2008 November » KiddoBlogging

7 Things You Never Knew About Me

Nov 252008

I was tagged by Abbey, so here goes…

1. When I was young, I didn’t recognize my own father after he shaved off his beard.

2. I used to think I hated butter until I discovered it was margarine.

3. When my mom would lecture me when I was younger, my nose itched. Every. Single. Time. I think she thought I was being disrespectful, but I couldn’t stop scratching it. Sorry, Mom!

4. I once bashed Elisa over the head with an algebra textbook then ran away. Lesson: don’t ignore me! (I’m looking at you, Patrick!)

5. The smell of bleach gives me a headache because I left the cap off one time while cleaning a small, closed bathroom. The room was spinning by the time I realized what I had done!

6. I enjoy watching sci-fi shows and movies. I like Farscape, Firefly (and Serenity), Babylon 5, and even Star Trek, among others.

7. I have a concealed firearm permit, and my gun is a Kel-Tec P3AT.

I’m not sure who to tag, but if anyone wants to do it, have at it! You’ll probably come up with something more interesting, anyway.

Cheese Review for 21 November 2008

Cheese 2 Responses »

Nov 222008

So we’ve eaten most of the cheese and the results are in. We’ll start the review with the White Stilton as that is the first thing we ate.

The White Stilton with Mangos and Ginger was good. The cheese is crumbly and a bit tart with sweet bits of fruit throughout. As you might expect, it didn’t go well with the garlic Triscuits or the garlic bread. Erin and I both ranked it below the blueberry and the apple and pear stiltons, but on par with or slightly better than the cranberry. I would recommend this cheese, although it is not my favorite of the four similar style cheeses.

Next, we enjoyed the Bellatoile triple-cream brie. This was excellent as always. Like most (all?) bries, Bellatoile has a slightly tough, bitter, white, edible rind and a soft, almost runny interior. The middle of the cheese is very smooth both in texture and flavor. We’ve had this on a variety of breads and crackers. In our opinion, this cheese needs to be balanced by a salty and/or savory cracker to balance out the bitterness of the rind. That is not to say that this cheese has an unbearably bitter rind (like some other bries I’ve tried), we both enjoy it sliced right of the wedge, but the saltiness of a cracker enhances the overall flavor of the cheese. I highly recommend this cheese – I didn’t like brie until I tried this.

Finally, we have the Red Hot Dutch Edam from Holland (of course). This is a spiced, semi-hard cheese which comes in round balls approximately 8-10 inches in diameter. This apparently is typical of Edams in general. The Red Hot Dutch has chili pepper flakes in with the cheese which gives it a nice, hot bite. The heat is moderate, but not overwhelming – especially not for Mexican food lovers such as Erin and I. In fact, the Dutch cheese is sometimes used in Mexican cooking due to its heat. The flavor of the cheese before the heat peaks is mild and smooth. I recommend this cheese if you like spiced cheeses. Erin and I typically eat this cheese by itself or on a plain cracker.

So there you have it: the results of our first official “Cheese Friday” here at familynewsblog.com. Check back next week for more cheese reviews.

(Semi)Liveblogging Cheese Friday

Food Comments Off

Nov 222008

After picking up Erin and the boys from daycare (okay, the boys were at daycare, Erin was at home) we stopped by Harmon’s cheese counter to pick up tonight’s selections. We have Edam Red Hot Dutch, Bellatoile triple-cream Brie (sinfully rich and irresistable, according the label), and White Stilton with mango ginger from England.

We’ve tried the red hot dutch and Bellatoile before and we both love them, but we only tried a sample of the Stilton at Harmon’s. We have, however, tried similar English cheeses with cranberries, blueberries, and apple and pear. They have all been wonderful so far, with blueberry being my favorite and apple and pear being Erin’s fave.

To go with our cheese, we have roasted garlic Triscuits, original Triscuits, and a roasted garlic loaf from the Harmon’s bakery. We will give our impressions of the cheeses after we’re done. We’re going to be watching a movie while we eat so the reviews will be up later tonight.

Welcome to the new site

Blog News Comments Off

Nov 182008

Welcome to the new home of KiddoBlogging, familynewsblog.com. We have copied all the old posts from the original website and will be adding new content here from now on. Look around, make yourself at home, and don’t forget to update your bookmarks.

Me and Nathaniel

Daddy, Nathaniel, Timothy 2 Responses »

Nov 172008

Here are some pictures of me and the boys (and Molly) on the couch. Often when I come home from work I will take Nathaniel from Erin and sit on the couch with him. Timothy likes to join us – sometimes trying to sit on my lap with Nathaniel, other times sitting next to Nathaniel and me.

