The First Day of School....again

Today I had my second first day of school for the 2009-2010 school year. Weird. I can't say I so much like having to do the first day stuff twice in one year - it is boring and yuck. And I am so bad at learning names - so, so bad. I want to be one of those people who can hear a name once and just remember it (and the matching face, of course), but I can't. And to be in a job where you have to learn 100+ new kid names every year. Yikes. It gives me a complex.

I am trying things a little differently this semester compared to last - so I hope it works. I was thrilled at the 100% pass rate, but that is a double edged sword because now the only way for my performance to go is down! Maybe I should have thought this through a little more before I got all super-teacher on them first semester. Should have paced myself. Crud.

Wish me luck.

Grayson's 1st Haircut!

I gave Grayson his first haircut today. He is 17 months, 1.5 weeks old. It has taken him so long to grow hair, it was kind of sad to have to cut it. There was actually not that much to cut - he just needed a few places in the back trimmed up where he had a few rouge curls. He was so good. He sat on his little chair and held pretty still and let me clip away. He's such a sweet little boy. There, I said it. Little Boy.

Sweet and Spicy Pork - in under 30 minutes

I am a little obsessed with food again. I think we got off track with making decent food because we were overwhelmed (shocking, I know) and we started to resort to pretty bland and boring food. Like I said in an earlier post, we are looking for things that are easy - but better than "cooking" a frozen pizza. So for tonight we tried this...

Sweet and Spicy Pork
adapted from Cooking Light, June 2005

This comes together VERY fast.

Ingredients:

• 1# boneless pork tenderloin, sliced into thin chops (we made 6 slices)
• 1 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp EACH minced garlic and ginger
• 1 tsp oil
• 2/3 cup of salsa
• 2-3 Tbs of chutney or preserves (we used a combo of hot mango chutney and strawberry preserves)
• cilantro to garnish

Method:

1. Heat the oil in the pan on med/med-high and mix the soy, ginger, and garlic together in a small bowl.
2. Put the pork in the pan and immediately spoon they garlic mixture evenly over the chops.
3. Turn pork over when it starts to get a little golden brown.
4. When cooked to your preference (don't over cook, there is always carryover) remove from pan and cover with foil while you make the sauce.
5. For the sauce - put the salsa and chutney in the same pan you cooked the pork - stir until well blended and heated through.
6. Serve pork slices with sauce on top.

The Stats: If serving 4 (again, we made it serve 2 with a lunch leftover) - the entree is 169 calories, 5.1 g fat, 24.4 g protein.

VERDICT: OMG - this was so easy it was crazy. It took my 25 minutes from start to finish, INCLUDING the time it took me to wash three potatoes, wrap them and toss them in the microwave, find the pole beans in the freezer and get a pot of them going, find all the ingredients and chop everything and slice the pork. You can't even preheat the oven and cook a frozen pizza in that time. Oh, and before you gasp at the massive pile of white stuff on my potato - it's yogurt :)

Dinner: 5 ingredients in under 30 minutes -- Green Chicken Curry

Super fast and pretty tasty...start the rice first and the rest will be ready right as the rice is finished cooking.

Green Curry Chicken
(Cooking Light 2009-October)

Ingredients:

• one pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1" cubes and sprinkled with salt
• 2 bell peppers (your choice of colors), diced
• 1 14 oz can of lite coconut milk
• green curry sauce (1-4 Tbs depending on the heat - add 1 at a time and taste!)
• 1 cup long grain or basmati rice
• fresh cilantro to garnish (optional, but nice)

Directions:

1. Start the rice first, omit the fat - otherwise follow package directions
2. Spray a nonstick pan with cooking oil and then lightly brown the chicken.
3. Add 1 Tbs of curry sauce and cook for 1 minute. (Taste and add more, if needed)
4. Add 1 cup of the coconut milk, bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until the chicken is almost cooked through.
5. Add the bell peppers, the remaining coconut milk, and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Simmer 5-6 more minutes or until bell peppers are cooked to your liking.

