Friesencold

This morning we spent some time at a nearby park and then had our first outdoor picnic of the season.

When we got home, Bauer decided he wanted to do a puppet show for Cash. I was so surprised to see what Bauer had improvised for making a puppet stage – he took down the curtain rod with curtains from above the couch – that I didn’t even make him put it back. Bauer’s stuffed animals were the puppets. We have one creative builder on our hands.

Bauer’s two favorite books from the past few days are both by Kevin Henkes: Chester’s Way and A Weekend with Wendell. We love Kevin Henkes at our house.

This morning I made a new smoothie based on a recipe from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat for Health. The smoothie is called “Eat Your Greens Fruit Smoothie.”

5 ounces organic spinach
4 medium bananas
1 cup frozen wild blueberries
1/2 unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
6 T chia gel
Ice cubes for coldness

Blend everything together in Vita-Mix.

This made 6 cups of smoothie: 1 for Cash, 1 for Bauer, 2 for TJ and 2 for me. It was very dark and very delicious.

Here is one last picture for today. Bauer and Cash have really been enjoying playing in our backyard in the afternoons after they wake up from naps and while I am fixing dinner. Cash can usually be found with a big happy grin on his face.

My favorite method is this: I like for TJ to take the issues of Time that come to the house, read and/or scan through the articles first, and then tell me the ones he knows I will love to read.

A couple nights ago, he handed me the magazine with two articles to read. The first article was called “Cheap Thrills: Why extreme-thriftiness stunts are all the rage,” and it inspired some good table conversation the following day about whether we could or should limit our consumption on purpose. The second article was “Getting Pumped: Why some moms prefer to pump their milk and bottle-feed instead of putting baby to breast.” I could hardly believe there was an article about that, but I could relate to it so well since I pumped exclusively from the time Bauer was 5 months old until he turned 1 year. Even with Cash who never went on a breastfeeding strike, I still felt an affinity for pumping that I don’t think most nursing moms understand.

Today, in a different issue of Time, I found the best quote – well, not the best in the sense that quotes from Everything Belongs are the best, but still…I was pretty excited to come across these lines in an article about a gourmet chef who prepares and dishes out upscale food at affordable prices from a food truck:

“It’s O.K. to eat flaming-hot Cheetos and never read books or eat vegetables. This is where we’ve come as a country, and I’m not cool with it.” -Roy Choi

Me neither, and I’m hoping to get a tattoo to prove it.

Has anyone ever seen such gorgeous Swiss Chard?

I steamed some to go with our dinner tonight. We had Roasted Veggies with Quinoa. It’s one of our favorite meals. I added carrots to the roasted veggie mix for the first time tonight.

I plan to try my hand at sprouting some seeds pretty soon. We went to Whole Foods this morning after church so I could buy the seeds. I’m going to start with hulled raw sunflower seeds, hard red winter wheat berries, hulled raw buckwheat groats, and alfalfa seeds. Now all I have to get is either nylon tulle from a fabric store or gray fiberglass screens from a hardware store to go over the tops of the quart jars I will use. Maybe I’ll send TJ to Menards since those types of stores are his favorite and my least-favorite.

Coleslaw!

When we were in NC a couple weeks ago (see the great pictures under Photos tab at top), we had some barbeque and coleslaw, and ever since, I just haven’t been able to get my coleslaw fix. I keep buying cabbage and I keep making slaw. My version is super-simple: just use the shredding disc on my food processor to shred green and red cabbage, plus a couple carrots. I mix it all together in a big bowl with lid to store in fridge. Then when I want slaw, I scoop some of the shredded veggies into a bowl and pour a little Newman’s Own Light Honey Mustard Dressing over it and mix it all together.

I love it, TJ likes it, Bauer likes it, and Cash spits it out. He kept thinking he would like it at first and pointed at the bowl, grunting. But once those little shreds made it to his mouth, out they came.

Today for lunch I made veggie sandwiches with mashed avocado, red pepper, mushrooms, cucumbers, lettuce and coleslaw. So delicious! Reminded me of the sandwiches at Which Wich, which TJ and I love because they put coleslaw on them. Now we can just make our own at home.

