{happy birthday, deb!}

Since we can't be there to celebrate with you, I thought I'd send along a cake.

And I thought I'd share another yummy Cooking Light recipe I made the other night:

New Orleans-Style Shrimp

Peel these at the table, and serve with a slice of crusty baguette. (FYI -- I omitted the butter at the end, only used 1 pound of shrimp, and served these with grilled veggies)

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 pounds unpeeled large shrimp
2 lemons, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
4 teaspoons butter, divided

Combine first 11 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°.

Fold 4 (16 x 12-inch) sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil in half crosswise. Open foil. Remove shrimp mixture from bowl; reserve marinade. Place about 2 1/4 cups shrimp mixture on half of each foil sheet. Drizzle remaining marinade evenly over shrimp. Top each serving with 1 teaspoon butter. Fold foil over shrimp; tightly seal edges.

Place packets on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Place on plates. Unfold packets carefully; peel shrimp, and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 packet)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 323(30% from fat); FAT 10.7g (sat 4.9g,mono 2.3g,poly 1.8g); PROTEIN 46.4g; CHOLESTEROL 363mg; CALCIUM 156mg; SODIUM 513mg; FIBER 0.8g; IRON 6.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 8.9g

Laura Martin
Cooking Light, APRIL 2007

{i hate coming up with post titles}

Another usual day... Gerard had school and since next week is their "spring break" they had their Easter party today. Cute. Nothing religious-y, mostly bunnies and eggs, and Gerard enjoyed it. What 3 1/2 year old boy wouldn't love running around outside searching in the dirt for candy-filled eggs? Here's a picture:

And here are a few from yesterday, just taking it easy on Mommy and Daddy's bed:

And for those of you who have been nagging me, I finally schlepped out the tripod and took some pictures of myself. By the time Gerard gets home from work, I'm usually in my pjs already and the last thing I want is for him to take pics of me then. So here's one I took, on a layout for Gerard's album:

purple background paper, recolored, by Michelle Coleman
heart stitches and border stitching by Shabby Princess
tag by Michelle Coleman
shmootzy alpha by Nancy Rowe Janitz
font is Mom's Typewriter

And, saving the best for last, tomorrow is Debbie's birthday! Happy Birthday, Debbie!!!!

Have a good night, y'all!

{a beautiful day!}

What a nice day! Gerard is over whatever bug he had and we literally played outside for 5 hours today. It was sunny and slightly cooler than yesterday, probably around 70 degrees. Gerard had so much fun! He was so excited that he got to wear "short pants and short sleeves". I hope he doesn't get too used to this yet, because it's supposed to SNOW this weekend. What's up with that?

Anyway, I thought I'd show you what I worked on yesterday while we were stuck in the house. I decided I wanted to make letters for Morgan's room, and instead of keeping them white like most people do, I thought I'd get a little creative. We're still working on a way to hang them, so for the moment they're just propped up on the ledge above her closet. I'll get better pictures (and some close-ups) when they're lower down.

And here are some pictures of Joe Cool, I mean Gerard, enjoying the weather (and MY sunglasses)...











Goodnight!!!

{new look}

I was getting bored with the old blog, so I thought I'd change it up a little. Please let me know if you think it's too hard to read with the darker background!

{poor gerard}

Ugh. Nothing like a sick 3-year old! Yesterday morning Gerard woke up and said his tummy hurt. We didn't really believe him, so we schlepped him around running errands and on the way home he fell asleep in the car. He hasn't napped in the afternoon in MONTHS, so we were thinking that he might really be sick. When we got home, we let him watch a movie and just relax. Not long after that, he started throwing up. I'm not sure exactly where he learned to throw up in the toilet, but he knows to try to get to the bathroom. It was so sad. :( He threw up a few more times and then we put him to bed. He woke up twice with a fever and tried to throw up again. Poor kid!

He woke up this morning a little cranky, but definitely feeling better. I think the worst part of the day was not being allowed to eat regular food (we kept him to toast and applesauce) and not being allowed to play outside with Maddie. Every time he heard a voice playing outside he'd want to go out. Oh well. Tomorrow, maybe....

