bye-bye mud pie

So G is gone for the week.  *sniff* He flew out on Saturday morning to join a spring break service trip to El Salvador.   Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to figure out a way to come and help me with the girls.  What a gift!  SO thankful to have some extra pairs of hands.

Right before G left, we decided to make a mud pie that G had seen on Food Network.  HERE is the link if you want to take a peek.  YUM!

It is so rich and delicious!  What can I say but oreo crust and real (yes, real) whipped cream.

G also bought me some tulips.  I just adore tulips.  They are a beautiful reminder that my man loves me and that this dreary, cold winter really will end.  Can’t wait until my little tulips out front decide to wake up and show their stuff.  Until then, these will do just fine.

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a new look and a met goal

So here she is . . . .

we all love Kait’s new look with her glasses.  She likes wearing them, too.  I have yet to show her a picture of me from my first pair of glasses.  I keep forgetting, but I’m sure we’ll all get a good laugh when I dig those pictures out.   Kait’s “new eyes” are waaaaaaaay cooler then my first glasses ever dreamed of being.

Also, we are proud of Kait for meeting her goal of selling 100 boxes of cookies for her troop!!  She really worked hard on it, and she is going to choose a journal as her prize.  Way to go, sweet girl!!

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she didn’t stand a chance

Poor Kait.  She didn’t stand a chance because both G and I had to get glasses at an early age.  Add the genetic factor to the fact that Kait reads a LOT, and this little lady needed to have an eye exam.

We had fun giggling as she tried on funny frames, and she finally decided on

THESE.  Isn’t she precious!  She have her “new eyes” in a few days.

Of course Daddy met up with us and treated her to an amazing gelato from Zingerman’s.  Yum!

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pool party?

Last weekend Aunt Mel came for a visit.  She stayed at a hotel with a pool, so we were excited to go for a swim!  We all dipped our toes into the pool and the grownups said, “Uh, I’m not going in there.”

So we headed to the hot tub!  Kids were allowed in this one, thank goodness.

Pendo is sporting her swim hat.  I need to get her a smaller one, I think.

We all had fun enjoying our new bathing suits and the warm water (and most importantly, the visit with Aunt Mel).

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v-day photos

So . . . my Valentine’s Day pictures didn’t come out too well.  We had a yummy breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes and strawberries, then heart-shaped sandwiches for lunch, topped off with valentine cupcakes, but I didn’t really like any of the pictures for some reason.  I’ll blame it on the lighting this time, but it was probably more that I didn’t try very hard and didn’t like the results.

This was kind of amazing, though.  G and I decided to make a special dessert for a date after the kids were in bed, and this one came out looking like a heart, not even planned at all.  Crazy?!?  I snapped a picture, then quickly covered it with vanilla ice cream and chowed down.  Hope your Valentine’s was happy.

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we’re still here . . . barely

What a CRAZY week we’ve had here!  I feel like we are barely hanging on by our fingertips.

This week has just been BUSY.  It feels like G and I have been passing each other in the night and basically just taking turns taking care of the girls.  We’ve had something every evening for more than a week, and G was finishing up a grad school paper so he was gone the entire last weekend, too.  Add that to a week full of three girls with bad colds and imagine a soundtrack of whining playing in the background of this very busy week.  We’ve heard some very sad news, spent a LOT of money on routine van maintenance, went on a field trip to an art museum where I saw my first and second Picasso paintings,  took a photography class, distributed 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, and watched Pendo dribble a ball effortlessly.   We’ve enjoyed a couple of warmer days, took a walk, watched our snow fort melt completely down,  took Kait to her first optometry appointment, and enjoyed a weekend with Aunt Mel.  All that in just one week!  Whew.

We did have a good Valentine’s Day.  I may post a couple of pictures, or not.

Last night G and Rose and I were up for most of the night.  Rose woke up and cried one or two times each hour from 12:30 until morning.  When we were finally coherent enough to take a close look, we discovered that Rose has an oozing ear.  I won’t gross you out with anymore details, but we went to the Saturday clinic, got a prescription for an ear infection, started breathing treatments, and called the doctor again after nap time when Rose’s ear was oozing blood.   We thought we were headed to the ER, but turns out we didn’t need to and it should resolve in a day or so with her meds.  Rose is  just SO sick it breaks your heart.   We’re hoping for a better night tonight.

So that’s it, friends, a brief summary of a really insane week.  Hoping for a slower paced week coming up, and I’ll post some pictures as soon as I can drum up some energy.

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bring it on!

As you know, our little Rose was born three months premature.  Since she began life at 2.2 pounds, she’s always been on the very small side of “normal”.  I’m still not sure if she’s even on the growth chart for height and weight.  What matters is that she is growing and she’s healthy, so I don’t get worried about the numbers or the charts.  The thing that bugs me (and her) is that most of her pants just fall off.  All the time.  Now that she’s not wearing diapers anymore, this problem is even worse.  So G and I came up with a plan.  How can we get this little one to gain some weight?

Every day we force feed (not really) her 1/4 of a Hershey bar and a big scoop of peanut butter.  There is 16 grams of fat in 2 T of peanut butter!!

Yummmmmmm!  Don’t you wish this was part of your daily diet?  I sure do.

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book babies

I’m so glad that all 3 of our girls LOVE books!

There is usually a pile of books spread all around the little ladies,

or they are snuggled up together with good books.

In this pic you can see the little “nests” that they build before they read together.

On the weekends, Rose sometimes get reading lessons from big sister, and I love it when I hear the little girls “reading” books to each other.   But mostly I’m glad we live close to the library where many of the librarians know all of us by name.   Yay for books and libraries!!

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ya’ just never know

You know how in some southern and western states it’s a good idea to check your shoes or boots everyday before putting them on?  There might be a nasty spider or scorpion that has taken up residence since you last wore your shoes.  Well, that’s not the case in the Austin house, but you better check your shoes for other reasons.

(Try very, very hard to ignore that adorable little doggie who happened to walk by as I snapped this photo.)

Can you tell what’s in these boots?

(Ok,  had to showcase her one more time because she’s just so cute!  But do try to ignore the fact that giving her a haircut and a bath has not been a priority lately.  I’ll get right on that, probably.)

Back to the boots.

Ya’ just never know what you’re gonna’ find in your shoes around here.

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a world of white

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