colors

Tonight the sky was whipped with clouds, stacked on top of each other, and looked heavy with rain - but it has yet to rain this evening. The wind is blowing pretty strong; the colors of the sky are AMAZING as the storm clouds blow overhead.

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. ~Rabindranath Tagore

finding my focus

I found my focus on that flower there... with my good camera...

recently switched to iPhone and found a snazzy app that makes pics look aged; thanks to my cool friend Sharnee ... its not in focus, but the subject is clearly family...

my close friend Jenn took these pictures; I'm not at all a fan of being serious in candid shots - so I may look like a total GOOBER in both - but those are my boys - and we've been spending some serious quality time together. I realize now, more then ever, how very precious this time is with my kiddos.

headed uptown

One of my bestie's came over today with her kiddo's and we headed uptown to ride the train for a while, and have a nice lunch at a super cool soda shop! Outside of the soda shop, and all across town during our train ride, we saw interesting stone work like this one below. Snapped this one with the iPhone, so it's not the best quality - but it's still pretty!!

Waiting on the train to pick us up and take us back to the car!

Overall, this spring break has been a blast for the kids and I!!!

park - unedited

These are gasp straight out of the camera (SOOC in fancy DSLR talk)

above: big E rarely glances at the camera, he's too busy running around...

little J is a red cheeked hot kid today - it's 90+ degrees in APRIL!!

not too long after these we hit the road, it was a little hot, and it was barely 130pm!

sometimes I have a few edits to make for over or under exposure, but these just looked colorful enough to post SOOC...

Your children need your presence more than your presents. ~Jesse Jackson

how was your Wii'k?

Well, so far it's been a busy and active week"Wii-k"! I mentioned in a previous post that I'm proud to be part of the Citizen's Journalist Program with Nintendo and WiiMommies for the Wii Fit Plus. I wrote my week two review HERE if you'd like to check it out!!

As the week came to a close, my brother arrived to build our playset for the kids. Little J couldn't have been more exicted to help!! Even big E was out on Friday for spring break and was able to pitch in too!

My brother and I, along with the kids and the n'bors kids, spent the ENTIRE day outside Friday!! Then Saturday morning woke to work more...

Today started early, my nephew arrived during the night and my mother arrived mid-day for an Easter family gathering. We were in and out alot from cooking, eating, and working on the playset. After all was said and done, my brother rocked that project!! 16 work hours later, the boys couldn't be more thrilled!!

click to enlarge

more blooms

I'll probably post alot of blooms, because they're GORGEOUS around here right now!!!

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

that's how we roll

Both boys got haircuts yesterday and had green gel put in their hair...

...and the youngest decided to take a super short nap, so mama and da boyz rocked the park!

Cuz, that's how we roll.

Blooms

Strawberries I think I love you

**Edit to this post 06.18.09 - I decided to post this recipe and THIS RECIPE I posted recently for Strawberry Bread in FishMama's summer dessert recipe swap!!!

Head over to her blog for more yummy recipes HERE!

Tonight I made a dessert that everyone LOVED and it was almost guilt free! Each serving was originally at 300 calories, and with my substitutions I calculated appx 180 calories for each serving... and we lost NO flavor! IT WAS YUMMY!! You can make it three ways, as waffle bowl icecream scoops, as a "pie" with oreo crust, OR how I made it - mini pies (no crust). Our oldest called it "heaven pie".

After having made this tonight, in the future I plan to chop the "mix in" strawberries up a little more because they do freeze and a big chunk of frozen berry is hard to work through after eating that soft creamy filling. Saving a few slices to lay on top of each mini pie makes for a pretty finish - but I didn't even think to do that part! I did cut the recipe in half for us, because let's face it with this yummy stuff I'd be tempted to over indulge!

INGREDIENTS

1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened {substituted this for reduced fat}
1 cup cold milk {I used skim}
1 (3.4 ounce) package JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding {I used French Vanilla - next time will be Sugar Free Vanilla to cut more of the yuck out}
1 1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping {I used FAT FREE}
20 NILLA Wafers, coarsely broken {I used reduced fat}
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup strawberry ice cream topping

DIRECTIONS
Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; beat 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP, wafers and berries. Swirl in ice cream topping.
Serve it your way!

PIE: Spread filling into 6-oz. OREO Pie Crust. Freeze 6 hours or until firm. Garnish with additional berries, if desired. Makes 8 servings.

MINI PIES: Spoon filling into 12 cupcake liners. Freeze 4 hours. Remove paper linings. Garnish desserts with additional berries, if desired. Makes 12 servings.

WAFFLE BOWLS: Freeze filling 6 hours or until firm. Let stand 15 min. before scooping into waffle bowls. Makes 8 servings.

Wordless Wednesday - April Blooms