good morning

Easter recap

We had a really nice Easter, the weather here in So Cal was gorgeous! Audrey did pretty well. She got a little fussy at church, but church was so crowded that we ended up sitting outside so the fussiness wasn't too much of a problem. It was probably a good thing that we were outside because Charlie noticed when Audrey spit up and yelled to Robert (who was behind us a few feet), "Dad! Spit up!" Yep, it's a good thing we were outside. Here is Robert with his little chunk.

We spent the afternoon over at my mom and dad's house with the usual crowd. My aunt and uncle were there, so was my cousin and her family. She has a son that is a couple of months younger then Harrison. Tyler brought his DS? (I don't know what it was) and he showed Harrison how to play it. My niece and her friend Paige hid Easter eggs for the boys.

My dad bbq'd ham and everyone brought a dish to serve. It was a very nice day. Here is the fruit pizza I was telling you about. It is so easy, and easily adaptable.

Fruit Pizza:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup {2 sticks} butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, divided
1 pkg. {8 oz.} cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 container {8 oz.} frozen whipped topping {Cool Whip}, thawed
1 pint fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled and sliced
2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
1 can {11 oz.} mandarin oranges pieces, drained and patted dry

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, butter, and 1/2 cup of the confectioner's sugar and, using your fingertips or the heel of your hand, spread the dough over the bottom of a 12-inch rimmed pizza pan that has been coated with non-stick baking spray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden; let cool. In a large bowl, with an electric beater, beat the cream cheese, the remaining 1 cup of confectioner's sugar and the vanilla; mix well. Fold in the whipped topping. Spread over the cooled crust, then arrange the strawberries, kiwis and oranges in a decorative pattern. Cover and chill 2 hours before serving.

* You can also use bananas, blueberries, peaches, nectarines, or almost any fruit that is in season. It will keep for several days in the refrigerator. {trust me, it won't last that long}.

cheeseburger heaven

Harrison and I had the pleasure of dining at In-N-Out burger in Santa Fe Springs yesterday. Our ISP group was invited for a field trip and the moment I heard about it, I started counting the days until we would go. Why you ask? If you are in California, Arizona or Nevada then you may very well know what I am talking about. My apologies if you don't. In-N-Out happens to be the best hamburger on earth. I am quite ready to back up that claim, having sampled my fair share of burgers. ;) I don't know who was more excited, Harrison or I. We arrived at nine in the morning and for the next hour were treated to the sites and smells of In-N-Out. Harrison even got to cut potatoes for those famous fries. The best part? After the tour we were all given cheeseburgers and fries. Now ten o'clock in the morning might seem a little early for lunch, but I made an exception. Ha! Audrey even seemed to be mesmerized by it all. After all, she has had In-N-Out before in some form. :) Our tour guide Chuck was great with the kids and the over-excited parents too.


Tuesday was another great day. I picked up my order from Scholastic Books at Charlie's preschool. Do you know about Scholastic? I'm sure you are familiar with their books. My favorite has always been the book orders. I was talking to my mom recently about how much I loved getting the order form, pouring over them and picking out a book to order. I still have the books that I picked back when I was in grade school. This months selection were, "Charlie The Caterpillar" (for obvious reasons) by Dom Deluise, Usborne's "Lift -the-flap BUGS", "Arthur's April Fool", by Marc Brown and, "Big Red Barn" by Margaret Wise Brown. I also have an order thru Harrison's ISP group. I was very pleased to see that just because we homeschool we don't miss out on the book orders.
Thank you for your emails of concern regarding homeschooling in California. It is still not resolved here, but it looks like it will be. I don't want to get on my soap box right now, but I obviously hope for a resolution soon.

Look who is two months old now! She is doing great. She weighed on at 11lbs. 11 oz. and is 22. 5 inches long. She charmed her doctor by smiling at him through her entire appointment. She started to fuss just as we were leaving. She pretty much charms everybody she meets. Grammie and Papa are no exception.

