Happy Halloween everyone! I hope everyone had a safe and fun night and got a ton of candy!
This afternoon our friend Jenn stopped by with the boys so we could see everyone in their costumes. Jenn even brought over ghost sugar cookies for us! Here's a photo of Logan, Aaron and Jill:
After Jenn stopped by we went up to see Mimi and PawPaw and then headed out to Celebration to meet up with the Adams and Lyons families (April's whole family was dressed as M&M's and Lani's kids were Maryann, the Skipper and Gilligan). Everyone was so cute! It was CRAZY over there! They had streets blocked off, police directing traffic, you name it! All the stores were handing out candy and a lot of the homes had elaborate decorations, it was really neat! Here are some photos from our night:
I have to say I love my job. I may not get paid, but I get a lot of free stuff and get to talk/connect with a lot of really awesome people, so it all balances out. Plus, nine times out of ten I'm in my pajamas when I'm working, which seriously makes it the best job hands down!
Like I said I get to interview a lot of really awesome people, usually via email, but on the rare occasion by phone. Today was one of those days. I got to interview Betty and Eric Hayes of Table for 12 on TLC. I'm not going to go into details because it hasn't run yet (check out Multiples and More on Monday), but let me just say they are the coolest, most down to earth, caring people on the planet. I felt like I have known them my whole life, it was awesome.
In other work related news (the stay at home variety that is), the kids are in full on climbing mode. I thought sippy cups would make me insane, but it may be climbing. Tough call. We have a glider in their bedroom and Aaron learned how to get into it while I was changing Jill. He also thought it would be hilarious to stand and ride it like a surf board (for reals), that was short lived. He also put his sister in a choke hold to prevent her from trying to sit next to him.
Speaking of choke holds.... It's like the WWE over here. It seems every time I turn around one is semi-smothering the other or yanking them by the collar until they hit the ground.
Scott and I are not immune to the WWE effect either. Aaron has headbutted me in the nose, cheek, eye, mouth (I've had a number of fat lips already) than I can count. Scott has a totally different problem seeing that the kids are the same height as his inseam (catch my drift). Future kids may be out of the question if it keeps up. Maybe that is their plan???
That's it over here. Can't wait for tomorrow! I love the kiddos Halloween costumes and cannot wait to see them in them again! Hope you're having a great day!
A lot to be thankful for this week, so let's get right to it. This week I am thankful for:
A great husband who is understanding, loving, caring and just flat out amazing. I cannot believe we have been together for 5 years!
Scott making his 2nd and 3rd degree with the Knights of Columbus. He will be making his 4th degree next month and I could not be more proud of him!
Awesome family around us, you guys are the best!
A great friend that shows me what the true meaning of strong woman is.
Two beautiful and entertaining children!
My daughter not swearing this week, at all! Yahoo!
Winn-Dixie having Starbucks ice cream buy one get one free. It's like you knew, seriously.
Modern Family. Seriously, you need to watch this show (go to Hulu.com and watch old episodes). I have tears every time I watch it, and last night, no joke, I almost needed the kids pampers, just sayin'.
A great day at Animal Kingdom yesterday! We finally got to see the Finding Nemo musical and it was ADORABLE! The kiddos loved it! Here are some photos:
That's all I got right now. Play along with Elyse at Following Him!
How cute are they?! Oh my gosh I cannot believe a)they are both in a photo together b)they are sitting still and c)they are actually smiling in a photo! I didn't really dress them up last year, we had banana costumes but they were just way too hot. I thought these were cuter, the shirt says "This is my Halloween costume". It even was glow in the dark, not that I checked. I cannot wait to post more photos from this Halloween! Stay tuned!
