Love is in the Air!

I know this is several months late, but here are some photos from Valentine's Day. For breakfast I made the boys heart-shaped pancakes. Little did I know that this would lead to Quinton wanting his pancakes cut into shapes EVERY time!




For lunch I cut Quinton's peanut butter sandwich into hearts as well. For dinner the boys had hot dogs that are supposed to look like cupid hearts. I was in a rush to get these made, so they don't look quite as good as the picture I saw in Family Fun magazine!

Musings on Food

Well, you all know that I LOVE food. To eat it, cook it, eat it....

Regardless of my personal beliefs on food and what constitutes a "healthy" diet, I am taking advantage of the fact that I have this format (blog) to blather on about my own ideas and am going to write about something that always bothers me regarding food. I have several friends and acquaintances who eat by different dietary "rules" and my philosophy is to say "great!" I mean, however they want to eat is fine with me. My gripe comes when I read posts or comments by people that in my opinion are completely illogical.

A few examples:

From a recent post on Facebook:

"... it is weird that we are the only mammals that drink milk after we're weaned. Just weird when you really think about it......."

Any time a person tries to make a point by comparing humans to other animals, I am always so baffled by their logic. So is this person saying that anything that separates us from other mammals makes us weird? How about everything about us. Like the fact that we wear clothes, go to work, read and write, etc etc etc... I mean, come on, it is even ridiculous to start listing the differences since they are beyond obvious.

Now to the raw food diet. Understand this, I have several friends who stick to this diet, and I support their choice. However, I have read/heard so many ill-thought rationalizations for this diet that it drives me crazy.

One such reason is that it is the way God intended us to eat. Now, depending on your particular understanding of God, this may have merit. The person I am thinking of, however, was a Christian, and so I am confused. To define yourself as a Christian usually means that you believe Christ was the son of God, and was a perfect person. Perfection being that he always did His Father's will. And according to the bible he ate fish and bread, both not approved in the raw diet. I can only suppose that this person was thinking of the Garden of Eden and the assumption that Adam and Eve only ate fruits and vegetables. I am unaware of this in the Bible, but I do know that after Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden they ate meat. And so we are back at the old Catch-22. Which way was the way God "meant" us to be - just Adam and Eve in the garden, or all of humanity outside of the garden?

The other argument is that it is natural and the way that we were meant to eat (who meant us to eat this way is unclear), and that our bodies are supposed to only eat raw food. If we were "supposed" to eat this way, it is kind of ironic that the only reason people nowadays can even do it is because we are getting fruits and vegetables flown in from South America and other parts of the country and world. Unless you live in California or some other climate that produces fresh produce year-round, this is an unsustainable diet. The idea that people "used" to eat this way is ridiculous. This is a diet for the wealthy who can afford to purchase fresh produce year-round.

All this said, I want to reiterate that I don't have a problem with the diets themselves, just the lame reasoning.

What would a good reason be? How about: "It makes me feel better, so I do it" Can't argue with that one!

Winter Fun

Domenic "The Chunk" Quesada



Now who wouldn't want to kiss those cheeks!!





The snow storm that shut us down for a week. Quite literally, we couldn't get out of our neighborhood for 6 days. For me, it was pretty nice - everything was cancelled so I got a ton of little odd jobs done around the house that I never seemed to have time for before. Antonio got a little stir-crazy after only two days. Since he is used to going out to work every day, it was more of an adjustment for him!



This gives you an idea of the quantity of snow we had. For Georgia, this is a lot of snow. However, it was the ice, not the snow, that created the problems.



Quinton and his best friend, Athena (that's a chocolate milk mustache). They made a ton of "candies" with the play-doh factory, and then "sold" them in their store! They were quite busy for several hours on this project. And I was quite busy picking up little bits of play-doh after they finished!



Quinton and I showing off our completed puzzle. Note: I HATE how red my face always looks in pictures! I like to think that it has something to do with the camera, and that I don't always look so red-faced in real life!

Crazy ladies!!

For our friend Laura's birthday, Olympia and I decided that we needed to do something "fun." So what do three 30-something moms do for fun? We had no idea, so we decided to do something that teenagers might do (they're always having fun, right?), so we planned a surprise scavenger hunt at the mall. Of course, it would have been really fun for Olympia and I to just make Laura do all of the humiliating stunts, but then we figured being her birthday and all, we might want to spread the humiliation around.

We brainstormed dozens of tasks, but eventually narrowed it down to just over a dozen. Knowing full well that we might pull out any one for ourselves, we were quick to get rid of the ones that were just too humiliating. We also allowed each one of us a pass option which allowed you to pull a different task from the bag. However, if you picked out the same on another turn, you had to do it.


Here are the stunts that made the cut:

1. Carry on a conversation with a mannequin - make sure there are other customers around, and comment on what a jerk the mannequin is for ignoring you.

2. Go into the bathroom and make a veil out of toilet paper. Wear it out of the bathroom, walking the way a bride goes down the aisle.

3. Put a balloon under your shirt and pretend you are pregnant. Complain loudly of your aching back.

4. Go to a Taco Bell and order a Whopper. Insist that you want a whopper no matter what they say. Finally give in and say: "fine, I'll have a Big Mac."


5.Sing Yankee doodle at the Yankee candle store and get someone to sing with you.

6.Make a loud passing gas sound in a bathroom stall.

7.Dance to the music from a store in a style of your choosing for one minute .

8,9,10.Pick some thing to wear for the rest of the evening, out of the prop bag.
(we had this one in there three time so everyone can only draw it once)

11.Get a handful of pennies and pretend to be bowling and toss them in to the fountain.

12.Stand in a prominent place, like a statue, wearing several items from the prop bag for 3 minutes.(You may change your pose once.)

13.Try on a pair of boots and walk around the store singing:These were made for walking and that's just what they'll do...

14.Pretend to be talking on the phone using your hand, in cell phone store then ask an associate in that store for an accessory, of your choosing, to fit your "hand held" phone.

15.Get a balloon out of the prop bag make it into your baby, then take the little tyke into a baby store and ask for help getting something that will fit junior.


We printed out the tasks on a piece of paper, then on the other side printed out the "prize" which was that we were taking Laura out to dinner at her choice of two places. It was sort of like a puzzle that she had to put together after we finished doing the scavenger hunt.

Okay, now that you have the background, here are the pictures (and video!)



As luck would have it, on both Olympia and Laura's first turns, they got to pick out a prop to wear the rest of the night.




Who is that great looking mannequin!??!



Laura's big day!



What was amazing about Olympia talking to the mannequins was how good she was at making small talk! You should have heard her: "What a great dog, whose is he?" "Now I see you are all dressed warmly, do you have plans to go outside?" By the way, she carried on a one way conversation for about 2 minutes. Not bad!




Laura with her bundle of joy. Although, and my math may be wrong, I'm thinking she may have been expecting before she got hitched!




What a beautiful dress - anything looks good with gold skin!



Oh my goodness! These cell-phone guys were HILARIOUS!!! Olympia approaches the kiosk talking on her hand, and asks what kind of accessories they've got. Without missing a beat, the salesman says he thinks he might have a glove that would fit. Reaches into a drawer and pulls out an imaginary glove. Olympia "tries it on" and asks how much. "$49.95" Of course, she says it is a little steep and no thank you, but once you put the glove on, they can't take it back. She tries paying with imaginary money, but they only take the real thing. Luckily for Olympia, her hand rung and she had to take the call, so we made our escape!





Maybe this one will be a girl!





Thank heavens for this great couple!!! Laura was walking around the store singing lightly under her breath, praying for a miracle that these two customers would spontaneously join her in the song. Eventually she asked them, and this guy jumped right in! Makes you feel good to be a part of humanity!



We survived!!!!




Laura's mini-cake after dinner.

Kids

I know, I know. I have been posting like crazy. It is just that we have been snowed in since Sunday night and I can't believe how many little projects and chores I have gotten done since I don't have to worry about taking kids to school, appointments, or piano lessons. There are just so many more hours in a day! But don't worry, I am almost caught up, and then I am sure that I won't post for another 3 or 4 months!

This is a collection of pictures I've taken of the kids over the last 4 months. As you will soon see, my kids pretty much always look a mess. I really don't know how other moms do it - you know, the ones whose kids always look so neat and clean - hair combed, coordinated outfits, clean hands. I stick to the basics - clean diapers!!!

Antonio and Domenic taking a nap.



Domenic really has no choice but to like trains - his brothers play trains every day!



Roman posing for the camera.



This is on Antonio's birthday, so it is back in October.



