Snowy Day at Home

It's a Snowy New Years Eve here in the Boston area...We're expecting 5-7 inches, I think. It's just starting to accumulate. Shelagh has a friend over so she's pretty occupied.

She started off the day "working on her website", which to her means drawing out the seasons on paper. Not sure how that conclusion was drawn, but she's pretty serious about it.

There was also a fierce competition of Hungry Hippos this morning.

Rory started off a tough race car driver this morning, but Shelagh and Lily got a hold of him and his toughness is wearing off...

Meal Planning wk of 12/26

Here's my plan for the week...Next week begins the freezer cleanout project I am determined to complete before the baby arrives so that my mom has room to fill it back up :)

Friday - Take out

Saturday - Ham/Bean Soup - I wrote about this recipe in previous post. I did it to use up the ham bone from Xmas.

Sunday - Garlic Roast Pork Loin from The Complete Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells (my favorite cookbook), Mashed Potatoes, sauteed Brussel Sprouts w/ onions. This recipe is close to the Roast Pork from the book, but not exactly. I used a 3 3/4 lb partially boneless center cut roast, cut away the bones and tied them back to the roast. I used 6 cloves garlic, 1 Tbl salt, 1 tsp dried sage, 2 tsp dried rosemary. When the temp goes down to 300, it is expected to take 1-1 1/4 hours to bring the pork to temperature and I may even have to put the bones back in if the roast is done but the bones are still pink. Otherwise, same idea.

Monday - Teriyaki Chicken but without the Roasted Scallions (I love them but I have veggies in the frig I have to use), Gnocchi (Trader Joes), sauteed Zucchini

Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - New Years Eve - not sure yet

Thursday - Roast Beef, Broccoli, Rice or Pasta something or other

Pampering Day

Yesterday was a total "me" day. With Joe having some stuff going on over several weekends in December and January, I realized I needed to schedule a day for myself before it's too late! I started the day with a nice prenatal massage and then a pedicure. I left the house a little early and sat at the bagel shop with my book for awhile first (The Secret Life of Bees per a referral from my friend at work who says it's her favorite book. I'm split right now at about 1/2-way through).

Then I did some shopping and pretty much reversed the physical benefit of the massage by being on my feet too long. You could argue that that's not the way to spend a day to myself, but doing errands without the kids and actually being able to browse is so nice sometimes. I got some crafts for Rorys 3rd birthday party next weekend (I'm not crafty...this took some time); a new outfit for myself for the hospital; and 2 outfits for the baby (I have no business buying her anything really since I have a ton of stuff from Shelagh, but I had no dresses for 0-3 and they were on sale at Old Navy).

Post-Christmas Food Catchup

Christmas week was really nice. We spent Xmas Eve in Southern NH at Joes brothers house with most of his family. The kids had a fantastic time with their cousins. Christmas Day we like to spend at home since the kids are still young and like to just hang out and play with their toys. I make dinner and my mother in law usually joins us in the afternoon. Joes brother and his girlfriend also joined us this year for a low-key meal of Spiral Ham, Roasted Potatoes, Rice, Creamed Spinach, and Chocolate Mousse.

It was my first time making Chocolate Mousse and the recipe I used from Everyday Food came out great and was fast and easy. After my disaster chocolate pudding, I was nervous about the consistency of the mousse not being right, but it was perfect!

I chose Spiral Ham so that I could not have to do too much...it's getting tough to be on my feel for periods of time. I kept the ham bone and searched online until I found a ham/bean soup that seemed good. I used this recipe for Good Ham Bean Soup...don't let the silly recipe title deter you. It was good. I used dried beans for the first time. Even though I soaked them in water for >24 hours, I had to cook the soup for 2 hours instead of 1 to get them soft enough. I think I like canned, rinsed beans better. Shelagh loved it once I added some corn for her. Rory insisted on having separate ham b/c he didn't want his ham to be "soupy". Seriously.

My 1st Hanukkah Latkes!

My first time making Hanukkah Latkes didn't turn out so bad! I used a recipe from Bon Appetit, which was fine save being short a little on salt. The recipe isn't on epicurious.com, but this one is close. The only missing ingredient is 2 tablespoons of matzo meal added to the egg mixture. Grating the potatoes and onion by hand would have sucked so happy I figured out the grating attachment for my food processor. It seriously took less than a minute to grate everything.

Baking Extravaganza

Shelagh & I had a baking extravaganza today...After the peppermint bark disaster, I decided to make some easier stuff to put together in bags for our family gift on Xmas Eve. Here's what we made...

Cranberry Bread (which I've written about before)

Cherry-Oatmeal Bars from Cooking Light - The recipe is actually for Cranberry-Oatmeal Bars with the option of a substitution for Cherry.

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Martha Stewart Food

Meal Planning - Holiday Week

Had to plan this week with Hanukkah and Christmas meals...

Saturday - Linguine w/ Pesto - Joe was out so quick pasta dinner for me and Shelagh.