I am reading Dr. Fuhrman’s 2-book set called Eat for Health, which includes a ton of recipes. There are several versions of coleslaw that I want to try. That and about a zillion other things. I haven’t forgotten about my homemade bread experiment either. Did I mention a friend recently gave me a breadmaker? I’m thinking that’s about the only way I’m going to get myself going on making homemade bread, i.e. let the machine do it for me. And no, in this case, I’m not the machine.

“Sylvia thought how all parents wanted an impossible life for their children – happy beginning, happy middle, happy ending. No plot of any kind. What uninteresting people would result if parents got their way.” -Karen Joy Foster, The Jane Austen Book Club

First, check out the new quote I posted on the Books page. I just finished reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls this afternoon. I really want my sister to read it so I think I will mail it to her to read next. It was one of the most interesting and unbelievable stories I have ever read.

After we returned from being out of town, I had no choice but to take the kids grocery-shopping with me the following day. I usually go to Meijer by myself on Mondays when TJ has the day off, but we got back from vacation on a Tuesday night and I knew I couldn’t wait until the following Monday, or even the weekend, to go. So off we went.

I let Bauer and Cash ride the free horse ride inside Meijer after we bought our groceries. Can you tell it was Saint Patrick’s Day?

I participated in Miss Amy KR’s most recent mission on the WBEZ Vocalo blog. It was posted on the Monday when we were out of town, but we got back home in plenty of time for me to participate. We went nowhere fast together.

In other words, my friend Jaime and I took the Metra from the downtown Naperville train station to Union Station in downtown Chicago. Then we walked to the “L” and got on the Brown Line to Belmont. We then used my iPhone to find the nearest Starbucks so we could bring our own coffee, as the mission stated to do.

Doughnuts were provided by Amy and crew. This is Amy’s producer Justin holding the doughnuts. I put in my request for a cake doughnut, and that’s what I got!

After getting our coffee, Jaime and I walked back to the Belmont “L” stop to meet up with everyone who was participating in the mission. There were probably 50-60 people there and we all climbed aboard the front car of the train. We literally went nowhere, just rode the train from Belmont, down to the Loop, and around back up to Belmont. Probably a 45 minute train ride with a bunch of strangers who were all the nicest people, just excited to be together and be with Amy.

On the train ride, Amy asked us to think about one question: Where will we go from here?

Do you want to go to the park? she said. Do you want to go home? Do you want to go visit a friend? Do you want to go on to be a rock star? Are you gonna go with your gut?

I knew my answer immediately. The whole process of me getting there, to participate in the mission that morning, had been such a struggle. The weather forecast was predicting a rain/snow mix and wind for Saturday, so that was my first big deterrent to going. Also I was just unsure I wanted to go. I mean, my heart was wanting to go, but when have I ever lived out of my heart? I had gotten so excited upon first learning about the mission when were out of town on the previous Monday, that I said to TJ right away that I wanted to do it. But after having a week to think about all the reasons why not to go, I had convinced myself I didn’t want to. I didn’t completely know what to expect, for one thing. I knew we were supposed to meet Amy at the Belmont stop at 9:45, but I didn’t know where we’d go (to which TJ responded, But that’s the whole point!), how long it would last, how many people would be there, or whether Jaime and I would actually find our way around on our own as neither she nor I had ever taken the “L” before. I was in tears on the night before the big day. I felt a lot of anxiety about going and kept telling TJ I didn’t know why he was trying to convince/encourage/push me to go when I didn’t even really want to go. He reminded me of how I’d felt when I’d first read this week’s mission, and also encouraged me to think about if I’d read the mission while living in Orlando, how I’d have said to him that I wanted to buy a plane ticket for a quick weekend trip to Chicago so I could participate. I knew he was right, but I still didn’t know how to not feel like I was out of control if I decided to go. I slept fitfully that night, but woke up ready to go on Saturday morning. I knew I had pushed through the hardest part of the experience, just getting myself mentally psyched that I would go and not have to be in control of what would happen.