Serve the curry over rice and garnish with cilantro.

The Stats: 282 calories, 6.8 g fat, 29.7 g protein

VERDICT: Very, very easy. A bit mild for us, but I think it was our curry sauce. I think one of the really nice things about this dish is the coconut milk makes it have a great texture, but the calories and fat are still really low. The recipe says it serves 4, but I think if this is a dinner entree with no appreciable sides is really serves 3 with a small amount left for a lunch. The stats above are quoted as if you make four servings - but still - even with three servings it has less calories than one of those nasty microwave 'diet' meals and is way more satisfying and filling.

A Day in the Life...

Sometimes dinner is really entertaining and high fives are in order...















And sometimes they work together and things get a little crazy.

Nothing like a weekend trip that requires 1000+ miles of driving...

This weekend we made a trip to SC for Doug's Granny's 90th birthday (oh, and her twin's) party. It wasn't our first 'big' trip with the twins, but it was the first time we tried to pull something off like this in only about 48 hours. (I think it actually ended up being more like 60 hours, but you get the idea.)

YEAH!! FOR:

Yeah!! for being able to stay with Chuck and Maria and enjoying some peaceful quiet time not walking on eggshells. Granny's house looks amazing and is so much brighter and bigger than it ever looked before. The only thing that could have made this better would have been if the weather would have cooperated a little more. We couldn't really go outside and play with the boys because it rained pretty much all day on Saturday and Sunday we were doing the birthday party and then driving home.

Yeah! for the boys behaving really well the whole time we were in SC. They were pleasant, took their naps when they were supposed to, slept all night in a new and strange place, and handled all the new places and people really well. Being in such an uncluttered location also really helped with Grayson practicing his new found un-aided steps. In the past few days he has been letting go and teetering a few steps at a time. It is too much fun to see him look so surprised (and excited) when he manages to make it a few steps on his own.

Yeah! for the boys getting to meet Snowflake the talking bird at Granny's party. They were both so excited to see the bird up close and when he started talking they were beside themselves. Gabe kept signing "pretty, pretty, pretty!" and trying to get the bird to talk to him. Grayson would have crawled IN the cage with him if he could have. He was so excited he kept jumping up and down, up and down!

We ended up needing to trim Gabe's hair while we were down there - Grayson really needs it, too - but he hasn't had his first hair cut yet and we wanted to make sure that we give it proper attention (set up the chair, save the hair, take pictures, etc.) We made sure Gabe's first hair cut was properly documented and we want to do the same for Grayson. Plus, he has been working on growing his little bit of hair for 17 months now, so cutting any of it off is a bit sad!

The down side of the trip really ended up being having the boys in the car for such long periods of time. We left to make the drive both days after dinner when they would normally be asleep, but now that they are in the upright car seats they really couldn't seem to get comfortable enough to stay asleep and they were sooo tired.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home (not our favorite place, but kid friendly) and enjoyed watching Gabe concentrate so hard on the little peg game on the table. He kept taking two pegs at a time out and switching their places. I don't really know why this was fun - but he did it over and over again.

We decided to make the drive back all in one big session since the boys didn't sleep so well in the hotel on the way down. It really wore us out, but everything seemed back on track on Monday, so we will count it as a success. I'm not in such a hurry to make such a long drive again any time soon, but it is good to know we can survive it. I am sure it will get a little easier when the boys are a bit older- but for now I think we did a pretty decent job.

Is there a red neck in the house????

So I have moved almost 650 miles further north than I ever would have imagined I would have to -- and while VA is under the impression they are still "the South", they are sadly mistaken. How do I know? Well, let's make a quick 'for example' kind of list...

• Most restaurants do not serve sweet tea
  
• Even less people know how to MAKE sweet tea (no, it does not come in a Snapple or Lipton bottle)
  
• Grits anyone? Not here.
• If you can't tell me the ratio of water to grits RIGHT NOW while you are reading this, you need to stop calling yourself southern
  
• Manners are few and far between. No one says Ma'am or Sir, please or thank you, and very few will even hold the door for you - and they certainly won't wave you in to traffic when you are trying to get out.
  
