Soundtrack to cook to: Michael Jackson's Xscape. It.is.sick.....absolutely amazing and even with my stress fracture....I can't help but break out into a dance when I listen to it. A much needed pick-me-up in the music bizz for sure.
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| Alex was in "time out," and I have him count to 30 or 60 while he's sitting. Then, William walked over, sat down next to Alex and started saying, "Two, two, two, one..." What a funny little guy! |
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| Oy! They're too cute. |
Ingredients:
- 4 garlic cloves, minced (because the boys don't like biting into chunks of garlic)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 lb fresh spinach, chopped (or 10 oz box frozen spinach, defrosted)
- 2 tbsp fresh oregano (or dried)
- 1/4 lb Feta cheese
- 2 lbs ground turkey
- 2 tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning
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| In a nonstick pan over medium heat, cook the garlic and onion in some extra virgin olive oil for about 5 minutes. |
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| Toss in the fresh spinach (or thawed and drained, frozen spinach) and cook for about 3 minutes. |
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| The spinach mixture cooks down to about this size. Mmmmm! It already smells amazing. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the following ingredients: -Ground turkey -Spinach/onion mixture -Feta cheese -Oregano -Salt and pepper -Montreal steak seasoning Form the meat into patties (I made about 11 large patties). |
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| The patties, all ready to go onto the grill (I sprinkle a little bit of Montreal steak seasoning on the face of each patty to add a little more flavor). |
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| I told Pete that the rule of our household is that the man does the grilling. When he's grilling, he's got to have a beer in one hand, and a spatula in another. Nailed it! He did a great job and the patties were cooked to perfection! |
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| Alex couldn't WAIT to dig into the burgers. They were incredibly moist, flavorful, and were phenomenal when I topped it with some yogurt cucumber sauce. Wow...wow...wow!! |
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| The boys loved playing with this really awesome, moldable sand. |
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| They played with this for about 20 minutes straight (that's actually pretty good). They were very sweet with each other for the most part. (Also a pretty big deal.) |
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| Whenever William crawls up the stairs, he smooshes his face in the stairwell, and says, "Heh-yo!" (Hello) |
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| We had a condo association meeting at our house and we had to muzzle the dog and keep the kids upstairs in Alex's bedroom so we wouldn't disrupt anyone. As you can tell, William was in a great mood when Joseph left me to have the meeting. |
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| Smoothie time! Oh my goodness...how adorable are they? |
I set up the water table and let the boys splash around while I planted the plants in the garden.
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| Water table fun! |
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| William and Alex playing with the water table. |
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| The boys saw me using a shovel, so they brought their own little shovels to help me out. :) |
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| The boys, hard at work. |
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| Alex is very proud of our little garden. |
The boys playing at the water table. I loved hearing
William's shrieks of joy!
William's shrieks of joy!
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| We brought treats for Alex's birthday celebration at school. Since my hands were full, I asked the boys to hold hands, their lunch boxes, and to walk to school together. Alex walked slowly and even helped William up when he fell down. Such a sweet moment! |
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| Our 1 1/2 year old and 4 year old! :) |
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| Alex sharing his birthday snacks with his friends. |
My physiatrist decided to completely treat my foot as if I had a stress fracture and had me fitted for a boot.
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| Here's the boys, snacking on sugar snap peas, and waiting nicely while the physiatrist examined my foot. |
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| Off to the hospital! Thankfully the room that I got my boot in had some stairs for the boys to walk up and down. This kept them busy the whole time while the woman was showing me how to use my boot. |
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| Up the stairs...down the stairs...up the stairs... you get the picture. :) |
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| Alex loved this! |
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| William was too busy to smile. |
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| I have to wear the boot on my right foot for 4 weeks. So, why not be fabulous? Yes folks, I bedazzled my boot. |
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| Since we missed music class because I was in the hospital (and had to take the boys with me), I let Alex open up his marble maze present that he got from my parents for his birthday. Thanks Mom and Dad! Alex loved this! |
Thanks so much, Elias and Linda for watching the boys!! Joseph and I were able to dance the night away and we know that the kids LOVED the one-on-one time with you!
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| My packing situation...yes, I only had to pack one shoe. Precious, huh? |
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| The boys were very excited to travel on an airplane. (Alex is always excited to have juice and eat a snack.) |
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| Alex and William are holding some of Alex's birthday presents. He got another Ninja Turtle mask and the movie Bolt. |
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| Here's what Alex did when I asked him to smile. Cheeky little guy. |
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| Ooooook, that's better. :) |
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| On May 9, 2014, Alex woke up at 5:45 a.m., ready to rock 'n roll. Since William and Joseph were still sleeping, I got up with him, made him some tea and me some coffee, and we sipped our drinks on the snuggle couch in our pajamas. It was lovely to share this moment with him. Then, I decided that I would do his birthday interview since we were up. |
Alex’s 4th Birthday Interview
What is your full name?
Alexander Isaac Franses
How old are you?
I’m four years old. (while holding up the right amount of fingers)
What color is your hair?
Brown - as he touches it.
What color are your eyes?
Brown.
What is your favorite food?
Soup - tomato soup
What is your favorite song?
Sleep, sleep (a lullaby that I sing to him each night)
What is your favorite treat?
Candy - candy canes - fun fact: He's only had about 3 candy canes in his life time.
What is your favorite color?
Green
What is your favorite animal?
Giraffe
What is your favorite book?
Arthur’s Birthday Party
What is your favorite store?
The one with the train and the lobster tank - Wegman’s (new grocery store)
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Go to Shake Shack and play with marbles with Daddy.
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?
I like to drink tea with mommy on the snuggle couch.
What is your favorite movie?
The one with Prince Philip, the king and the other king, and the horse. (Sleeping Beauty)
What is your favorite TV show?
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Who are your friends?
Lucy and Sanders, Arhan, and Rohan, and Becket
What is your favorite thing to play outside?
I like to play in the park with my friends.
What is your favorite thing to play with inside?
I like to play with my Captain Hook ship.
Woo hoo! After 2 1/2 hours of air travel, and some major traffic, Joseph and I bid the boys adieu, thanked Linda and Elias, and made our way to Jesse and Katie's wedding.
Unfortunately, since there was so much traffic (and our flight was delayed), we missed the entire ceremony. We were just in time to catch the trolley to the reception.
Joseph and I had an absolutely wonderful time celebrating this momentous occasion. Plus, it was SO great to see our dear friends that Joseph has known since middle school and I have known since high school. They're a great collection of people that we are lucky to know and call our friends. Love you guys and congratulations to Jesse and Katie!
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| Me and my dear friend Alyson on the trolley to the ceremony. Love this lady! |
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| Andrew, me, Joseph, Alyson, and Chris on the trolley. Spending time with these people is like food for the soul....and ALWAYS a good time! |
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| Me, Alyson, and Heather at the reception. Love these ladies! |
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| Andrew, Dan, and Chris. We had some lively dinner conversations that evening. |
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| Me and Dr. Dr. Jojo :-D It was SO great to be able to spend some time with him (we hadn't seen him much that week) and to be with our friends that evening. |
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| Chris, with red wine all over his tie and shirt. His ever-patient and fabulous wife didn't miss a beat and was up right away, helping him clean up the stains. |
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| Chris decided to dunk his entire tie in his glass of water, while Alyson blotted his shirt delicately. |
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| Apparently this caused quite the commotion, because Jesse got up from the head table to see what was going on. |
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| Claaaaaaaaassic Chris..gotta love Alyson's "Vanna" pose. |
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| Again...apparently this caused QUITE the commotion, because Jesse's mom, Karen, had to come over and see what was going on as well. Joseph's friends are a rowdy bunch. |
(I swear....this was totally me that evening.) I was rocking out on the dance floor and living it up...but I'm sure I looked like the ladies at the bottom of the picture.
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| Me and Andrew |
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| Blurry Andrew, Joseph, Chris, and Alyson |
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| Let the blurry dance pictures with fabulous people commence! |
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| Andrew, Jesse, Chris (who decided that his tie should be on his head by the end of the night), Alyson, and Me on the dance floor. |
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| Joseph, Jesse, Chris, Andrew, and Dan - love these guys. |
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| The crew! Joseph's guy friends since middle school - how awesome is that? |
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| Woo hoo! I'm in, too! |
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| Ohhhh Chris! |
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| Ok...one last picture. :) |
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| Elias, William, and Alex, getting ready to blow out some birthday candles. |
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| Happy birthday, big guy! Thanks for incredibly delicious cake for our big boy, Linda and Elias! |
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| As you can tell, William enjoyed the cake as well. |
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| If this picture had sound effects, you'd hear, "Om nom, om nom, om nom!" |
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| William, Joseph, Elias, Alex, and Linda at the outlet mall. |
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| William, me, Elias, Alex and Linda after we enjoyed lunch together at the outlet mall. |
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| William, feeding Alex some crackers on the plane. |
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| Completely unrelated...a requisite messy baby picture. :) |
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| Alex, modeling his Leonardo costume. He loves to dress up and play pretend.     |
Here we are, singing "Happy Birthday" to Alex.
It was so nice to see the genuine smile on his face.
It was so nice to see the genuine smile on his face.
The next morning, Joseph had to go to work, so I was left home with the boys...very sore and tired (from the dancing and the travel).
Jesse and Katie were sweet enough to get Alex a Leonardo ninja turtle for his birthday. He carried it with him wherever he went and even set Leonardo by him when he was eating his meals. Thanks so much, Jesse and Katie, for feeding into Alex's new obsession of ninja turtles! It was very sweet of you two to think of him. :)
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| Our little ninja turtle eating cereal with a ninja turtle watching him. |
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| Alex was very proud of himself. :) (Joseph was very happy because Leonardo was his favorite ninja turtle when he was growing up.) |
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| But whenever I'm in the room...the boys are basically all eyes on me...all the time. |
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| Our little snuggle bugs. |
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| Our cheeky little panda. |
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| Peek-a-boo! |
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| This picture reminds me of an album cover that my Dad had by Van Halen. |
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| (Minus the cigarettes and with a little bit more hair, of course.) :) |
Until next time...
Love and kisses,
Nikki
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