April 9, 2012
April 7, 2012
Joseph turned 4
Joseph awoke unhappy this morning because his presents were not wrapped and waiting for him at the table. However, it wasn't long before he was all smiles. He is the proud owner of a Playmobil Western Town and fire helicopter. It took a little deliberation, but he decided that his new cow's name is "Milkshake".
Joseph is still a decided thumb sucker/bellybutton fiddler.
When he wants to convince you to do something, instead of asking he will put up his finger and say, "Aha!!!" which will be followed by something like, "You forgot to take me to the ice cream parlor today!"
For the past year, he has worn a hand-me-down "Awaska" shirt to death; probably 5 of 7 days he had ttat shirt on. This week, the moose and the bear bush pilots were retired to my "to-be-a-quilt" pile with holes in it. And amazingly, I have no pictures of him in it.
Joseph's favorite activity is coloring. He will lie on the living room floor and carefully fill in any coloring book picture with side by side lines. As his favorite color to use is black, this sometimes makes it hard to know what the picture started as.
Joseph taught himself to write his name, notable since he learned this earliest of all the kids.
Joseph's sense of comedic timing is the best of all the kids, and we often laugh at the funny things he says. Case in point: Yesterday I said something to Bill about "moves" and Joseph piped in with, "I got moves like Jagger?" He knows Justin Bieber but I don't think he knows Mick Jagger.
Joseph is still a decided thumb sucker/bellybutton fiddler.
When he wants to convince you to do something, instead of asking he will put up his finger and say, "Aha!!!" which will be followed by something like, "You forgot to take me to the ice cream parlor today!"
For the past year, he has worn a hand-me-down "Awaska" shirt to death; probably 5 of 7 days he had ttat shirt on. This week, the moose and the bear bush pilots were retired to my "to-be-a-quilt" pile with holes in it. And amazingly, I have no pictures of him in it.
Joseph's favorite activity is coloring. He will lie on the living room floor and carefully fill in any coloring book picture with side by side lines. As his favorite color to use is black, this sometimes makes it hard to know what the picture started as.
Joseph taught himself to write his name, notable since he learned this earliest of all the kids.
Joseph's sense of comedic timing is the best of all the kids, and we often laugh at the funny things he says. Case in point: Yesterday I said something to Bill about "moves" and Joseph piped in with, "I got moves like Jagger?" He knows Justin Bieber but I don't think he knows Mick Jagger.
April 6, 2012
April 3, 2012
Odds and ends
Spring, birthday season, Easter. They are coming; they are here. Here are some glimpses into our recent past:
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| Maria in front of the USS Yorktown |
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| Cecilia was especially excited by the "vendor" machines |
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| Dominic and I got to see the berthing quarters |
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| Look at the relaxed and happy faces of the unplugged, living it up outside, pre-teens! |
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| Charles' valet service |
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| Dominic's first time driving the cart |
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| ready to hit the strawberry patch |
April 1, 2012
March 2, 2012
February 22, 2012
The Who family?
I haven't been feeling wordy or clever lately which has shown on the blog. Here's a quick midwinter update:
Thomas
OMgoodness, I got to the end of this post and realized I had forgotten Thomas. Fortunately, Thomas is here to tell me something amazing about himself. ....Time's up! Maybe next time.
Anthony
Recently, Anthony submitted an article about an Eagle Scout from his boy scout troop to the local newspaper and got it published. He was very excited and proud as were we.
Maria
Maria has earned enough money to fly to California for AHG camp this summer. Now she is working on her swimming skills so she can participate in all the activities. She has taken over the apron business and recently got some more orders.
Charles
Charles is about to graduate from speech therapy. Here he is a few years ago. When he started therapy last Oct, he sounded the same--unable to articulate "r" in any position. By November he had learned to carefully articulate them all. And tomorrow (ie, last week)--only 27 visits later--he'll be done!
