Be mine

We were able to get the boys in Valentine Day outfits, but my attempt at arts and crafts went sour again. I tried to get the boys to make Valentines with me. No luck. Although, they did think I was pretty funny because I attempted to cut out a heart, but I did it on the wrong side which left me with 2 halves instead of a whole heart. I guess I should now shoulder some genetic blame for their lack of arts and crafts gene. I used to think it was all Tim.

Now what to do couple style on Valentine's Day. It is always a dilemma. TJ and I aren't really the traditional roses and chocolate type. (I like plants and Tim doesn't really like chocolate.) Even though this year even though we actually have babysitters (woo hoo), we didn't feel like braving the crowds for an over priced meal. We decided to pick out recipes and cook a mega meal at home. We even had our friends Brian and Dina join us for dinner.

Here was our menu:

Thai Red Curry Mussels
Cornish Game Hens with Amaretto Stuffing and Honey Glaze

Farm fresh sugar peas sauteed with walnuts and basil (added later)

Bananas Foster

(Funny- all are dishes contained some sort of alcoholic component)

After we we dropped of the kiddos we went on our quest for ingredients. Who knew lemon grass, Cornish game hens, dried cherries, mussels, cherry juice, and bread cubes were so hard to find. Even Costco was out of mussels. AGH! After 3 stores we finally wised up and headed up to Escondido to Major Market. They had it all. Yea- even had farm fresh peas that we just had to have. Yum. Dinner was amazing and we paired it with a Roar Pinot. MMMMMM.

Here is the mussels recipe, that was to die for:

Thai Curry Mussles (based on a bobby flay recipe)

2 tbsp peanut oil (we used sesame)

1 stalk lemon grass (we crushed it)

3 tbsps Thai red curry paste

1/2 cup wine

1 can unsweetened coconut milk (we used the "light" kind)

2 tbsps fish sauce

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

2 1/2 lbs mussels (we used the new Zealand kind, meatier according to the fishmonger guy)

4 tbsp cilantro, chopped

4 tbsp basil, chopped

Heat oil in a large pot, add the lemon grass, curry paste, wine , coconut milk, fish sauce and lime juice and bring to a simmer, whisking. Add the mussels, cover the pot, and let steam until opened. During the last minute of cooking, add the cilantro and basil. Serve into individual bowls, discarding the lemon grass.

Mr. P and his eye appointment

Mr. P was very brave and went to his first in-office eye appointment in almost 4 years. Usually, he gets his eyes checked when he is under general anesthesia for his PWS lasering. He was actually excited to go and it went really well until they wanted to check him for glaucoma. P did not like the eye drops and liked the pressure meter even less. Poor resident Dr. had to struggle to try to do her job with a very angry and upset little boy who refused to open his eyes. The worst was after the glaucoma tests she had to put more eye drops to dilate his eyes. He was so upset with her and me. He told us that he did not like us and he was very mad at us. He even went to my purse and took my i-phone away from me as punishment. Poor guy.

Luckily, his Dr. said that everything looks fine and will not need to be seen until he is 6. When I told him this, he said that he was not going to go back to the eye doctor ever.

Twinisms

Look up in the sky, Mommy. It is Superman.

Selling it

In the morning while the boys are playing (typically with toy cars), I usually get their lunches and breakfasts made. Today, I could not for the life of me find their Cars themed lunchboxes. Then I looked in the freezer and saw that their little ice blocks used to keep their lunch cool were not there. Ah-ha! Tim must have not taken them out of his truck when he picked them up from school on Monday- ewww. However, Tim left early this morning in his truck for the airport to head out for the World of Concrete in Vegas. Double ewww.
Naturally, the boys were upset that their lunchboxes were missing (I messed with their routine- horrors). So I had to convince the boys that it was ok to bring a Vons plastic bag to school with both of their lunch food in it. I had to really sell it. I told them that their Daddy just lost his mind and he is just so silly! (They stopped crying) Then I told them that their Daddy will have a very stinky truck when he gets back from Vegas. They thought it was funny. (Stinky Daddy) So- I dodged the bullet on that one. Phew.
When we finally get to pre-school, the boys ask me when Daddy is coming home from Vegas. I told them tomorrow. And then they ask what day is that. I tell them Thursday. Then they tell me today is Wednesday and start to cry because it is show and tell day on Wednesday and we forgot to bring something to share. Real tears and everything- especially after I tell them that we are not going to drive all the way home to go get something. Luckily, their mommy is resourceful and scans her car for anything that they could be used for show and tell. (UGH- why did I clean up my car?) But then I did see that I had my pink umbrella in the car and told them how exciting it would be to bring an umbrella for show and tell. I also told them it would be so silly to bring an umbrella because it was sunny out. AJ thought that was pretty cool so he stopped crying, but what to do with the P? I crossed my fingers and looked into my trunk. Fortunately, there was another (slightly broken) umbrella in my trunk for him. The boys were very happy and proudly showed their friends their "super cool" umbrellas that they brought for show and tell. Double Phew.

