Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Oops

Mitchell is turning into the funniest child I know. I swear I laugh out loud at him sometimes. Like today. He was sitting in the booster chair (he's been evicted from the high chair because of you-know-who. She's eating cereal now, you know, but that's another post) and he kept calling me over saying, "Mommy, hurt!" and pointing at his leg. Until I took a close look and discovered a tiny scab on his knee. He didn't stop complaining about his "hurt" until I actually picked the scab off. Then it was all better. Now that's weird! Then, just moments later, I said "Oops!" about something unrelated. Then I hear a little voice say "In da potty." Oops in the potty. No, let's clarify. "Poops in the potty!"

Monday, November 13, 2006

Dinner for the family - the easy way

Dream Dinners. I know you've heard of it, or something like it (i.e. Super Suppers, etc.). So they've come out with a cookbook. It's called Dream Dinners. Yes, I know, shocker.

If you haven't heard Dream Dinners or Super Suppers, here's how it works. You go to their storefront, spend about two hours preparing meals with prepared ingredients (the onions are already chopped, the chicken is already cooked and diced, etc.) and you come home with eight or ten meals for your family. You stick them in the freezer just pull them out when you need them. We've done this a couple of times at a local place and it's fun, but expensive. So when the Dream Dinners cookbook came out, I bought it and we are loving it! One day a month, I give John a grocery list. He goes to Sam's and the grocery store and buys all the ingredients we need. We spend about 5-6 hours together in the kitchen putting together meals and at the end of the day, have about 18 meals in the freezer. Some are casseroles, some are soups, some are marinated meats. Most will have leftovers, so we have enough dinners to last about a month.

The cookbook shows ingredients for one dinner in one column and ingredients for three dinners in another column; we always do the three dinners ... it just seems to make better use of our time to slap two more dinners together.

Yesterday we made:
Split pea soup mix (not from Dream Dinners, but good nonetheless)
Baked Ziti
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Beef Stir-fry
Three Cheese and Spinach Soup
My mom's Meatloaf and Sauce

Voila! Eighteen meals in the freezer!
John and I both enjoy it; he shops and makes cocktails, I organize the processes, and we both cook and assemble. I love it that we've been married long enough to be comfortable in our roles. I know now that John doesn't like to read the recipes; he likes to be told what to do. We make a good team in the kitchen. :)

Monday, November 06, 2006

Four months old

Charlotte is now four months old. Wow, does time fly, or what? We had her four-month well-check today and she weighed in at 14 lbs. 3 oz. And to think that when we brought her home she was just a tiny six-pound peanut! Now, she laughs out loud (especially when I fake a sneeze - that's hilarious, you know) and she "talks" to us all the time. She really is a great baby. And she looks so pathetic right now with one pink and three orange band-aids on her legs from the shots today.

John and I traveled to New Hampshire last week. He was recruiting at Dartmouth College and so I tagged along. We left Tuesday morning and flew to Boston, then drove up to Hanover, NH for two nights. We took Charlotte with us and it was lovely. She is just right on the hairy edge of being too old to travel easily, but we got very lucky. Although, it seems that her favorite thing last week was to blow out her diapers. Why do babies love to do that in airports, or Talbot's, or, say, at a nice restaurant? She did have the decency, once, however, to do it in an outfit that snapped all the up the front and down the legs, to getting it off wasn't a problem. The rest of the time she was wearing onesie-style tops, so [use your imagination here so that I don't have to type "poop"].

The leaves were peaking in the Boston area, but alot of the trees were already bare in Hanover. Except for one right outside our hotel on the "green". It was flaming red ... so beautiful. Thursday morning, before we drove back to Boston to catch our flight home, we took a little side trip to Quechee, VT, to a pottery and glass-making facility and restaurant. It was so fascinating. They were using hydroelectric power from the river outside to heat the furnace to 2400 degrees and make glass. We watched them blowing glass and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Charlotte slept the whole time.

It was an amazing, refreshing trip. Thanks to my parents, who watched the other three kids while we were gone.

On another note, I thought I had it rough with doctor appointments until I read this from another blogging mom who has SEVEN children. "On my calendar this month for the children I have five dental cleanings, one dental sealants, four orthodontist consultations, and two check-ups at the pediatrician." That's 12 appointments in one month! Not counting sick kid visits! I feel blessed. :)

In the hole

So, Jack has lost his first tooth:

He was so paranoid that it was going to hurt that he just let it get more and more loose until he could bend it completely perpendicular to the rest of his teeth. I finally got him to open his mouth and I just popped it out. It didn't even hurt or bleed. It's bittersweet, when they start losing their teeth. He's growing up so fast; soon he'll have those giant permanent teeth that are much too large for his face.

Apparently the tooth fairy pays $5 for the first tooth these days. Inflation is harsh. I sound like I'm a hundred years old, but back in my day, a tooth only fetched $.25!