At Home With Inge

July

2010-10-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

What a summer it has been. I want to have some semblance of an album, hence this dated post. We spent quite a bit of time in our garden in the early part of the summer. Here is Bjorn sitting in a big hole I dug for a raspberry plant. Bjorn loves to play in the dirt and, particularly, he loves to sit in holes in the dirt. And he loves to eat it, too. I read somewhere recently that some doctors theorize that certain autoimmune diseases, such as celiac or Chrones disease, may be linked to overhygenic environments. The idea is that kids are not exposed to little viruses in the dirt as much and so school is too much of a shock to the system. Hopefully that will not be a problem with my little dirt eaters, if this is in fact a true theory!

We traveled to Western Washington for Independence day and spent several days on the boat with my parents. It was lots of fun, despite the sketchy weather. Inge and Bjorn had a great time. Here is a picture of Inge and her Papa looking at Whidbey Island. It is fun to see Inge with Papa because I remember my own times with my Papa (the current Papa's dad).

My sister and I used to love to ride in the carts at the marina and here are Inge and Bjorn enjoying the same thing!

One of the favorite summer pastimes in our household was playing train under the sink in Inge and Bjorn's bathroom. They would drag in pillows and books and could play for quite a while. They managed to bend up the drawer runners in their exuberance, but those can be repaired, I suppose!

Inge LOVED playing in the whale pool this summer.

Bjorn decided to see what Daddy's shoes felt like. He is very interested in just about everyone's shoes, but this is one of his cutest explorations of the family's footwear to date.

We enjoyed a couple of trips to Priest Lake, Idaho in July. Here is a beautiful sunset from one of them.

Here is Inge on a hike at Priest Lake. She was a trooper!

Bjorn loved playing on the sand but wanted very little to do with the water itself. I purchased one of those infant floating rings when Inge was small but neither of my children have been at all interested in using it. Bjorn has his flippies on in this picture, which he absolutely adores. They have dinosaurs on them and he is actually pretty good at walking in them.

So that's a brief recap of July.

Carrying On

2010-06-12T07:57:00.001-07:00

I returned from Medford and was delighted to see little green shoots in my garden! I had nearly despaired of anything growing because the squirels seemed to be digging up all of the seeds and either moving them somewhere else or eating them. I now have some peas coming up among my petunias, which I should transfer; but, I am not sure whether thery are sweet peas, in which case they would go to the fence garden, or snap peas, in which case they would go to the vegetable garden. Should I wait to find out or just guess while they are still rather managable seedlings? Probably the latter.

Inge has enjoyed spending time with me in the garden on days that are fair. We have had some uncommonly cold weather. I was outside yesterday morning and found myself quite chillled to the bone and required a bath to get warm again. However, you can see that we have had some nice days. Here is my little woodland sprite:

Can't you just imagine her doing something a little mischevious--casting a spell on unsuspecting intruders like me?

Inge talks and talks all day. Perhaps someday she will be a teacher or orator. She is certainly priming her voice for extensive use. Bjorn generally just looks at her and smiles before he goes on with his little tasks. Bjorn's tasks include "shopping" (moving canned food from the kitchen cupboard to the footstool and back again), reading (flipping intently through books), and learning to walk. Yes, Bjorn has taken his first independent steps and seems to be taking more and more everyday. I will miss his enthusiastic crawling, accompanied more often than not with "aaaaaaahhhhhhh" as he smiles delightedly because he is trying to get away from me. Last night we attended Byron's retirement party and many people told stories about Byron that elicited laughs from the crowd. Bjorn joined right in and laughed and clapped with everyone else. He has an uncanny grasp on humor at his age. Bjorn is also learning new words. He likes to look at things (he is not particular although he really liked the Tiki torches last night) and say "oh wow."

We like to have little devotionals over breakfast and are going through the Topical Guide sections on Jesus Christ. These are typically only one or two verses, which is good for our short attention span. Anyway, I asked Inge what was the most special and important thing in our lives after reading a verse about how Jesus is our Savior and the only way we can return to Heavenly Father. She replied without hesitation and with great enthusiasm, "toys!" I chuckled before responding that, while toys are very important and lots of fun, Jesus is moreso.

Inge is really becoming interested in participating in storytime at the library, which is good because she has had over a year to do it. It is fun to see her doing head-shoulders-knees-and-toes and teddy bear-teddy bear with all of the other children. Another highlight of the past week for Inge was an invitation to a friend's tea party birthday party. She wore her "Rose Fairy Princess" tutu and enjoyed herself thoroughly. Inge's favorite thing in the world right now is probably her Thomas, Rosie, and James engines. They are squishy little bath toys that my sister Crissy sent to Bjorn for his birthday and Inge appropriated. Bjorn does not really know the difference at this point, although after his cousin Jordan's Train birthday party Bjorn has his own squishy engines that he defends. Anyway, Inge brings Thomas, Rosie, and James everywhere. This is really one of the first things to which she has been consistently attached. We went shopping at a consignment store the other day and there was a huge Thomas that one could ride on and Inge was absolutely delighted just to look at it!

A final note on Inge. We are digging really big holes so we can plant roses in our front yard and so we have unearthed a few earthworms. Inge was with me the other day and I found a really big one. She was interested in it so I gave it to her to hold in her hand for a little while. She did a great job and thought it very interesting. I was REALLY excited that she did not think it gross because, as those who know me know, I like the small creepy-crawly things very much!

A visit to Wenatchee and Medford

2010-06-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

I do not have any pictures from our trip last week, but I thought I would record it anyway. On Memorial Day we traveled to Wenatchee to find the graves of some of my relatives. On the way we stopped at my Aunt Gretchen's and Uncle John's house for a short visit. We enjoyed seeing my cousins Jay and Charlie as well. It was fun to catch up and we enjoyed these fabulous grilled cheese sandwiches with some feta cheese intermingled with the cheddar cheese. Isn't that the coolest idea?!? They were very good.

After we left Aunt Gretchen's and Uncle John's we traveled to Wenatchee and found the graves of our ancestors. It was really cool to do this. Somehow going to the graveyard made these people more real to me. I love the emphasis that my church places on family history. Somehow I feel more significant, and I feel like my choices are more significant in the span of my own family's history, when I know that I am part of this larger family. We also enjoyed a trip to the Owl Soda Fountain in Wenatchee. I remember going there several times with my Quincy cousins and it was fun to take my kiddos there. I had a cherry sour soda and it was really yummy.

My dad met us in Wenatchee and took the Kiddos and I back to Snohomish. We continued to Medford, Oregon the next day to visit my sister's family. The impetus for this trip was my mom's birthday present from me and Crissy: tickets to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was done with period costumes and accents and it was very good. Mr. Collins was particularly memorable although the whole cast was very good. The play was well written and covered the majority of the events in the book in just under three hours.

We also enjoyed celebrating Jordan's second birthday. Crissy made a train cake (individual train cupcakes on a track on green rice crispy treat field) and we celebrated at this cool park in Medford where train enthusiasts have an actual miniature train that kids and their parents can ride. I have never seen anything like it and it was lots of fun, particularly since all of the kids are pretty gaga over Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends. Even Angelina has bowed to Thomas in Inge's estimation! It was wonderful to spend time with cousins.

May

2010-06-06T15:34:00.001-07:00

I was trying to download these pictures in the right order but it did not work out, so May goes backwards. This picture is taken on Memorial Day weekend at Riverside State Park in Spokane. It was fun to watch the rushing river from the pedestrian suspension bridge. Bjorn and Inge were very excited by the rapid water. I was just trying to remember that fairly sturdy boards kept them from the water, but it was a little nerve wracking!

Karl and Bjorn at the river!

Inge and me at the river. Inge enjoyed her chartreuse lichen (it is in her hand) as a souvenir.

We decided to have a campout for Memorial Day weekend in our backyard just in case things did not go well with the kids. This was fortunate because Bjorn did not take well to the tent when it was time for sleeping. He did enjoy playing in it with Inge as you can see below. They are so silly sometimes!

Bjorn likes to sit and leaf through the scriptures sometimes. He can get in and out of the rocking chair by himself.

Near the beginning of the month we took pictures at Manito Park just as we did last year. Inge and Bjorn were darling and the lilacs were heavenly.

Inge had her first pigtails this month. Isn't she cute!

Inge likes to wear my high-heals. What little girl doesn't like to wear mommy's shoes?

We planted our garden and all our annuals, as well as a few perenials and it is so exciting to see our garden growing!

April

2010-06-06T15:06:00.001-07:00

April was a very busy month. It started off with General Conference and Easter. Here is Karl with the Kiddos on our way to church and listen as much as possible given our small children.

We enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt on Easter morning. Bjorn was a little clueless...

But Inge is really getting into hunting.

We took a family portrait in our Easter clothes but it was only so-so because we did it using the timer on the camera when we were late for church, so we were not patient enough to wait to get a really good shot.

Bjorn really enjoyed his first "Peep."

After an Easter Egg hunt at Grandma's, Inge did her favorite activity at Grandma's--trampoline jumping!

We went to St. Anthony, Idaho for my Grandma Jeanne's 87th birthday. It was lots of fun. Here is a picture of Bjorn sleeping. Isn't he cute!?! He has really become attached to "Bear" and he fell asleep hanging onto him.

I love these pictures where a slightly bigger child is trying to haul around a younger sibling who is more than half her size!

Darling Bjorn riding a bike.

Bjorn's "talent" is flying. Karl used to do this with Inge but she liked doing it a lot more than Bjorn. He is not crazy about it. This is from Grandma's birthday party where all of the great-grandchildren shared a talent. Inge's talent was doing an arabesque, a plie, and reciting Moses 1:39 "For behold, this is my work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I made Grandma's birthday cakes: a pound cake, a ginger layer cake, and a chocolate cake.

Here is Grandma (center in apron) with Uncle Tom, Aunt Harriet, and Aunt Diana.

Inge and Bjorn riding the rocking sheep at Grandma's house as Papa supervises.

Grandma with Inge and Bjorn.

April is Bjorn's birthday month. It's hard to believe he is one year old! He enjoyed his cake, although it was not his first cake experience as was the case with Inge. Nana accidentally fed him some of Inge's birthday cake, so we decided to let him have Grandma Great's birthday cake, too!

Bjorn in a box!

Bjorn got his own little scooter bike for his birthday. He loves to ring the bell.

I decorated Bjorn's chocolate cake with blue accent icing but then I could not find the blue food coloring. Somehow Bjorn found it, of course!

Here Inge is mowing the vegetable garden with Bjorn's new bubble lawn mower.

April was a busy month. We spent a lot of time and energy in the garden!

March

2010-06-06T14:57:00.001-07:00

Inge is "sledding" here with Toad.

Bjorn loves to play with his shaker. He actually has fairly good rhythm for a 1 year old!

Bjorn discovered the previously unpenetrated space under the sink this month. He loves to empty out all of the bath toys, soap, and garbage from under the sink in his bathroom and get in.

Once again, Bjorn and Inge in a box.

Inge is reading a story to her doll Annie. Annie started becoming much more real to Inge this month. They have and on-again-off-again friendship, but it is fun to see Inge treating her dollie and Bjorn like we treat her.

We spent a great deal of March in the garden as we worked on getting it ready for planting. Our vegetable garden was FULL of fairly big rocks, which is one of the reasons why we did not really get much produce out of our garden last year. Here's hoping for a better year! We've certainly put in the sweat equity for it.

The Rest of February

2010-06-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here is another shot at more consistent blogging. I have seriuos doubts about whether I will ever succeed at this, but try I will!

Inge loves Angelina Ballerina. Here she is dressed up as her favorite little mouse doing an arabesque as her brother looks lovingly (as always!) on. Inge also has a darling plie that would have made my ballet teacher horrified because she insisted that we tuck our derriers under rather than stick them out. But part of the beauty of being 3 is that you do not have to worry about that sort of thing.

Here is a traditional New Orleans King Cake that I made for Mardi Gras. It was filled with almond paste and really yummy!

Inge enjoyed pushing Bjorn in the Brio cart. Now Bjorn can push it on his own. He is so close to walking.

In reviewing these pictures I can hardly believe how much Bjorn has grown. Here he is as the proverbial "sack of potatoes."

And here is that cute little "sack of potatoes" from behind. Aren't his feet darling!

Our library hosted a "Fancy Nancy" tea party just before Inge's birthday. The staff read Fancy Nancy stories and the children were invited to make crowns and tiaras just like Fancy Nancy. Inge and Bjorn enjoyed their tiara and crown, respectively.

Inge "holding" Bjorn. This was generally a short-lived experiment as you can see because Inge and Bjorn would fall sideways laughing after only a couple of seconds of "holding."

Inge's "Frog and Toad" birthday cake. I wish that the picture was not sideways, but I can't figure out how to right it. We had a fun birthday party with her friends. We made kite invitations, searched for Toad's lost button and wrote letters to someone who "never receives any mail." Inge had a fabulous time with her friends and still talks about eating in the living room, which was apparently quite a novel experience! Nana and Papa and Grandma came to her birthday party, which made it extra special.

Inge with her birthday jewels.

Inge enjoyed a trip to Mobius (our children's museum) on her birthday.

Bjorn had fun, too.

Inge got a "Dirt King" trike for her birthday. It is huge but it was the only one we could find that was made in the USA. She and all of her siblings will be able to use it because it is VERY durable.

Inge and Bjorn enjoying one of our only snows this winter. Bjorn did not get to go out because he had a cold, but he had fun watching Inge through the door!

I realize that I have so many pictures of my kids in boxes. I guess I just think that they are cute that way, or maybe it's just a good way to make them stay in one place so I can take the picture!

Maggot Stew Anyone?

2010-02-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

I am still kind of reeling from the experience I am about to relate. It is pretty disgusting so beware if you are prone to a weak stomach. As planned, I made a black bean stew for dinner tonight. I made it in the crock pot earlier today and it has been bubbling all day and making the house smell beautifully. Well, about an half hour prior to the appointed dinner hour, I went to adjust the seasonings and, what do you think, I found a maggot floating in the soup!!! I thought that it was perhaps an anomaly at first, although close examination did reveal that it was some sort of larvae. Upon further examination of the soup, I found several other maggots!!! I think that they must have come from the pork ribs that formed the base of the soup. It was really gross. We went out to dinner tonight!

Bach's Mass in B-flat Minor

2010-02-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that Karl and I had a real date last weekend, with a real babysitter and everything. I have gotten tapped into the local babysitter network, so hopefully this is a harbinger of good things to come. It is really nice to go on a date that is not really just a family activity. Anyway, Karl and I attended Bach's Mass in B-flat Minor, which was performed as part of the Northwest Bach Festival. It was phenomenal. The thing that completely amazes me about the great composers like Bach is that they managed to write so much amazing music. It was not simply a single event of inspiration. They managed to be inspired hundreds of times. Amazing.

We also enjoyed a trip on the bus to Mobius Children's Museum downtown this weekend. Inge loves Mobius and Bjorn is starting to really enjoy it as well. It is not nearly as fantastic as Everett's Imagine Children's Museum or even Seattle's Children's Museum, but it is still a great retreat, particularly when the weather is wintry and the parks unwelcoming. We also enjoyed a treat at Madeline's Patisserie, which is possibly one of my very favorite places in Spokane. Who knew that I'd move here and have a fabulous little French patisserie at my fingertips?!?

Ingespeak and Bjorn's Mobility

2010-02-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

Don't you just want to pick him up and give him a big squeeze?!? I often find myself thus entranced by my little charmer.

One day last week, Inge was building with her blocks. She decided to build a "willpower" (see Frog and Toad: Cookies) and was bound and determined that Bjorn should not knock it over. As he raced toward the dining room in order to accomplish this objective, which borders on the mandatory end of the spectrum for little brother activities, Inge hurriedly closed the sliding door. Here he is, rather bemused by the proceedings:

And here is Inge with her "Willpower."

Here are the cute kiddos. They were all bundled up for a walk. It has been a lot warmer than usual, but it is still definitely winter!

Inge and Bjorn are playing with the train.

Inge has begun making up her own words and I consider myself quite intuitive if I can figure out what she is saying when she begins speaking in her own language. The first word I noticed was "gaagee." I am still not entirely certain what she means by this. She will say "it's gaagee" or "I'm gaagee" when it appears that she is a bit dissatisfied about the state of things. Perhaps it is one of those words for which something is simply lost in translation. She also has begun to use the term "nag" when she means no. Sometimes she makes up her own nonsense words when she would otherwise be repeating after me, such as when we are reading. Inge clearly enjoys her own language. I can hardly blame her. I remember pretending to be Swedish with my sister and friends when were on a boat trip in the San Juans. I know that we had at least one girl convinced that we really were Swedish.

Bjorn is really getting around these days. He can confidently get in and out of a sitting position and can pull himself up and get himself down. He has not made any attempt at standing without some support but he is a great crawler and can get just about anywhere. He crawled up the stairs onto the stand at church today so that he could play with the organ pedals. When he gets excited he likes to pull himself up on a chair or low table and bang on the table with his little hand. He is darling.

Things have generally been good. I have had some little frustration with Inge and the potty. She still struggles with taking the time to go and has had some deliberate accidents, including a bad one last week in which she just decided to pee all over her bed one morning rather than get up and go to the bathroom. We are working on her understanding that she cannot go to preschool or do fun things as long as she is having accidents on purpose. This is a bit frustrating at times.

And, in the words of Inge, "That's just how it is."

The Latest

2010-01-31T16:21:00.000-08:00

Well, so much for New Year's goals! It's been two weeks since my last post. I feel better about these being goals, rather than resolutions, because goals imply some room for improvement. Resolutions seem more prone to being lost once one has failed.

Yesterday was our Stake's "Fill the Temple" day. Karl and I enjoyed doing some temple work and then we took Inge and Bjorn to the temple grounds to talk to them about why the temple is important to us. We told them about the covenants we have made with one another and Heavenly Father that bind us together as a family forever. This is indubitably the most precious thing in my entire life.

Inge is pointing to the words "Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord," which are inscribed on the exterior of all temples. One of Karl and my favorite wedding photographs is a picture of us looking toward these same words on the Seattle Temple. I like the symbolism of these photographs--looking toward salvation and exaltation while we are yet in the world.

Here is a picture of Inge and Bjorn "sharing" blocks. Inge is still learning how to really share. The blocks are easy because there are ten blocks, five of each color, so they can be very evenly and easily divided. It is a little trickier with single items such as any toy that Inge sees Bjorn playing with. Despite the fact that she may not have thought about this toy for months, Inge immediately determines that the world is going to end if she cannot play with the toy. we are still learning how to share in these more complex scenarios. Notice that Bjorn is sitting up very confidently in this picture. He can now get to a sitting position from a crawling position. He is also starting to pull himself up on the crib and bathtub and that sort of thing.

One of Bjorn's cute tricks these days is to run for the refrigerator and seek to climb inside every time he sees that I have opened it. I have no idea what is the appeal to him of this cold closet, but there is something that he finds exceptionally interesting. Bjorn is also communicating in his own little way by shaking his head at us and clicking his tongue. When we shake our heads back at him he laughs and shakes his head again. It is fun.

I gave Karl a HUGE puzzle for Christmas. It took us three late nights to put it all together. Here is a picture of Inge working on her little puzzle while Daddy works on the big puzzle. When I put the big puzzle away, I put it in separate baggies labeled "Edge," "NW," "SE," etc. Karl said that this was cheating. I disagreed and opined that it was just cleaver planning so that the puzzle could be assembled in one sitting. Is it cheating?

Here Inge is carrying Bjorn on her shoulders with Karl's help. They were all laughing their heads off. Inge loves her brother and Bjorn loves his Inge. They are so cute when they start laughing together. Inge still likes baby talk and baby things sometimes. Here latest "baby" expression is "a geegee." I have no idea what she is talking about when she uses it, but she says it with a confidence that suggests she does! Inge is getting more and more loquacious as the days go by. This is amazing considering that she has always been very talkative! Some of her cute phrases include, "it feels me/Bjorn/you/Daddy/etc. better," "Oh" (she has substituted this for "yes" in her vocabulary), and "I have a sore throat in my nose." OK, that last one she has just said once but I thought it very cute. The others she says regularly. Inge is very observant of the world around her and likes to talk about what she observes. She absolutely keeps me on my toes.

My sister made these fabulous aprons for me and Inge for Christmas. Inge loves wearing them together and is starting to help me cook more regularly. This also helps her to be more interested in eating dinner sometimes, which is well worth the extra mess that sometimes occurs.

Inge and Bjorn in a box. I have yet to meet a kid who does not like to play in boxes.

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

We took Inge and Bjorn to Manito Park last October for a photo shoot with the leaves. It was a beautiful day!

Bjorn is just delighted about life.

Inge loved the leaves.

They love each other's company.

Beautiful blue eyes.

Surprise!

Bjorn got really tired by the time we were finished!

Papa and Inge roaming a rotten pumpkin patch looking for serviceable pumpkins. There were very few to be found. Note to self: go earlier next year!

Papa and Bjorn

Inge picking apples.

Bjorn was a pea pod, or as Inge put it a "Pea Pod Bunting."

Daddy and his kiddos. Inge was Angelina Ballerina.

Jack 'o Lanterns

Messy faces

Happy Bjorn

I LOVE my double stroller. I wish I had gotten it sooner.

Daddy and Inge in the backyard to enjoy our first snow (it came in November).

Inge with her thinking cap on. She is pondering her sculpture.

Inge with her sculpture of our church building.

Bjorn the snake wrestler.

Step aside, Harry, I'm going to be the greatest seeker in the world!

Look at our big boy!

Our gingerbread village. This was the product of our efforts at our official gingerbread house making Christmas party. It was lots of fun.

Do you think that Inge will be a scientist when she grows up? She likes my old chemistry goggles!

Papa and Bjorn at Christmastime.

Parker and Inge with funny looks on their faces--have they been up to something!?!

Bjorn on Christmas morning.

Inge as Angelina Ballerina on Christmas morning.

Bjorn on the Norwegian Star for our cruise with Nana, Papa, Crissy, Steve, Parker, and Jordan to the Mexican Rivera.

Crissy, Inge, Parker, and Nana on the ship.

Inge pondering the ocean outside our window.

In Mazatlan. I loved Mazatlan.

Bjorn in the coolest high chair. Mazatlan is known for its shrimp and we had the most amazing shrimp lunch there at a hotel on the beach. Lovely!

On the tour bus in Mazatlan.

Cool landscape shot of Mazatlan from our ship.

Inge loved playing in the pool on the ship.

Inge, Mommy, and a Macaw in Puerto Vallarta.

I have decided that I am going to try to blog once a week as part of my new years goals. Perhaps having a specific time to post will help me be more consistent with posting. So much has happened since I last posted three months ago. Inge and Bjorn have both grown up so much. Inge is nearly three. She is darling. Her moments of frustration have become dramatically more dramatic and her ability to learn has similarly increased. Bjorn is now crawling and trying to talk in his own baby gibberish, which is so cute to hear. He says "ma-ma" when he is upset and wants me, although I don't know that he has necessarily made the connection between the sounds that are coming out of his mouth and me. Inge's cute sayings these days include: "I think so" with a cute inflection on "think," "It feels me better" or "That will feel me/Bjorn better," and "Boy-yo-yo-yo-rn." It is so fun to talk to Inge. She makes me laugh.

Updates

2009-10-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

Bjorn is progressing very well with his sleep training. You can see that he has embraced his nighttime story! Karl and I are also learning a new nighttime song for him ("Great God to Thee, My Evening Song") which is fun but challenging. It is much longer than Inge's nighttime song ("Now The Day Is Over"), which, by the way, she has taken to singing to him prior to his naps, while dancing. They're CUTE, aren't they!

Here is a picture of Karl playing the piano with Inge and Bjorn. Bjorn is starting to get the concept that sound happens when he strikes the keys. Inge is starting to understand scales. She sings to herself all of the time and often makes up her own melodies that include little scales. It is fun to listen to her.

Inge and Bjorn's first ride together in the bicycle trailer stroller. It did not go very well. Bjorn got upset halfway through and we suspect inadvertent encroachment on the part of Bjorn that resulted in pushing on Inge's part. This was not entirely her fault as the seat is rather bowed (it is merely a piece of fabric that is slung between the frame) so it is natural that he should slide into her because she is heavier. We would not recommend this mode for transporting two.

Here is a picture of Bjorn enjoying the sunshine on one of our beautiful early autumn days. He loves rolling and has discovered his feet, which is really cute. Bjorn loves to talk in his own little way and smiles at all of us as much as he can. He especially loves to see Inge and gives her some of the greatest smiles.

A couple of weeks ago we went up to Greenbluff, an agricultural community that lies northeast of Spokane, to pick apples and enjoy the country. Here is Inge riding in an antique fire engine car.

Bjorn playing in the pea seed box with his Daddy.

Inge rode a pony for the first time and loved it. Here is our little girl waving at her admiring entourage!

This picture of Inge on a pony reminds me of another story I wanted to post about her. We all love Inge's run. It is a sort of skip that reminds me of the Knights with the coconuts in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and she loves to skip about our house this way. And speaking of "Monty Python," Inge has recently developed an especially emphatic "no" that sounds a great deal like the Knights that go "Nie" from aforesaid film. A drawn out "nnnnnnn" crescendos into a staccato "o" and I have to laugh every time she does it!

Here is our darling little boy. Don't you just want to give him a squeeze and a kiss? Bjorn is such a sweetheart.

Inge loves to read to Bjorn and she loves to be read to. It is fun to see her mind developing. She has recently become very interested in similes and opposites (Inge is like Mommy and Bjorn is like Daddy, and that sort of thing). She also continues to enjoy placing a name on everything. The other day she informed me that her mom is named Mommy.

Bjorn has advanced to solid foods. He has not really gotten into them yet, though. It takes time.

Here is a picture of Inge and Bjorn in the playpen. Inge wants to be a baby like Bjorn fairly often these days.

Here is a closing picture of our little darling Bjorn!

Crackers and Cookies

2009-09-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

The long-promised cracker recipe is here. I've also added a recipe for some pretty authentic tasting oreo-style cookies!

Graham Crackers
These are slightly less sweet than commercial graham crackers and always very popular. They are sweet enough to satisfy many an after-dinner sweet tooth but without the guilt of typical cookies.
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons powdered milk
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine flours, soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Beat shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles damp sand. Combine water, powdered milk, honey, and sugar and add to flour mixture. Mix until a stiff dough forms. Break dough into three equal portions. Form each portion into a rectangle and roll out to uniform 1/8-inch thickness. Sprinkle with additional sugar or cinnamon-sugar, if desired, and cut into 1 ½-inch to 2-inch squares with a pizza cutter. Transfer to baking sheets and bake 12 minutes. Allow crackers to cool on baking sheet. Repeat with additional pieces of dough. Store in sealed container or plastic zip-top bags.
Chocolate Graham Crackers
Follow the same recipe as for standard graham crackers but replace ½ cup of the all purpose flour with ½ cup cocoa.

Cheese Crackers
Like Cheese Nips! I purchase large bags of pre-grated parmesan cheese and store it in the freezer.
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
¾ cup water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flours, soda, and salt. Beat shortening and parmesan cheese into the flour mixture until it resembles damp sand. Add water and beat to form a stiff dough. Break dough into three equal pieces and form each piece into a rectangle. Roll out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut dough into 1-inch squares and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are crisp. Cool crackers in pans and store in zip-top bags or tins.

Oreo-like chocolate cookies
These are healthier than the genuine article but, according to Karl, even better than the real thing!
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons powdered milk
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in mixing bowl. Using paddle attachment at low speed, beat in shortening until mixture resembles damp sand. Combine water, powdered milk, honey, and sugar, and add to flour mixture to make stiff dough. Form ½ teaspoon measures of dough into balls, flatten into uniform disks, and place on ungreased baking sheet. You could try flattening with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, but I did not try this. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time to avoid burning. Allow cookies to cool to warm in the pan then remove to plate.

Icing:
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup shortening
3 tablespoons hot water
¼ teaspoon salt

Combine sugars in bowl of mixer. Beat in shortening and vanilla. Combine water and salt and stir to dissolve before adding to sugar mixture. Beat to form stiff icing. Place in piping bag or large Ziploc bag. If using Ziploc bag, cut corner. Pipe onto cookies and sandwich them together.

Full Circle

2009-09-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Bjorn has been rolling from his tummy to his back for about a month and on Thursday he rolled from his back to his tummy. He is clearly very pleased with his accomplishment because he always grins and laughs after making a full circle.

I also meant to post about Inge and her name-truncation habit. Lately she has decided that it is fun to truncate everyone's names. Sometimes she calls me "Mom" and she thinks it's so funny. I was kind of upset at first because I need to be "Mommy" for at least a couple more years, but then I just had to catch the humor of the whole thing because she really thinks herself quite clever when she does it. She also calls Karl "Dad" sometimes. The best one, however, is "NanaPop," which is a truncation/combination of Nana and Papa (my parents).

Further Updates

2009-09-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

I neglected to mention that Bjorn smiles by opening his mouth as wide as it can go and making his eyes very bright. He also can really scoot himself around on his back. I'll put him on his tummy, he'll roll over and then he could be halfway down the hall by the time I finish changing the laundry. Well, maybe not down the hall but at least off of his cushioning sheepskin and on the hardwood floor!

Inge has a fantastic memory. She is recalling things from the beginning of the summer and she also loves to repeat new expressions that she hears from me. Once again I'm glad that profanity is not part of my life! The other day I was looking at a catalogue (the Peruvian Collection) that had beautiful clothes that were VERY expensive. I looked at a particular nightgown that cost well over $100 and said "Holy Cow! These clothese are expensive!." Inge spent the rest of the day saying "holy cow! mommy said holy cow!"

Inge and Bjorn Updates

2009-09-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

For family home evening this week we went to Manito Park's Duncan Garden, Rose Garden, and Japanese Garden to take pictures. It was a beautiful, warm evening. Inge and Bjorn loved the gardens. I am amazed that we live in such near proximity to such an amazing (and free!) park. Unfortunately some of the pictures are blurry because we were messing around with camera settings.

Here Inge is investigating the pond in the Japanese Garden.

Autumn is beginning to show its face in the Japanese Garden!

Bjorn in the Japanese Garden:

Bjorn and I are on the bridge in the Japanese Garden.

Inge and Karl on the same bridge.

We kept trying to get a picture of Inge and Bjorn by the flowers in Duncan Garden but Inge kept falling over on purpose so we did not have a good one. Inge thought it was really funny, so at least we got a great smile from her!

Inge looks like a little princess surveying her garden from the palace.

Bjorn!

The princess again.

Aren't these gardens beautiful! We had a lovely picnic supper of a rustic tomato tart. I'll post the recipe later because it earned very yummy accolades from Karl.

Inge and Bjorn are both growing up so much and I wanted to capture a few updates here so I don't forget them!

Bjorn has succeeded in rolling from his tummy to his back and is working on cutting a tooth. He is progressing with sleep training and really does well when his teeth are not bugging him. Bjorn really enjoys his sister. He tolerates a lot of poking and bouncing and even encourages it by laughing and smiling at Inge while she does it! I am therefore the one who has to put the kabosh on some of their fun in the interest of keeping my little boy safe! It is clear that Bjorn finds Inge very interesting. Bjorn has not quite figured out how to laugh so he expresses his pleasure by doing this weird sucking in thing that is really quite darling. He has also really started really grabbing at things and loves to put whatever her can get his hands on into his mouth. He does this is such a cute, stealthy way (which is actually probably just very deliberate, but I like to imagine that he is trying to get away with something!) that it always makes me smile.

Inge has now started referring to herself as "my dear" rather than Inge. She will say things like, "that's a nice picture, my dear, that's a nice picture." We love listening to Inge and watching her figure out the world around her. She is very attached to her friends as I stated in the previous post, and is constantly wondering where they are if they are not with her. She loves her daddy and wants to know where he is about fifteen times a day. Inge loves to play with her toys, which are a kind of motley crew of my old toys, some free items from birthdays and Karl's conventions, and the toys she has received as gifts. Regardless of origin, they are all very dear to her. Inge is progressing with recognizing letters and I hope that she will develop the love for reading that I did when I was very small. I have started reading "Little House in the Big Woods" to her and she enjoys hearing about the little girl Laura. I am so excited to start sharing my favorite books with her!

Things are moving along here and we are enjoying our life!

Summer Part IV: Sailing to British Columbia

2009-09-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here is our cute little boy swinging for the first time!

Inge never goes anywhere without her friends these days. Here are Frog, Bustum (the Little Doggie) [note: that is really his full name], and Toad on Columbia with Inge's shadow above them. I am generally sympathetic with her desire to take them everywhere because I remember a similar devotion to a certain elephant named Dumbo.

Labor Day has always been a harbinger of autumn to me. As long as I can remember it has been the tradition in my family to spend Labor Day on a final sailing trip in the San Juan Islands. I have always loved this boat trip. I love the scent of sunburned grass that penetrates the island air and the chilly mornings that remind me of chillier days to come and urge me to soak up every last bit of warm sunshine before it is gone for many months.

This year, Karl took off a few extra days and we traveled to Western Washington to enjoy a Labor Day boat trip with my parents. They had decided that we were going to travel to Sidney, British Columbia, which is a nice harbor town that is a short bus trip from Victoria, British Columbia. We decided to be multi-modal in getting to Anacortes, where we met my parents, because the boat would be returning to Everett. So we took a Greyhound bus from Everett to Mount Vernon and then a local SCAT bus from Mount Vernon to Anacortes. It was a long day of traveling but Inge and Bjorn did pretty well. Unfortunately, Bjorn is teething and so he was a little fussier than normal.

Here is an interesting con-trail I snapped a picture of on our way to Sidney.

We had a good passage to Sidney and enjoyed this little town. We visited a new aquarium in Sidney, which was cool but which I would not necessarily recommend to anyone. It was rather expensive and very small. We were in and out in less than 10 minutes. This had much to do with the fact that Inge screamed the whole time because the entrance freaked her out (it was a simulated deep sea diving pod) and we felt that we should just leave. It probably would have only taken us 20 minutes, though, if we had really carefully perused everything.

One of Inge and Bjorn's favorite features of Sidney was its park! They even got to swing together.

We spent a day in Victoria, too. We took a double-decker bus from Sidney to Victoria and sat right in the front on the second level. We had a great prospect of the beautiful island. In Victoria we enjoyed a wooden boat festival there at the marina just below the Empress Hotel.

We also had a wonderful visit to Craigdarroch Castle. This is a place that you must visit if you have an opportunity. It has been beautifully restored. Here is a picture of Inge peering from one of its many windows.

We also ran into our friends from Seattle, Tara and Stephen, which was lots of fun because we have not seen them since we moved seven months ago. It was good to get caught up and introduce them to Bjorn. It is always so much fun to meet up with people in a place that is unusual for all parties to be! All of us visited Rogers' Chocolates and I spent the Canadian money that I needed to "get rid of" there on some wonderful chocolates.

The passage home was very stormy. We did not even get to church, although we had found out where the Sidney chapel was and when it met, because it was so windy and rainy. The seas were fairly rough on the way home and we were thankful to port in Anacortes.

The next day we visited La Connor and had breakfast at the Calico Cupbord there on the way home. It was lots of fun. I go out to breakfast so rarely, but it really is a good option when you have little kids!

Here is a picture of Bjorn steering the boat with Papa. Whidbey Island is in the background.

On our way back to Spokane we stopped for a wonderful breakfast at the house of some wonderful family friends. Carrie (pictured next to me below--holding Bjorn) was visiting for a friend's wedding so it was wonderful to see her. We were great friends as children and, although we do not see one another very often now it is still fantastic to see her. Carrie has a fascinating life. She works for USAID and helps people establish themselves in third world countries. She has spent a lot of time all over the world doing this and is so fascinating to talk to.

Inge and Bjorn had a wonderful time with Nana and Papa and we had a fantastic time as well. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Summer Part III: Family Visits

2009-09-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

We spent a great deal of July and August with family visits. First, Karl's sister Emily came to visit with her family. Inge loved spending time with her cousins at the Looff Carousel, Manito Park, and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Emily's family has a big suburban that Inge loved to ride with her cousins in it.

After Emily visited, Karl's sister Rebecca and his brother Sam came to visit with their families. Rebecca's family stayed at our house and Inge LOVED playing with her cousins, especially "'Liza," who is just about six months older than Inge. They loved playing with their little doggies (Bustum and Clifford, Eliza's friend, pictured here with them).

We visited Priest Lake with Grandma and Grandpa. This was a great time with family. I made a bunch of cookies for the trip, which was a lot of fun even though it was a really hot day, because I love making cookies! I'll include the recipes soon along with the graham cracker recipe, which was quite popular. Karl really relaxed on this trip, which was great because he is typically under a great deal of stress.

Here is Karl relaxing with Bjorn one morning. Bjorn is such a snuggler, as you can see in this picture. Sometimes, when I get too tired to put him back to bed after feeding him at night, usually when he has gotten up more than once during the night, I just keep him in bed with me after feeding him and he sometimes nearly pushes me off the bed with his snuggling! Cute little boy.

Inge, Bjorn, Karl and I went on a "hike" with Sam's son Nils who is now a freshman at BYU. Nils wanted to have a real hike, I think, but, he also has seven siblings and recognizes that things do not always turn out as planned when little children are involved. We drove up toward a small lake high above Priest Lake and parked our car when the road got too rough for it. We ran into a family in a truck who picked us up on the road. This ride only lasted a few miles because Inge, who was riding in the back with her daddy, screamed like she was being tortured the whole time, so we finally decided to get out and walk. It was a long enough ride to learn that these people were related to the person who named the lake we were trying to hike to.

The road was really rough and so we decided to take Bjorn's carseat, which was a really good decision. Nils was REALLY gracious to carry it all the way back down to our car. It was a fun little hike, although it was not what we planned, and we even found some huckleberries, which Inge loved. Little Inge who does not love fruit would, of course, take a fancy for the fruit that is most difficult to obtain! Inge loved this time with her cousins and I think that they enjoyed this time with her. Larissa was darling with Bjorn, too.

After Sam and Rebecca's visits, Karl's sister Sarah came to visit with her family. We enjoyed spending time at Spokane River and Grandma and Grandpa's house with them. It was all a lot of fun. Inge had such a good time with her cousins and she got so worn out that one day after church she just came home and fell asleep on the floor. For any of you who know Inge, you know that this is highly unusual behavior. It goes to show what a good time she had!

Summer Part II: Sailing in the San Juans

2009-09-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

No, this is not my dad's boat! We saw this square-rigger sailing with its longboat (the little boat with a sail in the background) and suddenly were transported back a couple of centuries!

After Bjorn's blessing, Steve and Karl went back to work and Crissy and I joined Mom and Dad with our kids for a boat trip in the San Juans. It was so much fun. It seemed that Inge and Parker couldn't laugh enough at each other. Usually this was ok, although their antics on Nana and Papa's couch (jumping on the pillows) resulted in Inge getting staples in her head for a bad cut she got after falling off the couch and onto the brass table. My stomach kind of turned every time I saw them for the week they were in her head. A little too much like Frankenstein! In Friday Harbor they nearly drove us all crazy during dinner by hopping up on the seat, looking out the porthole, and shouting, "Here's the ferry!" regardless of whether or not there was actually a ferry in port.

Inge with her (my old, actually) overnight bag. She went to Snohomish a day earlier than her mommy and stayed all night at Nana and Papa's by herself. My little darling is so grown up!

Inge, Bjorn and I squeezed into one cabin. I was impressed with how well Inge and Bjorn, and I for that matter, managed to sleep while sharing such a small space.

Bjorn's first and last bath in Columbia's sink. Even at 3 months it was a bit too little for him.

Parker LOVED Bjorn as evidenced in this photo, which depicts him sharing his beloved cars (McQueen and Sally for that matter!) with Bjorn. Parker does not readily share his cars with just anyone. He doesn't really even like to share with Inge that much.

Inge enjoying her first "very own" ice cream cone in Friday Harbor. It was cookies and cream ice cream and she got it all over, of course. She loved it.

Inge swinging onto the slide at Friday Harbor Elementary's playground. She was really quite daring about it!

Bjorn hanging out on a park bench. I can just hear his daddy singing "Hallelujah I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again..."

Jordan taking his turn at the helm.

Inge surveying the lovely San Juans.

Inge and Parker sharing the helm.

Summer Part I: Bjorn's Blessing--More Pictures

2009-09-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the whole clan who showed up for Bjorn's blessing. What a family! Byron even made it and he had to race home from climbing Mt. Rainier to do so! My cousin Stephanie is not in this picture because she is taking it, but the rest of her family is there.

Inge sporting my sunglasses at Hayden Lake.

My birthday (31!) dinner. Look at that cute little pixie in the corner! We celebrated my birthday as a family but Karl and I got to celebrate my Birthday Eve with a date to a local sushi restaurant (enigmatically called Sushi.com) and a walk in the park. It was lots of fun!

We took a ride on the Spokane Riverfront Park Gondola. Unfortunately, Inge was totally freaked out the whole time and kept wanting to get off, even if it meant jumping into the river; which, I'm sure would rapidly have become the least preferred alternative, but she was not thinking that far ahead.

Inge and Parker on an STA bus to downtown. Inge loved riding the bus even more with her cousin!

Summer Part I: Bjorn's Blessing

2009-08-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

This picture is from Bjorn's blessing day. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful blessing. I made Inge a new dress in honor of the occasion, which you can see in this picture!

We have had a really busy summer and now it is nearly over. I am hoping to capture some of its brightest moments in a couple of segments here and hope that I have not forgotten anything!

We began July with visits from family, who convened in Spokane from all over the place in order to participate in Bjorn's blessing with us. It was wonderful to see so many family members together, especially for such a wonderful event. We enjoyed a whole weekend of birthday celebration (both for me and our great country) and the blessing. It was fantastic to be with so many people I love all at the same time. My Grandma Jeanne even came all the way up here from St. Anthony, Idaho! We enjoyed a day of sun out at Hayden Lake on Independence Day. We all bravely bore the hot weather in our house without air conditioning. Every time I think about complaining I remind myself of the early settlers in Las Vegas or Phoenix and I repent! Crissy and Steve brought Parker and Jordan, who had a wonderful time with Inge. Crissy made a beautiful quilt for Bjorn.

(that's Jordan Jay in the background)

Here's a picture of my dad and Bjorn in matching outfits.

Bjorn just loves having his face tickled!

Jordan, Steve, Inge and Karl at Hayden Lake.

Screamy Days

2009-07-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

I love being a mother. There is something wonderful about knowing that I am irreplaceable in the lives of at least two people on this earth. I love the little moments in which I feel that I have taught my children something or when I get a spontaneous leg-hug or smile. However, being a mother, especially a mother who stays at home with her children during the day, lends itself to a great deal of frustration from time to time. And sometimes we have screamy days.

Usually screamy days follow a period of upheaval in our household, which is quite common during the summertime because of all of its inherent vacationing and visiting, and they always leave me feeling a bit hollow and slightly crazy. Today was a screamy day. Inge was tired and very easily upset. Bjorn was tired and rather fussy because he was hot. And so, there was screaming and crying, grunting (Bjorn grunts) and wailing.

There are moments during the screamy days, usually because some inconsequential thing happens that triggers a cacophonous deluge, when I literally feel like throwing a plate against the wall in order to relieve my frustration. This may seem like a random outburst, but I saw it depicted in a play once and it seemed both effective and satisfying. The problem is that if I broke a plate I would have to, first, clean up the mess as I do not, unfortunately, have a stage crew to tidy up as we go along in this little life drama, and second, deal with the guilt of teaching my children that lashing out in anger is ok as a result of my momentary loss of control. These two realities have held me in check thus far and I have never yet broken a plate even if I sure have thought about it.

So, what makes the screamy day bearable? Bedtime, sleep, and the hope of a brighter tomorrow. So far this formula has not failed to mend my frustration. I think that my children are both asleep now and I am thankful.

Granola

2009-07-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

This recipe is based on a recipe for Vita-Crunch Granola given to me by the mother of my friend Malinda Clove, with whom I have regrettably lost touch. It is good with blueberries (or fruit of your choice) and yogurt for a quick breakfast.

Granola
7 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
2 cups crisp rice cereal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white grape juice concentrate
1/2 cup honey
3 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two jelly-roll pans with nonstick spray. Combine oatmeal, almonds, wheat germ, coconut, nuts and rice cereal in a large bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to emulsify. Pour over dry ingredients and toss to evenly coat. Bake for 30 minutes or until toasty and stir every 10 minutes to prevent burning. Cool and then store in air-tight container.

Shall we...?

2009-07-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of my dad and Bjorn in their matching outfits (striped shirts and khaki shorts).

And here is a picture of Inge and her cousin Parker on the bus.

Inge has taken to stating her preferred activity in terms of a question, beginning with "shall we?" It is really cute to hear such a sophisticated question from a two-year-old. "Shall we read a story?" "Shall we go outside?" "Shall we _____?"

The other day, Inge informed me that she had hurt her shoulder and needed a kiss. Dutifully, I kissed her shoulder but this did not seem to placate the situation. I asked her what was wrong and she said, pointing to her knee, that her shoulder hurt and she needed a kiss! I tried to explain that the shoulder is, in fact, not the same thing as the knee. I think that she gets mixed up because of playing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" really fast.

Inge and Bjorn are starting to be interested in one another. Inge really likes to look at Bjorn and talk to him, and try to get him to talk to her! Bjorn likes to smile and coo at his sister. It is fun to watch them and I am looking forward to them being great friends.

Bjorn is growing so quickly. He has really cottoned on to his bouncy seat. He can really get it bouncing when he starts kicking his legs in rhythm. He has also really discovered his hands and often clasps them in the most endearing way. It is really fun to be the one to get him out of bed in the morning because he gives this fantastic smile and coo to the lucky parent who gets this job. We love our Bjorn.

The summer is really busy, of course. Bjorn's blessing was the first of the month. My sister Crissy's family, my parents, and my Grandma came for it. We really enjoyed being together. I'll have to do a separate post about this adventure.

Bjorn's Stats, An Embarassing Moment, A Memory Revisited, and Banana Muffins

2009-06-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

Bjorn had his two month check up the other day. He got his immunizations and did really well, actually. He is 12 pounds 11 ounces (75th percentile) and is 23 1/2 inches long (also the 75th percentile). The doctor was very pleased with his ability to control his head and said that he looks like a nice healthy baby! He is a very lovely baby. He slept for 8 1/2 hours last night and his mommy was REALLY thankful for the good rest.

