Five for Friday

Since I'm averaging about one post every 4 months, I thought it was time to update again. I have been wanting to get back into it for awhile now. If not for the record keeping aspect of it, then for the therapy of writing about our lives.

1. In a nut shell: 3 kids has kicked my butt! And that's putting it mildly. 2 was easy, I thought. Surely 3 can't be much harder. ha,ha. now I know. Some of my friends have said the 3rd was easy for them. Not so much for us. But it is beginning to smooth out some now. Here are some pictures of the kids.

Kathryn is almost 5 months old already. She is teething and scooting around on the floor. She is almost able to sit by herself. She loves the exersaucer and Johnny-Jump-Up. She seems to have an independent personality.

Landon is excelling in Kindergarten and is in second grade math and first grade reading. He mostly enjoys school and rarely gets in trouble. (When he does it's for talking - he's a social butterfly.)

Collin is the eccentric one of the family (that's how Shae puts it). He loves to wear hats - all the time. He also loves to wear things around his neck. Binoculars, necklaces, duck calls, anything with a noose is fair game to him. But he is unbelievably funny. I'm sure if I could understand everything he says I would think he was even more so.

2. I hate shopping in real life, but I love cyber shopping. Does that make sense? Shopping on-line has become sort of an obsession for me. And I have only paid for shipping once! Before I place an order from any merchant I check www.retailmenot.com for promotional coupons. Like I said, I almost never pay shipping and almost never pay full retail price.

3. I am addicted to Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. I only started watching it this season and begin to jones for the show as Thursday's roll around. Up until today, and I kid you not, I thought the producers, or whoever, put this bell ringing sound in the background of the show to somehow make you want to watch it. Like a hypnotist thing, or something. It seemed to happen whenever I watched Celebrity Rehab. Today, when I was replaying it on the DVR, I noticed the soft dinging again and I started to get upset thinking that someone was doing some Pavlov trick on the viewers when, and again I'm not fooling around, I realized it was our parakeet playing with his bell.

4. I have a horrific case of the winter blahs and cabin fever. It has been the coldest, wettest winter I can remember. And I'm hating it. The only thing getting me through right now is the thought of our planned Jamacian vaca this coming December.

5. I will leave you with a favorite recipe of Landon's. But not so healthy.

Baked Apples

4-6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. water

1 T. cornstarch

drop red food color

red hots

Mix together sugar, water, cornstarch and drop of red food color. Put apples in 1 - 2 qt casserole dish. Pour sugar water over apples. Sprinkle with red hots. Until it looks like enough. Bake at 350 degrees until done. About 30 minutes.