Archive for November, 2011

Foiled Again

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 by by meanboys

A few weeks ago, I was thrilled when I found a brand new “Elf on a Shelf” kit at our local thrift store for $8.00.  Basically, this elf shows up around the holidays and hangs out in various locations in your home.  Each night, the elf races back to the North Pole to report on all things naughty and nice, and each morning he returns to sit in a completely different spot in your home.  The kids are supposed to try to be the first one to spot him in his new locale.

When I was growing up, I remember my mom having several versions of this elf as part of our holiday decor, but back then all the the elves did was literally sit on shelves.  I’m not sure when they became transformed into Christmas tattletales, but I thought it looked like fun, so I bought the kit and explained to the kids that on December 1st our new elf would make his debut.

In the meantime, this arrived in the mail:


These books need to be banned, I tell you!!

(more…)

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Red Cabbage

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 by by Jess

In my family, we have a rather odd traditional Thanksgiving dish. My parents meshed dishes from each of their family’s heritage to come up with our typical turkey day menu. From my dad’s German roots, we get pickled red cabbage. It is somewhat like sauerkraut, but sightly sweeter and more flavorful. While others might crinkle their nose, it just doesn’t feel like thanksgiving to me unless the aroma of roasted turkey and pumpkin pie mingles with the smell of red cabbage stewing in apple cider vinegar. There are many variations of this recipe floating around my family, but this is how (after a year of toying with the recipe) I have come to make it.

1 head red cabbage
apple cider vinegar (amount unknown, a few cups, but my dad and grandma would tell you “as much as it takes”)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion finely diced (I only use about 1/4 of it)
1 cup (or so) brown sugar
1 bay leaf
ground cloves to taste

Cut the cabbage into large chunks and put into a food processor. You can finely chop it by hand, but it saves a lot of time to use the food processor for a whole cabbage. In a large stock pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the cabbage. Pour vinegar over the vegetables until it is nearly covered. Add the brown sugar, bay leaf, and cloves. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Simmer for several hours, adding more vinegar as needed. If you don’t want sour cabbage, add water to the pot as the vinegar cooks down, and add more brown sugar. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

This is a great dish to serve with pork as well. It freezes well, which is convenient since one head makes quite a bit.

An attempt to make trying new vegetables fun and exciting, turned into the realization that a red cabbage leaf makes a wonderful klingon costume! We now have the tradition of wearing cabbage hats any time Mom makes the dish.

Getting ready for baby… 4 months in advance.

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 by by MommaTrish

DSCN9864I am not a very neat or organized person. I’ve never even really wanted to be one. My mom…. She is very neat and organized. Like obsessively so. (Though she will deny it, trust me – I’m the one who had to live with her.) My penchant for “piles-o-crap” (as she calls them) drives her crazy. If I can’t find a spot for something, or I plan to get to it at a later time, I organize it into a pile with similar stuff. Like in the hall in front of our bedrooms… There is a pile-o-crap for every room next to the door. There are also piles on either end of my couch…and in the kitchen under the coat rack…under the coffee table (though this one is really John’s fault)…and let’s not even touch on my room at this time. (And John would probably say that I should add in that my bookcases are just really tall piles-o-crap…)

I also really, really, really hate to fold clothes. I put it off until there is no more sitting room on my couch. My couch is big enough to handle me, the boys, and Belly all at one time – more often than not we’re lucky to have room for just two of us.

So see…. I’m not a messy person… I’m really not. I pick up and clean every day. But all these piles-o-crap and the mountain of laundry kind of ruin the effects of cleaning.

Wondering what this has to do with getting ready for Mason?

Ever since I got pregnant, my energy has taken a hit. I mean, it does every time, but this time it’s been even harder. No, as some will point out, it’s not because I’m home all day with a 2 1/2 year old. Ryan was about the same age when I was pregnant with Belly, and as I tell everyone, if I can keep up with toddler-Ryan while pregnant, toddler-Belly should be no problem. I think, that it’s partially because we have so much to do now. There are now two older kids to get to activities – and to get through homework. I cook more. There’s like double the laundry. More commitments to the boys’ school. I acted as my mom’s chauffer for most of this pregnancy as well. Plus, John actually expects more out of me now since I am a stay-at-home mom, and no longer a full-time college student.

Oh, and a 2 1/2 year old and a large idiot dog. (That’s said with love by the way…) (more…)

Smacksy Sunday Links

Sunday, November 27th, 2011 by by Smacksy

Thanks to my friend Spider for pointing me in the direction of the glorious Dog Fort.

Enjoying this peek into Lucy Chadwick’s homes from The Selby via Zara.

