Star Wars

Legos, Jedi Starfighters, Books, Shirt, Action Figures, Movie, and on and on...This kid is so easy to please. I drew the line at a Nerf Machine Gun. Although, his birthday is coming up on Tuesday so here we go again. Nerf gun or no Nerf gun. I will surely regret it as he pops me in the eye-ball with foam pellets over and over. But, he's so cute, right????

Joe, the Baker

He was just in the mood for fresh cookies...

I came downstairs from putting the kids to bed to this...

They were pretty good! And, he was so proud of himself. Now he can just whip up a batch whenever he's in the mood.

Evening Disasters

Tried to do some things last night upstairs after dinner while the kids were playing around downstairs. I'm just at that stage where I think I can leave Kelly alone for a bit b/c Shelagh is usually all over her - playing with her, leading her around, taking care of her (She's like a little Mother Hen!). I ended up having to fly back downstairs at full speed when Kelly figured out the child locks on the sink cabinet (yes, she did) and managed to dump out a whole canister of Bon Ami (ie Comet) on the floor and herself before I heard Shelagh yell (Thank God).

While I was on the phone with Poison Control and simultaneously washing her hands and splashing water at her eyes (which was no easy feat), Rory spilled his plate with ketchup all over the rug. Seriously. Joe walked in just after I stripped Kelly down to onesie, had Rory pick up his potatoes and scoop up the ketchup, and I sat them both down to watch Clone Wars. I escaped to get a quick hair cut and am just realizing that I never went back to the ketchup stain. This is why I don't spend much effort on house decoration. Also b/c I hate house decoration and am overwhelmed by just the idea of it.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve


Chocolate Mousse face ("All DONE MOMMY!") & Optimus Prime doing a Move


Shelagh, her American Girl Doll (still unnamed) & her Dad


The girls playing dolls - Kelly looks so grown up I could scream. Can't she just stay pre-2 forever??????

First 2010-2011 Winter Snow Storm

We got almost 2 feet, were out of work, out of school/day care, and went for a sled on Monday. Too windy for Shelagh, Rory went the fastest and Kelly cried when we left despite having snow packed directly on her lower legs from shitty-fitting boots. "More play, mommy. More PLAY!" Nope, sorry.

Foot Heaven

I still don't like how they look, but DAMN they are cozy. I wore them all Xmas day. The &^%$-ing snow is keeping me from wearing them right now. DAMN!

Just had to change the title of this post from Heaven to Foot Heaven. I was looking at my posts and realized that the Heaven post about my shoes was next to the post about my Dad. It felt all wrong. I'm so screwy in the head, I'm telling ya. Coffee - KICK IN!

Long Month - Looking Forward to 2011

Don't even know how to start... When something bad happens, I guess I back off the blog and then there is whole burden of how to start back up. Then time passes and it's easier just not to. Then I have funny little anecdotes and cute pictures and it seems inappropriate to put those on and ignore the elephant in the room. I went through the same thing when we lost the baby this past April. Now, however, it's my Dad that we've lost. He was quite ill, so it was not unexpected. His decline was fast, but his exit was peaceful and presumably pain-free. It's been difficult to juggle my feelings, the feelings of those around me in my family, and all the sticky stuff that goes along with loss and family dynamics. But, I'm coming through and so onward we go. That's all I'm going to say about that.





Rory and his Boppy (his special name for Grampy)




Update: Then I read Orangette today and Molly wrote about her recent family crisis so beautifully and briefly. It made me think of my struggle wanting to post and not knowing what to write. Here it is.

Wonder Pets

Kelly's Wonder Pets Xmas gift from my sister was a big hit with all the kids!

A Long Couple of Weeks

There has been so much going on over the last 2 weeks...I feel like I'm just catching my breath.

