Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Remote Control

The other day Mike brought home a tripod and camera remote control. We were all just hanging out in Ariel's room talking while the boys took pictures. After taking 15 or so they would run and look on the back of the camera and try new things, i.e. dancing, hugging, holding each other. I was not aware there was a wide angle lens on the camera and was surprised in the end to see that we were all in every photo. I started realizing we hardly have any casual photos of us all. Notice these 3 things:
1. Isaac and Lucas are VERY good buddies.
2. Whenever Lucas walks in the door, he takes off his shoes and then his pants 2 minutes later. He is ALWAYS in his underwear at home.
3. Ariel is a Daddy's girl




Shannon, do you recognize the scrubs?
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Sunday, February 24, 2008

My True Love Gave To Me...


Just what every man wants on Valentine's Day - a signed Mitt Romney t- shirt. So now that all the Mitt Romney hype has died down for the next few years around our house I will share two funny things Lucas has said regarding this political race.
Lucas seems to know and enjoy the power of words. A few weeks ago when he was feeling angry or frustrated at me his mom he would say "I want Cain (this is what he calls John McCain) to win, not Mitt Romney!" Another time he was feeling particularly bothered because I would not let him play his Nintendo ds, he said "All you care about is Mitt Romney winning and Isaac cares about everybody!"

Hallelujah- finally a new post!

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Man vs. Wild


The boys and I practiced our survival skills by making a snow shelter.

Unlike Bear we didn't attempt sleeping in it overnight.

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Sunday, February 10, 2008

She is clever


She figured out how to get those cookies and pay no attention to the outfit!
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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Date Night

I took Isaac out on a date snowboarding tonight. What a great date. There is something magical about being alone on a lift with one of your little ones. They communicate and say such insightful things. I enjoyed every second of it.
While riding up the lift Isaac said "Thanks for inviting me snowboarding mom!" So sincere and genuine it melts you like butter.
When we got home tonight @ 9 (so late for a school night) Isaac says with a large satisfied grin "Everything went so well today." Then he put his tired little bum to bed.

I would love to do this every week with every one of my kids. Oh what a blessing!
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Donut Recipe/ Dinner Roll recipe

1/2 c water
1/2 c milk
1 egg
1/3 c butter, softened
1/3 c sugar
1 t salt
3 3/4 all-purpose flour
1 T dry yeast or 1 package
1/4 c butter, softened

place water and milk in microwave until warm about 30- 60 seconds. Pour in mixing bowl and add sugar and yeast. Wait a few minutes and add salt, butter and egg, then start mixing adding 1/2 c flour at a time. Let dough rise until double in size, maybe 30 to 45 min. Punch down and either make into rolls or donuts:
rolls
divided dough in half. roll each half into 12 inch circle, spread 1/4 c softened butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide; roll gently. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place. Rise one hour. bake @ 400 for approx 10 min.

donuts
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter (I used a glass and cut out a small center with a very small round object). Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.
Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula (make sure oil is hot, donuts seem to absorb less oil this way). Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Thank You, Mitt

Mitt Romney shows again why he is an extraordinary man. He is and will be a force for both the Republican Party and conservatism. Lets be grateful for what he has done. He will continue to advance the cause and he will be back.

Mitt Romney's campaign confirmed this morning that he has no plans to drop out of the Republican presidential race, and indeed plans to address an important gathering of conservative activists on Thursday -- CPAC. (Click here for details.)

"The governor's statement from last night is still operative. He is in this race until the convention."

Ok, what's the real state of the race when we're looking forward to what's most important for our country, winning in November??? Let's start with who's won how many states:

McCain - 12
Romney - 11
Huckabee - 6

First observation, there are two front runners: Romney and McCain. Huckabee is just a regional phenomenon and shows no ability to win outside the South in a 3 way contest. Remember, McCain dropped out of Iowa when he realized he couldn't finish in the top three.Now to take it a step further, lets look at the states that McCain and Romney have won so far, and see how this translates into winning the Whitehouse. I've color coded the states that voted as they voted in 2004, red for Bush-Cheney, blue for Kerry-Edwards...
Romney: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
McCain: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina

As you can see, Romney is winning more of the states that we will be able to count on in 2008. It's reasonable we could be picking up Massachusetts in that list as well, Mitt's won a statewide election there before. Michigan, Romney's birth state, another possible pick up. That's 8 states in the general.

McCain on the other hand, has only 4 solid GOP states on his list. The rest of those liberal states aren't picking a democrat-lite like Mccain when they can get the real deal in Hillary and Obama. The analysis is pretty convincing - Nominating McCain would be electoral suicide.

