New Year's Resolutions

Usually the few days after Christmas are a bit hard for me.  Visitors have left (or if we were visiting, we're headed home), Christmas decorations come down, and mounds and mounds of laundry needs to be done.  It's the let down after the fun holiday season.

This year, my husband planned a short getaway for the 2 of us after Christmas which was such a wonderful idea for a couple of reasons.  One, it was nice to have something fun to look forward to after the Christmas festivities ended, and two, it was such a GREAT way for the two of us to recap 2010, plan for the upcoming year, and discuss things we want to work on, etc.  It was GREAT!

One of our resolutions is to do a better job of leaving work at work when we get home.  In this age of email and smart phones there is the potential to work 24/7 from anywhere at anytime.  While this is a perk in some ways, it's a detriment in others.  He and I are both guilty of working during what should be our family time in the evenings.  When you only have about 3 hours with the kids in the evenings between coming home from work & bedtime, every minute counts.

Another thing he and I are working on as a couple is joint teaching an adult Bible class.  He and I have different skills sets when it comes to teaching - he is far more of a didactic, lecture type instructor while I am much application focused.   We want to develop a Bible class with a didactic and application component.  We are working on developing the curriculum and hope to teach it next fall.

As for me, I am always looking for better ways to organize and become more efficient.  Two of my biggest struggles are meals and exercise.  For me, I have to exercise 5 days a week to manage stress - if I don't I can't sleep at night and I start feeling down.  I really need to do a better job getting it in before 6AM in order to maintain productivity over the rest of the day.  This is such a challenge for me b/c even though I'm an early riser I have a hard time jumping up out of bed and immediately hitting the treadmill.  I hope to get better at this over the next year - starting Monday (I'm on vacation until then)!

As far as meals, it's really really hard to plan and make healthy meals for my family with a busy work & family schedule.  I'm using the next few weeks to do a lot of reading on different eating styles, child nutrition, and meal planning techniques to hopefully improve this over the next year.  I'll share some of the things I find that work for us.

My resolution list continues with things like putting more time into my BSF study so that I can dive deeper into God's Word, and completing an Olympic distance triathlon this year just to name two.  With training and racing, I'm going to limit my training time to summer b/c that is when I have the most time. Trying to train during the semesters just adds stress to our already busy lives and eats into family time.  So, I've set my sights on an Olympic tri in Sept and will hit the training hard at the end of May.

So much to think about for 2011!  Happy New Year!

Christmas 2010 - Last Post!

Christmas for my 16 month old was wonderful because of one thing...the food.  Although he enjoyed ripping the paper off his presents, he was vastly more interested in the cookies, pies, and festive holiday foods.  This is no surprise given that this kid can EAT!  In addition to the food, my little ham reveled in all the attention he received from his aunt & J (and everyone else).  

Dad got some new warm running pants, a couple of West Wing DVD's, a certificate to pick out a new blue ray player, and the biggest shared gift for both he & I was a brand new LED TV for our room! In the past, I was adamantly against having a TV in the bedroom, but after 3 kids and a dog, my views on that have changed.

As for me, I got a new camera, a cheese grater (my old one was shot), a beautiful new fry pan (I LOVE cooking and cookware), the TV, some gift cards for clothes & Starbuck, and then from my husband - a night away for the 2 of us at a nearby resort.  He arranged for overnight childcare and everything!  We're going tonight!  Yippee!

The day after Christmas my mom, sister, and I braved the crowds for a girls shopping day.  Although the crowds were evident so were the sales and we were all thrilled with what we found!  The next day, my sister & J left and my parents went looking for rental condos and properties since they are considering spending several months of the year out here.  We would absolutely LOVE that!  Hope your Christmas 2010 was wonderful.  Have a Happy New Year!

Lastly, I wanted to share the best recipe from our Christmas.  It was for a fried turkey.  While we fried a turkey for Thanksgiving, my sister & J & my parents wanted to do another one for Christmas so they could take part in the fun.  I didn't mind at all!  So, for our fried turkey here is what we did - it was DELICIOUS!!!

Fried Turkey
large turkey - thawed
brine: heavily salted water
spice injector kit for turkey (found in sauce/rub section)

Brine turkey overnight in heavily salted water (it should be pretty salty - only a little less than sea water). Remove turkey from brine and inject with spice kit.  Set up fryer outside in a safe area.  You'll need plenty of propane (we had to make a propane run at 8:00 Christmas eve!  Not great planning!)  Make sure turkey is COMPLETELY dry (our wasn't this time - we had some fireworks) and then fry for 3-5 mins per pound in a hot oil (between 325-350 degrees).  Let bird sit for 15-30 mins before carving.  This was the  best turkey we've ever had!