I promised Inge that we could go to the park after Bjorn's check up but I knew that I needed to feed Bjorn before we got to the park, so I loaded Inge into the car in the Sacred Heart Hospital parking garage and then shut myself into the backseat to feed Bjorn. After he finished eating, I put him back into his car seat and proceeded to try to open the door. It was quite unlocked but it would not budge. Then I realized that the child-proofing lock was engaged and that door was not going to open (Inge opened her door while we were driving a couple of months ago, hence the engaged child locks). I assessed my situation and decided that I'd have to somehow climb over the driver seat into the front seat. This was not easy because our back seat is VERY restricted now with two car seats. I had to remove the driver seat headrest and kind of roll over the seat. It was very funny. It wasn't quite as funny when I did the EXACT same thing yesterday (you'd think I'd learn but Inge was screaming and I was not thinking clearly). Karl has since disengaged the child lock from that back door.

I gave Inge a haircut yesterday. Here are the results:

Inge's haircut was more successful than Karl's last weekend. I gave him clippers for Father's Day (which originated here in Spokane, by the way) and a haircut. I was really nervous to use the clippers because they seem very lethal at first. Anyway, my first Inge haircut wasn't that great either. I'll get used to cutting Karl's hair.

Inge likes looking through my cookbooks while I am cooking and she recently found a little tiny cookbook I acquired many years ago as a present. It is called the "Little English Book of Teas" and I love it. Several years ago (I was probably 10 or 11 years old) my family went on a boat trip with some of my parents' good friends. The mother of the family (a wonderful woman who just knitted Bjorn a gorgeous sweater) took my sister Crissy and me on a shopping trip in Friday Harbor to get us a little present. She had NO idea what she was getting into. Anyone who remembers me and Crissy in Friday Harbor when we were just old enough to go out on our own to "shop" will remember that we could spend HOURS browsing through the shops. Em and Erin accompanied us on many of these trips! I know for a fact that we thoroughly irritated the shopkeeper of "The Mystical Mermaid" one year when we spent probably at least 45 minutes "browsing" in her shop. Anyway, Pauline took us into just about every shop in Friday Harbor and finally we arrived at the book shop. It was nearly the last shop that we could go in and we were under some pressure to find something. We did indeed find a treasure that day. I got the "Little English Book of Teas" and Crissy got the "Little French Cookbook" and we spent the whole trip home enjoying them. We subsequently used the Little English Book of Teas" to engineer many a tea party with Em and Erin and make many a mess! It was so much fun to play "Anne of Green Gables" during those tea parties! Anyway, Inge discovered this cookbook and wanted it read to her, so we looked at the pictures and I told her about how to make the various goodies and she "ate" them (pretended to pluck the sweets off the page and put them in her mouth). Good times. I can't wait to have a tea party with Inge.

And so, we come to the banana muffins. They smell really yummy but I have not tried them yet. Here is the recipe:

1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 over ripe bananas
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine flours, soda, and salt. Beat butter and sugar together. Add bananas and beat until mashed. Beat egg and vanilla into batter. Add flour alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon into greased muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into muffins comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Phoenix From The Ashes

2009-06-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

I decided last Friday that it was high time that I get caught up with my baking. We were totally out of crackers and nearly out of granola bars. We had been out of bread for almost a week. Obviously, my aspirations of home production were not going very well! So, Friday became the baking day.

Things started out well. Bjorn, who is experiencing his first cold, was feeling a little extra needy, so I got to wear him in the Moby wrap on my front (which I LOVE, by the way!) while I kneaded and mixed and rolled. Things went well at first. I began with my bread since it requires some time for rising. It was doing just fine on the back of the stove until Inge pulled the stool over to the stove and started trying to get at the dough that she could clearly see rising under the plastic wrap (like her Nana, Inge loves to eat raw dough, especially raw yeasted doughs). I moved the dough out of her reach and kind of forgot about it. I don't know if it was the moving or the forgetting, but the dough fell and great was the fall of it (those familiar with Nephi's vision in the Book of Mormon will get that analogy--for those who are not familiar with it, I cannot claim the snappiness of "great was the fall of it" as my own). It never recovered but I baked the bread anyway. We ended up using it for French Toast and I have a loaf squirreled away for croutons. And there was Phoenix No. 1--I learned that gluten has limited magical powers. It will do amazing things for 100% whole wheat bread, but it will not do these things indefinitely, apparently. I have also learned that the dough needs to really triple, not double when it is in the pans prior to baking, but that is another story.

I was also rather discouraged because my granola bars were just not progressing in the R&D process as I had hoped they would. They were not solidifying sufficiently to really qualify as more than chunky granola. Before crumbling up the whole batch as granola, however, I decided to try to bake them in the oven at a lower temperature for a little while to see if this helped at all. It did! Phoenix No. 2--I'm a little closer to Nature Valley granola bar mimics, a little.

One thing that was a success on Friday, but which I did not find out about until Monday was my new cracker recipe. The recipe was for cheese crackers and, when I finally got around to rolling them out and baking them I found that they are actually really yummy and taste kind of like cheese nibs but healthier! I'll include that recipe after I run through it a time or two.

Sometimes, in addition to my cooking endeavors, my life feels a little bit like a phoenix and ashes scenario. This is not really surprising because, I believe, that life is really about learning and growing. We are all learning together in our household. Inge is improving in her potty training, with the help of the little brown cupcakes, although she is far from perfect. The other day she had an ashes moment and actually flushed a pair of her underpants down the toilet! We are grateful that, at least so far, we have not had any malfuncitoning plumbing as a result of this!

Adjusting to life with two is a constant adjustment for me, at least so far. I have to keep reminding myself to laugh over situations that would be frustrating if I did not do so. For instance, Bjorn is working on getting over a cold and is finding sleeping a little more difficult. I had him in his bouncy seat a little earlier today and was relieved that he was relaxing while I took a few moments to clean my bathroom. He was nearly asleep, his eyes were actually closed, when Inge showed up with the scrubbing brush, said "For Bjorn" in her voice that does not know that such thing as a whisper exists, and started "brushing" his hair! Luckily I had not used the scrub brush, so it was not wet or full of Comet or anything like that. It was frustrating, but it was also funny, at least when I thouhgt about how Inge probably thought she was actually helping her brother out.

A baby and a toddler who likes to go through her pants make for a lot of laundry. I feel like I am constantly either looking at piles of dirty laundry that need to be washed or piles of clean laundry that need to be folded or ironed. I am REALLY thankful that Karl has stepped up and is helping so much with doing his own ironing because that is really the bulk of the ironing basket. Anyway, I had an ashes moment (I did laugh, though) the other day when I was trying to get caught up on laundry while Inge was taking a bath. Bjorn was behaving in his bouncy seat and I was folding laundry in the room just across the hall from Inge's bathroom. I kind of forgot that the water was filling up the tub until it was nearly overflowing! This picture was taken after the water level had receded a bit, but you can see that it was still really full. Inge had a ball!

Bjorn is darling. He is starting to smile purposefully and so these phoenix moments more than make up for all of the times when he is needy, which are generally not that frequent. He is such a darling, pleasant baby. He makes the most darling little cooing sounds. He is already so big. I can hardly believe that he is two months old and getting his immunizations this week!

The Power of A Reeses Peanut Butter Cup

2009-06-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

I remember reading, when I first began potty training Inge, that it was a process that usually took about a year to complete. At that time I was a complete basket case with worry over whether or not Inge was going to have an accident at any second. I called my sister and told her that I thought myself completely incapable of enduring the stress for a whole year. She reassured me that the year timeline included complete potty aptitude, even down to washing one's hands on her own. I was thankful that Inge did in fact learn how to go potty by herself after a couple of weeks of craziness and she does fine now...except...

Inge gets busy and realizes that she really needs to go to the potty only when she has already gone a little bit in her pants. Then she wants "new ones." This is not a problem if it happens once or even twice a day but we have had a couple of days of going through almost all of Inge's underpants, and that is a lot of changing! So, I decided that it was time to return to incentives, and that means candy.

Inge enjoyed gummy bears last time, but I thought that I might need to up the ante to get her to cooperate with me this time because she really likes running around with her bare bum. She LOVES peanut butter and, as we discovered at Easter, is quite fond of chocolate, so I decided on mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. I gave one to her so that she could see how great this incentive was and she immediately wanted another one, so I knew that I had hit on a good treat. She asks for "little brown cupcakes" pretty regularly but only gets them when she successfully gets to the potty without making a mess in her pants. So far, we have seen a decrease in pants changes. Hopefully the 40 oz. bag of mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups I bought yesterday will suffice. We'll see. I don't know if Karl knows they exist yet, but that could significantly increase the likelihood of me purchasing additional candy!

Banana Pancakes, Blackened Catfish and other Kitchen Disasters

2009-06-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Karl telling Bjorn he can be a mountain climber or a bus driver or something like that. He went through several vocations, both probable and improbable. By the way, Corey, thanks for the tip on fixing my pictures. They are much easier to organize this way!

I'm going to start with a couple of Inge anecdotes before getting to the Banana Pancakes. The first one was one of those moments when I feel that I MUST NOT laugh and it is very, very difficult not to do so. A couple of days ago (on the day it took Bjorn over 2 1/2 hours to get to sleep) I had made Inge dinner (Karl was expected home late so Inge ate early) and she was sitting down with her cheesy eggs and grapes. Bjorn needed a new diaper so I told her to sit there and eat her eggs while I went to change his diaper. I'm pretty good at diapering these days and the whole process rarely takes more than one or two minutes. Well, apparently one or two minutes is sufficient for Inge to get into trouble. I had been out of the kitchen for maybe 20 seconds (just long enough to get Bjorn's poopy diaper open and be in the midst of cleaning him off, of course) when all of a sudden Inge starts screaming bloody murder. I race through the rest of the diaper and don't even attempt to do the million snaps on Bjorn's sleeper (sometimes it seems like there really are a million, especially at 2:00 am) before racing back to the dining room to help Inge. The sight is so comical that I would have laughed outright had she not obviously been in great distress. Somehow she had managed to slide her legs out of the back of the chair and so from her waist up she was in the front of the chair and her legs were behind it with her feet resting on the floor. I quickly put Bjorn down and extracted her and tried to comfort her. She was pretty upset, but she calmed down for pancakes.

Yesterday, while I was posting on this very blog, Inge got very quiet. This is never a good sign; however, I find myself repeatedly lulled into ignoring the obvious (that mischief is ensuing) because the silence allows me to focus on something besides the constant conversation Inge usually requires. Well, after finishing my blog post I went into the bathroom to check on Inge and I found an absolute mess. All of the toilet paper had been rolled off the roll. Half of the tissues had been removed from the box and dipped in the toilet. Some of these were subsequently returned to the tissue box, others were heaped into Inge's beloved red potty. Finally, Inge pulled all of the flushable wipes out of their container and strewed these about the floor. It was an absolute swamp and I was really annoyed to realize that it was also probably a relatively expensive swamp. I reprimanded Inge but only half-heartedly because I knew that it was really kind of my fault that it happened since she is only two and is quite curious.

Yesterday, before dinner, Inge was getting ancy for dinner and I kept telling her to just wait a few more minutes and it would be ready. She amused herself with her ABC's and this is what she came up with:

So she misspelled "Feed" but who can blame her, she only has one "E" in the ABC set. Isn't that a funny coincidence!

I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen. This is not news to anyone, I'm sure. Sometimes this results in good things. Sometimes it results in disaster. I've experienced both this week. On Sunday I tried to make a cake that has been kicking around in my head for a couple of years. The cake itself did not really turn out, so I'll have to try a different approach, but we had some disaster along the way. Cooking and baking while wearing a little baby on one's front is always a bit of a challenge and this was no exception. I was putting the cake back into the oven after testing it to see if it was done when it slipped from my bemittened hand and slid down the oven door. Luckily it only broke up on top and the batter remained in the pan, but the top of the cake was spoiled. Later I put it under the broiler to do the icing section and kind of got distracted (NEVER a good thing when a broiler is involved) and before I knew it the oven was smoking. My disaster cake was even further ruined. Oh well, I'll try it again later.

Yesterday, I made blackened catfish for dinner. It was good but I will not be making it again, at least not until I have an industrial strength hood to capture the smoke, which is not going to happen anytime soon. The technique involves heating a skillet over very high heat and then searing the fish that has been coated in herbs and spices. As soon as the fish hit the pan I knew there would be trouble. Smoke began billowing from the pan and soon filled the kitchen. Karl, who can be a little dramatic (note that I did not say OVERdramatic) about my kitchen endeavors ran to throw open the windows and doors and whisk Inge and Bjorn outside. In doing so he ran, nearly doubled over to be beneath the smoke (remember fire safety education in grade school?) through the kitchen a couple of times, always with a silly grin on his face. The pan is still in my sink, waiting to be scrubbed with steel wool. My bedroom was even smoky. I won't be repeating that recipe anytime soon.

So, after so many disasters already this week I felt as if I deserved some success! It came this morning in the form of Banana Pancakes. These were inspired by banana bread and the recipe was derived from a banana bread recipe. They are pretty sweet and only required a very little butter and strawberry jam to be delicious. I am curious to find out if they could possibly develop the sticky, almost underdone top that banana bread gets if I cooked them over a lower fire and covered the pan to approximate baking. We'll see next time.

Banana Pancakes
It is critical not to overmix these or they will be tough.
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter, softened
2 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat skillet or grill over medium heat. Mash sugar, butter and bananas together. Whisk in buttermilk and egg. Combine flour, soda and salt. GENTLY fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and be sure to not overmix. Lumps will remain. Drop batter in tablespoons full onto hot, greased skillet and cook until bubbles appear, then flip and finish cooking. These are thick and fluffy pancakes. Serve with a little butter and strawberry jam. This makes about 20-25 pancakes.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G....

2009-06-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

So the weird text picture thing is still happening and all of the pictures are stacked at the top. These were from a recent family excursion to the Lilac Garden at Manito Park here in Spokane. I LOVE lilacs.

I have the ABC's running through my head because Inge likes to sing them ALL the time. She sings them when she is in the living room looking at books. She sings them when she is on the potty. She sings them when we are driving in the car. Sometimes she even sings them at dinner, although I do try to discourage this. It is never pleasant to see too much of the interior of another person's mouth while that person is eating, even if she is a cute little two-year old. And, just to keep the record straight, I do not think that she is a genius. At least, not unless the alphabet goes ...H, I, J, K, Elmo, P...

I am really thankful for sleep. Yesterday was a rather trying day. We're all still getting used to things with Bjorn here, and yesterday we really failed in the sleeping department. I spent much of the day worrying about the fact that he was not getting enough sleep and then Karl and I spent 2 1/2 hours finally getting him to sleep at the end of it all. When we finally finished eating dinner at 9:30, Karl suggested that we just leave the dishes for the morning and get to bed. I agreed and, after shifting the pile of laundry that was waiting to be folded off the bed and onto a chair, we fell into bed, exhausted and thankful. Yes, I know you must be DYING, Mom, but that does happen in my household from time to time! ;) At any rate, I woke this morning feeling rejuvenated and ready, even excited, to face another day. Today has gone more smoothly. Bjorn has napped and we have gotten some things done.

Inge picks up little phrases and then uses them in her own little way. The latest one is "or something." I have no idea where she got this but she is constantly tacking it onto the end of her statements. Oh, and I could have sworn she said "funky monkey" the other day. I am almost positive that she has never heard "funky monkey" and it made me think about how language evolves. Lawyers come up with new words all the time (you would not believe how frequently spellcheck protested to words my law professors used and I dutifully typed into my computer) so I guess that a toddler can, too.

Bjorn just woke up after sleeping for three hours. I LOVE that. But I'd better go.

Ticks!

2009-06-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this post is also a little dated (what HAVE I been up to--just adjusting to life with a baby and a toddler!) but I wanted to include it. See below for additional catch-up posts.

The Inland Northwest (for those of you who are not familiar with this term, it refers to the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene area) is beautiful in the springtime. I have absolutely enjoyed it except for one thing. Ticks.

Some of you may think that this is strange because I am a self-proclaimed lover of insects; however, "insects" is not a term that refers to all things crawly. Insects are, very specifically, organisms with three body segments (head, thorax and abdomen) and six legs, among other characteristics. Insects include such wonderful creations as beetles, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, etc. Those creepy crawlies belonging to the class arachnida have two body segments (head and abdomen) and eight legs. Ticks belong to the class arachnida. As a side note, I also reserve the right to dislike mosquitoes and cockroaches.

I have had a "thing" against ticks ever since I was a little girl and accompanied my grandpa to trail sheep into their summer pasture in the Teton mountains. I vividly remember one of the herders explaining that ticks were the plague of the mountains and that they must be killed when you found them. He then squished an engorged tick between two rocks and blood spurted everywhere. It was really gross and I remember it very vividly. Ticks in Southeastern Idaho are actually pretty dangerous because they carry Rocky Mountain Fever. My mom said that my Grandpa Bill had to do a really thorough check every night when he got home from being with the sheep in order to get rid of ticks.

Well, the ticks we have here in Spokane are not as dangerous as aforesaid ticks, but they are pretty nasty. Their abdomens are very flat unless they have been sucking on some unfortunate mammal. Their coloration is actually pretty interesting and I would probably like them if they did not climb on me and try to suck my blood. My first tick encounter came the day after we had a picnic in our back yard for family home evening. I felt something itchy on my neck and I reached back to scratch and came away with a tick. YUCK! Next I found on in the dryer (it was dead). Next, I was on a hike in the woods with Karl, Inge and Bjorn and one got on my sunglasses. Later that day, when I was taking a shower, I got one out of my hair. Then Karl informed me the next day that he found one crawling around his pajamas after taking a shower (which means that I likely shared a sleeping space with a tick--YUCK!). We also had one crawling in our car.

I really like life here in Spokane, except for the ticks.

Pasta Puttanesca and Cracker Candy

2009-06-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

This is a catch-up post. I actually made these things for dinner a week and an half ago, but they were really good, so I still want to post the recipes. There is a posting about Inge and Bjorn, etc. below, by the way, if you are interested in stories about life with little ones. The puttanesca sauce was based on a recipe published in the New Best Recipe cookbook to which I frequently refer. It sauces one pound of spaghetti or pasta of your choice. Do not omit the anchovies! They add a fantastic flavor dimension. The cracker candy was based on a recipe found in a Junior League cookbook and was one I remember a Sunday School teacher making for my class when I was little.

3 large or 4 medium garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tin anchovies, minced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
4 Tbsp capers, rinsed
1 cup brined olives (kalamata, greek, whatever--I like to use an olive blend that most grocery store olive bars carry), pits removed (you can do this easily by smashing the olive with the flat of a knife blade) chopped coarse
1/4 cup minced Italian flat leaf parsley

Combine the garlic and water in a small dish and set aside. Bring large pot of water to boil and add one pound pasta. Cook according to package instructions. Place oil in large skillet over medium heat and add garlic, red pepper flakes, and anchovies. Stir mixture frequently to make sure that garlic does not get brown but becomes fragrant. Add tomatoes and simmer the sauce until it is slightly thickened. Add capers, olives, and parsley and toss with hot pasta. Serve immediately.

Note: if pasta is ready before the sauce, toss with a little olive oil to prevent it from sticking to itself.

Cracker Candy
1 sleeve saltine crackers
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lay crackers out on foil lined jelly-roll pan. Combine butter and brown sugar in medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat while stirring frequently. Cook 3 minutes. Pour mixture over crackers and bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crackers. Allow to stand for five minutes then spread chocolate in an even layer. Sprinkle with nuts. Place crackers in refrigerator and allow to set. Break into pieces. Keep leftovers refrigerated if possible to keep chocolate firm.

Inge & Bjorn and other Spokane Anecdotes

2009-05-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Note: So, I like to intersperse my pictures within the text, but they are transferring into the posting box as random text code, so I can't tell where one stops and another begins. The first picture is of my Aunt Kate, Inge and Bjorn. The second is Bjorn flying. The third is Inge in her "boat," eating "cookies" (random small found objects) with Frog and Toad. The fourth is our family at the turbulent Spokane Falls. Inge just couldn't keep her eyes off the Falls. The fifth is Bjorn last weekend--he's already grown so much! I actually wrote this post a week ago but didn't post it because of the picture issue. Just kidding, switch that order--the first is Bjorn, the second is Spokane Falls, etc. I hope this issue gets resolved soon!b

Inge and Bjorn are both doing well. It is so much fun to see them interacting, well, to see Inge interacting with Bjorn. He is mostly observing these days. We can hardly believe that he is a month old this week! We enjoy his baby smell, his little smiles, and his general presence. He is a fairly mellow baby, although he is definitely a fan of being held, and he seems to prefer grunting as his primary mode of communication. This is rather more pleasant than Inge's early communication via screaming.

I am certain that Inge spent so much time screaming as an infant because she had so much to say and found it absolutely frustrating that she could not say it. She vented by screaming. There have been times in my life when I have found it necessary to bite my tongue rather than say what was on my mind and I have found this to be scream-worthy frustrating, so I can relate. Inge wakes up in the morning talking and does not stop until she falls asleep at night. She is not just talking to herself, either, she expects reciprocation of conversation. Inge definitely keeps me on my toes.

We recently tore up a bunch of our grass in the backyard to create a garden space. This is exciting because, unlike our house in Seattle, the sun actually shines on our backyard, which is also larger than a postage stamp, so hopefully we will get some produce. We were even ambitious enough to plant corn. We'll see how it goes. Inge loves to play in the dirt and get completely filthy--sometimes I think that she does it just so she can have a "cozy bath."

Karl was so exhausted last weekend after planting our garden that he ordered a mint ice cream with Reeses Pieces mix-in at Maggie Moo's last weekend. Luckily, I intervened before they made the $4 ice cream disaster that Karl had ordered. He ended up having mint with oreo, a much better choice. He admitted that he was so tired from the garden that he could not think straight.

Inge loves to be aware of everyone who is around her and she loves to give names to everything she encounters. Periodically, throughout the day she goes through a little litany of naming off our family members, which usually begins and ends with "Inge" and may or may not include some other related object, such as our house or car. For example: "Inge's house and Mommy's house and Daddy's house and Bjorn's house and Inge's house!?!" She likes to be assured that such is the case. Inge also loves to give names to places we see as we are driving around. She identifies the "Hangurgur House" (McDonald's), the "Red Hangurgur House" (Wendy's), the "Ice Cream House" (Cold Stone), etc. Lest you get the idea that we frequent these places, let me set the record straight. We have taken Inge to McDonald's a few times, but she has never been to the other places. That just goes to show you the power of architectural design.

Inge is also starting to learn her letters. She knows B for Bjorn/Buster (her dog), C, D, I for Inge, M for Mommy, P for Parker (her cousin), Q, R, S, T for Toad (as in "Frog and Toad," possibly Inge's favorite diversion on earth), and U for uncle. It is fun to see her learning these things. Inge also has started reciting poetry in a cute little toddler way. I started making up songs to sing poems to when Inge was tiny as a way of remembering the words. There are now several, including, "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine," Robert Lewis Stevenson's "The Friendly Cow," Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat," Margaret Wise Brown's "Little Black Bug," and William Blake's "Tyger, Tyger." She actually does really well with some of the big words in these poems. I'm glad that we are able to share literature.

A final note about Inge and Bjorn. I often say that Bjorn is sweet or a good little boy and Inge needs to be reminded that she is also sweet and a good little girl. She has also picked up on the phrase "so cute" and she says it in the most endearing way!

My Husband's A Fan of Flirting

2009-05-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you will remember my post about Facebook a month or so ago. Well, I have not really gotten anywhere with my own Facebook involvement but I have a funny story about Karl's. Apparently, in addition to suggestions for friends, Facebook also makes recommendations for things or people of which you can be a fan. Karl is a fan of Zipcar (an urban-based car rental service) and flirting. Yes, flirting. Well, I guess he is not a fan anymore. As soon as he found out that he had accidentally become a fan of flirting when he thought that he was becoming a friend of our nephew, Ethan(16), who apparently is a fan of flirting, he figured out how to remove this designation from his Facebook page. Still, he was worried about what people may have thought who saw this on his page...So, let me set the record straight. Karl is indeed a fan of flirting, but only with me. ;)

Here's a recent photo of Karl clowning around with Inge and Bjorn.

