Saturday, Scenes VII, V, and II

Cute Girl: (sharp intake of breath) We don't have any Kool-Aid! What are we going to do?!

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(Cute Girl feigns sleep in the backseat. The Rocket Scientist has noticed and has been teasing her about it. Family arrives home from grocery and begins unloading.)

Rocket Scientist: Oh! I just remembered something! Opossums don't like strawberries!

Cute Girl: I'm not a opossum!

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(The family has been traveling about all morning, searching garaga sales and thrift stores for treasures.)

Cute Girl: I don't want to go to a garage sale. I want to go to another store and get me something cool.

My Treasures

Let me introduce you to the newest treasure in my house - this antique desk! I LOVE it! I got if off of Craig's List. It almost wasn't mine, but people backed out and my home teacher carted it home in his Jeep for me. I haven't decided how I'm going to finish it yet. I'm rethinking all of my design plans for the house. The desk may end up in my room, the family room, or a kitchen in a future house.
And my most important treasures are, of course, my kids! Today I wanted to just mention Handsome Face a bit. He's just so grown up and yet baby-ish that I just can't get over it!
First of all, he's almost standing! He practices all the time. My husband got to see it for the first time last night (he always practices while Dad's at work). He's stayed up for 5-7 seconds on his own I'd guess and he can get up from a bent position by himself. He thinks it's so fun and giggles while his Dad cheers him on.
Handsome Face loves fruit. It's really funny. Lots of kids love fruit more than other foods but I've never seen anyone go nuts like him. We can't get any sort of fruit out before he's finished his other food or it's all over. He'll refuse to eat anything else and goes nuts until he gets his share. Strawberries send him over the top. He'll gorge himself on strawberries. And he screams and bangs his tray when they're gone. Too funny.
And now for the cutest thing of all. Last Monday or Tuesday the kiddos were in the tub when the Rocket Scientist came home and surprisingly, everyone was happy. The kids were so excited to see Daddy and I wasn't stressed and work had gone well so it turned into a pleasant evening. So we all happily parked ourselves in Cute Girl's room for the pajama-ing. I was sitting on the bed with Handsome Face when Cute Girl ran in wrapped in her towel. She came up to fuss over her cute lil' brother as usual and he got all excited. He then grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in, nestling his little face into her neck for a hug. He then pushed her away and then did the whole thing over again several times. They were the cutest little hugs I've ever seen!

What Not to Wear

Today I'm wearing my husband's shirt, just because I wanted to. Cute Girl says I can't wear a boy's shirt, I have to wear a girl's shirt. Oh well.

Play Day

After having nothing planned for the day yesterday morning, I decided the kids and I would do all the fun things that I'm normally too busy to do. So we did this:



Pretty Purple Toenails Who doesn't like an elephant?

And this was all done by 9:30 in the morning!







We went to the park for a picnic lunch/kite-flying session. Unfortunately there wasn't enough wind to keep the kite up. But Handsome Face did like playing with the kite string.

Bubble-blowing while brother tries to sleep.

Baths after we give up on brother's afternoon nap. I showed Cute Girl the bath picture after I took it and she said, "That's soooo embarrassing!"

Any Bright Ideas?

I am at a loss today, and I hate when that happens. No one got enough sleep last night and so everyone is cranky. Instead of going running, I put a little boy down for a nap at seven o'clock this morning because he woke up before five. And since I did too, I didn't really feel like dragging everyone out for a turn around the neighborhood anyway. And now that our regular schedule is down the drain and we're all cranky, I'm at a loss. What do we do today? Other than a quick 15 minute scrub in the kitchen, the house is well enough off that ignoring chores for one day won't matter. And besides that, today's chore is vacuuming the upstairs which is really not that difficult. I'll probably go ahead and do it just so I feel like I accomplished something today. But other than that, there is NOTHING on the schedule. What to do when there is nothing to do? I'm at a loss.

My Funny Girl

(Cute Girl looking through the wrong end of the telescope.)

I just cannot withstand the temptation to post the funny little things that my kids do. In Cute Girl's case, it's the things she says that make us all laugh the most. Here are a few tidbits from the last week.

"No, Handsome Face. You can't have a crayon. A crayon is just for a Cute Girl and Daddy and Mommy. And most of all a Cute Girl."

Our little boy loves to watch his big sister and she knows it. As she was getting ready to go outside and play on Saturday after breakfast she stopped by her brother's highchair. "Handsome Face! You can see me out the window when you finish your breakfast, hon. I know, it's super cool!"

This one is for Uncle John. Pointing behind my head, Cute Girl says, "Look, Mom! A decoy!"

