The Boy’s first joke June 22, 2009

As you probably know, Sam is a funny little dude.  He’s showing signs of true wit, though.  The other day, my folks came to get him for the day, to give him something special and fun while his sis was at camp.  Which, by the way, THANK THE GODS AND GODDESSES, SHE’S HOME!!!

So Sam was chatting with Pops, my dad.  And he asked Pops, very seriously:

“Pops, what comes after 19?”

Pops answered:  “20.”

Then Sam said, “Hey, Pops – you’re pretty good at this!!!”

But that was just him being his usual funny self; he actually told me a real joke yesterday.

We went to the lake for Father’s Day, and had a fabulous time, as always.  My brother brought his kids down, and there was boat riding, and swimming off my aunt and uncle’s dock, and tubing (Sam’s first time on the tube without one of us!), and lots and lots of eating.  As usual.  Mark made a roasted vegetable puree and several slabs of ribs – one of my dad’s favorite things.  I made a broccoli slaw which was fabulous, and we made more roasted banana ice cream and toasted coconut ice cream.  Everything was delicious.  Well, I wouldn’t know about the ribs, but everyone else seemed to love them.

After we got back from our boat ride, the older kids wanted to fish off the dock, but Sam was very hot, and wanted to go up to the condo.  So I took him up, got him a cold drink, and started fixing supper.  I was flipping through the channels, trying to find something to entertain him and keep him out of the kitchen.  And then I ran across a car race on tv.  Meep.

He was completely absorbed.  He literally froze, standing in front of the tv.  I got him to sit down on that little stool, and snapped a picture.  I’m not sure he even noticed me sitting him down.  Yikes. 

So I fixed his plate, and set him up on the couch with a tv tray so he could watch the race while he ate.  We talked a little bit about race cars, one of his favorite things on the planet.  And he was telling me about what he’d seen on tv during the race, and that race cars drink gas.  And then he said:

“Mommy, I want to show you a joke!”  (so cute)

“Race cars don’t eat food, and people don’t drink gas!!!!”

And then he collapsed in a fit of giggles.  And I nearly died from the cuteness.

Here’s how our easter went April 12, 2009

I bought this kit, and we dyed some eggs this morning.  They turned out totally cool.  If any made it home, I’ll take a picture.

I made some of these, and they were fabulous.

The kids ate loads of chocolate and candy.

We went to my folks’, and had an easter egg hunt and lots of fun with all the kids.

The end.

Under the heading of “Hope springs eternal . . .” March 26, 2009

The Boy, last night:  “You know what?  I like green beans!”

This is news.  Big news.

I blame too many readings of Green Eggs and Ham.  But I have my doubts about S’ unprovoked declaration.  I think Mark will cook tonight, and I plan to ask him to fix green beans.  As a little test, you see. 

Drama Queen, aka Elder Child, had a sad morning.  Her one remaining hamster was just laying there on the wheel, and would barely even move her head.  Considering that chinese dwarf hamsters have a life expectancy of 2 – 3 years, and we’ve had them for 3 years . . . we figured the end is nigh.

L was very sad as she headed to school, very teary.  And asked us to check on her at lunch time.

Mark went home at lunch, and the hamster was moving around as usual, seemed to be fine.  I suppose she was just chilling this morning.  Now there’s a dramatic hamster.

Dramatic hamster, did you say?

And then, we ate spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast March 18, 2009

In the book:

And for reals:

Hey, I don’t have a food stylist, and they actually look better than this picture would seem to indicate.  But the real fun part is how much these cupcakes have been freaking out people at work.

I’m so fancy December 12, 2008

I made these seven layer cookies for our office holiday luncheon today.  I’m so fancy, you know!

Actually, they turned out to be lovely.  They weren’t particularly difficult to do, just time consuming and requiring some delicacy.  They taste fab.

Got a date for lunch December 2, 2008

My lovely daughter asked me this morning if I would come and eat lunch with her at school.

So guess what I’m doing for lunch?  Of course!!

What’s in the crock pot today? December 2, 2008

Because I know you were just dying to know!

This site, A Year of Crockpotting, has been inspiring me lately.  I’ve never had all that much luck with cooking in the crock pot.  Most everything seems to come out kind of mushy and it all tastes somehow similar.  But I’ve had really good luck with these recipes so far.  And I would love to use the crock pot more, especially in cooler weather.  It’s so nice to have a big chunk of dinner (or the whole dinner) done by the time we get home.

I think I found the recipe that’s cooking right now as a link from this blog, can’t remember now.  It was in my recipe list anyway.  Smokehouse chicken.  Yummy!!  And because I’m just that way, I brined it first, using this recipe. 

I’m betting the house will smell marvelous by this evening.

Now I just need to figure out some side dishes to go with smoked chicken . . .

Our to-do list for turkey day November 24, 2008

First of all, you should know that we have our Thanksgiving on Friday, not Thursday.  I know, weird.  But several years ago, it got really tiresome to schedule when several folks had to be at 2 or 3 different Thanksgivings on that day.  It was hard to find the time to fit it in, and it sort of felt like our family was getting short shrift.

This isn’t particularly true for my own family, because Mark’s sis lives in New Orleans, and his mom usually goes down there for Thanksgiving, so we didn’t have that issue.  But my brother and his wife were “expected” at three different events that day, and my cousins had to visit their in-laws too.  You know how it is – if you don’t eat a lot at each place, someone gets offended.

So we moved ours to Friday.  Works great.  Mark and I usually try for an “anti” Thanksgiving on Thursday – pizza or something like that.  Our list of dishes to take on Friday keeps growing this year, and it’s our own damned fault.  We keep thinking of things we want to bring.  So for this year:

• Pumpkin Pie – courtesy of Mark, and damned tasty – wish I knew where to find the link
• Cardamom-Buttermilk Pie – this one is mine, also yummy
• Aunt Molly’s Spinach Casserole – it’s just not the holidays without it, and I’ve made it ever since the year she died – I was a teenager (I think, can’t really remember)
• Brussels Sprouts Salad – just because we love it so.  It’s soooooooo good

We reserve the right to add something else too, but don’t have anything else in particular planned at this point.  It started out as one pie and the spinach . . .

Oh. My. God. November 5, 2008

Cake Wrecks: Oh, Mama!

Mmmmm, pie . . . October 20, 2008

Hey, my pie won its category in the contest. So go me! Mark’s didn’t win, but should have. I think the guy whose pie won was recruiting votes, which was clearly against both the spirit and the explicit rules of the contest. Plus he was also being a sore winner, apparently. But whatever. Mark’s pie was delicious!