We had another playdate today with my friend Dawn and her kiddos. We met up at Birthday World since that is pretty much the halfway point for both of us. Aaron and Jill were perfectly content with just walking around and exploring and wanted nothing to do with the bounce houses. I can't really blame them though, one of the ones they have for little ones is kind of scary. Jill finally got into a bounce house and sat and bounced. Aaron was pretty much in my arms the entire time. Sorry, I don't have any photos :(
I have to be honest, I don't feel like it's almost Halloween. I haven't bought any candy, did not decorate, and have no pumpkins to speak of. I really have no intention of buying candy either, is that horrible? Hopefully the weather will be nice and the kids won't be dripping with sweat from being in their costumes.
Nothing else to really report just yet, maybe later. Hope you're having a great day!
We had a playdate with the Lyons family today. It's been, well forever, since we've had a playdate. The kiddos seemed to pick up right where they left off from the last time we got together. And I think we have a budding romance between Cameron and Jill. At one point they went off by themselves and Lani busted them in the other room. Here's some photos from our morning: Hope you're having a great day!
I'm going to stick with my original answer on this, it's the candy. Nothing preps you better for the gluttony that is the holiday season than Halloween. Halloween is like the appetizer course at a restaurant, it just gets you started. Thanksgiving, naturally, is the main course. After Thanksgiving you feel like you're going to explode and then BAM Christmas and all those delicious cookies and deserts. New Years is like the car ride home from the restaurant where you're cursing yourself for eating so much and that you'll never do it again. But back to the question....
I love the assortment of Halloween candy and the fact that you can buy a 5lb bag for next to nothing, I mean that's why we all have a Sam's Club/Costco/BJ's membership, right? Normally I have a Stitch candy jar filled with either Reese's Pieces or Halloween M&M's, but I didn't put it out this year, bummer.
I'm also a firm believer in the fistful of candy when you trick or treat, not the lame here's two-pieces-move-along-kid. I know when I was a kid those were the coolest houses, especially if they had Snickers, Butterfingers or any of the other really good candies. As a side note to people who give out the orange circus peanuts, keep 'em, kids don't want them, I promise.
So what's your favorite thing about Halloween? Head over to Multiples and More and let us know!
We finally broke out the wagon last night! I've been waiting to get this wagon for over a year, and if you know me you know I'm not a very patient person. I got it for a pretty great price, so I couldn't pass it up.
It definitely sat in my trunk for a few several days, so it was great to finally get that space back. It didn't take Scott too long to get it put together (love the man to death, but handy he is not) so were able to go for a walk before dinner. The weather is finally starting to cool down, so it was great to not be sweating to death after a walk around the neighborhood. Here are some photos from our walk:Little Miss Social waved at all our neighbors and their dogs while we were on our walk. She also acted like she was Cleopatra on her royal barge, but that's a total different story. Aaron did really well considering he was riding backwards, but he had his father to entertain him :)
The only thing that sucks with walking through our neighborhood is there are a TON of foreclosures, and nobody is taking care of these homes. They have broken down fences, windows etc. We live in a pretty nice neighborhood, so it's sad to see a lot of these homes just abandoned and crappy looking. It makes me feel bad for the people that are trying to sell their homes.
No big plans for today as of yet. Scott is making his second and third degree with the Knights of Columbus this morning. He is actually making his third degree with our pastor, which is awesome. I didn't know very much about the Knights until Scott became involved (a lot of the men in my family were members of the Holy Name Society instead) and I have to say it is a truly awesome organization. I hope someday Aaron follows in Scott's footsteps with this.
Hope you're having a great start to the weekend! Be sure to check out Missy's adorable craft at Multiples and More!
We went to Seaworld today to check out the Shamu show. The kids and I have never seen it before so we were all excited! We had pretty good seats, way out of the way of the soak zone. And can I just say this....you know you're in the soak zone, it says it on your seat, so why must you act surprised when you get soaked????
Anyway, the show was great and the kids LOVED it! Jill would wave every time Shamu "waved" at the crowd. Both of them danced and clapped and just had a great time! Here are some photos and video:
After the show the kids were pretty wiped out so we just walked around until they fell asleep and then left. I love having the annual pass there as well! It's great to be able to just go in for a show and then head home.
For dinner tonight I finally made Melissa d'Arabian's Potato Bacon Torte (click on the link for the recipe). Oh my word it was delicious! Seriously, little bites of heaven! I did cheat though and use store bought pie crust, but it was really easy to make and like I've said a million times, really delicious, see:
That's about it over here. Scott will be making his second and third degree with Knights of Columbus tomorrow, very exciting! I am so proud of him for being a part of such a great organization and that he is moving forward in it!
I'm think I'm finally out of my daze from the weekend. I'm seriously not as young as I once was. I forgot to do Thankful Thursday last week, so we have a lot to be thankful for. These past two weeks I am thankful for:
A great husband who busted his hump and worked 14 days straight so we can get the kids an awesome play kitchen for Christmas, among other things. It definitely sucked not having him home, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?
Two adorable and hilarious children. Sometimes I wonder if they are possessedsent straight from heaven. They keep me entertained, that's for sure!
A great visit with my parents! I am so lucky that I have two awesome parents that were willing to come down and hang with the kiddos so I could go to my MoM's convention. Even though we have some bad habits to break now, it was a great visit and I am seriously so lucky!
Awesome in-laws! I really lucked out in this department. I usually hear horror stories about other peoples in-laws, but I'm really lucky.
A great and successful convention! It was my first convention, and it ran really really well! I learned a lot about the business side of FOMOTC and cannot wait for Clearwater in 2010!
All the great money saving tips everyone gave to me on Facebook yesterday! I saved almost $60 at the store this week. Woo hoo!
A great time at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! And a big thank you to all you adults that wore crazy costumes, you truly made my night :)
The lesbians that held hands at the airport across from my mom, and the man that wore women's heels and nylons to the grocery store. You ladies and gentleman gave some great stories to tell pretty much everyone I know, tears and all.
HULU. You are a wonderful website, you truly are. For some reason my DVR did not record Modern Family last night, but you HULU, you have it for me to watch, and I thank you.
Door prizes. I won a bottle of Mad Housewife Merlot at the FOMOTC convention, I may just crack that puppy open tonight. I promise not to drink and blog, or tweet, or status update on Facebook (even though it would be HILARIOUS).
The Laurie Berkner Band. If you watch Nick Jr she's usually on in between shows, or on Jack's Big Music Show. Every time she comes on the kiddos stop dead in their tracks to watch her, and I will admit I find myself singing along....a lot. Plus Scott emailed them to tell them how awesome they are and one of their peeps emailed back and checked us out. WOO HOO! Thanks Katie for checking us out!
The fact that my daughter said her first swear word in the confines of our home, and not out in public. Sigh, I need to watch my mouth, and no I don't need a mirror.
Yesterday was shaping up to be another calm cool and collected day, and then after I put the kiddos down for their naps I heard "BAM BAM". I immediately thought that one, or both, of them finally learned how to climb out of their cribs and were probably laying in an unconcious state on the floor with blood everywhere (is that just a mom thing to immediately prepare for the worst?).
I walked in the room, expecting to see the worst, and instead saw Jill diving into her mattress pretending to be asleep (seriously) and Aaron standing in his crib with the big canvas painting from above his crib. Somehow my darling son managed to pull the painting off the wall and not get hit by it. He immediately gave me the "I have no idea how this happened" look. I couldn't even say anything, I didn't know what to say. So I just grabbed the painting and put it off to the side and just walked back out. What do you say to that?! It could be worse, they could have done what my brothers did when they were younger. Apparently my two older brothers took all my mom's perfume and dumped it into the mattress. Needless to say the mattress was immediately replaced.
So minus the painting incident the day was pretty calm. I was supposed to go to an executive board meeting last night for GOMOTT, but it was canceled. Our president has food poisioning pretty bad from a Chinese restaurant. After telling Scott about this he asked if I wanted to go grab Chinese for dinner (he was being serious). Sigh....
