food & kids & friends & blood (a random update)

I feel like I'm at the beginning of a marathon that ends on December 28th (Nina's Birthday). Everyone's busy, it's just that time of year, but I wanted to do a quick update because the longer I wait to post on my blog, the less motivation I have. We had a pretty routine week this week. Zig was supposed to be in Hawaii all week taking care of business, but that was postponed. He was here with us all week so I took advantage of having him around in the evenings and got together with friends one evening, played tennis the next, attended an awesome cooking class, and went to book club. This weekend we took care of lots of loose ends and annoying little house projects. Little people can really do some damage to a house :) Zig spent more hours than he would like to admit searching all over kingdom come to find a new toilet lid to replace the one that Evan broke. Doesn't everyone want to drive around strip malls on a rainy Saturday looking for a supplier of a special kind of toilet lid? Didn't think so. Zig was a little cranky when he came home and I had to remind myself to cut him some slack before I banished him to the outdoors to cheer up.

My favorite part of the week was having a 4 day weekend!! Yeah for Veteran's Day. Gosh I love when the kids are home. They have been bickering more than usual recently, but still I love having them here. Lots of lego building, art projects, story-writing, memory playing, and reading (and screaming and crying). We took it easy during the day and tried to really give them a break from their normal schedules. I had to take Rollin and Nina to the open gym at gymnastics both days though  because it was rainy and Rollin has to move and exert himself every day or he will go nuts and kick a ball through one of my chandeliers. He has so much energy!

Sophie and Sam came to play over the weekend and Nina and Rollin had such a great time. Rollin and Sam took off outside despite the crummy weather, and the girls had a tea party and played inside. We made Lisa's citrus butter kettle corn and it was sooo good.


Nina and Sophie

kettle corn and raspberries

 Evan was a little sweet pea several days this week. He is my moodiest little baby for sure. The moment he wakes up, I can pretty much tell whether he will be a kisser and snuggler or the opposite. Lots of kissy days this week. Midweek he came down with a fever and felt pretty crummy for a couple of days. I hate to admit it, but it was kind of nice. This was one of those  sicknesses where he was just very mellow and lethargic, but not to a worrisome degree. He just kind of sat on the couch and would not eat a thing. He got better quickly and the fever was never high. Now it sure seems like his ears are bothering him though. I may have to take him in this week for a look.


Little sicky


Gotta strengthen that immune system somehow...oh boy.

This is a happy guy!

My old church does some fabulous cooking classes and thankfully they have kept me on the invite list. I taught one in the Spring and we had a blast. I figure if I contribute then they can never take me off the list! :) This month the class was on Sweet and Savory Fall Roasting.  They have some seriously talented cooks and foodies so the classes are top notch. They are held in peoples homes and everyone pays a small fee to cover the food which is always a total bargain given the fantastic menus.The one they had this week was better than most of the other professional type cooking classes I've taken at PCC or other places. I took  Lisa  and we loved everything so much we are going to try and make some of the recipes for some friends this week when we get together for lunch. The menu was Beef Tenderloin (Lisa and I, both non red meat eaters, partook), Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Buttermilk, Roasted Tomato and Caramelized Onion Towers, Greek Salad with Fig Balsamic Vinegar Dressing, and Triple Chocolate Brownies with Caramelized Bananas and Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce.

I had to make that Greek Salad tonight. I couldn't get that fig dressing out of my head. The dressing was divine! I love the twist of adding figs to the greek salad and the dressing. I'll post the recipe as soon as I have time to type it up.


I also made the Lemon Thyme Chicken out of the new Barefoot Contessa and some Butternut Squash Soup.



We had a candlelight Sunday dinner and Zig kept saying we might have a hard time topping this for Thanksgiving. I always have to bring Evan home early from church because something about setting foot in that building turns him into a crazy little animal. I can only handle an hour with a tired toddler so we head home. The nice thing is we are able to have a nice dinner right at 5 because I am able to prepare while everyone else is gone. Then we  have family home evening, watch a documentary and get the kids in bed early.

We made it thru the documentary by 7:30 tonight and then Rollin and Nina ran downstairs and started horsing around while they were putting away their bean bags. Zig, Sela and I were talking in the living room and then we heard the shriek. He's BLEEDING, Nina yelled! I covered my face and told Zig to run down there. Rollin had jumped from the stairs into a cement wall and was bleeding all over the place. I heard Sela say "it's squirting out" and I just froze. I could not look and kept sending the girls back to check on him. Zig got him cleaned up and the cut on his head did not need stitches. We both felt like he should be seen though so they went to the ER. He's fine. Once I saw the stunt that got him into this predicament, I told Zig the doctor may still need to further examine his head . Unbelievable. This has not been Rollin's week. He pulled a Foosball table over on himself and cut his eye and almost broke his nose at the gym childcare on Monday (Foosball table was gone by Tuesday!) I need a first aid refresher course because I do not do well in crisis situations. When I don't have a choice, I can handle the situation, but with Zig here today I just wanted to hide my head until I knew everything was okay.

The girls prayed for Rollin and remembered how much they love him tonight. Now everyone is home and safe so I'm off to rest up for another busy week.