Oliver's "Special" Water

Oliver found my "pwetty" wine glasses and decided to use this opportunity to have a "special" water tasting...

Here he is tasting his "special" water...

Here he is describing the bouquet...

Here he is checking for color and clarity...

Here he is realizing why it is you spit at "special" water tastings...

Easter Pictures - Finally!

My favorite brother returned my camera to me today so I finally had a chance to upload the pictures! The first three pictures are of the boys on Easter morning. I piled up all the stuff that all of the grandparents had brought over, added a few things from us and hid Nestle Crunch eggs in the front room. They had a great time finding all of the eggs and going through their bags/piles of stuff. The last two are from the egg hunt at Christie and Ben's place. Zach, Noah and Oliver all hunted for the eggs that Ben had hid and they only had one rule to follow. The ones that were way too easy to find were to be left for Oliver to find. The boys did great and apparently Ben didn't do so well with the hiding because Zach and Noah thought that 90% of them were too easy to find!! We'll have to work on that for next year.

For Your Listening Pleasure

An artist by the name of Bon Iver took the SXSW concert series by surprise or maybe it was by storm. I've been enjoying his stuff and thought I would pass it on. You can stream the album by clicking here, you can check out a review on Carrie Brownstein's blog here, and you can see him on MySpace by clicking here.

NOTE: I totally forgot to give credit where credit is due and I don't want to hurt someone's feelings so...Thank you very much, CHRIS, for letting me know about Bon Iver.

Noah's Favorite

Noah's favorite part of the all school demonstrations is when the black belts and black belt candidates get up and strut their stuff. At the beginning of this video they are still doing some of their warm-up. I wish this video did it justice, but when they are doing their punches and planting that front foot it sounds amazing in that gym. What's even more amazing is how synchronized they are! Watching Noah watch this group was fun too, I don't think he blinked once for fear of missing something.

Video From Karate Demostration

This is a video from the all school demonstration done by Kanthak Karate. Despite the little stumble at the beginning Noah did great! He was so excited and so wanted to do well that his feet didn't listen to his brain!

And The Winners Are...

Ginger Lime is the big winner and by a landslide no less! I went ahead and put every one's name into a basket and Noah pulled out the following three, yes I said three, a girl can change her mind can't she, winners....

1. Auntie Janet!!!
2. Trisha!!!
3. GrandBob!!!

Each of you will be contacted and when the soap is made will receive 3 bars of ginger lime. Congratulations to all of you...many are jealous.

A Question and Other Stuff

You get exactly ONE guess to the next question...which plate/bowl of eggs belongs to Noah and which plate/bowl of eggs belongs to Oliver? I boiled eggs on Friday so that Gammy could help the boys decorate eggs that night while Joel and I went out with John and Steph. Well, I took a shower that afternoon and when I got out Oliver had decided to get a head start on the festivities. Still can't figure out which eggs go with which boy??? Take a look at the next picture...

Noah proudly showing off pretty eggs. Don't worry, Oliver still got to color a few of the whole eggs but Noah supervised closely! Notice that Noah is STILL holding onto his newly earned belt, he has not let it out of his sight.
Noah making sure that you know which eggs are his favorites.

• I have some other stuff to post to the blog but some editing to the Kanthak School Demonstration video needs to be done and the pictures on the camera I left at Ben & Christie's still need to be downloaded first. Be sure to check back later for those posts.

• We headed over to breakfast and an Easter egg hunt at Ben and Christie's this morning. Zach and Noah play so well together and have a lot of fun. So much fun that they almost forgot about the whole egg hunting thing. Their competitive natures all kicked in though once we started. Christopher, Christie's older boy is a God send and is constantly checking on and offering to go play with the younger boys. That young man is going to make a lot of baby-sitting money from me if he plays his cards right!

• This afternoon I cooked a full turkey dinner and we now have a ton of leftovers! The Pyryts are stopping by soon and I'm hoping they will eat some or at least take some with them! Anyone in the mood for a turkey sandwich?

• Lastly, my soap poll and RAK closes in about an hour! I am going to put every one's names into an Easter basket and have Noah pick out the winning names! I'll post the winners later tonight.

• HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
  

New Belt

Noah was awarded his next belt level tonight. As you can see, it's orange with a white stripe. Once he puts in a little more time he will be awarded his solid orange belt. Noah has done a lot of work to earn his belt advancement and we are very proud of him! He came home and immediately hung his white and gold belt up on his bedroom wall.

Mr. K congratulating Noah

The Class Picture

Noun: Saponification

Saponification: A chemical reaction in which an ester is heated with an alkali (especially the alkaline hydrolysis of a fat or oil to make soap)

I have had so much fun watching the votes in my soap poll! It appears that ginger lime (much to Chris' delight) is going to be the winner unless some of you get friends and family to vote for your favorite...which they should! So how much control has soap making had over my life lately? This is what I did today while I was also trying to make dinner. As if my family needs to eat? I had some important tasks at hand, who needs chicken stir-fry getting in the way? Certainly not me! My poor friend, Stephanie, is probably wondering what kind of monster she's created...

A few limes have been zested, the zest is now resting comfortably in a food dehydrator. The smell of citrus in my house is wonderful! The dried zest (dried to remove the moisture to help prevent molding in the final product) will be added at trace, just before being poured into the molds...

I have some fresh ginger that I sliced up and tossed into a heat proof glass bowl...

Drizzled some olive oil over the top of and warmed up. The ginger infused oil will become part of the next batch.

Are You Bicycle Friendly?

Click on this link and take a quick test. It's amazing really, I did it and my friend Chris, who sent me the test, did it, but can you??

Don't forget to vote for the soap (see right) and leave a comment at this post.

Seek And Ye Shall Find

Or in my case look for something totally different, get distracted by other things you find then run across an adorable picture of your boys...

Soap Poll and RAK

So, if you haven't heard yet, my friend Stephanie has introduced me into the world of soap making. I am spending way too much time researching scents, oils, trace elements, essential oils, butters, distillates, etc. and thought that I could turn my recent obsession into a RAK (random act of kindness). I need your help coming up with my next batch of soap that I am going to make. Take the poll to the right then leave me a quick comment letting me know which one you voted for. I will make the winning batch and then randomly draw two names from those who voted for the winner. Those two winners will each receive three bars of my soap once it's been cured. Feel free to get your friends in on the act by forwarding them our blog URL. Poll's close next Sunday, the 23rd at 8pm, good luck and please feel free to leave suggestions for future batches.

What's For Dinner?

For those who haven't heard yet, I joined Weight Watchers as a tool to help me achieve my New Years Resolution. It's been working great, I've lost 21 pounds so far and am well on my way to my goal weight. I do it all at the WW website because I'm just not a meeting kind of person. Anyway, I found this delicious recipe on their website and we had it for dinner tonight. It was so simple to make, super tasty and only 7 points. I highly suggest that you add it to your dinner rotation!

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Sage

POINTS® Value: 7
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

The slightly tart buttermilk in this creamy pasta sauce goes beautifully with the sweet butternut squash. Fresh sage just seals the deal.

Ingredients
1 sprays cooking spray
20 oz butternut squash, fresh, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch chunks*
8 oz uncooked bow ties
1/8 tsp table salt, for cooking pasta
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
5 1/3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano recommended, divided (1/4 cup plus 4 tsp)
3 Tbsp fresh sage, minced

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Place squash on prepared baking sheet and roast until tender and starting to caramelize, about 25 to 30 minutes.**

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. After squash has been roasting for about 15 minutes, cook pasta according to package directions; drain and return to pot.

Add squash, buttermilk, salt and pepper to pot; toss over low heat to warm through, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and sage; toss to mix and coat.
Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of pasta into each of 4 serving bowls; top each with 1 teaspoon of remaining Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Notes
*We used a 20 ounce bag of fresh, peeled squash to help streamline the recipe’s preparation but you can peel and cube a 1 1/2 pound squash yourself if you prefer.

**You can microwave the squash instead of roasting it: Put squash in a shallow microwave-safe baking dish or container with 1/4 cup of water. Cover and microwave until tender, about 10 minutes; drain.

If you don’t like sage, this recipe is also delicious with fresh basil or chives.

This dish does not reheat well. We recommend you make it just before you’re ready to serve it.

Noah

• is a big boy now
• no longer needs kisses for his boo-boos
• can tie his own shoes
• has chores and gets an allowance
• would rather take showers than baths
• rides a big kid bike
• doesn't need as much help anymore
• is growing up fast

But despite all of the above and many other things about Noah, he still loves and needs his little lamb. My heart aches for the little lamb knowing that someday, just like me, he won't be needed as much. More than ache, however, my heart and soul swell with pride knowing that my baby boy is becoming a fine young man that is independent, strong, kind, giving and loving. So for now, lambey and I have made an agreement to get and give as many hugs and kisses as we can now and have promised, when that day comes, to hold onto each other as our boy walks away.

Rub A Dub Dub

...two crazy boys in a tub! Trevor was in town last weekend so I grabbed him up and brought him over to play with his cousins. It had rained the night before, we have a lot of exposed dirt in the backyard and there were three boys ages 2, 5 and 7 plus a neighbor boy age 8. Can you guess why they ended up in the bathtub? Trevor and Oliver are both little bundles of energy and the chaos in the bathroom was too much to take at times but they had a great time! Only when their teeth started chattering did they want out.

What Color Are You Inside?

COLORS

My skin is kind of sort of brownish
Pinkish yellowish white
My eyes are greyish blueish green
But I'm told they look orange in the night.
My hair is reddish blondish brown,
But it's silver when it's wet.
And all the colors I am inside
Have not been invented yet.

-Shel Silverstein

Bigfoot, Yeti, Loch Ness Monster & Penelope

When I say that we have two cats, most people look at me kind of strange. Granted our overweight cat, Smudge, could definitely count as two cats but we really do have a second cat and her name is Penelope. Much like Bigfoot, Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster she remains a legend to many. There are a few that have reported a sighting of her but she is elusive so the moment is fleeting. She is petite, strong, agile, beautiful and oh so soft. I am her favorite human and after the day of threatening noises, chaos and daily life hum, she graces me with her presence. I decided to try and take a few shots of her to prove to the world that she does exist and for a long time she fought. Apparently, she likes her anonymity both in the flesh and on film. So this is how it went for a while...

Her beautiful yellowish eyes with streaks of brown...
Her lovely ears that can broadcast her mood with scary accuracy...
Her tail, it screams, "I am royalty!" and demands to be treated thus...
But don't worry, I begged, I pleaded, I took more pictures of one cat than any person should be allowed to take and she finally gave me the look that said, "just get it done lady so we can get back to the brushing and petting!" So here she is, presenting...

PENELOPE

Graham Family Needs Prayers

Please link to my friend's, Jennifer Graham, blog by clicking here. She went to Korea with her son Caleb and Caleb's Grandma to pick up their son, Joshua. Joshua is being adopted by the Graham family, at the airport it was discovered that his passport and visa had expired. Through many tears, heartache and emotion they decided to send Caleb back home with Grandma and Jennifer would go back to the agency with Joshua. Once back they handed Joshua back over to his foster family until things could be cleared up. They are asking for prayers that this gets resolved quickly in hopes that Jen can travel home with Joshua and that her five other kids and husband at home can survive another week without her. It's an extremely emotional time for them all. Jen's blog can fill you in on the rest of the story. Let's get Joshua home!!

Friends Over to Play

We invited The Pyryt Family over yesterday afternoon for multiple reasons. 1) We love them and hanging out with them is a blast! 2) We now have a Wii and it's fun to play with a group of people. 3) Steph, Tamara and I made soap again last week and we needed to unmold it and cut it up. 4) The kids play great together! 5) I had some wine that, surely, would have gone bad if a good friend and I didn't sit, chat and drink it up!

TORI

TY
JACK
SOAP

WINE

Reasons

Because Su was here doing a jewelry party and because it would be fun to see her (and what better reason to come to town than to buy jewelry) I invited Cousin Stacey. Not only did Stacey say yes, but she brought a friend and drove from Bow, WA to see us all and attend the party. As if that wasn't enough of a gift, she showed up with some beautiful tulips for me! I now, can't wait to hit the tulip farm again this year and it also inspired me to learn even more about my camera. Here are some of my favorite shots...

Aunty Soup

My sis-in-law, Su came to town this weekend to put on a few Premiere Designs Jewelry shows. Sorry if you missed them because it was fun!! Anyway, she was flying in on Friday at 11a.m. So I get Oliver dressed and tell him we are going to go get Aunty Su and he says, "Aunty Soup?" Close, Aunty Su, I repeat to him and you get to see lots of airplanes! "Aunty Soup on airpwane?" Yes, Aunty SU, is on the airplane, lets go get her. All the way to the airport, "Aunty Soup? Where are you Aunty Soup? Are you on the airpwane? Aunty Soup?" So guess what we called Aunty Su for the rest of the weekend? Yes, "Aunty Soup!" She loved it so much that her Mii on the Wii is named Aunty Soup.

Side note...Su will be back in June to visit and if you'd like to book a show with her I'm sure she'd be happy to work something out! The hostess rewards are GREAT!! Trust me, I know and will have tons of pretty jewelry to prove it soon! You can contact me or her by clicking on her blog link over to the right.