Natalie & Ryan: Feeding the Hungry

So, as it turns out, the 8 pound pork roast that I cooked up, can feed 8 grown adults, PLUS leftovers. Jack and his two buddies came over to say hi, so I made each of them a take-home container of Cafe Rio salad...baby Tupperware container of Chipotle ranch included. I SO love getting to feed Jack and any friends that he wants to bring over. Poor kid eats Top Ramen for most meals.

Going back a bit, I've been cleaning from the second my eyes popped open this morning. I felt a little bit like a chicken with its head cut off. Usually when I clean, I go from room to room, with a plan, but today I was all over the place. I'd be taking some laundry to the bedroom, and notice that the kitty litter needed to be done, and then completely forget what I was doing, just to stop and do kitty litter. ADD and OCD were my buddies today, that's for sure. On top of cleaning, we had to deal with a slightly cranky baby. She woke up with the worst runny nose she's ever had, and she sneezes at least 10 times an hour. The kids that I babysit were starting to act sick yesterday, so she may have gotten something. It's hard NOT to get something when she puts everything in her mouth. But it could also just be that she's teething. All 4 of her main top teeth are starting to poke through. I can't imagine that feels all that great.

If any of you know Ryan and I, you know that we are recluses. We don't go out much, and we prefer the comfort of each other and our own home to that of lavish events. A quiet game of Scrabble, a good movie or TV show, and a nice warm bed, that's our version of a good time. So, tonight when we had the family that I babysit for over for dinner, that was totally against our norm. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a recluse, but I do LOVE to have people over. I love cooking for people and getting to socialize. It just doesn't happen enough. Anyway, we had Emma, her husband Ryan, and their kids Elsa (11), Ben (2) and Adele (3) over for dinner, movies, and a game. To sum up what happened, it was more like this...the adults ate while Elsa played with Lilly (she LOVES Lilly. She even got her ready for bed and tucked her in), Ben and Adele played with all of Lilly's AND the kitty toys (actually, they ended up throwing all of the baby and kitty toys over the baby gate because they were "giving them to the kitties"). And when the two little ones got hungry, I gave them their favorite...."messy cheese." You all know it as shredded cheese, but that's what they call it. It's more than appropriate for how they eat it, too. I ended up with most of it on my carpet. Haha!

After stuffing ourselves on some seriously good and much-needed pork salad, we played a game called "Wits & Wagers." It was really fun. Emma brought over a carb-free cheesecake. The crust was made with flax seed and nuts. I wanted to kiss her for it! I loved having them over. They are seriously such a great family, and I'm so lucky to get to babysit for them. Oh, and don't worry, it only took me 3.5 seconds, after telling them goodbye and shutting the door, to clean up my house back to normal. Trust me, it was bad! Ha!

Oh, and we have TONS of leftovers. Yay for me!!

The take-home salads for Jack and his buddies.

The "spread". Everything was SO good. It was also very painful for me to have soda in my house, yet not be able to drink any. It's all gone now, so I won't have to be tempted anymore, thankfully.