Monday, February 04, 2008

GeOrGiA

So I am making phone calls right now for the Romney campaign at http://www.mittromney.com/CallatHome . The calls right now are being routed to Georgia and Southerners are NICE. I have made a difference with at least 4 voters. SWEET! Take a half of an hour and make some calls! Super Tuesday is tomorrow.

ATTENTION CALIFORNIANS...

LATEST POLLS SHOW ROMNEY AND MCCAIN TIED WITH 38% OF THE VOTE. WORD IS SPREADING THAT A VOTE FOR HUCKABEE IS A VOTE FOR MCCAIN.
Do whatever you can to help Romney secure more delegates!

Sunday, February 03, 2008

All this election stuff has worked up an appetite



I made a dozen dinner rolls and decided to do something different with the dough. No kidding, these donuts were amazing! They could give KrispyCreme a run for the money. I had to actually pull my boys out of bed (after Mike had just put them to bed) to taste them.
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A John & Ken Show in California interview with Governor Romney


Listen to both segments of this radio show. Very informative. Then share it with your friends.
http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/2008/02/03/john-ken-show-interview-with-governor-romney/

Watch this YouTube video about John McCain.
Why isn't McCain being called a flip flopper?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI&eurl=http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/2008/02/03/the-real-mccain-mccain-supporting-gay-marriage-and-showing-his-ignorance-on-iraq/

Thursday, January 31, 2008

I am trying to do something to help...read and help in the grassroots movement

These are two outstanding comments to a crazy anti- Romney article today in NewsWeek
Posted By: mrunpc (January 31, 2008 at 5:08 PM)
John McCain's candidacy was dead and buried until a few weeks before the NH primary due to incompetent staff, mismanagement and lack of money. McCain himself admits that he's not well versed on economics...and voters are somehow convinced that this man can oversee the country's economy better than a highly successful private sector businessman like Mitt Romney?
Strip away John McCain's 40+ year ago military experience, which we're NEVER allowed to forget about or question (it's just about ALL he ever references in speeches and debates no matter what question he's asked), and you have nothing but a tired, old, empty suited, Washington, D.C. political hack/insider. He is an extremely weak candidate and a terrible debater by every account, especially compared to Mitt Romney (or even Huckabee).
Without the assistance of his "Canes" propping him up during this farce of a campaign, John McCain's candidacy would still be dead and buried. Day after day, the canes come out of the political woodwork to endorse ol' RINO (Republican In Name Only) Johnny.
MCCAIN CANE # 1...the Liberal biased Main Stream Media and Press. With orgasmic puff story after puff story, it resurrected McCain from the dead, elevating him to frontrunner status just in time for the election.
MCCAIN CANE # 2...Independent and Democrat voters, who, for some bizarre reason, are allowed to vote in the REPUBLICAN primaries. I'd LOVE to meet the rocket scientists in those states who allow THAT to happen. In Florida, Mitt Romney was gathering tremendous momentum and soaring in the polls until the weekend before the election.
MCCAIN CANE # 3...Florida Governor Crist who endorsed McCain just TWO days before the election.. Unfortunately, it was enough to convince a woefully uninformed voting public to vote for McCain and against Romney who was soaring in the polls until that moment. While this was bad enough, the fact that so many thousands of Floridians had to be TOLD who to vote for just TWO days before such an important election was despicable, shameful, if not downright scary.
MCCAIN Cane # 4...Rudy Guiliani, who ends his "campaign" with an endorsement of who else but John McCain hours before the California debate. Even with THAT, McCain, who has always been a terrible debater, was crushed by Mitt Romney at every turn...imagine what Obama would do to McCain?
MCCAIN Cane # 5...California Governor, Arnold Schwartzenager who now is endorsing old Johnny just before the Super Tuesday primaries.
If John McCain is the Republican nominee (heaven forbid), it will be done SOLELY with the assistance of his canes. Without them, he is nearly helpless and will be easily defeated by either Hillary Clinton or upstart, 36 year old Barack Hussein Obama.
Mitt Romney is by far the most qualified man in EITHER party and is a class act all the way. And yet since he became a GOP candidate for president, I have seen nothing but negative, trivial articles/stories about his Mormon religion, his money, his slick appearance, etc, all fully intended to sway a naive electorate that pays far too little attention to the most important 4 year event in our country. Mitt Romney is a TRUE family man and very successful at turning failed or failing enterprises around and, Lord knows, the United States of America needs turning around. It should be run as a business first, with a strong military to protect it from harm. All other social, giveaway programs should be scrutinized (and certainly would be under a Romney presidency) as to efficiency and even necessity. The fact that he was even elected Governor in a state (MA) controlled by 85% Democrat legislature was a feat in itself. In spite of it, he did a very admirable job as Governor, turning a large state deficit into a surplus. Of course, his many justified vetoes were constantly overturned by those liberal Democrats which made for a lot of frustration.
If Mitt Romney does get the GOP nomination it will be MUCH to the chagrin of the Democrat National Committee liberal propaganda machine because he will be their worst nightmare and most difficult to defeat...Obama, Clinton, or otherwise.
John McCain's time has long since come and gone and it has become more than obvious during this primary campaign that he doesn't even have the ability to WALK up the White House "stairs" without his "Canes," let alone RUN the biggest economy and country in the world.
Posted By: Peaceful Warrior (January 31, 2008 at 5:23 PM)

After reading the member comments, I would encourage those in Mitt Romney's corner to begin a grass roots movement like no other. The only way the biased media will be defeated is if the silent majority is silent no more. Those who are commited to the belief that Romney is the better choice will be crying after Tuesday if they don't get things moving in a positive direction for him today. Who cares about the endorsements?! Notice, if you will, they are generally from very liberal individuals. So---believers in the American Dream, by keeping an upstanding proven leader in the financial and governmental arenas, get on it. Talk to friends, do massive emailing. Attend gatherings where people are meeting to discuss the "issues" and start making a difference in this campaign before it is too late. For those who have whined on this site about Romney's personal wealth, I suggest you do a little research on McCain's wife's wealth---which they are holding close to the vest rather than investing it in his quest to add the presidency to his portfolio. Those who would attack someone because of his/her success or religious beliefs, are just too ignorant to convince. Bigots are just bigots! Yet, from the sounds of the comments here, there are some pretty well informed, intelligent people out there who know a snake when they see one, and also see how the media and those non-thinking individuals who get caught up in the frenzy and manipulation are buying into the idea of two democrats running in this election. One bona fide democrat and another dressed in GOP clothing, but underneath---a democrat. I implore you to get out and make a difference! IT is time for the people of America who represent what's best in America to have their voices heard!!! Now---we have until Tuesday----so----go get 'em!!!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

President Hinckley


President Hinckley dies tonight at 7pm mountain time surrounded by family.

Heaven on Earth

looks like this...
and like this...
and like this...
and tastes like this ...


Double Chocolate Brownies
1 stick butter
3 T water
1 1/4 c. sugar
bring to a boil
remove from heat and add
1 c. Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
cool 15 minutes
add
3 eggs and mix well
blend in
2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
1/2 baking soda
1 1/2 c. flour
add
1 c. chocolate chips (remainder of bag)
bake @ 325 25 min 9x13

Ganache
1/2 c. heavy cream
2/3 c. Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips
boil heavy cream. remove from heat. add chocolate and let rest until melted

Ice Cream
Breyer's Vanilla

Whipped Cream
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Sugar and Spice




.... and everything nice- that's what little girls are made of!
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The New Hangout



Kind of a weird place to sit and make some calls, try on shoes, or have a snack. The dishwashere is Ariel's favorite place to be. When I pull open the door to either load or unload she comes running. Notice in the pictures the second one she has gathered more of her stuff. I am never surprised what I find in the utensil holder.
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Vote....preferrably for MITT ROMNEY


At the height of the American Revolution Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Standing on my soapbox encouraging everybody to do something to get a qualified good man elected to office.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

-17 + windchill

This morning before breakfast it was -17. When I decided to take a picture it had warmed up to -15.7. This is of course without the wind chill and there is wind. They cancel school here when temperatures reach -20. You have to be TOUGH to live in Wisconsin. This might also explain why people here tend to wear a little more insulation on their body.
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Monday, January 14, 2008

Boarding childless


Nothing like spontaneity. Mike got home early today from being on call. It was snowing outside and I needed a break from the kids and Mike needed a break from reality. We did a little kid swapping and headed off to the fairly decent hill an hour away. It felt so good. We got a good chuckle out of the fact we were both wearing our kids goggles and they barely performed their function. There were now machines every 30 ft which made some alright powder and the downside was it felt like little glass shards hitting your face whenever you passed one. By the end of the day Mikes face was pretty beat up by the small goggles and ice-pitted face - it made for a good belly laugh. With the short runs and high speed quads we figured we were getting about 10 runs in an hour. Almost enough time each run to get a little leg burn.
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Sunday, January 13, 2008

You know you are in Wisconsin when...


For a project in Isaac's first grade class they were to create a hat without using a hat. The more creative or bizarre the better. Isaac and I got a basket, turned it upside down and hot glued a plastic burger, with fries and a soda. When Isaac walked into class that morning the first kid we see says nonchalantly "Cool hamburger and Beer, Isaac!" I was shocked. Not for one second did the thought ever enter my mind that our soda would be thought of as a beer. But I do think we live in the beer capital of the country so why I am still shocked that kids can join their parents at the bar for a few cold ones.
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