Homemade Christmas

Mom and Talashia and Cecilia, if you don't want to know, don't read this.

I predict Mom and Cecilia will read it.  Talashia won't.

Our Christmas gifts were mostly homemade this year.  I gave some flair to the women in my life.  So easy to make, and so fun to put places.  No pics, sorry.

I also made baskets of these homemade goodies...

Thanks to Sage McCage for the containers!

Here's a recipe for our favorite granola.  Its modified a bit from recipes in the More with Less Cookbook and Simply in Season.  For the record, if I'm ever stranded on a desert island with just one cookbook, please let it be Simply in Season.

     Combine:

2 c. whole wheat four

6 c. oatmeal

1 c. coconut

1 c. wheat germ

1 c. nuts - pecans or almonds are best

      Separately, combine:

1/2 c. water

1 c. canola oil

1 c. honey

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. almond flavoring (optional)

1 Tbsp. salt

     Stir together.  

     Spread out on 2 greased cookie sheets and bake for 1 hour at 250 degrees.  Lay out on wax paper to dry.  

Mint, parsley, oregano, thyme, and sage from the garden.  It just keeps on giving.

I really had fun making all this stuff!  Hope they like it!

Tomato Bisque

A few tidbits from our life this week that have made me laugh and kept me humble...

* River and I were playing Slap Jack, and he was beating me.  Near the end of the game, he sang, "I'm on the edge of glory" - in perfect tune and all.  Thank you, Lady Buzz.

* Last night we ate at Pei Wei with Mom and Dad.  As we were leaving, Mom and I declared it a successful meal...a.k.a. no fighting, no screaming, food eaten, and no time-outs.  Miiiiiight have spoken a bit too soon...I opened my fortune cookie, a soda was spilled ALL over the floor and table and chairs, I went to tell the manager, and then read my fortune.  It said "Adventure can bring real happiness."  Yes, it can.  Thank you, my kiddos, for making everything an adventure.

* Today, Ryan took the two bigs to school with him.  He texted me a picture of them making a huge collage.  What an awesome day with Dad!  I just looked at it again a little bit ago...Eva is wearing a thin, sleeveless sundress and flip-flops.  Its snowing today.  Sigh.  I am n.o.t. going to complain.  Ryan fed them, dressed them, and took them along to work.  She could be wearing her swimsuit and I'd still be happy.

And here's a recipe for your holidays at home.  I'm not going to say where it came from because I don't think I'm technically supposed to have the recipe.  But its from a really awesome girl who got it from a really awesome place.

Remember how I said I'm planning my life around the basil plant in my windowsil?  Still doing it.

Tomato Bisque...

     Saute together until veggies are tender:

4 big carrots, shredded

1 small onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. butter

     Add:

1 quart can of tomato juice

5 cans of diced tomatoes

6 oz. of tomato paste

1 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. garlic

     Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for at least 30 minutes.

     Blend with a hand blender or food processor and then return it to the pot.

     Stir in:

1 c. whole milk or cream

2 tsp. sugar

a handful of chopped basil

   Heat until warmed through.  

   We serve it with homemade bread.  (See the oatmeal bread recipe.)  

It will put you on the edge of glory, I promise.

     

"I can do anything good"

This little lady is my inspiration.


I'm going to try this tomorrow morning.  


After I've had my coffee.  


I'll let you know how it goes!

heart happy

Marcus and Allison came to visit last weekend.

Marcus and I grew up together - he was my neighbor and best friend.  We saw each other through Truth or Dare, friends coming and friends going, falling in and out of love (not with each other), ACTs, driver's ed, proms, new cars, musicals, Singers, sports, choosing colleges, choosing careers, first jobs, and then finding our spouses.  

And it was one of those serendipitous things where I fell in love with Allison and he fell in love with Ryan and the four of us became "the four of us".  We were married a month apart 10 years ago.

We four learned how to do this marriage thing together.  We stayed up literally all night talking, arguing, planning, and just figuring out how to be grown-ups many nights in those first years of marriage.  When our kids were born, they became Aunt Allie and Uncle Marcus.

Last weekend, River was our photographer.  It was a lucky thing because he snapped a picture that says it all...

See how Allison's foot is on Marcus' shoe?  Without going into detail, I'll say that the last two years, they have been through incredible struggle.  And we've walked it with them.

