As Close as you can get...

S'more Brownies

2011-06-06T11:52:00.002-05:00

The recipe for these yummy treats can be found here. While they were good, I'd cook them a tad shorter time the next time I make them, as BD thought they were not quite as gooey as he'd like them.

Chicken and Dumplin's

2011-01-21T12:45:00.002-05:00

Sorry, I completely forgot to take a picture of this! But, I can say, this is one of my favorite recipes!!!

Ingredients:
5 bone in skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
seasoning salt
pepper
salt
garlic powder
1 stick butter
1 box frozen dumplings

Directions:

Boil chicken with water, salt, pepper, seasoning salt and garlic powder until done. (note, lots of salt & pepper)
Leave about 4 cups of broth in pot and add one stick of butter and cream of chicken soup (set aside remaining broth).
Shred/cut up chicken.
Bring broth mixture to boil, reduce heat and lay dumplings on top, let cook until scalded and push to bottom. Repeat with as many as you want. If the mixture gets too thick, add some of the reserved chicken broth.
Mix in chicken and pour into a GREASED (spray with cooking spray) crock pot. Cook on low. Add more broth if it gets too thick.

Once it is put into the crock pot, it is pretty much ready to eat. But, this is a great way to take this dish someplace and keep it warm for a while.

Look what I did!

2010-11-16T15:55:00.002-05:00

I went and found myself another part time job! I know, I don't have enough to do already, but I really LOVE Scentsy and figured what the heck, I might as well make some money and stop just buying! So, if you are in need of anything Scentsy, want to know what it is, need ideas on what to get your kids teacher or your mother-in-law, let me know! Check out my website too: https://mnehring.scentsy.com.

Chicken Cobbler

2010-09-23T12:05:00.002-05:00

Last night I tried a new recipe out on the family called Chicken Cobbler. BD and I liked it, the kids, not so much. I think this will be one we wait and try out again when the kids are older.

Chicken Cobbler (adapted from Southern Living)

Ingredients:
6 TBSP melted butter, divided
4 cups cubed sourdough rolls (I bought a loaf of sourdough bread and cubed 4 cups)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley (I just used some dried, just sprinkled in)
2 medium-size sweet onions, sliced (I used one med/lrg and diced it)
1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup white wine (I had to use cooking wine, as I finished off my open bottle the night before!)
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup drained and chopped jarred roasted red bell peppers
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I used 2-20 oz cans and drained and shredded, next time though, I'll buy rotisserie and use it instead)

Directions:

Toss 4 TBSP melted butter with cubed bread, Parmesan cheese and parsley, set aside.
Saute onions in remaining 2 TBSP butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat 15 minutes or until golden brown. Add mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes.
Stir in wine, soup, peppers and chicken. Cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until bubbly.
Spoon mixture into a lightly greased baking dish and top evenly with bread mixture.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until golden brown (mine baked 13 min.).

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2010-09-16T11:41:00.002-05:00

No, I don't mean Christmas, I mean football season! PM is now mostly playing defense and had a few good tackles during last Saturdays game. DQ is excited to be able to stunt. It should be a great season, as we won our first game 26-0!

Pepper Jack, Chicken and Peach Quesadillas

2010-07-22T11:51:00.003-05:00

This is a recipe from Cooking Light that I just had to try. I made DQ and her friend cheese quesadillas and made these for BD and I. They were awesome! I served them with the Spinach Salad, also listed below. BD liked the quesadillas, but could have done without the salad.

Pepper Jack, Chicken and Peach Quesadillas
adapted from Cooking Light Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp lime juice
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup (3 oz) shredded Pepper Jack cheese
1 cup chopped cooked chicken (I used a 10 oz can)
1 cup thinly sliced peeled peaches
4 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
Directions

Combine honey and lime juice in small bowl, stir well with a whisk. Stir sour cream into honey mixture; cover and chill until ready to use.
On each tortilla, spread 3 tbsp of cheese, 1/4 cup chicken, 1/4 cup peaches and 1 tsp cilantro. Fold tortilla in half
Cook quesadillas either in quesadilla maker (this is what I did) or in a skilled sprayed with cooking spray. If you use a skilled, put another heavy pan on top of the quesadilla while it cooks and flip after 1 1/2 minutes
Cut and serve with sour cream sauce

For the Spinach Salad, first mix the following in a large bowl:

1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground cumin

Top with 5oz package of baby spinach and some thin sliced red onion. Toss to coat

Tomato Pie

2010-07-13T12:29:00.007-05:00

Being from the Midwest, I had never heard of Tomato Pie until one of my Southern friends introduced me to it. I must say, it's the best thing ever! Here it is before the topping is put on (note, don't be like me and be lazy, you do need to peel the tomatoes, and run them under water to get all of the liquidy stuff out, or your pie will be runny).

When the pie is done, and you've taken a few pieces out, it looks like this:

Without further delay, here's the recipe:

Tomato Pie

Pastry for 1- 9 inch deep-dish pie (you can use store bought)
4 tomatoes, peeled, sliced, rinsed (take out core if you like)
8-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/3 cup chopped green onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

Cook store-bought pie crust according to package directions and cool
Arrange tomato slices in crust, overlapping
Add basil and onion, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste
Mix cheeses and mayonnaise in small bowl
Spread over tomatoes
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned
Cool about 10 minutes before slicing

BBQ Beef & Beans

2010-06-02T13:55:00.003-05:00

This is kind of like sloppy joes, but with a little added extra. PM like it, DQ picked out the beans and onions the first night. The second night, she had ravioli. ;-)

BBQ Beef and Bean Sandwiches

Ingredients:
Chuck Roast (about 3 - 4 lbs)
1 onion sliced (I used a vidalia)
3 cloves minced garlic
1- 16.5oz can bbq flavor baked beans (I think mine was about 18oz)
2 tablespoons water
1/4 - 1/2 cup bbq sauce
wheat sandwich buns
optional: jalapeno slices

Directions:
Place meat in crock pot. Add onion, garlic and then the beans. Use the 2 tbsp of water to swish around the can and pour into the crock pot (to get everything out of the can). Add the bbq sauce. Cover and cook on low for about 10 hours or so. If you started with a frozen chuck roast, this may take a little longer. Using two forks, shred the beef and mix it all up so that it looks like this: (taken with cell phone, so not the best pic)

Serve on wheat hamburger buns. I put jalapeno's on mine. Next time, I may add pepperjack cheese too!

DQ Makes a Basket!

2010-01-27T13:23:00.001-05:00

Boy, she has really come a long way since last year, when she couldn't even get the ball close to the basket! Here is the pass to her and then her perfect shot!

It's that time of the year again

2009-12-02T13:18:00.002-05:00

Everything is hitting at once. We have parades, banquets, concerts, birthdays... Ai-yi-yi! Below are two video's of DQ singing at her choir concert at church last night. BD did the recording, and as you can see, he is quite wiggly!

Cheer Routine!

2009-11-16T12:38:00.002-05:00

Here it is, DQ's halftime cheer routine (also the one they used at competition).

Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes

2009-11-11T12:48:00.005-05:00

I saw these in the October 2009 issue of my Cooking Light magazine and just had to make them. DQ helped. We had a great time. Unfortunately, with that much amaretto in them, I had to limit the amount of batter she got to eat. :-) With the glaze below, I messed up though and did 4 tablespoons instead of teaspoons of milk, so my glaze is W-A-Y too runny! I'll do better next time!

Ingredients:
Cooking spray and 12 cupcake/muffin tin liners
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons amaretto
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream (I used fat free)
1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk (I used skim)
3/4 cup finely chopped Gala apple
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Streusel:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, chilled
2 tablespoons sliced almonds (I omitted)

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons 2% reduced-fat milk (I used skim)

Preheat oven to 350.
Place muffin cup liners in 12 muffin cups; coat with cooking spray.
Spoon 1 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
Combine granulated sugar, cream cheese and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add amaretto, vanilla and egg to sugar mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.
Combine sour cream and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until well blended.
Combine apple and 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl; toss well.
Add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Beat just until blended.
Fold in apple mixture with spoon.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
To prepare the streusel, combine 2 tablespoons flour, brown sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or fork, until mixture resembles coarse meal; stir in almonds (I omitted).
Sprinkle streusel evenly over cupcakes.
Bake at 350 for 27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes on wire rack and remove the cupcakes from the pan.
To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and 4 teaspoons milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
Drizzle glaze over cupcakes.

Right out of the oven, next time I would do more streusel:

With the glaze below, I messed up though and did 4 tablespoons instead of teaspoons of milk, so my glaze is W-A-Y too runny! I'll do better next time!

Bugs

2009-08-31T12:17:00.002-05:00

Now, I don't love bugs. In fact, I don't like them very much at all. The other day (actually it was Monday, July 27 (the day DQ got her tonsils out) that we noticed this guy sitting on the deck right outside the door. DQ thought PM would like to see him, so we took a picture. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself...

Chocolate Molten Cakes

2009-08-17T11:46:00.003-05:00

Besides the Best Chocolate Sheet Cake from Pioneer Woman, there is one other dessert the kids ask for by name. That is, the Molten Chocolate Cakes. On Friday night, we were going to a friends house for dinner and they requested the Chocolate sheet cake, so I obliged and made it. They kept the cake, my kids were mortified! So, last night, the kids wanted me to make it again. But, it's just so big that I suggested the Molten Chocolate Cakes instead. The nice thing is about these is that there are not any leftovers. It makes four and that's it! While the original recipe (linked above) suggests making your own whipped cream to serve with the cakes, we prefer vanilla ice cream (personally, I prefer French Vanilla).

DQ kept trying to peek at the cakes as they cooked:

Molten Chocolate Cakes
4 pieces (1 oz each) Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 whole Eggs
2 whole Egg Yolks
6 Tablespoons Flour
Vanilla Ice Cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Spray 4 custard cups with Pam and place on cookie sheet
Microwave chocolate and butter in a large bowl on high for about 1 minute, or until butter is melted
Remove from microwave and whisk until chocolate is also melted
Stir in powdered sugar until well blended and most of lumps are gone
Whisk in eggs and egg yolks
Stir in flour
Divide between the 4 sprayed cups
Bake for 13-14 minutes, or until sides are tender and center is soft (here they are baking)
Let stand 1 minute
Invert cakes on dishes and serve with vanilla ice cream

Ah... Heaven on a plate:

So, there you have it. Nice and easy. The hardest part is the inverting onto plates. I put a plate on top of a custard cup, grab the plate and cup with my oven mits with the rubber on them and invert at one time. It works pretty darn good.

