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.

Red Cabbage Braised with Maple Syrup and Ginger

I don't think I've used Red Cabbage for anything other than salad. The ginger and maple syrup worked together nicely. This made a lot...I'll be eating this for lunch all week. It's purple so maybe I'll see if the kids will eat it.

Soy Braised Collards with Five Spice Powder

Also from "Vegetables Every Day" by Jack Bishop. This one was a bit salty. I think I didn't have enough collards and should have reduced the sauce. It tasted good though. I might try it again...it was easy enough to do.

1/4 cup rice wine or sherry
3 Tbl soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Five-Spice Powder
2 1/2 lbs collard greens, tough stems discarded, washed, skaken dry to remove excess water, and coarsely chopped

1. Bring rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, five-spice powder, and 1/4 cupwater to a boil in a large pot. Add the damp grees. Cover, redce the heat, and simmer, stirring once or twice, until the greens are very tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove the cover and simmer until the greens are no longer soupy, 3 to 4 minutes. Adjust the seasonings, adding rice vinegar to taste. Serve immediately.