Spring!!

I don't know if you can tell, but this is the tree in our backyard that we see directly out our patio door and it is filled with pink blossoms. It is so beautiful and I am so excited to have it finally warming up. We hit 80 degrees on Monday and we were loving it. We planted flowers, peppers, tomatoes and had a great time outside. You wouldn't know it today (33 degrees and blowing about 30 mph) but we covered all our tomatoes and peppers and hopefully they will survive this terrible weather!

Hangin' Out

We have had the craziest weather lately (I guess it is spring, but still...) so one day we will be having so much fun outside, riding bikes, taking walks and just enjoying the sun and 70's degrees and then we will have 2-3 days of 40 degree temperatures with the wind blowing atleast 25-30 mph. Luke just doesn't understand why we can go out one day and not the next. Poor guy! So we have been forced to do things inside. The kids built this fort one day and Luke was having so much fun he fell asleep right next to his toys.

Luke also loves my Bosch. Anytime he sees me get it out of the cupboard he goes crazy pointing and making noise until I put him close to it and let him help me. It is so cute :) One of Seth's favorite past-times when we are bored is to get Sam's IPOD out and play music (can you tell that he doesn't like pictures?).

One day I told the girls to go pick out their clothes and this is what they came out wearing. We got their summer clothes out already and they want to wear them everyday, doesn't matter what the weather is, they just say that they can put on a jacket if it is too cold. Silly girls!

I did have a momentous occasion the other day (this is just for the ladies, it's probably just ladies reading anyway). I actually went and had my annual check-up and I wasn't even pregnant. This is very big for me. I don't mind going in when I'm pregnant, but when it is just a check-up, come on, I'm healthy. At least I passed and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I do have to say though, the major reason for going in was that I haven't used my insurance once in the passed year and I figure I better make them pay something for all the money I am paying them. That was probably too much information, but there you go anyway :)!!!

Book Tag

So here is a book tag. The rules:
1. Grab the nearest book (atleast 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find 5th sentence and post it on your blog.
4. Tag someone.


This was the nearest book to me. Great series if you haven't read it yet. So the 5th sentence on page 123 is: "She paused, then saw that two little sprayer drones were hovering protectively over his head."
I tag, Melissa and Jennifer. Have fun :)

Missing something?

Seth has officially lost his 4th tooth. It has been a long time in coming--6 months in fact, but it finally came with a little bit of help from Sarah. We were driving in the car and Seth and Sarah were playing in the backseat, when Seth put Sarah's shirt in his mouth. She yanked it her shirt out and Seth's tooth started bleeding all over the place. When we got to where we were going, I gave it a little pull and out it came. He doesn't know quite what to think of it but he is quite excited to see what the tooth fairy will leave him.

Kathryn's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Kathryn, happy birthday to you!

Kathryn turned the big #4 and was so excited to have a party with friends. She informed us that she didn't want cake for her birthday so we put the candles in the icecream and her and her friends had chocolate ice cream cones.

With her poster that she decorated with her friends.

Playing with her friends Will, Ashley, Maddi and sister Sarah.

For the family party we did a "My Little Pony" ice cream cake and she thought that was pretty neat-I think mostly for the toy that was on the top :)

With some of her presents. We love you Kathryn and are so glad you are in our family. Hope you have a great 4th year.

April Fools Day

Boy was this a fun holiday at our house. We had never done anything before and Seth decided that he was going to play some tricks on Sam and I. He woke up at 6:30 that morning so he could get them all ready for us. He was so proud of himself. Since he decided to play some tricks, I left some tricks for him too. It was so funny. This is of Seth and his friend Logan coming home from school. I super glued pennies to our driveway and it was so hilarious to watch them try to get them up. I also put a raisin up his toothpaste so when he went to brush his teeth he thought a dead bug was coming out. Sooo funny :)

This is one of the things we found when we woke up. Ooooh, scary!

Seth also put a trip wire across the hall to try and make us fall

and a snake hanging down from our dresser. Pretty cool tricks!

Brined Porkchops with Apples

this might seem really involved, but it is so worth it. we absolutely love it. thanks carol and carrie for the recipe!

Brine:
4 c. apple cider
4 T. kosher salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t. red pepper flakes
6 bone-in porkshops, 1 inch thick

in large bowl, mix all ingredients except porkchops with 2 c. cold water. add porkchops. cover bowl and refrigerate for atleast 3 hours and up to 1 day.

preheat oven to 325. remove porkchops from brine and blot dry. melt 2 T. butter in large frying pan over medium high heat. add porkchops and cook 3-5 minutes, or until well-browned. turn and brown other side for 3-4 minutes. layer in 9x13 pan and bake until barely pink inside, 15-20 minutes (we put them on the BBQ instead).

Sauce: meanwhile make the sauce.
3/4 c. apple cider
3/4 c. chicken broth
1 T. butter
2 T. whole grain mustard
1/2 c. sour cream

pour apple cider into hot pan used for porkchops, scraping up browned bits from pan with a wooden spoon. add chicken broth and turn heat to high. boil until liquid is reduced to about half, about 8-10 minutes. remove from heat and stir in butter and mustard. when sauce is no longer bubbling, stir in sour cream. season with salt and pepper.

remove chops from oven and spoon generous amount of sauce over each. top with sauteed apples.

Apples:
3 large apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 T. butter
2 T. cider vinegar
1/4 t. salt

in medium frying pan over medium heat, cook apples in butter, vinegar and salt. cook about 4-6 minutes or until apples are soft and golden, but not mushy.

enjoy!