Inspiration

2009-07-02T11:59:00.002-05:00

First, I want to state that I have nothing against people who truly have a handicap. If you are, or someone you know is, handicapped and need alternative modes of transportation, then, by all means, you or they should be able to use it.

That all said, I now know where the inspiration for the movie Wall-E came from. If you have seen the movie, you will recall that the people on the ship became so lazy that they did nothing for themselves. In fact, they didn't even walk, they simply reclined on motorized vehicles that did everything for them. They pushed buttons and sucked their meals through straws.

I believe they got the inspiration for all these people from Disney World. I say that because while we were there, it seemed that every other person was riding a motorized scooter. Most of these people did not need to be riding in these scooters, in fact, the walking probably would have been very good for them. In fact, when they would get on a bus, they would sit on the scooter until the bus got there. When the driver got off to help the person get on the bus, the person would either stand and let the driver put the scooter on the bus or they would drive it on themselves and then stand. Eight times out of ten, the person had no problems walking onto the bus or to a seat. When they got off, it was the same thing.

At the parks, you would rent a scooter, or a wheelchair, just like you could a scooter. At Hollywood Studios, I took this picture:

I couldn't believe my eyes! After I saw this, I realized why I could barely walk down one of the streets of the park, as the scooters were stretched across 5 wide blocking the path. Sometimes, you would see several together and riding on the laps of some of the drivers were children. Not little children either, but tweens who could walk perfectly fine.

After several rides, we finally realized why so many people rented the scooters and wheelchairs. It's like having your very own Fast Pass. The driver and their family could drive to the front of the line to a special handicapped entrance and get right on the ride.

Now, as I said earlier, if someone truly needs a wheelchair or scooter, then, by all means, let them use it. But, don't encourage people to be lazier than they already are by renting the scooters and wheelchairs on site to anyone willing to pay the money. Maybe to rent one you need a handicapped tag from your car to prove you need it? Who knows. I just know that by the end of the trip, we were referring to the scooters, with riders, as Wall-E.

Quiche

2009-04-23T11:49:00.008-05:00

I like Quiche. I've made a healthy version for a few years now. But, this week, I had to make one for the teachers at the kids school. About the same time I was asked to do this, I saw a recipe on Pioneer Woman's site. So, what goes in looking like this:Comes out looking like this:
Along the way, I fried the peppered bacon:
Sliced the onion very thinly:
Quartered the artichoke hearts:
After the bacon was removed from the pan, the grease poured off, but the good stuff left in there, I added a stick of butter...
I added the onions and cooked them for a few minutes, don't they look yummy?
Then, I added the mushrooms. I didn't get good shots of that, as I was too busy looking at this:
A few pieces may have become missing... But, that's ok. Where were we... Oh yes, then I added the artichoke hearts:
Back to the bacon...
Here's where things changed a bit from the original recipe. Since I was making this for a large group of people, I wanted them to all be able to easily get a piece. Baking in a pie dish, the pieces just would have been difficult. I figured, we could get more pieces from a 13 x 9 pan. So, I bought the {gasp} Pillsbury pie crusts and arranged them in the greased 13 x 9 pan.
I stored all of the pre-made parts (crumbled bacon, cooked onions, mushroom, artichoke hearts, shredded swiss cheese, lined 13 x 9 pan) in the refrigerator overnight. This morning, I mixed the eggs and heavy cream, added the swiss cheese and then other ingredients. In the oven it went, and came out looking absolutely lovely!
But, was it as good as it looked you might ask??? The answer is YES! I cut it and removed a small piece to bring to work and try. So, I took it to the school missing one piece. They didn't mind though, and I hope they liked it!

Here's a link to the recipe. I only modified the crust and type of pan used. I baked mine for 40 minutes, lightly covered with foil and then another 15 uncovered. DQ smelled it and came down saying something smelled good and she was S-T-A-R-V-I-N-G! Now you know whey we call her Drama Queen!

Key Lime Bars

2009-04-07T12:26:00.002-05:00

My bosses birthday is today and one of his favorite things is Key Lime. So, last night, I whipped these up. I had found a recipe to use here, and decided to tweak it a little bit...

Crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 TBSP salted butter
1/4 cup sugar
zest of 1 1/2 limes

Filling
2 egg yolks
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice

Heat oven to 350F
Grease 8" square glass baking dish with Pam, line it with parchment paper that hangs over the edge of the pan by a little bit
Melt butter in glass bowl
Add sugar to butter, mix
Add lime zest to sugar/butter mixture and stir well
Add graham cracker crumbs and mix thoroughly (a fork works best at this stage)
Press into the prepared pan, pressing a little bit up the sides. About an inch or so
Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool until you can no longer feel the heat coming off the crust
In another glass bowl, using an electric mixer, combine egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk until well mixed
Add lime juice and only use electric mixer briefly, finish stirring by hand, as you don't want air bubbles in the mixture. It will begin to thicken slightly
Pour filling into the crust and make sure the filling reaches the edges
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until set
Cool to room temperature and then cover and refrigerate overnight
Remove the bars from the pan using the parchment paper and cut into 16 squares. Use a very sharp, large knife for smoothest and quickest cutting. Also, wipe the knife between cuts.

Italian Sausage and Pasta Bow Ties

2009-03-31T12:34:00.002-05:00

I would say this recipe below could use a little tweaking. It seemed to me like it was missing something. I think maybe some additional salt/oregano/basil/pepper would do it. BD and PM liked it as is. DQ gave it a thumbs down, but she was tired last night.

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups farfalle (bow-tie pasta), uncooked
4 Italian sausage links (1 lb.), cut into 12-inch-thick slices (I had 5 sausage links for 1.24 lbs)
2 green, red or yellow peppers, cut into chunks (we used one green and one yellow)
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

Cook pasta as directed on package
Meanwhile, cook sausage and peppers in large skillet on medium-high heat 15 min., turning sausage for even browning. Add sauce; cover. Cook on medium heat 10 min. or until heated through.
Drain pasta; mix with sausage and peppers in skillet. Sprinkle with cheese

We're riding!

2009-03-23T12:10:00.001-05:00

PM learned how to ride his bike a few weeks ago. Since then, he hadn't been on it again, until yesterday. By the time we were done yesterday, he was not only riding, but had also mastered the two things that had previously alluded him; starting and stopping by himself. Here's a small video of that (taken by my cell phone, so it's tiny).

Chocolate

2009-03-15T16:40:00.002-05:00

So, I gave up chocolate for Lent. I know, pretty standard stuff, right? Well, I didn't realize just how many things I eat have chocolate in them. Also, how many recipes I look at online that have chocolate in them. Wow! Other than just not having any more Cadbury Mini Eggs until Easter (the total count that I ate in 1 week and 1 day was 34 oz, that was three 8 oz bags and one 10 oz bag, yes, pretty much all by myself), which is killing me by the way and I need to make sure I buy a bag for the Easter Bunny to put in my basket, there are lots of other things that I eat that have chocolate in them. The number one example, Hot Chocolate from Starbucks. UGH! I was buying that at least once a week, if not more. Also, my Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bars. Those are a great snack when I need a sweet fix, but want something semi-good for me.

Chocolate chip muffins, chocolate chip cookie dough, donuts, chocolate chip cookies someone brought in for work... The list goes on and on. I can honestly say that I have strictly adhered to my promise, with one small faux paux. When we had our snow days, and we had come in from spending over three hours in the snow, I made the family the best hot chocolate in the world. I had a small mug. I figured, we only get snow once every five years or snow like that, and I wanted to enjoy the day with my family.

The recipie for this wonderful hot chocolate is below:

Hot Chocolate
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk
2 TBSP sugar
pinch of salt
8 oz dark chocolate, shaved or finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
marshmallows or whipped cream for serving

Heat cream, milk, sugar and salt until hot. I use my glass Hot Chocolate Pot from Williams Sonoma for this. I can put it right into the microwave for 5-7 minutes and it is perfect!

Once heated, add the chocolate and vanilla and froth (if you don't have a frother, invest in a cheap drink mixer, again, my pot came with one) until thoroughly mixed and smooth.

Pour into mugs and top with marshmallows or whipped cream. I prefer to use whipped cream and the kids marshmallows

Things that make you go hmmm....

2009-03-13T11:55:00.001-05:00

People that claim to know a lot, and may have certificates to prove it, but really are clueless about the world and maybe even that subject!
Mom's that have kids and then leave them with the dad and go off to live their own lives.
Kids that think they can sneak their Nintendo DS out of the house in their pants pocket to school.
Eczema, why oh why...
Mood swings
People

Out of the mouth of a child

2009-03-11T19:03:00.003-05:00

Tonight, DQ was asking BD what kind of cat ours was. He asked what she meant and she said, "you know, like our dog Quincy was a bagel". Yes folks, I guess our dog was an edible pastry. Darn, if only I had known!

Really though, he was a Beagle. A super pain in the hiney Beagle, but a Beagle just the same. I am sure he is up in heaving getting into God's trashcan on an hourly basis!

Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff

2009-02-11T13:19:00.002-05:00

I don't have any pictures for you, as we ate it all, but I wanted to share a very yummy and pretty healthy recipe.

Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can reduced fat/fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 16oz container fat free sour cream
1 packet onion soup mix

In crockpot, mix soup, sour cream and onion soup mix
Add chicken in crockpot
Cover and cook on low for about 7 hours
When finished, shred/break up chicken into bite size pieces
Serve over brown rice or wheat egg noodles

This makes enough for a family of 4 for at least two nights.

Bonus, both kids L-O-V-E-D it!

Feel Good, Eat Good

2009-02-05T16:45:00.002-05:00

When cooking a LeanCuisine today for lunch, I was overcome with laughter upon reading the packaging. First, I was cooking Tortilla Crusted Fish, with rice, poblano peppers & corn in a sour cream sauce. Oooo, fancy, shmancy!

