The gift that most describes Sam

What do you do?

I was hoping to shield my daughter from the "m" word as long as possible. I thought we could make it to at least two years old before it entered her vocabulary. We've spent the last few days with Maria's four children (add Ben and Lisa's four kids on Christmas day) and the result has been the following: screaming when something is taken from Agnes; screaming when someone else has a toy she wants; hitting; biting; hair pulling (the last three happened sequentially in a matter of ten seconds; pushing anytime another child invades her personal space; and the dreaded word has been spoken (or whined, rather) "Mine!!!"

Merry Cookie, uh Christmas

I've been offline for nearly a week! We have been so busy with moving...we're mostly moved in now, but the kitchen isn't nearly ready for Samuel to visit yet! I need a lot more things in there first.

It's been a good day. Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope your day has been good too. K, B & C came to our new house and we ate dinner (even though it was cold by the time it got to the table). After dinner had settled a bit, it was time for dessert.
Because I didn't have the necessary ingredients for making chocolate cookies (no baking soda among other things...I told you my kitchen was lacking) I came up with this. A peppermint brownie Skookie. It was SO rich even Brandon couldn't finish it.
Love and hugs to all my kids and babies!

How the Nora Stole Christmas

After a long, but nice, Christmas Eve day, we brought the girls home to get ready for bed and go to sleep. One of the steps involved in getting ready for bed was opening the Christmas pajamas and the Karen presents. (Karen is the new Paula.) FIrst, we cleaned up the living room, not wanting to add mess on top of mess, kind of like how the creepy guy at the office just adds extra cologne when he forgot to shower. That was a minor struggle, since Nora knew she was going to open a present and had it in her hot little hands. Every twenty seconds, "Is the room clean? Can I open my present?" Every twenty-one seconds, "No! Put that away!" Finally, the living room was cleaned to Holly's appeasement standard. When Holly looked under the tree to get the presents, she noticed something unusual. Some of the presents were missing. We had been at a friend's on Sunday and she told us that one of her biggest fears was that someone would break into her house and steal the Christmas presents from under the tree. I mocked her for being irrational, but now, here we were: someone had stolen the presents from under our tree! It didn't take too long to figure out who our little Grinch was, of course, it was Her Royal Highness, The Princess Nora. She had scattered presents ALL over the house. I found some in her room, behind the elliptical, and under the clothes in the laundry basket. We had finally found all of them except one, the Karen present for Sara. I went through the girl's room again, nothing. Looked in all of Nora's regular little hidey-holes, nothing. We were becoming slightly frustrated, especially since Nora had NO idea where she had put it. After a total of 15 minutes of searching for all the presents, we finally found it tucked between the window and Nora's toy bench in the front room. We opened our presents, the girls loved their books, and we got them up to bed. They're still asleep as of 8:07. Of course, I was "too excited to sleep!" Bonus points to whoever can tell me what commercial that line is from.

Merry Christmas!

Which reminds me

This one time, when I was living in Anaheim, I brought some stuff home from Dad's house. When I went to get it, I saw an insect, freaked out (because that's what I do), and didn't bring the box in. I mistakenly told Brandon there was a cricket in the car and had him bring the box in for me. He searched our car, but saw no cricket.

The next day, I get into our car to go to school. Sitting directly in front of me, on the dashboard behind the steering wheel, is a praying mantis. I FREAKED out! No, freaked doesn't even come close to describing what I did. The praying mantis was just watching me, it's head slightly cocked to one side, not moving a single inch. Just watching. I leapt out of the car and promptly began hyperventilating. I called Brandon, but there was nothing he could do since he was at work and I was at home. Somehow, amidst my hysterics, I managed to open the passenger door and use something to flick the praying mantis out of the car through the open driver's door (I was going to say it was a snow scraper, which I've owned for a really long time, but why would that have been in our Vue in California? So it must have been something else.)

The praying mantis fell out of the car. I hurried into the car and shut the driver's side door, but in doing so, saw the praying mantis on the ground, sitting on his back legs, just staring at me still. I slammed the door shut, and drove to school at lightning speed, utterly freaked out of my mind.

I wasn't sure that it was a praying mantis (having never seen one before), but when I got to school and looked it up on the internet, there was no question left in my mind. That is most definitely what it was.

Did you know that praying mantises will blend in with their surroundings, holding dead still until their prey comes close enough? Then, they eat their prey alive. They can even eat animals as big as squirrels, biting their necks off to kill them before devouring the rest of the animal.

And this one, in my car, definitely wanted to eat me. I'm sure of it.

It's, by far, one of the scariest things that has ever happened in my life. (Yes, okay, I've led a pretty sheltered life.)

We needed some activity around here!

I didn't really have anything to say that was witty or heartwarming, but nothing had been posted in days, so I thought I'd put something on here. Um, yeah, that's about it. Oh, Danny, Christmas brunch is at Marta's at 11:00. She says we'll eat first and then do gifts afterward. See you then.

