Appetizer Dinner

I have an easy dinner idea for you this Summer.  Plan an appetizer dinner one night.  Buy a couple of new appetizers or the ingredients to make a couple of appetizers, add in some leftovers from your fridge, fruits and veggies.  You're all set!

We did new appetizers of 

Street corn dip and lime chips from Costco

Frozen Taquitos, mini tacos, Trader Joe's cheese curds and TGIFridays potato skills.

We had some fruits and veggies plaus some leftover taco ingredients.

I loved finishing up things from our freezer that weren't quite enough for a full dinner.

My family was thrilled and it was the easiest meal to pull together.

Introducing Peanut

Welcome to the family, Peanut!

After Mr. Mittens died unexpectedly, we were eager to find another boy cat to add to the family.  Pumpkin was lonely and sad to no longer have a best buddy.  We have always had the best luck with cats in pairs.  Penny & Pearl are sisters.  We love to have two boy cats to balance out the mix.

The kids and I started kitten hunting for a boy kitten.  Our wish list looked like this:
Colorful

Unique markings

Long or short hair

Local find

and a great personality!

We started visiting all of our local shelters, Petsmart and humane societies.  The kids fell in love with every kitten we saw, but I kept reminding them of our list.  They'd fall in love with a tiger striped kitten, I saw a darling Calico girl, but we kept hunting until we found Buzz Lightyear!  His whole litter had Toy Story names.  

We scoped out the kittens in the kitten room and Buzz Lightyear caught our eye.  He was so handsome and friendly.  Fletcher held him first.  He purred instantly, snuggled into his neck and started giving Fletcher kisses.  He was very sweet and very outgoing.  The workers all said that they loved Buzz so much.  And he was ready to be adopted immediately.  We held and visited with other kittens, but we all agreed, that Buzz was the best.

Welcome to the family, Peanut.

Olive was determined to convince us that Peanut was the perfect name for our little guy.  Somehow we ended up with cats that all have P names, she loves the Peanuts cartoon and so we stuck with Peanut.

He purred down the road with us.

Kevin knew we were kitten shopping and his only request was a friendly cat.  We stopped by his office to introduce him to Peanut.  He approved.

He's been an easy addition to the family.  Sure tehre were some initial hissing and fighting, but now Pumpkin and Peanut play the days away.

He's so handsome.

We all love him.

Olive is very pleased with Peanut.

Peanut likes to sleep between my pillow and Kevin's at night.

He's very curious and seems to have made himself right at home in just a couple of weeks.

Pumpkin + Peanut.

Best buddies.

We hit the kitten jackpot with this guy.

The shelters in our area are overflowing with kittens right now!  If you have felt like adding a kitten to the family - now is the perfect time!  We have adopted from several different humane societies, adpoted a foster kitten, adopted through Petsmart and Craigslist.  The easiest option was to go through a humane society because the kitten will come home with all of their shots up to date, flea and deworming treatments as well as the option to microchip them.  Let me know if you have any kitten questions!

Happy Birthday, Kev!

We're so excited to celebrate Kevin all week long!  He turns 45 today and we are so thankful for him.

He puts the fun in our family.

Surprises us with the best - room with a balcony, snorkeling, resorts, road trip stop next to our favorite restaurants or Chick-Fil-A when he'd rather have Subway.

Every vacation and adventure is thanks to his planning.

He can surprise me with a new swimsuit or new dress that somehow fits perfectly.

Kevin reads nonstop.  Not the fluffy stuff.  The huge books about important things.

He makes sure we get to and from everywhere we go safely.

He is a grill master.

Kevin works so hard on our yard.

Loves a good coffee and a road trip stop.

He is always adding new things to his plate at work.  He isn't afraid to do something new!

He's the one who will say yes to endless fishing, volleyball, drop slides at the water parks, late night adventures, Starbucks runs for the latest boba drink or more fireworks.

We love him!

Cheers to making year 45 extra great!

We celebrated with his family riht around the 4th of July.

All the ladies pitched in to bring their favorite foods to the cookout.

Kevin's parents are always sweet to host and buy all the fireworks.

July 4th Fun

We had a great, low key Fourth of July!  Fletcher said it was the best 4th ever.  We loved watching all of the 250th festivities from Mt. Rushmore to all the cool military ships and planes on display.  It was an extra patriotic fourth.

We took a picture with our tree line like we do every fourth of July.  The trees have grown a ton!

2022 tree line photo.  Wow!  The kids and the trees have all grown a lot.  They used to be able to all stand between the trees and now you can barely walk between the trees.

The kids helped me with food.

We enjoyed some Trader Joe's macrons for dessert.  The vanilla was our favorite.

I made the yummiest deviled eggs.  They were perfect for Summer.

We whipped up a quick pound cake loaf.  It was tasty, but a little dry.  Good thing we had lots of strawberries, juice and whipped cream.

The weather was HOT and some storms rolled through.  We got a break in the rain so we did our own fireworks show. The kids love fireworks shopping with Kevin every Summer.

The boys wore their Buccees shirts.

I'm always surprised at our fireworks show.  The kids take turns going to the fireworks stands with Kevin.  My only request is lots of fountains!!

Happy 4th of July!

The kids loved their sparkler swords!  They were really cool.

Our neighbors all had impressive fireworks.  We just sat in the driveway dodging a rogue firework or two and enjoyed the festivities.

 

Bomb Pop cheers!

I hope you had a really Happy 4th of July!