New Blog – Again!

Haha!  Okay, really this time.  I have a new website/blog!  YAY me!  I got Bob to hook me up with an official domain and have WordPress running at

www.mommy23monkeys.com

See you there!!!!

“Deceptively Delicious” Taste Testing

I was at Costco last week and picked up the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook “Deceptively Delicious.”  It came out some time last year but I am slow.  I was really wanting to try it since Gabe eats ZERO veggies.  I have no worries with Nate since he is a vegitarian, and Anthony does pretty good eating a variety of good stuff.  But Gabe…nope.  He will eat an apple, or banana (sometimes).  Maybe a grape.  But never any veggies.

So I got it and came home eager to start making a stash of vegitable purees.

It’s kind of a pain in the ass to get the veggies pureed.  But if you just do some as you go, but make extra for next time, then it’s not too bad.  I really need to get a food processor because I am just using my blender and I think it could be easier with a processor.  The author says to spend a night making all your purees and storing them in the fridge.  But so far it works for me to do them as I go with extras.

We have tried 4-5 of the recipes:

• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/butternut squash
• Tortilla Cigars (burritos) w/summer squash & carrots
• Hamburgers w/carrots
• “Ranch” dip/dressing w/beans
• Italian Meatloaf w/carrots

We did the meatloaf first.  Gabe did not take ONE bite!  grrr!  I swear the kid can smell a vegitable a mile away!  But Anthony really liked it.  Nate ate some but I couldn’t tell if it was a winner with him.  I liked it a lot and thought it was very good.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches were a winner with the kids.  All the boys ate them up.  I, however, didn’t like the texture of the “cheese filling” and was a bit gaggy.  But they ate them and that’s what counts for me.

Tortilla Cigars were a hit with me and Bob, but none of the boys ate them.

The Ranch dip is very good if you let it set overnight.  I didn’t like the beany texture eating it right after it was made.  The boys however do not like it.

So far, the BIG winner is the hamburgers!  They were DELISH and all the boys ate them up!  I was SO excited!  I didn’t even have any carrots pureed, so I just shredded one up.  It was very tasty!!  I would recommend them and will probably make them again.

There are several other recipes I want to try and I will try to post about them as I go.  All in all, I think I would recommend the cookbook.  It has given me some good ideas for sneaking some good stuff into the kids food.  I can’t wait to try some of the deserts!

Bob the Baker

Bob was in the kitchen rummaging through my cabinets.  I asked what he was looking for and he asked me “do we have any yeast?”  huh?  “Why are you looking for yeast” I ask.  He tells me he was having a craving for home made white bread.  Great, he’s gonna want me to make him some bread again.  But, no.  This time HE wanted to make the bread.  Amazing!  So I stopped at the store and bought the man some yeast.

Yesterday when the twins went down for their nap, Bob went to work in the kitchen.  He was so cute with his recipe laid out on the counter and his ingredients lined up.  He asked me how to work my Kitchen aide Mixer (hehe).

So there you have it.  Bob baking bread!  And I have to say, that it is quite delicious!  And it sucks because I’m not supposed to be eating bread.  boo.  But I snuck some toast this morning and it was great!!  WTG Bob!

Fly Ditty

Have you ever heard of “The Upside Down Show?”  It’s a great little show made by these guys, David & Shane of The Umbilical Brothers.”  They play it on Noggin and it’s the boys’ favorite show (at the moment).  The one guy has a pet fly and one day it is sad.  So the guys are trying to cheer it up and they have this dance called the “Fly Ditty.”  It’s a very clever and imaginative show.  I was disappointed to find out that there was only a handful of episodes made (especially since we watch it every day).

Anyhow, here is my boy’s version of the Fly Ditty.   (just ignore Bob’s pirate ship commentary…he didn’t know I was taping. LOL).

I LOVE COSTCO!

Before I talk about Costco, I just want to say that I missed it over here and until I figure out what I’m doing, I will stay at WP instead of blogger.  Actually, I think we (by “we” I mean DH) will be registering The Tabler Family.com and then downloading the WP software and do our blog that way.  I actually have a lot more to say than just kid/family stuff, but that’s how he wants it.  I’ll let him do it….I’m nice like that.  Okay….off to my story about Costco….

