24 "Finale"

No matter how many times I see it happen, I don't think I'll ever tire of watching Jack Bauer save the day. I definitely got tired of Prison Break this season, I think they dragged that whole thing out way too long. But even though 24 is on #7, this season definitely didn't disappoint. But was anyone else a little floored by the so-called finale? What ever happened to wrapping things up a bit? How am I supposed to wait all the way til January to find out if freckles has turned into a little Jack Bauerette or not? And I think we all knew Jack wouldn't be dying on us, but did anyone else think that it took Kim way too long to just give him the dang stem cells already? What kind of daughter is she anyway?
Finally, dear Tony:( I don't know why they brought him back from the dead just to torture us by watching him turn to the dark side. But there's still a part of me that loves him anyway and as morbid as this is, I just wanted them to let him have his way with Alan Wilson. {That probably means I need to tone down the level of violence in my tv viewing a tad.} I should probably just stick to 30 Rock and What not to Wear.

Birthday Shout Out

Shad only has one brother so when I married int0 the family I only had 1 shot at a sister-in-law. So, thanks to Shaun's excellent taste, I was lucky enough to get Angie for my "Warren sister". From day one, Angie has gone out of her way make me feel comfortable in the family. She is one of the most thoughtful people I know and one of my best friends. She's definitely the older sister I never had, which has been especially nice {for me} to have, as a mom who needs lots of parenting advice. Angie is an amazing mom of 4 darling kids who my kids and I miss like crazy!!!
Happy Birthday Angie! We love you!

Angie & Abby at Janie's baby blessing

Easter

I feel like we had Easter for a week straight this year between all the easter egg dying, hunts, baskets, etc...but, I do love Easter. What could be better than celebrating Christ's resurrection and the beginning of Spring {better yet...the end of winter, hurray!}, with all kinds of fluffy little animals and Reese's peanut butter eggs? We dyed Easter eggs, but sadly lost about half of them to the tile floor. Caleb got pretty into it this year, and Janie got really covered in dye from head to toe. We also made sugar cookies and then the kids licked the frosting off.

Caleb was up extra early to search for his basket. He also found Janie's before she could even make it to the stairs. Notice they both have their "Mimis" with them and received smaller versions to be their baby mimis. Needless to say there was a lot of happy, high-pitched squealing going on that morning as the baby "mimis" were lovingly welcomed in by "Lammy" and "Tail". I apologize to those of you reading this who have no idea what I'm talking about.

We were fashionably late as usual for church and so we had to take our Easter photos afterwards. By then the Easter magic had worn off for Caleb so this is the best shot we have of him in his Easter apparel. I was just excited that I miraculously got him into a button up shirt that morning. Usually he will have nothing to do with them because he thinks people can see through the holes to his belly. And if you know how he feels about "armpit" shirts then I'm sure this isn't surprising.



















Janie on the other hand was loving the camera and struck all kinds of poses for me.
Do you think it's a gender thing maybe?

Last, but not least was the adult easter egg hunt {the kids got a little too} at my mom and dad's house. This is one of my very favorite parts of Easter. I especially liked that my mom threw some bottled waters and bags of carrots into the hunt this year. Nice touch! We definitely have enough candy to last until Halloween at least. Can that count as food storage?
We also got to take some last pics of the kids with cousin Ellie before Jamie & Kyle took off for the summer to South Carolina. We'll miss you guys!

ABC....Delicious!

Janie is obsessed with her ABCs right now. It's her favorite song, favorite puzzle, and when my sister asked what her favorite food was she replied "ABCs". So when Aunt Megan found this recipe for Alphabet Soup she sent it for me to make for Jane. So even though I was feeling very cynical about my kids eating any recipe with chunks of real, actual vegetables, I gave it a try. It was a hit! So for all those out there who have sent me one of those "send your favorite recipe" emails and received no response...here's my belated contribution. I love this recipe because: 1. It's so easy and really fast to make 2. It's healthy, and 3. My kids eat it!!! (Shad and I like it too btw:) What a combination! The best part is, there are even some vegetables hidden in the pasta if you get the Eden Organic ABC pasta which I found at the neighborhood Walmart. Here's the recipe if you want to try it on your kids. Happy cooking!

Peas and Carrots Alphabet Soup
6 cups chicken broth
2 carrots {diced}
1 cup alphabet pasta {I use Eden Organics}
Kosher salt
1 10 oz. package frozen peas {2 cups}

Place the broth in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the carrots, pasta, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Simmer until the carrots and pasta are tender, 6-8 minutes. Stir in the peas and cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings

Eight Years

Shad and I celebrated our 8th anniversary last weekend and I thought that deserved a spot on our dusty little blog. Actually, it was so much fun that it deserves a spot on a really good blog, but this one will have to do.
I think this was my favorite anniversary yet, though it's a close second to the year Shad gave me the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice and then watched all 5 hrs. of it with me. {Now that's a devoted husband!} Shad always takes over the planning and does way more for me than I do for him on our anniversary, but this year he really went all out.
He got an overnight babysitter{thanks Grandma and Grandpa!} which is a gift in and of itself, then took me out to lunch at Cafe Rio, a quick shopping trip at the mall {which was a big deal for him b/c he and the mall are not friends at all}, and then on to the sledding hill at Soldier Hollow, which was so much fun! Then we got to spend the weekend at the Zermatt resort in Midway. We went to dinner at the restaurant there which has an amazing buffet that tasted even better after sledding for a couple of hours. Yada yada yada... Shad made me the best french toast for breakfast! Then our kids, some cousins, and Jamie, Kyle, and Ellie came up for the day and we took the kids swimming and did a little Valentine treasure hunt. The last part of his gift to me was making the 2nd night at Zermatt a girls' slumber party with my sister and cousins{but we missed the ones who couldn't make it!}, which was pretty generous of him considering it was the actual night of our anniversary and he spent it home alone putting the kids to bed. So it was a little unconventional, but since we celebrated early it was such a fun bonus for me to have a girls night too! It was so fun talking all night with some of my favorite girls {and little Luke}. Even the cute pregnant girls managed to stay awake past midnight which is quite a feat.
Shad, thanks again for putting me first as usual and putting so much thought into our anniversary.Thanks for the great weekend and for 8 great years and 2 cute kids! Love you!


If you want to see the video of the boys diving in the snow in their swimsuits check out Chip and Kristal's blog http://krischrisprice.blogspot.com

Resetting the Bar

Ok ok... so I guess I shouldn't have posted that last entry because as Corinne pointed out, my obsession with blogging didn't take. But, I am trying!!! I think I'll just reset my blogging expectations nice and low since it's obviously too much for me to keep up with. So my goal for the year is to post something at least every 2-3 months. I think that's a little bit of an improvement for me.