Anywho, here is what it said:
"Remove tray from box", check.
"Remove film from fish portion only", hmmm... There wasn't a little divider thingy between the fish and the rice, so how in God's green earth am I supposed to do that? Ok, I peeled the film back to expose the fish, so check.
"Cook on High 3 mins. and 30 secs, or until fish flakes easily with a fork and is cooked throughout.", check.

All was going well until I read the Wellness Tip, listed on the box as well:
"Enjoying your meals from a plate and eating more slowly can lead to a more satisfying meal experience." Huh? If I had a plate, I would probably be at home, hence, I wouldn't be eating a LeanCuisine, now would I.

I feel sorry for those poor souls who have to write the stuff on the LeanCuisine boxes. What a job.

DQ's First Tooth Lost!

2009-01-30T21:05:00.002-05:00

Tonight, DQ lost her first tooth. It was hanging there, so BD and I decided to pull it out. It came out easily and she is so excited and proud! I am happy and sad. I am so proud of her, as she was very brave (it didn't hurt at all, that's how bad it needed to come out). But, I am also sad because she is growing up. (that and PM hasn't lost a single one yet)

Here she is!

DQ turned 6

2009-01-27T12:47:00.003-05:00

Her birthday was a few weeks ago, but we just had her party this past weekend. It was an "Almost Sleepover". The girls were invited to wear pajamas and bring their sleeping bags. We ended up with a total of 15 girls!!

As the girls arrived, they all went upstairs and played in DQ's room and the playroom. We then brought 8 of the girls downstairs to do their craft. We had them make pink poodle purses. After a bit, we let them go back upstairs to play and brought down the remaining 7. I had some games planned, but never had time to do them, as by this time, it was time for pizza. All the girls were very, very well behaved and ate very well. They drank either pink lemonade or water out of plastic champagne glasses.
After that, it was time for cake!!
DQ was so happy! (yes, I made the cake myself!) After that, it was time to watch the movie. They had so much fun dancing and singing with Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus.
Then, at 8:30, they all packed up and went home!

Basketball 2009

2009-01-22T14:21:00.002-05:00

Only just a tad over a week of basketball left. DQ plays tonight. They play each other on Saturday. After that, one plays next Tuesday, one plays next Thursday and then the last game is next Saturday.

Unfortunately, my good lens, is not good for indoor sports. The f-stop is not low enough. Outdoor sports and shots, it's great for. But this, crap. Here are just a few of the shots that are ok. Not great.

Here's PM trying not to smile after making another basket:
Here's DQ dribbling down the court:Here's DQ trying to block PM:A friend is renting a nice fixed length canon lens f/1.8. We are going to share it for the week. Hopefully, I'll get some better shots in this last week.

New Year

2009-01-02T13:26:00.002-05:00

I know, I know, I know... Everyone is posting their annual New Years post reflecting on the last year and looking forward to the new one. So, I won't bore you with that.

New Years Day, I decided to cook something for dinner that I had never done before. Growing up, my parents would make Cabbage Rolls. When I was little, I only ate the insides. As I got older, I actually liked the cabbage too. My friend B also loved them. Whenever my dad would make them, he would either suggest we invite her over, or save some for her. So, I made them.

It was a long process, lots of dirty pans, but they turned out excellent! I thought they were perfect. Of course, I was the only one. BD ate one, just to be polite. The kids tried two bites of the inside of them, but decided to switch to their leftovers from O'Charley's instead. I was disappointed, but I guess I'll have lunches for a while. I saved them individually in containers in the fridge and freezer. I don't have the recipe here, but will post soon!

Christmas Parade

2008-12-11T13:20:00.002-05:00

Both kids were in the Christmas parade in our small town last week. I scheduled my flight for very late that evening (I had to go to Chicago for work) so that I could see them both in the parade. Here is DQ!
Here is PM, see him there in the middle?

Dogs to Kids

2008-11-21T09:05:00.004-05:00

I was riding up in the elevator this morning and overheard a conversation between two 20 something guys. The one guy was carrying a stack of papers and starting talking to the other guy about his dog and how he got all of this information last night from the vet on separation anxiety. He was talking about how they were probably going to enroll their dog in one of the doggie daycares a few days a week to help ease the dogs anxiety. The other guy told him that they did that with their dog. He goes three days per week. As he said, "This way, on the other two days when my wife leaves, he (the dog) must feel like he knows he'll get to go somewhere too the next day."

Interestingly enough, our deceased dog was like that too, but we never considered a doggie daycare back then. We just got another dog and they entertained each other. It struck me as funny listening to this conversation. It made me think back to the time before we had kids and how we treated our pets as our children. That's what these guys and their wives are doing. Before we had kids, our dogs and cat were our lives. We bought them Christmas presents. We gave them special food on Thanksgiving, Christmas and their birthdays. We took them to the park. We took them on trips to PetsMart...

Now, we have two kids. Our remaining dog and cat are just that, a dog and a cat. They are pets, animals, nothing more. I am not saying they are neglected, but they aren't coddled in the same way they once were. In fact, this morning, I noticed our dog really needs his nails trimmed, needs a good brushing and probably a bath too. Back in the day, I probably would have done all of that myself. Now, I think, if it gets done this weekend, I'll be dropping him off at PetsMart and getting it done. When would I have the time to do it??

I so badly wanted to speak up in the elevator today and say something like, I remember those days... But, figured I would sound like an old fuddy duddy. Then, I realized, I am old compared to them! Probably almost ten years older! Wow, where does time go. I don't feel that old?

So, to my current dog and cat (and my deceased dog), I am sorry. I am sure you miss the good 'ole days when I spent lots of time with you. I hope you understand.

Last Game

2008-11-19T16:27:00.002-05:00

The last football of the season was this past Saturday. It was a bright sunny day, by the time we got there, but it was cold and windy. We sat facing the sun, so it was hard to see. With the wind blowing, it was hard to keep my hands out to take any pictures. So, here's what you get. A whole whopping two shots. Remember PM is #66.

Bowl Game

2008-11-13T12:30:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday, PM's team played in their first of two Bowl Games for Tiny Mite football. They played their little hearts out. Here is PM taking down an opponent:
Look at the determination on this one of our players faces:
Look at this play by our players:
DQ cheered, but they were freezing! Good thing their nice warm jackets arrived that day, and they were nice enough to get them passed out quickly!
In the end, they were disappointed that they lost to this team again. This is the only team they have lost to all season.
There was a trophy ceremony at the end. Being Tiny Mite football, both teams received a trophy.
After the trophy ceremony, it was nice because both teams came together as one and prayed together. Then, our boys got together for some pictures!
The trophy was a big draw:
And, each player got a chance to hold it:
Of course, PM wanted to know who got to take it home. Here he is leaving the field. One more game to go, this weekend. We play the same team. One more chance to beat them. They outweigh us, on average, 20 lbs per player. That's a lot for our little guys to overcome, but they will dig deep and play hard!!

GO RAIDERS!!

Football Helmet Cookies

2008-11-07T12:26:00.002-05:00

Here are the results of my football helmet cookies. What do you think?

Cheerleading Cookies

2008-11-06T11:02:00.002-05:00

Two nights ago, I cut out and baked sugar cookies in both pennant and helmet shapes. Last night, I got to frosting, only I had a setback. I am out of my good red dye that I usually use around the holidays, so I tried to make due. Unfortunately, they ended up dark pink. I frosted all of the pennants, but decided to hold off on the helmets. Actually, BD requested I hold off and get some red dye to do those with. He was adamant that we don't hand out pink helmets to the football players.

So, here they are. I opted not to write each girls name on a cookie, as some of the names were L-O-N-G! Savannah, Alexandra, etc...

The Rally

2008-11-04T13:56:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I got the once in a lifetime opportunity to go to a presidential rally and see the candidate himself. I have been reflecting on the experience all morning and am trying to find the words to describe the day. If I had to pick just one word, I would say, amazing.

A co-worked has been working with the democratic party and invited me to the rally. I jumped at the opportunity and got BD to pick up the kids and shuttle them around. We left work around 1:45 and I followed him to a shopping center parking lot, where we left my minivan. From there, we traveled to another shopping center across from the event where we attempted to park, but were turned away and told to go park at the amphitheater. We did so and hopped on a bus to take us to the UNCC campus. Our bus driver got lost. Can you believe that? He wasted about 20 minutes getting us there, so we were further back in line, but that didn't dampen our mood. We were awed at the amount of people in line in front of us when we arrived. We later learned how much longer the line had become (for those familiar, we were told it went all the way out to 49 and on 49 to WT Harris, this is standing people, not cars).

While waiting in line, we met many people. One lady, who lived in Greensboro, told us of her travels to see Obama at various locations throughout the campaign. I was simply amazed at the dedication of people. At one point, the cross-country team for UNCC ran by. Most had McCain stickers on their half naked bodies, but one held a sign:

At one point, a worker told me I may not be able to take my camera in because my zoom may be too great on my lens. I was worried. But, when we finally got up to the security area, it wasn't a problem. We got in and headed to the stage area. This was my initial view:
As we stood, towards the front of the crowd, things filled in behind us:
There was a special set of seats for those that had worked that actual day for the campaign. Lucky people!
It poured down rain for quite a while. They erected a canopy over the podium and some of the local democrats and others spoke. After that, it miraculously stopped raining. The canopy was removed and Obama arrived. What a time. There were cell phones and cameras everywhere.
There was this one darn light right in our faces, the entire time!
And it was a little foggy too.
Afterwards, as we walked back to meet my co-workers wife, who is a professor at the university, we saw lots of things. Everything from Secret Service Police with binoculars bigger than any I had ever seen before to news media. Here is a shot inside a news van:
It was an amazing experience that I soon will not forget. I found out this morning that both kids voted in class yesterday, and both voted for Obama. I guess my influence has gone far. They went with me to vote this morning, as they wanted to see how it all worked. My district had a paper ballot and they watched me fill in the bubbles. When through, all three of us got an "I Voted" sticker.

I can't wait to find out the results!

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T11:13:00.003-05:00

At work, my department always dresses up in some type of theme. This year, we had a 70s theme. Here we are all decked out:

The kids were Wolverine and Yellow Power Ranger. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I got of the two of them.
When we got home from trick-or-treating at my office and attending the Halloween Party there, PM went to football practice and DQ dressed in my in some of my costume.