• Did you see the pictures of the snow? Yeah, in the south snow=freezing rain.

There are many, many other examples - but listing them all is not the point of this post. THIS post is about the fact that I am NOT in the South; HOWEVER, that does not mean that we don't have your quintessential red neck population. I have been driving past this on my way to work since Thanksgiving.

Take a look - a close look. Do you see it???

Breaking in the new Crock Pot : Espresso Braised Beef Tips

It is official - we are swamped and it is a ridiculous thing to try and have two adults that work full time (plus) try and raise twins without help. It is kicking our butts. We need the two incomes ; can't really do anything about the lack of help; and we have to figure out something to make life a little easier/healthier/less hectic. So to that end, I have purchased a larger crock pot (my old one is too small to do a medium size roast) and I am trying to make a realistic goal of using it at least once every two weeks. We are also trying to do a better job of managing the grocery bill and trips. I bought two beef roasts on sale ($1.99!) and boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale ($1.79 pound!) this past weekend and now I am working on using them wisely AND easily. (Because cereal, I have been told, is not really dinner fare.)

This week we are trying Espresso Braised Beef Tips.

3 pounds beef stew meat (I used a tip roast) - chopped into 1.5 in chunks, blotted dry
2-4 Tbs flour w/ salt and pepper mixed in - all in a big ziplock
3 Tbs olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped large
3-5 carrots chopped into 2 in. pieces
4 new or red potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 small turnips, peeled and quartered
1 cup strong coffee
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup red wine

• Use the ziplock bag to shake and coat the chunks of beef. In a larger skillet over med-high heat, heat half the oil. Add half the beef and brown on all sides. When browned transferred to the crock pot. (Don;t crowd the skillet!)
• Add the onions to the skillet and cook until just starting to soften and brown a little. Transfer to the slow cooker.
• Add the other veggies to the cooker, then add in the thyme and coffee.
• Pour the red wine into the skillet and use to de-glaze the pan. Make sure you scrap up all the little brown bits.
• Pour this liquid into the cooker, give it all a good stir, and cover and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours.

The Verdict: This was very easy and very tasty. It did need salt - I think it would have benefited from some salt during cooking. Also, we did not have turnips - so I just left them out and added extra carrots. I actually ran out of fresh carrots and added a bag of frozen baby carrots. You couldn't even tell the difference
I took about 2 cups of the liquid out of the crock, stirred in a little cornstarch to thicken it up, and mixed it all back in and then served with old fashioned home-made biscuits.

If you are feeling brave, I think something that would really make this an over the top dish would be a different treatment for thickening the cooking liquid. I would suggest crumbling a few gingersnap cookies into the broth while stirring in a small pot. It will thicken it nicely and add a hint of sweetness. Add the crumbs a little at a time or it will get to thick. I know it sounds weird, but trust me -- it works like magic.

BONUS: The kiddos like it and it is tender enough that they can manage to chew it up. Yummy!

Golden Yellow Corn Bread

Golden Yellow Corn Bread/Muffins

We make both versions of this in our house - usually in muffins form for ease of serving to three small children.  We use the sweeter version when pairing with something spicier.  This is such a great recipe (from the package) because it is so forgiving.  Sometimes we throw in some leftover corn, shredded or diced pepper jack cheese, and/or a big spoon of salsa.  It always turns out great.  You just can't mess it up.

1 cup Indian Head Yellow Corn Meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup oil
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten

Corn Bread:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix oil, egg, and milk together and add to dry ingredients, mixing until batter is uniform. Bake in a greased 9”x9”x2” pan for 20-25 minutes.