On Wisconsin

This weekend I traveled to Milwaukee to help host my sister in-law's (SIL) baby shower for her twin babies. (A and P have named the girl Velma and the boy Freddy with Mommy and Daddy as respective middle names.) I had not been to Wisconsin in about two years so it was a lot of fun seeing everyone and catching up. It was pretty funny that many of Tim's aunts did not even recognize me at the shower. They just walked right pass me. Hmmm, I don't think I look that different. The boys must have really aged me.
Speaking of age, it seems that our Wisconsin Saturday nights have matured as well. On Saturday night, I got to go out on the town with my SIL, cousin in-laws, and their spouses. Back in college/ grad school, on a typical Sat night in Madison we would head out to a bar (no- really it should be bars), drink like crazy, play lots of darts, and on a good night, sing our hearts out karaoke style at the K-kid till the wee hours of the morning. It would be followed by a slow stumble home and maybe on the way we might have a swim in the lake or even in the fountain in front of the Engineering building.
This time, we all piled into Phil and Megan's minivan and headed downtown to eat veggie burgers and fried cheese curds (at Bella's Fat Cat). We even had not one, but 2 designated (pregnant) drivers in the mix! Then we stopped on the way home to pick up frozen custard (at Kopps-mmmm), headed back to Ron and Melissa's to drink delicious home-brewed beer and play virtual instruments, while singing our hearts out to rock band. It was really fun and I had a blast, but I am amazed at how wholesome we have become. We even found ourselves sitting around watching the results of a dog show- don't ask, we cater to the most pregnant one of the bunch. ;-)

Fun with Seaweed

History Lesson

When I picked up the boys at their grandparents' place, the boys told me that we have a new president, Barack Obama. (Their grandpa Carl keeps them well informed.) I asked them to tell me about him. They told me he wears a red tie. I looked back at pictures from today's presidential inauguration and found that they were right.

Later I asked the boys if they wanted to be president like Obama one day. Adam said no, he was going to be an astronaut. PJ said he wanted to be president, but he wasn't going to wear a red tie. He was going to be nudey.

Reuse and tricycles

This weekend was gorgeous. We were treated to Spring/ Summer like weather and even managed to get a play date with Sarah, Beck and Max. The boys were so excited to see their friends, but it is funny that both sets just want to play with their respective twin. The ocean views at Hilltop park were phenomenal.
PJ at Hilltop Park with ocean vista!
We did get a treat after our play date, a huge bag of Beck and Max's old clothes. Yippee. THANK YOU!!! There were even some Wisconsin Badger shirts in the mix! The boys loved the rain boots and wore them home from the park and into the Vons. After "nap" found that rain coats were also included. They insisted that they get in their new rain gear (over the pajamas they put on when they were suppose to be napping- another story) and ride their trikes in the 75 degree weather.

The twinado is off! PJ is in blue boots. He called the straps to pull up the boots "ears".


It is hard to ride in rain boots. (He didn't even cry- tough guys)Admiring Mommy's Mel's Mix for her square foot garden.

Morning Gem

P: Mommy when it is nudey day at school can we go nudey?

Dentist Success

PJ

AJ

We just got back from the dentist and the boys got a good report. The best part was they were very well behaved the whole time. They both picked orange for the polish and bubble gum for the fluoride treatment. They followed the hygienist and dentist's instructions and were not scared at all. It went so fast and the dentist told us that their teeth were perfect. Such a change from 6 months ago when it was pandemonium. My boys are growing up so fast. Sniff Sniff.

The funny part was on the way home I was flipping through the radio stations and Adam tells me: "Stop. That's a good song." It was Paul Simon, Hearts and Bones. I love finding out what their tastes are.

