Happy Birthday, Abigail Grace!

A few days old...

Six years later...

Happy Birthday to our girl, full of fun, spunk, love and creativity!

Blog love

Welcome back, family and friends, to this little blog of mine!  Your comments have brought this place to life and made it feel more homey around here.  Thank you for your blog love!

peace

Kid Speak

My favorite phrase of the day from my 3 year old:  "Oh my Heavens!"  (Imagine it being said with a slight lisp at the end).

Precious...

Apricot Chicken Recipe

For those who have been asking:

Apricot Chicken from the Simply in Season cookbook by Mary Beth Lind & Cathleen Hockman-Wert.  Words in italics are my additions or modifications.

Serves 4

2 tsp butter or olive oil
4 ripe apricots (halved and seeded)  Since I use dried apricots, I use a lot more than 4, a handful or so? I either soakthem in water for an hour or use them as is if I am too busy.  Watch carefully because they burn easily.
Melt butter in frypan.  Place apricots in meted butter cut side down and cook over medium heat until light brown, about 5 minutes.  Turn and cook several more.  Remove to plate.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (whole or cut into strips)
salt and pepper
Roll chicken in mixture of salt and pepper. Or just sprinkle it on!  Saute in 1 Tbls olive oil on med-high hear for 3 minutes, then med-low heat for 7 more mintues or until no longer pink inside.  Remove chicken to plate with apricots.

1 tsp ginger root (peeled and minced)  could also use ground ginger 
1 green onion or 2 Tbls onion (chopped)
Combine in frypan and saute briefly.

1/2 cup dry white wine, apple juice or water  I have used both the wine and juice both are excellent
2 Tbls maple syrup or apricot preserves
1/2 tsp lime peel (grated) or lemon peel or omit
Add to frypan along with the apricots and chicken.  Simmer 10 minutes to combine flavors.  Serve alone or over brown rice or couscous.  Garnish with 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds.

One of our kids favorite dishes.  Enjoy! 

Ringing in the New Year...

Happy New Year to you and yours!

What are you doing on the first morning of the new year?  I am enjoying children having a sleep over at Nana and Pappy's house, aka a quiet house!  Catching up on the news, reading articles reviewing the last decade (whatever you may want to call it), checking out discussions on the change in the way we listen to music (and reveling in the fact that I still have a record collection that I love which balances my dependence on Pandora),  generally just pondering this life of ours: the assumptions we make, the people we love, the things we take for granted, the unknown life that remains before us, what our children will be like (and ourselves, I guess) at the end of the next decade, the choices past and future.

I have never really been one for New Year's resolutions or year-in-reviews because I believe in constantly (maybe even obsessively?) reevaluating who I am and how I am living my life.  This morning, however, the quiet - the rare and blessed cessation of sound - seems to allow for a wider reflective view.  Take the time to ponder the view yourself.

Merry Christmas!

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

Merry Christmas!

A tree at last

So we finally put up our tree this week.  We all went for a hike last weekend and picked one out from the woods near our house.

Once we got the chain saws back from the shop, Matt and Abigail went and got it on one of the coldest days yet this winter.  The day started at -5 and topped out at 3 but Christmas tree mission was successful nonetheless.  It is a nice tree.  Different than what you get at a Christmas tree farm so the branches are a bit more spaced out and it is pretty round for its height.  I think it is beautiful, however, and free!  There was, as there is every year, a bit of a fiasco getting it up.  It fell over after we got the lights on.



















We knew the bottom of the trunk was crooked when we put in the stand. We were hoping for the best.














But that's what sawz-all's are made for, right?

Back in the stand and 4 broken ornaments later, the tree was decorated complete with a Thomas the train track underneath.  The kids are happy (we are too, just tired, I think) and the living room now looks magical.