How Claire makes ME laugh!

Claire LOVES our living room rug-- especially the fringe. Whenever I put her down, she rolls to the edge to grab them. Today I came in and found her bringing the mountain to Mohammed.

-- Post From My iPhone

Throw me a bone because I'm wiwrawrious

Claire started laughing this week. And naturally, she thinks Ella is hilarious.

-- Post From My iPhone

Be Bwave

I took the girls to the doctor and they each got some shots. Claire got some immunizations and Ella got her annual flu shot. I must have talked up the importance of "being brave" when something hurts because a few days later Ella gave me the same advice while she pretended to saw off my leg.

-- Post From My iPhone

Killing Time

A friend in Moscow recommended we get a Leapster for Ella to help with the long plane ride to Houston. She was a little young to do it then, but she's a big fan now. Almost every day she diligently helps Dora rebuild the bridge to rescue the great horned owl.




She really likes to pause it when Dora is jumping or falling off something.


-- Post From My iPhone

180

When Ella was a baby I heard at some broadcast the suggestion that we should use hymns as lullabyes for our children. So I started singing "I Am A Child of God" to Ella every night before bed. It sort of backfired as she began to associate the song with bedtime- her least favorite time of the day. Whenever she would hear it her little face would burst
into tears automatically. I had to take her out of sacrament meeting many times because of it. So we had a long moritorium on that song in our house. At some point Andrew reintroduced it into the bedtime routine and now, ironically, it's her most-requested song. I think she's mature enough to know it's not the song putting her to bed and can now direct her tears and angst to the parties responsible. Which she does, very maturely.

So I couldn't resist taping and posting this moment from yesterday.

-- Post From My iPhone

Stuffed Squash

Even though it doesn't feel like autumn, the produce the in the stores makes me want to cook autumnal. My favorite new autumn recipe from the new Cuisine At Home Weeknight Menus Cookbook is Stuffed Squash with Sausage and Gruyere Cheese. I like serving it to guests because the leftovers don't keep well and Ella and Andrew just aren't impressed enough by the fact that it is served in the squash.



For the Squash:
2 acorn squash
olive oil
kosher salt

For the Stuffing:
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 lb sage-flavored pork sausage
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 cups dry spinach
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese, divided
balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425. Slice each squash in half horizontally; scoop out the seeds. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each half to allow the squash to sit flat. Drizzle squash flesh with oil; sprinkle with salt. Place squash halves on a baking sheet, flesh side down. Roast squash 15 minutes. Flip squash and roast 10 minutes more. Remove squash from oven. Heat broiler to high and place an oven rack 2 inches below broiler. Heat the 1 T oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add sausage to the skillet. Saute the sausage, breaking up chunks with a wooden spoon, until meat is browned and cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Add oinion to sausage in skillet; cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Deglaze skillet with sherry; simmer mixture until most of the liquid is evaporated, 2-3 minutes. Add spinach to skillet, stir and toss until spinach leaves are wilted, 2-3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, sitr in bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of the Gruyere. Scoop 1 cup of the sausage mixture into each squash half. Sprinkle remaining Gruyere over sausage mixture. Return stuffed squash to the baking sheet. Place squash under the broiler until Gruyere melts, 2-3 minutes. Remove squash from the oven. Drizzle balsamic vinegar lightly over each stuffed squash half. Enjoy!

-- Post From My iPhone

Big Day

I took Claire and Ella to the park this morning. This particular park is next to some properties with farm animals. So we paid them a visit.



The goats were happy to see us, but disappointed that we didn't bring food.




Then while I was at the Relief Society broadcast, Andrew took Ella to the Stanford/UW football game with her "best friend" Jameson. Ella cheered for UW. She's partial to purple.




She liked the cheerleaders best. At least it's not the Dynamo Devushkas.




Thanks Jameson for the invitation and tickets! I'll have to come up with something equally awesome for the Priesthood Session next Saturday.



Post From My iPhone