One of my latest consignment store finds - John Paul-sized plaid pants.  Perfect for a 2.5-year-old golfer/geriatric.  But seriously, so cute, right?

The Stairs

"Hey Mom, you know what's SO awesome?  The stairs!!!"

"Dad can come peek through the railings and it's SO funny..."

"I mean really, SO FUNNY!!!"

"And sometimes my brother leaves his shoes on the steps, and I can play with them!"

"Uh oh, time to make a run for it - Dad's coming!"

Wisdom

We saw a car at church whose license plate read, "Wisdom" - John Paul immediately read it on his own and asked me, "Talk about wisdom?"

So I tried to explain what exactly wisdom is...  Not that he really cared, he also asked me to talk about Sanctus and St. Michael (my license plate and Andrew's license plate, "SNCTUS" & "STMCHL").

So we get home and he's playing on his own and I hear him say, "WISDOM!!!"

And I look over and he's spelled this on the fridge, entirely on his own:

And he's taken the letters out of his puzzle to spell it, too!

This kid is ridiculous.

You know you're a parent when...

You find yourself reaching for toilet paper off the pile of clean, crumpled paper that has been taken off the roll.

Seriously, whoever installed an open-ended toilet paper holder in our bathroom did NOT have young children in mind.  It is far too easy for a one-year-old to sneak into the bathroom while Mom is brushing her teeth, grab the roll off the holder, and take it into her brother's room for some very sneaky fun.

Normally I notice a stream of paper winding its way from the toilet to the door and stop her in her tracks - too sneaky this time!

Gnocchi with sage and garlic

Okay, it's time to start posting some of my favorite recipes here so that I remember them!  I feel like I go through cooking stages where there are several dishes I make pretty frequently and then seasons change and I forget them...

Here's one of my favorite SUPER quick meals:

Ingredients:

1/2 a stick of butter

(I have a stick pictured here because if you cut it in half it just says "BUT" and then your toddler comes into the kitchen and says, "May I pweez have some BUT???" and you have to stifle a laugh and then you feel like a 6th grader for laughing at a butt joke...)

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

(or more...  or less, but I really love me some garlic!)

.5 oz fresh sage, chopped

(you can also use about 2 tsp ground sage.  I buy a 1 oz package at the grocery store and chop it all up and then freeze the rest)

1 lb package of potato gnocchi

(or be daring and make your own - ricotta gnocchi is super-easy!).

Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and a whole bunch of grated parmesan.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan while you boil water for your gnocchi.  Add garlic and cook until soft, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Add sage and cook until bright green turns dull.

Drain your cooked gnocchi and toss in the pan with sauce.

Add a healthy handful of parmesan and serve immediately. 

(feel free to add a couple handfuls of parmesan directly to your mouth...  That stuff's tasty!)

Serve it on china!  You know you don't use it often enough!



I LOVE this recipe, particularly in the summer when we can get fresh sage at the farmer's market and serve it alongside some tasty caprese salad.  If you use fresh sage, you can pretend you're eating a green veggie, too :P

The kids absolutely gobble this up - normally we have just enough for the whole family, but tonight evidently should have been a 2-package night, since both John Paul and Cecilia ate all theirs immediately and were begging for more.  I gave them prunes, they were happy with that...  It's also a really good food to serve your toddler when you're encouraging eating with utensils, since those little dumplings are just so easy to spear!

Total cost?  Around $5, max!  Use the money you saved on a nice bottle of wine :)

In short:

1 lb package potato gnocchi

1/2 stick of salted butter

4-5 gloves garlic, minced

.5 oz chopped sage (about 2 tbsp)

1/4 cup grated parmesan, or any hard italian cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1.  While boiling water for gnocchi, melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet.

2.  Add garlic to butter, cooking until soft.

3.  Throw sage in the pan and stir until leaves start losing their brilliance.  Salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Add gnocchi to boiling water, cook until it starts rising to the top, then drain and immediately add to sauce.

5.  Toss with 1/4 cup (or more) of grated parmesan.  Serve immediately!