The Party

I'm not exactly sure who's party it was last night. Charlie kind of took control as apparently I wasn't doing a good job. He decided Henry needed a VeggieTales party but we live in a small town and finding veggie decorations is pretty difficult. So Charlie made some.

He decorated the cake:

He made "Pin the Plunger on Larry Boy" (I can't figure out how to turn the picture):

He made Veggie Balloons (Bob, Jr., Larry, and Laura):

He made a centerpiece and drew Bob the Tomato on all the red cake plates.

When Henry woke up from his name he kept saying "Veggie for me? Veggie for me?" He was thrilled! So, it's official- Charlie is in charge of all party planning from now on.

A Busy Day

Today is Henry's second birthday! So it's 9:30 and he's still in his pj's. Actually, I'm letting him watch whatever Veggie video he wants to since Charlie isn't here to commandeer the television. Henry is in heaven.

I made a list of things to do but I've lost it. This is what happens when we go away to a conference for a couple of days. I always clean before I go so I can return to a nice house but then our things sort of explode everywhere and stay that way for an indefinite amount of time. The red longish looking thing is Henry's present that hasn't been wrapped yet. It's a tent. There's also a veggie book under the laundry basket. See, I know where things are.

Monica has announced her Spring Cleaning Contest again, thank the Lord, because I'm highly motivated to clean when there are prizes involved. Plus, my mom reads my blog and she'll die when she sees my before pictures so it will be nice for her to see the after pictures as well.

And now I'm off to clean my kitchen, bake a cake, cook some "cheeken" (Henry's favorite), and run around town getting things I forgot.

For some reason I had it in my head that I was doing a great job blogging. And then I realized I only blogged three times this month. I think I write lots of posts in my head and THINK I blogged them but I really didn't. Those were some great posts, too. I wondered why no one commented...

I finally got myself a planner for 2008. We're two months in and I'm finally ready for the new year (yeah, it's gonna be rough). I've filled it in with my work schedule, appointments, school calendar events, church calendar events...and I've still managed to double-book myself- TWICE. And I say that like I have this super active social life. I don't. I just remember in my head that Friday we are going out with so-and-so and February 29 we have a church thing- not realizing FRIDAY and FEB. 29 are the SAME DAY. If I have anymore pregnancies I will have no more brain cells left. I had a teacher in high school once say that babies suck all the vitamins out of you leaving you with mousy hair and pasty skin and this empty look in your eyes- I think she was trying to scare me into staying away from boys but I do agree I lose brain cells. But my planner is very pretty and compact and works for me! When I remember to write in it. Actually, I get really attached to my planner and can't go anywhere without it. I'm one of those people who will lose their minds if I lose my planner.

But on a much happier note I've purchased two adorable little girl dresses and I've been given the cutest little pink polka dot swimsuit. It's tiny! Having a "baby" in size 5 diapers and then pulling out the newborn stuff makes Henry look huge. Huge. I can't wait until I get the newborn diapers. I love how they look like toy diapers for a baby doll. And I can't wait to hold that wrinkly, snuggly little baby! I've got a long wait...being buried in all this snow makes July 4 seem a long ways away.

Because I don't have a point

I have one of those random blogs...it's not crafty, or frugal, or about fashion, or food...so I can pretty much write about whatever I want. And since I'm still snowed in I feel like cooking. One of my FAVORITE new blogs is The Pioneer Woman Cooks! She makes me feel like I can cook. Now, there are some cooking shows on Food Network that make me think that I can cook, too but then I attempt the recipe and fail miserably. Not at TPWC. She is awesome. She takes TONS of step by step pictures and gives tons of easy to follow directions. So far I've made:

1. Holiday Bacon Appetizers (for my MOPS Christmas party)
2. Beans and Cornbread (for my guys- they gobbled it up)
3. Pot Roast (the best EVER)

And I'd like to try:
1. Olive Cheese Bread
2. Pico De Gallo

And this week she's doing a Valentine's Day meal with steak and roasted garlic potatoes. She hasn't posted it yet but I can't wait! If you are snowed in like me try some of these great meals!

Snow Day...Again

When winter first starts and the snowstorms are quaint and exciting, we look forward to snuggling under the covers and sleeping a little later. However, after snowday #7, the staying inside with our faces mashed against the cold glass is no longer fun. We feel trapped and long to play outside. The boys have been watching "Jerry" plow the church parking lot into our backyard leaving behind massive snow hills for sledding. But with the wind chill still sitting at NEGATIVE 20 degrees "Mean Mom" won't let them play outside. We have run out of hot chocolate, we're sick of the coloring books, we've somehow lost the scissors but we don't really have anything left to cut anyway. Even the television is annoying. A new show will start and Charlie will sigh and say "I've seen this one..." and aimlessly flip through the channels. Even the library is closed due to weather. We are out of luck.

This afternoon we are going grocery shopping (once the roads are cleared a bit better) and the boys can hardly wait. We've resorted to grocery shopping for fun. It's been a long winter.

Lentils

Carrie did a recipe question/answer exchange on her blog this week and she mentioned she needed some recipes for lentils. We LOVE lentils in this house and there are two recipes we use frequently. Lentils are cheap and yummy and we usual have them once a week or so.

The first recipe I found on Happy Foody (a really awesome vegan blog) so I'll send you there. It's a one pot meal (which is my favorite way to cook). Stir all the ingredients together in a covered baking dish and let it cook! Her blog just moved to wordpress but the recipe is on her old blogspot blog.

The second recipe I've used for five years. It's called Mazidra and it's a layered lentil dish. It's from an old spiral bound vegetarian cookbook called "100% Vegetarian" by Julianne Pickle.

MAZIDRA

Combine the following in a saucepan and bring to a boil:
1 c lentils
3 c water
1/2 c chopped onion
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sweet basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregeno

Reduce heat and simmer on lowest setting 1 1/2 - 2 hours until lentils are soft and cooking liquid becomes cloudy.

Meanwhile, prepare cooked brown rice (3 c after it's cooked).

When the lentils are ready you can build the mazidra like this:

1. Cooked rice
2. Cooked lentils
3. Diced tomatoes
4. Diced cucumber
5. Sliced green onion
6. Top with chopped avocado or guacamole/avocado dip

We pig out on mazidra. It's sooooooo good!

Today we are snowed in...AGAIN. We live next door to church and had to close because we can't see the church. Not too mention the wind chill is -25 degrees and the path Chad shoveled to the church this morning is already buried knee deep. I cooked a spiral ham that I was saving for Easter because I was grumpy with all the snow and a sugary ham seemed like a good idea. I've snitched a few bites already and it's delicious! I'm off to make some rice and veggies to eat with our ham. Enjoy your Sunday!