A new old video for you

Last night, Catie was sitting on my lap at the computer begging for videos and the only thing she likes better than Disney or Peanut Butter Jelly Time is a video of herself. So, we were looking through our home videos and I found this one that I had forgotten about. I took it the week that our stuff came to our new house here (thus the partial chair on the floor in the background), so early December. Enjoy!

Boogie Nose from Erica Herzog on Vimeo.

I know what's important, part 2, or Our week in food: the reviews

Thursday night: Homestyle Vegetable Beef Soup --This is a favorite of ours, and it didn't disappoint. Jenny got in at 5 pm, so I wanted something that could simmer on the stovetop for a while and didn't have a specific "ready" time. Also, I wanted to feed her something that she wouldn't normally eat with her vegetarian husband.

Friday night: Homemade Pizza--Also a favorite. Here's my pizza dough recipe:

1 cup warm water
1 pkg yeast
1 pinch sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/3 cups flour

Mix water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Let sit 10 minutes, or until frothy.
Add olive oil and salt. Mix in flour until you have a dough that you can work with.
Knead until elastic (10-15 times or so.)
Place in an oiled bowl, covered with a damp cloth, in a warm place until doubled.
Punch down and let rise again.
Stretch or roll out dough, top with whatever you want, and bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes. We like ours baked on a pizza stone, but a baking sheet works too.

Saturday: Spinach Lasagna-- Even my picky husband who "hates" spinach ate this up. We had half a pan left over, which I froze in individual portions so that Andy could supplement his meals as needed.

Sunday: Andy, Mom, and Dad arrived Saturday night after the kids went to bed, so they woke up to a wonderful surprise!

For lunch, we had Mexican Pantry Soup. This is a soup that I made up based on a couple recipes I remembered but didn't have in front of me at the time. It turned out so yummy that I make it on a regular basis now. We served the chicken on the side so that it was vegetarian for Andy.

For dinner, we celebrated my dad's birthday with Unsloppy Joes, Oven fries, and Tomato Soup Spice Cake. The unsloppy joes were a disappointment. The sauce wasn't "sloppy joe" enough (too much tomato, not enough tangy) and the veggies were still crunchy. If I made them again, I would...well...I wouldn't make them again, but if I were wanting a vegetarian beany sloppy sandwich I would just use a can of manwich with a can of kidney beans.

The oven fries, however, are a favorite around here. You just spray a baking sheet with Pam, cut up some potatoes thinly, lengthwise, place them in a single layer on the pan, spray them with Pam, sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, and onion powder, and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, turning halfway through.

The cake was also a hit. Moist, flavorful, yummy.

Monday: Indian night! We had an Indian restaurant that we loved in Doha, and I've been trying to replicate their murgh (chicken) tikka (grilled) masala (tomato sauce) ever since using the recipe on the back of the masala mix with no success. Finally, I found this recipe and it is so much better: Chicken Tikka Masala. I had planned on making Bhindi Masala (which had good flavor, if you care for okra) with it for Andy, but when I looked at the recipe again it didn't seem like enough, so I also made Aloo Gobi (which was absolutely delicious.) I also made bismatti rice and Andy made buttered nan for us.

Tuesday: A family favorite: Roast, Carrots, and Potatoes. Yummy. I also made white bread in our new breadmaker.

Wednesday: Mexican night! Spinach Enchiladas (too much ricotta, tasted like lasagna with enchilada sauce) and Chicken Enchiladas (oh so delicious!).

Thursday: For lunch we had Sweet Potato Minestrone with grilled cheese. The soup was very yummy and satisfying. And, bonus, Mom calculated that a bowl equalled 3 points with Weight Watchers. To balance out all that good for you stuff, we made grilled cheese with colby-jack on homemade rosemary bread.

For dinner, we ate Alsatian Onion Soup, which came from a restaurant cookbook, so I probably shouldn't post the recipe. It was yummy though. Think french onion soup with apples and rye bread croutons with muenster cheese melted on top. We also had cranberry pork tenderloin. Place a pork tenderloin in your slow cooker, sprinkle with a generous amount of Italian seasoning and salt, spoon a can of whole berry cranberry sauce on top, and add about a cup of apple juice. So tender and yummy in about 4-5 hours on low. We made a gravy from the juice and served it with mashed potatoes.

On Friday morning we headed up to Spokane/Ceour d'Alene to visit with family friends and drop my parents at the airport. When we came back Saturday night we had enough leftovers that I didn't have to think about lunch or dinner again until Tuesday.

Now that's a good week!

Out of the frying pan and into the fire isn't exactly the right cliche for this but it's the best I can come up with

So, after my family left (before, in Catie's case) we all got colds. Ugh. Ironically, I could use a few days of rest, but this wasn't what I had in mind.

Here's where I would have a huge array of photos to show you all the wonderful times we had together. Ummm... but I only took 12 pictures with my camera while they were here. Fortunately, Jenny and Andy more than made up for my lack of photos if I can ever get them to send me some. :)

Catie was so excited to play with her baby cousin despite the fact that he is decidedly larger than her baby dolls. In fact, he only weighs a little more than 10 pounds less than Catie and Nick. He didn't share the same enthusiasm in these pictures, but trust me when I say he loved seeing his cousins too.