Sunday - 1st Night of Hanukkah - Latkes (not sure which recipe yet) & Gail Simmons Horseradish Brisket - Did a search on Food & Wine and found this brisket recipe. I just screwed one up a few weeks ago, so I wanted to try a new one. Note: I do not like ANYTHING spicy and always avoid Horseradish. However, I decided to give this a whirl anyway and just reduced the amount of it (Love her on Top Chef, but haven't had any luck on previous Top Chef recipes...probably b/c they are crappy as they are posted on Bravo). Here are some pics of the process today...

Starting with veggies...

After the Brisket is browned, smeared with Horseradish/garlic/olive oil paste...

After some of the Horseradish paste is wiped off by me and has been cooked for about 2 hours.

Final product cooling...Will go in the frig until dinner tomorrow night. I did taste a little forkful b/c I used a brisket 1/2 the size of the recipe (which is how I hosed the last one). I cut all the times in half and the taste seemed pretty good and not spicy. I'll update tomorrow night.

Monday - leftovers

Tuesday - Pork Tenderloin, Brussel Sprouts sauteed w/ Onions, Pasta; Kids: M & C

Wednesday - Xmas Eve - At Sister in Laws

Thursday -

Xmas Breakfast - French Toast & Bacon - I do French Toast like my mom did when I was a kid. Big loaf of Italian Bread, sliced thick. I soak it overnight in a random concoction of eggs, cinnamon, sugar/vanilla sugar and milk. I saute it in the morning until cooked through.

Xmas Dinner - Brown-Sugar Spiral Ham, Sauteed sliced Potatoes & Onions, Creamed Spinach. The sauteed thin-sliced potatoes and onions from the Tortilla Espanola last week inspired me to make them for a side dish (circle french fries to get the kids to eat them). Creamed Spinach is my moms, I think. it has shallots, nutmeg, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and cream...so good.

Baby Belly 34 Weeks

I just did some belly self-portraits...6 weeks to go until Little Girl Baby #3 arrives. I've never gone early, but here's hoping!

The kids showering some love on baby sister...

Why does any Snowfall = Nor'Easter?

This seems like a Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario to me. Granted we did get over a foot and Joe had to go out for an hour and a half last night and another hour this morning to get it all cleared, but why do they call any amount of snow a whole Nor'Easter? It's a bit of an exaggeration some of the time.

The kids went out with Joe yesterday afternoon and again this morning with me. I got a few cute pics of them outside (with me wearing almost all Joes clothes over the humongous belly I'm sporting).

Cheers!

Disastrous Baking Attempt

The Peppermint Bark over at Orangette looked so good and like a fun project for Shelagh and I to work on. I made the mistake of buying the cheaper white chocolate so I could make a double batch, as the grocery only had the good stuff in small packages at a high price. Here is the result of me trying to melt crappy white chocolate that didn't even have cocoa butter in it...A block of sludge (still tasted good, by the way). So much for Ghirardelli white chips at 2 for $5!

So, instead of throwing away the already mixed dark chocolate/cream/peppermint extract concoction I had prepped prematurely (Shelagh loves pouring the ingredients so we did it all at once at the beginning), I decided I'd just make the middle layer.

Not terrible, but just not great. Also, I think the imitation peppermint extract tastes funny, but that's what I had. I'm guessing there is a pure version that is better with less of a cough medicine aftertaste. Baking is just not my forte...

1st Snow!!

Joe Makes a Most Excellent Santa Claus

We went to our friends house for a Christmas Party on Saturday night and had a great time! The kids love to get dressed up...

I made my favorite Artichoke-Camembert Dip (recipe not on epicurious)...although it was short some cheese and a little soupy.

And Joe made a surprise appearance as Santa with the kids not having a clue despite the beard drooping on the left...

(How did Santa KNOW I wanted Headbands and Bracelets? How did Santa know I wanted cars?)

Lots of yummy appetizers, nice to catch up with friends, and nice to meet some really friendly new people.

Meal Planning wk of 12/12

I have been meal planning, but not posting lately. Here's the plan for this week:

Friday - Homemade Pizza - nothing fancy, just have extra sauce and bought premade dough and shredded cheese. Kids liked it and I was too tired from cleaning to do much else.
Saturday - Xmas Party - Wonderful apps a la Trader Joes at this party (Yes, you made the blog and I have another post coming so actually you made it twice, ES!)
Sunday - Swedish Meatballs with Buttered Noodles & Salad - This came out pretty good other than me hosing the meatballs a bit. If you make this, definitely stick to 10 minutes on the meatballs and not 12+. Also, add salt to the sauce.
Monday - Chicken Milanese w/ Roasted Carrots & Parsnips & Salad - Add more salt to the panko before cooking!
Tuesday - Smoked Salmon Pasta - Can't find this recipe online...leftovers for the kids.
Wednesday - Escarole, Bean & Sausage Soup - I don't use kielbasa for this but regular sweet italian sausage.
Thursday - Tortilla Espanola; Kids - M & C night

I'll post recipe links later when I get home. I have to do some work today :)
UPDATE: Recipes posted!