More pictures after the jump…

Cuties in black and white

Family 2 Responses »

Nov 102008

I hope you love these pictures of the kiddos as much as I do. I’ve been having fun playing with features on the camera, and I think the results here are pretty cute.

Most of the time he’s happy…

Family 1 Response »

Nov 102008

…but sometimes he just needs to throw a fit.

The boys and animals

Nathaniel, Timothy 1 Response »

Nov 062008

Timothy loves animals. He plays with our dog, Molly, far longer than is matched by her interest. He watches birds outside our house. He also loves to read books about animals–Touch and Feel Farm is a long-time favorite, and Petting Farm is a wonderful new addition. The Petting Farm book came with a DVD, and this has been incredible. It’s a simple concept which is perfect for him. The narrator introduces segments featuring different animals, and children on the DVD talk about what the animals are doing, what a particular baby animal is called (such as horse/foal), and other general tidbits about the current animal. I love watching this with him and teaching him different animal names and sounds. He can make the sounds for dogs (his first animal sound, and still the default when he doesn’t know the answer), horses, sheep, baby chicks, and frogs (which aren’t in the DVD but which we have stuffed versions of all over the house). Of course, sometimes he resembles a broken see-n-say: “Timothy, what does the pig say?” “Woof woof!” “What does the duck say?” “Woof woof!” He’s very entertaining, and always proud of himself as we also are of him.

Nathaniel is just starting to become interested in Molly, and is going through the process of pulling her fur, smacking her nose, and pushing her face away when she tries to clean him. Poor Molly put up with this from Timothy for several months when he was younger, and she is handling Nathaniel’s attentions with the same long-suffering gentleness. We were able to teach Timothy how to be gentle with her, and we are grateful that she is putting up with Nathaniel’s attentions until he learns gentleness, too.

Timothy’s Visit to the Hospital

Timothy 2 Responses »

Nov 052008

Patrick woke up very early this morning to take Timothy to Primary Children’s Hospital for his echo cardiogram today. They arrived at about 7:00 am, and waited a few minutes for the cardiology department to open for the morning. After taking his weight and doing a cursory exam, then turned out the lights in the exam room and used a fiber optic light to look at the veins in his hand. It worked, they got the IV in on the first try! He cried a little, but took it like a trooper. They then moved to another dark room where the sedatives were administered, and the echo was performed. They gave him enough to make him groggy, but did not completely put him to sleep. He did start to wake up more a few times during the exam, and they administered a few more doses of sedative to keep him still. After about thirty minutes, he went to recovery, where he woke up quickly and did not want to be held! Patrick tried to let him sit up for a couple of seconds at a time to readjust his grip on Timothy, and he would get a little woozy and have trouble staying up, but was very awake for the most part. They moved to ANOTHER room and were told that the doctor would be able to read the results and let them know in just a little while. That was a relief since we had been told it would be a separate visit. The doctor came in and said that it was just what he had suspected, that there was a narrowing in his pulmonary artery, causing noise, but that he would grow out of it. Praise God! We are so incredibly relieved.

Timothy did get to eat a little after being denied breakfast before the test, then came home and ate some bread with cream cheese (one of his favorites). He (and his brother) then took a huge nap for about 3 1/2 hours! It was a relaxing finish to a stressful day.

I am grateful for all the prayers that we have received during this time of concern about Timothy’s health. I know that God strengthened us and helped Timothy handle all the discomfort of the testing, as well as bringing about such a great outcome. Other children have to spend much more time visiting cardiologists and other specialists, and we are blessed to have two healthy boys. I hope Abbey doesn’t mind that I am stealing a topic of hers from a few days ago, but please consider donating to/volunteering at a local children’s hospital in your area. These facilities provide excellent care to children from families of all income levels, and they need all the support they can get to continue to do so. One easy way for federal employees to give is to donate to your local children’s hospital through CFC. Others may check to see if your employer will match your gift.

Thank you again for your prayers. God bless you all.

I voted!

Nathaniel, Politics, Timothy Comments Off

Nov 042008

I voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin today. There was no line, and the poll workers were a few decades younger on average than usual! Now I just have to bide my time until the elections results come in tonight. Obviously, I have to be an optimist to believe that McCain/Palin could win, and I have decided to be optimistic today. Only time will tell if that is foolish, but I would rather be hopeful than not.

Updating other news about the family, Nathaniel is still stuck in a cranky cycle, but Timothy is settling in better with the time change. He actually wasn’t hungry until lunch, and now he is down for a nap, though only time will tell if he actually takes one! Now I’m settling in to watch election news, all of which is meaningless until tonight. Oh, well…it makes me happy!

If you haven’t already, GO VOTE!