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May 30, 2008
First time swimming
Ian: Yo, peeps! The tag is "Ian" not "Gilligan." And stop singing that ^&*^%#$^&* tune.
Ian: Dude, I'm freezing already! And I can't get that stooopid song out of my head.
Elanor: I saw what they did to you, Lil'-E. I know my time is coming...
Ian: I'm cool if I got a pretty girl's attention.
Elanor: I'm chill' if I got everyone's attention!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 03:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 29, 2008
No-cook meals
The Georgia summer is coming our way. So we decided to do antipasti and bruschetta for a couple of meals this week, on Monday and last night.
We rarely get deli meats, so it's kind of exotic for us. I just got a 1/4 pound or less of a few different meats (prosciutto, salami, pesto ham, etc.), some fresh mozarella, muenster cheese, olives, and marinated red bell pepper. I cut everything into small pieces, and tossed it onto a platter together.
Then I sliced some homemade bread into small thin pieces, and toasted it with some olive oil and garlic. I cheated with some already made bruschetta topping, but maybe when tomatoes get into season and I get some gumption up, I'll make some more.
It tasted really fresh, cool and bright. And was a great accompaniment to rewatching the Godfather movies. We're kind of going with an Italian theme these days, wondering whether we'll be able to take a trip to Italy in a few years.
On Tuesday night, I took some of the leftovers and made a tomato and mozzarella salad and a couple of panini sandwiches. And we still have a couple more meals that can emerge from the same ingredients--maybe chicken cordon bleu?
Posted by Tim and Jo at 03:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Mama's new toy
The kids are asleep. We finished our last encyclopedia article and sent it in last night. So, I'm finally going to finish a blog post I started awhile ago.
A couple months ago, my grandma gave me her breadmaker that she never uses. And it's been soooooo much fun! I don't think I've bought a loaf of bread since she gave it to me.
I like the idea of making bread completely by hand. But it just takes too much time and planning for me at this stage of my life. Here, I just need to find a fun recipe, dump in the ingredients, and let the machine do its thing
I found a fabulous cookbook for bread machines. It has artisan breads, sourdough breads, any kind of baguette you could imagine, sweet breads, multigrain/whole-grain breads, etc., even some gluten free breads. Some that you bake in the oven, some that you shape in traditional ways. And fun extras like pizza doughs, English muffins, naan, pita breads, and how to make pasta doughs in your machine. The thing I love most about the cookbook is that it explains the process, why you do something or add something, the chemical reactions, and what results from it. So the recipes are more like processes than simple five step formulas. Anyways, geeking out a little here.
As far as traditional breads go, I've made an oatmeal bread, a cracked wheat (bulgur is what I had on hand) bread, a pain viennois, and a milk bread.
One night, we made pizzas together. I made one recipe of whole-wheat pizza dough, and another garlic-parmesan-herb pizza dough. It made four good sized pizzas.
We ate one pizza that night, partially baked the other three and froze them for easy meals on other nights. Much cheaper than take-out, and we piled them with lots of fun toppings.
And here's my favorite recipe so far from the book--pain au chocolat. More like a sweet roll than a croissant, but still amazingly good!
I also made whole wheat cinnamon rolls. Note to self: even if the dough is frozen, don't take it on a 14 hour car drive, unless you want swollen rolls exploding lids off containers in your trunk.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 12:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 28, 2008
Happy boy!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 02:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 23, 2008
Pittsburgh Trip: Lots of family!
Getting into mischief with grandpa...playing with cousin Jessica...fun with Aunt Kim...reading with Aunt Martha...twins with twins...snuggling with Great-Grandma...and the list goes on.
Even though we couldn't fit everyone's picture here, the kids loved spending time with *all* of you!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:47 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 22, 2008
So sleepy!
We're going to update on the Pittsburgh trip and the kids' milestones.
As soon as we can get them back into a routine that doesn't involve us staying up until the wee hours of the night. And the kids deciding that naptimes are no longer necessary. And the kids feeling like they need attention from at least half a dozen people at a time, all.the.time. Which isn't going to stop anytime soon because we're about to leave on our family camping trip, which will mean more spoiling by adoring aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
*sigh* Our nice little routine has been temporarily suspended. Which is totally worth it to spend time with friends and family, but still...
After fighting her morning nap until nearly the afternoon, Elanor finally caved in. No pacifier. No swaddling. No music.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 20, 2008
Happy half birthday!
We don't know whether to put on our party hats...
...or our birthday suits!
More from mommy and daddy once they recover a bit from their Pittsburgh spree!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 02:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 08, 2008
Blogging hiatus
Tomorrow morning, we're off to one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The land of rivers, bridges, folk festivals, Steelers and pierogies. The place where we fell in love. The place we fell in love with.
It'll be our babies first glimpse of it ex utero.
See y'un's later 'nat!!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 08:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Finally Finished
...with my dissertation.
Only kidding.
My hands didn't do so well during my pregnancy (stupid pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome), so I had to stop crocheting. I had been working on a baby blanket for the kids, even before I knew that there were two. My hands still aren't quite back to normal yet, so I've put off finishing it. But it's been almost six months since the kids were born, and I wanted them to have this while they're still babies. So this afternoon, I ripped out a halfway-done extraneous ruffle, and tucked in my ends.
Voila!
Still plenty big for two!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 03:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 06, 2008
First icky twin comment
So, I was in the waiting room with the twins today waiting for Tim to get done with a check-up. Elanor was sleeping, and Ian was quietly playing with his toys.
There was an old man a few seats down from us, snoring away. All of us in there were (respectfully) trying not to giggle. A nurse came in to call someone back and started laughing so hard that she forgot who she was calling back.
Old man wakes up, looks at our kids and says in a horrified voice, "Good G**! Twins!" In the tone of voice someone would use in talking about a natural disaster. And he topped it off with everyone's favorite bit of sugary, southern insincerity, "Bless your heart."
When I told Tim, he suggested a few three, four and seven letter words I could have used to respond.
I just told the man what great babies they were. And talked rather loudly to someone else about how wonderful it was to have twins.
Grrr. Don't diss my babies.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 12:56 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 05, 2008
Baby wedgie
Posted by Tim and Jo at 09:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Chattanooga photoblog
We had a whirlwind trip to Chattanooga this weekend.
We met friends.
We met dogs.
We met a weathered hippie-man that liked our twins. He has a couple of 20-something year old children, and a 5 month old. He informed us that he was a "baby-making machine." He gave our kids clothes. Groovy!
We walked around a park.
We ate at a cafe.
We drove up a mountain and hung out in the clouds.
We saw a choo-choo.
We wore our kids out.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 09:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Help--I've rolled and I can't get up!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 09:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack