Monday, March 31, 2008

Red Curry

As you might know, I'm not much of a recipe gal. However, when my friend Sarah was over I made some red curry and had her write down the portion/ingredients. So, here is a guesstimate. I love this red curry- it's worth the trip to the Asian Market for a couple of the ingredients- trust me.

Approximate Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts cut
3 Red peppers thinly cut
3 cloves garlic
4 cans coconut milk
6 oz. red curry past (I like Maesri brand)
2 t. fish sauce
5 kaffir lime leaves
2 green onion chopped
2 T. fresh cilantro
salt to taste

Put olive oil in pan. Cook chicken and red peppers in Olive oil (if bottom of pan gets a little brown that's great because when you put the coconut milk in all those flavors will come up and add to the sauce yumminess.) Add garlic a couple minutes before chicken is done cooking. Add the coconut milk, curry, fish sauce and stir. Then add the lime leaves, onions, and cilantro. Don't forget to salt- serve over rice and enjoy!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Sunday Sunday





Despite the somewhat dreary weather- we still made it outside, it was actually quite nice!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Improv

An example of the songs I hear all day- and love, I might add. This song I think would be titled , "Princesses and Pony's and Butterflies"

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The deal

Time for the update of what's going on with the kids and fam. Let's see, we'll start with the parents.

Nate has about 1 year left at seminary, it is crazy that the end is coming so soon. We are planning on heading back to Seattle for the summer to hang with family and do an internship. I also might mention that in May we are going on a cruise with my family to Mexico and leaving the kids behind (yikes!) I'm really excited to have some time with Nate and my family, but it's going to be really strange to have only 1 shadow (from the sun, not Nate- just wanted to clarify) instead of 3. We are getting very excited to get to Bellingham and get the church started (Lord willing). It's startling to Nate and me how much there is to do for a church that is still over a year off- but believe it, there is! As for me, staying quite busy with the wee ones, but notice I'm showering more than twice a week, keeping the house more clean than dirty and currently caught up on laundry (pat myself on the back), so I guess that means the kids really are growing up. I love my kids- they are so great and keep me laughing- except for the times when they don't make me laugh. So, on to them.....

Will, also known as: chunkarunk (actually sounds really natural to say now), Mr. Man, and Sir William. He is a sweet guy, though I have to say "no" is his favorite word right now it seems. He is pretty laid back, but still has his opinion and loves attention. We always say that jury's still out with Will right now. However, we guess that he'll either be an electrician or chef. He is definitely "J", if your familiar with Meyers Briggs, and if not, that means that he wants things in their place. If there are dishes in the sink he'll let me know, if Nate and I didn't clean up the night before he'll walk around making a noise and face of disgust and will not stop until it's cleaned up, and he knows if something is put in the wrong place- trust me- he knows. He's a pretty good sharer and really doesn't have that much of a stubborn side, except when he does. Highlight of this last week with Will is debatable. Either the peeing on the floor after bath (with Lucy letting me know that "something's coming out of Will's privates", don't think she's ever seen anything like that before- a little shocking), the pooping in the bath (with Lucy yelling, it smells like poop in here), or him drinking the water from all the dishes soaking in the sink. Let's just say, he keeps me on my toes.

Then, there's Lucy. I just don't know how to describe her. Her name means, "one who brings light" and I still think that's one of the best descriptions. She has us in stiches with her new dance moves, songs, questions (and answers), and enthusiasm for life. She still loves to talk and would continually do it if it were up to her. When she doesn't have anyone to talk to she just talks to herself, or her doll, or a rock- she really doesn't care, she just loves to talk! Her favorite game is American Favorite (our take on American Idol), cleaning the sink, playing cooking show, and Monster. If only I had half the amount of energy she has I'd be set. We have found that with the "highs" comes the "lows"- but I guess that's expected. She can be having the best day and out of nowhere, a short circuit. But the short circuits are fewer and far between and the Lord's growing and shaping her into such an amazing girl. Oh yes, and another highlight is her learning to read. She has learned her letters, sounds and now can sound out a hand full of words. (cat, hat rat etc., Will, bill, fill etc., ran tan fan etc., how cow etc. She still struggles a bit, but she is getting it, and that's really exciting. I was a education major and loved to teach, but to see your own little one learn to read is more exciting than I could imagine.

So there's a quick update on life. It's good, busy yes, good yes. Thanks for checking in! Now, off to the next!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Monday, March 24, 2008

First Flowers


Here's a pic of our first flowers. Oh yes, and by the way, it snowed on Easter, hope our flowers made it through the snow....I'll go check on that

Post Church





After church we went to our friend David and Brenna's house. We had a wonderful brunch with mimosas. They put on another hunt for our kids (they are so loved), and I hid little baskets. Lucy's favorite was her hat, and Will's the airplanes, especially flying them around David's head and in his nose (what a good sport- yikes).