A Week of Eating and A Few Recipes

2009-05-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Monday 5/18 Lemon Chicken, Artichokes, Grill Bread
Tuesday 5/19 Chicken Tikka Masala, Green Peas, Naan
Wednesday 5/20 Oven-fried Fish, French Fries, Cucumber Salad
Thursday 5/21 Chicken Enchiladas, Cantaloupe
Friday 5/22 Pizza Bianca, Green Salad
Saturday 5/23 Leftovers
Sunday 5/24 Pasta with Asparagus Sauce, Sliced Tomatoes

So, lately I guess I have been interested in technique and precision because I have been choosing a lot of my menus from Cook's Illustrated. Unless I have done something different to the recipe to make it my own, I do not feel comfortable reproducing it exactly; therefore, the recipe is not here. I'd highly recommend the "Best New Recipe Cookbook" from Cook's Illustrated and the new "Gourmet Cookbook" (it's yellow), by the way. They are both excellent resources.

The first recipe I'll include on this post is for grill bread. This is based on a recipe I cut out of Gourmet magazine several years ago. I've modified it considerably. Here is my version of Lebanese Flatbread--perhaps it is no longer authentic "Lebanese" but it is really yummy.

Lebanese Flatbread, Kate's Way
1 tsp yeast
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten

Dissolve yeast in water with a pinch of sugar and allow to proof. Whisk together flours, sugar and salt. Whisk together oil and egg. Combine flour mixture, yeast, and oil mixture and stir to form a ragged dough. Kneed on very lightly floured surface (you may not even need additional flour and don't add it if you don't need it) for a couple of minutes to bring dough together. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour. Cut dough into 16 equal pieces and form into little balls. Preheat grill pan, if you have one, or regular pan over medium-high heat and then reduce heat to medium. Roll out balls into thin rounds (1/8 inch thick) and grill. Flip breads over after marks appear on the breads then continue to cook until cooked through. Keep bread under towel or napkin to keep warm. These are still good the next day, especially if toasted with cheese (one form of pizza, to Inge!)

On Tuesday, Karl invited the missionaries over for dinner and we were both thankful that they called on Monday night to confirm because we had both forgotten about the engagement. I decided to go Indian and try my hand at naan again, which has been an unsuccessful endeavor in the past. I also made chicken tikka masala, which is a very popular and relatively mainstream Indian dish. The masala recipe was from the September/October 2007 Cook's Illustrated magazine and it turned out really well. I used coconut milk instead of cream to enrich the sauce because I did not have any cream. I also used garam masala instead of individual spices in the yogurt marinade because I did not have the individual spices. This may have made the dish less authentic but it was still good and it is infinitely easier for me to have coconut milk on hand than it is to have cream. The naan recipe was from the Gourmet Cookbook and it was the best homemade naan I've made. I used a combination of whole wheat and white flours rather than just white and it turned out well. Karl made rice crispy treats as I was feeding Bjorn just before the missionaries arrived. It is so wonderful to have a husband who is anxious to be helpful.

Chicken Tikka Masala, mostly from Cook's Illustrated
3/4 tsp garam masala
1 tsp salt
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I bone, skin, and trim my own--it's easy to do and a lot cheaper, which makes it possible for me to buy better, local chicken and stick to my budget)
1 cup plain yogurt (not fat-free)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
Sauce:
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced fine
2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 serrano chile, ribs and seeds removed, unless you want it really hot
1 Tbsp tomato sauce
1 Tbsp garam masala
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (truly one of my best food tools)
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups coconut milk

For chicken, combine 3/4 tsp garam masala and salt in a bowl. Cut chicken breasts in half so that they are about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle chicken with salt mixture on both sides and allow sit, covered for 1/2 to one hour. Whisk together yogurt, 2 Tbsp oil, 2 minced garlic cloves and 1 Tbsp ginger and set aside.

For the sauce, heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until it shimmers and add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent and slightly browned. Add the garlic, ginger, chile, tomato paste, and garam masala. Stir and allow to cook until fragrant. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, and salt and bring to boil. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes and add coconut milk. Bring to simmer again and then remove from heat and cover. While the sauce simmers, cook the chicken.

Preheat the broiler. Line a jelly roll pan with foil and place a wire rack on it. Coat rack with cooking spray. Coat the chicken liberally with yogurt mixture and place on wire rack. Broil chicken until the thickest part of the chicken registers 160 degrees and there are brown spots on the chicken. This will likely take about 15 minutes. Remove chicken from oven and allow to rest five minutes. Cut it into 1-inch chunks. Stir chicken into warm sauce and serve immediately (do not cook chicken in the sauce) with basmati rice.

Gourmet's Naan with Whole Wheat
1 tsp yest
1/4 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp warm water
2 cups whole what flour
2 cups white flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup warm milk (at least 2%)
1 cup yogurt, room temperature
1/3 cup finely chopped onion (I was tempted to leave this out because I thought it might be overbearing, but it was not and it added a nice flavor--trust the Gourmets!)
2 Tbsp melted butter, cooled
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp softened butter
Kosher salt
Nigella seeds

Combine yeast, sugar and water in a small dish and allow to proof. Place whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the white flour, baking soda and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer (or large bowl if you want to do it by hand) and whisk to combine. Combine milk, yogurt, onion, and melted butter in a separate bowl. Stir yeast, milk mixture, and egg into flour mixture to form a sticky dough. Fit mixer with dough hook and turn it onto medium high to kneed. It is helpful to place a kitchen towel under the mixer so that it does not travel all over the counter. Add enough of the second cup of white flour so that the dough does not stick to the sides of the mixer while it is mixing. I had to use the entire cup but this may vary given humidity and the dampness of the whole wheat flour. Mix until dough is elastic and smooth, approximately 5-7 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the rather sticky dough in it. Turn dough to coat with oil and cover with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise until doubled in bulk and finger indentations in the dough remain, approximately 2 hours.

1 hour after setting dough to rise, place pizza stone on lowest rack setting in the oven and preheat to the highest temperature possible (550 degrees for my oven). When dough has risen fully, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into four pieces. Roll each piece into a 1/8 inch thick oblong. Cover with kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Flour pizza peel. Smear softened butter evenly onto dough. Sprinkle with salt and nigella seeds, if desired. Place one loaf at a time on floured peel and transfer to preheated baking stone. Bake approximately five minutes, or until bread bubbles and loaf is golden. Keep naan warm under foil and repeat with remaining loaves. Serve warm.

Cucumber Tomato Radish Salad
1 cucumber, peeled, quartered and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tomato, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 bunch radishes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
Balsamic vinegar dressing

Toss to combine. Keep chilled until serving.

Chicken Enchiladas
1 large chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 2/3 cups plain yogurt
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 4 oz can mild, chopped green chiles, drained
7 flour tortillas (homemade are extra yummy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray and set aside. Spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Allow it to get hot then reduce the heat to medium and add chicken. Cook just until it is no longer pink on the outside and add the butter and onions. Cook until the onions are translucent and the chicken is cooked through and remove from heat.

Combine 2 cups cheddar cheese, yogurt, onion, garlic, cream of chicken soup, tomato paste, green chiles, and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Add chicken mixture to cheese mixture and stir to combine. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of filling to spread on top. Divide evenly between tortillas and place in prepared pan. Spread reserved filling on top of enchiladas. Cover and bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining one cup cheddar cheese and bake until melted. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Welcome Björn!

2009-05-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

We have certainly had an exciting three weeks! Björn was born nearly three weeks ago and he has been home for two weeks. He had some trouble with residual fluid in his lungs (TTNB for those of you who are technical) and spent his first five days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before we got to bring him home. It was a strange experience to be apart from my newborn baby so much during that first week. I was very fortunate to have a relatively straightforward labor because caring for Björn in the NICU was tremendously exhausting. I did more walking in those first five days after giving birth than I had for months before having Björn!

The NICU was an interesting place. It was tremendously horrible on the first day. I got to hold Björn for about 45 minutes after he was born before they took him away and put him under an oxygen tent because he was not getting enough oxygen. About 10 hours later the attending pediatrician decided that he needed to go to the NICU, which was at a different hospital across town, so I was discharged so that I could follow him there. It was a very strange thing to leave the hospital without a baby. Although I knew that he was going to be ok because his problem was fairly pedestrian as far as medical issues with babies go, it was still very strange and horrible to be separated from him.

I cried my way through our initial discussion with the doctor and nurse who were attending Björn. It was all so horrible. Björn was stuck under a little oxygen tent, struggling to breathe, and I could not hold him or nurse him because his little body was just stressed too much over the breathing and this would just add extra stimulus that he could not really deal with very well.

Despite these challenges I felt a great deal of peace during this time. I know that so many people were saying prayers for our family and especially Björn and this was tremendously comforting. The Comforter (the Holy Ghost in my understanding) was very real to me during this time. I felt palpable peace and comfort despite the fact that the situation was anything but peaceful or comfortable.

There were moments, of course, when I did feel very discouraged about everything, such as Björn's second night in the NICU when the nurse informed me that he had not hardly eaten any of the 10 mL of my milk that he had been offered that night (he was on IV nutrition) and I felt certain that my baby would never know me. However, there were great moments as well. It was wonderful to go for a visit and see that his oxygen tent had been removed and to be allowed to nurse him for the first time. It was still strange. Björn was hooked up to an IV and several monitors, so I had to deal with a "wired" baby in trying to position him to eat or even to hold. It was so wonderful when they finally removed all of these wires on the day we took him home.

I was really thankful for modern medicine during this experience. Despite the fact that it was horrible to be separated from my baby, it was really a blessing to know that his illness did not have to be life threatening as it may have been had he not had access to these things. Of course, it is infinitely better not to have a baby go to the NICU, but if this is necessary, it is wonderful to have as a resource. Incidentally, Inge's and Björn's pediatrician calls the NICU "baby jail" because it is so hard to get a baby out of there once they get in. Everything has to be perfect before they let your baby out.

Unfortunately, right after Björn came home, I got really sick. It was not a surprise, given the fact that I did not really give myself time to recouperate after giving birth; however, it was a bummer. I completely lost my voice for five days and then had a yucky cough after that. I'm feeling much better now, thankfully, because my mom is back at home again after nearly two weeks here. It was great to have her help so much with Inge when I was feeling so crummy because Inge needs to be constantly conversed with and sung to, to remain happy and content.

Inge has been a fantastic big sister. She has really adjusted remarkably to Björn. Her only "issue" has been wanting to be carried more often. She likes to see Björn and share with him. She has read him stories and sung songs to him, too. She still uses the potty just fine. Perhaps she had a few more accidents than normal right at first, but I don't think this constitutes a reversion (see "My Beef" for context).

One of the funniest things that Inge has done since Björn was born is a reaction to my nursing. I had to use a hospital breast pump for the first couple of days to get my milk out and establish my milk when Björn was in the hospital. Inge was trying to figure things out and likened this to a picture in one of her books (entitled "Farm Animals") of a pig with her piglets. She says that Björn is "eating piglets" when he nuses and she would take my manual pump and put it on her belly button and try to pump. Now she "eats piglets" by plucking at her belly button and pretending to eat what was in her hand! I think that it's too funny to be offended by the innuendo.

We are all happily home. Björn is a very pleasant baby. He seems to enjoy being part of our family. He makes the cutest little faces. I love his little smiles. He also likes to furrow his brow and look pensive sometimes. I have to wonder what he is thinking about.

My Beef

2009-04-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

It was 80 degrees and sunny here today. Inge and I did a little light yardwork. It is unbelievably nice to be warm outside without wearing a sweater or coat.

Here's a fun end-of-pregnancy tidbit from this afternoon. I was in a local department store this afternoon, minding my own business, and trying to keep an eye on Inge, who seemed bent on getting lost under clothes racks. A woman, who was standing near me, suddenly burst out with, "Are you having two?" I was MORTIFIED!!! I tried to reply with as much dignity and politeness as I could muster, given that I had just been accused of being as big as a barn, in refuting her assumption. "Well, are you having a boy?" she persisted. I confirmed this fact and then got myself away. While I realize that I am at the very end of my pregnancy and am about as big as I'm going to get, I still don't think I look big enough to be having twins. Perhaps I'm deluding myself. Perhaps the 25 pounds I've gained sits badly on my form. Perhaps I need to just go ahead and have this baby before he or I get any bigger.

The truth is that I am a little apprehensive about having him. Of course, I am looking forward to meeting him and I know that he will be a wonderful addition to our family. I am excited to see his little personality come out and watch him grow and learn. However, I am nervous about the changes that his coming will bring. I am a little worried about my capacity to love him as much as I love Inge. I know that this is probably very silly. Everyone says that love grows exponentially with the coming of additional children, that it is not a limited resource, but I have yet to experience this myself, so I am nervous about it. I'm also a little nervous about my own well-being. When Inge was an infant, I compensated for being up much of the night by taking little naps when she napped. This approach is likely not going to work this time around, however, because Inge totally freaks out when she sees me lying down or with my eyes closed as I take a cat-nap. I am also really nervous about giving birth. It was such an ordeal with Inge and, although I do not remember the specific pain, I do remember that it was really, really hard. I know that everything will work out and that I am probably worrying needlessly, but these are some of my concerns.

Ok, so I do have a beef, a bit of frustration that needs airing, and what better place to do it than here? I hope that I will not offend anyone, but part of my motivation for posting this opinion is that I want to make sure that I have a good reminder in the future of this very issue, so that I do not become an unwary offender when I became a sage multigravida. So, what is the problem? In a couple of words it is "friendly discouragement." I'm not sure why it is that people like to say discouraging things to other people who are inevitably going to go through the discouraging situation at issue, but it has become a trend lately in my experience. Here is the most common example:

Me: We've been pretty busy lately with pottytraining Inge. She's doing great now, but it was kind of crazy for the first couple of weeks.

Other: generally said in a tone of knowing superiority Well, you know that she is going to revert as soon as you have this baby.

Me: uncertain as to how to politely respond Yes, I suppose she may. Hopefully not too badly, though.

So, my question is this: How can this little tidbit possibly be of any benefit to me? I have gone through the uncomparable stress of potty training and Inge is completely out of diapers now, even at night. I realize that she may have some accidents in response to the stress of adjusting to having a new baby in the house, perhaps she will even have a lot of accidents. The fact that this may be absolutely true does not remove the sting of a statement that basically is telling me that my parenting with my daughter is all going to fall apart with the birth of my son. Other comments have been in a similar vein. "Oh, you know that Inge is really strong-willed. She may really act out when you have your baby," was another one of my favorites.

I know that I have likely been guilty of similar statements on occasion; however, I am making a new resolve to be careful about them. Perhaps it is our desire to relate to one another that makes us want to say such things. Perhaps it is the almost unconscious result of our gratitude to not be in the very situation that our friends and acquaintences find themselves in. I really don't know why otherwise really nice people say this sort of thing, but I do want to commit myself to really trying to not do this in the future. There really is no need to anticipate, and thereby amplify, another person's uncertainty and apprehension over situations that are out of his control. So here's to more sensitive conversing!

Springtime? I hope so...

2009-04-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful day in Spokane. We enjoyed sunshine and 60+ degree weather, which is a real treat since we were enjoying hailstorms and snow earlier this week. Trees and tulips are budding but I have seen precious few blossoms anywhere. Since this is just the way it is, I have just been accepting it; however, today I checked my friend Tara's blog and saw pictures of Seattle in bloom and felt rather envious. I am ready for the winter to just GO AWAY!!!!! Soon, I hope.

Inge and I took advantage of the sunshine today and went to see the horses "go round and around" at the Looff carousel in Riverfront park in downtown Spokane. This carousel is nearly 100 years old and is really beautiful. Inge is terrified of the actual carousel. She will NOT ride it; however, she loves to watch the horses "go round and around." It makes for a very cheap outing!

The only way that I could get Inge to leave the carousel was to promise that we would go to the "gocey (grocery) store" and get some "choclat cicks" (chocolate chicks). There is a story behind this. The Easter Bunny found these darling little Lindt chocolate chicks (did I mention them before?) and put them in Inge's egg hunt. Mommy sampled a chick or so. Daddy sampled a couple of chicks. Inge turned out to absolutely LOVE the chocolate chicks (may I mention that her palate is developing nicely? :) and she only got to eat one and an half or two of the original five. So, we went to the grocery store today to see if we could find some outlying chocolate chicks leftover from Easter. I knew that there was a good chance of failure, so I prepped Inge for disappointment. Indeed, nary a chocolate chick was to be found. We had to go with a different treat--a Lindt milk chocolate truffle bar. I had a taste and it is yummy but I PROMISED Inge that it would be mostly for her. I need to make sure that Daddy has that memo...

Alas, I have to go face my icky kitchen. It is so much more fun to cook than it is to clean up. I'm refining my bread, cracker, and granola bar recipes. I'll post them when I come up with something that I'm thrilled with.

Menus, Squirrels, and Facebook

2009-04-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Monday 4/13 Lamb Gyros and Grapes
Tuesday 4/14 Mock Turtle Soup, Buttermilk Biscuits, Tomato/Avocado Salad, Molasses Cookies
Wednesday 4/15 Eggplant Marinara, Artichokes
Thursday 4/16 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup
Friday 4/17 Potatoes & Chili
Saturday 4/18 um....
Sunday 4/19 Oven-Fried Chicken, Coleslaw, Buttermilk Biscuits

A bit of commentary on these menus, since we are already a couple of days into the week. The lamb gyros (Karl pronounces these with a hard "g" rather than "year" because some Greek guy who had a gyro stand he frequented in Seattle told him that this was the correct pronunciation--I guess he would know) were inspired by leftover leg 'o lamb from Easter dinner. It was really good lamb. I made a Lebanese flat bread (one of my favorite flat bread recipes) rather than pitas to go with it. It was good, although I'd like to work with this recipe a little more before publishing my version of it), sliced some tomato and cucumber, and mixed plain yogurt with some garlic powder because I was too tired to mince garlic. It turned out to be a very fast dinner and was pretty good!

The mock turtle soup, on the other hand, was NOT a fast dinner. It was good, but it was definitely not good enough to warrant the 4+ hours I spent making it. For anyone who is interested, mock turtle soup is a Southern specialty and it requires making a roux, which requires standing (or sitting on a barstool) at the stove and whisking oil and flour as the flour toasts very slowly. Perhaps I belabored the process by not turning up the heat high enough, but I am not yet "one" with my new stove (glass conduction cooktop, which I would not choose, by the way, if I had a choice between it and gas or conventional) so I did not want to risk burning it. The menu was very extensive because we invited the missionaries over for dinner, so I figured that they would need dessert. The molasses cookies were made from the Cook's Illustrated Best New Recipe Cookbook and were very good.

Why squirrels? Well, our household is a proud subscriber of the Spokesman Review, our local paper, and this week, in addition to piracy on the high seas, there has been an ongoing thread of reporting on a local squirrel problem. I guess that the squirrels in Spokane's Finch Arboretum have gotten out of control (apparently there are 200 to 300 squirrels in a 65-acre space, which is too many, I guess). Apparently the ground is just riddled with squirrel tunnels, which people fall into on occasion. Karl said he saw some video about it on MSN that made reference to "Caddyshack" the movie in discussing the problem.

The park's department decided to use a Rhodetenator to help control the squirrel population, which has apparently gotten out of control because local coyotes have been pushed out by development. Apparently this device shoots propane and oxygen into the squirrel tunnels. There the gasses react and cause an explosion, which collapses the tunnels and burries the squirrels. This was a lot more humane that what I imagined when I heard the name "Rhodetenator," by the way.

At any rate, people are voicing their concerns about the inhumane nature of this squirrel control tactic. Some would prefer limiting the squirrel's food supply, which apparently restricts their capacity to reproduce. Others would prefer a catch and release program. For the record, I think that I am going to have to side with the parks department on this one, at least until the squirrels get to a manageable number. Then, at that point, I think that perhaps they should try other options. Overdevelopment and ecological impact is definitely a problem that should be seriously considered. Humans often really mess up ecologies when they try to get involved. However, the park's department also has to keep in mind its own liability for not maintaining a safe environment (one man who fell in a hole was apparently elderly). Anyway, that's one of our local hot topics...

And now we come to Facebook. I know that Facebook is really popular and have been on the periphery of many conversations involving it; however, I have never really seriously considered signing up for it. This is mostly because it seems to be just another thing that I would have to maintain, and I, as anyone reading this blog can attest, I have a hard enough time keeping up with my blogging and email. Before I moved to Spokane and when I was talking with my friend Danielle about keeping in touch with Seattle friends, Danielle suggested I try Facebook because it is lower maintenance than blogging. Now my beloved is hounding me to sign up for it. This is kind of funny because Karl was always kind of ambivilent to negative about Facebook. He finally signed up, however, because enough people bugged him to do so. Now he keeps telling me that I should do it. How's THAT for a change of heart!?! Anyway, I may establish a Facebook page, but maybe not until after Baby O comes and grows up enough to start sleeping in more than 2 hour spans. Any thoughts?

Greetings from Spokane!

2009-04-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

I am really embarrassed that it has been nearly three months since I last posted. That's a long time. In my defense, I have had a rather unsettled couple of months; however, we are now happily settled in Spokane and I have few excuses.

Between leaving Seattle and moving into our new house, Inge and I traveled to California to visit Karl's sister, Rebecca and her family. Inge loved playing in the sandbox with her cousin Eliza. Here is a picture:

We also traveled to Oregon to visit my sister, Crissy, and her family. Inge experienced potato chips for the first time and also enjoyed more sand at Harris Beach.

We all reunited in Spokane in time to sign the documents for our new house and move in. Our house is a very comfortable ranch-style house on Spokane's South Hill, which is to the right if you are heading east on I-90, for those of you who do not know Spokane geography. Our neighbors all seem nice and we really like our new ward. Karl received a call to be the ward financial clerk. I do not yet have a calling.

Karl loves his job and is thriving in it. He's already making waves, which does not surprise me at all. Inge and I have gotten more settled. We love our new house and all of its space, including a backyard that is now accessible because the snow is FINALLY gone. This has been an epic winter and I am REALLY thankful to welcome spring. It is amazing how wonderful birdsong and crickets sound after a really long winter. The trees are still really bare, but at least the snow is no longer lingering. We had snow on April 1st and Inge and I made a snowman. She loved making the snowman and keeps asking to make another one. I find myself almost gleefully telling her that we will have to wait until November or December to make another snowman. At least I hope that is the case. Apparently it snowed in June here last year.

Inge is learning and growing so much. It is amazing how much children grow at her age. She is very talkative and is constantly jabbering about something. She loves to demand that I sing to her. She will say with great conviction "Walking song, ok" and I am expected to immediately burst out with "Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked" or she will continue to badger me until I sing that or one of her other favorites.

One of the things that I find amazing is Inge's capacity to remember and relate memories at completely unexpected times. We will be driving around and all of a sudden she will start talking about something that happened a few days previously or something in a book that we read. It is really cool to see this evidence that her mind is working all of the time. Inge also has progressed in dealing with boo-boos. She has never gotten that upset about them but now she demands a kiss whenever she gets hurt. It really seems to help her, too, especially when she actually is upset by the oweie (sp?). It's really of fun to be able to communicate with her more.

