Deceptively Delicious

I just added this book, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, to my Christmas list! I made the chicken nuggets, which weren't too bad, but tonight I made this recipe for mac and cheese and it was great! The only difference is I used whole-wheat pasta. We've been having trouble lately getting Ellie to eat her dinner and she gobbled this right up. She even asked for seconds! Little did she know it was laced with butternut squash... ha ha ha!!!

Home sweet home

We had a great time visiting family for Thanksgiving, but it's great to be home! Besides the fact that we have no food in the house...

The kids were GREAT on the drive up and back. We were most worried about Rowan since he doesn't fall asleep really well in the car, since he's used to sleeping on his stomach. But once I moved back and squished in between the two car seats, he was an angel. Ellie took a nap and watched a movie on the way home, so she was great too.

I just have to say, in complete honesty, Rowan did not cry at all while we were in Iowa! He fussed occasionally, when he was tired, but he never cried. Jason and I really lucked out with him! He now has two bottom teeth and can roll across the floor to get to anything he wants. And he's as smiley as ever.

Ellie was not so well-behaved. Partly because that's just how she is right now, but I think a big part of it was that she ate a lot of junky foods. So did I, but I think I controlled my temper a bit more :) My Dad and I went shopping early morning on Friday, and Ellie was NOT HAPPY to find me missing in the morning. The relatives were entertained though with her songs and stories. She told me a very fascinating story about how she was bit on her bootie at Grandma Knapp's house (a nursing home) by a bad man who was screaming (there really was a man screaming there). She also impressed them with her reading skills. She can read many 3 letter words by sounding them out. Now we just have to teach her the combinations (like th and sh) and tricky sounds (like the silent e).

Jason has only 3 weeks of class left, which means he's super-busy finishing up all his schoolwork. I'm amazed at how disciplined he can be, he starts his papers weeks, even months in advance! I always waited 'til the night before pretty much, but I never had to write over 100 pages in papers. I have only 3 weeks left of watching the two girls during the week. We won't be watching them next semester, mainly because the work is not really worth the extra money. Those girls are hard work! I feel a little bad because the older girl is Ellie's best friend, but we'll have to find a new friend for her. I'll still be taking Ellie to the boy's house on Thursdays, and Ellie loves going there.

It snowed over Thanksgiving, both in Madison and where we were. The snow is gone now, but I'm sure more is to follow soon. Ellie LOVED playing outside in it; we just have to get her some better gloves to play with. And I'm adding long underwear to my Christmas list!

Turkey time!

I know what I am thankful for this year. Food! It's so nice to be able to make yummy, healthy meals easily. In Jordan I had to hunt down ingredients and devise some way to cook them with only a stovetop that was always on high heat. Here is a menu of our tasty meals in the last week:

Parmesean-crusted Tilapia; Spinach salad with blue cheese, candied pecans, and craisins

Turkey burgers and sweet potato fries

Mini meatloaves and broccoli with cheese sauce

Whole-wheat couscous with beans, veggies, and salsa

Whole turkey with rolls and baked acorn squash


Most of these meals we wouldn't have been able to make last year. And we can't wait until the Thanksgiving meal! Too bad Rowan isn't quite ready for food, because his first tooth broke this morning and I'm sure he'd enjoy it!


Rowan gnawing on a teething biscuit:

And how mad he gets when he loses it (this is the only time he cries this hard!):

Flashback

These are from one year ago, November 2006. She was 1 1/2 years old. My how she has changed! One is a repeat, but I believe the first one is new to this blog.

Santa Claus is coming...

Yippee, time to start thinking of Christmas! We pretty much missed out last year, so this year will be fun. We're flying to Arizona Dec 19th through Jan 9th. 3 whole weeks! A bunch of people have asked us for Christmas lists, so here we go:

Rowan
- socks size 6-12 months, 12-18 months
- kleen kanteen sippy cup
- full-size sheets for his futon, any blue or brown colors
- these blankets: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5854569
- Little People sets, we currently have Baby Dino Land and a small zoo one. We'd love to have the nativity set (hard to find) and the Busy Home playset (or any others)
- he really doesn't need many clothes, shoes, or toys as we have lots of hand-me-downs except for long-sleeved tees (not snap at the crotch), any colors in size 18 months. Maybe size 18 month one-piece summer outfits? just leave on the tags in case he's in 3T by then :)

Ellie - some of these could be for Rowan too
- kleen kanteen cup
- size 3T dresses, dressy clothes
- size 9 and 10 shoes (size 10 for summer, 9 for winter)
- music cds, Laurie Berkner, kids songs
- tea set, not plastic if possible
- chapter books to read to her, like Boxcar children
- socks and undies (Undies 3T, socks for size 9 shoes)
- painting smock
- kids digital camera
- play laptop - some sort of educational one
- science toys?
- board games - cariboo, candy land

Jason
- game cube games, especially Zelda- Twilight Princess
- books- Ender's Game series #4-8
- wool socks (he wears size 10 1/2 shoe)
- long john's (to wear under jeans) He wears size 33x30 in pants
- thin waterproof gloves
(He needs all this warm stuff because he's determined to ride his bike to school if possible!)

Kirsten
- cloth napkins - forest green, white or cream
- clothing gift cards
- size 9 cute snowboots
- kleen kanteen cup
- subscriptions to magazines - Real Simple, Everyday Food
- a babysitter in Wisconsin???
- long underwear
- cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld

I'll keep this updated and add more as we think of them!

"I am a dinosaur"

We had a fun Halloween. For about 15 minutes :). Rowan started getting fussy, which makes sense since it was pretty cold and windy outside. Ellie was tired of trick-or-treating after about 20 minutes, so we hardly went to any houses. But she sure liked her candy after!

Oops, nap time over. So much for a long blog!