Chocolatey Goodness in a Bowl

Ran across this today on another blog - should I even entertain the notion of making this? Hmm...I'd have to get a trifle bowl first I suppose so it'd look purdy too....maybe after I drop the rest of my baby weight....maybe someone else will make it and share it with me in the meantime and I won't feel so guilty - ha ha - seriously, it looks yummy - if y'all try it, let me know how it is. If and when I try it, I'll let y'all know how it is/was/etc. :) Enjoy!

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/05/29/brookes-chocolate-triffle/

Miss E's first "public" recital

You may recall we missed going to Miss E's first recital in the Fall due to ice on the roads and so forth (and instead had our own recital at home). If you'd like to hear it again, click here to go to that post from last Fall.


Well, thankfully we didn't have to worry about that for the Spring recital!

Here's Miss E at home ready to go to her first performance!



And, here she is performing in her first recital. Miss E played 3 pieces:

1. "a little piece I made up" (as quoted from Miss E)
2. "Rain Dance"
3. Sonatina for a Dinosaur (3 movements - everyone clapped between movements - not realizing the piece was fairly long and in 3 parts - Miss E told us later she tried to hurry turning her sheet music so everyone wouldn't clap :) )

I HOPE to share the recording from the recital very soon.



And, here, with her teacher, Mrs. C.



Over the summer, Miss E will have lessons with Mrs. C's daughter for June and July, then back to lessons with Mrs. C for the Fall and Spring. And, Miss A will be starting lessons this Fall - she is very excited!

Miss Baby is 4 months old today!

This morning I took the time to go ahead and get a picture of Miss Baby - she is 4 months old today!

She is full of sweetness and smiles. She's been trying to roll over, but hasn't succeeded just yet. I don't think it'll be too much longer at the rate she's going!

Happy 4 months Miss Baby!!!

Remember the diaper "quiz"?

Well, we finished off that crate of 264 diapers earlier this month and drumroll please.......

They lasted 34 days - whew!

The person who guessed the closest was Courtney with 36 days.

I'll be in touch Courtney and figure something out for a prize :)

We are on the second crate of the same size and I marked the date again just out of curiosity to see if they last for approximately the same amount of time. I'll let y'all know (especially for Heather who's in the last week(s) before her first baby is due and would probably be interested in such data for planning!)

Mr. A's Birthday!

Now, for a few pictures from Mr. A's birthday bash Friday night - well, it wasn't a bash, just the 7 of us having hot dogs, cake and ice cream followed by the opening of a few presents, but it sounded like a bash eventually...you'll see why.

First we started off with hot dogs and chips for dinner - one of Mr. A's favorite meals :)

Then, we followed with a green cake with green frosting and some Bluebell Vanilla Bean ice cream. Yum!


Here's Mr. A blowing out the candles......
And Miss Baby looking on from her highchair.....



When we asked Mr. A what he wanted for his birthday, he said "Green" :) and therefore, that was the theme of the cake. (a white cake with food coloring did the trick!).

Must be good!



Well, what's left after one of your favorite meals, cake, and ice cream? Presents, of course!

Mr. A's favorite movie is Toy Story and CKB and I found a plush Woody and Bullseye (not pictured) for him - now he has his own Woody just like Andy!


Finally, his very own BIG MagnaDoodle - for those of you with children, if you don't have one of these, get one, this is the ALL TIME BEST EVER "TOY" we've gotten the children - the girls, especially, have spent HOURS and HOURS drawing on these things. So much so that they're each on their second one! The smaller versions are great for car trips. The boys like them too, but the girls REALLLLY like them. (end of commercial)

Ah yes, his very own sword and shield. Sigh. What were we thinking?

Let the games begin! You'll notice Mr. A looks VERY happy and Mr. E looks a bit concerned. The girls in the background are both wearing green shirts in honor of Mr. A's birthday - wasn't that sweet? They thought to do that on their own that morning :)



Isn't that face priceless??? He's looking at a "color changing" hot wheels car. These are pretty neat - we discovered them a little while back and finally found a green one. These were great for getting Mr. A to take a shower (instead of a bath) w/o a bunch of fussing - the car stays in the freezer until shower time and then we grab it and go - it changes color in the warm water of the shower, gives him something to hold on to and is just a fun toy. (end of 2nd commercial)


Who's that stranger? Why, it's me. Believe it or not, I'm still out here - pictured with my 2 little ones - Miss Baby is wondering why Daddy has the camera for a change and Mr. A is just being himself :)


And here's Miss Baby after all the festivities - THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

Seeing Red...or "Pink"

Well, a few days ago we noticed Mr. A's right eye was a little red. Over the course of the weekend it became redder...and redder and he was waking up with "crusty eyes" along with the redness.