Speaking of books, Inge has a new favorite author: Arnold Lobel. He wrote "Mouse Soup" and the "Frog and Toad" books. Inge LOVES Frog and Toad. We can actually get her to do things that she does not usually like to do, or can help her condescend to our requests when she is not in a compliant mood by pretending to be Frog and Toad having a conversation about the thing that we want her to do! It is amazing. These are great books. If you are unfamiliar with them you should really check them out.

Yet another update on the Inge front, we embarked on the perilous adventure of potty training and have more or less made it! We are so excited. Inge was getting to be a real bear when it came to diapering. Anyway, after a couple of very stressful weeks, something clicked. Inge can now basically go potty on her own, which is a miracle as far as I am concerned. Seriously. Potty training involved a lot of prayer on my part.

Inge has a best friend now. Her stuffed dog, Buster, goes everywhere with her. I am still kind of amazed at the change in their relationship because it was really something that happened overnight. All of a sudden she began demanding to know where Buster was all of the time. Inge likes putting Buster into cupboards and other small places so sometimes she cannot find him. I have to really pay attention when we are out doing errands because she will place him amid the magazines or on a shelf and we could lose him, which would definitely be a tragedy! It's really cute to see Inge care about including Buster. I hope that she will feel similarly about Baby Brother!

I am progressing with my pregnancy. Baby O2 is due at the end of the month and we are getting ready to welcome him into our family. I am getting really ready to not be pregnant anymore. It is not at all comfortable at this point and it is even more challenging because I am constantly having to bend over to pick up Inge's detritis.

So...that's a nutshell update. I'm really sorry that I have totally dropped off the face of the earth in the last couple of months. I have been a horrible friend and correspondent since moving and I feel really bad about that. Here's to improvement!

And yet another month has passed...

2009-01-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that over a month has passed since my last posting and am rather sorry that such a disgusting subject remained the headline of my blog for this entire time. Needless to say, the last month has been full of many things that have nothing to do with blogging, and I would likely not be blogging just now if it were not for the fact that Inge has done some cute things that I don't want to forget.

So, what has happened since December 10, 2008? Lots. We received an offer on our house and accepted it despite the fact that it was quite a bit less than we wanted it to be. The economy is so bad right now that we decided to cut our losses and move on without this debt-baggage. Anyway, I discovered that selling a house is a highly emotional experience. Detaching myself and my identity from this house and recognizing that it will go on as an independent shell for someone else has been very challenging. Anyway, the sale is nearly complete and, at this point, we are happy to move on.

(I made Christmas cookies for a party and Inge LOVED the batter!)

Christmas was very nice. We were planning to travel to Spokane to celebrate Christmas with Karl's family; however, due to the snow, Karl's mom suggested that we remain here rather than risk the trip. If you have not yet seen pictures of Spokane's snow accumulation over Christmas, you should definitely google for them--it was unbelievable. We had quite a bit of snow here in Seattle as well and I found myself very nearly snowbound for a week because the roads were so bad here. Seattle has since reevaluated its no-salt-on-roads policy, which is a very good thing, but it took a pretty bad experience to get that far. Anyway, back to Christmas...

It turns out that it was a good thing to stay home for Christmas because we bookended the holiday by taking turns getting a really nasty stomach bug. Inge and Karl started it and I got it a couple of days after Christmas. We have suspicions that it was the Norwalk virus (the one that makes entire cruise ship populations sick because it is so contagious) and it was nasty. I have not had a stomach bug since I was in 6th grade, and I hope that I will not have another again for a long, long time. Luckily Christmas was relatively pleasant and we enjoyed a nice day with my dad, who had stayed in town to work on a really big business transaction while my mom went to visit her mother in southern Idaho. We made Swedish meatballs and enjoyed twice-baked potatoes and chocolate angel food cake, of course. We decorated a gingerbread house and watched Inge enjoy her presents and the Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun.

Inge rebelled from her high chair and her crib right around Christmas. She decided that she was old enough to have a big-girl bed and big-girl chair, so she now sits on a stool on top of a regular chair and her crib no longer has its front side. She is doing really well with the transition. She stays in her chair for her entire meal and has only fallen out of her bed once. Unfortunately, she does get out of her bed during naptime, so most of the time she plays rather than sleeps, but we adjusted her bedtime so that she is not too tired most of the time.

So here are some fun Inge updates...

She loves to push the step-stool into the main-floor powder room and stand in front of the mirror, talking to herself, laughing, and making faces.
Inge is picking up language so quickly that I am repeatedly thankful that we do not use profanity in our house. She has started saying "my goodness!" with great solemnity and in such a way that it always makes me chuckle.
Inge has become very interested in belly buttons. She is constantly checking her own belly button and always wants to make sure that Mommy and Daddy, and whoever else happens to be around, have belly buttons, too. We suspect that this might be related to the fact that she knows that "Baby Bruder" is in mommy's tummy. Sometimes she talks about him being in other people's tummys, including her own.
Sequences seem to be interesting to Inge. She loves to count with us and is beginning to learn the sequence of the days of the week. She adds her own day after Sunday. This is the Inge weekday sequence: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Eightday. I'm not sure where she came up with "Eightday" but she did. Her daddy thinks she is very clever because in Brazil they apparently refer to a week from the presant as being eight days away, or something like that. Something was kind of lost in translation, so I don't really get it entirely.
Inge enjoyed her first Happy Meal at McDonalds a couple of weeks ago. She was very hungry and ate most of her cheeseburger, which she called a "han-gurger" and which she talks about every time she sees a picture advertising a fast-food restaurant, and most of her French fries. We tossed out the toys (they gave us two, it must have been a slow night) because they were both kind of scary looking and mama's in de-cluttering mode still.
Inge got into my makeup bag this morning while I was downstairs cleaning up the breakfast mess and pulled out my "raspberry glace" colored lipstick and smeared it all over her face. Here is a picture. I also included a picture of the decimated lipstick. It was a nearly full tube of lipstick before Inge got started. Luckily, I caught her before she could really make a mess with the furniture. If anyone is wondering, you can spread lotion all over the lipstick on the skin, then give a bath with baby soap, and it mostly comes off. This remedy came at my mother's recommendation and I am pleased to report that Inge is mostly un-pinked (there are still tinges of magenta around her eyes and mouth).

We enjoyed a nice New Year's Eve with our friends the Hunts and celebrated the Nova Scotia New Year at 8:00 so that Inge and their girls could get to bed. Tara made all sorts of yummy things to eat and I was sorry that I could not enjoy more of them as I was still kind of coming out of the stomach flu state. Inge loved exclaiming "Happy New Year" and is still periodically spouting this along with "Sanka Claus say he he he" (she didn't quite get the "o" part of Ho--oh well). This could be because I still have all of the Christmas decorations out because I am just planning on putting them away when we pack this weekend and next week. Inge still loves to look at the "Kinsas tee" and find "Kinsas tee poar (trans: polar) bear" and "angel mouse," so I don't feel bad about still having it up.

We all enjoyed a trip to Spokane last week. Karl had been planning to go to a workshop at Spokane Transit and Inge and I decided to come because we had not gone for Christmas. The passes were closed so we ended up flying at the last minute, which was kind of fun and novel. I had never purchased a plane ticket and flown on the same day before. Karl's mom and I dragged Inge around looking at houses while we were there and I realized that I think I prefer newer houses to older, historic houses that need a lot of renovation. We made an offer on one of the houses yesterday, but I think that it has not been accepted, so we will likely just rent at first and keep looking for a house. The housing market never got quite as crazy in Spokane as it did in Seattle, but people are still a little dilusional about some of the selling prices as far as we are concerned.

Finally, I have an update on Baby O2. We are expecting a little boy on April 28th. We had some concern about his health following the initial ultrasound, which caused additional stress for a couple of weeks. My family was amazing in providing support. The entire Siddoway clan joined Karl, his mother, my parents (including my dad for whom fasting is very difficult) and my sister's family in fasting for me and Baby O2 and I felt amazing strength from this. I have also really felt supported by recommitting to studying the scriptures more earnestly and first-thing every morning. It has been a blessing. In the end, my doctor and her ultrasound technition and a series of blood tests more or less confirmed that Baby O2 is just fine. I am very thankful for fasting, prayer, and my amazing family.

Things are wrapping up and we are getting ready to move a week from tomorrow. It is so crazy to think that such a big transition is coming so soon, but we are excited to move forward. I may not post again until after we are settled, but I am looking forward to posting recipes and more frequent updates again soon.

Ewww....Gross (seriously, if you're squemish, don't continue)

2008-12-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

I have rarely, if ever, been quite as disgusted as I was about an hour ago. I went upstairs to check on Inge and see if, perhaps, she had managed to fall asleep during her naptime (this would be the first time this week). Well, Inge had not fallen asleep, and, when I looked more closely, I found that she had done something much, much worse.

Inge has figured out how to take off her clothes and her diaper. When I put her to bed for naptime she was clothed in socks, overalls, a shirt, and a diaper. When I checked on her a little earlier in her nap I found that she had removed the overalls, socks, and diaper, and that one of her arms was sticking out of the neck hole of her shirt. I replaced the diaper and put her arm back in the shirt sleeve and hoped she would go to sleep. I took the ensuing silence as a good sign. Ahh...to be that naive again.

And so, we return to that fateful moment when I checked on her the second time. Through the doorway I could see that she had once again removed the diaper. I was about to go away, but I realized that there was something on the pillow that definitely shoudn't be there. That's right, she had managed to take the diaper off before she pooed (although I don't think it would have been much less gross if she had taken it off afterwards, but I digress)! There seemed to be poo everywhere. It was on the wall and all over the crib. It was on her changing table and the carpet and all over her beloved Buster and Baby. Luckily it was not in her mouth! I just wanted to walk out of the room and pretend that I had not seen this, but that was not an option. Inge went straight into the tub and got rinsed before being bathed in two separate baths. Everything in her bed, including the bumper and excepting Snowy Dog, who miraculously escaped being touched, went into the washer and is currently on its second wash cycle. I did not yell at my daughter, and I'm not even really mad at her, but I do feel justifiably disgusted.

And that was my adventure this afternoon!

Inge Updates, including Thanksgiving

2008-12-10T08:24:00.001-08:00

I actually began writing this before yesterday's "incident" (see yesterday's posting, if you have the stomach), so it is a little dated, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Today Inge is taking a nap with packing tape along the front of her diaper!

I have been so crazy busy lately with keeping my house in one piece and getting ready for Christmas in our entirely uninspiring, undecorated house that I have just continued on neglecting my blog. At this point I don't know if anyone is even going to be checking it anymore, but I want to do some Inge updates. She is so cute and getting cuter. I'm so glad that we get to spend so much time together.

She has in her room a pair of rabbit bookends, which used to stand in my room when I was younger. Inge has really taken a fancy to these bookends. She loves to play with them and hold both of them. They are made of some heavy substance, they are bookends after all, and I keep worrying that she is going to knock one of the ears off, but she just loves to hug them. She was brushing their "hair" the other day.

Inge has also enjoyed brushing "Baby's" hair. Baby is her little stuffed baby doll. Inge has four beloveds at this point, which she tries to carry around all at once. These are, of course, Buster, Snowy Dog (a little dog that looks like a highland terrier with a pink ribbon), Baby, and Polar Bear. She likes to know where they all are when she starts thinking about just one of them. Luckily we have not yet lost any of them and luckily they are all relatively small, unlike my beloved, Dumbo, who was nearly as big as I when I got him.

Inge's Great-Aunt Carol sent her a pop-up "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book for Christmas and she loves it. She loves to see "Sanka Claus" pop up. The last page is a little pop-up townscape with a Santa Claus sleigh with reindeer flying off into the night. This is her favorite page. I think that she has good taste because I think that it is the coolest page in the book, too!

We taught Inge that Santa says "Ho, Ho, Ho!" and she likes to repeat this now. One of Inge's favorite games is "Say" in which she says, "_____ say?" and I respond appropriately. She started out by restricting this to animals but now she says, "Papa say?" (zabba-dabba-do!), "Princess say?" (la, la, la), etc. It is really darling.

Inge has also been really vocal about enjoying music lately. She says "Nice Music!" when she wants to listen to music or when she is listening to music and enjoying it. We definitely enjoy helping her discover the world around her.

Inge has never been a champion napper. We have worked hard to establish a nap schedule and I'm glad to say that my daughter is not over-tired as a general rule (we did that once and will not go back, ever, if we can help it); however, Inge's interest in napping waxes and wanes. Lately, it has been waning. The other day she managed to pull the metal trash bin, which stands on the floor next to her crib, up and over the end of her crib and INTO her crib. I was totally astounded when I entered her room a couple of hours later and she smiled at me with the trash bin next to her. Pretty good dexterity, I think!

We had a wonderful time over Thanksgiving with Nana, Papa, Aunt Kissy (Crissy), Uncle Steve, Parker, and Baby Jordan. Inge and Parker had a ball together. They chased one another hither and yon all over Nana and Papa's house. They made light-shows with the flashlights that Papa fixed for them, even in the dark basement. So far Inge does not have any issues with the dark. They jumped on the pillows wherever pillows existed to jump on. In short, they had a wonderful time. We all went to the zoo with Cousin/Aunt Emily (not that she's both, but it's less confusing for Inge just to call her Aunt--now that seems confusing!) and saw the animals. They had a fantastic time. Here is a picture of Inge at Thanksgiving dinner with her napkin on her head. This seemed like a much better idea to her than actually eating anything!

Zoo in the Rain and Why I'm Thankful for Nutella

2008-11-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

I promised Inge yesterday that we would go to the zoo this morning. A rash promise, perhaps, given that we live in the Emerald City, so named due to the fact that VERY frequent rain during the months of November through April encourages verdant plants. However, Inge and I both needed to get out of our rather boring house and see something besides bare countertops, so we went. The rain did indeed come down steadily, but we enjoyed the zoo anyway. Somehow I managed to think of putting Inge in her rainboots ("boot-shoes") and me in my Merrells, which turned out to be a very fortunate thing as Inge promptly jumped into every puddle we encountered. She had a great time with the puddles and I almost think that we could have skipped the animals altogether and she would still have had a good time.

We visited the panda cows (that is their name and Inge thought they looked rather like pandas with their black and white coloration), the sheep and goats, and the bunnies. Then we made our way to the reptile house and night exhibit. There was one small rattlesnake who was particularly active and we watched him for a while. He kept trying to crawl up the side of his "house" and it made me feel bad because he seemed to want out. Not that I really wanted him out, of course. The other active reptile was the European legless lizard. This reptile was active last time we were there too. I think that he is particularly social, even if European legless lizards are not normally social. We looked at a bunch of turtles swimming around and then made our way into the night exhibit.

One nice thing about going to the zoo in the rain is that there is hardly anyone there. We were the only people in the reptile/night house exhibit and so we got to spend enough time getting our eyes adjusted so that by the time we got into the night exhibit we could see pretty well. Inge loved watching the monkeys and especially the armadillos. There are two and they are easily the most active animals in the night exhibit. They scurry around and around their enclosures and seem to be very busy with something. It is fun to watch them.

And so we come to Nutella. I have this jar of Nutella in my cupboard that I've had for a long time--good thing that this stuff doesn't go bad. I generally forget about it; however, every once in a while, when I need a little "something" after lunch or dinner, I remember the jar of Nutella and smile. It's just the thing for those times when I would like a bit of chocolate and there is none to be had in the house and, presumably, it is very slightly better for me than real chocolate. I like it on salty crackers, especially Ritz.

I remember the first time I encountered Nutella. I was in Paris near the end of my senior year in high school with my marching band. I had unsuccessfully tried to find a crepe stand in Paris and it was our last night there. I begged the band director to let me, my sister (I think) and a couple of friends go get a crepe. We asked the conscierge where we might find a crepe stand and, in typical Parisian style he only helped me AFTER making me say crepe about three times and responding with a degree of superiority "oh, crehps" with a bit of a gutteral "c" at the beginning. He directed us to a nearby place and we ran to make sure we made it there and back in the prescribed 10 or 15 minutes. The crepe was Nutella with bananas. It was wonderful. I got melty Nutella all over my coat as we ran back to make it just in time for dinner. That is my first Nutella memory. Although there have been many good ones since, I don't think that any have been quite that good!

Playground Sweetheart

2008-11-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Inge and I stopped by the playground at the community center this morning to enjoy the sunshine. There were a couple of other small children there. A three-year-old boy was quite enamored of Inge. He gave her a kiss on the cheek!

Counting, Emma, and Clam Chowder

2008-11-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

Inge is beginning to count! It seems hard to believe that Inge should be old enough to begin counting. She seems to have a great interest in counting, which I have a deep and secret fear that it may translate into a great interest in math. This is an area into which I feel quite inadequate to lead or tread. She likes counting books and counting things like cars. She is consistently good up to three and sometimes makes it up to eight with help. It is so strange to believe that she is nearly two.

My house is NOT immaculate right now and it is such a relief! Laundry had to be done today and I promised Karl a real dinner at home tonight, so, I threw caution into the wind and let the house become a bit of a mess. Lucky for me (well, sort of, we do want to sell the house) no real estate agents called today. I made three dinners (chicken pot pie to freeze, lasagna for tomorrow, and clam chowder for tonight). The lasagna recipe is one I have posted before. I'll post the clam chowder recipe from tonight.

In order to keep myself company while I toiled in the kitchen ;) today, I decided to download a book from the library. I decided on "Emma" because this is a book I have never been able to get into, which is kind of strange to me as I love almost all of Jane Austen's books but Emma has driven me nuts every time I try to read it. This bothers me a bit because critics call this one of her best works next to "Pride and Prejudice" and I can't enjoy it! As I have been listening to it I realize why it has driven me nuts. Emma's father is SUCH a hypochondriac. An excellent literary character but rather annoying to me because hypochondria has always driven me crazy (I think that my mother made me extra-sensitive to this). Anyway, I am enjoying listening to Emma more than I enjoyed reading it.

Clam Chowder
1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder OR 1 garlic clove, minced
3 medium russet potatoes, cubed in 1/4"-1/2" pieces
2 cups hot water
2 cans minced clams, liquor reserved
1 tsp Italian herb seasoning
1/4 cup cream
3/4 cup whole milk
Salt & pepper to taste

Fry bacon over medium heat in Dutch oven to render fat. When crispy, remove all but 2 Tbsp of the fat and add onion, celery, carrots and garlic to pan. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add potatoes, water, clam liquor and herbs. Cook, covered, for 20 minutes until potatoes are tender. Add clams, cream, milk and salt & pepper to taste. Serve with saltine crackers and butter.

A Funny Thing Happened at Via Verde

2008-11-12T16:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, so that title didn't work out as well as I had thought it might. I was thinking of the musical, "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To The Forum," which I have never seen by the way but I think that the name is interesting. Anyway, the story...

Yesterday was a VERY full day. Lucky for me, my husband is a beaurocrat and he had the day off yesterday for Vetran's Day. The timing was great because our house is officially on the market as of today, you can check out the cool slide show, and we had some things to get done. Unfortunately, he is a beaurocrat who happens to be somewhat involved with private sector people on the viaduct project, so his morning was eaten up in a meeting. Gotta love meetings on your day off! ANYWAY, I digress. Karl was very helpful in getting everything ready yesterday. We replaced a lightbulb in a place that is impossible to reach (the upstairs staircase) by hauling an extension ladder into the house. Perhaps there would have been easier ways to do this, but I'm not sure what they would have been. We hauled the ladder over our deck and in the sliding glass door. Getting it up and over the deck and back down was definitely a difficult thing. Karl said that the neighbors across the street got a kick out of watching him haul it up (this was before he asked for my help). I certainly didn't get a kick out of the prospect of lowering it back down when I saw that Karl had tied himself to the ladder as an anchor in case it fell down. What if he had gone over after it?!? In the end, the ladder was safely returned to the ground and Hertz rentals. Karl also replaced the kitchen faucet. He is glad that he is not a plumber.

Apparently the broker's open house went well today and hopefully there will be some very interested parties soon.

So anyway, back to Via Verde...

Via Verde is a new restaurant on Market Street. It occupies the space formerly known as the Market Street Grill, which was incidentally a place I always wanted to try but never did before it closed. Karl thought that we should try something more interesting and new than Taco del Mar (I was thinking fast and cheapish) so we found our way in the rain to a very empty Via Verde. Their claim to fame is wood-fired pizza; however, we just got regular pizza so I can't comment on that. I think that the Via Verde staff are still trying to work out the kinks. Our waitress was kind of funny about refilling our water glasses. The first time she came by to refill glasses, she just refilled Karl's and the second time she came by (probably 15 minutes later), she just refilled mine, even though Karl's was nearly empty. Perhaps this hit our funny bones because she asked very nicely if we would like more water but then only served one of us at a time. It was also remarkable that our check took about 20 minutes to take care of even though there were only two other small groups of people in the restaurant. All of this would have been more forgiveable had the pizza been phenomenal. Unfortuantely, it wasn't. It was fine, but it was not amazing. I found myself wondering if Via Verde was going to last very long...

Menu Planning for the Time/Space Lacking Soul

2008-11-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

Here I am, at the bottom of the home-cooking barrel. I haven't eaten a dinner at home that I created for several days now because I am afraid of messing up my clean oven and range. My undecorous kitchen-aid mixer, food processor and toaster (HOW will Inge have toasted cheese sandwiches--her favorite?) have been relegated to the garage in order to show off my generous and, I may say, pristine countertops. My kitchen is a cook's nightmare and a realtor's dream.

Last night we had Subway (marginal) and I've been to Than Brothers pho so many times lately that I might begin to get sick of it (but probably not--I really like pho). I'm really starting to grow weary of peanut butter and jelly. This is so strange for us because we just don't usually eat out much. Perhaps it is a judgment on me for being too prideful about cooking good dinners. At any rate, it is the direct result of this whole house staging business and I must say that I'm looking forward to it being over when it has hardly begun! Anyone want a townhouse? Anyone? Anyone?

So, these are my menu ideas for this next week. I have not assigned them to any particular day as I need to be more flexible with my time than that. Besides, if someone decides he or she wants to come and look at the house at 6:00 at night, chances are that we will end up eating pho and cream puffs at Than Brothers.

Pasta
Baked Potatoes with Chili and Broccoli
Grandma's Soup (fantastic soup my mom and I canned a year ago) with beans, sausage and cornbread
Clam chowder with Saltine Crackers
Stir-fry
Stouffer's Lasagne with Peas (lasagne on sale this week at Ballard Market)

There we are. At least it will be better than Subway, even if it is still kind of lame.

Inge with Nana & Papa and KOK Updates (including a political/moral opinion at the bottom, just so you know)

2008-11-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

We are enjoying a blue, breezy and not too chilly day here in Ballard. It's such a treat, especially after many days of rain and clouds.

Here is the promised picture of Inge eating the dum-dum sucker.

Just look at that little blue tongue!

Inge has had a very enjoyable week. I attended a CLE on Monday and Tuesday of last week, so Inge stayed with Nana and Papa. Among other things, this included learning to count with Nana (Inge can count to "3" pretty consistently) and scoring a trip to the Everett Children's Museum with Papa, as well as a green bouncy ball that they found in the gift shop there. I'm pretty certain that Inge enjoyed it nearly as much as Nana and Papa, which is saying something! It is a great thing to have grandparents.

The CLE was really good for the most part. It was all about estate planning, including a significant influence on tax law developments and issues, so by the end of the seminar on Tuesday I felt as if my brain had been chopped and fried. As soon as that was all over we had to get busy with cleaning and otherwise preparing our house for market. It was strange to be a lawyer again for a couple of days and not even have Inge to come home to. I was glad to see her again on Wednesday morning!