And for our last one, as we were driving out of our neighborhood on the way to church yesterday, we heard this come from the backseat. "Hey train! Say 'chugga chugga woot woot!"

Mother's Day

I do hope you all felt extra loved today. I know I did. My loving husband and darling children gave me some beautiful gifts that I absolutely love! But the things that made me most happy weren't wrapped in pretty paper or bows.

My husband was determined to bring me breakfast in bed, just like every Mother's Day, and so I was shut IN the bedroom and the children were shut OUT. When all was finally ready, in rushed my darling girl and her brother came crawling in right behind her. The joy on their faces from finally being able to see their mommy was fantastic. I loved scooping them up and holding them close more than the gifts and breakfast they came bearing (although those were good too!).

The day continued in the same fashion - me being perpetually spoiled by my husband and loved by my children. And at the end of the day, as we said bedtime prayers, I heard, "Bless Mommy and bless Mother's Day. And bless Mommy to have a good Mother's Day."

I just love her. And him. And I love being their mom. And I love that they love me being there mom. I think that's the best part.

I can do it!

I love the "I can conquer the world!" attitude that children have. They are so unafraid to try new things and explore their environment. And on the flip side, they take their mistakes and failures much better than most adults and adapt. If only we were all like that.

This evening for dinner we had stirfry and the Rocket Scientist and I pulled out the chopsticks. Cute Girl piped up and requested chopsticks as well, insisting that she knew how to use them. It was so funny to watch! She did pretty well - skewering her vegetables or picking them up and laying them over the chopsticks. The best, though, was when this attempt started going downhill. I saw her use her fingers and asked why she wasn't using her chopsticks.



"Cause my chopsticks don't work."



Obviously.

(Picture is of Combi training chopsticks.)

Cute Girl things and a lil' Handsome Face

Last Sunday, Cute Girl was supposed to be getting dressed for Church but she was struggling a bit. I went in to help her and she told me of her problems. She said, "My dress just won't go on. It doesn't want to go to Church but it has to go to Church 'cause I have to wear it." Typical, Cute Girl - always giving feelings and actions to inanimate objects. At dinner she has also taken up asking "What is my rice trying to do to me?" whenever her dinner won't get on her fork but keeps moving around the plate.
Whenever we arrive home from somewhere (usually Church) she has taken to pretending to be asleep so she can get carried into the house. The Rocket Scientist and I will start going on about how there's a opossum in the backseat. It is so great to start watching her then. Her eyes scrunch up tight and she purses her lips as the corners of her mouth start moving up, all in an attempt not to smile or laugh. I wish I had a picture of it.
Cute Girl requested barrettes for her hair yesterday. After choosing which ones she wanted she told me she was going to wear "the barrettes that unlock doors," having used those clips to unlock doors around the house when she was supposed to be kept out (or in).
I taught her how to use the mouse a few weeks ago so that she could push the button to turn on the videos on my blog by herself (she request to see pictures and videos constantly). Since then she has constantly been sneaking into my room and onto the computer to "check my email." No permanent damage has been caused yet.
Cute Girl saw me pull bacon out of the freezer this morning and she asked if she could have a breakfast sandwich. I told her no, the bacon was for dinner. I asked, "Do you want to have quiche for dinner?" Her response: "Yea! Oh! and watch the Mary and Elizabeth movie?!" (see here).

And on unrelated Cute Girlness, we have Handsome Face news. He stood up yesterday all by himself! Yay! I have yet to get him to repeat it, but we'll keep working on that. It was very out of the blue. I was laying on the floor while he played and he came up and used me for a brace to get onto his feet. Then he just let go and stood all the way up, staying there for several seconds. He seemed to think he was pretty cool!

2008 Inaugural Camping Trip

We got to the campground and Handsome Face was asleep in his car seat. When he finally woke up he was so disoriented. He never did warm up to the whole camping thing. All that night he only wanted to be held. And when we finally put him to bed around eight o'clock he just cried and cried. I think he finally petered out around 9:30pm. His sister had fallen asleep long before that, even with all the noise coming from the next bed!
We didn't know the ease with which firewood could be procured (they actually have it stacked next to the fire pit already - yay!) and we were going to be arriving late, so we opted for hot dogs that night. Simple and fast.
Cute Girl loved camping. It was all she could talk about all day. When we finally got there she was so excited about sleeping in a tent in the little bed I made up for her that she was ready to skip dinner and go straight to bedtime!
Once asleep the kids actually did pretty well through the night. Cute Girl woke up once when she fell out of her bed and was sleeping on the cold, hard ground. I threw her back in and she was out like a light. Handsome Face woke up once or twice crying but he always managed to go back to sleep on their own. I was the only one who didn't sleep too well. The site across the road was full of twenty-somethings and beer. Not a great combination. And not great for sleep. The kids slept in though, not waking up until 6:30! Here's the boy getting dressed and the girl watching him get dressed from the Pack-n-Play.
And this is my husband, being as goofy as ever.Breakfast was simple - fruit, yogurt, pastry, and copious amounts of chocolate milk and hot chocolate. Here we all are, huddling together for warmth. It's cold up there!He wasn't much help during the pack up. Just watched from the Pack-n-Play. Oh - and he screamed most of the time. Apparently he doesn't like being cooped up.