That about sums up our weekend. Oh, except that I finally washed all the linens for Morgan's room and made up her crib. Her room is almost finished now. We just have to hang pictures. And I ordered the nightlight and switchplate that matches her bedding. Aren't these cute:


I hope everyone else had a healthier weekend! I'll write more tomorrow....

{shall we play a game?}

...spoken in my best "War Games" voice...

Debbie sent me this game, which has kept me awake way too late the last few nights. Maybe you can figure out some of these (we've gotten all but A, I, N and W). Click on the picture to take you to the actual site:

Please e-mail me or leave a comment if you get A, I, N or W. They're killing me!!!

The weather is finally cooperating here, if you don't count the crazy thunderstorms we had all last night. I was beginning to think I should have built that arc, but by noon or so today the sun was out and it was in the mid-50's. Beautiful. Of course, that meant we stayed at preschool with some of the other kids and played outside from 2:30 when school lets out until about 5:00. I'm pooped, and so is Gerard.

Oh, and here are a few random pictures I thought I'd share. The first two are how a 3-year old eats a bagel. Too cute to resist. The last one is a picture of big Gerard's latest project -- a new basketball net....

Have a good night!

{yummy dinner}

Mmmm, mmmm, tasty! I tried a new recipe tonight and it was delicious! Here's the recipe, from Cooking Light:

Peppered Chicken-and-Shrimp Jambalaya

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound skinned, boned chicken breasts, diced
6 ounces turkey kielbasa, halved lengthwise and sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 cup water
2 (16-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken, kielbasa, onion, and bell peppers; sauté 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently. Add rice; sauté 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add thyme, black pepper, and red pepper; sauté 1 minute. Add water, broth, and tomatoes; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes. Add shrimp and hot sauce; cover and cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are done. Remove from heat; stir in parsley.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 374(16% from fat); FAT 6.6g (sat 2g,mono 2.8g,poly 1.3g); PROTEIN 26g; CHOLESTEROL 65mg; CALCIUM 95mg; SODIUM 919mg; FIBER 3g; IRON 7.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 51.3g

Elizabeth Taliaferro
Cooking Light, JANUARY 1999

It really was very good -- a little spicy -- and was enough to feed an army. Next time I'll definitely halve the recipe (and still have enough for leftovers)!

* * * * * * *

Other than that, I once again have very little to report. Sorry. I do have two new layouts to share, though. Enjoy!

background paper by Maya
orange paper (recolored), swirls, staples and alpha by Shabby Princess
font is 2Peas Falling Leaves

white background paper by Michelle Coleman
inked edge overlay by Michelle Coleman
ledger paper by Kellie Mize
staples by Jenna's Belly Button kit
fonts are Boulder and Times New Roman

{the weekend is over}

Nothing new to report here, but I thought I'd show you the valence I made for Morgan's room. Nothing fancy, but I think I like it.

And one new layout, from our trip to the butterfly garden (once again, names and faces have been covered up or blurred to protect the innocent).

background papers, recolored, by Shabby Princess (no longer available)
butterfly stamp, recolored, by Shabby Princess (no longer available)
gel dots, recolored, by Shabby Princess (no longer available)
photo corner, recolored, by Heather Ann
eyelet by Anita Stergiou
font is Times New Roman

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Have a great week, too!

{butterfly pictures}

Youzers! I had a lot of pictures to go through! I'm sorry, but I've covered up Luke's face because I didn't want to post his picture on the web. You can still get the idea. The boys both had lots of fun, and Gerard slept like a ROCK last night.

at the fountain:

making a wish:

check out the beautiful flowers: looking for butterflies:
standing still hoping butterflies will land on them:
"hey check out that one!"
all hot and sweaty:
in the children's garden: building butterflies:
aren't these butterflies the cutest?
more in the children's garden:

And here are some of the butterfly pictures I took (I did my best to ID them correctly; feel free to correct me if you see any mistakes!):