Corn Muffins:
Pour corn meal batter into greased or line muffin tins, filling about 2/3 full. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Recipe Variation:
**For a sweeter, moister corn bread or muffin, make these changes to the recipe above: use 2/3 cup milk, ½ cup sugar, ½ cup oil and 2 eggs. Reduce the heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Snow Days : Dec. 2009

We got the twins first 'big snow' a few days before Christmas. Luckily we had bought them little snow suits, hats and mittens in hope that they would be ready to play in the snow if we actually had some - which hasn't happened in several years. Doug and the boys played outside pretty much everyday and they (that would be all the boys) seemed to really like it. I think Doug plans on having them both on skis next winter :)

Grayson the farmer.JPG

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Mmmnn... gate.JPG

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What happened to the last month!??!

I know, I know -- I am missing a complete month of posting! Well, life has been really busy and this got pushed to the side, and now that I look at my old posts, I feel bad about it! So I am going to go through my photos from the last few week (OK, months...) and try and recreate something of a time line.

Things to look forward to once I get it done:
Gabe is now walking
Grayson now has 8 (yes, 8!!) teeth
Little Gym is over
Babies have a new nanny (Ms. Patti) that they love
No more bottles, we are a sippy only family now
Pacifers are on the way out - they only live in the cribs now for naps and bed time.
Gabe is signing FAN and MORE
Grayson has mastered clap, clap, clap (so now we shake and clap!)
Both boys are loving their books and can point to pictures you ask about
and more that I will remember once I look through the pictures.

Happy Birthday Gabe and Grayson

Well, it's official - the boys are now one. I wonder how much longer we are allowed to call them babies?? It is hard to believe that a year ago today they were calling me back to go to the hospital and have these guys at 37 weeks.

They were soooo tiny! Gabe was the "big" one at 6 pounds 4 oz. and Grayson was our little peanut at only 4 pounds 13 oz. The whole first few months were a blur - but especially the first few weeks. Grayson spent two weeks in the NICU and Gabe came home - but we had to shuffle back and forth between the house and the hospital - but only on of us could go back at a time because somebody had to stay with Gabe....what a nightmare!

Now here we are a year later - Gabe is walking, Grayson is only wearing his brace at night - they both have amazingly different personalities and are funny, funny, funny. We survived the first year with twins. There were times when we didn't think we were going to make it. Anyone who thinks they are tired with just one baby gets NO sympathy from this end. Zip, zero, NADA.

The babies were amazingly well behaved today - both ate cake (Grayson tried to shove the whole thing in his mouth at once!), played, took quick baths, opened presents and went up for a nap without fussing -- all while people were over. Amazing.

We got a few good pictures, but no video :( I wish we had gotten a picture with the two of them together, but all the pictures taken from a distance ended up with Carson in them stealing cake from their trays. I guess I will have to decide to be happy that at least we have some close up shots of just them.

Cobbettes!

Tonight we decided to try something new with the boys - corn on the cob! We made some corn and then I sliced the cob into 3-4 inch pieces. Once they cooled off we handed them over and sat back to watch what would happen...


As you can see, it was quite the success. They LOVED it and really enjoyed chewing away on them. We have been trying to get our meals under better control so we can all eat at the same time...the cobbettes helped with this so much that we might be having a lot of corn in their future.

Crazy Days

I have been really bad about posting the last few weeks, but that certainly doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it. In the past few weeks we have 1- returned from SC, 2- survived two babies with croup and 2 adults with subsequent head rot from being around said babies, 3- spent a week in Radford working on the ACS exam and ChemEd, 4- started moving things into my new classroom at my new school, 5- tried to pretend this is summer and I am not still crazy tired, stressed, and not feeling well rested at all.

Things of particular interest from the past few weeks - well, first of all I think it is that Gabe is walking...like standing up in the middle of the room, letting go, and taking 3..4..5+ steps before he gets so happy he falls over in his excitement.

I signed Doug up to take a 4 hour pyrotechnics course at chemed. He seemed really happy with it, so while it is not your 'typical' vacation activity, it went over well. He got a big book, a lesson on safety, and a lab opportunity...and lots of excited chatter from him afterward.


