First and foremost,

Happy Birthday Grandpa Balke

Yes it’s that time year again when the Birthday’s start rolling in. I think between now and March between both families we have 6 Birthdays. It’s kind of crazy. Next is Grandma Balke’s on the 13th of February. I won’t tell you how old she’s going to be but it’s officially old. Just kidding!

Once again we have snow. Surprise, surprise. We really can’t remember a winter so snowy. It hasn’t been super cold and we really haven’t had a lot of inversion days, but just constant snow. This morning we woke up to about 4-5 inches. That’s a lot to shovel. We haven’t seen any of our flower bed since the beginning of December, I hope my pansies are doing alright. As mentioned before Evan has discovered snow and that he likes it. So he went outside with me to help shovel. So cute. I even caught him making his own snow angel.
Hope you enjoy the pictures and short video.

We’ve been busy the last few days. Evan is finally big enough to wear the clothes we bought him in Germany back in August. The picture above is Evan all ready to go to church Sunday Morning.

Uncle Brian and Farrah came over for Sunday dinner. Evan thought Farrah’s hat was fun to wear.

As a daily ritual Evan takes all of the pots and pans out of the cupboard then proceeds to climb in and have a little party. I just need to teach him how to put it all back in, because right now that’s my job and I’m doing it about 2-3 times a day. But it’s ok, he’s having fun and it gives him something to do while I’m making dinner, just don’t think your going to use a pot that he happens to be using at the moment. Hahaha

For Christmas Grandpa Balke built Evan his very own Rocking Horse. He loves it! A few times a day he goes over and tries to get on, so for now I lift him up and he moves back and forth. He’s almost got the hang of dismounting, give him a few months and he’ll be king of his horse. When I was growing up I remember my brothers having a horse just like this one, and they loved it. I’m sure it will be a favorite for Evan and the kids to come.

We just got back from a wonderful weekend in Star Valley, Wyoming with the entire Barclay gang - Grandma and Grandpa, Scott, Anne, Will, Kimberly and Kirk and the three of us. The Nield family was nice enough to let us use their beautiful cabin and accompanying snowmobiles. It was cold, but tons of fun. We haven’t done much with Evan in the snow. So on Sunday afternoon we thought we’d bundle him up and go outside. He discovered snow, and that he likes walking in it. Now at home he throws fits to go outside and cries when I get to cold and want to come back in. What a silly guy. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

I love this skit about Real Estate Agents. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

If anyone truly knows me, they know that I’m not a big fan of Spaghetti. For some reason that combination of noodles and sauce just makes my nose turn up. I can do other combinations with the same ingredients, and I even like Spaghetti Pie, which is just spaghetti baked for a while. Anyways I saw a recipe for Turkey Meatballs that made my mouth water and I wanted to test out the new food processor I got for Christmas. So I gave it a try. Ya it was the best Spaghetti and Meatballs I’ve ever had, and I can’t wait to make it again. If your a fan give Everyday Food’s recipe a try. Evan even liked then, and he’s not quite a meat man yet.

Ingredients
Makes 35 meatballs

3 slices whole-wheat sandwich bread
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey, 93 percent lean, dark meat
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 small cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 large egg
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions
Place bread in food processor; pulse until fine crumbs form. In a small bowl, mix breadcrumbs with milk; set aside at least 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine turkey, scallions, garlic, parsley, egg, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and breadcrumb mixture; mix gently with a fork.

With hands, form mixture into balls, each equal to 2 level tablespoons; arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. To freeze, transfer baking sheet to freezer. Freeze for 1 hour to set shape; transfer frozen meatballs to an airtight container or resealable plastic bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.

If cooking right away:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Generously salt boiling water and return to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente, according to package directions. Drain pasta; set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and cook until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add marinara sauce and 1/2 cup water; cook until heated through, 5 minutes. Add spaghetti and toss to combine; serve immediately.

On a recent episode of Wired Science on PBS they interviewed a Computer Scientist from Carnegie Mellon, Luis von Ahn. Not only was it interesting to see this brilliant academic interviewed, but it also introduced a really cool tool he has invented called reCAPTCHA. Basically reCAPTCHA is a way for people to not only prove that they are a person and not a computer when filling out forms on the web, but it utilizes that process to digitize books! How cool is that.

So, inspired by the interview I have switched my spam filtering to reCAPTCHA. Make a comment and see how it works. Also you can check out the interview bellow.

Watching the last several Republican debates have been more like watching WWE wrestling matches than Presidential forums. First it seemed that all the candidates were set on insulting and attacking Romney. This was probably because he was seen as unstoppable if he won in New Hampshire. Now that he has lost the barbs are flying elsewhere. The biggest attack in the debate last night came from Fred Thompson and was directed towards Mike Huckabee. The thing I get a kick out of is the worst insult in the Republican Party is to call someone a Democrat. My guess is that Huckabee and Thompson are going to throw down in the next few days since they are competing for the same voter base.