Last 10 Netflix Movies

I've been seriously anti-pop culture lately so I figure I should try to catch up. Here are my last 10 Netflix movies and thoughts:

1. The Other Boleyn Girl - It was ok. I just couldn't get past the backwards casting of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett did okay as Mary Boleyn, but Natalie just did not portray conniving/manipulating/voluptuous/seductive quite like I think Scarlett would have. Also, Eric Bana was just an okay King Henry. I watch The Tudors on Showtime and the casting on that show, while I seriously doubted it at the beginning, really grew on me and Jonathon Rhys Meyers really plays a kick-ass crazy/temperamental/arrogant King Henry. Eric Bana sucked in Troy too...he just doesn't do it for me. Actually, he was good in Munich, but that's it.
2. Snow Angels - This was good, but tough to watch as there is a little girl tragic accident involved that is just so heart-wrenching. Kate Beckinsale was good and I liked Sam Rockwell. I want to like him so badly, but the movies he's in never quite get there.
3. Tropic Thunder - I thought this was just so-so. I did agree that Tom Cruises cameo was very funny (although worthy of a Golden Globe nomination? I don't know about that). RDJr was good and I seriously forgot it was him several times. But, Ben Stiller can just be so annoying sometimes (reminiscent of his awkward character, Michael, in Reality Bites)
4. Firefly - last Disc of only Season. I liked this TV series. It was one of those 1 season TV shows on some random cable channel that got great reviews but got cancelled anyway. They ended up making a follow up movie called Serenity that I'll definitely watch now (see To Do List for Maternity Leave post coming up). It was sort of a cowboy Sci-Fi show if you can imagine that. Great characters. Nathan Fillion has this ugly-hot thing going for him a la Joaquin Phoenix (I don't think he has quite the same hair lip but it's similar) that is appealing.
5. Reservation Road - Also a disturbing child accident movie, but I just love Mark Ruffalo and Joaquin Phoenix. Jennifer Connelly also was so wonderful in this movie. Very emotional, but totally worth a watch.
6. 21 - This was that MIT students tricking Las Vegas movie. I liked it. Joe read the book so we had an idea about it before we watched. I thought it was pretty entertaining overall.
7. Leatherheads - Blah, blah. Not terrible, but not anything special. Reinforces my annoyance with Renee Zellweger. Usually I almost avoid anything she is in, but I wanted to see Jim Krasinski on the big screen and see if he has any potential outside of the office (jury is still out on that one).
8. Indiana Jones/ Crystal Skull - Wasn't into it. I think Joe liked it more than me.
9. Iron Man - This was a solid, superhero movie. I thought it was really action-packed, RDJr was great, as I had heard. The effects were cool, story was okay and overall I was in the whole time.
10. Nims Island - A friend recommended this for the kids and while I would have thought it was a bit much for them (and parts were), they talked about it for days afterwards.

Not too much good coming up either...As usual, I haven't seen anything nominated for a Golden Globe and will have to rush through all of those soon. Here's what we have at home now.

1. Strangers with Candy (Amy Sedaris)
2. Incredible Hulk - Joe watched this on the train down to NJ last weekend so I'll have to squeeze it in when he's not around.
3. Kung Fu Panda - We saw this in the theater with the kids, but I'll watch it with them again for Family Movie night this weekend. They loved it and it was Rorys first movie in the theater.

Pillars of the Earth

I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and it was, as promised by my Uncle, an excellent book. Coming in at almost 1000 pages and with that annoying Oprah Book Club stamp on the front, I was hooked within the first 10 pages. I LOVE historical fiction and long saga stories. This was one of them and I'm so thrilled I heard there was a follow up book (although I think it takes place a few hundred years later). I am usually opposed to the "Author Rush" as once you zip through all an authors books excitedly, you have nothing left and are bummed (I have broken my own rule recently with the Twilight series though since I read all 4 in a row this summer). I haven't read Ken Folletts other books. He's known for thrillers which are fine but make me think of those quick airport reads that are good enough for what they are but just not meaty (ie John Grisham, etc). For me to dedicate my time and tiredness, I almost need a guarantee that a book will hook me in and keep me going.

Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone that loves a nice long story that seems to have no end in sight...

Beef Stroganoff

I got this recipe from Everyday Food magazine and it came out great! I think the Dijon mustard made a huge difference in the sauce and I used sirloin strips cut up small for the beef. It doesn't present so beautifully, but it tasted great both at dinner last night and at lunch today. I love buttered egg noodles too, so that always helps...

