The Doctors Ricks Recommend

Avoiding illnesses in the winter can be tricky but our mommy is adamant that we try. She really prefers it when we do not have runny or stuffy noses (Here mommy- booger!), a cough (Hug pwease mommy. Hack, hack. Kiss pwease mommy.) or other issues... (Yook mommy! Barf!) So here are some stay-healthy tips we've learned from personal experience:

1. Wash your hands several times a day. Gooey hands = gooey noses.
2. Always wear a cute hat when going outside.
3. Get some exercise. We recommend Greco-Roman style wrestling.
4. Make sure there is adequate fiber in your diet. I'm sure there are many helpful books on the subject.
5. Drink, drink, drink.
6. If all else fails, try a little shock therapy. You'll feel better and it will do wonders for your hair.
We hope this has been helpful. Feel free to submit your health questions for our next issue of "The Doctors Ricks Recommend".

Pasta Jambalya

My mom requested this recipe, but I thought I'd post it since it is easy, delicious and perfect for Mardi Gras.

Ingredients:
8 oz penne pasta
1/2 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp Creole seasoning
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
8 oz quartered smoked sausage and/or cooked salad shrimp
4 oz shredded monteray jack cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and keep warm
2. Coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and set on medium-high heat. Saute onion, bell pepper and garlic for 5 minutes. Add creole seasoning and saute 1 minute. Stir in beans, tomatoes and sausage/shrimp; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes or until thickened.
3. Combine bean mixture and pasta in a large bowl and top with cheese. Serve immediately.
Makes 8 servings.

An Epistle to the House of Marc and Sarah

I think our house is undergoing its own apocalypse. The number of repairs it has needed since we moved in has reached biblical proportions. Here is a brief synopsis of our housing woes:

1 And verily I say wo wo wo unto the House of Marc and Sarah! For in that day that thou wilt give unto them shelter thy ceilings shall fail thee. For the plaster shalt say unto the lathe “I have no need of thee,” and in that day shalt the plaster fall and great shall be the fall of it. Yea, and in thy basement and thy bathroom shalt thou also find corruption and thy guests shall say, “Verily we did sleep and behold the ceiling did fall upon us.” In thy bathroom shalt thou hear the rushing of many waters and it shall be as it was in the days of Noah.
2 Behold the day cometh that shall burn like unto an oven, but before that day cometh the day that shall freeze like unto a freezer for even as the love of men shall wax cold so shall thy furnace and hot water heater wax cold. For the furnace shall cease to blow, yea and there shall be no heat found in all thy house.
3 And thy pipes shall weep and the weeping thereof will fill all thy basement, yea and even thy clean laundry will not be found dry in that day. And many buckets of water shall be filled and emptied before the weeping shall cease. And other pipes will not weep but will become as dust in thy hands or ash in thy mouth. But behold, of these pipes thou shalt not eat for they are of lead and are not good for the belly of man. And the dust of the pipes shall allow the waters of thy sink to leak through and great shall be the leaking thereof.
4 Yea, and even thy toilets shall leak, the one onto the other and the other into the laundry chute. And so it shall continue for forty days and forty nights or until thy plumber shalt finally arrive- but no man knows the time of his coming. Yea, and the night soon cometh in which no man can work and the plumber is not yet come. Verily I say unto thee that thou must hope with all thine heart that he comes on the morrow. For behold, thy company approacheth and thou hast but one working toilet.

Three Peas in a Pod

The boys decided that they wanted to snuggle up with David John for a nap. No sleeping acutally occurred, but it was cute anyway.
I needed to post this picture today to remind myself that they are adorable and I love them. Now I'm going to go repeat that to myself ten times and find some chocolate.

Whodunit?

It had been a rough couple of nights. The fatigue was hitting me like a ton of bricks. I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I grabbed the box of chocolate muffin mix anyway and preheated the oven. I had already added an egg and a cup of water when there was a knock at the door. Thinking I was safe, I set down the bowl of partially mixed chocolate batter to answer it.

It was Doug, the landlord. He was there- he said- to check on that leak in the basement so I showed him where it was. I climbed the stairs and returned to the kitchen. There it was, sloshed on the floor like yesterday’s oatmeal after breakfast.

A trail of sticky fingerprints led from the crime scene to the living room. But who was responsible for murdering my muffin mix?

Was it David John “The Hair” Ricks?

Or possibly that Dastardly Duo Gabriel “Master of Mayhem” Ricks and his faithful sidekick Elijah “The Horse” Ricks?

All suspects were apprehended and interviewed. In the end, it wasn’t the tell-tale chocolate coated hands and clothing that gave him away but the classic evil-villain mustache he was sporting.

His partner was charged with aiding and abetting. I am still trying to figure out how they got Doug to distract me. Maybe they promised him a chocolate muffin.

Delightful David John

In just a few days, David John will be six months old. It's hard to believe that we've had this wonderful little person for half a year already. He's a champion sitter, already plays peek-a-boo and sleeps through the night. He is very tolerant of his brothers' love and has decided he really likes applesauce. While he's a little behind on gross motor skills because we're afraid to leave him on the floor with Gabe and Elijah on the loose and, let's be honest, it's just hard to put him down, he has become very deft with his hands. Yesterday he stole cucumber slices from Marc, twice, while Marc was reading and holding David John on his lap. To Baby Davey's chagrin, he couldn't eat the cucumbers but gummed them to death trying. We sure love this little man.

Cute, yet cannibalistic.


My brothers shared all their toys with me at the same time!


So big, and so fun.

Making Ya'll Proud

Nancy would be so proud.

It turns out our boys LOVE edamame- a snack introduced to Marc and me by the fabulous Nancy. They've also been digging broccoli and cucumbers. Yay for eating veggies!

Opa would be so proud.

Here is Gabe reading while going down the slide. He is definitely a Ricks. He reads in his room, on the couch, at church, at the table.... This is starting to sound familiar.

Daddy is so proud.

Elijah loves to clean and organize. He is really into helping lately- with sweeping, cooking, laundry and picking up. He even puts dirty silverware and bibs back into the appropriate drawers with their clean counterparts.

Joe and Sam would be so proud.

Gabe figured out that by putting his mouth on this ball and blowing he could make noises that sound like... well you know. Here he is laughing hysterically at his new-found talent. Definitely a boy.