Atharv- A Bouncing Baby Boy

Tonight I visited my friend Sonia and her new baby, Atharv. (pronounced Ah-tarv and it means peaceful) My first time ever seeing an Indian newborn. SO cute and SUCH funny expressions!


Get away with you!


Oh yeah baby! wait a minute... I am a baby.


I was trying to impersonate a bag lady today ok? It's working for me.

So Helpful

Easter

Meredith Mozart

Makes me smile.

Gwen's New Things

Gwen has been changing so much recently that I thought I'd let you see what she's up to these days. I basically follow her around a lot these days because she doesn't stay in one place for very long.

I like this photo of her. You can see her dimples a little bit in this one. I'm not sure if they will stick around or not. She loves playing with any paper she can get her hands on.

This is Gwen crawling up the stairs. Note how fast she crawls.



These are just some cute ones of Gwen's personality. She's like this a great portion of the time. Smiling and happy.



Standing in the crib... wowser!

A Plain Life

I am currently reading a book called "A Plain Life" by Scott Savage. It is about how he and his family changed over from really non-believers to Plain Quakers. It is very interesting to me. The story plays out as Savage goes on a pilgrimage of sorts as he walks to the state capital to turn in his drivers license. His license is about to expire, but he feels like God wants him to make this journey. It is the last thing that ties him to the "modern" world as we know it. Although it is not required of Conservative Quakers, he and his wife chose to have horse and buggy travel instead of having a car. It's hard to give all the details here, but it is an interesting read if you can find it in your library.

I've been thinking about it today and I was thinking to most people going to turn in your license when it's about to expire anyway sounds crazy.... plus walking there. Then I thought of Ben and how he had this huge road trip one time to ask God where he should live. I'm not talking about an hours drive down the road. I'm talking about all over the entire United States he drove. Finally, he just came back to Miami and feeling low. He decided to move to Nashville and then he packed all his things and said goodbye and his car battery split into two pieces when he tried to start the car... so... he stayed in Miami. I'm glad he did. :) It's funny how so many people I know or read about wander... either literally, or in their hearts.

So... I decided to test it out today. I packed Gwen up in her stroller and we took a walk a mile or two down the road to pick up a few things at the store. It was such a beautiful day today, but the cars were drowning out the sound of the little creek and the birds. Gwen and I walked past a bush with blooms on it that smelled like lemon chiffon pie. I broke off a little piece and carried it with me. The sidewalk was closed off by some workmen, but one of them spoke to me and cooed at Gwen and helped us pass. It was nice to have a smile and short conversation with him. He told us that they are having to move all the gas lines because more lanes are being added to the street. I wonder, is all this progress good? We go to the store, talk with the cashier a bit and then make our way home. We see a couple holding hands and smiling. They look in my eyes and we say hello to each other. Gwen waves at the cars and the people in the cars wave back. We get back to dine on pears (her favorite) that we got from the store.

Do I think I want to go carless? Probably not. I mean, there are wonderful things that I'd like to take Gwen to during the day at the library and church that I just couldn't do if I didn't have a car. However, sometimes it's nice just to go on foot. I think I'll try doing that more. It's nice to hear the creeks and the birds and smell the lemon bush sometimes ya know? I don't want to live in the country I don't think... but I want to raise Gwen to appreciate simple things even in the city.

Moroccan-Style Chicken Stew

If you are like me and like a good stew and try to be different every once in a while, this is for you. I made this last night and it's good.

1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs (or breasts like I used)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes in puree (I used two regular sized diced tomatoes)
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 C dark seedless raisins
1/4 C salad olives (chopped pimiento-stuff olives) I omitted this ingredient as I do not like olives... but if you do, go for it.
1 C water
1/2 C loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves (I just sprinkled a little dried cilantro on top)

1. In nonstick 5 to 6 quart Dutch oven, (or a big ol' pot like I used), heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add onion and cook 5 min or until light golden brown.

2. Meanwhile, in pie plate, mix flour with coriander, cumin, salt, ground red pepper, and cinnamon. Toss chicken with flour mixture to coat evenly.

