Franny has been asking for a "rainbow quilt" since before Christmas. After Sophie got one for her birthday and Bobby got one for Christmas, I guess Franny wanted in on the fun. Bobby found this video online and the girls love it. Ever since then Franny's been a big fan of rainbows. In fact, right after Christmas we took the whole family to Walmart for a shopping trip. We were hurrying past the fabric section and Franny spotted a fleece she liked with a rainbow pattern. She called me over and said, "Mommy! Mommy! For my rainbow quilt!" It was so cute. I didn't end up using the fleece, but luckily Walmart actually had a cotton fabric with a rainbow pattern that Franny liked even more. The rest of the fabric just came from my stash. Again, I borrowed the idea from a quilt from the Red Pepper Quilt lady. I love her style.
This is the first time I've ever met a deadline when finishing a quilt. It took about a week start to finish. I think it measures about 4 feet by 6 feet. I quilted it using my regular sewing machine. I bought a walking foot, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I just picked some random spots on the quilt and worked outward in kind of a rectangular spiral until it was all quilted.
We gave it to her after cake and ice cream on her birthday. I was so glad we had gifts wrapped and the quilt finished because the poor kid was pretty sick on her birthday and watching her open her gifts was the first time I saw her really excited the whole day. For a while she kept telling me, "Mom, I really love my quilt." She still does say that occasionally. Little sweetheart.
Poor little sicko. A couple of extra shots from her birthday. We took her to school even though she was sick just to share cupcakes with her friends. She was so excited about it- I just couldn't bare for her not to go. The rosettes were fun to make. I just bought the fondant, dyed it with food coloring, and followed these instructions from Bakerella.
For your birthday post this year I thought it would be fun to list a few of my favorite memories with you.
Julia and I laying on the guest bed with our wet hair hanging over the edge and you sitting on a chair next to the bed pointing two blow-dryers at our heads on a Saturday night.
Neil Young concert. Daddy-daughter date. The year 2000.
You saying, "I bet I can make you smile," every time we were cranky or upset while we were growing up. You always could.
You whispering that I'm your favorite daughter, and then turning to one of your other daughters and whispering the same thing.
You playing the guitar for Franny when she was 18 months old. She loved that.
You holding Franny the night she was born, sitting in my armchair all night and listening to Neil Young.
You playing your guitar and singing "Blackbird."
When we were sitting at dinner, and you used to pound on the table with your fist and scream "SILENCE!!" (But only when we begged you to do it.)
The first time I called you for help and advice when I would have normally called Mom, and afterwards you said, "How was this? Did I do alright?"
I love you Dad. Thanks for being so wonderful. Happy Birthday! Long may you run.
It's hard to believe this but Annie hates having her picture taken. Most of the time when I try to snap a picture of her, she turns her head. If I ever succeed in taking her picture, she sometimes makes me promise not to post it on her blog. Well, sister. It's your birthday and all bets are off!!!
We were all pretty "ga ga" over Annie when she arrived. My mom jokes that noone ever put her down before she turned six months. We were all fighting over who got to hold her. She was such a sweet baby.
Our family's Christmas card picture from '93.
It was really hard for me to leave Annie when I left for college because she was so little and so fun. I remember after being gone for a few days I asked to talk to Annie on the phone. She told me she had saved a popsicle for me in the freezer and I started crying! I missed my sweet Annie so much! This was taken one day when my Mom had something to do and asked me to take her to her "Mommy and Me" class. We had so much fun. (Incidentally, I have that same orange funnel.)
This is picture was taken at my friend's house. We were all posing for pictures before the prom and my Dad snapped this of Maggie and Annie. I love this picture. They have always been such great friends.
When I used to come home from college, I'd come home after going out with friends and climb into Annie's bed to wake her up and play with her. I don't think my mom ever knew. She woke up so sweet and she'd go right back to sleep. Yes, I'm aware that my tongue is excessively long.
Here's a picture I happen to know my sister wouldn't mind me posting.
I saved the best for last. Annie and Julia took me to see Wicked last year for my birthday. We had a blast. We were walking along Hollywood Blvd. and I asked them to strut so I could take their picture. Then "Wicked"-ly I decided to film them instead and put it to music in true humiliating birthday fashion.
