Springtime!

I took the kids to the dollar store to get a "prize" for getting smiley faces on their charts. (I love the dollar store!) They all chose out matching sunglasses.


Will got to go on a father-son campout. It looks like he had fun.






I couldn't resist taking a picture of this cute girl!


Mckenzie "graduated" from her first year of preschool! Yeah for Mckenzie! She loved it and she learned a lot. She would come home singing all kinds of songs that taught about the days of the week, months of the year, counting by tens, and lots of other stuff. Of course, she loved the social aspect as well
.



Everyone got a medal for an award. This was what Mckenzie's teacher said about her.

Tonsils

Will just got his tonsils out this morning. It was kind of emotional to send my "baby" to the operating room. He was so brave though. He didn't even act scared. The nurse was so nice and showed him around and told him what to expect. I still remember being so scared right before I got mine out when I was 4 years old. I cried and cried. Will started getting an upset stomach as we were waiting in post-op, but he came home and took a 2 hour nap and now has been walking around some and ate 2 otter pops and some juice. Yeah for Will!
(Yes, we were the mean parents who scheduled the operation for the last day of school...but at least it's kindergarten and he doesn't really know what he's missing.)

New Recipe

I just thought that I'd share this recipe that I made for dinner last night. I liked it and my family all liked it too. It has sausage in it (that I found on sale) but it also has a vegetable (which makes it healthy, right?) Anyways, it's easy and good (it passed the kid test) so I'll pass it on:

Italian Sausage Rigatoni

1 pkg. (19.76 oz) mild Italian sausage links, grilled and coin-sliced
1 pkg. rigatoni pasta (I used penne)
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large red pepper, chunked and sauteed (I used my frozen corn and it tasted fine)
1 jar (26 oz) of your favorite pasta sauce
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped (didn't have this)

Cook sausage according to package directions. Keep warm. Cook the rigatoni according to directions, keep warm. In a large pan, place olive oil and garlic, saute lightly for 30 seconds. Add peppers and cook until crisp-tender. Combine cooked sausage and pasta sauce with peppers and heat until warm. Mix with the pasta or serve separately. Top with fresh parsley. Serve warm.

This reminds me a lot of my favorite dish at RigaTony's (when it used to be near us!)

Happy cooking!