This is the {best} after bath hair I have ever seen.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Early Evening Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!
Early Evening Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!
This is such an interesting site. Check out the cute clothes she is G-I-V-I-N-G away!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
11 Months old
Eliana turned 11 month old this week. And rather than chase her down for some {pretty} pictures, I decided to share Eliana uncensored.
Besides getting older, Ellie has started walking. Now, she's been standing and walking around furniture for at least 3 months, but she hasn't been interested in walking at all. She would crawl around and stop in the middle of the floor and stand up for a long time. But she never even tried to take one step alone. Then, last week, we were at a friend's house and she just let go and walked. It was truly amazing! Now she walks everywhere -- and gets into everything.
Besides getting older, Ellie has started walking. Now, she's been standing and walking around furniture for at least 3 months, but she hasn't been interested in walking at all. She would crawl around and stop in the middle of the floor and stand up for a long time. But she never even tried to take one step alone. Then, last week, we were at a friend's house and she just let go and walked. It was truly amazing! Now she walks everywhere -- and gets into everything.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Recipe for Leslie
Pasta with Sausage and Broccolini
2 bunches broccolini, cut into bite size pieces
1 pound orecchiette pasta, or other small pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound pork sausage (I use Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage)
3 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch dried crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Cook the broccolini in a large pot of boiling salted water until crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer the broccolini to a large bowl, saving the cooking water. Bring the reserved cooking water back to a boil.
Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into pieces with a spoon, until browned and juices form, about 12 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, when the reserved cooking water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally.
Add the broccolini to the pan with the sausage mixture and toss to coat with the juices.
Add the pasta to the skillet. Stir in the Parmesan and serve immediately.
(If you don't have broccolini in your store, you can use regular broccoli. You just have to steam it a little longer.)
2 bunches broccolini, cut into bite size pieces
1 pound orecchiette pasta, or other small pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound pork sausage (I use Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage)
3 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch dried crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Cook the broccolini in a large pot of boiling salted water until crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer the broccolini to a large bowl, saving the cooking water. Bring the reserved cooking water back to a boil.
Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into pieces with a spoon, until browned and juices form, about 12 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, when the reserved cooking water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally.
Add the broccolini to the pan with the sausage mixture and toss to coat with the juices.
Add the pasta to the skillet. Stir in the Parmesan and serve immediately.
(If you don't have broccolini in your store, you can use regular broccoli. You just have to steam it a little longer.)
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Here is where you can feel sorry for my boys and question my ability to be a fun parent. Every day my boys beg me to take them swimming at the YMCA. And I want to, I really do. Then I remember I have 4 children and one of them is Nicholas.
Now for those of you who are personally acquainted with Nicholas, that statement alone explains everything. Fearless, wild and fast are the words I would use to describe the joy that is Nicholas. So, we stay home and the boys make do with the hose in the back yard.
{This is Sam, who wants to play in the water, but avoid the hassle of getting water in his eyes.}
{This is Sam realizing he can spray himself in the face, and Benjamin who is obviously impressed by his brother's talents}
{And this is where they decide to fill up the lid to the sand box and go "swimming," but only after they beg me for the 473rd time to buy them the $400 pool at Wal-Mart.}
{This is Nicholas attacking the big boys, who are conveniently hiding behind their shield -- the basketball backboard.}
{Oddly enough, this went on for about 20 minutes before the big boys realized they could fight back}
{And fight back they did!}
{This is Sam, who proves all you need is a little imagination, diving off his diving board into his pool -- in other words, jumping off the teeter totter into the lid of the sand box.}
{Again in Slow Motion}
{And this is why you wear swim diapers every time you go swimming, even if it is swimming in a lid in the back yard.}
Now for those of you who are personally acquainted with Nicholas, that statement alone explains everything. Fearless, wild and fast are the words I would use to describe the joy that is Nicholas. So, we stay home and the boys make do with the hose in the back yard.
{This is Sam, who wants to play in the water, but avoid the hassle of getting water in his eyes.}
{This is Sam realizing he can spray himself in the face, and Benjamin who is obviously impressed by his brother's talents}
{And this is where they decide to fill up the lid to the sand box and go "swimming," but only after they beg me for the 473rd time to buy them the $400 pool at Wal-Mart.}
{This is Nicholas attacking the big boys, who are conveniently hiding behind their shield -- the basketball backboard.}
{Oddly enough, this went on for about 20 minutes before the big boys realized they could fight back}
{And fight back they did!}
{This is Sam, who proves all you need is a little imagination, diving off his diving board into his pool -- in other words, jumping off the teeter totter into the lid of the sand box.}
{Again in Slow Motion}
{And this is why you wear swim diapers every time you go swimming, even if it is swimming in a lid in the back yard.}Monday, June 23, 2008
My new favorite thing
My fantastic sister-in-law, Andrea, made this for Eliana's room. Do I not have the coolest sister-in-law ever?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Bows make the woman
I've been trying for a few weeks to get Eliana to hold still long enough to take her 10 month picture. Finally today she cooperated for a few minutes.
At first she was bow-less . . . cute, but not cute enough.
Add a bow and viola, here is our 10 month beauty! (well, as cute as she can get during the awkward new teeth phase)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Summer fun
Three posts in one day? This should take care of two months of blogging! For our enrichment this month, I did a little class on ideas for summer fun. Now, most of these are not my original ideas, and I didn't write down where I got them from (since I was just doing it for my family), so I apologize for not giving credit where credit is due. But I thought I'd share some of the fun ideas since I'm sure many of you, like myself, are already knee deep in summertime crazy.
SAY CHEESE! Purchase some disposable cameras and take your children to a scenic spot. Give them a basic tutorial in photography and then turn them loose with their cameras. Encourage them to take pictures of each other. Once the pictures have been taken and the film has been developed, help them to create a small scrapbook of their photography adventure.
Put on a Concert for Each Other - Have the children get all dressed up in their Sunday best, some costumes or a funny get-up that they come up with by going through the closets and mixing and matching some silly outfits. Have them practice a couple of their favorite songs. Then create a stage area at one end of the living room and put folding chairs at the other end. They could even make up some tickets and programs for their special concert.
Set up an Art Studio - You don't have to be fancy with art and you don't have to have everything just so, to get started. Just come up with a few ideas and go from there. You could set out some bottles of glue, old magazines and paper to make collages. Or, you could set out paper lunch bags, markers, your button jar, yarn and some glue for a puppet making station. Another idea would be to have an art contest using a particular medium. Be sure to present ribbons to
each entrant.
The "no" jar. Anytime your kids ask you to do something, and you say no, you write it on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. Then once a week, you let them pick something out of the no jar. (When we did this, our rule was that it had to cost little to no money to go in the jar).
Miss-matched meals. Everyone goes to the store and is assigned a part of the meal like main dish, side, dessert . . . Then split up and pick whatever want, and meet up at the check-out. You could have cereal with turkey and ritz crackers for dinner!
Theme meals -- Give your meals a theme -- we had a Star Wars dinner. We had a regular dinner, but the food was all named after the movie like yoda bites for green beans. We even had a picture menu to complete the meal.
Story time make and takes. Make a day around your favorite book. For example, Read books by Joost Elffers & Saxton Freyman, and try to create your own edible illustrations.
Science. Search the internet for Science Fair experiments. You’ll come up with hundreds. Easy ideas like “Do different brands of popcorn leave different amounts of un-popped kernels?” Make a baking soda volcano or make raisins dance.
Make your own file folder games. Web site “dgl.microsoft.com” has any kind of clipart imaginable. You can make games for letters, numbers, shapes colors, even reading. It’s easy and fun.
Get your kids writing! Give your kids a notebook and set aside a time each day for writing. They can talk about their day or create a story or draw a picture. It’s a great way for them to wind down.
Week of Color. Assign a color to each day of the week. Plan an activity and meal around that color. For example: On green day, you can go to the park or zoo (anything outside). Have green eggs and ham for breakfast and a salad for dinner. Decorate the table with the color and encourage the kids to wear the color of the day.
Camping. Set up your tent in the back yard. Have foil dinners and make microwave smores. Tell scary stories at bed time.
Create a summer olympics in your back yard. Set up an obstacle course. Have water balloon beach volleyball tournaments. Have a otter pop relay race.
Grocery Shopping. Get your kids involved in meal planning. Buy (or check out from the library) a kids cookbook. Have them pick one meal a week and be responsible for finding the ingredients at the store. Give the kids your coupons for the week and have them find the items. Give the little kids a picture shopping list. Have the older kids help you save money by picking out the “cheapest” products.
