Skype-ing It!

So I discovered Skype and so far have talked with my sister-in-law Natalie, and my sister Jess.  It’s so cool to be able to see the person you’re talking to, although there are clear disadvantages to this mode of communication also.

1. You’re pretty well tied to your computer.  Even if you do have wireless internet, it’s not much fun lugging a laptop all over when you’re talking.  Often when I’m on the phone I’m doing something else, like the dishes or straightening the desk or the kids’ room.
2. Even though the live feed can be somewhat grainy, it’s SO obvious if one hasn’t showered or even changed from ones pajamas at 4 in the afternoon.  This sister shall remain nameless.  :)

Overall, it’s great to be able to see face to face people who live far away that you don’t see often.  My boys had fun talking with their cousin Johnny in Washington. 

If you’re on Skype, let me know and we can chat!  (Make sure you shower first though.)

That’s Jess and I talking last night. 

Why We Have Children…Part II

To do the dishes of course!  This was yesterday, and all day today Jake keeps asking if he can do the dishes!  If it weren’t for the water all over the floor and food bits on the “clean” dishes, I’d totally say yes.  Give it a few years, kid, then you can knock yourself out on those dishes.

Tasty…Wednesday

A day late, a recipe short…

This is one of my very favorite salad recipes…so good with the feta.  It’s also really easy to prepare and is best if chilled for a couple of hours before eating.  If you go that route, wait to mix in the cheese until right before you serve it.  YUM!

Slaw with Feta Cheese

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
• 1-2 t. ground pepper
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1 t. dried Italian seasoning
• 1 med. head red cabbage, shredded
• 4 oz. package feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

• Whisk all ingredients together except cabbage and cheese.
• Pour over cabbage, mix in cheese.

My Guys

Goofing around the other day, look at Jake’s big blues!

 

Pretty handsome aren’t they?

Why We Have Children

He vacuumed the whole carpet and did a great job!  Notice the sheer determination in his face, tongue out and everything!

The Day of My Birth

I entered this world courtesy of my mother on January 21st, 29 years ago. Yep, that’s right, less than a year from the big 3-0. My troop and I just hung out all day until Ryan got home from work, then I went to Target (by myself, sweet!) to pick up some face wash and hair color. Ryan had asked me earlier in the week if I wanted him to make dinner, and while deeply appreciating the gesture I also know he is somewhat lacking in the culinary skills department due to never cooking, and decided to make the Thai noodles in Peanut Sauce that I had been wanting to try. It turned out ok, the recipe needs some tweaking, and when I get it right, you’ll find it on Tasty Tuesdays I’m sure.

(Quick tangent about Ryan’s cooking skills: before I went to Washington for the weekend a couple weeks ago, I had purchased all the ingredients needed to make a homemade macaroni and cheese [which, incidentally, is so delicious because it’s made with Velveeta instead of cheddar], but never got around to making it. Well, when I called home Friday night I asked the boys what they had for dinner and they said that daddy had made macaroni & cheese. Shame on me, it didn’t even cross my mind that he had made it from scratch, I just assumed he made up a box of Kraft. When Ryan got on the phone after the boys, he proudly informed me that he had actually made the dish with the ingredients I bought! I think a Dad of the Year award is in order here, don’t you agree? Maybe I could have trusted him to make a birthday dinner!)

Back to birthday business.

Ryan did end up making me a cake (yellow, with chocolate fudge frosting, my favorite) and it actually looked very pretty! He frosted it very well and of course it tasted delicious. After dinner I opened the presents my guys had gotten me, and after the boys were in bed I started the book Ryan got me, David McCullough’s The Johnstown Flood. (So far it’s awesome.)

All in all, it was a very nice day spent with my very favorite peeps.

The Sprinkle King used an entire container of nonpareils!

Of course the boys had to help me open my presents. :)

Being silly!

Jake is practicing his photo taking skills!

And I think I’ll leave you with an incredibly cute picture of my incredibly beautiful daughter, taken at Master’s Kids last week.

Check out all that drool on her shirt!

What a wonderfully blessed 29 years I’ve had!

Friday Funnies

Hi all-my sister sent me this in an email and I wanted to pass it on to you-it’s hilarious!

