Bowling!

The Saturday after Gene got back from Switzerland we all went Bowling and then out to Chinese. Bowling is the one family activity outside of our home (besides swimming) that everyone gets excited about doing. WE ARE SOOOOO GLAD OUR DAD IS BACK!! Kudos to all the single Mom's out there....having Gene gone for 3 weeks was ROUGH!! :)

Pop Star Wanna-Be

After another trip to Target to get Halloween garb, Audrey came home with this fake headset to go along with her Pop-Star costume. For two days she danced around the house singing like she was putting on a real performance...driving her brothers a little crazy! Here she is siging along to the radio in the van...unfortunately, (but fortunately) it broke and can't be fixed! :(

The Biggest Nerf Gun EVER

We took Isaac to Target to pick out a present with the birthday money he received...and this is what he got! Its bigger than he is! BUT it breaks down into 3 smaller guns if you want it to. There was a lot of sqweeling from Audrey the day we got this gun because Isaac was hiding around every corner and where you would least expect him... :) Boys will be boys!

Isaac has a BIRTHDAY!!

Our SWEET Isaac is 6 years old!! We celebrated his birthday early...BEFORE Daddy left for Switzerland. And I can tell you he didn't mind one bit! :) He and his new lil buddy Brock (seen below) both turn 6 in September! They are also in the same class at school AND in the same Primary class at church.

THANKFULL!!!!

For AMAZING neighbors!!! And here is why....

Gene is in Switzerland for 3 weeks doing training with his new company. I was doing great as a "single Mom" until Sunday.....

When we were unloading from the van after getting home from church the wind about knocked us over just trying to get to our front door. Then for the next 4 hours we had sustained wind gusts that were between 55 and 85 miles an hour. (This never happened in N.C.??) Things were flying by our house windows that should never have been able to get off the ground.

My neighbor Tom knocks on our door about 2 hours into the wind storm and tells me that one whole side of our van windows were shattered. Then he went home (he didn't know Gene was gone).

So I frantically put Austin in charge of the kids and went outside to try to sweep up all the glass, vaccuum out the van, tape the window with plastic etc..etc...because its starting to RAIN!! And the van is not in the garage because we STILL have boxes galore in there from our move.

Within minutes of me attempting to accomplish those tasks...ALL of the men that live in our culdesac with a few of their sons came in the wind and the rain to help me.... WITH their help it took an hour and a half because there was just so much glass everywhere....especially inside the van. I can't IMAGINE how long it would have taken had I done it alone. These guys even moved, AND stacked our boxes so I could squeeze our van in the garage.

And just when I wondered how I could ever repay them....their power went out....and mine didn't....now there are big orange electrical cords strewn across our lawns and plugged into my outside electrical outlets so they can keep their fridges cool, make their coffee, and microwave their food!

SOOOOOO GRATEFUL for WONDERFUL Neighbors!!!!

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE IN N.C.!!!!!

I will spare everyone the gory details of what we have been through with this house selling ordeal....and actually we still have MANY issues to resolve before the "closing date" at the end of September....BUT it is pretty much a done deal!! Even if the people back out, our relocation package included buying our house from us if someone backed out of a contract.

Oh mercy...what a RELIEF I tell ya....

Thanks to everyone for your prayers!! :)

HOUSTON...WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

I, Sheri Ahlborn, am a Bear Naked Fruit and Nut Granola ADDICT!! Help!! Not only is this stuff the MOST delicious food ever...its also the most expensive granola I think you can buy AND its LOADED with fat. But MY MY MY...its really delish...you should try it. :)

An Aunt Leslie Weekend

Aunt Leslie, Gene's lil sis, came to visit us from Oklahoma for the weekend and it was so nice! We are still laughing about her dating experiences in Oklahoma...so glad she can have such a great sense of humor about some of the "fun" she has had! :) She was kind enough to watch the kids while Gene and I went to have an hour and a half of some much needed alone time....THANKS LESLIE!!

We also went swimming at the pool...



Went to Graeter's for the first time to get YUMMY icecream and sorbet....

See that black shirt Austin is wearing in the pic above? Uncle Brad got that for him in June from King's Island....and he wears it 4 days a week or more. I have to literally rip it off his back to be able to wash it...no joke!! Thanks Uncle Brad! :)







And Leslie played way too many games with the kids....she's gonna need to sleep an extra 8 hours after all that I'm sure!!!

Our Baker-Boy

Austin has REALLY gotten into cooking lately. Mostly because Gene and I have finally given-in to his begging to be able to cook in the kitchen all by himself! :)
So on Monday while Gene and I spent the day on the phone back and forth having heated discussions with realtors in N.C.....Austin heated a few things up himself! Can you see those cookies and those loaves of bread?? Made by Austin...all by himself!! AND they tasted GOOOOOOOD!!! We LOVE our Baker-Boy!!

