Chatty Cat's Chatterings

More baby pictures as promised!

2010-05-30T11:41:00.000-04:00

I went in for another ultrasound on Wednesday. We got some great shots of the noob! These pictures were taken at 11w4d, and I'm 12w1d now. Hopefully, this means that we'll be in the clear and can actually start planning for noob's arrival in December.

In the top picture, you can see the noob's hands up by its face. It has fingers! No more flippers for my noob. The second one is a profile shot with its head on the right. In the third, it turned upside down, so the white line along the top is its spine; the head is still on the right. The last pic shows noob kind of from the front. The face is on the right still, and then the belly in the middle, and then its legs are on the left. The bright white spots on the left are its shins as its legs are all tucked up. Cool!

So...pregnancy #5...

2010-05-18T19:39:00.002-04:00

Yep. Another one. This is from a week ago on May 11th. It measured 9 weeks 4 days then. I'm due around December 12, 2010, if all goes well this time. I've labeled the relevant parts. It was a really great ultrasound. The heartbeat was in the 180s/bpm, it was moving its flippers around, and we got to see really great blood flow through the umbilical cord. Everything looks healthy, so fingers crossed we'll be adding baby number three to our family this winter. I'm having another ultrasound next Wednesday as part of the Down's screening. I'll post more pictures, if everything looks good still.

Noah's Impulse Buy

2010-05-15T11:46:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, Noah cleaned out his half of the closet. In the process, he discovered two pairs of pants that were too short on him. We both agreed that donating them was a good idea, and so I gave him directions to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore that is right down the road. He stopped on his way home from work and saw a piano sitting there with a sign for $50. So, he bought a very old piano. A piano has been on our wish-list for several years now, but it's still kind of shocking to own one. We think it's probably from the 1940s. It's in decent shape. The lowest two keys need repair and some of the ivory tops on the keys are missing, but the hammers are in good condition and overall it's still sturdy. The kids LOVE it! I'll have to get someone out in the next few weeks to tune it and see about the repairs. I'm anxious to see if Emerson is really ready to learn yet. I'll get some beginner books and see what happens!

Emerson loves Lego!

2010-05-13T10:34:00.001-04:00

Emerson just LOVES Lego! I signed him up for the Lego Club magazine a while back, and he is always so excited to get a new issue. In every issue, there are pictures of kids and their Lego creations. Emerson really wants to submit a photo, so this is what he came up with. It's a space ship with an island landing site. Too cute!

Random Dinner

2010-05-11T09:24:00.004-04:00

Noah is often amazed at my dinner creation, much to my surprise. To me, it's just dinner. But, after a long day of driving back home, I came up with this plate of food on short notice, and Noah insisted on taking a photo of it. He said it was too pretty to go un-photographed. There's Cuke-Mango-Lime salad, Cheese Enchiladas with fresh Avocado slices, easy Black Beans, and a Green Salad with Fig Vinegar, Almonds, and Dried Cranberries. Delish!

Eleanor turned FOUR!

2010-05-07T10:16:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, Eleanor celebrated turning four! We were visiting Grandma and Papa, because Crazy Uncle John's wedding was the same day. It was a lovely day out on the lake, and Eleanor had a blast. Clockwise from top left: she was disappointed about having to wait until after lunch to open her presents, blowing out her candles, learning to ride her bike, hugging Grandma, and just being cute in the center! Her new bike is really cool. It's a Trek Float, and the pedals are removable. So, instead of training wheels, we took the pedals off. She'll scoot along until she gets the hang of balancing, and then we'll put the pedals back on. It's supposed to take kids less time to learn how to ride this way. Time will tell.

Birthday Outfit Two

2010-05-05T11:42:00.000-04:00

I got a little carried away sewing for Eleanor's birthday. By now you probably saw the post with her monkey outfit. I also made Elizabeth, her American Girl Doll, a shirt, a dress, and a reversible skirt. I'll have to do a doll fashion show in one of my upcoming posts. The dress is a pillowcase style and matches one that I sewed for Eleanor. This dress is out of Olivia fabric. Olivia is one of her favorite stories. In case you're unfamiliar with it, it's a cute story about a girl pig and her family. The girl pig loves to read, play dress up, and wear out her loving family. Very cute! Since Eleanor loves Olivia so much, when I saw this fabric, I just knew that I had to make something for her. The design is from Ottobre magazine (Issue 03/2007). It's number 16 in that issue. I think the design is really cute with the irregular overskirt and the full underskirt. I loused up the bodice a little when putting in the back zipper. Ottobre isn't known for the best descriptions of how to do things. It wasn't until after I had the zipper sewn in that I realized that it was supposed to be between the bodice and the lining. It's a good thing that I had pre-finished all the edges with the serger. It doesn't look as neat on the inside as it would have, but it's still perfectly functional and looks great from the outside, which is all most people will ever see. If I make another one, at least I've learned my lesson!

Yummy Dough!

2010-05-03T13:12:00.005-04:00

Mom sent the kids something called Yummy Dough as one of their Christmas presents. Spring break was the perfect time to break it out. We had a horrendous heat wave, and not only was the kids' school closed for the vacation, but almost everything in town was as well. The stuff was kind of weird.

It comes in a box with four different packages of powder and a syringe for measuring the water accurately. It took a while to mix it up.

At first, it was just a crumbly mess, but after some kneading it turned into the perfect modeling texture. It was soft and pliable and didn't stick to the counter.

It also smelled great! Just like vanilla cake batter. The kids had a blast using their dinosaur cookie cutters to create some colorful dinos,

and then they had me make things like their initials, flowers, butterflies, and snails. They had so much fun! We baked the dough as directed for about 20 minutes in a warm oven. The cookies end up a little on the hard side. They'd make great Christmas ornaments. This didn't deter the kids from devouring them though. They were begging to eat the Yummy Dough cookies for a week until they were all gone!

I have no idea where the Yummy Dough came from, but I'd definitely get it again for an inside day.

Salad for Jenni!

2010-04-27T18:49:00.002-04:00

I promised Jenni the recipe for my super-awesome, super-easy (and totally vegan LOL) salad, so here it is! It only uses five ingredients and still manages to taste delicious. You need one cucumber, one avocado, 1 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar, 1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil, and about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Use coarse salt. I use a Cypress Flake salt from the fancy-schmancy grocery store, but plain old kosher salt will do. Just please DO NOT use table salt.

So, you take your cucumber and peel it, slice it lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Then cut each half lengthwise again, so you should have four long skinny pieces of cuke. Cut those crosswise into about 1/4 inch slices. Peel, pit, and dice your avocado. Pour the oil and vinegar on top. Add the salt. Stir it all up. Taste it. You may need to add a little more salt or vinegar, if the veggies are oversized. This cuke was larger than what I normally use, so I added an extra pinch of salt and an extra splash of vinegar. But, with normal sized veggies, the measurements are usually about right. Enjoy!

A Tour of the Kids' Room

2010-04-15T18:24:00.000-04:00

Mom was asking me a few weeks ago how the kids were liking sharing a room. THEY LOVE IT! They really wanted bunk beds, just like Brother and Sister Berenstain Bear. So, we agreed and reorganized Emerson's room into a room for both of them. Here's a look at the new room moving around counter-clockwise from the door.

And, then a close up of the finials. The old ones were too babyish, but I didn't want to shell out $25/pair for new ones. So, Fimo dough came to the rescue. I had some of it laying around the house for occasional crafts, so I stuck little balls of dough all over the finials and then baked them. Good as new!

And, we wanted Eleanor to be able to get to all of her stuff, so most of her clothing, shoes, dress-up stuff is stored under the bed in roll out bins.

Eleanor's Birthday Outfit

2010-04-14T13:03:00.000-04:00

I had some scraps leftover after making outfits for Emerson, Eleanor and two of their cousins a couple years ago. Eleanor loved the fabric, so I had to figure out something to do with it. There wasn't much of any one fabric, but it all coordinated. So, I saw this skirt in the 1/2009 issue of Ottobre that uses a whole bunch of little pieces. It's called the Sudoku skirt. I modified a little bit. I didn't have enough fabric to add the bottom ruffle, so I added sombrero puff ball trim instead. And, the waistband utilizes button hole elastic so the waist is adjustable and should fit her for a long time. The shirt is from Wal-mart (yes, the evil Wal-mart), and I hand painted it yesterday to match the skirt. The bow is tacked on to make it look more girlie.

Tree Planting!

2010-04-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

Back when we first moved into our current home (about 3 years ago), Noah and Emerson planted a cherry tree in the front yard. This was one of the very first things we did in our new home. I remember Noah being driven around by a friend of ours to all the nurseries in town to find the perfect flowering (AKA non-fruit bearing) cherry tree. I don't know exactly what we ended up with, but it's a certain cultivar that blooms in both the spring and fall, and it's settled in nicely into our front yard. Eleanor being only about one year old at the time didn't get to participate in the planting, and she has taken this as a personal slight ever since.

Noah decided that it was time for them to plant a tree together. We all decided on a plum tree that will hopefully bear fruit. Now we have two lovely, young trees in the front yard to go with the more established dogwoods, and Eleanor no longer feels left out. We took pics that day of the tag and scrawny little tree, but as you can see from the pic now, it's already starting to leaf out and looks great!

I was going to snap a pic of the cherry tree, because it was in full bloom about a week ago, but I forgot. So, it just looks like a tree with green leaves. There's always next year!

Our 10th Wedding Anniversary

2010-04-05T09:39:00.000-04:00

A couple Sundays ago was our 10th anniversary. Not sure how we lasted this long, but it seems to be working out. Who knew that if you dated someone you barely knew for 4.5 months and then were engaged for about 6 days that you could actually have a marriage that lasts longer than 99% of Hollywood?

We didn't get to do too much, because it's the middle of the school year, but we got to get away for one Saturday night. So, we headed down to New Bern and stayed at The Aerie B&B. We heard a garden lecture at Tryon Palace and then toured about four buildings on the grounds.

Then we got lunch at Captain Ratty's. Amazing food! We ate on the roof, and my pale skin got totally scorched up there. If you're ever there, I definitely suggest the shrimp tacos and the fried green tomatoes.

Noah set up massages for us back at the B&B, so we had those and then enjoyed some wine and mingling with other guests during the social hour there. We then walked around the town to look at some of the historical buildings before going on the cheesiest ghost tour ever! It was really goofy. See one of the pics below and tell me if you see any ghosts.

We had a fabulous dinner at The Chelsea. It was kind of funny, because in the middle of dinner we heard a bugle horn. As we were leaving, we realized that there was a Dining Out going on in one of the private rooms at the restaurant, which brought us back to some of our memories from when Noah was in the Navy.

The next morning we brought our OJ and champagne to the breakfast table, so that we could celebrate with mimosas, since our actual anniversary fell on a Sunday.

The breakfast was so fantastic! There were three choices, but I can't remember what they all were. I ordered pancakes, and Noah had french toast. I'm not a big pancake person, but these were so delicious. They were the best pancakes that I have ever eaten! They were really thick, almost biscuit like, but still cooked in a pan. So tasty!

We finished up with a little bird watching on the way home, and then we spent the rest of the day with the kiddos. It would have been wonderful to take a real vacation for our 10th, but we managed to pack quite a bit into about 24 hours.

From a few weeks ago...

2010-04-04T11:39:00.003-04:00

The next few posts will probably be me catching up from not posting the last few weeks. This one was from March 18th. Eleanor decided that she wanted to clean the windows. So, I gave her a bottle of cleaner and some paper towels and pulled out the camera. She was cracking me up! When she was done with the windows, she set out to dust the baseboards. I swear I'm not making the kids perform slave labor!

April Fool's Day!

2010-04-03T17:36:00.001-04:00

The kids learned about April Fool's Day in school. Why? I have no idea why they would encourage pranks and tricks, but the kids think the holiday is a hoot. Emerson really, really wanted to play a trick on Noah, so we made some "fish sticks" and "peas" out of sugar wafers, peanut butter, corn flakes, and taffy. We got the idea from the Family Fun website here. It made a tasty after gymnastics/before dinner snack for everyone!

You know how Noah loves to talk about wars...

2010-03-17T16:31:00.001-04:00

We drove SIX hours round trip on Sunday to go to the Revolutionary War reenactment at Guilford County Courthouse. Eleanor thought the cavalry horses were "pretty ponies." Emerson was thoroughly entertained by the faux gunfire and military uniforms. Scary! It was a beautiful day, and we got to do quite a bit of walking on the trails throughout the park. The kids were even well-behaved in the car. Anne and Bob met us for dinner in Greensboro. It's always nice to see them, and the kids just LOVE their grandparents. They can't wait until this weekend when they'll get to see Grandma and Papa again! Oh, and Emerson is holding up a rock in the picture, NOT flipping the bird.

Ack! I'm no good at this.

2010-03-16T13:50:00.001-04:00

Really, I mean to be updating this blog more often, but I never seem to have the time. Jenni being out of the country doesn't help. She's the one prodding me more more pics. I hope she's enjoying Spain.

These videos are from the kids' swim lesson last week. Eleanor decided in the middle to start disco dancing, so make sure you watch at least a minute or so into the first clip. She picked it up from Angelina Ballerina on PBS. I can't believe she taught herself dance moves after only watching the show once or twice. So funny!

