one green balloon

In July, just before Henry's 4th birthday, we went to visit Patrick at work, while he was still working in Monticello. We went for a special family luncheon at the rotary club. That was strange and funny - to open they said the pledge of allegiance and then prayed and then sang "Take me out to the ballgame". A strange combination of things. Anyway, they handed the balloons out to the children after the lunch. We dropped Patrick back off at his office and I accidentally drove the wrong way through a back alley and spotted this sort of rustic brick wall. I had my camera so I stopped and snapped a few pictures of Henry. He was totally cooperative. William stayed in his seat with his door of the van open, watching us and saying "out, out, out" repeatedly. We were there for less than five minutes, then we got back in the van, turned around to go the right way and drove home.

These are my favorite things about this picture,
and the things that make it absolutely so Henry. These are some of the things I'll always remember about him being four,
{mostly the green.}

Henry and Gabe

We celebrated Christmas in Rockford at my mom's over the weekend.
A great time was had by all and I have lots and lots of cute Christmas pictures. Unwrapping, posing with Oma by the tree, wearing matching pj's, having laser gun wars and fighting bad guys with light sabers. Over 300 to be exact. But you'll just have to take my word for it. Those 300 plus are being added to the mounting number of pictures I have already taken from our other Christmas celebrations that I still need to sort through and post.

These are a few of my favorite moments from Saturday night, shared between Henry and Gabe.

snow day

Yesterday we woke up to several inches of snow. And it was still falling.

Henry woke up first. He and I turned on the tv to check the cancellations. Everything was closed, including both school districts in our town, which meant his school was closed too.
Then William woke up and they looked outside. Our street wasn't plowed and the neighbors were just starting to come out to shovel.




After breakfast I brought the boys upstairs to play while I cleaned out Henry's dresser. We have been shoving clothes and pajamas into his drawers for way too long. It was time to weed out the clothes that no longer fit. Henry found his LA Lakers jersey and shorts in a summer clothes pile. He put them on over his pjs and wore this outfit for the remainder of the day.


Later I took out a cookbook to find a soup recipe to make for dinner. Henry was very interested in the cookbook so I found a kid's cookbook I had for him. Then William got very interested so I took out another kid's cookbook that was mine when I was a little girl {the inscription is from my Dad and Sandi, Christmas of 1988}.
Henry wanted to make something. All of the recipes in his cookbook call for "refrigerated sugar cookie dough" (the already made store bought kind) and we didn't have any and I didn't think he {or I} would have the patience to make dough from scratch and then let it sit in the fridge for two hours. So we decided on brownies. I found a recipe on the back of our Hershey's cocoa box.


They turned out yummy. They were super sweet and chocolaty. Almost too sweet. I can't even believe I am typing those words, but it's true. But they were yummy.

Both boys liked doing the dishes after we made the brownies. They both tried so hard, but water spilled everywhere and they were wet. Once the brownies were done, they went upstairs bringing all of their favorite kitchen "toys" and took a soap-less bath. The no-soap was key. Henry thought it would only be fun if there was no soap. So they played. With just water. They didn't get washed and loved playing with measuring cups and spoons and a big plastic pitcher.


After their bath we came downstairs and had a huge hunk of brownie. Right before lunch. Bad timing, but good brownies.
It was a cozy day. Henry just had two weeks off school for Christmas vacation, but yesterday was special and unexpected. It was nice watching the snow from the inside, but not having to go anywhere or be out in it.

I did it

I julienne'd.

I broiled.

I stuffed chicken skins full of cheese.

I chopped.
My fingernails still smell like onions.

That's four onions for the french onion soup. I didn't even cry when I was slicing them. I think it's because I turned into a maniac. I was a slicing machine and I just went for it full steam ahead.
The boys played so nicely and so independently.

Thank goodness for Christmas gifts that inspire creativity and hold my boys' interest for more than fifteen minutes!
It definitely took more time than I thought it would to start everything. The boys were up before I even peeled the carrots; not my plan. And then once I started, I couldn't stop. There was always something to stir, bake or check. But thankfully the boys were good sports; they knew that we were making a special dinner for Patrick and they were happy to help by playing nicely. Phew, it doesn't always work that way!
And then in the end, it all turned out

Well, sort of.
The rice was a near disaster. I cut my finger first trying to julienne. And the carrots were ready way before anything else.

So the timing proved to be an issue. First for the rice, the recipe very strictly warned against checking the rice, lifting the lid, or stirring the rice during the lid-on-cook phase. So when the timer went off, I just assumed it was done and slid it off the burner to cool. Then when I started putting our dinner on plates, I lifted the lid and saw water and broth and crunchy, uncooked rice. Oh no! I told Patrick, sorry, there would be no rice pilaf, I tried, but it failed. He turned the burner back on for a few minutes while we ate our soup and let the rice cook a bit longer. And then when we were ready to eat the main course, it was done. Almost. It was still a little bit undercooked, but it wasn't liquid. I ate it anyway, determined to enjoy every bite of that meal. I loved the carrots. But they were done first. At least 20 minutes before everything else. I had to warm them up before we ate. But even with all of their timing issues, they were delicious. Sweet and crunchy; glazed with melted butter, brown sugar and grated orange peel. I would eat them again and again.

Even though I don't really like pictures of food, at least the ones I take {they never seem to look very appetizing}, here's one more of the finished products, for posterity.


To remind me to try new things every once in a while.

wish me luck

This is the menu for the birthday dinner I'm making for Patrick tonight.

To be honest, I've never cut anything into julienne strips before, I don't like touching raw chicken and I'm not sure where the broiler is located (I emailed my mom to ask, but she hasn't replied; I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm joking. Mom, I'm not joking, I need help!). The only thing I feel confident about is the left over ice-cream cake and then again, we left that at Patrick's office last night after Bible study, so it may not even make it home.

Oh well, here's to trying new things in the new year. I'm off to cut those carrots into julienne strips and stuff gouda cheese under the skin of the chicken, before the boys wake up.
Wish me luck!

he's 30

Today is Patrick's birthday. An interesting tidbit about his birth; he was crowned the "New Year's baby" when he was born, the first at Gibson City's hospital to be born in 1980. On the 4th day of January! It's a small hospital, very small. His mom won lots of prizes and diapers and had an article about his birth and their family of five boys published in the local newspaper.

Tonight we had Bible study with our small group, so we ate a quick dinner and then sang to Patrick and had cake; a little birthday party, just the four of us. I'm planning to make a birthday dinner for him tomorrow night, when we have more time and don't have to rush. And we actually started celebrating his birthday Saturday night with a night out for just the two of us; that was the night of Indian food and Avatar. Anyway, tonight I had an idea {since I love birthdays and celebrating}, why not, since we've been celebrating for three days already and plan to continue tomorrow with a birthday dinner, celebrate his turning 30 for thirty days. Thirty days of celebrating 30. Truthfully, I'm not sure what that would look like. After tomorrow's dinner, that leaves 26 more days. That's actually still a lot of days. I'm not sure if we'll be doing that. But 4 days of celebrating thirty just doesn't have the same ring.

2010

It's 2010.
Wow, the start of a new year and a new decade.
I was born in 1980, so that also means big business in 2010. I'll be...
29, again?
I like the reflection that comes with the start of a new year. Since we're starting a new decade this time, I've been reflecting over the last ten years.
In the last ten years, I've:
been a college student
met Patrick
spent a summer in Africa, falling in love with the Ethiopian people and children
met Holly
married Patrick
graduated from college
suffered through a worked for a year at a ridiculous mindless job at State Farm
bought our first house
taught preschool at Montessori; a job I loved and feel blessed for having
became pregnant with a baby
bought our second house
fixed up said house
had Henry
became a stay-at-home mom
had our second baby, William
Ten years really brings a lot of experience and change.

My surprise 24th birthday party at my mom's condo, in 2004. Holly's streamers are at their finest! Sara was pregnant with Gabe then and I discovered a few weeks later that I was pregnant with Henry.

Our first car

First house

Patrick's first business, and our first political sign (maybe our only one, to this day).

First tacky Christmas sweater party


First cookie bouquet, from Holly, for my first pregnancy.

Our first small group. This is on a trip we took to St. Louis. I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Henry.

Me and Henry, 2005

Our first major renovation project; Patrick tearing down the plaster in Henry's future nursery and getting it ready to dry wall.

Patrick painting the living room; we were so happy the dry wall was finally up.

Our second and current house.

Patrick ready for surgery. Another first together; my c-section with William.

Our family just grew to 4. Me, Patrick with baby William; 2007.
It's shocking the changes that a decade brings.
I can't look back at old pictures without laughing a little and feeling grateful a lot. So thankful for the way God has provided, taken care of me and now our family.
So now it's 2010.
A new year. It already promises to be a big one.
My first baby will turn five in July. I can type that, but not say it. That number chokes me on its way out. He will start kindergarten at the end of August. Tears are welling up in my eyes. William will start preschool in September. He'll go just two mornings a week to the school Henry attends now.
I'm looking forward to a fresh start and have a few resolutions floating around in my head. I'll post about those next.