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Have you shopped at Costco?  It’s only the best place EVER!

About 2 years ago, Bob bought himself a 32″ flat screen Vizio TV.   It was a pretty TV with a great picture.  Bob loved the HD (what man doesn’t?).  Well, recently it was getting a “burned” linear image on both sides of the screen.  He was really bummed and made a tech call to Vizio.  After a couple emails they requested that he get the purchase information for them.  Off to Costco we went.

Last Saturday, we went up to the lady at the counter and she was happy to look up the purchase information (since they have GREAT customer service).  She was looking at it and non-chalantly said “why don’t you just bring it back here?”  Bob and I looked at each other and he grinned.  Then she said the best words in man’s language “you could probably even get a bigger once since the prices have really dropped since you got this.”  Bob’s little head started turning and he was like a little kid in a toy store.  Off we went to the electronics department so he could see what his new purchase could be!

We looked and talked and decided he could probably get a 37″ TV.  He was very happy with this and wanted to go right home to get the old TV and get it exchanged.  LOL!  Unfortunately, we had made other promises to the kids and had to take a trip to Toys R Us first.

Come Sunday, he loaded up the TV and took Anthony to Costco.  He was gone for a bit.  When he drove up I met him at the door.  He had a big ole grin on his face.  “Guess what?!  I was able to get a 42″ TV!!!!”  If a man could giggle…he would have been giggleing! AND he upgraded our membership card to where we will get a rebate in the mail (I think it’s a percentage of your annual purchases…so we will get a rebate on money we actually spent 2 years ago) AND he brought home a $69 cash card for the store (which I used to get some groceries).

How awesome is Costco??  Here are some pictures:

The New TV:

See the smirk on the Wizards face??  hehe…

Just for comparison…here is Gabe standing with the new TV

New Blog

Nevermind!  I’m a woman…I have the right to change my mind.

Conversation with a 4yo

Anthony:  “mommy, mommy, smell my hand!!”

Me:  *sniffing because I’m gullible like that*

Anthony:  *laughing* “does it smell bad, mommy?”

Me:  “yeah….”

Anthony:  *laughing hysteically* “I farted on my hand!!!!” LOLOLOLOL

I mean, really!!??  Where do boys learn these things?  What am I gonna do where there are 3 boy teenagers at the same time?  *sigh*

Anthony’s Birthday Celebration!

Anthony turns 4 at the end of the month.  But because my parents are going on a 2 week cruise to Alaska (blah) and Anthony is heartbroken about them missing his birthday, we celebrated early.  This past weekend we took him to Sea World and then had a small dinner party on Sunday.

We had a great time.  Of course, I forgot my camera on Saturday (Sea World).  So there are no pictures there.  But I got a few on Sunday.  My camera is sucking and not focusing indoors.  So the ones from opening presents and cake kinda suck.   It will focus w/out a flash so they are all yellow and grainy.  I’m bummed.  But I just can’t get another camera right now.  But, Ant did get some really cool inline skats from some really awesome parents and I got some nice pics outside today practicing.

New Triplet Pictures

I know, I know.  I suck at posting lately.  I just really haven’t had anything interesting to say.  But today I did get some new pictures of the triplets and a nice little update from mommy.  So I posted them on my Triplets page.  Let me know if you don’t have the password.  I keep it that way so only my friends and family see the babies.  The newest pictures are at the bottom.

Well, I gotta get to work now.  Maybe I’ll come back and give an update on the boys when I get home.

Took the boys camping

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.  No real reason, just being lazy.  Last weekend I took the boys camping with my parents and some other relatives.  Bob had to work so I went by myself.  The boys were wonderful!  We had so much fun getting dirty.

We were staying at Lake Morena in Campo.  But on the first day we went traveling and ended up near Jacumba at these really cool rock formations (you know the rocks going out I-8 before you drop into the desert?).  There is a tower up there, The Desert View Tower. In all my years going to the desert, I never knew it was there!  We will definitely stop there again.  It was so much fun for the boys!  We climbed around and checked out the “gift shop/museum.”  They boys had a great time and I took lots of pictures.  Funny, I didn’t take any pictures the next day, only on day one and most of them are at the tower.  But I got some cute ones so I will share.