sometimes patience pays off

Same teacher, same music as the other day, but with older (slightly more focused) kids:

go-to spinach souffle

I've had this recipe for spinach souffle (or spinach squares, or spinach casserole) for years now, and every time I make it people ask me for the recipe. Since it's one of my go-to meals for guests, that's been a lot of people over the years but I've never shared. Until now.

1 cup heavy cream
3 eggs
2 packages (10 oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tb flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground red pepper (I've never once used this myself)

Beat cream and eggs in a bowl for 2-3 minutes, or until foamy. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased 8 inch square baking pan; bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

Feeds 2 adults & 3 kids perfectly, or 4 adults on their own. Anything more and I'd consider doubling the recipe and baking in a 9 x 12 pan. (Seriously, it's that good.)

I made this yesterday for a little lunch we had here with Avery, Henry & families. I would have taken a photo of the souffle (you know I would have), but we ate every single little bit.

patience

I'm posting the following video for one reason only. Not to humiliate my daughter once she reaches her teen years and certainly not to show off her fabulous dance moves, but only because it's hysterical and it perfectly demonstrates how awesome my friend Mara is. She teaches something like 27 of these crazy dance classes all over town, with 5,000 different kids of varying ages (and very varying skill levels) simply because she loves to herd cats dance and loves to see kids dancing... or pretending to dance. I am so thankful that Avery & Josie get to benefit from her never-ending patience and her enthusiasm to run these classes, year after year (I'll stop now because I'm sure she's blushing). Just watch and you'll see what I mean:

piano recital

oh, christmas tree

I look forward to getting our Christmas tree every year, and then by Christmas night I'm so sick of it that I take it down right away and put it on the curb to be recycled. Our living room is already so small, and having a tree plopped down in the middle of it just doesn't make much sense. So this year I've taken the "happy medium" approach by waiting until 2 weeks before Christmas to get the tree, and by opting for a smaller one this year. Less height means less girth and less overall room taken up by said tree in the house.

The kids were dying to get the tree decorated tonight so we dug out all the boxes and had at it. Lo and behold, only the red and yellow lights work anymore. Too bad I didn't test those out before we put them up. Oh well, we'll have to make do this year and fix it next year.

Along with the ornament boxes, I also brought the tripod up from the basement and had some fun experimenting with long shutter speeds (I know, it's an exciting life!). The above photo was taken with a 30-second shutter and in the last ~5 seconds I started moving the tripod in a heart shape. Some smart person will have to explain to me why the hearts appear upside down because I can't figure that one out. Nevermind... we figured it out! Take that, smart people.

And here are the ghosts of some ornament hangers. Kind of cool and freaky all at the same time.

Holidays commence!

(almost) swimming!

height, and lots of it

Some 5th grade girls in this town are really tall. I thought my own 5th grade girl was tall until she started playing basketball. She is the tallest on her own team (and in the top ~10% of girls in her grade at school, I'd guess), but would be among the shorter bunch on any other team they have played against so far.

The photo shown above shows what I'm talking about. As evidenced by the fact that Avery has her eyes sealed tight (and appears to be holding her breath?), she knows that she doesn't stand a chance against that other girl, who was easily a head taller than her. The team as a whole wasn't any better than ours, but they had 3 or 4 super tall girls who got every rebound and could just kind of tip the ball into the hoop without much effort.

Oh well, in the end it will just teach them to play better, right?

babysitting is hard work

We had the privilege of babysitting our most favorite 4-month-old (four months already!) this afternoon. Unfortunately, Little Miss was very uncooperative and slept the majority of the time we were there. I had no one to take pictures of, and the kids had no one to play with. So we all had to make do... with some ballet, a barrel o' monkeys and some plastic farm animals.

no self-esteem issues here

Avery, at dinner tonight: "R told me that H thinks I'm hot."

[long pause, as Andrew and I think of something semi-appropriate to say in response]

"Like I didn't already know that."

visit to see "santa"

Josie and I happened to be wandering out of a Target today at approximately 1:58 when we saw a sign that Santa was going to be available for photos starting at 2. Josie seemed incredibly excited to see him, so I told her we could wait a few minutes (we had to leave by 2:15 at the very latest to get Avery & Cayden at school).

To our mutual dismay, Santa still hadn't shown up at 2:13... at which point I had to tell Josie that we might not be able to see him today. That was when her eyes welled up with huge crocodile tears and I decided to call a friend to let A & C know that we'd be late.

Then, as if by magic, St. Nick appeared from the deep hollows of an abandoned mall store (if I remember correctly, it used to be a Dress Barn, or maybe a Hallmark... but that's neither here nor there). Josie rushed over before the poor guy even had a chance to get comfy in his chair, and assaulted him with her long list of questions.

"How many reindeer do you have?"

"What do they like to eat?"

"What are their names?"

Disappointingly, Santa couldn't answer one of those questions. Seriously? Couldn't he do a little bit of homework? I can't imagine that my kid's the only one who's ever asked him these questions. After all, it's not like they're completely obscure, out-of-the-blue inquiries.

When we left, I asked Josie if she'd like to go back another day to get a picture taken with Santa (with her brother & sister). She paused a bit, and then said, "Um, yeah, but maybe a different Santa next time."