tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17461959806248623292024-02-19T02:11:27.748-08:00MY LIFE AS MAMAThe joys, trials, and messes of parenting my 5 childrenKatyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.comBlogger172125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-41304983892212192762015-01-28T21:50:00.000-08:002015-01-28T21:50:14.994-08:00"This Realm, this England": Day 3So, I've finally gotten around to talking about the third day of my trip - my first full day of sightseeing in London! As it was Sunday, I was planning to get up and go to morning church service at Westminster Abbey! It was lovely dream, but between the jet lag and my lack of skill in navigating around this gigantic brand new (to me) city, I didn't make it on time. I finally got ready and decided to take the Number 10 bus, which was the easiest form of transportation, as it stopped right outside our hotel. Our hotel was really neat, but the one disadvantage was that it was located kind of far from the central part of London, so it took a pretty long time - and a lot of complicated maneuvering - to get to any of the major sightseeing locations. Navigating the baby and the buggy, I decided the bus was my best bet. I went out to the bus stop, waited for the bus for a while, got tired of waiting, and decided to stroll up and down the street a bit. Then, of course, by the time I got back to the bus stop, I'd missed it and had to wait for the next one! Oh well, it was a nice little walk anyway. The weather, by the way, was absolutely fabulous! I'd heard/read about foggy London, where it rained every day, and come all prepared with my umbrella and raincoat and warm tights, and I was a teensy bit disappointed that it never rained! It was extremely warm and sunny for September in England - not really for NM, but definitely warm for England! I ended up wearing 3/4 sleeve sweaters and skirts with my tights and short boots, and I only wore my rain jacket one day. Not that you all care about what I was wearing on my trip....sorry, back to England!<br />
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Anyway, the only problem with the Number 10 bus was that it stopped on nearly every single street, so it took almost an hour to get to the central part of London. I got off at Grosvenor Gardens, which was exciting because I remembered it from <i>The Importance of Being Earnest. </i>I was starving, so I located the nearest food source - a little sandwich shop called <i>Pret a Mange - </i>bought myself some lunch, and ate it in the park. It was just too cool to be sitting there casually eating lunch in the middle of a famous place in London.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> This was a funny statue in the park that I liked. I'm dying to know why he's standing on his head.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Another statue</span> in the gardens</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The famous Grosvenor Hotel</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> I bet you can tell why I liked this pub</span></div>
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After lunch I decided to go into Victoria Station and look around a bit (and also find a public restroom). Here it is from the outside:</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Victoria Station</span></div>
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It was quite pretty inside - but I was also surprised to find it was kind of like a giant shopping mall as well as train station! I guess we don't really have trains much here in the southwest, so maybe it's like that back East too, but I found it interesting and different.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Inside Victoria Station</span></div>
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I looked around a bit and then had to find some change for the loo. In a truly horrifying turn of events, you have to pay to use public restrooms there - and have exact change! I ended up having to change a <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">£</span>10 note in order to get the necessary 30 shillings, so I had a lot of extra change! And before I could go in, I saw an Italian couple chatting away together, trying to figure out the British money, so I stopped and showed them which coins they needed. The woman was almost pathetically grateful. I love you, England, but making people pay to use the restroom is cruel and unusual punishment! The funny thing was that my tiny act of kindness in helping her actually ended up giving ME a huge boost in confidence in my ability to navigate and handle things sightseeing around London. Silly, I know, but it made me happy!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Took this picture of the train for James</span></div>
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After I left Victoria Station, I went in search of Buckingham Palace, which several signs informed me was nearby. This was a pretty sort of hanging garden covering a building along the way.</div>
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I started to walk along a big long stone wall, still looking for Buckingham, and then I saw a small side entrance with a sign inviting me to come pay 22 pounds to see the Queen's furniture and art in Buckingham Palace. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Not exactly what I expected</span></div>
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I was quite surprised that I had just walked right past Buckingham Palace without realizing it! Where were the beautiful gates? Where were the guards? Where was the...grandeur and spectacle?? I decided to keep walking and see if things got any more exciting. It's a good thing I did. I rounded the corner and there was the main entrance, which more than lived up to my expectations!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Queen Victoria monument outside the Palace</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A close-up of the gates</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> The whole gorgeous palace</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">And another angle</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> A view of the Victoria monument from the park right next to the palace</span></div>
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It was at this point than my camera battery died! Heartbreak! You will just have to imagine the rest of the things I visited as I do my best to describe them. After walking around the palace a bit, I walked into Green Park, which is right (literally <i>right) </i>next to the palace. It was a beautiful little park, full of huge old trees and birds and squirrels. I sat on a bench and nursed Jules and thought about Lewis and Tolkien, two of my favorite English authors. Somehow it felt like the kind of place they would have loved. I wondered who else those trees had looked down on over the years - what famous Brits had sat under them and loved them and been inspired by them. Then we meandered through the park, watched an adorable little curly-headed toddler chasing squirrels, walked around some war memorials, and finally found myself in Hyde Park, which is an enormous - simply <i>enormous - </i>park with all kinds of lovely sights. I meandered through rose gardens, ivy-covered archways, giant trees so massive that groups of children were completely hidden under their branches...past duck-filled lakes and fountains and elaborate bridges...down paths with dancers and roller skaters doing incredible maneuvers...past playgrounds and horse trails and bike trails...I spent several hours in the Hyde Park and I barely covered a quarter of it! I kept thinking how much I wished my children were there to enjoy it with me. If we lived in London, I would take them there <i>every day! </i>(Or maybe I wouldn't. It's huge....if they ran out of sight, how would I ever find them again?!) Around four o'clock, which as everyone knows is Official Tea Time in Britain, I went into a little tea shoppe (yes, they have tea shops in Hyde Park too!) and got myself a cup of tea and a muffin, and had tea out in the courtyard. Unfortunately, one bad thing I noticed about London is the number of people who smoke. <i>Everyone </i>seems to smoke - and since they're not allowed to smoke indoors at all, I believe, the entryways to buildings were always filled with a crowd of people surrounded by a smoky haze. Blech. So the smoke was enough to make me hurry up my cup of tea and move along to a new place.</div>
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After leaving Hyde Park, I wandered in the the direction of the Victoria and Albert Museum. I stopped in a little shop that looked sort of like a natural pharmacy - the sign was in Arabic, which was kind of interesting, and the man who initially tried to help me find cough drops didn't speak much English. I finally was able to make his supervisor, who was English, understand what I wanted ("throat lozenges" is what I should have called them ;-). After studying my map, I discovered I was still pretty far from the Victoria and Albert Museum, but very close to Harrods department store, so I decided to go in and look around. I knew it was a fancy/expensive store, but I had no idea just <i>how </i>expensive until I actually went inside. It was amazing! In some ways it was more like a museum than a store. The entire first floor was dedicated to jewelry....delicate, ornate, sparkling under lights in glass cases. There were no price tags. If you have to ask, you probably don't want to know! The second floor was gloves and scarves, purses and shoes. I thought I'd buy something, just some little thing so I could say "I got it at Harrods," but there was nothing even close to what I could afford! The third floor had long, gorgeous formals and elaborate hats with famous labels. And unlike much of what you see in the Hollywood red carpet photos these days, these were actually pretty and classy-looking. I skipped the menswear floor, but the fifth floor was children's clothes and baby's layettes and furniture. Most of the baby clothes cost more than I have ever paid for any article of my own clothing! And the most crazy thing of all - wandering through the children's section, I discovered that there is an entire Disney store <i>inside </i>the department store! Crazy! </div>
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Right about this time, Harrods was closing, and I was supposed to meet my dad outside Buckingham so we could go to dinner. This was when things started to a bit....wonky, as the Brits would say. I decided instead of walking all the way back up Brompton Road, up Knightsbridge, and then up Constitution Hill to Buckingham Palace, I decided to take a side street that seemed to lead right toward Buckingham. This, obviously, turned out to be a huge mistake. Unlike Albuquerque streets, the streets in London are not laid out in nice, neat, N-S and E-W grids! Instead they wind and meander all over the place. Long story short, I ended up lost - <i>very </i>lost. I was wandering around a bunch of tiny little side and back streets and couldn't seem to manage to find a main one again. Dad kept calling me and trying to help me navigate back via the map on his phone and I kept looking at my map of London, trying to figure it out, but I just couldn't find my way back. My feet were killing me and I was exhausted and Julie was extremely fussy, and of course there were no benches to sit on to put her to sleep. Finally I managed to find my way back to one of the walls of Buckingham Palace grounds, a landmark I actually recognized! The only problem was, it was the wrong side of Buckingham....and I ended up having to walk <i>all the way around it</i> to make it back to the front gates and the Victoria Memorial, where Dad was waiting! Oh, my aching feet! The grounds of Buckingham are absolutely enormous! Also, this is what the wall looks like the entire way around:</div>
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At long last, I met up with Dad and we got someone to snap our picture in front of Buckingham Palace:</div>
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Then we made our way over to Soho, where Dad's friend was playing in a jazz club. We were supposed to eat dinner there before the show, but unfortunately they wouldn't let Julie into the club. I guess their laws are pretty strict about kids under 14 in certain places, like bars. They were really nice about it though. So we ended up going to a little Italian place right across the street. It was <i>so</i> delicious - the second best Italian food I've ever had in my life! (The best ever was in Jena, Germany, made by an Italian immigrant, but that's another story.) Even our salads were magnificent. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Who knew beets, feta, and asparagus could be so delicious?</span></div>
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The waiter was really nice, and an authentic Italian - from Napoli. He was incredibly nice about the baby too. (She's asleep in my lap in this picture of us.) The Italians are generally very family-friendly, even in nice restaurants. We ate outside on the patio - the weather was beautiful.<div style="text-align: left;">
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After the meal, we took a quick picture outside the jazz club, Ronnie Scott's, and then Dad went inside to watch his friend play and I took a taxi home. <br />
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I was pretty much beat by this point, so I went to bed. But not before I took this photo of London nighttime from our hotel room window:<br />
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Goodnight from London!Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-27106914737640471812014-12-19T15:16:00.000-08:002014-12-19T15:16:15.982-08:00"This Realm, this England": Day 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,</div>
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This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,</div>
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This other Eden, demi-paradise,</div>
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This fortress built by Nature for herself</div>
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Against infection and the hand of war,</div>
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This happy breed of men, this little world,</div>
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This precious stone set in the silver sea,</div>
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Which serves it in the office of a wall</div>
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Or as a moat defensive to a house,</div>
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Against the envy of less happier lands ---</div>
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This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."</div>
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Richard II, Act 2, Scene 1</div>
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You know me - if we're talking about England, the first person who comes to mind is Shakespeare!</div>
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Sorry yesterday was so boring - all travel related. Today gets much more exciting because we're finally in England!</div>
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We landed at about 11:30 local time, which is eight hours ahead of Albuquerque. A few minutes before the plane landed, Jules woke up from her amazing sleep and we were both getting pretty antsy to get off the plane! The real problem was that I had been sitting for 8 hours, which meant no standing, which meant no bathroom breaks...I was really starting to get desperate by the time we made it to our gate. Of course, they have this brilliant system for loading people <i>onto </i>airplanes in small groups so it isn't chaos, but <i>deplaning </i>is a ridiculous free-for-all! EVERYONE stands up the second the plane ride is over - and I don't blame them - but it just causes a massive traffic jam for about 20 minutes. I don't understand why they don't announce "now rows 1-10 may disembark" and so on down the plane. Anyway, I was at the back of the plane AND in the window seat, so I just sat and sat until every other person had left, and then I begged the airline staff to let me use the restroom before getting off the plane so I wouldn't have to wait until after customs, because I was pretty sure I was gonna die! They were super nice about it and one of them even offered to hold Jules for me. </div>
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Finally off the plane and on English soil (hooray!) for the first time in my life, I now got to wait in the huge enormous customs line. I figured it was going to be hours but after only a few minutes a lady told me to follow her, and gather up a few more people with babies/small children, and led us to the front of the line! (I'm telling you - you should TOTALLY travel with a baby. It makes some things inconvenient but you get to move to the front of every single line. It's terrific. ;-) Got our passports stamped and tried not to grin ridiculously at the passport official simply because he had a British accent. Everyone had a British accent. I was surrounded by them. It was heavenly!</div>
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Went to collect my luggage and had a bit of trouble collecting my buggy (that's stroller for you Americans), since it came out in a different place, but I finally found it and there I was, loaded down with an enormous backpack, a rolling suitcase, a baby, a sling, and a stroller, and sadly, still only 2 hands. This would be the most challenging part of my trip, as I had to navigate myself, Jules, and all our stuff alone onto the Heathrow Express, a train that goes from Heathrow Airport in London to Paddington Station, where I was then supposed to get a taxi to take me to Dad's hotel. I bought my ticket and got on board the train all right, with some ridiculous maneuvering of all my luggage, and sat for a few minutes. I was chatting with the lady next to me, who was from Japan, and then she and all the other passengers got off the train. I stayed because I knew I was supposed to go all the way to Paddington and we were still in the airport. After just a moment, she came back onto the train and told me I had to get off because this was the end of the line for THIS train and switch to another to take me to Paddington. Yikes! I don't know what I would have done without her help; she not only came back for me, but helped me with my luggage and showed me where to go to switch trains. I was so blessed by her kindess! </div>
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FINALLY on board the correct train, I stared eagerly out the window, but couldn't see much of the countryside; it was mostly industrial-type buildings and nothing terribly exciting yet. At last we pulled into Paddington, and I managed once again to maneuver all my luggage OFF the train onto the platform (sadly, not 9 3/4, but that comes later), get it all adjusted, and set off on the final stage of my journey: to find a taxi. I had never ridden in a taxi before, so that was exciting in and of itself, but to have it be one of the London "hackneys" was even cooler.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Okay, so this not the exact cab I rode in. My hands we too full to take a picture at that moment!</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">I have to confess something a little embarrassing here - ever since watching Season 1 of BBC's <i>Sherlock</i> I have been kind of terrified that the cab driver was going to murder me. Stupid, I know. Still true. So I was a bit nervous about climbing into a taxi in London, but I'm writing this, so everything was obviously fine. Unfortunately I happened to pick the only taxi driver in the entire city who was returning from a 6 month leave of absence and really had no idea where my hotel was - and I, of course, wasn't prepared enough and just had a hotel name, not an address or cross streets or anything. But eventually he figured out where he was going, and meanwhile I got to see London whizzing past in all its glory out the window! This was the first moment of my trip when it truly hit me that I was <i>actually in London</i> and despite being quite exhausted from being up all night, I got a rush of adrenaline and became extremely excited. Whoosh! And there went the Tower of London. Whoosh! There's Big Ben! Whoosh! The Eye of London. Not to mention the red double-decker busses and the taxis everywhere and all the little back and side streets with buildings that I knew nothing of, but radiated centuries of history...it was all overwhelming and wonderful and <i>fantastic</i>. (I know, I'm running out of adjectives. Sorry.) After a little mix-up with another hotel of a very similar name, the cabbie finally found my hotel and I tipped him (way too much, I found out later) gratefully, made my way to my room, and was finally hidden from strangers' eyes for the first time in over 24 hours. Whew! </span></div>
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Dad was still at his conference, and I had to will myself not to just collapse onto the bed and take a nap, but I knew that the best way to survive jet lag is to get on a "normal" schedule with your country as quickly as possible. So instead I took a shower while Jules had a nap (her schedule was totally messed up and she spent a LOT of time sleeping, I think in protest of the whole strange phenomenon, but that was good for me!) and then I had a cup of tea. One thing that was really interesting about English hotel rooms is that each one had an electric hot water kettle, two teacups, and a basket containing a selection of teas, sugar, creams, and a few little biscuits or cookies. That way each guest could observe four o-clock tea everyday! I quite enjoyed it - it made me feel even more "British" than ever, and their tea is much better than ours! Their tea baskets did have instant coffee, but it was terrible; Dad drank it, but I stuck with tea. ;-) About this time, Dad came back to the hotel room - this was a relief since the biggest flaw in our plan was how to communicate once I finally arrived! After he changed, we set out for our first evening exploring the city! </div>
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Our hotel was in an interesting part of the London - the Docklands, an area in east and southeast London that once made up the Port of London. Goods were shipped via the Thames, so the Docklands was an important center of trade, although now its mostly residential and commercial district since transportation is less dependent on the river. But in order to get to the main part of London from our hotel, we had to cross the Thames via ferry. The hotel had its own small ferry to take guests back and forth across the river. Something I didn't know about the the Thames before my trip was the it is an outlet to the sea, so it is actually affected by the tides. The first night I was there, we crossed at the really high tide and the whole ferry was rocking back and forth violently. It was pretty exciting!<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A view of our hotel from the ferry. It is literally ON the Thames.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Grandpa with Jules. That's our hotel in the background, on the opposite side of the river</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Some old warehouse buildings in the Docklands area, a strange contrast to the tall modern buildings in the background</span></div>
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Once on the opposite bank of the Thames, we boarded a "water taxi" like the one below, which took us down the river and past many of the major landmarks in London. It was one of my favorite ways to travel. Not only was it the easiest to get on/off of with a baby and a buggy, but also a great way to see everything and a pretty quick way to travel.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The water taxi</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It took us under the Tower Bridge</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Past the Tower of London</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Past the Globe Theater (I'll be seeing you again soon, good friend!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Past the Eye of London, the only modern piece of London architecture I actually like</span></div>
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We disembarked near Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and took a walk along the bank of the Thames, stopping to look at anything that interested us. I was pretty much giddy with excitement (and possibly a lack of sleep), so that was nearly everything! </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I believe this was a WWII memorial</span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHwkXQHoqQARQc1eONMUVAFgzWi9Z84g0PPf7ywFRpZiX7YQvpoLAR6qSLdv2r_6FTb8tZIDENYgYvsDYWzywXbIEm5RzlWsrGMFhokVBKce4r_MdJjUoHNbc_dfUhgGes1TZRpDqkL1U/s1600/IMG_1759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHwkXQHoqQARQc1eONMUVAFgzWi9Z84g0PPf7ywFRpZiX7YQvpoLAR6qSLdv2r_6FTb8tZIDENYgYvsDYWzywXbIEm5RzlWsrGMFhokVBKce4r_MdJjUoHNbc_dfUhgGes1TZRpDqkL1U/s1600/IMG_1759.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">And this was from WWI</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wYc7Vf-n0StmMeeIbqA3crS8nI1Ldwqwk4KzVsBLNUqqC3227fOHzDFFwcAmNu5iM2U2U34zEby3ogencTIIUYz7lEFv8JGprnZVumjU1pBXmCcAOVt0jYLUTGy_iErsIofBXtT-jk_0/s1600/IMG_1756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wYc7Vf-n0StmMeeIbqA3crS8nI1Ldwqwk4KzVsBLNUqqC3227fOHzDFFwcAmNu5iM2U2U34zEby3ogencTIIUYz7lEFv8JGprnZVumjU1pBXmCcAOVt0jYLUTGy_iErsIofBXtT-jk_0/s1600/IMG_1756.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I was so excited to see the traditional red phone booth!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirgTyWoow5tnEr_mO1zbUYbAX3vA-OzdnK7OPC-M4GKVlhdExqymR3malpzHl1g-pHSZSGWhGhOQ1w_Vt1QTS6o3YxhoS7z8TQkR37D0eG-7Ve2onfdXG1LLyiEYZKKY2-_R4NFPcGxIps/s1600/IMG_1763.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirgTyWoow5tnEr_mO1zbUYbAX3vA-OzdnK7OPC-M4GKVlhdExqymR3malpzHl1g-pHSZSGWhGhOQ1w_Vt1QTS6o3YxhoS7z8TQkR37D0eG-7Ve2onfdXG1LLyiEYZKKY2-_R4NFPcGxIps/s1600/IMG_1763.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></span><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"> </span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Even their benches are beautiful!</span></div>
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Finally we went up a flight of stairs and there it was, right in front of us: Big Ben! Probably one of <i>the</i> most iconic symbols of Britain, right before my very eyes! </div>
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Side note - Big Ben is actually the name of the clock inside the tower, not the tower itself. The tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. I felt sure you all needed to know that fact, in case you ever find yourself on Jeopardy...;-) </div>
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Right next to - and I do mean <i>right next </i>to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament is Westminster Abbey, one of the places I was most excited about seeing. It was closed for sightseeing by the time we arrived, but I most definitely planned to come back another day! Just seeing from the outside was an amazing experience. I confess I may have cried looking up at it for the first time.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dad and Jules in front of the "little side entrance" of Westminster </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Jules and I with both Westminster and Big Ben in the background</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Here I am in front of the main entrance. Yes, I'm the tiny pink and black dot at the bottom. It is truly immense!</span></div>
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After walking around admiring Westminster, we sort of wandered down Whitehall Street, looking around and searching for a place to eat dinner.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Statue of Churchill</span></div>
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We passed Number 10 Downing street, where the Prime Minister lives. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm fairly certain this is the entrance to #10 Downing</span></div>
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We ate dinner in the upper floor of a little pub along Whitehall. Babies seemed to be kind of discouraged, if not absolutely forbidden, in the bottom level of the pubs, where most of the "just stepped in for a pint" people were, but were allowed in the second level where more people were eating. I had a ploughman's lunch, which is basically just a sandwich, and it was okay but not great. Then we walked past Charing Cross, through Trafalgar Square, and then on to Piccadilly Circus. I must confess, Piccadilly was the only part of the London I truly didn't enjoy. I had always read about it, but didn't entirely know what it was until I got there, and frankly I'm still not sure what the allure is. But apparently it is THE place to be on a Saturday night in London! Everybody in the whole city seemed to have congregated there, to just talk and "hang out" on the steps on buildings and memorials. There were street performers and loud music and giant billboards covering the beautiful old buildings, which offended me greatly. :-) It was kind of like Times Square in NYC, from what I've heard, although I've never been there myself. Anyway, it just wasn't really my "scene," if you know what I mean.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Trafalgar Square</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Cool horse fountain in Piccadilly</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Atrocious billboards covering beautiful old buildings in Piccadilly</span></div>
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But we left there and wandered through Chinatown and finally made our way down to the Piccadilly line of the London "tube" or subway. Dad and I had both bought Oyster cards, which enabled us to travel the tube, the buses, and the DLR (that's Docklands Light Railway, an above-ground train), as well as a discounted rate on water taxis, for free. Well, not free, but you know what I mean. One price for all public transportation. The tube was really crowded, especially at Piccadilly, on a Saturday night, and it was tough to navigate with the baby and buggy as it involved flight after flight of stairs. Then once we got to the right stop, we caught the #10 bus, which stopped right outside out hotel. Whew! Transportation in London is complicated, and that's not even taking into account the whole driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road thing, which we didn't do until after we left London. But we finally made it back to our hotel and I absolutely crashed into bed in contented exhaustion.<br />
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Sorry this post was SO ridiculously long. I'll try to speed things up tomorrow!<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> </span></div>
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Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-33534196459792906682014-12-17T19:15:00.000-08:002014-12-17T19:15:33.432-08:00"This Realm, this England": Day 1I found this post that I started writing back in June and it made me ashamed:<br />
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"I've decided I need to give up looking at Facebook for a while. Why, you ask? Because it's June, and everywhere I look I see pictures or posts about all my friends' amazing vacations - to Europe, to Disneyland, to the mountains or the lake or the seashore. My own family members are at the top of that list. One sister just got back from New York City and is now in Colorado hanging out with our other sister. My parents and youngest sister are in New York for a different musical event. My brother and sister-in-law are on a cruise in Europe. And me? Want to know where I'm going this summer? Yep, that's right. Nowhere."<br />
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I didn't finish it because I couldn't figure out how to say what I wanted without sounding extremely self-centered and whiny and pathetic, which is exactly what I was at that moment, and I was ashamed of it. I had no idea at the time but my Heavenly and my earthly father had both been planning something amazing for me that made me even more ashamed of my self-pity. My dad had a business trip to London coming up, and he invited me (and Jules, of course) to come with him and spend a week there! I was completely floored.<br />
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I write this as much for my own benefit as anyone else's - so I can remember every second of that wonderful trip! Apologies if it is entirely too detailed.<br />
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Friday morning was spent trying to cram half my wardrobe, all of Julianna's clothing, a mountain of diapers, wipes, jackets, umbrellas, guidebooks, two extra pairs of shoes, and a myriad of other miscellaneous accouterments (most of which I didn't end up using) into a medium-size suitcase and enormous backpack. I was trying to keep my luggage to a minimum because I would be flying out by myself and had to navigate airplanes, airports, trains, taxis, and every other form of transportation alone. Dad had to be in London a few days before me, so I had to get myself, Jules, and all our stuff from the airplane to the hotel. Having never traveled alone in my life, I was a bit nervous. (Okay, truthfully, I was terrified!)<br />
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Saying goodbye to the kids was one of the hardest things I have ever done. They all drove off cheerily, smiling and waving and excited about getting a WHOLE WEEK of "sleepovers" at Grammie's house! I held it together and did NOT cry when they left, so it wouldn't worry them and they would be happy and not miss me too much. I was fine all the way up until Robert and I got to the airport, and then I realized I forgot something minor, and the tears started to come! BUT I managed to push them down and recover my calm, and even be excited for my trip! There was a brief moment of panic when I started to check in and they told me Jules was supposed to have a ticket, even though she was a "lap baby" for the trip, and they had theoretically mailed it to me, but I had never gotten such a thing. I saw my whole trip slipping away before my eyes and boy, would the tears have ever flowed then! But fortunately they were able to reprint her ticket there at the counter and then I was set! Robert and I hung out for a bit, had a coffee (a TERRIBLE coffee - possibly the worst coffee I've ever had! Don't ever drink the coffee at the Albuquerque Sunport!), and tried to evade for a few more moments the inevitable goodbye. A kiss, a smile, a few tears, and then I was facing my second great obstacle: Security. I am one of those people who, although I have always been a responsible law-abiding citizen, suddenly find my knees knocking together when faced with uniformed authority figures. Seriously. Every siren I ever hear has me convinced they're coming for me....although I'm not exactly sure why. Combined with the horror stories I've read about TSA searches....well, let's just say I dread those checkpoints for more than just the long line. But fortunately it was very painless. Then it was simply a matter of waiting for the plane to board. Unfortunately Jules took umbrage with the long wait and got extremely cranky and tired. I tried to calm her, but by the time we boarded, she was one big fuss. I boarded amid a few sympathetic looks from fellow passengers (and probably a few annoyed ones as well), and found my seat - a window seat, which was good from a privacy/nursing standpoint. And then anxiously waited to see who my fellow passenger would turn out to be. This may sound strange, but I had been praying ever since learning about my trip that I would be seated next to someone who liked babies; someone like an older grandma or a fellow mom, someone who would be kind and understanding and not get annoyed if Jules fussed the whole trip. So when it turned out to be a young, collage-age boy, I was quite disappointed. "Oh dear," I thought, "he's going to be the one who is annoyed most by us."<br />
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The next two hours I spent trying to get super tired, cranky Jules to go to sleep without kicking the poor boy next to us. I failed on both counts. He was pretty nice about it, though. He put in headphones and watched movies during the flight and responded with "no problem" to each apology for her kicking. And the silly baby just wouldn't sleep. We finally landed...and then a long long taxi to the gate and a wait. The landing part was interesting, though, because I had never been to Minnesota before and as we circled down, I could see setting sun reflecting off the "thousand lakes" below us. It was beautiful! Someday I would like to go back to Minnesota and see more than the airport for a four hour layover.<br />
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It was a long four hours. The airport was enormous - the biggest one I've ever seen, or at least navigated all by myself - so after finding my correct gate, I stuck to my own concourse. Got some dinner, bought some water and snacks for the plane, and then mostly just followed Jules around as she crawled around all the seats in the waiting area. I figured she should get as much "floor time" as possible before the flight, since she would be stuck on my lap for the next eight hours. There was a another mom with a little girl, about three years old, in the waiting area too, and she and Jules really hit it off. They were from England, returning on the same flight as us, so the little girl had the CUTEST British accent. She kept taking photos of Jules with her tablet and they chased each other all over the waiting area.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Jules "cruising" the seats in the waiting area. Sorry, it's the only picture I have from the first day</span></div>
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Finally, shortly before boarding, Jules got sleepy and went to sleep in my arms. It made boarding a little tough, but with some help from a kind gentleman, I was able to get my backpack stowed and settled myself and my sleeping baby into our seat - window seat again - and went through the same anxiety about my seat-mate, especially since this was a MUCH longer flight! Turned out to be a young woman, probably a few years younger than me, who hardly spoke a word to me the whole flight, but she wasn't unkind or anything. She just didn't really invite conversation. I had kind of been hoping that I would be seated next to someone from England and we could chat about our respective countries throughout the trip, Instead that was the person behind me, and he and the girl he was sitting next to had an interesting conversation (upon which I eavesdropped shamelessly) throughout the flight. So there we were - settled in and finally on our way! And then the most amazing thing happened. Jules slept for the ENTIRE flight. I couldn't believe it. I thought I would just let her sleep as long as possible, because she was sure to wake up and then I'd have to entertain her...but she just slept. And slept. And there I sat, for 8 hours, unwilling to get up or even move too much because I was afraid of waking her. I tried to sleep, but unfortunately the only part of me that was able to sleep was my lower extremities. It certainly wasn't a very comfortable flight but it was much better than I had expected or even dared to hope. I know it was God's grace that enabled her to sleep and give me such a (relatively) easy time; it was only the first of many such times I saw His grace demonstrated to me throughout the trip.<br />
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I will say this - transcontinental flight has gotten much nicer/more comfortable since my last trip overseas, which was about 12 years ago. The seats have more legroom than domestic flights, and each seat has its own entertainment system built into the back of the seat in front, with a selection of movies and music and tv shows and games...all kinds of stuff to pass the time. The stewardesses/flight attendants (not sure which they prefer to be called these days!) serve a seemingly constant stream of food and drink, it was all pretty good (the coffee was 10x better than that airport swill, surprisingly enough!), and they pass out hot towels to wipe one's hands. It is always a strange feeling to stay awake all night, without falling asleep at all, because one is never quite sure when one day has finished and the next began. But after that long, strange, quiet night of waiting and watching and trying not to wake Jules and failing to sleep....the sun finally rose and there, out the window, I could see it: "<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">this England!"</span> (Richard II)</span><br />
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<br />Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-16711587714392840462014-08-12T16:43:00.002-07:002014-08-12T16:48:58.602-07:00Exercise with "Helpers"I have been dealing with some pretty bad back pain over the last month, and it has left me frustrated and uncertain as to a cause/remedy. It's possible that Julianna has just gotten quite heavy and lifting her is harder and more of a strain; it could also be that I am just that out of shape...:-( I have been to my chiropractor four times in the past two weeks, and he has been able to help re-align my spine and manage my pain, but my back keeps going out. Finally, after going to the chiropractor on Friday and then having my shoulder start wrenching/spasming on Saturday for no apparent reason, I'd had enough. I decided I had to start stretching/exercising again, and determined that first thing Monday I was going to bite the bullet and start doing yoga first thing every morning.<br />
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Things started off auspiciously enough. I managed to go to bed on the early side, set my alarm for 7, and awoke after a (rare) decent night's rest. Jules half-woke and decided she was hungry, so after she finished nursing back to sleep it was 7:30, and I was ready to get started. Gabriella came in as I was putting on my exercise clothes and ran off to put on HER "exercise clothes." She returned wearing a pink leotard that's way too small for her, striped red and white tights, a pink tutu, and her beloved red cowboy boots. It was hard to enough to keep my composure at THAT ensemble, but then she proceeded to start her "exercises." She put her legs together, turned out her toes, lifted her arms above her head, and began bending and straightening her knees, saying "cliché....cliché..." each time. I stared at her in utter bewilderment before I finally realized what she was doing: "plié....plié..." Well, I lost it at that - burst into laughter at her sheer cuteness. (She was quite offended. Sorry, Gabs.)</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image via <a href="http://riegelsvilleyoga.com/class-descriptions/">http://riegelsvilleyoga.com/class-descriptions/</a></span></div>
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Um, yeah...I SO do not look like this! I think it's more like this:</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image via <a href="http://www.livefit4life.net/yoga/" target="_blank">http://www.livefit4life.net/yoga/</a></span></div>
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I finally composed myself enough to find a yoga video that I thought I could handle and started attempting to do the stretches. Attracted by the sounds of the tv, the other kids all came in the room. Joseph immediately started his own version of "exercise," which involved running through the house at his fastest possible speed to prove just how "in shape" he already was. Gabs was still "cliché-ing" and James and Elora, stark naked (they had been in the bath), sat on the couch to watch me do yoga. Well, I was giving it my best shot despite all the distractions when my "audience" decided to chime in. They began critiquing my form:</div>
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"No, Mom, the lady on the video has her arms bent more. Bend your arms MORE, Mom!"</div>
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"No, Mom, she said to turn your feet parallel to the mat. PARALLEL, Mom! Come on!"</div>
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"Focus on your breathing, Mom. The lady SAID to focus on your breathing. FOCUS! How's your breathing, Mom?"</div>
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Mom's breathing at this point was practically nonexistent because she was laughing so hard. It is SO easy to relax and breathe and do yoga when naked people are shouting at you from the couch and your son is racing top speed through the entire house and your daughter is "cliché-ing" in cowboy boots and the baby just woke up. I decided at this point that yoga was futile and turned off my video. But I had made it through about 15 minutes and I actually found myself feeling a lot better throughout the day, so I determined to keep up with it. Today was much harder, not because of the distractions, but because I didn't get any sleep, so I was a lot tireder and less desirous of actually doing anything...but I persevered and did it, and once again physically feel better. This is quite encouraging! Hopefully I will not be spending so much time with my chiropractor in the near future!</div>
Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-60739345365525844952014-06-19T21:03:00.001-07:002014-06-19T21:03:57.889-07:00Happy Six Months, Julianna!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Sweet little Julianna is six months old today! It's hard to believe the time has gone so fast. I guess it's true what they say about motherhood - the days feel long, but the weeks and months and years fly by! </div>
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I know one should never have favorites among their children - and I <i>don't - </i>but I do have to admit to liking certain children better at various "stages." (For example, Joseph was my first baby and I was absolutely crazy about him...but the child would not SLEEP as an infant!! He would stay awake until 3 or 4 in the morning and just fuss and fuss and cry...I didn't really know what "colic" was at the time and I thought that was just what all babies were like. Oh, my, was I relieved was James was born and he was not like that! ;-) So far, it is hard not to be incredibly prejudiced in Julianna's favor because she is SUCH a sweet baby! She has been a great sleeper from the very beginning, hardly cries, and is sooo snuggly! She's just a happy, happy baby most of the time and so much fun to be around.</div>
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It's also quite interesting that she is the first of our babies to really show a marked preference for her Daddy! She has been "Daddy's girl" from the very beginning. I mean, she loves Mommy and wants me plenty, but she will sit with her Daddy for a very long time, perfectly content, and her little face just lights up whenever he's around! It's so very precious to watch, and I think Robert gets a huge kick of it because I'm sure it can be hard to always play second fiddle to Mommy! She's also the first baby he's been able to put to sleep on a regular basis.</div>