Grandma and Grandpa came bearing games and princess dresses. This is where I tell Catie, "You can't throw a fit when you're wearing a princess dress."

And this is where I realize I took absolutely no pictures of Nick.

While my family was here, Dad and Andy transitioned the twins' cribs into toddler beds. They were starting to get out of bed on their own, so it was time. I was a little sad. I think it's easier for me to act like they're still babies. But, it was time.

I have a little mantra for Catie before naptime:

me: Stay in bed. What are you going to do?

Catie: (blank stare)

me: Stay in bed. What are you going to do?

Catie: (blank stare)

me: Stay in bed. Are you going to stay in bed?

Catie: Yes!

Setting clear expectations is the key, they say. This is what I found yesterday when I went in to get her up from naptime:

Yes, she's sleeping on the floor. Sigh...

God's in charge and I'm not

I always try to put myself in Rebekah's place. Can you imagine? You're taking your daily trip to the well to gather water for your family when you meet a stranger who says he's going to take you back to his master to get married. Cultural differences aside, I don't think that was part of her plan for the day, let alone her life.

After I read that this morning, I started singing "God is in Control." My best friend, Angela, and I sang it together at a church talent competition once and it's always been a favorite of mine, because it reminds me her.

But today I realized the irony of it. Right now, Angela and her family are in Texas, beginning again after a long time of uncertainty in their lives. And you all know the twists and turns my life has taken over the past several years.

I had to laugh thinking about what my teenager self would have said to someone who predicted what my life would look like in 10-15 years: married to Brad Herzog, moving all over the place (or just moving anywhere outside of the midwest!), twins!

All I can say is, I'm glad God's in charge and I'm not.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

I know what's important

January is such a let-down. I took down all of our Christmas decorations just before New Years, but I haven't brought out all of our other stuff yet. Honestly, I don't think we have much more to put up as a result of my husband brainwashing me over the years into clutterless living and baby proofing. I used to have a huge collection of silver frames. Gone.

Anyway, that wasn't the point of this post. Actually my post has no point except to say that my family is coming out this week to visit. (Jenny and Wesley arrive on Thursday, followed by Andy and my parents on Saturday night.) Because they are my most faithful readers, and the ones that I imagine myself to be talking to when I write, I will probably be taking a little bloggy break. Just in case you notice. :)

And, because it's the most important thing, here's some of what we're going to eat while they're here:

Homestyle Vegetable Beef Soup
Homemade Pizza
Spinach Lasagna
Mexican Pantry Soup (my version of tortilla soup)
Unsloppy Joes with oven fries and Tomato Soup Spice Cake (celebrating Dad's birthday)
Chicken Tikka Masala and Bhindi Masala with rice (maybe saffron or jasmine?)
Roast, Carrots, and Potatoes
Sweet Potato Minestrone with grilled cheese sandwiches
Spinach Enchiladas and Chicken Enchiladas
Alsatian Onion Soup (recipe from a restaurant cookbook) with Cranberry Pork Roast (something I made up a recipe for and changes everytime I make it) with mashed potatoes
Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff with egg noodles

Did I mention Andy's a vegetarian? and that Jenny's going to be here for 10 days?

Holy cow, that's a lot of food.

I've been having too much fun

Dayspring has a new line of signs available online. Through the Danielson Design Studio you can create personalized signs, plaques, and frames for your home. I've been playing around with them and it's so much fun. I could spend a lot of money on these things...

I love this verse. I can't tell you the freedom I felt when I realized that I don't have to figure out God's will. It's right there in the Bible.
I think this is so cool. This is a pre-designed sign, but isn't it fun?

Of course I had to play with the signs for kids. I had a little trouble fitting the verse I wanted, though.

I would love to hang this by the front door.

In the interest of honesty, since I don't usually write endorsements, I'm totally doing this because I'm trying to win a $50 gift certificate. :)

Catie's "Inner Mommy" is nicer than me

So, we were going to have a party this weekend, but nobody can come so we've cancelled. (That's okay; I was starting to stress a little bit about it.) But, I didn't know we were going to cancel this morning when I made a large batch of Cranberry Orange Chex Mix.*

Catie and Nick are eager to "help," so we pull up their stools and I try to think of things they could do without hurting themselves or making me crazy. When I pull out the cereal, Catie remembers helping me make Cherry Cookies for Christmas and starts crunching them. (The recipe for Cherry Cookies includes crushed rice chex.)

"No, no, Catie," I say. "We don't crunch the cereal for this recipe."

"Oh," she replies and sneaks in one more crunch.

I give her another, sterner warning and she resists the urge to crunch again.

I turn around to get the butter out of the microwave, and I hear her say in her Mommy voice, "You want me to get some more cereal so you can crunch it? Okay, I'll get you some more."

Her "Inner Mommy" is so much nicer than me sometimes.

*This is absolutely delicious! I made a few changes, though. I used a box of Crispix so that I don't have to buy multiple boxes. It was 12 cups, so I also added a couple cups of stick pretzels and doubled the "sauce."