The Best Valentine's Dinner

Sometimes a memory is a faulty thing. When Gene asked what we should do for Valentine's Day, I just told him he could cook for me, because in my memory, he cooks for me every Valentine's Day. Apparently he does not because last year the four of us went to Tin Roof BBQ. Delicious, but not my sweetie's special Valentine's dinner. In fact, although I remember Gene cooking for me every Valentine's Day, I can actually only recall the menu from five years ago when we spent our first Valentine's Day in this house. So perhaps I just want Gene to cook for me every year...

We got our new dining room table in last week, just in time for our special dinner. Gene dug out our nice china, real silver, and candles!

The first course: tomato bisque. Yum yum yum. This soup was so velvety and rich. I am so glad we have some leftover. I cannot wait for dinner tonight!

The main course: Chateaubriand with Bearnaise sauce and roasted asparagus.

Chateaubriand -- the perfect meat for Valentine's dinner because it only makes enough for two!

The meat was like butter. It melted in our mouths. Just divine. And the Bearnaise sauce? Rich and creamy, it was perfection (and so well done for Gene's first time!).

And dessert: brownies baked in our heart-shaped ramekins, topped with hand-whipped cream.

Gene truly outdid himself this year. From start to finish, this meal was incredible. And the very best part? I woke up this morning to a spotless kitchen! Thanks, honey!

Turbo

Henry started walking a year ago today. Did you see these pics of his first wobbly steps?

Now he doesn't just walk, he runs!

Or rides. And he is super fast.

At least until he reaches an obstacle.

This little outfit couldn't be more perfect for our turbo-charged Henry!

Getting ready for Valentine's Day

If you know me at all, you know I am not a very crafty person, and that certainly extends to the kids' valentines. Normally their classmates just receive Elmo valentines from the store. This year Will came home with a note from his teacher that made me think I needed to put some extra effort into making cards (or at least that Will needed to actively participate in the process!). We got out the glue, scissors and pencils and were all set to craft away!

First, Will had the list of his classmates and he was supposed to cut out all their names, since the kids are working on "beginning scissor skills." Will did great but I was helping him so I didn't get a picture. But you can see from the end result that he actually did all the cutting himself!

I bought blank white cards and wrote the phrase "No bones about it -- you are top dog!"on it to go along with the Scooby Doo dog-bone-shaped graham crackers I bought. After cutting out all the names, Will signed his name on every single card. He is getting so good at this, but clearly we need to work some more on how to hold a pencil!

Next we glued the names on the cards, which was not as messy as you might expect. I could hardly believe it, but the table was completely glue-free by the end of the project!

This is the final product. Cute, right? And it was so much fun too!

And for Henry's class, I stole an idea from a friend and bought inexpensive flatware sets at Target (love that dollar spot!) and taped leftover Elmo valentine cards from last year onto them with a little note that says "It's Valentine's Day soon. Eat treats with your new fork and spoon!" 

I hope your Valentine's festivities are as fun as ours have been! Happy Valentine's Day!

Chutes and a Ladder

I love my house. It's comfortable, it's ours, it's home. But some of the reasons I love my house are the little things.

Like my laundry chutes. I have two. This is our upstairs laundry chute.

I love it. No dirty laundry hanging around in bedrooms. Just throw it down the chute, right to the laundry room. Genius. Henry loves the laundry chute too. He calls it "hoot." Sometimes he gets over-exuberant and tries to throw down things that don't belong down there, like scraps of paper or clean clothes. But mostly, he gets it just right.

See? Perfection is dirty laundry down the chute and one half-naked boy ready for his bath.

My other laundry chute is in my bathroom, and it goes right to the laundry room too. Genius, a house with two laundry chutes.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of chutes, I couldn't leave out a ladder, could I?

Henry's my little sidekick these days. I love this age. He always so willing to help out. Here he's helping me get the broiler pan so we can make linguica for dinner. Yum.

Chutes, and a ladder. And a mom who loves the little things.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Two Boys in Two Tubs

Our baby bathtub does not normally reside in the dining room, but we had it on loan to a friend and that's where it landed Tuesday afternoon. The boys discovered it and I couldn't keep them out of it!

Henry actually tried to take it back upstairs. I'm not sure what he was going to do with it once he got it there, though. It's not like we ever use it anymore! In fact, it's soon heading out to the garage so we can sell it at the next garage sale.

Can you tell how much fun they were having? Then it was time to head upstairs for a real bath. You know, the kind with water.

I don't know how it is at your house, but cups are the favorite bath time toys at our house. We have about five cups in the tub at any given time and they are always the first "toys" the boys grab.

Sometimes I wonder why we even buy bath toys. All you need are cups.

I'm sure when Gene was in college, he never dreamed that his green plastic Notre Dame cup would be used in this fashion!

Bath time is one of my favorite times of day. Everyone is happy and clean!

The only thing better than bathing these sweet boys? Letting Daddy do it!

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gene and I are not exactly gadget-y people. We don't have to have the newest or best toys as soon as they hit the market. But when we do find a gadget we like, we are in love. We each recently got a new gadget that we adore and truly can't imagine living without.

For Christmas, Gene got me a Roomba. Everyone made fun of him for getting me a vacuum cleaner, but I love it! Really, who wouldn't love a machine that does the cleaning for you?The boys love it too. Sometimes we just sit around and watch the Roomba do its thing.
Henry calls Roomba "Boomba," and Will has named him (her?) "Shirley." We have no idea where he came up with that name.

Where'd he go?

And here is Gene's new toy:

He is just slightly obsessed with coffee these days.

I have to admit, I still drink my Folgers from the percolator most of the time, but I do enjoy special cappuccinos made by my sweetie. Yum-O!

Bembo's Zoo

The boys love to play on Mommy's computer, so when I let them use it, I try to encourage educational games. One of the favorites in our house is called Bembo's Zoo (www.bemboszoo.com). The game is really fun; the boys could play it forever.

It all starts with the alphabet. Of course, Will knows his letters but now he is teaching Henry! Henry is such a little sponge these days. He picks up everything! We just realized a couple of weeks ago (while watching the boys play this game) that Henry actually knows some of his letters. We haven't been teaching him them intentionally, so he must be picking them up from Will and games like Bembo's Zoo! Who knew?Will is very patient with Henry. If he gets a letter wrong (which he does a lot), Will takes Henry's finger and helps guide him to the correct letter. Here is Henry finding the H all by himself!

After you click on a letter, you see the name of an animal. H is for Hippopotamus. Some of the other letters are a bit more unusual, like I is for Ibis. How many three-year-olds know what an ibis is? Well, Will does and he was thrilled to see a sculpture of one at the MFAH, just like on Bembo's Zoo!Next the letters rearrange to create the shape of the animal. The sound effects are really cool too.

Can you still see all the letters?

At the end, the animal gallops or flies or swims off the screen and you can start all over with another letter.

Now, my only question is: who is Bembo?