No, I'm not talking about baseball this time. (But if you want to see some baseball pictures, click here.) What I'm really talking about is Mr. H's apnea monitor that came home with us from the hospital. If you recall, Mr. H was diagnosed in the hospital with reflux, and was kept in the Special Care Nursery for an extra couple of days. We were sent home with an apnea monitor to keep his heart and respiration rate in check. It was fitted around his chest, and there was an electrode under each of his arms. We were asked to keep it on him around the clock, removing it only for baths. After about 2 months of wearing that contraption the poor little guy’s skin was getting irritated. We were glad when the doctor said we could start using the monitor only at night.

Since the day we brought him home Mr. H has had no episodes like the ones they noted in the hospital nursery. Eventually we took him off of his reflux medicine and there were no changes in his eating, sleeping or his sweet disposition. To be honest, he’s been absolutely perfect. So when the man from the medical equipment provider came to the house today, I was waiting at the door for him with monitor in hand. I shed no tears as he drove away. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm thinking more along the lines of a celebration. Who wants ice cream?

We took a trip to the Zoo this morning, although we didn’t stay long enough to do everything the kids wanted to do. We were able to see the new dinosaur exhibit called Dinoroarus. We got there early so we could get in free of charge, which is the only way I would go see it again. It was OK, but probably not worth paying for everyone to get in. We did get a picture with a T-Rex and a chance to dig for fossils.

I recently discovered that I like to cook. I know that I do more cooking than many of my friends do, but I never really thought about the fact that I might have been enjoying it. It wasn’t until I was filling out Mr. H’s baby book last week (I know…he’s 3 months old. It’s about time!) The book asked for Mom’s and Dad’s hobbies and interests. Without thinking too much about it I wrote cooking. And then I nodded at the word and thought, “I guess I do enjoy cooking.”

Based on this discovery, and the fact that I so admire the food blogs out there that offer delicious recipes with wonderfully descriptive how-to pictures, I thought I would give it a try. Like my Mock Mocha MooLatte recipe, this dish is a take-off of another restaurant item. This time I tried to recreate Olive Garden’s Sausage & Peppers Rustica, again going for similar taste with fewer calories.

Here’s what you need:

16 oz. Whole Wheat Pasta (I use penne noodles)
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 pkg. Boca Italian Sausage (4 links)
1 Jar Pasta Sauce (I like a spicier variety)
1 Small Red onion
2 Garlic cloves (I cheat and use minced in the jar)
1 Small Red pepper
1 Small Green pepper
1 Small Yellow pepper

Here’s what you do:

Bring large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. While water is heating, chop onion and peppers into bite-sized pieces.

I know, I know. I have been posting a lot of pictures lately. But I got some great ones at the pool yesterday. This one is my favorite.

We're getting ready to walk out the door to go swimming, but I couldn't resist getting a few shots of Banana in her suit, hat and glasses.

I love Dairy Queen’s MooLatte. However, it’s not something I indulge in very often. I can’t afford the cost or the calories! But I have been thinking so much about MooLattes lately that I decided to see if I could create my own at home.

My first stop was the internet. There are plenty of other people out there like me who want to make their own MooLattes at home. I found tons of different recipes and tried a combination of them, based on what I thought sounded good and what ingredients I had on hand. My first attempt was very blah. I used ice cubes along with the ice cream and that seemed to make everything taste watery.

My second attempt was awesome, if I do say so myself. I didn’t follow anything I found on the internet, but rather tried my own combination of things I already know are yummy. Like this new Fat Free Double Churned Extra Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream I found from Breyers. It’s fat free, but still creamy. I mixed it with Light Chocolate Silk soymilk and decaffeinated instant coffee.

The Dairy Queen version has 590 calories – 207 of them from fat. If you are counting Weight Watchers points like me, it’s worth a whopping 14 points. My version has 486 calories, but only 15 of them are from fat. As far as Weight Watchers goes, you’re only looking at 6 points. In addition, DQ’s serving size is huge! I made half of the standard 16-ounce MooLatte and it was plenty, which means this tasty treat only cost me 3 points.

Here’s my recipe for a Mock Mocha MooLatte:

1 cup Breyers Fat Free Double Churned Extra Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream
1 tablespoon Instant decaffeinated coffee
1/2 cup Light Chocolate Silk soymilk
2 tablespoon Fat free whipped cream

I’ve always admired those food blogs where they put wonderful pictures illustrating the making of a recipe step-by-step. Sadly, this is not one of those blogs. Since I was too busy eating my creation, I didn’t take a picture to share with you. But if you try this recipe, I do hope you enjoy it.

After wondering if we were even going to go camping at all, it turned out to be one of the best trips we’ve had. The weather forecast called for rain, rain, rain the entire length of our stay, so we decided to postpone our departure by one day. We left Friday at noon and were surprised by the perfectly sunny and dry conditions we found when we arrived at Hawn State Park. It was absolutely perfect for Mr. H’s first camping trip.

After we set up and had a late lunch, the kids explored the creek. They wanted to see if the water levels were good for fishing, swimming, hiking, or all of the above. They reported back that “all of the above” would be on the agenda for Saturday. The rest of Friday was spent in Ste. Genevieve for the Fourth of July fair and fireworks.

Yesterday we went to the Library to see a kids’ music show for the second time. It’s not unusual for the kids to want to do the same thing over and over again, but it’s kind of unusual for me. So the fact that I wanted to see this show a second time says something about how much fun it is. The guy’s name is Rob Compton, but he calls himself Babaloo. He sings, plays guitar, and is just plain silly. The kids love it, and I love watching then have fun. The show was pretty loud, which is kind of funny since it was held at the Library. Mr. H was able to sleep despite about 30 kids banging with all their might on buckets with drumsticks. That might give you a clue as to how loud it can get at our house. I was able to use the cell phone to snap a few pics of the kids drumming while Mr. H napped on my shoulder.

We had Mr. H baptized over the weekend. I was worried when we first arrived at church because he was a little fussy. We had to wake him to leave and I don’t think he was quite ready for the big event. Luckily he fell asleep in his godfather’s arms, and stayed asleep even through the water being poured on his head.

As with several of my kids, Mr. H shared his Baptism with his cousin. My sister-in-law also had a baby boy just about a month after I did. The boys looked so peaceful sleeping through the ceremony together.

I was able to spend the whole morning at the Power Lab VBS yesterday. I shot roughly 200 pictures of the kids and the fun activities. Now I have the difficult task of narrowing them down for the slideshow. We can’t have a 20 minute slideshow! I can’t write much since I have to weed through pictures, but you can click here to see a sample.