Well that was a weekend!

It started out normally enough.  Finished out work, came home and made a nutritious, organic dinner (read: take and bake pizza), and baked a nutritious, organic dessert for home group (read:  soda pop cake). 


What?  You have never made soda pop cake?  For shame!  My bloggy friend Becky turned me onto the Hungry Girl site, where I found the recipe.  All you have to do is take 1 box of cake mix, add with 12 oz soda, mix until smooth, then bake like normal.  Hopefully, your cake will come out looking something like this:

Yes, it is quite possibly the best cake you will ever eat.  You are welcome.  No, it is not the healthiest cake you will ever eat.  Anywho, this one was a combination of devils food cake and Dr. Pepper soda.  I also made a white cake with peach soda for the kids.  All were completely eaten.  Our home group likes food. 



Saturday morning, Super Realtor had to go show houses to some clients, so the girls & I headed into town for some fun.  We started out at the church, helping our friend/ mentor/ children's pastor Jen clean out her office from all the Daddy Daughter Dance stuff.  Then, Madi got to go the the fabulous Pinkalicious birthday party of her friend Kate.  They had a grand time.  You can see the pics, and wish the birthday girl a happy birthday, on her mommas blog here.



While Madi was at the party, Jen and I took the rest of the kids (hers + mine) to a healthy, organic lunch.  NOT!!!  Truth: we bribed them with fast food and a play place so we could have a semi-coherent, adult conversation.  While we were there, I managed to snap this precious photo of her smallest, ornery wonder:

Don't you just want to bite those cheeks?  Yeah, me too.



The entire day, I knew something was wrong with Violet.  Truth be told, she hadn't slept well in about 2 weeks.  Friday night was miserable.  We slept for about 2 hours total.  She was okay when she first got up, but progressively got worse throughout the day.  She tried to sleep that afternoon, but could not stop coughing long enough to get comfortable. 



So, we headed in to the urgent care after Super Realtor got home.  They took one look at her and started calling the hospital.  They started her on oxygen and IV fluids with antibiotics immediately.  X rays revealed what I suspected - pneumonia.  The only way I convinced them to not transport her from the urgent care to the hospital via ambulance was if I promised to drive her immediately there, no stops.  I knew she was bad, but not that bad.



So, Violet & I got to spend the night in the hospital.  Our nurses ( two dad of two kids each) were amazing, and Violet responded well.  They let us go on Sunday afternoon with oxygen, more albuterol for the nebulizer, and the rest of her antibiotics. 



Today we visited with her doctor again.  Looks like we are going to be chasing the leash at least until Friday.

At least she knows how to do it in style.

An Ode to Leeks

I know, weird, right?   But true.

Last night, my children ate leeks.  Yes, these leeks.

The ones that are, in essence, an onion.  My devoutly anti-onion children ate onions.  How, you may ask?

Careful camoflage.

I have had three little packages of lamb burger just sitting in my freezer.  Waiting for the perfect recipe.  We have had Jeromes sister Celine with us for a week, and I wanted to fix something special for her.  She LOVES lamb, like any good French-American teenager should. 

I found this recipe from Betty Crocker (have I mentioned lately how much I love that site?) and decided to try.  It really is easy, and the lamb could be substituted with any meat you like.  

And it got my children to eat leeks.  And repeatedly say, throughout the meal, how much they liked leeks.  Worth the shot?  I think so. 

Recipe

Simply take three of these:

(Keep in mind that they may not be readily available in your area. You may have to special order them. Contact your grocer, OB-GYN, or adoption agency for details.)

Add this:

By following this recipe from Betty Crocker (my new favorite recipe site).

Make sure to use your special rolling pin and rolling helper:

And don't forget to make sure the cheese is evenly spread.

And you too can have a tasty meal on the table in under thirty minutes, even with helpers.

And, of course, my camera decided to randomly change settings WHILE I was trying to take photos. Without my permission. Oh well, it tasted much better than it looks, I promise.

It was actually a very easy recipe, and very kid friendly. They helped from beginning to end. And no one was hurt by Madison's fascination with the giant rolling pin. And they ate their dinner. A successful evening, I think.