Yeah, it's Tuesday, but here are some tidbits from the weekend,,,

2010-03-09T20:51:00.001-05:00

Nana sent Eleanor a dress and shoes from Chinatown in San Fransisco. She LOVES them. She put them on immediately. Then she put them back on on Sunday, and then she wore the shoes to school yesterday!

Noah and I FINALLY saw a Baltimore Oriole. We have been searching for one of these for the entire decade that we've been together to no avail, and it had jokingly made it on to our "those birds don't really exist" list. Well, Sunday morning one beautiful specimen decided to chill out in the bush right outside our bathroom window. Why the bird picked our yard for his morning snack is beyond me. The raccoons have enough sense to stay out of a yard with two dogs in it, but the bird wasn't bothered. It was beautiful.

And, one last thing is a video of Emerson on the closed trail near the river. Water was flowing so there was a sign telling people to turn around. Emerson decided to ford the stream and got soaked in the process.

"What's for dinner? Wednesday" will likely be on hiatus until soccer season is over. I was excited to do them, because we're usually home on Wednesday afternoons (no after school activities), but for the next few months Emerson will have soccer practice on Wednesday evenings that will be disrupting the dinner schedule.

Library card day!

2010-03-05T20:03:00.003-05:00

Emerson got his first library card today! He was so ecstatic. In the summer of 2008, I read him Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. He learned to read in November of that year, and he has since read the book to himself several times. It is probably his favorite book. When I told him that there was a sequel called Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator on Wednesday night, he became super excited! He wanted to go get the book right then and there. I told him that I would get it from the library for him. When he awoke yesterday, he wanted to know if I had gotten the book yet. I told him that the library hadn't even opened since we had last talked about it, and that we would go to the library today (Friday), because the kids don't have any after school activities on Fridays. I picked him up from school today and he was jumping for joy to go to the library to get the book. Fortuitously, Noah got off early today, so Noah was able to meet us at home and take the kids to the library. Emerson decided that he really wanted his own library card; up until now, we had always checked books out on my account. It turns out that you only have to be five years old and able to sign your name to get a card. So, Emerson got his card and checked out two books: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and a Magic School Bus book. He rushed into the house so excited that he had his own card, which is now hanging on a hook next to all of our keys. Eleanor was sad that she couldn't get a card too. After all, she can write her own name now without help, but she's got to wait another 408 days before she turns five.

What's for Dinner? Wednesday

2010-03-03T20:12:00.007-05:00

I'm hoping to start a new feature, where every Wednesday you'll be treated to one of my homemade meals including pictures, recipes, and directions! Today we had Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole and Rice Pilaf.

Every good cream sauce starts with a roux, so here's how to make one step by step: Melt butter over MEDIUM heat, whisk in flour, keep whisking and whisking until it's done (about five minutes for this recipe). You must keep whisking or it will burn, and you'll have to start all over. The mixture will be kind of thick at first, and then the consistency with thin out. Once it's thinned out, you can add your other liquids and use it, but the darker the roux the more flavor it will have. I like a pale caramel color for most creamy sauces, but if you were making a spicy dish you could cook it longer.

Once my roux was ready, I added the chicken broth, cream, and sherry, which I had already mixed together. If you add the sherry separately, it tends to burn off too quickly and lose the flavor. Bring the sauce up to a boil, stirring occasionally, and then simmer for about five minutes until it's thickened. Stir in the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Now that the sauce is ready, all you have to do is pour it over a dish of broccoli and chicken. Here you'll see about 1.5 pounds of frozen broccoli florets topped with about two pounds of raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into pieces. I then sprinkle plenty more Parmesan over the top. Up until this point, it has looked like a fairly normal and healthy casserole, but I want my kids to eat it, so the last thing is half a roll of Ritz crackers crumbled over the top. Bake until bubbly (about one hour at 350F).

Ingredients that you'll need for Chatty Cat's Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole: 1/2 stick butter, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 cup cream, 1/4 cup sherry, 1/2 cup (plus more for sprinkling) Parmesan, 1-1.5lb frozen broccoli florets, 1.5-2lbs of chicken breasts, and half a roll of Ritz crackers.

I made the Rice Pilaf while the casserole was cooking. Saute a couple minced shallots in olive oil over high heat until soft. Mix in the rice and almonds. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat for about thirty minutes. You'll need to salt to taste when it's done, depending on how salty your broth is. This makes plenty for leftovers. You'll see how I turn this into Fried Rice to accompany Teriyaki chicken in future installment.

