SNOW and ice.

We had some fun amounts of snow and ice here! Zane is thrilled to have snow and the first thing he wants to do in the morning is go outside. He is also pleased to be missing school. I'm not sure how I feel that my preschooler wants to miss school already.

Zane was particularly excited about the "ice crystals" as he called them. He loves the ice cycles and would hide them all over while I had to find them in the snow. Of course, they were pretty easy to find as he made tracks to wherever he hid them.

I think if it is going to continue to snow here this winter that I should probably buy the boys some snow pants...

forgetful me.

Ok, so I have not updated this blog for 4 days. And, if you can believe it, the reason is that I just kind of forgot about the blog. Yep. That's right. I forgot about blogging. I was on the computer plenty. Looked at all kids of things. Forgot about blogs.

So, if you will forgive me I will try to do better. See you later today or tomorrow with something new.

let there be soup.

Tonight I needed to make something for dinner and had a big container of homemeade chicken stock in the fridge. So I made soup. And boy was it delicious!

Here's the recipe...

1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions in 1-2T olive oil with salt and pepper until almost clear and then add the garlic and saute for one more minute.

Add 1/2 a can of tomato sauce. (I used Private Selections Organic Tomato Sauce, it was a 15 oz. can.)
Also add some chicken stock*. Now, I cannot say how much I used but I would guess 4-6 cups.

Chop the following into large chunks and add them as you chop.

1 sweet potato, 1 large red potato, 3 stalks celery, 1 or 2 carrots (I was running low, so I just had about 1 carrot worth), 1 large or 2 small zucchini.

Once the potatoes are ready, throw in some broccoli in bite sized pieces. If you throw it in with all the other veggies it just becomes mushy. Also throw in some shredded chicken if you have any precooked in your fridge.

Now, eat. Of course, I did neglect to mention that I cooked some noodles in salted water and put those on the bottom of the soup. I have to used rice noodle as I am not supposed to eat wheat, but no one ever notices the difference.


Vegetarians, use veggie stock instead and omit the chicken. Depending on the stock you use, you might want to add some herbs.

* For the homemade stock I used the bones, skin and fat of a chicken that I had previously cooked in the oven. The chicken had been brined in 12 cups water with 3/4 cup kosher salt, pepper, 4 cloves garlic or so cut in quarters and 1/2 and onion for about 1.5 hours. I then cooked the chicken with the onions and garlic cloves, 4 more garlic cloves, cut in half, a handful of carrot and 1 stalk celery stuffed inside. I coated it lightly in olive oil then salt and peppered the skin of the chicken. Baked at 350 degrees fahrenheit until meat reached 180 degrees with a meat thermometer. Once I picked the chicken apart, I simmered the bones, skin, fat, and veggies in 2 boxes of free range organic chicken broth for an hour or 2.

my poor baby.

Zane had a fever and actually took a 2 hour nap yesterday. As soon as his head hit the pillow last night he was asleep again. He seems to be feeling quite a bit better today, I am just waiting to see if it lasts. So far so good. His fever is lower, but the best part is that he is acting like himself again. Good stuff.

And our library is closed. I tried to go return some books and videos and borrow some new ones, but sadly it is closed due to water damage. Maybe by the time Zane feels better and is ready to go out in public again the library will be open and we can go there together. He loves going to the library. He gets to pick out new books and videos and he gets to play in the kid section, which is tons of fun. And I like it because it is free!

wheeeeeee......

Zane and I went to a birthday party at a place called Run Jump and Play. It's one of those fun places where they have the massive blow up things you can jump in and slide down. I LOVE these places and am not one of the parents that idly sits by while their kids have all the fun. My favorite is the large shark slide. It is so awesome and such a big slide. Zane and I like to race down. I took a break and had him do it alone so I could get some pictures... Sure looks like he was having fun! Wish we could do this daily. I think I am just a big kid at heart.

it's maaagic.

To Zane, everything is magic.

Today he decided he wanted to perform a magic show. So we had to make all the required materials. A magic hat, a cape and a magic wand. A blanket for the cape, rolled up construction paper for the wand and a construction paper hat put together with tape. Zane also did some wonderful drawings of magical things on his hat and signed his name so all would know it is his hat.

Now here is the really fun part. My incredibly cool job was to make the actual items disappear while Zane waved his wand and said "Abracadabra!" Yep, I put my arm behind the bilibo (a weird rounded seat thingy) and flipped the items into the bilibo to make them "disappear." I use the quotes because our audience, better known as Daddy, could still see the items.

We pulled off the trick twice then decided to make Daddy disappear. A handy dandy blanket and voila! No more daddy. At least not until Stone pulled off the cover.

I bet Zane will be the newest David Copperfield and I can be his assistant. Think he might make me disappear? I hope not, I don't like the dark.

it just won't grow.

Stone has yet to have a hair cut. He'll be 2 soon. His hair just will not grow. It's amazing how slow it is. Zane needs a haircut every month or 2 if we really want to keep up with it and he definitely had a haircut by the time he was 2. I guess Stone is just trying to save us some money during the poor economy. What a good boy.