I don't know why it's taken me so long to get these pictures up. Franny's birthday went really well. She was so cute about the theme. She showed so much interest and enthusiasm in the cake, decorations, and invitations... it really made the whole thing worthwhile for me. She has already told me that she wants to be Spidergirl for Halloween this year.
We dropped Franny off at school where they treated her like a little princess all day. We sent her with cupcakes and they made her a crown. When we walked in that morning, it was almost like they were all waiting for her to get there. Ann said as we walked in, "There she is! There's the birthday girl!" All the kids in her class and most of her teachers made her a big stack of birthday cards, which she has looked at every day since. I love that school so much. Bobby was post on-call that day (with only two hours of sleep), and he was able to take Franny out to lunch at her favorite restaurant: McDonald's. Meanwhile I was home decorating the house and making the cake. Franny walked in and she was so excited.
The party started with all the kids decorating a poster. I thought that might be a nice activity while we waited for all the guests to arrive and it worked out pretty well. I just cut the letters of their names out of the huge stack of scrapbook paper I have and glued them on to posterboard. I put out foam stickers, markers, glue, scissors, and crayons for them to use. This is the only picture I got of Miriam. After the rope Bobby threaded through my homemade pinata ripped through the top, Bobby had to repair it and I sent them off to the playroom for a few minutes and we had a hard time pulling Miriam away from the toys after that. :)
Which brings us on to the pinata. I thought about just buying a Spiderman pinata at Walmart and gluing pigtails on to them. But the darn pinata cost $20 and I've made a pinata before. I was feeling ambitious and just thought I'd go for it. I was really happy with the results, but in retrospect, I think maybe the $20 would have been worth it. Here is a link to the directions I used to make the pinata. We do not own a baseball bat of any kind- but we do have a yardstick. So I had the kids use that to bust the pinata open. That worked out quite nicely. All the kids got two turns to swing at the pinata and then Jackson broke it open. He's a strong kid and we knew we could count on him. I was glad each kid got two turns, but I think they would have started to get bored if it took much longer. There's an art form to children's birthday parties that I have not yet mastered. You really need to be on your game and one step ahead of the next activity. So when the candy spilled all over the floor and the kids didn't have their little "Spidey party bags," I had to laugh at myself. Sigh. So much to learn...
Then we had cake. This was my favorite part of the whole party. And maybe not why you think. Not because I love food, or because my cake looked great and everyone said so- no, it was because the kids all asked for a specific part of Spidergirl's head to EAT. Jack said, "I want to eat the hair!" The twins each wanted one of her "eyes." It was so funny!
After that it was time for presents. Franny was really excited for this part. Her friends brought such nice gifts. She loved them all and they have been her favorite toys ever since the party.
It was a great party. I remember last year after Franny's 4th birthday party telling myself I thought maybe this year we would skip a party. But kids LOVE birthday parties. And they don't have to be huge. So I went for it, hoping I could keep it pretty low-key. But then she picked a theme that has not been highly commercialized in the party supply market, and with the pinata, and the cake.... I was still exhausted when it was over. But we had a good time and made some great memories. So it was all worth it.
My Mom used to always call me on Franny's birthday and say, "Happy Mother's Day! This is your very own personal Mother's Day because it's the day you became a mother."
I was just sitting here thinking about the night we brought her home from the hospital. My parents and siblings arrived just before we were discharged and they came home with us. My parents were going to spend the night at my grandparents, but I guess they couldn't manage to pull away from their first granddaughter, because my Dad sat in Bobby's chair all night holding Franny. I kept waking up expecting that she would need to be fed- finally at about 2 or 3 in the morning, I walked downstairs and found my new baby, curled up in my Dad's arms and sleeping soundly. That kiddo has always loved her sleep. Tonight we were watching American Idol and fifteen minutes before bedtime she said, "Mom? I want to go to bed."
My mom used to talk about how I was her little buddy when I was Franny's age. She'd talk about how much she loved to be with me and listening to music with me in the car and taking me with her on errands. I know exactly what she was talking about now because I have that with Franny. I can only hope that I'll feel this strong connection with all my children as they start to get a little older and their distinctive personalities emerge, but I just know that Franny and I are going to be great friends.
I've learned so much from Franny. I've been trying to teach Franny for a while now that there are certain words I can say that she cannot. Some examples of these words are: sucks, stupid, Dang it!, Shoot!, What the crap?! Franny's been trying to teach me, in her own way, that if she can't say those words, then maybe Mommy shouldn't be either. Hmmm... she makes a good point. I'm working on it, and she's being very patient with me.
Franny loves to sing, and she's getting better. For a while there, we thought maybe she was going to take after me with her musical abilities. That would be very unfortunate. Check out her latest performance:
This year Franny wanted a Spidergirl birthday party. Most people don't even know there is a Spidergirl. As you can probably imagine, it's virtually impossible to find any Spidergirl party supplies. To further complicate my dilemna, Franny insists that our Spidergirl be the preschool version, with pigtails, like the figurine in her 3D memory game. (Which by the way is the only reason she knows who Spidergirl is in the first place.) I had to add pigtails to the only Spidergirl picture I could find. Jayne laughed when she saw the invitation and observed: "she's got boobs and pigtails!" She told me to post it on my blog, so here you go:
I had a very long list of kids I wanted to invite, and it kills me that we had to shave it down so much, but I wanted to keep it as close to 5 or 6 as possible. So we worked together and came up with a list of kids mostly from her classes at school. She is very excited. Me, too.
Today is Bobby's birthday. For four months out of the year I am married to a younger man. Molly (Bobby's sister) and I always laugh about this one time when she asked me, "Katherine, how much older are you than Bobby? Six months?" I shook my head vigorously and said, "No, no, no.... four month" as if there was any remarkable difference in those two months.
What are birthdays for if not embarrassing the people you love with old pictures? :)
Bobby's mom sent him a package for his birthday filled with all of his class pictures and baby portraits. I've had so much fun looking through them. I love our dark-haired beauties, but I would love if we could have at least one little blonde boy that looks just like Bobby. He was (and still is) so adorable.
I love that big cheesy grin he has. And those shifty eyes remind me a little of Sophie. And check out those short shorts!
I can still remember what it was like when we first fell in love. I felt so lucky that he wanted to be with me. He was the first man I fell in love with and I fell hard. Those of you who knew me then can probably attest to that. I talked about him often, maybe a little too often. We wrote while he was serving his mission and I missed him very much. Our relationship is different now. You won't hear me gushing about how "I can't believe that Bobby wants to be with me!"It's fun to get carried away like that when you're dating, but I can't imagine that being a very healthy marriage, with one person always feeling inferior. I like to think we both have something to offer each other. But I can still flip back to that mindset. And it's fun to think of Bobby that way. One of my favorite memories I like to think back on is from when we were both attending Rick's college. It wasn't a huge campus. I often ran into my friends between classes, but it drove me crazy that Bobby and I never ran into each other during the day. I was constantly on the lookout for him, but our paths never seemed to conveniently cross. I had a job working as a secretary for the Communications department. One day the head secretary asked me to post fliers all over campus advertising some event. I was in one of the buildings on campus, with a stack of fliers and a staple gun, when the bell rang and the hall flooded with students. I looked up and saw Bobby walking towards me, with that same delicious grin and with his head kind of tilted downward and looking up at me in a flirtatious way. He was wearing his dark green cargo pants, his woolly grey sweater, and a blue work jacket with someone else's name on it that he picked up at a thrift store. (That's easy to remember because he wore that almost every day.) His hair was bleached and he had a red M&M's backpack on, a lipsmacker around his neck, and 2 or 3 safety pins placed randomly on his clothing. It was the best thing I'd seen all day. And I think it was right then as I noticed the way he looked at me that I thought, "hey, this guy might actually like me too." I remember feeling like I was going to float up off the ground at that moment.
Another reason I like to flip back to that old mindset is because the things that I wanted most at that time, the things that I used to daydream about- a happy marriage with Bobby, a happy family with Bobby, a home- I have those things now. And I think about how happy that skinny lovesick nineteen year old girl would be, and glad she knew what she wanted so young, but still had 2-3 years to finish her schooling and tour Europe, build some lasting friendships, spend time with family, and just learn more about herself before starting that happy marriage.
Here's some pictures of some of my favorite moments with Bobby under the category of our dating years (only because I don't have time to broaden that timeframe and because that seems to be the focus of this post.)
Throwing pumpkins from the top of the stadium at Rick's College with Janelle. A really fun night.
