{april SNOW showers bring...}

...restless kids and tired parents. We played at Luke's house today, but the kids really didn't want to be inside. Afterall, they had gotten used to playing outside and not having to wear winter coats. I guess I should know better, but I've put away most of our winter stuff and had to dig around for warm stuff. AND, this weather is supposed to last well into next week! Argh!

And for those of you who don't believe me, check this out:


my tulips:

That's about it for my exciting post! Have a good night!

{isn't it amazing that...}

...I'm 38 weeks pregnant?

...Gerard is over 3 1/2 years old?

...he's riding a real bike?

...it's Passover already?

...we just might be the only Jewish people within a 20 mile radius?

...our grocery stores carry NON-KOSHER FOR PASSOVER matzah ONLY so my Mom had to mail me some?

...not a single person here has heard of matzah meal?

...it was nearly 80 degrees last week and it's supposed to snow and barely reach the 40's starting on Wednesday?

...I took a few pictures today? Here they are:

Gerard and his new bike:




enjoying his "wine" at our sedar:


finding the afikomen:


Happy Passover! Goodnight!

{my april fool}

This weekend flew by, and I'm exhausted. I feel like we weren't home at all. Probably because we weren't! Saturday we had Luke's birthday party and we all had fun. Today we ran some errands and finally got Gerard that bike he wanted!!! The boys put it together today and Gerard got to ride it briefly before it started pouring. Hopefully it'll be nice this week (before the snow on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) and I'll take some pictures. He looks so cute!

Other than that, I really have no news. No baby yet. Less than 3 weeks from my due date, though! My parents will be here Thursday night, so as long as Morgan can hold off until then I'm fine. Oh, and we did get to tour the new Birthplace on Saturday. It opens up on April 15. They say that the first baby born there gets lots of gifts and his/her pics in the paper/news. I'm not sure I want to be the first, but it might be nice to go into labor on, say, the 16th. Keep your fingers crossed!!

And here's one picture of my April fool....


G'night!

{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!