Yes, Georgia- we KNOW there is a rodent in the house!

Ok, the time has come where I ban anything else with a heartbeat from entering these walls...well, except the ants for the ant farm the boys got for Christmas (ironically, it came from the Grandparents who own a pest control company!).

Here is the household tally now:

2 adults
2 kids
2 dogs
1 goldfish
1 guinea pig

T-Rex/Nemo (Alex changes his name daily), the goldfish, came to us via Ashley...sort of. He came our way when I made the mistake of asking Ashley to take her 3YO nephew to the look at the fish while I checked out at PetSmart. Next thing I know, Alex comes running up to me "MOMMY! MOMMY! I have enough monies to buy a fishie!!!", while holding up a handful of change...so we left the pet store with dog food AND a goldfish.

After T-Rex/Nemo lived throughout the entire winter break (to my surprise), I decided he probably needed to get out of a pickle jar. So after finding a 10 gallon tank of Craigslist and spending a whole day setting the thing up (apparently they are more work than I thought!), Alex has a fish tank on his dresser and a new best buddy.

Skyler has had his heart set on a hamster for over a year. We kept hoping that he'd forget about it, but we started thinking perhaps the desire wasn't going away. Still, I held out. Hamsters run on hamster wheels. All night. And they are squashable, and the die soon, and in my experience, they kinda smell like peanut butter (gag).

My cousin Laura had adopted Franklin, a black and white guinea pig. Turns out, she's allergic to Franklin. So after the really hard realization that Franklin and Laura couldn't co-habitate, she posted on Facebook that she had to find him a new home and I decided that a guinea pig would be WAY cooler than a hamster! Skyler quickly agreed with me, and after telling everyone he came in contact with that he was getting a guniea pig until the thing got here (and telling everyone he HAS one ever since), Skyler has a new friend now also.

Bringing a rodent in to a house with 2 large dogs was a bit unnerving. So far, though, it seems to be going well. Dillion could care less. He's Dillion- he pretty much only cares about tummy rubs and dog bones. Georgia, on the other hand, is obsessed. But judging by her body language, I think she is more curious than anything. She seems to want to know about him rather than eat him (much to my relief!). I don't think we'll ever leave them in a room alone, just in case...but overall it seems to be much better than I had worried about!

So there you have it- we are now a household of 8! And we're done! We are happy, but we're done!

Really, really easy (and yummy!) clams.

When I brought these to our New Year's gathering, I'm not certain that the hostess believed me when I said I made them because they were SUPER easy. But, really- they ARE!

Steamed Clams in Garlic and Wine

2-3 pounds clams (weight will depend on the size of the clams)
1 cup white wine
4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1/2 stick butter, cubed
Freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the clams well. Place clams in a large crock pot. On the stove, heat wine, butter, garlic and pepper in a skillet until boiling. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. Pour wine and butter mixture over the clams in the crock pot.

Turn crock pot on high, leave for 45 minutes-1 hour and done. That's it. (I promise!)

My version of Mike's yummy roast beef rolls.

So my awesome father in law makes these simple but delicious appetizers: a pickle, slathered with cream cheese and rolled in roast beef or pastrami. Sounds simple, right? They are SO good!

Well, for New Year's I made my own version (partly to experiment, and partly because I couldn't get the deli lady to come help me for the life of me). I certainly wouldn't say they were better than Mike's- just different. Mike's version is perfect for an afternoon football party, but mine dresses them up a bit for an evening cocktail party or the like.

My appetizer rolls:

-Proscuitto, baked flat at 350 for 5-6 minutes.
-1/2 pickle slice (I bought the quartered pickles to begin with and it was easy)
-Cheese mix (6 oz. cream cheese, 4 oz. goat cheese, 2-3 oz. mascarpone, fresh grated pepper, basil all mixed in my KitchenAid)

Don't put too much cheese mix in. I found that the ones I really loaded up were a bit much. This recipe made a HUGE batch- perfect for a party. Enjoy!

The holidays are over!!! (May I please nap now?)

Whew! That was the usual whilwind, wasn't it? I'll just give you the basics so that I don't bore you or make you as tired as I am.

Christmas was fun! We did the usual Christmas Eve carols and great grandma and grandpa's house, followed by gifts with Grandma Val. This year was a bit different because Skyler wasn't with us for Christmas Eve festivities, but he had so much fun with his dad's family that it was hard to be upset about him not being with me. In a last minute stroke of awesomeness, Skyler came home on Christmas Eve and I got to wake up in the morning to both my children in the house!

