Everyone makes mistakes...

... even me.

I was dying for REAL chicken fingers tonight.  We had a ton of chicken in the fridge and all the right ingredients, so we started the adventure.  Audrey moved on and watched tv with her crackers while Nathaniel got all the ingredients out and followed directions to a tee.

Egg, flour, vinegar, baking soda, bread crumbs, milk and so on.  We were doing great.  1 Quart of oil in the pan.

And that's where it all went wrong.  I put it on high to hurry it along, I put a lid on it to avoid anything splattering out and burning either of us.

Took the marinading chicken out of the fridge, took the lid off the pan and BOOM, smoke filled the house instantly.  Stop, Drop & Roll type smoke.

I took the pan outside, Nathaniel grabbed scarfs for us all to wrap around our faces, I opened windows, he got us all paper bags to breathe in & out of, I started some fans, he explained to Audrey that we were going to be ok.  He was amazing.

The house was full of smoke, it was awful, I've never seen anything like it just from simple cooking. We froze during the airing out process but eventually things were back to normal.

We salvaged the oil, started over & ate delicious homemade chicken fingers followed up with pumpkin pie.  Everything was right in the world again.

Things we learned:

      You shouldn't turn oil on high while trying to speed up the process
      You shouldn't put a lid on the oil that's on high
      Nathaniel really listened during fire safety week

Dinnertime thoughts.

Nathaniel:

Dear God. Thank for you this beautiful day but not the strong wind I didn't like that. Please don't make tomorrow as windy...."

Two funnies:

Me:   OK Guys, I'm going to make eggs for breakfast
N:     But Moooom, Eggs aren't for breakfast, they're for Dinner!!

----

When thinking we were out of diapers & pull ups:

Dan:   Audrey, tonight you're not going to have a diaper or pull up, so you have to stay dry all night.
A:      OH MAAAAN!

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While I was working on Veteran's Day, the kids were home with Dan. They had some great fun outside.

Yellow Belt

This is from October when Nathaniel tested for his yellow belt.

I had a hard time getting it under 10 minutes and still giving a taste for all of it. Forgive the shaky camera, I had Audrey on my lap.

You can also watch it bigger here

An Add On

I don't know why this pic wasn't in with the others.  I don't even know why I like it so much.  But I do.

Maybe because they're each in their own little Halloween land of make believe.  Taking it all in. Together.

This one is up there for grabs as #1 favorite too:

Here's another that was never posted.  From a walk we took a few weeks ago, before hats & gloves.
And before the color Really hit our area.

Happy Baweeeen!!!

That's how Audrey said it all night.

Trick or Treating was great.  We went with Nathaniel's self-declared betrothed, Jenna.  The kids had so much fun. Audrey was scared for the first dozen or so houses but then got the hang of it and started to just ignore the scary costumes all around us.  Jenna's brother Carter, who is in Audrey's class, opted to stay home with Dad.

Unfortunately I'd left the bumblebee wings at home on the table. OOPS.

1st Grade

Why hasn't someone created cliff notes about schools and all the options? It's so overwhelming.

Either he's tall

Or she's just height challenged...

- Sent via Blackberry by the Verizon Network -

One of my most recent favs.

Pictures are finally set.

Way too many for me to post on this site so to see 190 pics of Dan's big birthday party: CLICK HERE