Art

Eva and I went to the Wichita Art Museum on Saturday with friends.  The giant outdoor sculpture on which we ate our lunch caught my heart and my brain.  The piece is a commentary on many ideas related to war.  It is of a severed body with tiny soldiers surrounding it.

Here sits Eva's lunch, on a severed foot, with a little soldier who is holding a gun and is wearing a muzzle, while leaning against a coin.  My daughter plays in the severed hand in the background.

Children...money...food...weapons...war...speech...play...

What is your reaction?  What is it saying to you?

And just so that you don't think I've abandoned all whimsy, here's another photo from the day.  She was the volunteer in the kids' craft area.  I couldn't take my eyes off her incredible enormous red glasses.  If you ever find a pair like this, buy them immediately.  

I will reimburse you double.  

I want to wear them every single day when I'm old.

Dominique

This beauty graduated from high school last weekend.  She is such an incredible girl...a stellar athlete, compassionate, a thinker, full of integrity and humor, a seeker of her own bliss, passionate about toms shoes and fair-trade coffee, a Jesus lover, and just all around the kind of girl you want your daughter to grow up and become.  

It takes a village to raise a child (thank you Hillary).  We are committed to finding real, touchable, interesting, and interested people for our kiddos to call family.  We want them to admire and make relationships with others besides us and their grandparents - people who will teach them how to be confident thinkers and doers in this nutso world.  

Thank you Dominique for being part of our kids' village.  And thank you for being you.  

We are so fortunate!

Celery Seed Dressing

You know how much I love salad.  I really love it.  When we have Card Nite with friends, I usually skip dessert and go for the left-over salad.  I.love.salad.  This new recipe rocks my socks:

Celery Seed Dressing:
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. onion, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. vinegar
1/3 c. + 1 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. celery seed

Shake it all up and pour over:
mixed greens (about 8 cups)
4 strips of bacon, broken into bits
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
a handful of sunflower seeds

This recipe comes from the Simply in Season cookbook.  Everything in that cookbook is amazing.  The recipes are budget-friendly, and use whatever is currently growing in your garden or being sold at the farmer's market.  I highly recommend it!

And this is just to make you smile:

The two little pistols in time-out after a wrestling match.  They fight 24/7 lately.  

Eva is nursing her wounds and River is ready for more. 

Babies

Luke took these pictures of sweet little Sage Eliza last week.  

What a beauty.  When she smiles, her whole face smiles.  About a month ago, someone asked me how it was going for River with an infant in our family.  I said it was going well at the moment, but I knew it would get harder and that he would probably start acting jealous eventually.  Irene - my bible study group leader - a kind and so very wise woman - said "Don't borrow that from tomorrow." 

Don't borrow that from tomorrow.

Those five words have been stirring around in my brain and have, over time, truly set me free to enjoy the moment.  I want to live up today and celebrate today's victories instead of borrowing tomorrow's worries for today.

So today I will celebrate the fact that this little Sage is a super easy baby.  She is predictable, readable, and best of all, a great sleeper.  She lights up our family.  There will be stressers in the future because that is just plain how life is.  But I'm not going to borrow them.  For today, I'm loving that she is such a total joy.  And so easy.

And just a note about Shelese - I posted about her pregnancy recently - little Sadie was born on Saturday, weighing 6 lbs, 6 oz.  They are all doing just dandy.  Thanks for your prayers!

Holy Ground

My Dad preached on Sunday at Whitestone.  That guy is just amazing.  He has his plate so extremely full - events, traveling, fundraising, plus all the normal office-ish work of being president at Hesston College.  And he preached without any notes on a super-important topic...holy ground.  He challenged me to think about my experiences of being on holy ground - a personal, spiritual experience in which I am aware God's movement and stirring. I love that image - God stirring around in my soul - mixing it up, making it new, moving me, and growing me.

I've had experiences of feeling that I'm on holy ground so often - big life stuff (walking with our close friends through their separation), and everyday moments (watching my kids walk hand in hand at the arboretum).  Being "on holy ground" is an awareness of that stirring, and I love it.

This is Betsy Kate:

She had an eye injury about 2 months ago, and her family has been on a journey since that moment - finding the right doctors, multiple surgeries, lots of waiting and wondering.  Check her mama's blog - the rambling biddy - for sweet pictures of it all. They are the most beautiful family, and the way they have handled the whole situation is nothing short of incredible.  Being near them in this experience is truly being on holy ground.  They handle each moment with her with such humor and perspective.  We call her the little "Pirate Princess," and joke together about the insanity of this circumstance.  Miss Betsy is having a procedure this week to fit a conformer to her eye so that everything can grow normally.  Whenever she goes into surgery, this image comes to my mind of God holding her in the palm of His hand.  I'm saying prayers for the little lady and her family this week, including lots of thanks for the grace and optimism they show.  Holy Ground.

Happy Things

As I type this, the Buzz and the Chachi-Band are napping and I'm eating truffles until Sage decides to nap too.  They are from Luke and Sarah - who just returned from walking across Spain.  Yes, walking across Spain.  They picked them up somewhere along the way.  I think it works out nicely...my friends walk across Spain and I eat truffles.  Win-win.

A few things that are making me smile...

How can kids climbing trees NOT make you smile?  When we pulled into the driveway when I was growing up, Mom used to always say "We're home, let's go find the monkeys!"  I had this image in mind every time - seeing monkeys swinging from the rafters inside our house.  NOW I get it that she was talking about US!  Had to think of that when my monkeys climbed a tree in the backyard.

The garden is planted.  Isn't Ryan a stud?!

Mmmmm...mint...makes amazing tea and all things good.

Look at all this spinach and lettuce.  Super Happy Me.  We have more than we can eat - if you live in our neighborhood, please come help yourself!

My little sweet girl is just so darn sweet.  She is a cuddler.  And a cooer.  And a smiler.  And a tolerator of her siblings, and best of all, she is finally OUTSIDE my belly for these bathroom mirror pictures!

I saved the best for last.  The "great chicken mystery," as it is now referred to in our home has Ryan and I totally puzzled.  This is the kind of drama I crave.  Remember how I said Whity died?  She was buried by the rosebush in the garden (unfortunately not cremated as Eva requested).  This picture is of Miranda. She's the tiniest chicken and is very clearly the boss of the coop.  She roosts in the nest most of the time.  Whity had always kept her company.  I capital S - Swear - that we had NINE, count them 9, chickens.  Because we always were counting to be sure they were all back in the coop after they had been free to run in the garden, etc.  Well, Whity's departure should make 8 remaining, right?  There are still n-i-n-e chickens in the coop.  This new one is Miranda's new nest-mate.  Therein lies the mystery....Did someone give us a chicken?!  Did Whity come back to life?!  What in the world?!!!  

It is the weirdest thing ever.  

Makes me smile.

Keim Project Based Learning School for Real People

That's what Lisa calls our home-school experiment.  Things were going beautifully...

Sage and I were helping Eva discover many things as we experimented with different ways of looking at patterns this week:

Then, we started practicing spelling sight words by writing them in shaving cream.  Just for a little variety.  That lasted all of 5 minutes.  Then this happened:

Then this:

And then all hell broke loose:

Yes, I would say that the part about it being a school for REAL PEOPLE is true.

Mint Layer Brownies

This is the combination of two recipes from Megan...both of which originated at The Electric Brew in Goshen (the coffee house with the best vibe ever).  I put the brownies in the freezer after adding the mint layer, and again after adding the chocolate icing.  Because its faster.  And because they are yummiest when eaten cool (not frozen - just cool)!

Brownies:
1 c. butter, melted
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 c. cocoa
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix.  Add chocolate chips and mix.  Spread into greased 9x13 inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35ish minutes.

Mint Layer:
1/3 c. butter, softened
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
however much milk or cream needed to make it smooth
a few drops of green food coloring

Beat together and then spread on brownies.  When set, add the icing layer...

Chocolate icing:
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
6 Tbsp. butter, melted

Beat together and then spread on top of mint layer.

Try not to eat all of them in 24 hours.  Maybe spread it out to 36 hours.  Good luck.

Awesome

Ok, lots to say today...

So home-schooling is going awesome.  Eva's attitude is much much much better.  She's more respectful, confident, happier, harder-working, more creative, and just plain more CENTERED.  I, on the other hand, am exhausted.  I feel like I'm doing triage - going from one kiddo to the next and back around again.  It kind of goes in clusters...we'll have 1 solid hour of calm and bliss, and then 3 solid hours of ridiculous madness.  I guess its good prep for this summer.

The whole "project-based learning" model worked well last week.  Our goldfish project was pretty fun.  This weekend she found a shell at the Heritage Park.  When we got home, she got out a clipboard and markers and asked if we could "observe my shell," which led to multiple discoveries - all of which she documented on her clipboard in permanent marker and highlighter (two tools she got in trouble for using at school).  It so rewarding to see her taking an interest in her own learning.

Mother's Day was awesome.  Made even awesom-er by the fact that on Friday and Saturday the stars were most definitely not aligned and the days pretty much sucked.  Ryan worked a ton with Zach in Wichita and the kids were not exactly having rock-star attitudes on the homefront.  (There was a definite bright spot in Friday when Max and Ella Kate joined our kitchen dance party!)  I didn't think Ryan would be home on Sunday, so when it turned out that he was AND I got to sleep in AND he made coffee cake AND the kids gave me a card saying I get to go to Barnes and Noble and a movie ALL BY MYSELF...well, that was one awesome day.

It is awesome having my parents so close by.  River insists on hiding under a blanket and telling stories when Grandpa Howard comes over.

It is even awesome when pets die.  This morning, Eva discovered Whity dead in the coop.  She is now coloring a picture about it.  Eva knows about cremation.  So she has decided that Whity should be cremated and her ashes scattered near the garden.  Um.  I think Ryan can handle that whole topic when he gets home.  But watching her process this chicken dying thing (for the third time) and hearing her thoughts about it is actually really awesome..
"Chickens don't look pretty anymore, but we still care about them when they die."
 "I think she must have fallen from the nest."
"Why is her comb black?"
"I will hang this picture on the chicken coop tonight."
"I felt sad when Pecka died, but this is far worse."

Thank you God for my awesome life!

Shelese

Shelese is the blonde by me.

Many people who read this know my friend Shelese.  In case you don't, she's a girl that I grew up with - we were college roommates, and now she lives in CA with her husband Jason.  She's in residency after med school at UCLA.  She's been keeping a blog about her pregnancy.  (check my bloglist - its Life in the Moderately Paced Lane)  I offered to update it for her, but we can't get the password figured out, so I'll post here and she'll send people my way..

She's 33 1/2 weeks pregnant, and has been on bedrest from nearly the beginning.  She's been in the hospital for about 12 days now.  She had been on medication to keep her contractions down, but had to stop taking it at 32 weeks.  She also had a circlage (something to keep her from dilating and delivering), but had it removed because its unsafe to have in when she could go into labor.  She's on a monitor and constant i.v. drip in the hospital to keep her muscles relaxed enough so that she doesn't go into labor for hopefully a few more weeks.  Unfortunately, the muscle relaxant relaxes EVERY muscle.  So she's pretty weak.  She can't focus her eyes enough to read or watch TV for longer than about 20 minutes.  She's too weak to take a shower or walk to the bathroom.  She is - mercifully - quite tired and sleeps a lot.  She has excellent care, and has gotten to talk with the NICU nurses several times so that she knows what to expect when her baby is born.  Her blood is drawn every six hours to make sure the mercury in the muscle relaxant isn't getting too high.  And she's sometimes given shots when the contractions get too strong.

She and Jason are also in the middle of moving to a different apartment.  He's all on his own for doing all the boxing, moving, and unpacking.

Every mama that endures pregnancy and childbirth even once is a hero.  She seems especially brave though...to withstand bedrest all these weeks, and now to lay there in the hospital and pray that she can do it even longer.

So send up some prayers for Shelese, Jason, and their little girl!!  I'll keep you updated.

Dance Party!

If you're ever in the mood to boogey at about 7:30 pm, you're invited to drop by our house.  The kitchen is rock'n around that time lately...

Eva usually rocks the tambourine...

River plays a mean recorder...

And my icecream scoop singing skills are unmatched...

Sage sleeps through it...even though the volume is set to 26 and the windows shake.  (I'm positive she's not deaf - she just has selective hearing!)

Ryan declined to be photographed.  His dance moves are just too wicked.

Click here to hear what we were rocking out to.  

Crank it up and I promise you won't be able to keep from dancing.

Adele - Fire In My Heart

Quiche

Bacon & Broccoli Quiche

This is delicious!  Becky brought it over after Sage was born and I've made it no less than 5 times since.  It's pretty much fool-proof.








1 frozen pie crust
1 bag of frozen broccoli cuts, cooked and drained
6 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled (I use turkey bacon)
1 small onion, cooked in bacon grease  (Yes! - YUM)
1/3 c. miracle whip (I haven't tried it, but I bet you could substitute cottage cheese)
1/3 c. milk
4 eggs
1 c. shredded mozzarella

Combine all ingredients and pour into the pie crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

We've been having it for supper with fruit shakes.  Here's the recipe for those:

1 c. vanilla yogurt
1 c. blueberries (frozen)
1/2 c. strawberries (frozen)
1 banana
big scoop of peanut butter
dash of sugar
1 c. milk

Here's what happened when I asked Buzz to get three straws out (one for each of us b/c Eva was gone that night), and then forgot to pay attention to him for a few minutes.  Oops.

Eggs

The Great Egg Experiment took place at Mami's house recently...

How many magazines can you stack on 4 half egg shells?

Turns out you can put 74 magazines on top of our dear chickens' eggs before they crack.  Mom said that when she does this at preschool with store-bought eggs, they never make it past 25.  

One more reason to go out and get yourself some chickens!