Iron Chef America...kids edition

Tonight the kids wanted to do an at home version of Iron Chef America. So I got to choose the secret ingredient that they MUST include in their recipe. I really should have thought this one through before I started randomly choosing things from our pantry. Because Brian and I got to be the judges!! That's right. That means we had to actually EAT what they made. So what were the secret ingredients you ask? Well....I chose 2 actually. Blueberries and Dried Beef. Yup. You read that correctly. Don't ask me why I have dried beef in my pantry.

Ok, fine.

Its for a dip I like to make but whatever.

Chef Ridge...

Chef Natalie...

Chef Emily...

I believe this was Natalie's blueberry concoction...

If you don't have this stuff in your pantry its a MUST!!! I'm sure they have it in the Biggest Loser pantry. For sure!

My poor sink...its supposed to be a copper sink.

This was Chef Ridge's meal. It was Rolled Dried Beef with blueberry sauce and leaves from the bush out in front of our house. Caution...don't eat the leaves.

Chef Natalie's meal....a dried beef and turkey hot dog with blueberry and a sprig of parsley for color. I like her style.

And Chef Emily's meal...a dried beef and turkey biscuit with blueberry and sugar sauce drizzled over it. Mmmm. Mouth watering.

They worked very hard on their concoctions and even had me interview them in the middle of the show about what it is they were doing. Have you watched Iron Chef America? You should! Go find it on The Food Network!! So when they were done Brian and I got to sit down and judge the appearance and the taste of the food. It was interesting to say the least!! But in the end the winner was......Iron Chef NATALIE!!!!!!!!!!!




Next week the defending champ will take on her sister and brother....and the mom will choose a much better secret ingredient!!!!!!!!!!

I do not heart kidney stones

Well, my husband has officially joined the Kidney Stone club. Except its not really a club. And you don't get lots of fun stuff once you join. Unless you count ER visits, throwing up from pain, lots of drugs, and a pee strainer as fun! Brian started having some severe pain on Sunday night in his kidney and because he is a dr. he knows RIGHT where his kidney is. Funny how that works. So off to the ER we went!! My brother in law, Matt, is a family practice dr here so he called ahead to let them know we were coming. We were seen right away and got a CT scan done promptly but with it being a Sunday night at midnight it took quite a bit longer to receive the results. Turns out he did have a kidney stone as expected and we were sent home with meds and other paraphernalia to help us as we wait for the beloved stone to pass. However, all day on Monday Brian couldn't keep anything down due to pain so the meds weren't working and he wasn't hydrating so that this thing would "COME ON DOWN"!!! Finally about 10pm on Monday night we got him comfortable and able to sleep through the night with out throwing up. Yesterday we woke up with a goal in mind. Drink!!!!!!! So he did but we figured it wouldn't hurt to go get some IV fluids from my brother in law's office. The problem there is that they are not a hospital and haven't done IV's in quite some time. Praise God my sister (who is a nurse practitioner) works there 2 times a week. She used to work in the NICU several years ago and did all sorts of stuff on tiny babies. So starting an IV on a grown man was probably cake to her! However....it had been years since she did it AND it was Brian....her brother in law. So Sara came in and made some crack about how this is her dream come true...sticking her brother in law...yadda yadda yadda. And got 'er done. Brian felt so much better after receiving the fluid and hopefully will pass the thing soon!! Of course, you know me...I had to document! And don't be surprised if I take pictures of the stone once its here!!

This is not what it looks like...

Our friend, Shane B. (or as Adiah calls him Shaybee), thought Adiah looked "funny" while eating her lollipop at Emily's game the other day. These are two goofballs when they are together!! Can you say TROUBLE?

2 years ago today....

...our lives changed forever when we saw this face! We got the call on October 5, 2007 that they had a little girl for us! Precious little Adiah!

Little did we know that we'd be heading back to China to pick up her little brother! And it wasn't until we were doing THIS (see below) today that I realized what the date was.

Ok, for those of you who don't like little girls to have their ears pierced you can look away. But Adiah is truly a girly girl and every time I am getting ready in the morning she asks for "eaw wings, too, mama". I actually had no intentions of doing this today. I had asked Brian about it last week sometime and he said go for it. But I just didn't know. So I was doing some Christmas shopping this morning in Claire's and a lady was in there getting hers done. So I asked if she minded if we watched her. Adiah LOVED it and I asked her if she wanted to do it too? She said YES!! But I still wasn't sure if she would let them. The lady working told me just to sit her on the seat and if she freaked out just by her touching and messing with her ears then we would stop. Well, Adiah plops herself in the chair and proceeds to hold her hair back for the lady. She was so happy! So we did the marker thing on her ears thinking she would stop after that. Nope...she loved it. So it was then and there that we decided just to go for it. The lady told me she would cry after the first but to help her be still and she would quickly do the other. Adiah flinched for a second but that's it. She was smiling and staring at herself in the mirror. The one who cried was me! I didn't have my camera on hand because it wasn't in the plans today but I used my phone.

Happy girl with her earrings! In the car on the way home I said, "I love you, Adiah". She said, "I lud my eaw wings". Priorities!!