friends and memories...

this post has two quick purposes...
yesterday was "bring a friend to ballet day" during alivia's class.

and naturally she brought her friend lexi,
honestly, i don't know who else she would ever pick for anything.

anyway, it was cute. and it amused me to see just how much alivia follows lexi (who is 2 years older) around.
not that she is much of her own person otherwise (she tends to be a follower). but with lexi in her class yesterday i just noticed alivia watched her every move so that she could do exactly as she did.

which got me thinking just how important it is to know who my children are taking interest in. already at the age of 3 i see the tendency to "fit in"....
yea, that was my thought on that. is it sad that this was the lesson i took home for the day?

don't get me wrong....
it was adorably adorable as usual.
and lexi said she liked ballet better then gymnastics....
which wasn't my plan alyson, cross my heart!


now, onto tonight...
alivia is my all time helper while i am preparing dinner.
seriously, this girl lives to cook in the kitchen these days. which shouldn't be a surprise to me i suppose. she has restaurant blood running through her veins after all.

i recently found this AWESOME web site, kim showed it to me. when you first go to it you decided how you cook...
example: i cook for a family.
then you put where you tend to do the bulk of your weekly shopping...
example: i tend to shop at publix.

then (brace yourself, cause this is where this site rocks) it gives you 7 meals for the week, it gives you directions on how to prepare them...
and it bases the menu off of what is on SALE that week at your store!

yep, the greatest thing since strawberry pie!
i have actually been getting compliments on my dinners from both my kids, my husband, and my friends!

i've been learning alot about cooking that i didn't already know as well (i know, i know... shame on me for not knowing).


OK, so, sometimes it has fish meals. i had never cooked fish before in my life, let alone have to buy it at a grocery store. but, i am making myself try these new things, and i love any kind of sea food. like seriously love it! so, now i can prepare it myself and not have to go out to eat to get it! :)

now, back to last night.
the meal was shrimp hogies. and yes, they were really good!
as i was pealing my little shrimpies, alivia, was right there beside me making a mess of her one, with a sour look on her face that said "this was what i will be forced to eat for dinner tonight?". she has never eaten shrimp before. i dared her to try one. she did...
and she loved it. which reminded me of when i was a little girl watching my dad eat shrimp. i was rather grossed out at the thought of eating bate that we used to catch fish (OK... it wasn't the actual bate but it was the same idea).
and my dad dared me to try one. which, was the start of my love for all things sea food.

i don't know...
it was a good memory that just kinda made me chuckle.