Ice Ice Baby

Some of you might not get that title. If not, go ask your children about it...if they're thirty or above. Anyway, Kaelyn went ice skating a few weekends ago, and Rory went with me to drop her off. I would've really liked to have taken Rory skating, but Kaelyn's fragile teenage mind might have exploded, and I didn't want to give the zamboni any more work than necessary.

So this past Saturday, Kevin took the kids (except Marley), Nana, and Samantha to the ice rink. Nana went in case Logan decided he didn't want to skate. Then she and he could watch and laugh at everyone together. I was 99% sure that Logan wouldn't skate, and he did. Of course that goes to show me that just when I think I know these kids, they change. :)

A lot of the pictures didn't turn out because I wasn't there to take them. HA! Just kidding. It was hard for Nana to take them from behind the glass as she was. She doesn't care about this blog as much as I do to go out on the ice and take one for the team and get you some shots. The ones that turned out were nothing to complain about though. Take a look for yourself.

I don't know if you can make it out or not, but that's Logan in front of Kevin.

Kevin said that Rory really got the hang of it, and that Logan didn't do too bad either. By the end, Rory was doing turns. She fell a couple of times and apparently had a knight in shining armor to rescue her. There was a boy that worked there that would come and help Rory up whenever she fell. I wish I could've seen it. I wish I could've seen them. They're both asking for lessons now. I'm looking into them, but they're really expensive. Maybe I could put them up for Christmas gifts? There's an idea! Yes, I know it's August. Yes, I just said Christmas. Yes, I'm already shopping for Christmas presents. After all, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Rory's Trump

Well, Rory's done it again. She's stolen the blog. I had a completely different blog planned, but this couldn't wait. We went to the pool today. Rory's gotten really good at swimming and even going down the slide. She swims to the ladder by herself which is the requirement for going down the slide. The first couple of times, Kevin snuck under the rope and helped her out. Today, she asked to jump off the diving board. Kevin and I both said no. While she can swim, it's not anything but a determined dog paddle. And while she jumps into the 9 feet because she "just wants to swim" I would be lying if I didn't admit that heart palpitations ensue afterward. She is quite the little daredevil.

After all this, you can imagine my surprise when she came and got Logan and I at the little pool and said that daddy said she could go off the diving board, and that I was to come and tape it. We followed her over. I screamed to Kevin and asked if he was sure about this, but he didn't answer me. Maybe he didn't hear me or maybe he didn't want to answer because it was a "NO!" Here's what happened...


Then she decided to get a little daring. If you listen closely in this next one, Nicole is telling her to run and jump off the diving board. Rory went to do it and Kevin told her not to. She tried it, but that thing is slippery and I'm glad she stopped. Let's roll...

PLACE WHERE OTHER VIDEO WAS SUPPOSED TO UPLOAD

If this video ever uploads, it will be a miracle. I had another one that I was going to upload, but I've been waiting on this one for a half hour already. I might have to post the other one tomorrow. Anyway, in this one you can see Rory do a balled-up belly-flop. Then she starts to swim the opposite way to get out of the pool. She did that quite often. We'd have to scream at her to swim the other way. It was funny. I don't think it was that funny for the people waiting on the diving board that couldn't go until she was on the ladder.

I'm so proud of her. I didn't have the guts to go off the diving board until I was much older than her. Where does she get her spunk? I guess Kevin? 10-4 good buddy!

Ok guys...it's 1030p, and this has been uploading for an hour. I have to get to bed. I'm going to download the other video instead and try to do this one tomorrow morning and see if it'll let me. Sorry. I'm still going to leave the comments about the other video because I'm just too darn lazy to erase them and start over. In this video, Rory gets twisted. Notice Rory trying to get her hair smoothed out. She looks like a duck trying to get a fish!



Now...10-4 or 10:47pm depending on who you ask.

Marley to the Rescue

I don't have a lot of time tonight, and I have a killer headache. So I'm just going to post a video and be done with it. I'm sorry.

A little explanation of the video...Marley's weird. That's what Kevin says...and she loves to dance.

