New recipes

I am trying several new recipes this week that friends have passed my way. We made this one tonight and really enjoyed it. And more importantly, the kids liked it!

Black Beans and Quinoa

1 tsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt/pepper to taste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

optional - avocado, red bell pepper or zucchini

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and saute until lightly browned.

Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir frozen corn and black beans into the saucepan and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes until heated through.

Top with cilantro and chopped avocado.

*We added red bell pepper to ours tonight - sauteed it with the onions/garlic. Other people suggested adding zucchini as a change. Brent wanted some meat so we added sliced sausage as well. (its was good but not necessary!) Brent and I ate this as a one dish meal and I served the kids a piece of cheese quesadilla with theirs.

From Shark Tooth to No Tooth!

Being a mother of boys continues to expose me to things I've never experienced...about 2 weeks ago, all of the kids and I were out on the driveway riding bikes, scooters, and plasma cars. Graham was on one of the plasma cars and made a sharp turn - which promptly dumped him right onto the cement - face first. I scooped him up and saw lots of blood but at first I just thought his teeth had gotten his bottom lip....but then I noticed his upper gum was full of blood and that half of his tooth was gone!

As I cleaned up the blood and consoled Graham, I tried to get Brent on the phone - and in his words, he was "between some one's legs doing an exam" so he couldn't answer the phone. I ended up talking to a dentist and took Graham the next morning to see her.

As you can see here, half of Graham's top tooth was gone! It broke off into the gum line. And over the course of the next week, the tooth pulp slowly oozed out of the inside of the tooth - nasty, mushy, and rotten looking. It eventually was hanging down lower than his top teeth - and then somehow fell off on its own.

We made it to the oral surgeon last Wednesday and they took him to the OR on Friday to have the rest of his tooth pulled. Apparently there is no good "fake tooth" substitute at this age so Graham will remain toothless until he gets his adult teeth in!

Here we are waiting in the waiting room before surgery. He was currently occupied and doing great - but we had a tough morning since he couldn't eat and I was having to feed the big kids breakfast and pack their lunches with him there! Torture!

and here we are occupying ourselves in the preop holding room...

He wouldn't let me get a good picture tonight of his toothless grin - but its going to take some getting used to!

100th Day of School

Avery's class celebrated their 100th day of school today...they were assigned a snack to bring in - Avery brought Fruit Loops - and then they counted 10 pieces of 10 different snacks to make their own trail mix. They also were asked to dress like they were 100 years old!

Here are some pictures of our old lady...gray hair, bun, glasses, robe, slippers, and a cane made by daddy! She looked hysterical!

New Years in Jasper

After enjoying Christmas chaos with the Parnell side of the family, we headed down to Jasper to spend some time relaxing at the cabin...or as much relaxing as parents of little ones can do.

Mom/Mike, Peyton/Ann, and Haley/Joel and kids joined us. We had some great weather to play outdoors; the guys did some deer and duck/goose hunting; and the girls took a trip into Madison for lunch and boutique store cruising.

We had fires roaring all day...my FAVORITE place to sit! And apparently, our kids are following in my footsteps! Here they are first thing one morning..sleepy eyed and waiting for some hot chocolate!

enjoying the sunshine and tire swing!

nina, pushing avery on the swing while addison waits for a turn

and of course the kids had tractor rides with Big Daddy! Graham LOVED it and squealed when he had to get off!

our wild man has a soft side! he (on his own) laid down to play with Caris...

hot chocolate time!

the duck hunt that resulted in geese!

Avery and Addie got "Belle" tea carts for Christmas from Nina and Big Daddy - so we had tea parties several afternoons while the little ones were sleeping...

our littlest guy

present time

Everyone but us left on Sunday so we had a quiet last night. Brent and I had the kids in bed by 7 and spent a long evening reading by the fire! What a great way to end Christmas break!