Quote

"I told my penis to stay dry tonight."

- B, who has been struggling with nighttime urination lately

Mommy = Proud

Annalise brought home a list of "synamins" last week. Pretty cool.

Watch out!

These are amazing, absolutely delicious cookies. Bake them at your own risk (but I do encourage you to bake them). Warning- plan ahead! Don't go thinking you'll be able to whip up a batch and eat them right away- they need to chill. And then cool after coming out of the oven- they taste better if you can wait awhile.

Chocolate Toffee Cookies
(Adapted from Bon Appetit)

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (it will be melted, so you can buy bags of chips instead)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
5 1.4 ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (Skor or Heath), coarsely chopped (they also sell bits in a bag)
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)- I couldn't find this, but used coarse sea salt and liked it

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water, Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 min. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 2" apart. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 12-15 min. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead, Store airtight at room temp.)

Slice and bake option: After struggling a bit to scoop these cookies, I rolled the dough into a log and chilled it. When I was ready to bake the cookies, I cut it into 1/2" slices. Cookies baked straight from the freezer may need an additional 1-2 min. [ I didn't try this yet, but just remembered that I wrapped a log of dough, and threw it in the freezer- oooh, off I go to bake the rest!! They made a wonderful breakfast with my diet Mtn Dew (I know, it sounds like I'm tipping off the side of the wagon, but I am really still hanging on).]

New Math

Bennett doesn't usually talk too much about his current work at school, but yesterday I was asking him if he had done any new work lately, and he absolutely lit up. He leaned in to my ear, and whispered in a perky little voice, "I did number work." I was thinking, oh that's nice, and asked, "did you count up to 10?" Buzz whispered, "I counted to twenty and a google."

Yo quiero Taco Bell!

I have been enjoying driving A and B to school most mornings. Some days, usually when it is snowy, we take a different route to school where we pass by a Taco Bell. One morning last week, A saw the restaurant and wondered aloud, "why do they call it 'bell'?" B, ever the joiner, had to have his say, asking, "why do they call it 'taco'?"

Colin has been taking longer and longer stretches of steps the past few days. His first steps we are recording as January 5th, but his primary mode of transport has still been crawling. I think he is transitioning into a walker! Our baby is growing up.

A Day In The Life...

It's been a while since Mr. Mom's gotten his blog on, but I had to share a few tidbits that have piled up on the ol' notepad over the past few weeks.

1) Chief Breadwinner has officially protested said moniker. Apparently she felt that it was insensitive to Native Americans. So, first let me apologize to anyone I may have offended by using "Chief" in such an inappropriate manner. Secondly, for the sake of maintaining confidentiality from all the anonymous sickos that read this blog, I need to come up with a new blog name for my beloved wife. Based on the fuss caused by using such a harsh term like "Chief" in her last label, I'm guessing names that describe her current medical specialty like "Butt Doctor" or "AssPA" are immediately out as possibilities. So, I'm going to go with the lame, but safe, Mrs. Dad. Why not flip the Mr. Mom cliche on its head? Why should men breaking traditional gender stereotypes be the only ones saddled with salutatory-challenged job descriptions?

2) Unbeknownst to Mrs. Dad and I, Little A has apparently adopted a Scandanavian family and enthusiastically picked up their strange dialect. Her new favorite word/phrase is Uff Da. She uses it frequently and in all types of situations. It is classic and something my German blood finds very endearing and entertaining, but alas can never truly comprehend.

3) Baby C has really started to show a personality. Pointing and grunting constantly. I only wish I could go through life communicating like this, but Mrs. Dad already takes umbrage with my lack of verbal communication skills with her.

4) B says something to crack me up on a daily basis. Usually it is between bouts of whining or ultimatums, but it is a ray of hope that every parent needs to hold onto as we navigate these troubling waters of child rearing. The last thing that really got me was a conversation on the way home from school. We were having our usual classical music listening session on MPR when some type of news report started. Before I could switch the station, the topic of the President's latest and greatest plan to levy a special tax/fee on the country's largest banks/financial institutions came up. Being a commercial finance guy in my past life, as well as an economics nerd, I was interested and had to hear it out. An interview clip of some guy with an English accent comes on and he is saying what a bad idea this is from a pure economics standpoint, etc. After the interview clip ends and this mini-rant is over, B says to me, "Dad, was that the Grinch on the radio?"

5) A big thank you must go out to CH/HH for turning me onto Holmes on Homes on HGTV. It is classic television for a wannabe do-it-yourselfer like me. Holmes is the second best superhero on TV next to Jack Bauer. Check your local listings.

Busy, Happy Times

Where to begin? I'll start with my birthday week. (Yes, I said week. Most people have a birth day, but those of us who really love our birthdays claim a whole week.) Our niece celebrated her first birthday on Monday, and that means Colin is now 14 months. I still remember bringing him to the hospital to visit Bridget, and meet his new cousin. Colin looked so big on the bed next to Laurel. How quickly the time flies. I caught a yoga class with Danielle on Tuesday night (finally!). On Wednesday, I attended a dinner meeting at the corporate office. It was very interesting listening in to all of the behind-the-scenes decision making. Colorectal surgery does not run on auto pilot! Thursday was my birthday, but the celebration was put on hold until the weekend. I actually ate leftovers (which if you know me, you know how shocking that is) and we caught up on some TV.

Friday was a vacation day from work, and Mike, Colin, and I met Mom and Dad at Birchwood Cafe for brunch. It was a nice day off, although I didn't really do anything remarkable, other than just enjoy being away from work. I did pick Annalise up early from school and we went on a school tour, where she'll be attending FIRST grade next fall! I enjoyed seeing the classrooms, lunchrooms, gym with climbing wall, and media center filled with brand-new Macs. Annalise was excited to hear that kids can go ice skating and sledding during recess!

Saturday was Laurel's birthday party at Bridget and Steve's house. Laurel got a ball pit (with 150 balls!) and it was fun to watch the kids enjoy being buried in the balls. Saturday night, we had our 13 year old neighbor come over, and we went out to eat with my birthday buddy Becky, and her husband Christopher. It was my first time at Wildfire, and we all really enjoyed it.

On Sunday, Annalise and I attended a Pump it Up party for a classmate, and then joined the boys at E's house for some football and turkey chili. E and K are always the host and hostess with the mostest, complete with beer, Vikings eye black stickers, and art projects for the kids. I enjoyed the absence of that "it's Sunday night, and I've got to get ready for work tomorrow" feeling, as I took Monday off from work also. The big kids were home from school for MLK, and we didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but I did have a few appointments to keep up the temple that is my body. The kids have been playing so hard lately, and usually their best ideas include not the brand-new toys acquired at Christmas, but with common household items.

We had to call off a playdate with the Three Kings, as the eldest highness was not feeling his best, but I did get to play with the queen of the castle on Monday night. Thanks again, Danielle for a fun birthday dinner and drinks at PF Changs, followed by a screening of Up in the Air.

Happy New Year!

Christmastime 2009

Scooter Fun!

So many books, so little time!

Alright, you'll have to settle for my unimpressive narrative, since Mr. SuperDaddyFace hasn't posted since last year. Ha ha! Love that joke! My goal is to get the blog back to 'I'm sooo busy with my one child and pregnancy' days, and have at least 100 posts per year. I'd better get crackin'.

1. Christmas

Christmas was nice for the party of five. We felt guilty for awhile that we did not attempt to make it down south for Mike's family's Christmas celebration, but after the whole day spent in our jammies and playing with the newly-acquired loot, we got over it. We did finally have our Christmas on the farm over New Year's weekend. Although I only had Christmas eve and day, and New Year's day off from work, it was nice to get away from work for awhile.

2. New Healthy Eating Plan

The hubby and I are again joining forces to lose all of our "baby weight" (can you call it that when the baby is 13 months?). We started our new diet, based on my old Weight Watchers Core reference materials on January 1. I lost 6 pounds in the first week! I was so excited at my first weigh-in. It was exactly the encouragement I needed to stick with it. At some point, we need to add some type of exercise program, but we're taking baby steps for now. I really miss my yoga, but I haven't yet figured out where it fits in our new routine.

I am so excited to see where this new year takes us. 2009 was a rollercoaster ride, with a great finish! I hope to keep learning in my surgery job, and in my job as mommy, for that matter. I'm excited to see Colin's personality blossom, as he is starting to communicate so much more with grunts, points, and coy looks. I can't believe that our "middle" is turning four soon, and it's hard to believe that there will be a Kindergarten graduation in our near future. We are anxious to dig in to some house projects, but need to patiently wait for finances to get in order. I'm excited to experience an E.P. spring and summer, since fall and winter have been great so far.