Baked Beans Recipe

Since it is winter I came up with a simple and tasty no-fat treat for those "coldy" winter days:

KKJ Baked beans

Ingredients:
2 cans of spicy chili beans, undrained
1 can each of black, kidney, and white beans, drained
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sweet baby rays bbq sauce
1 medium onion chopped
2 tsp dry mustard or cracked mustard seeds
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 splash of Tabasco

Combine all ingredients in a bowl
Pour into a 9 x 13 casserole dish
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F
Cook covered for the first hour
Cook uncovered for approximately 3 hrs (up to 4)
Remove once the viscosity is right (syrupy, baked beans consistency)
Enjoy

Happy New Year!

The 2008 year ended better that I thought it was going to. We finally made it back home to SD after a very trying flying (or lack there of) experience. On Tues, we got to SFO airport to find our flight delayed due to SD fog. So we waited and waited when the finally boarded us on the plane. They told us we might get diverted to Phoenix, but we wanted to get home so we took the chance. We were the A group so we luckily got the bulkhead seating. The boys insisted that they sit next to their daddy so I sat in the aisle across by myself and got to read my 3rd book in the Twilight series. I love young adult fiction- don't judge. Finally we pushed back, waited for our time to take off, but ended up returning to the gate since the weather report said the fog still has not lifted. The boys got kinda cranky about this. So while we were waiting in our parked plane, the pilot asked the boys if they wanted to see the cockpit. AJ did, P was too scared. AJ loved it and was thrilled. Unfortunately, our flight was eventually cancelled and we didn't make it back home until the next day (after a delay of course).
After we got home, Tim and I were able to get our work done so we could go out on the town. Yeah to grandparent babysitters- Love it. (Although, I still have to finish my timesheet-shhh) We had a great time with fun friends ringing in the New Year . Yet, I still have to make my resolutions. Any thoughts? I probably would break them anyway.

Happy 2009!!!!!!!!

Getting Our Wine On

The best part of going up to wine country is having a designated driver. It is even better when the designated driver is not you! (Poor Leslie is pregnant so she was unable to imbibe, but she was a great sport.) James and Leslie picked Tim and me up at my folks place complete with bagels and coffee and we headed up to wine country.

The weather was absolutely picture perfect heading up the peninsula and into SF. After we crossed the Golden Gate the weather changed into drizzle. That was OK though because it kept the crowds away and we were able to actually learn something from our wine hosts. Our first stop was Iron Horse (http://www.ironhorsevineyards.com)where/ I started with a sparkling wine flight- Awesome. Our host was a young guy who was very knowledgeable. We could have hung out there for hours but we had to get to our appointment at Siduri (http://www.siduri.com/).

At Siduri, we were treated to a behind the scenes tour of their Dallas Cowboy themed wine making warehouse. Then we headed to DeLoach (http://www.deloachvineyards.com/) , Ridge (http://www.ridgewine.com/), and finally F.Teldeschi (http://www.teldeschi.com/history.htm) where we got to speak directly to the wine maker, John Teldeschi, in his very cold wine tasting room. It was so fun. Thank you Leslie and James!!!

Big wheels keep on turning

The boys were very spoiled this Christmas. They woke up in San Diego to find that Santa thought that they were very good. They were excited to see that Santa and the reindeer nibbled on the cookies and carrots. Then they had to wait very patiently until their Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Carl came over with their Uncle Chris. It was only then that they were able to open they presents. The favorite of course was the Geo track airplane kit and the blue angles toy planes. Grandpa Carl enjoyed setting up the train around the tree.

Then they got on a plane (delayed- AGH) to open even more presents at their grandparents (Grammy and Grandpa Wonderful) house. They were a bit overtired by all the excitement, but Christmas only comes once a year, right?

The big hit was the big wheels that they spent hours riding around as fast as they could. They also enjoyed singing along to educational video games.



I think the new version of the ABCs threw them off.

Crash!

The rest of the Kostick family enjoyed drinking copious amounts of wine and even had a impromptu drum circle that I was lucky enough to capture until Grandpa Wonderful shut it down.

Reflections of What Life Used To Be

Being back at my parents home for the holidays I was able to peek at alot of old photos. It is fun seeing how I looked at my boys age and noticing the similarities and differences. Although the most fun is seeing me when I was between ages 11 and 14. Wow those were the years- yeah I think I was probably considered pretty nerdy/dork by my peers. Although I don't think those labels bothered me much. I liked being considered one of the smart girls. I do remember feeling that I was not one of the "cute/ hot/ good looking" girls and that made me feel sad.

