Afternoon Chit Chat...

The twins love the outdoors just like Parks! They are so happy kicking back, relaxing and having a little afternoon chit chat (baby style)! They love hanging out in their bouncy seats, on a big blanket and their bumbos! You can always find the biggest smiles on their faces when they are outdoors!! You can actually find them smiling just about anywhere for that matter...these girls smile at just about anything...even a paper bag blowing down the street! And they both have their very own distinct smile and laugh...thats another way we tell them apart. Love my happy babies!!

"Its a Beaut Clark!"...

Parks is ADDICTED to Christmas Vacation! Every night when he gets his pjs on he wants to watch it! He loves Chevy Chase!! He will watch it over and over again! I mean I am a huge fan, its my favorite Christmas movie, but this kid is mesmorized by it all year long!!

Planting Flowers...

I've always known Parks was an outdoorsman! He loves everything about being outside. He would camp outside if we would let him!! Maybe when he gets a little older Will can build him a treehouse and he can spend as much time as he wants out there! Well yesterday while he was at school I picked up a couple of planters and Forget Me Not Roses to plant. I thought this would be a fun activity for both of us! The planters are heavy and the soil is even heavier!! So when you pour the soil into the planters and add a little water to it, you can hardly lift the planters to position them. Well thank goodness I had my super-duper handy outdoorsman on hand! Parks was eager to come outside and help me plant our new flowers! He put on his gardening gear and got to work! He loved my gardening gloves, he kept calling tham "hands" - and he wanted to do all the work BY HIMSELF! Can't argue with that! And I think he did a great job! He really enjoyed watering the flowers! He LOVED to fill the planters all the way up and watch the potting soil spill out everywhere! What a mess! He had a great time helping!

Girls trip to the Salon...

No haircuts just yet!! We still have QUITE a while to go! But the girls did have their first LIVE experience of what they have to look forward to! Today I had a hair appointment and brought along the twins to let them check things out for themselves! We had a fun girls morning just the
3 of us!

NOTICE: Anne Collins checking out those toes...pedicure perhaps? I think she's my girly girl!



We then headed to pick sweet Parks up from school...I think he was glad he missed out on the morning festivites with momma and sisters! He was pretty sleepy too I might add! He stayed up way past bedtime last night and must have played hard at school today...he passed out within 5 minutes of getting in the car! I arrived home and couldn't resist taking a quick snapshot of that
sweet sleeping face!

ST--RETCH!

These girls love to play on their tummy's! I will put them on their back for floor time and they always roll their belly's! They have so much fun positioned this way.

Twins first visit to Chappy's

Today we had lunch with my mom at Chappy's - and the this was the twins first visit! Collier had her first taste of a french fry. Anne Collins wasn't too sure about it though! And Parks, well he loves Chappy's! He likes to sit in the booth with the mirrors so that he can check his self out and put his hand prints all over the mirror.

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Creamed Chicken and Biscuits

Want a fast delicious meal your family is sure to love?

Cream Chicken and Biscuits

• 1/2 lg. onion, chopped



• 1 1/2 tsp butter



• 4 c. chopped cooked chicken



• 1 can cream of chicken soup



• 1 c sour cream



• 1/2 c milk



• 1/2 chipped pimiento



• 1 c. shredded mild cheddar cheese



• 6 thawed biscuits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottome and sides of 11 x 17 inch baking dish. Heat butter in small non-stick skillet over med-high heat until melted. Stir in onions. Saute until tender. Combine onion, chicken soup, sour cream, milk and pimiento and mix well. Pour into baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 3/4 cup of cheddar cheese. Arrange biscuits in single layer over top. Bake until biscuits are ALMOST golden brown...about 15 minutes, add remaining cheese and bake another 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly!

Great comfort food recipe!

Bananas and Carrots

Well, after trying over the past two months to get the girls to eat their fruits and veggies, I think I finally succeeded! I have been diligently working with both of them to eat solid foods (other than the rice cereal that I put in their bedtime bottle). I would try for a few days, then stop. My pediatrician said that this wasn't a big deal whatsoever. She said as long as they were drinking milk, that was fine. But I could certainly introduce it to them if I wanted to. And I did...and several attempts later they finally caved in and enjoyed it! It was so great to see them actually eating it! They finally lost their tongue thrust! This morning they had bananas and for lunch they had carrots! You go girls!

They loved it! Anne Collins couldn't stop licking her lip!

Easter

What an amazing Easter we had! And a busy weekend at that. On Good Friday I took the kids to a friends house for an Easter Egg Hunt. Parks had such a good time! He was eager to find as many eggs as he possibly could. He understands what is on the inside of those eggs...his favorite...candy! He packed egg after egg in his basket. When the hunt was over, he proceeded to go inside and open each egg as fast as he could. Well, as I was on momma duty with my other 2 children, I happened to loose track of a seemingly quiet Parks. It is rare for Parks to be the one not making all the noise. :) So in the midst of chatting with friends and playing with the girls I noticed Parks was making his way down his Easter basket, opening every egg and stuffing his mouth with all kinds of candy! See, candy is a treat around our house - and we use it as a potty training tool! So when he gets that much at one time, its like an adult at a casino that just hit the slots big time! So I walked over to him and tried to gently explain that we cannot eat all the candy at once. But how do you tell a 2 year old who just found a massive pot a gold, that they can't have it all?? It wasn't easy. He started to get upset with me. And I hated to take his candy from him. He just simply doesn't understand why I'm doing it. Luckily my friend Ashley grabbed Parks up and took him outside to play on the trampoline while I vigorously opened every egg, emptied the candy into a little bag (to save for potty training treats) and put the eggs back inside the basket. By that time he was back inside the house and I gave his basket back to him (and he was certainly glad to have it back) it didn't even phase him about the candy at this point, he just wanted his Easter basket with all the eggs inside, and I was happy to give it back to him! And back outside to play he went! Even though its hard to explain "why we cannot do something" to a 2 year old, it is super easy to switch gears and shift their attention to something else!