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About a month before she was born, we took the kids to see <i>Frozen </i>and they became absolutely obsessed with it. (Still are, in fact. If I have to hear one more rendition of "Let It Go" at the top of their lungs...) So when I asked Elora what she wanted to name the baby if it was a girl, she immediately said "Anna!" We had been talking about Julianna anyway, so I thought "oh, how cute - we can nickname her Anna!" (When asked what we should name the baby if it was a boy, Elora's suggestion was "T-Rex!" It's a good thing she was a girl.) However, somehow the nickname "Anna" never managed to stick. Sometimes we call her Julie, but everyone's favorite nickname for her is Jules or Jule. I love it because I think of her as our family's precious "jewel" - she is so loved and cared for and adored by her big brothers and sisters! They squabble over who gets to play with her, hold her, pick out her clothes, and even change her diaper! And she loves all the attention and just basks in the adoration (most of the time...unless it's all a little overwhelming.) </div>
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She is a blessing to our whole family and none of us can remember what we did without her. Happy Six Month "Birthday," Sweet Jules! </div>
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Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-47546105715786818862014-06-12T16:33:00.000-07:002014-06-12T16:33:30.964-07:00Birth Story: Our Not-Quite Christmas BabySo, six months later, I am finally getting around to finishing the birth story for my 5th baby, Julianna Evelyn Voss. I realize I haven't blogged since before she was born! Frankly, with 5 kids, I just haven't had the time! I started this post about a month after she was born and I have just kept working on it but never quite managed to finish it until now. I realize it's kind of ridiculously late at this point. But I will go ahead and post it anyway, just because each one is unique and interesting. At least it is to the mom! And since having a baby is quite a difficult feat and proud accomplishment, the rest of you have to listen and pretend to be interested!!<br />
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<i>My sweet baby girl. She's been a great sleeper from Day 1.</i></div>
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I think the theme of Julianna's birth is that everything you <i>think</i> you know is wrong! Having my 5th baby, I thought I pretty much knew exactly what I was doing and what to expect, and boy did she prove me wrong! Things started off strangely when about three weeks before my due date (which was December 12), I started having on-and-off contractions. For the first day and a half, they were pretty mild, but on Sunday night they started getting stronger. As this was exactly what had happened with James, I was sure the baby was going to come. Of course, my mom was out of town at the time - which was exactly what I was afraid was going to happened when I heard she was leaving. I called Daniella and told her I was in labor - and she, like the dear, sweet sister she is, hopped on a plane and came down to be there for me and help out since Mom was gone. I laid everything out, and Robert inflated and filled the birth pool (which was just a large kiddie swimming pool). Isaac and Melissa came over, and we all chatted as I walked around the living room. For the next couple hours things seemed to be progressing...and then, suddenly, it stopped. I finally gave up and went to bed, thinking maybe labor had just slowed down and I would be awakened in the night with contractions again. Woke up the next morning and still nothing. The baby seemed to have changed her mind and decided not to come after all. I felt disheartened and a bit stupid. After 4 kids, how could I have mistaken false labor for labor? It felt so real at the time...and with Elora coming so quickly, I was all geared up for another fast labor.<br />
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<i>Here she is on Christmas Day - sucking her thumb and holding her ear. She learned than trick from Grandpa Larry.</i></div>
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The next few weeks were quite frustrating. I would have on-and-off labor in the late evening several times a week, sometimes every day! Several times it was strong enough for me to convince Robert that the baby "really was coming this time!" and he would fill the pool again, and then it would just stop. I felt SO bad for all I kept putting him, and the rest of my family, through, getting everyone's hope up for no reason. I know that it was all technically "labor" and my body was preparing for her to come...but it was still frustrating and draining, both emotionally and physically. Everyone was very sweet and supportive and helpful, taking the kids and bringing me food and doing fun activities to help take my mind off the fact that baby hadn't appeared yet!<br />
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<i>This is me "ridiculously pregnant" two days before she was born</i></div>
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My due date, December 12, arrived, and still no baby. I started to get seriously annoyed with this baby, especially since I'd only had one other baby go past her due date (Gabriella). Mom jokingly called her "Carlotta" after the opera star from <i>Phantom of the Opera </i>who is such a diva. Monday I had a midwife appointment, and they started talking about ways to help jump-start my labor. I decline most of them since I wasn't even a week overdue yet, but consented to drink a kind of tea that was supposed to help "move things along." Still nothing happened for two more days.<br />
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Thursday, December 19, my cousin Tiana came over. She lives in Nashville and I don't get to see her nearly as often as I'd like, but she was in town for Christmas. We had lunch and made fudge, and I felt a bit funny all day but didn't think much of it since I'd had so many false alarms. Tiana left and I started making dinner for the kids...and then I started having contractions in earnest. They got stronger and stronger, and when I started timing them they were finally both strong <i>and</i> consistent - something they hadn't really been up until now. I was afraid to call anyone, though, because I really didn't want to give another false alarm! By 6:30 or so, I finally had to call Robert because I could no longer handle making dinner and dealing with the kids in between contractions. It was about another hour before he finally made it home, and by then I was no longer able to talk during each contraction. This finally convinced both of us I might <i>actually </i>be in labor at last! My parents came, and Lydia took the kids home with her. Mom and Dad stayed, and my brother Isaac showed up a bit later. (Since he got married last year and I know he and his wife are looking forward to becoming parents in God's timing, we thought it might be helpful for him to get to see what "natural childbirth" looks like - especially when the father is the labor coach!)<br />
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<i>She's been a Daddy's girl from the start - the only baby he can put to sleep on a regular basis.</i></div>
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Contractions got steadily stronger over the next two hours or so, and by about 10:15 pm I was "in transition." I remember thinking in between contractions "Wait - <i>why</i> was I so eager for labor to start?? I forgot how HARD it is!" ;-) An interesting thing that happened this time that had never happened with any of my other babies was that during the intense contractions, I could actually <i>feel </i>where<i> </i>baby's head was inside me and feel it moving down. It's hard to explain...but it was pretty cool. Right about this point, we finally called the midwives - I think we kept holding off because we really <i>really </i>didn't want to have them come just for a false alarm! But in this case we waited a bit too long. I knew it was time to push, so I got into the poor, tattered, duct-taped-together-after-many-blow-ups swimming pool, and suddenly everything stopped. I felt tons better...but I was afraid my body had tricked me once again and I had slowed/stopped labor by getting in the water. Sigh. I took a couple of deep breaths, felt my body relax...and then suddenly had to push! Two pushes and she was out - our 5th baby, another sweet little girl! Robert caught her, scooped her up, wrapped her in a towel, and put her in my arms. "I'm so glad you're finally here!" I whispered to her as I snuggled her and instantly forgave her for all the trouble she had given me.<br />
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<i>Sisters!</i></div>
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The midwives arrived a few minutes later. This seems to be our MO - call them too late and have them arrive after the baby's already here! I think it's because Robert just loves to deliver his own babies! ;-) And may I add that he's great at it! They checked me and baby out, declared everything great, helped deliver the placenta (which, frankly, was more trouble to push out than the baby had been) and got me settled into bed. My sister-in-law Melissa, who had been hoping to be here for the birth, arrived a few minutes too late and didn't actually get to see her birth but at least got to see the new baby. I remember that back when Joseph was born, I insisted that the ONLY people who were ever going to be there for the baby's birth were Robert and my mom because it was too embarrassing to have anyone else witness it! Needless to say, 5 kids later, my threshold for embarrassment is nearly non-existent. Plus I feel so strongly about natural birth that if it can help anyone to be less, well, "freaked out" by witnessing a homebirth, that's really important to me. Not that I'm going to invite the neighbors to come watch or anything.<br />
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<i>Proud big brothers</i></div>
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So there you have it (finally!) - Miss Julianna Evelyn Voss, 8 lb, 6 oz, 20 inches long, born December 19 at 10:25 pm. And may I add that in spite of all her dramatic false alarms beforehand, she was/is the sweetest, easiest baby we've ever had. She was sleeping 6+ hours a night by the time she was about 2 weeks old and gave us less trouble than any of the others, which has been a HUGE blessing! I'll post some more recent pictures of her soon. (And yes, I realize this post took 6 months, so "soon" might mean any time in the next year or so.... Thank you for your patience.)<br />
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<i>I just love this expression...so silly</i></div>
Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-60155548000611039642013-11-16T21:08:00.000-08:002013-11-16T21:08:10.102-08:00Longing for snow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Mid-November has arrived and I'm longing for snow!</div>
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Snow is beautiful and magical and mysterious and familiar. I cannot wait for that glorious white blanket to cover over all of November's brown naked drabness.<br />
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Here's hoping we get the first snow of the year on Thanksgiving! Only a little more than a week to go.Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-34855456736711524562013-11-05T18:12:00.001-08:002013-11-05T18:12:09.242-08:00Sometimes I miss sugarI know it's been a while since I posted, and technically this post should be Part IV of "The Cruise that Wasn't," but I really just wasn't in the mood to talk about it. Although I will try to get to it eventually. Anyway, I've been pretty busy and there has been a lot of stuff going on with me and my pregnancy (34 1/2 weeks now!) and having to suddenly switch midwives, but I won't go into all of that. The short version is that I am fine, and Baby is fine, and I am still planning a homebirth with the same midwife who was there for Elora's birth. (Actually, she <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1746195980624862329#editor/target=post;postID=9113984569310959534;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=130;src=postname" target="_blank">wasn't there for the birth</a> - but she got there right after! Frankly, I'm kind of hoping for a repeat, not because I don't want her to be there, but just because super fast births are wonderful!). However, because of a few issues that have arisen, I'm trying really hard not to eat refined sugar or processed food/carbs, and to combine my foods in ways that are low-glycemic and won't spike my blood sugar.<br />
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I admit it was pretty hard the first week or so. I have a pretty big sweet tooth, and saying goodbye to sugar was painful - especially because I have always thought of pregnancy as the time where, as long as I was eating a really healthy, high protein diet otherwise, I could get away with all kinds of treats without worrying about my waistline since it was non-existent anyway! Knowing myself, if I COMPLETELY cut out all forms of dessert, it would probably be setting myself up for failure, as in one day I would snap and consume an entire chocolate cake in one sitting and drop into a diabetic coma sort of thing! So I have been trying to find healthy alternatives that are very low sugar, use raw/natural sugars, and are low glycemic so they will be easy on my system. So I have embraced things like berries and homemade whipped cream, cheesecake with no crust sweetened with small amounts of raw honey, and dark chocolate. It's been good but...with all the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees and that crisp cold delicious smell of Fall in the air, I really really miss my pumpkin fix! Unfortunately, pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin cream cheese muffins from Starbucks were definitely out.<br />
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My mom came to my rescue in the form of pumpkin cream cheese! She found some at Trader Joe's that was delicious, and then came up with a recipe for a homemade version that had even less sugar. It's delicious spread onto apples, celery, or whole grain sprouted toasted (or just eaten with a spoon, if you're desperate!) I ate up all she gave me and had to make myself another batch today.<br />
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Here is the recipe. (I didn't measure my ingredients, so I kind of guessed on a lot of them. I'd say just add/taste until you like it!)<br />
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1 package cream cheese, softened<br />
About 1/2 of a 15 oz can of pumpkin (more or less, depending on how "pumpkiny" you want it...I did more)<br />
3-4 T brown sugar or raw honey (again, start out with less and add until you think it's sweet enough)<br />
1/2 t vanilla<br />
3/4 - 1 t cinnamon (to taste)<br />
1/2 t nutmeg<br />
1/4 t ginger<br />
1/4 t cloves<br />
(OR just use a heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice)<br />
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With an electric mixer, cream all ingredients together until smooth. Cover and refrigerate. Spread on just about anything for a mouthful of pumpkin-filled deliciousness.<br />
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I like this pumpkin spread on the cinnamon-raisin Ezekial 4:9 bread, which is delicious but sadly not cheap, or my homemade sprouted spelt flour bread, which sounds complicated but is SUPER easy to make. I'll try to post the recipe for it tomorrow.<br />
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Give this pumpkin spread a try and I promise, you will hardly miss sugar!Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-11646599470877284652013-09-27T21:20:00.000-07:002013-09-27T21:20:45.067-07:00The Cruise that Wasn't {Part 3}I'm sorry it took me so long to go on with Part 3. Real life interfering, I guess. Also, I realize Part I and Part 2 were kind of depressing. Apologies. Things get better today, I promise.<br />
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We woke up Friday morning rested, refreshed, and eager to take back our vacation! After grabbing a quick, delicious, and oh-so-healthy breakfast at Krispy Kreme, we got in our little rental car and began the long drive down through the Florida Keys. It was quite an interesting trip - and in this case, I actually mean interesting in a good way, as in we were both interested in all the new sights and scenery!<br />
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There is basically only one road that goes all the way down from the northernmost "key" which, I think, is Key Largo, all the way down through the others to end at Key West and "Mile 0." Both sides of the road are heavily lined with this strange type of shrubbery called mangrove trees, which have long curving roots that branch out into the ocean. I had never heard of a tree that could live in salt water before! But mangroves suck up the salt water through their roots and then somehow filter out the salt, which crusts on their leaves. They grew thickly on both sides of the road, which gave one the impression of driving through the countryside, but then suddenly there would be a break in the trees and you would see the sunlight sparkling off the ocean on either side of you! It was not what I expected the Keys to look like at all, but it was beautiful and unusual all the same.<br />
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Our first stop was in Islamorada, the island just west of Key Largo, where we were planning to have lunch. We had heard that the best key lime pie to be had in the Keys was at a place called Mannie and Isa's, a couple who grew the limes in their own backyard and then brought them into the restaurant to make their famous pie. However, sadly, we discovered when we got there that their restaurant had been closed for several years. We stopped to buy some t-shirts for the kids and asked the locals to recommend a good seafood place. This is how we ended up eating lunch at The Fish Company.<br />
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It was a beautiful outdoor restaurant sitting on the water.<br />
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The restaurant surrounded a central pool, where they would feed sharks, pike, and other fish that would swim up from the ocean for a free meal. Then there was a big fight/feeding frenzy!<br />
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The seagulls kept trying to get in on the action, diving down to try to catch the pieces of meat before they hit the water - without getting too close and gobbled up by the sharks themselves!<br />
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This seagull was not 6 feet from my chair. He really wanted some of my lunch.<br />
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There were a couple pelicans hanging around as well.<br />
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View in two different directions from our table.<br />
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And there's my handsome husband, just hanging out waiting for his food. We shared stuffed mahi-mahi (the non-cute kind of dolphin) and coconut shrimp - it was yummy!<br />
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After lunch we got back on the road and drove down through several more little islands. Along the way I saw a sign that said "Swim with the dolphins!" and I got really excited. This was something I've always wanted to do, and I gave Robert puppy dog eyes until he gave in and stopped. :-) We went into the Dolphin Research Center and asked if we could sign up to swim with them. Guess what? They don't let pregnant women swim with dolphins either! *sob* I was starting to feel very discriminated against!<br />
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Fortunately we at least got to <i>see </i>some dolphins. They were pretty cute.<br />
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A ginormous iguana that was just hanging around:<br />
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And a funny macaw learning some tricks:<br />
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A few hours and several more little islands later, we had made it all the way down to Key West! We had a couple of hours until sunset, which we had been advised was a beautiful sight over the water. We walked around Duval Street, which appeared to be the hub of the town, but we quickly discovered it was...well, not exactly our scene, as it consisted mainly of bars, strip clubs, and cigar shops. Yikes. We pretty quickly got disgusted with Key West and decided it wasn't worth waiting around, even for the promise of a beautiful sunset, so we bought a few presents at a souvenier shop and got back in our car to leave.<br />
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The funny part was, as we were driving around trying to find our way out of Key West, we ended up on the other side of the island and suddenly everything was lovely! A long, deserted beach with beautiful waves rolling in, nice little houses and hotels, places to rent boats and kayaks and fishing equipment...wait a second - we LIKED Key West! We stopped off at the beach for a few minutes to wade in the surf, and then reluctantly realized that it was getting late and we still had to drive all the way back to Ft. Lauderdale that night. It was just too bad we didn't discover the nice side of Key West sooner.<br />
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The trip back was fairly uneventful, as we were mainly trying to get back as quickly as possible. We stopped for dinner at Porky's Seafood and Barbeque in Marathon, which was the first place we could find that was open! Apparently all the little towns pretty much shut down after dark. It was kind of a fun, funky little place that reminded me a big of an old houseboat, as it extended onto the water.<br />
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Every square inch was covered with writing by its customers, and there was a live guitarist as well. Robert had a crawfish sandwich and I, having had my fill of seafood, ordered bbq. Then we both ordered key lime pie.<br />
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Me with my perfectly normal key lime pie</div>
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Robert with his very weird fried key lime pie. He insisted it was delicious.</div>
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Dinner over, we drove steadily until we reached our hotel, at about one in the morning, and fell into bed, exhausted but satisfied after our first actual successful day of vacation!Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-22586407233844274932013-09-16T15:01:00.002-07:002013-09-16T15:01:49.752-07:00The Cruise that Wasn't {Part 2}So, evidently, the cruise wasn't going to happen. We drove another hour back to Ft. Lauderdale, kind of vacillating between shock and outrage. We kept trying to get over it and change the subject, but then one of us would suddenly turn to the other and say "I can't believe they didn't TELL us beforehand..."<br />
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The cruise had been scheduled for months. I think Robert bought the package back in February, and then it took a long time getting my passport updated, but it had definitely been scheduled for about 3 months in advance. And the worst part is, while he was scheduling it, Robert TOLD the cruise representative on the phone that I was pregnant. "Okay, great!" he replied. Not "how far along will she be?" or "Oh, that's great, but by the way, we have this policy..." Not a word. Then, once it was all scheduled, they sent us some paperwork detailing all the things we would need, the extra fees we would be charged, the papers we would need to get on the ship or if we were going to bring our children.... Guess what that paperwork didn't include? ANY mention of their pregnancy policy whatsoever!<br />
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I understand the policy (now that it's been explained to me), and I don't really have a problem with it. See, after 23 weeks, babies born early have a lower but very real chance of survival. If a pregnant women were to go into premature labor and have her baby early, they don't have the neo-natal facilities or resources to properly take care of it. It doesn't have a helicopter pad, either, so it would take longer to get the woman and her premature baby back to the mainland to get to a hospital, etc. I understand that they are afraid of getting sued and don't want to deal with it. I get it. And I would have had no problem with this stupid policy if SOMEONE, ANYONE had bothered to mention it to us BEFORE we tried to set foot on the ship!! We would have scheduled the cruise for 3 weeks earlier and everything would have been fine. But...BUT...<br />
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Back in Ft. Lauderdale, we found ourselves being shuffled back and forth between the "Welcome Center," the cruise line phone representative, and the hotel staff, none of whom seemed to want to claim us. We were starting to feel like Philip Nolan, the fictional character from <i>The Man Without a Country</i>! Our plane didn't leave until Sunday morning, so we were here for another three nights no matter what. We went to get some lunch at a local seafood place while waiting for the whole situation to get straightened out so we could get another hotel room.<br />
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Right next door to the seafood restaurant, we spotted this:<br />
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Did you know in an alternate universe, I'm a notary public? ;-) When you have such a strange name as I do, you always get excited to see it in random places. It's even spelled correctly! Also, the seafood place, Flannigans, was good. Robert was very happy with his shrimp linguine, and I even ate smoked fish dip and clam chowder of my own free will and enjoyed them. (I'm not a big seafood person, in case you can't tell!)</div>
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Back at the hotel, we FINALLY got our room, and went and fell into bed and took a four hour nap, trying to catch up from a night of little sleep and a day that held frustration from start to finish! Woke up feeling better, grabbed a quick dinner at the hotel, and took a short walk to buy some water bottles. Then we girded up our loins and began planning Our Vacation: Take 2. Robert suggested we take the car the next day and drive all the way down through the Florida Keys, stopping at various interesting sights along the way. We resolved that no amount of aggravation from the cruise line or the "Welcome Center" was going to prevent us from having a terrific vacation after all!</div>
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Our plans and resolution being made, we went back to sleep. Can you tell we're parents with small children??</div>
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<i>To be continued...</i></div>
Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-87247375930880676462013-09-14T21:16:00.000-07:002013-09-14T21:16:06.559-07:00The Cruise that Wasn't {Part I}Last week Robert and I took a vacation. It wasn't the vacation we intended to take - it wasn't the vacation we planned - perhaps it wasn't even the vacation we wanted. But it was the vacation we got, and, as I believe God has His hand on everything in our lives, it surely was the vacation He knew we needed.<br />
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Originally we were supposed to go on a cruise to the Bahamas. Robert found a good deal, and we had been planning to go for months. We wanted to have one vacation with just the two of us before the new baby comes and we can't really go anywhere for a while. (Nobody wants to take five children on a cruise ship. NOBODY. Can you imagine? I would spend every waking second and probably most of my sleeping ones trying to prevent one or all of them from getting lost or falling over the side. Oy. That is not a vacation!) So, we planned, we scheduled, we packed, we ran around frantically trying to find our passports that I had gone to tons of trouble to have expedited and then hidden carefully away from the children and then couldn't find the day before our trip...!<br />
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Finally all was ready and the day was here. The kids were packed up and sent off to Grammie's for their four-day "sleepover," which they were super excited about, and Robert and I boarded a plane bound for Ft. Lauderdale and our glorious four days of sun, ship, relaxation, and all the food we could eat. Or so we thought.<br />
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The first "bump" in the road was our flight getting delayed coming into Denver - all flights, actually, due to bad weather - which resulted in our flight to Ft. Lauderdale getting bumped back three hours, which meant we arrived at 2:15 am local time, give or take a few minutes. We trekked the deserted airport, got our rental car and directions, and drove out into the POURING rain to try to find our hotel. It was not terribly near the airport, but we finally arrived, got our room, and fell into bed to get a few hours sleep.<br />
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The next morning we had to rise early all the same, because we had a tour scheduled with the "Welcome Center" as part of the package deal we signed up with our cruise in order to get an inexpensive hotel room and rental car. Turns out the "Welcome Center" was most <i>in</i>aptly named. We arrived at 8:30, said "we're here for our tour," and were informed (quite testily) that the tour was actually located an hour away! Gee, thanks...that would have been nice to know when we called you to check in yesterday! Every single person who worked there was not only less than helpful, but quite rude about it. Finally we managed to get the tour rescheduled for Saturday after our cruise ship returned, retrieved our boarding passes, and set off for the Port of Palm Beach to get on board our ship!<br />
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After another hour drive, we arrived at the port to see the World's. Biggest. Ship. stretched out in front of us! I have never seen anything that massive, particularly up close. It dwarfed everything around it, including the "embarkation building" next to it, and made up feel like ants next to a mountain! Two tiny little ants who parked our car, went through security (security?? To board a ship?? It was nearly as thorough as TSA!) checked our luggage, and went to fill out our final paperwork to get on board. While Robert was writing, a tiny little Asian lady came up and smiled at me.<br />
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"Getting ready to get on the ship?"<br />
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"Yes," I smile back.<br />
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"Ah. I see you are expecting!" (gesturing to my burgeoning stomach)<br />
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"Yes, that's right."<br />
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"How far along are you?" (conversationally)<br />
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"Oh, about twenty five weeks."<br />
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"Oh." Her smile disappears. "Well, I'm very sorry to have to tell you, but we cannot allow pregnant women on board after twenty three weeks."<br />
