Look Who's Hiding Here

I discovered a new little friend hanging out next to my front door today..he's still there as I type (and it's dark)..this thing is as big as my finger and as wide as two of them! It's our own little creepy crawly..


BOO!


I think he's making sure he's first in line to get some of the good candy.

Fall Fun

The rain continues in our neck of the woods but we've seen the occasional dry day..I've noticed the kids are a little more amped up than usual and I'm sure it's a bit of cabin fever. Even so, we've managed to pack in a few fun fall activities (though we STILL haven't made it to the corn maze yet..it's a mud pit!) Here's a peak at some of the things we've been up to this autumn..



Seoul-girl admiring the pop-art at the World of Coke museum



Spending a rainy afternoon during fall break painting pottery



At the local arcade..you guessed it- another rainy day



Seoul-boy earned his green belt in karate! Hooray for him!!



Finally!! A dry, sunny day. Smilin' it up at the school's fall festival



WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Carving our pumpkin!

We've got some other fallish things still to come- Trick-or-treating, a couple of fall craft days at school, football games and hopefully a corn maze visit.. and a big fall Disney trip in a couple of weeks!! Tonight, it's drizzly and COLD so we're heading off to see a movie. Hope you are enjoying the season!!

Kabul 24

You may or may not know that I am now blogging for Thomas Nelson Publishers and reviewing some of their newest or soon-to-be released material. My most recent book from them is called 'Kabul 24' by Ben Pearson and Henry O. Arnold.
This book chronicles the saga of eight Western SNI aid workers who are falsely accused of proliferating in the country of Afghanistan, while doing relief work, shortly before 9-11. In a mind-boggling series of real life twists, the eight are shuffled from prison to prison in the midst of the Taliban's collapse. Their prison conditions are horrible, their court trial is ridiculous as far as justice goes but their hope and faith in God never wavers. These eight have experienced the fire and lived to come through the other side. If the story itself is not amazing enough, what is even more intriguing are the "miracles" that happen within the story. Example after example of God showing up in even the darkest, most frightening of circumstances.
I will admit, I don't fully understand the Taliban, Northern Alliance and all of the different regime fighting and changing in the middle east. This book did a good job in helping me to piece together a little bit of what was happening on that side of the world before the World Trade Center Towers were attacked. If eight Christians can persevere against a sect such as the Taliban who are quite 'anti-Christian', at times showing fear but always trusting God, then their ordeal was not in vain and their story is a beacon of hope to us all.
Check this book out!

Family Night - Iron Chef Style

Here in our kitchen stadium, we decided to battle it out to see who could proclaim the title as Seoul-family's Iron Chef! (We are big fans of the show)

It has been a little while since we've done a family night and this one was put together with very little planning. If you are fine (and really ladies and gents, you have to let go of the control on this one) with the kitchen becoming messy for the sake of family fun, then go for it! The fun was just too great on this one! (Seoul-daddy said it's his favorite family night thus far..)

To prepare, I cleared my kitchen island and loaded it up with every ingredient, pot, pan, bowl and utensil that we may have needed to cook an entire meal. We all wore aprons and chef hats to set the right tone.

Seoul-girl helped by printing out Iron Chef signs to put in the middle of our judges table.

We even had a Chairman!

On to the competition: Each member of our family was assigned a course of the meal. We had appetizer, main dish, dessert and drinks. The trick was they each had to incorporate the 'secret ingredient'. I'll admit, I preprinted some easy, kid friendly recipes that they could choose from, once they knew their course. Seoul-girl was ready..

Let the game begin! With notice from our chairman, Seoul-girl unveiled our secret ingredient for the night. It was...



APPLES!

The clock was set for 1 hour and we were off!
Seoul-girl was assigned dessert. Seoul-daddy had drinks covered. Seoul-boy created an appetizer and Seoul-mama worked on the main course...CHAOS! The great part of this was that there WAS alot of teamwork involved and we all helped each other.

Our dishes had to be fully prepared and plated in a creative way by the time our chairman called TIME!

Here are our results:

Seoul-boy's appetizer- Apple-carrot relish on toast

Seoul-daddy's drink- Apple cider punch

Seoul-mama's main dish- Apple veggie stir fry

Seoul-girl's dessert- Warm brownies with Apple caramel sauce

At our judges table, we each took turns presenting and explaining our dish.
Then we got to eat them!

We voted on each dish in three categories. Presentation, Creativity, and Taste.

Seoul-boy won the Best Taste Category. Here he is with his Iron Chef award!

Seoul-daddy won Best Creativity.

Seoul-mama won Best Presentation.

Seoul-girl took the contest with the Best Overall Award...I'm talkin' HOMEMADE APPLE CARMEL SAUCE!!!! WOW. Go Iron Chef Seoul-girl!!

That's all there was to this one! The meal doubled as the activity for the night. Easy, doable, connected family time. So have I given you any ideas? Let me hear them..how do you connect with your family?

Happy Cooking!

When Pigs Flu..

Off the blog this week because this Seoul-mama has been tending to the porcine variety of illness in our house..that's right my friends, the dreaded 'H1N1' decided to pay a visit to Seoul-boy. (although he is insistent that he DOES NOT, WILL NOT, CANNOT have the swine flu. He calls it 'just a slight flu and a hot fire'. This translates into 'feeling good when the Tylenol kicks in and feeling rough when it wears off'.
**And can I just say, that all the hull-a-balloo that the media has made of this has really left me scratching my head!?! Because I've had colds that are worse than this. The fever does tend to hang on awhile, though. Stay well my friends!

SO- this post is Martha Stewart in nature because my little Seoul-boy hasn't had much of an appetite this week. Tonight I made him this dish called Veggie Scrambled Eggs and the boy ate FOUR PLATES of it!! He told me they were the best eggs I've ever made in his entire life, so that must be something! If you would have told me Seoul-boy would eat that many eggs chock full of veggies before he did, I would have retorted 'when pigs fly!'... this past week must qualify.
So, I thought I would pass this goodness on to you..who doesn't do breakfast night for dinner sometimes? (It'd be good in the morning, too)
Enjoy!

Veggie Scrambled Eggs

In a large bowl combine:

8 large eggs
1/3 cup half n half
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

You will also need:

asparagus tips (fresh)
diced tomatoes
goat cheese (to preference- I used 1/2 of a small log)

Butter up your skillet (preferably a large one for this many eggs). Pour egg mixture in and stir very slowly. At the first sign of eggs cooking, add diced veggies. Continue to stir. When eggs are almost finished (but still a creamy consistency) add crumbled goat cheese and stir until melted. Serve!

I was nervous about the goat cheese (especially with kids) BUT it was not strong at all in this dish and really made them tasty! My kids' clean plates were the proof! Bon Appetite!