We got a new camera on Friday and since then I have gone overboard taking pictures of anything that will stand still, as well as my three Littles that never stop moving. Those pictures can be seen in our Family Photo Album, and the rest are here.

Our HouseCold and sunny today, with a few snow showers coming and going with each passing cloud. You can see the house reflected in the thermometer face.

The Living Room (yes that's where the babies sleep)

Cutest tea set

Ethan's bed

Our bedroom

Sunday morning pancakes (notice my little helper)

Kitchen

My Favorite Bookshelf

Almost finished with this quilt

Chicken pillows!

Ed's homebrew; Asian Pear Wine on left and Plum-Pomegranate Spritzer on right.
I love the shape of the bottles.

From the pantry: Green Tomato pickles, Tomato Sauce, Apple pie filling, Spiced Crabapples and Crabapple Jelly.

Last Friday my dinner plan was Roasted Sage Chicken, Steamed Cauliflower and Squash Gnocchi Dumplings. Sounds delicious, eh? I was looking forward to it; it's always fun to try something new for dinner. We tend to eat the same thing over and over, and though it's simple, it's boring. If you've never had gnocchi it's a little, lump-like pasta or dumpling. I've seen it made on a cooking show and I've had it at an Italian restaurant before. However what I made was nothing like what I thought it should taste like. In fact it was so gross that I gave up before I finished boiling them all and threw the rest of the batter out. I felt so bad because I hate wasting food like that but I knew that if I didn't even like it, there was no way anyone else in the house would eat it. I should have gone with the Ricotta Cheesecake!
Fortunately I still had ricotta cheese left and so I stuck with using it for something I knew would be good: Pasta Sauce (thanks Amy!) It turned out great and we ate it for dinner twice this week, for lunch yesterday and I put the last of it on our pizza for dinner today! I wasn't kidding when I said we had a lot of ricotta!

Meet my nephew Elliott Tully Jordan:He's not a morning person. But he's quite happy with his mama. Don't you just want to pinch his cheeks off?
The twins' first birthday cakes.

Ethan's third birthday cake.
For more party pictures check out our family photo album.

I miss my family already. It was so good to see them and the week went by waaaay too fast, as it always does. Dad and Rachel and Tully came on Sunday night. Dad's parents from Arkansas finally arrived Wednesday after being delayed by snow. Wednesday night was the party, with almost all of our close family members in attendance. The house was crowded for a few days but it was nice to get everyone together. I wish we had been able to do more sightseeing or something with them but it's hard coordinating with different interests and schedules, especially since Dad and Rachel had other people they wanted to see while they were up here. In the end we just stayed home most of the week and visited. Everyone left Friday morning and we spent the rest of the day vegging and catching up on sleep.

On Saturday, Ed, the boys and I went to visit the Onrust, a ship Ed's coworker has been working on in his spare time. It was pretty cool to see, especially since the orginal ship was built in something like 4 months. I have a lot of respect for them, and for the people making it today after seeing all that goes into it.

Now I'm trying to get back into the groove of everyday life. It seems a little dull, but I guess that's a good thing. I overshot the food requirements of cooking for 9 people. Now I have a ton of food leftover, particularly ricotta cheese. I've already made two lasagnas (one in the freezer), so we're pretty tired of it. Anyone know something else good to make with ricotta? Maybe ravioli?