Christmas 2010 - 4yr old perspective

My oldest son had a good Christmas.   This was the first year that he had a hard time waiting until Christmas to open the presents under the tree.  He only had one request from Santa - and that was for a new Leapster game.  His Aunt L actually came through for that one while Santa brought him a new bike.  In addition, he received a couple of new games, several new toys, some cool Spiderman slippers, new clothes, and a guitar.  We have so many people to thank for making this a special Christmas for him!  Thanks Grammy, Papa, Aunt L, Aunt D., Nanima, Dadaji, my sister & J., and of course...Santa! :)

Christmas 2011

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  Ours was special for several reasons.  First, it was the first Christmas in a couple of years that my family came to spend Christmas here.  We have been blessed this year not to have to travel on any of the major holidays.  The second reason is that my sister brought her boyfriend with her - he is such a great guy and he made this Christmas even more fun!  My kids are going to be heartbroken when they leave tomorrow - they had so much fun with them.  Aren't they a cute couple?!?

We kicked off Christmas eve day with my husband and I being able to go on a run...together...with no baby joggers - it was as good as a date!  We ran a little longer than we normally would have just b/c it was so nice to be able to talk uninterrupted!  After the run, my mom, sister, and I took the big kids to the movies while the boys stayed at home and prepped some items for the following day.  We saw Tangled and it is a really cute movie!

After the movies, we can home and decorated cookies for Santa.  I had intended to do our big family meal that evening, but we had a couple of setbacks with the turkey (we did turkey instead of ham...SO glad we did - I'll share the recipe later - it was AWESOME!) so I decided we'd have the big meal on Christmas Day.

Christmas morning was a little chaotic since my early bird 4 yr old came downstairs before anyone else was awake and got into one of his presents.  We ended up opening presents in shifts.  We opened for a while and then when the kids got overwhelmed we took a break, then resumed opening, etc.  It worked out wonderfully and made the day very enjoyable and meltdown free.  As you can see from below, the kids were good this year so Santa came!

Below are a few of the pictures from Christmas morning.  I'll share more in the next few days.  My daughter was thrilled to get a Lalaloopsy doll from my parents.  My husband's parents got her a MSU cheerleader dress which she liked some that day, but since it was one of the last that she opened was not nearly as excited about it as she was today when she "re-discovered" it.  She can't wait to wear it and her big new matching hair bow!  She also loved her Barbie Car from her Aunt L (her baby brother did too, and several fights ensued as a result!) and her hair bows & interactive books from Aunt D.  She also got several movies and some play makeup, and a princess purse.  My little athletic girly girl was thrilled with her bike from Santa (she took to it like a pro!) and all the dolls, princess things, and girly items she got for Christmas.  Thank you so much grandparents, aunts, and of course, Santa!

An Exciting Morning!

Today is my first day off work for the holidays!  I'm off until Jan 4th!  Hooray!  My parents arrived last evening and we had planned a day of Christmas shopping and holiday baking while the kids were at school.  That all changed with a phone call at 5:30AM!  Some of our dear friends were expecting their 4th and it was TIME!  So, my husband left in his PJ's to go get their 3 kids while our friends dashed to the hospital.  Our plans immediately changed and instead of day with no kids, we've had 6!!!  It has been a blast!  Since everyone was awake super early, my husband went out for provisions and brought back some donuts.   Below is breakfast for 5 (my daughter was still asleep).

We spent the morning playing, baking cookies, and building spaceships and robots.  Right now, the 4 big kids are outside playing while the 2 babies are napping.  After lunch, we'll have movie time until their Dad comes to get them.  Baby Jacob was born very quickly after they got to the hospital and grandparents arrive this afternoon.  I'm so happy and excited for them!  It was a wonderful exciting morning!  Soooo fun to have a house full of kiddos!

Merry Christmas! How much they grow in a year!

How much they grow in a year!!!  They're getting so big!  Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Last year....

Now....

Girl's Night Out, Snow, and the "Paper-News"

Last night was fun in several different ways.  First, last night was a pre-Christmas girl's night out.  We shopped and then ate dinner and chatted.  Love these nights out w/my friends - they are such a blessing to me!

The weather yesterday finally turned Christmasy!  We had snow on Thanksgiving, but then a warm snap had taken over.  Finally yesterday it turned cold & snowy!  It was snowing buckets when I was driving home from dinner last night.  Although not much accumulated, the beautiful snow really enhanced the holiday spirit!

My daughter is a night owl, so my husband let her stay up until I got home last night.  We have been letting her stay up a bit later than her brothers so we can get some one-on-one time with her (my boys are early to bed, early to rise kind of kids so they hit the hay a little after 7!).  Anyway so last night after I got home, she helped me open the Christmas cards we had received that day and asked to keep one of the letters.  She kept folding it and saying, "Look mommy!  It's a paypoo noose!".  My husband and I kept looking at each other wondering what in the world she was talking about until I asked, "Who else has one?".  She immediately grinned and said, "Papa!".  It was then that I realized she was saying "paper-news" and what she meant was a newspaper! She slept with her "paper-news" under her pillow and still had it with her at breakfast this morning. :)

