Life in Our Gated Community

The boys are now contained to one room. I finished putting up the 3rd baby gate this weekend. Luckily there are plenty of distractions to keep the boys entertained so they don't seem too phased by the gates. More curious than anything. (That reminds me of when we brought the boys downstairs the morning after Eric and I had put up the Christmas decorations and tree. They both kept looking around the room trying to figure out what had happened.)


I attached a bear that came on their playmat to the Great Wall in front of our TV. It's done a great job of taking on the task of border patrol. Because it's motion activiated, music plays when the boys touch the bear or run into the wall. The other night my parents and I were eating in the kitchen while the boys played in the family room. All of a sudden we heard music. Before my mom and I could say a word, my dad said, "Bear."

Aiden's first tooth all of sudden appeared yesterday. No wonder he's been chomping on everything. Yesterday I could feel it- a tiny corner of his bottom front right tooth had broken through. There's not enough tooth poking through yet to get a picture, but I'll post one when we can see it without prying his mouth open.


On Friday, Aiden put all the steps together and started crawling. He's also discovered that he can climb in the vertical direction. I'm not sure how to baby proof an end table. Who knows, it may end up in the other room.




Hope you're having a good week!

The First Tooth!

Reid's first tooth finally broke through last Saturday, January 29th. It's the bottom right middle tooth, and the one on the left is on its way as well. I think his top two middle teeth are working their way into position as well. Poor little guy.

Guess who else discovered his tongue? Aiden's also taken a liking to blowing raspberries while eating. He maintains the Messier Eater title.

I have to think Aiden's teeth must be making their move because "Sharky" likes to chomp on everything lately.

Eric's Birthday Dinner Recipes

As I mentioned yesterday on Facebook, Eric said my Swedish meatballs are almost as good as his mom's. That felt like a victory to me. Here are Jean's recipe and notes (she'll be the "I" throughout the recipe portion). I've include my notes after the recipe.


Swedish Meatballs
I use 2 lbs. of real good hamburger (like Sirloin, which has less fat)
1 egg (beaten)
1 medium onion (chopped-less, if you don't like that much)
1/4 cup parsley flakes
1/8 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, pepper, and salt.
3/4 to 1 cup of plain bread crumbs
Put 2 Tablespoons of butter or margarine in fry pan. Form meatballs. Brown all sides.

Gravy
5 beef bouillon cubes
5 cups boiling water to dissolve cubes; 1 cube to 1 cup boiling water)
(I put about 2 or 3 tablespoons of flour with about 1 1/2 inches of water in my small blender glass--Blend)
Put boiling water in fry pan first; then add flour mixture. There should be enough gravy to cover all the meatballs.

-Jean Brusven

(Keri's notes- I used the 93% lean hamburger this time. I used about half an onion because I was trying to hide its presence from my Dad who doesn't care for onion. I used about 3/4 cup of bread crumbs. Browning the meatballs takes me a while. It's easy to get two of the sides, but then I use tongs to rotate the meatballs around to try to get the other sides browned. I try to keep the heat on medium to medium high, because there's no use rushing this process. I also keep the meatballs on the smaller side to make browning easier. I have to go through two shifts of browning, so I end up using 4 tablespoons of butter. The night before, I completed the steps through browning the meatballs and then put them in fridge.
The next day after lunch, I had Eric put the meatballs, hot water, and bouillon cubes in the crock pot on low. When I arrived home from school I added the flour to the pot. We ate around 5:30-6, so the timing worked out well. They were much more moist this around because Eric recently told me his mom has her meatballs stewing in the gravy for quite a while. I didn't realize that and in the past I've only had them in the gravy until I finished cooking the rest of dinner.)

I also made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes for dessert. I used this recipe on Bake at 350'. She actually links to a recipe at Tidymom.com, but I used the Bake at 350' lady's modifications. I think they turned out great and have managed the willpower to only eat one so far. In the future, maybe I'll attempt piping the frosting to make it look fancy, but I decided this would not be the time to learn. I baked the cupcakes and mixed up the cookie dough and frosting the night before. I covered the cupcakes overnight and put the dough and frosting in the fridge. I had to put the frosting in the microwave for about 45 seconds to soften it up the next day. I also only used mini chocolate chip cookies whenever chocolate chips were called for. In the future I may consider putting the flour back into the frosting recipe. I omitted the flour as suggested by the Bake at 350' lady, but I think it would have been a good addition; maybe taste more like cookie dough?


In hindsight, perhaps Aiden was upset because he didn't get to try any meatballs or cupcakes. I don't think I'll be framing this family photo. (This one was the best one of the bunch!)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Too much fun celebrating Daddy's birthday wore the little guys out.

As they say in the blogging world: HB, DH! (Happy Birthday, Dear Husband!)

Happy Birthday, David!

Today we enjoyed a snow day. Last Friday it was 68 degrees and today it barely made it to zero. (Apparently the high today was -1. Brrrr.) I enjoyed the opportunity to spend extra time with the boys. We were excited to video chat with Uncle David on his birthday.

The boys were especially excited to break out their party hats again.
"Reid, how do I look?"
"Move your hat forward just a little bit. Perfect!"

"And whatever you do, don't smile at Mommy."
"Got it."

January

The school district is sponsoring a weight loss contest. It's in a team format and I'm on a team with 4 other teachers. I decided I needed some accountability as I go from eating for three to ONLY eating for one. I'm not one to go on extreme diets, but I think I could do less snacking. Reid seems to be handling dairy ok, so I did have some ice cream at the birthday party two weeks ago. I also had pizza last weekend. It was soooooo good. I hadn't had any since September!

Today we did our first weigh-in after school. Luckily my teammates will be more supportive than competitive. Otherwise, I would not have signed up. My main goal in order to lose weight is to up my exercising. This has been one of the most mild winters I can ever remember, so today I decided to begin my new routine by going for run after school. I especially appreciated Mother Nature supplying the 68 degree weather. Perfect running temperature.

Tonight the boys and I skipped the van ride over to my parents house and we instead trekked over in the BOB.


At my parents' house, we've been using high chairs which attach to regular chairs. My brother's co-worker gave them to us. (THANK YOU!) She too has twin boys. (David- maybe you can forward her this link? Thanks!)


Have a good weekend!

9 Months Old!

The boys like to socialize before they settle down for their naps. Usually we lay them down in the centers of their cribs, but it doesn't take very long for them to scoot down until they can see each other. The other day on the monitor I spotted them touching hands as they both reached their arms through the slats.
On their 9-month birthday we took the boys with us to do a couple of errands. First stop: Babies R Us. As long as we're shopping there, you may want to consider buying their stock. Luckily they publish some pretty good coupons. Being organized enough to have them with me at the right time is another story.
We also stopped at the grocery store. I think this is the first time they've been in a grocery store. Most of the time I've been going after the boys are in bed.
Eric gave me a digital frame for Christmas. Love it! We've been mesmerized by it. When I look at the following pictures, it amazes me even more how little they were in the pictures we've been viewing on the frame.








Fun time with Daddy.






Aiden was a tad upset when his turn was over.



A picture of me! I do exist.