Face Plants

I tried to look this word/s up in the dictionary, but it didn't work. It referenced a wrestling move, but it didn't fit in with what I'm trying to relate to so forget it. We had some tumbles, hits, and bruises today. Unfortunately and fortunately, Rory was left unscathed. How that happened is beyond me. Actually, it's probably because she was the one doling out the punishments.

I don't know what happened to Marley. I was in the kitchen and heard her crying, so I came into the living shouted at Rory and Logan to not touch her and noticed that the laundry basket was moved. For some odd reason, I thought this would be enough for Rory and Logan and they would listen. You would think I would've learned by now. I went back into the kitchen and heard Marley crying again. This time Rory was holding her and Logan was in the basket sitting right next to Rory and Marley. Rory's in a kick lately about blaming everything on Logan. It happens. WARNING! SIDETRACKING AHEAD!

For instance, a magazine came in the mail the other day, and Rory wanted a pen to circle what she wants. We (read: I) don't like Rory doing this because it ruins any chance of you seeing anything in the magazine. I told her she couldn't have a pen. She pouted off to her room and was in there for a while quiet. I called from the living room and told her that she better not have gotten a pen and marked in the magazine. She called back that she didn't. When she came out into the living room (with a smirk on her face) I asked to see the magazine. She went into her room with her head hung and brought it out to me. I looked through it and saw things circled. I asked her why she fibbed and told me that she wasn't marking in the magazine. She told me that Logan, who had been sitting in the living room with me the whole time, had done it. To this, Logan looks over and says nothing. Not a, "I didn't do it, Mommy" or anything. Needless to say, Rory got a timeout and the usual, "If you tell the truth, you get in less trouble" talk. I'll let you know how THAT goes.

Back to our regularly scheduled program.

After that, Kevin went into the living room with them to "play." When I finished eating lunch and came into the living room, Marley had more marks on her face, and Logan's face was red too.

I was trying to circle the red marks in paint and then save the pictures, but I'm not of the patient sort, so I'm just gonna haf to explain where they are. K? Under her eye is a big, red mark and there are two above her eye.

I was trying to get a close up here.

I just thought this was cute even though you can't see the marks too well.


I didn't have to worry 'bout circling Logan's red marks. Did I?

Face plants are mean but luckily, unlasting. All of these red marks are gone tonight. Logan has a scratch under his lip, but I think he'll be ok. Tomorrow on the "bodily injury education blog"...Copper Tunnel Syndrome.

A Wink and A Smile

Did you know that Logan can't wink? I'm his mother, and I didn't know this. I asked him to try and got my camera because I was thinking of you guys...my loyal fans. :P
Wait. Where have I seen that before? Anyone? Anyone? Oh yeah...
Maybe Marley will have to teach Logan a thing or two. This should be very interesting. Stay tuned!

Freeze Dance

There aren't many games that you can play with toddlers that they love as much as freeze dance. There's something about it. I even enjoy it still to this day. The funny thing is that Marley starts dancing whenever she hears ANY music...even a commercial. I think all the kids did this when they were her age. They must get it from my side, except for Logan. He dances like his daddy. So here's a video of my youngest three playing freeze dance. Kaelyn was asleep or I'm sure she would've played too...NOT! :)



Ok, so maybe Marley stops because I'm screaming...not because I'm saying freeze. Still, it's really cute, and yes, I cue the music to her dancing because...she's 11 months...and cute...and 11 months. So long!

My Cooking Blog

If you are anyone who knows me, that line ought to catch your attention. I love cooking and baking; however, cooking and baking do not love me. I can't cook without a precise recipe to follow. It's disastrous. There's even a running joke in my house that no one can be present at Christmas cookie making time because I lose it. I have no idea what they are talking about. If it was so bad, I wouldn't keep doing it. Obviously!

Back to the story. My mom got me the book Too Many Cooks by Emily Franklin. It's written by a mother of four bound and determined to introduce her kids to something other than chicken nuggets. The book is made up of stories and recipes. It's a good book. I really liked it, so I decided to try some of her recipes this weekend.

First on the menu was dinner yesterday Hamburger, Macaroni, and Peas. I know the different coloring really helped you with reading. There was nothing else in this dish besides those three ingredients and salt. She talked it up so much as a "comfort food" that I didn't think it would be anything but great, since I am a comfort food junkie. It didn't go over too well with my clan. Everyone agreed that it must be missing something. We just didn't know what it was. We have a whole pot of it in the fridge waiting to be reheated with pasta sauce. We'll see if THAT ever happens!