3. Add chicken to Dutch oven and cook 7 min or until lightly browned, turning chicken over througout cooking time. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

4. Stir in tomatoes with their puree, beans, raisins, olives, and water; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, breaking up tomatoes with side of spoon. (that is, if you chose to use whole tomatoes instead of diced) Garnish with cilantro.

Each serving has about 300 calories. :) "Stew" on that why don't ya?

Funny

Daffodil

Weekend Fun

Today we went out to Ben's Grandma and Grandpa's house. We always have a nice time visiting out there. We set Gwen down in the floor and then when we wondered where she had gone to we discovered her in the side table. What a curious little thing she is right now.



Also today we walked around our neighborhood and looked at some garage sales going on. We bought a box full of wooden blocks for Gwen and a stackable plastic ring toy. In the box of blocks there were a few magnets. This is one of them. Have you ever seen a snail playing the cymbals? Well, you have now. HA!

God Speaks

To be honest, I have felt in a rut spiritually lately. I believe it is because I've been listening to myself more than the Lord. It's amazing to me how even when I'm not listening God breaks through and speaks. Last night I went to a choir rehearsal and not even at my own church. I'm filling in for a soprano in a friend's church that had her appendix out recently. I'm going to sing in their Good Friday service this upcoming week. Here's the lyrics to the song that spoke to me: (this is Mary the mother of Jesus singing)

My heart breaks at the sight of You,
yet can't allow that everything I thought I knew was wrong somehow.
Did not God provide Your way? Does His hand not guide this day?
Could promises God gave to me have led to this?
Is no one here to help men see that they're amiss?
What they say of You are lies. Can't they see You through my eyes?
I see You by the dawn's first rays. I hear You laugh, a child at play.
My heart is with You everyday, my life, my love, my Son.

I hold Your hand and cool Your brow.
I long to hold You even now
to soothe away Your pain somehow,
my life, my love, my Son.
I clench my fists and yell out loud that no wrong can be found in Thee.
but they've no sense, maddening crowd.
They see what they are bound to see.
I see You by the dawn's first rays.
I hear You laugh, a child at play.
My heart is with You everyday, my life, my love, my Son.
I hold Your hand and cool Your brow.
I long to hold You even now,
to make this nightmare end somehow,
to scream at what these men allow,.
You're right, they can't know what they've done.
They've slain my love, my Son, my Son.

Kansas City Chorale Babies

Today Gwen had an appointment with the pediatrician (a well visit) and she weighed in at 19 lb 11 oz and her height is 28 1/2 inches... and that's no April Fool's joke. She's growing fast. I can barely keep up with her these days. It's really comical. She is an expert crawler now... and fast. She can get over to lamp cords likety split! She also is very helpful with picking up all sorts of crumbs or any sort of thing that maybe the vacuum didn't pick up. Seriously, she is adorable and makes me laugh every day. If all babies are like her I could have a house full.

After her appointment we went to a friends house for a little play date. In the choir I sing in (Kansas City Chorale) there are two other babies right around the same age, and so how perfect for us to get together for our kids to play. Clara was the first baby on the scene.. she's almost a year... then Gwen came two months after Clara.. Gwen's 9 1/2 months, and then Caleb, he's 7 months old. I attempted to get a group shot today.

Clara, Gwen and Caleb

Attempting again to get a group shot. Not sure why my picture turned sideways.


Little Clara
Little Caleb

Spring Has Sprung???

Kansas has really strange weather. One minute you'll be in your bathing suit sunning and the next you'll run inside for a snow suit. No lie! It's almost April and it's snowing. Here's some pictures from today.

Gwen and daddy.

Here are my tulips already up a little bit and our tree with ice on it. Strange!


Blooms on the tree... Ice on the ground. Strange!

Moms

Any of you moms ever feel like this orange? I think that is so cute!

Funnys

For those of you who keep up with this blog, you know how I love redneck stuff.



This next one is dedicated to all my friends in Miami.

Nusery Rhymes

I am finding children's stuff really funny. This illustration came from a book of nursery rhymes.... and they say violence comes from TV! Also, tonight I turned on Barney and Friends that I had taped for Gwen. We've never seen it before and it's pretty cheesy with all of the songs and stuff. Ben said that it was like a claw that slowly digs into your skin. I thought that was a funny description.

Eggs

Gwen's Wave and Hands

Gwen can wave now and you see a little of it in this video. She saw the shiny camera and got excited near the end. When she gets excited she does that hand motion. So cute!

Two Children's Poems

OK, so if you haven't noticed, I've been reading a bit of poetry lately. Maybe it's a phase, I don't know. I'm reading a book called "What Your Preschooler Needs To Know" and it has some great suggestions of rhymes and songs and stuff to teach your kids... um, besides the lesson of how she is loved by God and mama and daddy! Here's two of my favs.

Betty Botter

Betty Botter bought some butter,
But, she said, this butter's bitter.
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter,
But a bit of better butter
Will make my batter better.
So she bought a bit of butter
Better than her bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter,
And it made her batter better.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.

Jilliky Jolliky

Jilliky Jolliky Jelliky Jee,
three little cooks in a coconut tree,
one cooked a peanut and one cooked a pea,
one brewed a thimble of cinnamon tea,
then they sat down to a dinner for three,
Jilliky Jolliky Jelliky Jee.

Meal Plan

We've had a few weeks of visitors in the home, so that always means taking meals a few days at a time. We generally eat out more when people come to visit...so now it's back to home cookin'.

split pea soup with turkey bacon, garlic bread
tilapia, sweet pot/ regular pot, steamed broccoli
macaroni and cheese, BBQ shrimp, salad (not a huge fan of mac n cheese because it's not healthy at all... but my mom bought the stuff for it, so I'll make it this once for Ben and send some Preston's way)
black beans, rice, chicken
chili with black beans
chicken corn soup with dumplins (I'm trying my hand at making up my own recipe. We'll see)

Have I mentioned how much I love soups and stews lately? Oh.. nobody cares you say? Well!

The Peace Of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

On Closer Inspection

I am busy baby proofing the house and it is a job I think for the FBI. I mean, Gwen can get down and crawl around and pinpoint a spec of dirt the size of an atom. Today I vacuumed the den and found a fish oil tablet, needles from our Christmas tree, all sorts of crumbs... ect. I couldn't believe it! I've never really looked at my floors in this way. I get down on my belly like I'm going to go under some barbed wire and just look. It's exhilarating. :)

Kansas City Chorale- NYC

some audio clips of my choir warming up and rehearsing German.

Dreams Really Do Come True

Thanks to my gorgeous and multi-talented husband I now am the proud owner of a raised bed garden. He bought the wood himself and painted it and then cut the wood and built it. I think it looks FABULOUS!!! He said he did some calculating and it only took 2,000 pounds of dirt to fill this thing. :) I can't wait to brainstorm with him about the vegetables we'll put in. It was a lot of hard work and I am so grateful. Hopefully we'll be blessed with a bountiful harvest this first year. I'm so excited.

NYC and Family

Here are some recent pictures during this busy time of March. Here's one of my mom standing in a bucket of water cutting Ben's hair. Mom and I cut Ben's hair and I was about to give her a homestyle pedicure.

I took my niece and nephew to Crown Center for some running around.


I don't think we're in Alabama, Toto.


My stunning sister, Stephanie, holding Gwen.

Here is what a freaky musical elf looks like. Why do I think this stuff is funny?

We had lunch at a restaurant where little trains drop off your food.


My little engineer.


Me in New York City standing beside a poster advertising our choir. We had a good concert and it was a good trip. I like visiting the city, but I was ready to come home to some quiet and grass (the kind you have in the yard) and my Benny and baby.

The Day Is Done

My choir is singing a song setting of the following poem. I think it is beautiful. It is about reading to a child at bedtime. It's by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me
That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.

For, like strains of martial music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life's endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

Meal Plan

Baked tilapia, potatoes, peas
roast, potatoes, carrots
cheesy chicken and salsa skillet
curried chicken pot pie, salad- made last night and amazingly mother liked the curried chicken pot pie
hamburgers, salad
split pea soup with turkey bacon

Review-
teriaki tukey tenderloin was good
shrimp- easy as always
curried butternut squash soup- ok, sounded good, looked good until I stirred it and some of it popped and hit me in the face causing a burn. Not third degree...but anywho. It was just ok... will not make that again.
chicken mexican lasagna- good and easy. Did not cook it the full hour it said to and it was fine.
Scones- turned out a little weird to me. A bit cakey for me.
Ezekial bread- didn't make it yet. I will though.

Gwen Going Mobile

I took a photo and a movie tonight at Gwen's bath time. She is such a happy and now MOBILE young lady. I can't believe how fast she has learned all that she has learned. She's almost 9 months now.


I told mom tonight that holding on to Gwen when she wants to crawl is like holding on to a greased pig. You southerners know what I mean. (although I don't think I've ever tried to hold a greased pig...but I've seen others try)

Who's That Dude?

Today I noticed our neighbor's daffodils are blooming (which is amazing considering we had 3 inches of snow last Saturday!) and so Gwen and I walked in the backyard to see if ours were coming up. Daffodils are my absolute favorite flower. Ours are sprouting... and suddenly, I noticed this little guy on a rock in our backyard. Who could this be? In Miami I would see statues of Lazarus... something to do with warding off sickness or something and it was a Catholic custom. I'm thinking Lazarus because those statues have a cane too....but this guy is carrying something. I'm not sure what it is and he doesn't have wounds like the other Lazarus statues I've seen in Miami. Let's take a closer look.


I prefer to think of him as Charlie Chaplain with his cane bringing me a box of chocolates. Who do you say that he is? (religious pun for all you Pharisees out there- ha)

I asked Ben about the man and he said, "yeah.. I found him in the yard under a rock I believe."

Fish Burps

Is this funny to anyone else? I take a fish oil tablet every night and on the bottle it says "controls fish burps." Who knew that taking fish oil would help the fish not burp so much. (ok, it was a lame joke)


I thought you all needed to see my sweet Gwen this morning. We are anxiously awaiting Grandma Morris to come into town. Uncle Preston moves out tomorrow and she is bringing his stuff up here.

Laughs

Last night Gwen woke up around 3am. Ben went in to pat her on the back and I guess woke himself up in the process. He started joking with me and I said, "Ben, it's three in the morning. Are you even awake?" He replied, "I feel like a spring chicken in the spring jumping on a spring mattress." :)

Made Me Smile

You'll have to enlarge the photo...but I thought it was cute to see a crab driving a cab. I need to get out more.

Long Awaited Meal Plan

March is going to be a busy month. It already has been. This past weekend I went up to Indianapolis for a choir thing and next week we go to New York. My mom, sister, niece and nephew are all coming to visit, and Preston is moving out. As you can see, lots of activity in this household at the moment. I've been just making up meal plans a few days at a time lately...but finally I've made a weekly plan again.

baby food- we were out of nearly everything, so I made batches of sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and bananas to freeze this week.

Teriaki turkey tenderloin (catchy huh?), salad with sweet peppers and carrots with a lime vinaigrette dressing, fruit salad
shrimp, sweet potato, cantaloupe
curried butternut squash soup with lime creme, Ezekiel Bread
split pea soup with turkey bacon
chicken mexican lasagna, salad
roast, cous cous, steamed broccoli

* special- made blueberry scones today to take to a play date on Friday, Ezekiel bread- trying out a new recipe for this yeast bread.

Blue Eyes Deux

I've had this song on my mind all day. The two eyes I look into most during the day are the color of denim and they are beautiful.

New Family Member

Tom Foolery

North Beach

Ok... since I aired it to the world that I went on the South Beach Diet I'd better update you on it. I made it through the two weeks of low carb living without fruit, bread, and enjoyment. (kidding) The problem is that my milk supply (sorry guys) was diminishing and I guess it was too many calories cut at once. Now I'm trying to just make healthy choices and eat more to boost my supply back up. Ok, so I had one brownie yesterday. Ah, confession is good for the soul. See ya on the North Beach!