siblings

the coveted Clifford bowl

The other day Lauren brought back memories of my own childhood, and especially of my brother, Michael.  We have one bowl that Jackson and Lauren both like, a Clifford bowl.  And guess where it came from.....a neighbor!  (i just realized that as I was typing, good tie in to last post!)  The other morning Lauren came in the kitchen first for breakfast and went to get a bowl.  She pulled the Clifford bowl out and licked it, saying, "now Jackson won't want it and I can have it," with a big smirk.  I have NO clue where she got the idea to lick the bowl but I remember Michael licking things growing up so I wouldn't want them.  Maybe he has been sharing his secrets with Lauren.  My mom would only go to the grocery store once a week so we had one to two days of yummy junk food and then we would have to eat the healthier stuff the rest of the week.  It always seemed that treats came six to a package and there were four of us, so someone would always get two.  Michael would take one and then lick one so no one else would take it!  And yes, over 20 years later I still remember how disgusting I thought that was.  I wasn't sure what to say to Lauren, I was so surprised by that big lick and how her cute little face showed exactly what she was thinking.  Maybe its something that the second born in families do.  I'd ask Jason (hes second born) but I'm afraid he'll just give me a funny look and say, "Leigh Ann, just because your family does that, most do not," and he's probably right...

neighbors

Our latest bag of "treasures"
Check out the long strand of hair bows

The other day I looked out the front door and there was a bag.  Interesting, I thought.  After bringing it in the kids and I discovered it was full of hair bows, head bands, purses, shoes, a baby grass skirt, a pink boa and other miscellaneous items.  The kids had a blast playing with everything, Jackson even got all "dressed" up!  There was no note or clue as to who had left it.  This is not the first time this has happened. 

boa and grass skirt-enough said....

When we got back from the beach in May there was a HUGE box full of ponyville stuff by the front door and a baby float by the garage.  About two weeks ago there was a bag of pool toys and floats by the garage.  In the past we have gotten bags of stickers left on the front door.  Our basketball goal and kid picnic table were also left by different neighbors.  We have had a couple of play sets offered to us.  Laurens princess bike is from a neighbor, and the list goes on and on.
This got Jason and I thinking, are we the neighborhood charity case???  or just fortunate to inherit most of this stuff?  Its always fun to get new things to play with, especially for the kids. 
I am grateful that we live in a neighborhood where we have great neighbors.  Some of our closest friends are in the neighborhood, which makes it easy to have a last minute play date, cookout or a Friday afternoon happy hour.  The kids and I play outside a lot and I have gotten to know many of the neighbors from just being outside.

So to the neighbors-thanks for your smiles and waves and feel free to drop off any "treasures" you think we may enjoy!

6 months!

Jackson, 6 months

Lauren, 6 months

Amanda, 6 months

We went yesterday for Jacksons 5 yr checkup and Amandas 6 month.  Here are the stats for all 3 kids at six months:
Jackson-18lb9oz(75%), 27 3/4" (90%)
Lauren-13lb12oz (10%), 26 3/4" (80%)
Amanda-14lb5oz(25%), 26"(50%)

Jackson, at five years-49lbs (90%), 46 1/4" (95%)

Overall their checkups were good.  Amanda is going on medicine for allergies-hopefully that will help with her noisy breathing that mom always comments about and her cough.  The doctor referred us to an EENT dr because Jacksons tonsils are really big.  She said that would explain why he snores and wakes up frequently at night-sleep apnea.  We go next week to see what that doctor says but are expecting to have the tonsils removed-I'm sure he will really enjoy that.... 

Off to watch the kids contine to grow!

Summer break, week 2

We are starting to get in a groove and figure out how to happily make it through the day.  One of the hardest parts is that Jackson keeps waking up early and comes in our room dressed and ready for the day by 6:15-that's just way to early for us!  However, Jason and I are now both getting up a little earlier and having a more productive morning, and I am becoming strongly addicted to coffee...

Mystery Reader

On Monday my neighbor, Stacy, and I took the kids to the water park at Carowinds.  They had a great time going down some slides, playing in the wave pool, doing the lazy river and playing with all the water toys.  We both have season passes, its nice to have a friend to go with.  We also had a "Mystery Reader" stop by when having school-thanks Aunt Sarah for reading to the kids!

I didn't get any pics at the park but this is of the
kids once we got home-I think they played hard!

One morning we met Shana and my friend Liz, at Dan Nicholas park in Salisbury.  The kids played on the play sets and we rode a little train and carousel.  They also had a nature house with snakes and fish.  We were "lucky" and they were feeding one of the snakes while we were there-cool!  Shana and I brought the kids to chick-fil-a for lunch, and WOW is all I can say.  It was packed but we found a table with 4 tall chairs, finally got food and let the kids play.  After a while it settled down and we were even able to talk a little.

The 14th was Amanda's half birthday! 


The kids and I made half a cake for her that we all enjoyed that night, we even let her have some icing.  After loosing Megan we are trying to experience some of the little milestones that sometimes go unnoticed.  I painted Amandas toes, and also did Lauren and my toes to match.  Yesterday someone asked how old Amanda was and Jackson said, "shes half,"  they looked a little confused.
Saturday night we enjoyed a cookout at a neighbors house which was fun for us and the kids.  We have also spent a lot of time with Sarah lately, its been an interesting couple of weeks for her:).  Lots more happened but I'm late posting anyways so you get what you get!