I decided to be the assistance VB coach at my new school. I really like the sport (and they don't have swimming), they make coaching easy (kids don't miss class, I don't miss class), and it is always kind of a nice way to start the year in a new school.

We are also working on planning a little get together for the boys first birthday. We aren't doing a big party like a lot of people on my twins board. I wish I had the time and energy to plan a cute themes party like they are, but the truth is that I can;t pull it off this year. Not with all that has happened this summer and my new school starting just a few days before their birthday. I feel like I have plenty of birthdays in the future to make grand gestures, so I hope others will understand why we aren't going all out.

Old Friends

One of life's little 'treasures' is hidden away in the friends ones makes in college. We were so lucky to be able to connect with a few old friends this week. Of course, we are talking with a lot of old friends again because of Face Book, but sitting down together while your kids play together - having met for the very first time but seeming like old friends themselves - is a treasure that cannot be replicated over the internet.

We enjoyed catching up with Carol and Chris and their beautiful children. (See Silas holding Grayson in the photo.) I think we quickly forget how enriched these connections make our lives.

Sick Baby!

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. The positive take on it - we made it to 11 months old before we had any illnesses. On the negative side - it occurred right when we decided to take our first ever trip with the babies! On the way down to the lake we noticed little Snugs coughing a bit, but we didn't think too much about it because he is cutting 4 teeth right now and we figured he was drooling sooo much and trapped in a car seat that it was probably just that. Well...we were so wrong!

We decided to call his doctor first thing in the morning. She told us to take him to an urgent care place. So I packed him up and left Doug and Pumpkin at the lake house and figured I would get my Rx and be back in an hour or so. Instead, we ended up with two breathing treatments, chest x-rays, blood work, and a take home nebulizer! Then we were told to bring him back if he wasn't better in 2-3 days.

We were back the NEXT day. Snugs could not keep anything down, couldn't breath, and had become lethargic. More breathing treatments, an IV, more meds, and back to the lake house we go. Poor Snugs...he spent all but the last day of our vacation doing this:We never even got in the lake! And after packing all their suits and floaties, too.

Feeling a Bit Down...

I think we can chalk it up to some serious lack of sleep over the last 11 months (really more like 15-16 months, if you've ever been pregnant with twins you know how unpleasant it is to try and sleep!) or the changing of the hormone balance in my person as I I have dropped down to only 4 pumps a day (from 6+). I am feeling pretty down, in a diffuse sort of way.

I do have pictures of the boys to put up, but the camera won the battle during the pool visit this weekend, so 75% of the pictures I thought I was taking ended up not being on the camera. Which bites. I am going to load up pictures tomorrow when I can sit at the computer without little hands pulling at me the entire time.

So this coming week will be hectic - planning and packing for SC, going to the Little Gym, trying to take more 'stuff' to my new school, cleaning house, planning food, and who knows what else. I am sure this is only a tiny tip of the underlying iceberg. I'm just to out of sorts to focus on it right now. So rather than bring everyone else down, I am going to brush my teeth, pump, and go to bed!

The PeaPod arrived!

Today Gabe and Grayson stayed at home with mom so Doug could try and get some work done. Of course, it didn't help that Doug threw his back out this morning and spent the better part of an hour on the kitchen floor lamenting his back and his age.

We had a lot of fun today - especially when the boys PeaPod arrived. I am trying to figure out what we are going to do about sleeping at the lake - and people on my twins board suggested this little PeaPod portable sleep crib. It set up super easy - just open it and it pops up. I set it up in the foyer and let them have at it. I didn't get the camera fast enough to get a shot of both of them in it bouncing on the little air mattress - but I think it is obvious just how fun it is by the look in Grayson's face.

The other item that is worth mentioning is that Gabe only took one nap today. He slept from 11:30-almost 1:30 and then would not take an afternoon nap. He stayed up until almost his regular bedtime. Shocking! I think he was really enjoying his "one-baby" time when Grayson was sleeping this afternoon. He was really practicing standing up and balancing. I can't believe he is already do it.