Another blessing

About a week and a half ago I found out we're having another baby!   Matt was gone at work, so I thought of making this announcement a little more exciting than the last time around. Amber and I made a sign that said, "It's baby time!" We also picked up pink and blue balloons, on which I wrote question marks implying curiosity about whether we're having a boy or a girl. When Matt came home that day Caleb, Amber, and I were all waiting for him. It was a fun moment for our family, and I was so glad to see that Matt was happy about the news!

Benefits of having a little brother

I found James and Amber in the hallway one day and James was sporting a new hairstyle, thanks to his big sister. She sprayed his hair with water, brushed it, and put one of her sparkly headbands on him. When James is a much older teenager I thought he'd get a kick out of this, so I took this as a photo opportunity.

Snow day

"All In Just One Cookie"

Yesterday I read Amber a children's book we had checked out from the library called All In Just One Cookie.   This book tracks the progress of one grandma making chocolate chip cookies before her grandchildren come to visit.  It was such an interesting book because each ingredient gets explained in detail - where it comes from, how it's grown, how it's harvested or farmed, etc.  By the end of the book we really wanted to make chocolate chip cookies but it wasn't able to happen that day.  But I made sure that today we had time to make chocolate chip cookies together and we had a lot of fun baking them.

There's a recipe at the end of the book that we could have used, but I chose to follow the recipe for chocolate chip cookies found in my America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.   The results were absolutely delicious!



Here's the recipe:

Big and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
16 tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups backed light brown sugar
1/2 granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

2. Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in the chocolate chips until incorporated.

4. working with 1/4 cup of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay on two parchment-lines baking sheets, spaced about 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are golden but the centers are still soft and puffy, 17 to 20 minutes, rotating and switching the baking sheets halfway through baking.

5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

[caption id="attachment_323" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Amber's going for it"][/caption]

The tender, early postpartum days

Amanda Soule from Soule Mama just gave birth at home to her fourth child. I read her post just now and so related to what she describes here:

"And now...we're all thick in the fog of babyland over here - those post-baby moments that vascilate between: ouchy engorgement to milky bliss; the sibling meltdowns and squabbles that come with change to sibling love and adoration that melts a heart; sore, um, everything to endorphines and strength unlike any other; but mostly and most importantly, a whole lot of falling in love. It's just where I want to be."

What a wonderful description of something I've experienced now three times over. It's one of the most precious times in a family's life and Amanda beautifully captured it in words (and photographs...her baby's little foot in that picture is so new!).

A visit to Oak Glen

Here's some pictures from our visit to Oak Glen last weekend:

[caption id="attachment_253" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Amber on a pony ride"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_254" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="U-pick Raspberries"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_255" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Me and my children standing in the shade"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_256" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The raspberries we picked. That was harder work than I had anticipated!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_260" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Then we picked a bag full of crisp apples"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_261" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Matt and Caleb walking to the apple orchard"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_262" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I was having a moment of awe at how beautiful the view was from where I stood."][/caption]

To end our day we went to a little shop to enjoy fresh apple cider and warm apple cider mini-donuts.  Delicious!

Poetry for children

The kids and I just finished watching a DVD called Classical Baby: The Poetry Show. This DVD is such a gem

[caption id="attachment_230" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Classical Baby"][/caption]

for children because features the poems of some of the greats read by actors and others with tremendous voices. While the poems are read we see beautiful artwork in story form unfold before our eyes. They saved the best for last by having Gwyneth Paltrow, who has a captivating voice and reads with such depth, recite "How do I love thee?" In this little cartoon, Gwyneth plays the mama rabbit who is gently rocking her baby rabbit on the porch while watching the rain fall outside. The baby rabbit asks how his mama loves him and she goes on to think about it and relates this poem to him. While she is saying these soothing words to him, we are taken into a world of bursting color and design - flowers, sun, shapes, and more vibrant symbols that convey the emotion within the poem. After she finishes we see them once again on the porch, rocking ever so slowly, but now the baby rabbit is fast asleep secure within his mother's loving arms.

While watching this I was overcome with emotion and the tears kept pouring down my face. I ended up having to explain to my Amber and Caleb that sometimes people cry when they are happy, or emotionally moved in some way. It was that special to me. I highly recommend it!

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

~ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning