Gingerbread House

Cute Girl just had to make a gingerbread house this year. But with Thanksgiving at our house, then Uncle John's wedding, then an early departure for Christmas, we just couldn't get it done. So we went the easy route and bought a kit at the store and put it together at Grandma Shoaf's house.

Fondue Recipe

Ok, it's been requested too much for separate emails to suffice anymore. Here is the recipe for non-alcoholic cheese fondue for 4 people. We make this in a saucepan on the stove and then transfer it to a warm fondue pot when it's ready.

Heat to simmering:
1/3 c apple juice
2/3 c chicken bouillon/water
2 t lemon juice
2 1/2 t onion powder
2 1/2 t garlic powder

Add slowly and stir until melted:
1/2 - 3/4 lb swiss cheese
1/4 - 1/2 lb cheddar cheese

Mix separately and add to cheese mixture:
1/4 c apple juice
1 T corn starch
2 t flour
less than 1/4 t white pepper (if you got it)
2/3 t mustard powder

Ok, here's the deal with the cheese. Start with the lesser amount of each. Every time we make this it acts a little different. Sometimes it looks like we have a big mass of gooey cheese in the bottom of the pan surrounded by the juice that it just won't combine with. Don't give up. Try turning the heat up a little and things should smooth out. The lemon juice also helps to keep the cheese from clumping, so you could add more of that too if you need. If things are smooth but still too juicy, add more cheese until it looks right. Our first batch was too juicy and it still tasted way good. After a couple of times, you start to get the hang of it and it comes easier. Another important bit about cheese: the harder the better. Soft cheese melts into strings. Think 3 foot mozzarella bridge from your pizza to your face. Strings are not what you want in your fondue. Hard cheese melts smoothly and provides for a much more pleasant fondue experience. Go for sharp or medium cheddar over mild. Other cheeses work well too; gruyere cheese is super yummy. Try other cheeses too, just be sure to squeeze your cheese (triple word score for saying 'squeeze your cheese') to make sure it's hard.

Dip whatever you want in your cheese. Apples, red potatoes, and broccoli are personal favorites. Of course, no fondue at our house would be complete without baguettes (thanks, Rachael).

If you haven't saved room for chocolate fondue, shame on you. Pace yourself next time. This recipe is for more like 6-8 people, so cut it in half if you have less or stuffed yourself with the cheese.

1 1/2 c cream - heat on stove
16 oz semi-sweet choc chips, dark chocolate, or whatever - add to cream and stir til blended
1 t vanilla
2-4 T peanut butter
This recipe is way simpler than the cheese and way easier to pull off. Redeem yourself with this if you had a hard time with the cheese.

Again, dip whatever you want in it: bananas, strawberries, pound cake, marshmallows, cheesecake, fingers...you get the idea.

Dangit, now I'm hungry.

(Post courtesy of the Rocket Scientist)

Scratch That

Maybe we're not all better. We'll be heading back to the doctors office this afternoon. Handsome Face is allergic to his antibiotics. He's itching all over and I have to watch him all day to make sure his airway doesn't close. Yippee.

Some Catch Up

I think I can officially say that no one in my family is sick anymore. We had a whole month full of at least four ear infections, a virus that hit EVERYONE, conjunctivitis in 6 eyes, and bronchitis (that was me).

Cute Girl made this train track herself. I was amazed because I have NEVER figured out how to use those funny triangle-shaped tracks.

We've been to the doctor five times since the beginning of the year. I'm soooo tired of prescriptions. And I never want to see pink blobs of amoxycillin on my counter again.

Handsome Face playing the trombone

Now for some updates. Did you know the Rocket Scientist plays the trombone? He is uber-talented. So talented that on Monday he was actually lamenting the fact that he has so many talents and doesn't have time to develop them all. Boohoo. But back to the trombone. He could only ever play around on it because he didn't have any sheet music. So for Valentine's Day I got him some John William's music. We spent all last Saturday listening to the 1984 Olympic fanfare and the Star Wars' Imperial March. The kids thought it was awesome.

My snobby kids eating fondue for lunch

Then on Saturday evening we had friends over and ate fondue until 11 o'clock that night. It was a bit late for me as that was the first day that I had felt well in over a week but it was still fun. The Rocket Scientist makes really yummy fondue. We no longer go to the Melting Pot.

And speaking of food, yesterday my friends treated me to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe for my birthday. It was so fun. I love going out to breakfast. And my kids were even reasonably well-behaved. Cute Girl was actually quite the angel. I love it when they grow out of being stinkers all the time.

Wiggle Real Fast!

We had friends over today. At lunch, Handsome Face got everyone to "wiggle" their heads.

Christmas

And a small child took this, to prove I was there, I guess.

Uncle Trey is Awesome

December 26th

Chelsie's 19th Birthday at the fire station with Grandpa

Christmas in St. Louis

St. Louis Sledding

Handsome Face went out with Dad after his nap - Cute Girl had gone earlier and was enjoying hot chocolate by the fire with Grandma

The boys' snowman - and the crime scene after his demise

Just so I remember

Last month the kids were in the backyard and Handsome Face started climbing the monkey bar ladder. Cute Girl told him to get down because it was dangerous. He said, "It not dangerous. I like dangerous."

