Happy Birthday Marmie!

Dear Mom,

Thanks for being there through all the ups and downs. Thanks for being a nana to my kids. Thank you for feeding us those 2 years you lived here. Thank you for being half-obedient when it comes to not buying toys for the kids. Thank you for being a good listener and a good friend. Thank you for dressing the girls alike and doing their hair so atleast they look put together occasionally. Thank you for not EVER saying a word ;-)

I love you- we all do! Hope you have a great birthday!
All of us.

A slight obsession with Washington.

I just traveled up to Washington on Saturday morning to attend my cousin Tim's wedding. The kids (all 4 of them) are super sick and Jared was at the tail end of illness also. I hated leaving but flying into Seattle was my favorite airplane experience of all time. For the last several years, Jared and I have driven to Washington (and wherever we go) because flying 2, 3, or 4 kids around is too much headache and hassle and money. Flying in on Saturday it was partly cloudy, partly sunny, the leaves were all sorts of different colors. I felt like I was flying home. It is the first time since I have been married that I have flown to Washington and felt like I was home. I miss it a lot. I told Jared last night that I wanted to move back and he told me to ask his business partner, Jayson. So, Jayson here goes...can we move the company to Washington? A response in the affirmative would make me very happy.

I guess happiness isn't about where you live but who your friends are- but I think that is debatable. I think I could be happy in Washington even if we were surrounded by total losers. While I was there, of all the amazing things I could have photographed, I have a picture here of my cousin waiting for his bride to walk down the aisle and my other cousin's little girls dancing. That is all I got. No amazing scenery pictures, no pictures of the bride, no pictures of any other family members except one that turned out really dark. No pictures of the cool venue for the wedding. No pictures of Seattle. No pictures of my invalid mother-in-law who is recovering from knee surgery and has a cold! I will do a better job next week when we drive up there for Thanksgiving. Get well Stephanie!

Los Tres Amigos- from left: Great Aunt Marilyn, Great Uncle Dale, and my Grammy in a terribly taken photo!

My cousin Shari's daughters rockin' out!Leslie and Tim cutting the cake

Watching Leslie walk down the aisle. It was very sweet. Tim (the one in back) got teary eyed. I tried to capture it but I don't know how to use my camera other than for point and shoot in daylight. Cousin Jason is the one in front.

Viva Sea-Town!

Ring of Fire- dance party

If ever you need a little pick me up. If you haven't left the house in 4 days. If you are a little under the weather. If you are down in dumps about your lack of organizational skills. If you haven't put ANY makeup on since Sunday and that was only for church--- I have a remedy for you. First, gather the husband and kids in the kitchen. Then, turn on some music- (we like "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash) and have a dance party. Your cares will melt away.

Rebs going "Into the Ocean" by Joshua Radin

This is Rebs and I spinning- I'm getting dizzy-eyed

If that doesn't work, pledge to go on a cookie diet and make some of these....

Macey doing her part to contribute to the cookie diet.

a 5/5 Ginger Cookie Recipe (below)
Note to you, the reader (because I care). This recipe only makes 24 cookies. Who ever heard of a cookie recipe that only makes 2 dozen? I strongly encourage you to double or triple the ingredients. That way you can stick to your cookie diet without falling off the wagon for at least a couple of days.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened (I used 1/2 c. butter and 1/4c. shortening)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
-Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
-In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture.
-Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
-Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

No, those aren't birthmarks.

This is the arm of someone who has no business being anywhere near a hot stove, EVER.

Yes those are FOUR hot oil burns all the way up my arm. There is another on my hand but you can't see it from here. Funny thing is- I am not surprised- it happens almost every time I cross the kitchen threshold. A burn, a cut, a scrape, a spill. This is the only one that was ever bad enough to photograph though. It hurt bad!

But, this was dessert- I didn't eat it but from what people told me- my sacrifice was worthwhile.

The burn actually occurred while making Indian Butter Chicken. It is amazing. Make it! Serves appx 10. It is a huge crowd pleaser. I have changed a few things from the original recipe: Easy Indian Butter Chicken on allrecipes.com. I halved the butter for it. Don't worry, I have made it both ways- you won't miss the extra butter!!!
SAUCE

• 1 stick butter, divided
  
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• CHICKEN
  
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons tandoori masala, madras curry powder, garam masala or a combination of whatever curry spices you have. Tandoori is kinda hard to find so you may need to substitute if you can't find it.
  
• DIRECTIONS
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Melt a 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic, and cook slowly until the onion caramelizes to a dark brown, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat along with the tomato sauce, heavy cream, salt, cayenne pepper, and garam masala. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low; cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in caramelized onions.
• While the sauce is simmering, toss cubed chicken breast with vegetable oil until coated, then season with tandoori masala and spread out onto a baking sheet.
• Bake chicken in preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 12 minutes. Once done, add the chicken to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes before serving.
  

Serving Suggestions: Serve with Basmati Rice and Indian Rotis (A type of Indian Tortilla kind of). I got the burn making the Rotis. Be careful!

More Halloween

I don't like cheap decorations. I don't really like orange and black together. I really don't like dressing up. I don't like violent raucous fights that break out over candy. I don't really like carving pumpkins. Come to think of it, I don't really like Halloween. The
only part I like about it is my kids smiles as they head out to go "trick-or-treating" and the confidence Dee has knowing she looks gorgeous. I love the twinkle in MJ's eyes when talking about her monkey noisemaker. I love that Rebs looks adorably innocent and sweet in her ladybug costume. I love that Peapod didn't need a costume this year because he had to be wrapped up in blankets while we walked from door to door. I loved the warm fall evening. I loved seeing our neighborhood streets filled with faces of children and their parents. I loved that we left a basket of candy on our front porch and we still had quite a bit leftover when we got home. I love that for all of the things I don't like- we always have a whole lot of good. Here is some of our good...

First major snow of the season- second week of october

Pumpkin Carving

The ladybug waiting for her friends to come over to trick-or-treat with us!

From left- the "Puffs" tissue box, the ladybug, the robot, the gypsy, the zookeeperPeapod- this kid makes me happy cry every day.

I thought the happy crying would wear off with the pregnancy hormones but it hasn't.

Rebs at her preschool program

Rebs not wanting to sing with her class and come sit on my lap (after song 2)

Rebs sitting on my lap during songs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and the finale 8

"Aunt Sheryl" Rebs' super scary preschool teacher and family friend

Halloween is my new favorite holiday ;-) Just kidding. I can't get over the orange and black!