Easter Morning

The First Hunt



We have a great neighbor. I told her about the somewhat lame community egg hunt (cause we were 2 minutes late), and she and her friend made sure our kids got a good one. They really went all out- it was wonderful!

Friday, March 21, 2008

This is Lucy

Nate and I love these pics because they really capture Lucy's personality. Her cup is overflowing with zing and her moves are full of zang!



Sculpture Park

I haven't posted for several days now, but I will make up for it with all these pics. Nate and I found this SPECTACULAR sculpture park. It's now one of my top 3 places here. This 100 acre park has tons of sculptures all around, these are just a fraction of them. I love the idea of kids playing on art. They crawled around, climbed and explored these great sculptures. It was a really unique place to take pictures also!



















Ice Cream Man

This shot brings me right back to my childhood.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Listenings

Currently loving 2 of our new CD's. If your ear likes Indie style you might like these as well.

Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground
Actually, my cousin is in this band, but I don't think I'm biased. They use a bunch of instruments and are super talented. The more I listen, the more I like.

Page France
Album: Hello Dear Wind
This CD is still pretty new to me, but I already really like it. Nate's been listening to it for longer and still every time he listens to it says, "this CD's awesome!"

Crisp

This recipe was requested and I thought I'd just post it on the blog. It's the easiest dessert (almost embarrassingly easy) and always a hit. You can use whatever fruit you want in the bottom, this one was an apple crisp. I think I used like 10 apples. Anyway, here's the crust:

2 1/2 cups bisquick (or Aldi's cheaper version)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick of butter

Melt the butter and mix with sugar and bisquick. Put on top of fruit and cook in oven for 1 hour at 350. Oh yes, and don't forget to warm before eating, and I am a strong advocate of ice cream on top. I told you that was easy!

A Soup Kind of Day

I was debating about posting this because "spring's here!" right? Well, the lightening and thunder convinced me that we might have a few more "soup days" so I think I shall post the soup. This soup was a team effort from Nate and me and I love it! As many might know, I don't really use recipes, but I will make my best guess and hope you enjoy it.

This picture doesn't have the cream in it, I guess it's the "healthy version", however, I think the cream's a must!

1 onion
3 leafs of Kale chopped (can substitute spinich or another green)
Mushrooms (I used two Portabella mushrooms chopped)
1/2 cup white wine
8 cups chicken stock
1/2 of whole chicken (I then use the bones to make my stock)
1 T Tarragon
salt
pepper
1 cup heavy cream (can use less if you want it to be a little healthier)

Fry onions, mushrooms and kale in olive oil for 10-15 minutes. Deglaze with wine and scrape all the yummy stuff off the bottom of the pan. Add chicken stock, tarragon, salt and pepper (to taste). Let simmer for 15 minutes, add cream and ready to serve.

Tips:
This recipe is super easy. Taste it and add spices to preferences. Like I said, these are guesses, so don't be afraid to change the amounts. Also, I typically buy a whole chicken, use half the chicken for the soup and the other half for chicken salad or something. Then I make a stock. However, if you want less work buy a cooked chicken (or use breasts), and just buy stock. Also I buy "Winking Owl" from Aldi, it's super cheap and really not that bad. I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I have been.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

By the way

I love taking city shots! Any ladies interested in going downtown with the cameras and snapping shots for the morning while maybe the dad's have a play date(have to check with dads first)? Coffees and camera in city- how's that sound?

The Bridge

We went into the city today. As much as I love taking shots of my kids, I was excited to take some other kinds of pictures. I was taking a picture of this bridge when a train went by behind me- so I took some shots of that too.

Easter Egg Hunt


We walked to the community Easter Egg hunt today down the street. We were like 2 minutes late and pretty much missed the whole thing. Lucy ended up with 5 eggs and Will with 2. I guess we'll have to make up for it on Easter. Because the event was over so quickly I didn't get any shots. However, I did get a pic of Lu with her umbrella, so that will do I guess.

Train




Friday, March 14, 2008

Bliss

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With Lucy I was always afraid to go in and check on her while she was sleeping because I was afraid I would wake her up (maybe a bit of a first mom thing), but now it's one of my favorite things to do. I love to see the peace on their faces as they rest from all the running, wrestling and emotions of the day. I give them little blessings, tuck them in, and am amazed by the gifts we have been given.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

My Guy

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No, I don't love Lucy more, or think she's cuter. The fact of the matter is she's way more willing to cooperate with the camera. On the other hand, there's Will. Camera comes out, face goes down. Oh, the challenges of taking pictures of kids. Anyway, got a good one of Will, so had to post it.
GIRL
BOY
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