Family Xmas Weekend

We spent the weekend in NJ with my family for our annual before-Xmas Holiday parties. Rory was just well enough for us to make the drive down on Thursday. We spent the day at my Moms on Friday hanging out, prepping food stuff for the Saturday immediate family party and just relaxing. Joe came down Friday night on the train. Saturday morning my sister got us all tickets for a Santa train ride which the kids loved. Santa, Elmo, Tweety Bird & Sylvester (Who would have thought...), and Snoopy all were strolling through the train saying hi to the kids and singing songs. Saturday afternoon was a gathering at my Moms and then Sunday was a gathering at my Aunts for the extended family of Aunts, Uncles, my Cousins, and now all my Cousins kids...There had to be about 45 people there...seriously...and that's not even the whole crew. Fun times were had all around. Both kids are clear of all sickness, knock on wood, and the trip down and back was not too bad. I swear the car is the most comfortable place for me these days!

Here are some shots from the weekend...

Rory unaffected by Santa driving a car along the windowsill

Shelagh relaxing at my Aunts house

Rory making himself at home...

Shelagh leading Joe around at my Aunts and Joe loving it...

Band

The kids have been playing marching band lately. Despite the fact that Shelaghs guitar has only 1-2 strings and Rorys drum strap leaves a welt on the back of his neck, they march around the house singing and playing. Claps are required for bowing at the end...

UPDATE: I found a kid trumpet for Rory for his upcoming bday...I'm so excited! (Although remind me I said I was excited about this when it arrives and he's honking it in my ear!)

Running on Fumes...

Joe and I are both hitting a lack of sleep limit, I think. In a row, 5 nights of my dental discomfort + 6 nights of Shelaghs high fever, temperature checks, and medicine administration + 3 nights so far of Rorys high fever, congestion, & snoring. I've gotten up no less than 3-4 times per night for 14 nights straight. I'm actually looking forward to this baby arriving so that I can have 3 days at home alone with her while the kids are at preschool and I can actually SLEEP! Who the hell looks forward to nighttime feedings and sleep interruption as an IMPROVEMENT! Crawling to February...

Christmas Outfits

I couldn't resist posting this...(Sorry to spoil the Xmas Outfit surprise, family)

Nothing makes me happier than seeing my kids hug and kiss and care for each other, which they do so often. I don't know what, if anything, we did to foster their love for each other, but it is there and strong and inspiring. While a bit nervous for how Baby #3 will fit into this, I also have to note that both my kids adore my growing belly and shower her with kisses and "I Love You, Baby Sister" comments daily.

Just for fun...last years Xmas Outfits photo...

I can't help but notice how much Shelagh has grown in height and how much older she looks now. Both Joe and I are astounded, and slightly freaked out, that she will be 5 this Spring as we start to research Kindergarden for her. Rory is such a little man ("I not a little man. I a BIG BOY!!"). The tie helps ("Hey Mama, I look just like MY DAD!!" he said with his very congested and super sick sounding voice while admiring his new Race Car tie yesterday.)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving turned out beautifully. With Shelagh being sick, she and Rory had to be home with me on my traditional Wed-before-Thanksgiving-prep day. I was really nervous about this b/c usually I need to whole day to get everything super prepped so I can avoid being a crazy person on Thanksgiving Day. It worked out fine though...for once I gave the kids a TV free-for-all and they loved it, of course.

For the big day, I made

• Roasted Turkey with Italian Sausage Stuffing (from Food & Wine last year. I made the same one last year and also brined the turkey for 24 hours beforehand. I swear that makes a huge difference)
• Mashed Potatoes
• Squash with Brown Sugar/Butter
• Peas with Shallots & Prosciutto
• Mini-muffin sized Mac & Cheeses
• Cranberry-Apple Sauce
• Chocolate Covered Bananas for the kids
• Lemon Squares

All went well cooking-wise. I got a little further on my gravy this year than last year and my mother in law only had to save the end of my gravy :) Last year I ended up with minimal drippings and she had to totally save it. This year, I had good drippings, a dark thick gravy, and she only had to add broth and thin it out for me. It came out great. Started off too salty, but the raw potato trick to soak up the salt really worked! My sisters in law brought all the apps (bacon-wrapped scallops, cheese/crackers, spinach dip in a pumpernickel bread bowl), drinks, and my mother in law brought 2 pies and cookies.

We ate a little later than I had hoped, but the dark meat had to be cut off and put back in the oven and the gravy took longer than expected. Thanks to the crock pot for keeping the potatoes hot and the squash for staying warm on it's own.

The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Rory found himself wrestling with his almost 6 and almost 7 yr old cousins and holding his own. Shelagh played dress up and followed the older girls around in awe. All in all, a great day.

Long, Sick Week & More to Go

As soon as my dental issue started to clear up, Shelagh came down with a super high temperature and what turned into a week-long unexplained virus. She was up every night for an hour or longer multiple times with 103+ at night and totally lethargic during the day. She really had no other symptoms other than an upset stomach too. She wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink much, barely would do the popsicle thing, and still wouldn't nap (although on her worst day she did pass out on the sofa which might have been a first for her). They tested her for everything and all came back negative, thankfully. By Friday/Saturday, she was totally back to normal.