Here are a couple of photos from yesterday, hope you're having a great day so far!
Yesterday was a much needed day of rest. I didn't even change out of my PJ's until 2 pm, it was so nice.
After Scott got home we ran up to Target because they had the wagon I've wanted since last year on sale for $53. It's going to be perfect for Halloween this year! I hope the kids will be as excited as I am about it!
Then last night I made a big pot of turkey chili with some homemade cornbread (here's the recipe for the cornbread). The chili was beyond delicious! Here's how to make it (this is just for a single batch, I made a double yesterday):
You will need:
12 oz ground turkey 1 large onion, chopped 1/2 green sweet pepper, chopped 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 15 oz can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained 1 8 oz can tomato sauce 2 to 3 teaspoons chili powder (I did three) 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
What you need to do:
In a large saucepan cook the turkey, onion, garlic, and pepper until the onions are soft and the turkey is browned. Drain the fat (I didn't do this, there wasn't a lot, so I left it).
Stir in kidney beans, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. I let mine simmer for 45 minutes.
Scott and I did some quick math on this recipe and for a double batch it only cost us $10 to make. Enjoy!
So apparently so much happened these past few days I forgot to write about 90% of it. Ok 90% is an exaggeration, more like 30% but whatever.
We turned the car seats around this past week. Aaron hit 30lbs and both of their legs were resting on the head rest so we decided it was about that time. Jill is absolutely beside herself. From the moment she gets in her seat to the moment she gets out she talks. I hear about every truck we see and hear "what's that?" ever other second, at least. When my parents were in the cat with us Jill would talk to my Dad the whole time and after he agreed with everything (big mistake) she would go "Oh Dzia Dzio!". $50 says he agreed to buy her a castle and pony for Christmas, that's how evil her laugh was after he agreed to all her "demands".
Yesterday we all went over to the Stride Rite outlet to get the kiddos actual shoes, not just sandals. Footwear is really important to me. I've always believed that you can spend less on your clothes but you have to spend money for good shoes. The benefit of the outlet is you get the same exact shoes/service as the store at half the price. The most expensive shoes I saw for the kids were $32.99. I know that sounds like a lot for shoes that the kids will grow out of soon, but it is so worth it so they don't mess up their feet. I had foot problems as a child (rheumatoid arthritis) and still do, especially on really chilly mornings, so I'm very picky about shoes and comfort level. Thanks to Busia and Dzia Dzio for the great shoes!
Today is also my Dad's 72nd birthday! I wish they stayed one more day so we could celebrate, but never the less, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!
I am alive, I promise! The past several days have been jam packed with stuff, so I haven't had a chance to update.
My parents made it in safely on Wednesday night, and the kiddos were actually still up when they got here. Aaron and Jill weren't too sure what to think at first, it has been a while since they had seen Busia and Dzia Dzio (May, actually), but Busia came prepared and had wooden puzzles for the kiddos. So if you were ever wondering if my children could be bought, the answer is yes.
Thursday we ran over to Downtown Disney to pick up the tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and then have lunch at T-Rex. I had to go to help register people for the FOMOTC Convention (Florida Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs) so the kiddos napped and hung out with Busia and Dzia Dzio the rest of the afternoon. I met up with everyone at Magic Kingdom and we got the kiddos dressed for the party. We were having issues with Jill and her tinkerbell costume, when I say issues I mean she hated it, not disliked, hated it. Thankfully we had a plastic spoon and that did the trick. As long as she had that spoon (and you better believe she held onto it the entire night) she was ok with her costume. Aaron made a super handsome Peter Pan and smiled at everyone that commented on just how handsome he looked. The party itself was great! Disney limits the amount of people that are allowed in on any given night so it makes the party more enjoyable. The longest wait we had was 15 minutes at Peter Pan, everything else was pretty much a walk on. We missed the parade (which is so cute if you ever get the chance to go) but did manage to see the fireworks. Jill and Aaron even clapped after they finished, it was way too cute! Here are some photos and video from that day:
Friday we all just hung out. I had to work the registration table again, so I was gone most of the afternoon/early evening. Saturday I was gone from really early in the morning until the midde of the afternoon for the convention. Saturday was the business meeting and luncheon. It was really informative. I really wasn't familiar with what all the state club did, so it was great to see what resources we have available. The national president was there as well. Terri Gillis is actually a member of our local club (one of the charter members I believe) so I had met her before, but really had a chance to just chit chat with her over the weekend. It was great to be able to speak with other mothers of multiples from all over Florida (there was 88 of us). At the luncheon the Caldwell Triplets (identical BBB) spoke to us. There are in their 50s I believe, and actually really humorous. I love hearing from older multiples, it gives me hope that I'm not totally screwing my children up :)
While I was gone for the day at convention, Busia and Dzia Dzio were "in control", which means the kiddos got to jump on the bed (the guest bed), play in the living room (gated off) and have an entire glass of iced tea, see:
Thanks again to my folks for coming down to hang out and help out while I was at convention! And thanks to Kelly and Beth for hosting a great convention, glad I could help out!
Today has been another busy day. We are busy getting ready for Busia and DziaDzio to come down and I'm busy trying to finish up all my convention stuff. I definitely had a dumb blonde moment today, I alphabetized my spreadsheets for check-in's, but ummmm only alphabetized two of the columns, so none of the columns matched. It was awesome, not really, not even close.
Jilly's costume came today and she hates it. I mean not just dislikes, but hates it. I put it on her and she pulled at it and cried. Sigh.... Mickey's Not So Scary should be interesting. I was hoping that praising her a ton would make her love it, and we even showed her how cute she looked in the mirror and she still cried. Awesomenes...
The kiddos also got some "prizes" from Auntie Cathy and Lorren, including a "mixed tape". We listened to the CD pretty much all afternoon. It has a ton of great songs on it including Ladysmith Black Mambazo's version of "Diamonds on the soles of her shoes" which is one of Jilly's favorite songs. Here is a quick video of the kids opening their "prizes":
Well the mystery rash is gone, I still have no idea what it was. My only thoughts are that it could have been from the laundry detergent that spilled into the clean clothes pile (it somehow fell off the shelf, ghosts?). He never had a fever, cough, runny nose or anything so I'm thinking that's what it was. Whatever it was, I'm glad it's gone.
We had a pretty chill weekend. I've been busy working on stuff for convention so I have zero recollection of anything that happened this weekend, ha ha. Right now I'm just trying to finish all of that and getting ready for my parents to come into town. They haven't seen the kids since their birthday so they are in for a surprise! Here are some photos from our weekend:
Today is also my brother Art's birthday!!! And in honor of his birthday I am going to end this post with a clip from the Blues Brothers, and if I could I would send him an orange whip or four whole fried chickens, dry white toast and a coke. Happy Birthday Art!
Ok, I cannot pick a favorite(s). I really enjoy almost all of the cast members (there are some I could have done without but ehhh) so I decided I would post my favorite sketches instead :)
The first is the Olympia Restaurant, my entire family still recites this skit:
Another favorite is James Brown's Hot Tub Party:
Now Chris Farley is one of my favorites, I love almost all his skits, but here is the all time fave:
I'm still laughing from this skit:
Another goodie:
And pretty much anything with Will Ferrell:
Ok I need to step away from HULU or I will be there all day. Play along at Multiples and More!
It's been a crazy few days! October always seems to be a crazy month in general, but this year it's even crazier. I had two meetings this past week, plus getting all the last minute stuff done for the Florida Organization of Mothers of Twins Club Convention next week. I'm the registration chair on it, so I've been up to my eyeballs in paperwork. I cannot wait for next week to come and go so I can clear out my inbox :)
Yesterday Aaron broke out in a mysterious rash all over his face, head, and shoulder blades. He doesn't have a fever, cough or runny nose so Urgent Care had no idea what it was (that was the doctor's exact diagnosis). We have to follow up this week with our doctor before we can go on any playdates. The rash isn't too bad today, it's barely even noticeable.
My parents come into town this week too, they are going to help us out while I do stuff for convention. We're also going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Aaron's costume came the other day and I cannot wait to show all of you how cute they are going to look!!! Until then, here are some photos from the past few days:
It's been crazy busy over here. This is actually one of the first times I've gotten to just sit at my computer since Tuesday morning.
Tuesday night I got CPR trained, which I think everyone needs to do. Scott has been CPR trained for awhile, he has to be since he's in security, so I figured it was about time I was trained as well. I really wish I would have been trained before the kids were born though, there was a ton of helpful information in there. I'm just glad I've never been in a situation where I've had to use it.
Yesterday Scott was off so we took the kiddos to Magic Kingdom since the crowds are down, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the temperature. It was 94 yesterday! 94?! That's not very "autumn" like now is it? We took the kids on Winnie the Pooh and Pirates of the Caribbean and had a quick bite to eat. The beauty of our passes is we can just go in for a few rides and then bail because the kids are tired. Aaron fell asleep on Pirates, which seems to happen every time we go on that ride. I can't wait until he realizes that it's actually a ride and not just a nice cool place to nap. Here are some photos from our day:
This morning has already been quite eventful. The battery in Scott's car died on his way to work, thankfully PawPaw was able to meet him and let him use on of their cars so he could get to work. I really hope that's all the excitement we will have today.
More to come later, hope you're having a great day so far!
Scott and I got to go to Food and Wine at EPCOT last night. Being the foodies (and slightly winos) that we are we were excited to try some new and yummy food. The best part about this is all the food is served tapas style, so you get to sample all the foods without committing to a large dish. Our biggest problem whenever we go to this is determining where to start.
This year we decided to start on the right hand side with Santiago, Chile. The logic behind this was they had a rock shrimp ceviche and I figured that if I had a few glasses of wine I would more than likely up chuck the ceviche. The ceviche was really yummy, Scott thought it was somewhat spicy, but if you mixed it with the popcorn on top it was wasn't bad at all.
Our next stop was Athens, Greece. Scott had the spanakopita (spinach and feta cheese in a phyllo crust) and I had the chicken souvlaki with tzatziki in a warm pita (wayyyyyyyyyyyyy delicious). In Wellington, New Zeland we had a seared scallop with vegetable slaw (the scallop was perfect) and a lamb slider with tomato chutney (yummy!). In Cork, Ireland we had a scallop and lobster fisherman's pie (way to hot for a 90 degree day but yummy nonetheless). Next we went to Paris and had Cabernet short ribs with mashed potatoes. This was by far the most savory yummy dish we had! The ribs were inside the potatoes and it was just like a little bite of heaven each time, see:
At this point we definitely needed to take a food break so we went to watch the film about France. Now, I love this film, it's beautiful and the music is amazing, however the film was made when EPCOT opened and is in serious need of being updated. But other than that it is beautiful and I highly recommend it.
We got back into the food in Toyko, Japan (I was thinking of boycotting them because they got more votes than Chicago, but I really wanted sushi). Scott has never had sushi so I figured this would be a great way to start. We split a California roll, and much to my surprise, Scott totally loved it!
Next up was New Orleans, Lousiana, which is like the mother land to Scott (no joke). They had one of his favorite dishes Crawfish Étouffée. I'm going to be very serious here, I was lucky to get a bite of this dish. It's a good thing I got my own chicken and andouille gumbo otherwise I would have not eaten in New Orleans. And what's even better is he talked about the crawfish all the way to the park exit. All that amazing food and he was in love with the crawfish.
While enjoying our food from New Orleans we got to watch En Vogue (for reals).