Inge was back at Nana's and Papa's for the weekend because Karl and I had stake conference and I was asked to speak at the Saturday evening adult session. Also, we had an early morning temple session as a stake and the photographer came to take pictures of our house for the fliers and internet posting. Saturday morning was exceptionally busy, but everything got finished! My talk went pretty well also. I was asked to speak on how we can help sustain our children and youth in uncertain times. I ended up really focusing on the importance of parents' and leaders' own spiritual strength as an important element in fostering strong testimony in children and youth. It was a good experience and I was thankful for it because it gave me the opportunity to think about something that had been troubling me for a long time.

One rather stressful thing happened Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Our stake president asked Karl to arrive for the Sunday session early because he had heard that a protest of California's Proposition 8 vote was planned for our stake center for Sunday morning. This was very troubling and sad to us. There was a smallish protest on Sunday morning, but, despite being small, it was jarring. For anyone who does not know, my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has been singled out by many of the people who supported voting against an amendment of the California state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, for its support of the campaign to establish the amendment. The California voters did decide to pass the amendment and many of those who opposed it are now very angry. Many of these people have targeted LDS temples and churches for demonstrations.

The traditional family is a very, very sacred thing in my church, which I think is really why the church leaders decided to take such a strong position on this moral issue. I think that my own thoughts on this issue are best expressed by a news release I found the other day on my church's website, www.lds.org. I thought that I would include it here:

Since Proposition 8 was placed on the ballot in June of this year, the citizens of California have considered the arguments for and against same-sex marriage. After extensive debate between those of different persuasions, voters have chosen to amend the California State Constitution to state that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Voters in Arizona and Florida took the same course and amended their constitutions to establish that marriage will continue to be between a man and a woman.

Such an emotionally charged issue concerning the most personal and cherished aspects of life — family, identity, intimacy and equality — stirs fervent and deep feelings.

Most likely, the election results for these constitutional amendments will not mean an end to the debate over same-sex marriage in this country.

We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position. No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

It is important to understand that this issue for the Church has always been about the sacred and divine institution of marriage — a union between a man and a woman.

Allegations of bigotry or persecution made against the Church were and are simply wrong. The Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians. Even more, the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches.

Some, however, have mistakenly asserted that churches should not ever be involved in politics when moral issues are involved. In fact, churches and religious organizations are well within their constitutional rights to speak out and be engaged in the many moral and ethical problems facing society. While the Church does not endorse candidates or platforms, it does reserve the right to speak out on important issues.

Before it accepted the invitation to join broad-based coalitions for the amendments, the Church knew that some of its members would choose not to support its position. Voting choices by Latter-day Saints, like all other people, are influenced by their own unique experiences and circumstances. As we move forward from the election, Church members need to be understanding and accepting of each other and work together for a better society.

Even though the democratic process can be demanding and difficult, Latter-day Saints are profoundly grateful for and respect the ideals of a true democracy.

The Church expresses deep appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the many Latter-day Saints and others who supported the coalitions in efforts regarding these amendments.

Enter Alice

2008-11-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

I am so very far behind again with blogging. We have been working on getting our house in order to put it on the market next week. Mom and Dad have been unwearying in helping us get ready, especially Mom. I am so thankful for her help. I know that she almost wishes that she could stop us by not doing this but she has been very, very helpful. The photographer is coming on Saturday to take pictures of our perfect, orderly house. Keeping it perfect and orderly is the key to that! We are going to list on Monday. I can hardly believe it.

We had a very fun Halloween. I finished her costume and Inge was a DARLING Alice. Here are some pictures.

Inge had a wonderful time with Halloween and trick-or-treating. Mom, Dad and I took Inge to the Ballard Market Street trick-or-treating on Friday afternoon. Inge had so much fun among the what seemed like thousands of children on Market Street. Everyone thought she was really cute as Alice in Wonderland.

After Ballard we went to trick-or-treat at a couple of friends' houses in Magnolia before finding ourselves on Queen Anne hill at the house of a friend where my family used to spend Halloween when I was younger. Inge was the belle of the ball and had a wonderful time. Daddy and Papa took her to a couple more houses for trick-or-treating and she loved it.

Inge also gained an appreciation of suckers this Halloween. She LOVES the little Dum-Dum suckers. Here is a picture of her after enjoying a blue raspberry one. Well, it wouldn't download. I'll publish it in the next post.

I Love Winter Food

2008-10-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

I'm really glad that I live in a place with seasons. It is so refreshing to have a new season to look forward to just as I am beginning to find the sameness of the previous season a little tedious. One of my favorite things about the coming of chillier weather, besides the cozy sweaters, of course, is the return of the sort of comfort food that is so essential to winter. This food is often rather unwelcome in the spring and summer due to its heavier nature; however, it is this very characteristic that makes it so satisfying in colder months.

The weather in Seattle has been stubbornly chilly enough over the last week or so as to make us lose all further hope of Indian summer days. It is, after all, nearly the end of October (yikes! I have to finish Inge's Halloween costume!) and an absolutely appropriate time to trot out the old sweaters and soup recipes. Therefore, in the spirit of the season, we had a truly chilly weather dinner tonight. It really turned out and so I am going to post the recipe.

Roasted Red Pepper Goulash with Mushroom-Barley "Risotto"

Goulash:
2 Tbsp oil
1 1/2-2 pounds beef roast, cut into 1" cubes
1 medium or 1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1 dried red pepper
2 tsp caraway seeds
2 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 can diced tomatoes with juice, preferably roasted
2 cups good beef stock
1/2 can roasted red peppers, chopped in 1" pieces (If you haven't yet discovered these, they are an AWESOME bargain and timesaver. I get them at the local cash n' carry and haven't really looked for them elsewhere. If you can't find them you'll have to roast your own peppers.)

Heat the oil in large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add beef in batches (pieces should have at least a 1/2" space between each other) and brown. Remove beef from pot and set aside. Add onion, garlic, pepper, caraway seeds and paprika and cook over medium-low heat until onion is translucent (approximately 10 minutes). Deglaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar, diced tomatoes in juice and beef stock. Make sure that you scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Return beef to the pot and cook, covered for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender and a nice sauce has formed. Regulate heat to maintain a gentle simmer during this time.

Prepare "risotto" during last 45 minutes of cooking time.

Once beef is tender, add chopped up peppers to pot and cook 5-10 minutes to meld flavors. Serve with "risotto" on the side.

Mushroom-Barley "Risotto"
1 cup beef broth (or whatever is left of your container from making the goulash)
5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence or Italian herb mixture
1 cup dried mushrooms, broken up
1 cup leftover roasted onions OR 2 shallots, chopped
1 generous Tbsp butter
2 cups barley
2/3 cup grated or 1 cup shredded parmasean cheese

Bring beef broth, water, salt, herbs, and dried mushrooms to boil and maintain a simmer.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots if using and saute until translucent. Add barley and saute 30 seconds. Use slotted spoon to remove reconstituted mushrooms from simmering liquid and add to barley. Stir approximately 2 cups of broth into barley mixture and stir frequently. Regulate the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Monitor the barley and add additional simmering liquid as liquid is absorbed. This will take approximately 30 minutes. When nearly all or all of the liquid has been absorbed and the barley has a creamy consistency, remove from heat and stir in parmasean cheese. Serve immediately.

Ballard Loses Two Establishments

2008-10-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a cute picture of Inge!?! Nana bought her a stiff slip the other day when we were visiting and Inge likes to wear it and play with the ruffles. Her daddy thinks that she is just quite the little girl!

In local news, Archie McPhee, a bizarre Ballard Landmark for the last 10 years, is slated to move out to Wallingford early next year. I was really sad to find this out. It's not that I frequent the shop very much, actually I have only gone in there a couple of times, but it's one of those places that feels like part of Ballard. This is why I was rather sad about it.

This news paled in impact, however, when I learned the following: Spokane Transit's board of directors had approved the hiring of a Director of Planning. Karl told me this one morning as I was making some syrup, which I consequently let cook for too long until it was gloppy and rather unpaletable. I ended up throwing it away before we had eaten it all. I reacted this way because I immediately realized that, although Karl had not yet applied for the job or even been offered an interview, our chances of moving to Spokane were suddenly very high and I wasn't quite sure that I was ready for it.

Of course, living in Spokane is something that I have considered for almost 4 years. One evening in early December 2004, while we were at a party, Karl asked me quite seriously if I thought that I could live in Spokane. This was after we had been dating for only a couple of weeks and the question took me a little by surprise (not entirely, however, I had already known for some time that Karl and I would marry). We talked it over and I told him that I would live in Spokane, but I would like to return to Seattle after he felt that his work in Spokane was finished. We made a bargain and went about our lives.

You might think this conversation odd, but that would be only if you had never talked to Karl about Spokane. Karl is passionate about his home city. He loves Spokane and wants to help it to achieve its potential as a city (i.e. he wants to fix its "issues") and has long felt a duty to do so. Therefore, it was very important to him to establish his intended's views toward Spokane early (earlier, in fact, than any truly concrete discussions about marriage itself) in our relationship and prior to extending a proposal of marriage. Don't ask me what would have happened had I said no. (Just kidding, Karl, if you're reading this! ;)

Karl applied for the position at the request of an old friend who is on Spokane Transit's executive team and he had an interview while we were visiting a couple of weeks ago. I was not surprised in the least that the interview (which lasted for an hour and an half) resulted in a job offer the very next day. Apparently they had decided almost immediately that Karl was the right one for the job. This is not really a surprise because, besides being an excellent transit planner and having many great ideas about how to improve transit (I'm not really exaggerating here--Henry Eyring (a brilliant chemist) once told his son Henry B. Eyring (now a member of the first presidency of my church) that he should pursue that vocation that he thought about when he had nothing else to think about and this is certainly true with Karl and transit planning), Karl knows more about Spokane's transit system than most people in existence.

As it turns out, this opportunity in Spokane came up a couple years before Karl had really planned for it to surface. He has been a little conflicted about duties to Metro and to Spokane and has struggled with the decision, particularly since he knows how much I love living in Seattle; however, he feels strongly that the time has come to go and I feel strongly that I ought to support him in this pursuit.

And so, we are going to leave the Emerald City's Scandinavian quarters and make our way to the Lilac City. I'm sure it will be very nice and I look forward to witnessing Karl live his dream! I also look forward to establishing myself in a new community and the adventures that will bring. I'll definitely miss my Seattle friends, however, and all of the little eccentricities that are this city. I'm sure that I'll learn to love Spokane. Perhaps I'll even have a peach tree, which is something that I have thought would be very nice for some time. And besides, I adore lilacs.

Perhaps it is a bit rich of me to consider myself a Ballard "establishment," but I really do feel at home here. I love my walkable community. I love its close proximity to so many interesting things in Seattle. I do feel very established in my ward at church and in my little neighborhood here in Ballard. However, this is the way life goes and, as Karl reminds me, at least he isn't trying to be a corporate executive so that we have to move across the country or even the world every couple of years!

We are going to be moving at the end of January 2009, so we still have a few months to eat at Red Mill, visit the Locks, and try to get the most out of the zoo membership that I just purchased last month! It will be a busy time as we try to sell our house and prepare for the move.

Of course, we'll be back often. After all, Spokane isn't really that far away. And Nana must get her Inge fix.

And Sometimes, It's Just Spaghetti

2008-10-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning thinking about dinner last night. This was probably because I woke up with my tummy demanding some nourishment just as my head was still demanding my pillow. My head won that battle, but as I drifted in and out of consciousness over the next hour or so (it is SO nice not to have to get out the door for work at 6:30 am!) I began thinking about the place of spaghetti in our lives.

My dad loves spaghetti. Straight up and only lightly adorned. This basically consists of bottled sauce, boxed spaghetti noodles, and pre-shredded (not the green can) Parmesan. He could probably eat this meal twice a week and never get sick of it. I'm not sure that I am quite such a devoted fan of spaghetti; however, it definitely has its place. This is particularly true when one is in a hurry to get dinner on the table (hurry to prepare, mind you, not hurry to clean up--why is it that pasta dinners generate more dishes than anything else?).

So, this morning I began to ponder on quick dinners and their place in this ephemeral cookbook that is knocking around my brain. I began to consider the role of quick but real food. When I say this I mean really genuinely quick food. Food that has always been quick and will always be so given its inherent nature. While I love the idea of making fancy meals quickly, the truth is that, in the end, they often take so much time to get the ingredients prepped that, although the cooking process may be short, they still take a long time to get to the table. Sometimes, in those rare times when I actually do watch cooking shows in my non-TV life (I almost always make Karl watch the Food Network with me when we are away from home in a place that has cable!), I have to chuckle at how "quickly" people put together their complicated meals with everything pre-cut, pre-measured, etc. ANYWAY, I digress.

So, I have been thinking of a truly quick meals section and thinking that spaghetti will definitely have to take a significant role there. Right along with chili-covered baked potatoes and other things I have not quite figured out yet. By the way, I love Hunt's spaghetti sauce (particularly the 4 cheese and mushroom varieties). It is the least expensive option, tastes great and has less expensive packaging because it comes in a can instead of a glass jar. You should check it out if you are still hooked on the glass jar varieties. Most aren't noticably better.

Inge and I went to yet another pumpkin patch with Nana yesterday. I had a dentist appointment in Snohomish, so we made a day of our visit there. Mom took us to the pumpkin patch that my friend Tara and I were trying to find when we got in trouble at the other pumpkin patch. It was truly amazing how many people were at this pumpkin patch. There were at least 4 school-bus loads of children and 4 long rows of cars. I was amazed that this many people would be there on a Wednesday morning! They had a little farm animal petting zoo, although we were encouraged not to actually pet the animals. This was fine as Inge mostly wanted to look at them and make their "sounds" to them. Afterwards we went to meet Papa for lunch and Inge enjoyed my Monte Cristo sandwich nearly as much as I did! It was a very fun day. Thanks Nana and Papa!

Well, the dishes in my sink are staring me down. They are closely followed by Inge's Halloween costume, which is still partially cut and not at all sewed, so I'd better go and face the music...

A Tricky Trip to A Pumpkin Patch and Other Confessions

2008-10-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last hour or so catching up with my friends' blogs, one of which includes my friend Tara, with whom I shared an interesting, if rather disquieting, experience last week. I hope that was not a run-on sentence, mom! At any rate, here is the story.

Tara, who has a bigger backseat in her car that could accommodate three carseats more legally than mine, was kind enough to drive to Snohomish. We planned to visit "The Farm" pumpkin patch in Snohomish but I failed to get good directions to "The Farm" so we ended up on some wild, and, unfortunately, eventful goosechases. After trying a couple of different spots to no avail, we decided to go back to the Stocker Farm pumpkin patch.

The Stocker Farm pumpkin patch is located off of the Marsh road that crosses the western end of the Snohomish Valley. We approached the front gate just as a truck was pulling out. We rolled down the window and asked if this was the way to the pumpkin patch and the worker nodded toward the field. He said something in Spanish but neither of us understood him. Perhaps we should have been more wary at this point, but he stepped aside and let us pass through the gate so we went. Once we got to the parking lot it was clear that there was no one there and we should probably have left; however, we had been in the car for quite a while at this point due to the long drive from Seattle and several wrong turns due to my lack of directions noted above, so we decided to let the kids get out and look around while we took some pictures. Here they are:

The girls were so happy to get out of the car.

Odessa pulled while Inge pushed and Ada got a free ride!

Farmer Inge!

The girls had a great time playing with the pumpkins and the wagons and things were going fine until a man pulled up in a tractor and asked us, rather tersely, what we were doing there. We explained that we were taking a few pictures and that one of the workers had let us in at the gate (implied consent to enter, anyone?--no I did not play the attorney card). He launched into a little diatribe about how we should have known that the hispanic guy didn't understand us, which I found a little offensive. Personally, I don't go around assuming that every Hispanic person I meet can't understand me. I generally assume that they can understand me unless I have reason to believe otherwise and this guy seemed to have understood that we were looking for the pumpkin patch because he pointed us to it...

ANYWAY, I digress. At any rate, Tara and I stuck to our story and, after a few more rants about liability and that sort of thing (am I an attorney?!?) he calmed down a little and asked us to leave. I was very frustrated. I hate being yelled at. I wanted to ask him if he knew who my father was (he does) but refrained because this seemed a little too annoyingly Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter character for those of you who don't know). We went on our way and proceeded to his little stand to buy pumpkins. At least the pictures were cute even if the whole experience did kind of leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Prior to this little jaunt in the pumpkins, Karl and I took Inge to Spokane so that Karl could participate in the regional APA (Planners Association) conference and Inge and I could spend some time with Grandma Wendy. We had a nice time in Spokane and Inge and I got to visit all sorts of places with Grandma Wendy. It was so nice of her to take so much time out of her schedule to spend with us. Inge loved walking along the Spokane River and in the parks. Her favorite thing to do, however, was to go and watch the animals that Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Byron keep. She learned how to say "bock, bock, bock" to the chickens, pet Gus the cat (this worked out until Inge began squeeling with delight over the whole experience and Gus ran away in fright!) and blowing her lips at Fuego the horse. Of course she loved Lucy the dog. It was a good time. Karl's presentation went well also. Inge was an angel and actually fell asleep without screaming on the car ride home, which was very late due to an afternoon meeting that Karl had with Spokane Transit before we left.

And so, my other confession. For months I have been totally dilinquent with my blog and have been a little evasive about it. The actual, true reason is that Karl and I are expecting and I have been feeling rather crummy. This is unusual to me because I was just fine, barring a little fatigue, with Inge. For what it's worth, I think that I'm beginning to feel much less like the living dead and much more like myself, so perhaps I really will get more regular with my blogging (yes, I realize that I've been promising to do this for a LONG time now) and recipe writing. And, for anyone who is interested, Baby O II is scheduled to make his or her appearance at the end of April or the beginning of May.

I'll close this post with a couple of recent pictures of Inge. One in her sunglasses at dinner and one in her paper bag "hat."

Inge, And Some Other Sweet Things

2008-10-10T13:10:00.001-07:00

Here is a recent photo of our little cheese-ball!

I was talking with my sister on the phone the other day about blogging. She expressed the opinion that she prefers blogging to emails as a way to keep in touch with friends because it is so nicely centralized and, as she aptly put it, because if someone wants to skip over the details of her life, they can do it without feeling guilty. Plus there is no guilt over needing to respond to that email your friend sent you a month ago that you haven't had time to address. She also expressed the idea that blogging has kind of taken the place of journaling or family history documenting in her life, which apparently works out much better for her because she isn't that great at keeping a paper journal. It was this last comment that "pricked my heart." Inge has been doing so many cute things that I have not documented. I will try to get caught up.

Here are a couple of pictures of Inge coloring. She is sometimes very serious about coloring!

One of my favorite things that Inge is doing right now is parroting. She is learning so many words by listening and repeating words that stand out to her. Recent, rather unusual, words have included "newt" (pronounced perfectly--from reading Animalia by Graeme Base, who we met at the Ballard Library this week, by the way--Very Cool!), "zeba" (zebra), "tutle" (turtle), and a very precise and emphatic "yes". I am trying to say "yes" instead of "yeah" because I would like Inge to learn the proper word before learning its slang counterpart. This is more difficult that I thought it would be, especially since I was raised on "yes" by my English-teacher mother. How quickly we forget...

Inge has also become more adept at saying little phrases. One of the funniest has two derivations and a little history. Inge's doctor recommended that we get a potty chair to have ready for when Inge is ready to potty train, so I bought a very simple one made by Baby Bjorn. Inge think that it is great fun and likes to sit on it or make Buster (her special dog) sit on it. She calls it interchangably the "poo poo chair" and the "poo poo bucket," which always cracks me up.

Speaking of Buster, Inge has very recently identified him as her very special stuffed friend. She has had Buster since a couple of months before she was born (baby-anticipation gift) and has slept with him ever since it became safe to put stuffed animals in her crib with her. She has often laughed uproarously at Buster's antics (Buster is aided in animation by me and Karl, particularly, complicated acrobatics!); however, very recently she has determined that Buster is dear to her. She carts him around with her as much as possible, including on walks, which means that mommy gets to hold Buster for part of the journey.

Lately, whenever I leave my dress shoes out, which, shame on me, is fairly often, Inge has taken to trying them on. It doesn't seem to matter to her whether or not she is shod or unshod herself. Here is a recent picture from last Sunday:

Inge fell in love with "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" this summer on a vacation with her cousin, Parker, who sang the song VERY frequently and sometimes at the top of his voice. Parker is a riot. Anyway, Inge recently evolved from singing "Tinkle star" to "Tinkle star, wonder are." She has also become very fond of making animal noises. This has been a great tool for us to use when Inge is getting fussy, unless she is really far gone. We simply begin asking her about the different noises that different animals make. Her favorites are dog (hmm, hmm--kind of a grunt and actually a lot closer to a lot of dog sounds than the traditional woof) and cow (mooo!), but she has learned many others.

In addition to Inge, my life has been full of plenty of other things, particularly the young women in my stake! I was in charge of Young Women in Excellence this year and, as our young women have not been particularly dedicated to their personal progress, we did a rather unconventional YW in Excellence night. We talked about how Personal Progress can be a very beneficial program for them to complete and that it doesn't have to be this big extra thing for them to work on, in so many words! Anyway, I made a couple of cakes for the occasion that turned out so well I thought I would share the very simple, easy recipes with you! They are both variations on the standard Texas Sheet Cake theme.

Browned Butter Almond Cake
Cake:
1 cup butter
1 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease jelly-roll pan. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda.

Bring water and butter to boil in large saucepan over medium high heat, then remove from heat. Stir in sugar, sour cream, eggs and almond extract. Stir in flour mixture and spread into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and springs back when touched lightly. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes.

Browned Butter Icing:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup chopped almonds, toasted

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat and allow it to brown. This will occur just after the butter foams. Be careful and watch to make sure butter does not burn. Butter will smell deliciously nutty. Stir in milk and powdered sugar until it is smooth. Pour over slightly cooled cake (20 minutes of cooling-time) and top with almonds. Allow to set up completely before enjoying.

Grasshopper Cake
Cake:
1 cup butter
1 cup water
3 Tbsp cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease jelly-roll pan. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda.

Bring water, butter, and cocoa to boil in large saucepan over medium high heat, then remove from heat. Stir in sugar, sour cream, eggs and almond extract. Stir in flour mixture and spread into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the top springs back when touched lightly. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes.

Grasshopper Icing:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
7 drops mint essential oil OR 1/2 tsp (?) mint extract

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in milk and powdered sugar until it is smooth. Stir in mint. Pour over slightly cooled cake (20 minutes of cooling-time) and make sure to spread the frosting evenly. Set aside and cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache Icing:
1 cup heavy cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Heat cream over high heat until bubbles appear around rim of saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir chocolate into cream until it melts. You may need to resume heating over low heat to melt completely but be careful not to burn the chocolate. Allow ganache to cool 20 minutes or until it is more viscous but still pourable. Pour over grasshopper icing layer and tilt pan to spread completely. Do not tilt pan too much or you will have ganache running onto the counter/floor! Chill cake until ganache sets up, at least 3 hours.

Both of these cakes received very positive feedback and they were both pretty easy to complete.

Inge's Latest Antics, Menus and a Book Review

2008-10-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

Inge continues to crack me up. She cracks up her daddy and she seems to get a huge kick out of cracking herself up. Truth be told, I believe that Inge just likes to laugh for the fun of it, which is great. I think that laughing (in moderation, of course--wouldn't it be awful to not be able to stop laughing?!?) is good for the soul.