Crazy Conversations

Last night our house was pretty crazy.  My son's piano teacher had come to give him his lesson.  My husband and I were both running late getting home from work.  My younger son had decided not to nap well that day and was not in a good mood.  I was rushing around trying to get dinner on the table.  During the hustle and bustle I noticed that my 3 yr old daughter was wearing a different pair of pants than what we sent her to school in that morning.  When I finally got around to asking her about it, the crazy conversation went something like this:

Me:  "Honey, are you wearing someone else's pants?"
Daughter (enthusiastically jumping): "Yup, sure am mommy"
Me:  "Why are you wearing someone else's pants?"
Daughter (spinning in circles): "Cuz mine were wet."
Me: "Why were your pants wet?"
Daughter (happily jumping again): "Because they were, and my panties were wet too!"
Me (slowly realizing what probably happened): "Did you have an accident at school?!?"
Daughter (enthusiastically): "Yup, sure did mommy! I tee teed in the sandbox!"
Me (stressed thinking about how in the world her school was going to clean out the sandbox and realizing that I hadn't sent extra pair of panties to school with her in months): "Honey, how did it happen?  Did you forget to go potty?  Whose panties are you wearing?!?"

It was then that the said really happily, "Mommy, I get to wear special blue panties!".  She then dropped her pants and my husband and I realized she was wearing a pair of blue boxer briefs!  I guess the "extras" they keep around at school are all boy underwear.  The visual of my girly daugher with her painted nails and big hairbow wearing a pair of boxer briefs was hilarious.  My husband and I got a good laugh about it. As for my daughter, she was thrilled that she got to wear her "new blue panties" until bedtime.  What a crazy conversation!

My recipe of the week is a crockpot beef vegetable soup.  I never really followed a recipe for this one, so it may be just one that my family likes, but it's nice and warm on cold winter evenings.  I usually fix some cornbread to go with it.  It serves us twice.

Crockpot beef vegetable soup
beef stew meat
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalk celery, sliced
2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup corn
1 cup peas
1 can tomato sauce
worcestershire sauce (a couple of TBS)
salt & pepper to taste
water to cover

Throw everything in the cockput and cook on low all day.  Salt & pepper to taste before serving.  Enjoy!

Alignment

After the birth of my last son in 9/09, I started running again very quickly...as in a week later.  Hey, when you're delivering your third it's true that you are pretty much back to normal with lightening speed.  My eagerness to pound the pavement created some alignment issues in my right hip as a result.  What started as a slight ache has progressed to sharp pain and difficulty lying on it at night.  So here I am, 15 months later and finally going to the doctor about my hip which is slowly but surely getting worse.  Thankfully, it will just need a little alignment work and I can continue to run through the treatments.  I've been advised not to train for anything, but to just keep mileage the same - which is fine with me!   

What amazed me was that the second I walked across the room, the doctor knew what was wrong by the way my right leg rotated outward ever so slightly (I never even noticed I was doing that!).  Also amazing is that just a slight imbalance in muscle strength or flexibility can over time create some pretty substantial injuries.

Looking back over my posts since starting this blog in the summer, I can see that there were and still are a lot of alignment issues that I struggle with in many different areas.  It's neat to be able to look back and see what has changed since I posted about a particular subject.  Many areas have changed and improved, but some areas are still a struggle. 

As a working mom of 3, organizational strategies to balance family and work will always be a challenge.  Things with this have definitely gotten better but I am continually looking for better and more efficient ways to run our house.  Thankfully, I have some very dear sweet friends who are great at listening and recommending strategies to manage the daily juggle.  I'm SO thankful for them!

BSF has been wonderful for rekindling my love of Biblical study.  I really enjoy the challenging guided questions, the wonderful lectures, and the awesome group of women with whom I study.  I struggle with the time (Monday evenings) b/c it's hard to leave my husband alone to feed and bathe the kids.  He handles it like a pro, but I still feel a little guilty. 

Living away from family is still gets me down.  The alignment that needs adjusting is really internal for me - I need to handle this better and also to humble myself.  But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter and that my heart & mind needs to be free of pride and of thoughts of what is "fair" and what my kids "deserve".

Here at work, I struggle with aligning my teaching/scholarship/service activities to make me a more productive faculty member.  I just attended a seminar that discussed this issue.  Scholarly activities are my waterloo and tend to get put on the backburner not only b/c I find that work more difficult, but also b/c I don't enjoy it as much as the other two branches. 

As far as the hip goes, I have my first alignment session on Friday - and have been given homework (stretching and strengthening exercises) to do daily in the meantime.  I've set some alignment goals for myself as far as balancing work/family over the next couple of months and am praying and working hard on my attitude toward family and living away from family.  At work, I have some strategies in mind for helping align my three primary areas for better productivity.  I hope to improve alignment in all areas over the next year: spirituality, family, work, and body, but it will always be a work in progress. :)

Angioedema

Last week, the night before my husband's work Christmas party I was busy baking for the event.  I tried a recipe for thumbprint cookies that called for the cookies to be rolled in walnuts before baking.  My son absolutely LOVES thumbprint cookies so he gleefully asked for one as soon as the first batch came out of the oven.  Little did I know that the walnuts in the cookies would cause this (his lips are not normally that large)....