Today we are going to go bowling. I haven't been bowling in ages, so it should be interesting. We were invited for a birthday party. I am looking forward to seeing how the boys do.
This Sunday we are going to my parents for their annual Easter celebration. I am in charge of the veggies and dips. My contribution will include plenty of vegetables, an amazing spinach dip and hummus. There will be lot's of good food. A few years ago I found a recipe for fruit pizza and made it. Now that fruit pizza makes an appearance every year at Easter. This year my sister will be bringing it. I'll post the recipe here. It is so good and so easy.
Happy Easter from Charlie and the Easter Bunny. And from me too. :)

tagged*

So my friend Lisa tagged me. :) I have to list 7 random things about me. That shouldn't be hard, right? If you want some great stamping inspiration, check out her gallery at 2ps. Here it is

1. I have never broken a bone. (Knock wood)

2. Robert proposed to me at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in front of Rene Magritte's "La Trahison des Images"

3. I am either really compulsive about some things, or really laid back.

4. Everyone in my immediate family is born in an even numbered year. Everyone in my sister's family is born in an odd numbered year.

5. I am a pack rat.

6. I love noodles and pasta. My all time favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

7. I have had long hair once in my life. It just doesn't suit me.

We are feeling a little better. Thankfully Audrey doesn't seem to have gotten the cold too bad. She has a stuffy nose and some congestion, I'm just continuing to watch her. She is two months old tomorrow!

Have a great weekend.

sniff, sniff, cough

Charlie is currently fighting a cold, and now unfortunately so is Audrey. :( I don't feel so hot myself. Today is her two month appointment, so I'll see what the doctor has to say.
**Well, I took Audrey to the doctor's this morning and found out that her appointment is next Tuesday. Seriously. I am losing my mind. She is sick too. While at the doctor's office I made the most of it and spoke to a nurse from their advice line. Audrey has a congested nose. It's not runny, but it is not letting her sleep. She coughs and coughs when she tries to go to sleep. About all I can do is try and keep her nose clear and watch out for a fever over 100.4. Hopefully she will be feeling well soon.

so much for a weekly update

Hopefully my updates will happen more often then they are now. I try. We are all doing well. Audrey is 7 weeks old now, can you believe it? She is sleeping a little better, but it is still a mystery to me. Right now she has a heat rash, poor thing. I can't put the lotion on her fast enough. I took this photo tonight and it makes me laugh. I love Harrison's expression, you know he is just making sure that Audrey won't spit up on him.

I am beginning to feel more comfortable with three. We have been out with her now and she has done pretty good unless you count the time last weekend when I took her to the market and she cried the whole time. On the plus side, I've never gotten my grocery shopping done so fast. We even attempted a mid-day lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and she slept the entire time. :)

Now if I could only get my mind back! I swear I am so forgetful now. Case in point: today I rsvp'd for a birthday party that Harrison was invited to. I left a message on the answering machine telling the family that we would be there this Saturday. Well a couple of hours later the mom that invited Harrison called me and politely informed me that the party was this last weekend. Duh. How did I miss that?! So then I had to tell Harrison that mommy goofed big time and he missed the party. Thankfully he took it well. I have also forgotten a lot of little things around here. When oh when will my memory return? Tonight while out for our weekly cookies at Panera Bakery while Harrison and Maddie were at religious ed. classes, my sister got Charlie good. It doesn't take much to make him laugh. We were sitting in the restaurant and we heard my sister's name over the speaker. They simply were letting her know that her order was ready. Well, Charlie got a big kick out of that. She proceeds to get up and go get her food. Charlie is eating his chocolate chip cookie and I am drinking my iced tea. The next thing we hear is, "Charlie, how do you like that chocolate chip cookie? Roger. Over and out." The whole restaurant heard it too. My sister mentioned it to the kid that was at the microphone how much her nephew liked hearing her name and asked him to do the same for Charlie. I wish you could have seen his face when he realized that the Charlie with the chocolate chip cookie was him. It was classic.

Darn it! I just realized that I forgot to get a birthday present for the party that we missed. After all, I was only at Target tonight for a half an hour. Sheesh. What else is new?

So, how are you?