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Another Zoo Trip and Some Yummy Food

We had another good week. There was a little rain, but it was mostly dry, which was good, because we have rain in the forecast for the next ten days. It’s pretty typical for May. Paul was busy with work, I was busy with house stuff, students, etc., Joseph was busy with school (he had state testing this pas week), and Abigail was living up the pre-schooler life, haha. I did get to go to book club, which was fun, and today I took the kids to the zoo (Paul is at a Libertarian conference this weekend, but he’ll be back tomorrow before church) before the rain started in earnest. I also made some yummy food and treats, which is always fun. 🙂

Joseph’s Mother’s Day card. It starts out like this…
…and then opens up to show this. It’s a technique he learned in art at school. 🙂
Abigail’s card (Joseph helped her).
She was pretending to be a cow with a bell…except her bell was full of her plastic eggs from her play food. 😀
Yummy meal #1: Parmesan chicken pasta. I made the whole thing in my pressure cooker! I cubed and browned the chicken and then added the noodles (uncooked), some water, and sauce. Once it was done, I mixed in Parmesan cheese, topped it with shredded mozzarella (then covered the pot to let it melt), and then sprinkled some toasted bread crumbs across the top. It was so good!
I love the sky after it rains!
Step one for yummy meal #2: homemade rolls…
…seasoned pork shoulder in the pressure cooker…
…shred it up…
…add some BBQ sauce…
…put it on the roll…
…add pickles…
…and cheese…
…and, ta-dah! BBQ pulled pork sandwiches! I went easy and served canned baked beans on the side.
We’ve got a couple that are almost ready! In fact, I might go out and look at that bottom one a little more closely…
I was out watering the bit of the lawn around the tree (the shade from the tree makes it a little harder for the grass there to grow). I looked up and was struck with just how much I love where we live (that, and I don’t have many pictures of the front of our house and thought it might be fun to throw one more in).
Abigail and I both needed new shoes, so we decided to get matching ones. So fun!
It is imperative that she take a picture at the butterfly wall.
Can you spot the lion (it’s a girl lion)?
Some type of African antelope (and Abigail). 😉
Rhinos! Abigail was sticking her arm out, trying to feel the raindrops (it sprinkled on us a bit while we were there).
The okapi was using its long tongue to get something off of the leaves (not sure if it was water droplets or bugs, but it was clear that it wasn’t eating the actual leaves).
Checking out the hippos (and the fish).
This is one of their favorite parts of the zoo (it may or may not have to do with the fact that it’s air conditioned). 😉
There are cave walls that they like to climb.
I got her to look at the camera!
Yummy treat: I decided I wanted to make some donuts.
It was fun to pipe the dough into the pan.
Baking away!
All done.
Now to get them out of the pan (which was easy since I brushed the wells with oil and it’s a nonstick pan). I like my little tool that helps me get them out. Since it’s nylon, it won’t scratch the nonstick coating on the pan.
Cooled and ready for icing!
All iced. I’m so glad I have an offset spatula…that made spreading the icing way easier.
Ta-dah!!