Now, I lecture about angioedema (drug induced), but have honestly never seen it first hand until my son's lips swelled up to the size of a Muppet character's after eating that tiny amount of walnuts.  Thankfully, we had antihistamines and an oral steroid at our house so I was able to dose him appropriately and his lips were normal again by the next morning.

After that scare I began searching for a yummy thumbprint cookie recipe that did not contain nuts.  The recipe I used 2 years ago did not have nuts but the cookies did not hold together well and were a bit too crumbly.  My sweet boy was so sad that he couldn't have any more of the batch I made for the party and I felt so sorry for him.  Below is the recipe I tried today and the cookies turned out wonderfully (not crumbly & uniform shape!).

Thumbprint Cookies
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 egg yolks (reserve whites)
jelly (I use strawberry)

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, & vanilla.  Add salt & flour.  When dough is formed, roll into balls and dip into egg whites (slightly beaten).  Place on a cookie sheet and press thumb to make an indent.  Fill with jelly (it takes very little) and bake at 350 for 15 mins.

My son enjoyed them today with no allergic reaction - just smiles and yummy noises.  Now that's what a mom likes to see and hear! :)

I also tried a roast chicken today for the first time.  It turned out really well and was surprisingly easy to fix!  Below is what I did - I haven't repeated it yet, but will likely make this more often b/c buying a whole chicken is WAY cheaper than buying breasts, and one chicken will easily feed our family multiple times.

Roast Chicken
1 chicken (sans neck & giblets)
2 TBS butter
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil
fresh rosemary & sage
onion, potatoes, parsnips, carrots (you can use pretty much any veggies you like)

Rinse chicken and pat try.  Rub butter both on and under the skin and liberally (very liberally) salt & pepper (go easier on the pepper than on the salt).  Place part of the onion, several springs of rosemary, & sage leaves in the chicken cavity.  Place chicken breast side up, tuck wings under bird and either tie legs on top or tuck legs into skin so that they remain on top of the bird while cooking (this is what I did since then you don't need any cooking twine).  Chop up vegetables and arrange around chicken in roasting pan.  Drizzle veggies minimally with olive oil and then salt/pepper the vegetables.  Roast at 425 for 1-1.5 hours (until thickest part of breast is at least 165 degrees).  Wait about 10 minutes before removing chicken to cutting board & carving.

Enjoy! :)

Recipes

Happy Holidays!  In honor of Christmas party season, I thought I'd share some of the party recipes I used this year.  What I love most about the first two is that they only contain 3 ingredients!!!  The first one, Oreo cookie balls comes from my sister in law.  I first had them over the holidays at her house when I was pregnant with my daughter.  I think I ate about 30 of them that day!

Oreo Cookie Balls
1 pkg Oreo cookies (regular - generic works just fine) ground to a crumbly powder (I use a food processor) - reserve some of the crumbs
1 pkg cream cheese
white or dark chocolate bark coating

Mix the cookie powder and cream cheese until a stiff dough is formed.  Roll into balls (bite-size), place in Ziploc bags and freeze (this makes them SO much easier to dip).  Melt bark coating in a double boiler and dip each ball in chocolate (using a toothpick) and let harden on wax paper.  Before chocolate has dried, top with reserved crumbs (or you can be creative and use crushed candy canes, heath bars, etc, you can also mix the crumbs with colored sprinkles, red & pink for valentines day, red & green for Christmas).   Once cool, store in airtight container.  I refrigerate if they won't be served until the next day.

Sausage Balls
3 cups Bisquick (generic works just fine - so does the low fat)
1 lb hot sausage
2 cups shredded cheddar (I use sharp)

Combine (this is much easier to do when all ingredients are at room temp.  Roll into 1" balls and bake at 350 for 25-30 mins.  One batch makes a lot!

Wassail
2 qt apple cider
2 cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup sugar (more if you'd like)
a couple of cinnamon sticks
1 tsp whole cloves
1 orange & lemon (optional - slice into rings and place on top for presentation)

Combine and bring to a simmer (except orange/lemon rings).  Reduce heat so that wassail is hot but not boiling.  Lay orange/lemon rings on top.  Can serve either in a pot on the stove or in a crockpot (I use a pretty pot).  It makes the house smell WONDERFUL!  

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Weekend & A Christmas Party

Whew!  Where have the last couple of weeks gone?  Hard to believe that the Christmas season is already here!  Thanksgiving was a lot of fun at our house.  My in-laws were here for a wonderful visit (we all miss them!).  My husband and I ran a 5K on an EXTREMELY cold (in the teens w/snow!) Thanksgiving morning and our oldest son ran his first race...a 1K.  We bundled him up enough to face the arctic winds, but at least he wasn't cold.  He had a great time and got to run it with his friends.  Aren't they adorable?!?