This was the day before he left on his mission. It was a sad day but that was the day I decided he was the one I wanted to marry.
Rollerskating. We loved to rollerskate.
At the airport. First time our eyes locked after his mission. (Minutes later he informed me that my eye color had changed since he left. I hadn't even noticed.)
I'm so grateful to have him as my husband. I love him dearly and completely admire and respect him. I couldn't ask for a better father for my children or a more supportive husband for myself. I love you Bobby. Happy 30th birthday!
Tonight for dinner we're having some of Bobby's favorites:
Wienerschnitzel Macaroni Grill Bread Peas Yellow cake mix with Chocolate Pudding Cool Whip Frosting (He's so funny. I'd make him anything he wants and he wants cool whip frosting. thanks Betsy for that recipe. it is now Bobby's favorite unfortunately.)
My Sophie is 2 years old. As her birthday was approaching, I jokingly asked Bobby, "Are we sure we want to celebrate this one?" Franny is doing great now, but I have a few battlescars (not just emotional- I literally have scars) from her 2nd year and I've been bracing myself for Sophie's because in the past year I've seen her develop a very strong personality. She's feisty and even pretty scrappy. I'm a little that she'll have some 2 year old abuse of her own to dish out, but I think we'll enjoy the ride. At least most of it.
It was really low-key this year. Just a cake and ice cream and presents. I'm pretty sure that's going to happen a lot because her birthday is probably going to coincide with General Conference fairly often. Which is fine now- she's only 2, but I'm going to have to be creative when she gets older. I love General Conference. I look forward to it, but there's not a lot of time for much else that weekend. When I checked on her after I put her down for a nap, I found her with a teddy bear under each arm like this. She got a baby stroller, a Little People police car, a new baby doll, and a Slinky. I had Franny help me wrap presents while Sophie was sleeping. Franny loves to help. I asked her to wait with the presents while I went into their bedroom to retrieve the wrapping paper. Franny started to follow me and I said, "No, you wait here." When I came back, Bobby told me that after I left Franny crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Hmmmph. I never get to go anywhere." Hilarious.
I took Sophie to get her first haircut. Against Bobby's wishes. At first he said he liked it better longer, but I think it's growing on him. She did pretty well. She was totally freaked out at the beginning, but she mellowed out pretty quickly. While we were waiting, I discovered that she has started to learn her colors and I didn't even know! She was pointing to the different hair products and saying "yellow" and "red."
I'm so happy for her and all her progress. She can count to 15 and knows the words to a number of songs. She likes to make up her own songs. She loves to talk on the phone, but only when it's her idea. She wants to do the talking. It's usually just 2 or 3 words that she repeats over and over. Whatever is on her mind or whatever we've just been talking about. "Franny, Franny, Franny, no cookie no cookie cookie, (because I've just told her she can't have one) milt, milt, milt" (her word for milk.) Her favorite foods right now are cookies, string cheese, fruit snacks, carrots, pesto chicken, and rolls- although she calls them pillows. This is her favorite song right now. She knows nearly all the words!
Some of my favorite Sophie posts (in no particular order):
"These are my pants!!!" "I'm funny!" "Mommy, NO SONG!!" (this when she doesn't want me to sing.)
I made this as her birthday cake this year. I'm not much for origami, so Bobby followed the instructions and made the boat for me. I just couldn't figure it out. :)
I didn't use the recipe for the One Bowl Chocolate Cake because I didn't have any buttermilk. I used a recipe for Chocolate Fudge Cake from the Cake Bible. It was delicious!
3/4 cup + 3 T unsweetened cocoa 1 1/2 cups boiling water 3 large eggs (room temp.) 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 3 cups sifted cake flour 2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar 2 1/4 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp salt 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
Grease the bottom of 2 9-inch by 1 1/2-Preheat the oven to 350. In a medium bowl whisk together the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cool to room temperature. In another bowl lightly combine the eggs, 1/4 of the cocoa mixture, and vanilla. In a large mixing bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Scrape down the sides. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. The pans will be about 1/2 full. Bake 20-30 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. Let the cakes cool in the pan on racks for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and invert onto greased wire racks.
