Cauliflower & Macaroni

This is not something I would have ever tried if my husband hadn't made it for me. I mean hot cauliflower with macaroni....didn't sound appealing to me. Now, it is one of my favorite dishes. Added bonus, the kids L-O-V-E it! We steam 2 whole heads of cauliflower.
While you are boiling the ziti, cook about 6 cloves of cut-up garlic in 1/2 cup of olive oil. Add about 3 stalks(is that the right word?) of italian parsley right before you remove the oil. After you have drained the ziti, pour all of the garlic olive oil onto the ziti.
Mix it well, so that it is all over.
Add the cauliflower and here is the secret. Pour 1/2 of the water that you cooked the cauliflower in....into the dish. I swear, it is so delicious. As you can tell from my Chef Boyardee kitchen language, Charles is the cook in the family.

My, what tiny feet you have.

My almost 16 month old is adjusting her straps on her sandals. Aren't they fun...so pink. They were bought for Lindsey and never used because her feet grew so fast. Yes, my baby is tiny. She is still in a size 2 shoe.
Had to show this pic because I love how she has curled up her toes to grab onto the shoes. She undid the straps herself and this was the first time she has stood in any type of shoe.
Here she is walking in them. Is it me, or is it normal for a 15 month old to go get the shoe, undo the straps, lift up their foot to put it into the shoe, and velcro it shut? I swear, I don't remember any of my others doing that so early. I mean, while standing she puts her leg into her pants and helps me dress her!!??! Isn't that great or were my others just really behind? Either way, I am very proud of her and she just smiles the biggest smile when she does it.....and for her to be proud of herself, well, that is all that matters.

After 3 times, am I allowed to cry

...over spilled milk? I mean, seriously, 3 times in 2 hours. How does that happen? Michael knocked over his cereal bowl exactly where the leaf of the table is. So, that was interesting trying to catch the milk before it hit the rest of the table and floor. Once that was clean we had to literally run out the door to get Lindsey to VBS on time. During the drive there, Natalie's sippy cup insert came out and milk was flying. Lucky for me, Lindsey sits next to her and grabbed the cup before it went everywhere. Okay, so once we got home, I put Natalie down and started cleaning up the messy kitchen I had left behind. Natalie decided to help. She walked over to the table and grabbed Lindsey's cereal bowl that, you guessed it, was half full of milk & Cap'n Crunch. How she did not dump it on herself, I will never know. The floor got a good milk bath, that's for sure. So, am I allowed to cry? Don't even get me started on Michael throwing up in the car. I am sure you can guess what it was that he drank.

Tuesday, the new Monday.

While it is a cool picture, this has been what I have been dealing with all day. UGH! While chasing Natalie out of the bathroom, I notice something blue in the toilet(oh, no...not another toy that will cost us $200 to get out of the pipes). No, no toy. Just this.

A $32 bottle of this. Everywhere. Okay, I got it for free with a purchase, but still it's the point. Guess they thought the toilet need buffing?

On a happier note, Natalie is totally walking everywhere. If you ask her to bring something to you, she does. She is so aware of everything going on. She is now saying milk, yes, Mama?, WOW, YEAH, and ME!

Also, Lindsey has VBS all week. She is loving it. They are the secret agents of God. So fun. They are finally napping and Tyler is hovering(THAT drives me crazy) off to the laundry room I go.

She has moved!

I don't know if I have really talked about this before, but Natalie sleeps in our room. Her crib and diapers take up most of our room. That all ended today! We(Charles) have been working on her room whenever we(again, Charles) had a chance. Here are some updated photos. A few more touches need to be done.............. Had to show the cutie:)

Have to still do the shadowbox...spray paint the wastebasket....etc.
I am going to be putting up more pics next to this one above her crib.
More pics of our sweetie.

Every little girl's room needs a piggy bank and flowers!

Charles and my dad closed in our back porch. Natalie's room is about 13' by 8' and the rest of the porch is to be our playroom/family room. I am very proud of what Charles has accomplished. How blessed are we that we are able to provide each of our children with their own room? Thank you Charles for all that you have done for us.

***I am so happy that she is sleeping well in her new bedroom, but oh, how I will miss having her near by. I love her so.

Bowling & Boys.

Saturday, Lindsey went to a bowling party. Unfortunately, I did not have any luck with my camera. There were ALOT of kids there...3 in our lane were toddlers. She had a good time no matter how many pins she knocked down. I think she just loved that her shows glowed.
I put these two pictures for you to see the little boy that chose to sit next to her. This is Henry, he is from her preschool class. Is he the cutest little man you have ever seen? He always seems to be near Lindsey or talking to her. So cute. Now that I think of it, she played with all the boys at the party. Also, please note that Lindsey was eating pizza with cheese on it! Normally, she is scraping it off.

Tyler the T-bird.

Tyler finished up his summer theater camp on Friday. They did their production of Grease. Let me tell you these kids did so great. They only had 5 days to learn everything, I was really impressed. Here is Tyler harassing one of the girls.
Getting ready for his big part:) How do you like the jacket? They made those themselves. He didn't need a mic to be heard.
He was incredible and we are so proud of him. I think I got a little emotional because he was playing a part where he was " one of the guys" and Tyler doesn't get to do that here in the real world. It saddens me that he has no friends of his own. You never know what this year will bring...maybe, just maybe, he may find a true friend.

#29

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! Hope you have a great weekend away!

Two cooking cuties.