Tents. Never underestimate the power of a tent made from sheets draped over chairs. It will occupy children for hours!
Have a family taste test. Buy multiple brands of one item -- like chocolate, soda, chips, ice cream . . . and conduct a blind taste test to see which brand is your family favorite. (This can get pricey, so we only do it once a month). We did Orange juice last week, and it turns out that although we've been buying Tropicanna for years, we like Simply Orange the best.
Make a Time Capsule. This has to be one of the most exciting activities of all time for kids. Give them a plastic jar with a lid or a sturdy box. Have them fill it with little trinkets and notes that will remind them of the past year. Or pick a theme (like sports, books, travel, etc) and have them will the jar with treasures new and old. They can bury it somewhere in the yard and dig it up in next summer.
A List Of Kid-Friendly Websites
This site has a really fun list of kid-friendly sites. There's something for nearly every age here!
http://www.blogher.com/list-kid-friendly-websites
On a roll . . .
We had the BEST pasta for dinner last night. I found the recipe on-line, but I can't tell you where. I hesitated making it because I knew my kids would hate the zucchini, but Josh picked it for his father's day dinner. And I'm so glad he did because it was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! (the kids ate everything but the zucchini, so I can classify this as a success.)
Belle’s Favorite Pasta
Ingredients:
1 pound of linguine noodles
about 2/3 cup parm cheese
chicken and apple sausage cut in small pieces (I just grilled some chicken instead)
zucchini cut in small pieces
sweet baby tomatoes
7 cloves of garlic crushed (really, the more, the better)
1 and half tsp. of dried oregano
extra virgin olive oil
Put whole baby sweet tomatoes, zucchini, crushed garlic, oregano, in a baking pan and drizzle a nice coat of olive oil, add some kosher salt and pepper. Then put it into a 400 degree oven until the tomatoes are about to or have popped. This usually takes about 25-30 minutes.
Cook linguine according to package. drain.
Brown sausage pieces in olive oil until nice and colored.
Add sausage, linguine, tomatoes/zucchini mixture together into a big bowl and pop the rest of the tomatoes ready to ooze sweet fresh tomatoes juice onto them. Add parmesan cheese and mix. Add salt to taste.
Belle’s Favorite Pasta
Ingredients:
1 pound of linguine noodles
about 2/3 cup parm cheese
chicken and apple sausage cut in small pieces (I just grilled some chicken instead)
zucchini cut in small pieces
sweet baby tomatoes
7 cloves of garlic crushed (really, the more, the better)
1 and half tsp. of dried oregano
extra virgin olive oil
Put whole baby sweet tomatoes, zucchini, crushed garlic, oregano, in a baking pan and drizzle a nice coat of olive oil, add some kosher salt and pepper. Then put it into a 400 degree oven until the tomatoes are about to or have popped. This usually takes about 25-30 minutes.
Cook linguine according to package. drain.
Brown sausage pieces in olive oil until nice and colored.
Add sausage, linguine, tomatoes/zucchini mixture together into a big bowl and pop the rest of the tomatoes ready to ooze sweet fresh tomatoes juice onto them. Add parmesan cheese and mix. Add salt to taste.
Kindergarten Graduation
This is shamefully overdue -- but here are some pictures of our recent kindergarten graduate. He was so excited to be done with school . . . until he had to say good-bye to his teacher. He started to cry, it was so sweet! She reminded him that she just lives two doors down, and that seemed to help. Still, he told her that he hoped she would get a promotion so that she could be his first grade teacher. And now he tells me that it wouldn't be so bad if he went to kindergarten again (Yeah right!) Let's hope his first grade teacher is as lovable.
Benj and Mrs. Watley
Benj and his partner in crime Sayer
Monday, June 02, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
One of the BOYS
That's right -- this post is about Eliana. Our little princess has discovered the car box. We used to buy each boy a car when we went grocery shopping. As a result, we have close to 500 hot wheels cars. And the boys love to play with them! Sadly, so does Ellie. She loves to pick up handfuls of cars and throw them back into the box. She spends more time at the car box than Nicholas. I even caught her mimicking Nicholas by making a car noise "vroom". What is a mother to do? I had visions of tea parties and dress up and painted fingernails and my little pony land . . . Now I'm wondering if I should just buy Danica Patrick posters for her room.
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