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I blink. "Excuse me?"<br />
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Oh, yes, I heard her right. This small factor, which not ONE person from the cruise line OR the 'Welcome Center' had bothered to mention until we were actually boarding the ship, was company policy. No amount of discussion, reasoning, or appealing to more highly authorized personnel did any good. We were very apologetically but firmly refused entry to the ship and shown out of the building, one of us fighting back tears of frustration. You can probably guess which one! The four hours' sleep combined with the hormones weren't exactly helping.<br />
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We drove back to Ft. Lauderdale in defeat, tired, frustrated, stunned by this turn of events and wondering how to salvage our vacation.<br />
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<i>To be continued...</i>Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-34915600860787354062013-08-19T11:57:00.000-07:002013-08-19T11:57:36.677-07:00Daily Life as a ParentHere is the breakdown of my day:<br />
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40% sleep deprivation<br />
20% making food<br />
20% cleaning up messes<br />
10% answering random questions<br />
10% trying to keep them from escaping out the front door<br />
5 % kissing boo-boos/applying bandaids<br />
3 % singing the goodnight songs (over and over)<br />
2% sitting on the potty begging someone - anyone - to bring you toilet paper<br />
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And for those of you who noticed that it added up to 110%? Yes, it does. That's because that is the minimum you can give each and every day.<br />
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Are we worth it?? You bet we are!!</div>
Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-59788834079858336222013-07-10T12:09:00.003-07:002013-07-10T12:11:51.805-07:00{naptime} #2On the other hand, you have days like today where the tired two year old climbs into bed, and then big sister comes along and shuts the curtains, tucks her little sister in, and then crawls into bed and falls asleep right along beside her.<br />
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Clearly the solution is to have the three year old put the two year old down for a nap every day!Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-8119032938388405272013-07-09T15:11:00.000-07:002013-07-09T15:11:29.053-07:00{naptime}Putting a cranky two year old down for a nap is like....well, it's like putting a two year old down for a nap.<br />
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If you've done it, you know exactly what I'm talking about.<br />
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If you never have, there are no words that can properly explain it!<br />
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Suffice it to say that by the time the toddler's finally asleep, it's the mama who REALLY needs a nap!<br />
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They look so angelic when asleep...it's all a lie.</div>
<br />Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-71984530634001226692013-06-18T11:11:00.000-07:002013-06-18T11:11:41.356-07:00Sisters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So a few months ago, my sister Daniella posted this picture on <a href="http://couldbemetoday.blogspot.com/2013/02/for-love-of-sisters.html" target="_blank">her blog</a>, and I just fell in love with it.</div>
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It was so pretty and romantic and appropriate to us Neal sisters! Ever since I saw it, I've been wanting to get us all together and take a picture just like it, especially because we all have long hair at the moment.<br />
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A few weekends ago, Daniella and Phillip were in town for Lydia's graduation, and the next day was Daniella's birthday. We were all up at my parents' house and decided to seize the opportunity to take our own picture. Here is our version:<br />
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You may have noticed there are five of us in the picture. My lovely cousin Tiana, who grew up with us and is practically our sister, was in town too, so we talked her into joining us! (It wasn't that hard. ;-) We all love playing dress up.) Sadly, the one who's missing is my dear sister in law Melissa, who had a family emergency and couldn't come. I hope soon we can do another fun "sister shoot" when she can join us!<br />
<br />Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-16052063405280442242013-04-25T17:42:00.001-07:002013-04-25T17:42:26.497-07:00Roasted Chicken and Vegetable SoupCourtesy of the worst allergy attack I think Albuquerque has ever experienced, my diet the past week has consisted mainly of soup and frozen yoghurt, the only things that feel good on my very sore throat. I'll eat canned soup if I'm desperate or too sick to cook, but I much prefer good homemade soup. It tastes better, is better for me, and I can control the ingredients that go into it and guarantee it stays gluten free for the little ones.<br />
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Over the weekend I made a giant pot of chicken soup, and the minute we finished it, I started some more! For a long time I couldn't really figure out how to make good soup without buying canned chicken broth. I tried boiling chicken breasts, but all I got was some lame thin chicken-flavored water, not that delicious rich fatty broth that is so necessary to good soup. Then I learned that I needed to boil chicken <i>bones</i> to make good broth, so I attempted that and it was better, but something still wasn't right. Finally I hit upon the happy combination of roasting my chicken in the oven and <i>then </i>boiling it, bones and all, to make a delicious broth that tasted just right. </div>
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This roasted chicken recipe is one of my favorite easy yet delicious dinners to make, and I discovered that if I make a little extra, I can use the leftovers to make chicken soup for another day. It's very easy if you count the amount of work you actually have to do - it just takes a little time for all the roasting and boiling and cooking.</div>
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Step 1 - Roast the chicken</div>
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You can use a whole chicken, but I prefer to buy chicken thighs and drumsticks, bone in (this is the essential point!), usually 2 pieces per person. Arrange the pieces in a large glass baking dish and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. I like to season mine with an herb blend called "Herbs de Provence." I already happened to have a jar of this blend, which I'm sure you can buy in stores, but <a href="http://homecooking.about.com/od/allherbrecipes/r/blherb9.htm" target="_blank">here</a> is a recipe for mixing your own. Mine does NOT include fennel, however, as I don't like the texture of the fennel seeds. But you can use other seasonings if you prefer. Next, take a stick of butter and cut into pieces, then place butter pieces on top of the chicken pieces. I usually use a whole stick for a large pan of chicken, but reduce if you have fewer chicken pieces (approx. 1 Tablespoon per piece of chicken). </div>
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Roast chicken, uncovered, in 375 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours, until the chicken is nicely browned and the skin is crispy. You might want to check it at an hour and rotate the pan, since everyone's oven cooks a little differently. Slide a knife in next to the bone and see if meat pulls away easily to determine if it's sufficiently cooked. The meat under the skin should be very tender.</div>
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Served your family this delicious chicken, with sweet potatoes and a salad, or mixed vegetables and rice, or whatever sides you prefer - but don't forget to save a few extra pieces of chicken AND the drippings from the pan for your soup! You can even save the empty bones for boiling.<br />
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*If you're pressed for time, a good shortcut is to buy a whole rotisserie chicken from the store, eat that for dinner, and then save the carcass with a little meat still on it. You can boil the entire carcass to make soup.</div>
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Step 2 - Boil the chicken</div>
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Take the reserved chicken and pan drippings, which include the melted butter and chicken fat, and put it all into a large stock pot. Fill with water about 3/4 of the way. Now add the vegetables - celery, carrot, and onion pieces. Note that these are not the vegetables that you will be eating as part of your soup - they are simply to add flavor to the broth as it cooks, so you can just include a couple of large chunks of each. This is a great place to use leftover celery tops, carrot ends, etc. Throw in a little salt and pepper and bring the pot to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn it down very low and simmer for a long time - even overnight.<br />
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Step 3 - Make the soup<br />
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Once the stock has simmered for a long time, turn the stove off and let it cool. Once cooled, use a strainer to strain all the broth into a large bowl or another pot. If you used chicken pieces, strip all the meat off the bones (I admit this is my LEAST favorite part about making chicken soup!) and set it aside. Throw away the bones and mushy vegetable tops, rinse out your pot, and pour your broth back into it. Add in the chicken pieces. Cut up carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, and/or any other vegetables you may desire into bite sized pieces and throw them in the pot too. If you are pressed for time you can just pour in a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Season with more salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium-low until vegetables are tender - only about an hour or so, since the meat and broth are already cooked.<br />
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*For chicken noodle soup, omit potatoes and wait until the vegetables are almost done, then throw in a package of noodles and cook until they are soft. If you are using gluten free noodles, be careful not to overcook, as they can get mushy very fast.<br />
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** If you want to make this soup ahead of time and freeze it, don't add either potatoes or noodles - they do not freeze well. Add the other vegetables and cook, then cool and pour into gallon ziploc bags and freeze. When you're ready it eat it, pull it out of the freezer, dump into the pot, add the potatoes or noodles, and cook until done. </div>
Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-44790012868031210392013-04-05T07:30:00.000-07:002013-04-05T07:30:02.097-07:00Amazing Gluten Free CheesecakeI <i>love</i> cheesecake. I may have a flirtatious relationship with other desserts - "oh hey, I like you, you're yummy" - but cheesecake and I are joined by the bonds of love (and possibly love-handles...oh dear...). Robert and I both love cheesecake so much that we actually had cheesecake for our wedding cake (which, thinking back, may have not been the best of plans for a July wedding...but it was still delicious!), and occasionally we would indulge and buy a cheesecake sampler from Sams club and eat it behind the children's backs.<br />
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However, the last couple of months we have been trying to eat not only gluten free, but entirely <i>grain </i>free, which, while it has been good for our health and waistlines, has been somewhat of hardship in that it eliminated nearly every dessert known to mankind. Unwilling to give up dessert entirely, I started exploring some grain free dessert alternatives. One dessert that stuck out as an obvious choice was cheesecake, since it's only grains are contained within the crust. I developed a new crust out of almond meal, which is basically just whole almonds ground very finely until they are almost flour-like, and tried it with my cheesecake, and oh my! Heavenly! I don't miss old cheesecake crust at all...in fact, I think I prefer it this way!<br />
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Unfortunately this recipe isn't COMPLETELY grain free, because the cheesecake batter itself calls for 2 tablespoons of gluten free flour, and I haven't yet figured out a good substitute that will bind it together. But spread through the whole cheesecake, that seems a fairly negligible amount. If I ever get around to doing some research, perhaps I can find a substitute that will render the recipe <i>truly </i>grain free, and then I will share it with y'all.<br />
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Cheesecake it not hard at all to make, but it does take a long time from start to finish, mostly waiting for things to warm or cool. If you are having company and want to serve cheesecake for dessert, I'd advise making it a day in advance (and hiding it deep in the recesses of your fridge so your kids don't get into it)!<br />
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<b><i>Amazing Gluten Free Cheesecake</i> </b><br />
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**First, leave cream cheese, sour cream, and eggs on counter to come to room temperature, about 1 hour. The softer the cream cheese is, the smoother the cheesecake will be. If it's too cold, your cheesecake will still taste good but it'll be lumpy or grainy.<br />
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<i><b>Crust:</b></i><br />
1 cup ground almond meal*<br />
1/4 raw cane sugar<br />
2 T melted butter<br />
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Mix the almond meal and the sugar together. (The 1/4 makes for a fairly sweet crust, so if you want it just a <i>little</i> sweet, reduce sugar to about 2 T). Add melted butter and stir until sticking together and crumbly. Press (I think clean fingers work best) into the bottom of a 9 inch springform cheesecake pan, making sure the whole bottom is covered. The 1 cup of almond meal makes enough to cover just the bottom, so if you want the crust to come up the sides, too, I'd recommend doubling the crust recipe.<br />
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Bake crust at 350 F for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Depending on your oven, you may want to turn once halfway through to have it brown evenly. Cool crust for about 10 minutes. Increase oven temp to 375.<br />
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<i><b>Filling:</b></i><br />
2 packages cream cheese, softened<br />
2 cups (1 16 oz carton) sour cream, room temp<br />
1 c sugar (again, can use less for a mildly sweet cake)<br />
2 T gluten free flour blend (I use Pamela's gluten free <i>bread</i> mix)<br />
1 t vanilla<br />
1/2 t almond extract**<br />
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3 egss, room temp<br />
1 t finely grated lemon peel <br />
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Mix together cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, gluten free flour, vanilla, and almond extract until well combined. Add eggs and lemon peel and beat until smooth.<br />
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Pour filling into pan on top of cooled crust. Put on the second to lowest rack of your oven. Underneath, on the lowest rack, Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until the top is lightly browned, the edges feel firm and springy when lightly touched, and a knife or toothpick comes out clean from the center. Cool on the counter for about 2 hours before attempting to open the spring on the pan. Chill in the refridgerator another 4 hours, at least.<br />
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*You can buy almond meal at Vitamin Cottage or probably other health food stores such as Whole Foods. However, if you can't find it, you can also make your own from whole almonds. Follow this link for directions: <a href="http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreeingredient1/ht/makealmondmeal.htm">http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreeingredient1/ht/makealmondmeal.htm</a><br />
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**If you don't want an almond flavored cheesecake, omit this flavoring or use some other kind of flavoring such a lemon, orange, etc. Robert and I really like almond flavored things, so I use a lot of the extract, but you can also use less, about 1/4 teaspoon, for a less strong flavor. The same goes for the lemon peel; I really like the combination of almond extract and lemon, but if you don't care for lemon, you can reduce or omit the lemon peel, or substitute orange or lime peel for a really exotic cheesecake!<br />
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You can serve your cheesecake plain or with whipped cream and strawberries...or cherries...or raspberries...the possibilities are endless. Honestly, the hardest part of this recipe is waiting until the silly thing is cool enough to slice.<br />
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As you can see, I couldn't even wait long enough to take a picture first... ;-)<br />
<br />Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-82863870085924601982013-04-04T16:05:00.000-07:002013-04-04T16:05:17.888-07:00{don't be a} PushoverI have always been the type of person who avoids confrontation. Most oldest children are "Type A" personalities, and, while I may fit the "bossy older sister" profile in some categories, I am not a very confrontational person. When I get upset, I tend to internalize things and just "stew" over them without telling the person how I feel. And I think the older I get, the more hesitant I've become about sharing my true feelings with other people. There is a very small number of friends and family members I feel comfortable telling "what's what," but for the general population, I am a pushover. I have a terribly hard time saying no to people when they ask for favors, or telling them if their behavior is upsetting me. I like to be liked and I dislike having people angry at me. I tend to be overly apologetic, even if something wasn't my fault. But underneath the placid-seeming surface, it rankles.<br />
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I remember one time when I was a child, I was forced to apologize for something I did not do. It was my weekly piano lesson, and this week there was someplace important we had to be <i>right</i> after piano, so Mom impressed upon me "the moment your lesson is over, get your book and come straight out to the car - do not stop to talk to anyone or do anything else!" So, as soon as my lesson ended, I obediently grabbed my book and headed toward the door. As I was running out, the boy whose lesson followed mine was coming in the door. We were friends, so I said "Hi! And Bye!" in the same breath as I ran out the door - my attempt at being polite rather than just ignoring him. Unfortunately for me, his mom was with him, and she decided somehow to take offense at my terse greeting. She collared me, marched me out to the car where mom was waiting, and told the whole story of my supposed rudeness. (Please remember that this story is from <i>my </i>8 year old point of view). I tried to explain that I just been trying to obey Mom, but in the end, my mom made me apologize to her for what she perceived as me being rude. Probably Mom made me say "I'm sorry if I offended you" or some such thing, but in my childish mind, I was being forced to apologize <i>for obeying my mom and trying be polite. </i>Twenty some odd years later, the memory still rankles. Pathetic, yes. Pathological inability to let things go - absolutely. Did it probably make up for all the things I got away with unpunished? Definitely. But still...the injustice of it all! Somehow the way I felt as an 8 year old, when I was forced to apologize simply because she was an adult, mirrors the same helpless feeling I have today when I am unable to tell people how upset or angry or hurt I really am.<br />
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Some unfortunate circumstances that happened to me this week have brought that feeling to the forefront. I let certain people impose on me in ways that made me uncomfortable, and later on, I became quite angry about it. But I didn't tell them how I felt, and I probably won't. Partly because we are not close enough to have that kind of honest relationship, and partly because I am just a plain old coward about confrontation. My husband is quite the opposite. He never backs down from telling people what he thinks - except maybe certain clients who would fire him if he told them just how annoying they are. And granted, this level of honesty means he sometimes offends people and sometimes puts his foot in his mouth. But nobody could ever accuse him of being a coward.<br />
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It got me wondering about which response is right. "Turn the other cheek?" "Speak the truth in love?" "Don't cast your pearls before swine?" Jesus always spoke the truth in love. But he also remained silent when he was interrogated and it served no purpose for him to argue with someone He knew wouldn't listen anyway.<br />
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I guess I need to find a way to speak honestly, loving to the people in my life. But also, to bear with them and forgive them, not holding a grudge, even if nothing changes.<br />
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What about you? Are you pushy? Or a pushover? Which personality type do you think is best? Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-17334656569711826192013-03-18T18:30:00.000-07:002013-03-18T18:35:34.952-07:00What Women Fantasize About (G-rated)Note - despite the title of this post, it doesn't contain inappropriate material. Or at least not much. ;-)<br />
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My husband asked me one day if women struggled with fantasizing about other men. I just laughed.<br />
"Oh, honey," I said. "We fantasize about a lot of things...but men really aren't one of them."<br />
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One of the key differences between men and women that men will never understand. Men fantasize about women. Women fantasize about...having enough alone time to get done all the things we want? Maybe that sounds selfish. Maybe it is. Maybe we are selfish in our fantasies because that is the only time we can ever <i>afford </i>to be selfish - the rest of the time, we are too busy taking care of everyone else!<br />
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Here's a short list, by no mean comprehensive, of things women fantasize about:<br />
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-sitting on the couch, in a perfectly clean house (that someone else cleaned), sipping wine (or sparkling cider for teetotlaers like me) and watching Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell movies<br />
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- eating magical chocolate that makes us thinner with each bite<br />
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- waking up in the morning looking like we just spent 3 hours getting ready, without actually having to spend the 3 hours<br />
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- going shopping by ourselves, without any kids, and coming home to happy children and dinner already cooked<br />
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- sitting in church with our husband and adorable, well-dressed, well-behaved children, who sit still and quietly through the entire service<br />
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- bras that make us look good, but feel like we're wearing pajamas, and shoes that look like stilettos, but are as comfortable as bedroom slippers<br />
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- finding our favorite brand of clothing, in our size, marked 80% off<br />
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- fitting into last year's swimsuit (jeans are applicable too)<br />
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- taking a two hour bubble bath with a good book and NO interruptions<br />
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- a world where snakes and spiders do not exist<br />
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- having a bathroom all to ourselves, so we can scatter our makeup, curling irons, and hair products with impunity and never have to worry about whether the toilet seat is up<br />
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- painless childbirth (Hahahahaha! just the thought is hysterical!)<br />
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-getting 12 hours of sleep every night<br />
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- being served tea and scones from a beautiful china teapot at four o'clock each afternoon by our personal maid just like on <i>Downton Abbey </i>(possibly while watching Downton Abbey...)<br />
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- sometimes, I must confess, we fantasize about our husbands getting to experience our monthly periods or, even better, labor! That way they can understand what we go through and show much more gratitude for our forbearance as each month passes without an axe-murder occurring...<br />
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- and finally, one of my favorite fantasies, which crosses my mind nearly on a daily basis (including today), looks like this:<br />
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Le Sigh. Don't we all wish...<br />
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Okay, now pull your head down out of the clouds and go scrub something and find something about your actual life to be thankful for!<br />
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Then eat some chocolate and <i>pretend</i> it's magical chocolate that makes you thinner. You never know...it could happen....<br />
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Now, what about you, women everywhere? Anything you want to add to my list? (G-rated comments only please!)Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-57377598364587413612013-02-09T21:41:00.004-08:002013-02-09T21:41:57.716-08:00{As You Wish}Back at the beginning of December, my sisters and I threw a bridal shower for our dear sister-to-be (now sister-in-law) Melissa. Since she and Isaac are both so blonde...and so romantic...and had a lot of inside jokes about him saying "as you wish" to whatever she requested...we all took to calling them "Wesley and Buttercup." Thus it should be no surprise that we decided to make the bridal shower "Princess Bride" themed.<br />
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We had SO much fun creating every aspect of the shower. Here are the invitations:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig1PC-69hjZfQ5evW3qBTOlvEcC1HpAfho8aMzadbrNYnR1XmIYi5rh0mbZo5RiQ0jTxjICCR0sftE1DxANG8gQBl3Bj3qK26ZutkxpF0t3RFN-jvZCsDcBJIx3bxkZtq2kUk1jlSmcfGk/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig1PC-69hjZfQ5evW3qBTOlvEcC1HpAfho8aMzadbrNYnR1XmIYi5rh0mbZo5RiQ0jTxjICCR0sftE1DxANG8gQBl3Bj3qK26ZutkxpF0t3RFN-jvZCsDcBJIx3bxkZtq2kUk1jlSmcfGk/s400/014.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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For the decorations, Daniella and I made some pennant banners out of some pretty green paper she had lying around.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYyhTvcOGp_gQdLuxQluYuXJbtbQ_U9sR5lqGvfq02o2cm095U8tGGR1dDAB71aqnxtThxU8PG6wF3yfklgUximYJVNQKS2p9Nvrl-17-ovoFE6joCapnPrGOZZWtW6pjvrP99WxPNd0W/s1600/IMG_0733+-+Copy+-+Copy+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYyhTvcOGp_gQdLuxQluYuXJbtbQ_U9sR5lqGvfq02o2cm095U8tGGR1dDAB71aqnxtThxU8PG6wF3yfklgUximYJVNQKS2p9Nvrl-17-ovoFE6joCapnPrGOZZWtW6pjvrP99WxPNd0W/s400/IMG_0733+-+Copy+-+Copy+(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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You can sort of see it in the background here:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwt2c_0shh18ryRxWHOaS6Ee45rR4RhhN2VASxx1VHx9tiTeAp1ukA3YUKVwGrCZX980tH2YrccW5Cn_2qJuWuRYIbTA3POTpX3sjnWy36tQrtE_l2mVyIk0G8g1-5JZzpk8gtVnzd2DTs/s1600/IMG_0760+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwt2c_0shh18ryRxWHOaS6Ee45rR4RhhN2VASxx1VHx9tiTeAp1ukA3YUKVwGrCZX980tH2YrccW5Cn_2qJuWuRYIbTA3POTpX3sjnWy36tQrtE_l2mVyIk0G8g1-5JZzpk8gtVnzd2DTs/s400/IMG_0760+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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A bit more decor hinting at the movie:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirh5mpWNx7f1A-9cUjUl7LfQW8rYzR06Nqp-0C-FS-QUrl_llyPwGWc7txVTHhahbVru5DIf3OmedPtWxIH3JFadUmue7TUt-iyVXCX6kPBSe_yqdol6fnzmtyO48l5YNpWJyZ0lA2wphG/s1600/IMG_0830+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirh5mpWNx7f1A-9cUjUl7LfQW8rYzR06Nqp-0C-FS-QUrl_llyPwGWc7txVTHhahbVru5DIf3OmedPtWxIH3JFadUmue7TUt-iyVXCX6kPBSe_yqdol6fnzmtyO48l5YNpWJyZ0lA2wphG/s400/IMG_0830+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirh5mpWNx7f1A-9cUjUl7LfQW8rYzR06Nqp-0C-FS-QUrl_llyPwGWc7txVTHhahbVru5DIf3OmedPtWxIH3JFadUmue7TUt-iyVXCX6kPBSe_yqdol6fnzmtyO48l5YNpWJyZ0lA2wphG/s1600/IMG_0830+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><br /></a><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">We printed up signs with quotes from the movie and posted them all over the castle..er, house...</span></div>
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<img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhND952Rf-f9Kpsdm5IVYUSrnAadQ9nAYqgizBsRrLu2g54ZUycmFVl9_wE59b9u3tmBpQgSavJwJdaYc0VaQoYVrlbbRQGx8YLihpZdKu-yMNUdqrAknM3dbyHEohjryGn0lshIqKh-Zzu/s400/IMG_0827+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">I have to confess this was probably my favorite of all the decorations:</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyirXgLCvoFPevbtz4DafnVs0-IgaNeMzB1kXCmCshpKjhi8cv-IJ49E_SLTPEDgzQoR1PHItaG7kkJIDkP3J7EVb_1Zqh6e1WB3M5toxYaRQDPUBYVjTw4LRVBdSMd3E4v8SGmL9PuDN/s1600/IMG_0829+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyirXgLCvoFPevbtz4DafnVs0-IgaNeMzB1kXCmCshpKjhi8cv-IJ49E_SLTPEDgzQoR1PHItaG7kkJIDkP3J7EVb_1Zqh6e1WB3M5toxYaRQDPUBYVjTw4LRVBdSMd3E4v8SGmL9PuDN/s400/IMG_0829+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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It just makes you smile. ;-)</div>
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Daniella made these nifty nametags for everyone to wear:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7QyIzEImw7sOUJycqYxpZQR9pNUJ7fsCxbbCcSVFlK8-VwX_Nsd1jzYoIiJHGLM98zJphn5GBgKbdpY0jPaQT1pVhnCr6OkNe-0Yv7p6xfedVXDooN8XotM5biqw6blV2rLf1kuO_K4C/s1600/IMG_0831+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7QyIzEImw7sOUJycqYxpZQR9pNUJ7fsCxbbCcSVFlK8-VwX_Nsd1jzYoIiJHGLM98zJphn5GBgKbdpY0jPaQT1pVhnCr6OkNe-0Yv7p6xfedVXDooN8XotM5biqw6blV2rLf1kuO_K4C/s400/IMG_0831+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's our mom's nametag, filled out:</div>
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<img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit34RUsQ6rDOaLjWG_H2jcJEJ1S6IIsMFuz_fdpK68mK46ogojhIBJ7DtHkpLzKYmdA6qsgj8wNxEz9hpHaO8mbA0TyfT4vXaeNMXN-NTQgMMWuzpz48PXRD03gnUyB3l-r3hB1Yde3gTG/s400/IMG_0759+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy+(2).JPG" width="400" /></div>
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We also had this board of magnets with words from The Princess Bride for people to arrange into sentences. People had a lot of fun with that.<br />
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Even our food was Princess Bride themed! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsoPwhyG3okgHtvws4vsYCcIoB-7pR6OSRmLildYHcQnnm7DuL7TyAJz9l_INfDQRTnR-zK0GKxxp2EG1gmJAD-T3O8-2CHkCmFR7YO5tBTuEYXJw9rR3vDshHdFyarHhD7b5102TjODsI/s1600/IMG_0730+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsoPwhyG3okgHtvws4vsYCcIoB-7pR6OSRmLildYHcQnnm7DuL7TyAJz9l_INfDQRTnR-zK0GKxxp2EG1gmJAD-T3O8-2CHkCmFR7YO5tBTuEYXJw9rR3vDshHdFyarHhD7b5102TjODsI/s400/IMG_0730+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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For example, MLTs (mozzerella, lettuce, and tomato):<br />
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The world's most delicious tarts with cream cheese filling and berries, which we called "Princess </div>
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Butter-cups":</div>
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We also served also ROUS (Rolls of Unusual Size), a bread, cheese and apple platter complete with "iocane powder," "True Love" kisses, "fire-swamp" (i.e. green chile) stew, and, of course, peanuts!</div>
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Here is the lovely Princess Bride with her mother:</div>
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And with both mothers:<br />
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Melissa and Sophie, both looking lovely:</div>
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Possibly the best part of the entire event was that Isaac showed up at the end, dressed as the Dread Pirate Roberts:</div>
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He swooped in and quite literally swept his Princess Bride off her feet and ran away with her!<br />
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Okay, after a few moments he brought her back. Everyone was quite surprised, Melissa most of all!<br />
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It was quite possibly the most fun party we've ever done, and everything turned out quite well, I think. Congratulations to Isaac and Melissa! We love you both.Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-49916997381189132532013-01-29T15:18:00.001-08:002013-01-29T15:18:58.530-08:00Me want cooo...kieee....Raise your hand if Cookie Monster is the character you can most identify with on Sesame Street.<div>
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Yep, me too. Who wants to bother COUNTING cookies when you could just be GOBBLING them all up?!</div>
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I confess, I make way too many cookies. And ever since our family went (mostly) gluten free, it's been quite difficult to find a good gluten free cookie recipe. I've tried quite a few, some better than others, but nothing quite seems right in terms of taste and texture when compared with "real" cookies. I often end up making two batches of cookies, one gluten free for the kids and one secret stash of "real" cookies for me and Robert. Yes, I know. Don't judge me. Okay, go ahead and judge me. I judge myself...but I keep on doing it. I tell myself I'm doing it for my marriage. Robert likes my "real" cookies.</div>
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The other day I was over at Mom's house hanging out with my two delightful youngest sisters, and we ended up making cookies, of course. I used a recipe from her one of Mom's old cookbooks, but I adjusted it to use gluten free flour. They turned out to be the BEST gluten free cookies I'd ever made!Even Robert (who has the most sensitive palate known to man and can detect a single grain of gf flour in any recipe) didn't figure out they were gluten free. In fact, we finished them off (without the kids ;-) and yesterday I had to make some more to give to my mother in law - since she is now gluten AND dairy free, it's hard to find good recipes to make for her! </div>
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My mom asked me to post the recipe so you all can share in the goodness, so here you go!</div>
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<b><u>GF Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies</u></b></div>
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<b>Ingredients:</b></div>
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1/2 cup butter, softened</div>
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1 cup sugar</div>
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2 eggs, room temperature</div>
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1/4 cup milk (to make them dairy free also, use coconut milk. I did and I couldn't tell any difference)</div>
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1 2/3 cups of gluten free oats (rolled, not steel cut)</div>
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1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or raisins, if you prefer)</div>
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1 tsp vanilla</div>
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1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour (I used Pamela's bread mix, not baking mix; I haven't tried it with other gf flour blends, but you can play around with it.)</div>
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1 tsp baking soda</div>
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1/2 tsp salt</div>
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1 t cinnamon</div>
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<b>Directions:</b></div>
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar until combined; then add eggs and milk and mix. Add oats, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Combine remaining dry ingredients and add slowly to mixture until a thick dough is formed. Drop teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean. The cookies should be pretty thick and not spread out a whole lot. They are cakey and soft and the chocolate melts a little..mmmmm.</div>
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I will now leave you to </div>
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OMM NOMM NOMM NOMM!!</div>
Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-13753440021383371602013-01-09T14:37:00.000-08:002013-01-09T14:37:56.259-08:00{things I've said}A short list of things I've actually said to my children this week:<br />
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(to Joseph) "Take that camel out of your mouth and finish your reading lesson!"<br />
(Note - I was talking about a plastic piece of the nativity set, not a cigarette, in case you're worried)<br />
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(James) "We do NOT pee in plastic bags and then hide them under the table!!"<br />
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(Gabriella) "Please take your finger OUT of my ear and do not put it in there again!"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBer9LKhUXTY5zkxZr35B8qgPXGzN1EktrDwyJgRUw4K8pPywcq1-8vMmnx0CriC0QDvZ8FevYvMZNyxj52rcDH3O0GDfBbLDL6bT9NPCNC6naKFDZyJx2RME2qYMiQoL30xlFaarS9Ld/s1600/IMG_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBer9LKhUXTY5zkxZr35B8qgPXGzN1EktrDwyJgRUw4K8pPywcq1-8vMmnx0CriC0QDvZ8FevYvMZNyxj52rcDH3O0GDfBbLDL6bT9NPCNC6naKFDZyJx2RME2qYMiQoL30xlFaarS9Ld/s400/IMG_0044.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
(to Robert) "I have to go clean the dried tuna fish off the piano before Mom comes to give Joseph his piano lesson."<br />
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(to myself) "Why is there peanut butter all over the piano keys AGAIN?!"<br />
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and, lest you feel that Elora is being left out, here's my anecdote about her this week. She talks in her sleep. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. A few nights ago, she rolled over in her sleep, sang/said "Di-e-go! Go, Diego, go! I watch Diego?" and then fell instantly asleep again. (Diego is her favorite tv show in the whole entire world. It's kind of like the boy version of Dora the Explorer. We're all quite sick of it...but she loves it.)<br />
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Then last night, James came in to tell us he'd had a nightmare about bears. Elora was asleep in my lap and she suddenly sat bolt upright, said "Bears?!" and then fell back asleep. I almost woke her up again, I was laughing so hard.<br />
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Yes, life with these little people is many things...but it's definitely never boring.<br />
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<br />Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-26493831846930822562013-01-07T15:40:00.001-08:002013-01-07T15:40:45.656-08:00Status Update: Married!In case you couldn't tell from my absence, the month of December was quite a busy one for me! Hosting a bridal shower in early December, tons of family in town for our FOUR separate Christmas celebrations (yes, it was excessive), and, finally and most notably, watching my little brother get married! That thought in and of itself is crazy and difficult for me to wrap my head around, but in a very happy way. It was a lovely wedding, a testimony to God's faithfulness, and a very VERY joyful day, especially for my brother and his lovely new wife, Melissa! It's exciting to have a new sister and see my brother set off on this new and exciting stage in life.<br />
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Here is a GORGEOUS professional photo of the newlyweds. More goofy and probably less professional photos to follow soon!Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-89611770909230867532012-11-01T18:04:00.000-07:002012-11-01T18:14:52.309-07:00{Costume parade} year 2We don't really celebrate Halloween, but unfortunately it's a difficult holiday to ignore altogether. Especially with the creepy decorations all over our neighborhood, the scary and disgusting displays at every single store in town, and, oh yes, the hordes of kids that show up at our door each year. Every year Robert and I struggle with just how much to do - or not to do - on Halloween, since it's not possible to ignore it or, even better, just fastforward to Nov. 1. Usually we buy some candy for the trick-or-treaters and let the kids each eat a piece while we watch a movie. Since 3 of the 4 are now in Awana, there is also a "Costume Night" on the Sunday closest to Halloween, and we allow them to dress up for that. Since I love sewing costumes, usually I make some or all of the kids' costumes for that - it's one project that actually "stays done" and you can never have too many dress ups, right?<br />
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This year Gabriella kept talking about how she wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake, one of her favorite characters, and Elora would Strawberry's baby sister, Apple Dumplin'. That seemed appropriate! (She also decided that Auntie Dano was going to be Strawberry's friend, Blueberry Muffin, despite the fact that said auntie lives in Colorado...she was an honorary member.;-) There aren't really a lot of boy characters in Strawberry Land, so the boys picked characters from some of their favorite shows, Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam. Luckily we already had most of those costume pieces, so I got to focus on making the girls' dresses.<br />
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They were pretty simple, really - I just cut off the top of a t-shirt, made a little gathered skirt, and sewed them together. The hats were actually kind of a bigger pain. I bought them at the store and then hot-glued the fabric on, but they didn't stay on very well, especially Gabriella's. Here's the finished product:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">All four looking at the camera and smiling at once! That's gotta be a record.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">James as "Bob the Builder"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Joseph as "Fireman Sam"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitOHCApuUjhllC3-PXNQYzEfsNnCfjqe-xgujasVuUIl5oiOBJIf8QzOGL1vg-LlZqjYIoIO6hf-fdAbVdrhhUUk4LW47i0wQnXv2zTsT_-AJtUDmTTytzr18AJxyM-4QOhbY6-273gIEL/s1600/IMAG0806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitOHCApuUjhllC3-PXNQYzEfsNnCfjqe-xgujasVuUIl5oiOBJIf8QzOGL1vg-LlZqjYIoIO6hf-fdAbVdrhhUUk4LW47i0wQnXv2zTsT_-AJtUDmTTytzr18AJxyM-4QOhbY6-273gIEL/s400/IMAG0806.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Elora as "Apple Dumplin'"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPzteWTk1-hmHqLzgWYBeKWawN3LyfBJUocw93AEDeWmsIM1w2NNpPpPxL6lx3URkFAKR_iykmyTiZtWnPd3DwTrM_Nbi8lQPZA-aE2WCuhh_66Ve9eG8XF38aU79NPs6z-q07RBNRbkXp/s1600/IMAG0805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPzteWTk1-hmHqLzgWYBeKWawN3LyfBJUocw93AEDeWmsIM1w2NNpPpPxL6lx3URkFAKR_iykmyTiZtWnPd3DwTrM_Nbi8lQPZA-aE2WCuhh_66Ve9eG8XF38aU79NPs6z-q07RBNRbkXp/s400/IMAG0805.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Close up of Elora's dress. Her favorite part was the "hattie" as she kept calling it. She insisted on wearing that hat everywhere. And yes, the little buttons on her bows are apples. ;-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Gabriella as "Strawberry Shortcake." Her dress isn't an exact replica of the character's, more like my interpretation of what Strawberry would wear. But the colors, especially the green and white stripes, are authentic.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglhDJOGxlD1F2YI2v3r9aqv6TVZN9tydLGuJ8UqTEQDg12Orkr4Wg0ej3doM5WNs85GyyiVtZr9UBRgLzx9THW25AdLTkO_A3lr_gzhHr8q3_VjTMiJh-0WdTEloWn9dKx6wzmlafEwzfO/s1600/IMAG0808.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglhDJOGxlD1F2YI2v3r9aqv6TVZN9tydLGuJ8UqTEQDg12Orkr4Wg0ej3doM5WNs85GyyiVtZr9UBRgLzx9THW25AdLTkO_A3lr_gzhHr8q3_VjTMiJh-0WdTEloWn9dKx6wzmlafEwzfO/s400/IMAG0808.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> I was just not happy with Gabs's hat - it was a funny shape and wouldn't stay on, so we tied it under her chin with bows. But she liked it anyway. The hat is covered with Strawberry Shortcake fabric that Sophie gave her, and her buttons are strawberries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The two sisters. I love the fact that I have little girls and can make dresses for them. I think they can even wear the dresses, minus the hats, as regular clothes. Maybe to church.</span></div>
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That's the costume parade from the Voss house this year. Hope you enjoyed it!</div>
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Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746195980624862329.post-41666978691619053432012-10-26T16:19:00.000-07:002012-10-26T16:25:25.960-07:00[You know] #3<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">You know you're a mom when...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">...you judge the success of your day based on the number of baths your children have had by the end of it. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggz2HhYn7pbWVO2l8gG5fvK2GdKnsJY62awFLzh63lUtmorQg-cYt0SH8eJiT-AkU6nS2Pq-0fDVR9XyLskd72mkDh96Mq5mZ5C-tDVyJSOVUwykJub3exfAcxKm7JIyZox1zD38nL3BhK/s1600/395933_3341068167864_968962634_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggz2HhYn7pbWVO2l8gG5fvK2GdKnsJY62awFLzh63lUtmorQg-cYt0SH8eJiT-AkU6nS2Pq-0fDVR9XyLskd72mkDh96Mq5mZ5C-tDVyJSOVUwykJub3exfAcxKm7JIyZox1zD38nL3BhK/s400/395933_3341068167864_968962634_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">As in golf, the lower your score, generally the more successful your day has been. Because higher numbers of baths usually means you spent the whole day cleaning up gigantic messes. Or fishing the toddler's hands out of the toilet...again.</span> Katyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09030578304581527544noreply@blogger.com0