Quinton made a thrown/fort - the orange boxes were very important (apparently). I know this because after I took apart his thrown and he redid it the next day, I had to get the boxes out of the recycling bin since the chair wasn't complete without them.



Domenic. I think that is sweet potato on his face. Or maybe carrots.





In the Sunday paper Quinton found this ad for a Disney train. He decided he wanted it, so he cut out the form and filled out the card. I took a picture since I was quite impressed with his initiative. Of course, he was disappointed when I told him that we weren't going to send for it. ("Quinton, that costs money and I don't want to buy it." "But Mom, just go to the bank and get some money out!!!")



But his diaper is clean!!!



Quinton's preschool class has a class mascot - Bananas. They went to Build-a-Bear for a field trip and everyone in the class helped to make him. Every day a different kid gets to be the "caboose," one of the special privileges of being the caboose is getting to take Bananas home for the night, along with a backpack full of clothes to dress him up!



Domenic before he was crawling. He could manage to stretch and scoot pretty well, though. With Quinton I wrote down the date every time he did something new. With Roman I started out writing everything down and then it kind of drifted off. With Domenic, I haven't written anything down. I always think I will remember so I can write it down later, and yet now, I can't remember when it was that he first crawled. I am going to go with around Thanksgiving time. Or it could be around Halloween. Nope, I think Halloween was when he got his first two teeth. Thanksgiving must be when he crawled. (See, I can't remember anything from just 2 months ago!)






When I was unpacking the Thanksgiving decorations, Quinton found the picture I had framed from last year's pumpkin patch. He really wanted me to take his picture while holding his photo from last year.



Quinton discovered that if he took one of the two gerber foods out of the box, he could build with them. One of his many creations.

Air Show

Well, the Blue Angels came to Marietta back in October. Anyone who knows Antonio knows that he LOVES anything aerospace, so he took Quinton and they met up with Mom and Dad. I am not sure my parents knew exactly what they were getting into when they agreed to go along with Antonio - when it comes to events like this, Antonio is serious about staying the whole time and hates to lose any time on things like waiting in line for food, etc... He is a man on a mission - see planes - and that is it! Well, now they know!!

In the cockpit!



He is wearing Mom's vest. Ironically, I guess it was a little chilly, and yet they came back really sun-burned.


Antonio and Quinton watching the show. Quinton is up at the fence so he could see.



Quinton and Grandpa. I am not sure what is going on here - I can't tell if Quinton is just squinting because of the sun, or if he is upset about something.



More pictures of the fun day!

Thanksgiving 2010

For those of you who have read previous posts, you know how much I love to play with paper. I had made a whole slew of coasters in matching boxes maybe 6 months ago (or more, I always lose track of time). The first time I made the caramallows recipe - from Better Homes and Gardens magazine - it made a ton, and I was quickly realizing that my efforts to lose weight were going to go down the tubes if I didn't get rid of them quickly. I also off-load a lot of treats to my neighbors across the street, but even after giving them a plate full of caramallows, there were too many left! Anyway, I am making this story really long, but I gave some to Roman's speech therapist, and I wanted them to look nice so I ran downstairs (this occurred to me, of course, about 10 minutes before we had to leave for therapy!) and dumped the coasters out of a box and put four caramallows in the box and tied it with string. It looked so beautiful, that an idea was born. I remembered last year in BH&G they had a spread on mini-pies. I really liked the idea, and when I thought about combining a fun box with a mini-pie, I loved the idea!!

Mom, my favorite accomplice, found pie pans on-line for a great deal and there you have it : personal pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving!

Pies cooling on the countertop.



Packaged up and ready to give away!






Thanksgiving dinner at mom's house was great as usual. Here is the turkey hot from the oven - beautiful!



I had really been craving something chocolate for weeks before Thanksgiving. Knowing this, Mom asked me to bring a chocolate dessert. Well, I had all of these ideas going on in my mind of new techniques I wanted to try and how could I get the max chocolatey-ness out of one dessert. Well, this is what I came up with. It was a four layer cake, filled with chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, chocolate buttercream, and a chocolate "collar" (that is the chocolate surrounding the sides of the cake). I topped it with pecan "acorns" as a garnish. I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed with the texture of the cake - it was much drier than I expected, I think I should have brushed each layer with a sugar syrup. I also think I may have overwhipped the chocolate mousse since it was stiff instead of creamy. All that said, it was intensely chocolate, which was what I wanted!!!



The dessert table.