As usual, Thanksgiving was held at our house for 19 (1/2 are kids). I was pretty unprepared this year...waited until the last minute to decide on the menu. I was able to start some stuff on Tuesday, do most of it on Wednesday, and have a mostly stress-free Thursday. My mom came up on Tuesday night - it was nice to have help and company for this years prep. Thursday was a really nice day with kids running around, lots of food and drink, and good conversation. We ended up having:

• Butternut Squash Soup
• Brined, Roasted Turkey w/ Sausage, Fennel, & Sage stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes (I hosed the potatoes for the first time ever and had to send Joe out to get 7 more pounds of potatoes. Nice.)
• Roasted Vegetables - Sweet Potatoes, Turnips, Carrots, and Parsnips
• Brussel Sprout hash w/ Lemon and Poppy seeds
• Cranberry Orange Sauce
• Brioche Rolls
• Green Bean Almondine (my sister in law brought this)

For dessert we had Cherry Pie, Apple Pie, cake, and Chocolate Pecan Pie.

Friday, Shelagh and I drove to NJ with my mom for my 20th High School reunion. We drove by way of NYC and stopped in to Eataly, Mario Batali's new market/restaurant extravaganza. It was overwhelming, tothe say the least. Beautiful bread, meat, pasta, gelato, etc. I did think it would have more bite-sized eats for noshing on, but it was more sit down restaurant and goods. WAY expensive too, I might add - like Whole Foods x 3 expensive. We also stopped by Mom's cooking school to show Shelagh where Grammy teaches. She was very impressed.

High school reunion was cool. Everyone looked pretty much the same...maybe a little more lbs and a little less hair, but mostly the same. It was nice to see people, but I really feel like I had lots of partial conversations. Glad I went though and great night with my best friend from h.s. and her husband. Joe's was the same night in MA so he couldn't come with me, unfortunately.

Also stopped in to see my Dad, who is ill and not doing so well. It was tough but I was so glad to see him at least. Shelagh and I took the train back from NJ to Boston, which was a fun adventure for her.

Last week was nuts. We had stuff every night plus I had 8 loads of laundry piled up. Monday night I had to go to the mall to get all the cousin swap gifts. 8-10pm at the mall is a good time to go - not that crowded, good parking - I got all the gifts done in one swoop. Tuesday we had a safety curriculum review at Rory's pre-school - the kids thought it was cool to be at school at night with their friends. I had all the Hanukkah wrapping to do also. Wednesday was the 1st night of Hanukkah and the rest of the wrapping for the Xmas party we had this past weekend. Thursday Shelagh and Joe had a CCD event at church and my cards arrived (without my kids name or the year - glad I was paying attention when I ordered them!), so I got started on those - we are sending 140 this year - why the hell don't I figure out how to do labels???? Friday we left for NJ, dropped by a friends house in CT and arrived in NJ for the family Xmas weekend.

Family Xmas weekend is always the 1st weekend in December - I love that. Most of my holiday craziness is done now! My aunt arranged for a horse-drawn carriage so that my Dad could ride around the neighborhood with all his grandkids. It was just what he needed - the fresh air rejuvenated him a bit and we all had a very wonderful day. Joe, the kids and I had 2 awesome diner breakfasts this weekend- diners in NJ are like Dunkin Donuts in MA - there is one on every corner. And, they are all good! I love diners.

We are back home and settled back in. Continuing to enjoy Hanukkah...Joe's work Xmas dinner is tonight at a beautiful restaurant in the North End in Boston. I get my winter veg share from the Food co-op (which I'll have to pick up in heels!!).

Off to skating with Rory and Kelly now. Let's hope Rory doesn't decide to lay down on the ice and flop around like a dying fish. I keep telling him that Superman always tries his hardest and so should Rory. Let's hope it works.

Happy Hanukkah

Kelly's first time reciting the Hanukkah prayer with me and the big kids. She's totally into it...it's way cute.

Butterfly

Shelagh making friends in the butterfly garden at the Museum of Science a few weeks ago.


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Guess Who's bellied up at the Bar??

Rory Skates!

Rory took his first skating lesson this week. He went from "I'll be the toughest kid in class!" to a wet noodle laying on the ice followed by "Skating is boring!". He looked cute though.






