Easter pics

In looking through photos from the last few weeks, I realized that I had saved a draft of the Easter pics, but had never posted them. So... here is an Easter update, although Easter was almost a month ago, etc.

First, we went to an egg hunt at our next door neighbors. So fun! The girls hunted eggs with their grandson and had a blast. They added a new addition, another grandson, at the beginning of May, and we are excited that our new addition, as well as the girls, will have them as playmates.

After the egg hunt, we went to church the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. Our church adds a Saturday night service to make sure there is plenty of room for the Easter crowds the following Sunday. After returning home and having a quick dinner, we prepared some carrots for our friend, the Easter Bunny, and left that tasty dish on the front porch as a snack.

The next morning, the girls were excited to find that the Easter Bunny had, indeed, found his snack and had obviously devoured most of it.

Closer inspection revealed that the Easter Bunny left behind some convincing nibble marks on the carrots! How exciting!

We invited all of the grandparents over for lunch, and they all made their way as soon as their Sunday services wrapped.

Hippity Hoppity!

After lunch, we hunted eggs again.

Finally, the egg hunting became too much work, and we called it a day.

Easter 2011:

Recipe of the week: Texas 2-Step Chicken

This recipe is courtesy of Skip. 

On nights when Mexican fare seems tasty, but a standard "taco night" (which we LOVE, by the way) seems too predictable, the below is a quick, go-to recipe. 

Texas 2-Step Chicken:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups salsa
3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 cups cooked rice

Directions:

1)  Mix sauce, sugar and mustard.
2)  Place chicken in 2 quart shallow baking dish.
3)  Pour salsa mixture over chicken.
4)  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Serve with rice. 

Additions:

1)  We also sprinkle shredded Mexcian blend cheese over the chicken, once cooked. 
2)  Instead of serving with rice, you can also shred the chicken and make soft chicken tacos. 
3)  Definitely do not forget the chips and salsa appetizer or, more importantly, chips and cheese dip. 

Enjoy! 

31 Weeks

Thirty-one weeks down and only nine to go.  We now have appointments every two weeks, and I have some physical therapy appointments thrown in for fun.  Although I feel really large, I am measuring right where I am supposed to be.  I will never, as long as I live, forget measuring 40 weeks when I was 28 weeks pregnant with the girls.  I remember telling a neighboring coworker about measuring 40 weeks, and she asked what I would measure at 40 weeks?!  Luckily, the measurement stops at 40 weeks so there's no real way to measure 84 weeks or anything. 

I am really enjoying the break in the heat and am not enthusiastic about my growing size and the 90+ degree heat that is right around the corner.  See, I missed a lot of the drudgery last time because I was placed on bed rest (although I did continue to work daily from home right up until the night before delivery) with the girls at 28 weeks.  This time?  I am completely in the fray, chasing two 4 1/2 year old monkeys around and managing preschool and car pool lines four days per week.  The schedule is definitely good for all of us because it helps that the girls are maintaining their routine, and being busy is absolutely what we prefer.  Bed rest made me incredibly antsy and impatient, something worth remembering when I am schlepping about this summer.    In fact, the girls are going to a summer program two half days to try to maintain a solid schedule, and they will continue to have some good, quality grandparent time as well.  Sadly, I am too tired to fully reconvene "Camp Mom" from last year.  We will have a lighter version of Camp Mom this year.

In the meantime, we are gearing up (literally) for our newest family member.  We have recycled some things that we can use again, and we have equipment on its way to us.  His new crib arrived yesterday.  Importantly, his coming home outfit has been on hand for months:

His summer wardrobe is mostly in place, and we have some of the necessities lined up. We have nine weeks to get everything else in order.

That's doable, right?

Good taste and good scents

So last weekend during the lengthy preparations to ready the girls for their big dance recital, they enjoyed the primping and pampering that goes along with transforming oneself into a ballerina. After make-up application and after securing their hair in buns and affixing the floral hair piece, we topped off the process with perfume.

We love perfume, and their signature (and only) scent for the past few years has been Love's Baby Soft. (Prior to that, their signature scent was Desitin! :-) Santa usually brings a supply in their stockings at Christmas. Very occasionally, they get to wear an "every day" perfume, one of the other three bottles on my bathroom counter. The final bottle, currently Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle, is off limits.

After securing her hair with 25 bobby pins, I asked Gracie which perfume she wanted to wear. "I want that one," she said decisively.

This one? I pointed to the Love's Baby Soft.

"No. That one," she said.

"Oh, you mean the Clinique, right?" I asked.

"No! THAT one!" she said with increasing determination.

"Oh, I see, this one," I said, and picked the bottle up dramatically.

Lauren immediately entered the fray, "I want that one, too!!!"

While I am sure our car reeked of perfume, we all had fun and felt especially glamorous with our special perfume, although we are back to the daily routine now.

Lauren in glasses

Look who found mommy's glasses on the bathroom counter.

Friday's quote

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

-Voltaire

Recipe of the week: Key lime pie

We had the family over Easter Sunday for lunch and an egg hunt. For dessert, I made the above pie. Whenever I see those little green bags make their annual debut at the store, making a Key Lime Pie becomes an imperative.  Admittedly, juicing the key limes is a smidge annoying. This year I used a garlic press as a key lime juicer, and it worked brilliantly -- until the garlic press broke. To compensate for the work involved in juicing, I cheat and use an incredibly simple recipe for the pie itself.

