Rice Humor

Ok, I once tried to make Spanish rice.. It did not come out very well! Since then, I have not tried to make it! I dont think I will ever get the nerve. But Today.. I saw my salvation.

Spanish Rice, In a bag! How awesome is that! Well for me anyways. Johnny laughed when he saw it. Of course, cause he can make it. In fact, he is the one who makes it at our house. He has tried to get me to try it, but I just wont. So, Ill buy me a big bag of this.. And There ya go!! Oh and You can even microwave it!! Even better.

Cheesy Mini-Burgers

In the busy dinner routines.. its always hard to find what the kids might like, and what is cheap. And here is one of those things that the kids loved. They ate all of it. Some ate the rice by itself and the Burgers last, one ate the burgers first and the rice last, and Only one ate the burgers cut up and mixed with everything. But they ate it, No Fuss!!

Cheesy Mini Burgers

Prep Time: 5 min
Total Time: 25 min
Makes: 4 servings

Mixing by hand is Gross! But sometimes the best way to mix things!

What You Need

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
1/2 cup ketchup, divided
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2-2/3 cups hot cooked instant white rice

I love when you can put foil down, and there is no messy clean up!!

Make It

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Mix meat, 2/3 cup of cheese, 1/4 cup of the ketchup and garlic powder. Shape into 12 balls. Place on foil-covered baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
FLATTEN each ball into patty, about 1/2-inch thick. Bake 15 min. or until cooked through; drain.
SPREAD remaining ketchup on each patty; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake an additional 5 min. or until cheese melts. Serve over rice.

Capellini Caprese

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 25 min
Makes: 4 servings, 1-1/2 cups each

What You Need!

1/2 lb. capellini or spaghetti, uncooked
1/2 cup KRAFT Tuscan House Italian Dressing and Marinade
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 cup fresh basil, finely sliced

We added bacon to it, instead of onions.

Make It!

COOK pasta as directed on package.
MEANWHILE, heat dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 min. Add tomatoes; cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
DRAIN pasta. Add to tomato mixture; mix lightly. Sprinkle with cheese and basil.

The Best kind of Swimming!

Of course, its summer! And what do you do in the summer. Go Swimming!! Now, I usually dont care to just float around in the big pool, but since I have small girls I do it. And we went swimming the other day, and I just sat in the baby pool. So, a friend told me about this place.. so we decided to try it out. And We loved it!! We cant wait to go back! We had such a great time, half of us got sunburned!! Including me!! They had two big water slides, two kiddie slides, and a small river current. Oh and a couple of sprayers. For the most part. I had more fun there then going to Schlitterbaun. Paying all that money.. Riding the rides once, waiting in long lines till you dry off.. and then paying outrageous amounts for only half decent food. So, for us.. this is it..

They had a slide, straight down!

Joshua loved it! He must have rode them 50 times!

Kaelani too, she even made some friends while there!

Cordelia loved it, we couldnt get her off. She cried when we left!

Bianca even surprised me. She got the hang of it really quick!

We all can not wait to go back!!

Family Fitness Day

We had a really fun day at the Family Fitness day, It was really hot, but it was free!! I didnt know what to expect or how to explain it to the kids.. so going in, they were not very amused with the idea. But once they got started.. they had a great time. But why is it that you never have enough time to do everything!!!

Larissa found it a little hard, but she did it!! Her nails kept getting in the way.

Autumn had no trouble at all.

I think this was Kaelani's first time, so it took her a little while.

Joshua never gave up, well at least for his whole turn!

There was some Football tossing.

An inflatable obstacle course, that Cordelia even got in on!

And even some jump rope! What is Family Fitness without Jump Rope!!

Sisterly Love

When they are not hitting each other.. They play so well!!

One of the most beautiful things Ive ever seen!!

While on our way back from picking up my step-daughter from Lubbock, We saw the most wonderful thing. While on our 6 hour drive, we were in 3 hours of driving and we started seeing the storm clouds. But while driving you take so many turns that one min you are headed into the storm, and then next min you are headed out of the storm. But once we got on a straight path, we got headed into the storm.

But while we were headed into the storm, we saw a rainbow. Just a small part of it. Then we saw it.. The whole thing, The whole Rainbow!! We even saw the begining and then end. It was so awesome to see. We kept driving and went right under it. I have always seen rainbows, but never have I seen one like this. And when we got closer, we even saw a mirror image of the rainbow, so it looked like two!!! I dont know if I would ever see anything like this again.. but to see it once was great!!

Here is us driving into the Rainbow.

On the left was the beginning

To the right was the end

And if you look close, you can see the refection of the Rainbow, so it looks like two.