Summertime--Where The Living Is Busy

This summer, I am blogging less—living more. We have a 2-year-old and a 12-year-old in our house. So things stay really busy here. We have played every game a small child can think of. We have sung every song she knows and made up some new ones. She's likely to head straight to the piano in the mornings, even before I've brushed her hair. And that's okay, because she's at Mimi's house. Plus, I certainly don't want to discourage her creativity.

But yesterday as I was racing to stay one step ahead of her busy little hands that were grabbing everything, I laughed when I saw what she was about to pull off the bench in the music room. The song on the top is my theme song for this summer—Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You! 

We do love that she is so curious and it is fun to watch her explore everything around her and absorb each new bit of information. But it also reminds us how much older we are than when our own little girls were this age.

One of the best games she plays is "dress-up"where she clomps around in Mommy's shoes. It's so loud as those hard heels hit our wooden floors that I know exactly where Baby Sister is and I can sit down for a couple of minutes and rest!

Big Sister helped me with errands yesterday morning. They included a trip to Target and maybe the best purchase we made was a water table for the back yard. Baby Sister played here for almost two hours. Not sure you understand the importance of that sentence. TWO HOURS in one spot. No chasing.

And while all this is going on, we still need clean clothes and food on the table. Yesterday before I realized it, I washed Daddy-O's clothes in Dreft. I really don't mind him smelling like a baby. But I hope his friends won't notice.

I'm always looking for easy meals to cook so I have quite a collection of recipes that are simple Last night I tried a new one. Everyone declared this a "keeper." My definitions of an easy recipe is one that requires little preparation and then can cook unattended. This Oven Baked Fajita dish met the requirements. I tweaked the cooking instructions slightly from the recipe I saw somewhere online. 

OVEN BAKED FAJITA

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips (cut against "the grain)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

1-1/2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

1 (10-oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (I used Rotel Mild)

1 medium onion, cut into thin strips

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1/2 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken strips in a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.

In a small bowl (I used a custard cup) combine the oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, orgegano and salt. Drizzle the spice mixture over the chicken and stir to coat. Add the undrained tomatoes, peppers and onions to the dish. Stir to combine.

Bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. (I stirred the mixture after 25 minutes to get the peppers and onions down into the liquid and in the last 5 minutes, they cooked nicely.)

We rolled our chicken fajita mixture and toppings up in a whole wheat tortilla. We used refried beans, cheese, sour cream, lettuce and taco sauce. And I made a yellow Mexican rice for the side dish. Baby Sister got a cheese quesadilla for her supper. It was easy to make something for her from what we were having.

And while all of this is going on, I actually am getting caught up on some Yesterukes (my ukulele band) work. I hired Big Sister to be my summer intern. She has been at work for a couple of days scanning in hundreds of pages of music, helping us to get organized. She is tremendous help here in many ways. Not sure we could keep up with Baby Sister without her around.

This weekend is Father's Day. Jessica and her friend will be here tonight for the weekend. Better go finish my grocery list and head to the store. We will have a full house for a few days. Looking forward to the fun!