Brush-a, brush-a, brush-a

Lucy has been looking forward to her first visit with the dentist. I was really proud of her because I wasn't with her most of the time. I introduced her to the dental assistant and hygienist and then walked two "rooms" down the hall to get my teeth checked out. I had to chuckle many times during my appointment... I could hear her just chatting away. I'm not sure how they got her to stop talking long enough to get those instruments in there. In fact, the hygienist told me that was the toughest part of the appointment. :) Great job, Luce!

New toothbrush and flossers! How exciting and right in time for the candy fest of Halloween!

Back from vacation

Geo and I have been on a fun vacation. Post is coming. Grandma Liz was the tender and the kids were in great hands.

It was fun to come home to see the cute little rascals......

Elise could not keep her hands off me...
afraid I'd escape again, I guess.

Big Ol Bugs

We went on a little fieldtip to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens with Lucy's preschool. They had an exhibit with big bugs around. It was quite impressive... so much so, that at each bug all the mom's had to take a group picture... :) Our own little Mamaratzi...

Thank goodness for grandma Liz to keep the troops under control.

Lucy's favorite thing about soccer

Lucy says she likes soccer "except for the times you sweat." Her favorite position is goalie because she "doesn't have to run." But, running is worth it if you can have a treat afterwards.

The headband was a hit (almost as great as the popsicle... but not quite). It stayed on for a long time afterwards, but no one noticed the backwards shorts until bedtime.

"Pumpkin" carrot cakes

I love this time of year for many reasons. One big one is all the pumpkin flavored deserts. This is not one of those, but it looks like a pumpkin so it sort of counts. Here's a little background that is not really related to the treats, but the reason I made them...

Every month we host a group of medical students rotating though Wilford Hall as a 4th year elective. Most of them want to be in the pediatric program, although some have changed their minds. George thinks its a good opportunity for them to ask questions about SA, the pediatric program, residency, etc. in a smaller setting. Last night was our fourth (and I think last) one. Its fun (but exhausting) and makes for a good excuse to clean my house really well. It just doesn't seem to get done if there isn't a good reason to do it. I find other things to do (like blog or read Harry Potter or whatever). Anyway, I can't handle all of that cleaning plus make a nice dinner and nice desert. Only two of the three. This time I opted to clean (but could only handle the main floor) and make a nice desert. I actually thought the dinner turned out pretty good, but it was a crockpot recipe that took less than 20 minutes. So for the desert, I decided to make carrot cake (recipe from one of the best cooks I know) and use my mini-bundt pan. Deep down, I really think I was trying to justify the purchase of the pan (bought it last year and have probably used it three times). So I thought I could turn the mini-bundts into cute little pumpkins if I iced them with orange. I also had some leftover mint brownies that I made in celebration of Geo finishing the boards (recipe from another one of the best cooks I know) and used that as the dirt.

It turned out cute, but the funny thing about all this is the conversation I had with George. I showed him my masterpiece and he said, "nice."

Me: "Do you get it?"

G: "Get what? That they are pumpkins? Yeah."

Me: "Soooooooooooooo???"

G: "Nice."

The whole man/woman difference in reaction/anticipated reaction just cracked me up. Lucky I have Lucy to give me the "proper reaction": "oh mom, that is SOOOOOOOOOO cute!!! I love it!!! Can I make one?" This recipe also doubled as my treat for the Neighborhood Recipe Swap.

Jessica's Famous Carrot Cake

Cream:

2 c sugar

1 1/2 c oil

4 eggs

Add:

3 c grated carrots

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp soda

2 tsp cinnamon

2 1/4 c flour (sift)

nuts (optional)

Bake at 300 (time depends on what kind of cake pan you use... for these mini-bundts, it took about 25 min)

Frosting:

8oz pkg cream cheese

1 cube softened butter

powdered sugar

vanilla or orange flavoring

I usually half (or 3/4) this frosting recipe (depends on how much frosting you like).

Erin's delicious mint chocolate brownies

Brownie Layer:

1 c sugar

1/2 c butter

4 eggs (beaten)

1 c flour

16 oz chocolate syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c finely chopped nuts

Mix ingredients and bake in a greased 9X13 pan, 25-30 min at 350.

Mint Layer:

2 c confectioners sugar

1/2 c softened butter

1 1/2 T green creme de menthe

Spread on completely cooled cake.

Glaze:

1 c chocolate chips

6 T butter

Melt together, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly and spread over the entire surface. Cool and cut into squares. Refrigerate (this is how Geo likes them) or freeze.

Kids play to learn and Adults learn to play

George had the day after boards off of work, so we headed to the San Antonio Children's museum (see above slogan) for an afternoon. I think one of Geo's best skills is knowing how to play, so it was great to have him along. Sometimes I tend to be more of a "watch from the sidelines" person, but he gets right in there. Love it. We started in the basement with "grocery shopping" and worked our way up to the top floor "airport." I had to chuckle at ourselves several times... George and I would say, "look at this! How cool!" and Lucy and Elina would give us a patronizing smile and quickly move on to something else (that we usually thought was lame).

Geo gave the girls "shopping lists".

The airport

Somehow the girls thought this was fun enough to visit twice. And I think they'd have gone again if we had more time. I'm still wondering what was so appealing... but definitely something.

Bubble ranch

Everyone seemed to have a good time at this one.

Near the end we found something all of us thought was COOL... not sure what you call the thing we were playing with. You know those box of nail type things where you press your hand and it makes the shape? (ya, I know. Lovely explanation.) They had a big one of those thingys and we played on it for probably an hour.

Elise liked pushing the pegs back into position best, but of course we had to force a body print.

The girls thought it was so funny when they figured out they could make foot prints too.
The many faces of Geo.

Yea Dad!

Up to?