Chatty Cat's Super-Easy Rice Pilaf Ingredients: 2 medium shallots, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 cup Basmati rice, 1/2-1 cup raw, slivered almonds, 2 cups chicken broth.

Bacon fat. Mmmmm...

2010-03-02T13:50:00.006-05:00

We started saving bacon fat. Not to cook with like ordinary southerners. No. You see, our geriatric golden retriever, Kodiak, lost about ten percent of his body weight in the past year, and his vet said he needed to be fattened up. We were told to try and get him to eat more. The dog gets as much food as he could possibly want. We weren't withholding food. He just wasn't wanting to eat. So, we decided to motivate him with bacon fat. After a few weeks of this, we decided that this wasn't practical for a couple of reasons. 1.) We don't eat all that much bacon. Maybe one package a month.
2.) The bacon we eat is expensive. I like the applewood smoked, all-natural variety from the hoity-toity grocer that costs a bundle.
3.) Canned dog food is much less messy and dangerous to deal with than sizzling hot, rendered, pig fat. We had a ramekin of fat leftover after we switched to feeding the dog canned food mixed with the dry. I've been meaning to throw it out, but we all know that Noah's a packrat. I figured that as soon as I removed the cup of bacon fat from the kitchen, he would say "but, I was going to use that!" And, did he ever have plans for it.

He wanted to find out, if he could make a torch out of it. Because you know we live in a cave, and we don't have wonderful, safe ways of lighting our home like electric light bulbs. Well for those of you dying to know the answer, you can indeed make a torch out of a stick and rendered, pig fat. It burned for several minutes, and Noah thankfully took it outside to a much safer location than our living room for it to burn out. He's now determined to make an improved torch that will both last longer and drip less. I know you're all excited for the next installment of
Noah's Pyro-maniacal Adventures!

And, for those of you paying attention to Kodiak's well-being. He has started eating more. He enjoys both bacon fat and canned dog food mixed in with his dry food, and he will lick his bowl clean and beg for more.

Let it Snow...

2010-03-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

I am so tired of the snow. We live in the southern US for many reasons, not the least of which is that it rarely snows here. Except this year. We've already had at least three significant snowfalls that have had the kids scampering outside. Our most recent adventure was about two weeks ago, when the friend you see over on the right was made. Sadly, we had no carrots, coal, buttons, or old silk hats lying around, but we made do. Our snowy friend is adorned with sidewalk chalk for his eyes, nose, and mouth. He has sticks for buttons and being a naval officer, he obviously enjoys a good round of golf. Now this would be the end of it, except I'm hearing that we may get more snow again tomorrow. Note to the weather: it is now MARCH--- enough with winter already.

Today has been a banner day for this blog!

2010-02-28T20:10:00.001-05:00

We've got a new header, a new pages link and a new labels cloud on the sidebar, and the nasty footer is GONE!

Also, you get three videos of the kids goofing around in the swamp yesterday. First up is a video of the kids deciding to walk Emerson's bike back to the care together. By this point, he had completely muddied his shoes and socks and was thoroughly soaked.

Then, Emerson saw the most perfect natural log bridge over a swampy area and conquered it!

And, lastly Eleanor found a delicious mud puddle, where she proceeded to thoroughly soak herself.

It was a blast. After we turned the camera off, they both wandered off into the swamp even more. Emerson fell and was muddy up to his waist. They both went straight to the bath tub when we got home.

Woohoo!

2010-02-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

The header has been fixed! Yeah! My next goals for the blog will be to fix the footer so that the recipes aren't just floating down there. I plan to utilize the label function and get them somewhere else. Also, look for a label cloud coming to the side pane in the future. I think that will help you navigate the blog. Of course, there is now a handy-dandy search bar in the header!

It's been a fun-filled weekend here. Yesterday Noah and I took the kids to River Park North and walked some of the trails. Well, Emerson rode his bike mostly. We've got some great photos and video that I should be uploading tomorrow (later tonight if I get motivated.)

Still looks pretty bad

2010-02-25T13:45:00.002-05:00

But, it's getting better every day! I've got a color scheme worked out, but I'm still trying to figure out where the colors fit best. I need to create a new header still, and I'm hoping to create a "recipe" link, so I can get the two out of the footer and add more recipes too! Once, I get the blog all tweaked out, you can expect to see family updates regularly. I hope you're enjoying seeing the process as the blog comes together. I know that I sure am learning a lot about how these things work behind the scenes in HTML.