"The Pie that Killed my Mixer." Also, "Monsters."

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Only one more holiday till this baby gets here... about 5 weeks and counting!

Thanksgiving was lovely. Pop smoked the turkey on Wed, and then Mom and Pop brought over a few side dishes and an apple pie. New was asparagus wrapped in prosciutto and a cranberry orange compote. I also made a caramel cream pumpkin pie (http://www.bhg.com/recipe/caramel-cream-pumpkin-pie/).  Sadly, it wasn't worth it. Making the meringue topping took 25 minutes and burnt out the motor on my hand-mixer! Sometimes you just can't mess with a classic. I preferred Mom's apple pie.

He's not getting ready to eat it... he was helping me swirl the topping!

I got a lovely pie crust recipe out the pumpkin creme pie ordeal however.  It has vodka in it (a great excuse to go get you some hard liquor) instead of water to cut down on the chewy gluten that forms when flour and water mix. It was really tender and very hands-off (you mix it in the food processor and then barely touch it to form a ball. But once you pull it from the fridge to roll out, you better move fast. I think I rolled that crust in under a minute! I'm sure I looked hilarious - like one of those zippy tv clips in FFwd.
Here's the recipe if anyone is interested. This will be my go-to easy crust of the future. And did I mention it has vodka in it?

It's called Gesine's Pie Crust (from BHG, click on link above to the pie recipe. Crust recipe is at the bottom).

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He's gonna grow up to be a Ghostbuster

I'm posting a few house pics here. It's awesome having a basement to send the kids down to play in. But, apparently they are at a very imaginative stage because monsters are a very real problem in our basement. I need to get me some monster spray and go down there a few times a day to clear em out. Because maybe then, the kids would actually take advantage of this wonderful space.

Truth be told though, the kids have beat me to the punch. The other day I forced them downstairs to play, despite their monster protestations. Suddenly it was quiet and I heard the Legos being pushed around and Sophia seriously directing her brothers. 

Usually I outlaw toys on the stairs, and I started to object as Matthew began placing Legos on the sides of the stairway... until I heard what their purpose was. They were setting "monster traps." Sophia and Xavier were building the devices under the stairs and Matthew was carefully placing them. 

The "trap" factory. And general favorite hangout.

And left, you see the very "scary basement. It has been a bit of a problem that Xavier likes to use the ash from the fireplace to "cook" with in his little kitchen...

 Finally (see right) we get to have our books out! Thanks to Pop, who is loaning us his bookshelves until they find a house where they will have the space to display his library.

AND... come and visit us! There is another large bedroom to the left of this pic. And a full bathroom!

 Upstairs living room. In need of wall-hangings. Can't wait to get our Christmas tree!

A few pictures

 A walk in Old Town St. Charles by the river landed us with these two characters and their dog. M Jr was thrilled to discover he was as tall as Clark's boot.

 The other kids were jumping off the rocks along the trail so of course, little man had to follow suit.

On a cold night (Hey Dallas peeps, there has been frost on the ground every morning!!), we made our first fire in our fireplace and played charades. The kids ate it up and want to play it all the time now. :)

What really goes on...

Have you ever walked into a kids room and your amazing preggo nose tells you it smells like poop? And then you can't find the poop? And then you don't really want to find the poop, but it just keeps smelling. 'sigh'
M Jr's room stinks and I can't find the source. He says it's dog poop outside his window. Hmm.... This may be another blog post in the future depending on what I find.

So I while back I read that federal funding was going to go away for Poison Control. I really think that that shouldn't happen and if it can't be funded by the Feds, every person with kids should just give them $10 or something. It's lot less than a trip to the ER and chances are you'll need to call them someday.
Like I had to last week.

We had to unexpectedly have naptime at my parents house because of the workers at the house and as usual, M Jr. slept in my parents bed. Of course he made a beeline for all the stuff on my mom's nightstand (earplugs first, a lovely choking hazard, right?). So I promptly cleared the nightstand and put it all on top of a shelf that was obviously taller than him.

Sophia and I and Xavier (in his pack&play) laid down in the guest room. We all napped, and I thought I heard a rustle of M Jr waking up in the next room, but it stopped. So I thought he had gone back to sleep. About 15 minutes later, I heard him walking around, so I left the other sleeping kids to check on him. He had that guilty look and Mom's earplugs were on the bed and the wooden nightstand looked unusually shiny.

