My Three

There they are, all three of them: Maeve (1), Eva (4) and Elias (7.5)

Trying to get a picture where are three are looking at the camera AND smiling is close to impossible. I do like this picture; it has all sorts of interesting things in it. Maeve is trying to figure out what her siblings are doing. Elias and Eva are almost holding hands. Eva, as usual, is wearing a big grin and, as usual, has chocolate around that grin. Elias is looking at the pond where he will quickly go when this photo shoot is done. None of them possess combed hair. Amazingly, they are in relatively clean clothes and there is an incredible lack of scabs and bruises. They are lovely.

Planning

Sometimes inertia takes over and we spend a week or two having little interaction with each other or others. Before our camping trip we were bursting with creativity, adventure and starting a few routines that the kids were enjoying. After the camping trip it seemed easier to not strew or engage and just let the kids watch movies, swim and play video games. When I realize that we are getting grumpier and not enjoying this I try to find a way to get us back on track. Often it means I need to be proactive and strew, offer and get excited about my own projects.

I started to talk to them about things they would like to do and was getting nowhere. "Later, I want to watch a show." So I wrote "Eva" and "Elias" on my board and listed the things they like to do and a couple of plans we had on the calendar. This started a great discussion of interests and ideas. Elias and I purchased tickets to the King Tut exhibit, I found out Eva really likes the zoo, they asked to restart the smoothie/reading sessions. The things I brought up as ideas were often not commented on, but sparked others. I didn't write everything down, but was able to get a feel for the types of things they are in the mood to do. Hooray for creative discussion!

A Bit of Berbere

I'm back in the groove of cooking! Yesterday I stopped at Babylon Market and picked up some injera and berbere spice. Today, after some research, I picked out two Ethiopian recipes to try. I have made Ethiopian once before and it turned out well, but really wanted something with a berbere sauce. The dish on the right is a red lentil stew: onions, tomatoes, garlic, berbere and lentils. The second dish really hit the spot for me, it is potatoes, carrots and green beans in a caramelized onion and berbere sauce. Yum!

We served it with some cottage cheese to tone down the spice for the kids. The lentils had to be restocked as they were consumed quickly. I'm still thinking about how wonderful those carrots turned out. Everyone declared it satisfactory.

For Laughs

Mischievous pixies... Eva and I spent part of the evening reading out of her pop-up book of fairies. I was not expecting this guy and he had us in laughter for quite a while. We then discovered that the shadows created by the pop-ups could be tilted and make new caricatures that were even better than the fairies themselves!

Always a Giggle

My grandmother had this book when I was a kid. The Monster at the End of this Book is always a good book for loads of giggles.

The real point of this picture is to point out that wonderful man in the middle. He spent his day doing yard work, swimming with Eva, he stuffed diapers, washed dishes and kept the kids entertained while I did some computer catch up. Not only did he do all this wonderful work, but he also made me coffee, complimented everything I cooked, and gave numerous hugs and gave generous amounts of love to all of us. I love this man!

Home From Afar

While on a camp trip at Whitetail Campground, at the top of Mt. Lemmon, we walked up to look out at our home city. This isn't the best view of Tucson, we saw a better one, but it is a view of our house. We are now living right where the long road towards the right goes through the green belt. It is awesome to be so close to the base of the mountain!

Back to College?

This is my makeshift rolling pin. It is reminiscent of my college years where I used a Strawberry Hill bottle to roll out cookies, crusts and pizza dough. (Best thing that came from my roommate of the time, that bottle.)

Here I am, in my new house, looking for the rolling pin. I haven't used this since the move and I look in every drawer it should have been in and then every drawer and cupboard it shouldn't. I thought we were doing pretty well with the move; only one item missing and one broke. Was I going to have to add my rolling pin to the tally?

If I had been organized, this lack of a rolling pin wouldn't have occurred in the middle of making pie crusts for my quiches. Instead I was left scrambling to find something before my crusts dried out. I didn't have time to weight it down with beans or anything that would have made the process easier. As I finished up the fourth crust I reached into the baking drawer to pull out a scraper and there was my rolling pin, exactly where I looked first!

Think I need a bit of sleep or maybe my eyes checked?