not so sure

This was Carson's first experience with sand...he better get used it it quickly or it will be a long week at the Beach!

He sure does love the water though!

Holiday Weekend

Here's what we were up to for the Holiday weekend….


We spent the weekend (Wed - Sun) with Michael's family in Canton. Michael played a lot of golf (and took Logan to play 9 holes) and the kids and I swam a lot and hung out with family.

July 4th

HAPPY JULY 4TH!

Waiting for it to get dark.

FIREWORKS!!!


We were up close and center (we could see the guys setting them off) and NONE of the kids were bothered by the noise at all.  They  all LOVED them!

Jo Jo engrossed in the fireworks.

Meeka and daddy.

Summer Bucket List

We crossed another thing off our Summer Bucket List... Root Beer Floats! 

Jet Tour

We got a tour of a Private Jet. Logan was in heaven…he would have stayed all day in the jet and he wanted to go back the next day too! 

The Jet.

Pilot Logan

Jo Jo getting ready to skydive from the cargo bay.

Picking their seats out.

Carson and daddy checking it out.

Swimming

And we did A LOT of swimming! 

Melina learned to swim by herself in the deep end.

Melina jumping off the board

Logan flipping off the board

Carson had NO FEAR of jumping off the board!

Meeka jumping.

Foodie Pen Pal…Part 2

My Foodie Pen Pal who I got to share my food with was also awesome! Renee writes a blog called Tortillas and Honey and she is a wonderful baker who lives in New Mexico. I can not wait to try some of her recipes (this month has been a busy one so I have not done much baking). Here is what I sent to her this month. 

• Mike Sells Potato Chip (local to Dayton)
• POP! White Truffle Popcorn
• Cheese Straws
• Giada's Parmesan Garlic Dressing
• Tuscan Seasoning
• Balsamic Glaze
• Superfruit Jelly Belly's
• Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars
• I also sent her the recipe for the granola bars and pumpkin scones since she loves to bake. 

Check out her blog to see what she has to say about the package I sent I and what her favorite things were!