Santa brought Alex a bicycle, although it took Alex at least 5-10 minutes to realize that the bike was a gift for him and not just a holder for his stocking (which was emptied out in no time!). Once I pointed out that perhaps the bike was meant for him, Alex began riding around the living room and kitchen with glee. Skyler slept in until 8:30- what is that, by the way? Of ALL the days to sleep in?!?!? When Skyler woke up, he was thrilled to see some Bakkugan stuff (apparently he "gets" Bakkugan- I do not) and a 3D writing notepad...and chocolate, of course!

Christmas day at Grandpa Mike's house was fun as usual, and pretty relaxing once we wrestled the boys into the car loaded with food, gifts and excitement. I was thrilled that Mike let me do a bit of the cooking this year. I did NOT stick to the usual health minded ingredients. What's a New Years resolution for if you didn't just pig out for the last week of December? Mike gave me recipes to make my first ever green bean casserole, and a yummy spinach and artichoke casserole, as well. Both were so loaded with cheese and creme fraiche that it probably would have been healthier to skip the veggies. But the taste made them worth it!

Pappi has been in town and we've had a great time having him around. Alex and Skyler LOVE having grandparents around! Alex has become enamoured with the carosel that Pappi takes him to, and Sky will just always be a Pappi kid. The holidays didn't feel totally complete without Grandma Marcia, but we hear she's been busy feeding horses and probably spoiling them as much as Dillion and Georgia gets spoiled when she is here!

Dusty and I got to have an awesome date. Well, two actually! One was supposed to be a dinner at Ruth's Chris and a showing of Rain, the Beatles tribute. When a snow storm hit, freeways closed and we couldn't even make it out to Mike's to drop the kids off, we got steaks at Roadhouse and played Sorry Sliders before family bedtime stories. Not the night we'd planned, but awesome anyhow. The next day we unexpectedly came accross Blazers tickets (Thanks, Val & Bruce) and Dusty and I got a wonderful alone date after all. We had appitizers at Southpark Seafood after the game. Wow. Seriously- I love crab cakes. I REALLY love very, very, very good crab cakes. That place has taken food to a whole different level!

New Year's eve was awesome! We went to a small kid friendly gathering and had more whole family fun than I can remember in a while. The kids all kept each other wound up and even Alex was awake to ring in 2010. We are tired today- what a perfect day to watch the Rose Bowl and recover from all the holiday fun.

I've posted a few pictures from the holiday, including a cake I make for Aunt Pat. I do have a few recipes to share but this post is already entirely too long already, so those will follow soon!

Big News!!!

I got the job that I have been just sure was perfect for me! I won't start until around the first of the year, but it is mine.

I feel this job is the perfect fit! It is for a nonprofit, part time (but a good amount of hours), provides benefits, is right by the boys' schools, and just makes me really happy. I applied for this job a long time ago and eventually decided that if I didn't get it, I'd keep goin' along as a mostly stay at home mom. I am certainly busy enough as is! But I knew this was the RIGHT job, at the RIGHT time. I did my best, prayed about it, and decided that if it were meant to be I'd get it.

I'm happy now!

Do NOT make these!

Unless, of course, you have:

a) Superhuman will power abilities

b) An ability to eat WAY too much

c) A party or some event where you can shove some of them off on others and not feel so guilty. Unless you elbow someone in the rib in an attempt to get them to drop the last one. Then you should feel guilty. Sort of.

Sweets & Beets chips

4 sweet potatoes

4 beets

3/4 liter olive oil

salt, cinnamon or ginger if desired as seasoning

Use a mandolin slicer to slice the sweets and beets very thin. Keep the veggies separate.

Heat olive oil in large pot on stove (I had it set to number 7 of 10). Once bubbling, drop in 1/3 of the sweet potato slices. Leave in oil for 4-6 minutes, until the bubbling subsides and well...until they look like chips! Remove from oil with slotted spoon and place on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with seasoning as desired (I actually preferred the unseasoned kind, but I may be a rare breed). Repeat with the sweet potatoes until all are done.

Once all sweet potatoes are done, repeat with the beets (since they are smaller you can do them in just 2 batches). Beets will need a little less cooking time, probably 3-5 minutes. Remove to a separate paper towel lined cookie sheet, season if desired.

Once chips are cooled (if you haven't eaten them all yet), toss them into a large bowl together. The purpose of keeping them separate this long and doing the sweets first is that done this way, the colors make a very pretty mix of bright orange and purple.

Enjoy! (And don't say I didn't warn you!)

Defend the institution of marriage!

Be a good spouse, no matter what your sexual preference is.