The joys of having pets

This morning I was cooking breakfast in the kitchen and the boys were playing outside while Kaylie played in her exersaucer. I heard Rex yell to the kids, "Ry-ry! Colty! Meowzer caught you a lizard!!!" Meowzer has been known to bring us "presents" if we get mad at him or if we run out of his food. (We figure he thinks we're struggling to feed ourselves, thats why we can't feed him so he brings some food to help out)

I thought to myself "ugh I SOOOO don't want my kids playing with a dead lizard" I figured they'd look at it and poke at it with a stick, as boys and grown men tend to do. A few minutes later Rex came in the kitchen and said that Ry and Colty were playing with a lizard. "Are you kidding me? it's alive?!?!" Apparently Meowzer really DID catch a lizard.

Meowzer was sitting on the grass and called out to Rex. Rex went over to see what he wanted and saw that he was holding a small alligator lizard under his paw. When Rex called to Ry and Colty and they went running Meowzer released the poor little guy and he tried to escape. Too bad for the lizard Ry caught him. The boys held him and carried him around the yard for a while, until I called them to come in for breakfast. Ry said he wanted to keep him and I told him he had to put him back in the grass so he could go back to his mommy and daddy. Ry said "but he IS the daddy or mommy!" so I told him that he better put him back so he could get back to his babies, and Ry still didn't want to put him back, so I tried to get Ry to understand that he wouldnt want someone to take his daddy away from him and never let him go. That message hit home so he put him in the grass to wash up for breakfast

My sweet boy

The other day I came home from work and heard a *clink clink clink* coming from Ry's room, I asked what he was doing and he said "I'm putting money in my piggy bank" I went to do dishes and when I was finished I heard some more *clink clink clink* I went into his room and saw that he had a pile of change on the floor and was putting it in his big piggy bank. I said to him, "Buddy, you shouldn't play with money, it's dirty" he said, "I know Mommy, but I'm taking all the money out of my little bank and putting it in my big one so I can give it to you and you can buy a new car."

Back in November I was rear ended and my car got totaled, since then I've been driving Rex's old pickup truck and I had just been thinking that I needed to get a new car soon since summer is coming and the A/C isn't the best.

These kids just make life worth living with the little things they do and say. Just this afternoon the ice cream cart went walking by jingling its bells. Colty said "thats tinkerbell! I'm gonna go get it" and went to run outside. We're going to Disneyland next weekend and I asked Colty who he wanted to see there, he said "Minnie Mouse, I'ma kiss her"

Rylan ponderings

Ry was sitting on the toilet looking at a blister on his hand. He asked if he ripped the skin off would it grow back. I told him it would take a few days but his hand would grow some new skin. He then asked, "how come if I cut off my arm, I can't grow a new one?" I didn't want to get into details with stem cells and all that so I said that arms are too big and he can't grow new bones and an arm needs bones. Then he said "If I was a starfish I could grow a new arm"

Santa is watching

I thought that for at least the month of December when our elf on the shelf was around, I'd be able to threaten Ry and Colty with "Santa is watching you, so you'd better be good" Rylan was in complete disbelief and he's always bad and I can't get him to listen EVER... So I thought I'd get smart and get the iPhone app that has Santa call you when they're naughty.  There is also a feature where the kids can call Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas. This morning I had Ry call Santa to tell him what he wanted and Santa said "I know you've been good this year" Ry turns to me and said, "SEE!!! I told you he can't see me!!!" because anybody knows that Ry has NOT been good this year. LOL

I'm such a mean mommy

In preparation for my spa day on Sunday, I epilady'd my legs. (for those of you who don't know the epilady is a hair removal device that has these spinning tweezer things and I use it in between waxings) I dumped the removed hair in the toilet and the next morning when Ry saw the hair he asked why it was there. I told him that Mommy cut some hair and put it in the toilet. He looked up at me and said, "is it because I play with your hair?" I felt so sad for him, he looked so sad and guilty.  He's always playing with my hair and getting his sticky fingers in it and it drives me CRAZY.

This halloween Rex and I dressed up as hippies for a party we went to. We of course were sporting the traditional peace sign necklaces. Driving home on 101 the other day Rylan shouted out "LOOK A HIPPIE!!!" I of course did not see any hippies in the middle of the freeway. Yesterday we were making that same drive and at the same spot Rylan yelled again "LOOK A HIPPIE!!!" this time I notice that we're right next to Autobahn Motors... a MERCEDES dealership. I guess the Mercedes logo DOES look like a peace sign... Also anyone with an afro is also a hippie in Ry's eyes.

Who's the boss?

Meowzer was sittig on the fireplace when Ry told him, "GET DOWN"I looked at him with a look that clearly said "who says you're the boss?" He looked right back at me (as Meowzer jumped off the fireplace) and he said, "I'm Meowzer's mommy so I telled him to get off"

Macaroni and cheese

For you Ms. Alanna!

I don't measure so much so sorry for the funky measurements

a bunch of mushrooms (I like shitake the best, and by bunch I mean use however much you want)
a little more than half a thingey of bacon (I think they come in 12oz packs)
one onion cut in half and then sliced thin
splash of white wine (whatever you have in the fridge)
1 quart scalded milk (I use 2% because that's generally what I have but whole tastes better)
1/2c flour
6T butter
12oz. Gruyere cheese (I just buy like a pound in brick form and shred it)
4 cups any kind of cheese (I buy pre-shredded Mexican blend and have it on hand at all times so this is usually what I use)
EVOO
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1lb pasta take two minutes off the cooking time (to make it "healthy" I use whole grain and no one notices because its smothered in cheese)
buttered panko/Italian breadcrumbs (I use progresso Italian breadcrumbs and mix in panko. They sell an italian panko breadcrumb but I like the texture with regular breadcrumbs mixed in too)

the way I do it only uses two pots (one for milk and one to make pasta and cheese sauce) and one pan but you can do this all faster using more pans...

caramelize the onion in a little bit of EVOO (not fully caramelized you're going to cook it more later), this takes forever so start them first and then chop the rest of your stuff. Clean and slice mushrooms, grate cheese, chop bacon... are the onions done yet? If not pour yourself a glass of wine.. once the onions are almost a caramel color remove from pan and toss bacon in. Cook the bacon until crispy. This takes a while too so grab a magazine. Once the bacon is crisp use a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel (or not, if you want to leave the fat there go ahead) Cook mushrooms and onions in bacon fat. Once the mushrooms are softened add a splash (a big splash) of white wine. Cook until wine is mostly absorbed and set aside.

In the pot you boiled the pasta in melt butter, add flour and cook 3 min, slowly whisk in hot milk and cook until slightly thickened. Add a big dash of nutmeg, a pinch each of salt and pepper (I think my pinches are about a T.) Slowly add cheeses stirring with a wooden spoon (you should have the cheese sitting out at room temp while you cook and they'll melt faster) once all cheese is incorporated add bacon, mushrooms, onion and pasta and mix well.

Pour into baking dish and top with buttered breadcrumbs (melt 2T butter in bowl and toss in breadcrumbs, 1c of each type depending on how much surface area you have, I like lots of crunchy topping so I do a big baking dish 9x13 I think)

bake at 350 until hot and bubbly and toasty on top

When I make dinner the night ahead I make myself a snack sized one JUST to test it out  and make sure it's not poison :)