Kelly had fun watching



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New Carpet Runner

After almost 7 years in our house, and a mean fall down the steps while holding 2 babies, we finally got a carpet runner for the stairs. I cringe at the thought of house projects - I have no design eye and everything we do is for the first time, thereby requiring in-depth research. All that requires time without children, a sense of style, and a basic idea about what you want - none of which I have. Stress!

Anyway, I finally went to a few carpet stores and after some struggle picked a runner I thought would work. I think it looks great if you are looking just up or down the stairs. However, pulling together multiple rooms? I don't know. We decided against going all the way up from the 2nd to the 3rd floor to save some $ and b/c only the guest room is up there now. I will regret that decision. It is almost guaranteed that the carpet will be discontinued by then as is my luck. That was basically the reason we had to pull up the carpet squares in the laundry room and put in wall to wall there. The cat peed on too many squares, they were discontinued, and we had to start over. Typical.

Oh well. Here it is...I just want to lay down on the stairs now...they are so plush.

U Mich & some Apps

We had some friends from our days in Ann Arbor over on Saturday to watch the U Michigan football game. Other than the initial panic when we realized that Michigan is kind of sucking and was on the Big Ten Network which we didn't even know if we had (only realizing this as our friends arrived, of course). We did have it and in HD thankfully.

I made a few things, all new. One of our friends doesn't eat red meat so I found a turkey chili recipe from Whole Foods, added on an 8-layer dip and Barbara Lynch's baked cheese with roasted tomatoes, finishing with Mexican Hot-chocolate cookies. All came out great. See notes below...

Touchdown Turkey Chili - I like chili sometimes, but I'm not a chili person. I'd like to be. What a perfect one-pot meal for a group! This recipe called for a 28oz can of tomatoes which, as soon as I added them, made me almost make another back-up meal. It was like a pile of tomato juice with scattered turkey here and there. I made it in the AM and kept it warm in the crock pot for a couple of hours and it totally mellowed and the liquid cooked off a bit. With some shredded cheddar on top, sour cream, and crostini on the side it was delish. I think it's the use of beer in the recipe.

8-Layer Dip - From Everyday Food I had clipped this recipe but I'd not made it before. I skipped the green chiles, would skip the lettuce in the future, and made my own refried beans. I sauteed chopped onion and garlic, added a can of drained pinto beans, cooked them for a bit, mashed them in the pan, and thinned them with with chicken broth.

Baked Cheese w/ Roasted Tomatoes - I had this at Stir, Barbara Lynches demo kitchen where I took a class. So simple, so heavenly. Came out great using cheddar, monterey jack, and camembert. This link uses goat cheese, but I hate goat cheese. The chef said that she created this dish based on a selection of leftover cheese after a dinner party and to use whatever mix of cheese you want, which I did. I didn't make the crisps as I don't like olives. I did use pita chips and crostini on the side.

Mexican Hot-Chocolate Cookies - These came out great. Soft, big, chewy, dough was yummy too. Will make again, but will add cinnamon into the dough as well.

ABC's

Kelly graced us with some ABC's this morning...

Skillet Turnips and Potatoes with Bacon

Just finished this for tonight for me and Joe. Spent the morning at the Museum of Science from 9 to 1230 (can you say, exhausted???). Therefore, I don't feel bad hanging at home for the rest of the day. It is sunny, chilly, and bright out - it would have been a good day to get some fresh air, but I'm spent from chasing all 3 kids on a school-free holiday in Boston.

I had turnips from the extended veg share. This Skillet Turnips & Potatoes recipe came out pretty good. This method of cooking didn't mellow the sharpness of the turnips as I had hoped. I think braising or roasting would sweeten them up a bit.

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

I thought I'd be a hero for making homemade Mac & Cheese the other night. No such luck. There was a complete revolt.