Just in time for Rory to get it this weekend as I was sort of expecting in the back of my mind. I was just hoping he'd cross over with her a bit and not have us go through this 2 full weeks in a row. His temp hit 104.5 last night and I almost freaked out. It came down and I'm home with him today. He seems to be a bit of a better patient, drinking lots of fluids, still eating, happy to rest in bed or on the couch, watching Cars for the 100th time, etc. Our family Xmas celebration with my family is this weekend and I'm hoping he clears his bout by Thursday so we can head out as planned.

By the way, I couldn't be more STIR CRAZY! Between me being sick, Shelagh, Thanksgiving, and now Rory, I've been at home for most of the last 9 days and I'm going INSANE! I actually really want to go to work just to get out and change the scenery!

Dental Hell

I try to be really good about getting my teeth cleaned. I don't have dental insurance for the first time since college; but, b/c I'm pregnant, I decided to go anyway at the 6 month mark since you tend to be more susceptible to infections and your gums are more sensitive. BIG MISTAKE! I went yesterday AM and for the rest of the day my gums were sore, but not more than usual for after a cleaning. By night, the whole left side of my face was throbbing and I finally broke down and took a Tylenol. Nothing. By midnight I wasn't sleeping and took another. Nothing. I knew I wouldn't sleep. By 1am I gave up and sat down with a heating pad on my face in front of the TV. I made it to 520am before calling the dentists emergency line, to no avail. Why the hell have an emergency line if no one is going to call you back??? I guess I'm spoiled by my pediatrician who calls back in like 2 minutes. I got through when they opened and ended up with a diagnosis of "infection" (which can't be proven b/c I can't have an X-ray). Antibiotics and Tylenol w/ Codeine. I hate to take them, but I had to today and am trying to muscle through with Oragel until bed when I'll take another. I'm so spent today...dying for a nap.

The Power of the Eldest Sibling

Over the monitor in the kids bedroom this morning I heard:

Shelagh: "Buddy, if you do x, you can't come to my birthday party" (mind you, her birthday is in May)
Rory: "Okay, I won't do it. Can I come to your party now?"

It immediately brought back memories of me saying to my younger sister something along the lines of

Me: "If you do x/If you don't tell mom (interchangeable), I'll be your best friend." "I'll buy you a pack of gum" was also a viable alternative.
Sister: "Okay" (within 5 seconds).

I don't know if this more strongly accentuates both my and Shelaghs role of bully/leader in the sibling circle or if it touches on the pliability/wanting to please/follower nature in the 2nd child. Something to noodle today...

Shelagh also likes to throw out there...

• ...then you can't come to my gingerbread house (it is the biggest privilege to be invited to Shelaghs imaginary gingerbread house and adults are frequently excluded for inforcing rules)
• ...then you can't be my mommy anymore (this is rare, but it has been known to come out in the peaks of frustration)
• ...then I'll break x or y (which she never does...just threatens)

She's very creative. Also, I owe my sister a million packs of gum.

Baby #3: What I've Learned

At this point, I'm 29+ weeks with Baby #3. I've learned a little more with each pregnancy and here's what I'd pinpoint to this one:

1. With each kid you have, that "I'm-wiped-out-and-feel-like-just-eating-and-watching-tv" feeling that kicks in at the end starts a month earlier than the last time. With Shelagh I had a good, strong energy until the last month. With Rory, until the last 2 months, but I was chasing 18-mo old Shelagh around at the time. This time, it's the last 3 months. I still have energy and am mobile, albeit with a waddle. But, it doesn't take very much for me to overdo it these days and then I'm just crippled and can't get up.
2. Those "bruises" on my thighs are NOT from walking into the corner of my bed at night, like I had convinced myself. Yes, people, these are collections of broken blood vessels and varicose veins. Please tell me there is a procedure for this when I'm done having kids. Thank God this baby is due in the winter. I can't imagine getting into a bathing suit ANYTIME SOON. Velour suits, here I come.
3. I love that pregnancy for me comes 2 fabulous side effects: I sleep incredibly heavily (despite waking up every night to pee or calm down a coughing or nightmaring kid) and I only have to shave my legs every week or 2. For some reason, leg hair growth comes to almost a halt. It's a miracle and a good thing b/c I'm lucky enough to be able to tie my shoes these days...who can see down there anyway!

By the way, I passed the 3-hr sugar test I had the pleasure of taking this weekend. I've never been an orange soda kind of girl and I have a hard time consuming a volume of any liquid...just not a drinker. Having to chug the whole bottle of that crappy-sweet orange soda in 5 minutes is like a marathon for me. But, I did it. Then, I proceeded to catch up on my photo albums, continue reading an awesome book I'm completely involved in now, and catch up on the phone with a friend from NJ I haven't talked to in ages. I also found out that I only failed the 1 hour test by 1 point. Nice.

Day at Home

With the colds still looming and lots of work I have to do today, we basically just hung around. Rory tried and loved some Red Grapefruit. He barely eats anything and somehow grapefruit is now on his menu. Shelagh had swim class and was thrilled to see some friends in her class. Some pics of Rorys cool Rugby outfit (thank you, Uncle David & West Coast Nancy) and Shelagh wearing her friends headband and displaying her duplicate cheeses before scarfing them down.