FHE Softball Night

We were invited to go play softball with about 4 other families in our Ward (church) on Monday night for Family Home Evening. It was so fun and the kids just loved it! I would have more pictures but I ended up chasing William around the majority of the time as he played on a playground that was right next to the field...he just couldn't get into the whole softball thing. :)


This is a pic of Isaac up to bat and Austin helping him...

You PICK your battles... :)

It all started late Saturday night when Audrey was picking out what she would wear to church Sunday morning. She has this ritual where she picks something out that she knows is inappropriate to wear to church, and then comes and asks Gene or I if she can wear it to church. (She usually picks one of her ballerina or dress-up dresses) We then remind her that she KNOWS she can't wear THAT to church! After which she ALWAYS stomps off saying "Oh! I just don't have ANYTHING beautiful to wear to church!" When actually she has a closet full of dresses that SHE picked out from various clothes shopping trips.

But this last Saturday Gene and I BOTH were very tierd ....usually the less tierd one gets to help her finish picking out what to wear to church....but because we were BOTH tierd...she wore this FABULOUS, most GLORIOUS wedding dress TO CHURCH!!

Audrey did however decide that wearing the veil to church would be a bit much... :)

In case you are wondering...these pics were taken last year after her sweet Aunt Natalie sent her this glorious most beautiful dress for her birthday!!

We had a very bad, oh so SAD day....

My last post was about our cute lil kittens we had just adopted. Todays post is about those cute little kittens we had to give back. Sniff-sniff.

It all started with me (Sheri) getting the sneezies shortly after the cats arrived. Then I started getting the sniffies. Then my throat started to swell and become sore. I thought I was getting a cold, but everytime I left the house I mysteriously felt so much better.

Well, I am officially allergic to cats now. Never have been my entire life...why now?? So, I thought, I'll just take an allergy medicine because there is no way I'm taking those cats back!! (I'm pretty sure I wanted the cats more than the kids ever did!) Allergy medicine took away all my ailments except my swollen throat, and a nagging cough. It wore on me and I was just dragging ( maybe the allergy medicine too?).

Gene and I sat the kids down and told them what was happening. After A LOT of tears from EVERYONE we decided to take the cats back. And today was the day we did it. We ALL cried on the way there....and we ALL cried on the way back. Then we went and got milkshakes to try to cheer everyone up.

THEN at family prayer tonight....it was Audrey's turn to pray and she said in her prayer..."thank you for helping us make the right choice, so Mom can feel better." And then all the kids told me not to feel bad, because like all good Broadhursts do, I was crying again. Do I have great kids or what???

Got any ideas about cute cuddly pets other than cats?

New Pets.... :)

We've been promising our kids that we would eventually one day have our own family pets for years now. Austin has been so patient with us seeing how he is 11 now and was wanting a pet when he was 5! Austin is holding HIS cat Oreo (just don't tell the other kids its his!). Oreo reminds us of "Boogie" cat with his personality.


Audrey is holding Pebbles, a sweet lil girl kitty. She has been spayed and is just the sweetest thing. We picked both cats based on their personalities, and both are super sweet and purr constantly. We originally only went to get one girl kitty, but Oreo won over Austin's heart instantly, so he promised he wouldn't be sad if Oreo had to spend most of his time outside if he started marking his territory despite being neutered....sometimes they do that!

Baby Graham...Prayers PLEASE

To all our friends and extended family who read our blog we are asking for prayers. Last Friday Jeremy and Kori Broadhurst were blessed with the birth of their first baby boy (they have 2 lil girls already!) Graham. Jeremy is Sheri's brother.

Unfortunately he was born with a heart condition that prevents him from getting enough oxygen and was life flighted to Primary Children's hospital a few hours following his birth. The next day he went in for heart surgery. So far he is doing well following the surgery, but because he is so little its a "wait and see" kind of situation. We ask for prayers on behalf of baby Graham and his sweet parents...THANK YOU!

If you want to see pics of baby Graham go to my links section and click on "According to Natalie" or "Jeremi and Preston" who have done a better job of documenting what has happened.

So Proud...

Gene and I are just beside ourselves with how great our garden is doing this year! When we were in N.C. those pesky Japanese Beatles ate EVERYTHING! And we didn't want to load our veggies with pesticides. This garden has not required any pesticides. Sometimes we see our neighborhood bunnies hangin out in there, but so far they haven't munched on anything. AND we finally got our beans and cucumbers to climb our hanging wire like the square foot gardener said they would.... :)

King of the Water!

See that lil guy with the water hose? He was the Water King for a day. William had all the kids in the backyard sqweeling at his command and he LOVED it!!

4th of July

It was a rainy, rainy, 4th of July here in Ohio. The kids were climbing the walls because all of our plans got cancelled. So my so so sweet hubby decided he would help the kids do a pie bake-off...whatever kind they wanted to make. Isaac chose chocolate cream, Audrey chose cherry, and Austin chose smore cream pie. William just helped to eat them! :) It was fun...and the rain cleared just in time for the late night fireworks and everyone was happy. And FYI: We DO have the sideboards for finishing off those unfinished cupboards you can see...life just keeps getting in the way... :)

Grilled Chicken Paillards

For any of you that haven't checked out the Pioneer Woman blog, please go to the right side of my blog under Links and check it out. She is funny and I love how she takes pictures of food AND shares the recipes!

Speaking of recipes, I'll be sharing one right now. I only wish I could take pictures like PW does, but I'm not that skilled yet.

The recipe for Grilled Chicken Paillards was given to me by one of my college roomates. She was from Atlanta, Georgia and much more "southern" than this Florida girl...and she could cook! :) I love this recipe because this chicken is GREAT in leftovers...even my kids will eat it the next day and thats saying something! lol! So plan on making a double batch!

GRILLED CHICKEN PAILLARDS
4 to 6 chicken breast halves (you can use chicken tenders too)
Marinade Mixture: (just wisk together)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
3/4 to 1 tsp of salt ( I like less salt)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 TBSP lemon juice (fresh is best)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 TBSP fresh rosemary, finely minced or 1/2 TBSP dried

Pound chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap (or I use large ziplock bags)until they are quite flat. Marinate for several hours in the refrigerator or overnight. We always do overnight. And I just pour the marinade into the same ziplock bags that I pounded the chicken in. Just be sure you didn't pound any holes into the ziplock bags when you were pounding the chicken. Then they are ready to be grilled when you are ready to eat!

Note: Sometimes we like to double the amount of marinade....just try it and you'll see why! :)

Bon Appetite!

Super Baby!

How Super Baby came to be.... One day out of sheer desperation to keep William in the same clothes for a full day, instead of changing his clothes after every meal, I grabbed a bread cloth and tied it around his neck while he ate his yogurt. And just FYI....he started pulling his bibs off a long time ago! :)

Amazingly he did not protest having the bread cloth tied around his neck. Although he DID play with it more than he focused on eating his yogurt. And when he had the bread cloth turned around so that the tie was in front of his neck...he said, "Look Mom! I super baby!" :) I had no clue where he had gotten the idea of super baby from...and couldn't help wondering if he was just so smart he came up with it on his own. :) Mom's can think stuff like that, OK?

But when the kids came home from school that day, I told them what had happened and they let me know that William had seen the "Dora the Explorer" tv show where she has twin super babies in her family. (Yes, I "tune out" most of the kids shows they watch)

So, here are some of the adventures of Super Baby!








In this picture William was saying, "Look my stronger muscles Mom!"


He's in position for the Super Baby....


The Super Baby KICK!!

William gets a new trike!

About 9 years ago Grandaddy Broadhurst gave Austin a trike...and all the kids, including William rode the heck out of that thing! Its been duct-taped more times than we could probably count. But sadly the wheels just gave in to the gravel roads! Soooo, William got this trike for his birthday, and yes, ALL the children had to have a turn on it! :)

Happy Birthday William!! Can't BELIEVE he is 2!

William loved having a birthday party this year! He understood that it was all about him and cake and PRESENTS! But he is a bit mixed up about his age...when you ask him how old he is...he TRYS to hold up more than one finger and says, " I free yeer odd!" :) And as always, our master chef Gene made Williams cake!!


Have you noticed the VERY girly wrapping paper, along with some Christmas wrapping paper? Are we the first to do that? lol! The cake makes up for those tiny flaws...don't cha think?!

Kings Island

When we were looking for houses to buy in Ohio, everything was covered in snow, and it snowed and/or sleeted on us the enitre time. So it was really kind of hard to know where we were (our new house) in relation to most things. Thankfully, we are close to our church, great shopping, the library, the schools etc..etc.. BUT guess what? We are only 8 miles away from the Kings Island Amusement Park!! We decided to get passes there for the summer instead of doing any kind of vacation this summer. We went for the first time on Monday....here are some pics!

William LOVED the bumper cars...couldn't get enough of "crashing" into other cars! Hope that doesn't stay with him when its time for the real deal...:)

Handsome Kitchen Help

See those two slaving away in the kitchen? Aren't they HUNKS? Hubba, hubba! :) They are actually making Mommy's birthday cake for her...special request....carrot cake! And it was GOOOOOOD too! Bet you are wishing you could have kitchen help like that! lol!