Last weekend we went to a birthday party at the Seattle Children's Museum. Inge had a really good time investigating the various exhibits. Here is a picture of her with a cool light-table.

Part of the museum includes mock-villages/cities from around the world. Here is an African (Ghana?) city with a house and car, a Philippine town with a little store, house and scooter with side-car, and a neighborhood in Kobe, Japan with a bento restaurant, mini subway car, and house. Inge discovered a big-girl bed, complete with pillow and blankets in the Kobe house and immediately climbed in and was tucked in by a little boy who was also visiting the exhibit. She loved it, but then, it involved a pillow and Inge loves pillows. I was just hoping that a child with lice hadn't also loved that pillow recently!

Inge discovered the blue mixing bowl today and decided that it would make an excellent hat. She was quite a riot as she ran around, sometimes able to see, sometimes blinded by the blue bowl, laughing her head off. Here are a couple of pictures. Yes, Inge insisted on wearing the bowl during lunchtime.

My parents are in Turkey right now and we include supplications for their safety in our prayers every day. Inge has long enjoyed saying, "a Nana, a Papa" and now she says, "a Nana, a Papa, a Tukey," which is really cute. I prompt her to say this quite often because I think it is so cute to hear her say "Tukey" (no "r" on purpose).

Inge is also getting interested in singing. She is getting more and more of the words for "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," which became a favorite after her cousin Parker came to visit and sang this song A LOT! She says "Tinkle, tinkle tar...are...". She also likes to sing "Old McDonald Had a Farm," but mostly just the e-i-e-i-o part.

One more darling thing that Inge has been doing lately. I have a Young Women's personal progress book that is frequently within Inge's reach and she loves to find it and look at the pictures of Jesus on the inside. She flips through the pages to find the pictures and says "Jesus!" over and over again. Yesterday we went to meet Karl at the bus after work and Inge refused to relinquish the book but carried it with her the whole way there and back. I'm glad that Inge seems to have an idea of Jesus.

Ok, enough about Inge (but is there ever really ENOUGH about her? probably!) and on to menus. This week I have planned the following:

Friday 10/3 Sausage and Mushroom Pizza with Green Salad
Saturday 10/4 French Mixed Bean Soup with Steamed Brown Bread
Sunday 10/5 Roasted Pepper Goulash with Noodles and Green Beans
Monday 10/6 Roasted Vegetable Soup, Steamed Brown Bread
Tuesday 10/7 Spaghetti with Cucumber Salad
Wednesday 10/8 Baked Potatoes
Thursday 10/9 Chicken Soft Tacos

And now onto my book review. I recently listened to The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss on Librivox. It was very interesting, but I was glad that I was listening to it rather than trying to actually read it. Actual reading doesn't happen too often for me these days, especially reading rather more challenging classical literature; however, listening is a fantastic option. The novel is quite a lot different than the Disney movie from the 60's and both certainly have their merits.

I became intrigued by this story as I listened to it and, therefore, conducted a little internet research into Mr. Wyss and his novel. Despite internal descriptions of the story's source, it appears to have been written by Mr. Wyss for his sons' benefits in order to teach them about self sufficiency, natural history, and humility/recognition of the power of God in their lives. There is certainly a lot of all of these things in the novel and, were I a person who was not much interested in the power of God in my life, I suppose I might find this a bit wearying. As it is, I found his observations very interesting.

In several reviews that I read, I found that many people were absolutely repelled by the book because of the copious animal killing that is documented therein. It is true that the boys are a little on the bloodthirsty side and seem to kill more animals than is necessary; however, in reading a period book I always believe that it is important to try to view the book within the period in which it was written. Nature conservation was not a very big deal in the 1800's when the book took place and therefore it is not a huge surprise to me that the boys killed with abandon. It should be noted that they did not kill every beast they saw. They captured many and domesticated them as well.

The reader himself is fine for an amature reader. He is certainly no Jim Dale, but he does just fine and reads for free, which is a big perk. Overall, I enjoyed listening to this version of the adventures of the Swiss Family (incidentally, their last name is not Robinson--this was a reference to Robinson Crusoe).

Updated Hawaiian Haystacks

2008-09-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

I had Hawaiian Haystacks for the first time during my junior year of college at BYU and have considered it several times since then. I liked the idea of "chicken sundaes," which is how many recipes describe the Hawaiian Haystack. I always like chow mein noodles and cheese and other fattening things. :) However, I was not particularly keen on the rather insipid, glutinous cream of chicken soup gravy with which the haystacks are traditionally topped. Tonight, we tried an updated idea of Hawaiian Haystacks and it was actually pretty yummy. In lieu of the cream of chicken gravy we used toppings reminiscent of pho (Vietnamese soup) restaurants: Hoisin sauce and that ultra-spicy rooster chili sauce in the clear bottle with the green lid. Toppings are variable, of course. The following list includes both things I used and things I didn't use, but which are traditional. Use these in quantities sufficient for the number of people you will be serving.

Rice
Chicken, shredded
Cheddar cheese, grated
Tomotillos, diced
Peppers, diced
Tomatoes, diced
Thai basil
Chow mein noodles
Pineapple chunks
Coconut
Hoisin sauce
Hot sauce

Place layer of rice on individual plates and place toppings in bowls on table as you would for tacos. Allow individuals to construct their own "sundaes" by piling ingredients on and topping with chow mein noodles, hoisin and hot sauce to taste.

A Trip To the Zoo and Lamenting WAMU

2008-09-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

I didn't really intend for that title to rhyme, but that's how it worked out, so I guess I'll leave it even though it is a little cheesy.

Here is a picture of Inge playing with her Daddy this morning before he went to work. Unfortunately it is blurry, but I'm sure that you will still be able to tell that Inge loves Karl's antics...

So, Inge and I joined my friend Danielle and her son Nathan at the zoo (Woodland Park Zoo) the other day. Inge and Nathan enjoyed playing at the Zoomazium indoor play area and then we took a stroll around the zoo. It was a lovely autumn morning. The sun was shining and the air, though crisp, was not cold. The animals seemed to be enjoying the lovely morning as much as we did. We started by surveying the new Flamingo exhibit and there first encountered the hoards of grade school children on a field trip. The kids were all very excited to be at the zoo and, in their enthusiasm made it difficult to see some of the exhibits; however, this was fine in the end because, as Danielle said, Inge and Nathan probably enjoyed looking at the other kids at least as much as the animals.

After the Flamingos we tried unsuccessfully to see the gorillas ("gillas" in Inge-speak), who seemed to have been moved mysteriously to an undisclosed location, and went on to see giraffes and hippopotami, tapirs and elephants. Danielle told me that she learned at a recent zoo-talk that fewer of the elephants of Africa are developing tusks. Researchers believe that this is a evolutionary response to the poaching pressure of the illicit ivory trade. Elephants are not worth killing if they don't have tusks. I think that this is SO cool. I'm sure that the tusks are amazing to see, but isn't it even more amazing to see that these animals might have a chance of survival despite the poachers?

The maquaques and orangugangs seemed to be especially active and vocal, which was lots of fun to see. There were a couple of orangutangs who, although not really moving around seemed as interested in staring at us as we were in staring at them. This was an improvement to me because in my entire previous experience with the orangutangs seemed to be an exercise in being ignored.

One of my favorites was the Asian sun bear. These are black bears with a little orange semicircle on their upper chests. There were two bears in the enclosure and they were totally engrossed in chasing one another around in a sort of bear-tag. The fascinating thing about this game was that they seemed to be communicating with one another without saying a word, which is very unusual given the fact that the tag games with which I am familiar regularly involve a lot of yelling and laughing. The bears did this strange open-mouthed silent roar in one another's faces. They must have known what was going on. I was just excited to see them doing more than ambling around aimlessly or sleeping.

The final excitement of the morning was the tiger. I have often been disappointed with the tiger. He always seems so bored and, well, boring; however, on this morning he was pacing and pouncing in the bushes just as tigers ought to do. He even let out a fairly respectable roar. I think I shall try to visit the zoo on fine mornings in the future. It was certainly an interesting time to see the animals in action.

And now for WAMU. I'm not entirely sure where to start. First, I suppose I ought to disclose my affiliations with WAMU so that my perspective might be more clear. Several years ago, long before I knew a stock market existed, my parents decided to invest a little capital in WAMU for me and my sister because they saw it as a good investment for college. It was for many years, until last year, in fact, when things started going downhill for WAMU. I kept thinking that the bank would get itself together, as did many other people, as I watched the stock values slide. It seemed so impossible that such an institution should collapse.

Perhaps it should not have been a shock to me when Karl announced last night that WAMU had been sold for almost nothing to JP Morgan Chase, but it was. Perhaps this softened the blow of theis morning's Seattle Time's article on the END OF WAMU wherein I learned that the average stockholders would get nothing out of the deal with JP Morgan, that this stock that we had was worthless.

Perhaps I was just as greedy as Mr. Killinger and his compatriots, who got WAMU into the subprime loan mess in the first place, because I didn't want to sell when the stock was beginning to fall but still worth something. However, I think the issue was much less one of greed and much more one of complete incredulity that this bank, which had survived and even expanded as a result of the Great Depression of the 1930's, could possibly fail. The paper identifies this as the biggest bank failure in the history of the United States and I guess I just naively thought that it would never happen. Well, there's a lot of egg on my face.

I don't really want to think about the repercussions of all of this right now, but somehow I cannot help doing so. Seattle, the city in which I live and to which I feel very emotionally connected, has a great deal invested in WAMU, not the least of which are its people. I'm sure that there are also many investors who have counted on the value of WAMU as part of their small business collateral. It is horrifying to think of the impact that this could have and I just don't really want to go there. It is kind of like watching the scary part of a movie and wishing that I could close my eyes but finding that I am too engrossed in the plot to do so.

And so, I lament WAMU. I am really sorry that greed has brought on such horrible results, but, this is really so often the way of things. In the Book of Mormon, a book of scripture that is a testament of Jesus Christ from the people of ancient America, this happens over and over again. It has been called the "pride cycle" by modern scholars. God blesses people with riches, people get greedy and forget God, God takes the riches away somehow (famine, war, pestillence), people grow humble...and so the cycle goes. I have faith and confidence that things will be ok in the end. It's just likely that they are not going to be ok in the way I wanted.

A Rude Awakening and Travels

2008-09-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is a recent picture of Inge riding her sheep. This sheep was originally my sheep and was given to me on my actual birthday by my Aunt Cindy. Inge has discovered that the sheep is just the right size to ride. Maybe someday she'll be a sheep wrangler at a rodeo...then again, maybe not!

We all had a rude awakening here in Ballard-town last night. About midnight, just as we were all in a particularly deep portion of our sleep cycles, this tremendous racket began to burst forth from Inge's room. I was really deep and, consequently, very confused about the whole thing. Karl, a much lighter sleeper and much quicker to snap into consciousness, jumped out of bed and hurried into Inge's room. Her clock radio had gone off! He fumbled with figuring out how to turn it off for a few seconds as Inge garbled some completely incoherent sentence that sounded something like glub-a-stickle-arb. By this time I had roused myself and made it into Inge's room. I rubbed her back for a minute or so and was VERY thankful that she never made it into full consciousness and went back to sleep easily. I also found sleep easily and the whole episode was a bit like a dream when I woke up this morning. Unfortunately, Karl was not so fortunate. He woke up enough to include his mind in the waking process and was thereafter awake for three hours thinking about, what else...buses! C'est la vie!

My parents are off this morning for a trip to Turkey called "The Blue Voyage" it sounds fantastic and I hope that they have a good time and take lots of good pictures. Someday I would like to visit Turkey, I suppose, although there are many other places that are higher up on my list of places to visit. This makes me consider just WHERE those places are...

I would love to hike the Cotswolds in southern England. This was the area where J.R.R. Tolkin grew up and was aparently inspirational to him in writing The Lord of the Rings.

I would love to spend a lot of time in the rest of the British Isles. I love Great Britain. Sometimes I think that I would like to be British, but that is only sometimes. Then I remember how much I love being an American Washingtonian.

I would LOVE to visit the Galapagos Islands. I majored in Zoology and am fascinated by the animals who have made their home there.

Prince Edward Island--how many times have I read the "Anne" series? An embarrasing number, I assure you!

Alaska--I am a little conflicted about big cruise ships due to their environmental impact, but part of me thinks that a cruise to Alaska would be super-cool.

Central America--I traveled here once before to visit the Maya ruins and absolutely loved it. I love the whole Maya culture and history thing and would love to take my family back here.

Brazil, particularly Salvadore--this is where Mr. O served his mission and we would love to go and rent a beach house there sometime, probably with company. Any takers?

Granada, Spain--I recently listened to Washington Irving's "Tales from the Alhambra" and totally fell in love with this area. I'd love to visit when the pomegranete trees are blooming.

There are many other places, I'm sure, like the entire Eastern Hemisphere. I haven't gotten around to thinking about those places as far as traveling is concerned quite yet.

Spanking Advocate to Speak in Ballard

2008-09-18T08:45:00.001-07:00

I find myself rather shocked and dismayed by an article in today's copy of the Seattle Times, Local Section, which is entitled "Advocate for spanking whips up furor in area." The article outlines how Mars Hill Church, a local conservative Christian church based in Ballard that seems to be gaining some popularity in Seattle as they now have 6 campuses in the area, has invited a man named Tedd Tripp to come and speak about raising children. The article points out that Mr. Tripp advocates the idea that God calls on parents to spank their children. This idea is absolutely outrageous to me and it became more so as I continued to read the article and Mr. Tripp's rationale. Mr. Tripp argues that spanking is necessary in order to create submission in children and advocates for direct spanking on a child's bottom (as in, no pants/diaper in the way) in order to not lose the effect of the spanking in the padding. He also argues that children are old enough to be spanked as soon as they begin to show resistance or rebellion, such as struggling with a diaper change. Apparently, Mr. Tripp believes that children are born with selfishness and pride and rebelliousness in their hearts and it is the parent's duty to get this out of them by, among other things, spanking.

I do not know Mr. Tripp personally. I have never spoken with him or seen him in person; however, his words are terribly alarming to me. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka the "Mormon" church), I have been constantly taught that I am a literal spiritual child of God, as are all of the people on this Earth, and I have a responsibility to treat other people with the respect due to this station. In "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" (a statement issued by leaders of my church thirteen years ago) I am taught:

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

This is a statement that I take very much to heart. I feel strongly that I should NEVER react to my children in anger. Perhaps Mr. Tripp is a more perfect person than I, which is definitely possible, but my immediate reaction when Inge does something like scream and twist on the changing pad for the third or fourth time in a day, or when she begins to scream and throw a temper tantrum is one of frustration and anger. I know that if I react to her in that anger I will not be acting under the influence of the love that I feel for her most of the time. I always try to take a second to take a deep breath and sing a song like "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" to her before I even think about talking to her or looking at her (I am guilty of administering "the Look" in reactionary anger). I know that if I were to give her a spanking in reaction to her misbehavior I would definitely not be acting in any way that could possibly be called inspired or godlike.

Of course, there may be a place for spanking in very limited situations. I am reminded of an experience that Laura Ingalls Wilder shared in one of her books about having to use a ruler on a very naughty older boy's hand to get him to behave in class. This apparently helped him to respect her as the teacher even though she was smaller than he and a girl (in the 1800's). In that case, Laura hated to do it but felt instinctively that it was the only way to address this teenager's behavior issues in class; however, this was an isolated event. Mr. Tripp, on the other hand, apparently believes that spanking is appropriate anytime any sort of rebelliousness is displayed, which seems awefully excessive.

Rather than beating submission into children, I belive a consistent and constant utilization of teaching moments to be more appropriate. Of course, none of us is perfect. I am likely more guilty of giving Inge "the Look" out of my own anger and frustration more than I'd really like to admit when she is misbehaving. I don't want her to think that I'll love her if she behaves but I will not love her if she misbehaves. Children must, of course, be disciplined. We have all been totally annoyed by those kids in restaurants (or wherever) who obviously always get their own way and have no concept of obedience. I certainly do not want to raise a child like that; however, I remain unconvinced that spanking is the best way of gaining obedience.

The Seattle Times article (which is rapidly becoming shorter than this posting, thanks, if you have managed to read this far--I'll wrap it up shortly) points out that the American Academy of Pediatrics has found spanking to be no more effective than other methods of dicipline and that children are more likely to express anger as adults the more that they are spanked. I also remember hearing recently (sorry, I couldn't find the source) that spanking children can lead to their becoming sexual aggressors as they grow up. That is certainly not something I ever want to have a part in propogating!

In my own meger experience, I have found that Inge is much more responsive to dicipline when I am calm and consistent. This is often difficult, as any of you with children will likely agree. It takes a lot of energy to remain steadfast when a child is whining and pushing all of one's buttons, but children need to know that they can count on parents for behavior patterns and this is one way of teaching that.

Ok, I've rambled long enough, perhaps too long, but I just wanted to air my opinion. Please share your own thoughts if you would like to do so!

Inge & Co. Updates

2008-09-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time again...alas, sometimes it IS more difficult to get back into a habit than one expects it to be. In my case, that habit appears to be blogging!

Here is a recent picture of Inge perusing the paper and just looking cute!

We took Inge to her first collegite football game a couple of weekends ago when BYU played UW. Inge wore her "dog" shirt (a little free t-shirt she got for participating in a study at UW's Infant Hearing Lab--my mom kept worrying that people would think she had hearing problems because the shirt actually says Infant Hearing Lab on it--who knows!?) because I figured that she really is more of a Dawg than a Coug anyway, since Karl and I met at UW and he didn't even go to BYU at all. I wore my BYU blue and cheered for them, but I was the only one in a sea of purple doing so. The BYU fans, however, came out in droves and all sat together in two different sections, one of which is in the background of the following picture. They were really loud. I doubt that many visiting teams, besides the Washington State Cougars, of course, could boast such a huge cheering section. Here is a picture of Inge at the game:

It was SO hot in the stadium and my mom was REALLY nice and bought me a fresh squeezed lemonade during the LOOOOOONG 4th quarter. It was so funny--a man came with this big flat of lemonade to sell in the stands and I don't think that he had to call out "Lemonade!" more than once before people just descended upon him in droves. Some of them didn't even ask for change! I don't believe that I would have gotten this lemonade if he hadn't been right at the end of our row and if I didn't have such an outgoing mother! I enjoyed drinking the lemonade very much. Inge enjoyed playing with the straw and the ice cubes.

Inge continues to be hilarious and charming and is growing more quickly than I can believe. She has her 18 month check-up today (now that she is nearly 19 months old!) and is saying more words than ever. She loves to talk about her "anamas" (trans: pajamas) and "arilla" (as in, Good Night Gorilla) and cicle (trans: bicycle). Here is a picture of Inge reading one of her favorite library books to Otto the otter.

Inge and I enjoyed a visit yesterday from Nicole and her darling children, Sidney and Wes. Nicole and I were roommates at BYU and it was so fun to see her. She looks exactly the same and it was like going back in time, albeit with some significant distractions in the form of our kids! We enjoyed a chat and a walk to the Locks and lunch. Sidney especially enjoyed finding the fish medallions on the way to the fish ladder at the Locks. I'm always amazed that I have one of Seattle's great tourist attractions three blocks or so from my house. It is certainly a fun place to visit, even for the 100th (or whatever it was) time. Of course, I was lame and forgot to take a picture of our kids together. I need to get better about seizing photographable moments.

Speeking of photographable moments, I DID seize one this morning. Inge has discovered my high heeled shoes (which, incidentally, Nicole recognized yesterday from our days at BYU--I knew they were old but I didn't realize they were THAT old!) and enjoys slipping her little feet into them and clodding around. In fact, she is wearing them right now as she peruses the cookbooks on my shelf. I get SUCH a kick out of this girl. Here is a picture of her wearing the high heels in her anamas:

I need to make my menus for this next week and publish my menus. I've been a bit under the weather for the last week and have kind of slacked off with cooking, among other things. But I'll publish them this week, I promise!

Menus for 9/5 through 9/11 and musings on chocolate chip cookies

2008-09-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

To begin with, we have Inge with a Mohawk.

Here they are. I'm so bummed right now. My garden is not really bearing that well and I just harvested a little handful of beans and was cooking them for Inge for lunch (she likes them best sauteed) and I lost track of time and LET THEM BURN. Of course I didn't notice the problem until that telltale scorched smell began to permeate the air and by then it was much too late. Oh well. There will (hopefully!) be other beans.

Friday 9/5 Roasted Chicken with Roasted Beets and Celery, Macaroni and Cheese
Saturday 9/6 Potato chicken salad with Fritos
Sunday 9/7 Phad Thai and Thai-style Celery Salad (can you tell I'm trying to use celery this week?!)
Monday 9/8 Korean Sesame Beef with Lettuce Wraps and Rice
Tuesday 9/9 Beans and Peppers with Couscous
Wednesday 9/10 Pasta Carbonara (ALREADY I'm looking forward to it!) with Snow Pea Salad
Thursday 9/11 White Chili with Cornbread and Scallion-Cucumber Salad

I must be in the mood for chocolate chip cookies. My cousin, Bobbie, and her family is in town for the BYU v. UW game and she is coming to visit shortly, so I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. It had been a REALLY long time since I made a batch of said cookies and they are just as wonderful as chocolate chip cookies can be. As I was making them, I thought of an article I recently re-read in an old cooking magazine for mocha chocolate chip cookies. I have never made these cookies because I don't do the "mocha" part of the equation; however, I began thinking that the recipe itself might be ideal for a mint chocolate chip cookie and wanted to record my idea before it is pushed out of my cranium by one of a thousand other things I think during a day. This is the proposed recipe:

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks pliable but not mushy butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar or brown sugar (which?)
1 (?) drop mint essential oil or 1/2 (?) tsp mint extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Additional granulated sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour and baking powder and salt in a bwl and set aside.

Beat butter and sugars until well combined and fluffy. Beat in mint.

Fold in flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Fold in chocolate chips until just combined.

Put about 1/4 cup granulated sugar in small bowl. Scoop out about 1 TBSP dough at a time and form into a flattened disc shape. Dip cookie in sugar and place on ungreased baking sheet. Leave about 2" between the cookies to allow for spreading. Bake until the edges begin to get golden brown, approximately 12-14 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 2 minutes and then remove to cooling racks.

The Cookies I Made for Bobbie
This recipe was very close to the traditional Toll House Cookie Recipe with a few minor changes. The cookies turned out just as chocolate chip cookies ought to!

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, pliable but not mushy
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 standard size pkg chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour and soda in a bowl and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in mixer until light and fluffy. Add salt and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time and beat to homogenize mixture. Reduce mixer speed to lowest speed. Gradually add flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips just until combined.

Drop dough in heaping tablespoons full on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until cookies begin to turn golden brown on edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to cooling racks and cool completely.

Yield: Approximately 4 dozen cookies

On Life and Death, and the Zoo

2008-09-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Labor Day weekend as a family, although it was punctuated by a very sad event. One of the fathers of a family that I grew up very close to passed away very unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago and his memorial service was last Sunday. Everyone was in great shock still as one would expect following a completely unanticipated death. Although terminal sickness is very difficult and emotionally draining, it has the virtue of preparing all parties involved for the inevitable end of death. Any of this preparation was completely absent in this particular situation, which made it difficult in its own way.

