thanks for your kind comments, ladies!  for those of you interested, here is the recipe for the beach cups (though i feel kinda silly typing out an ‘official recipe’ since this was super easy…).  3 (6-serving sized) boxes of vanilla pudding mix (i used the instant, just add milk kind) milk blue food coloring 1 box Nilla wafers gummy bears, fish, sharks Yogos roller snacks umbrella toothpicks 7 oz clear plastic cups 1.  make the pudding according to box directions (basically just add milk and beat with wire whisk for 2 minutes). 2.  add blue food coloring a few drops at a time until desired color is reached (it did…

so my mikey turned five earlier this month.  it turned into a bit of a marathon birthday as we celebrated over several days.  so like i wrote before, we let mikey open one of his presents on thursday evening since phil would be on call on friday (mikey’s actual birthday).  we then went out to dinner and let mikey choose the restaurant.  his choice?  bob’s big boy for spaghetti.  which he changed to mac n cheese once we got there.  he also got an ice cream sundae and three waiters came out to sing “happy birthday” to him.  the ice cream he loved.  the singing waiters he seemed unsure of. …

soon after we got back from palm springs, i decided it was time for allie’s very first haircut.  way overdue, actually, but phil finally caved and let me take her in to the kids’ salon place.  yeah, it cost a bit more, but i wanted it to be a special experience for her since it was her first one.  so after dropping mikey off at school, phil stayed home with lauren, and i took allie for our little mommy-daughter outing.  i debated whether or not to take the camera, but didn’t since i wasn’t sure if the place would let me take pictures.  turns out i should have since the…

ok, so here’s the last vacation entry, i promise!  i can’t believe we’re nearing the end of may and this all happened a month ago already.  being back to our normal life has been mostly good for me and the kids, as it is nice to have a regular schedule and for the kids to be back to their routines.  especially for lauren, who got her morning naps back.  though it has been tough for phil who had to come back to work and start right in on a month-long rotation in the sicu (surgery intensive care unit)- which he really hates because of the extra stress, longer work hours…

alrighty, so the next day we spent swimming at the hotel pool and lazy river. in the evening, we took a stroll around the mall that was located across the street from our complex.  it was nice and low-key and a good opportunity for some pictures! one thing we noticed while in palm springs were all the flowing water fountains and streams everywhere we looked. guess living in the desert makes you long for water and lots of it! we let mikey stay up all day everyday (he usually has a daily nap/rest time while the girls are napping) and so he got pretty tired at the end of the…