blooms and butterflies...

last week we headed over to the Columbus Franklin Park and Conservatory for the 'blooms and butterflies' exhibit, in the month of march in one of there indoor botanical garden areas they release butterfiles all over and it's really cool. it was our very first time going and we were very happy we went and checked it out.

we went on one of the days where they were actually releasing more butterflies which we thought was going to be really fun to see, but it was actually kinda lame, well to us it was. a lady came in with two big clear bins that had lots of butterflies inside, but instead of just opening up the bins and letting them go, she took each butterfly out one by one and explained a little something about each butterfly. the first like 25 were cool, but then it was dragging on, so we walked around some more and then bounced on out. it was still totally worth seeing all the beautiful plants, flowers and hundreds of butterflies.

and of course without fail i have a palethora of pictures.

here's a taste of what we enjoyed...

brody loved this bird. as you can tell brody's like, 'hi bird, here eat my finger'. awe-some!

one of our favorite gardens was the 'palms'. so so pretty. made us wish we were somewhere WARM and tropical!

some of the palm trees were huge - this one in particular was giant, the picture doesnt do it justice.

however...

you can tell how big this palm was.

LOVED the orange trees! they reminded me of when tyson and i lived in California and how they were in everyone's back yards. i want an orange tree!

also loved the little pinapple plants!

there was also lots of different pieces of blown glass in a bunch of the differentgardens. it was beautiful!

and then there were the butterflies...

see the butterfly in this one...oh, poor poor butterfly. just as we were putting the butterfly on brody's finger. brody decided it was just easier to snatch it in his hand and proceed to smash the crap out of it. Opps! we were able to get him to let go and release it, poor little fella fluttered to the ground. not gonna lie, it was sad, but we were totally laughing. but with the next one he did much better! :)

and that's the end of our time at the 'blooms and butterflies'. i'd defintely go back next year, but won't worry about going on a day when they "relase" the butterflies. it really is nice though to live pretty much down the street from the city and be surrounded by such awesome parks and gardens.

the end.

attention class...

one of brody's favorite things to do in tyson's office...

nothing beats the chalk board. i love that the simple things in life bring so much joy! this kid is getting pretty good at writing aka scribbling/drawing all over the board, soon he'll be leaving up homework assignments. :) love this kid!!!

menu of the week...

okay, so spring break is in full swing here at chateau crowther! it will be a chill week while tyson is home, because he is also studying for a HUGE test that he takes next week. but we will still take advantage of having him home, so dinners are easy easy easy this week!

this is what we are eating for dinner this week...

blackend chicken alfredo - served with garlic bread and salad

quesadillas - we like to use colby and monterey jack cheese. melted between two tortillas. then we top our quesadillas with shredded lettuce, tomato, corn, black beans, sour cream and we will also use the left over bbq cilantro lime dressing for dipping, from last weeks salads. oh so good! i will make fruit skewers to have along side. i will use, oranges, blue berries, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, raspberries and cantaloupe. it's always more fun eating off a stick, right? ok, well for brody it is! :)

chicken skewers with peanut sauce - i've made this recipe a ton of times. i actually have it memorized. :) i made it for the first time when we lived in Houston Texas for the summer and tyson was selling pest control. that was over 4 years ago!! so yeah, we must like it, because i've been making it ever since! served with brown rice and a side of steamed asparagus.

cuban sandwiches - and seeing that we aren't going anywhere for spring break, i figured we'd bring back some memories, of like when we went to Miami and went to little cuba aka little havana and experienced a true cuban. it didn't disappoint! so i'm going try this recipe out! i hope it's just as good! we will have chips, baked beans and fruit skewers. :)

and as always...if you want to check out more menu's of the week...go here!

happy spring and happy cooking! :)

images - 1,kraft 2, foodblog 3, letsdish

LUCKY CHARM...

we make the world go round.

i can't believe that march is already half way over! seriously where did it go?

life just kind of moves on, ya know? we make the world go round, doing our normal routine.

we finished up brody's 'sporty for shorties' class and his 'tiny tumblers' gymnastics class. yup you read that right. for the past 9 weeks, on thursdays we had the sporties and on fridays we had gymnastics and it was so much fun! brody LOVED both this classes and had the best time!
sporties really was a blast. brody learned, hockey, soccer, golf, track, basketball, football. tyson was able to come a few times too, which was even double the fun. these are pictures from last week from our last classes. brody LOVES basketball.









brody's gymnastics class was awesome! for me the best part was always at the beginning of the class was when all the kids got a carpet square to sit on and then we'd help them stretch, it was so cute! it was always hard to get a picture of brody durning gymnastics, because he was ALWAYS running or jumping. but this picture on the balance beam is great.



the weather in march definitely has it's ups and downs here in ohio. we've been teased with a day of 60 degree and the next 4 inches of snow. ugh! wind, rain and flooding. but when it has been sunny, we've taken full advantage. good news!! - there are signs of spring and that makes me giddy!!!!


when it's been sunny outside but still chilly, i always put brody's bear suit on, because it keeps him toasty. plus, he likes it!


playing at the park on the jungle gym


down in the 'short north' at our favorite rooster.


awe, our first sighting of spring!!! hooray!!

some other random pictures...





getting cheezzzz'd


making brody a 'B' pancake


one day were were waiting for tyson to get out of class, and outside of the building tyson has class in, there are these chalk board walls that you can draw all over. they are really cool. brody just happened to find a piece of chalk so he decided to leave his mark of art!


playing with the train set at barnes and noble


brody brushing his teeth. he loves it.


my little love.