After the race, we all went home, thawed, and got ready to EAT!  We fried our turkey for the first time and it was WONDERFUL!  The best part was that the oven was completely free for all the sides since the turkey was cooking outdoors.  In addition, the turkey cooked in only about an hour - a far cry from the 4-5 hours that it usually takes!  After the meal, we all sat around, watched football, chatted, and then of course, got dessert!  YUM!

The festivities continued for a few more days when we got to see some dear friends who moved away at the end of the summer.  Love them so much!

As quick as Thanksgiving was over I started planning for my husband's departmental Christmas party that we hosted at our house last night.  Since he changed positions, this was the first social gathering he's had with his new group so the stakes were high to make sure everything went smoothly.  We had a few glitches - mostly with the outdoor decorations (I think we visited Lowe's every day for a week!) - but everything went smoothly during the actual party.  My husband works with a wonderful group of people and we really enjoyed having them in our home.  Hope your holiday season had been happy and bright! 

Humbled

Earlier today I experienced a humbling moment.  There is a particular co-worker who I work closely with at the university. She is a wonderful person and a wonderful instructor (she is also a Christian); however, our personalities tend to clash.  There have been several tense situations this semester and I found myself avoiding interacting with her as much as possible in order to minimize opportunities for conflict.  This morning she asked me to stop by her office for a moment and my sinful, judgmental mind immediately assumed the worst.  I figured there was a problem with a student on rotation or that she disliked something I had done, etc.  When I went into her office, I was fully expecting a fight. 

In fact, what occurred was just the opposite.  She presented me with a beautiful pashmina scarf and said that her students were selling them as a fundraiser and she thought of me and thought it would look pretty.  It is beautiful and is such a wonderfully thoughtful gift.  I was (and still am) humbled to the core.  She showed me love and generosity to my animosity.  She showed me Jesus.  Although I'm sure we will disagree on plenty in the future, I will never forget that we have Jesus in common and that she is trying as hard as I am to imitate Him.     

Recipe of the Week: Old Fashioned Cornbread
This recipe comes from my friend Molly and is my favorite cornbread recipe b/c it works well at altitude or sea level.  It's the basis of my cornbread dressing.

1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
1 TBS baking powder
2-3 TBS oil

Place oil in iron skillet and place skillet in the oven while the oven is preheating to 450.  Mix all other ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Once oven has reached 450, remove skillet and swirl oil around to coat the skillet.  Pour the hot oil into the cornbread mixture and stir quickly.  Pour cornbread mixture into hot skillet (you should hear it sizzle), and bake at 450 for 20 mins.  Enjoy!

Overreacting

This week I have struggled with overreacting.  My daughter has been having a trouble at school lately crying when my husband drops her off and sometimes telling her teachers "no" when they ask her to do a task.  One of her teachers talked to my husband when he picked her up from school and brought the recent trouble to our attention. 

My first instinct was to call the teacher and discuss the issue at length.  In addition, I thought about going and observing her at school to see if she was having difficulty with another child, and wondering if we should hold her back a year given that she has a late birthday.  It was hard not to do these things.  I did talk to her teacher when I picked her up a few days later and discovered that several kids in the class were exhibiting this behavior, not just my daughter.  In addition, all other teachers/caretakers for my daughter actually reported the opposite. 

I think overreacting when it comes to my kids is something I will always struggle with.  Hopefully, time, experience, and having a husband who is the opposite will keep me from getting out of hand. :)

Below is my favorite breakfast casserole recipe.  It's a heart attack waiting to happen, but it's very yummy!  This is one of the dishes I fix before or after a long day of skiing.  It really hits the spot!

Breakfast Casserole
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
6 slices of bread, broken into pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar

Combine all of the above.  Pour into a casserole dish and let sit overnight or all day.  Bake at 350 for 45 mins.  Enjoy!

End of an Era

My husband and I made the final decision not to have any more kids a few months ago.  We are sooo lucky to have been blessed with three healthy children and really both felt that this is a perfect size for our family.  Personally, I could have been talked into having one more because when I was younger I always pictured us as having four children.  Of course, those thoughts are inconsequential and I am foolish to think that my young, pre-mother self had any idea how to manage one child, let alone 4!!!

While this decision brings relief for me (no more pregnancies!!!!  Hooray!!!), it also makes me nostalgic and a little clingy with my youngest.  I'm trying to soak up every bit of his sweet baby-ness since he is our last.  It's nice thinking that the amount of sleep I get at nights will be increasing over time - who knows, we may even be able to sleep in again on a Saturday someday!  Another perk is I can get rid of all the materinity and baby items!  Even with all those positives, it's a little sad seeing the end of this era.  I guess when I'm feeling a little sad, I'll just try to remember the first 3 months of having a newborn...or maybe the nausea of pregnancy...yup - that will work! :) 

Students

I realized after going back through my blog that most everything I post concerns my home life and not work.  As the semester is reaching a crescendo for both faculty and our students, there are so many funny, quirky things I could post.