We also spent some time with Aunt Sarah, Jason and
Jackson playing wii.  Amanda and Lauren watching...

Hope you have a great week!

Lasagna, Family Style

Lots of cooks in the kitchen!

"This is not how Mom made
lasagna!"
notice the cute glasses???

Know the saying, "Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup?"  Lucky for us that is not true!  This weekend we had family in town for a wedding and several people stayed at our house.  We decided to make some lasagnas to freeze and bring on our annual beach trip this summer, plus we made one to eat on Sunday, because we had to try it out and make sure it was ok!

Braciole

My family, like most, enjoys tradition and we all remember how grandma used to make lasagna.  Mom brought her recipe card but on the top of the card was-"Year 2000, many changes."  Way too many changes for us we decided!  Jason actually commented, "did anyone like her lasagna?" because we all kept talking about the different things we would change.
On Saturday we made the sauce, with sausage, meatballs and braciole.  I am always entertained because everyone makes everything differently but it usually tastes pretty similar.  Dennis was in charge of meatballs, and they were the biggest meatballs I've seen in a long time.  Then he rolled some in egg and bread crumbs, a very strange technique to some of the family but they actually held up better than the others.  Michael made braciole, which was devoured before the lasagna was made.  This is not something we make often so he was spared too many "you aren't doing it right comments."

Sunday morning we made the pasta and assembled the lasagna.  I wish I had recorded the conversations.  How many eggs/batches of dough should we make?  three is not enough, eight is too many, we finally decided on five but after making it would plan on two eggs per lasagna(doing it the traditional way-not the 2000 Many Changes way), we should have made six...   Next question-how do you do the layers?  one or two layers of meat?  three or four of cheese?  what is the final layer on top? and on and on.
We finally had three completed lasagnas and froze two while cooking one, a necessary quality control.  It was delicious and enjoyed by many, also since it was at my house I enjoyed leftovers for lunch a couple days!
Thanks for your help everyone and final question-how much are we going to charge per lasagna when we open our butcher shop???



Enjoying the finished product!

Summer Break, week 1

This week is ending much better than it started-thankfully!  I think it has just taken the kids and I a few days to get in a summer routine.  One thing I have started doing is having "school" and they love it!  I bought them both their own workbooks and a big sticker book. 
I also have a felt board that one gets to do while I work with the other.  Jackson is starting to read, slowly, but gets so excited to read a sentence.  We have a section of the playroom designated as the school.  They wanted a "mystery reader" the other day so I had to come in and use a different voice to read a book-sometimes I am very grateful that there are no adults around during the day to see what I am doing! 

Learning about evaporation
at the park on a hot morning

We also went to the pool with friends which was fun.  Jackson loves going down the water slide and a friend gave me a baby carrier that you wear in the water which makes things much easier with Amanda-she usually falls asleep in it!  We went to the park this morning and have spent a lot of time outside, even though its super hot!








This morning we told the kids to go check on Amanda.  It got pretty quiet so I decided to go check on everyone-they were all in the crib...

This picture of them eating McDonald's is probably one only a mother would love!  We met Sarah at the mall and bought some books, then headed to the food court for lunch.  The kids picked McD's and wanted to sit at one of the little tables by themselves.  I looked over and they had shared everything.  Jackson gave Lauren 1/2 his burger and fries and she gave him 1/2 her nuggets and apples.  It makes me happy when they do nice things for each other without someone telling them what to do.
Hope everyone has a good weekend.  We are looking forward to seeing some family for Jennie Anns wedding reception. 

Summer Begins!

We have been at the beach the past week-yeah! We had lots of fun and I will post about that later.

Good Morning!

Good Night!

Last Friday was the kids last day of school, Jacksons last day of preschool before starting Kindergarten-my baby is growing up. Jason took a picture of them on the way to school in the morning and I took one when we got home, looks like they had a tiring day!



Jackson asked if we could make homemade pasta the other day so we made some for dinner Saturday night. I remember making pasta with my Grandma and family growing up and it was a very precise activity(most cooking with grandma was...). You had to keep the crank going at one constant speed, no pasta could touch another piece, it all had to go into the pot at the same exact time, everything was very orderly. Fast forward several years to when I make it with the kids...  They were eating peanuts at the time so we had some peanut "skin" on the dough they touched. I also use the pasta machine to roll out fondant for baking so there were some blue flecks on some pieces. The kids would roll the crank slow then stop then go fast and guess what-the pasta still turned out delicious! I even let Lauren put the dough in the machine and catch it on the other side. The dough definitely was touching and it did just fine! Now, grandma would pass out at this next part but I used Ragu sauce-gasp! Anyways, it was fun to make as a family and everyone enjoyed a yummy dinner.

Poor Amanda, being the third child I'm sure she is going to get picked on a lot and its already starting. The kids decided to dress her like a princess. It was entertaining and she was a good sport for a while...

What are they doing to me??

Time for a little
make-up, Amanda

Somebody please save me,
I've had enough!

Cutie Pie!