Yesterday at lunch he wanted pancakes. I told him they were all gone. He said, "Put flour in bowl, Mama."

The Magic House

Just a few from The Magic House. My camera died and the rest of the pictures are on the laptop which is in a secure lab in town.Jack's Beanstalk - it was three stories tall

Curious George's rocket - we saw this exhibit in Indiana last year - very excited to see it in St. Louis

St.Louis City Museum

This is what Daddy comes up with for bath toys on New Year's Eve at Grandma's house. So, so fun. We even hit the ceiling a couple of times.

The kids with my dad after the funeral. This is the last of my Indiana pictures. I just didn't take very many. Seems like we were too busy with other things.

How I Ruined Valentine's Day

Our weekend had some lovely spots. I hope yours did too. It also had some very, very bad spots. I hope yours didn't.
Friday morning dawned brightly and we all headed out the door. All of us, as in even the Rocket Scientist because it was his Friday off. I highly recommend working for companies that give you every other Friday off. And an automatic week at Christmas. I'm just sayin'.
First we headed to the doctors office where it was confirmed that Handsome Face's double ear infection was, indeed, gone. Then we went to the library where I scored a big bag of discount books and the kids perused the shelves with their father for some temporary goodies. Prior to this book fest we sat on a bench in the sunshine eating cashews and fruit leather as we arrived at the library 15 minutes too early. Who ever heard of opening at 9am every day of the week except Friday?! But the sunshine and snack was most welcome.
Then we headed to a local artists' colony for the annual art festival. We had fun walking around, seeing all the vendors' wares, and sampling food. The kids loved riding the horse drawn carriage and seeing all the dogs. I loved the wild blackberry honey I bought (the kids liked tasting all the honey and getting sticky). We all got tired and a little bit sunburned as I never remember the sunscreen in February.
When we got home I thought my allergies had started for the year. My throat hurt a LOT. So I took my drugs and a nap and then we all watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks for family movie night and ate chicken carbonara from the Rocket Scientist's kitchen.
That night I got up with children and when I came back to bed my husband came over to cuddle with me. When he felt my legs he said, "Wow, you're warm." And then his head slid up to my forehead and he said, "And not the good kind." So I went to the bathroom, took my temperature, found I had a fever, took two Tylenol and went back to bed.
The next morning the kids blissfully let us stay in bed til almost eight o'clock. We all got up, got ready for the day, the kids went to the grocery with their dad and I cleaned the kitchen. I then collapsed back into my bed. I only ever got up when some dire physical need required it. My house got trashed that day and we had to cancel our Valentine's date that night. I even had a real baby-sitter! And there was no cookie making that day. So sad.
It turned out that Cute Girl also had the flu bug. So on Sunday we stayed home together and the boys went to church. The Rocket Scientist made the heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and cream that I was going to make for the kids. Then he brought me some in bed at eight o'clock. Yes, I slept til eight o'clock. And I went back to bed at ten. I repeated this pattern for the rest of the day. And the boys once again went to our friends' for Valentine's Day dinner all by themselves. Cute Girl had a bath and was out in seconds. I laid on the couch and read 22 pages of the Book of Mormon until they came home. Then we went to bed. Exciting, huh?
And now Handsome Face has pink eye in both eyes. Will it never end?

Hodgepodge

I did not know when we got married that the Rocket Scientist is good at winning things. Seriously, he is. Last year he entered a contest at work to design a new logo for some program with missiles. His design won and I got an extra few hundred dollars tacked onto my paycheck. Later in the fall our insurance's health newsletter called for original whole grain recipes. I told him to submit his red bean and rice soup recipe. And it won too! He scored a $100 Amazon gift card.
So with $100 burning a hole in my pocket I turned to Amazon. I'm supposed to be keeping it to buy all the gifts that we have to buy over the next few months but I can't help but look for all the children's books I would like to buy. Then Rachael started posting about books and now I'm really itching to buy some.
We don't have a ton of books but we do have some great ones. Right now, Handsome Face's favorite book (and so his bedtime story EVERY night) is Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett. Ours came from a Cheerios box via Uncle John. We love that he saves all the cereal books for us! The book is so cute and our copy is also in Spanish so we read it in both languages simultaneously - me reading the English and the Rocket Scientist reading the Spanish. My kids love yelling pinguinos! at the top of their lungs.
And Rachael inspired me to track down a book sale. I got a whole bag full of books for $5.50. I couldn't even get one on Amazon for that price!

Swimming in January

Some lovely people offered the use of their indoor pool to my mom while we were in Indiana. I went to school with their granddaughter so we all went over one day to try out the pool. The kids had a ball.

Playing Around

While we were in Indiana and after the Rocket Scientist had already gone back home, the kids and I went with Aunt Abby to one of the coolest elementary school playgrounds around. We had fun and got very, very cold.


Riding the 4-person see-saw.