HOLY COW! You just got a sneak peak of our kitchen remodel!! Lucky! lol! I PROMISE we'll get the full photo-shoot of pics up for you before the year is over....

Mom is another year older....William thought it was his birthday party...but his is next week.

Our New Cozy Little House

So this is it...our new house in Ohio! We really love it! And we love our new VERY nice neighbors, we love having GREAT shopping only minutes away, we love having a basement for storage and for throwing the kids down there when they've been naughty...JUST KIDDING! We would never do that! AND I LOVE our gas water heater! That baby keeps hot water running through the pipes like no water heater we have ever had! We never run out of hot water....NEVER!!!!


These are pics of the backyard. You can see that Gene has started a small garden for us, and we are hoping it will get a little bigger each year, until it is just right. We love the covered patio in the backyard too. I could live out there, except that the bathrooms just happen to be inside...along with my cozy bed...:)



Hope you enjoyed these pics...we've been sick for the past 3 1/2 weeks with a GOSH-AWFUL throw-up flu bug...so its been just a little crazy around here! I'll try to get up the remodel pics soon.

What Time Is It?....SUMMERTIME!

We love our new pool at the Lakota Hills Swim Club!! (But we miss all our friends at the Hampton Ridge Pool in N.C.!) The facilities are super nice...complete with a mini-cafe, and a huge covered pavillion that has ping-pong, fooz-ball (sp?) etc...for when you want to get out of the sun. AND its only a 2 min drive from our house...LUCKY! :) Come on over and join us for a swim!

So Snuggie...:)

William has never wanted to sleep with anything except his blankie...but he recently decided this lil bunny Aunt Natalie brought us back in February was too cute to resist snugging with.

One Of Our Favorite Recipes

We keep telling our family and friends how much we like this recipe....and so here it is FINALLY! :)


MAC N CHEESE WITH CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI
From: Rachael Ray's 30 min meals


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound chicken breast tenders, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatappi corkscrew shaped pasta twists
2 1/2 cups raw broccoli florets, available packaged in produce department
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
3 cups whole milk
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups yellow sharp Cheddar
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard

Place a pot of water on to boil for macaroni.
Heat a medium pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and chicken and season with salt and pepper. Saute a couple of minutes then add onion and cook another 5 to 7 minutes until onions are tender and chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and reserve.

To boiling pasta water, add pasta and salt to season the cooking water. Cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli and cook 3 minutes more or until pasta is cooked to al dente and florets are just tender.

While pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, then add flour, cayenne and paprika and whisk together over heat until roux bubbles then cook a minute more. Whisk in milk and stock and raise heat to bring the sauce to a quick boil. Simmer until the sauce thickens about 5 minutes.

Drain macaroni or pasta and broccoli florets. Add back to the pot and add chicken to the pasta and broccoli.

Add cheese to milk sauce and stir to melt it in, a minute or so. Stir in mustard and season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and cooked pasta and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings and transfer to a large serving platter and serve.

WE DID IT!!!

Okay so Austin and I have been trying to figure out how to "geek out" our family blog...and THANKS to the help and tutoring of fellow bloggers (our fellow family bloggers) we got the playlist up and running. Wooo HOOOO!

I KNOW my fellow family bloggers are laughing because what we accomplished was a fairly simple task to them.... :)

But Austin and I are feeling MIGHTY proud right now! lol!

AND I'm sure many of you are wondering where in the world are the pictures of our new house, and the new kitchen remodel in our new house...etc...etc...

And I would tell you where those pictures are, but I can't because I plead the 5th on that subject...and if they somehow, someway, show up on the blog someday, it will be a COMPLETE surprise for all of us! :)

Catcha Later...

P.S. Isn't Vince Gill JUST Buttery??!! :)

I've Been TAGGED!

I'm not really sure what the whole "tag" thing is about....but that shouldn't surprise anyone since I am never "in the know" about cyberspace! :) BUT since my sweet, wonderful, wanna be like her someday, sis-n-law tagged me, I am a willing subject!! And here goes my first attempt at being tagged.....

My current 10 favorite things:

1. My husband
2. My kids
3. Sleep
4. HOT, HOT and VERY long showers. Note: Since N.C. is in a drought I have not had a very long shower in a very long time...and a week from today I will be in Ohio, where there is not currently a drought and WILL take a very long shower upon arriving!!
5. Good food...I recently have fallen in LOVE with pita-chips to dip in my hummus and what-not.
6. ALONE TIME! Ha!
7. Gene's massages--he's the best
8. A good excercise workout---without interruptions
9. THE OCEAN, preferrably the East coast
10. Herbal Tea with Ginger-Molasses cookies to go with

This will be my last post for awhile since we are on our way to the land of Ohio...and I'll have mucho boxes calling my name for unpacking! :)