The unseasonably warm days we’ve been having this week. I haven’t even had to force coats and hats on the kids.
That Andrew has been reading this book to the kids every night. (If you have kids, read this book with them! If you don’t, read it to yourself!)
Having my husband around more.
That the SECOND Christmas and New Year’s were over, my kids starting planning their birthday parties. They aren’t for a few months, but they already have some very detailed plans (including diagrams!). Hey-at least they are doing most of the planning for me!
This video gave us a good laugh.
The homemade granola we’ve been eating every morning. (recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook)
Granola
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seed
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup oil
dried cranberries (or raisins)
Stir all ingredients together. Spread mixture evenly into a greased 15×10x1 baking pan (large cookie sheet with rim).
Bake at 300 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir mixture after 20 minutes of baking. Remove from
oven and quickly stir in dried cranberries or raisins (however much you want, about 1/2-1 cup) and then immediately turn out
onto a large piece of foil. Cool, then store in tightly covered jars or plastic bags for up to 2 weeks. (Can freeze for longer storage.)
The yellow curry from Bangkok Grill. (I’ve only been there twice, but Andrew had a meeting there this week and brought me his leftovers! The only problem was that I am obviously a wimp compared to his capacity for spicy. Five stars is too much for me. Can you believe that the girl who used to work there is a 27 star girl? How is that possible?)
The Bloom Blog (I haven’t been reading blogs very often lately, but every time I read this one I feel inspired.)
Playing Dutch Blitz and Blokus, and better yet, that my kids can play with me! I love playing games, and back in the day we used to have a weekly game night with friends and family. It’s been a while since then~it just gets a little more complicated with more kids and more distance between other adults. But all of a sudden in the last few months, I have kids who can play all my favorite games with me. It has been a blast! Now we have a family game night almost every night.
Our astronomy book and the experiment kit I got to go with it (so I don’t have to make my kids wait to do an experiment because I forgot to get all the supplies).
That of the healthy meals I made this week, there were three nights when the kids asked for more! (Broccoli & brown rice soup, spinach frittata, salmon with asparagus and roasted potatoes) If you have eaten with my family before, you would know that this is definitely something to celebrate!
How much Luke loves his brothers and sister. They only have to smile at him, and he is overcome with laughter. It is adorable.
With a cross country move, a pregnancy, and a new baby, it’s been a while since I’ve taught childbirth classes. But it is something I still love…teaching others about how joyful pregnancy and labor and birth can be…and so I am going to teach a class beginning later this month. We’ll see how Luke feels about it before I decide whether to take another break or to begin teaching regularly. For now I have one class scheduled beginning January 22nd. Email me if you or someone you know is interested! (rebecca@gentlebirthchoices.com)
Happy Birthday! I hope you’re having fun. I love you. You’re fun to play with and I’m happy you’re taking tomorrow off so I can play with you! happy birthday!!! Love, tyler.
Dear Dad, Happy birthday Dad. I’m glad you can take tomorrow off so we can do fun games. I’m glad that you are my dad because I love you. I hope you can come home early today. I’m glad that you take me on daddy dates. I like when you take me to Pirate Island. Love, Robby
Dear Daddy,
Please take me to another Fancy Nancy party. Let’s go to Macey’s and eat some ice cream because I like to. I love you because you’re so sweet. I like it when we play games. I wish we could go on a daddy date more often. Let’s go on a daddy date with Lukey and me. And let’s go on a daddy date with all my family, even Lukey. Happy birthday to you, you live in a jungle. Happy birthday to you.
Love, Annie
Dear Daddy,
I love you Da-da! I want Momma and you. Thanks Dad for letting me spit up all over you. Are you having fun at work? Happy Birthday to you Da-da! I really like you holding me. You’re a great Dad! I love you.
Love, Luke
(with help from his brothers and sister)
Dear Andrew,
I love you so much. Thank you…for EVERYTHING! Happy Birthday Babe!
My sweet cousin made this for me. Isn’t it lovely? Don’t you want one? I suppose you’d want to change the names on yours, but don’t worry, she can do that!
I just love that Rosie makes jewelry. It goes along so perfectly with my earliest memories of her. Growing up on the east coast meant growing up far away from almost all of my relatives. When I was young, our family would try to make it to Utah around Christmas time and it was so much fun for me to have a couple weeks of sleepovers with all my cousins. Along with staying up all night watching movies and making recordings of our fabulous renditions of Beach Boys songs, we loved to go shopping for Christmas gifts together. Jewelry was one of our favorite things to buy. Usually they were of the dollar store variety, but I don’t think we could have loved those strings of fake pearls any more if they were real! Our taste has changed a bit over the years however, and now those fake pearls aren’t quite as cool to wear. Thankfully, Rosie quite obviously knows what is in style, and her shop is just full of the most lovely, classy jewelry!
It has been fun to see that at we’ve grown older, we still have many of the same interests. One of those interests is baby wearing. Rosie knows everything there is to know about baby wearing, and I have loved learning from her. She also makes beautiful slings, and if you are lucky enough to be related to her, you have very likely received one as a gift. (Sorry for those of you who aren’t lucky enough to be related to her!)
Rosie is a generous friend, an attentive mother, a considerate wife, and a really fun cousin. By far my most favorite thing about her is her contagious smile and her cheerful, optimistic attitude. I am sure that she has had a bad day, but I have never seen her act like it. Every single time I have ever seen her, she is smiling. (I think my family and friends would like me a whole lot better if I was more like that!)
Now, even if you are not a jewelry fan (seriously? who isn’t?), you have got to check out Rosalynn’s blog! She has the most fabulous blog! It is full of the most gorgeous, classy DIY projects that are both inexpensive and easy enough for even me to try! I love looking at them and thinking, “I could do that!”, even if I never actually do sit down to make it.
Rosie just started making jewelery a few years ago, and I am amazed at her talent. It is so much fun being related to such a kind, generous person. I really hope that you enjoy getting to know her a little better too!
**Rosalynn’s date for guaranteed Christmas delivery has already passed, but I talked with her and if you are interested in buying anything from her store, do it soon and she said it is very likely you’ll receive it in time, since, being the organized person that she is, she’s ahead of schedule with all the orders she already has! (In case it wasn’t clear, I added in the part about her being so organzied! **
Dear Fall Weather,Thank you for easing me into winter. You make leaving the summer more bearable. And I am loving the chance to sit by the fire and read to the kids. It was really very thoughtful for you to stick around a while.Dear Annie, I love that you sing things more than you say [...]
I feel a bit like the Grinch to admit this, but I don’t love Halloween. I think I could almost love it–of course autumn is an incredibly gorgeous time of year; dressing up is so much fun; pumpkins are really quite charming–but it’s that CANDY, all that CANDY that I can’t quite get along with. [...]
Have you ever been interviewed by a reporter? I’ve decided that it’s kind of like bearing your testimony.* You know how you have all these thoughts and feelings inside that you’re nervous to share, but feel like you should? And then when you do, the second you’re done, an entire encyclopedia of eloquent sentences just [...]
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