Recipe of the Week 1

Patrick and I had this last night and it was delicious!

Chicken and Veggie Kabobs (optional: with brown rice)
(with brown rice: serves 4; without: serves 2-3)

Marinade:
1/2 cp soy sauce
1/2 cp apple cider vineger
4 tbsp. honey
4 tbsp. olive oil (or canola oil... whatever you have)
3 green onions chopped
wisk all ingredients together and use half to marinate the veggies an the other half to marinate the chicken; marinate for at least 2 hours

Chicken/Veggies:
chicken onion (red or yellow)
bacon cherry tomatoes
marinates jalepenos (optional)
bell pepper (whatever color)
whole mushrooms pineapple
squash zuchinni

(We didn't have everything last night, so we just used bell pepper, mushrooms, pineapple and tomatoes)

After marinating skewer on everything. For the chicken: cut the bacon into 3 pieces/slice. Wrap a jalepeno in the bacon and skewer on. These make a great app just by themselves! After everything is skewered on, grill for 20-25 min. until chicken is done! Enjoy.

Gift Guide

With my 31st birthday right around the corner I have been thinking of some gifts that I wouldn't mind. In fact, these are great gifts for any and all occasions. Some are even appropriate gifts for Charlie. Here is my Top Ten:

1. Arboretum membership: www.dallasarboretum.com ($60/yr for 2 adults; $95/yr for 6 adults)
2. Dallas Zoo membership: www.dallaszoo.com ($79/yr for a family membership)
3. Day at the Dallas Aquarium: $18.95/adult (it's pricey for a family membership- $195!)
4. Any and all jewelry from www.sonyarenee.com (Very reasonable!)
5. concert tickets (such a great gift)
6. a get-away (Patrick and I like Beaver's Bend in OK for a quick weekend get-away)
7. you never can go wrong with massages, pedicures, manicures... or any spa treatment for that matter
8. perfumes: I like Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors
9. lotion: My favorite is Gold by Niven Morgan
10. luggage: www.janemarvel.com (very cute and durable... and they are having a 40% sale on their Duffel Weekender bags right now!)

Does anyone else have any suggestions???

4 month old baby =

shots = sleepy, fussy baby. Charlie is weighing in at 15 lbs. 1 oz. (55 percentile), is 25.5 in. long (70th percentile), and head size is 16 3/4 in. (50th percentile). New tricks this month include: smiling A LOT; a few laughs; rolling from front to back AND back to front; following us with eyes wherever we are; grabbing and mouthing most everything; bringing hands together and playing with fingers; getting more fussy if he doesn't like something; sleeping between 11-12 hrs at night; 4 feedings; more oohs, aahs, agoos and squeals. It's been a fun month! Here are a few pics from our 4 mth. family photo shoot that we took on Saturday:

Clapton Winwood

Hello. Blogmaster P returns.

From Winwood Clapton Concert

Last night we went to the Eric Clapton Steve Winwood concert. Great show. For those that don't know, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood were in the band Blind Faith together in the early '70s, when Clapton was between bands (Cream and Derek & the Dominoes) and Winwood's band Traffic was on hiatus. Blind Faith only made one album, but it had some great songs. Anyway, Jenn and I figured the concert would be the two guys doing some Blind Faith songs at the start, then each would take the stage by themselves. Instead, they occupied the stage together for 2.5 hours, mixing the Blind Faith songs with songs from their solo careers and from their former bands. Clapton was on his guitar the whole time, and Winwood rotated from electric guitar to organ to piano to accoustic guitar.

We tried to forget the tickets twice, but no harm no foul. This is Jenn retrieving the tickets after the second time.

From Winwood Clapton Concert

We got settled in our seats. One cookies n cream ice cream, one plastic cup of red wine and a sprite.

From Winwood Clapton Concert

They opened with a great Blind Faith song, "Had to Cry Today", with Clapton and Winwood on dueling guitars that warmed the crowd up.

From Winwood Clapton Concert

Winwood spent most of the rest of the concert behind the organ, where they played "After Midnight", "Forever Man", "Presence of the Lord", "Pearly Queen", and a 20 minute version of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child".

