MLK Day Fun

We had a fun time on our school vacation day and did something we hadn't done in a long time... headed to the Bounce House in Hendersonville.  I don't think I have brought the kids here since Cornelia has been walking, so it was a pretty different experience this time.

Max enjoyed these giant trikes, as did some of the other older boys.  It made walking around a little bit scary at times as they speeded around the rather tight space!  He also occupied himself by chasing Ruby around screaming, "WOOO-BEEE, SWOW DOWN!"  He's not so crazy about her style of play-- running around like crazy from station to station.  I guess he's more of a savor the moment kind of guy!

Once Cornelia saw the big kids going down the big slide she was pretty sure that she needed to go down too.  The only problem was how to get her up.  So, I thought, "Oh well, I'll just carry her up.  All the other moms are doing it!".  That was a mistake!  I put my feet on that inflatable and it just collapsed!  There I was rolling around on the floor with poor Cornelia and all of these moms came rushing to our aid-- it was SO embarrassing!

After that little debacle I decided she was going to have to go it alone-- and she did!  The first couple of times Ruby "helped" her up, but after that she was all on her own and she was a champ about it.

All in all it was a fun time, even though I did humiliate (and bruise) myself!   Good thing these kids are so precious it's worth it.

Beef Stew and Brown Bread, Yum!

We have had such warm weather that I really haven't been tempted to make delicious warm meals like this, but I thought I'd post anyway for all of my Northern family and friends who can enjoy this on a cold, snowy night. I will warn you that the bread in particular makes a LOT, but it freezes beautifully, so go ahead and make it according to the directions and you'll have it ready to go for a few more meals! 


Kyle's Favorite Beef Stew
(from allrecipes.com)

• 3 pounds cubed beef stew meat
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 4 large potatoes, cubed
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 (1 ounce) envelopes onion soup mix
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 large onions, quartered
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup burgundy wine
• 2 (6 ounce) packages fresh button mushrooms, halved
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Toss the beef, flour, and salt in a sealable bag until the beef is coated.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Combine the beef and Worcestershire sauce in the skillet; cook until the beef is evenly browned on all sides; transfer to a slow cooker, but do not clean the skillet. Add the carrots, potatoes, parsley, and pepper to the slow cooker.
3. Combine the boiling water and soup mix in a small bowl; add to slow cooker.
4. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the melted butter until soft; transfer the onion and garlic to the slow cooker and return the skillet to the heat. Combine the wine and mushrooms to the skillet; cook until the mushrooms begin to absorb the wine; pour the mixture into the slow cooker.
5. Place the cover on the slow cooker and set to High; cook for one hour. Reduce heat to Low and cook until the beef is fork-tender, 6 to 8 hours. Whisk together the warm water and cornstarch; stir into the stew; cook uncovered until stew thickens, about 15 minutes.

Honey-Wheat Bushman Bread

(from Outback Steakhouse)

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup honey

2 cups bread flour, plus extra

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons instant coffee

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1 teaspoon caramel food coloring (optional)

3 tablespoons cornmeal, for dusting

whipped butter, for serving

Directions

1. Place all of the ingredients except for the cornmeal and whipped butter in a bread machine and follow the manufacturer's directions for the dough cycle.  The dough will be a little on the wet side and sticky, but if it seems too wet, add more bread flour while it is mixing / kneading.
2. Remove the dough from the machine, punch down, and divide into 8 portions.  Form the portions into tubular-shaped loaves 6 to 8 inches long and 2 inches wide.
3. Sprinkle the entire surface of the loaves with the cornmeal and place the loaves on two cookie sheets.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350F.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  Serve warm with whipped butter. 

Summer 1983

Swim, swim, swimming!  I love pools like this, I wish there was one around here to  bring my kiddos to in the warm months.

I'm pretty sure that this is the campsite where we had a rattlesnake (or two) in the bushes.  I remember those things rattling away and being so scared!

Cousins!  (L to R: Bethany, Alyssa, Stacey, Heidi, and Amy)

Is it January? Really!?

I can't speak for the rest of the nation, but I for one am loving this winter.  I'm sure all of the snow loving peeps out there are just dying a little bit every day, but for those of us with little kids it has been wonderful!  (Although the kids would love a little snow play and sledding sometime this winter!)

We have enjoyed many days in the 50s and 60s this winter including last week when we took an impromptu trip to Franklin Park.  There were sooo many kids running around everywhere and lots of moms breathing sighs of relief.  After all, running around like a lunatic after school happens rain or shine, snow or sleet--and today-- in January-- we were doing it in the great outdoors instead of inside our homes!

Max is a big fan of the swings (as is Cornelia).  Here he is enjoying what he loves best!  He has been my little shadow for the last few months and at the park he just stuck to me like glue.  He really wanted to play with Ruby, but she just doesn't stop moving and he didn't feel like chasing her all over kingdom come!

Cornelia was having a ball discovering all of the hidey holes and low to the ground spots at the park.  This was one of her favorite spots-- the only problem is that 8-10 year old boys kept flying through the hole above her head almost squashing her each time!  Cornelia didn't care though, she just loves being outside.  As soon as she's had her breakfast she's ready to get dressed.  She says, "soooes" (shoes) and then " ah-side" (outside)!  The only problem is that Mommy is rarely ready to go out with her first thing in the morning!

I got Ruby to stop for half a second to take this photo-- she was pretty wound up!  Ruby has enjoyed the camp-like environment at Brevard Academy this year.  They are outside a lot and walk quite a bit just to get to the different buildings for art, music, gym, and lunch.  At first she wasn't sure about it, but I think her attitude at the end of the school day is so much better thanks in part to the extra activity.  She loves to play on the playset Jared built in the afternoons too.  I'll have to get some pictures of that up next week-- it's pretty impressive!  I hear that a zip line is being installed by the boys this weekend-- sounds like fun!!

I tried to get a group photo before we left... sadly, this was the best one!  I decided to go ahead and post it-- it represents life as it is now.  Ruby trying to be large and in charge, Cornelia not taking one bit of it, and Maxwell just being a sweet boy.  What a trio!

Birthday Run-down!

Since the  only Nelson birthday I managed to post about last year was Max turning four, I thought I'd give a run-down of the rest of the birthdays in 2011!  Please keep in mind that I am not a very good cake decorator.  I do my best and so far the kids don't seem to notice my shortcomings.  Once they do, we'll be going with the bakery cakes!  Here goes nothing...

Happy 6th Birthday Ruby!  Her poor princess castle cake drooped considerably before we were able to eat it!  We almost had cake before dinner that night! 

Ruby's 6 year old gifts were all about bugs.  She played with her bug net,  and critter cage all summer long.  Now the net is mostly used as a hat/mask by Cornelia! Ha!

And then, Cornelia turned ONE!  We totally forgot to take a picture until after we had gobbled up half of her pineapple cake.  It was SOOOOO good!

I'm pretty sure that Cornelia agreed!  She is our little family clown.  As I was going through photos there were probably a dozen with her making goofy faces with her spoon!  

On my birthday, we spent the day outside.  Cornelia played in the water, while Jared and the kids started the playset project!

Ruby, Maxwell, and Jared hard at work.

For Jared's birthday, cousin Kristin Babcock made some amazing cookies.  I decided not to bother with cake once I knew these beauties were on the way!

Instead we splurged with banana splits and cookies!  Yum! 

The kids sure grew and changed a lot between May 2nd and November 14th (especially Cornelia!).  I hope you enjoyed our skip down memory lane as much as I did!

Mozzarella Meatballs

In honor of meal swap tonight, I thought I'd post a freezer friendly favorite from the club.  It's hard to believe that we've been cooking and swapping for about two years now!  Wow!  It sure has been a blessing to me to be able to pull something homemade out of the freezer a few nights a week for dinner.  It makes those emergency grocery trips or fast food nights very few and far between, for which we are all thankful.   Now on to the recipe!

Mozzarella Meatballs
(makes 120 meatballs-- ~6 meals worth!)
(from "Fix, Freeze, Feast")

6lbs. lean ground beef
15 sticks of mozzarella string cheese
3 c. dry bread crumbs
2/3 c. milk
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 c. minced onion
2 T. minced garlic
1 T. salt
2 tsp. black pepper

1. Remove string cheese from wrappers and cut each string into 8 equal pieces.  Place in a large bowl or 1 gallon freezer bag and freeze until it is time to form meatballs.
2. Preheat the oven to 500F.
3. Using your hands, thoroughly combine beef, breadcrumbs, milk, eggs, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.  Shape into 1- to 1 1/2-inch meatballs, around each piece of frozen mozzarella.  Seal meatballs well to keep cheese from oozing out.
4. Place meatballs close together on lightly greased broiler pans or rimmed baking sheets.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Cool meatballs.
5. Freeze in gallon sized freezer bag or serve right away with your favorite marinara!  YUM!

Something Special

This Saturday we all got to enjoy something a little special!

Maxwell had a great time going to a Transformers Birthday party with his Daddy.  He decided that he ought to wear his Halloween costume to get in the spirit of the party.  He looked something like the photo to the right, except now he's just about ready to pop out of the suit--apparently he's grown quite a bit since Halloween!

Jared said that they had a really great scavenger hunt leading to the apex of any decent kids' party--the pinata!  Jared managed to rile the kids up to a fever pitch and got good and rowdy with them-- his specialty.  I think I'm glad I wasn't there to see the reaction of all the moms to the craziness that he stirs up.  I'm sure that the boys LOVED it though!

While the boys were playing rough and rowdy, the girls and I decided to get down to business with some hot cocoa (or just piles of mini marshmallows in Cornelia's case!) and a rousing game of Scrabble.  This was Ruby's first game and she did pretty well.  It's definitely a challenge to not only unscramble tiles to make up words, but also find a spot for them on the board.  I'm looking forward to many more games with Ruby (and our other sweet kiddos) in the years to come!