Next up was a dish I had to prepare last night for breakfast this morning, Upside-Down French Toast. I had to buy vanilla bean...not as easy as you would think. Then I had to figure out how to split it and scrape it. I managed and followed all the directions to heat all the ingredients, put french bread on top, and pour the milk and vanilla mixture over it to bake this morning. How hard could it be? Here are a couple of embarrassing moments from prep. First, I had cleaned my counters off, so for some reason I thought, "Why do I need a cutting board to cut the bread. I just cleaned the counters." Now, my counter has the slice marks from a fully cut french bread loaf. I take that back. I figured out that I was cutting the counter at the second to the last slice. Instead of just finishing it off, I got out a cutting board that I didn't need to dirty and cut the last two pieces on it. Wonderful! But wait, there's more. I was trying to crack the eggs and nowhere I hit was cracking it, so I got some shell in the milk, vanilla mixture. So I stood there trying to fish out the little piece of shell I got in there. I finally just left it there and hoped one of the kids got it. :) Just kidding sort of.

After I prepared the spice mixture on the stove and poured it into my newly purchased, heavy bottomed, 9X13, baking dish, I put the bread on and poured the milk mixture over the it. I found the little piece of shell still in the bowl, so that was good. Then three pieces of bread popped up to the top of the milk. I was tired by this time, so I said forget it, covered it with plastic and put it in the fridge. Before I closed the door and since it was bothering me so much, I stood there with the plastic pried up with a fork trying to push the three pieces that were floating back down. After about three minutes I gave up.

This morning, all the pieces were floating, so whatever. I baked the dish. The recipe says to flip it over onto a platter. I don't own a platter, so Kevin said to use an aluminum-foiled cookie sheet. The problem was that my baking dish had raised handles and wouldn't fit flat against the cookie sheet to turn over. Kevin and I both had to do it which is why I have no video of it. Sorry. Some spilled on the floor, but overall, it wasn't too bad. It turned out to be kind of custardy. I am NOT a custardy person. We gave it to the kids first. Rory got up and spit hers out in the trash. Logan said he liked it, and then said he didn't. Kevin and I just looked at each other while trying to chew...squish...no...push it against the roof of our mouths. He asked me what I thought, and I said that I was having a texture issue. Just then Logan says, "Hallelujah." That's his new word...anyway, it couldn't have been more perfect timing. Pictures!

Here's what it looked like.


Here's the piece of french bread that is supposed to be on the bottom.

Tonight for dinner, we were supposed to have Apricot, Rosemary, and Sage Roasted Chicken from this book. We didn't. I'm kind of scared, since we're two for two. Now after all that, aren't you glad I don't have a cooking blog?!?! You would have to read these boring stories and not see any picture of any kids. How fun would that be? Because I'm a merciful person, here's a pic of kids!

For those of you interested in the recipes tried, I've posted them below. Bon Appetit!

Hamburger, Macaroni, and Peas

1 box elbow macaroni 1 bag frozen peas
1 lb. ground meat salt

Salt water and cook pasta according to box directions. Drain well. Saute meat in a pan, then drain fat. Add meat and peas to pasta and cover for a few minutes to cook the peas enough so they're done but still have bite. Season with salt. Serve in a bowl with a spoon to your nearest and dearest.

Easy Upside-Down French Toast

1 vanilla bean 3/4 stick of butter
3 cups milk 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg 5 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 2 tsp. vanilla
12 pieces of crusty 1/4 tsp. salt
bread- French baguette
works best

Split the vanilla bean, scrape it into the milk, and let the bean bathe. Melt butter, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a saucepan on low heat. Pour into bottom of heavy-bottomed baking dish (9X13). Place bread on top. Take the vanilla bean pod from the milk and discard. Mix eggs, vanilla, and salt into milk and pour over bread. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes then 350 for 5-10 minutes more. Turn the baking dish over, inverting onto a tray and serve, or, if you don't have a tray or platter, let people serve themselves from the baking dish.