With another day of 108 degree weather, we stayed inside after delivering Tyler to camp. Lindsey and Michael decided to make pumpkin muffins. It was refreshing to see them work together.
A favorite of mine. How bout that farmer tan? He waited patiently(a pleasant surprise) for Lindsey to fill the muffin tin.
Another fun pic. I love his eyes...they are really a beautiful brown. No picture of the finished snacks. They gobbled them up fairly quickly.

New occupation~~~Taxi Driver.

I can't believe it, but I calculated how long we were in the car today....5 HOURS. Huh? We took Tyler to his theater camp(he is totally loving it, by the way~~Mom, the teenage boys are nice to me here), then came home to rush out to a doctor appointment for little miss Natalie. She is coughing this really weird cough that the doctor couldn't hear and thinks will go away on its own. Came back home for a little bit before picking Tyler up at camp. Right after camp we had to take him to his social skills class. Drove all the way home for potty breaks and went back to get him. I am NOT going anywhere else tonight. Although, I need to go shopping in a serious way.

In between all that driving action, we washed the car inside and out. The car now has a fun pattern of dirt, soap suds that dried on, water spots, and really clean areas.
They had a good time. They were very serious about their jobs.

Extra info:
Natalie weighs 19lbs 11oz. She got two more shots and was a real little trooper.

Tyler was practicing the hand jive for his show and Lindsey announced she wanted everyone to see her "ribbon" aka rhythm. Tyler thought that was funny(he is really making strides, yay!)

I have 4 pieces of good mail to send....hopefully tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Kyra!!! 5 looks good on you!

Happy Birthday, Alec.

Alec and Tyler circa 2004

We hope you had a great day, Alec. 12 years old. How did that happen?

2 for 2.

I thought I would try to go to the park again with the kids. We were on time to Tyler's camp and no one had any bathroom emergencies. I even remembered the sunblock! After a couple of slides,
several poses,
and a few mini
walks, Lindsey announced she had to go potty RIGHT now. And she did. I am beginning to wonder if something is wrong, she has never done this kind of thing before.....even when we were potty training her. Being so hot here, she is really drinking alot....alot of water. Anyhow, not sure if I will be taking them to the park again tomorrow. Maybe....the 3rd time is usually the charm right?

The perfect ending to a not so perfect day.

Good mail always sends the grumpies away. Stacy, from I Believe Designs made me this fantabulous bag.
Don't you love it? Want one? Go to www.ibelievedesigns.com to find what you fancy.
This along with a little surprise in the pocket really put a smile on my face. Thanks, Stacy.
Also, Charles' Aunt Nancy sent him some yummies from home. His favorite pasta and treats. Thanks for thinking of him!

Oh, yeah. It is Monday.

Tyler had camp this week at CYT. Christian Youth Theater. They are doing Grease....not sure how that applies to Christian youth, but anyhow. We had to be out of the house by 8:2o to get there by 9am. As we are leaving our neighborhood, we(Tyler) realized we hadn't packed a lunch for him. By the time we get back on the road it is 8:45. We might make it, Tyler.....fast forward to 9:15am. Lucky for me, Tyler didn't wig out because we were late. I kept explaining to him that we paid for the camp, if we are late it is really our loss. But, because we were late I had to tell his leader about his autism in front of a couple of kids. I felt so bad doing that....like he doesn't have a hard enough time fitting in. It all worked out though. I decided to take the kiddies to the park. Stopped at home to get waters/snacks and got to the park around 10am. The kids were so excited to have the whole park to themselves. Michael was beside himself because there was 4 jackrabbits just sitting in the grass. He was squealing... so cute. I set Natalie down in the shade and I hear, "I have to go potty...really, really bad". No bathrooms at this particular park and in an emergency, we would have tried another option....no privacy anywhere. So, we all had to pile in the car again. We make it home by 10:30am. What did I do for 2 hours? Drive....SO, I decided this day was just not working out, so we stayed home and swam in the pool. It worked out better that way. Tyler had a good time, but was disappointed he didn't get a lead in the play. He is one of the T-birds. It should be fun to see.

Tomorrow is going to be a better day.....it is really.

Happy Father's Day!

You do so much for our little family....we are so blessed to have you as ours. We love you.

The Phoenix Zoo.

Saturday, we went to the zoo. It is really an amazing zoo....a lot of fun things for everyone.....when the weather is not 112 or so. Although it was super hot, we made the best of it. There was a really fun treehouse that the kids really enjoyed.
Making a decision together....to go up or go inside and slide down?
An unanimous vote for climbing up! I love that Lindsey is following her brother for once. Are the control tides turning?
Lindsey let us know that it was her castle.
I L-O-V-E this picture. The way her skirt is fanned, that they are sitting together and watching the turtles(never seen them with algae all over their shell before), or how Michael is trying to emulate his sister.

I may be out of it, but I have never seen a flower like this before. Isn't it gorgeous? Very unique. To me anyhow:)
After a long walk to the petting zoo, where no one wanted to pet the animals, a slurpie was necessary to cool off. Really, we fed Natalie ice chips. She was so hot, poor baby.

Grandpa Duryea would be so proud of his tractor driving grandkids.
Taking a much needed break.

Photos got mixed up....sorry. Here is our cutie at the hotel after the hot zoo trip. Her cheeks were still rosy red.
Bonding over a moose.
The best part of their day.
This is Michael when the carousel started. He was so excited. Notice he hopped on the triceratops or as he often calls them "tree-horns".
At the gift shop, trying to cool off. They decided on Safari kits. They have really gotten alot of enjoyment out of them.