After I made the Tzatziki this week, I couldn't stop thinking about gyros, so I asked Bobby how he felt about a Greek birthday dinner. He was all for it! I had a VERY small leg of lamb in the freezer, and a Barefoot Contessa recipe I've been wanting to try out. I was a little nervous about a yogurt marinade. I'd never done a marinade like that before. It was AMAZING. So succulent and tender and flavorful! Oh my goodness. I wished it was a bigger roast! There was just enough for us to each have a gyro.
2 lbs. plain yogurt (regular or low-fat) 1/2 cup good olive oil zest of 1 lemon 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 3/4 cup fresh whole rosemary leaves 2 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 5 lb. butterflied leg of lamb
Combine the yogurt, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, rosemary, salt and pepper in a large, nonreactive bowl. Add the lamb, making sure it is covered with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.
Bring the lamb to room temperature. Scrape the marinade off the lamb, wipe the meat with paper towels, and season it generously with salt and pepper. Place on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Roast for 10 minutes at 450 and then bring the temperature down to 400 and roast until internal temperature is 145 degrees. Remove the lamb to a cutting board and cover with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Then slice and serve.
And the ice cream... Mmmm- that was good. I've been holding onto that recipe for a long time and it did not disappoint.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
4 oz unsweetened chocolate 1 c milk 2 large eggs 1 c sugar 1 T vanilla extract 1 pinch salt 1 cup heavy whipping cream
1. Melt the unsweetened chocolate in pan over low heat (or use a double-boiler.) Gradually whisk in the milk and heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool. 2. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Add the cream, vanilla, and salt and whisk to blend. 3. Pour the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture and blend. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 1-3 hours, depending on your refrigerator. 4. Transfer the mixture to ice cream maker and freeze. 5. Just before transferring cream mixture to ice cream maker, remove 1 cup cream mixture and blend with 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter until smooth. Add blended mixture to the rest of the cream mixture and add to machine.
Bobby's birthday was on Sunday and we had a quiet celebration at home, just the four of us.
This is probably something I shouldn't admit, but I spend a lot of time each day just waiting for Bobby to get home. I admit that part of it is that I would like some help with the kids so I can get stuff done, but most of it is that life is just a lot more fun when Bobby's around. I love his sense of humor. He can get me laughing harder than anyone, and he does it on a regular basis. I am so grateful for the wonderful father he is to our girls. He is just as committed as I am to helping Franny recover from autism and it feels so good to have that support. When I realized that he was willing to base his decision on where we should go for rotations on what was best for Franny, and not what was best for him, I couldn't believe it. And what do you know, looks like staying right here in the place where we live is turning out to be just the right thing for us! Life's funny that way, isn't it?
It's time to reveal our secret shame. It was wrong of me to keep it from you all this time, so I'm coming clean. We are Schleich addicts. We have a huge collection of Schleich animal figurines. Here's a picture I took. I wasn't able to fit all of them in the picture, which by the way, doesn't at all do them justice. Out of all the presents Bobby got for Christmas, he was most excited about his new Schleich animals I ordered him from the internet. I just love that about him. So that's what he got for his birthday, too! Two whales, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a giant octopus, a dalmation, a musk ox (one of the few animals native to Greenland), and the two-humped camel. The T-rex is incredible. We were so impressed with how real it looks! I told Bobby that I wished they had a King Kong. They have dragons and fairies and stuff. They even have a whole line of Smurfs. He said maybe I should write the company. I think maybe I will.
We also sat in front of the computer and let the Flight of the Conchords entertain us. I feel silly posting these videos, because I think by now everyone's heard of them- but on the off chance you live in a cave and only emerge periodically to check out my blog, then allow me the pleasure of introducing you to the musical stylings of Brit and Jermaine. Love you, Bobby. Here's to many more birthdays and many more Schleich animals.
"The trouble with much modern cooking is not that the food it produces is not good, but that the mood it induces in the cook is one of skin-of-the-teeth efficiency, all briskness and little pleasure. Sometimes that's the best we can manage, but at other times we don't want to feel stressed and overstretched, but like a domestic goddess, trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in her languorous wake..."
-Nigella Lawson
This is the first time I've ever met a deadline when finishing a quilt. It took about a week start to finish. I think it measures about 4 feet by 6 feet. I quilted it using my regular sewing machine. I bought a walking foot, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I just picked some random spots on the quilt and worked outward in kind of a rectangular spiral until it was all quilted.