What a wonderful experience it turned out to be! Of course, TJ knew this would happen, which is why he pushed me to go. Jaime and I enjoyed talking all morning and we found our way everywhere just fine. The CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) App for my iPhone was so helpful, as was the lady working at the “L” station. She gave us tips and advice on how to get where we needed to go and back, and save money in the process. I had noticed she had an open Bible on her desk and we later found out she works as a pastor in addition to her job with the CTA.

It was great meeting Amy (even though my picture turned out blurry) and being a part of something that she likes to call a “shared experience.” It truly was cool to see all the people along for the ride, people of all different ages, with all different aspirations and all kinds of reasons for being there that day.

Our final assignment from Amy before departing the train was to take a piece of chalk from the boxes she passed around and as we continued our day, to take the time to write a message somewhere for someone to see. Our message could be anything we wanted to share with the world, but it only seemed appropriate to me to write what I had learned that day.

Two thoughts from my reading of Everything Belongs today:

“All that is needed is surrender and gratitude.”

“The private self is clearly an illusion largely created by thinking. My life is not about me. I am about life!”

And two pictures from our trip last week:

The rain did not deter the boys from the hot tub. This was at my grandmother’s house in Hilton Head. I wonder how long since anyone has used that pool?

This is back in Fairmont, NC, at my other grandparents’ house. Granddaddy Lambert took the boys for a ride in the tractor. They might as well have been in Heaven.

TJ got some great pictures during our trip. I had a hard time picking just two.

We have been visiting family in the South this past week so the blog hasn’t been a priority. I am actually thinking I may be making the blog less of a priority starting pretty soon, simply because I can’t do it all. I do love writing, but I feel burdened by too many things, and that I don’t like. I am a do-er by nature, but I really need to focus on being with Bauer and Cash more and having less of a to-do list, which is where blogging usually sits. I am also feeling the need to read more like I feel the need to breathe. Reading and words help me survive, so I’m feeling like survival mode might be kicking in on me and that’s what I gotta do. Don’t abandon my blog just yet, but if you can give me a little space to take longer gaps between posts, I’d be most grateful. I know TJ will want to put some of the pictures from our trip on the blog, so I’ll leave that to him next.

In the meantime, while not making lists on paper at home this past week, I’ve been making lists on the Notes App on my iPhone. I have three lists going at present, and I just thought I’d share them with you to give you a peek inside my head. These are some of the things I’ll be doing  in place of blogging in days to come, although you’ll notice the blog still does appear on List 2 which is why I said don’t abandon it just yet. Just cut yourself some slack in checking it

LIST 1: BOOKS
-Eat for Health – Dr. Fuhrman
-Food Rules – Michael Pollan
-The Engine2 Diet – Rip Esselstyn
-Too Many Cooks – Emily Franklin
-The Enchanted April – Elizabeth von Arnim
-Plenty – Alisa Smith & JB MacKinnon
-Imperfect Birds – Anne Lamott
-The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls
-The Memory Keepers Daughter – Kim Edwards
-The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford
-Little Bee – Chris Cleave
-The Case for Classical Christian Education – Douglas Wilson

LIST 2: IMPORTANT THINGS (in no particular order)
-Nutrient dense foods. Green leafy vegetables. Plants.
-Gardening. Sprouting.
-Blog. Writing. Authors. AKR. Reading.
-Generosity. Life with small group.
-Teaching Bauer and Cash about God. How am I showing them God by how I’m living and how I treat them?
-Scripture memory with Bauer.
-Working out. Being active.
-MealBaby.
-Reading aloud to Bauer. Library.
-Loving and serving TJ.

LIST 3: TO DO
-Download new Jewel single “Stay Here Forever”
-Discuss Dani Johnson book with TJ
-Research sprouting and try it
-Make homemade bread
-Try 2 of Hannah’s recipes: Mashed Potatoes with Kale & Carrot Salad
-Get Jan Brett’s book The Easter Egg from library
-Pray about and resarch school options for Bauer

These are some pictures from almost two weeks ago. TJ and Bauer built a snowman after lunch on a Saturday. Bauer finally got to use the snowman accessories that Gigi gave him for Christmas.

Our snowman is still standing, even though it’s 47 degrees out today. All of the accessories had fallen off, save the hat, but Bauer remedied that today when he came from from Parents Day Out.

Now on to other truly random stuff from lately….

I finished copying down all the parts of Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years that I had underlined. Now TJ says he wants to read the book again. It’s that good.

My first attempt at homemade bread was less than stellar. I made the “Almost No-Work Whole Grain Bread” from Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters. It truly was almost no work, but I think I shouldn’t have added quinoa to the dough. It just made the bread a little too crunchy. Also I should have oiled the loaf pan even more; I thought I was using plenty of oil, but half of the bottom crust stayed in the pan when I turned the loaf out. Rather than use the bread for sandwiches as I had hoped, we’ll probably have it on the side with our dinner tonight. I will try again soon.

TJ and I celebrated his birthday recently with a trip to downtown Chicago. We left our kids with some good friends and made the long trek on a Friday evening to our favorite restaurant in these parts. Bandera! We got our usual fare of house veggie burgers and TJ used his iPhone to take pictures of our meals.

TJ got his burger with mashed potatoes.

And I had the amazing peanut coleslaw.

After dinner, we went shopping at The North Face Store on Michigan Avenue, so that TJ could pick out and purchase a winter jacket. I had secretly emailed some of our family members, asking if anyone who was planning to give TJ money for his birthday would be willing to give toward the purchase of the jacket. I heard back from several people and was able to surprise TJ over dinner by telling him we could go buy a jacket for him. It was fun going into the store that night, knowing we were there to buy. TJ found just what he was looking for but I have no picture to show you. Later that night, we watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which I had rented from the library for $1 and which after seeing the movie, I would paid $20 for a story that good. It was nice having a night without the kids, but knowing they were in such good hands with our friends. Bauer was asking this morning (a week later) when he can go back to their house. The reason he was asking is because we were having waffles for breakfast and Bauer loves the Aunt Jemima syrup that he got to have at Branton’s house.

I got an iPhone yesterday. That’s pretty exciting. I am liking plenty about it, but haven’t yet figured out to use it with one hand like I could with my other phone. The church where TJ works recently switched cell phone providers and when AT&T was decided upon, the iPhone for TJ was also decided upon. I’m an add-on to TJ’s plan so I  could have gotten the iPhone too. But I decided to go with the Samsung Magnet because it was cheaper and I didn’t really think I needed all the extra capabilities, but after a month of TJ seeing me text on that little thing, he decided enough was enough. He really wanted me to enjoy the greatness of the freakin-awesome iPhone, as he would say, and now I thank him for it. So that’s that.

I got some godly sorrow this week too. It was good how God led me to that through a number of things all on the same day. I have been reading a book called Grooming the Next Generation for Success. I have some mixed feelings about the book so far, but I have definitely been convicted to be more intentional about what we are or are not doing as we train Bauer and Cash for the future. Then there was a phone call I had with my friend Jaime about some of our children’s behavior recently, coupled with a long email I received from my friend Gretchen about things they are doing to groom their children for success, that made me realize how short I have fallen from being the kind of parent God wants me to be and that I know I want to be. I found myself that day and night telling God how sorry I was for not being better, but there was also a lot of hope in my prayer, knowing that God is going to help me remember and help me change. I have noticed a difference in myself in the past two days in the way I interact with Bauer on the little things and I am truly grateful for God being at work in my life.

I am also kinda grateful the Olympics are over. We enjoyed them, don’t get me wrong. We had the TV on probably every night but two. But the Olympics were totally cramping my style with Arts Hour. I couldn’t focus on reading when we had the excitement of the Olympics to watch all the time. But now that it’s over, I want to get back to some good old-fashioned reading. Anybody wanna recommend a great story?

Last but not least, it seems to me that MealBaby is picking up some momentum. We have a new developer and are in the process of making some updates and changes to the site. Please recommend the site to anyone you know who needs meals delivered. We might even see about getting a MealBaby app for the iPhone. How cool would that be?