Sunday Walk
Posted on | February 22, 2010 | No Comments
The weather yesterday was so gorgeous it would have been a shame to spend it indoors with chores. Everything had been wet for a few days. Not raining, mind you, just a constant, heavy mist that saturated the ground and made for lots of pretty dew and made us rejoice in the sunshine and 70s temps.
So out we did go. After church we drove down Congress and parked in the SoCo district. I think my hubby is trying to give me more opportunities to get to take pictures. So I did:
And I’ve always wanted to wander in here. Costumes can be so much fun. Not the best picture but it’s hard to get all the detail in this facade.
Random splash of color:
Actually, around SoCo color is everywhere. My baby was so patient and let me take his picture:
I don’t remember the rest of the sign, but this made me think of the Golden Rule (active, not passive):
After our all-too-short walk, we headed home for lunch and the kids had a blast running laps in the back yard. Then they played with their scooters. Then they ran. Then scooters. They don’t hesitate to take advantage of good weather!
Our dear neighbors had walked Sprocket for us and hung out for a bit after they dropped her off. It was nice to have them visit (we don’t get enough of those!) and I took some snaps of their boys. This one’s Max and I love his fur because of the visual texture:
This little guy is TJ and he’s a rare white schnauzer with lots of schnauzer spunk:
Our day was very blessed and we had a great time. Am rethinking how we do school since we do so much “working for the weekend” that we are failing to see the blessings of the week. Prayers, please? Thanks.
Soccer Season Opener
Posted on | February 22, 2010 | No Comments
Wow, that took a while to happen. The rainy weather has been most welcome when it comes to filling our lakes and reservoirs around Austin, but those who are eager to get on the field for futbol have been a wee bit frustrated. Not only have games been canceled, but much-needed practice sessions, too.
Finally, we had a game on Saturday! For our first game, our boys played against last season’s undefeated team. Difficult? Yes, but both sides were re-learning their roles, old and new. Our coach was trying to gauge where each one on the team felt the most comfortable and was very glad to see that NM was very happy to play goalie in the second half of the game. He did a great job!
Family: action shots here! Lots of other boys in the photos so they can’t be “general public” images, sorry.
The boys weren’t able to make a goal, but they did keep the other team’s score to a minimum. And it was so much fun to watch NM enjoying himself. He also finally got to use his goalie gloves and shirt!
After the game, hubby treated us all to lunch at Mighty Fine. Have I mentioned we are so happy there’s a place in Austin where we can eat the fries? Real potatoes with the skin left on and crinkle-cut.
End of season lunch…mmm mmm good!
J wanted me to make sure to take his picture, too.
Stuffed French Toast
Posted on | February 21, 2010 | No Comments
Can you think of anything you’d rather have for lunch than stuffed french toast?
Didn’t think so.
French Toast Part
1 loaf of challah, sliced into 1/2″-3/4″ slices
3/4 -1 c. milk, enough to make the eggs runny so the bread can absorb lots
8 eggs (I know, I know, but even this wasn’t enough!)
Generous 1 tsp. of vanilla (this means I dumped and didn’t measure)
Gobs of cinnamon
Whisk the eggs with the milk in a big, shallow bowl.
Heat up your cast iron skillet and make sure you melt some butter in it.
Do what you would do to make french toast: dunk the bread slices in the egg/milk mixture long enough to ensure that the bread is saturated and heat it on the skillet until it’s golden brown. Lather, rinse, repeat. You might have to add more cinnamon to the egg/milk mixture part way.
The Stuffing Part
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. or so of jelly (we used blackberry)
3 tbs. sugar (or not…depends on your jelly)
Whip all together with an electric mixer until fluffy. Shmear a generous amount in between two slices of french toast and pour on a tablespoon of real maple syrup. A little of that stuff goes a very long way.
And voila!
Yes, it’s blurry. But I have an excuse: I tasted the stuffing part before I took this picture and knew what I was looking forward to.
Too Much Fun
Posted on | February 18, 2010 | 1 Comment
Yes, I’m falling—quickly—into the category of those who abuse and overuse their Lensbabies.
J guessed that they used sparkly glitter to make that photo in the sleeve and was disappointed I didn’t have any. You know what? I have no idea how they did it, but it does seem like a great guess. He’s a pretty smart kid!
Here’s the photo he wanted me to take of him mimicking the sleeve:
I’m going to see if I can find some Christmas tree lights to play with soon.
Fun Four-Day Weekend!
Posted on | February 16, 2010 | No Comments
Yes, it was even in spite of the cold.
Friday
We took Abba to see the Bob Bullock Museum of Texas History. Verdict: FUN! Since we wanted to get gas, we opted to take the longer drive through down town on Congress Avenue.
Congress: one of my favorite street views. Well, I can’t think of any other so it must be my favorite.
The terrazzo of the foyer in the museum:
Yes, that is a campfire surrounded by peoples who were a part of Texas history. Nope, no photography allowed of the museum exhibits because they are all from private collections. But this was part of a quote from Stephen Austin, I think:
The kids had a great time. The don’t enjoy the very early history except perhaps the conquistador armor. They really like the third floor the most and that houses the artifacts of more recent history: oil and its discovery, mercury mining, cattle industry, air and space, etc. They have a real thing for NASA going right now.
It was very cold that day, around high 30s when you count the wind chill. So this was taken while the others were rushing back to the car:
On the way to lunch, caught this Honda, heavily influenced by Italian car design, yes?
We had lunch at Kerbey Lane Cafe. And there was waiting but it was all patient. But NM didn’t want his picture taken again.
J didn’t care. The little containers of half-and-half were more than enough entertainment because they doubled as space ship parts.
By the way, the pear and bacon sandwich they had was good, but could have used more bacon. Mind you, I’m not a major bacon fan but it needed more bacon punch than it had. The sweet potato fries were awesome as usual.
Saturday
No photos to share, really. We spent the day at the Happily Ever After Marriage Conference that was put on by our church for the greater Austin area. We were able to attend this year because there was child care. Woohoo! The kids had a blast, too. We received an agenda that mentioned they could ride scooters so I had them bring theirs just in case. Turns out they were the only ones who had them! And how fun is it to get to ride indoors? SO fun. They were sweaty and all smiles when we picked them up. The conference itself was such a blessing and it was great to see pastors and their wives share from the bible and their experiences.
Sunday
Friends from church invited us and a few other families to their house just so the kids could play and we adults could fellowship. That was an awesome time! I felt bad because we arrived earlier than they had planned we would but that just gave our kids more play time with their friends. We don’t get to enjoy each others’ company nearly enough. Just makes me look forward to that One Day when we’ll have all the time in eternity to hang out.
Monday
More fun! We took Sprocket to the botanical gardens for a walk. The only sad thing was that the Japanese garden was closed so there was no chance J could fall into the koi pond. I kid, of course. It did give me more time to play with my birthday present and hubby played a little bit with it, too.
Hubby, in a wool hat (did I mention how cold it’s been?):
He took one of me that ended up with neat spectral aberration:
The boys, albeit with the “normal” lens:
They were actually still for a bit so I could do this. They’re good boys!
Sprocket was beside herself most of the time. I thought this was a funny shot considering what she’s doing and what the sign says:
Needless to say, we weren’t out for very long. The weather has kept us indoors but today we’re seeing lots of sunshine. Hopefully, this keeps up so that we can get out a little bit before we see more rain. My NM is missing soccer very much! They have missed all their practice days since the season started about two weeks ago.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Posted on | February 12, 2010 | No Comments
Remembering what it’s all about. And no, I don’t mean the hokey pokey.
P.S. Click on picture for bigger, better Flickr goodness.
I Got a Present Yesterday!
Posted on | February 10, 2010 | No Comments
Woohoo!
Don’t laugh at me. When it came in this little square box I thought “umm…is it jewelry?” But it wasn’t.
The new addition:
Isn’t she lovely?
I’ve only played a little bit with it. I’m still very much a wimp when it comes to cold, so in spite of how sunny it was yesterday, I avoided going outside. Except for dinner at Mighty Fine:
Then earlier yesterday, we had a little booboo that resulted in a cut finger. My baby saw the camera and kindly posed for me (he really did):
The Lensbaby lets you have a selective area of focus. Depending on how the lens is configured, that area changes in size and the rest is blurred or distorted. By moving the end of the lens around, you can change the location of the focus “sweet spot.” It’s a very old school sort of lens when you consider that it’s all manual. While I can change the in-camera aperture, I have to manually replace a little disc to set the aperture on the lens. Lots of fun!
My hubby did consider jewelry, by the way. He chose the lens because he knew I’d get to “geek out longer.” I love him! Sad thing? The box was sitting on the table for a good, long while before I noticed it was there. I really need more sleep!
What? Another Decade?
Posted on | February 9, 2010 | No Comments
Uh huh.
From a high school friend: “40 is the new 30 which was the new 25 which was the new 18 which was the new 12.”
Thinking about chicken and 40 cloves of garlic.
40 years of wandering in the dessert.
40 days of fasting for Jesus to prepare Himself for His public ministry.
You know what? I feel the same today as I did a few days ago when I was 39.
What I do find shocking now and then is that I have been married nearly 17 years and have two beautiful boys. Certainly gifts unearned!
I’ve had 40 years of adventures, mishaps, life-changing-moments, laughter, tears, fun and blessings. While I would love 40 more, I wouldn’t mind it at all if we all got to trade in our tents for our Permanent Homes soon, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
With the grace and strength of the Lord, am polishing off this crown:
Pro 16:31 The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness.
Dearest Lord, thank you for the grace You have given me and the forgiveness of my sins that lets me draw near to You. May I walk according to the path that You have prepared for me. Keep my feet from wandering, my mind from straying and my heart in Your hand. I know trials will come but remind me to go through them with rejoicing and to do all for Your glory alone.
And help me to mean it.
J’s Birthday Party!
Posted on | February 8, 2010 | 2 Comments
Family: more photos here on Flickr.
Woohoo!
Ok, is it sad that I didn’t realize his 6th birthday party was on the 6th? Because it didn’t connect for me until just now.
But enough of the sadness! Because the party was all about gladness.
Back up a little to the day before: the boys and I had fun prepping the house. I baked the cake part of the cake. Thank you very much, Trader Joe’s, for the exceptionally good vanilla cake with vanilla bean bits and lots of yum. Two boxes: four layers. Yumx4.
Then, we started blowing up the balloons. In our home, we have at least two working ball pumps. They should work, right? It took me five minutes to inflate a balloon to a diameter of three inches. In less than two minutes, J manages to inflate one to capacity. Believe it or not, between us, the boys inflated about half the bag of balloons and it contained 72 12-inch balloons. With our own lungs. If you wondered about how much hot air I have in me, wonder no more!
We finished blowing them up on Saturday morning. You know what? 72 balloons didn’t cover our entire living room floor. But 72 balloons was just the right amount for fun.
Later that night, around when I should have been going to bed, I made some chocolate mousse. I’m not sure if I did it correctly because I managed to taste bits of gelatin in the piece of cake I had so it’s safe to say I could have left it out. I’ll show you what happened with that cake in a bit.
FF>> the day of the party. We had fun! J was very happy to see his friends and get to hang out with them. NM was bored but he played tennis outside and his friend R came over so they got to hang out. The kids all played hard and enjoyed the balloons while the adults hung around the food. I mean hung around each other but with food.
And there was cake, of course. Here it is:
Now let me try to remember how the mousse happened, because it was easy and it wasn’t bad, though I was concerned for a bit.
Chocolate Mousse
1 pint of whipped cream
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 c. cocoa (instead of melted chocolate, hence easy)
2 tsp-ish of vanilla
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Run the cream of tartar, sugar and cocoa through a sifter to remove lumps. Add salt, mix all thoroughly. Whip cream and cream of tartar until you get stiff peaks. Fold in sugar/cocoa mixture along with vanilla. I read you can put all the ingredients together and chill before you whip it so I might do that next time to avoid having to fold it all together.
I did have some Knox gelatin in there somewhere, but I wouldn’t bother.
So I eyed the mousse and figured out how to divide it three ways for each layer. Viola!
The frosting? That was a mish mash, also. That’s what happens after reading too many recipes.
Whipped Cream Frosting
1 pint of whipping cream
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 can of condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
Whip the cream cheese. Add everyone else and whip them, too. To be honest, I think there was a bit too much cream but everyone seems to have liked it. It wasn’t too sweet at all, either. Hubby liked it and he isn’t a cake person.
J’s expression isn’t from the cake, it’s because the candles’ flames have colors to match the wax:
He was a little concerned about the wax melting onto the icing. Reasonable thing to worry about but we didn’t let that happen. He enjoyed it. And the lettering? Let me just share a tip: don’t put melted chocolate in a baggie and cut a teeeeeeny hole and try to pipe it unless you’re absolutely sure there’re no unmelted bits too big to go through said hole and insist on making them go through the hole only to cause the bag to sprew gobs of chocolate and eventually break open. The plus side is your mess is entirely edible should that happen.
Note to self: learn how to use flash with the camera.
The celebrant enjoyed his day. I had fun watching him open his gifts. I heard myself automatically say “Now say thank you, J, to the person who gave you your gift” when I realized that he had been SO polite and loudly said thank you for such-and-such gift to each person who gave it. No prompts needed. Such a thankful heart!
Afterwards, the kids went upstairs to watch a 3-2-1 Penguins DVD. J had been asking for one and I was so happy that he enjoyed it.
When all was said and done, I asked him if he had fun and without hesitation he said “yes” and “I’m so happy, I got everything I wanted!” It was a blessing to watch him enjoy the day and to see him express such a thankful attitude. God has certainly been working in his spirit.
Gal 5:22-23 NKJV - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Riding a Bike
Posted on | February 4, 2010 | 1 Comment
Easy? Yes, for some of us, though, it can take a bit of a work out. J wanted that work out and, while Abba was away earlier this month, NM was more than happy to help his little brother out.
He even set up an obstacle course with his orange cones! He loves those cones. Let’s share a series of snapshots first:
Now let’s see if the video works here in this bloggy thing:
Here’s another:
And last, but not least:
Please, do ignore my giggling. It’s weird to hear my voice recorded. And, yes, I’m trying to get caught up with all those blog posts I’ve been meaning to take care of. Must preserve memories!
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