Weekend baking

2008-10-27T11:13:00.002-05:00

I had a full weekend of baking. Saturday morning, the kids begged for Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins.
Recipe from Baked Perfection

Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins

2 cups flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla

Topping:
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with paper cups.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix with light strokes until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Do not overmix; batter will not be smooth.

Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in one or two of the muffins come out clean, 12-15 minutes.

While the muffins are baking, melt 1/2 stick butter and place in a bowl just large enough to hold a muffin. Combine ½ cup of sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon in a small, shallow bowl. As soon as the muffing are done, dip them one at a time in the melted butter and then roll in the sugar mixture. Set on a rack to cool.

Yields 12 standard muffins.

Then, I made the dough and chilled it for the Candy Corn Cookies. Later, I cut them out. Here they are before going into the oven.
Just out of the oven cookies.
Then, I made Spiderweb cookies. Sorry, no pictures...

Sunday, I was in a baking mood again. So, yet another batch of Spiderweb cookies and Candy Corn Cookies were made.
Then, I decided to make Halloween Mud Bars too...
Recipe from Nestle

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Nestle Toll-House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, divided
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Halloween candy corn

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 9-inch-square baking pan.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in 1 1/4 cups morsels and nuts. Spread into prepared baking pan.

BAKE for 20 to 23 minutes. Remove pan to wire rack. Sprinkle with remaining morsels. Let stand for 5 minutes or until morsels are shiny; spread evenly. Top with candy corn. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes or until chocolate is set. Cut into bars.

Yummy!

Halloween Cookies?

2008-10-24T11:35:00.003-05:00

Last year, I made these Spiderweb Cookies. This year, I want something different I think. These Candy Corn Cookies are completely adorable and I think I am going to give them a try tonight! I'll update whenever I get a chance.

We'll be busy this weekend. Saturday alone, BD has inventory, so I'll be on my own with the kiddos. We have a Halloween party at noon, have to be at the football field at 2, game at 3:30, Halloween Bash downtown at 5 and a Halloween Dance at 7. Phew! Somewhere between Saturday and Sunday, we need to get a pumpkin or two and carve them...

DQ's first rose

2008-10-23T13:32:00.007-05:00

For the cheer competition, the parents had the option of purchasing a flower for their girl. I gave DQ a rose. She loves it.

Lazy Friday

2008-10-17T15:43:00.002-05:00

Here's a little something to tide you over until the next cute set of pictures...

Girly Girl

2008-10-15T11:48:00.002-05:00

DQ has altered between tomboy and girly girl. For a while now though, she has leaned more towards tomboy. She flat out refuses to wear tights. The only way I can get her to wear a dress is to force her to on Sundays.

This past weekend, she went to a birthday party that is a big tea party. The girls had manners lessons, lunch and dressed up. Here's my tomboy:

Oh, and guess where she wants her birthday party now... Yep, girly girl tea party!

Beef Stroganoff

2008-10-09T11:34:00.004-05:00

It has started to tease us with cooler weather here in the southeast. We will get a day here and there that actually feels like fall. I decided it was time to bust out the slow cooker and welcome fall. One of my families favorites in the crock-pot is Beef Stroganoff. Unfortunately, it is typically pretty high in calories, fat, well, everything! So, below is a recipe from Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly that I have used in the past.

Beef Stroganoff
Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly
1.5 lbs lean beef stewing meat, trimmed of fat
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lb fresh mushrooms
10 3/4 oz can 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup
1 cup water
1 cup fat-free sour cream
Egg Noodles

Combine chopped onion, garlic, salt, black pepper and soup in slow cooker
Add water, and then stir together, looks like a science project now.
Add mushrooms and meat
Stir together
Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Mine cooked for 8, then my slow cooker switched to "Warm" for me.
Then, add sour cream and stir. About 2.5 hours after it switched to "Warm", and I added the sour cream, this is what it looked like.
Bring water to a boil and cook egg noodles (here I am using the No-Yolks kind, but I prefer the wheat, BD bought the wrong ones) according to package directions.
When finished, add noodles to slow cooker and stir all together.
Yummy, doesn't this look great on a fall day!
Ok, last one...
Serve with a vegetable and, if you like, some type of bread. All I had was a can of corn, no fresh beans or anything! So, that's what the family got.

Oh, and you may be wondering about this perfect looking biscuit?
Let me say that looks are deceiving. I followed a recipe in a very old cookbook I had. These were awful. DQ ate hers, but it's carbs and bread, so unless I filled it with spinach, she would eat it. PM took a bite and said (and I quote), "Ewww, disgusting!" Nice, just what every mother wants to hear. So, no, you won't be getting the recipe for those! I'll have to find a nice, yummy, quick biscuit or dinner roll recipe, otherwise, it will be Pillsbury Grands from now on!

Nutritional Info
Per Serving (6 servings, doesn't include noodle info)
240 calories (70 calories from fat)
7g total fat (2.5g saturated, 0.5g trans)
75mg cholesterol
800mg sodium
15g total carbohydrate (1g fiber, 6g sugar)
27g protein

Sizes

2008-10-01T11:34:00.003-05:00

So, as you already know, I have lost weight over the last years. I went from a perfect size 8 to a 2. Last winter, I bought about 5 pair of size 2 dress slacks for work. At the end of the winter, I had them dry cleaned and put them away for this year. While I thought I have stayed the same size from last winter to this winter, I just pulled them out to wear and am highly disappointed.

They are too big! ARGH!!! How can that be? I am not a size 0. I am not! Now, before you bash me for whining about being tiny, forget the actual number. Instead, just focus on the fact that my pants are too big again. I had to pin the side today. This just sucks. I really don't want to buy new pants again. But, I may just have too...

What to do?

2008-09-26T15:23:00.002-05:00

We just got word that due to this:
All football games have been canceled for tomorrow. That fact, along with the gas issues we are experiencing, brings up the question, what to do over the weekend? We do have a benefit to go to Saturday night, outside, without the kids. But, if it rains, I don't know if it will still happen. Other than that, I just need to do a few quick things for my 2nd grade class Sunday morning.

So, what to do? I need to take pictures for stuff to put on eBay. I have lots of it! If it stops raining, we need to clean out the garage. We need to paint the hallway. The kids will, of course, need to be entertained!

Ideas? Let me know!

Third Football Game

2008-09-25T13:33:00.003-05:00

PM got to be a team captain and go out for the coin toss (remember he is #66)
He also got to run with the ball a few times. Here he is getting tackled:
Gotta love this shot of DQ doing a jump. I think we need to enroll her in some gymnastics classes...
They did their dance for the first time. On the high school football field to the music of Hannah Montana's Rockstar, she loved it!

Gas, gas, gas, and not the free kind...

2008-09-24T19:07:00.000-05:00

you get by eating too much chili! ARGH! I could pull my hair out and shoot some news stations around here! Since the hurricane, supply has been lower and many gas stations ran out early of the premium and mid-grade. Now, many are running low on regular as well. Well, what does the news media do (again) start a panic! People are filling up their cars and all of their gas cans. I knew nothing about this and had planned to get gas this evening while DQ was at choir practice. Of the three stations I went to, only one was completely out, but the other three had lines out the wazoo! I am talking 15 cars or more in lines in the roads! I called a friend who said every station between our town and Charlotte on the road we take to work every day was out this evening too. So, I had 1/4 tank and figured, maybe I would either try to ride the bus the next two days or just work from home one day, if it came down to it. It is hard to catch the bus, due to the time I can drop the kids off at the school, so I haven't been riding. I can't really get there in time.

Luckily, as I was coming home, I remembered a small Texaco station just past our neighborhood and figured I would just check it out. Luckily, they had gas and there weren't any long lines! So, while the people up the road were wasting theirs, just sitting in line, I pulled up, filled up and went home...

All you have to do to be a mom...

2008-09-19T19:09:00.001-05:00

is marry a boy! That's according to DQ. And, all you have to do to be a husband, is marry a mom. Kids are so cute! Tonight, after a long day at school, which included me being there the whole day to help run a Walk-A-Thon to raise money for the PTO, then an afternoon of running errands, dinner out and a new game of battleship, DQ was very insightful. First, she told me "you are the funnest mom ever!". Right after that, she very seriously asked, "Are you glad you had kids? Grandma said when you were little you just wanted to live on a ranch and not have kids.". How sweet! I almost cried. I told her of course I was glad I had kids! Her comment was, "I know why, so you can keep playing games!" So cute!

Second Football Game

2008-09-16T12:04:00.002-05:00

Well, once again, it was a scorcher. Their game was at 2:30 in the afternoon, and boy was it hot! Here they are getting ready to run through the banner:

Here's DQ running to the sidelines:

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play:

This is what's hard to watch. Yes, he is in a head-lock!
They don't officially keep score, but his team scored 5 touchdowns, and the other team 0. Yes, that is five to zip/zero!

I think a girl has a crush on PM!

2008-09-10T11:44:00.000-05:00

She was in his class last year. At their FairyTale Ball, she wanted to dance with him, but he would have nothing of it. I have this picture, which makes me think of them at a dance when they are older and her wistfully leaning on the wall trying to get him to dance or them having an argument and him walking away...

Anyway, we were at his football game this past Saturday and she was there. She came up and asked me where he was, and I pointed right behind her to the group of boys sitting on the ground waiting. I told her his number. She went over and said hi and he just kind of grunted. She came back over to chat with me for a minute. I tried to get her to go give him a hug or talk to him or something, as he was looking so embarrassed already, but she was too shy to. It was cute how she stood there talking to me and kept looking at him. He kept looking away, trying not to smile. We are in trouble when they get older!!!

Oh, and I can't remember if I already told you about this or not... Anyway, he had an assignment at school to do that said "My favorite color is __________ because ______________________________" Well after he filled it in like this "My favorite color is gold because it reminds me of money." Yes, he definitely takes after BD!