Funny thing about them being there was Lani and I were just talking about them because they are on one of the Sesame Street DVDs. Now here's the ultimate photo, notice the fist pump from the guy. I had no idea "Free your mind" had that big of an impact on people:
Vienna, Austria was up next. We had Goulash mit Servietten Knoedel (Paprika Beef Stew, Bacon Dumpling) because anything with bacon immediately makes it delicious.
Next up was Bologna, Italy. Now, here's my beef with the Italy booth, it's all stereotypical Italian food, meatballs, cannelloni and pizza (we had the meatballs in case you were wondering, haha). I really want them to do traditional Italian food, but have a feeling it wouldn't go over as well as the meatballs and such. As a total side note I took 3 or 4 semesters of Italian when I was in college and am always overcome with sheer panic when I'm in the Italian pavilion. I love to listen to the cast members talk, but have the fear that I will laugh too loud and they will realize that I know what they are saying and then try to talk to me. Yeah, my Italian is pretty rough now and I would need at least 3 or 4 glasses of Prosecco prior to responding to them.
After the Italian adventure we went to Munich, Germany and had apple struedel. It's so good, I get it everytime we are there. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be apple struedel, I am so not kidding.
Next up was Cape Town, South Africa where we had a beef tenderloin with sweet potato purree and mango barbeque sauce. It was heavenly and Scott now wants to recreate the sauce.
Shanghai, China was next and Scott desperately wanted to show off his mad Chinese speaking skills (all learned from Ni hao Kai-lan) but chickened out. We had pork pot stickers there and I showed off my mad chop stick skills (yeah I'm being sarcastic here, I can't eat with chop sticks to save my life), see:After China we went to my mother land, Krakow, Poland. Like a good Polish girl I got the kielbasa and potato pierogi (with sour cream, naturally). It was good, Dad's homemade kielbasa is better, and Grandma's pierogi's are better, but in a pinch this works.
We hit up Barcelona, Spain next (I didn't boycott because Madrid was the one that tried to get the Olympics, not Barcelona). Now, the guy working the register at this one was...well...he had no business being there. He had no idea what he was doing and honestly I think we got our food free (not that I'm complaining). We did the taste of Spain which was serrano ham, chorizo, manchego, olives, and tomato bread. It was really yummy.
Our last stop was the Mouse Catch which featured cheeses from the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. We tried all three cheeses which were really yummy. Fun fact, across the way from Mouse Catch was Rio de Janiero, you know where people dress like this and get the Olympics:
Sorry, I'm still bitter, and definitely boycotted them.
At this point we were stuffed and decided to ride Spaceship Earth (with my phone safely tucked in my purse) and go home. It was a great night, and I think I'm still stuffed. My only regret of the night is not taking this photo BEFORE eating all that food:
Hope you had a great weekend! Stop by Multiples and More today to read a really touching twins story.
So this weeks question came about when I was reading this months issue of American Baby (I know, I have time for this?!) and saw that October is National Cookie Month. What, what?! How could I have not know this?! When did this start?! I couldn't get to my phone fast enough to text Lani about this recent discovery. She was equally excited. I mean really, who doesn't love a good cookie? So in the spirit of National Cookie Month this weeks question is:
What is your favorite cookie recipe?
My favorite recipe to make, simply because it is the easiest, is triple chocolate chip cookies. It's basically the Nestle Toll House (which I say with a horrible French accent ever since that one episode of Friends) recipe with a few alterations. Here's what you need:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher salt)
1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened (unsalted butter, sometimes I use sweet cream butter)
3/4 cup Splenda (you can use regular sugar)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (sometimes I use pure vanilla, makes them super yummy)
2 eggs
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1/2 cup Milk Chocolate Morsels
1/2 cup White Chocolate Morsels
And here's how you make them:
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Hand beater to husband so he can try the dough and, as my Mom says, get worms.
Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. I usually switch them on the racks halfway between (that is if one if on the bottom rack and one is on the top) Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
I hope you enjoy my variation on a classic! Play along at Multiples and More and let me know what your favorite recipe is!
Posts
