Independence Day

We started off the 4th of July with some muffins from My Favorite Muffin. Only the crumbs remain. Yum! For those of you who don't have one nearby, you're missing out. With flavors like Cherry Cheesecake, Pumpkin Spice with a big dollop of cream cheese frosting piped on top, deep dish apple pie with real apple pie filling in the middle, and more, these muffins are definitely something special. We're hooked.


After a trip to the muffin shop we started making the side dishes we'd be bringing to the BBQ's. The original idea was to bring taco salad but a quick talk with Daddy confirmed that we were going directly from the BBQ at Grampa's house to the BBQ at our friends' house. Chopped lettuce wasn't going to last that long. So... this new recipe substituting pasta was born:

Taco Pasta Salad

1/2 can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 can of rotel - pick the heat of your choice
1 can of Mexicorn - it's corn, red peppers, and green peppers
1 pkg of colby jack cheese crumbles (or mexican shreeded cheese is fine too)
1 lb of ground beef
1 taco seasoning packet
2 Cups of small shell pasta (or whatever you have in the pantry)
Doritos (optional)

Start pasta boiling until al dente. (about 10 mins)

Brown the beef along with the seasoning packet.

While the beef is browing toss the beans, rotel, and mexicorn into a bowl.

When they're finished add the drained pasta, the browned beef and stir.

Then add the cheese crumbles right before serving and crunch up some doritos to put over the top if you want.

Katen had a good time watching the kids run around at our friends' house and really thought her sparkler was pretty neat. She kept staring at it and smiling now and then.

The one thing she didn't like was the screamers. Our friend Toby set of three sets of screamers which were just too loud and Katen cried. We have a running joke that if someone makes your kid cry, you own them a dollar. (I think it started when Mike made Toby's daughter cry once actually.) So Toby offered up his dollar for Katen's savings fund.

The firworks were pretty good and Katen really enjoyed them too. She was completely still as she sat with me in her Moby watching and every once in a while she'd just grin at them.

After a while she looked around and noticed our friend DJ was sitting next to her. If you don't know DJ, he loves kids. He's kind of like the pied piper of children. They're always drawn to him. Katen is no exception. Once she caught sight of him, she started flirting. She's smile at him and when he noticed she'd let out a loud giggle. It was so cute!

Needless to say Katen went to bed waaaay too late. I got her down around 11pm and at 12:00 on the dot some neighbors lit off a bunch of fireworks setting Katen into wails of terror. It took me forever to calm her down and she refused to sleep in her crib so it was a long night. She slept on my chest most of the night. I love to snuggle with her but I don't get a lot of sleep that way.

I did luck out and caught a second wind when she took a very rare three hour nap in the afternoon. We were just refreshed enough to head to Lake Red Rock for another BBQ Saturday evening.

Overall, it was a good weekend. :)

Print Page