First Real Football Game - Ever

2008-09-08T12:30:00.002-05:00

This past weekend marked PM's first real football game - ever. DQ had already cheered at the high school game, so we couldn't say this was her first, but it was her first full game. The boys had to be there 1.5 hours early, it was rough keeping them from killing each other while sitting and being good. Then, even though the coaches kept telling them they could wait to put on their shoulder pads so they could stay cooler longer, they all put them on. ARGH!
Here he is right before going to warm up:
Then, the cheerleaders held the banner, while the boys ran through it. I thought it was really cute how the older football players and cheerleaders that had just finished their game stood to cheer as they ran through. DQ is holding the banner on the left in this shot:
Here is DQ cheering:
One of PM playing: (sorry for the blur)
And, a final of DQ cheering:
The neatest thing about the game was hearing their names called out they though. DQ thought it was pretty cool when they announced each cheerleader and they got to do some type of jump as their name was announced. PM's name was announced each time he made a good tackle. He was over the moon with that (as was his mom and dad!). Can't wait until next week!

Pep Rally

2008-09-05T12:16:00.002-05:00

Due to the impending tropical storm Hannah, everything for football was moved up one night. That meant, our pep rally was Wednesday instead of Thursday. DQ had to cheer.

Here she is practicing:
Here's the whole group warming up:
Getting all lined up properly:
Cheering:
More cheering "This is Raider Territory!"
Lastly, PM after practice. I am a sucker for this little boy in his football gear. I just want to hug and squeeze my little man!!

High School Football

2008-09-04T13:25:00.004-05:00

I grew up at a school where high school football was the focus of the entire community. Every season, that was all anyone talked about. When it snowed, study hall classes were taken to the football field to roll the snow into giant snowballs and push them off the field. The quarterback was allowed to cheat off me during Biology, because he was just that, the quarterback of our team. (not that I minded, he was pretty cute!) But, all of that led to a state championship my senior year of high school.

Fast forward 16 years and here I am, living in a community where high school football is regarded just as highly. Our school is a smaller town school, just like the one where I grew up. I am less than 2 miles from the high school and can hear the cheers on game nights. You know what? I still love it.

DQ did a cheer clinic with the high school cheerleaders over the summer. All of those that did the clinic got the opportunity to cheer at the first home game with the high school cheerleaders during a quarter. K-2 grades were during the second quarter.

Both kids were very excited to get to the game. PM's football team had handed out game jerseys that week, just so the boys could wear them to the high school game:

She seemed a little shy/nervous at first:

But, she then perked up:

And, what do we have here? Some future high school football players!

Funny for a Tuesday

2008-09-02T08:52:00.000-05:00

Giving Up Wine

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby y-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, 'If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?'

'No, I had to stop drinking years ago', the homeless woman told me.

'Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?' I asked.

'No, I don't waste time shopping,' the homeless woman said. 'I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.'

'Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?' I asked.

'Are you NUTS!' replied the homeless woman. I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!'

'Well, I said, 'I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.'

The homeless Woman was shocked. 'Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.'

I said, 'That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine.'

Fun on the Lake

2008-08-29T11:14:00.002-05:00

Last weekend the kids got their first taste of tubing. I used to love doing this as a child. The kids swim team had a little get together on the lake where they got to go tubing. Only a few of the kids showed up:
PM was all smiles:
He was ready to go!
There they go!
DQ enjoyed it as well:
Gotta love those faces:
All done, and they had fun!

Kindergarten

2008-08-26T13:12:00.002-05:00

Today was DQ's first day of Kindergarten. They start on a staggered schedule. 1/3 of the class goes Monday, 1/3 Tuesday and 1/3 Wednesday, each for only half of a day. Then, the whole class starts on Thursday for their first full day. I like that they do that, for the kids and teacher, but hate it for the working parents. I worked from home yesterday, as DQ had nothing all day. Today she had her half day and tomorrow she again has nothing, but BD will be home. Here she is with her obligatory shot:
Here she is going into the school:
Here she is with her teacher:
And, lastly, here she is unpacking her backpack when she got home:

First Grade

2008-08-26T13:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was PM's first day of First Grade. He did great! Here he is in the morning taking the obligatory picture before leaving for the day.
There he goes walking into school! He is in the first grade building this year. It is connected by a couple of breezeways to the main school.
Finally, here is PM and his teacher. In case you are wondering, yes, she looks very young, but this is her fourth year teaching. She taught 2nd grade at another school for the last three years.

TOUCHDOWN!

2008-08-25T13:08:00.002-05:00

PM had his Jamboree on Saturday. For those of you who don't know what a Jamboree is, it is where all of the teams that are going to be playing one another come together and play short scrimmage games. Typically, you don't want to show everything you've got, so you only will run some of your plays. Well, PM is on the Red Offensive line. That's supposedly the good one. Anyway, he only got to play about 10 minutes, but he loved every minute of it, especially after this happened...

He was playing on the left side and I noticed at the beginning of this play that they moved him to the right position instead. I thought, they are going to give him the ball, just like in practice the other night. Then, I thought, No, they wouldn't do that... Well, here it goes (he is number 27 in these pictures).

The hand-off:
The run behind the line:
Almost there, no one in sight...
TOUCHDOWN!!! Still, no one in sight!
In case you are wondering, no it isn't your eyes. These pictures are pretty bad. I was so excited that I wasn't paying too much attention to taking pictures! PM was pretty stoked too. He is still excited about that one!

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part VI - Warren Dunes

2008-08-13T10:34:00.002-05:00

One of the days we spent at the beach, Warren Dunes. While growing up, we spent many a day there, so I always love to take the kids there. One of the big draws, other than the beach, is the huge sand dune. You can see how large the hills are just by looking at the tiny people on the hill.
My nephew J had a slight problem with his swim trunks, they were a little too big...
PM had a blast.
So did DQ.
When we finally went to climb the hill, it took a while. Here are a few shots of the walk up. PM took a break on a fallen tree:
DQ played with the sand a bit:
As the walk up got more difficult, DQ decided crawling was easier.
And BD and PM took a break.
At the top, everyone took a much needed rest.
Everyone started on the run back down.
PM lost his footing and crashed into the sand.
He spent a little bit getting the sand out of his mouth:
DQ was moving pretty quickly too:
J ended up in a large hole and spent the afternoon digging.
The only one who really played in the water was PM. It was colder than what we are used to, and darker and dirtier... At one point BD saw two pieces of poop with corn in them floating by. Eeewww!!! I never went back in afterwards. PM did though.

Helmet

2008-08-07T08:10:00.004-05:00

Well, he got his helmet last night at practice. It was 101 degrees when I dropped him off. I then ran DQ to her, indoor, cheerleading practice and went back to his to sit and watch (and make sure he didn't pass out or puke). Boy was it hot!
Oh, the helmet is filthy, does anyone know how to clean the inside of it?

What I did today

2008-08-06T11:41:00.002-05:00

Gave blood... This was taken with my cell phone, so not the best shot.

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part V - Pool

2008-08-05T12:19:00.004-05:00

After the photo shoot, we drive the kids to a public pool that my sister and I went to as children. Our memories include a high dive and Jolly Rancher sticks, neither of which are there still.
Instead of one high diving board in the middle of two lower ones, there are simply two lower ones. They also have added two water slides in another area of the pool. There are two smaller pools still there as well. It took J a while to warm up to actually getting into the water. He was content to hang out and play with some pool toys.
J eventually got tired and we couldn't keep his hands out of his mouth.
K and DQ had fun playing together:
PM was his typical water loving self. He found some boys to play with and spent the time going down the slides and jumping off the diving boards. Check out this picture. It almost looks as if the water is making earrings on each ear.
For some reason, my niece K is all about having her picture taken. First, she wanted one by herself:
Then, she wanted one with my sister, her step mom:
Oh, how old is K you may be asking? If you ask her, she will say almost 13. Her birthday is in October. Sigh... To be young again.

Mexican Rice - Well Done

2008-08-04T08:44:00.002-05:00

Saturday evening, DQ spent the night at a friends house. PM and BD were upstairs playing Wii, while I slaved away in the kitchen making soft tacos and mexican rice with corn. While preparing the rice, I was on the phone with my mom. I was following the directions and was at the last step, placing it in the microwave for 17 to 20 minutes. I was going to add the corn when it had about a minute left. Well, at 3 minutes left, smoke started pouring out of the microwave. I yanked the door open to find a black lid on my casserole dish with smoke pouring from it. I yelled for BD to come and help me and we got it outside. He just had to take a picture with his cell phone and send it to BIL.
So, what happened, you may be asking? I re-read the directions and found my faux paus. It called for 2 2/3 cups of water. I only saw 2/3 and that is all I put in. Wow, who would have thought!

Note to self, call mom back when trying to follow directions for ingredients for dinner... At least I hadn't added the corn yet. So, we had soft tacos and corn. Oh, and in case you are wondering, yes, BD threw the entire casserole dish out and our entire house still stinks! I wanted to open all of the doors and windows yesterday, but BD refused, since it was in the upper 90's. Today 95. tomorrow 99 and Wed., 96... I may have to sneak and do it in the middle of the night, the smell is killing me!

Pizza Pro

2008-08-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

I have got to get me one of these...

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part IV - PhotoShoot

2008-07-30T09:18:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday of our vacation, we had a session for all four kids scheduled at Portrait Innovations. We arrived 15 minutes early and were the only ones there. There was one lady working and two people, that she said were training. Still, they made us wait. Then, once we got started, as we were trying to position the youngest of the four (J, who is 2), she left to answer the phone and was gone 10 minutes! She came back, snapped a few pictures and left to answer the phone again! Someone else finally came in and we thought she would start answering the phone, but a few minutes later, it rang again. The other lady was no where to be seen, so our lady answered it, again. By this time, our kids were D-O-N-E! She came back and said she "had" to take more pictures. So, we just told her to take them, fast so we could get out of there.

We ended up only buying the cheap $9.95 package. We probably would have bought more, if any others would have turned out. In other words, if she would have stayed and done her job. Also, the one we ended up with is very dark. Definitely nothing to write home about.

So, when we were done there, we headed over to a new shopping center that had a fountain and some pretty flowers and I took the pictures. Here are a few of the results, let me know your favorites:

Joker

2008-07-29T09:25:00.003-05:00

So, PM had a sleepover on Saturday night.

Side note: did you know boys are supposed to call them sleepovers and girls call them slumber parties? I was informed of this and told to only refer to them this way by several men.

