5 Month Old, Fish in Crazy Water, Passover, Easter Egg Hunt, and Playing Around

On the plate:  Fish in crazy water

Soundtrack to cook to:  New Kids on the Block Greatest Hits.  (In preparation for the concert with my friend Suzie!!!!)  Can't wait!!!

Our smiley 5 month old!
Statistics:
Weight:  19 lbs
Eye color:  Still has those baby blues
Abilities:  He discovered his feet and is constantly grabbing
at them and chewing on his socks whenever he can.  He's
still working on turning over from back to front but is making
great progress.  He is VERY vocal and loves to "OOOOHHH"
and "AHHHHH" very loudly at 6 a.m. to make sure that
mommy and daddy are awake (we can't WAIT to move to the
new house so that he can have his own room). 

Our happy little guy

William, in the middle of blowing some
serious raspberries.

William, modeling his fabulous matzah, tuxedo
bib that he got for Passover this year.

Happy Passover 2013!
Alexander enjoying some matzah during our little family Seder.

Alexander was modeling some of the stickers that he got as a prize
for finding the Afikomen (matzah that was hidden during the Seder). 

Oscar, checking out Alexander's other present that he got for Passover.

Alexander got a "play food" Seder plate that came with the symbolic
pieces of food and three pieces of play matzah.  Oscar was DYING
to play with Alexander's new toys.

"Where's my present, mommy?"

Alexander showing Oscar the "Grinnitch spinach" (bitter herbs) on his Seder plate.

Alexander is showing Joseph how to eat the "play" matzah.

Joseph....being Joseph and hamming it up for the camera.

"Daddy, you eat it like dis."

Our little Seder

William, hanging out in his bouncer, during our family Seder.

Now for a little cooking!  It was Good Friday, and I cooked up a dish that I saw on the Rachael Ray show called "Fish in Crazy Water."  It was an absolutely fantastic dish that was SOOOO easy to make and tasted incredibly yummy.  (Plus, since we're moving, we're in our "inventory reduction" stage where we're trying to get rid of every thing that we have in our pantry/freezer/refrigerator. 

Slice up 1 bulb and the fronds of fennel

Slice up 1 onion

The recipe calls for parsley, but I had cilantro in the fridge.
I chopped up an entire head of cilantro and if your'e a fan, like I am,
then it adds an entirely new dimension to this dish.  FANTASTIC!

Place 1 can of 28-32 oz of crushed San Marzano tomatoes.
Add in 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic,
the fennel, onion, and the cilantro.

Isn't it beautiful already?  Simmer these beauties in a covered
dutch oven for 45 minutes.  Then, uncover, and place the fish
in the broth (I used Mahi Mahi because that's what we had in the
freezer, but you can use any firm fish that you'd like).  Cook until
the fish is completely cooked through ~10 minutes.

*Note:  Since I added more fennel than the recipe called for, I had
to add about 2 cups of vegetable broth so that the broth wouldn't be so thick.

We decided to break the fish up into small bits so that Alexander
could eat it more easily.  We then served this over a bed of brown rice
and it was absolutely delicious.

Alexander, preparing the Easter egg dye that we got from Whole Foods.
The dye was pretty neat because there were four different, all natural dyes that
came from turmeric (yellow dye), kale (green), and purple cabbage
(blue and purple).

Alexander, mixing up the green dye.

Our handsome guy mixing up the purple dye.

Here is Alexander, decorating the hard-boiled egg with white crayon.

After the eggs were decorated in white crayon, we dipped the
eggs in the dye.

Joseph got into the decorating as well.

Alexander decided that he wanted to taste the yellow dye and eat
it like soup.  If you look at the bottom corner of his mouth, you can
see that he got a little turmeric on his cheek.  Sheesh!  At least
it was just turmeric in water.

Our naughty little guy holding one of the dyed eggs.

Sweet smile :)

Crazy, enthusiastic smile!  (I kind of like this one the best.)

Alexander, decorating the eggs with white crayon

Alexander, dying the eggs

Happy Easter 2013!  Here's the boys' Easter basket complete
with socks and finger puppets for William and play dough, socks,
candy, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates for Alexander.
Thanks for sending some Easter goodies as always, Mom and Dad!

Here's Alexander during his Easter egg hunt that we had inside the house.
The eggs were "hidden" (pretty much out in the open) in our
living room for Alexander to find.

There he goes!

Once he found some eggs, he put them into his basket.

Even though the eggs were out in the open,
I still had to guide Alexander to find them.

He really had a blast hunting for the eggs.

Then, he was very excited to open the eggs to find what was inside
each of them.  

He got socks, jelly beans, rainbow goldfish crackers, and some
chocolate eggs as well.

As soon as the egg was open, Alexander stuffed his face full of
whatever was in the egg (except for the socks, of course).

See what I mean?

Oscar was very curious.

Happy Easter!!

Later that day, we took the boys to Larz Anderson Park because
it was absolutely beautiful outside.  Here's William all dressed up.

Alexander, playing at the park.  He loves climbing rocks.

One of my favorite parts of the day is when I have both
boys and it's just about time for nap.  I lay down on the
bed with both of them and have Alexander on one side,
and William on the other.  Then, we read books together
and this is the view that I get each day while I'm reading to them.
Love this time and love these boys.

William's first playdate!  Here is William, asleep,
with our neighbor's darling son James.

Here's the boys!

Our happy-go-lucky William Billiam

He discovered his feet!

Dr. Jojo holding Oscar while playing with William

William doing tummy time with Joseph (William
isn't a huge fan of it, as you can tell).

As Joseph says, "I got feets!"

William with his friends during music class.

Alexander "reading" Little Rabbit Foo Foo.

Alexander playing around on his bike.

I was cooking dinner and took a break to find Joseph
had fallen asleep with all of the boys like this.  Too cute.

My Christmas present from the hubby!!  He got us
a cooking class demonstration from one of our favorite
restaurants Rialto in Cambridge, MA.  The class
was taught by Jody Adams (who has been featured in
the next Iron Chef - she's pretty amazing).  We learned
how to make 4 different types of pasta with different
types of toppings/fillings.  It was such a great morning/afternoon
date to share with Joseph.  We had a great time!

Our view from the second row of the chef Jody Adams.

Fresh made pasta with mozzarella and an AMAZING
bolognese sauce.

A fabulous, gluten free pasta with chick peas,
roasted red pepper relish, and spinach.

A fabulous risotto with nettle and basil pesto and
hen of the woods mushrooms. 

Did I mention that this afternoon came with a wine pairing?
Not only did we get all of the recipes for the fresh made pasta
and sauces, but we also got a wine pairing.  It was such a wonderful
afternoon with the hubby.

Of course, right before we move, they built an amazing
"Shake Shack" right down the street from us.
Here's Alexander learning how to hold a hamburger properly.

We enjoyed some Pinkberry afterwards...again...
WHY COULDN'T THEY HAVE BUILT THIS SOONER??!

Our cutie patootie...very proud of how he holds his
burger like a big boy.

Our William, finally, enjoying some tummy time.

What a silly guy.

William, getting kisses from Oscar.

William, playing with a sensory bottle during music class.

William "exploring" a maraca during music class.

William, exploring another bottle during music class.

As the big move day comes closer, Joseph and I are reminiscing more and more about memories that we've had in this house.  Most specifically bringing both boys home from the hospital, consoling Oscar when he was first left home by himself in the new place, Alexander's 1st and 2nd birthday, celebrating both of our 30th birthdays, and other fun little family moments.  It's been a lot of fun at this home, but we're looking forward to making many more memories in our new home, starting Tuesday, April 16.  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki