New toy and Meatballs

So, have I shown you our newest addition to our backyard?



Yes. We made the plunge and bought the BIGGEST trampoline ever for both of the kiddos' birthdays.

They love that thing and Baby Boy yells "tram-pine" every time he even looks out the back window and then starts jumping in place. We have put a little chair up next to the opening and I have taught the little dude how to climb in and out safely. He can do it by himself now and the kids jump in there really well together. David and I have gotten in there with them a bunch too and seriously - that is some cardio!!!

We have had to tone down our jumping enthusiasm a bit though because they love to sit in the center and play "crack the nut" where you jump really fast right next to the people in the center and they kind of go flying. I have made BB crash on a couple of them and have felt horrible. He, of course, just kept yelling "jump! jump!" while I was trying to comfort him. :-) Such a boy.

We are going to enjoy this new toy even more when the weather is less than the feel of Hades in July. We also are curious to see how they react when the trampoline is full of leaves this fall. I see lots of fun and jumping going on in big piles of leaves. Yay!

O.K. - now for the recipe. I tried a new one tonight for dinner and it was YUMMY. Since my hubby is home all this week from work and taking a little vacation to work on the house, the garage and also LG's bed, I am trying to do a lot of crockpot meals so I'm not living in the kitchen.

This evening we did Turkey, Cheddar, apple & cranberry meatballs. I think I lengthened the name of them a bit, but I wanted to tempt you with all the flavorful ingredients. I normally don't mix fruit with my meat, but these suckers were awesome. I didn't have cranberries on hand, so I used raisins and me and Dave gobbled them up. The kids were in another one of their picky moods, so they did more of just "staring" at them, but they were a hit with the adults and I will be making them again very soon. I served them with whole wheat penne pasta with a little butter and parmesan cheese and green beans.

I am considering making these again next week but doubling the batch and freezing them. Mine cooked super fast in my crockpot and I believe they were done at the 4 or 5 hour mark, but I left them on low for another 2 hours. I would put them in a little later next time.

Hope you enjoy this dinner idea.

Have a great night everyone!