Victor Vito

So, Jovee went to the Vet last Friday and came home a boy. So, our Christmas kitten is now named Victor Vito.

My Zuppa

Several of you asked me for this recipe. I make it different every time, but I think this is pretty much it. Hope you love it.

2 T EVOO
1 lb Italian sausage
1 t red pepper flakes
2 large sliced potatoes
2-3 minced garlic cloves
1 large onion, diced
2 boxes chicken stock
1 bunch kale, chopped
1 C heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Heat EVOO in pot. Add sausage and brown. Add red pepper flakes, potatoes, garlic, onion. Cook until 10-15 minutes. Add chicken stock and kale. Bring to a boil. Add cream. Simmer 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Her name is...

JOVEE

Our Christmas Kitten!

Sleigh Bells Ring, Are Ya Listening......

Do you hear that? CHRISTMAS MUSIC 24/7!!!

Hey Y'all

Well. Where do I start? We went out for pizza last weekend to the Pizza Machine which has a 40 inch pizza that gets delivered to your table via a crane on the ceiling. NJ. It was a lot of fun. We would love to get a big group of you to go with us sometime. Definitely need a big group for the 40 inch, 6 adults just doesn't cut it!


Did about 20 loads of laundry last week. Again, NJ. I t was really dumb of me to not keep up with it, because after I got home from working this week I could have just cried looking @ the pile of clothes. I put up our Christmas tree and decor last week and wrapped all our gifts. Need to stay out of Schlobby Schlobby, aka Hobby Lobby, and Jeffery Alans. Much too much to buy there! My home is so festive right now, though. Just love it. I turn on the lights first thing when I get up. I could sit and look at it all day. Our kitty likes it, too. She is so cute. It is 6 weeks old and thinks Mia is it's new Mommy. I have to say that this is just the most perfect time for Mia to have a pet. She is so great with her. When she heard the kitty purring, she said to her Daddy, "She does that because she loves me!" (I hope that brought a little smile to your face!) Our Kitten needs a great name. We are open for suggestions.

HMMM?

Has anyone ever made stuffing the night before? Would it get too soggy?

Really?

Today I ordered a McCafe Vanilla Latte. That's all. I was asked if it was "for here or to go?" HMMMM?

Today

Lazy Day. Great day for making donuts, watching movies, eating soup, and going to bed early. What did you all do on this lazy day?

2:30 AM

What do you do when you wake up @ 2:30 and you can't go back to sleep?

I make Christmas wreaths and sip Sleepytime tea!

My New Ride

I have looked at bikes for over a year and have never fallen in love with one. I finally had found this one. It doesn't have the fenders or the whitewalls like I originally looked for, but it works. Sadly, it has been out of stock for about 5 or 6 weeks. Even though the nice weather will be gone soon, I am so happy to finally have bike to pull my kids with. We have had the bike trailer for months (and my ultra-cushy upgraded bike seat!) This will be a great bike, great exercise!

Pepper Pains

Does anyone know what it feels like to have your thumb cut off with a chainsaw? Well, let me just tell you, if you are wondering what that would feel like, clean out a habanero pepper when you have a small cut on your finger. I was just preparing some jalapeno poppers for tomorrow afternoon and I had a few habanero's that the neighbor gave me. I thought I would try to make a few poppers with those, when all of the sudden I felt like my thumb was dying. Holy Cow. NJ It's still hurting.

Finer Things Club

Jack is a great eater. He eats his fruits and veggies and whatever else we put in front of him. And although he is very small, he eats a lot. Jack, also, loves his Schnacks. You should see his eyes light up after dinner when I pull out the cookies. I love that. Food is definitely the way to my son's heart. Well, over the past few days, Jack has began to express that he has developed "A Taste for the Finer Things in Life!" Fruit snacks, Double Cheeseburgers, French Fries, String Cheese, Pizza, and Yogurt. Not much else gets past his lips. Last night, I made him a delicious dinner of roasted
chicken and carrots and perfectly sauteed green beans. Healthy and Tasty. No Go. He wanted a Patty Melt, instead!
10 Months is too young to become a picky eater.

What do you call a "Stay @ Home Mom" who doesn't stay at home?

