Happiness Is...

Blue Sky Parfaits- blue jello and cool-whip

A shirtless toddler eating a snack after playing outside

The neon-green buds on my bushes in the backyard

Hope you are having a Happy Friday!

Fun-Filled Family Weekend

Last Friday afternoon we drove down to my in-laws' for the weekend.  That evening, we were headed uptown for a little party when Jacob noticed the fire station.  Those nice firefighters saw my kid pressed against the window like a little bug, so they invited us in, and even turned on the lights on the trucks!

For as brave as Jacob was beforehand, he got a little overwhelmed when they asked if he wanted to drive.  Did someone say, "Drive?" Jacob's favorite activity in the whole, wide world?  He just couldn't bring himself to do it, even if I sat with him.

On Saturday, we did a little shopping

(He literally crawled through Toys R Us pushing a car.  Good mom that I am, I just took a picture.)

We also visited Harrisburg, which was hit by a tornado a few weeks ago.  I think they have done an amazing job with cleanup, but there was still a lot of debris. 

What's totally odd is the randomness of the tornado.  I've always heard that but never seen it firsthand.  Some buildings were destroyed but maybe the building across the street only lost a few shingles.  Case in point:  the WalMart not 50 yards from this building was untouched.

On Sunday, we went to eat at Giant City Lodge.  It has such a neat atmosphere. 

See?  A buffalo!

And an eagle!

On the way home, we stopped to let the kids play at a place my niece and nephew call Castle Park, which is actually a cool little medieval climbing park built by an entrepreneur in memory of his son. 

It has all kinds of bridges and gargoyles and... medieval stuff... :)

It was here that we captured my favorite pictures of the whole weekend.

(The last one still makes me a little teary, hormonal pregnant lady that I am!  How lucky my kiddo is to have such great cousins!) 

We concluded our weekend by celebrating Brett's birthday a few weeks early and having an early Easter egg hunt.

We probably should have practiced hunting eggs, because Jacob didn't really catch on to it until about halfway through! Once he figured it out, he was all about it, though!

It was a fun-filled family weekend!

Enjoying the Warm Weather

It's been so nice outside that I haven't felt like sitting at the computer to blog!  Even though Jacob has had a little respiratory bug this week, we've been able to be outside a lot. 

Here's a quick picture recap of the week...

Lawn care season has started!  (note the somewhat scarcastic enthusiasm).  You can see Frank putting down fertilizer, and Jacob reeeally wanted to help. 

Trying every means possible to get outside.

In his cool-dude clothes for the Dressed to Thrill launch party on Wednesday morning.  You can't really see his canvas slip-on shoes, but they totally made the outfit.

Squeezing himself into the basket of the stroller, thinking he's being funny

and lots of tricycle-playing, even though he can't quite reach the pedals yet!

Friday Randoms

• The wind did indeed rip shingles off the roof over the garage again.  Only a few are gone this time, but since it was just last spring that the roofing guys were out to work on the same area of the house, I'm not really thrilled.  The wind was really strong, though-- some neighbors on another street lost siding on almost an entire side of their 2 story house.  That has to be more expensive than our issue.

• Jacob's words are cracking us up.  The other day he told my mom, "Gimmie kiss, Donna!"  Everything he says is really emphatic; I always picture exclamation marks after his sentences.  This week he's also said, "Wind blow my hair off!" and "Go downstairs!  Watch Clifford the red big dog!" and the funniest:  we were driving in the car and I swear he said, "I feel sick!  I need tea!"  He wasn't sick, I don't think, but I did get him some tea!

• My classes are keeping me fairly busy.  I told Frank a few days ago, that it isn't the academics that stress me, it's dealing with individual problems and situations from 62 people.  (All the teachers reading this just went, "Duh, Lori.") 

• I was invited to a launch party in a few weeks for a new business here in town specializing in little  boy's accessories.  It's run by a friend and fellow boy mom, so I'm pretty excited to see her collection.  Her website is http://idresstothrill.com/ if you want to check it out!

• Have you ever tried these:

We are big into Greek yogurt right now.  A cup has almost as much protein as a chicken breast.

•  The high temp is supposed to be 56 tomorrow and in the 60s next week!  Maybe spring really has sprung!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like... Spring!

Baseball Season (Almost)

Today is the Cardinals' first game of Spring Training!  Jacob dressed for the occasion.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Beef and Bean Cowboy Burgers



via



Usually the recipes I post are ones that I have tried and liked, but I haven't made this one yet.  It's on the menu for next week, but today is a windy, rainy day, and it would have been a perfect day for a warm, slow-cooker sandwich. 

 

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, sliced
2-pound beef boneless arm roast, trimmed of fat
1 can (16 ounces) baked beans
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeño chili (I'll be leaving this out)
12 onion kaiser rolls, split
1 1/2 cups prepared coleslaw

Prepare:

• Place onions in 3- to 4-quart slow cooker. Add beef. Top with baked beans and barbecue sauce.
• Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours.
• Remove beef from cooker; place on cutting board. Shred beef, using 2 forks. Return beef to cooker and mix well. Stir in chili (if using). To serve, place 1/2 cup beef mixture in each roll and top with 2 tablespoons coleslaw

If you test this out before Tuesday, let me know if I should go ahead and make it!