Happy Birthday, Ben

by Lucky Red Hen on January 6, 2008

I might not get through this post because my space bar is sticking. Sadly, I cannot blame my beautiful children. No, this time it’s all my fault (I don’t mind the blame, ’tis true).

See, I deemed myself the Hostess today to Ben’s side of the fam + Freddy for dinner after a day of fasting (not for me because I’d fall over with the shakes and not Britanny because she’s less than 5 weeks away of giving birth to no. 2… oh, and not the kids because their bodies are too young). Usually these get togethers mean we all chip in and bring a dish but I’m kinda anti-that (not sure what you’d call it). Some people like the help (my MIL said she does), but for me I’d rather take care of it all myself. Call me crazy (k, I’ll wait for you to say it).

So in the midst of scattering things together for the birthday boys’ dinner, I checked online to see if I could fine the cream cheese measurement for the cheesecake, seeing that that is THE most important part of the dessert. While I was clicking around, I sucked on my Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer (draught style head) and sat it in between my arms RIGHT NEXT TO THE KEYBOARD. Go ahead and say it… “crazy.”

I gasped when it happened, Piper heard and worriedly (made up word) asked what happened!?

I just made a mess.

Uh-oh!

Yeah, don’t tell daddy ;o)

Anyway… dinner. We’re watching America’s Test Kitchen the other day on pork chops then low-fat cheesecake. Really? Is there REALLY such thing as LOW-FAT cheesecake? They took the almost 600 calorie slice down to 300 something but is that REALLY low-FAT?! Anywho, that’s not my point. The point is that Ben asked for those two items as his birthday dinner and by golly I was going to deliver (I guessed on the cream cheese amount – couldn’t find it anywhere for that specific recipe).

I scored the silver skin on 10 fat pork chops, sauteed and sauced them (my MIL particularly liked the sauce, yay!). Baked the fingerlings with some olive oil (forgot the parchment paper this time… never forget the parchment paper) and seasonings, the asparagus (must admit I overcooked them worrying about undercooking those thick suckers), warmed the meatballs and threw together salad.

Had to call around for a bigger Cuisanart because I have one of those silly mini-combo blender ones then realized I can’t find my spring-form pan, dagnabit (used a rectangular one, lame). But, I successfully drained the yogurt overnight to make yogurt cheese for the first time and also the cottage cheese (but that was just 30 minutes). It tasted just fine and I even swirled homemade raspberry puree on the plates and topped the pieces with fresh raspberries ($3.99 at Costco).

Eight adults, three kids and one happy birthday boy!

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Canine Dental Issues

by Lucky Red Hen on January 4, 2008

…and I’m not talking about human bi-cuspids.

Piper has been more concerned about Posie’s teeth lately.

She’s been so worried that she interupted Jack’s Wii playing tonight.

“Jack. Jaaaack. JACK!” she squealed.

“WHAT PiPER?” emphasizing the PER.

“I fink Posie has a woose toof,” she says nicely with raised eyebrows.

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Anger: something we’re working on in this house. We all get frustrated for different, and sometimes valid, reasons. Figuring out how to teach the proper way to deal with those feelings is another thing altogether.

Thank goodness Steve, of Blue’s Clues fame (sorry Joe), had a lesson about that today and they’ve been practicing…

STOP

BREATH (take a deep breath, filling the chest, then exhale slowly)

THINK (pointing to your cranium, which is the preferred term in our house)

So, Piper reiterated this lesson to Jack when the Wii wasn’t reacting properly and he growled. She said, “Stop, brief, fink, JaaaAck!”

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Where's The Sunshine?

by Lucky Red Hen on January 3, 2008

Ben sent this to me back in November when I was traveling…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNB4rvHPjPg&rel=1]
Stretches my cheeks.

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New Years Eve and Day

by Lucky Red Hen on January 2, 2008

Last night we had 2 couples over for some no-kid fun; Britanny and Jake, Ben’s sister and her husband, and Brent and Emily, our friends (Ben’s best friend from HS and our only groomsman).

The guys ended up playing Rock Band the entire night while us girls gabbed, ate and gabbed some more. It was WAY fun having them over for girl-bonding. I didn’t end up minding that the boys did their thing (secretly, well not so much anymore now that I’ve published this post, I was a little annoyed when I realized they weren’t budging from the game — but I’m relaxing more when my ‘plans’ don’t go as ‘planned’ — as long as everyone enjoyed themselves, it’s all good in the ‘hood).

Emily sang a few songs, she’s GOOOD, and Britanny and I choreographed a few doo-wops and hand gestures as backup dancer girls. Rock Band has taught us the real lyrics of songs we’ve sung wrong all this time (rape and murder in one song repeatedly, yikes).

The kids were staying overnight at Grandma and Grandpa’s house (“Thanks”). It was their second time doing that without us with them and they had nothing but funfunfun. Piper and Alice (Britanny and Jake’s 3yr old) horsed around until 11pm-ish the first time so this time we had other tactics (not sleeping in the same room) and the report back was that they did much better. If Grandma is brave enough to invite them to do it again, hopefully it’ll get even easier so that there’s no late-night shenanigans anymore. Piper postpones sleeping at our house lately, so it’s no surprise, but we hope that the kids are on their best behaviors when outside our jurisdiction LOL. Hopefully when school starts back up again this week she’ll get to sleep quicker. For my sanity, if anything.

Then today (well, technically ‘yesterday’ except I haven’t gone to bed yet so that still means it’s ‘today’ for me, which is technically yesterday, you catch my drift) we met at a bowling alley for the annual Bowling Tournament. Ben’s folks started this tradition YEARS ago with a traveling trophy that gets passed down to the next winner every year. Brett’s won two years in a row then Mark stole it last year and wasn’t here this year to defend his championship so Ben ended up taking the title (although we left the trophy at the folks since we’re mysteriously misplacing everything in the new place since we moved).

Here’s Jack bowling a frame, with Piper jumping through the shot as any 4yr old will do… dangit… nevermind… I’m learning the YouTube posting thing and it didn’t work right. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Happiness!!!

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Another Crazy Name

by Lucky Red Hen on December 30, 2007

Just saw this one today of a newborn baby… Matisyn. Really? WHY WHY WHY?!?

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Which Jane Austen Character Are You?

by Lucky Red Hen on December 27, 2007

I am Marianne Dashwood!:: M A R I A N N E ::
You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility!
You are impulsive, romantic, impatient,
and perhaps a little to vocal in your honesty.
You enjoy romantic poetry and novels,
and play the pianoforte beautifully.
To boot, your singing voice is captivating.
You feel deeply, and love passionately.

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Reason for the Season

by Lucky Red Hen on December 24, 2007

Tonight at the in-laws, Grandpa asked Piper (4) why we have Christmas…

“Because if we don’t have Christmas Santa won’t bring presents and that’s why we have Christmas.”

We had been talking about the true meaning of Christmas just hours earlier during our last-minute-shopping spree. We even re-discussed that Santa brings the kids 3 gifts each (two plus the stocking) to remind them of the 3 gifts the wisemen brought Jesus when he was born.

So Grandpa asked Jack (7) the same question…

“It’s to remember Jesus’ birth in a stable.”

Phew… I’m not that bad of a mother!

Merry Christmas everyone! May your season be filled with the peace and comfort of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

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Comment for Cancer

by Lucky Red Hen on December 21, 2007

Don’t comment HERE… click on this link and leave a comment. If there are 500 individual comments left, then my friend, Jose, will donate $1000 to Children’s Cancer Research Fund. Easy peasy!

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