We went hiking up the mountain before we left. Cute Girl kept wanting to slide down the mountain and/or climb the mountain like the bunny in Runaway Bunny. Handsome Face was exhausted. He fell asleep almost before we s tarted.Our sad attempts at a family picture. Apparently he was hungry (and tired - can you tell?).And before we left, we just had to put the kids inside the bear box. Don't want any black bears taking away these tasty morsels!

Cube Steak

For my next recipe, I'd like to introduce you to a lil' Midwestern cooking. I love Indiana food, and this is quintessential.

To start off with, any good Hoosier household has an electric skillet. If you don't, you need not fret. Any ol' frying pan will do. Start out heating up your skillet to 350 and throw in several tablespoons of shortening. You could also use lard if you lean that way. No cheating though. This is a high fat high calorie food and no substitutions may be made.

While that's heating up, take your cube steak and salt and pepper each side. Then coat in flour. A mix of white and wheat works real nice.Here's a nice example of cube steak. It's a piece of beef that's been tenderized. When we were first married, I asked the Rocket Scientist if he liked cube steak and he had no idea what I was talking about. I quickly educated him. If you're like him, just look in the meat case and the package will say 'cube steak.' Pretty straight forward.

Then plop them down in the heated skillet and cover. Check them after 3 or 4 minutes. You want a nice brown color on either side. Once the color is there flip'em over. They'll cook a little longer on the first side to make sure they're cooked all the way through.

If you like, you can then add a little water to the pan (just enough to cover the bottom completely) and steam them for 5 or 10 minutes. This will make them a little softer. I didn't bother this particular time. I just didn't feel like it.

Here's one of our side dishes. We have this all the time and it's 100% healthy. Zucchini or squash or both with mushrooms and onion, sauteed in olive oil. I throw in some pepper and garlic salt for flavor. Cook until it reaches the tenderness of choice. I like mine real soft. My husband likes it firmer. To each his own.

And here's the finished meal. I decided at the last minute that I wanted mashed potatoes (another traditional Midwestern staple) so I threw them into the pressure cooker. LOVE the pressure cooker. Get your potatoes up to a boil and five minutes later they're done. It's a beautiful thing.

P.S. To truly be a Hoosier, cube steak MUST be eaten with ketchup. It's the only way.

My kids

I like them, and therfore I posted them. Enjoy!

Tortilla-Black Bean Casserole

Here's Recipe #2 of the week. It's a nice lil' recipe we found in my BHG Cookbook. We originally tried it out because we were looking for new ways to use the beans in our food storage. As an added bonus, it's a vegetarian dish and I try to throw one or two of those into our weekly menus. I also have a ground beef version called Mexican lasagna which I based off a recipe found inThe Dinner Doctor. It's more flavorful (beef, duh) but it's got more fat (hence the flavor) and it's a bit more labor intensive. So we'll stick with this for today.

I'll list the ingredients and quantities as they are in the original recipe, but I never follow those. I often cut everything in half or thirds to make smaller dishes or just because I don't want to chop up that many vegetables.

In a large skillet, we'll combine:

2 c chopped onion (I did one), 1 1/2 c chopped green pepper (I did one, and there's no pic),
1 14.5 oz can of tomatoes, undrained,
3/4 c picante sauce (I used regular salsa and did 1/2 cup),

2 cloves of garlic, minced,(and here is my beautiful, Williams & Sonoma garlic press. Love it!)And 2 teaspoons cumin (or one like me - I don't like cumin much).Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in 2 15 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed (or just one).

Now comes the assembly, and it's easy. Layer 1/3 of the bean stuff on the bottom of a 3-quart dish. Top with corn tortillas. Then layer 1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (I used cheddar). Repeat bean, tortilla, and another bean layer. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Cover with 1 cup of cheese and let stand 1o minutes. (I actually do more cheese layers in the dish itself and skip the cheese at the end.)

Serve with diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, onions, olives, or sour cream.