Anyway, he had three boys from his Kindergarten class last year over. We took them swimming, they jumped on the trampoline and played the Wii. I tell you, between one kids DS and the Wii, we couldn't get them away from the video games! Before they went to sleep, they watched Batman. Yesterday, PM told me that one of the boys was saying that the Joker was real. I told him he wasn't and he continued on with, what if he really was. My answer, after telling him he wasn't over and over again, was that if the Joker is real, then Batman must be real too.

Well, imagine my surprise when I saw this news article yesterday. Thank goodness PM doesn't surf the web and read the news!

What a morning!

2008-07-28T12:54:00.002-05:00

So, last Wednesday night, our garage door opener broke. BD went to Lowe's on Thursday after work and bought a replacement. They called yesterday to set up the installation and I had my choice of today between 9 and 10 am or Friday between 4 and 5. Naturally, I took today. They showed up at 10:45 am (at least they called). When I went out the door from the house to the garage, I locked myself out! I checked every door and window, nothing. One of the guys tried the door with a credit card and screw driver, he couldn't get it. So, I used his cell phone to call BD. I had to leave him a message at work, as even the operator wouldn't answer.

The guys left at 11:25. I sat on the back deck drinking water and reading my Cooking Light magazine, that had luckily just come in the mail. Lucky for me, we have a fridge in the garage with drinks and the mail comes early! BD showed up at about 12:20. So, I had almost an entire hour of nothing to do except peruse my magazine. Other than it being super hot and having to pee the whole time, I guess it was pretty nice!

American Turkey Goulash

2008-07-24T18:17:00.002-05:00

Tonight, I made American Turkey Goulash for dinner. This is a recipe adapted from Eating for Life, by Bill Phillips. For the kids, I just don't put any of the red peppers or zucchini on their plates. They pick out the onions...

American Turkey GoulashIngredients
4 portions wheat egg noodles (about 8 oz uncooked)
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
4 portions lean ground turkey (about 1 lb)
2 cups tomato sauce
dried basil (or 2 Tbsp fresh chopped basil)
2 Tbsp red cooking wine

Directions

Prepare egg noodles according to package directions.
Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Over medium-high heat, saute chopped onion for 2 minutes. Add bell pepper to the onion and saute for another 2 minutes or so. Add zucchini and saute until softened. Removed vegetables from the skillet and set aside.
Add ground turkey to the skillet and saute until no longer pink, about 10 minutes.
When the ground turkey is done, return vegetables to the skillet. Add tomato sauce, basil and red wine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until heated through.
Place a portion of noodles on each plate and top with a portion of turkey mixture. Serve and enjoy!

Adapted from Eating for Life.

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part III - Indiana Park

2008-07-23T11:51:00.003-05:00

On Monday, PM went golfing to a real golf course (although it was only a par 3 course) with Grandpa and BD. While they went golfing, we took the kids to feed the ducks and have a picnic lunch. I just love this picture of DQ:My nephew, J, was really winding up to throw the bread to the ducks.All three kids raced us back to the picnic table. Guess who won?At this same park, they have a splash park that is new. The kids had a lot of fun! J loved the smaller slide.
I don't remember what, probably Grandpa, but PM found something highly amusing.

Balsamic Chicken and Penne Pasta

2008-07-22T19:54:00.002-05:00

Below is a recipe that our whole family loves. I had it for the first time at a neighbors house when she hosted Bunko. I have modified it a little bit to suit our tastes. I add both asparagus and green beans so that the kids will eat some veggies. BD and I like the asparagus in it the best and the kids won't eat that. So, I add some green beans and have them eat those.

Balsamic Chicken & Penne Pasta

What you'll need to get started: Pictured - Balsamic Vinegar, Minced Garlic, Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Grey Poupon Country Mustard, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sugar; Not Pictured - Ziploc bag, about 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Wheat Penne Pasta, Steamed Asparagus and/or Green Beans.

At least four hours before, or overnight, add the following to a large ziploc bag:
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 TBSP Grey Poupon Country Mustard
2 TBSP Sugar
2 pinches Cayenne Pepper
3 cloves Minced Garlic
1/2 tsp Salt

Mix the contents well by squeezing the bag. Then, add about 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight. I usually put this part together the night before and just throw it in the fridge so I can make it when I get home from work the next day.

When ready to cook the chicken, save the marinade. Heat it to boiling for at least 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, start cooking the about 1/2lb of wheat penne pasta as well.Broil the chicken breastsChop the asparagus (or green beans, or whatever other vegetable you decide to try).
I'll give you one hint, if you are using more than one vegetable, don't mix them together like I did! Since they have to steam for different amounts of time, that doesn't work well.Steam the vegetable(s). I ended up using to the "full" line for asparagus and "half" line for green beans. See, I had to use two bags, two different amounts of time:When the chicken is cooked, cut into bite size pieces
Combine chicken, marinade, pasta, and steamed veggies. It doesn't matter what order.
Toss to coat
Serve with fresh shredded/grated parmesan cheese if you like. I personally don't bother with it, as I can't really taste it and it's just wasted extra calories.

Yum!

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part II - InLaws

2008-07-22T11:29:00.003-05:00

Sunday, we left Windsor, and drove to the other side of Michigan. We visited BD's family around the Bridgman area. The kids favorite thing to do at their house is to ride on the four wheelers. Now, BIL doesn't do anything small, so these are huge four wheelers!There they go!Does he look happy?Here they are with MIL. Which do you like better? This one:
or this one? I played with the coloring a bit...And, of course, they have a pool. So, here are the obligatory pool shots:Next up tomorrow, feeding the ducks and playing at a splash park in Indiana!

Public Service Announcement

2008-07-21T20:32:00.002-05:00

If you have ever purchased anything from classiccloseouts.com, please check your credit card statements from lately. I found a $69.99 charge on there from July 2, which I didn't make. I purchased some cheap blankets I think a few years ago from them, and they all of a sudden just charged my credit card for something else! I contacted them, no response. I just disputed the item with my credit card company and closed that account number and had a new account number created. I now have the fun job of fixing all of the things we have tied automatically to that account (like the YMCA, Vonage, etc...). I also filed complaints with Trust-e and the NY State Attorney General.
Here is a link to an entire thread about the problem.

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part I - Canada

2008-07-21T11:57:00.003-05:00

For the first part of our vacation, we drove from North Carolina to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The kids were great in the car! This was DQ when she passed out listening to her iPod:We spent Saturday at my cousin's wedding. The ceremony itself was outside, on the middle of a baseball field. It was hot and humid, but the ceremony was beautiful.
Between the wedding and the reception, we had three hours to kill. So, we headed to my uncle's house. He lives right on Lake Erie, complete with a private beach.The reception was a typical wedding reception, except instead of clanging glasses to get the bride and groom to kiss, you had to go up and do a shot with them. Wouldn't you know it, my dad was the first one in line.BD and I had our picture taken as well. I think we look pretty good!Sunday, before leaving, we went to visit my late grandparents grave. It was the first time I had seen the gravestone that was completed. As is Jewish tradition, we left a rock on the top to say we were there. Here is one of the pictures that is on the stone. It was taken when they were married. I don't recall that year, but they were both born in May of 1925. Don't mind the pink shades, I didn't notice my reflection until after I looked at the pictures.
Tomorrow you'll get to hear about the next leg of our trip, BD's relatives in Michigan.

Picture Per Day - On Hold

2008-07-10T11:07:00.001-05:00

I left my battery at work. Then, got busy packing... We are leaving early tomorrow morning for our vacation. We are driving first to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. We will be at a wedding on Saturday and then driving to southwest lower Michigan on Sunday. From there, we'll hit northern Indiana and spend the rest of the week between there and southwest lower Michigan.

I don't know that I'll be posting from the trip, but you never know!

Picture Per Day - Day 6

2008-07-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

Picture Per Day - Day 5

2008-07-06T18:39:00.001-05:00

Picture Per Day - Day 4

2008-07-05T19:52:00.000-05:00

This is what I just finished eating...

Picture Per Day - Day 3 - Independence Day

2008-07-05T19:47:00.002-05:00

What is more American than a baseball game? BD, PM, DQ and I all travelled to our local minor league team's stadium to see a game.The day was very patriotic:And, of course ended with fireworks, which both kids loved!
Unfortunately, the late hour and full day took it's toll on them too. Here was PM on the ride home:

Picture Per Day - Day 2

2008-07-03T19:44:00.002-05:00

BD's FeetA picture I edited a few times:And a few of PM:So, what do you think? I think I need to learn how to pick just one!

A picture per day - Day 1

2008-07-02T19:20:00.003-05:00

Time to start. Some mommy board buddies have convinced me that this will be fun, by just talking about it. So, today is day one!
This evening, after a long day at the pool and dinner, DQ had me paint her toenails and fingernails hot pink. Of course, she then wanted her picture taken:
Of course, who can do just one picture right?

Swimming

2008-06-26T11:47:00.002-05:00

Swim team is in full swing. We are at the pool three nights a week and every Saturday morning.

Here are a few shots:
More action shots will be coming soon!

Soccer

2008-06-18T07:38:00.002-05:00

Soccer season is over. The kids enjoyed it, but not as much as in past years. Here are a few shots I got of them.
First, this is one of my favorites. It looks like they are conferring:
Next, here's DQ playing:Here she is again. You can see the determination in her face:Next, here are two of my favorites of PM:
No, this one wasn't staged, I just happened to get this great shot (at least, I think it's great):
Lastly, here is one I just love of DQ and a friend:

Time to get back in the swing of things...

2008-06-12T06:57:00.002-05:00

It has been about six months since I last posted and it is time to start again! I just will have to force myself to find time for this! I always have grand plans in my head, but never the time to do them. Oh, I'll take pictures of everything I cook and post them on here... I'll post every day pictures of the kiddos... Yeah, right...

So, let's start off with this:

Last week was PM's last week of kindergarten (now you know why I haven't been here) and I made these for the teachers:

Here's the link for the recipe for Quintuple Chocolate Brownies. I should note that I left out the coffee and for the step of adding chocolate right before baking, I used three chopped Hershey bars and some Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chunks.

