My Grandpa

I have always thought my grandpa ate weird things. When we had leftover Jiffy Pop, he would eat it the next morning for breakfast as cereal with milk; even if it was burnt. He drank buttermilk. He ate onions like apples. He drank Delaware Punch (which I have yet to see in a store anywhere.)

He loved frozen potato chips and Tru-Blu Lemon Cookies.

And he always had to have bread with every meal; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It didn't really matter what it was and the toasted bread for breakfast was often leftover from dinner the night before; biscuits, rolls, sour dough, or buns. One morning we were at Grandma and Grandpa's farm for breakfast. There weren't many store close by but there was a 7-11 down the road. Grandma sent Grandpa to the mini-mart to get some canned biscuits or some bread for toast. Grandpa came back with hot dog buns. Now I know that store probably had canned biscuits and they had to have sandwich bread, but I'm pretty sure Grandpa saw those buns and thought they sounded pretty good for breakfast. Not sure if words were exchanged, but Grandma buttered up those buns and we had them for breakfast.

The other day I made Kevin some eggs for breakfast and really wanted some toast. I didn't have any bread but found a couple of leftover hot dog buns in the freezer. I put some butter and garlic salt on those suckers and toasted them up. Kevin loved them. I smiled and told him all about my Grandpa.

By the way Grandpa, even though I don't put milk on it, I love leftover popcorn for breakfast!

Eight Months

I totally missed a seven month update, and almost missed an eight month. I totally missed taking professional pictures at 6 months so I went ahead and did it at 8, figuring I'll just skip the nine month photo shoot. Lily will be nine months tomorrow, but I will try to remember what happened at month seven and eight.

Lily cut her two bottom teeth and either she has very small teeth, or they are still waiting to come up some more. The teeth went up and down for a few months. But she wasn't too crabby about them; granted we still have many more to come.

Food has become more fun as I posted a few weeks ago. She has become pretty good with finger foods so we try to make sure we include something with every meal for her to pick up; beans, peas, carrots, banana, pasta, chicken, cantaloupe, watermelon, and of course, Cheerios.

Lily is mobile but not exactly crawling. She drags her legs lifelessly behind her as she uses her forearms to scoot around. Sometimes we call her Lieutenant Dan; which is not really nice. She is getting quicker and rolls a lot more.

Her hair has grown a lot the past month. Her bald spot is finally gone and I have to use barrettes to keep it out of her eyes.

I dress her up as if she were my little doll every time we go out. I love dresses and matching outfits. But around the house, her clothes rarely match. I replace just a shirt or just pants when something spills. She ends up with bright pink socks and green pants. Most of the time, by the second nap, she isn't wearing pants anymore. We rarely wear shoes. Her feet are small and she curls her toes making them difficult to put on. She just pulls them off now anyway and then ruins them with her two tiny teeth.

Lily got sick . . . again. I swear she was sick from February until the start of May. Thursday night before we were heading to the coast Lily ran a 103 degree fever. She was hot most of the night. The next morning she was VERY crabby and definitely not herself. But people were coming to stay at our house so we kind of had to leave. The drive was long, and she didn't do so hot. At one point she was crying, choking, and vomiting. I had Kevin pull over on the freeway. He said he felt like he was driving me to the hospital again the day I delivered Lily. When we finally got off the freeway, it took almost 30 minutes to calm her down. Really not like my baby. She was so miserable. She would stare off in space as if she were sleeping with her eyes open. It just broke my heart to see her that way. On Saturday she was finally doing a lot better. We ended up taking her to the graduation ceremony at Westmont College and she did really well. We sat in the back which worked out perfectly. She was finally eating and was more of her normal easy going personality. She tired out quickly, but at least she was more pleasant to be around.

Both Lily and Mommy are learning lots of new things. Lily has learned to spit while Mommy is still learning how to get her to stop without having a complete meltdown and ending lunch early. Lily has learned how to pick up the tiniest crumb and put it in her mouth and Mommy has learned to vacuum every morning while Bug eats her Cheerios. Mommy has learned that a morning cup of coffee makes the day go smoother. We both have a lot more to learn, but the journey is much fun.

Waste Not, Want Not

I hate throwing out food. On Monday nights, Kevin begins to empty the house trash to take the cans to the street and asks me to go through the refrigerator to throw out any bad food. Before I quit my job I felt like we threw food away all of the time. We ate out more and leftovers would go bad. Or we would forget about the leftovers all together. Cheese would mold. Broccoli would turn yellow. Half gallons of milk would expire. But since being home, I have become much more diligent about buying what we need and using everything we have. (Probably because I am now very aware of every dollar we spend.) Thus, I have become very resourceful and quite creative with our meals (if I do say so myself.) This week was a huge win for me in using leftovers, and I felt the need to share it with the world.

My story actually begins two weeks ago. Whole chickens were on sale for 75 cents a pound and I picked one up to roast on Saturday morning. I had visions of roasted chicken sandwiches for lunch on Sunday. I dressed the chicken with butter and seasoning, and stuffed that sucker full of onion and garlic. The kitchen was just beginning to smell wonderful when the power went out. We had been having some crazy wind and I expected it to come on any minute. After 20 minutes of waiting, I knew I was going to have to cook this guy somehow. Luckily, I have a gas stove. I pulled out my stock pot and somehow got the guy in it. I pulled out our lighter and lit the stove. I added a bunch of veggies, some sea salt, and I simmered the sucker until he was done. The power was off for an hour and a half and I'm glad I didn't lose the chicken completely. I pulled all the meat off and threw the bones and skin back in the pot to simmer and make some chicken broth. Frustrated that I didn't have a juicy roasted chicken, I chopped the meat and stuck it in freezer so I could use it for casseroles and such. Then I froze lots of chicken broth.

My "should-have-been-roasted-had-to-be- boiled" chicken. And yes, I take pictures of my food often sending them to my husband or mother.

On Friday night we had grilled chicken and corn on the cob while we were in Solvang visiting with my family. My parents lovingly sent the leftovers home (two big chicken breasts, and two ears of corn) with their poor, destitute children so they could have food to eat. I took the corn off of the cob, chopped the chicken, added some onion, chilies, tomatoes, black beans that I had soaked the night before, and threw it in my home made chicken broth. I picked up some cilantro and served it with sour cream. It was probably one of the best soups I have ever made. We had it on both Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday, I made pulled BBQ chicken to take to a potluck and of course, brought home the leftovers. So tonight, Friday, I made some pizza dough in my handy-dandy bread machine. To the leftover chicken I added some chopped bacon, sauteed onions, more sauce and some of the leftover cilantro from Monday and made mini calzones. Except I didn't have any mozzarella so I don't know if it can be considered a calzone. We didn't miss the cheese and it was just a tiny bit less fattening.

My little calzones, baking away.

But Thursday's meal takes the cake . . . or pie, rather. I made my very first chicken pot pie. I pulled some of that chicken out of the freezer as well as some more chicken broth. I had potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion on hand as well as half a bag of frozen peas. Using my Betty Crocker cookbook from 1952, I made a gravy for the very first time. I also made my very first pie crust. Two recipes, actually, as my mixture ended up being too big for just one pie. It wasn't amazing and there is definitely room to improve the recipe but I loved making dinner from everything I already had on hand. (Except for the flour I had to borrow to make my gravy.) And I have another pie in my freezer!

It's a small thing but I am enjoying cooking more and more. I am using flour and eggs like crazy but it's worth it. Especially if we eat it all and I don't have to throw any of it out!

Eating

Here are a few pictures from our eating adventures in April. We are having fun trying new things; black beans, chicken, beef, corn, cantaloupe, beets, kiwi, zucchini, and potatoes. And that was just April!

Frozen Blueberries

The frozen peaches were a little tart.

Broccoli and Chicken. The meat was a little shocking but she did end up finishing it. She loves broccoli.

Mmm, Mommy's homemade teething toasts.

She may be expressionless, but she loved the beets.

And our favorite, peas!

We didn't like asparagus, and only like the spinach mixed with something else, like sweet potatoes. Black beans tend to be a hit or miss, and we really don't like them when they go cold, which happens pretty fast. Sweet potatoes and acorn squash remain a fan favorite along with good 'ol banana and prunes; yes, she loves prunes! We have just started picking up finger foods, but they don't always make it to the mouth. We do pretty well with the Puffs, but banana was much more fun to smash with just one finger. So many new options!

Easter Sunday - 2011

We celebrated Easter Sunday with my sisters family this year. My sister lives a couple streets away (literally less than a mile) and while I love it for babysitting, swapping clothes, and borrowing numerous items, it has been great for holidays. I can cook things at my house and still serve them at her house while the dish is still warm. In fact, while my kitchen was being repaired, my mom took dirty dishes over to Rachel's house and brought them home washed.

Rachel hosted dinner and our friends came over (my best friend and hers.) The weather was cool in the morning, but by meal time (2 pm to fit around church services and nap times) the sun was out and it was beautiful. We moved tables outside and had a wonderful meal.

One of my favorite things about holiday gatherings, or a dinner party in general, is all the kids. It is sheer madness! There are seven kiddos between the four families, with all four of us having babies in 2010. There is crying, screaming, giggling, yelling, whining, jabbering, drooling, and I just love it! The kids play together and sat at the little picnic table (for a while, at least) for the meal. I'm excited for (and slightly dread) when the four babies will be running around together. It is a boy dominated circle, though, the only girls being Delaney, the oldest, and Lily.

After dinner we had a little egg hunt with dozens and dozens of plastic eggs. The kiddos loved it. Caleb and I watched the organized chaos. I promise he is started to get more hair, but it is really, really, blond.

Lily slept through most of the festivities, but awoke in time to play with some eggs. Her Easter bib was bought before she was born, but because Aunt Rachel just knew she was going to be a girl (even though the rest of us didn't have a clue,) she felt it okay to purchase the pink bib. She also adores the Ticklish Ducky Mimi sent her. It sings, flaps it's wings, and Lily just laughs and laughs.

We were able to grab a couple of shots of the cousins in their Easter best. I have chosen to share the picture where Lily looks the best. I have another one where the boys are looking at the camera, but all of Lily's chins are showing in that one.
We are excited for Easters to come where we get to explain to Lily why we celebrate. We are excited to share that because of God's love for us, He sent his son to die, death had no hold on Him and he rose from the dead three days later. We pray she accepts this gift God has presented and that she one day chooses to live her life for Him. Thank you, Jesus, for giving your life for us.