The Indianapolis Children's Museum

claims to be the "World's Largest Children's Museum." Well, I believe them! 5 stories of hands on cool stuff for kids, it was too much to see in one day - but we gave it our best! 100% worth the two hour drive!

Look out! Gabe's driving an Indy Race Car!

Bob the Builder Exhibit

No surprise here - Gabe loved watching the electric trains!

Amazing hand blown glass sculpture in the center of the museum.

Chomp! Chomp!

Porter having a ball!

Gabe is always drawn to the computer games . . .

The Kids 2 and Under area - was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole museum because Porter could get out of the stroller and play without me worrying about him getting mauled by older kids. It was a completely enclosed, soft padded play area. Porter loved the mirrors he could see himself in, the different textures he could touch, and the little obstacles he could climb in, on, through, and around!

We loved our fun day at the museum!

Bed & Breakfast

On Wednesday John called me from work and said, "Let's go somewhere this weekend. Let's get away and do something fun!" I would never say no to an offer like that, so we decided to head to Indianapolis Friday night.

On Friday as soon as John got home from work, we loaded the suitcase and kids into the car, and drove all the way to the front of our subdivision where we realized we had a nail in our tire. So we headed over to Midas and waited for our tire to be fixed as the road conditions rapidly deteriorated outside due to an incoming snow storm. After an hour of waiting we hit the road (after hitting Wendy's of course) just in time to leave Dayton in a snowstorm during rush hour traffic. Thankfully we made it to Indianapolis safe and sound - just later and slower than we had planned!

This is the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at.

It looked charming online, but we couldn't believe how old it was when we got there! The floorboards creaked and the all house sloped to one side - it was disturbingly unlevel!

Our room

Spiderman.

Jumping back and forth between the pullout sofa and the bed.

(Reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the movie Rat Race. Just wait until Porter is old enough to join in!)

Watching a movie before bed.

We forgot Porter's pack-n-play, so he and Gabe shared the pull out sofa bed . . . that was interesting. Gabe slept like a rock and Porter thought it was cool that he could get up and crawl to Mom and Dad for an hour and a half before he finally fell asleep. NOT COOL!

Apparantley really old creaking houses remind me of ghosts. I had nightmares all night long about being chased by ghosts in this house! John said I even howled like a ghost in my sleep a couple of times. I have nightmares frequently at home, but I don't think I have ever actually dreamt about ghosts before. Weird.

The breakfast portion of our Bed and Breakfast.

When I made the reservation "Miss B&B" asked what we wanted for breakfast and asked if my kids would eat pancakes. I said my kids preferred waffles and asked if that would be okay for breakfast. Miss B&B assured me that waffles would be no problem! Here we are waiting for our waffles to be served . . .

. . . Miss B&B served banana crepes for breakfast. Huh? What happened to the waffles? The crepes were good, but I'm still confused about the whole waffle conversation. (Gabe wouldn't eat the crepes.)

R&R

So today has been an incredibly lazy day at our house. I stayed home from church so I could get some sleep and try to knock out a 24 hour headache. John took the kids to church where he noticed Gabe had a fever, so they came home from church. Pretty much we've just spent the day sleeping and vegging out in the front room. Sometimes you need days like today to recoup and
start the week fresh - let's just hope Gabe gets feeling better soon. Poor little guy is not himself.

Gabe vegging on the living room floor - we knew he was sick when he asked me to turn off the movie because he just wanted to sleep : (

Porter getting in on some Leapster action - rare since this is usually attached to Gabe's hip. I love how his tongue is sticking out, like he's concentrating so hard.

Our friends Johnny and Shelby hosted a Japanese dinner at their house last week. One of the things they made were Sushi rolls. John is a hug fan of Sushi so he wanted to learn how to make it at home. So, after watching several YouTube "how to" videos this is the shrimp Sushi I made for dinner tonight. Delish! (Taylor, quit licking your computer screen.)

GABE UPDATE: So before typing this post I gave Gabe a dose of Ibuprofen. While typing he perked up, started talking, playing, and even eating. Up to this point he'd only had grape juice and water, he didn't want to eat anything. We were happy he was feeling better - Ibuprofen works great for fevers! Anyway, Gabe had fun Skyping with Papa and Grammy, Gabe ate a bunch of chocolate chips, had some rice for dinner, and then we put him to bed. Well, he woke up and unfortunately we saw those chocolate chips and his rice again in his bed. Poor kid was so upset that his pillow, bed, and jammies had throw-up all over them. We got him cleaned up and put back to bed. He woke up every two hours all night long, finally at 4AM I let him go downstairs and watch cartoons. That way he only bothered us every 3o minutes (every time a cartoon ended) until 7AM. Glad I caught up on some sleep yesterday because after a long night I have a feeling it's going to be a rough day. Hopefully me and the boys can all take a nap at the same time - that would be awesome! Anyway, Gabe's seems happy right now - Ibuprofen in the blood and a Popsicle for breakfast. Keep your fingers crossed that Porter doesn't get this bug!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Okay, so I have to explain this picture. This is Gabe on Valentine's Day. I fed the kids pancakes for dinner and Gabe got syrup everywhere, so he had to take off his clothes so he didn't get syrup all over the house. He ran around like this for about an hour before we put him in the bathtub and got him ready for bed.

Behold, the power of green!

Green . . . as in veggies . . . as in vegetarian . . . you know, no meat. Just so you do know, I am in no way a vegetarian - I like meat! However, I don't mind eating vegetarian meals and I actually cook quite a few vegetarian meals for my family. So I thought I would share a few of our favorites with you. If you have a vegetarian recipe you love, send it my way, I'd love to give it a try!

