First Day of First Grade!

It was Lane's first day of school yesterday! Our big first grader! I think he had a fun day, he is funny, doesn't say too much about it or get excited about anything. Like father, like son. Once again he was the tallest kid in the class, I think... although this year it didn't look like he was towering over everyone like last year! He is such a cutie and I think pretty well behaved at school. We are very proud of him and I hope that good behavior continues! A few developmental things about him: he has lost 5 teeth so far (about to be 6 but it is hanging by a thread), he is probably about 60 lbs and 49 or 50 inches tall. He loves to climb anything and always has a big idea in his head about building something. To sum up our summer here at our house: the living room was a fort for most of the summer. I mopped my floors more because all the dining room chairs were usually in the living room with blankets draped over them. I love that little boy, he has been such a blessing to Reese and I!

Tasty Tuesday: Poffertjes

We are Dutch. Frisian to be exact. The town where Reese and I grew up is a total Dutch town. While we were living there a few years ago we got a poffertjes pan, poffertjes are a Dutch mini pancake, kinda. Reese and Lane love this little treat. If you are not in the Lynden area, you can get a poffertjes pan on Amazon! According to my research, poffertjes are traditionally made with a yeast batter, but that is not the recipe I have... so here goes.

Poffertjes

1 cup flour 3 eggs

4 Tbsp sugar 4 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt Butter

1 cup hot water Powdered Sugar

Mix flour sugar and salt. Add water, eggs and oil. Mix well until batter is lump free. Fry on poffertjes grill or as silver dollar size pancakes in frying pan or griddle. To serve, spread with butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

The pan, and a squeeze bottle for easy dispensing.
flip once...

melt some butter on top and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Yum! (Can't get rid of underline AHHHH!) They are so yummy! I may or may not have eaten a few....

And here is my little helper in the kitchen in her jeggings! She is hilarious. She likes to be in the kitchen when I am, sometimes standing by the dishwasher, but usually getting into the recycling box! I usually have cereal boxes, etc strewn about the kitchen floor.

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolate Espresso Biscotti

So....I am doing Weight Watchers. Not because I think I am fat (to all of you rolling your eyes right now). I have had an extra 10+ lbs on me since I've had Estelle that I can't seem to get off. So in an effort to eat a little better and be aware of what I am shoving in my mouth, I thought I'd try it out. So far so good. The reason I share this is because this Biscotti recipe is from a Weight Watchers cookbook. Each little piece is worth 1 point. Now I can't just have one so I have been having two, but really not bad for a tasty little sweet treat.

2 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 1/2 Tbsp ground coffee (not instant, actual ground coffee)

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

3 Tbsp strong brewed coffee

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray. Whisk together flour, cocoa, ground coffee, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; stir in almonds. Beat sugar, eggs, brewed coffee and vanilla in a medium bowl until mixed well. With electric mixer on low speed, add sugar mixture to flour mixture, beating until dry dough forms. Cut dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, shape each piece of dough into a log about 15 inches long, 1 inch high and 1 3/4 inch wide. Transfer to baking sheet. Press logs until 3/4 inch high and two inches wide. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of log comes out clean, 20-25 minutes, rotating baking sheet after 10 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, reduce oven temp to 300. With two spatulas, transfer 1 log to cutting board. Using long serrated knife, cut log into 1/4 inch slices. Repeat with other log, making a total of 80 slices. Place biscotti on baking sheet (cut side down). Bake 10 minutes per side. Let cool on wire rack.

Estelle is now 9 months old! She is sooooo fun! Estelle's sleeping habits have greatly improved in the past month or two and I am feeling much better as a result. She takes two pretty good naps a day and sleeps well through the night. She is a happy, curious and quite social little one. We had her 9 month appointment yesterday. She weighed 21 lbs 7 oz and is 29 inches long. That put her in around the 95th percentile for height and weight. I am feeling so blessed to have Estelle. She really brings so much joy to our family and I can't imagine life without her!
Reese bought a helmet for a her a while back. We put it on her last night and it fit well. So we put her in the bike seat for her first little ride. I am not going to go on long rides yet, I feel she's a little young to keep that heavy helmet on her head for too long. But little rides are fun and she seemed to love it!

Tasty Tuesday: Peach Cobbler

So while we were in Alaska, I planned to make one of the dinners and two desserts. When we go up there we have to fly all of the food into the cabin because we come in by float plane. So I like to buy things that can be used for a couple purposes and make recipes that have minimal ingredients. We had Bisquick on our list so we could make pancakes, biscuits and this peach cobbler. I get to the grocery store in Ketchikan and they have no Bisquick, hmmmm. So I buy Krusteaz pancake mix and call it good. So when I went to work on the cobbler I substituted 1 cup of pancake mix for the Bisquick. It was really good! And to top it all off, the oven doesn't work to well so I baked it on the barbecue! I also had brought some Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mixes. I also baked those cookies on the barbecue and they turned out yummy, just a little "done" on the bottom. So here is my recipe for my Barbecued Peach Cobbler!

1 cup Bisquick (or pancake mix :)

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

1 can (29 oz) sliced peaches, drained

Heat oven (or BBQ) to 375. Stir together Bisquick, milk, and nutmeg in ungreased square baking dish (8x8). Stir in butter until blended. Stir together sugar and peaches; spoon over batter. Bake 50-60 minutes. (More like 40 minutes on a BBQ). 6 servings

And no I am not confused on my days of the week, I am just that unorganized. Tasty Wednesday it is!

Highlights From Alaska

Warming up in the "spa like" sauna.
Going on a hike and taking pictures until.......

......we saw a HUGE black bear eating what looked like a deer carcass, he wasn't about to back down either, so we quietly turned around. After taking a few pictures of course. (click on the picture to make it bigger)

Watching these boys enjoy the outdoors.

Hanging out on the dock on the rocking chairs, knitting and reading.
Finding a wonderful place to fly fish up the river, it was like something from a movie!
Great catches and yummy trout!
Hangin' with my hubby.

Case's 2nd Birthday

We made cupcakes for Case's birthday again this year. It was wonderful to have Reese with us to do it this year too. We sang happy birthday and blew out his candles for him. Lane loves this part. I will do this every year, to recognize Case as a part of our family, our son and the kid's brother. I look forward to the coming years when we can talk to Estelle and any other children we might have about Case while we have his birthday cupcakes.

Silly boy Lane blowing out the candle.

We got back from being in Ketchikan AK last night. We have been there twice before with my sister Michele and her family and when we found out we had the opportunity to go again, Reese jumped on the chance to go. For Reese and Lane this is the perfect trip, a cabin on a lake, fishing, hiking, all those outdoorsy things. For me it's a chance to relax and enjoy the beauty of Alaska, and hang out with Michele. The only problem was, it is no place for a crawling baby. So I told Reese I didn't think we could go. Then my great friend Kristen, insisted that she watch Estelle for 5 days while we go. I didn't think I could do it. I did it, and Estelle did awesome! I will share more about the trip soon.

So on the morning of Case's 2nd birthday, I left Estelle for the first time overnight, for five nights! We got up to the cabin in the evening. Ever since I watched the movie Tangled, I wanted to do the Chinese Wish Lanterns for Case's birthday. Alaska was the perfect place to do it, over the lake and no fire danger (like in S. California). We let two of them go, they were so beautiful!

There are so many things I have in my head that I want to say about Case. How much I miss him, how much we have missed in the last 18 months. Crawling, walking, talking, being a little stinker, I grieve that I can't see Case doing those things. All the things that I am watching Estelle doing now, I realize again that I didn't get to see Case doing that.

Sometimes I think that my grieving is a selfish thing, all the things that I've missed. Then I feel bad for Case, like I've made it all about me. It's a very strange thing. But Case is in heaven and he doesn't need all the things that this world gives us anymore, he is in perfect peace.

Alaska gave me a little taste of that peace. God uses nature to speak to us, we just need to choose to see it and listen. Where we stayed is very untouched, nothing but a few cabins and a whole lot of quiet, peaceful nature. Nature screams at you there. The last couple times when we went, it was while we were living in Washington, in the country. This time, coming from the city, it spoke to me more, or maybe I've just become more willing to listen. I haven't had a lot of peace lately, I haven't been inspired to write or read my bible or pray. I have been empty, felt alone. Being in Alaska gave me inspiration. I was able to step back and think, Estelle didn't need me so I was free to do that with little interruption. While we were there, I was reading a book when this verse spoke to me.

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind."

Job 12: 7-10

The Lord has it all in his hand, it is hard for me to look at the beauty of nature and think any differently. We were certainly blessed by this trip, and by Kristen for watching Estelle.

Happy Birthday sweet Case. I can't wait to hold you again someday.