Written by Jessica on Sunday, June 28, 2009

The boys are feeling much better! Here's evidence - be sure to turn the volume up and notice his reaction when he presses the mute button on the remote!

**note- play it once, let your computer buffer it, then it will play smoothly the 2nd time** at least that's how it is with more poor connection.

Facebook readers, click here.

Written by Jessica on Saturday, June 27, 2009
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I only have a minute, so here's some pictures!
Taylor's latest snaggle look, he has now lost 5 teeth and is having 1 pulled on the 9th because he doesn't have enough room in his mouth.

Enjoying the summer!

What is it about the sprinkler that causes neighborhood kids to congregate?

Carter is getting 2 new teeth, including a molar which is making him a little grumpy and clingy. We have a total count of 19, almost 21 teeth!

We've gone over 24 hours without any tummy virus related messes, so dare I say, we may have gotten rid of this awful, awful virus!!

Here's a random picture of Brayden that's so sweet.

Written by Jessica on Thursday, June 25, 2009
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I lost my blog list of all the wonderful blogs I love to read, AGAIN. But I have good news, it will never happen again, for 2 reasons. 1. I'm becoming a 'follower' of them if the option is there and 2. I know know how to add that widget into the template beforehand so it will automatically pick them up. Hey, you live and learn.

Also, I think I have the IE, FF problem fixed. No matter your browser, it should conform now. Right? Does it look right to everyone? I opened the page with both Internet Explorer and FireFox with no issues.

Lastly, if I used to read your blog and it no longer shows, PLEASE let me know. I you read mine, and I haven't found yours, please let me know. I don't read books at night, I read blogs - much more interesting.

Written by Jessica on Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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Do you see this as a 3 column layout, or is it scattered about? I use Internet Explorer 8 I think (anyways, it's the latest updated version). And I see my blog as 3 columns.

After getting the "Internet Explorer could not open this page, operation aborted" message for the 100th time {today} I decided to make the switch to FireFox. btw - it literally took a minute to do if you're thinking of switching. My issue is that when I view my blog, it's scattered about and a jumbled mess!

Does anyone know a fix for this? ..are you seeing this to?

Written by Jessica on Monday, June 22, 2009

Oh, this was so yummy! I used to go to a local restaurant that served a vegetarian quesadilla that was incredible. It's been a while, so I can't remember everything that was in it, but we just used all the veggies we had from the garden and they were fabulous!

Ingredients:

White tortilla's
Zucchini
Onion
Bell Pepper (we used a giant marconi pepper because out bell's aren't quite ready)
Jalapenos (deseeded and cooked, they are not hot)
Roma tomatoes
Mexican Melting cheese
Mushrooms
Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
salsa
Shredded Mexican cheese
Sour Cream

In a skillet melt a little butter, add sliced zucchini, onion, jalapenos, bell peppers, mushrooms, and black beans. Saute until the onions and peppers are cooked, but still a little crisp.

Add sliced Roma tomatoes and cook for the last 2 minutes.

In another hot skillet, add a little butter, lay tortilla down and add sliced Mexican melting cheese and veggie mixture.

Let cook for about 2-3 minutes, until tortilla is golden and flip the 'empty' side over and serve with extra cheese, salsa, and sour cream on top {and extra black beans if you have them}.



Written by Jessica on Sunday, June 21, 2009
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To my dad, step-dad, and daddy in law, thank you and Happy Father's Day. We love you! We can't come see you today because we're under quarantine, but we're still thinking about you.

Now to my babies daddy... lol. This is somewhat of a repost from last year, but with some new thrown in. To see last years pictures, click here.
My husband is one of the greatest dad's I've ever known. He lives for his boys and finds joy in what makes them happy. Probably because he's an even bigger kid. No matter the reason, my boys and I are lucky to have him as a golf instructor, a broken toy mechanic, a sippy cup filler, a diaper changer, a football coach, the buyer of slushies and other sugary treats that mom won't buy, and much more, but most of all we're lucky to have him as dad and a husband.
Wade had almost 6 years of Daddy experience when we brought 3 babies home last year. But none of that could have prepared him for the first year with triplets. It was intense. Wade has been my rock through it all, as well as theirs. He's kept up with Taylor's busy karate schedule, and baseball schedule, and tennis, and golf... and football's coming up. It never ends! He has made sure the last year of chaos for us didn't negatively affect Taylor or disrupt the activities he loves.

When he's not at work, you'll find him changing dirty diapers, cleaning up bodily fluids, acting like a clown to get a smile from a grumpy baby, playing peek-a-boo with the babies or catch with Taylor. And for that, we love him.






Written by Jessica on Saturday, June 20, 2009
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We're still sick here. If you're counting it's been 4 weeks and 3 days. Yesterday the dr called in some meds. It's actually a cholesterol medicine with a side effect of constipation. hmmm. It's a powder I mix in their juice. They've had a little and sure enough, less dirty diapers, but more vomit. I just can't win. The good news is the boys are troopers, much stronger than I, and they are playing and for the most part happy in between episodes.

**p.s. Brayden has lost 3lbs, Tucker 1 lb, and Carter 2lbs.**

Written by Jessica on Monday, June 15, 2009
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Ugh! That's all I can say! Ugh!

The boys have all been sick for what seems like forever, but actually we're going on 4 weeks this Wednesday. It all started with Tucker, and I thought he was having issues with milk or something he was eating, so we kept up our normal life {not quarantined, like now}. I started working on his diet. Then, Taylor got sick, not too bad, just a 24 hour bug of sorts - the same morning, it hit me, but only that one day. It just so happens, the night before, I cooked hamburger mac n cheese and we ALL ate it. So, I'm thinking it was the meat. {It was the first time the boys ever had hamburger meat} Then Brayden and Carter get it over that weekend. Today, I thought is was coming to an end as we only had a few dirty diapers today and they were just acting like they felt better. So, I introduced dairy back into their diets via yogurt and for dinner they had plain, unseasoned black beans - everything else was still from the BRAT diet. They were fine all day, we put them to bed, less than an hour later Brayden has thrown up everything and is refusing drink and acting sickly again.

UGH!

Written by Jessica on Monday, June 15, 2009

I lost all my links/blogs again. HTML kills me! Please let me know if you notice I used to read your blog, and now it's missing!

Photobucket

Written by Jessica on Sunday, June 14, 2009

It's baaaack!


I was drawn to this meal because I always have all the ingredients on hand {with the exception of the olives}. I will keep making this meal because it was delicious!! I thought, because of the handiness of the ingredients, that this would be one of those good meals when I was in a pinch and needed to throw something together quickly; but oh no, this will definitely be a planned dinner often!


Recipe from Recipe Zaar.

Mediterranean Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives


Ingredients

a little olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic clove (about 2 cloves)
1 (15 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, with their liquid
1/2 cup kalamata olive, pitted and chopped (I left a few whole one's in there for looks)
1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 tbsp. fresh)
1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 tbsp. fresh)
top with feta, mozzarella, or Parmesan cheese

In a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet, heat the tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and saute until it is browned on all sides and just cooked through (about 7-10 minutes).

Remove chicken and place on a plate.


Add the teaspoons of olive oil and the onions to the pan, and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the tomatoes olives, oregano and basil and cook the sauce for 5-8 more minutes.

Add the chicken and cook until it is heated through.

Serve over noodles or rice with a nice Greek salad and garlic toast.





Do yourself a favor and TRY this dish! I promise it will become a family favorite. For those of you with kiddos, Taylor loved the cut up chicken and spaghetti noodles, I didn't put a lot of the 'sauce' on his plate and he loves salad and garlic toast - so very kid adaptable. If the babies weren't still sick and on the BRAT diet, they could've eaten this will us too.
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Written by Jessica on Friday, June 12, 2009

I just made some of the best pesto ever if I do say so myself. It had a different flavor from the store bought pesto you can get, but in my opinion, it was much better. I even conducted a blind taste test on Wade and he chose mine!


I didn't really measure anything {darn it!} but I'm going to try to give approximate measurements so everyone can enjoy this yummy pesto prize.
I planted a few basil seeds this year and they turned into a huge basil plant.


I was so excited and couldn't wait to make homemade pesto for a pesto chicken pizza again. I have to admit though, I was nervous about the thought of grinding up leaves and eating them. Somehow it seems different if you buy the pesto already prepared even thought it's ground up leaves too. So, as a backup, I bought a jar. just. in. case. since this was my first experience using a fresh herb like this for more than just seasoning. I'm happy to report, I still have the store bought pesto - didn't need it! It's so early in the season, I'm going to hurry and plant a few more seeds! I've read online that pesto freezes well too (omit the parmesan cheese) - you pour it in an ice cube tray and then a freezer safe bowl and pop out a few cubes as needed. That way, if you don't grow basil during the winter, you can still have homemade pesto in December!

Here's the recipe, it makes enough for 1 pizza, if you're serving it over pasta, I'd double or even triple this *recipe*.

- 1 1/2 cup packed basil leaves

- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

- a little salt and pepper

- 1/4 cup pine nuts (great flavor but a little expensive - I've read walnuts and/or cashews can be substituted)

- maybe 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil - add enough to get a good pesto consistency {maybe 1/4-1/2 cup}

- 1/2 tablespoon fresh minced garlic


Blend it all up - I blended it in a magic bullet and it worked perfectly.


The finished product:



This pizza is more filling than a regular pizza. I think because of the chicken... anyways, this pizza fed all 3 of us, with a couple slices left over. I'm not exactly sure how much it cost, but here's an estimate:

4 chicken strips or 1 chicken breast- $1.50

block of mozzarella cheese - $1.79

Ingredients for crust (flour, yeast, water, drizzle of olive oil) on hand

Ingredients for pesto (fresh basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic) on hand

pine nuts - $2.00

Total - $5.29 for a dinner for 3 and a lunch for 1 the next day. = )

We also had cucumber & tomato salad with it from the garden:

..and of course dessert:

Graham crackers, pudding, and whipped cream - YUM! ..and very inexpensive as well!



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Written by Jessica on Thursday, June 11, 2009

Sorry, I'm all out.




Luckily, I found this little jewel of a site a while back and while organizing all the millions of bookmarked pages I've got, I rediscovered this baby. Explore it. Follow the links to other blogs/sites then follow links from there to other blogs/sites. You could spend a month doing this and still have more to see. I can't wait to do some of these with Taylor this summer!

Enjoy!

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Written by Jessica on Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Written by Jessica on Sunday, June 07, 2009
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So glad it's over! I sure hope next week brings healthier, happier boys!

The boys have a bad tummy bug. I will spare you the details. Just know it's BAD. I've made a significant investment over the past 2 weeks in Pedialyte, Huggies, and Lysol. The boys have been in pretty good spirits, despite their condition. They've been a little lethargic, falling asleep at odd times and places. They've also been a little more needy, which I kinda like, but it get's hard with three - four needy boys. Taylor has had the bug twice now, this last bout was worse than the first one for him. I would rather have 6 little sick ones than 1 older. He was pitiful!

Brayden keeps breaking out in a weird rash. It's mainly on his thighs and arms, with a few whelps on his face; none on his tummy or back. We thought we had in narrowed down to the food dye in the pedialyte and Gatorade (yellow 6); but he's still getting it even though we've removed yellow 6 from his diet. Benedryl makes it go away in about 30-60 minutes. No clue what's causing it now. They are all on the B.R.A.T. diet pretty much, with nothing new. ???

Despite being sick, the boys are still pulling their weight around the house though.

Unpacking groceries:

Helping with Sunday dinner

Gotta get a little play time in too:

Our first harvest from the garden!


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