From the mouths of babes. . .

I have to share what Joe said to me today. We were getting ready to go to swim lessons and I had just changed from pajamas into regular clothes and he looks at me and says, "You look beautiful, Mommy!" My heart just about melted. What a cutie pie! No prompting from Ken either!

Butternut squash, sausage and sage over polenta

Since I am now unofficially off bedrest (my doctor said I could do whatever I wanted at 36 weeks....I am a day early, so sue me!), I decided to go back to my old ways and cook a tasty dinner. We were lucky and have been eating dinners that my MIL had made while she was here 2 weeks ago and then had my Dad cooking last week. I should also add that Ken made a great spaghetti sauce the other day too!
Anyhow, this morning we went to the farmer's market and I thought I would try some sausage from one of the local farms and use it for dinner tonight. I paged through some of my cookbooks and found a recipe to draw some inspiration. I tend to get bored of using the same recipes and need to try new things so I flipped through a new Italian cookbook that I have, "La Mia Cucina Toscana" by Pino Luongo. I have not tried any recipes yet as they are a bit involved but I probably will do so soon after my attempt today. I based my dish for the most part on his recipe for Pappardelle with roasted butternut squash, crumbled sweet sausage and sage. Pappardelle is a kind of pasta by the way. I decided to use polenta instead and changed the sauce a bit as well. Both Ken and I agreed that the result was pretty tasty. I also used some of the lettuce I bought at the market to make a great salad to go with it along with a yummy vinaigrette based on one of Rachael Ray's recipes. Try it and see what you think!

Butternut squash, sausage and sage over polenta

3-4 cups butternut squash cut into 3/4" pieces
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 sage leaves
salt
pepper
1 lb sausage (I used spicy but the original recipe called for sweet)
1/2 c. dry white wine
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 c. polenta

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix squash, olive oil, sugar, bay leaves, sage together in a medium bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Place squash on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 40-50 minutes or until soft.

Brown sausage over medium heat. Drain fat then add wine and let it evaporate, about 3-4 minutes.

Boil 3 cups water. Lightly salt the water. Add polenta slowly while stirring constantly with a whisk until it resembles a creamy porridge. Add 2-3 tbsp parmesan cheese if desired.

In another pan, melt butter over medium low heat. Add flour and mix together to make a paste. Cook about 1 minute. Add milk slowly so that you don't get lumps. Salt and pepper to taste. Add parmesan cheese. Once squash is finished, remove bay leaves, then puree about 1 cup in food processor or blender. Add about 1/2 c. or more water to make puree smooth. Add puree to the bechemel (white) sauce. Mix remaining squash with sausage.

I served the sausage and squash over the polenta and spooned the sauce over top. Yummers!

Bedrest continues

Well, I am still on bedrest (modified, of course as I have 2 toddlers!) Baby in the belly made it to 35 plus weeks so far which is good. We are hoping he gets to 36 weeks then he can come out any time. I am not feeling great, with lots of intermittent contractions and of course feeling some cabin fever. Basically, "bedrest" for me consists of taking care of the boys as usual but trying to sit down a lot more and not going on any trips to the store, museum, park or any other fun places we usually go to. BOO! I have yielded to the prescribed doctor's order, however, as I do want the baby to be healthy and not be a preemie!

I have been avoiding going up/down stairs as much as possible so recent pictures will follow soon. I know I am guilty of sparse posting at best, but I keep trying to get back into it. Honestly, at the end of the day when the boys go to bed, the only thing I want to do is collapse on the couch! Not that I think much will change once the newbie arrives. At least I won't be so uncomfortable though!

The boys are looking forward to meeting the "baby in the belly." Joe even tells the baby "You stay in there baby brother!" when we pray for the baby to wait a little longer to arrive. It is really cute. Can't wait to meet the little guy!

Fingerpainting Fun

Today we had lots of fun fingerpainting while it snowed outside! Special painting smocks and lots of newspaper on the floor prevented me from getting too worried about the messiness of it all. One look at the two of them painting away with huge grins on their faces made the mess TOTALLY worth it.

Let the fingerpainting begin!

Joe making a masterpiece

Look at me! I love being this messy!

Hmm, I think I will smear the paint all over my face and then try to eat it!

Kisses for Mommy!