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:
1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice
1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip
Additional Cool Whip for topping
1 graham cracker pie crust

Beat condensed milk thoroughly with electric mixer until thick. Add key lime juice and mix thoroughly. Fold in Cool Whip. (I mix for an additional minute or two to take the texture to another level.) Pour mixture into pie shell and chill. Refrigerate for at least three hours before serving. Top with dollops of Cool Whip. Serves 6.

So easy.

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the crumbs and sugar; add butter and blend well. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9-in. pie plate.

2. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before filling, or bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack before filling.

Ballet recital 2011

Yesterday I shared the rehearsal pics, but today we are moving on to the real thing. Here are Lauren and Gracie all dressed up and ready to dance:



Dancing on the big stage:



Awaiting solos:



Gracie's pirouette:



A grand exit:



Lauren's pirouette:



Blowing a kiss to the audience:



I think they were in love with the entire process. They were excited to get to wear make-up and have their hair styled. They really enjoy dancing with the friends they made this past year, and they adore their teacher and her assistant. They thought the theatre, stage, lights and audience were cool, too.

Recital rehearsal

Buckle up for picture-palooza!



Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go downtown to the theatre for rehearsal. I apparently missed the "dress" part of "dress rehearsal," and we played it safe by wearing regular leotards versus their recital costumes.




Given our history with spills and the occasional issue with car/motion sickness, I would err on the side of caution again. Besides, they love wearing their leg warmers.



They had a great time dancing with their class on the big stage:





They did a great job dancing with their teacher for their solos:




After getting a taste of the stage, they were much more excited about dancing later in the day.

An abundance of flowers

I am officially behind on posting. To try to catch up, let's try tackling events in reverse chronological order (kind of).

This past weekend was lovely, and a floral theme has emerged at our home. Sunday was Mother's Day, and we had a very quiet, easy day here at home. My sweet niece gave me the following flowers at the girls' ballet recital on Saturday. So beautiful:



Sunday morning, Skip and the girls brought me breakfast in bed. Gracie and Lauren were inspired after reading "Fancy Nancy's Marvelous Mother's Day Brunch," and they enjoyed their breakfast along with me in bed.

From there, Skip took over all the lunch details and coordinated activities for the rest of the day so that I could nap (sooo decadent) and have a light afternoon.

Saturday, the ballet troupe had its recital at a local theatre. The girls received flowers from cousin Lexy and their Daddy (of course). They LOVE their bouquets and regularly point to them with pride:



(Recital details to come with a future post.)

Finally, Friday was our anniversary. The flowers the girls received (above) were all the more special because I received the below flowers Friday morning. Friday and Saturday morning, the girls repeatedly demanded to know why I received flowers and they did not.

"Where are my flowers?"
"Why I not get any flowers?"
"But I need flowers..."



Order was restored once the dancers received their bouquets, and our home has never been lovelier.

To the mothers

Gracie and Lauren brought home the above flowers this week from school. Needless to say, I loved them!

Happy Mother's Day!

Friday's quote

There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.

-Martin Luther

Observations this week

Here are some things I have noticed this week:

1) Wal-mart has a catastrophic storm team that could compete with any utility response plan or rival the organization and set up of any insurance catastrophic team. I went to my local Wal-mart Tuesday morning, and I was greeted by three separate managerial members of this team before I entered the store. This particular location lost power last week for approximately 36 hours, but the store has been completely restocked, all perishable goods replaced, etc. There was a major battery display, containing every size battery imaginable. I don't know how they got all of those batteries in place that quickly.

2) The amount of clean-up completed each day is surprisingly appreciable. From the 24-hour mark on, each day shows significant improvement. Volunteers were able to have tarps in place in many neighborhoods before the rains returned this week. There is still so much to do, but there is progress.

3) Item 2 is due, in large part, to the vast number of volunteers who have pitched in through local churches and other organizations to go out with chainsaws and other clean up crews to help clear debris at residences. In fact, some teams have been turned away by neighborhoods because so many volunteers were already there working; those turned away went to a second and third community to provide assistance.

4) Even the little things are being addressed. In the Birmingham city most damaged, the high school was demolished. That school's prom was scheduled for this Friday night. A clothing drive, dubbed "Operation Prom Dress" has been organized. Approximately 300 prom dresses have been collected/stored so far for students at three high schools. Along with the dresses, shoes and accessories have also been collected. Letters of support from a Hurricane Katrina survivor were attached to some of the dresses.

5) Food service on sorority row at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa has become efficient and systematic. So far, they report serving in excess to 10,000 meals to those seeking sustenance following the storms. Local businesses and churches are supporting this commitment by responding to their requests for food via social media. Students report tweeting specific needs (i.e., "we need loaves of bread") and report near-instant response (i.e., "a local bakery delivered hundreds of loaves of bread an hour later").

To be sure, there are unpleasant and tragic observations as well, but the optimistic aspects are easier on the eyes.

The anti-virus virus

Normally I am exceptionally careful while perusing the Internet in order to avoid viruses, and I am completely paranoid about opening e-mail from senders I do not recognize and unsolicited links. I avoid Facebook altogether because I see it primarily as a portal for viral attack.

Unfortunately I lowered my guard this week while following all of the UBL (Usama bin Laden -- by the way, when did he became "Usama," I thought it was "Osama") news, as well as the ongoing tornado coverage here in our own state. As a result, I acquired the "anti virus virus" while viewing a major news outlet's website.

My computer has been taken to the computer hospital for repair. In the meantime, I am back on the old HP that suffered significant damage shortly after purchase. This computer has not been the same since the abuse inflicted by Lauren & Gracie a couple of years ago (described here), but I am keeping an open mind.