From Winwood Clapton Concert

After an unexpected Steve Winwood solo of "Georgia On My Mind" on his organ, they did a four song accoustic set, highlighted by "Layla" and an outstanding version of "Can't Find My Way Home".

From Winwood Clapton Concert

For an encore, they traded off two of their biggest hits, which left everyone in the crowd fulfilled.

From Winwood Clapton Concert

I think I made the right choice for my Father's Day gift, thanks to my wife for making the evening special and for going with me. And an assist to the Allen Grandparents for babysitting Charlie so all of this was possible.

Charlie Photo Shoot

My Aunt Helen took some great shots of Charlie while we were in Shreveport. Here are some of my favorites...

Charlie's new favorite activity is...

SWIMMING! Or, at least, getting into swimming pools. (He's a little young for the actual swimming part.) I've taken Charlie to swim about 3 times so far and everytime he gets so excited and just kicks his legs and splashes the water the whole time. By the time we get out he is so pooped! It's really cute. Here are a few pics:

Some More Shreveport Fun

These are pics that my Aunt Helen took in Shreveport and the activities that went on...
All of the babies hangin out on the slip-n-slide

Working on a tan

Chaos in the pool

Pool time is over

Daily music time was held... the babies LOVED it!

Music Time 2

All the cousins (Collins, Isabelle, Tate, Cooper, Charlie, Caroline, Sophia and Hadley)

The happy Grandparents before the Sip N' See

We can add Patrick's head to this picture somehow, right?

Jimmy and his mini-me, Charlie.

Thanks to all of the aunts (and mom) for making the week such a success! (Aunt Glenda, Aunt Helen, mom/Nana, Aunt Jennifer)

Still Lovin the Swing

On a Roll

I tried to capture Charlie rolling from his back to his front. He still gets his little arm caught underneath him, but he is completely over. I consider it a roll.

Fun New Toy

I put together the excersaucer on Friday (which only took me 2.5 hrs... stupid directions). I think it is going to be a lifesaver throughout the next few months!

Happy Father's Day!

Charlie and I tried to make Patrick's 1st Father's Day as special as possible. I was the early riser this morning (usually Patrick is up first) and took over Hank duty and started the coffee. I was planning on feeding Charlie, but Patrick awoke and beat me to the punch.
We then had a nice breakfast at Cindi's and came back to spend some family time at the house. Patrick and Charlie were matching in their Ranger's gear. Unfortunately, they lost, but it was still a good day. Patrick and Charlie got some nap time in after the game.
Patrick made some excellent ribs and his dad (Pops) came over to help us eat them. Patrick and I are celebrating Father's Day some more by going to the Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood concert on Tuesday... we can't wait! Happy Father's Day!

June Pics

Just click on the picture below to be able to see all of the pictures from this month:

May 25- June 25

And, We're Back!

After a week in Shreveport we are now back in Dallas. Charlie and I left last Wed. and met the Leclercq family in Shreveport for a week of fun. On Friday Julie, Manny and I left out babies with our parents, our 3 aunts, our 2 cousins and their 4 children, to go to a wedding in New Orleans for the weekend. (Patrick flew and met us in N.O.) It was our first time to leave the babies and overall, I think we all did pretty well. All of the babies had a great time with their grandparents and family (minus not sleeping very well). Thank you to everyone who watched them! We had a great time in New Orleans and yall made it even better knowing that our little ones were being well cared for!

Here are a few pics from the fun wedding:


Meanwhile, back in Shreveport... the triplets have been on a 4X/day feeding schedule for some time now. Charlie has been on a 5X/day feeding schedule. This made it pretty difficult for the aunts and mom to keep track of, so they decided to just switch Charlie to the triplets schedule and... he did GREAT! (I was going to try and drop the 5th feeding pretty soon anyways, so this was all OK with me.) Charlie is now taking 7.5 oz at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm! He then goes down and sleeps for 12-13 hours!! (A couple of times this week he has slept until 7:30 and 8am.) We are so proud of him! Here are a few pics from his fun in Shreveport:
All of the cousins

Uncle Connor

Uncle Dave

Fun in the Jumperoo (we aren't quite big enough for it yet)

There are more fun pics on my sister's and aunt's cameras... when I get them I will add them onto the blog.