dinner disaster

I have been waiting to try this new recipe for a while now. I bought the ingredients, I was almost ready to go one night and Justin ended up not coming home so I put it off.

Well, I made it today. It took me an hour and a half in the kitchen (not that the recipe was that involved, but I had to clean as I went and then the kid factor...) and I ended up with the perfect Chicken Picatta, the chicken looked just like the picture on the recipe, it was a little golden and everything was done at the right time. Perfection.

Justin called in the middle of cooking to say something had gone wrong at work, but I wasn't overly concerned about that, I could reheat it for him. Then, there was unanimous mutany at the table! Such whining and complaining you have never heard. You would think I tried to feed them road kill. Even Nate threw his chicken on the floor.

Emma was the most upset. Camille and Ashley eventually picked their capers out and ate the chicken and noodles with added parmesan. Bubb played with his for a while, trying to get some food on a fork but he didn't eat any. When I tried to feed him a bowtie he stuck his tongue out and spit it out. But Em, that girl. She dug her heels in and announced she would be sneaking downstairs at midnight to eat cereal. Then she sat and glared at me for the rest of the dinner. I offered her a couple flavor covering choices, but I'm not in the restaurant business. She got sent to her room without eating.

When Justin came home and I heated up his plate specially, he hates microwaved meat. I made it all pretty and served him up. He took one bite and looked at me apolegetically.

I'm feeling like pizza and hot dogs for the next month.

P.S. Emma had a change of heart and apologized for her behavior. In light of the total failure of my new recipe, I gave her a bowl of cereal.

time for updates

Happy Birthday Billy!

Camillly is the cutest little seven-year-old you ever saw. She has a fun smile and a great sense of humor. She loves Tom and Jerry, Spongebob, and all things High School Musical. She is a sensitive thoughtful girl, and I worry sometimes about her fragile self confidence. One of her latest things is wanting me to pick out her clothes for her. (Perhaps it stems from her getting dressed inappropriately for the weather and me telling her to change--she hates that.) She will make some man so happy some day: for her birthday she asked for BBQ brisket, sausage, and bacon. So we had them all.

She has turned into a great little reader, it is cute the way she shows me the pictures and reads me the books she brings home from school. She also is doing so well with reading the scriptures, I'm amazed sometimes at the words she figures out. She is a great little organizer. She likes to put her own clothes away, and organize the barbies in Ashley's doll house. She loves to write notes and leaves us little love notes almost daily. She is a great kid.

I love this smile.

And our little Bubb is starting to talk! Oh my, nothing gets my heart like little baby words. It is so hard to catch him on video, but I'm trying. In his vocabulary:

Mom

Daddy

Emma

Ashy (poor Camilly, he hasn't figured out how to say her name yet and it breaks her heart)

bird

doggie

woof

ba ba, passy, blanket (those three all sound pretty much the same)

mine

here you go (more like "eh go!")

please

thank you

bye bye

stuck

stinky Oh!

all gone

uh oh

and of course, ball

He also blows kisses, one of our favorite tricks.
It is my absolute favorite stage of babyhood, the learning to talk part. I finally get a little hint of what goes on in their minds and see the intelligence working, it just melts my heart.
He is such a lovey little man, he gives us lots of hugs and snuggles and pats. It is impossible not to adore him.