{cool stuff}

Guess what came today?!?! My new Wacom Bamboo tablet!

I haven't had too much time to play around with it yet, but I'll be sure to show you what I can do with it. It's sooo cool!

Also, here are a couple of videos of the kids. The first is Morgan and Levi... they're so cute together. It's fun to watch them interacting. I wouldn't call it playing, but they seem to have fun with each other!

This next video includes some random clips of Gerard and Morgan. First of all, it's clear that Morgan is going to need to be a LOUD and EARLY talker if she wants to compete with her brother. She's well on her way! Next, check out Gerard's goofy victory dance that he performs as though he's in the endzone and just scored the game-winning touchdown of the Superbowl. It doesn't matter if we're playing hockey in the basement, racing cars around the coffee table, or, as in this video, if he's just won a game of Trouble. Big Gerard says it's grounds for a penalty for excessive celebrating. (I know that part is dark, but it was too cute to leave out.) And then you can see Morgan clapping -- she's so proud of herself and so are we!

{another new look}

I don't have any new pictures to share today, but I thought I'd share a new look for the blog! I hope you like it....

Oh, and I thought I'd share a recipe, too. We had New England Clam Chowder (from Cooking Light) tonight and it was very good. Not quite as thick and creamy as "real" clam chowder, but it was still good. Finished off with bread from the breadmaker, and we had a nice dinner!

New England Clam Chowder

4 (6 1/2-ounce) cans chopped clams, undrained
2 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
4 bacon slices
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups cubed red potato
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup half-and-half
Thyme sprigs (optional)

Drain clams through a colander into a bowl, reserving liquid and clams. Combine clam liquid and clam juice.
Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add onion, celery, and garlic to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until tender. Add clam juice mixture, potato, and next 4 ingredients (through bay leaf); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender.

Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until smooth; add to pan. Stir in clams and half-and-half. Cook 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Serve with bacon. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups chowder and 1 1/2 teaspoons bacon)

CALORIES 194 (25% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 2.7g,mono 1.9g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 12.3g; CHOLESTEROL 32mg; CALCIUM 111mg; SODIUM 639mg; FIBER 1.4g; IRON 2.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 23.7g

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2007

{merry christmas}

I hope all of our Christmas-celebrating friends and family have a great holiday! We wish we could be at Nani and Poppy's with everyone, but unfortunatly we can't. At least we got to see everyone a couple weeks ago.

Anyway, here's the latest....

***Our friends and next-door neighbors Shauna and Chris welcomed their third little girl, Savannah Rae, into the world on December 20. She's adorable and has red hair just like Maddie. They're all doing well and Shauna came home from the hospital just 24 hours after she had her. Congratulations!!

***Gerard had his holiday party at school on Wednesday. All the kids got dressed up and looked so cute in their red and green outfits. Gerard didn't wear red and green, but he did wear a cute new sweater! He had fun, and continues to tell anyone who wishes him a merry Christmas that we do NOT celebrate Christmas -- we celebrate Hanukkah! Next, we need to teach him a little tact.



***Morgan is 8 months old already. Can you believe it!!?!?? She's a great little girl with such a personality now. She's still awfully stubborn, but she's sleeping and eating a lot better these days. Her favorite thing to do is to play with Gerard and all his toys.








***We were playing in the living room the other day and Gerard said to me "Look, Mommy! A heart!" I looked and couldn't imagine what he was talking about. He was pointing to the coffee table, which only had a plant and a rubber band on it. Then I looked more closely and saw that the rubber band, along with its reflection, was making a heart. Of course I had to take a picture....


Well, that about wraps it up. Happy holidays, everyone!

{gorgeous AND smart}

...and i'm not biased or anything!!!

Here are the pictures we had done at a local photographer's. Didn't they turn out great?! (Please don't print them -- they're copyrighted.)




And here's Gerard's first report card. Brilliant, if I don't say so myself!



That's about it for now. Goodnight!

