Car Talk

I love the conversations we have on the way to school every morning. This morning was of course no exception.

(#2, you are so funny. Every morning it is like you forgot that at 7:10 you have to leave the house. It is always a "SURPRISE". Guess what you have to get in the car. Guess what you need to have clothing covering your arms and legs when that time comes, possibly some homework and your instrument. Maybe you could make yourself a note that reminds you that you have school..................................................................everyday!!!!!!!)

This morning we are discussing our piece o 'crap car - - - 1996 Landcruiser Yo. (This is the problem with me be a car dealer ..... Me, by the way, not your dad. I've become SUPER picky and cheap. I know what I want and I know that in the next year, if I play my cards right, I can get what I want really cheap. There is always one to two cars a year that are such a steal because there is something wrong with them - sort of. Your dad can totally fix the (what looks like major, but really is a minor) problem.) You guys are asking all sorts of questions about it. Here is our conversation:

#2, "Why did it take dad 6 years to fix your antenna?"

Me, "We are probably going to sell it soon, so it is the time to get it fixed."

#4, "How much did you pay for this car?"

Me, "About $13,000 six years ago."

#4, "Oh, that was way to much."

Me, "No at the time that was a great price. Remember it used to look a lot nicer when we got it. You guys have sort of trashed it."

#4, "Mom, that's not trashing it. We just loved on it too much."

Baker

Tonight I was a baker. I made three different desserts. It was for a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner for 25 young people and a few adults at the Nelsons. Glen was the super Chef.

The first was:

1. Coconut cake with a dark chocolate ganache

2. Pecan-Pumpkin Layered Pies

3. Bread Pudding

Apparently the bread pudding was the big hit. Some shy young men even came up to tell me the bread pudding was "the bomb". Due to this great response I thought I should try to remember how I made it and jot it down. Here it goes......

1. I picked up 2 loaves of Rustic Italian bread at the BreadSmith (Aaaamazing)

2. cut the bread in slices and then triangles

3. Butter each piece and then sprinkle white sugar on top

4. Stick them in a couple of ziplocks

5. On the stove top combine

1 qt heavy cream

1 vanilla bean

Heat them together until it almost boils.

6 egg yolks

2 cups sugar

Put eggs and sugar in mixer. Slowly ladle the cream mixture into the eggs to temper them. Once they are combined / strain / and place over low flame to thicken.

6. Dip all bread into #5 mixture and layer in pan.

7. Top with white chocolate chips and chopped up milk chocolate

8. Top with rest of bread and top with the more chocolate

9. Make a caramel sauce

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

Heat the above ingredients until melted and take off heat.

Add a splash o vanilla

honey ( I squirted the bottle)

1 cup 1/2 and 1/2

10. Put some of the caramel sauce on top / add tin foil on top / put in oven at 375 for 40 minutes.

11. serve with some of the caramel sauce on top

What is your Noise?

So Greta was in town this weekend. We were driving over to Sprouts with #4 when we hear her making a noise over and over again.

#4, "Eeeeeehhhghh. That is my noise."

Greta, "That's your noise?"

#4, "Yes, Eeeeehhhghh"

Greta, "Does your mommy have a noise?"

#4, (in a light and sweet voice) "Let's go to the store."

Greta, "Does #2 have a noise?"

#4, "Flowers"

Greta, "What is #1's noise?"

#4, "Eeeeeeeehhhhghh"

Greta, "What about #3?"

#4, "Coloring."

Greta, "What about your dad?"

#4, "My dad is like me. He has my noise Eeeeeeeehhhgghh."

(the noise she made for herself, #1 and the Captain sounded like a fart. Awesome)

Bedtime with #3 and #4

#3, "Mom, you always read to her first. I want to be first."

Mom, "Ok, you are up first tonight."

(while I am reading SkippyJon Jones goes to Spice #4 is shouting at me.)

#4, "Moooom, you scratch my back!!!"

Mom, "I'm reading to your sister right now. Just give me a minute Little Burrito - El Skipito"

(I can't help it. I speak like the Leetle Chiwawa when I read about SkippyJon)

#3,"Thanks for reading to me. Go ahead and read to her now. I am going to close my eyes, but that doesn't mean that I am asleep or even tired...................... I just feel like closing my eyelids. OK!"