Some Good Recipes from Last Week

I did a lot of new recipe cooking last week before my cold set in and was happy with 3 things:

1) White Bean and Halibut Stew - From Bon Appetit last year, I substituted halibut with Orange Roughy as that was all they had and it came out so delicious. Bread for dipping is a must here and it gets thicker on Day 2. Also, as usual, I doubled the bacon and I also skipped the saffron.

2) Pork Chops in Balsamic Cherry Sauce - This was yummy and the cherries made the kids try it more willingly. Shelagh liked and Rory not so much, per usual. Also, I didn't have any bottled vinaigrette so I quickly mixed up a 1 part balsamic vinegar, 3 parts olive oil mixture with some garlic, s & p and used that instead.

3) Emeril's Turkey Roulade with Wild-Mushroom Stuffing - This was from the November Everyday Food, but it doesn't seem to be online at MSFood. The turkey breast was expensive so I wouldn't make this often, but it was good with some homemade Cranberry Sauce (cranberries, water, sugar, lemon zest although it should have been orange zest - wouldn't do lemon again).

No clue what to do for this week, but I have narrowed down my Thanksgiving Menu. Hosting for 22 this year - 10 adults and 12 kids. It's going to be close to what I did last year. I'll post on that this weekend while I organize my thoughts on scheduling everything.

Papazoi (Corn,Barley,Bean Soup)

All of us are sick...just colds, but annoying wake-me-up-all-night coughs and sore throats and LOTS of congestion all around in our house. So, it seemed like a good idea to make soup this week. I decided on this Papazoi Soup recipe I got when taking an Italian Soups class in Cambridge before Joe and I were married...maybe even before we started dating actually. It's an oldie, but goodie.

1 cup Navy Beans (I used canned Pinto, drained)
1 cup Pearl Barley
3/4 cup frozen, defrosted corn
2 Tbl Olive Oil
1/2 cup Bacon, chopped (I usually double bacon in any soup recipe...you can't have enough. I did end up with almost a cup of Bacon)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
9 cups chicken stock (I would use more next time as the beans, barley and potatoes soak up the liquid if you have leftovers...maybe 11 cups?)
1 1/2 cup potatoes, cubed (I used yukon)
1 Tbl parsley, chopped
S & P

1) Heat the oil and then add the bacon. Cook until browned, adding the garlic towards the end.
2) Add the Beans, Barley, Corn, and Potatoes to the pan and sweat them out for 15 minutes or so. Careful not to scorch the bottom of your pan like I did :)
3) Add the stock and boil
4) Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes or longer
5) Stir in parsley and S & P to taste

You definitely need bread for dipping and this makes more of a stew by Day 2 if you have leftovers. Joe and I both loved it and Shelagh liked it for the most part too (dodging the barley and potatoes for some weird reason).

Baby Updates: Sugar Test Failure, Size, Final Stages

It should come to no surprise to anyone that knows me that I failed my sugar test. That's the 1 hour "drink-the-nasty-orange-soda" test that determines if you may or may not have gestational diabetes. Well, not only did I fail, but by 1 point no less. Nice. Now I have to take the 3-hour test. That's something like 3-4 blood draws, more nasty orange soda you have to chug in 5 minutes, and 3 hours in the lab waiting room unable to leave the hospital. Wait a minute...3 hours...quiet...half-way through a new great book that I can't put down. Hmmm...may not be so bad after all.

The good news is it wasn't the 10 lbs of pre-Halloween and post-Halloween chocolate, the Trader Joes peanut butter cups, the pints/quarts of daily ice cream, or the numerous Starbucks specialty drinks I've been consuming after all! The Dr said, while those things could cause me to fail the test if ingested within 12 hours of the blood draw, the history of it isn't what induces the diabetes...you either get it or you don't. Yeah! I proceeded to eat 3 pieces of the hidden Halloween candy to celebrate!

Secondly, despite the fact that

• I'm at 28 weeks and I seem to have graduated to the full panel on my pants (that's the hideous panel over the entire belly that rests just shy of ones breasts for those men out there)
• and that I am already waddling
• and that I've officially fully peed my pants on at least 3 occasions
• and that I'm short of breath after about 5 stairs
• and that I'm doing the treadmill at a hefty speed of about 3.2 now

I'm of normal size for 28 weeks. I don't see how that's possible, but I guess it is.

Finally, I've officially graduated to every 2-weeks appointments rather than monthly. And so down the final stretch we go...

Election Day Discussion

We're bringing the kids to vote with us this morning so we've been talking about it for the last few days. If you ask Shelagh who she would like to vote for she replies "Barack Obama"...I think she and Joe have been talking about it and he's been telling her that's who he is voting for. If you ask Rory who he is voting for, he replies "That other guy". If you ask him Barack Obama or John McCain, he yells out "JOHN MCCAIN!". This morning, during breakfast, Shelagh was telling him that George Bush is President now and that he can vote for either Barack Obama or John McCain and that she is choosing Barack Obama. He's flip-flopping now...his sister has serious pull with him. I was kind of hoping for a little Alex P. Keaton...Didn't you love that guy?