in other news...brody and i go and see tyson on campus often. we go walk around target and go to the science muesum. we have play dates with friends. we play with the train set at barnes and noble and we always go to lunch with tyson on mwf's. we read books and play with balls and cars. brody brushes his teeth 10 times a day. we work on not having meltdowns- thanks goodness they are far and few between, we pretend we are climbing mt. everest (the stairs). brody and tyson have man-dates weekly. brody goes swimming with tyson while i run. we sing songs like 'sleepy bunny' 200 times a day. we all ride the elevator up and down at the gym. we color. we make smoothies and cuddle. teaching brody not to scream. we go to the grocrey store so brody can ride in the shopping cart that looks like a car. brody rides on my back and i crawl around the family room. tyson takes brody to the park to shoot hoops and i make dinner. we watch thomas the train. life is so FUN and GOOD.

one things for sure, i know that i'm doing exactly what i'm supposed to be doing. i was born to be a mother. i was born to take care of a family. that's my purpose on this earth, i truly believe. yes there are other things that i'm good at and love doing, and i'll never give those up. but i'm happy to embrace being a mother and helping the world to go round, one poopy diaper/kiss/meltdown/laugh/hug at a time. i am happy and content.

menu of the week

this is what we are eating for dinner this week...

it's finals week/the start of spring break for us... so this week is full of easy and fast meals -and the crock pot is my friend!! :)

white bean chicken chili - we will have this with fritos, cheese, sour cream. yum!

baked ravioli - this is a nice fast and yummy meal to put together. we will also have a green salad and garlic bread.

french dip sandwhiches - on the side we will have steamed asparagus, a box of 'suddenly pasta salad' and strawberries and cantaloupe.

bbq chicken salads with creamy bbq cilantro lime dressing - we love to used romaine lettuce and add red and green peppers, sweet yellow corn, black beans, red onion, avacado. and of course i will use a store bought rotisserie chicken. just helps make things go so quick and easy!

if you want to check out more menu's of the week go here!

Happy Happy Cooking!!!

images - 1, orc 2, marthastweart 3, mkc

happy pi(e) day!

yes that's right... Today is March 14th, or 3.14, which marks the annual celebration of Pi Day. If you need a refresher, Pi - is approximately equal to 3.14159265 in the usual decimal notationis, it's the never ending number that defines the relationship between a circle's diameter and its circumference. The symbol continues to puzzle even the pros—in the past hundred years the number has grown from thousands, to millions, to trillions of digits. If you lost me at "circumference", forget the mathematics and celebrate Pi Day with some of your favorite pie! And yes even Statisticians (aka Tyson) uses Pi all the time!! So this is a significant day for us, and so you know at Chateau Crowther we will be celebrating! it may be slightly nerdy, but that's okay, what a sweet way to celebrate!!!

happy pi(e) day!

menu of the week...

this is what we are eating for dinner this week...

Rostisserie Chicken (bought from the store) with these dill fingerling potatoes - we will also have steamed broccoli and uncle bens 90 second wild rice. after i make the rice and put it in a bowl, i add a couple of tablespoons of chopped up green onion, about 1/4 cup of dried cranberries and add the juice of two limes. we think it's super yummy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza - super easy, fast and sooo good!
so here is what you will need:
olive oil
pizza dough (i get mine at trader joes in the fridge section)
bbq sauce (we always use 'sweet baby rays honey' bbq sauce)
chicken ( once again i use a rostiserie chicken, genius and time saving i tell ya)
mozzarella cheese
red onion
cilantro

after spreading olive oil onto a baking sheet or pizza stone, stretch and spread your dough out until it is pretty thin. spread bbq sauce on top of your dough, then add shredded or sliced chicken. sprinkle on generous amounts of mozzarella cheese and how ever many sliced red onions you prefer. bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes. sprinkle chopped cilantro atop before eating… if you are into that sort of thing. and i am. you can totally add a side dish to the pizza, but we will most likely just eat the pizza and have root beer to drink. yum! voila. a delicious [practically] homemade dinner in under 30 minutes. nice, eh?

black bean burgers with baked sweet potatoe fries - we top our black bean burgers just like we would with a meat burger. we add, avacado, cheese, lettuce, tomatoe and onion. and of course tyson will most likely add some bacon. it really is a good burger!!! i will also serve strawberries and slices of cantalope.

pesto pasta salad with peas and parmesan - a nice light meal for the middle of the week. we will have rolls and apple slices.

i've been asked a few times, what does brody eat? he eats what we eat! obviously if we ever eat salads, he doesn't and i improvise for him. but yes he totally eats what we eat and loves it. well, at least so far so good! :)

wanna see more menu's of the week...check them out...here, here, here, here, here and here! :)

have a lovely week and happy cooking!!!

images - 1,foodnetwork 2, gourment 3, mkc

we like to par-tay...

to say that my birthday was Fantastic is an understatement, it was AWESOME! we pretty much celebrated all weekend and celebrated by having a FIESTA with friends(more on that later) and on my actual birthday we celebrated all day long just me and the boys! we went to birthday breakfast saturday morning and also to birthday dinner on monday my actual bday. we definitely know how to par-tayyyy!

and of course i have an uber amount of photos - and even though half of them all the look the same, they are not. we just can't help ourselves when it comes to taking pictures with the timer. :) good times, good times!



birthday breakfast


birthday dinner
i spy with my little eye...brody's dino eating dinner with us ;)


some of my super sweet friends came and heart attacked my front door. it was such a great surprise!


opening presents. brody loved helping! it was so fun! i got such great gifts and cards from family and friends!! thank you!!!

poor brody must think we are muy loco! ha! at least he's a good sports and just goes along with whatever we do. love that kid!











and well...when you just didn't think that was enough...












the big 3-0!!!

i had such a great birthday and felt all the love from family and friends! THANK YOU to everyone who sents me presents, cards, and for the phone calls and text messages! this birthday was one of the BEST!!!