{we're baaaaack!}

Well, we made it back from our annual trek to New York. The weather dictated much of what we were able to do, but most of the trip went according to plan. We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's briefly on Friday night and then headed to Mima and Grandpa G's Saturday morning. From there we went to the Strong Museum of Play with Mima, Grandpa, Elizabeth and Brandon. Just like last year, Gerard had a blast. Morgan seemed to enjoy watching all the people, and I know that she'll join in the fun next year.






After the museum, we went back to their house and opened our Hanukkah/Christmas presents. As usual, we all got great gifts. Mima drove all over Western New York to find me all the Wizard of Oz figurines from McDonalds to go with my very cool Wizard of Oz themed Hanukkah this year. Big Gerard got his Guitar Hero 3 (I'll never see him again, I'm afraid). And the kids got great stuff as usual.







From there, we drove to see Nani and Poppy downstate. Randy and Jo-ann came for dinner Sunday night, but Jenny was working and Lauren is away at college. Maybe we'll see them this summer. Gerard just loves Nani and Poppy, and they let him get away with just about anything! He made himself right at home -- he had toys in every room! Aunt Sada drove in from Boston and stayed for the night. It was great, because we don't get to see her that often. She brought the most thoughtful presents, too -- both Gerards got personalized Steelers jerseys, I got very cool Burberry sunglasses and Morgan got a beautiful David Yurman Jewish star necklace. The Amazon gift certificate we got her pales in comparison!


We also drove down to NJ to see Aldine, Jeff, Eliya and Noah. It was really nice celebrating the last night of Hanukkah with them. Eliya even shared the menorah-lighting duties with Gerard. And the highlight of that visit (according to big Gerard) was that he and Jeff played Guitar Hero. They're like big kids.... and they wouldn't share with the little kids! That didn't stop everyone from joining in on the fun, though -- luckily they had guitars for everyone!












Since we were in the area, we also drove to Peekskill to Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Morty's graves. After all, they hadn't met Morgan yet!

From there, we rushed back to Buffalo to beat the storm that was heading downstate. Luckily, we had no problems driving and we got to Grandma and Grandpa's on Wednesday night. Thursday night we had dinner with Laura, Derek, Christian and Noah. I can't believe I didn't bring my camera!!! The boys had fun as usual, and Morgan was a little angel (except for the not eating part, but that's probably because she's getting teeth!)

Unfortunately, that's where the fun ended. We were supposed to stay until Sunday and Aunt Debbie was supposed to fly in on Friday, but the big storm changed all that. We quickly packed up the car and left Friday morning and told Debbie not to come. Turns out we made the right choice -- LOTS of snow, wind and sleet would have made for a VERY difficult (if not impossible) drive today. So, we're home and we stayed in during the storm and watched the Steelers lose today. Don't the boys look cute in their jerseys from Aunt Sada? (Use your imagination -- I blurred out the last names on the backs of the shirts.)







And now it's back to the same ol' stuff. As long as it doesn't snow any more tonight, Gerard will have preschool tomorrow. It's my day to work at school and big Gerard is back to work, too. Coming back from vacation is always tough.....

{happy hanukkah}

We made latkes yesterday! We played Dreidel (again and again and again and again). We listened to Hanukkah music. We may be the only Jews in town, but we sure know how to celebrate! We even had Darci and her gang over for their first Hanukkah dinner tonight. It was fun sharing with them and we all enjoyed their company.

Here's Gerard hard at work making his latkes:








And in case anyone was afraid the kids were deprived, here are some pictures from the first night of Hanukkah. Eight presents from Mommy and Daddy. Eight from Grandma and Grandpa. Eight from Aunt Debbie. I'm just wondering who is going to buy us the bigger house in which to store all this stuff...









And by the way, as a science teacher and an educated person and a human being NOT living under a rock, I was absolutely shocked when I saw this video from The View. Did Sherri Shepherd not go to school??? I am NOT commenting on her thoughts about evolution (I COULD, I assure you). What shocks me to the CORE is the fact that she didn't know that the earth was round. Huh? Huh? You've GOT to be kidding me!!

And on that night, goodnight, and Happy Hanukkah!