A Little extra birthday

Grandma and Grandpa Wenzel dropped off Auntie Kimmy's birthday present for #4 tonight. When we returned from our Halloween extravaganza the present was opened and the dancing Dora outfit was put to the test. Check out the moves with the wand. The Captain and I sang - another one bites the dust - (have no clue why, but that is what came out of my mouth. I am curious if let's say I was in a life or death situation and had to belt out a tune would it be Queen? )

Halloween 2009

We headed over to the Masseys for Halloween tonight. My old babysitter was in town for a work conference - Pam. She, her husband, and their two boys came along with us. #2 went with the McNeilles to their church party.

I spent the day baking two shockingly amazing cakes. The first was orange and dark chocolate - and the second was lemon coconut. They turned out so well I wouldn't mind adopting them as my fifth and sixth children.

Let's start the fashion show:

Lisa sewed an alien siamese twins for #2 and Hadley. So cute. #2 asked me the other day , "are you happy you married into the Babbitts?" I said,"Yes" Then she says, "because I may not have met Hadley if you and dad didn't have me."

#1 and Cousin Nathan had a glorious time dressing up as ladies. (Actually Little Nathan looked really uncomfortable most of the night.) #1 was all about putting the lipstick and makeup on - Nathan ran from the room. The pink wig really made Nathan's eyes pop. Check him out winking in the picture - nice!

#1 swears that another boy tried to pick up on him (ok son. You are a handsome boy, but my Robin Sparkles wig did not do you justice. I am pretty sure that the young man "picking up" on you may have been pulling your long lovely leg. How are you bending like that?)

Paige Nelson posing with #1 at the Masseys partee.

#4 you crack me up!!! We tied your scarf on backward and you turned from Little Red Riding Hood to a gipsy.

Thank heavens so many people brought beans to the party. You consumed about 3 different bowls of beans. We then went trunk or treating and you would get as close as you could to the person with the candy, lean in, and say "treeeat". I had the best time walking behind you and watching the shock on your face every time someone gave you a treat. It was like, "I know I keep saying treeeat, but they are giving me candy. DID YOU HEAR ME MOM - CANDY. Wait, you are going to let me keep it? Where am I and what happened to my mom. (at one point you bit through a piece of candy with the wrapper on.)

Dear Children,

Today was Fall Festival party time in all of your classrooms. (Funny this used to be called Halloween.) I hope someday you read this "scrapbook" of yours and remember how every holiday party was kind of crazy. It is a lot of work running around and grabbing something different for all three classes. #2 your theme was ............da da daaaaa.........orange. Awesome, peaches and forks.....done. #3 was to bring something healthy that is store bought. (guess what........this doesn't exist. I am really tempted to start up this business, market to schools, and create a healthier holiday party/birthday party/ school lunch environment. Guess what..........no energy)

#1 I also purchased some "healthy" store bought food for your class. One of the other items was board games. I completely forgot about this until we were almost to school this morning. Here is our conversation:

Me, "hey, if no one brings any games in give me a call and I will run some over."

#1, "Mom, (this is said with teenage voice - all drawn out) all of our games have pieces missing."

Me, "Candyland doesn't. I could bring that in." (I know my sarcasm is point on and that I am a pro at it - right?)

#1, " (longggg pause) .................................................Mom, you really have to get with it."


Love,

Mom

Halloween

As much as I LOVE Halloween I really am not a big fan of spending a lot of money on costumes. I am more of a "hey lets look in your closet and find something" mentality. So this morning I was thinking, "oh my goodness. Halloween is in 4 days. No one has a costume." Ok, at least I have total say of #4 I can start there. AND THE WINNER IS.................Little Red Riding Hood.

I must say #4 you are really, I mean REALLY into this Halloween thing. You just came up to me and told me you were ready to go to the contest to win some gummy bear vitamins.

Getting so Big

Since our babies are getting closer to leaving the nest I am trying to enjoy every moment. (May I add that this will be the only time we EVER have puppies. ) They are so fun right now. They fight constantly. Baby Channel makes a noise like a kitty. I think she might be trying to growl? It is really crazy.

Antonella's Wedding

Tonight was THE WEDDING. First, this afternoon was the ceremony. It was at St. Bernards church. The priest was cute as can be. He said so many kind and super funny things. I made friends with an OLD Italian man. This was just one of our conversations:

(If you don't incorporate an Italian accent this is not very funny)

Old Man, "You-a know that the Italians live in Chica cago."

Me, " Really, I didn't know that."

Old Man, "Why yes. We-a came to New York-a of course. And then we migrated to Chica cago. (I am not spelling these words wrong. This is how he spoke. duh)

Me, "Well I get that. My grandparents came over from Germany and they had to go to Ellis Island first."

Old Man, "Really (excited)? I have-a a cousin who lives in a Germany. He has-a two restaurants. He has a mansion............(he crossed his arms at this point and shouted - in a church) HE -A- MADE IT. (a little quieter now) He -A- Made IT!"

I went home after the ceremony and waited for my date. The lovely April Haymore. The reception was at the MonteLucia. This hotel is sooooo beautiful. The food was great, the dancing was .........wait for it.............supercalifrag. The band was from that show .....American Idol....you know the one where the people sing. There was some amazing Italian opera like singer that busted out some Italiano tunes. At one point I thought it was a CD and looked up to see him belting out the opera. Then one of the bridesmaids goes up and sings opera with him. It was tooooo die for. I started crying. It was stunning. " Oh, he needs a duet person for this song. Let me go over there and just belt out a little song with no prep. Lalalala. Ok I'm ready." ARE YOU KIDDING ME. The talent was truely ............ ok no words for it.

Some little 2 year old yelled that her dad farted during the matron of honors toast. (some of the men at the table behind me laughed so hard at this they were crying. Really? Is farting and poo ALWAYS this funny? Oh yes it is!!!!!!!!) There was a gelato cart. Of course April - who knows everyone in the United States - knew the guy next to hers best friend. (are you kidding me you say. NO I am not. We travel with her on different vacations or to different restaurants / parties / etc and guess what she knows someone there. Have I also mentioned that her dreams tend to come true. I don't mean this in a kind of rainbows and lottery kind of way. I mean she will dream something like - hey Dane Thomas broke his leg - and then two days later she runs into his mom and she is like " Last night was crazy. We had to go to the emergency room b/c Dane broke his leg."

So here are a couple of gorgeous pics from our night out. Did I mention that I introduced her as my date, not thinking much of it, and people thought we were a couple. At one point a guy leaned over to ask me a question and then said to April, " don't get tense, I'm not moving in on your territory." So cute.

Everyone there was sooooo friendly. We were at a table with 2 pregnant women so it didn't get to rowdy.

Oh, you know what else was cool. The second we walked into the ballroom the dancing started. Dinner didn't come for another 1 1/2. Dancing was too importante' to put off. All in all this was another uber great wedding. Allison Sterns wedding came in as a tie. I think the band is what throws it over to the legendary category. I told my kids when I came home that if they want to have a wedding reception someday that a band is key. Maybe by then some of the groups they like NOW will have withered their money away and we can get them super cheap. (I'm not saying I am a fan of poor money management, but it will work out rather well for the wedding)


A special thanks to:

Kim Zadrozny for makeup - jewelry - shoes - handbag
Anthropologie for providing the wardrobe

Quirky things you kids say

Two nights ago we were all sitting at the table eating dinner. This was our conversation:

#2, " If I had the ability to read people's minds I would want to read Chica's first. (chica is a dog. I know I am stating the obvious, but a dog. I bet she is thinking, "hey, I really love it when you forget to take me outside and I take a huge dump in your mom's room.")"

#3, "You know that thing you used to have to yank the milk out of your boob?"

Me, "yes, it is called a breast pump."

#3, " Yah that's it. I think we should get one to use on Chica in case she isn't giving her puppies enough milk. We will get some bottles and feed them at night."

Me, " You want to pump your dog?'

Dear Children, The Wedding......

I am going to start backwards to forwards - cause that's the way I roll. I must say that when Audrey called and asked to have her wedding at our house (in 2 weeks) I thought, "well, okay this won't be that hard." Guess what - - - that was an inaccurate statement.

Turns out I spent every one of those days shopping, cutting, planning, etc. The thing is it was a simple wedding. I can't imagine planning and executing a major shindig. Just spitballing, but maybe part of it was the 2 weeks thing.

I think it turned out lovely. This first photo is the party at the end. Once it got dark it was so gorgeous; the hanging lanterns, the lights, the flowers - lovely eye art. My eyes said they had such a great time and wouldn't mind seeing all of it again. (I said beepidy beep beep...............beep and stuff it eyes)

Everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves. This is the first Babbitt gathering where there were more non-Babbitt's than the public. Great job Audrey with having friends and all. Justin, you are so awesome and your family was so nice. I was so busy running around all night and would have loved to have talked to them more!! I know your experience thus far with "Aunt Jen" has been one of

1. I will help you save your money

2. You will pay off your student loans before you have children

3. Hurry and eat your food you are about to cut the cake

4. No, I said shove the cake in her mouth. Come on you pansy stop kissing your bride and smear that cake in her hair.

Since you are in the Army I know you can see the benefit of my course of action for your BIG DAY. Oh yeah......... it was your big day huh. I can't imagine what it will be like when this is my kid - crap I need to start preparing now.

Shania is due this week. She is so beautiful pregnant. I am super jealous. I bought this game called "doody head" where you chuck fake poo at a velcro hat you and your game players wear. Of course we made Shania play (hoping for a wedding baby. Didn't happen.) She was out of breath when we were done, but did a fab job of catching and tossing the rolled pieces of brown dung.

The day went well setting up. The weather has been sooooo nice the last couple of weeks. Wedding Day - not so nice - 100 degrees. Not even slightly joking. Karie and Norma came over today and assisted in the setting up. We all smelled like men when done decorating. MEN don't typically smell good after working a long day - outside. I couldn't be near myself. It was disgusting. If you guys had been home I would have made you smell them. It would have been punishment for some future crime. Grandma and Grandpa Wenzel entertained you all day. The wedding was off limits to little beings.

Audrey was such a beautiful bride. Dressed all uptown. Take note of the red high heels she is wearing. It was such a great look! I will add more photos from Tia Shelly tomorrow. I was running around most of the day and didn't get many pictures.

Wish you could have been there!

Missed you,

Mom

#2 and the foot

#2. You hurt your foot tonight. You hobbled back to your room and after about an hour I found this note on the floor in the hallway.

On the front is it says:

"This flower is beautiful. Imagine what this flower would like if it didn't get water for 1 whole month." (great job spelling whole correctly)

On the back side was a wilted flower. It said, "this is the flower after not receiving water for a whole month. My foot is this flower. I am in pain."

I always appreciate a good analogy. Thumbs up.

Da Puppies

Ohhhhh

The Captain's Birthday

This past weekend was the Capitano's birthday. And let me just say that it was quite the party weekend. Friday night was a couples night out with just the two of us. Super fancy, dinner at Port O Subs ................I INTERRUPT THIS POST to say that he just called me to let me know he forgot his teeth...........AGAIN. ARE YOU FREAKEN KIDDING ME? TEETH. TEETH

Back to Port o Subs. Can I say that it may be on the low end of the food fancy scale, but I desire it none the less. Look, I'm not a food snob after all. The perfectly cut meat (at the time of your order) the mixture of mayo and mustard (crazy good) Ok I will stop. You are going to read these posts and think that your mama was a wee bit nutty. I have an odd placement on the CRAZY HOT scale (this is yet another reference to How I Met Your Mother and you will remember this I know b/c you are my offspring)

Saturday night was the How I Met Your Mother Party-----WHAT'S UP. (Please I beg that you incorporate my ghetto accent when I am trying to gangster talk)

And the following pictures are per the Sunday Family party. This first picture is #1 sporting the new man bag that was for the Cap. This is a bit of a splurge for my man. Ralph Lauren Polo leather vinyl bag with matching laptop bag. WHAT WHAT. That's what I said.

#2 trying on the Cap's new jeans. This is his first pair of jeans that cost more than $100. Since he is nearing his senior years I thought it was time for him to have one pair to "live it up" in.

The Cap himself opening the books Grandpa and Grandma Wenzel gave him for his birthday. Throughout his whole birthday weekend he removed the front door and sanded it and restained it. It is really gorgeous. I LOVE it. I Love it. As Tracy Morgan would say, " I could take it behind the middle school and make babies with it." I'm noticing that I speak in book and TV quotes. Kind of hilarious to me. Okay I learned last night that expectations are satanic and goals are great. So, GOAL: I am going to try to speak in song verses this week.