warmth

Every once in a while I have a moment that, in spite of the infinite production of dirty laundry, reminds me there's upside to having children. One such moment happened the other day after Mira came back inside from checking out the hail (hail!?) that fell briefly. Here is what she said,

"Wow, it's cold out there but it's so warm in here. Mommy, you're the one who makes it so warm in here. You are like the sun and I am like the earth. I get my warmth from you."

Then she gave me a big hug and that's when my heart melted just a little bit.

nap time

Tim will undoubtedly be less than pleased about this post, but it's just too funny. He has a habit of falling asleep everywhere, especially while reading books to the kids. This is what I found 45 minutes after he didn't come back downstairs after putting Abby down for her nap:

Looks like a comfy place to snooze, right? I'm sure his neck thanked him for it later.

Oh, and I whipped up a killer coconut cake for Easter. The recipe was from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home cookbook and involved reducing some coconut milk for additition to the cake batter. It was delicious, moist and just the right texture. We covered it in a fluffy white marshmallow frosting sprinkled with flaked coconut that we dyed in various pastel colors to give it some Easter flair. I'm going to have to make this one again soon.

ultimate steakburgers

Spring has been teasing us for a few weeks now and caused me to have major cravings for some burgers hot off the grill. Last summer I discovered the secret to the most delicious cheeseburgers, packed full of beefy, juicy goodness.

The recipe, published by Cooks Illustrated, (here is a free link to the recipe as long as you register with America's Test Kitchen) calls for grinding your own meat consisting of a mixture of boneless beef short ribs and sirloin tips. If you don't have a meat grinder, you can use a food processor by cutting the meat into 1 inch chunks and freezing until just firm around the edges. The meat is processed until finely ground, but still loose. You don't want to overprocess and end up with a pureed glob of meat. Then you loosely form the patties, handling them as little as possible, and season generously with salt and pepper just before grilling. I served mine as directed in the recipe with thinly sliced onions, "special sauce", and melted american cheese. Wow. It was awesome and just what I was craving. Here's a photo from Cooks Illustrated but mine looked just as good!

Oh- and don't forget to check out the photos I uploaded from our vacation to Walt Disney World (click the photo below to view the album).

Walt Disney World 2010

little leprechauns

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little leprechauns. The two wee people are happy because they are about to nosh on these chocolate mint cupcakes.

Erin go bragh!

stuffy noses

Abby has had a stuffy nose for a few days. Apparently to her this stuffy nose is not your run-of-the-mill cold, but something else entirely. This is the conversation we had yesterday:

Abby: Mommy, there are little green guys in my nose.
Me: Huh??
Abby: Yes, little green guys. They are in my nose.
Me: Ok...?
Abby: The green guys are having a dance party. Can you tell them to get out of my nose?
Me: Green guys, get out of Abby's nose.
Abby: No!! They can't hear you! You need to yell it up my nose.
Me (bending down and with my face right up to hers): Green guys, get out of Abby's nose!
Abby: Thanks Mom.

hung out to dry

Kindergarten produces massive amounts of paper. Mira comes home with a new stack every day. We get to see the letter sounds and sight words of the day, a drawing or two, some cutting and pasting, and don't forget the coloring pages. I do my best to read through all of them each day, but I must admit experiencing Kindergarten paper overload from time to time, which causes me to skim through the pages or worse, add them to the ginormous stack of papers in my office waiting to be read. Today as I was cleaning out my office I made my way through the massive pile of Kindergarten papers. After the ladybug cutting and pasting project and beneath the "pan, fan, bat, hat" page on words with short a vowel sounds I found this:

If you can believe it, this little gem almost slipped by my fastidious review process. I've often wondered what Mira thinks of her little sister and this paper provides a glimpse. In case you can't read it, the directions state, "Draw something silly Mrs. McNosh might find at your house to hang up with the wash." Mrs. McNosh must be a character in a story that Mira's class read. For some reason, Mira decided that her little sister, Abby, should be out on the clothesline with the laundry. As you can see from the illustration, Abby is pretty distressed about being hung out to dry. Can you blame her?

thought process of a three year old

We walked back from the school bus stop this morning in blisteringly cold six (SIX!) degrees. Abby was not enjoying the weather and neither was I. Here's what she said:

Mommy, carry me. It's cold.
It's freezing!
I'm freezing.
I'm freezing like a popsicle!
...Can I have a popsicle???