mr. freeze

Last night it snowed a bit and today the high is supposed to be a balmy 22 degrees.

Naturally, Alex had to go outside and ride his 'motorcycle' to celebrate.

the tornado

Here are a few of Max's recent adventures:

He has moved on from eating dog food to filling up the dog's water dish with the dog food.

He DOES still enjoy eating dirt. Just picture that same little face with a ring of brown around the lips - the same face you'd get if you gave him an Oreo cookie. And for him, I can't tell yet if there's a taste difference.

He is very good with ladders. We put the Christmas lights up the day after Thanksgiving. I untangled lights, Roger put them up. At one point I turned around, and there was Max at the top of the ladder. I would have grabbed a picture, but figured that I was already pushing my luck regarding him taking a nose dive, since I wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been up there. I look forward to him figuring out the ladder on the bunk beds.

After telling him 'HANDS OFF' approximately 100,000 times, I finally learned my lesson and chose to keep the glass ornaments in the box. The tree this year is about 99% metal, which should prevent most of the damage Max could cause. And I moved the toy bench across the room, so his only access is by taking a leap off the back of the couch. More on that when he figures it out.

happy halloween!

I finally got the pictures off of our old camera - it was on the fritz for a while and then finally gave up the ghost. These pictures are a little grainy, but here is the chronicle of some of our Halloween adventures. I don't have any pictures of cute little Summer because our camera died for good just after Katie's Halloween party at preschool - hours before Summer's arrival. Mag will just have to post some photos of all the cousins. Alex still can't stop kissing that cute little baby!

I love the difference between Katie's and Alex's cookie decorating technique. Alex would decorate a cookie by dumping on the sprinkles and then chow it down. Katie was very methodical and concentrated very hard on getting the sprinkles exactly where she wanted them. Again, Roger has no doubt who she is related to!

Katie had a little Halloween party at school - well, officially a 'holiday' party that the kids just happened to get to dress up for and walk around the building 'trick or treating.' The boys got to come too. It was cute watching purple Cinderella and her heavy equipment operator - backhoe loader driver to be specific - walk arm in arm around the school.
Here are our two little lobsters. Katie was 8 months when she wore the costume; Max 13 months.

And one finally shot of purple Cinderella. Thanks Oma for making the dress, and to Amy/Aunt Nancy for the gloves and tiara - yes, we know that the REAL Cinderella should be wearing blue and only have the headband, but you try getting that tiara off of Katie's head! Alex wears his construction vest at least part of every day, and Cinderella graces our presence as often as she can. Even Max didn't try to pull the hat off of his costume. I'd say those are good indicators of successful costume choices!

bedtime

Katie and Alex like to sleep together these days - heads at opposite ends of the bed, feet meeting in the middle. This usually works out, but naturally there are exceptions. Last night I still heard noises coming from their room at 10 pm, so I poked my head in. This is what I found:

(photo re-enactment)

Katie was behind the door showing Alex her dress-up clothes, Max was jumping in his crib, and Alex was 'ready for work.' When he saw me he said: 'Hey mommy! Is it good morning time?' Not even close, buddy, but still adorable.

happy birthday tom!

Today's birthday fest - a day late - is brought to you by Katie. She made Uncle Tom a skeleton - scissors are her new favorite thing. The head initially had a face of two star eyes, a heart nose, and a rainbow mouth. I left the kitchen to go change Max, and when I got back the stickers had multiplied. My favorites are the 'band aids' on the legs and arm - we've had a lot of boo boos lately. Best of all, she wrote her name just for you Tommy.

Here's a basket full of the kids that sang to you this morning.

These are just some cute boys.

This is one of my favorites. Katie loves to take self portraits - I don't know why she has to go cross-eyed, but so far she does it in every one she takes.

Miller farm

Katie's preschool class took a little field trip to a nearby farm. A tractor pulled the group around the farm in a trailer, and made stops along the way so we could pick stuff: red potatoes, celery, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, Indian corn, pumpkins, etc. You could pick as much as you wanted.

The kids were of course much more interested in the other attractions at the farm. There was a huge pile of dirt - Alex could have dug for hours with the excavator and dump truck. There was some bouncy dome thing - maybe next year my crew will be ready to brave the crowds and go for it. There were old cars painted like the characters from Cars. There were a few animals to check out - smart Kat got her thumb bit by the horse - luckily it only turned a great shade of purple.
No one was too excited by the unlimited vegetables, but the pumpkins were another story. Katie could not get enough. After we got home, we busted out the paints and did a little decorating. As you can see, Max's is the most detailed. Today I finally figured out what the crazy smell in my house was: two of our pumpkin creations had taken a turn for the worse and had started to go soft. Luckily we have plenty of backups.

I made some delicious soup with the veggies - which is so delicious that I am the only one who has been eating it for the past week or so. The only thing I've made lately that scored a 5/5 for eaters is . . . pumpkin gnocchi. Martha's show is good for an idea every now and again, and this one really is a hit. It might sound crazy, but how can butter, cream and lots of Parmesan cheese go wrong? This only took about 30 minutes to make, and for the first time in forever EVERYONE ate it! Katie loved helping cut the gnocchi.

pumpkin gnocchi - courtesy of the Martha Stewart Show - modified by moi

1 can of pumpkin -reserve 1/4 cup for sauce - Martha cooks a pumpkin, I cheat and use canned
2 cups flour, plus more for work surface
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for serving
1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving

1/4 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
20 medium chanterelle mushrooms, trimmed - I re-hydrated a mix of dried mushrooms
8 fresh sage leaves - I used powdered sage
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream - I should have used less - this is a TON of cream

FOR GNOCCHI:
Mound flour in center of a large work surface; add 1 tablespoon salt and the nutmeg. Using a fork, mix until well combined.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add 2 cups pumpkin and 1 cup grated cheese to well. Slowly incorporate flour, beginning with inner rim of well. When flour is incorporated, gather dough together to form a rounded mass; knead mixture until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.

Divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a cylinder about 1 inch in diameter; cut into 1/2-inch-long pieces. Transfer gnocchi to a baking sheet and cover with a clean, damp towel. Repeat process until all the dough has been used.

Bring 6 quarts water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Generously salt water and return to a boil. Add gnocchi and cook until they rise to the top, about 4 minutes.

FOR SAUCE:
Heat a large skillet over high heat and add butter and shallots. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until shallots are golden. Add mushrooms and sage; cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup pumpkin, chicken stock, heavy cream, and 1/4 cup grated cheese; cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi to skillet and toss to combine. Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmesan and nutmeg.

in short

It's past time to get Max's 1-year pictures taken. For fear of being reported to child services for the 'unicorn look' he's sporting, I keep putting it off. Just as Max's forehead was healed from the first bruise - acquired while climbing out of a box - he landed in the EXACT same spot crawling along on the floor. At the current rate, he'll be 3 before we get those photos taken.

This is for Elizabeth: my photography skills are totally lacking - let's blame the camera, shall we? - but just try and tell me these transfer sheets aren't amazing! Fun times ahead. For anyone who wants to come over and sample, these would be dark chocolate with nutella centers.


Oma needs to go get one more pair of halloween pajamas, since cousin Summer will be joining us this year! The ghosts even glow in the dark. On a side note, cumpulsive Kat has been scouring Ebay in search of Thomas the Train engines, track and features. If you or anyone you know has outgrown their train set up, let me know. :)

I've been debating about renewing our Zoo membership for the coming year. If Katie will sport excellent outfits like this everytime we go, I think it's a must! Apparently it was still a little too warm for most of the animals to put on a good show, but the bears were fun - the black bear was at least sleeping in an interesting place. The gorilla was excellent - he was totally posing for us. Katie might even be brave enough to try sitting on a MOVING carousel animal next time.