Simple Home Remedies:

1. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.
2. (for the guys) Avoid arguments with the females about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.
3. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins. Remember to use a timer.
4. A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
5. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives. Then you’ll be afraid to cough.
6. You only need two tools in life: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn’t move and does, use the duct tape.
7. If you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve got an electrical problem.

My favorites are #3 and #5. I laughed and laughed when I first read those!

Happy Friday!

Tasty Tuesday

Chicken Noodle Soup a la Mom

My mom came up with this delicious recipe and it’s even a soup that my kids will eat!  Bonus points around here for a recipe that the boys like.

Ingredients

• one rotisserie chicken from Costco or your supermarket, remove meat and cut up or shred
• olive oil or butter
• onion
• celery and some other veggies like carrots if desired
• chicken stock or broth
• egg noodles

Directions

• Chop the onion and sauté in the oil or butter until tender.  Add in celery and other veggies and sauté those until desired tenderness at the same time as onion.
• Add as much broth as you want, depending on how much soup you want to make.  Bring to a boil.
• Add noodles and cook according to package directions.
• Add chicken and cook until chicken is warm, just a couple of minutes because the water is already boiling.
• Season generously with salt and pepper and enjoy!

I like this one because it’s all about however much of the ingredients you want to use.  Experiment with it.  Mine was pretty thick with ingredients the other night and we liked that better than more broth.  This soup goes well with buttermilk biscuits too.

Nail Salon

For my birthday Part 1, my mother-in-law, who believes birthdays should last at least a week long, took me to get a pedicure and I had a very hard time understanding the girl who was doing mine.  There was one time she kept asking something and I never did figure out what she said, I sort of smiled and shrugged.  Seriously, what are you supposed to do in that situation?  Anyway, I immediately thought of Anjelah Johnson.  If you’ve never seen her Nail Salon video, you’re in for a real treat.  This is an extended video with some things in the beginning I hadn’t seen before.  Enjoy!

(Not too) Distant Travels

Hi all.  Sorry for the absence.  Other than Tasty Tuesdays I have not been making much of a contribution to the blogosphere.  My most recent excuse is that I was out of town last weekend!  Aubrey and I flew up to Washington for a girl’s trip.  She was a dream baby to travel with, super easy.  The airports were a breeze, check-in and security lines were almost non-existent, and I got a yummy power bar on the first flight!  The only mishap was on the way home when we had to de-plane and re-board another plane because there was a problem with the first plane they couldn’t fix right away.  Which was actually slightly nerve-wracking having just watched 24 the night before.  You 24 fans know what I’m talking about!

The trip overall was fantastic.  My friend Shilo picked me up from the airport and I spent the night at their home Thursday, then she took me to my sister’s house and I stayed there the rest of the time.  It was so great catching up with Glen and Shilo and little Micah man (until 1:30 a.m. on Thursday!) and getting to meet my niece Jeanine for the first time!  I think my nephew Johnny was a bit wary of me at first, but he warmed up and I was tackling him on the stairs in no time.  Here are some pictures to share.  I’ll put up some more of Aubrey and Micah Thompson (wow girl, the names written out look good together, don’t they?!) (side note: Aubrey and Micah are betrothed, we’re setting them up for marriage in 20 years.) when HIS MOMMY SENDS ME SOME!  hint hint.

Goofing around at the mall.

 

Having fun on the last night. 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my view from the airplane of Mt. Rainier.  It was such a gorgeous view!  A little further south was Mt. St. Hellens, also beautiful, but I forgot to take a picture.  The above pic of Aubrey was also on the plane.

 

I still have some great videos to post from Christmas, I’ll try to do that soon.  You know I keep saying that because I want you to keep coming back right? =)

Stay tuned for a yummy Tasty Tuesday recipe coming up!

 

Tasty Tuesday

Another week gone by, another recipe is here!  Drumroll please for…….

Cranberry Scones

This recipe came from a lady in our old church in Castro Valley.  I make these all. the. time.  Really, several times a month.  We love these scones and I always have cranberries on hand because the boys are cranberry fiends.  Here we go.