Having never experienced "pink eye" I wasn't sure if this was what we were facing or if he was having an allergic reaction to something he'd come in contact with and rubbed his eye afterward.

Last night we noticed his left eye was starting to become red. Oh joy. This morning it wasn't any better and the left eye was redder and crusty. Fun! I called and was able to get an appt. to take him to the dr. this morning.

Prognosis - pink eye (or eyes :) )

Apparently this is highly contagious by touch - fun - and Miss Baby has signs of it in her right eye as well - ack - so they're both on drops for 5 days to clear things up and strict orders are in place for LOTS OF GOOD HAND WASHING and NO TOUCHING YOUR FACE OR EYES!!!! We'll see if anyone else succumbs to this lovely mess - I sure hope not!

Here's Mr. A with his "scarey eyes" as the receptionist called them when we came in today.

WARNING:
(some images may be disturbing - not for the faint of heart - be forewarned!)

Mr. A - "Mama, what is wrong with my eye(s)???"



Mr. A - "Whaaaaaaat???"





Mr. A - "Whew, those eye drops were a piece of cake. AND, they're going to help my eyes get better - AND I got a lollipop at the Dr. office - what a great day!" ;)

Mr. A is 3 years old today!

Today Mr. A is 3 years old - time flies when you're having fun!

Mr. A is ALL boy, 100% - he likes to play with any and all action figures - his favorites right now are Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Spiderman. To the dismay of his siblings, he also likes to engage in swordplay - wooden swordplay, mind you, which does, in fact, hurt a lot when the sword misses its intended mark (the wooden shield wielded bravely by his brother or one of his sisters). If the sword is missing for the moment, never fear, Mr. A will improvise and grab the nearest lightsaber, pop gun, robot claw (or grabber, as they call it sometimes) and if those aren't available, a Hot Wheels track or section of train track will do - do you see a theme here? The boy is all boy!

While he is most definitely all boy, he is still sweet as sugar and gives the sweetest little kisses, but don't blink, because he won't stay put for long - he's always on the move.

Happy Birthday Mr. A - we love you!!!

Birthday photos to come after we celebrate tonight with CKB.

Guess who lives at our house?

The all time champion potty trainer of the world, that's who!

Mr. A will be turning 3 on Friday and due to a new baby, tired mama, etc. I put off potty training until this week. Thanks to the tips from Leandra (thank you Leandra, I'm soooo glad we had that conversation the other day!) I decided to try the underwear method instead of going w/Pull-ups. We started off the day w/underwear and after only 2 accidents, yes, 2, he has consistently been going to the bathroom - by the end of the first day he was even going and not telling me he needed to go! (yes, that is good and bad....some messes to clean up in the dumping of the potty chair, ahem, but anyway). Day 2 went well also and today is Day 3 - I am SOOO encouraged thus far about how well he's doing - I'm sure a lot of it has to do with being a little older, but hey, that works for me! With a 3 mo. old in the house, the easier this goes, the better!

Just wanted to share ANOTHER reason things are so quiet here in blogland - y'all take care!

Crockpot ideas for leftover chicken?

Hello all -

I'm looking for ideas for making use of leftover fried chicken. We found that our local grocery store has yummy fried chicken in their deli - the problem is that the "meal" we get is too much for our family. Leftover chicken is not my favorite thing - never tastes as good the second time around...but I thought MAYBE someone might have a crockpot recipe that calls for chicken and I could use it that way....anyone?

Thanks!

Out of the mouths of babes

Sweet little Mr. A came to the table for breakfast this morning and got a whiff of the apple cinnamon oatmeal....

Mr. A - Mmmm, something smells good. YOU smell good, Mama!

:)

I guess he thought it was me - hee hee.