Took My FOUR Girls to the Park

Need Color!!!!!

First colors to pop up in my yard!! (will be blanketed in snow tomorrow:(

There's something so fun about a bowl full of jelly bellies--I know, they're colorful!!!

Mum's the word!!

Happy Trails to Us

The last of the ice (I hope!)

Spring has arrived (in my book, though it's technically still winter). We had a nice 66 degree day yesterday--so what better way to celebrate than to hit the bike trails!! Well, that didn't last too long because there were a lot of muddy patches (I mean a foot of snow just melted days ago, afterall)--so, we rode onto plan B--and went to the paved path along the road (that goes into the trail)---it was wonderful and the sun felt wonderful!! We plan on doing the very same thing this afternoon, and tomorrow if weather still permits! (because I heard we're predicted to have snow again this weekend-snff snff :( Welcome to WI--80 degrees one day, a blizzard the next:)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Vegetarian Crescent Casserole

--1/2 cup mayonnaise
--2 Tbsp flour
--1 tsp bouillon granuels
--1/8 tsp pepper
--3/4 cup milk
--cubed seitan, browned
--1 (10 oz) pkg frozen vegetables, thawed (I used cauliflower, carrot, broccoli blend)
--1 tube refridgerated crescent rolls

1. in a large saucepan, combine the mayo, flour bouillon and pepper. Gradually add milk; stir until smooth. Bring to boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or til thickened. Add seitan and vegetables; cook 3-4 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Spoon into a greased 8 inch square baking dish.

2. Unroll crescent dough and separate into two rectangles. Place over seitan mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Tortellini Topped with Carmelized Onions and Garlic Infused Oil

-fresh cheese tortellini
-one onion, carmelized with a bit of sugar
-walnuts, toasted in grape seed oil
-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil infused with 5-6 cloves of garlic and crushed red pepper flakes
-freshly grated asiago cheese

We were in TWO St. Pat's Parades

The girls and I had a blast yesterday. They rode on the bandwagon with me for two St. Patrick's Day parades. We met the bus (their first bus ride:) which took the band to our downtown Milwaukee parade route, and participated in that parade. It was pretty funny watching a whole bunch of whisky-infested parade-goers stumbling around---the heart of Milwaukee culture:) I heard an interesting story yesterday that in the late 1800's, the Irish population of Milwaukee used to be a lot higher than the German population; until a boat coming over from Europe sunk and the populations shifted (or it could be the other way around, not sure). I don't really know the facts or all the details, but I thought that was interesting.

After the downtown parade, we hopped back onto the bus (ok, I admit, there were a few of us who couldn't find the bus, and I had to make some calls for the bus driver to come get us, tee hee:) and went to Wauwatosa for our second parade. We had some time between parades so we went into a McDonald's and hung out for awhile. Ok, I'm not proud--I can't believe I did this, but I will share: I was holding a tray full of food with one hand, turned to try to get my girls seated and situated, the tray tipped and everything spilled onto the lap of one of our percussionists (ooops, sorry Mike:) Thankfully, I had not filled my soda or obtained any ketchup at that point:) We still had some time after, so we enjoyed walking through the parade line up and looking at some of the floats, listening to the bag-pipers, and hanging out and taking pictures with THE SAUSAGES---true Milwaukee Icons (mascots of The Milwaukee Brewers, for those not familar with the area). We had a great time on the second parade as well--my girls loved it, and waved to the parade-goers as our band played.

Two parades were of course an all day event for us--but we decided the day was not over---so we rushed back to the car and headed up 20 miles north-west of Madison to attend the very fun-filled benefit for the "son" of a high school friend. A few of my grade-school/ high school friends also made the trip and we had a great time. The girls made new friends quickly, and the kids also had a blast!

We had a fun-filled festive day yesterday (while J stayed behind to tear out the creme-colored carpeting in the front living room; he's getting ready to put the wood laminate in, as we speak---the plastic sheets are hung, so I don't have a house-full of dust, like I did the last time he did this:) *** NOTE: My girlfriend said she saw our float on Milwaukee's TMJ4 News!:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1GzXcg-P7g

Angel Art

Books and Soup---yum and yum!

We had a fun outing today. My mission was to find a couple of St. Patrick's Day type of things for the girls to wear for tomorrow. They'll be riding on my band float with me for the Milwaukee and the Wauwatosa parades. After, we hope to shoot up to Madison for a benefit for a friend's boy http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1553208757#!/event.php?eid=10150094036365542&index=1

We first went to a book store and hung out for awhile (and found a bunch of books for the girls---I tried to find some that Little Angel can work on reading all by herself! This is really fun, with BOTH girls starting to read--it's really very exciting for all of us!!! The looks on their faces are just beautiful when they read words or sentences!!! After the book store, we walked across the parking lot to Champps for some lunch. I had that VERY LARGE bowl of potato soup. The bad news is, holy moly, it's so large and filling, I was full after only about 1/3 of the way through or less. The good news is, I brought the rest home, and will feed it to J for dinner, so now I'm off the hook!!! Although I really miss the baby and toddler days, the girls are at such a wonderful age where we can do things like this easily and without the issues associated with younger ages:)

Fire and Ice

Old Fashioned Malt Shoppe

Apples of Eden---Sweet Moments

It was 55 degrees out today--not bad for the northwoods--but it's muddy and flooding and we still have quite a bit of snow, and the skies have been very grey; and of course there are no leaves on the trees--so as far as I'm concerned, it's still fairly dreary-looking out. So--that means we have to seek out color---and what better place to find color than a confectionary shoppe!!!!!!!

Angel Art

My Princesses and A Frog

I surprised my little princesses yesterday; we went to the theater to see The Princess and a Frog--the girls have been with us to a couple of movies before, once at the park (that was fun)---but I will admit this was the first time I've ever taken them to a movie they wanted to see--and they LOVED it!! Little Fairy was sitting forward in her seat, and when there was music she was dancing to the beat--it was so cute. She did however, inform me that the "tv" was too loud:)