Front Row Seats

The other night we had a regular jam session at our home.  Here's a clip of my favorite father-daughter duo playing Boil Them Cabbage Down.  Enjoy your front row seat for this concert. 

And here's the first video I took of the performers.  This one has an impressive xylophone solo at the end courtesy of the Little Man. :-)

You may have also noticed the nice fire to the side.  This hearthstone woodstove is a fairly recent addition to our home.  It was another one of my husband's impressive craigslist finds.  Sometimes I tease him that he's addicted to craigslist, but then he'll find things like this and make me glad he keeps a watchful eye on that site.  We're looking forward to many wood fires in our future.

Reading

Sometime toward the end of kindergarten, reading started to make sense to the Little Miss.  She went from reading words, to groups of words, to whole sentences and then books in a matter of weeks.  It kind of surprised me how quickly it all clicked for her.  It's been a blessing to watch her learn this skill.

And her little brother is benefiting from her skills too.  She likes reading books to him and he equally enjoys listening to them.  It's an activity I can count on them doing together without squabbles--almost all the time. :-)
On this evening before bed, we all benefited from her reading skills as we read The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.  It's a cute new spin on a classic story.

What books are being read at your house?

Blueberry Bagels

A few weeks ago now, I made bagels for the first time.  It was something I had looked forward to trying both for the baking challenge and for pleasing my bagel loving daughter.  Choosing the flavor for my first bagel making adventure was easy--blueberry bagels are the Little Miss' favorite kind.  So during her first week of first grade I made these as a welcome home from school treat.  They were a big hit with everyone and were devoured within two or three days.  (Which is why there's only two in this picture! Ha!)  As with many things, we've decided homemade bagels are definitely better than store bought.  And I thought they were more fun too.

I found the recipe on this blog, but it originally comes from Peter Reinhart's book The Breadmaker's Apprentice, which I coincidentally gave my sister-in-law for Christmas.  She and I share a love for baking yeast breads.

We Have a 1 Year Old

Well actually we have a 13 month old now but I still wanted to post pictures of our celebrations to mark the first year of our little babe.  The actual week of his birthday was CRAZY busy for us since his big day fell on the first day of our VBS (Vacation Bible School) and yours truly was the coordinator.  So since he really doesn't know any better, we kept things simple and had some homemade peach ice cream for a treat on the day of his birthday.  Then a few days later we celebrated with a barbeque at the beach with some friends.  It was a fun time.  The kids enjoyed playing and our little babe enjoyed eating--anything we'd give him.  The weather was cool, but not rainy so that classifies as a good day of weather.

This Boy

Naturally, I love this boy to pieces.  But I'll be the first to admit that this boy has always challenged me.  He's a few weeks away from turning 4.  At this age, he's doing some normal things like stretching his imagination in his play and testing limits.  It makes this both a fun and hair pulling age for me.   As far as his imagination goes, he's doing new things every day, but he's also got a few standards that we can count on.  For one, as in these pictures, if he finds a nail or stake protruding in any way, he must find a hammer (this time from daddy's workbench) and get it flush with the wall or ground.  This includes nails that he might find if he takes a picture off the wall.  Also, if he's got a rope or string in his hand and he's letting it hang to the ground in front of him, the chances are VERY high that in his little mind, he's fishing for the big one!  And if you hear a high pitched tweet come out of his mouth, that's because he's probably reffing a soccer game in his mind.  Add in his infectious laugh and it's hard not to enjoy spending time with this boy. 

But at the same time, this boy has always pushed my buttons.  Even as a baby, it's as if he could smell my weaknesses and decided to pounce on them just to see if I could handle it.  And now, in keeping with his 3 year old-ness, there are constant battles throughout the day between his siblings and himself.  "Be nice to your sister."  "Leave your brother alone."  "Do you want her to hit you?"  "Don't touch him.  "He doesn't like that."  "I don't want to hear you say that again."  "Go put that back."  "Get out of the fridge."  "Don't climb in the pantry."  "What are you doing?"  ....some of the things I find myself saying each day--a couple times each day usually.

Lately, he's also becoming a really good helper.  Momma likes that! :-)

I can't imagine not having this little boy in my life.  Sure he's full of challenges, but he's also been a huge blessing to me as well.  As with most challenges, the ones he gives me are not always pleasant at the time, but I can look back on them and see how I have grown from them--both spiritually and as a parent.  So I wouldn't change anything.  Although I probably could have done with a few less sleepless nights bouncing a baby than what he demanded of me. :-)

Only a few more days of being 3 little man, so live it up!  We love you to pieces!

In case you were wondering, in the first few photos he didn't know I was taking pictures of him.  Then he figured it out and did some spontaneous posing.  Yeah for zoom lenses!

Soccer Girl

This summer, the Little Miss has been a part of her first organized sports team--outdoor soccer on a city parks and rec team.  This weekend will be her last game of the season.  Since the weather has definitely started to change to fall here, it'll be kinda nice to finish the season.  But she's also doing so well, and it's been a lot of fun to watch her improve and develop her skills.

These next two photos crack me up.  The angle of this first one looks like she kicked in the ball for a goal.

And then here she looks like she's even celebrating her own score, but it was actually her teammate #20.  She was just being a great cheerleader.  She's done a great job all season long of cheering for her teamates.

Another thing I've noticed since she started playing soccer and over the past few months as well, is that she's a pretty stinkin' fast runner.  I know she doesn't get that skill from me, but she must have sucked some of it from my siblings and then has had the example of my sister-in-law for added motivation.

And of course, since it's southeast Alaska, there's a money back guarantee that it'll rain in the summer.  She's played two games in the rain and will likely do it again this coming Saturday.  These rain photos were from an absolutely sopping wet day.  There were puddles all over the field.  But apparently the pep talk Shawn and I gave her about the other kids being whimps in the rain and leaving her with the chance to kick the ball right past them, worked.  She scored her first (and so far only) goal of the season during this downpour game.  And if you ask her mother, she scored a second goal in that game too.  It was just the puddle in front of the goal line that slowed the ball down enough to actually make it stop exactly on the line.  Doesn't on the line count, people?  Come on, ref!

 

Apparently she couldn't absorb the water on the outside of her body fast enough!  And thank goodness for good rain jackets!

But most of the games and practices this season have taken place with nice weather, so we're definitely thankful for that.

And it's always fun to play against one of your best friends teams and then both be subbed out at the same time.  It makes sideline explorations so much more fun!

 

#13 here

 

 

 

The first sports team experience has been a success and we've already signed her up for fall indoor soccer.  We're all looking forward to cheering her on in that too.

First Grade

Two weeks ago, school started here and our little miss became an official elementary schooler.  No longer in the preschool/kindergarten category, she's definitely a big kid now.  That right there still seems a little strange to me, but I'm getting used to it.  After all, just how did she get so old when I don't remember getting older myself? :-)

This was her on her first day of first grade.  (Isn't that some sort of "golden" day?  The first of first.)  The weather was pretty crummy that day, so we did some indoor and outdoor shots since I wasn't sure the outdoor ones would work.

 

 

After we had our photos done, I drove her to school.   A different school than the one she went to last year--so there's another "new" thing to get accustomed to.  Another part about being an elementary schooler and not a kindergartner anymore is that there are 4 other grades of kids doing the same thing as you at the same time.  That meant a big change in atmosphere from the first day of kindergarten.  So the parking lot was packed and there were parents and kids every where!  Wow, what a change.

We found her classroom (we had actually gone by and met her teacher the day before) and she was SO relieved to see that the only girl she knew in her class, a friend from preschool, was assigned to the seat right next to her!  What a relief!  She transitioned right into her school work like it was nothing new.

Then on the second day, she rode the bus home for the first time.  She wasn't nearly as thrilled with it as the pictures make her look or as I was anticipating.  She complained that the other kids on the bus were too loud.  But I told her she was going to have to try it again but that she could choose a morning or afternoon ride for her next try.  She choose the morning and a few days later tried riding in the afternoon and happily reported that it wasn't as bad as her first time.  Yeah!

And now just for fun here's a flashback to the first and last days of kindergarten.  Amazing how much can change over the course of a school year.

Last day of kindergarten, May 2011.

  

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

 (Too fast!)

(Look what I've got buddy!)

(She doesn't normally wear a crown to school.  Just today...ok actually she was the "queen" or teacher's assistant.)

 

 

(Telling us all about the injustices of life, or at least the one about not getting to play with brother's train set.)

Back to Blogging and And 2 Cookie ReMakes

It came to my attention recently that I was suffering from over-loaded-summer-schedule-itis.  Generally, I was able to keep things together.  No one went hungry or without clean socks--unless by their own choice--I'm talking to you, Little Man, my sock obsessed boy.  We did so much every chance we could, it just didn't involve the blog.  :)

But here in Southeast Alaska, the weather has already begun to change.  The cold, hard reality is that...IT'S DONE!  The trees are starting to change colors, the flowers are withering, there's a crispness already in the air.  I actually wore a winter hat this morning when I walked the Little Miss to the bus stop.  (That part may or may not be directly related to the temperature.  It might have had something to do with me still been in my yoga pants and having not brushed my teeth yet...possibly.)  Sorry folks, summer is over here...sniff, sniff. 

Putting up with the short, cool summer is probably the biggest personal sacrifice I make to live in such a beautiful place.  I can put up with the cold winters (they're not too bad--the way winter ought to be in my opinion), the isolation of our capital city (you can only fly or ferry in to Juneau), and the wildlife traipsing through my backyard (a small black bear actually did last week and I saw it with my own eyes!).  But the summers...just not enough for me.  Not that I want the 45 consecutive day streak of 100+ temperatures that our family and friends are experiencing in Oklahoma, but I'd love to take a 10-15 degrees off their hands.  I'm sure they'd be ok with that. :)

So you can see why I go CRAZY when the summer weather heats warms up.  We head to the beach, the park, pick berries, go out on the boat, grill, play in the sprinklers, make ice cream (more on that to come), work in the garden and yard, ride bikes, hike, visit the glacier, and generally soak up all the natural vitamin D possible.  No matter what the temperature actually is, if it's sunny out, we pretend it's hotter.  As in years past, we made lots of great memories and captured most of them on camera...they just didn't make it on to the blog...yet. 

So as you can imagine, I'm behind.  There's so much to blog about and "catch up" on that it's almost a bit overwhelming.  So much so that I found myself ignoring the blog for the past week or so.  Trying to pretend it wasn't there, needing attention.  But I can't ignore it anymore.  So today, I'm back to blogging.  But to keep things realistic, I'm going to just start where I am.  Sort of a "bloom where you're planted" approach.  I hope to get back to sharing some of our summer memories in the near future, but I don't want to continue to ignore the blog and not share future memories.  So here goes...

The other day I made some cookies that I'm really excited about.  Not only are they delicious and beautiful, but they are both second tries at recipes that flopped the first time. 

A few months ago, I was seeing recipes involving malted milk powder on several food blogs that I check.  I became intrigued and started searching for a cookie recipe.  I found one on the Taste of Home website that I thought was fail safe.  But I was really disappointed with the results.  Instead of soft, thick cookies like the picture posted with the recipe, mine looked flat and sad.  They basically fell apart in your hand.  I reviewed the recipe trying to figure out what I had done wrong and tried baking the second pan a little differently, but the results were the same.  So I sort of gave up on it....until this week.  I wanted to make cookies for my husband's hunting trip and started scouring my recipes.  I saw that print out from Taste of Home and felt challenged to not let this recipe remain a failure.  So I surfed the web and found another recipe with excellent reviews and slightly different ingredient amounts.  The resulting cookies were these beautiful babies.

 

Chocolate Malted Cookies (click on title for recipe)

I was so excited when I transferred them from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack that I started trash talking with myself.  "Wohoo!"  "Look at these!"  "Take that Taste of Home!"

These cookies have plenty of chocolate taste, are a bit on the sweet side, and very soft.  Pretty much my new favorite cookie.
The only change I made to the recipe was using parchment paper.  But I only did that because I had some sheets still handy from the other cookie recipe I had just retried.  I don't think the parchment was necessary unless you really want to save yourself some dishes. :)

Then there were these fantastic morsels, Monster Cookies. (click on title for recipe)

Again, I had seen this basic recipe on food blogs in the past and wanted to try it.  Sometimes they are called Kitchen Sink Cookies because they have everything in them except the kitchen sink.  But for me, that name isn't all that appetizing.  So I googled "monster cookies" and found what seemed like a winning recipe from Pioneer Woman.  The dough was SO good, but again they were flat and not like the ones pictured.  I tried them again, got similar results, started questioning my baking skills, and wondered if the Bob's Red Mill baking powder I had recently started using was a bit too weird.

But Shawn really loved the taste of these cookies and so did I, so I was determined to find another version that "worked" better.  After another google search I was able to find a recipe with promise and from another reliable food blogger.  In fact, it was on a blog I check regularly.  So it was right under my nose all along!  The results were GREAT!  The recipe from Brown Eyed Baker was slightly different from PW and I used a few of the mix in ideas from PW in this latest version.  Instead of using Reese's Pieces I upped the amount of M&M's and added peanut butter chips.  I also liked the use of rice krispies in PW's recipe, so the next time I make these I want to try adding those too.  BEB's version also had A LOT of peanut butter in them, but surprisingly I didn't think the flavor was too much.  It basically worked like the glue that kept all the mix ins from falling out. :-)

 

Hope you enjoyed the glimpse at where we're at right now--or at least what's been going on in my kitchen this week.  And I hope you'll climb back on the wagon to enjoy more memories that I share along the way.