In general, I love my job.  I love the opportunities that arise from the academic environment.  I enjoy teaching adults and also love the research and service components.  Since I teach the 3rd year pharmacy students I get a new crop every fall.  While I have only been doing this for about 4 years, and while every class is different, I've noticed similarities amongst students in general...I hate to stereotype, so perhaps categorize is a better word for below. :)

Frat Boys   In every class there is always a group of "frat boys".  These guys are usually mid-20's and are still heavily invested in weekend activities.  Now the variations that occur is that some years, the group of frat boys is friendly and good natured, other years the group is linked to disciplinary problems.  This year, my frat boys are friendly and good natured.  While laziness sometimes plagues the group, they are usually lively, interactive, respectful and therefore are enjoyable to teach.

Sorority Gals   Going along with my frat boys are the sorority girls.  These girls travel in groups and are rarely separated from each other if given the choice.  Like my frat boys, they're usually mid-20's with a healthy interest in their weekend plans.  However, leaders in the college often crop up from this group.  These girls always have time to get their Starbucks on their way to class.

Parents  A number of my students both male & female are parents.  About 3/4 are married, the other 1/4 are single parents trying to take care of their children and still complete a professional program.  I find these students very endearing b/c they have a good sense of balance.  They tend to be very organized but also not overly concerned with being at the top of the class.  These students are focused on application of the material.  I admire and enjoy teaching this group. 

Veruca Salt(s)  Amongst my female students there are always 1-2 Veruca Salts (see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory for additional information).  These girls are not amongst my favorite to teach b/c they are overly focused on themselves.  They tend to have bad attitudes and to try to get their peers to join in on the negativity.  They are usually the ones who argue for every 1/2 point they have lost on an exam and often look for anything that could be labeled "unfair".  As an instructor, I struggle with these students because their behavior is often unprofessional. 

Angry Young Men  Billy Joel composed a great song about this group...it has the best piano intro in history.  That song describes my angry young men to a "T".  What I have found with this group is that they are easier to work with than the Veruca Salts if you can get to the root of their anger and diffuse it.  I've had some years when my angry young men were extremely difficult and other where, in the end, they were enjoyable students. 

Mary Sunshine  This descriptor applies to both male & female students.  These are my perpetually cheerful students.  Even seeing a 65% on the top of their exams doesn't bring them down.  These students are wonderful because their positivity affects those around them.  They are usually quite popular amongst their peers.  As an instructor, this group is a joy to teach.

Anyway - these are just a few descriptions of the students I teach.  Below is my recipe of the week.  It comes from a friend of mine in NC who called this her "divorce" recipe b/c it was the best thing she got out of her divorce. ;)

Pumpkin Pie Squares
1 29oz can pumpkin pie mix
1 box yellow cake mix, divided
1 stick of butter, divided
3 eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 + 1/4 cup sugar

Reserve 1 cup of yellow cake mix and place the rest in a large mixing bowls.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter and press into bottom of 9x13 pan.  In same bowl, combine pumpkin pie mix with 1/4 cup sugar, evaporated milk and 3 eggs.  Mix together and then pour on top of crust.  Wipe out bowl and then combine remaining cake mix with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 stick butter and crumble over top.  Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes.  Toothpick test for done-ness.  Serve with whipped cream!  Yum!!!

The Trip Triage and Recipe of the Week

Around this time of year, my husband and I start talking about what trips we are going to take in the upcoming year.  Living away from family makes this a struggle b/c we want to take trips to see them at least twice a year, but that tends to eat up much of our vacation budget and time from work.  Thankfully, my family and my in-laws are wonderful about coming out here to visit and we really really appreciate that!  My husband and I have the opportunity to go to Hawaii this year and my personal thought is that time away as a couple might trump all the other trips simply because our marriage (after our relationship with God) is our #1 priority - and any time away as a couple is MUCH NEEDED!  I think next we'll plan a short trip to Disneyland in the summer b/c we have never been on a longer family vacation as a 5-some.  My parents & sister have talked about meeting us there so it would be a LOT of fun!  We usually do a couple of weekend trips to visit friends who live within driving distance.   Currently, we're planning a 2 trips to visit family - they may be shorter than usual, but I think we'll still be able to make that happen.  Whew!  Trip triage for 2011 is complete....next, the 2011 budget...which may cause us to re-triage the trips. :)  It's a vicious cycle!

So my recipe of the week comes from my friend Myra.  She brought us this supper after my first son was born.  I remember how it was SOOOO delicious to my tired, frazzled, sleep deprived self!  I asked for the recipe immediately and it's been one of our fall favorites ever since!  Thank you Myra!   

TORTILLA SOUP
2 lb chicken cubed
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 can beef broth
2 cups water
1/2 cup diced onions
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
tortilla chips
cheese (monterey jack or cheddar)

Brown chicken and onions in 1-2TBS butter.  Add all remaining ingredients though cumin.  Simmer for 20-30 mins.   Crush tortilla chips in the bottom of each bowl, pour soup on top of the chips, and top with cheese (you can also put the cheese over the chips and then top with the soup, or if you're like crunchy chips, you can put the chips on top - so many ways to eat this!).  You can also serve with sour cream or guac.  Enjoy!!!

