Month of March: Hamantaschen, Reading Books, Announcement, and Kristen Moves

On the plate:  Peanut butter and chocolate chip Hamantaschen

Soundtrack to cook to:  "Best of My Love" station on Pandora.  Soooooo many great, funky hits.  I swear, I was born in the wrong era.  I looooooove me some great disco and funk tunes.

The month of February was a doozy...and March wasn't much better.  Joseph was gone on overnights the entire month of February, and even in the month of March, he was still trying to get acclimated back to working during the day instead of the night.  Needless to say, there were a lot of evenings where he dozed off a bit while the boys were winding down for the night.

Exhibit A:  Poor Joseph, trying to hang in there while the
boys wind down for the night.  What a trooper!

Alex had a big milestone during this month...and it was one that
I was VERY sad to see pass...he gave up his afternoon nap!
There have still been a few afternoons here and there where
he dozed off for about 40 minutes, but for the most part,
he had to hang out with me in the basement while
Joseph and William napped.

Here's the big guy after he designed his own sword out of Duplos.
I thought it was pretty creative!

Here's a few snapshots of William at his school:

As you can see, he's much more into playing with
Magna Tiles than he is wearing his hat.  :-p

Our cheeky little guy.

It got to be pretty chilly in the month of March, so we had the fire going quite a bit.  Not only did it keep the first floor warm, but it kept poor little Oscar warm as well.

Joseph and the boys, snuggling by the fire while
Joseph tried to catch a few Zzzz's.

Little Snuggle bugs!

Woo hoo!  Joseph was finally able to join us at the trampoline park by our house!  He'd never been, so the boys and I couldn't WAIT to take him.

Joseph and the boys jumping into the foam pit.

It's hard to tell who had the most fun!

The Franses men playing!

Dodgeball time!

Joseph beaned Alex and William a few times. 
It was awesome!

Joseph getting ready to dunk.

The man in action.

Now it's Alex's turn to show off some ball skills.

William wanted in on the action, too.

In the beginning of March, Joseph and I went to William's "open classroom" where we saw how his class did circle and snack time.  William's class had made baguettes and were enjoying them with some jelly and brie.  It was so much fun to see a sneak peek into William's afternoon.

William playing in the kitchen area.

William was feeding Joseph some play food.

Now it's time to suit up to go home!

I was still feeling pretty nauseous, so this was my dinner/lunch for a few days in a row.

Toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a few pretzels,
and some celery.  Let me tell ya....I really had to force
myself to eat it, too.  It was the only thing that sounded good to me.

William and Kristen playing on a bouncy slide.

Alex had been working on his sight words and mastered
these words!!  We were very proud of him.

Also in the beginning of March, another room mother and I organized a class get together at the New England Aquarium for Alex's class.  Alex had such a blast running around the New England Aquarium with his friends from school.

Alex and his buddies looking down on the big tank.

They were so cute together!!

We were about 8 weeks pregnant and decided to finally announce it to our family members.  In a text, we notified my parents, Joseph's parents, and my sister and her husband with the following picture:

Everyone was very excited and filled with joy at the
thought that we would be adding one more member to our family.

Animals are amazing.  With our two other pregnancies,
Oscar knew before we did that I was pregnant.  He started
becoming much more protective of me and every time
I would sit down, he would sit on my lap and wrap his little
body around my abdomen. 
Sure enough, he did it again with baby #3!

Purim was coming up and I was feeling slightly less nauseous one afternoon while Alex was in school.  The local bakery was out of Hamantaschen, so I drove William home and we decided to make our own Hamantaschen, instead!  This recipe was really easy and made a LOT of dough.  So much that I was able to freeze half of it for another time.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 6 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and eggs together.

Stir in the orange juice, vanilla, and baking powder.
Then, gradually add in the flour until the dough forms a ball.

Like this!  As I said before, I used half of the dough
to make fresh cookies and froze the other half for later.

Our cute sous chef, ready to cut out the cookies.

I didn't have a round cookie cutter, but I did have a toddler cup!

*I had to roll out the dough on a floured surface before getting to this step.

William loved using his cup to cut the cookie dough.

I spooned a tablespoon of raspberry preserves onto the cookie dough.

Then folded it like so.

I wanted to have a little variety, so I spooned 1 tsp of creamy peanut butter
and topped it with a few chocolate chips.

The sous chef, rolling out the remainder of the dough on a floured surface.

The Hamantaschen, ready to be put into the oven!

Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 375 degree F oven.

Mmmmm!  The raspberry preserves were hot and bubbly
and oozing with a delicious tart flavor.

The peanut butter Hamantaschen was a nice, creamy,
and not too sweet counterpart to his raspberry friend.

Woo hoo!!  My first shot at making Hamantaschen was a success and not nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be.  Happy Purim 2015!!

*Big Sad Mommy Sigh*  The day finally came where Alex had his Kindergarten screening at the school he will be going to attend in the fall.  The school asked him questions to see what he knew regarding counting, letters, reading, drawing, etc.  He was so excited to visit his school!!

This guy was super excited and ready to answer all of the questions!
He was actually in there much longer than other children.
The interviewer told me that he was "very chatty" and
had a lot to say.  I wasn't surprised.  This guy can be
quite the conversationalist.

My dear friend Stephanie that works at this school
met up with us after his interview and took us on a tour
of the school.  After the tour, Alex was even MORE
excited to attend this school in the fall.
Kindergarten, here he comes!

Here's a little more alone time with the "Weewum."

Yes...there are many times when I don't get a moment of
privacy.  But it's okay, because I have a little entertainment
committee to show me that Lego Star Wars characters
can battle on a roll of toilet paper!  :-p 

Our squishy-faced, cheeky little William.

He likes taking selfies.

We were having a small snack one afternoon while
watching some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and I looked
over at the boys and saw this darling scene.  :-)

It was Alex and William's 100th day of school.  Alex had to bring a craft to school that contained 100 items.  I tried to think of something that interested Alex and decided to do Legos (because this kid is a real master builder!!).  He loves playing with Legos and can sit for at least an hour and create all sorts of things.  It's really cool to watch his creativity blossom.

Alex working on his 100th day project.

Alex and his finished product for the 100th day of school.

Annnnnnnd here's William!  A fire fighting ogre doctor
who wears Elmo slippers and fights off bad guys with
a bow staff....because, why not??   :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  A nice leprechaun visited our house after dinner one night and left two leprechaun cookies for the boys for being so good. 

The boys with their leprechaun cookies.

Linda and Elias were visiting for their spring vacation.  One of the days they were visiting, the boys and I took them to the trampoline park in order to expose them to trampolines for the first time!  They had a lot of fun!

Linda was ready to party, but Elias was unsure at the beginning.

The big guy, saying, "Hello!"

Then Elias and Linda got the hang of it and Elias
turned it into his workout for the day!  :-)

The boys, bouncing around.

Time to jump into the foam pit!  Elias and Linda
jumped in, but found out very quickly that it is
NOT easy to get out of the foam pit.  So, I climbed
out and helped them get out.  They were real troopers!

William, Elias, Alex, and Linda enjoying a movie together.

William, being a cutie patootie.  :-)

Every morning, William "makes" me a cup of coffee
and breakfast.  Here's the "breakfast soup" consisting of
pancakes, oranges, and a cheeseburger.  Breakfast of champions!

Our proud little chef.

Proud parent moment right here!!  Alex has been working very hard on his reading and has made some great progress.  He was reading BOB books (leveled books varying in difficulty) and graduated from them in the beginning of March.  On March 22, I am proud to say, that Alex read his first Dr. Seuss book completely on his own!!  He did such a great job and was so proud of himself and his accomplishment.

Alex with the book Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss that he read on his own!

On March 23, the kiddos and the dog needed a bit of
exercise, but the weather was not letting us do so outside.
So, every child and dog got 20 minutes on the treadmill!  :-)

Alex proudly sounded out "Willium" on a placemat
at a restaurant while we were waiting for our food to come.
Pretty close, huh?!  He was excited to be able to try to spell
his family members' names.

On March 26, Alex had a play date with his darling friend Chloe from school at Lego Land.  The two had a blast going around to all of the exhibits.

William, Alex, and Chloe at the entrance to Lego Land.

Alex and Chloe, ready to watch a movie.

William was ready, too!

William, climbing through the ninja laser section
with one of the Lego Land employees.  It was pretty awesome!

Chloe, William, and Chloe's mother Tammy at another
exhibit.

Alex took his "ninja training" very seriously.

Alex and Chloe at the end of their Lego Land play date.
Thanks so much!!  We had a blast!

Kristen, her husband Pete, and their dog Holmes moved to California at the beginning of April.  In the time building up to it, they tried their best to spend as much time with us as possible.  Kristen joined us on quite a few morning excursions and had fun playing with the kiddos.

Alex, William, and Kristen at the trampoline park.

"Wheeeee!!"

As a final good bye, I took Kristen out to lunch at L'Espalier while the boys were at school.  We enjoyed an incredibly delicious lunch.  It was nice to have some alone time with her before she left.

Our butter was served to us on a rock with a dusting
of chicken powder.

Foie gras with a chocolate topping accompanied by a fig muffin.

I didn't take a picture of everything, but it was all delicious!

This was a black cherry tarte with a matcha ice cream.
Delish!

Kristen blowing out a candle on her farewell chocolate cake.

On March 28, we said "Good bye," to "Lil' Nikki."  I got her right when I graduated college and was so proud of my first big purchase.  She served us well, helped us drive across the country from Las Vegas to Boston, drove Alex home from the hospital, brought Oscar home from the pet store, and so many other things that were important in our lives.  However, since our family will be increasing by one very soon, we decided that we should invest in a 7-seater car.  Farewell, Lil' Nikki!!

2004 Toyota Camry XLE in the color Lunar Mist...
we had lots of good times.

Good bye, my friend!

William and Joseph playing on the piano.

Hello, Mr. Sassy Pants!  :-)

A little cheap entertainment while Mommy folds the laundry.
William enjoyed pushing Alex around our room and up
and down the hallway.

The boys playing in their "pirate ship."

Our two goofy guys during bath time.

Our snuggly little Triceratops.

I love his squishy little face.

Here's a look at Baby #3!  Progressing nicely and hitting all of the milestones.  We're very blessed.

I took William to the mall while Alex was at school one afternoon.  He grabbed a pair of sunglasses and insisted that we get them.  Since he didn't have any sunglasses yet, I obliged.

Look at our handsome little guy!

He kept the sunglasses on for the rest of the afternoon
and wanted to take a nap in them, too!

William's "Blue Steel" look.

Classic Weewum!

On March 31, we decided to announce our exciting news to our close friends that we would be expecting our third child.  Here's the picture that we sent out:

Joseph with Oscar and the boys, while the boys
were holding two books:  The Berenstain Bears' New Baby
and I'm a Big Brother.

A zoom in, because I figured people wouldn't be
able to read the titles of the books.  :-)

Me:  "Hey William!  How do you feel about becoming a big brother?"

William:  He put down his fork, looked at me, and flashed two big thumbs up!

What a darling!

*Phew!*  A month in review with a quick recipe thrown in for old time's sake.  There's much more to come as I have recovered from my nausea and utter exhaustion.  Thanks for hanging in there! 
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki