Can You Kiss on Camera

and keep a straight face?

I sure as hell can't.

Oldest to Youngest

Penny & Me
November 24, Salt Lake City, Utah

Carter & Nate
Novermber 25, Milton-Freewater, Oregon

Powder at the Base of the Blues

Happiest kids in the world.

My girl rockin' her homemade "snow boots"-four pair of wool socks and a couple of grocery bags.  Works like a charm!

Nov. 25

Family

We are in Oregon now, surrounded by people who know and love us.  A lucky layover in Salt Lake City provided a chance to catch up with friends and family along the way.

Meeting their newest cousin, little miss Penny Packard, for the first time

Happy Thanksgiving.

Nov. 24

Snow, sometimes

Nov. 23

The house in Cedar Fort, where Nate and I learned to listen to each other.

"Before" pics to horrify and amuse you.

Nov. 22

Sticky kids with sooty faces, campfires, November nights, and dads who keep it all together

Nov. 21

Gratitude Two-fer

A temperate climate

The calming power of a well-timed prayer

A Dream Come True

Frankie didn't just turn three--she had a pink and purple party to prove it.  She lalalalalaloved it.

After cupcakes and ice-cream the kids played outside with all the neat new presents.
Thanks for the...

clothes and purses--Grandi Andi

Strawberry Shortcake doll--Grammy Lisa

wings and dress up shoes- Barwicks
crayons and coloring books- Rachel

books-Granny Ann

birthday money-- Granny Jennifer and Grandpa Hugh

sticker book-Auntie Em and Unckie Seth!

Nov. 19

Block leave-46 days to live like shut-ins

Bronze Star

This afternoon Nate was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, his second in fact.

Congratulations, Nate.  I'm proud of you.

Three

Happy Birthday Frankie!

Nov. 18

Girl Scouts

Overheard: A Long Distance Phone Call

Frankie:  Hi Grandi, guess what?  I'm going to have a pink and purple birthday party!

Grandi (Nate's mom):  Really?  How fun!  What are you going to do at your party?

Frankie: Go to it.

Nov. 17

Asher: Mom, was Jesus' birthday the first Christmas?

Me: Yes.

Asher:  So...my birthday was the first December 5th!

Nov. 16

Bolst's Curry Powder

An Excerpt

from my journal (Saturday Nov. 6):

Favorite parts of today:
Nate quoting Singin' in the Rain and humming "I Love You Too" from Pete's dragon- complete with all the bom bombom bombombom bombombom bom bom boms

----------------------------------

Jensie showing the Selfs a poem she'd written and Stephen* saying "Ah, channeling a little Basho there"

Jensie saying "You know Basho?  I love him.  Did you know his name means banana in Japanese?  One of his students gave him a beautiful banana tree and he decided to take his name from it..." 

and Nate and I wondering Who the heck is Basho? and How does she know this?

*Stephen and Melissa Self are friends of ours from church.  Stephen is a brainiac Latin professor here at Columbus State University.  He also happens to speak 20 different languages.  That's right, 20.  Most of what he says is over my head...but not, apparently, Jensie's!

Nov. 15

Sweet slow days

Nov. 14

Asher Rhys

Our Sonny- lover of Legos, sisters, Star Wars, and s'mores

Nov. 13

Savannah, Georgia, Heather, little cream puff baby girls, and sunshine- all rolled into one

Nov. 12

Camera-phones

Nov. 11

Tiny towns on scenic byways

Nov. 10

Public libraries

Nov. 9

A wild acre

What I Did Today and Before That

I sort of want to compete in a triathlon, only I hate to run and the swimming scares me.  I think I could teach myself not to hate to run, or I could just hate it and do it anyway.  The swimming though...yikes.  I am definitely a social swimmer.  I mean, if I'm splashing around, playing Marco Polo or something, I am not going to drown.  But if you are going to drown and need me to save you...we're probably both going to die.

So...shoot, I was going somewhere with this and totally lost my train of thought.  Oh yeah!  Exercise.  It's been a long long time since I've done anything that even remotely resembled exercise on a regular basis.  But today, well, today was the day.  I would really rather ride my bike than just about anything in the world, but Asher was at school, and the girls are sick and it's kind of chilly outside so I instant-watched a Crunch Dance Aerobic video on Netflix and went to town.  Yeah!  I suck so bad at dance aerobics, it's embarrassing even in my own living room.

I let Jensie do it with me, but the instructor kept saying cheesy stuff like "Show me your sexy arms!" and I was thinking I can not believe my seven year old is hearing this! and from now on we will stick to P90-X (which is my nemesis).  I was pretty sure all my flailing about was a waste of time but tonight my hamstrings are sore, so hurrah!

I am writing this at 12:24 am, but it feels like 1:24 am because it is Monday and the time only "fell back" on Sunday and I'm not used to it.  For reasons I can neither explain nor comprehend I am writing this in what seems to be a very ditsy cheerleader-ish voice.  So-rry.

After our "dance party" we did the usual--laundry, lunch, dishes, Legos.  For some reason though, it was all totally awesome.  Frankie and Asher played Legos for hours.  Frankie is very dexterous and imaginative and Asher is obsessed with making sure each knight looks exactly like the instruction manual shows.  It's cool.

Also, Frankie never says "to" it's always "ter."  You know, like, today becomes yes-TER-day?  Well she carries around this little plastic VeggieTales figurine and says in her deepest man voice, "Hi, I'm Bob Termato" and I lalalalalove it.

This weekend was so much fun.  Nate had Friday off, so we went to Westville, and Pasaquan and they are both terrific places.  You should google them now, and I'll take you there later (when you visit!).  I forgot to charge my camera battery though, so even though we took a few pictures they were all very blurry and I won't post them.  Boo.

It's getting chilly down here in Dixie.  We've been camping out and roasting mallows in the backyard a few times a week.  I love it.  I meant to take a picture of one of our infamous Bigler bonfires for you, but got hung up on this guy instead.  That is smoke there in the corner so I think that's good enough.

Good night!

Nov. 8

Hayao Miyazaki

Nov. 7

Jensie Lissette, the first one I loved

 "Orphans who found a beaver's dam for shelter"--complete with British accents

Nov. 6

Envelope budgets

Nov. 5

Indoor plumbing

Nov. 4

Good friends, old and new

Fishie in the Sea

 

Blue ballerina?

Peacock Fairy?

No.

She is Ponyo, the red goldfish.

Nov. 3

Early mornings

Nov. 2

Harvest Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

2 small sugar pumpkins, halved, seeds and stringy fibers removed and reserved
6-8 tablespoons butter
3 cups homemade vegetable stock (3 cups water, 1 tomato halved, 1-2 chopped carrots, 1 chopped stalk celery, peel of one potato, 2 bay leaves, sprig of fresh thyme or 1 tbs thyme, lots of salt and a little pepper)
3 cups water
2 turnips, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 shallots or 1/2 white onion, minced (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons half-n-half
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons coarse salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place pumpkin halves cut sides down, on a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake until soft, about 50 minutes.  Scoop out flesh of one pumpkin and puree in a food processor (you should have about 2 cups).  Scoop out flesh of second pumpkin, chop into large pieces, and set aside.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add reserved seeds and fibers from pumpkins and cook for 4 minutes.  Add stock and water and bring to a gentle simmer.  Cook for 9-10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, melt remaining 5 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add pumpkin puree, turnips, and potato, and cook for 5 minutes.   Add shallots, and cook until soft, about 4 minutes.  Add wine, and cook until liquid has reduced by half.

4.  Strain pumpkin-seed mixture, reserving broth and feed solids to your ducks.  What?  No ducks?  Ok, in that case discard the solids.  Add broth to pumpkin-wine mixture.  Bring to a simmer; cook for 20 minutes.  Let cool.

5. Puree in a food processor in small batches until smooth.  Heat soup in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Stir in half-n-half, sugar, salt, pepper, and remaining chunks of pumpkin, and serve.

*Adapted slightly from this Martha Stewart recipe

Nov. 1

5 little ducks