The picture shows my first day of school starting at Centerville Junior High, 7th grade. From the picture you can see that I was very excited, my brother- not so much. I think in 6th grade I had cut all my hair off and looked like a little boy, but by 7th I may have started to take an interest in my appearance and asked my mom to give me a home-perm. Then I would wake up early to curl it and aquanetted it into a fluffy mess with my Mom's old curing iron which was caked with all of my hairspray. I still had a mouth full of metal but now sported some stylish 80s clothes. By 8th grade, I had grown my hair out a little and started focusing on making my bangs do extreme things like the donut or waterfall look. I think in 8th grade I also started to really get into unnatural looking make-up too.

When I was younger (college aged) I used to be repulsed when I looked back at my young self, and now I just chuckle. I think my boys will get a real kick out of what their mom used to look like. It was pretty hard growing up and feeling awkward and insecure. Hopefully, they will realize that what you were or how you were growing up doesn't mean that the rest of your life will be that way. People can change, grow, and continue to evolve.

Through the wonder of the Internet and social networking web sites it is nice to reconnect with people you didn't really hang out with growing up. I like putting my immature past aside and forge new friendships on an adult level. Although, my friends that put up with me back in the day are the true winners in my book.

Christmas Card Lane

Christmas Card Lane is a place in our neighborhood where the houses all display big Holiday greeting "cards" on their lawn complete with massive amounts of lights and decorations. We grabbed the grandparents and met up with some friends and walked around and enjoyed the festivities. It was great seeing how much the boys loved it and hanging out with good people.

Highlights of the boys' night were seeing their friends Beck and Max (Their mommy is Sarah from See Sarah Spin), all the mechanical trains and displays, and Santa Claus with Rudolph. Santa was rolling through the neighborhood on some sort of vehicle that had been converted into a motorized sleigh complete with a reindeer at the front. He was handing out candy canes to all the children and giving sleigh rides to his friends. They boys told them that they have been good boys and wanted "GeoTrack". A little bizarre, but both the boys and their Grandpa Carl loved it.

Musicals in their future?

Whenever the boys are playing nicely together they spontaneously break out into song. It just cracks me up. I will be in the other room and just start to hear my rough and tumble boys sweetly singing together. Usually it is a nursery rhyme song, but lately it has been Christmas carols. The favorites are of course, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, and Santa Claus is coming to town.

I finally attempted to catch them in action this morning while they were doing their brand new Christmas puzzles from Debbie and Laurie. It was a new song that I hadn't heard before.

Nightmare

P woke up in the middle of the night all sweaty, crying and shaking due to a bad dream. This is what he told me about it:


"Santa put me into the fire. He put Rudolph in there too."

Poor guy, I guess the holidays are stressing him out like the rest of us.

Front and Center

My boys had their first holiday program last night with their pre-school. We were told that we should have them wear either red or green shirts so I found the only red and green shirts we had which were long sleeved with a baseball and dumptruck, respectively. When I got to the church where the program was taking place, I noticed that all the children were dressed in their nicest holiday attire and not wearing jeans and long sleeved t-shirts. Uh oh. I felt a little embarrassed. Oh well, this mommy is a little green and now knows better.

The program started with the little children and then finally my boys' 4 year old class came up. They were all wearing glittery crowns that they made. Somehow my boys mange to align themselves in the front row and right in the middle. They sang the Dreidel song and We Wish You a Merry Christmas , complete with hand jesters. It was very cute.

After the program, Santa came out and all the parents started pushing their kids to see him. Soon there was a large swarm of people trying to see Santa. At the time, the boys were on Tim's lap and we finally convinced them to go meet Santa. They left for the big line and we stayed back because we figured it would be a while before it was their turn. Little did I know that somehow the boys managed to worm their way through the crowd and were all of a sudden 2nd in line to meet Santa. Once the girls ahead of him dismounted Santa's lap, Adam did the one leg out with a bent knee (on your mark) move to ensure their place. Unbelievable. I have a feeling I am going to have to watch them a little closer to see how they seem to finagle these things, as I hope they aren't unfairly taking advantage of the other children. Hmmm.

Happy Birthday

The boys made it to 4! Look how far we have come from 4 years ago!