Halloween Pics

We had a great day on Friday! I took the kids to Shelaghs school for her class Halloween party in the AM. We had a relaxing middle of the day at home in preparation for the evening activities. At 330, we went to our downtown which they close off for the kids to trick or treat up and down Main Street to all the businesses. Home for a quick dinner and then out in the neighborhood with our neighborhood pals. Home by 8 and candy officially siphoned off by Mom and Dad (okay, just by Mom) and hidden (for me to give away of course, not slowly eat until Xmas).

Shelagh wore her Tinkerbell costume all weekend. Little-Miss-Dressup will get great wear and tear out of this one. Rorys costume came out great! Joe worked hard on it and Rory LOVED it! He told everyone his Dad made him Fabulous Hudson Hornet costume...he was so proud. I was surprised how many people didn't know who FHH was. Doesn't anyone watch Cars Movie 10,000 times with their obsessed little boys?

We finally got it glued well and the straps to what we thought was a comfortable point for him to walk around with. He actually kept the costume on for most of downtown Trick-or-Treating and all of the nighttime. We didn't quite calculate what walking up and down stairs would be like though and poor Joe had to "Zoom" Rory up and down EVERY HOUSE staircase. We live on a hill and every house we went to had stairs. Both Rory and Joe were good sports about it though.


Downtown ToT'ing End of the Evening in our Neighborhood

Daylight Savings Time: A Nightmare for Parents of Young Kids

I was very nervous about DST this year with Rory being newly transitioned into Shelaghs room and into a bed. He's already an early riser, but he's doing great obeying the "New Room Rules". Seriously though, he sometimes wakes up in the 5's and lays there...that would be the 4's now. Luckily, we were at a friends birthday party on Saturday late and he didn't nap on Saturday (this has only happened one other day ever for him! he totally needs his nap). We didn't get home until 4pm, so Joe took him golfing to keep him going until bed time. The poor kid barely got a few bites of dinner in and was begging for bed time. I reset the clocks Sat night so my kids were in bed at 6pm. I just couldn't hold them out any longer between exhaustion from Halloween, the party we had come from, and WAY too many sweets on Friday and Saturday.

I had turned down the monitor accidentally and I slept 8 hours in a row without being interrupted! They didn't wake up Sunday AM until 630am, which was fine with me where neither had woken up the night before and I had actually gone to bed at a decent hour. I couldn't believe it. We went out to the local greasy joint for breakfast and the TV in there was turned to Little Einsteins. I actually got to drink 1+ cups of coffee uninterrupted!! GLORY! Then, because they had collapsed into bed the night before, they were too tired to really eat dinner and both devoured breakfast quietly. I turned to Joe and said "This might be one of the greatest days of my life". See how little it takes?????

They woke up at 530am today though...1-2 weeks, 1-2 weeks (that's me chanting to myself that DST takes 1 to 2 weeks to adjust to for little ones)...

Happy Halloween & Introducing...

The FABULOUS HUDSON HORNET (from Cars movie, of course) & TINKERBELL trying on their costumes yesterday...we'll get more today which I'll post later. Joe did an awesome job on Rorys costume and Rory loves it. We'll see how he does with the straps we put on it last night walking around town this afternoon and Trick or Treating tonight...

I made it until today opening up our Halloween candy which we'll put out on the porch. Today is going to be a scary day...poor little baby in the belly is bound for barrel rolling all day with the amount of sugar I'm inevitably going to consume.

A Sad, but Unbelievably Inspirational, Story

Every day for the last couple of months I've been following the story of Christian and Stephanie Nielson. They were in a plane crash in AZ and survived, although they were both badly injured with burns over part of his body and almost all of hers. They were both in medically induced comas from the accident until recently for him and hopefully this weekend for her. They have 4 children and both come from big families who have jumped in, taken over the care of the kids and have worked constantly to do fundraisers and all that to help with bills and recovery. It is the saddest and most inspiring story. Stephanie has a blog that she wrote in about her family and one of her sisters, who is caring for 3 of her 4 children, is using her blog now to tell their story.

Here is an article about what happened and where they are now. Courtneys blog about the recovery and how the family is coping is here. I found this story on some blog I was reading and haven't stopped following it since.

I well up and actually cry almost every day reading this story. It is so touching how their families have come together to bring this couple back and hold the families close. Having small children myself, I can't help but think about the selflessness and love that is present in their lives every day. I can't stop thinking about these 4 children who are living loved, but without their parents right now - they are ages 7 down to 2. I can't stop thinking how horrifying it would be to wake up from an accident like this and have that fear about how your children are and where you are and what is going on be so enormous.