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• zest of 1 orange
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut in small pieces
• 1 cup dried cranberries or 1 1/2 cups fresh
• 1/4 cup juice of the orange you zested + 1/4 cup milk

Directions

• In food processor place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, zest, and butter.  Mix until blended.
• Add cranberries and mix.  Slowly pour in liquid (juice + milk) while food processor is running until dough forms ball.  Dough should be soft but not sticky.  If sticky, add flour until ball is firm, but not wet.
• Form dough into 2 balls.  Flatten one ball into a circle about 1/2” thick.  Lightly brush with milk and sprinkle and sugar.  Cut into eights and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Repeat with other ball. 
• Bake 400 degrees for 12-20 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy! 

I will really try to update with pictures soon, I was just in Washington over the weekend visiting my sister and friend and have some great pics. Have a great week!

Tasty Tuesday

It’s baaaack!  I’ve been on Tasty Tuesday break for a while and need to get back in the swing of things.  Here’s a very simple soup recipe since it’s a soupy time of the year.

Potato Soup

This recipe is a family one.  I can remember having potato soup way way long ago.  I think it came from my Grandma, but you’ll have to talk to my mom to verify that.  The amounts of the ingredients are really up to the soup maker, but here’s a rough idea:

Ingredients

• potatoes-as many as you want, depending on how much soup you want to make, or how thick with potatoes you want it-cubed.
• milk
• butter-1 stick-ish, depending on how much soup you make
• flour
• salt & pepper

Directions

• Put potatoes in a large soup pot (or something like my brand shiny new Rachael Ray bright orange 5.25 quart Dutch oven!!! Thanks Mom!!) and cover with water.  Boil potatoes until tender when pierced with a fork.
• Dump much of the water out, reserving a little in the pot.  Add enough milk to the pot to make as much soup as you want!  Or dump all the water out and make the entire broth with milk.  It’s up to you.  I leave only a little bit of water, and use mostly milk.
• Melt the butter in small saucepan.  Whisk in the flour little by little until mixture is very thick.  Add mixture to the soup (this just thickens the soup a bit).
• Heat soup until hot, seasoning with salt and pepper.
• When the soup is in the bowl ready to eat, we like to smoosh the potatoes with a fork.
• Serve with crackers (saltines or oyster crackers are the best).

Delicious!  Glad to hear some of you are enjoying past Tasty Tuesday recipes!  Happy cooking!

Outta Steam

Hey everyone!  As the title suggests, I’ve lost steam for the blog.  I have so much to post and write about, but I’m know I’m not going to get to it all.  So I’ve decided to just cover the highlights with pictures.

We’ve all been sick over the Christmas break, which was a bummer, but really, is there a better time to be sick?  I think not, since Ryan didn’t have to miss any school or work, and there was lots of family around to entertain little ones.  We were up at my parent’s for Christmas and New Years (which was spent watching a movie and going to bed early).  We had so much fun, but after almost 2 weeks away from home, it was time to leave. 

I promise I will update the theme of the blog soon too, I know Christmas is over. 

Well, here we go, beginning from before we even left for vacation.

Talk about a cutie!  And happy.  One thing Aubrey is is very happy.

 

 

 

Brian and Christi got the boys Buzz Lightyear hands!  They love high-fiving with them.

 

 

 

My parents came down for our church’s awesome Christmas concert and to deliver NEW (to us) COUCHES! No more nasty old ripped couch!  Thanks mom & dad.

Aubrey fell in love with Billy and loved to grab on to him.  Billy was very patient and endured it well, even when she tried to take his chewy.

 

Warren’s new saxophone.  He plays that thing all the time.

 

 

 

Aubrey studying Grandpa--I just love this one, it’s so sweet.

 

 

The boys with their new camo hats and jackets.

 

 

 

 

They each got stick ponies too.  Cute little cowboys.

Of course no trip to Grandpa’s is complete without a motorcycle ride!  We bundled them up, found some of my mom’s gloves and off they went!

And how about one more great one of Aubrey loving on Billy:

I also have some fantastic videos of Aubrey crawling, Aubrey bouncing, and the boys riding ponies, but they will have to wait.  Dinner’s a’waiting.

I’m off gallivanting this weekend with Aubrey up to Washington to visit my sister and friend Shilo.  I can’t wait!  Hope ya’ll have a great weekend too!