Here are a few of this week's happenings...

Once every month, Geo's pediatric colleges have "Northside Nights" (dinner at a "unique" SA restaurant). Its always nice to get to know the people he works with a little better. We've tried some new fun restaurants this way, but this week I've found my favorite. It was held at Willie's Grill & Icehouse. We ate outside (temps were in the high 70's that day). We ate babyback ribs w/ yummy seasoned fries and a chicken taco salad. Think it was me that ordered the salad? No way. (The waiter was confused too. Geo usually gets the more "womanly" choice of the two of us. He's always been a little healthier.) For the kids, we ordered a mac & cheese kids meal (which was not boxed Kraft). The food was delicious and quite reasonably priced. But the best part was this big 'ol sandbox in the middle of the dining area. The girls played most of the night and George and I actually had adult conversation and it felt kinda like a date. Love it. My friend shared the "smother baby powder over all sandy bodies" trick and it made for quick cleanup.

Look close... can you see this kid's one big upper tooth? The other one is just coming through, but right now it looks kinda funny.

Lucy and I made treats for her pre-school...some cheese and some peanut butter.

Elise's mad face. I really have a hard time not laughing at this. She furrows her eyebrows and looks so grumpy. Its quite comical.

Lucy's 1st homework assignment: answer questions about her house.

The last question says, "The best thing about my house:" and her response "Halloween decorations." She really gets into decorating for the holidays. I take out my bin, she takes a decoration out and says, "Awww...look how cute" then puts it where she thinks it should go. She usually talks to herself so I'll hear things like, "Now, this is a 'hangy' thing, so let's find a 'hangy place..." Some things end up in rather unique places :). Her favorite Halloween decoration is an advent "move the candy corn" calendar. She runs to it move it before breakfast.

Cookie making. Dough seems to be the only thing that Elise eats of her own free will. We gave these PJ's to Lucy the Christmas she was 2. For some reason, they still make an appearance.

Austin with a continual runny nose (poor kid). For the past two weeks, the babies and I have been stuffed up with minor colds. I think mine is sinus related. We've been a little crabby.

My late nights with Harry are officially over. Book 7 is finished. Good timing since Geo is currently in Houston taking the boards and his nights should be more open. Most of my "Harry fix" has been reading, but I have listened to parts of the books on CD while I clean, so naturally the fam gets to hear what Harry is up to as well. The other day Lucy asked me if she could get me ready for a date. Usually she wants to dress me up for a ball, so I was a little curious. "Sure," I said, "Who am I dating?" "Ron," she said. Ha, ha. Guess the the books have rubbed off on all of us.

Take Note

Geo is taking the pediatric boards on Monday. Naturally, he's been studying pretty hard. He occasionally gets some some studying done at work and fits some in after the kids go to bed. He tries to study on Saturdays, but our house is not exactly "library quiet." His favorite way to study is watching DVD's of "board topic" lectures and taking notes. Sometimes Lucy wanted to "watch the computer" too. If anyone knows Lucy, she can not be in a room for long without asking question after question, so he probably learned a whole bunch. :) After finishing the DVD's, Geo moved on to actual practice tests. I think everyone in the house will be happy to have the big test over.

But apparently, Lucy learned a thing or two from Geo's test taking strategies. Today she asked to do Sesame Street online rather than watch her movie of the day. She likes to navigates around to the things she wants to do. One chosen activity was a reading lesson by Cookie monster. When we walked into the den, this is what we saw...

...Lucy taking notes on all the "important things."

It was so funny to watch her think really hard (while putting the pen to her mouth and saying "hmmmm....") then write some letters in the notebook. When I asked how things were going, she said (with a hushed voice), "Cookie Monster is teaching me how to read. Oh... I better write this down!"

A day of Spinach

Today, I woke up feeling grumpy. And tired. And congested. And Austin did too. I didn't want to sit there and spoon bites into mouths or cut things into tiny pieces or walk to the pantry ten times because I forgot something or pretend like I was listening to the endless (one-sided) conversation. (Mornings are not my best time, can you tell?) So I dug deep and remembered this post from my friend Carly. It was a while ago, but I always wanted to try her spinach smoothie. Perfect. I don't have to cut anything AND its healthy. I had renewed energy and patience to do my "job" again. The base was 2 c fresh spinach and some milk/water. Part of the fun of the rest of the drink is throwing in whatever you have laying around (or need to use up). Here is the extra stuff that went into our smoothie (all measurements are very approximate... I just threw things in the blender):

1 c peach mango yogurt

1 c frozen raspberries

1 banana

juice from canned pears [from yesterday's breakfast]

And the results: three kids gulped down their drinks (in silence, no one had to be told to "finish up") = a happy mother

This worked so well, I decided to try it again for lunch. This time I let Lucy choose the ingredients. It did my heart well to see her throw in the big handfuls of spinach. Here is Lucy's creation (plus the spinach & milk, of course):

1/2 c strawberry banana yogurt

1 c frozen strawberries

1 banana

red grapes

Lucy thought an apple should go in too, but the blender was too full. And it provided the same results as breakfast. I do think its better to add the extra yogurt though.

For dinner? Well, I really was considering smoothies for the third time, but we decided to go with a spinach salad instead. This was actually the planned meal for Wednesday, but I had "had it" by the time Geo got home, so we had Little Caesars. Thank Goodness for him (Geo AND little C's). Anyway, here is our salad recipe:


spinach
mozzarella cheese

black beans

prickly pear (yep, the fruit of a cactus... I picked it [with tongs] on my way to a YW meeting)

mango marinated mahi-mahi (from Costco)

raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Yum! But the kids didn't eat their spinach leaves (like normal) so I think I'll hide them in the smoothie again. It was so nice not to say "Eat your vegetables" and watch them gulp down the green flecks.