"Snow"man January 2011

What can I say? We live in Texas. We have had unseasonably warm temperatures, which make for happy spirits, for me anyway. But, last winter, we got to build a snowman. This year...no snow. Aidan improvised.

Snowman plate + Snowflake Ritz crackers + Baby Mozzerella (already round "snowballs") + Aidan's request for raisins and carrots.


You don't really want to know how many of them he ate.
(Hint: he was more creative, less hungry.)

Rustic Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup With Basil Parmesan Bread

2 (14 1/2 oz) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes
3 c water
2 c loose-pack frozen cut or french cut green beans
1 (10 1/2 oz) can condensed French onion soup
16 oz fully cooked smoked turkey sausage, halved or quartered lengthwise and cut into bite size
2 c pkg shredded cabbage with carrot (coleslaw mix...just DON"T pay extra for the kits that come with gross dressing. get just the cabbage and carrots)
1 (9 oz) pkg frozen cheese-filled tortellini
Shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese

1. In a 4 or 5 quart slow cooker, combine undrained tomatoes, water, frozen green beans, onion soup, and turkey sausage.
2. Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 8-10 hours, or on high-heat setting for 4-5 hours (or if you have my super hot crock pot, 4 hours on low)
3. If using low-heat, turn slow cooker to high. Stir cabbage and tortellini into soup. Cover; cook for 15 min more. Garnish soup with shavings of Parmesan cheese or shredded Parmesan cheese.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.

(This recipe originally came from Yahoo Shine. The original recipe called for refrigerated tortellini, rather than frozen, but I've used both and they turn out the same. Plus, I always have frozen in the freezer. Also, I buy the Butterball Turkey sausage or kielbosa, which comes in 16 oz pkg. The original recipe calls for 8 oz. Our family likes 16; originally, they were supposed to be halved lengthwise and cut to 1/2", but I like to just look at what side the kids are going to eat. Once I've chopped and cooked I don't want to spend the whole meal continuing to cut food for younger ones. The original calls for Italian style stewed tomatoes. I think I hate stewed tomatoes. I like them diced. Don't leave out the French onion soup. It's delish. )

The bread is French bread from the bakery. Slice, butter, garlic powder, basil, parmesan. Broil.

A Simple Solution for an Icy Situation

Although our refrigerator has an automatic ice maker, we, unfortunately, opted for a smooth front, so the ice doesn't dispense. You have to open the freezer to get ice. LOL Which seems like a normal thing. And it is. Except when you have company over, I always feel bad that everyone has to see my freezer to get ice. And, yes, I know that's stupid.

However, the bigger issue for me is grabbing ice out of the freezer. Probably all the germs are frozen and ice is really clean. But, sometimes there are people over who I'd like to not have to get ice after the kids have loaded their glasses as well (and all the kids' friends). And I'm pretty sure there is at least one of them who would prefer that too.

Anyway, I bought an ice scoop. Is it silly that I LOVE it?! So, after 3 years, I finally like our ice better. It's a simple boost, but it's one of those $2 fixes that feels like $200!

(yeah, I have steamed pumpkin in there)

Tag Artist

Lucky for us we have our own little tag-artist in the house. And yes, it's adorable.
(Those pictures were Allie originals! She wasn't happy about the addition.)



And also naughty.




He tagged the mirror with the smiley, and the scale with his name and a smiley. I cleaned those quickly and easily, though.

Firework. Again.

Just saw this other video for the song. Also very cool. I know just enough signing to catch the parts that are longer and shorter and know what he's doing when. Also to know that it would take me a while to get it all down, but that I want to. :)

A Nutty Confession

Christmas at our house was lots of fun. We stayed home, so we didn't get to spend the day with LOTS of family, but we did get to talk to them. Lots of chats on the phone helps the distance seem less. I even got to talk to Blake, who called at about 5:30pm, which means 2:30am his time.

Of we got games for Christmas, because we love playing games together as a family. We do a "name rotation," so my sister, Mylie and her family sent some really fun games to each of our kids. We got through a whole game of Bunko, played some Mad Libs (which is always so fun with all our different kids' ages), and a fun game from Sibyl, called Quibbler. It's a sort of Rummy game, but with letter and you get to spell words in short rounds. I played I Spy with Aidan while we all built words.

We live in warm Texas, so we even got to play outside without bundling up in layers and layers and boots and scarves.

Aimee and Allie got "Just Dance" games for wii. Just Dance 2 and Just Dance Kids were blasting in our house on Christmas day as well.

So, between talking to each other, talking to family on the phone, games and dancing, we ate a yummy Christmas late-morning breakfast of brown sugar ham, eggs, toast, milk, and juice.

Here's the embarrassing confession. We didn't have friends or other family coming over, so we didn't have a rush to get dinner ready. When dinner "time" came, we weren't really hungry. And, as it's usually a fight to get our younger ones to sit still and eat, I thought the best solution was a simple one. We had some wonderful Texas pecans on in the kitchen, which seemed to be calling to us. We decided lightly sweetened Pecan-Oatmeal was the dinner of choice.

Lame? Yes. Yummy? Absolutely. And our dinner was peaceful and filled with good conversation.

We actually had grilled Rib-Eye with sauteed mushrooms the following day and a delicious Orange-Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin the next day. But, our Christmas day dinner was Oatmeal. We didn't actually have a big problem with it until Alex got back to school and had to write his Spanish essay about his Chirstmas vacation, including foods, traditions, gifts, and travels. I don't think he did the Pecan Oatmeal justice. Just sayin'....

:)

Firework

I have heard this song A LOT lately for two reasons. First, it's on the radio all time. Second, it's on Just Dance 2 (it was a free 'buy', so it's an addition to the game, not on the original game.) Surprisingly, it isn't becoming annoying or old. On the contrary, I'm getting to really like it.

Interestingly enough, this morning, while singing it with Allie while getting ready for school, I discovered that the lyric was slightly familiar. You know how you hear or see something multiple times, and then you realize there is a connection you had forgotten about. This was my revelation this morning--that long before there was Katy Perry, there was was cousin Clancy, feeling like a plastic bag blowing around. Okay, she didn't actually feel like a total plastic bag. As I recall, the post was about feeling a little at the mercy of wherever the week takes you, on that particular day. (And I can't actually find her post, so if she wants to share, she can leave the link in the comments.)

As a brief status update last week, Alex wrote, "No Katy, I never feel like a plastic bag." Somehow, this morning it came to me that someone else did. So, in case a fellow firework (and definitely not a plastic bag), Miss Clancy, hasn't heard this song, let me remind you that we own the night. :)

(Sidenote: I didn't actually watch the 'official' video before previewing it for this post. It isn't bad, but it's not my favorite interpretation of all of the song. So, might I suggest just LISTENING to it without watching. At least until you form your own visions for the song.)

Firework by Katy Perry

What is Shrimp?

Allie: I will eat most foods, except not a lot of meat. And not shrimp.
Aidan: What's shrimp?
Allie: Shrimp is and animal and you cut off its tail and its legs and I think its head. And then you cook it and then it's meat. I don't like it."

Plain White T's - Rhythm Of Love (LOVE THIS song!!!)