Trick or Treat!

Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween! Below are some pictures from our week of festivities. I had a spiderman, a princess, and a lion/mouse this year. The lion got his costume very messy at his school carnival and therefore had to become a mouse on Sunday for trick-or-treating. I even got in the spirit and pulled out my old cheerleading uniform when I had to dress up to teach the 4yr olds on Sunday morning. I was absolutely thrilled to discover that it still fit - it's not as loose as it was when I was 14, but the fact that I could wear it comfortably made me very happy. :)



Holiday Traditions!

Wow!  In a few days it will be November!  Therefore Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner!  I love both of these holidays and am so excited to have my husband's parents coming for Thanksgiving and my whole family (including my sister's new boyfriend who we LOVE!) for Christmas! 

Living away from family is hard in some ways, but one of the positives has been that my husband and I have been able to set up our own Thanksgiving and Christmas family traditions.  For me, I adore cooking Thanksgiving dinner!  I have a core set of recipes that I use every year and then try a couple of new things.  We always begin Thanksgiving day with a race.  Last year my sister and I ran a 10K - this year my husband and I are going to do a 5K.  The rest of the day is spent with friends/family (the more the merrier!) playing games, watching football, and of course...EATING! 

Christmas is also a blast!  The day before Christmas we usually go to an afternoon movie as a family, then come home and decorate Christmas cookies.  I do our big Christmas dinner on Christmas eve.  After opening presents on Christmas morning, we have a big family brunch and the munch on leftover ham, rolls, etc from the previous evening while enjoying our new presents. :)

I have my to-do list ready.  We will be hosting my husband's departmental party in December so I need to get in touch with his secretary to start planning.  Our Christmas cards have been ordered and are on the way.  Christmas shopping is underway - I already have things in mind for the kids and have contacted family as to their "wish list".  Love the holidays!  Just typing this blog entry makes me excited for the upcoming season!  

Quotable Quotes and Odds & Ends

"Mommy, we need to have 2 pets so if Casey dies can we get a fish?" (my 4 yr old son last week when having a serious discussion about death)

"Ouch, my humerus hurts".  "We don't say B-U-T-T, we call it a rectum!" (again the 4yr old who has memorized all bones and organs in the body and is now refering to everything by it's proper medical name.  He could probably pass a high school A&P class!).

"Mommy, we don't say the word stupid because stupid is a bad mean word.  I never say stupid or call anyone stupid!"  (this from my 3-yr old daughter who relished using the forbidden word over and over in a sentence while preaching against it's use).

On another note, every day I am so thankful that my husband is an engineer.  Not only that, but I love his creativity.  We have had a little trouble with our other dog the last few nights when we put him up for bed.  He whines and barks since it is the first time he has been alone since he was a puppy.  He's fine during the day, but nights have been hard.  He calms down if we talk to him, but that is incredibly inconvenient when he is on the first floor and you are on the second trying to go to sleep.  So, my husband pulled the baby monitor out of my younger son's room (we never use it for him anyway) and rigged it so that if Gromit barked we could soothe him from the comforts of our own bed.  It worked like a charm!  That's my quick thinkin' engineer!

Lastly, I have a couple of recipes to share.  The first is for slow cooker roast turkey.  We tried it for the first time yesterday and the whole family loved it!  It turned out WAY better than any beef roast I have ever made.  I got a 3-4 pound turkey breast and removed the mesh.  In a large crockpot I cut up a bunch of different fresh veggies (potatoes, carrots, celery, parsnips, etc - anything works!) and arranged them in the bottom of the crockpot.  I placed the turkey breast on top and sprinkled onion soup mix on top (you can make your own seasoning mix if you'd like, you just have to be very liberal with the seasonings).  I poured about 1 cup of chicken broth over the turkey & veggies and cooked all day on low.  It was DELICIOUS!  The turkey was tender and seasoned all the way through as if it had been brined.  The veggies had great flavor and needed no additional seasoning!  Best of all, the meal made leftovers and enough for sandwiches for a week.  Not bad for a 20 minute prep & go meal!

My other new love is steamed broccoli.  I have been buying broccoli heads by the pound.  It is so easy just to cut into florets, and steam for 10 minutes.  I season it lightly with butter (1 TBS) salt & pepper.  My kids love how brightly green the florets are after steaming and I am thrilled to be getting such an easy veggie in them.  I have been so proud of how well my older two have been eating lately - they are branching out and enjoying all kinds of foods.  It has made cooking a lot of fun!

Rest in Peace

After another week of health problems, we put Casey down on Friday.  I remember picking him up from the breeder in January 2001 when he was 6 weeks old and barely 3 pounds .  Casey was our first "baby" - we got him a few months after buying our first home, a teeny tiny little townhouse in Durham, NC. The memories we have from that home as newlyweds in grad school are so precious to us and most all of them contain Casey.