Our favorites:

Homemade Veggie Pizza large pizza crust
ranch dressing for pizza sauce
couple handfuls of mozzarella cheese
couple shakes of Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper (if you like spice)
top with sauteed squash, zucchini, onions, and mushrooms
We also add artichoke hearts, Roma tomatoes, olives, and jalapenos.
This pizza is to die for!

Veggie Chowder
My visiting teacher made an awesome Zucchini Chowder and when I made it I couldn't add just zucchini. So I call it Veggie Chowder because I end up adding everything but the kitchen sink to this soup . . . and it's always good!

In a large soup pot saute:
2 zucchini, 1 small chopped onion, 2 T. parsley, 1 tsp. basil, 1/3 cup butter.

Add 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper.
Add 3 cups chicken stock, 1 tsp. lemon juice.

Add 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can evaporated milk (I just use regular 2 %milk), 1 can corn (drained). Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and a pinch of sugar.
Heat through and serve.

Fresh Tomato Pasta
so easy, so yummy8 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped red onion
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
1 lb. angel hair pasta prepared

My favorite Rachael Ray recipe ever!
Spinach-Artichoke Cheesey Tortellini

Click here for the recipe.

And finally the
Super Green Shake
A breakfast favorite!
And after a workout this hits the spot without destroying your diet!
I know it looks gross, but it's super healthy for you and yummy too! I had to post pictures of my kids drinking it because if they will eat it then you know it must be good!
So what's in the green shake?
Put the following in the blender:
Handful of ice cubes
BIG handful of frozen pineapple chunks
1 banana
Scoop of protein powder
Couple gluggs of whatever fruit juice is in the fridge (I usually use apple)
Then fill, and I mean FILL the blender to the top with fresh baby spinach!
Blend away!
You have to try this!

Awesome!

That is the only way I can describe the last two days. Thank you Annette, Lisa, and Megan for such a wonderful time! I loved having you here and will never forget the memories we made these past two days! We worked out, we shopped, we watched a movie, we dined with some really amazing people, we knocked on strangers doors, we chatted, we laughed, we cried, and it was amazingly awesome. Thank you.

Me with my amazing Aunt Annette,

her best friend Lisa Bearnson,

and my beautiful cousin Megan Marie

Lisa with my boys

Megan was so good to Gabe while she was here!

Here he is taking his girl for a drive.

Just another day . . .

So Dana came over while Porter was having a good time with a green crayon. Not ten minutes later Dorothy came over just as Gabe finished having a good time with a black marker and Porter's face. Seriously, where was their mother when all of this was happening?

The Pledge of Allegiance

Sonic

Today while we were at Sonic Gabe had a potty emergency. We don't usually have emergencies. Usually he's really good about holding it until we can get to a potty. I could tell he had to go this morning before we left the house for story time at the library, so I told him to go. Well, I guess he didn't and after holding it through story time it was a pee-pee emergency by the time we got to Sonic and he tells me he has to go. So Sonic is pretty much deserted so I tell him to just stand next to the car and pee. Well, while peeing bare bummed next to the car the carhop of course has to bring our food out to us. I just acted like everything was normal and have no idea whether or not he saw the 3 year old peeing next to my car.

Trains are life. The rest is just details.

We ALWAYS have train tracks or remnants of train tracks spread across our living room floor. Originally, this track was one my brother, sister, and I had as kids growing up. Before we moved to Ohio I asked my mom if I could have it since I knew that one day Gabe would have fun playing with it. Little did I know that trains would become his passion in life! Since he's become a trainaholic he has acquired a lot of new gizmos and gadgets for my old track and now it is one FUN toy! Here's some pictures of some cool train tracks that John and Gabe have built.

The GAP

I was wearing a sweatshirt the other day that had the GAP logo on the front of it and my 3 year old brainiac walked up to me and said, "That spells Gabe and Porter."

I will never look at GAP the same way again : )

Welcoming the year 2010

After putting the kids to bed we joined our neighbors and friends for dinner to celebrate the New Year. After dinner we played games, okay, the guys played games and the gals just chatted until we watched the ball drop in Times Square. At midnight we went outside and lit some fireworks that are very illegal in Ohio. Like my dad used to tell us, "you're not having fun unless you're getting into trouble... just don't get caught." Well, we had a lot of fun and no we didn't get caught. We really are blessed to have such awesome friends here in Ohio! Which leads to this next part . . . Dana did a great job describing our New Year's Day on her blog, so I stole the following from her blog:

After staying up late to celebrate the new year and the new decade we thought why not get up and go for a run at 9am?! It was FREEZING (positive 1 with the windchill)! Again, what were we thinking?! After it was said and done we had a great time, eventually warmed up enough to carry on a conversation while we made our way around the base. It was a great way to start our year off! Plus now when we kick off our half marathon training outside it won't seem so bad after all! And maybe just maybe I will have Shersti and Rachel convinced to run a full marathon by next year---here's to hoping!!!

A Few Random Things...

Monday we took down Christmas decorations and put up my Christmas present. If you have ever been to our house you know how much kitchen cupboard space we have or the lack there of. So for Christmas John surprised me with this pot holder. Which meant that Monday I spent a good chunk of the day reorganizing cupboards and I can't organize without cleaning. So my kitchen got a good wipe down too and let's face it, it really needed it.

Tuesday we hit the bowling alley with Josh and Dana. Gabe loves to bowl and so do the men folk, so we all had a good time!

And here's a couple of funny things that Gabe's said:

I called him "sweet" the other day and he responded by saying, "I am not a potato!"

He frequently says "oopsie daisies" and lately it's turned into "ouchie daisies" when he hurts himself.

And finally, check out these cute kids I get to grocery shop with. (I told you this post had random things in it.)