He had gotten down the earplugs and greased her nightstand with lotion. Then I saw the bottle on the floor. It was Strawberry flavored melatonin. 5mg tablets, a jar of 90 pills. It was empty except for the silica packet. He had eaten every last one.

I panicked. How much time did I have to deal with this? He had probably eaten them 15 minutes ago? Mom couldn't pick up her phone because she was teaching, but I needed to know how many pills had been in there! A call to Pop verified it had prob been about half full, at least.

Thank God for poison control. I called and a calm sounding nurse answered. I gave her all the facts and she didn't tell me to rush him to the ER. I could feel the relief flow through my body when she said, "Well, melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone in our bodies. If we have to much, our bodies just push it aside. He may be a bit sleepy, but otherwise, he should be fine." She verified he had no underlying health conditions and told me not to worry about it. 'phhheeeew'

So M Jr had been sitting quietly on the couch the whole time (wierd) looking sleepy. But he eventually bounced up and started playing. At one point about 30 min later, he set his toy down and said, "Mommy I'm a little bit tired.... but I have LOTS of energy!" I think he fought off the fatigue and so he never really seemed to slow down as a result of all that melatonin.

So it all ended well and gave us a very good reason to have that very serious talk with the kids about never ever eating medicine or vitamins or anything they find. And of course to tell us if they ever see a sibling doing that!

And this was a reminder for me to keep praying to the kids' guardian angels!!

Of Pumpkins Past

I'll get around to being a spiffy blogger with pics to illustrate each paragraph, but since I'm not there yet, you just get random pics sprinkled throughout. :)

I have been working extensively on Sophia and Matthew's old school's newsletter, which has been taking most of my evening time on the computer. It's almost done... awaiting edits and so I won't feel guilty hopping on to do some frivolous blogging :)
We are getting used to all being home together again. It's like when the kids come home for the summer after being in school during the day. Shock to the system.

 "helping" Daddy set up the table

An informal homeschool program thus far has included reading learning sight words for Sophia, math worksheets for both, handwriting with lined paper, and fun busy-work art projects. I'm getting ready to order the Seton Home Study program for K and Pre-K though. The hope is that next year both kids will be able to attend St. Austin School, where Mom teaches K and 1st.

Work continues on our house. We got a new roof a few weeks ago, landscaping last week, and a working toilet. Now we just are waiting on new doors for the bedrooms and bath, hopefully on Friday. 

It's been great having my parents around! They come over for dinner and help put the kids to bed on nights Matthew works late and take a kid or two for a bit on the weekend. It's nice to be able to do things all together too.

Baby Girl is super active - imagine that. She'll fit right in with her sibs. :) We picked a Dr. based on a friend's recommendation, and so hopefully we will be delivering at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis about 20 min away from here. The whole pregnancy is still going well though I am really slowing down. I think part of it is from gaining more weight than usual - a byproduct of stress and the move I think.

And now... some Halloween pics! Sophia was a Blue Fairy, Matthew was Spiderman and Xavier a Bumblebee.

We made it!

After a 14 month hiatus, we are back. Now that we've moved, we want all our friends back in the great state of TX to be able to keep up with our new St. Louis adventures. That is... as long as I can keep up myself and don't just collapse in a heap. That wouldn't make for very exciting blogging. Or good pics. So here goes!

We didn't waste any time in diving into the great family activities offered here. On Sunday afternoon my Mom used her awesome Arboretum membership to get us into the "Best of Missouri" festival. It was cold by Texas standards... lower 60's with a chilly breeze. Very fall. Very "I want to carve a pumpkin and turn on the crockpot."


Both the kids cranked an apple grinder to help make cider, which they then got to enjoy.

Sophia and Grandma decorated a pumpkin while Matthew Jr and Daddy constructed a bird house. (Xavier and Grandpa were home sick.)

The kids milked a very patient cow and petted an amazingly tame and friendly llama. Coffee for mom and dad helped us keep up.

Our rental house isn't quite ready so we're staying with Grandma and Grandpa. I can't wait to get in and unpack! Now that the adrenaline from readying for the move has worn off, I'm getting slower every day. I know how many boxes I packed and "oy" it is going to take forever to get it all in place. Moving truck should arrive Wednesday and hopefully by this weekend the landlord will have all the little indoor details done. The house is a complete rehab with all-new everything - which is going to be worth the wait, I think!