I used a recipe from Everyday Food from Emeril I thought it was pretty good. It used a can of evaporated milk, which skeeved me out a bit at first but it really thickens up and makes the cheese super-creamy. The only issue was that I wasn't sure it was hot enough and I left it in the oven for too long causing the eggs that are mixed in to begin to slightly scramble. It didn't taste different, but it changed the texture in parts along the edges. I also skipped the cayenne and nutmeg, doubled the bacon (of course), and added some salt. I probably won't do this one again, but I am going to figure out a homemade version with milk and cheese of some sorts. I love Annies, but I like the baked top of the homemade kind and the thicker cheese. No breadcrumbs. That's just weird.

Halloween

I didn't take that many pictures b/c juggling Kelly, the wagon, and our Hot Cider and Captain Morgans was tough. It was worth it...the drinks were fantastic on that cold night. Here are 2 decent shots, though.

Kelly's pic screams to me "Oh, woe is me! What to do with all this candy???"

Chaos

F&^% you, Daylight Savings time. My kids were all sleeping until 7-730 solid until this morning. I even let them stay up later last night so that this morning would not be abruptly early. At the bright hour of 6am, it started with Rory coming in who is fighting a cold (probably b/c I just commented that my kids hadn't been sick since June). It followed with Shelagh 5 minutes later and then Kelly yelling "Mom! Dad! Daddy! Dad!" from her room until Joe got her. All 5 in bed, which was nice except that I became a jungle gym with kids fighting over who was snuggling me. Oy. Plus it's freezing out today so I really don't want to go out and advance Rory's cold. It's only 1030am and Joe is out golfing for the day. Can I institute required Sunday naps? Let's see if I can pull it off. Why am I so annoyed already???? Calgon, take me away.

Extended Vegetable Share Loot

I got the extended share from the Food Co-Op that I belong to which is 2 double-family sized deliveries of vegetables and fruit. I got a massive amount of food:

• Beets (Made Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht from October 2010 Everyday Food. Left the stove on while I got stuck upstairs with the kids, boiled away all the liquid, but saved it by adding more broth and cooking it down for 10 minutes. Delicious!)
• Potatoes
• Leeks
• Garlic
• Collard Greens (Braised them in chicken broth, onions, and apple cider vinegar)
• Kohlrabi
• Butternut squash
• Some off white/yellow-green striped squash
• Carrots
• Apples (Cameos & Candy Crisps)
• Baby Bok Choy
• Turnips

I think I'll take the potatoes, garlic, kohlrabi, carrots and turnips and just do a few trays of roasted vegetables. I'll eat them for lunch this week.

Food stress, welcome back!

Massive Weird Squash

Imagine butchering that thing??? Rory almost tipped over.

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2nd Tooth!

Look who lost her 2nd tooth yesterday!! 1st tooth was swallowed down with a brownie. Tooth #2 got spit out in the sink while tooth brushing. Of course I was in the process of getting her a tooth box from Etsy so I had to print off the picture of the box and leave a note from the tooth fairy on it that I was taken aback by how fast that loose tooth came out and will make a special trip to drop it off when it's done. Nice.

PS - She didn't seem too miffed that Tooth #2 got $2, whereas Tooth #1 got $3.

Recipe for Buckeyes!!

I had these once and think of them often. SmittenKitchen posted a recipe for Buckeyes that I will try within the week, for sure.

Halloween Preview

Our town does store trick or treating on the Friday before Halloween. Here are the kids before we head down there this afternoon:

Candy overload, here we come...

Spaghetti & Meatballs: new Recipe

With Fall weather comes the urge for roasts, pasta, braises, and LOTS of vegetables. Molly Wizenburg's writing in Bon Appetit makes me want to try everything she does. In this months issue, she writes about spaghetti and meatballs. I usually make my mom's version. For the sauce it's garlic, basil, tomatoes, and salt. We are of the no-onion sauce camp. For the meatballs it's all beef, progresso Italian bread crumbs (just a little), egg, and they are cooked stovetop in a pan, not in the sauce. This is the way I've always done it and I love it this way...it brings me to the memory of waking up to garlic and sauce on a Sunday morning. However, I also like a spongier meatball and it drives me nuts that my meatballs come out triangular from the pan fry and not round.

I decided to try Molly's version which is a sauce with not only onion but butter! I seriously don't need ANY more butter in my diet so I secretly hoped I wouldn't like the sauce. Her meatballs have an enormous amount of breadcrumbs and parmesean and more egg than I would normally use and they are a mix of beef and pork. You can see all the breadcrumb/parmesean in the raw meatballs below. This was a sure sign that they would be too bready. Actually, I was so scared of overmixing them (she said that was the key) that I probably erred on the side of less combining so I would say the bread is not as distributed as it could have been.

Anyway, final result is that I did like the sauce, but not as much as my usual which is ok with me. The meatballs were not distributed enough, but I do like the cooking of them in the sauce instead of frying...some of the meat moves into the sauce and makes a nice robust version. Finally, I do not usually eat spaghetti...the shape annoys me - all that splattering of sauce (you CANNOT cut your long pasta so it flies everywhere. just my opinion). With meatballs I like a penne type of noodle. I went with Rigatoni which was perfect.

Kelly & Rory

Rory and Kelly get lots of time together since they are home with me during the week on my 2 non-work days while Shelagh is in school. They love to hug and wrestle and roll around. Look how big she looks standing up proud next to him. He wanted a series of pictures of him holding his ski helmet like Luke holds his orange jumpsuit helmet (Luke as Red 5 from Star Wars 4). Kelly siddled in at the end. The next one is Kelly adoring her big brother as he SMOTHERS her in kisses, which he likes to do. This is very cool if you are on the receiving end of his love (caveat: if he does this first thing in the morning, but after you've showered you now have his bad morning breath smeared all over your face).

Kelly LOVES going potty. She is happy to cheese during the act (I've helped her with some modesty). Rory, while Kelly naps, sometimes likes to watch a show on TV. With that comes being completely wrapped up in The Boat (a favorite couch blanket at our house).

Pasta with Artichokes and Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Needed a quick side to go with leftover ham and had no fresh vegetables. I pulled out a bag of frozen artichokes I had grabbed at Trader Joe's along with some of my slow roasted tomatoes that I hadn't preserved. Basically I put the frozen artichokes in the pan with a small bit of water, brought it to a boil and then lowered the heat to fully defrost the artichokes. Then I added some olive oil and crushed garlic for a few minutes. Then I added the tomatoes and cooked it together until most of the tomato liquid was cooked off before adding some chicken broth to make a sauce. Added salt and the cooked pasta and that was that!

Kids Snuggling

All but the last picture are from last night when the kids watched a DVD I picked up at the library that contained 5 shorts made from Eric Carle books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (our fave), Papa Please Get the Moon for Me (Kelly's favorite), The Very Quiet Cricket, The Mixed-Up Chameleon, and I See a Song. It was awesome.

I love these pics of Shelagh and Rory. They look so happy and gorgeous!

Lots of forts and peek-a-boo going on in our house.

Annoyed at me b/c I kept snapping pics while they were trying to watch. The 2nd pic of the 3 of them was from last week. After bath they came into our bedroom to watch Little Einsteins which Kelly loves. She sings and claps along. Big kids insist they don't like it anymore, but they look pretty mesmerized to me. Also, they are all wearing footies. Love it.

Painting

While Kelly napped, the big kids painted outside. It was a gorgeous day and Shelagh didn't have school, so we hung around and didn't do much. Fun day!

Brown Sugar Baked Apples & Cinnamon Applesauce

Cinnamon applesauce made in the slow cooker. Can't find the actual recipe, but it was something like this...

14 apples
2 Tbl cinnamon
2 Tbl lemon juice
1 cup of water

Slow cook on low for 4 hours or until soft and broken up after stirring. When done, mix in 1/2 cp brown sugar or to taste. Eating most of this over the last few days. Will probably make this again for freezing along with some raw apple crisps for the winter. 2 full bags of apples left!

I also made Brown Sugar Baked Apples for dessert the other night. Delicious! It called for Granny Smith apples, but I had huge Cortlands and McIntosh from apple picking. Maybe the Granny Smiths would have held together a bit more, but it didn't matter...the syrup it made mixed with the hot apple was yummy.