So, although this is a sad and terrifying story, it is inspirational every day. The family is Mormon and they talk about praying and faith and God a lot. Where normally, formal religion unsettles me a bit - just out of lack of experience with it really and a lot of questions about my own beliefs - within the context of this story it is comforting and lovely.

Please tell me this isn't happening, Please tell me this isn't happening...

I thought as Shelagh yelled out "Mommy!, MOMMY!" at 545am this morning. Of course, I stayed up until 12 last night working on photo albums and swapping out pictures in picture frames, watching TV, folding a mountain of laundry, eating ice cream, etc. Joe is away this weekend and I'm determined to get a few projects done.

It was no joke and it was because she was thinking of the shirt she wanted to wear with the skirt she had picked out the night before. Seriously. Now, Rory was up and I lost my shit. Knock on wood, it's been a great 1st week of room sharing for the kids. They have been sleeping until 645-7+ every day. And, Rory does a nice job of reciting the rules every night before bed:

"What are the rules, buddy?"
1) No talking
2) No singing
3) No wakin up Shelagh
"What are you allowed to do in the morning when you wake up and it's still dark, buddy?"
1) Suck my thumb
2) Play with my blanket
3) and lay quietlly in bed

Off to breakfast at the local greasy joint. Definitely having a big regular coffee today...screw the decaf.

Explosion

I don't remember the last time either kid had a blowout. Yesterday broke that streak. And, we were at a party. And, Joe wasn't there. And, I had no other clothes of course. Poor Rory. On the drive to the party he cried out and said "Mommy, stop the van, stop the van". It was a "I'm struggling with this poop" cry so I did my best to soothe and comfort and figured I'd change him in the back of the van when we arrived. I didn't smell anything so I forgot and we went in. About a 1/2 hour to an hour later Rory came over and was standing by me talking to some friends. He said "Mommy, I have something on my finger". I just brushed it off without really looking and kept on talking. One of them said a few minutes later that he had something on his pants. The dread came over me as I looked and realized all at once...it wasn't the Reses Peanut Butter Cups I was letting him shove into his mouth and melt all over the place. Oh crap. No pun intended.

I swept him upstairs with my bag and put him down in the bathroom and just sat there. It was all over the back of his shirt and jeans, had dripped down his leg into his socks. You have got to be kidding me. My friend, whose house it was, provided me a towel and t-shirt for him. Slowly and carefully I managed to get his shirt off without shmearing poop into his hair (this was not easy). I must have used 20 wipes to get him "clean". It was the most disgusting, liquid, smelly diarrhea I've seen in quite some time. When we went downstairs, I knew there was no way it was on the outside of his clothes without leaving its mark somewhere in the house. And, yes, a puddle of brown poop was in their living room...Thank GOD on the floor and not the rug...and no one seemed to have spotted it. Another friend saw my distress and quickly and covertly handed me some very pretty gold napkins which managed to do the job.

Then, my poor little boy had to spend the rest of the party in a t-shirt and diaper and fuzzy crocs. What a terrible look. I did get a picture of him later with his coat and hat on, fuzzy crocs and no pants, but it's on my phone and I have no idea how to get it off my phone and onto the computer. It might be worth figuring out. And Joe thought a weekend with his buddies in Chicago would top that...

Quick Cranberry Bread

On Wednesday, Shelagh and I made a quick Cranberry Bread recipe out of Everyday Food this month. It was super easy and came out pretty good other than the cranberries being a tad bit sour, as cranberries can be. Good warm with butter!

Chicken Breasts w/ Apricot-Onion Pan Sauce - Yum

I'm not usually a fan of chicken breasts. I love cutlets (probably b/c they are usually fried), but otherwise have always preferred thighs and legs. The big problem is I never have good ideas/like recipes for chicken breasts. That said, I need to incorporate some healthier poultry into our diet and so I decided to give this recipe a whirl. In this past months Food & Wine, I made the Chicken Breasts with Apricot-Onion Pan Sauce. It was so good and definitely a do again. It helps that it calls for a skin-on Chicken Breast and has a nice thick and rich sauce. The plain chicken meat just doesn't cut if for me normally. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I cut the recipe in half for me and Joe and cut off some of the chicken for the kids and it was plenty for one meal.

Plus, both kids like to eat the dried apricots for a snack. I, on the other hand, have a real problem with dried apricots after a certain bug incident way back when while dipping them into chocolate. Let's just say I ate them before I realized and have never recovered. The trauma was similar to the bad experience we've all seemed to have with a particular alcohol that we never were able to have again (plug in Tequila, Gin, Whiskey, whatever). Permanent trauma.

Dancing on the Table

I'm against the practice, but it's hard to refuse when Guster comes on or when Daddy is home and wants to watch the kids go nuts and dance. As you can tell, the chandelier or "tacky moist dust magnet circa 1950", as I like to call it, is way low and just begging to be pulled on or pushed.

This is the "muscle dance".

Joe got a minute or so on video...it's hard to do the moves justice with still shots.