We played outside again today. It was really nice out. Jack was eating dirt, while Mia found a nest of ladybugs that she was letting crawl all over her. Hmmm! Was anyone else's yard over taken by ladybugs today?
Not a whole lot going on up in this neck of the woods. A good week, so far, just doing the same routine, with small variations, over and over, and we haven't even left the house (except this morning we went to the last Farmers Market downtown.) Just been doing lots of laundry and dishes, and getting the kids fed, and dressed and playing, and snacks and milk, and putting the milk away, and feeding them lunch, getting them redressed, and put down for naps, getting them up, giving them snacks, and cleaning up snacks, wiping noses and bottoms and dressing them yet again, making dinner, cleaning up dinner, giving baths, brushing teeth, finding Waldo, and yada yada yada. Not a complaint or un-contentment. Just a re-run of my day. It can be very exhausting. We all know the routine. But we love it. We are Moms, that's what we do. Wouldn't trade it for anything.
But, do you ever just hear Target calling your name? I don't know about all of you, but I need to get out of the house almost daily. I would say that, maybe, one day a week we don't leave the house at all, if that. I don't even care what we do, even if it is just going to the grocery store . And it's not that I have to be buying stuff. It just helps break up the day. Fieldtrips, if you will. I think the kids must enjoy it, too. If you ask Mia what she wants to do in the morning, she will usually tell me, "shopping!"
So, yeah, this cold weather has us all couped up, in a cold house, no less! (Today was beautiful, tough!) I'm feeling a fieldtrip coming on! We need places to go, people to see, things to do. We need ideas. Cheap ideas. Free ideas are best!

Just a Nice Day in the Backyard

Mia has turned over a new leaf. She has not had her picture taken in a long, long time. But I recently told her that when she goes to school someday she would have to sit and smile pretty for her school photos. And it worked. So now, every time I have been wanting her to smile for a picture, I tell her I am practicing taking school pictures.

My Little Guy has been crawling like a normal kid, lately! Funny, but it looks so weird to see him crawling like that.

Mornings @ the Laughlin House

Mia has been very opinionated about her clothing lately. Here's how it usually pans out. First words of the day, after she throws open my bedroom door, are, "Where's my Dad? Hosbital? Oh." Moving on, "I want clothes, Mom." I say, "Go pick some clothes out." (I don't care what she wears around the house, and I like her to be able to express her own style and creativity. It's usually a Tu-tu and clippity shoes and nothing else!) "NOOOO! Help me, Mom." "I really think you need to take a bath first, and we can't take a bath until after breakfast." RESPONSE:, "NOOOOO! I want clothes." OK. Not worth a battle first thing in the morning. So, I stumble into her room, help her take off her PJ's, and pick out some warm, comfy clothing. "NOOOOO! I want dresses." "SHHHH! Your brother's sleeping. We don't have any warm dresses, Mia. Our house is always freezing." "I want skirts and pants (tights)." "OK." "NOOOO! Not that one." And this is usaully the time when I say, "That's enough, pick out your own clothes, then, and put them on! I need to go make coffee!" This is sometimes followed by high volume sounds coming from her room. Then followed by the noise of a crying baby boy. WOW, what a glorious sound in the morning!
So, anyway, last night Mia insisted on wearing PJ's that were shorts and short-sleeved. When she got up today, she must have been really cold, because she said, "I want WARM clothes, Mom." I said, "Go get some warm clothes from your drawers, Babe." She does. Mysterious!

This is what she came out wearing.

I guess she had a cold head!

Now we are watching Elf. How appropriate. I have such a silly girl.

Silverware

OK. I am not a germ-a-phobe. So, here is my deal with the dishwasher. I always put my silverware in the dishwasher upside down. I think it is easier to put away because you don't have to touch the "newly clean" part of the utensil that goes in your mouth. Heath, on the other hand, always puts silverware in with the eating part up, because that's the way his mom does it. He thinks that is the only way they get clean. (Although it is then put away with germy hands.) Do you know how many germs and bacteria are on the human hand? Do you really want to eat your cereal in the morning with a spoon that has finger germs on it?
My silverware is always clean when I put it down, always.
I would rather that Heath didn't even put dishes in the dishwasher if he doesn't put the silverware in there the right way. Wow. NJ

Thanksgiving

I don't know about all of you, but Thanksgiving is hands-down my favorite holiday. For several reasons: I have a deep love of food and cooking. I love eating all day long. I love smoked turkey, I hope we have it this year! I love being with family. Heath and I are big family people, we love just hanging out. I love how relaxed everyone seems, perhaps because they haven't felt the rush of the quickly approaching Christmas Hub-bub yet, or maybe because they simply have eaten too much turkey. I love that Christmas music will be playing all day, everyday for the next several weeks! I love knowing that on Friday I will be strolling through the mall getting some wonderful bargains. And now I am SO excited because I found out that it will be Stuff and Save week at ON the Friday After!!!!

Anyways, what does everyone have planned for this Thanksgiving? It is going to be here very soon, you know? Who will you spend it with? Do you go to both sides of the family? What dish do you take every year? What is your favorite thing to eat?

We are going to Heath's Aunt and Uncle's in Watseka for the Johnson Family Thanksgiving. We decided after one year of marriage that it was really silly to try and do stuff with both of our families in the same day since they are so far apart. So, do TG with Heath's family, and Xmas with mine. I always take a Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and usually some other dish that I just have to try out! I would have to say my favorite thing to eat is Grandma Johnson's cranberry relish. Last year she didn't make it and I was simply devastated.

I know it is still a few weeks away. Just can't wait though!

I'm a Girl.

The other day, Mia was playing with a toy she has had since she was a baby. She tells me, "I play wit dis when I was a baby, Mom. I not a baby. I'm a girl. I don't fit in your belly anymore."

Ja-yeah-yeah-yeah-jack-son

Jackson Tate,
We went to your 9 month Dr's visit this week.
You weigh 18 lbs. 10 oz. 25%
You are 28.5 in. 50%
You have 6 teeth.
You can pull up on everything, and you do. You have several bonks and bruises, though!
Your favorite spot is on the fire place.
You love to sing, "If your happy and you know it...," and clap your hands.
You don't kick your crib anymore to tell us you're awake. You stand up and start babbling.
Your favorite things to eat right now are apples wedges.
You still crawl like an inchworm.

We Love You. so much!

Mommy and Daddy

Pine Lakes Camping Trip 2008

Jack did really well camping. He fell asleep in some one's arm's beside the campfire every night.

It was crazy how many different dress up outfits all the kids wore. At least two a day.

This is my cousins' Mark and Annette's 4 year old, Mallory. Most of the costumes were hers. Mia and Mallory became great buds on this trip.

Punkin Patch. They just had small pumpkins placed all over the ground and every child got to pick her pumpkin.

Rough and Tough.

Holy Cow! More outfits. Maddox, Bryor, Nick, Mia, Haley, and Jackson!

Mia does not like being hounded by paparazzi!

Wow! We had so much snuggle time this weekend. I ate it up. It really does not happen that often anymore! It's like our baby girl is not a baby at all anymore. So, this trip I really loved all the extra cuddling, even if she was sucking her thumb and twisting her hair! (That goes for Heath, too!)

MOO!

Our camper site was right on the water. It was sooo gorgeous. The leaves were changing, too. That's my favorite. It was so peaceful there.

Here's Heath showing off his prized catch of the day!

Tristan 1, Jackson 9 1/2 months, and Maddox 5 1/2 months. The boys all loved playing together and the pack and play was so nice to have. Jack kept eating leaves and throwing then up so he had to be pinned up or in the stroller if he wasn't being held.We had to keep a close eye on little Tristan, he had an infatuation with biting. (Mia took one on the cheek. She was very responsive, but took it pretty graciously over all. She also fell off the picnic table one night and bruised the other cheek.)

Auntie Paula. She, Aunt Jenny and I all shared a deep love for toasted marshmallows. MMMM!

Mia and Mallory , again.

Irony: My daughter loves make up, dresses, and high heels.
My daughter loves tadpoles, minnows, caterpillars, locusts, and fish!
I never knew this.

Uh, yeah she played with worms.

Heath really impressed us all with his mad fishing skills!

Hermie. Mia's new pet. Within two hours after we found him, he was cocooned inside of a small leaf she placed inside his bug house.

Pondering something profound, I'm sure.

Campsite. We spent most days like this, just talking and watching people play games and the kids going down the slide on the playground that was right next to us.

Here is Heath trying to get Jackson to take a nap.

Notice who fell asleep.

Jack loved him some Dum-Dums. We ate so much on this trip. Pretty much all day. Loved it!

Mia and Mallory fishing.

Mia and Haley had matching outfits like this that they wore all over the place.

Mia just crashed out after the long days of playing and candy!

Jack and Nana.

That's us!

Us again!

What a wonderful time. So many memories to look back on! Yeah, the bathrooms were a ways away, I didn't have a lot of privacy, and my kids have never been so dirty in all their lives, but I can't wait to go back. Can you believe that?