Caution Ahead

If you live in Michigan (or any other state ) which has been hit by an awful winter of weather I'm sorry...I really have no room to complain...but I'm gonna, just a little!

The above photo was taken just a couple days ago....spring is coming or NOT!
Today! March 29!
At least someone is enjoying it!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter and hope you did as well! After church we headed to G & G's house for brunch. Grandma gave all the kids sunglasses ...they may just need them in a couple weeks!!!!

Need a new recipe?

Since I was typing this up for someone else I thought I'd post this delicious recipe. It is from my friend, Janelle (otherwise know as Alec's mom) :)

Pasta Primavera

1/2 lb uncooked pasta
2 cups (1-inch) diagonally cut thin asparagus (about 3/4 lb)
1/2 cup shelled green peas (about 3/4 lb unshelled green peas)
1 tsp olive oil
cooking spray
2 chicken breasts
1 small yellow bell pepper, cut into julienne strips
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minces
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
2/3 cup fat-free, les-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add asparagus and peas during the last minute of cooking. Drain; place in a large bowl.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Cook chicken, add bell pepper, onion, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add tomatoes; sauté 1 minute. Stir in broth, whipping cream, salt and red pepper; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
3. Add tomato mixture to pasta mixture; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and basil. Serve immediately.

A Happy Tune

It's a new favorite song around our house. The best is when everyones belting it out in the car (that didn't work out to well to get the video) but this is as good as I could get for the moment. It still makes me smile. Yes, we're all aware that we originally heard it on the MacBookAir commercial but we're okay with that, it makes us happy.

And...you know you have good neighbors when....you let your kids go across the street to ask the neighbor boy to play and they never come back home and you realize they've made their way into the neighbors house. So I call the wonderful neighbor to see what's going on. She says "they're fine, they're playing great in the basement, they can stay for a while....oh, and by the way, Gabe (the neighbor boy who they went over to play with in the first place) is playing at the other neighbors house." Karen, you're a saint! :)

I've been tagged!

My new old friend (if that's even possible!) Melissa has tagged me. We were friends at Calvin and I don't think I've talked to her since we've graduated 14 (YIKES!) years ago! And I'm so excited to see her this summer...she's taking our family picture!! So here we go.

The rules: Link to your tagger and post these 3 rules on your blog.* Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1.) I love a good movie/TV show but hate watching reruns or rewatching a movie.

2.) My brother and I rode to Alaska from Michigan in the back of a pickup truck on a lawn chair (there was a canopy over us, and it was made nice and cozy but it still was a LONG BUMPY ride!) AND we didn't kill each other! :) I've learned sibling rivalry is inevitable.

3. I love a good challenge...whatever it may be.

4. I need at least 1 Diet Coke and some sort of chocolate every day.

5. I've been having so much fun connecting with old friends over on Facebook. Many I haven't talked to since high school or college graduation!

6. I have NEVER had a high school reunion. I'm considering setting up a virtual ones over on Facebook!

7. I hate it when people tell me I have my hands full. :) Just join me sometime in the Costco food court....or better yet watch me from the checkout line while I try to eat lunch with my tribe in the Costco food court. (Kathy has witnessed this)

Okay, I did it!! So now I tag Kathy, Traci, Amy A. (welcome to the bloggin' world my friend!) , Haddox, Amy VD, Angela, Lisa B.

A little home decorating

I guess I never realized that they cared about their room and what it looks like. The boys share one big room downstairs and I've gotten as far as painting it and that's about it. There is absolutely nothing on the walls. They were painting the other day and kept telling me it had to go on their walls since there was nothing there. So we rounded up some old frames and they picked the spot for each of their pieces of art to go. Tylers is a Bionicle if you can't tell. :) Good work, fellas! This is how many days until we leave on our road trip this summer. :)The picture doesn't do this paper chain justice but it's LONG. Mia didn't choose our spring break trip or her birthday to countdown to, she chose our summer vacation.

A little birdie told us...

...that it's someones birthday! Happy Birthday, Dave! Hope you have great day!

In other news, these guys....all 4 of them, are mad at me! Don't worry, I'll get over it. :) We're selling our beloved stroller and this was the last "official" ride in the stroller. All 4 of them protested quite loudly. It will be going for sale, soon. You, our dear RunAbout, have been so good to us but we need a little more room in the garage.

A couple "oldies" but goodies. I think this was one of the first rides in the stroller. It was in March, so the boys were about 4 months old. We were desperate to get out of the house so we went for a lot of walks.

One more just because...

Here's one more little guy we have been praying for, Dale and Kathy's baby, Alex! He's 6 months old and doing great! (Kathy may post some but I had to use at least 1!) :)

Just because...

...I couldn't resist. I got to take a few photos of "Baby Alec" today. He's truly a miracle! And at his 9 month check up today he was told his heart wasn't slowing him down one bit.

It's a holiday after all.

A girl after my own heart! Trying out her camera she got for Christmas.
Since it was a holiday today it was all play and no work today. (for me and the kids at least) Since there was no school we headed to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and so great to be outside after many, many, many weeks of rain.

Thank You

Thanks for the play-doh suggestions, ladies. I think I figured out what I did wrong...instead of adding 1/2 CUP salt I did 1/2 TSP. salt, oops! This time it turned out much better. I thank you but the boys do not. They honestly thought it was their turn to get "sticky"

Procrastinator

I am such a procrastinator! So, I'm rewarding myself with a little blog time after I get a basket folded. It really is the only way it's going to get done! And to think, one of my friends doesn't even own a laundry basket (oh, that's right, she received one as a gift!) :)

On a side note, why do we bother to give our kids baths at night when we're tired and they're tired? Holly and Tyler have been in the tub for about an hour playing so good (and Lucas and Joey have been sleeping).

One more thing, be sure to go on over to this great blog and wish her a VERY HAPPY "$)th" birthday (FYI...the symbols are replacing the correct numbers if you care to figure it out). She might just KILL me but it will be worth it. Happy Birthday, Lisa!!! Hope you had a great day.

Taking Reservations

This past weekend Eric and I went up to Whistler, BC for the weekend with some friends. It was "the girls" turn to come up with a "suprise" for Valentine's Day (our planning wasn't near as good as the guys...from last year) It also happened to be Eric's birthday, too. The guys did some skiing and we shopped in the village and also made them dinner at the condo. It was a beautiful weekend with tons of snow and lots of sun. This now leads me to my title....Whistler and Vancouver are busy getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics. There are lots of changes going on up at Whistler and it's going to be awesome! They have a lot of the signage up telling what is going to take place where. Some of the events will be as close at 20-30 minutes from our house! So if anyone is wanting to "reserve a room" at the VH bed-and-breakfast do so now! Rates are great, you just have to put up with a lot of noise!

Thanks for the comments on the play-doh recipes, we'll have to try those soon. Thanks for dropping in Anne and leaving a note! :)

Seriously....a snow day.

It snowed about 3 inches last night and was a little windy this morning so school was cancelled! :P I love the snow but wasn't mentally prepared for a snow day. When Eric got home tonight they all went out 1 more time and built a snowman.Does anyone have a good homemade play-doh recipe? We tried the one in the February Family Fun but as you can see, it did not work!

Joey was sick over the weekend. Just running a high fever and no energy. He took a nap on Saturday in his bedroom and when he woke up he must have gotten tired climbing the stairs and crashed.

Looks can be deceiving :)

Something I found funny

Holly just asked me when we were going to Grandma R's house because she needed something mended. This is not unusal since we usually save things for Grandma to mend when she comes. I said "Actually, she's coming here in a couple months and she's bringing her sewing machine with her." Holly quickly replied "YES, YES, YES!!! I need her to sew on this button.(showing me one of her dolls dresses)" Just to be clear I CAN sew on a button but if she wants to wait for Grandma, I won't stop her! :)

15 shots!

L,T, and J had their 4 year well checks this morning. And yes, I chose to do their kindergarten shots at this appointment rather than wait 1 more year, then they would be one year bigger and stronger and that would not be good! Our awesome pediatrician took 2 boys "exploring" while I pinned the other one down on the exam table and poor Nurse Carol stuck them each 5 times! (where's Aunt Joan when I need her...you missed a good one today Aunt Joan) :)
Either I got used to the screaming more with each kid or I chose the right order to do them because Tyler almost lost his voice he screamed so loud, Joey wasn't quite so loud and Lucas, "well" (that's his word) he didn't do to bad. They calmed down quite quickly afterwards with a treat from the treasure box and a piece of Bazooka bubble gum from Dr. Monica.
On a more fun note the "statistics" continue to be quite amazing. Lucas and Joey are EXACTLY the same once again at 37 lbs and 39 3/4 inches, Tyler isn't to far behind at 36 lbs and 39 1/4 inches. I think our days of lots of shots at one appointment are about over. I should have had my camera...what was I thinking. :)

Nothing new

It's the middle of January and not a whole lot going on. But I'm feeling a little better about the Polly Pockets being almost picked up (as long as I shut my eyes when I walk into Holly's room!) and we've moved onto Legos. Whew...I was getting worried. Although, my friends seem to think I deserve it! :P I asked Joey to smile at me and he said he was to busy. Tyler, on the other hand needed to get as close as possible to the camera to make sure he was in the picture.I am having fun playing with my new birthday present...thanks, Mom and Dad! It's a Wacom Bamboo Tablet. The problem is my artsy daughter thinks she needs to use it as much as me! :)

work in progress

unfortunately I can't sit and mess with this all day so stay tuned...hopefully a "new look" will show up some time in the next couple days. :)

Why do we even bother....

to buy Christmas presents? About a week ago, I took out my old (20ish years old) keyboard and they think it's a kick. And the boys are on day 2 playing with the Polly Pockets...like ALL day! I asked them why they weren't playing with their new, super cool Playmobile Pirate Ship and other new toys and they just shrugged their shoulders and kept playing. Oh well...they're playing nicedly together and that's the key, right!

In other news ...just a reminder to be cheering for your favorite NFL team tomorrow....GO SEAHAWKS!!!!! It was Seahawk day at school today and Mia got all decked out.

Just reminiscing.

Mia asked me today when the boys had come home from the hospital after they were born. Lucas and Tyler came home on January 12 and Joey was 5 days later in January 17. It still is hard to believe
1.) that we had triplets....who has triplets?!? :)
2.) They are 4 years old
3.) Mia and Holly were REALLY little!!!
The first night we had everyone home I remember thinking there is a lot of responsibility here under 1 roof!
(of course after thinking about them as babies I had to look back at some pictures and of course I had to share! And I was very OCD about the order in photos the first year so in the first two pictures I know it is Lucas, Tyler and Joey )

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best in 2008! We had no big plans for the day but decided to head to the bowling alley for a few games....you can't go wrong with bowling on New Years! A great way to start the year!

Why is it that Boys usually play better together outside.... (we got just a dusting of snow, now it's just wet and slushy but they still wanted to playoutside for a while)
and Girls do better getting meeting somewhere to "chat"? One of the favorite gifts this year for us was Webkinz. Here, Holly, Mia and Mia's friend are all finding each other in Webkinz World.

Ahhhh, Christmas

Christmas Eve we enjoyed a fun night at home with the kids opening presents after church. Mia (with a little help from Dad) made me a jewelry box. Very cute!Christmas Day we headed to Grandpa and Grandma's house. Lots of noise, food and fun!

That old saying is so true...you can pick your friends but not your relitives! :) Merry Christmas, Dave.