And Lovely Owl, of course, Lovely Owl.

Happy Sunday.

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Saturday Six: The Non-Grinch List

Saturday, November 26th, 2011 by by meanboys

Lest you think my heart has grown two sizes too small, here’s a happier list of things I DO like this time of year.

1)  Holiday Cards


Christmas Cards are like reading People Magazine articles about people you actually know.

Call me crazy, but I actually LOVE getting holiday cards.  I love seeing how people’s families have grown, and I like hearing about everyone’s year. (Even if the pictures are all taken in matching outfits during a once in a lifetime vacation to someplace out-of-this-world, right before their 4-year old was accepted to Yale and right after their cat died of feline leukemia.)  Plus, who doesn’t like getting mail?

2)  Holiday Baking


Sprinkles = joy! (more…)

Friday Freebie: Falling Leaf Language Activity

Friday, November 25th, 2011 by by JM Guest Blogger

I was checking out some other speech therapy blogs this week and came across a great post from Jenna at Speech Room News on how she used some foam leaves to work on “wh” questions with her students. Her post inspired me to think up a fun activity to target toddler and preschool language skills using leaves. You can check out her post HERE.

Anyway, my daughter and I had a BLAST doing several different activities with just some simple colored leaves. Since I didn’t have foam leaves, I went ahead and made some on the computer and printed them out. You could also cut out leaves out of construction paper. I am, of course, providing you with a PDF that includes 25 leaves in 5 different colors along with 10 different activity ideas for Freebie Friday! But first…a little of what we did…

Using just 25 leaves of different colors/sizes we were able to target the following skills and concepts:

  • Sorting skills
  • Spatial concepts (on, off, next to, above, below, etc)
  • Temporal Concepts (first. last, beginning, end, etc)
  • Quantity concepts (some, all, more, less, empty, full, etc)
  • Quality concepts (color, size, shape)
  • Patterns
  • Counting
  • Letter and number recognition

Here is what we did: (more…)

Crock-pot Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Friday, November 25th, 2011 by by MommaTrish

20111121-DSCN0269 copy

Tonight, I promise you easy… easy like a sunshiney day easy.
(You know… I’ve never really understood that phrase… but I digress…)

Crock-Pot Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
serves: um… at least 6, lol
cook time: 6 hours total

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts 2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
2 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth 1 Can Mixed Veggies
Noodles (amount/type of your choosing) 1 1/2 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Thyme 1 Tbsp Parsley

(more…)

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Paper Roll Turkey

Thursday, November 24th, 2011 by by Vicky

It’s the last Thanksgiving craft before the big day.  This is a great one to have the kids do while you are preparing  the most hyped meal of the year.  I bet most of you already have the supplies for this fun kids craft.      And if you don’t now, you will soon.

Supplies you will need:

  • Toilet paper or paper towel roll
  • Paper plate cut in half
  • Glue and brush
  • Glitter glue
  • Googly eyes
  • Construction paper turkey parts

(more…)

A Very Smacksy Thanksgiving Menu

Thursday, November 24th, 2011 by by Smacksy


Okay, so I haven’t posted recipes in a long time, but Thursday is Turkey Day and I assume you’re all still eaters . If you’re here in the States, you may be wanting these recipes about now, and if you’re somewhere else, you might want to go for it anyway, because this stuff is just good.

First - This is the story of my rad stuffing that I’ve been making since the 80s. It’s magic.

Then - There is this recipe for twice baked sweet potatoes I got from La Martha.
*Hint: Re-stuffing the sweet potatoes is a tremendous pain in the yam, so I just take the filling and spread it in a casserole dish and bake it with the toppings that way. Fabulous.

Next - I’m trying this for the first time this year - it’s a new take on the old green bean casserole from Michael Chiarello. He did seem like a turd that season he was on Top Chef Masters, but his recipe looks really good. *I just might use those old-school fried onions in the can instead of frying my own and by “might” I mean I already bought a can of them.

Last - There will be pie: pumpkin and pecan. It may not be fancy, but the best recipe for the pumpkin is on the side of the pumpkin can and the greatest recipe for the pecan is on the back of the Karo syrup bottle. I know, but trust me on this. *The key with the pecan is to cut the pecan pieces really small.

I have a lot of eating to do over the next couple of days to train for Thursday.

Painting with Cups

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 by by jenn0324

Today we played with cups again (hence the title of my post, no?). I wanted to do something that she could really get into, and mess is usually best! I got all the supplies together, and I decided we’d learn about size and the relationships of size difference.

I set everything up, and after I gave her a quick preview of how to make paint circles with the cups, she went to work. (more…)

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