Saturday, November 28, 2009

Pioneer Woman

I got my copy of the cookbook today so that I only have to stand in one line at the signing on Thursday night!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/my_cookbook/

Chuys parade

Samba ladies

Chuys parade

Joe McDermot

Chuys parade

Chuys parade

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving

Happy "Be Thankful For Your Bountiful Blessings" Day to everyone!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

no hike but lots of bike

Vacation day 3 had no hiking but it did have lots of stretching and running (1 mile) and playing for 3 hours at PE. That was followed by an hour of bike riding.

I gave blood at the new South Austin Donation Center where I got a t-shirt and a $50 gift certificate to a local jewelers. I finally bought the massive amounts of fleece needed to make a REAL king-sized blanket - one that actually still covers everyone in the bed when they are in the bed instead of exposing your backside to the cold air in the room. And I got the little bit of groceries needed to complete my portion of Thanksgiving dinner which'll be at Christi's new house this year.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Vacation hike day 2

Barton Creek Greenbelt

delayed

Sprint Picture Mail has been down all day so our hike picture has yet to post from my phone. It'll be here eventually.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Chicken and dumplings

As I was making tonight's dinner I thought "I really need to take pictures of this" but I didn't!
I adapted a recipe (shock!) from my church's cook book for Chicken & Dumplings. Since it was just the kids and me eating dinner I just used 2 thawed skin-on, bone-in thighs instead of a whole fryer, although I did debone them. Instead of boiling the chicken, I cooked them over med-high heat with a tiny bit of oil in the 4-quart stainless sauce pan. I had seasoned them with Adobo seasoning before I put them in the pan and added ground pepper on the side without skin. I cut up the bones into 3 pieces each and fried them up too to add extra flavor to the broth that I'd be making after the chicken was done cooking. When the chicken was done I put a thigh in each of the kids' bowls (pasta bowls not soup bowls) and set to work on the broth. I added a cup of frozen homemade concentrated chicken broth to the pan on the stove, being careful to get all the flavorful crusty brown bits scrapped off of the bottom from the frying of the chicken. After that I added about 4 or 5 cups of water and a tsp of minced garlic, then brought it all to a boil. While I waited for the broth to heat up I measured out a cup of flour, added in 1/4 a tsp less of salt than the recipe called for and added in a 1/2 tsp of poultry seasoning that the recipe didn't call for. Once the broth was boiling I took 1 cup of the broth and added it to my flour, stirred it up and was going to follow the recipe and roll it out thin on a floured surface. Then I remembered that I like my dumplings in balls so instead of cut flat dumplings I did drop dumplings - grabbing a kid-sized ball of dough with my fork and dropping it into the boiling broth. 10 minutes later dinner was ready and the kids loved it!
Of course Paul was meated out before he finished his thigh but both of them ate all 5 of their dumplings and sucked down the broth. I just had broth and dumplings. There was both broth and dumplings left over so I stored them separately so the dumplings wouldn't dissolve from being in the broth all night. The broth was great so I'm going to add some carrots, onions, corn and ayote to it tomorrow to turn in into more of a soup and then add in the remaining dumplings.
I'm looking forward to it and maybe I'll remember to actually take the pictures instead of just think about it!

More hiking

Day 2 of vacation will be spent hiking the Barton Creek Greenbelt. I'm glad the kids are big enough to carry their own daypacks! Too bad the old dog can't join us!

Day one of vacation

Wilderness hike across the street

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Dinner

Asian Noodle Soup

Friday, November 20, 2009

Vacation

I decided today that we're going to have a school vacation for the next week. Other than the 3 hours of PE on Wed and the 4 hours at the park on Friday, there will be no school activities until Monday the 30th.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Flying with metal water bottles

It is perfectly A-OK with the TSA to fly with a metal water bottle (or as my husband calls it "a water carrying system"). The qualifications are that it HAS to be empty, the lid has to be off of it, and you have to have it out of your bag and in the bin when going through the security check points.
I flew last month with my 40 ounce stainless steel Kleen Kanteen and had no problems at all! So happy travels in these next two months of traveling craziness!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tuesday at the park

Found in Translation

Giselle has finished the Spanish book that she was working on for the last 4 months. So we've now moved on to the next level and are translating the songs that we listen to. One song a week. This is the first week and here is our first song.

Andar Conmigo by Julieta Venegas

Hay tanto que quiero contarte
hay tanto que quiero saber de ti,
ya podemos empezar poco a poco
cuéntame que te trae por aquí.

No te asustes de decirme la verdad
eso nunca puede estar así tan mal
yo también tengo secretos para darte
y que sepas que no me sirven mas.

Hay tantos caminos por andar...

Dime si tú quisieras andar conmigo oh, oh, oh...
Cuéntame si quisieras andar conmigo oh, oh, oh...

Estoy ansiosa por soltarlo todo
desde el principio hasta llegar al día de hoy;
una historia tengo en mi para entregarte,
una historia todavía sin final

Podríamos decirnos cualquier cosa
incluso darnos para siempre un siempre no,
pero ahora frente a frente aquí sentados
festejemos que la vida nos cruzo.

Hay tantos caminos por andar...

Dime si tú quisieras andar conmigo oh, oh, oh...
Cuéntame si quisieras andar conmigo oh, oh, oh...

Si quisieras andar conmigo...


Translated by Google:

There is so much I want to tell
There is so much I want to hear from you,
we can start small
tell me what brings you here.

Do not be afraid to tell me the truth
that can never be so so bad
I also have secrets to give you
and know that I serve more.

There are many ways to go ...
Tell me if you would walk with me oh, oh, oh ...
Tell me if you want to walk with me oh, oh, oh ...

I am eager to let go of everything
from the beginning until the present day;
I have a story on me to surrender,
a story not yet final

We could tell us anything
us for ever even if not,
but now sitting here face to face
Lets celebrate that life has to cross.

There are many ways to go ...

Tell me if you would walk with me oh, oh, oh ...
Tell me if you want to walk with me oh, oh, oh ...

If you wanted to go out with me ...


On Friday, I'll give you our translation.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Pirates

Playmobil hunting season has come once again! Let the bidding wars begin!!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Repeat or De Ja Vu


Another sleepover and another viewing of "Enchanted".

Dinosaur Dig

Austin Nature and Science Center