But last weekend, they were in our house together, on our couch together, feet touching.  Laughing.  

These are two of the most incredible, soulful, generous, gracious, interesting, and just plain fun people I know.

I can't tell you how happy my heart is.

10 years.  God is good.  All the time.

Books and Buckeyes

Because this is my awesome reality...

...once in a great while,when the stars align, I get to spend some time on the couch with my favorite blanket and a pile of books.

And there's just not much better than that. 

Last night's stack:

Look me in the Eye... My life with Asperger's by John Elder Robinson

     An autobiography.  I wish John was my friend.

Nevermind the Joneses by Philip Yancey

     I'm trying to get inspired to keep on doing things our own way when it comes to raising our kids and keeping our house standing.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

     Another memoir.  Startling, real, poetic, sad, inspiring....a muslim woman gives descriptions of her daily life as a child in Kenya and Somalia.  She is now a member of the Dutch parliament.  So Fascinating.

Olive Kitteridge by Elisabeth Strout

     Fiction.  Decent.

And a couple of journals for quote collecting, noting inspirations, list making, etc.

If you look closely at the picture, you'll see a little ball that makes it all bliss...A BUCKEYE!

I meant to take a great picture of these chocolate covered peanut butter balls, and post the recipe.  But they are ALL gone.  Thankfully, Eva agrees about their awesomeness though because I found a picture in the camera that she took of them:

I've had them before, but this is the best recipe yet.  (Thankyou, Mariah!)

2 cups creamy peanut butter and 3/4 cup butter melted together.

Poured over and mixed with: 4 cups of powdered sugar and 3 cups of rice crispies.  

Add a little extra melted butter if it seems too crumbly.  I added 2 Tbsp.

Roll into balls and chill.

Melt one pack of chocolate bark and dip them in.

Chill again.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen.

Ours disappeared in 5 days.  

Buzz kept saying, "They're gonna see the inside of my mouth!" every time he ate one.  I finally figured out why...he thinks they are called "Bug Eyes"!

I'm headed now to make another batch.  

Wouldn't want to miraculously get another couch night and get caught without Bug Eyes!

big girl shoes

If I see you out and about this week,
and it looks like I'm wearing snow boots or old tennis shoes,
just look a little harder.
You'll see that I'm actually wearing these fabulous heels.

I'm putting on my big girl shoes and freeing my inner awesome.

Be ready.

And free yours too.  

Favorite Things #3

Here's run-down #3.  I've been collecting these pics for awhile.
They really are my faves!

Basil in my windowsil.  In winter.  

Since Gretchen gave it to me, I've been planning my life around it.  

Our weekly calendar.  

It has centered Eva because she knows what to expect every day.  

The kids have their own tree and ornaments.  

They can do whatever they like whenever they like with it.  

They readjust the ornaments multiple times a day and keep their mitts off the big tree in the living room.  Win-win for all.

Caribou Coffee thermos!!  

The mug is full of great quotes.  

Quotes, coffee, black and red, and even a sweater coozie...I couldn't be happier.

"Sip it, sip it good."

"Build communities, not empires"

"Life is short.  Stay awake for it."

This tastes like my favorite childhood memories of the cabin on the lake in Michigan.

Its hard to find here, but we recently found it in Colorado and bought 48 cans.

If you've never had it, I'll find a way to get you some.

I.love.Vernors.

Just look at her.

She smiles within seconds of waking up.  Every time.

She doesn't talk back.

And she makes us laugh.

I think our whole family would agree she's a current fave!

Grandpa Keim

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Keim!  He would be 101 years old.

I'm missing him today.  And celebrating him.

This picture hangs above my computer.
I wonder what he would think of this blogging thing.

Doesn't he look like my dad?!!

And can you see him in River?
Lately I'm taken aback by how much Buzz resembles him.

He wrote a weekly column for several newspapers.  He loved to read BOOKS, and didn't make himself read them front-to-back.  He said he couldn't run fast, but that's alright because no one was chasing him.  He loved conversation and story-telling.  He exaggerated when he told stories, but never admitted to stretching them.  He drank coffee every day.

Maybe, if I'm lucky, he and I are a little alike too.

Happy birthday, Grandpa!