Saturday arrives and we're back at it again! Our church held their hunt at Montgomery Catholic High School. They had several activities for the kids (face painting, crafts, dancing, dying eggs), pictures with the Easter Bunny, lots of snacks and of course a BIG Easter Egg Hunt! We even won a door prize!! It was an Easter Basket filled with more candy! Just what we needed! So after the prepping for the hunt, Parks was after it again! He had some help from his daddy, but Parks doesn't need much help when it comes to finding Easter Eggs...he's got that down to a science!
Will and I took turns strolling the girls while Parks found as many eggs as he could. The girls always have a good time watching their big brother in action. He's like their own little activity! Its so much fun to watch their eyes light up when they are watching Parks. Sometimes they look at him like he's hung the moon! And I must say myself that during the rush rush of the busy day, I couldn't help but to look around myself at all the blessings around me. I cannot tell you how greatful I feel to have such a wonderful family. God has blessed us so richly. Easter is such a magical time. And the togetherness we shared as a family on Saturday meant more to me than anything else in this entire world. My family means so much to me. I could spend every Saturday like that!

Finally... EASTER SUNDAY! Well the morning started off fantastic! I baked cinnamon streusel muffins and made sure everything was in tip top shape from the Easter Bunny. Parks woke up, and wanted his "coffee" which would be his milk. The first thing he has when he opens his eyes every morning and after every nap! But we reminded him that the Easter Bunny came! The days leading up to Easter Sunday we explained to him the true meaning of the day. And told him that if he was good, the Easter Bunny would hop his way and drop off a few treats. So at that moment, the look on his face was like EUREKA! And off he went into the living room to see what awaited him. He went straight to his Easter Basket to look for those darn plastic eggs with the candy!! Now I am only a novice as the Easter Bunny, this is only my third year playing that role - so I regretfully stuffed his basket with a solid milk chocolate Easter Bunny, Cadbury Cream Eggs, Reeses Peices Eggs, Easter Bunny Gummy Bears, Pez Dispenser and a ton of plastic eggs stuffed with candy! Note to self, NEVER EVER do this again! He tried to open everything! So I had to once again shift his attention to the non-edible items outside the basket! I use the "attention shifting" card often! I love the way they are easily amazed by other things. So he graciously thanked the Easter Bunny out loud for his Easter Basket!

After the morning hooplah ended, we proceeded to get dressed for church. Around our house it takes us a good couple of hours to get ourselves and the kids dressed as well as pack backpacks/diaper bags! And of course I wanted to take a few pictures before church, so I had to carve out a little extra time for that. So once we completed those many tasks, off to church we went! Now, Parks doesn't do well in "big" church, so we have to take him to the nursery during mass so that it is quiet. Well, this Sunday (EASTER SUNDAY OF ALL DAYS) they didn't have a nursery! So we got the luxury of taking all 3 kids to big church with us!

Luckily we had an extra set of hands, my mom! So I made sure I packed Parks' bag full of stuff: a couple of small toys, a crayon and color sheet, a snack and his juice...any and everything I could use to occupy his time. Well, on Easter Sunday, folks will come out of the woodwork to go to church! I wanted to be sure we sat on the last pew so that if we needed to take Parks out, we could make a quick dash for the door. Well, since EVERYBODY came to church that morning, there were tons of people surrounding us, there were people front to back - side to side - people standing - people standing outside the church in the lobby - just a sea of people. You always have to arrive 30 minutes early on Easter just to get a seat! And we knew with 3 kids we had to get the "perfect" seat! So as mass began, Parks wanted to talk to everyone around him. He was super friendly. And Collier and Anne Collins wanted to get out of their carriers and look around. So as Will held AC, my mom held CC. Parks was practically all over the place making us very nervous! We were just waiting on him to say something or do something during one of the silent times of mass. And he did!! Then Collier and Anne Collins started babbling loudly. Sweet noises, but LOUD noises! I felt like we were the mass! We should have just sat on the alter! So as we were trying to quiet our friendly brood, I felt like millions of eyes were on us, watching our every move. People were all around us! You felt like you were seeping further and further into a black hole! We were the noisy bunch! Will was pretty uptight so he proceeded to take each child out one at a time! I know we probably over-reacted, but it is an uneasy feeling when you have noisy children who do not want to sit still! That is why they have a nursery!! Unfortunately for us, it was non-existent on the busiest church day of the year! My mom and I were fortunate enough to get to finish the mass and left after communion!! What an adventure that was for everyone!

We then went home and had a nice relaxing Easter meal at our house and concluded our day with a big fat nap! The day was quite eventful, but so incredibly meaningful! Easter is an amazing time of year! And it gets better and better each year!