You Can Cook

I don't think I'll ever be known for my housewife duties. For whatever reason, I was meant to work outside the home. I love my house and I love my kids, but our little triad only works well when I am away for about 8 hours a day. I love the summer vacation that teaching gives me too, but I'm also very glad to go back to work in September. I'm very good at going to school, writing papers, working with others, and being a teacher. One of the reasons I don't think I'll ever get the "Wife of the Year" award is my lackluster desire to cook. When I was living on my own after college, I think my daily fare consisted of macaroni and cheese, rice with butter and soy sauce, noodles with butter, and my favorite, take-out. Don't get me wrong, I could follow a recipe and make a great dish, but those times were few and far between. I can try to blame my mom and dad for not involving me in meal preparation, but really the fault lies in me. I think I was born without the oooh-let's-look-in-the-cabinet-and-see-what-I-can whip-up gene, instead I have I-don't-see-anything simple-to-make-let's-order-pizza-tonight gene.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I now have a husband and a house full of kids and eating out with a family of 7 kills the monthly budget. I have begrudgingly learned to make a few dishes outside the normal heat, boil, and serve routine. I make a pretty good lasagna and I've upped my rice and butter recipe by adding a vegetable stir-fry with baked drumsticks. Recently, I even made a delicious potato soup. I guess what I learned is when push comes to shove, I will do what needs to be done and sometimes I do it pretty well! I can cook and you can too!

Lenin's 1st Haircut

Brian and I finally decided to cut Lenin's hair. We love Lenin's curls, but whenever he slept on it or put on a hat, the curls would get flattened and what was left was a crazy head of long hair.  He had also been mistakened for a girl many times and really I was just ready to have it cut. He now has a big boy haircut to match his big boy attitude. Lenin doesn't want to sit in his high chair anymore, he wants to sit at the table like a big kid. He also sleeps on a cot at his new daycare and wants to feed himself like a big boy. It's kind of sad that he is growing up so fast, but I also love watching him gain confidence as he becomes more independent.

We went to a $5 haircut place close to the house. Brian refused to spend anymore on such a little head of hair. Lenin sat right down on the chair and let the lady cut away. The lady kept a little length on the top so hopefully it will still curl after a bath. I also grabbed a lock of hair for the scrapbook. It's amazing how grown up Lenin looks with his haircut. He is quite the handsome boy.

Next thing to go will be his evening breastfeeding and that pacifier....

And They Call It Puppy Love

We spent New Year's Eve with friends of ours who happen to have a dog, a yellow lab named Wrigley. Lenin hasn't been around dogs too much, so we weren't sure how he was going to react. To our surprise, Lenin was in puppy love by the end of the night. He wanted to lay on the dog and touch the dog. Lenin even got upset if Wrigley turned his head away for a second. Luckily for us, Wrigley is a very patient and loving dog and didn't mind all the attention from Lenin. We ended up spending the night there and Wrigley even decided to join Brian, Lenin, and I on the full size bed we were sharing for the night. It was definitely a cuddlefest. Seeing Lenin and Wrigley interacting made me want to get a dog....for about a split second. Then I remembered the dogs come with a lot of responsibilities and a lot of hair! Maybe when the kids are older and we can delegate doggy responsibilities, but until then we will have to settle for the dogs owned by our friends and family.

A Turkey To Remember

My husband and I hosted Christmas this year. My hubby surprised me when he said he wanted to prepare the turkey as he has never cooked one before. He told me that he wasn't going to just cook it but that he wanted to deep fry it. Brian's brother Michael has a turkey fryer that we could borrow so Brian then picked up a free-range, organic turkey from a local seller and found a fried turkey recipe online. Brian was so proud when he came home with his 16 pound turkey. Brian defrosted the turkey in cold water in the sink and then removed the plastic wrap. It was a little daunting to see this huge, naked turkey sitting before us. I needed the neck and giblets to prepare stock for the stuffing so Brian was designated to go in and get them. At first, he reached in the wrong end, but then he found the disgusting extraneous parts. Next, he prepared a tasty Creole seasoning then put the turkey in the drain basket. The frying was going to take place on the porch and Michael came over to help oversee the process. Brian then hung the bird and placed it in 4 gallons of overpriced peanut oil. It became apparent right away that there was too much oil and that they needed to take some oil out before it spilled and caught the house on fire. After getting the extra oil out, they moved the fryer to the cement pad in the backyard. Brian and Michael fried the turkey to the perfect temperature and then let it cool. Finally, Brian went to work carving the turkey with a little help from my dad. Brian's 1st turkey was a delicious success!

Photography by Kiara

Kiara has been dabbling in taking her own photos lately. I especially liked her self-portraits. Her expressions were priceless...

Play With Your Food

One of the great pleasures of being a parent is watching your children experience new things for the 1st time. Usually when I feed Lenin, I make sure he stays clean at all times. I have to constantly watch the bowl of food that I am feeding him because Lenin loves to try and grab it from me. Today I didn't worry about cleanliness or spilling and let Lenin try to feed himself. I gave him this easy to hold baby utensil and let him have at it. As you can see, Lenin really enjoyed himself and I enjoyed watching.

My Little Pretender

Kiara has the greatest imagination. Whenever she is home, she is constantly involving herself in these great make-believe situations. Her most repeated scenario is where she is the teacher of a classroom. She will sit down on the floor and read a book to her "students." She will take pauses to ask questions to her students and even reprimand those students who are misbehaving. There are 2 names that she is constantly using: Becca and Angel. Since I always hear about Angel and how he behaves, I asked Kiara's preschool teacher to point out Angel one day. The teacher looked at me like I was crazy and said we don't have an Angel in our classroom. How was I to know that Angel didn't exist and was only in her mind?! She also likes to play "Honey" which is when she is the mother and I am the baby. She calls me "honey" a lot during that.

Not only does Kiara love to teach but she also loves to dance. Whenever there is music playing, Kiara will be dancing. Sometimes it seems she is doing some kind of interruptive dance. She has this one move where she puts her head down, then flips it up and moves her hands at the same time. Brian and I would like to put her in dance class, but I know dance class can be very expensive and time consuming. We don't mind spending time and money but at 3 years old, I don't know if it is necessary. I think my Kiara has great opportunities ahead of her. It is almost overwhelming to think of the possibilities that she has. My hope is that she will always live in her imagination and know no limits.