How we spent our Friday night...

While I'm sure it was fun at first, bouncing on the trampoline with the big ball turned out to be not such a great idea. Quite honestly, we're surprised we made it this long before breaking a bone. He fractured his wrist; thankfully not on a growth-plate. We'll have to go to the Orthopedics on Monday, but the doctor at the ER said these types of breaks heal pretty quickly in children and without too much pain. She (the doctor) did prescribe some Tylenol w/Codeine, the Pharmacist warned us that it would make him VERY sleepy. He's already out...hopefully for the night!

2010 Book List

Sorry for the boringness, this post is really more for me than anything else. In an effort to avoid a long list on my side-bar I am adding this button as a link to this post so that I can just put the button on my side-bar and continuously add all the books I read throughout the year. I'm not sure what my fascination is with keeping track of the books I read is, but I am who I am!

Name All The Animals
by: Alison Smith
This was a book club read. I didn't love it. I don't think I would recommend it to anyone. It's a memoir, but not a very compelling one. It is a women telling about her upbringing, which wasn't that much different from anyone else. Her trials with dealing with the loss of her brother from a car accident, and then deciding that she's 'interested in girls'.

Where Are You Now?
by: Mary Higgins Clark
I Love her books. This is probably my favorite yet. A good murder mystery, who done it. I didn't have it figured out until the very end. It was a good easy read, but a page turner for sure.

The Giver
by: Lois Lowry
I read this as a kid. I remember liking it. As an adult, it is still a really interesting read. I wouldn't say I love it, but for conversational purposes, its good. I have a hard time with books ending on a cliff hanger. I like closure!

nothing. and forever cuteness

What is this a picture of? Let me tell you. NOTHING!! It is a picture of nothing in our living room! Why is this of significance? Because, my friends, this is a picture of all our Christmas decorations and other various items that had gathered there PUT AWAY! (No, we still don't have any furniture in our living room. There are so many things ahead of it on our 'list'!) I'm not sure when the last time was that this room was completely empty. You see, I have to celebrate this one room, because it is currently the only room in the house to look remotely clean. One room is a place to start though, right? Hopefully I can keep this room clean and then slowly move from room to room. Wish me luck!!

On a completely separately note, I don't think I'll ever get tired of snapping pictures of moments like this...It makes my heart happy to see the boys love each other so much. Colby is always fascinated by whatever Kyle is doing, and Kyle is such a doll always talking to Colby and trying to make him laugh. I hope this budding friendship lasts forever.

Lemon Greek Chicken - RotW (2 of 52)

Okay, this dish turned out SUPER yummy. I'll give the recipe as it is from the book, but then let you know what little differences I made to it.

Lemon Greek Chicken
(Pampered Chef Stoneware Sensations)2 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbl. olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, pressed
2-3 tsp. dried oregano leaves
3/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
2 medium baking potatoes
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 medium red onion, cut into wedges
8 oz. fresh whole mushrooms
4 chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl combine lemon zest, juice and oil. Press garlic into bowl. Add oregano, salt and black pepper; set aside. Cut each potato lengthwise into 8 wedges; place in 9"x13" dish. Add bell pepper, onion, mushrooms and half of the lemon juice mixture; toss to coat. Place chicken o top of vegetables; brush with the remaining lemon juice mixture. Bake 1 hour or until chicken is no longer pink in center, brushing chicken and vegetables with pan juices after 30 minutes.
YIELD: 4 servings

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It really is a pretty easy recipe to make. I would pair it with a crusty bread (like a baguette), some white rice, and a green salad.

The few things I did differently were that I cut my chicken breasts in half, so I technically had eight pieces. This helps with portion control, but also my breasts were thick (yes, we're still talking about the chicken here! :) and I wanted them to cook all the way through. Also, my local grocery store was out of red peppers, so I used orange. It still tasted awesome.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think!

life

It's 9:15 am. I have already...

-sucked boogers out of noses (not me personally, but the aspirator ;)
-used half a dozen kleenex
-cleaned up throw-up
-changed a diaper
-changed Colby's outfit twice
-started a load of wash
-changed batteries in the Leapster2
-finished doing last nights dishes that didn't fit in the dishwasher
-cuddled two adorable little boys who have nasty little colds.
-washed my hands at least a dozen times

I have NOT...
-changed out of my clothes from yesterday
-showered or brushed my teeth yet
-put away Christmas decorations
-vacuumed in over two weeks

I love being a mom, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Chocolate Peppermint Roll - recipe of the week

Happy New Year! Can you believe it is 2010? Hopefully this new year brings lots of wonderful and exciting things to my family and yours.

I'm not one to make a huge list of new years resolutions, but I do try to set a few goals. One of my goals for 2010 is to cook more and be adventurous by trying new recipes (and a few good staples once in a while too!) To help me in this effort and give me something to be accountable for, I am making it my goal to include a recipe-of-the-week on my blog. (Complete with a picture of my finished product!)

I started my new little adventure yesterday by making a cake roll. I've seen them done once or twice, but never tried to attempt one on my own. It turned out AWESOME (and super yummy to!) I'd say this recipe would be good for an intermediate level cook.

Chocolate Peppermint Roll
(Hershey's Recipe Collection Cookbook)
CHOCOLATE SPONGE ROLL
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/3 cup water

PEPPERMINT FILLING
1 cup whipping cream, cold
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup finely crushed hard peppermint candy or 1/ 2 teaspoon mint extract
Few drops red food color (optional)

CHOCOLATE GLAZE
2 Tbl. butter or margarine
2 Tbl. cocoa
2 Tbl. water
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. For CHOCOLATE SPONGE ROLL, heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 - inch jelly-roll pan with foil; generously grease foil.

2. Beat egg whites on high speed of mixer in large bowl until soft peaks form; gradually add 1/2 cup granulated sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

3. Beat egg yolks and vanilla on medium speed of mixer in medium bowl 3 minutes. Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar; continue beating 2 minutes. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to egg yolk mixture alternately with water, beating just until batter is smooth. using rubber spatula, gradually fold beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture until well blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

4. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until the top springs back when touched lightly. Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan; invert onto clean towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. carefully peel off foil. Immediately roll cake in towel, starting from narrow end; place on wire rack to cool completely. (I let it cool for a bit on a rack then stuck it in the fridge to hurry up the process.)

5. For PEPPERMINT FILLING, beat whipping cream on medium speed of mixer in medium bowl until slightly thickened. Add 1/4 cup powdered sugar and peppermint candy or mint extract and food color, if desired; beat cream until stiff peaks form.

6. For CHOCOLATE GLAZE, melt butter in small saucepan over very low heat; add cocoa and water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Gradually beat in 1 cup powdered sugar and vanilla extract.

7. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cake with PEPPERMINT FILLING; reroll cake. Glaze with CHOCOLATE GLAZE. Refrigerate until just before serving. Cover; refrigerate leftover dessert.

*It may sound like a lot of work, but other than dirtying a ton a dishes, it wasn't too hard. It's worth the effort though, it tasted AWESOME!!

Hooray for Milestones!

It's official! Colby is now a sitter. (Since he's still a beginner, the boppy is nice to help avoid head injury in case of getting a little to excited. What can we say? He's got a big head and sometimes it just gets a swingin' in the wrong direction!)
I SO love this stage. Not that I haven't enjoyed them all, but this one is nice. They are still essentially a blob and aren't mobile yet, but so much more happy because they can see the world around them better and interact more with big brother. Kyle is already paying more attention to Colby now that they can sit together and 'play'.

(Wow. Two posts in one day, it's like some kind of record or something!)