As I reflected on this family friend's passing, I realized that I may have a unique perspective on death. It is, like most things in my life, inspired and fueled by my perspective on God and the purpose of life as I understand it from a Christian perspective. I feel a peace about death because of my conviction that it does not mark an ending but rather a passageway, the end of one journey and the beginning of another. In my perspective, life as we know it is a mere "pinprick" in the scheme of all eternity. I believe that we came to Earth to receive bodies and experience the trials and joys that God has planned for us to help us grow, learn, and return to Him. I believe that no one except Jesus Christ has ever or will ever live a perfect life and because of this we have opportunities to repent and try to do better through His atonement. Whether on earth or sometime after death, I believe that all people who have ever lived on the earth will have the opportunity to learn of the purpose of life and the mission of Jesus Christ and will have the opportunity to accept or reject it. Those are some of my thoughts on death as a part of life.

Following the aforesaid memorial service on Sunday, I spoke with another of the guests concerning the purpose of suffering and pain. We talked about how some people are unable to really show affection for the people they care about and how this can cause regret at death. My co-conversant asked me why I thought this was the case and I shared my opinion that so many of our familial interactions are influenced by how we ourselves were raised. Some people may be unable to show love, even if they feel it, when their parents struggled with showing love to them or some other stress existed in the relationship. It seems like such a horrible thing, and it can be such a vicious cycle, that one can begin to wonder why such a situation should be allowed to continue. As a person of faith I have had to process this myself and often find myself re-processing as I face situations such as this one. Why does God allow so much suffering to continue? Why does he not just take it away? As we talked, I came to the same conclusion that I seem to come to every time the question comes up: God lets us suffer and horrible things to happen because he values our agency, our ability to choose and act for ourselves, above all other things. Our ability to choose, although it can lead to so much heartache and misery, is what allows us to rise above mere humanity and approach Him.

And so, those are some of my thoughts on life and death. They are really just the tip of the ice burg, but a post can only be so long before it becomes unreadable, after all!

On Monday, Labor Day, Karl had the day off so we decided to take Inge to the zoo in the morning. We had a wonderful time at the zoo. I was excited to see the butterfly house but, unfortunately, it was too cold for the butterflies to really be flying. I'll have to go back sometime when the sun is out. I love butterflies. Inge especially loved the reptile house and the night creatures house. The reptiles and night animals were more active than I have often seen them and it was lots of fun to watch them. I really loved watching the tiny little armadillos scurry around in the night creatures house. Here is a picture of Inge watching a Louisiana Pine Snake.

We also saw a couple of really big brown bears, went into this bird house where a bunch of crazy budgies and more placid birds were roosting and flying, and visited the "Tundra Room" were Inge enjoyed listening to the piped-in grey wolf howl. She tried it several times on her own. We have a lot more to explore at the zoo, but this was a very fun visit!

Shrimp Pizza with Bechamel

2008-09-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that this recipe has taken so long to post, Rebecca, but here is the shrimp pizza recipe.

Shrimp Pizza

Pizza dough (I posted my recipe a couple of months ago, or use your favorite)
Thick Bechemel Sauce (see below)
1/2 pound shrimp, cooked (I grilled mine with spices and a little barbecue sauce and ate some for dinner the day before then added the leftovers to this pizza--recipe below)
1 bunch Italian Parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 500 degrees before you make the bechemel.

Stretch/roll out the pizza dough to a 12-15 inch circle. Spread top with bechemel sauce. Place on pizza peel dusted with cornmeal, if you have one and a pizza stone. If you don't, place on a cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal.

Bake pizza for 6 minutes. Slide out of oven and sprinkle shrimp and parsley evenly over the top. Return pizza to oven to bake for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Allow to cool a couple of minutes before slicing and serving.

Thick Bechamel Sauce for Pizza
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup whole milk
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
Sprinkle of freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup Parmasean cheese

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat until it foams. Add onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent. Stir frequently to ensure that neither the onion nor garlic browns. This will take 3-4 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 1/2 minutes. Pour milk into saucepan as you whisk constantly to incorporate it into the onion mixture.

Increase heat to medium-high and bring sauce to boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer. Stir in bay leaf, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cook sauce for 10 minutes then remove the bay leaf and stir in Parmasean cheese to melt.

Grilled shrimp (we ate about half of these one night for dinner and I saved the other half in the refrigerator for the pizza the next day, for which purpose I cut them into bite-size pieces)
1 lb large shrimp (you could use smaller ones but then I would definitely cook them on a solid indoor grill pan, not on an outside grill where they could slip down into it)
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp Italian herb seasoning
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and toss over shrimp. Add barbecue sauce and allow to marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat grill over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. If you are using smaller shrimp they will cook much more quickly so pay attention to when they begin to feel firm. Over-cooked shrimp will be tough and unappetizing.

Menus for 8/29 through 9/4e

2008-08-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that this list of menus includes dates in September! So much for the summer. I still have some hopes for my garden. We planted it late because the Spring was so wet and cold, and the Summer just hasn't been warm enough to really get it going. It's a green jungle, but we just don't have much produce yet. I have hopes for the beans and summer squash but the peas were a bust.

At any rate, here are my menus. Please notice the new list I've included at the top right of the blog of the fresh produce I'm getting every week. These things are, ostensibly, in season because they are part of my weekly produce box. On this, I have based the following menus...

Friday 8/29 Pizza with Shrimp, Summer Squash and Bechamel Sauce, Green Salad
Saturday 8/30 Grilled Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Sauteed Green Beans
Sunday 8/31 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato-Corn Chowder
Monday 9/1 Beef, Pepper and Squash Stir-Fry
Tuesday 9/2 Roasted Chicken, Cucumber Salad, Baguette
Wednesday 9/3 Black Bean Soup, Cornbread, Sauteed Greens
Thursday 9/4 Grilled Steak with Beets and Mushrooms

Our Latest Adventure

2008-08-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is my fourth post today and, lest you miss the fascinating earlier posts (hmmm...), I would like to alert any readers who are interested in my recipes that there are a couple of recipes below as well as this week's menus. And now, on to bigger, and better, things...

My sister, Crissy, ran cross country and track in high school and her coach had a retirement party a couple of weekends ago. "So?" you may, with reason, be saying. Well, Mom and Dad decided that Crissy should attend the party and so Mom drove down to Medford, Oregon to collect Crissy and the boys. Since Crissy, Parker and Jordan were in town, Dad decided that it would be a good idea to go out on the boat for a family summer outing. Although Karl and Steve (Crissy's husband) could not come, he thought that we should take advantage of the rest of us being together. Mom decided that she wanted to go up to the Gulf Islands (basically, the Canadian San Juans) so off we went for yet another summertime adventure.

Did I say summertime? Apparently, someone forgot to mention that it was summertime to the weather people because we experienced very autumnal weather, including lots and lots of rain. However, we had a great time. Inge and Parker enjoyed making one another laugh by doing things like falling down on Nana and Papa's bunk and Inge enjoyed playing with Parker's "Cars" (as in models from the Pixar movie). We all had a good time together and did occasionally enjoy some sunshine.

Here is a picture of Inge and Parker watching boats out of the starboard side window. Notice that Inge is wearing a bib. This is Parker's bib and it was, unfortunately, rather stinky despite diligent efforts on Mom's part to remove the stinkiness. More unfortunately, Inge just HAD to wear it much of the week.

Here is a picture of Papa reading "Red Truck" to Inge and Parker. Parker especially loved "Red Truck" and asked that it be read to him at least 100 times, or so it seemed.

Here's a picture of Inge driving the boat with Papa. She loved to feel the wind on her face. The new "18 month" picture is also of Inge enjoying the wind.

Mom decided to get Inge and Parker matching sweatshirts because it was so chilly. We finally found a couple in Friday Harbor.

No, Inge did not get into my lipstick, although I think I almost have that color! She wanted to try a piece of licorice and subsequently was covered in red sugar. There's nothing like getting spoiled with treats when you're with grandma and grandpa, is there?

Southwestern Eggplant Cassarole

2008-08-26T13:03:00.001-07:00

This is a really easy recipe but it requires some attention early in the day to make it a success. Soak the beans first thing in the morning. After 4 hours they should be ready to cook. Alternatively, you could use canned beans (2 cans) but I managed to fit all of this into cleaning my house, so it really isn't time consuming at all to do the beans yourself.

1 cup dried black beans
Water
2 cups rice
1 Eggplant
Vegetable Oil
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 tsp flour
1 tsp chili powder or paprika
Salt to taste
1 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Pick beans over and remove any shriveled beans or stones. Cover black beans with at least 3 inches of water and soak for 4 hours. Drain and rinse beans and place in medium-sized saucepan. Cover with 1 1/2 inches water (I measure this by sticking my finger in the pan so it touches the beans and adding water until it reaches midway between the knuckle and fingertip joints), cover and bring to boil over high heat. As soon as the beans boil, reduce heat to low (just high enough to maintain a simmer) and cook the beans for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Drain beans, reserving the cooking liquid, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While beans are cooking, cook rice in rice cooker or on stove top according to package directions. Set aside. Slice eggplant in 1/2 inch slices, brush evenly with vegetable oil and bake in a greased 9"x13" dish for 25 minutes or until tender but not falling apart. Remove from oven. Layer rice and cooked, drained black beans on top of eggplant and set aside.

Place butter in saucepan in which beans cooked. Melt over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until onions begin to turn translucent and garlic emits a lovely garlicky smell, about 3 minutes. Do not allow the garlic to burn. Add flour to mixture and stir to combine. Allow flour to toast until golden brown, approximately 7-8 minutes. Add bean cooking liquid, chili powder, milk and salt to taste. Cook 5 minutes more to meld flavors. Pour sauce over casserole. Sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Spicy Cucumber Salad

2008-08-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

1 cucumber, quartered and sliced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed and chopped fine
1 small onion, sliced thin
3 TBSP Rice Vinegar
1 lime, juiced (roll lime on counter before cutting open to get juices flowing)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped

Combine all ingredients and set aside in refrigerator to blend flavors for at least 30 minutes.

A New Perspective on Food, Cooking and Eating

2008-08-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Emily, gave me a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" for my birthday and I found it to be very illuminating and empowering. As I told Karl, however, I was glad that I had been thinking about trying to eat more locally and seasonally before I read the book. Had I not been so inclined I think I may have just felt REALLY bad about some of my food choices, or I may have just gotten defensive about it all. At any rate, we have started to make a greater effort to be aware of what we are eating and make more informed choices about food. I'm now going to be more or less forced to eat seasonal vegetables and fruits because I've signed up with Full Circle Farms, a community supported agriculture farm here in the Seattle area. Of course, since I don't have my own farm, I will not be able to eat completely seasonally, but this is a start. I'm also getting a 1/4 beef from a local rancher who actually pastures his cattle until they are butchered. It's actually kind of cool because I get my dairy products delivered, too, so I haven't been to Safeway in a month or so!

All of this means that my menus and recipes are going to be a little more seasonally driven. Although the produce may be a little more expensive this way, I think it will all even out a bit because I'm buying so many fewer prepared things. These are my menus for this week.

Sunday 8/24 Phad Thai, Spicy Cucumber Salad
Monday 8/25 Southwestern Eggplant Cassarole (one-dish, easy meal)
Tuesday 8/26 Pasta with Sauteed Beet Greens and Grilled Chicken, Roasted Beets
Wednesday 8/27 Grilled Prawns, Baguette, Roasted Green Beans
Thursday 8/28 Pizza with green Salad

Getting Back on the Wagon, the Blog-Wagon, that is...

2008-08-17T14:45:00.001-07:00

My neighbors were very gracious about the whole house-grazing episode and they did like the muffins. Maybe the chef at the White House could contribute to better foreign policy by sending some nice treats with Pres. Bush.

Here are some recent photos of Inge. She looked so cute the other morning that I just had to take several!

Here, Inge is helping me dust. She can be very helpful for 5 second periods of time!

Thoughtful Inge.

Silly face!

I know I've been blogging about this all summer, but I really do intend to be better about fulfilling the full measure of this blog as soon as this crazy summer is over. I'm off again this afternoon to go boating with my family for a week. Poor Karl has to fend for himself for a week, which will likely be a very stressful, busy week because his dear wife will not be around to tell him that he needs to relax! I've lost track of how many times I've packed this summer; however, I am fairly confident that this is the second-to-last time. Yippee!!!

So, I was talking to a friend at church today and she said that I needed to put more simple recipes on my blog because she really just doesn't have time for lots of complications. I PROMISE, Sumer, and any of the rest of you who may care, that I'll get back at it soon. I'm really excited about receiving a box of seasonal fruits and vegetables every week starting this week and learning to work with them. I'm also trying more and more to eat frugally in this crazy economic climate we are facing. All in all, I promise to get back at both listing my menus and including my good recipes soon.

Perhaps the post-title was not entirely appropriate given that I'm about to abandon everything for another week, but...I'LL BE BACK...

Inge's Progress and a Peace Offering Recipe

2008-08-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

Inge is really learning how to articulate her little voice. She says "bucket" and "shirt" and "button" and "bus" (I had to throw that one in there for her daddy's sake!) and other words I can't think of just now so carefully and clearly that I almost dare to suggest that she could give speech lessons to some of us grownups who get careless about our speech! It is lots of fun to begin to understand her and to know that she understands me.

Inge has also started attending nursery class at church (for 18 month to 3 year old children) and has gotten on famously. I did not suspect that she would have separation anxiety issues and, indeed, she has not. She enjoys rolling out the playdough (I TRY not to think about all of the germy hands that have molded it before her and make sure to wash her hands first thing when we get home!) and playing with the many toys there. Last week she loved learning "Ring Around A Rosy" and refused to quit playing it when nursery was over. She apparently grabbed her friend Odessa's hands and tried to keep playing until Daddy made her leave! We have subsequently played many rounds of "Ring Around A Rosy" and Inge is starting to get that she should remain standing until after "ashes, ashes, we all fall down!" Actually, she refers to the game as "Ashes" and is so cute about it that I try not to think about the fact that we are singing and acting out a folk song inspired by the Bubonic Plague!

I have another funny story from church, only in this one, Inge was not the star but was on the receiving end. We often sit behind a family that includes a little boy who is a couple of years older than Inge. His name is Max and he has a very charming personality. Inge got in a sharing mood during sacrament meeting last week and shared a graham cracker with her friend Miles (Max's brother), which was very nice of her since she had already eaten a LOT of Miles' graham crackers ;), and she decided to share her sippy cup with Max. Max took one look at the sippy cup and said with all the disdain he could muster, "I don't drink out of those." Inge was nonplussed at the idea that anyone could possibly pass up a sippy cup but we encouraged her for trying to share anyway!

I received a call on Wednesday from Karl that my mother would be arriving shortly to take care of Inge while we went to the temple and out to dinner for our 3 year anniversary. It was very exciting to be surprised and I guess I wasn't paying enough attention when I left the house because I cut the corner of the driveway a little to closely and grazed the neighbors house (those of you who are not familiar with the ridiculously tight arrangement of townhouses will not appreciate this. Imagine four houses on a lot that was originally designed for one.) Although I was not the first to have underestimated this corner as is evidenced by previous dents, unfortunately the house JUST changed hands and I haven't officially met the new owners yet. Yikes! Anyway, I took over a baked peace offering and note of explanation and haven't heard back yet. Hopefully they don't hate me. These muffins were actually pretty yummy. Karl and I enjoyed the extra ones.

Chocolate Cherry Peace Offering Muffins

1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup yogurt
1 tsp almond extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1/8 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 to 1 1/2 cups pitted bing cherries
1/2 cup chocolate chips (mini, if you have them!)

Glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 Tbsp corn syrup
2 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 standard size muffin cups.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder together. Set aside.

Chop cherries coarse in food processor if you have one or by hand if you are not so lucky.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in milk and yogurt. Add almond extract. Stir dry ingredients into wet using a folding motion and only until combined. The batter will appear lumpy but don't over-stir it or your muffins will be tough. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.

Spoon batter evenly into muffin molds. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with just a few crumbs attached. Check after 15 minutes and, if they are not done, rotate pan. Allow muffins to cool in pan.

Combine confectioner's sugar, corn syrup and water in a bowl and stir until mixture is smooth. Using a pastry brush, evenly coat the cooled muffins and place them on a cooling rack or plate to dry. The idea with the glaze is that, since they are lower fat muffins the glaze would hopefully help them retain some moisture that would otherwise be lost.

Updates on Inge

2008-08-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

Inge has really enjoyed herself this summer. I think that one of her highlights so far has been her stay at Nana and Papa's house WITHOUT Mommy or Daddy. As a young women's leader, I was obliged to attend at least part of girl's camp with the Seattle North Stake. Although I really like girl's camp, I felt a little skeptical about whether or not I would really like it this year. The primary problem was, of course, that my dear Inge would be apart from her mama for two whole days and nights! Maybe Inge was up to the challenge, but I had doubts about my own readiness. Not only was I going to have to deal with being apart from Inge, but I was going to get really dirty and probably bitten by mosquitoes AND perhaps even have to deal with some teenage drama. I wasn't sure about the arrangement at all.

As the departure time ticked nearer and nearer, I began to drag my feet more and more. What if Inge woke up in a panic in the middle of the night? What if she got sick? What if she refused to take her naps? What if I had a nervous breakdown worrying about her? ;) In hindsight, I recognize that these fears were blown far out of proportion. After all, Inge is generally a healthy, happy little girl; and besides, hadn't my own mother raised two daughters of her own? Surely we were all up to the challenge.

I finally packed up my bags and headed out of Dodge after kissing my precious Inge goodbye as my mom carted her off to the park to swing (I think mom knew that I would not leave while Inge was still in my sights!) As I drove up to Ensign Ranch (the location of girl's camp--near Cle Elum) I almost resented my calling, almost. Soon, however, I began to focus on the talk I would be giving the next day. This was the reason that I could not wimp out at the last minute--I had obligations!

The girls were in the midst of lunch when I arrived and I somehow found my place with them for a couple of days. Yes, there was a lot of dust and I got filthy. Yes, there were mosquitoes and I got a few bites (I don't get bitten much in general, so I'm lucky--some of the girls were eaten alive!). Yes, I had to deal with my share of teenage drama. All elements of girl's camp. It was great! My talk (on how to learn to recognize the promptings and presence of the Holy Ghost and receive confirmation of truth) went well and I think I helped some of the girls, at least, have a better time than they would have if I hadn't been there. It was good!

I arrived back in Snohomish on Friday, midday, to find my darling Inge whole and healthy and sporting a new pair of navy blue T-Strap shoes. When I first picked her up and said hello, she looked at me for a few seconds as if she was making sure that it was really me and then she rested her little head on my shoulder and gave me a long hug. This was really precious as Inge doesn't rest her head on my shoulder hardly ever--she is too interested in the world around her.

It turns out that Inge had a great week with Nana. She got to play in the dirt and stand in a bucket of water (she learned the word "bucket"). She had nightly bubble baths and, when she threw a fit about having to get out of the bath one night, Nana even dried out the bath and let her play in it for 20 more minutes before bedtime. She acquired a new pair of shoes and enjoyed Rice Chex (a delicacy that our household does not generally have in stock) and "Bug Bites" cookies. She had a great time. I don't think that she even missed her mama much at all, well, maybe just a little bit. :)

I LOVE Olympic Swimming!

2008-08-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

As far as I'm concerned, swimming is one of the most exciting sports at the Beijing Olympic games this summer. Perhaps this is just because I was a swimmer for a really long time and the swimmer part of me misses it and finds some sort of renewal in watching these fantastic swimmers fulfill one of those unrealistic dreams I had as a child: Swimming in the Olympic Games. I was always pretty good, locally good (I held the 500 freestyle record for a couple of years for Snohomish High School), but was never an elite swimmer, and so the Games were never a reality for me.

Swimming was an area in my life where my dad and I really related to one another. I may not have shared his aptitude for physics or economics, and we may have occasionally clashed in typical teenager/parent fashion; but, I could talk to my dad in the language of swimming and we could connect. Dad had been a swimmer in his youth and he encouraged me to pursue swimming as my sport. He was a stroke and turn judge for my high school team and he was a secondary coach for every race I swam. He took me to Saturday morning practices and out-of-town swim meets. He went shopping for a swimming warm-up suit and Zoomers (practice fins) for Christmas. I think that he loved being a part of it all.

My mother was my biggest cheerleader. As I watched Michael Phelps' mother's reaction to her son's victory in the 400 IM, I got all teary remembering my mom's reactions to my personal bests (and really, any race I raced). She would be in the stands, her two fists raised above her head and pumping the air while she screamed out "Go, Katie!" Mom may not have known as much of the technical angle of swimming as my dad, but she supported me in every way she could from selling concessions at the summer league swim meets to making sure that I made it to early morning summer swim practice at Coleman Pool in West Seattle (at least 1 hour 15 minutes from Snohomish, if we were lucky). I had an amazing support team in my parents!

At any rate, I love to watch the swimming. As I watched the men's 400 IM and the 400 Freestyle-relays this morning with Inge (on the internet www.nbcolympics.com), I found myself clutching her tightly with anticipation and telling her to watch how smooth the swimmers' strokes were. She smiled. Perhaps it was just because I was so excited, but maybe she'll want to be a swimmer herself someday!

It's August!

2008-08-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

These posts have become almost an extinct species this summer, almost! I promise to get back to publishing my menus and good recipes soon. Despite the fact that my daughter is not yet involved in swim lessons, summer camps or any of the various and sundry other time consuming activities that summer usually brings for more mature families, our summer has been exceptionally busy. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we have had visitors or have gone visiting so much. At any rate, while our summer has been full of good eating and good times, I have been a little bit negligent with this blog! OK, I've been REALLY negligent with this blog. While I can't promise to completely reform until after Labor Day, I do hope to be a little more consistent over the next several weeks.

So much has happened since I last wrote that I hardly know where to begin, but I'll give it a shot. I'll begin with Inge, who is, after all, the center of my existence and an apt person with whom to begin! Inge is learning new words every day. The other morning after I heard her making waking noises in her room I went in to find her standing up next to her crib slats and saying "want out!" Inge likes to copy me. She loves to find the duster and dust, which I always encourage even though her dusting is incredibly random and inconsistent, because I dislike dusting and look forward to the day when Inge may be able to help more! She likes to play with the cleaning gloves. Here is a recent picture:

Inge has also learned that water is not a scary thing but is something to be enjoyed with abandon. She has now dived, fully clothed, into water on three separate occasions. You may ask why I was not wiser after the first, or even the second instances, and you would be perfectly reasonable to do so; however, I am only now realizing that my little girl no longer fears the water as she did at the beginning of the summer. Inge has discovered the joys of wading and sand and shame on me for not figuring it out sooner.

One of our most recent adventures was a trip to Kallispel Island on Priest Lake last week. We were wonderfully hosted by the Karl's family and enjoyed our time in the woods. Karl's brother Sam's family was also in attendance and Inge had a wonderful time playing with her cousins, particularly her cousin Larissa, who showed her the ropes with making sand castles and generally playing in the water. Inge did a lot of walking in the woods as well and generally enjoyed everything but going to bed and the boat ride too and from the island (it was a bit bumpy). Here are a couple of pictures from our Priest Lake adventure:

I gave Karl a bike trailer for Father's Day and we finally managed to procure it last week. We took our first bike ride as a family on Saturday to Golden Gardens Beach. Inge had a fantastic time. She wore her sun glasses and bike helmet without any complaint and willingly allowed herself to be strapped into the trailer where she sat with her sippy cup and snack for the duration of the ride. It was great fun. Golden Gardens was packed because it was a beautiful day. Inge had a wonderful time playing in the surf with all the other children. She was drenched and sandy, but happy, when we returned home. Here is a picture of Inge playing in the surf:

And here is a picture of Inge, drenched, at home with her glasses and helmet: