Christmas food court flash mob

If you have not yet seen this, please do!  If nothing else than to hear a FANTASTIC rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus."

(if you double click on the video it should take you to youtube so you can see the whole screen)



Personally, I love the symbolism of singing in the mall food court, taking back the Christmas season from mindless over-consumption of meaningless stuff. 

And it is fascinating to watch the faces in the crowd--the ones who know tradition and stand throughout, the ones who are in awe, and the table of young kids completely ignoring it all, probably because of the cues of indifference they got from the parent at their table--the opposite of the parents who understood the specialness of the moment and had their kids standing on their chairs to see and hear better)

I thought the video would be mediocre--but here I am typing and still tearing up.  So please go watch it!

I am wishing a wonderful Advent season for you all!

Holiday Tomato Soup!

Once more, using up leftover bits of stuff in the fridge, and finding it is really fun and the kids love it!

--Had some leftover cooked bow-tie pasta.  Added just a little water to the pasta pot and warmed and stirred the pasta to get it unclumped (it had been tossed with garlic olive oil last night, so it was easy to separate tonight).
--Put in one can of tomato sauce and half a big jar of spaghetti sauce.  Got it all warm and just starting to bubble.
--Put in some milk and some leftover heavy cream, reduced heat to low.
--Tossed in half a bag of frozen peas.  Cooked it all for a few minutes, stirring frequently and keeping the temperature low so the milk did not start to coagulate.
--Add pepper to taste.
--When the soup is warmed through, add fresh grape tomatoes and fresh snipped basil.
--Keep warming for a few minutes to get the tomatoes warm but not hot, and then serve!

A pretty, creamy red sauce with bright balls of green and red and white bows and green confetti--a Christmas celebration in a bowl!  The kids loved it, including Smiley who is in a very finicky stage at the moment and who will look at the food being offered to him, wrinkle his nose, and say, "Yucky."  This even if it is food he could not get enough of last week.  And this from a child who has never heard his sisters call food "yucky" because that is verboten at our table--if they don't want it they know to say "No thank you" or "This is not my favorite." ; )  So I really don't know where he is getting this, but he is Newly-Two and I guess that says it all. 

one thing you would not think would happen in our house. . .

Playing hide and seek for 10 minutes without exhausting the hiding places.  And not being able to find your big sister after several minutes of looking.

And finding your sister, finally, with mommy's help, under a pile of dirty laundry in the shower room. 

Actually, that part you probably would think would happen in our house.


*I must say, in my own defense, don't forget we traveled last week, and this is only the accumulation of 5 days' clothes, and it has been raining cats and dogs which is not good weather for lugging hampers outside and down to the  Underbelly of the house. . . am I excused yet?

little celebrations

Our season of celebration is already upon us, starting with my birthday weekend before last.  I have blogged before here and here about the secretive birthday events my dear husband has asked my good friends to help organize the past few years, and this year he enlisted my friend Rosa to take me away for some fun girlfriend adventure while he and Rosa's husband hung out with all the kids.  But this year I had a little nagging feeling in the back of my mind/heart--DH has been giving me the gift of special daytime girlfriend time, which never happens otherwise.  (Playdates are awesome, but there are things you can't do with all the kids under your watch, like, oh, completely relax!)  But what kind of wife/mom/person am I if I never want to celebrate my birthday with my husband and kids? 

So this year I asked Rosa for a raincheck (someday we must go to the Farm with you, my dear!  We can't wait!) and asked DH if we could spend the day as a family and then have a date night.  So we did--and as the day unfolded I don't know when Rosa and I would have gotten away anyway, it went SO quickly!  Sunny and Merry had their final performance of "Annie," in which Sunny played Miss Grace Farrell and Merry played an orphan/maid/White House butler. 

Then we came back home, had dinner, and then my friend Sara came over and watched the kids and put them to bed while DH and I tried to make a showing of the new Harry Potter movie--which was of course sold out--and so instead went to the restaurant my girlfriends took me to last year, Chocolate, to share the experience with DH.  We got a plate of bread with three spreads--pesto, sun-dried tomato, and something garlicy, all excellent--and a plate of mixed olives and roasted garlic in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  That was the perfect savory combo; for the perfect sweet pairing, we went with the extra dark hot chocolate and coconut cheesecake.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I don't think we could have ordered a better combination of flavors.  Seriously amazing!  We didn't talk much, but enjoyed eating a quiet meal while watching the rain pouring down in the glow of the downtown Santa Cruz streetlights.  Very relaxing, very pleasant. A very nice birthday that has left a lingering warm glow.

Then of course was Thanksgiving.  DH felt he needed to be at work yesterday, so we opted to drive up to his parents' Tuesday night and have Weds and Thurs with them and his grandma.  We had a nice time, eating all the traditional foods, and spending some quality time together.  (I heard the best quotation on another blog:  "Without being surrounded by those you love, Thanksgiving is just overeating."  So true!)  But the absolute best part of the visit was the moment when my brother-in-law Skyped us all from the NICU so that we could all watch N helping the nurse give tiny baby S her "cares"--checking her vitals, measuring her tummy (one way they make sure she is digesting well), even changing her diaper (which was so tiny it looked like a bit of gauze).  It was hard to see her through the incubator plastic walls, and past all the tubes and tape, but when they changed her diaper and those miniscule feet began to kick. . . just so precious.  They even showed us how they swaddle her and darken the room and cover the incubator, which I greatly appreciated, because every time I see a photo of her tiny naked self I want to wrap her up and protect her--so it was so satisfying to see how she spends most of her time, in a cozy "womb."

Here is a photo N and S sent us, and a little update on baby S, from a family email written by DH's sister N:

This Thanksgiving I give thanks for my daughter S, my husband S, and for all of you and your love and prayers. S and I believe [baby] S's life and health are sustained by your prayers. S is now 19 days old and has had her ups, downs, and scary moments. However, we can see your prayers for her being answered. Her heart valve has closed and stayed closed, her "brain bleed" has been minimal (no lasting effects), her feeds and stools are doing well, and her lungs are making progress. If all goes well, she may be switched tomorrow from her breathing tube and mechanical ventilation to less invasive breathing support. Please pray that she will make this transition successfully and that her lungs will heal completely. Please also pray for healthy growth and weight gain. She is still fluctuating around 1 pound 10 ounces, and we are eager to see her at 6 pounds!

Tomorrow is Sunny's 10th birthday, so we will think of something fun to do to celebrate that (rollerskating at the rink, maybe?  Other family adventures seem not as feasible as I sit typing and watching the rain POURING down.)  And tomorrow is also the first day of Advent--and I am so heart ready to really celebrate this year's Advent season as fully as possible.  I have been reading some good ideas on other blogs about doing so--and I am really looking forward to it. 

So much blessing.  So much to be thankful for.  I hope all of you have been having a wonderful week of family and laughter and special moments.  If you feel like sharing any of your favorite Thanksgiving moments in the comments, I would love to hear them!

Stuffing Soup

Ok, for any of you looking at leftovers and really not relishing the thought of eating them one more time in their current state. . . I give you, Stuffing Soup!

The beauty of this soup is that you use almost whatever stuff you have left over from your Thanksgiving meal!  Here is how I made it tonight, with the leftovers we brought home from DH's folks' house:

Stuffing Soup
--in a big pot, saute 1 large onion (any kind will do nicely) in olive oil (I used garlic olive oil)
--chop up and add any leftover crunchy veggies you have, like carrot and celery.  I only had a little red cabbage, so I chopped up that and sauted it, and also opened and chopped one can of water chestnuts, to add a little more crunch.
--when the veggies are to your liking, then add a little bit of water and turn up the heat under the pot.
--at this point I added the leftover gravy I had brought home (real homemade stuff--not sure how a packaged variety would work) and mixed it well with the water so there were no clumps.  Then I added a whole lot of leftover stuffing and turkey bits, which I kinda crumbled in my (clean) hand as I added them to the pot.  I mixed it all up well and added what seemed like a suitable amount of water. 
--add an appropriate amount of bullion (I used 1 heaping tsp "Better Than Bullion") and mix in well
--**key flavor:  add ground cloves and black pepper to taste. (use lots!)
--mix well and warm through.  before serving I snipped a liberal amount of fresh parsley into the pot. 

YUM.

If I wanted to make a creamy version, I would have added milk and leftover corn (or a can of creamed corn!) and leftover green beans too.  But then I would not use cloves, but would instead add dried green herbs like oregano, thyme, rosemary. . . really, there are so many ways you can get creative with this idea.  But the beauty of it is using up leftovers in a way that makes them fresh again!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I hope to write about our week soon (hmmmm, where have I heard THAT one before?) but my computer time this week is being spent being a seller on eBay!  Hoping to make a little extra Christmas dough this year. . . I'll let you know how it goes!

Fall pics

What kind of good blogger mommy does not post pics of her kids in their Halloween costumes?!

We had recently read "The Secret Garden" together, and so you can imagine I was thrilled when all three girls decided they wanted to be characters from the book.  If you are familiar with it, you may be able to pick them out.  If not, then Sunny went as Dickon Sowerby, the moorland animal charmer; Merry went as Martha, Dickon's older sister and servant at Misselthwaite Manor; and Happy went as the heroine Mary, in her nightclothes (as she is when she first discovers her mysterious invalid cousin, Colin).

Clearly Smiley was not in on it, and went as a skeleton (which was what I happened to have in the hand-me-down clothes)--glow-in-the-dark to boot!

Seriously, I loved the literature theme so much I think I will encourage this as an annual tradition--and might be inspired to dress up myself and DH as characters from the chosen book as well!

(My Mom will recognize some of the pieces in their ensembles. The white "nightgown" and the floral dress and the white caps are all things mom made for me and my sisters when we were little.  The vest G is wearing mom made for me when I was in high school, I think.)

We also got the obligatory "children in appropriately colored clothing amongst fall vegetables" photo:

Too bad all that orange is not flattering on my one winter-toned child, Merry. : )  Still, any pic where all four children are looking at the camera with pleasant expressions is a gem.  I love my kids, and love having new, cute pics of them to show off share with you.

celebrating and grieving

It was just over one year ago that I posted about our beautiful experience out in Colorado for the wedding of DH's sister.  

Tonight I am posting about the most recent stage in their young marriage.  Just earlier this year N and her husband S were surprised to learn that they were expecting, and only a few months ago were even more surprised to learn they were expecting twins!  But there were some indications that there might be complications with the babies, and so they made the decision not to have the babies in India, where they live, but to move N back to Colorado for the last critical months before the birth, which they were expecting in January.  N had been back in the states for only a few weeks when she went into preterm labor.  I am excerpting below from an email she wrote this week to family and friends: 

On Saturday night I went to the hospital because of painful cramps. It was ultimately discovered that one of twins had passed away in utero and the other one was struggling for her life. It turned out to be an atypical, acute onset case of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). This led to an emergency C-section at just 27 weeks gestation. At the time S had not yet arrived but thankfully my mom was able to be with me. S arrived the next day.

S and I are celebrating the birth of our surviving daughter, S. A.. [for privacy reasons I am not sharing names, but it is Indian and beautiful. : ) ] Her name means "one who bears witness" to "the grace of God". S.A. was born at 1 pound 12 ounces though some of that was unhealthy fluid buildup; she is now down to 1 pound 5 ounces. She was resuscitated at birth as her heart had stopped and she was not breathing. She is a beautiful, perfect girl but incredibly tiny and not ready to be born. Right now she is fairly stable but completely dependent on tubes, wires, and machines for all of her functioning. This means we cannot hold her, feed her, or touch her much yet. She has been in Neonatal Intensive Care since birth and is expected to be there till her 40 week due date (February 6). We have a lot of hope for her but it is painful to see her in such uncomfortable and lonely medical machinery.

We are also grieving the loss of her beautiful twin sister, N. ("dedicated to God"). We loved her very much and wanted her with us.

We will be grateful for your continuing prayers during this time. Please pray that all of S. A.'s organs will develop and function well. Pray that she will put on healthy weight, be able to breathe on her own, and be able to tolerate food (rather than IV solution) through her tubes. Pray for wisdom and carefulness for her many doctors and nurses. Pray for S and me, and our families, as we struggle to handle our emotions and accept God's will.  

This is one of the reasons I am getting renewed eyes for the blessings in my life.  Sometimes is too easy to get into the maddening rush of life and forget what is really important.  If anyone is moved to pray for N and her little family, thank you.

oh blessed day, Pt. 2

Hello anyone still out there!  Below is what I was writing almost a month ago when life slipped suddenly into All Awry mode, and then refused to be budged.  I can't believe how much time has passed since I was last blogging regularly--the longest I have gone without blogging when it was not Lent!  When I have had the time and brain power to write, I have had absolutely no urge. You wanna know something else scary?  Tea has not been tasting good, for about the same length of time.  Something is definitely strange around here!  I can't get enough chocolate, though, which is good, or I might be worried about the sky falling.  But which is also bad, for all the reasons you can imagine.

So, just in case anyone was wondering, I am find, but life has been crazy, I mean CRAZY, and all kinds of things seem to go wrong everyday. Fortunately not BIG going-wrong things, just the seeming endless parade of minor awrys that  raise the stress level around here and make me feel like a failure.  And in compensation, I retreated interpersonally.  A kind of survival instinct kicking in, I guess. 

But really, ALL IS WELL with us.  Not so well for other people in our lives, so that is all the more reason for me to focus on our blessings, and do my best to strive for full, healthy living, no matter what life throws in my path in any given day.

What I started to write weeks ago is still relevant to my life at the moment, so I'm going to still post it.  But I am giving myself the freedom to not finish it, or even edit it.  Consider it a snapshot of life around here! : )  

I started to write the other day about a day that went all awry--and sadly, it went from a wrecky day to a wrecky week.  To show you what I mean, here is how Tuesday began:

--clearly the day must have started to go askew much sooner, but I did not realize it until about 10:15 this morning, at which time we had to rush out the door for martial arts class, and then:

--we would have been so late to the class that I decided it was not worth going

--but I had an errand I had to run only two blocks away from the building where they take the class. So even though I knew before we left town that we were not going to make it, I still had to drive all the way over (about 15 min. on the highway) which felt like a waste of gas and time.

--only to get a call from a friend whose kids also are in the class, telling me the instructor was way late today (which means we could have gone after all)

--So I went ahead, did my errand, and then drove over to our chuch, which is nearby, because I needed to see if I had left some homeschool books there that I had promised to a friend, who called yesterday saying she was really interested in using them now. I could not find the books, and don't know where they are.

--So I told the girls to go ahead and change out of their martial arts clothes and put on their water play clothes, which we had brought because after class we were to drive to a local State Park to play at a river with other homeschool friends.

--And we realized we had left all the swimsuits, shorts and tshirts at home.

--So we went ahead to the river, and the girls played in the river anyway.

--I hope the dirt comes out of Sunny's white martial arts t-shirt.

[editors note: it didn't]
This list is not all of the things that went wrong today--oh, no, just a taste, from one two-hour chunk of the day.

Oh, and when we were at the river, I realized that this past Saturday was DH's and my 15 year wedding anniversary. I totally forgot. I don't think DH did, looking back. I'll have to write about this later, after I stop kicking myself in the arse.

This day was so frustrating, overall. I really truly thought this would be a good day. But it somehow all quickly spiraled out of control. And maybe the root of it was me. Well, ok, that is pretty clear--even thought I thought I was managing time and children and stuff well, I clearly was not. But what I mean is, I think the root was my own sinful self. I think I have shifted back into another yucky heart place. I yelled at the kids several times, in my meanest voice. I think some of the chaos we are seeing is the result of me being too lazy and procrastinating too much (three periods in 23 days is a grand excuse for sitting too much, let me tell you) in the past couple of weeks. I even realized yesteday that I have the beginning of a PILE starting in my living room!!! I think things have started to slip in all areas of my life, and I am now starting to feel it, which pretty much sums up where I am today.

It makes me think of Paul writing to the Romans, and confessing, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. . . . What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" You can almost hear the exasperation and frustration in his voice. This is exactly what I am living today, this feeling that there is nothing inherently good in me, that in my true nature I am a wretched creature who inadvertently crushes what she tries to create, like a paper sculpture in the hands of an enthusiastic three-year-old.

And that, actually, is pretty much a good mental picture. I am but a child in my spirit, who is learning--frustratingly slow, at times--to do and respond with gentleness and care and flawless execution.

So, I guess, like I would a child, I should be a little easier on myself. Certainly there are times--at my most toddlerish--when I have felt so much benevolence and compassion from my heavenly Father. He does not condemn me. In fact, that is exactly the hopeful conclusion of Paul: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."


Which does not mean I can allow myself to dwell in spiritual toddlerhood--and indeed, too many times recently I have lamented "WHEN am I going to be a grown-up?!"  But basically I need to make sure I am myself heeding all the lessons I am trying to instill in the kids:

--No fussing or bossing
--Speak with love; at the very least, be polite
--Use your words and actions to build up one another, not using them to tear one another down
--Focus
--Have patience
--Accept the consequences you have earned
--Choose wisely

And there are many more--these are just the ones I need to have in my heart at this moment! ; )

My dear readers, those of you who are still stopping by, thanks.  Sometime when it is convenient, please do consider leaving a comment to some post, just to encourage me out of my anti-social funk!

Blessing of the Week: Beds to Make

For those of you who have missed me (Hi Mom!  Hi Rebecca!) I really truly hope to post something more in the next couple of days.  But this video was a bit of sunshine that I could not resist sharing.  One of those moments when it is utterly impossible to not love being a mom.