Go ahead..

and laugh.

I did.

Things of noteworthiness, it's prob. not a word but whatev.

1. Jack's, Lloyd from dumb and dumber hair cut. you do not for any reason EVER part a little boys hair. He had his hair cut 10mins before this pic. It is much cuter when I spike it.

2. Abigail's outfit. If you know me then you know I don't let my kids pick out their own clothes if we are leaving the house. Well when Mom is getting ready and is too busy this is what you get.

3. Jack is totally not having the Santa pic. He is sassy. He would smile for me but not for "Santa's helper".

Man I love my kids.

Be kind...

vaccinate your kids against the rotavirus.

As mothers and fathers we have the ultimate decision when it comes to health care and vaccinating our children against certain debilitating diseases.

I will spare you the gory details but I have seen all too well, over the past week, what the lovely rotavirus can do to your lovely healthy children.

I was always the Mom who cried as her kids were stuck in the legs when receiving vaccines at such a young age, no more. I remember my pediatrician telling me "it might hurt you now to see them cry but it will hurt you worse if you ever see what some of these diseases could do to them". Man was he right.

Jack started this whole thing off. And then myself and Joseph and Abigail all fell ill. And Abigail has it worse than anyone. It took my friend Morna to remind me that the rotavirus vacc. was pulled for reformulation while Abbey was a baby and was released again just as Jack was born (it's the oral one, just so you know).

Well it's obvious who has been vaccinated and who has not. Jack rebounded in 2 days and puked only twice. And Abbey is on day 5 (we can't count the vomiting incidents) and well things sometimes look better and sometimes they don't. It's sad to watch my usually overactive, extremely healthy, 3 yr old sit on the couch all day, ask for a nap at 12:30, tell me she can't walk, etc.

So all in all I don't care if you vaccinate your kids, heck we vaccinate on a delayed schedule. That's your families prerogative. But take it from me you don't want to see this stuff in action.

And please for the love, whoever gave this crap to my kid, please teach your kids to wash their hands.

Mental Garbage

Did I mention that Joseph and I went to Cirque du Soleil 2 weeks ago? Well we did. We had amazing seats, 3rd row. The show was amazing. We put our kids to bed at 6:15 and left for the evening. 6:15pm(??) you say. Oh heck yes. My children are champion sleepers. Anyway the show was Kooza and it was fab. It had some clowns that were a little scary, I'm not a huge fan of clowns. Well I'm actually not a fan at all.

the only photo taken b/c we didn't want to be arrested. courtesy of my blackberry

Christmas has begun at our house. We are watching lots of Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music. I love it. We took the kids shopping on Saturday, mostly because I wanted to hit up the Nordies Fall sale. We got the kiddos some new sneakers. Did I mention that Abbey wears a size 11 shoe? yea what the hey?!! While at the mall we rode Santa's train and went on the carousel. Fab time had by all.

I am now 16weeks pg and I feel great. I had an appt. today and no weight gain. HOORAY for me. And the Dr. has decided that she will most likely induce me early due to the largeness of my babies. BEST NEWS EVER!

I was watching some show on Bravo. Probably Top Chef or Project Runway reruns and I saw a commercial for "The Belly Bandit". It's essentially a girdle that you wear everyday for 40days after you deliver your baby. So I'm talking to my friend Linda, who is Chinese, and she is all "yeah Chinese women always do this after they have a baby". And I was all "well if I can look like you I will wear it for 80 days". I always buy myself a pair of new jeans in my normal size for when I have the baby to give myself the extra push I need. Somehow I managed to get into my jeans the last go round. Amelia is my witness. So I'm going to buy myself an overpriced girdle and an overpriced pair of jeans. I'll let you know how that goes come May.

Thanksgiving is next week. I'm so excited. We are hosting again this year. I love to eat, so this *might* be my very favorite holiday.

My Christmas cards have been in my house for 2 weeks. I will not get behind this year.

And with that I'm going to bed. I've got a busy day of playing with the train table and story time at Barnes and Noble.

A little secret

I *heart* bread. a lot. like a lot, a lot. I love nothing more than to make a huge batch of Aunt C-Dogg's Chicken and Wild Rice soup and then put the soup in a bread bowl. Heavenly on a cold fall/winter day. This is my favorite recipe for bread bowls, it's easy, seriously. Bake 'em and you can thank me later. And if anyone can give me Aunt C-Dogg's White Chicken Chili recipe I will love you forever.

Bread Bowls

From Taste of Home

INGREDIENTS
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour
Cornmeal

DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.

Add the milk, shortening, sugar, eggs, salt and 2 cups flour.

Beat until smooth.

Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl (meaning buttered, yummy) , turning once to grease top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface.

Divide into eight pieces; shape each into a ball.

Grease two baking sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Place four balls 3 in. apart on each prepared pan.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

My notes: you can cut a whole in the top and remove inside bread and place bowl back in oven for 5-7 mins to "firm" up the inside of the bowl so the inside doesn't get too soggy. Or you can eat it soggy. I like that too.

Love it.

this pretty much sums up my feelings on our President-Elect.