Yes, still here

2007-12-03T10:51:00.001-05:00

My goodness time flies. I wanted to post daily, then my goal was weekly, now it may be monthly! Yikes! It may be time to just bring this puppy down...

Last Game, of the season

2007-11-02T12:31:00.000-05:00

Last night was PM's last soccer game of the season. His team went undefeated the entire season! He scored! Watch this to see it happen...

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Spider Web Cookies

2007-10-18T07:39:00.001-05:00

So, do you want to see how easy it is to make Spider Web Cookies for your little goblins this year? First, buy the following at your local grocery store:
Pilsbury Create and Bake Cookie dough in Sugar flavor
One container of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Frosting in Creamy White flavor
One container of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Frosting in Chocolate

Bake the cookies and let cool:
Frost each cookie top with the Creamy White frosting:Be sure to get it most of the way to the edge, but leave a little room to be able to grab the cookie with your fingers without getting covered in frosting.Next, put the Chocolate frosting in a frosting decorating bag with a small writing tip. Pipe on three circles of chocolate frosting to make a bullseye. Don't worry if they aren't perfect. You will never be able to tell!Take a regular butter knife and, starting at the middle, drag the knife through all three of the chocolate circles.
Keep going, evenly, around the entire cookie.
When you are done, you will have a masterpiece like this:
You will be a hero to your kids. Everyone will oooh and aaah over your wonderful creation. But, they don't have to know that everything was store bought and all you did was assemble it! PM and DQ suggested that the next time I make these, I make a spider on each one as well. I think that is a great idea, so give it a try and let me know if you succeed!

My Weekend in Pictures

2007-10-15T11:40:00.000-05:00

My weekend was jam packed full of activities. Here is a quick run through of what we did:
Soccer Game Number 1
Soccer Game Number 2:A kid on PM's team, who just loves to dive for anything to the ground, even no reason at all!
A trip to the local pumpkin farm:Lot's of fun things to do there:
PM showed off his monkey skills:After the pumpkin farm, we had lunch and ran some shopping errands. We headed home to wait for BD to come home from work. When he arrived, we all hopped back in the car and headed out to buy our big pumpkins. After that it was time for dinner out!

Once the kiddos were in bed, I made over two dozen of these puppies:
Tomorrow, I'll show you, step by step, how easy these Spider-web cookies are to make!

Sunday started out as usual, church and Faith Formation. Afterwards, I ran to Target and Goodwill for some last minute scarecrow making supplies.

Some friends came over and first we painted pumpkins:
After that, we were ready to make scarecrows!Oh, and that brown under the bale of hay, really is our front yard. That's what a major drought will do to your grass.

I just realized that I didn't take a single picture of the actual scarecrow making or the final product! DOH! Until I can get a shot of our wonderful scarecrow, this one of DQ will have to suffice:Did I mention that the kids loved playing in the hay in the front yard?
This is what they looked like when we were done. Worn out, but very happy!Oh, and they followed up these 3-4 hours outside with another 1-2 in the backyard while I made dinner. You can definitely say they slept good last night!

Fun Times in Nashville

2007-10-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

Well, at the beginning of last week, I was in Nashville for training. The training wasn't wonderful, but the free time was great! Monday night, we went to the Red Pony in Franklin for drinks. It was a very interesting place. We just had drinks and few appetizers there, but everything was great! In the women's bathroom, just a single bathroom, no stalls, I saw this on the wall:

Interesting you think? The whole wall was kind of like that. As you looked at it, you kept seeing different things. Very interesting.

From the Red Pony, we moved on to the Flying Horse, also in Franklin. WOW is all I can say. The looks of the restaurant in no way prepared me for the exquisite food! I definitely didn't expect that! I had the Salmon Glazed with Jack Daniels and Sorghum. It was supposed to come with cornbread pudding, but I had them substitute mashed potatoes. I wish I had left the dish as it was supposed to be, as I had never tried cornbread pudding, but I wimped out. Anyway, it was so good that I wanted to lick the plate when I was done!

Tuesday night, after enjoying a little bit of Happy Hour at the Embassy Suites we were staying at, we went for a nice dinner. (Side note: Always a great benefit to be able to stay at an Embassy Suites. Cooked to order breakfast is good, but free drinks are even better!) We went to a restaurant that was recommended by a gentlemen in the Embassy Suites bar. It was called Bound'ry Restaurant. There, we started with drinks. Check out the martini I got!
I can't recall the name of it, but the ingredients were; Absolut Citron, Pama, Sweet & Sour, Sprite and a cherry in the bottom. Yummy!

After dinner, my co-worker and I met up with some others from our class in downtown Nashville. We visited a few bars with live music. One of my favorites was Ana Popovic. I took a short video clip, but it isn't as good as what you can find on her website.

We left there around 1am, yes you read that correctly. When we got to where we had left the car, it wasn't there. Then, the adventure begins. You see, apparently, there was a sign, as you turned onto the road, that said No Parking 3:30pm - 8:00am. Down by the meter we parked at, there was no such sign. Nor were there any labels on the meters. When we parked the road was full, with the exception of our spot. When we got out there, no cars at all. We flagged down a cab and were driven to the impound log, where we were told it was at a different lot. Our cab driver was awesome. He got out at the lot to see if anyone was there, there wasn't. He called the number on the sign for us and waited until someone got there. Of course, we paid him for all of that, but still, he didn't have to wait. So, a $20 cab ride and $80 impound fee later, we had our rental car back. We still have to pay the $25 parking ticket as well.

So, if you ever go to Nashville, be very careful where you park. The cab driver told us it is pretty much a tourist trap and they tow people all the time.

Time to Slow Down

2007-10-08T11:01:00.000-05:00

I returned this morning from Detroit and drove straight in to work. Over the next few days, I'll take you backwards through my whirlwind of a week.

Let's start with my trip over this weekend. Saturday, my plane left at 6:06 am and arrived back in my home town at 10:45 am. My sister, along with her adorable little boy "J", picked me up at the airport. We met my friend "C" and her daughter "A" at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. "J" and "A" are a whole seven days apart. "J" is the older man in this relationship. "J" was not really interested in eating when the food came. He was more interested in what "A" was doing. I have a picture of her obviously imitating her mommy, as she is chatting her mommy's cell phone and writing at the same time. Because of their privacy, I won't share it here.

The rest of Saturday was spent in a similar fashion. We visited my parents before "J" went down for a nap. Then, we visited a friend "S" that I haven't seen since before PM was born! She looks great, and her two boys are so grown up! It was definitely nice to catch up. Saturday evening, we met my good friend "B" and her new boyfriend for dinner at one of my all time favorite restaurants. It not only has amazing food, but amazing desserts as well. The cheesecake creations rival the chain "Cheesecake Factory". One difference is that this restaurant's are twice as big! They also have hand whipped topping. YUMMY! But, I couldn't eat the cheesecake after dinner, as I needed to have some of my favorite frozen custard instead! I ate the cheesecake for breakfast on Sunday. It was nice to meet "B's" new man. He seems very nice and family oriented, having two adorable kids of his own.

Sunday was a busy day. We drove up to Detroit for my cousin's wedding. A little background here... My father is a Canadian citizen, still, even after living in the US for more than 37 years. His entire family is in Canada, with the majority around the Windsor area. My cousin is the same age as me, although a few months younger, as he reminded me yesterday.

The wedding was riverfront and gorgeous. The ceremony itself was outdoors, followed by a champagne reception on the deck. A strolling dinner was inside in a glass room, followed by a five piece orchestra with singer. In all, it was a very, very nice event. There were some things that were a little different than any wedding I had ever been to before though. First of all, there was a lot of clapping at the ceremony itself. When the groom walked his mom down the aisle, people clapped. When the son walked the mother of the bride down the aisle people clapped, and so on. It was very, very sweet when the bride walked down the aisle accompanied by both her father and her son, who will be five in a few weeks. Her son was the one that gave her away. Yes, I had tears in my eyes.

Anyway, her family is Ukraine and therefore had some songs and customs that I am not used to. They sang a congratulatory song at the beginning of the reception, after my father's family did the customary whiskey toast to my Zadi and my father's Zadi (my father's family is Jewish and therefore, Grandpa is Zadi).

Here is a shot of all of the cousins that came, along with their significant others. BD didn't come with me, so I am stuck in between my two boy cousins...
And, lastly, here is all of the family that came, on my dad's side:So, there you have it. I flew back home this morning. As we were approaching the airport, I saw this outside my window:
Always strange to see another plane in the air when you are flying. It touched down on the parallel runway about 30 seconds before us.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2007-09-27T19:27:00.000-05:00

Remember in Frosty the Snowman, after Hinkle (the magician) locks Frosty and Karen in the greenhouse and Frosty melts, that Santa comes and brings Frosty back to life? Do you remember how he sent Hinkle off to write lines? Hinkle says, "I've got to get busy writing - busy, busy, busy!" Well, every time I say we are busy, all I can hear is him saying, "busy, busy, busy!". That's terrible, I know. I guess I have seen that movie way too much with the kids!

Anyway, why am I so busy, busy, busy? Well, if you must know, BD leaves at 6am tomorrow to fly out to visit friends and family and attend a college football game. He gets back in town on Sunday late afternoon. Then, I fly out Sunday evening for a business trip. I won't get back until Wednesday evening. Then, I turn around and fly out Saturday at 6am to visit family and go to my cousin's wedding. I fly back in that Monday morning and get to drive straight to work.

Did you follow all that? Sound like fun?

He did it!

2007-09-25T19:03:00.000-05:00

Well, he did it. He scored a goal tonight! We were playing a team that was just terrible, poor kids, but still, he scored a goal! I wouldn't say he was amazingly better, but he did seem to do a little bit better tonight. Of course, BD and I were constantly yelling for him to run toward the goal and pay attention, that is going to stop. He didn't hear us anyway.

I am so proud of him!

Onto another PM discussion... He is driving me batty with this new thing he is doing. He is constantly trying to itch his ears. He rubs them on his shoulders and is pushing on them to try to itch inside. I noticed the other night they had a decent amount of ear wax visible and cleaned them, but he is still doing it. I looked inside them and don't see anything other than a normal ear and lots of ear wax. I think I am going to give the pediatrician a call tomorrow to find out what else we can try. Of course, the little girl on his soccer teams father is a doctor (BD and I have both seen him at the practice we go to), but I hate it when people ask me computer questions when I am not at work, so I didn't want to bother him. That said, it will be interesting the next time one of us is sick. I don't think I can see him again. I always thought he was good looking and that was bad enough!

Any itchy ear ideas?

PM and Soccer

2007-09-25T10:58:00.001-05:00

Last night, DQ had soccer practice and PM came along. A friend that he goes to after school care with was there and PM got his soccer ball out and the two were goofing off with it. His coach then showed up with his wife and their two sons. We weren't missing practice, but they had come out to practice with their kids, talk about dedicated, it was over 90 degrees! Anyway, they offered that PM could practice with them. He did. I tell you, after about 5 minutes of running, he is done. And, he just isn't very good. Maybe it is because we don't practice with him outside of when he goes to soccer practice. Are we really supposed to?

Their kids understand what his coach and wife were telling them, such as spread out, fan out, defense, pass, etc... PM on the other hand seems to be in outer space most of the time and not really paying attention. BD and I even yelled a few times, "move away so you are by yourself", "pass it to so and so".

Am I expecting too much? Should we continue to let him sign up for soccer even though he pretty much stinks at it? I feel so bad watching him. It doesn't help that he is tinier than most of the other kids on his team. It is just so hard to watch...

I did it!

2007-09-23T19:42:00.001-05:00

From May 7, when I had my tonsils out, to yesterday, I have lost 19 pounds! I feel like singing the Dora song when she gets to where she is going. You know the one, "We did it, we did it, we did it, yay!".

Anyway, what I am most proud of is the fact that I did it without any diet aids. I went from a snug size 8 in pants, that had to be hemmed, to a perfect 6 petite. In regular sizes, I can do a 4, but they still have to be shortened. I never realized I was so short, until my pants started hitting at the right part of my body.

So, yesterday, I went shopping. Oh boy, did I go shopping. I spent way, way too much. I ended up taking a lot of it back today, but all together I think I am out over $400. That said, when I added up the regular price of the clothes, before all of the discounts, it was over $800, so I think I did pretty good. You figure, I had to pretty much buy an entirely new fall wardrobe. I literally had 2 pairs of nice work pants that fit. And, for some reason, I have sleeveless shirts galore, but no short sleeve. It jumped right to long sleeve. So, I bought a lot of short sleeve too. I was surprised to see that I went from a Medium to a Small in most of the shirts as well.

In all, it was a very good weekend! I will definitely keep the weight off too. I figure if I keep it off all winter, I may end up selling my nice dress slacks on eBay next Fall. I am afraid to now, although I definitely don't want to gain that back! I really would like to drop about 3 more as well.

In case you are wondering how I actually lost the weight, it was actually pretty simple. I have been eating Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal for breakfast most days. Other days I cheat. I have a healthy lunch, salad greens with chicken or South Beach Diet frozen meals or Lean Cuisines. Of course, there are days I cheat. I don't really deprive myself. In the afternoon, I have a cup of Activia yogurt and some fresh fruit. I usually end up snacking on a few Hershey kisses (the ones filled with caramel) and some actual caramels as well. Then, I have a smaller dinner. I eat whatever the rest of the family is having, although we do try to make them healthy meals. I just don't eat as much or as late. Every weekend, I relax and eat what I want. At first, I really splurged, and there are still some weekends I do. Others, I don't really bother. As for drinks, I don't drink anything except water (flavored with True Lemon or Crystal Light), milk and some juices. I dropped soda a long time ago. Of course, on the weekends, there are the occasional cocktails. Can't do without those Key Lime Pie Martini's!

As for exercise. I have been walking 2.25 miles three mornings a week. I go out at 5:30 am with a neighbor and am back by 6:00 am. Three mornings a week, I also do 16 minutes of other exercises. I do Jorge Cruises 8 Minutes in the Morning to a Flat Belly and his 8 Minutes in the Morning to Lean Hips and Thighs.

That's it. I wish I had done this all much sooner instead of wasting on that money on Lipo 6. What a complete waste of money that was. If I can do it, anyone can!

All About DQ

2007-09-21T19:17:00.000-05:00

We had a good family evening tonight. After dinner, DQ and PM played on the computer, nicely, together. Then, I made some cookies. While eating the cookies we started talking about what we were going to do tomorrow. We are planning to go to an amusement park that we have season passes to. When we started asking DQ about the various rides, she went wild with pumping her arms and such:

Then, she has started doing this Oooo sound when you tell her something. BD has been laughing about it for a few weeks now. We got that on video as well:

First Fall Soccer Game

2007-09-20T19:16:00.000-05:00

PM had his first fall soccer game today. He plays for the Bulls. It is the same coach and some of the same players as he had in the spring. Now though, they play 5 on 5 with a referee and also goalie. They won 3-1 tonight! That is definitely saying something, as the team they played creamed them every game in the spring. He has a lot of friends on the other team and it was good to see him be able to have fun while still playing against them. Here he is right as the game was starting:
Yes, the clothes are huge... Let's not even go there...
Here is the only other picture I took (can you believe it???):His coach bought a "bench" for them to sit on while they are not playing. It basically looks like six of the folding "bag" chairs all hooked together. While he was sitting on the bench, DQ went over to pester him. He said one of the other boys was teasing him that she was his girlfriend and he had to tell him she was his sister. It was so funny! I am sure he will be getting that for years to come.

DQ's first game isn't until the 29th, so it will be a little while until I can get pictures of that. His next game is next week against a team from his old school. I know at least one of his friends is on the team, as we saw him tonight. He can't wait for that game!

I am back

2007-09-19T19:22:00.000-05:00

Well folks, it's been a while. I don't know what has been going on, but I just didn't feel like posting. Now that I am getting in the swing of things again, you know what you have missed out on don't you? The pictures! Yes, you have missed, I know, all of the pictures of my adorable little kids. Ok, I may be biased, but a mother is allowed, is she not?
Anyway, here is PM on the first day of kindergarten. Ah, he is not a baby anymore!
Then, since he can never just be happy, here he was when I was leaving his classroom:But, when I came back to pick him up at 11:30, here he was with his teacher!
Looks like he had a ok time, don't you think?
Just because I know you have missed her too, here is one of DQ:
And the two of them together!

But, that's all for tonight, as our computer is in the same room as the cat's litter box and she just smelled it up something fierce! So, I am out of here!!!

Ah, the Annual Senior Parade

2007-08-27T07:44:00.001-05:00

This morning, after dropping DQ at 4K and PM at his after school care location for the whole day (which he was fine with, woo-who!), I got stuck in traffic in my little town. All of the traffic was due to the annual Senior Parade. I think this is really the neatest little thing. Today is the first day of school and all of the new seniors meet up the road and decorate their cars. Then, they drive down the main road to the school with flashers on, horns blaring and their windows down. Their parents line up along the road waving. Some even have signs made up! Just makes me realize that one day, I will be one of those moms and those will be my kids driving down the road...

My poor baby!

2007-08-23T07:28:00.001-05:00

We went to PM's kindergarten orientation last night. We walked up to the posts for which child is in which class and I almost burst into tears when I saw who he got. You see, all along, I have been told by several parents that you do not want your kid in this one teacher's class. Apparently, she is pretty mean/stern. She isn't the warm and fuzzy type. Well, that's who he got. I kept the tears in and went to meet her. She has zero personality. I don't think I saw her smile one time. All of the other classes got a full folder of information, including the student handbook. We got nothing! The only thing she handed out were the drop off circle picture, showing where to drop them off, and a one page sheet about the cafeteria payment system. His bf is across the hall. His class, like most of the others, even had their assigned seats already. I am just sick over this. I know it can't be all that bad, but my little man needs the warm and fuzzy!!! I also heard that she was talked to by the administration when she came from the other elementary school to this one (when the split the two schools from both doing K-5 to one K-1 and the other 2-5). Apparently, she is a very black/white person and there is no middle ground with her.

I have to be positive and keep an open mind in front of PM, or it will just add to his anxiety. But, I am so worried about him! He is a go with the flow type of kid, so once he gets over the initial anxiety, I think he will be fine. Mommy on the other hand, I don't know about...

New Starts

2007-08-17T07:56:00.000-05:00

DQ is beginning Pre-K on Monday morning. I am not ready for it.

PM is beginning Kindergarten a week from Monday. I am not ready for it.

I think I am avoiding this blog so that I don't have to talk or think about it. Here is a wonderful poem written by one of my mommy friends. Thanks for the poem Edie!!!

His little nose pressed to the glass,
how did the time pass by so fast?
His little hand goes up to wave,
I will not cry, I will be brave.
Almost six years have passed by since
the day we brought him home,
and now the big bus rolls away,
my little guy is gone.
A school boy now and off to see
the wide world waiting there.
I hope the world is kind to him,
it can be so cruel and unfair.
I stand alone and watch the bus as it rumbles down the street.
My smile fades as a tear slips out,
have fun at school, my Sweet.

Off Color Topic

2007-08-13T07:39:00.000-05:00

If you came here today looking to find pictures of the kids, sorry. I have a different topic to discuss. I have been wanting to post this for a while, but have been putting it off. The subject isn't a very polite one, but this is something that I think of every day.

Farting –verb (used without object)
--to expel a flatus through the anus; break wind
pass gas
cut one
cut the cheese
let her rip
rip one

You get the picture I think (although, I really hope not). Anyway, what I am talking about is bathroom etiquette. There are basically three types of people. First comes the "concealer's". At my office, these women are obsessed with flushing the toilet every time they pass gas or poo. Why? When you are in the bathroom, isn't that what you are supposed to do? Then there are the "piggy backers". This is me. Personally, I hate to do flush when I have to pass gas or the other, because if you are sitting down, your bottom gets splashed with toilet water. So, I sit and wait and hold it until someone else flushes and I can let it out very quietly. Lastly, there are the "men". We'll call the last group this due to the fact that they just let'em rip and don't bother with the cover up of a flush of either their own toilet or someone else's.

Which group are you in?

Pest Identified

2007-08-08T12:08:00.001-05:00

The culprit in the previous post that is killing our shrub is called Cottony Cushion Scale. Ewwww!