friends, food & kids

These past 5 days have been super quiet. The kids and I have been house/dog sitting and we've been a bit confined to the house... which I wasn't totally expecting but when life hands you lemons you invite everyone to come over and see you instead! Peter's family was able to come spend the day with us on Wednesday and 2 of my favorite crafty friends arrived to spend Thursday and Friday with us!

Jessica from Srumdillydiily blog and her equally creative husband Jeff came to stay the night with us while passing through town on their way to Nevada. They arrived with gifts and were met by 2 very enthusiastic kids! It's been a little over 2 years since we've seen them in person and both Alaina & Chase were set on making up for lost time it seemed. Jeff is so incredibly patient with them both, I don't know how he does it!  Alaina somehow convinces him to play Barbies or in this case Monster High dolls with her and both kids tend to see Uncle Jeff as a jungle gym.... poor guy. :) Jessica and I got to discuss all of our upcoming crafty/blogging ideas - I'm so excited to get back home and get to work. I need to be creative - I miss my craft stuff!

While our guests were visiting, I got to play the role of a cook and planned a little menu around locally grown fruits, veggies and honey. Have I mentioned how much we're enjoying the home-grown produce! For breakfast the menu was: white peach/blueberry or blackberry shortcakes with fresh whipped cream & wildflower honey served with roasted chicken-apple sausage.

and for lunch I've been playing with my mom's panini maker. I'm not sold on the idea of absolutely needing one but they are kind of fun to use! We made 2 types of paninis, one being more of a grilled lunch sandwich: roasted turkey, bacon, tomato, spinach, red onion, avocado, mozzarella, with dill mayo on a garlic french bread. Then we tried a sweeter version with blackberries, honey and basil leaves, which I think I'll make a few adjustments to today and then try them again!

My parents are on their way back from North Carolina tonight (little sister graduated from Army boot camp this week!) and then we have 2 days of playing and shopping before we fly home to AZ. Got to make these last couple of days count!