Picture Dump of the Caranci Family

Jason's dad (Poppie) comes over for dinner on Sunday nights. Harry had some great playing time:

Daddy mowed the lawn, giving Eden the perfect chance to relax with the pups:

Eden working on her schoolwork:

We are headed to the beach this weekend and the kids have been a big help packing. Here Harry kindly stacked Jason's shoes for him (along with Eden's cup):

Eden made sure all of the hats were in the beach bag:

We even got matching pedicures:

The pups are enjoying a *little* bit cooler temps outside:

Harry got in trouble and got scalped this week:

(totally kidding, I accidentally starting giving him a haircut without the guard on the razor = bald Harry)

Eden was eating pretzels and after taking a bite of one, told me it was a "w" :

We spent some time over at Grammy and Grumps' house this week:

And to finish things off, a video of the kids being their normal selves. :) Please ignore the disaster that is Eden's room (including the food that is all over the floor, the dogs hadn't had time to vacuum yet):

Weekly Recipe Roundup

First recipe this week was for Resurrection Buns. They are called that because they can be used as an object lesson for kids about how Christ went into the grave but then was gone when they rolled away the rock (when you bake the buns there are marshmallows in them, but after baking they disappear). This is what my lovely rolls looked like going into the oven:

Unfortunately, it would appear that I did not seal the edges very well, because this is what they looked like coming out:

A big marshmallow explosion. These things were so sticky they almost weren't worth handling. I forgot how marshmallows get SUPER sticky when heated. Took me forever to clean the pan! The taste was good so I really think these would be great if I had sealed the sides better. Interesting trial though. :) 

Next up is a cauliflower pizza. I had such good luck with the cauliflower breadsticks I though this would be roughly the same. Turns out, it was gross. I couldn't even eat it. I'm not sure what happened, but I think maybe the cauliflower had been in my fridge too long. It smelled almost vinegar-y. It was also very moist (I didn't have a tea towel to wring out the riced cauliflower with, so I think that made a big difference in the crust not crisping). I also have major issues with parchment paper - someone please tell me how to use it! Every time I do, it burns in the oven and sends smoke through the house. And everything sticks to it - even rubbed with oil or sprayed with Pam. Ugh. Recipe trial #2 = FAIL. 

Last up was a recipe for Strawberry Oatmeal Bars (the recipe called for raspberry jam, but I only had strawberry).  These were easy and delicious. Not very sweet, so definitely more of a breakfast item than a dessert. 

(before heading into the oven)

Not a horrible week, but more "bad" than "good." :) 

Next week will hopefully include Chicken Roll Ups, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites, and Ranch Chicken. :D

Extreme Randomness

Are you ready for the most random post you have ever read?

1. I love getting mail - it is like a daily present! Unless it is bills, of course. But every once in a while, I open the mailbox and find a package! Yesterday, it was a little sample from Nescafe:

Some new coffee drinks to try with a coupon if I decide I like them. They came at a fantastic time, since my current fave k-cup stash looks like this:

Oh sad day. 

2. Harry is starting to be obedient! He actually stopped doing something when I told him yesterday, as opposed to continuing what he is into and pretending I didn't say anything. I can see the light beginning to switch on for our sweet, cuddly boy. :) 

3. Things have been put in perspective for me this week. One of our neighbors (who is in good shape, young, and lives an active lifestyle) was taken to the hospital this week after an infection turned into Guillain-Barre Syndrome, causing him to lose feeling in his hands and feet, as well as the ability to walk and swallow. They have two small girls and the mom stays at home with them. I got to thinking about how much I depend on Jason...what would I do if something like that happened to him? Although our neighbor is hopeful to recover, he will need lifetime treatment to keep the symptoms under control. Makes me want to cling to my Shmoopy and make every day count. 

(this is a "par for the course" shot of Jas, I rarely get a shot of him) 

4. In case anyone is wondering, Eden is doing great with her potty training! No accidents during the day now, and making it through most nights as well. Occasionally she will have an accident overnight, but usually only if we forget to take her to the potty before we go to bed (around 10pm or so). We are very proud of her!

5. In light of our fall bucket list, I started Edie on some "schoolwork" this week:

We are not being super-regimented about it, but she is learning things about art, music, tracing shapes, counting, animals, etc. Just getting her brain juices flowing. :) 

6. Only 6 more days til Joanna comes to visit! 

We can't wait to see her! Among other things, we are planning to take her on a Labor Day weekend visit to Sunset Beach:

7. My very thoughtful hubby brought home this on Tuesday evening:

I was so excited! As a big fan of the books, I couldn't wait to see the Hunger Games movie. We saw it in the theater, but I did not remember a thing (I hardly ever remember movies, books, etc. - only whether I liked it or not). It was like a whole new experience being able to watch it again! Thanks Shmoopy!

8. I am no longer able to enter the Ramblin' Rose sprint triathlon in September. As much as my pride doesn't want to admit it, my back is not going to allow me to train for the bike part. We also received the bill from my chiropractor and we will not be doing anything fun for 10 years. Ok, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but it was definitely a rather large bill and limits our ability to pay for the entry fee for the race (not to mention the hotel stay, food, etc.). So while I am still staying true to my exercise and diet goals, the race has been cut from the list. The plan now is to enter next year, hopefully with my mom. 

