For the Love of Chocolate

So, we had an awesome Valentine's weeked (well one weekend early) and got to go to a chocolater fundraising event for the French Culinary school in Chicago. What a wonderful experience. We had lots of delicious treats and way too much red wine. I also got a chocolate body art tatoo. Here are some pictures.

Joel's Wrestling Tournament

Joel is in wrestling this winter. We are all learning a lot -

1. Joel does not like wrestling

2. Joel weighs and looks like a second grader - they had no Kindergarten wrestlers for him (in his weight range) so they had to bump him up into the first and second grade range.

3. Parents can be really mean - you should see some of the parents at the tournament - they are yelling at 1st graders for not winning. Telling them they are no good and losers, etc.

4. We are not ready to give up every weekend to high tail it around Wisconsin going to different wrestling matches. (Good thing he doesn't like wrestling)

All in all it was a great experience for everyone and Joel won a 3rd place trophy, which he sleeps with every night. I think all the kids should get a trophy just for going.

Cheer Sammy Cheer

So last weekend, Samantha tried out Cheerleading. She is the one in the back row, holding her pom pom up in front of her face.

Afterwards, she told me, "Mom, it's not really my thing."

She is in the back row of the video - off to the right hand side. You can tell, it's really not her thing.

Bombers

Sometimes we remember the strangest things from our childhood. One thing I remember is going with my dad to a bar in Kenosha, WI for a Meatball Bomber sandwich. To this day I can't remember much more than that - but boy, do I get cravings for a bomber sandwich.

I take meatballs (recipe below) place a few or so on a hoagie or hotdog bun, put on a slice of mozzerella cheese and spoon over some marinara sauce...Mmmmm good.

If you are my beefless sister - I guess you could substitute all the meat with ground turkey or chicken - but that just wouldn't taste the same.

Meatballs
3 lbs. Ground Beef
3/4 lb. Ground Pork Sausage
3 large eggs
3/4 cup Milk
2 1/4 cups Breadcrumbs
2 tsp. Garlic Salt
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 sweet onion chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Add beef, pork, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Measure milk and add in eggs - beat lightly. Add egg/milk mixture to meat - mix everything together until well blended.

I use a small ice cream scooper and scoop out golfball size meatballs. Put on large baking sheets and cook for approx. 20 Minutes - flip them over and cook for approx. 20 minutes more - or until done.

* I use rubber gloves when mixing meat - helps with the stickness and mess.

First Week Back

So we are into day 2 of the first week back to normal life. Monday was a little hectic. Samantha didn't get to school until 11AM as she had a doctor appointment. It's her pre surgery appointment - so everything is fine and ready to go.

Joel went to wrestling last night but got hit in the ear - so he was done early - he refused to go back to practice. Guess with the tubes and ear infections he's still sensitive in his ears. (Or it could be the fact that he had the Nintendo DS in the car and was wanting to play video games.)Maybe I need to get him one of the ear guards to wear. We will see what happens on Wednesday night - it's wrestling picture night. That should be fun.

Today is swimming day for the kids with their after school program. Joel has a horrible habit of playing around in the locker room and not getting dressed - instead he just causes problems. I warned him that he would loose his video games if it happened again tonight. We will have to wait and see...

It's a New Year

New Year's Resolutions

2009 is upon us and it's time once again to make those resolutions for the new year. So here is the beginning of Sammy & JoJo...

Now everyone can follow the life trials and tribulations of a 7 and 5 year old - or at least keep better up to date on what we are doing.

The picture is to remind us all of summer fun. (Left to Right: Gavin, Connor, Ethan, Sam, Joel)