In the mean time, I get to have fun with what little hair he has and do things like give him fauxhawks and different funky points. If I do it when his hair is wet and it dries, it stays for the day. I love it.

chicago.

We had a blast in Chicago with Marcy and her two wild children, Caitlynn and Miles. Zane and Stone loved running around their house and playing with the kids. The foot or more of snow was a big hit too, as were the chocolate chip cookies and brownies (both from scratch).

While the kids played, Marcy and I got to work and managed to box up quite a few things. All the pictures hanging on her walls, most of the books not already packed, lamps, china, glasses, all kinds of good stuff! Now, I have NO room to talk as I have way too much stuff for my house, but Marcy is a packrat. (Love you Marcy!) She has a lot of stuff, but many of the things she is keeping have wonderful memories for her, and who can blame her?! I took 40 boxes with me (a few of which were really small) and we filled all but the tiny 3. We also filled some she found. Good times. I just hope nothing I packed breaks.

It was really great spending time with Marcy and it was a treat for me to see our children playing together. Even Stone, my youngest, was playing with Caitlynn, Marcy's oldest. Naturally Stone watched her every move and followed her exampled, resulting in a black eye. Poor thing! He's doing fine now and I'm hoping he has decided that head banging is not the best thing to do unless you are at a rock concert!

Oh, and a big shout out to the Noodles place Marcy likes so much. Can I just say YUM! I would have a hard time not ordering their food at least a few times a week if I lived there.

All in all, I'm thankful for my friendship with Marcy and look forward to a lifetime of craziness with her. Thanks Marcy for being my friend! Just be prepared for our visit to Montana.

going to see marcy.

We're off to Chicago tomorrow. We're, or should I say I am, going to help my friend Marcy pack for her move to Montana. Should be interesting. It is a good 5-7 hour drive. I've yet to drive more than 4 hours with the boys. I really do not like driving for long periods of time. Not that 5-7 hours is really that long. I used to travel with my parents and brother across the country almost every summer. Of course, back then we kids could be unbuckled in the back of the van. It was no big deal. No car seats. Now, I think Zane will be in a car seat until he is 5 or 6. He just cannot get past 38 pounds. No booster seat yet!

Back to Marcy... She is a great cook. I am really looking forward to a nice visit with her and her kids and I am looking forward to eating some yummy food. I will update you all with details of the visit, how the boys did on the trip, and maybe even some pics.

Wish me luck! I think I need it.

ian's necklace

Here is Ian with his funky necklace that Zane made him for Christmas. It's pretty different!

hairstylist extraordinaire!

One before and two afters!

Looks like I have a new hobby. I am now cutting hair and coloring hair for those asking. My sister-in-law Lisa started it at Halloween when she was complaining about her hair and I said, "I'll give you a partial foil and a trim." This was her second foil and trim. So far so good.

My mother-in-law also needed a cut, so I went for it and think it turned out pretty good. She was very happy with it, so that is all that is really important.

My nephew needed his hair to be cleaned up, but I found him to be less cooperative than his mother and grandmother, so nothing happened.

All in all, I think it was pretty fun for me and pleasing to see such decent results. In all fairness, I did work as a receptionist in a salon for 3 years, so I did pick up some good tips along the way. And I do not plan to do this as a living, but for fun every couple months for them, I would love to!

what is it?

What is it that boys like so much about electronics? Stone loves his daddy's phone and iPod. When he's really upset, something electronic will calm him. Here is an example of where Stone was upset when we came in from the cold and David took him to calm him down while I took care of Zane. Dave gave him his phone, put a pillow on the floor and within a minute of tapping the phone he was sleeping while holding the phone. I thought it was too cute and had to take a picture.

checkers and chess.

Zane has discovered some new games he likes to play. He is particularly fond of playing them with Grandpa. Checkers and chess. Good stuff! They spent a couple hours playing these games and I loved that Zane could concentrate on something for so long. He did not even want to eat dinner. He just wanted to keep playing.

We will certainly miss having my parents here, but are thrilled to have more visitors for the weekend. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

cousin Ian.

An update on our gift situation for cousin Ian. We have resolved the issue of feeling like we did not get enough. Zane decided to make cousin Ian cookies in a jar. You know where you mix all the dry ingredients and they have to add the wet ingredients and bake them. We had tons of fun making it and he liked making it so much we also made a jar for one of the neighbor girls. And we already had the jars and all the ingredients! Awesome!

Zane also picked out a glass monster bead prior to my other post and he made Ian a necklace. We used beads that we already had and some ribbon we had purchased for other things as well. I only helped with the bead where the hole was smaller and it made it difficult to put the bead on.

I also had a cool looking board game that I bought as an extra in case I forgot someone. Since I did not, I am going to give it to Ian. I think he and Zane will have fun playing it.

The gifts are already wrapped or I would have posted a picture of the necklace. Maybe I will post one with Ian wearing it after he opens it.

Zane's first comment this morning was that cousin Ian is coming over today and he is so excited. I hope Ian is excited about the gifts that Zane made him. I would love it if they were his favorite gifts! Here's the our last Christmas celebration that is supposed to be for Christmas 2008, even though we are celebrating it in 2009!