It's Love

Greek Sliders

I've never posted a non-cupcake recipe before, probably because I'm no Barefoot Contessa! However, I found a recipe through Tastespotting that, after a little tweaking, has become a weekly favorite in our house. The original recipe is for full size Greek Burgers made with ground pork and can be found here.

I used ground turkey instead of pork, cut the burger recipe in half, and turned the burgers into sliders. We used King's Hawaiian Savory Butter Rolls, topped the slider with thinly sliced red onion, lettuce and of course lots of the tzatziki sauce. Served them with french fries, and Jay even plated his up so we could document our new favorite.

Please try them, you will not be sorry! You will however be unkissable.

Preschoolers

Today was the first day of preschool for Amanda and Jack.

Jack is officially a preschooler now! He is the second youngest in the two-year old class, and he brought home a note that said he cried for the entire three hours. At first my heart broke, and then I thought - wait a minute! I looked back to this post and remembered that Jack used the same con last year! When I asked him about his day he was giggling and smiling, then when I asked if he cried he scrunched his face up in a pout and said "I kyyyyyy cause cause cause Mommy and Daddy and Manny and Viveff, I sad, I kyyyy." But his mood said otherwise, he seemed like he had really enjoyed himself. I asked him about his favorite part of school and he just kept saying "gapoo" over and over again. He finally added "gapoo...cars!" and I realized he was talking about carpool. Gapoo was my favorite part too, because Jack hopped right into his seat, Amanda buckled him in, hopped into her own seat, buckled herself, and we were off. It has NEVER worked like that before. Gapoo rocks this year!

And the most wonderful part of the first day of preschool was seeing Amanda's friend sitting in her classroom. Earlier this year this classmate was fighting for her life in the hospital. She became very sick from an E. coli infection (traced back to cookie dough) and ended up in total renal failure. She started having strokes and was in a medically induced coma to help save her tiny body. Not only did she make it through this critical state, she fought an uphill battle during rehabilitation this summer. And there she was, sitting in her chair on the first day of school. Same sweet little girl, looking like she had spent her summer on the beach. I don't even know what else to say about how amazing this kid is! Speechless.

The Other Show Worth Watching

This is the other show I'm excited to watch. It starts in two weeks, which is sooo much better than having to wait until January! (talking to you, ABC - Fox has it going on).

Sully

This is Sully, the newest member of our family! I will write more about him later, but wanted to give him a proper introduction on the interwebs.

We named him Sully. As in watch-me-land-this-plane-on-the-Hudson Sully. Also as in the big blue monster in Monsters, Inc. It seemed a fine name for a dog of his stature, esp. since his new pal is a cat named Moose. Moose and Sully. Now we are complete.

Charlie-esque

A very mean person on facebook keeps reminding me that the final season of Lost doesn't start until January of 2010. But then she redeemed herself by creating a great Lost playmix and I forgave her. I started to get excited again. Maybe a little too excited because Amanda had a message for me:

For anyone who doesn't watch Lost...shame on you!

Bus Rider

Today was Elizabeth's second day as a first grader and her first day as a bus rider.

I tried to get a picture of her getting off of the bus, but there was a glitch. She was so excited about being on the bus that she froze and didn't get off.

After the regulars got off, the bus just sat there for almost 3 minutes. I tried waving my arms, Amanda was screaming "Elizabeth!" and Jack was screaming "Vivefff!" The bus driver finally started walking up and down the aisle, searching. It was a packed house and he just kept looking at me like "this one?" From the looks of it he started checking paperwork to figure out which kid was mine. Every single kid on the bus was looking at me except my child! The bus driver finally came up to the front and said "sorry about that, she wasn't sure if this was her stop." When she stepped out, all she could say was "I've never been on a driving bus before, that was awesome."

The sweetest part was when Elizabeth's teacher called to make sure she got home okay. She said Elizabeth looked a little nervous and she just wanted to make sure everything went okay. She also found an older "bus buddy" to keep her eye on Elizabeth. (Like I said, there was a glitch)

I have a feeling this year is gonna be a great one.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Don't judge. You know it's true. The first time I saw this commercial I thought it was funny but it was before I had kids. Now it's hilarious.

Don't Worry, Be Musical

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.