Ski Trip 2010

We finally had a weekend where Ken was not working and we weren't traveling somewhere, so what did we do?? Go on a ski trip to Appalachia Ski Mountain in Western North Carolina. It was a little under 2 hours so not a bad drive. We rented skiis for Joe and a helmet (he insisted on it..."Daddy, helmet? Daddy, helmet?") and then Ken and Joe went to the bunny hill to give it a try. This was Joe's first time skiing and he did great! Ken had put skiis on him while we were in Cumberland over Christmas and pulled him around the yard but never at a real ski resort! Thomas and I bundled up and went outside to watch but then headed back in as there was nowhere really to play and the wind was pretty fierce. After a few runs, the boys came in for hot chocolate and then back outside to go at it a few more times. They even went up a chair lift at Joe's insistence and came down a blue run (with lots of help from Daddy!) At the end of the day, we had two exhausted but happy little boys. Next year will be even more fun since Thomas will be able to join in the fun too!

Joe and Daddy are all suited up and ready to go!

Coming down the beginner slope

Look Mommy--I am skiing by myself!!

Tom is ready to hit the slopes too. . .not yet little Thomas! Next year!

Thomas was all ready to go with Daddy down the hill in the backpack but then he lost a glove and started crying. Maybe next time!

Happy 1st Birthday Thomas!

It is hard to believe, but our little man turned one on January 29! We were in Olney, MD at Mamama and Pop's house since Ken had a conference to attend in Washington, DC. We had a fun couple of days seeing Mamama, Pop, Tata, and Uncle Rubi. We also made a quick stop to see Joe's old teachers at Children in the Shoe. They all missed Joe and Thomas (who was sleeping so he stayed in the car with Mamama!) and were excited to see us. On Saturday, we had scheduled a birthday party for Thomas and everyone was planning to come but a snowstorm kept the guests to a minimum. Nonni, PapPap and Ellena trekked down from Cumberland to see the birthday boy and we all had fun nonetheless.

Our birthday boy was not feeling well so he was a bit cranky but he still managed to enjoy the homemade chocolate cake that Mommy made for him!

The crew chows down their dinner.

Look at my yummy Winnie the Pooh cake!

I LOVE chocolate cake!

The hit of the day was the "Cars" sofa, a gift from Mamama and Pop

Happy HooHooHooHoolloween!

When we started talking about costumes, Joe decided he wanted to be Tigger this Halloween and Thomas would be Pooh Bear. A stroke of luck at a consignment sale got us the Pooh bear costume for Thomas (in perfect condition believe it or not!) and ebay snagged Joe's. The real question then was, what would Mommy and Daddy dress up to be. Joe then made costume assignments and dictated, "Mommy - Eeyore, Daddy - Piglet!" and that was it. There was no convincing him otherwise so after a VERY hectic month which I may or may not back track to document, on Halloween morning, the whole family set out to get the materials to make the rest of the costumes. We had the gray sweatsuit for the Eeyore and pink pants for Piglet but we needed everything else. A quick trip to the party store got us a pair of donkey ears but no piggie accessories were to be found. Onwards to the fabric store where we purchased pink fleece and pink thread. Finally, we headed to Target where we found a pink shirt in the women's department that would suffice, some pink markers and a black headband. Armed with our supplies we headed home where the boys took their naps and we furiously put together the costumes. A tail for Eeyore, pig nose, pig ears, pig tail and striped pink shirt and we were good to go! We got dressed up for the neighborhood party, loaded up the stroller and headed off! As we neared the party, we noticed that interestingly, we were the only adults dressed up. Hmmmmmm, maybe this was a CHILDREN's dress up party. No matter, we charged on ahead ready to meet the neighbors. One of our friendly neighbors introduced us to people and we got lots of compliments on how great it was that we dressed up, but I have a feeling they were thinking "Wow, these new Yankee neighbors sure are strange!" Good thing we are only here for a year! My favorite comment was from one of the few other adults who dressed up (he was a Wheaties box). Ken told him "great outfit" and the guy said, "Yours is too. You are much braver than I am." Well, I guess not many men are secure enough to wear pink but that is one of the great things about my husband. He will dress up as piglet because our 2 year old son asked him to and do it all with a smile and shake of a piggie tail! Happy Halloween!

Pooh bear bumblebee and Tigger show off their pumpkins

Pooh and friends in front of our house

We're ready to go to the party!

Shake it, Piglet!

Joe had to try on Daddy's costume and ran around the house with this for quite a while!