9. Another thing we knocked off the fall fun list was getting Eden a piggy bank. She helps out with things around the house (laundry, dishes, cleaning her room, etc.) and gets a "coin." She already has a few jingling around in there!

10. I will be back tomorrow with our weekly recipe round up!

Fall 2012 Bucket List & Some Random Pix

I got the idea to do a fall fun list from pinterest (I know, shocker). There are so many fun things to do as a family during the autumn months but because I never plan them, we don't do them. To rectify that, I thought I would put on paper some things that we would enjoy or things that would be good to accomplish by Christmas (this list does not include anything I want to get done in the house). Some of them will be for all of us, and some will be just for me and the kids while we are home during the day. This is what I came up with:

1.  Start "school" with Eden (music, art, worksheets, counting, etc.)

2. Play in the leaves and make some pictures

3. Drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a family picnic

4. Teach Eden about saving money by getting her a piggy bank and earning money through helping us in the house

5. Go to a pumpkin patch

6. Go to Tanglewood and walk through the corn maze

7. Make soups and hot drinks in the crockpot

8. Take a nature walk and see what kind of special things we can find

9. Go apple picking and make caramel apples for the neighbors 

I am not sure we will accomplish all of these, but it helps to see it on paper. I have a list going for Christmas/winter as well and will post that around Thanksgiving. 

In other news, Harry boy is not feeling too great recently. :( I'm not sure if it is a cold, teething, ear infection...but he has a temp and runny nose and isn't sleeping well (which means we aren't either). Here is a pic of my sweet little boy this morning:

Can you see those weak, tired eyes? Pulls my heartstrings! 

Yesterday, the kids were trying to escape:

But they didn't have any luck with that. :) 

Bath time is always fun - they both love the water!

So there you have it, a rather random post I'm afraid. But if you think that was bad, wait for the next one. :D

PICTURES!

It is amazing how much I use my camera - I didn't realize it until the batteries died and I didn't have it for about a week. And I hate using my phone's camera! But, oh happy day, we finally got new batteries and I have been snapping pics all over the place. Here is a slew of them:

I found Harry like this Sunday evening - I could tell he had no idea how he was going to get out of there without falling over:

This kid loves to climb into stuff - he has a nice cushy chair to sit in, but prefers the book crate while he is reading:

Random shot I got while the kids were playing ball with Jason and the dogs - I love the double profile:

This post is a little Harry-heavy, but I managed to get a couple of the Peanut too:

Climbing up my lap while I'm trying to snap some shots:

He decided it would be nice to sit on Eden's bed while watching TV:

The princess herself, hanging out in the music room:

I can't help but end with this one - their faces are priceless! 

Happy Monday! :D 

Weekly Recipe Roundup

Here are some recent pinterest recipes from this week:

Cauliflower Breadsticks/Pizza

I have been wanting to try this out for a while – the idea of using cauliflower instead of a flour based bread had me interested! The recipe I used called for “riced cauliflower” which I discovered simply means cauliflower that has been ground into a rice shape with a blender. Easy peasy. Here is the crust before and after it was baked:

And here it is before and after it was baked with the topping (cheese, etc.):

I have to say, it was absolutely delicious. The flavor was intense and I would take this as a trade off for breadsticks or pizza any day! I would love to experiment with more toppings too, but I just went by the recipe for the first try. The only bad thing was that it was a bit hard to get off the stone because the bottom wasn’t super sturdy. However, the recipe called for parchment paper that I didn’t use so that would probably fix that problem.                             

Next up was a pasta dish I named Mediterranean Pasta:

This was great too and very easy. Basically just tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, olive oil and garlic tossed with spaghetti. We decided it would be better with smaller pasta because the spaghetti clumped a bit. But the flavor was great!

Lastly was a One-Pot Chicken Dish:

This isn’t my photo, but it essentially looked the same. This was another easy recipe, you just put everything in the dish, sprinkle it with an Italian dressing packet and pour a stick of melted butter over top. The flavor was fantastic on the veggies, although we thought the chicken was a bit dry, even after soaking it in brine all afternoon. I loved having everything in one dish though and I was able to get it ready early and then just pop it in the oven an hour before we wanted to eat.

Overall this week’s newbies have been good! I still have a few more I am hoping to accomplish from this week’s list so I will keep you updated!

Side note: my camera has no batteries at the moment so my next post might be a bit stalled. I’m working on it!

House Tidbits

Nothing major going on in the house right now with my back being somewhat out of commission,  but here are a couple little tidbits for ya. 

I wanted to move some of my toiletries from below the sink (where a certain little boy could get to them) to somewhere easily accessible in our bathroom. I got two extra shelves at IKEA when I bought the ones for Eden's room (see here) and decided they would be perfect. Sprayed them with my favorite ORB (oil rubbed bronze) spray paint and hung them up behind the door. Here is the new storage:

While at Target last week looking for prizes for Eden's potty training, I spotted this little guy in the dollar bin:

Don't ask me why, but I just love him! He stole my heart much like Clive did. I believe the reason I like him so much is because he reminds me of my cousin, Tazma. She has a horse farm in SC and every time I see a beautiful horse I think of her. She is one of the sweetest people I know and her home and personality are so inviting. I hope that by having her inspire a bit of our decor we will reflect the same thing to others when they visit our home. 

So our latest animal addition is at home on the mantel for now. Oh, and his name is Marcus, short for Neiman Marcus. :)