I remember potty training him in the freezing NC rain that winter and learning what it meant to own a dog (he was the first for both my husband and I).  We read book after book on dog training, took him to off leash dog parks, socialized him with other dogs, walked him for miles and miles every day, became addicted to all the animal planet dog shows, and hailed Cesar Milan as our personal hero.  All of a sudden we realized how many people owned dogs and enjoyed meeting them and their pets along the paths and trails of our Woodcroft neighborhood.  Casey was my companion when pulling all-nighters studying for tests and happily snuggled up with me for naps on the couch after I returned from taking them. 

Friday morning I held him as he took his last breath.  Below are some pictures I found of him over the years.  My husband commented on how vibrant and alive Casey looked in most of the below pictures (except for the one where he's almost asleep) - a far cry from how he has been the last couple of years.  If there are 2 dogs in a picture, he's the bigger one.  Rest in peace Casey.  You were an awesome dog and we'll always remember you. 

Weekend

Despite the somber nature of my previous post, we actually had a really nice weekend.  Casey has done well on his antibiotics so we have high hopes of avoiding surgery/blindness.  In addition, my husband and I spent some time discussing a "living will" of sorts for Casey so that we are all on the same page no matter which one of us takes him to the vet.  Lastly, we had some preparation discussions with the kids.
On the lighter note, my husband took me out for my birthday on Friday.  He took me to a restaurant located up on the mountain peak overlooking the city.  We had not dined at the restaurant since we first moved to the area so it was a treat!

Lastly, I ran my half marathon this morning!  The weather was beatutiful and the race was awesome!  As usual, I went out too fast the first half of the race and paid for it the last couple of miles.  In the future when I train I probably will train over the race mileage by 25% or so in order to account for the fact that I always go out too fast.  While I don't have my official time yet, I believe I came in somewhere right around 2hrs and beat my previous time of 2:07 from the half marathon I did back in 2001.  I can't wait to find out my official time to know for sure.  The best part of the race was having my husband and kids there to cheer.  There was nothing sweeter than hearing the voices of my two older kids hollering, "Go mommy!" when running and hearing "Mommy, you did GREAT!" after crossing the finish line. I'd love it if someday we did races as a family...wouldn't that be wonderful!?!  Here we are after the race.  I look pretty rough!  My daughter delicately stated to me after we got home, "Mommy, you look dirty and messy so please go take a bath".   I was happy to obey. ;)

Hard Choices

The title of my post sounds like the title of a cheesy teenage romance novel...maybe something you would have seen in the old Sweet Valley High series from my youth.  In reality, the hard decision to which I am referring came this morning when my husband took our oldest dog Casey to the vet when he woke up with a raging eye infection.  Casey was sick with anxiety last week while we were out of town and our house sitter had a rough weekend filled with trips to the vet and to the pet ER where Casey needed IV fluids and other palliative care.  Less than a week (and a little over $1K later) Casey was back at the vet this AM with a corneal ulcer and infected foot (IV site from last weekend's ER visit).  It was at this point when my husband and I were at our wits end with his behavioral and health issues that the vet delicately broached the subject of whether it was time to put him down.  Out vet informed us that we will not likely be able to find Casey a new home since he has so many health problems and that shelters are really worse for a pet's quality of life.  My husband and I were not prepared and the shock was awful.

When you adopt a pet, you do so with the knowledge that you will likely outlive him or her.  However, that fact is the last thing on your mind when you're playing with an innocent, adorable, energetic, little puppy.  This morning we decided that the decision whether to put him down deserved more prayer and discussion, so we decided to treat his current infection with a follow-up appointment scheduled for Monday.  This weekend will be a very tough one for our family.  We are praying for peace and discernment concerning the future of our beloved pet.

A Gorgeous Wedding & Soccer

Happy fall everyone!  We recently returned from an awesome trip to western NY and Canada for my cousin's wedding.  It was a blast!  My cousin and her family planned a very special weekend for everyone.  It didn't surprise me b/c my sweet cousin is one of the most talented people I know. Below are some pictures from the weekend.  The weather was gorgeous - crisp fall days and cool nights.  As one who misses the leaves of fall, it was such a treat!  I did my last 9 mile run before the 1/2 marathon on a bike trail surrounded by fall color - so nice!  My cousin was a beautiful bride and her husband proud and gracious.  Much fun was had by all - and my family knows how to have fun!  If you have ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding - my family is similar to the Greek one, while my husband's family is the quieter one.  We are boisterous and lively when we get together and can eat, dance, and be merry for days before tiring.  My husband was a little overwhelmed by it at first, but 12 years of marriage has weaned him in well and he even outlasted me one night.  It was wonderful to see my cousins and my extended family.  Love them and miss them SO much!

The other thing that has kept us busy lately has been soccer. We are so proud of the Green Lizards - especially #2. They have a 3 & 1 game record so far. Below are some pictures of our soccer player. Hope everyone is having a great week!