Happy birthday to me!

Recipe: Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

It's my first week back on Weight Watchers, and I've found a new delicious recipe on their website already.

Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

Course: main meals PointsPlus™ Value:    6 Servings:  4 Preparation Time:  10 min Cooking Time:  8 min Level of Difficulty:  Easy

This rub will seal in the juices to keep the meat moist and tender. Try it on steaks and chicken, too!

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Ingredients 1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder    1 Tbsp unpacked brown sugar    2 tsp Durkee Ground Cumin Seed, or other brand    1 tsp garlic powder    2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce      20 oz lean boneless pork chop, four 1/2-inch thick chops      1 pound(s) green snap beans, steamed    1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice    Instructions Preheat broiler and coat broiler pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine chili powder, sugar, cumin and garlic powder. Add Worcestershire sauce and stir until paste forms. Rub paste onto both sides of each pork chop, place on prepared pan and broil 4 minutes on each side until inside is no longer pink. Serve with string beans drizzled with fresh lemon juice.

Joshua's First Sentence

And my heart is absolutely melting...

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010, in pictures:

Getting our tree, December 4

Enjoying the inaugural fire in our fireplace, Dec. 14, just before we hosted my church's missions committee Christmas party.  Even though our new house is 12 years old, the fireplace had never been used.

The kids meet Santa at Katie's preschool Christmas celebration, Dec. 21.  Santa asked Katie what she wanted for Christmas, and when she didn't know how to answer, John suggested a "horsie."  I sent him a look that said: "Could you at least pick something realistic?"  Today, the day after a Christmas when she was flooded with gifts, we asked her what her favorite Christmas present was, and she said her horsie. 

Joshua opens his first Christmas gift.  This is at his Oma & JPa's house, Dec. 24.

Katie models the new princess hooded towel she got from her Uncle Jamie.  It even has a crown on top that my camera wasn't fast enough to catch.  Joshua got a towel that looks like Mater from "Cars."

Katie's big gift for Christmas: a pink tricycle from Oma and JPa!

Katie received a ballerina doll that ties to her feet so the two of them will "dance together."

Joshua inspects his big Christmas gift: a train table from Oma and JPa!  JPa pulled out an old set of his electric trains so that Joshua could enjoy the table till he received his own wooden trains the next day.

True to form, this is how Joshua prefers to enjoy his train table.

Joshua enjoys his hot fudge sundae at Christmas Eve dinner.

Late December 24 after the kids have gone to bed and Santa has arrived. 

Christmas morning!  Katie loves her new cupcake set that Aunt Laura gave her for her playhouse.

Later that morning, we headed to my parents' house, where my parents, most of my siblings and Katie's cousins were there to greet us.  Katie and her 3-week-older cousin Ally had matching ruby slippers.

We had a wonderful time with my family.  Uncle Mike made a rocking chair for Joshua and Katie out of Amazon boxes.  With boxes this fun, why buy toys?

Before I share the videos, I have a funny story.   A few weeks ago, Katie was talking about how she wanted the DVD "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."  I happened to know that Oma and JPa had bought her that for Christmas, and so I told her to pray for it.  So she diligently prayed for that DVD.  When she opened it on Christmas Eve, she exclaimed: "God gave me Good Man Charlie Brown! I prayed for it!"  So funny and cute.

Anyway, as you know, Joshua's big obsession right now is Muppet Babies. His room will soon be decorated in that theme and many of his Christmas gifts reflected that theme.  Here are a few videos of him opening Muppet Babies gifts. I love how he yells "Bahbee!" and how Katie suggests that they watch the video together.  You can tell they're eager to play with each other's gifts!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Joshua Used the Potty!

Well ladies and gentlemen, he may not be talking much yet, but my 21-month-old son has now gone pee-pee in the potty.  Twice.

On Thanksgiving Day, my mom sensed that Joshua needed to use the potty, so put him on just for kicks, and sure enough he did a little tinkle.  I was shocked, and tried myself on other occasions, but I had not been able to replicate that until tonight.

Sure enough, he sat on the potty before bath time, and I decided to give it a try.  I unzipped his pajamas, took off his diaper, sat him back down, and whee!  he let it go.

I'm so proud of my little boy!  He got so much attention (which he loves, as you can see from the photo above) that he spent the rest of the evening trying to sit on the potty again.

Congratulations, Joshua!  Any chance you and your sister will be potty-trained within a year of each other?  After all, Katie only was potty-trained in August.  :-)

Little Princesses

Today we went to our favorite dinner theatre to see Rodgers' and Hammerstein's "Cinderella."  John, Katie and I went with John's parents and brother, and family friends Bev and her granddaughter Audrey.  Katie called Audrey "Laundry" and had a great time dancing around with her and watching the show.  Here are a few photos and video from our time.

Audrey and Katie meet one of the wicked stepsisters -- yes, that is a man in drag.

Katie's Christmas Song

Katie performed in her first Christmas sing-along yesterday with the rest of her preschool class.  She's in the plaid skirt and her best friend Daniel is in the green shirt.

I didn't know until the performance that she has now learned how to bow.  And how!  The end of this video reminds me of the woman at the end of "The Sound of Music" -- the woman in the singing competition who wouldn't stop bowing.

Big thanks to her daddy and her Oma for making sure they were in the audience for Katie's Christmas debut!