I was going to put a picture of a cricket in this post, to reflect the lack of activity, but all the pictures I saw were rather disgusting. What an ugly little creature...

Where's Boo?

Hey Laura,
We miss you being a part of our little blog. I hope that you can get your internet situation settled pretty soon so you can chime in again, and let us know what's happening in your world. Love you, miss you.

Time Warp

Last night I was all sentimental-like and decided to watch the video that we took of you guys in 1989 and 1990 at Christmas. Danny was so little and cute wearing his way-too-big Dickson Stars red sweatshirt with flappy sleeves (which he wore the following year as well...didn't I ever give my children new clothes?) and no pants and crocheted slippers from Grandma L. Everytime he would open a gift, he'd say "thanks Mom" and sometimes "thanks Mom, thanks Dad." Once he started to say "thanks Mom," but then stopped and looked at the tag to double check whether it actually was from me. In-between the '89 and '90 gift unwrapping frenzy, there was Danny's first grade concert at Newman. He looked so sweet with his little silvery angel halo scrunched down over his wavy hair. He was missing two front teeth and after the concert we taped him pulling out his (here comes technical talk) upper left lateral tooth (#10). It wasn't quite loose enough for him to pull out easily, and after he twisted it this way and that, and a final yank, it came out. There was a brief look of pain on his face and I was sorry for him at that moment. I knew it should have stayed there a few more days but he wanted it on camera, so he toughed it out and yanked. I love you so much Danny boy!

'89 was the year Karen gave me the squooshy-faced Santa head that she bought from her school store. We both have really bad perms. Ugh. I love you too Karen!

Laura was sick and spent the entire morning on the couch. Poor lammy. You had huge glasses and the following year I had huge glasses too. I'm so sorry about that even if it was the trend. I love you Boo!

Samuel was suffering with his voice changing, so mostly it's still very high. What a cute boy. In '90 your sisters were struggling to carry all their loot up the stairs in one haul. You saw they were having trouble and jumped up and carried it for them. Of course I love my first-born son. So so much!

Just wanted you to know how much I loved watching you all be little again. Yes, of course, I cried.

To: Margaret Layne

From: Mrs. Pat Haroldson
1584 Oakhorne Dr
Harbor City, CA 90710

To: Margaret Layne
13584 Frady ave.
Chino, CA 30710

Outside Cover:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another
1 john 1:7
[picture of woman angel thing]

Inside Left:
Dear Margaret,
Everything is the same here. I'll try to have the hip surgery next year. I have to have another angioplasty, before my heart Dr. will O.K it.

Inside Right:
Dear Margaret
[printed text]
May the light of the world Bless You in this season of faith and celebration.
[/printed text]
Love You
Pat.



Huh?

Error in size judgement

I bought this big Santa at a grocery store for $30. I love it because he sits on his own chair and he's big! The chair, however, broke a bit when we put it in the Jeep. Nothing that Bud can't fix for me once he gets a minute of time. But it's just a plain unpainted chair. I saw this other chair in a catalog and thought to myself that it would be so much cuter than the plain unpainted chair, so I ordered it. It came today. Oops. I don't think Santa is going to fit on the new chair. Not to worry, I have another Santa that will fit and looks very cute on the new chair. Guess next time I'll check the size a bit more carefully.

Hey! We went out to dinner as well last night...

While we went to dinner last night too (Mmmmmm, In-N-Out), we don't carry a HUGE camera with us everywhere we go. Therefore, this was taken with my cell phone. Sara had a great time eating Nora's food.

Dead Camera

What kind of camera did you get? I love mine, and Laura has the same kind too. Cheryl has almost the same kind but a different model (Nikon D40 as opposed to my Nikon D50). I hope that whatever you got has little or no lag time because when taking kids' pictures, that's a plus. Here's an example we took last night while we were waiting 2 hours to get into The Cheesecake Factory for dinner (where cheesecake doesn't taste like cheesecake, it actually tastes yummy!).
Caleb is waiting for Santa to get back from his dinner break. Maybe Santa also went to The Cheesecake Factory, which is why he was gone so long!

Blueberries

So are the Eastside Roseners ready to cough up the blueberry story yet? Ew, maybe not cough it up. That could be messy. Maybe just tell it.
---------------------------------------------------------

One of Nora's veggietales songs has a line about his aunt came back from Kalamazoo and she brought with her some "nuts like you". Then the singer guy says "Nuts? They don't even grow nuts in Michigan, they grow blueberries!" So the blueberries are a reference to the nuts like you!

Home Sweet Home

We finally got the word yesterday that the sellers of our house will be moving out on Dec. 15th and then they want a few days to clean the house. They will give us the keys on Dec. 19th at 7:00 pm and then we can start moving in. With a lot of work and some volunteer help, we should be able to awake to Christmas morning in our new house. Hurray!

Votes?

***We finally decided on the B&W version that was not on the ballot. Call it a write-in candidate****


Another 5 minutes of effort and Danny created this:

Quite a bit more than 5 minutes of effort, I got this:

Less than 5 minutes of effort, I also got this:

These are for Grandpa for Christmas, which one do people like?

Nora's a partial monkey

We were talking last night about how we needed a new name for Sara since she doesn't squeak like a mouse anymore.  She really is a monkey like her sister, but Nora refuses to share the monkey name.  So I asked Nora, "Are you a monkey?"  She answered "But I don't have a tail" and then wiggled her little butt at me.  I guess that makes her an orangutan.

Nora did come up with a new name for Sara: Title of Liverty. Why? Because Sara is a flag. Oh, that makes perfect sense.

My other OTHER blog

I thought I would announce to the family that I have a blog. Not that I'm new to making it, I'm just new to actually writing something there since about the time Laura got married. I had hoped that it would be easier to "journal" if it was online, but it wasn't easy enough evidently, because I never added new stuff. But, the last little while (since Samuel started our family blog) I've added a couple new entries, so if anyone is interested, they can check it out at http://nanaknowlton.spaces.live.com/. You can see by it being msn instead of google that it's from a long time ago because if I were to make one today, I'd go with google's blog. Lot's easier and compatible with Picasa (duh). Anyway, since Karen was the only one that knew I had that (and just barely at that), I thought I'd tell it to the rest of you.
PS- Disregard this information. I've moved to blogspot.com because the spaces site was way too hard to navigate. Click here for my new blog.

5 minutes of effort and a lack of source material. plus time travel.

Photoshopping

Here's my best picture of my three grandbabies with Santa. My question is to Laura- can you take a picture of Agnes from about the same distance as this picture and then photoshop her in to the left of Caleb? Wouldn't that be so cool? Look how easy it would be to add Agnes into that empty spot. If you can work your magic like you did with the lavender field, you can easily add Agnes to this picture. At least I think it would be easy, but I know nothing about the process at all. Maybe Holly's picture is better...there's still space in her's to add Agnes to it. What do you think?

A few more pictures

I hope everyone had a good enough time in St. George that they felt it was worth the trip. Here are some pictures from my camera that I wanted to share with you.

I thought Nora made a great present distributor, and I heard Karen say she was glad to be rid of the job, finally. It was good for her to be able to hold Caleb while he "opened" his presents.

It was very funny when Nora would open one of her clothing presents and immediately pitch it to Holly, who promptly assured me that Nora was very grateful for the clothes, it was just boring for Nora to open them. Here she is about to pitch the socks.

Then there was Sara who loved jumping on the trampoline! She especially loved the fact that there were handlebars to hold onto. The boys in charge of setting the trampoline up made an executive decision not to fully assemble it, meaning they didn't hook up the noisemaking feature. They got away with it because we didn't have any batteries, so that was the "excuse."

Okay Sara, we know you just love Caleb, and you're trying to show him how neat you think he is, and you want to show him that toy and share with him...

But what's with that victory grasp?

Oh, I see...there's the "take down."

I guess that's worth 2 points in the wrestling world.

It turns out I don't have a camera

It'd rather help if I did but I don't so there's that. I opened up one of the blankets my mother got me for Christmas and while I was tearing out the tag I noticed something humorous.


UNDER PENALTY OF LAW THIS TAG NOT TO
BE REMOVED EXCEPT BY THE CONSUMER
---------------------------------------------------
ALL NEW MATERIAL
consisting of
POLYESTER FIBER
(100% POLYESTER)
CONTENTS STERILIZED
---------------------------------------------------
REG NO. PA-27107 (CN) PER. NO. PA-9829 (CN)
---------------------------------------------------
Certification is made by the manufacturer
that the materials in this article are described
in accordance with law
---------------------------------------------------
MADE BY
AEOLUS DOWN, INC
14050 Norton Avenue
Chino, CA 91710
---------------------------------------------------
Date of Delivery_____
Finished Size 58x74in.
---------------------------------------------------
RN 101926
COVER: 100% POLYESTER
MADE IN CHINA
---------------------------------------------------
[barcode]

Santa

I love how the 2 youngest are just in awe... and so confused.

Self-discipline

Agnes put herself in the corner for spitting out her food. Maybe she's learning. Maybe

Party Animals

We went out to dinner for Mom's birthday last night. Brandon and I thought it only appropriate to celebrate this special occasion with one of a kind gifts. (Well, they're not really one of a kind since you can probably find them at any Spencer's.)

You can't respectably turn 50 without a dancing rat singing and dancing, right? Mom thought it was hilarious (or at least she made this really funny laughing face). Caleb thought it was funny too though.

She even danced along to it.

We got her some other awesome gifts. Like playing cards that have funny sayings about being 50 (I'm sure we'll be seeing them in St. George...unless she forgot them)


and these awesome candles that say "old fart". What a great birthday.

(Caleb did give her a more respectable present -- a picture of him, of course.)

Welcome Danny!

Apparently Samuel has the wrong email address for Danny. So he just learned about the family blog right now.

Just wanted to say hello and welcome to the drama!

2 more shopping list items

fruit cups and string cheese for the girls. I was going to pick them up at Sam's Club yesterday, but they weren't on the list... only in my head... and then things got crazy...

Menu - Revised

Since Sam can't post from work, I'll post what I know.

Turkey - group effort
Stuffing - S/H
Sweet potatoes - P
White Potatoes - K
Green Bean Casserole - S/H
Vege #2 - P
Fruity Salad - P
Rolls - S/H
Dessert - P

I have no idea what the dessert decision is, since I am not really fond of any traditional Thanksgiving desserts I just tuned that part out.

Nora's cold has morphed to where she sounds like a 1-900 call operator. It is pretty funny.

The menu

Can anyone provide a list of the menu? I guess I'm not sure who is doing what and what still needs to be done, so if anyone can put a list up of what's being made, that would be helpful for me. Sadness that Laura and Agnes aren't going to be here.

More drama

Both the girls are super sick w/ colds = cranky = not sleeping well = cranky parents = better be well by Saturday!!!!

Shopping List

For rolls, stuffing and green bean casserole. We will also bring up a GALLON of Vinces sauce, so maybe some spaghetti noodles and garlic bread?

2 cans evaporated milk
2 egg
sugar
3 cube butter
5 c flour
yeast
6 medium onions
4 T panko breadcrumbs
2 lb fresh green beans
24 oz mushrooms
2 heads garlic
4 c chicken broth
2 c half and half
fresh nutmeg
two 1-pound loaves crustless sourdough bread
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds Italian sweet sausages, casings removed
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 8-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)

More may follow...

The Destructo-Mouse strikes again

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Anyway, the blog was taking a turn for the DRAMA, so here's a funny story about the Mouse.
Conveniently, my index finger is just the right size to fit sideways into her mouth. When I stick my knuckle in her mouth, and shake it all about, she laughs and goes "aahhhh". She thinks that is one of the funniest games ever and tries to do the same thing to me. That game isn't so funny. The other night, she was standing up next to Holly on floor next to the couch. Holly was trying to play the game but her finger just isn't big enough. So Sara looked over at me and started wildly beckoning me over to her. Well, that's what it looked like. For not the first time, I wished I had video camera eyes so that I could watch that little freak-out move over and over and over again. Nora, not to be out done, asked if I would play the game with her. Leery of her actual motives, I hesitantly agreed. My reticence was well-founded because she bit me. Hard!

It Gets Even Funnier

I'm sure that some of you are thinking that I'm the one that created the cute new poll on the side of the blog wondering who the favorite grandchild is. Well, it wasn't me. Although, Caleb is MY favorite.

I don't know where this fascination of Samuel's (I'm assuming it was you who did it and not Holly, but I could be wrong) comes from insisting that Caleb is the favorite. But it did make me laugh and laugh and laugh when I saw the poll.

So, for the record, I didn't do it.

So much drama

I think it's funny how much drama there is in our family. Especially considering there are so few of us. I guess Samuel's statement at the top of the blog is a little too true.

Anyway, I've come up with such a great solution to the sleeping "problem" that I thought I'd make a new post instead of justing adding a comment along with everyone else's.

So here's my ultimate decision. We will all be sleeping at Mom's St. George house. Caleb can sleep in bed with us. Or on the floor. That's where he slept when we went to Hawaii. We made him a little bed on the floor out of our extra blankets and he was just fine there. So we can do that again. Then Agnes can use the portacrib. Because, I, for one, think that being pregnant is the worst thing in the world and would not want Laura to have to endure sleeping in the same bed as her baby (cuz that's just code for not sleeping all night long).

If necessary, Brandon and I are willing to sleep on the air mattress in the living room (we'll definitely be the last ones up anyway) and we can give one room to all the babies to sleep together at night. Then they can wake up each other, but possibly not the rest of us. You never know, it might work out nicely. Especially if we put them by the garage. Perhaps nobody would hear them. (Although, I'd suggest putting them down for naps in separate rooms just so that they can get a tiny bit of sleep.)

And if worse comes to worst, Brandon has volunteered to sleep on the concrete floor in the garage if he needs to. :)

So no more fretting. We're family. We love each other. This will be fun.

Lot's of laughs for me from the last few postings. You kids are just dang funny. I like the idea of AB's green bean casserole...Karen can just skip that one. Let's stay with the sweet potatoes as a veggie instead of a dessert. There are just too many other desserts worthy of being consumed than to pass off a vegetable in its place. Maybe we can do a broccoli/cauli/squashy thing for Karen's vegetable preferences.
As far as monkeys and where to put their beds, Bud and I will take one of the smaller rooms-probably the white one (or the first one on the left) because I think it's technically the smallest. Laura and Agnes can have the orange one. Karen and Brandon will be in the back bedroom by the garage and the East Roseners can have the master bedroom. Bring Nora's little bed that you brought last time. I have the pack-n-play for Sara, and I have a porta-crib for Caleb. Agnes will have to sleep in bed with Laura (will she roll out or is she used to her big bed at home now?) Sorry Danny, Karen's right. You have to get married to rate a private room. Unless I EVER get to move into my new house and then there's bedrooms galore. Galore means 6, but one will be converted into a craft room, so now we're at 5 and that's just the right number. Maybe we'll move one of the recliners from the garage where it's being stored into the livingroom so Danny can sleep in that if he chooses instead of the couch. We have a blowup mattress as well, but I think he's scared of the floor (it's a bug issue).
I think that covers most of what was discussed over the last couple of days. This is going to be fun! Like it or not!

More food talk

I was watching Good Eats the other day and he redid green bean casserole in such a way as to actually look tasty.  So if people want green bean casserole, I will do his.  Or we can just saute them with copious amounts of butter, some shallots, garlic and red pepper flake.  To keep with Mom's suggestion for sweet potato as dessert, here's AB's sweet potato pie.  We need another vegetable dish, squash or carrots?

Where are we sleeping?

When we started talking about all getting together, one of the big questions was space. Sam and I can get a hotel room for us and our 2 small animals, or bring up air mattresses for the back room... I know there will be 4 kids who don't consistently sleep through the night (2 of them being my fault), and as Sam will probably eagerly agree, I need my beauty sleep. That being said, if we need to make arrangements to sleep elsewhere, I would like to start looking.
In the spirit of everyone being together (the grandkids most important of course), I would be willing to leave my 2 at the house under the watchful eye of their Nana, aunts, uncle and cousins, while Sam and I sacrificed and got a hotel room.

An alternative or an addition

So if the Vince's is a bad idea (I think the frozen thing might work), what about an El Pollo Loco Classic Chicken Burrito?

Let Them Eat Cake

Would you like to have your sweet potatoes as dessert instead of a side-dish vegetable? http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Sweet-Potato-Layer-Cake. I have no idea what it would taste like, but at least the frosting would be good because it looks the same as the frosting for a German Chocolate Cake, and we all like that right? Except Karen doesn't like coconut.

Still testing

Monday night, Brandon made stuffed mashed potatoes. (Sorry I didn't take a picture.) They were beyond delicious. I'm thinking they may be the winner. Let's see if I can remember what's in them...They're twice baked. The pulp is mixed with sour cream, sauteed green onions, half and half, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. We made the Ranch style variation, so it also had ranch dressing and bacon in it. I think that was everything. Anyway, it was beyond tasty.

Tonight I made scalloped potatoes. They were good, but I think we liked the stuffed ones better. Potatoes, onions, green peppers, and then a sauce of butter, flour, salt, pepper, and milk. Some bread crumbs on the top. A little bit of cheese. Tasty, but not quite as good as the other ones.

Laura -- does your food aversions extend to eating or just to chopping raw food? Because I can avoid onion and garlic if I need to.

And also, for the record, I'm really nervous to cook anything for you guys for fear of screwing it up and having my contribution not be up to par. I don't know why I'm so worried. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? You won't let me cook at family functions any more? I'd still be allowed to come to family functions and eat everyone else's food, right?

Oh, and if Laura isn't feeling up to making dessert I could make something. But probably not her super tasty pie. I'm not good at pies. But I can make dessert in general. Just let me know.

A job for Laura

I think a good job for Laura is to sit and stir the orange juice for breakfast under Agnes' supervision. Or maybe we'll just get Tropicana Grovestand, lots of pulp (it's my fave) and Laura can be excused all together! I'll pick up the slack, unless I'm too busy playing with my grandkids which is entirely possible. Arby's anyone?? Eew.

One more retraction

As for what I said about Christmas gifts I would be bringing, yeah, probably not so much anymore. They're about half finished at this point, and since I've been staying at Nick's parent's house all week and am supposed to leave Tuesday, I don't think it's happening. Sorry for the let down.

Switch

So I'm going to need a little variation in my duties. Stuffing must have onions. I can't be near them. Or garlic. So far that's it. I think. I'm requesting a change in position to a food item I can produce while sitting down (one I could do while sleeping would be even more welcome). Any brilliant ideas?

Much too old to be called young

Last night, at stake conference, President Tanner (2nd counselor) was talking about a meeting that we were in where he asked how can we retain the youth of the Church. He said that some people gave ideas about activities and such when, "One young man, well, a leader, but who is relatively new in the position" and then said what I had said in the meeting. After the meeting, I told him that it had been a long time since I had been called a "young man." He laughed and said that he didn't want to single me out by name, but that everyone who was in the first meeting knew who he was talking about. It just made me feel good that I had actually said the right thing in our meeting and that I was quoted in stake conference.

As to the feeling old part, I've been listening to a lot of opera. So if people are looking for small gift ideas, I really like Puccini. In fact, I was watching a youtube video of Renata Scotto when Holly came in and gave me the "you are so incredibly strange" look and asked, "what are you doing?" Yep, I'm officially old.

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Test Kitchen

Tonight we started sampling different potato recipes for the Thanksgiving feast. This one is Cheesy Potato skins. Basically, appetizer like potato skins with mashed potatoes, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, green onions, sun-dried tomatoes, sour cream, and parsley all mixed together and scooped back onto the top of the skins. They were good. Brandon and I both liked them. But I don't think they are the winner.

Don't worry. We plan on eating a lot of potatoes in the next week to find a recipe worthy of your taste buds. :)

Background contest

You may have noticed that the background has been changed from raspberries to blueberries. I find the change utterly hilarious. The first person who is not Holly who gets the joke, and explains it in a comment, wins the knowledge that you are as twisted as me. The only hint I will give is that Nora is somehow involved with the answer.

Nora's Christmas wish

With our Sunday paper today, came the Target toy catalog. "Target toy catalog?" you ask. "When did that become the uber-cool, super sought after, must have, gotta read toy catalog?" Uh, right after it was the only toy catalog that came in the paper today. So, returning to the actual point of the post, Nora clapped her hands and shouted for joy and promptly climbed on Santa's figurative knee as soon as she saw the catalog. She paged through the entire catalog, quickly scanning at first, then ponderously perusing her favorite pages the second and third times. She settled on the page with a giant giraffe tent; her eyes glazed over with desire.
"Mommy, um, can we have this?" "No." "Why? I really want it." "But Sweetheart, that toy is only for children who live in Africa." A pretty creative response, I thought. "Um, Mommy? What's Africa?" "It's a really far place that is like the zoo." At this point, I can see the wheels spinning in HRH's little head. "I want to go to Africa." Now I had to jump in, "Baby, we can't go to Africa, it's too far away." "But we could drive there a really long time." "No, sweetie,
we can't drive there. There aren't any roads. We'd have to go on a boat or a plane." "That would be fine with me. I want to go on a plane or a boat." Before I could come up with a response to stump her, since the cost aspect means nothing to her little three-year-old mind, she came up with her own solution. "I know! Nana can take me on the airplane to Africa!" So there you have it, Nora wants Nana to take her to Africa. Let me know when I need to apply for her passport. And for the record, that in no way means that any stupid ugly giraffe tent comes into my house, ever!

Any ideas?

Lately on my gmail account it has been blocking pop-ups. This is fine on any normal occasion, but it then prevents me from opening my calendar (not fine) and I also couldn't open to check details the invitation to Addyson's first birthday party. It's getting frustrating. I know that some of you might tell me that if I click on the tools button on the right it will say turn on (or off) pop-up blocker, but I've already done that and it still won't allow the pop-ups. Hence, no calendar, and no viewing the invitation. Any other suggestions? I've even tried locking the toolbar after I've clicked on turn off pop-up blocker, but it is all of no use. I need help (as usual). How did all the Halloween festivities go for all of you? Karen said she had a rip-roaring (ok, she didn't actually SAY those words) party at her house. Looks like Nora had a good time "bobbing" for apples. She's a smart girl...why put your face in the water when you can just reach in with your hand to get the apple?

Sara helped with this one

x `e`56`ae14a` AW `

Thanks SJ

I'm learning bit by bit...thanks for your help Samuel. I now see the little link thingy in the tool bar. Betcha that would have linked April's blog address into the last blog instead of me writing out the address, but I'm not sure. Somebody want to sell me a vowel cuz I'd like to buy one!

Happy Halloween

I hope that you will all soon be posting pictures of my cute, adorable grandbabies in their Halloween costumes! Holly sent me a picture this morning of Nora and Sara to my cell phone-thank you very much! You should check out Aidan's skunk costume too. Cute! www.noahandapril.blogspot.com or you can link to it from Nora's blog. Haha, "Nora's Mom" got tagged by April.

Pretty Please

Can one of the remaining Roseners, East or West, bring me some Vince's when they come up to St. George? Please. I'm having cravings and it's only 9am. I'll give you the money for it when you come up. I know it sounds silly, but I am so very serious.

Time Stamps

I just realized that the time stamps at the bottom are all California time. That makes me feel better about Laura blogging at 5 am.

(Although yes, it really is 2:23 am in Utah right now and I'm still awake and going strong.)

If only I was smarter...

Sometimes I like to pretend that I'm smart. But, let's face it, out of the four Rosener children, I'm probably last on the list. Oh well. I'm usually quite content with my mediocrity.

Mom mentioned her confusion at not knowing right away who was writing each post. I've fixed that problem, but not in the way I really wanted to. Hopefully the solution I could come up with will suffice.

And I wasn't a fan of the plain gray background. So I changed it. But I don't know that I'm a fan of this blue one either since the blues don't quite match what we already have going on. Sadness. If someone has a better background image, feel free to change it. (Or send me the image and I will change it.)

Hope all is well with the rest of you and maybe one day I can be smart. (Which makes me wonder why we didn't put Danny in charge of fixing these things.)

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Ha ha. Just changed the background to orange. I know you all love it. Go ahead, tell me how much you love it. (Okay, if you hate it, I'll change it.) Sorry you missed the blue, since I doubt any of you are up at the time I'm typing this.

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If you don't behave, I'll revoke your admin privileges!---sjr

What makes a mother proud

She found the stash. I guess you never know what they're watching, huh! Enjoy and don't be disturbed. I was very proud of her.

Possibilities

If people want, I can set it up so that new posts, comments, or both are emailed to you when they are posted...

Look what I did!

Happy Halloween everyone (okay, I'm two days early)! What a scary face this is! I'm so glad this witchy-girl was able to turn back into my nice sweet child after she got her stash of candy! Did Nora finally decide if she was going to be Cinderella or a witch? And what did you decide for Sara?

Geez, those are huge glasses Lar. Sorry. Karen, you can see that Laura doesn't have the ridiculous tori that you and I have. How is that fair?

Yikes, is this how it's done?

Okay kids, I have no idea what I'm doing thinking I can actually blog, but since you're all related and can't officially kick me out of the family if I screw this up...we'll give it a shot. I do have one suggestion- tell me what you think- maybe it's unnecessary though- at the beginning of the blog, maybe the blogger should type their initials so we know who is writing (not that hard to scroll down to the end of it though so it's not that big of a deal) right at the start instead of reading down a ways to figure it out. Gosh, I'm away from the computer for such a short time and when I come back there's so much going on!
Our plans for going to St G will be on Friday, so we will have plenty of time for the grocery shopping. I still don't know if Bud is coming at that same time or if he will stay in SLC until Tuesday. I guess it depends on how busy he is.
I don't mind taking on the turkey prep, but you've all got to realize that I don't do fancy. So if you want something more than kosher salt and butter on your bird, someone else will have to join in.
You can't kick me out if I screw up the blog, right?

Green Beans and More

I think it's easier to post a new one instead of do comments, because I forget to read comments or once I've read them, I don't check back later to see if someone else has commented. So I'm making a new post.
Green Beans: Nick and I have tried the green bean recipe from that packet of recipes I sent and it's delicious. I highly recommend it.
Has anyone brined a turkey? Everything I've read says it helps it to stay moister (is that right?). That and stuffing between the skin and meat with some kind of butter and herb mixture (like Samuel's fantastic roasted chicken). Cook's illustrated has a recipe for just turkey breast (I know Nick and his dad prefer dark meat, but I don't know about our side of the family) that looks pretty good. Here it is.

For brine:
3/4 c kosher salt
4 qts cold water

Brine turkey by dissolving kosher salt in cold water in large container; submerge turkey breast in brine, cover it with plastick rap, and refrigerate it for three to six hours. Rinse the turkey breast under cold water and dry it thoroughly with paper towels.

For turkey breast
4 T unsalted butter, softened
3/4 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
1 whole bone-in, skin-on turkey breast (6 to 7 pounds), trimmed of excess fat and patted dry with paper towels.
1 cup water

1. Adjusts oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix butter, salt and pepper in medium bowl with rubber spatula until thoroughly combined. Carefully separate turkey skin from meat over breast; avoid breaking skin.
2. Work butter mixture under skin on both sides of breast and rub skin of turkey to evenly distribute butter over breast. Spray V-rack with nonstick cooking spray and set inside large roasting pan. Place turkey in rack with skin side facing up; pour water into roasting pan.
3. Roast turkey for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Continue to roast turkey until thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees on instant-read thremometer, about 1 hour longer. Transfer turkey to carving board and let rest for 20 minutes. Carve and serve.
Serves 8-10

All-Purpose Gravy

INGREDIENTS
1 small carrot , peeled and chopped into rough 1/2-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
1 small rib celery , chopped into rough 1/2-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
1 small onion , chopped into rough 1/2-inch pieces (about 3/4 cup)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
5 whole black peppercorns
Table salt and ground black pepper

1. In food processor, pulse carrot until broken into rough 1/4-inch pieces, about five 1-second pulses. Add celery and onion; pulse until all vegetables are broken into 1/8-inch pieces, about five 1-second pulses.
2. Heat butter in large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat; when foaming subsides, add vegetables and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and well browned, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Whisking constantly, gradually add broths; bring to boil, skimming off any foam that forms on surface. Reduce heat to medium-low and add bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns; simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to 3 cups, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Strain gravy through fine-mesh strainer into clean saucepan, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve hot.


Or, if we need the oven space, Nick and I have tried this slow-cooker recipe for turkey that gives you veggies at the same time. It's really different tasting and yummy. It's from our All-Clad recipe booklet that came with our slow-cooker.

TUNISIAN SPICED TURKEY BREAST with root vegetables Serves 6

2 T flour
1 t chipotle chili powder
1/2 t ground coriander
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
1/2 turkey breast, skin removed (But I think you could leave the skin on and put the seasonings with some butter under the skin like the other recipe. Also, we just used a whole breast, though maybe we cut it in half. I don't remember).
1 T olive oil
2 med red onions, peeled and quartered
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 acorn squash, seeded and cut into quarters

Combine seasonings in a plastic storage bag. Add the turkey and shake well to coat both sides. Heat the oil in a large fry pan. Sear the turkey breast on both sides, until nicely browned. Put the onions, carrots and garlic cloves in the bottome of slow cooker. Place the turkey over the vegetables and tuck the squash around the turkey breast. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours (3.5-4 on high). Remove the turkey and allow to cool for a few minutes before slicing. Spoon the pan juices over the turkey and surround with the roasted vegetables. Peel the garlic cloves and remove the skin from the squash before serving, if desired.

Now that I think of it, perhaps leaving the skin on would be weird and soggy in a slow cooker. I don't know for sure.

A creative title

Do you have to give each post a title, because that seems like too much pressure to me to capture the essence of my post in a title. Isn't that the beauty of gmail, that you get to keep the same title on your emails forever. I think blog posts should be the same.
Nick and I have reached a compromise on Christmas. I can basically go nuts as long as I don't procrastinate and wait until the week before Christmas to want to buy everyone I know a gift. So we have to decide on everything before November 1. This year Nick and I are each making a present for every family. So I intend to give them to you guys at Thanksgiving-pre. Nick's present I will buy for you when we are in St. George and finish putting it together for him, because it would be too heavy to travel with.
As for recipes, would you like me to post it all here?
When are Mom, Karen, and I going down to S.G.? I'm guessing Friday? Maybe early Sat? If we had all the grocery list together by then, we could go shopping Sat morning??
Is Danny reading this?

Imagine the Tree

Mom and I went shopping Saturday to buy the grandkids' Christmas presents. (I know this would seem beyond early considering it's not even Halloween yet, but I think by now we're quite used to celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and now Mom's birthday, all at the same time.) To keep us in the mood, Mom played Josh Groban's new Christmas CD.

I hope everyone likes what we got them (aka Nora, Sara and Agnes -- Caleb tasted most of his presents while in the store still). I'm sure Mom's still open to suggestions for her kids, if there was something in particular you wanted.

I don't know what the rest of you are planning, but I will NOT be giving anyone Christmas presents at this juncture. I'm still trying to plan our Halloween party right now. Then there will be my brilliant Thanksgiving contribution to stew over. I'm not that great of a multi-tasker to be doing three holidays in one.

If you really want to though, know that I do accept gifts any time of year and for any occasion. :P

The giant turkey in the room

So, after a ferocious flurry of email, what have we really decided about Thanksgiving dinner? Who is making what? The East Chino Roseners are coming up around the time of Sara's first nap on Saturday and will be in Sta. Clara some time that afternoon. Once I figure out what we're contributing to the meal, I'll post/email a shopping list for the ingredients I need.
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Update
Everyone else in the house was asleep and I had finished my book but didn't want to start the new one, so I made a list of who had requested which categories from the aforementioned flurry of email. Our categorical menu so far: 

Turkey: (unclaimed, will probably be a joint effort)

Stuffing: Laura

Rolls: Holly

Potatoes: Unclaimed, (but I might take them and do a Parmesan gratin with them. The only problem is that the recipe takes 1 hour in the oven, which might be crowded)

Sweet Potatoes: Mom

Veg 1: Unclaimed

Veg 2: Unclaimed

Fruity something: Unclaimed (Cranberry fluff?)

Dessert 1: Laura (Cranberry apple pie?)

Dessert 2: Bud (banana pie)

Anything else?  I was thinking about doing a mashed root vegetable instead of mashed potatoes, but realize that I might be accused of heresy/sacrilege, and maybe a sauteed green bean with garlic and red pepper flake. 

The kick-off post

So I, (Samuel) was talking to Scott Knecht today at church and he mentioned his daughter Rachel's blog. When I got home, I googled her (strange how quickly that became a verb) and found her blog. Linked to her blog was her family's blog where they all contribute and post things of interest that affect the whole family. Holly and I thought that our family would have quite the interesting little meeting of the minds on our own family blog. Unfortunately, the address: dysfunctionjunction.blogspot.com had been taken by some broad who hasn't posted in like 5 years, so we got eventherapywouldnthelp.blogspot.com. The other name I considered was scatteredandhappyaboutit... Anyway, let's make this the place to chat about stuff of interest to the family (as opposed to the mass appeal of our personal blogs). Sarcasm is welcome, because, face it, that's what we do best! The design/look/etc. of the blog are totally up for discussion, I just had to pick one to get things started. I invited Mom, Karen, Laura, Danny to be authors, if in-laws (other than Holly who is already in,) want to post, send their addresses to my new gmail: rosielips@gmail.com (Curse whoever took samandholly@gmail.com!) and I'll add them as authors too.