Cecilia
Cecilia has been working on preparing for her First Holy Communion. In May, Uncle Chrysostom will arrive to be a part of the big day!
James
Oh my gosh, there is something so satisfying about teaching a child to read. He's getting very close to being independent with very easy books.
Joseph
Joseph has become enamored of coloring. He spends hours very carefully coloring pictures with perfect side by side lines. As he usually uses only one color, the effect isn't the most aesthetic, but it's impressive nonetheless.
Bill
In a few weeks Bill is going to be promoted! I'm sure that he'll tell me when and where before it happens.
Me
I recently won 2 major awards. One was for the "Best Traditional Red" chili which is really Michelle Reitemeyer's amazing, 6-qt crock pot fillin', people licking the bottom of the bowl chili. It is my most shared recipe, so naturally she deleted the blog where she had posted it. Fortunately, it is still cached on google and I'm putting it below so I can just share this post with everyone who eat this yummyness.
Michelle's Cowboy Chili
3 1/2 pounds boneless round roast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 medium bell peppers, diced
2 medium onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
two 28 ounce cans tomatoes
12 ounce can tomato paste
1/3 cup chili powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 cups water
shredded Monterey Jack cheese and sliced green onions for garnish
Pat beef dry with paper towels. In an 8 quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beef, one-third at a time; cook until browned. Transfer beef to bowl as it browns.
Add bell peppers, onions and garlic to drippings; cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Return beef to Dutch oven; stir in tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, chili powder, sugar, salt, oregano, and black pepper, breaking up tomatoes with the spoon.
Stir in water; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 1/2 hours, or until beef is tender.
Rachel's Notes: I cut the tomatoes with scissors before adding them in. Once everything is in the pot, I just throw it in the crockpot and let it finish the cooking.
To serve, spoon into bowls and garnish with cheese and green onions. Serves 12. Fills a 6 qt crockpot
The second award was a Liebster Blog Award from my friend Maryan. As soon as I got it, I started this post--3 weeks ago. Yep, that's got awesome blogging has been lately. But I still love it!
About the award: the award is for those of use who love to blog because we love the art form, not because we have a lot of followers. Here is the description:
Thomas
OMgoodness, I got to the end of this post and realized I had forgotten Thomas. Fortunately, Thomas is here to tell me something amazing about himself. ....Time's up! Maybe next time.
Anthony
Recently, Anthony submitted an article about an Eagle Scout from his boy scout troop to the local newspaper and got it published. He was very excited and proud as were we.
Maria
Maria has earned enough money to fly to California for AHG camp this summer. Now she is working on her swimming skills so she can participate in all the activities. She has taken over the apron business and recently got some more orders.
Charles
Charles is about to graduate from speech therapy. Here he is a few years ago. When he started therapy last Oct, he sounded the same--unable to articulate "r" in any position. By November he had learned to carefully articulate them all. And tomorrow (ie, last week)--only 27 visits later--he'll be done!
Cecilia
Cecilia has been working on preparing for her First Holy Communion. In May, Uncle Chrysostom will arrive to be a part of the big day!
James
Oh my gosh, there is something so satisfying about teaching a child to read. He's getting very close to being independent with very easy books.
Joseph
Joseph has become enamored of coloring. He spends hours very carefully coloring pictures with perfect side by side lines. As he usually uses only one color, the effect isn't the most aesthetic, but it's impressive nonetheless.
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| Dominic has started eating solids |
Bill
In a few weeks Bill is going to be promoted! I'm sure that he'll tell me when and where before it happens.
Me
I recently won 2 major awards. One was for the "Best Traditional Red" chili which is really Michelle Reitemeyer's amazing, 6-qt crock pot fillin', people licking the bottom of the bowl chili. It is my most shared recipe, so naturally she deleted the blog where she had posted it. Fortunately, it is still cached on google and I'm putting it below so I can just share this post with everyone who eat this yummyness.
Michelle's Cowboy Chili
3 1/2 pounds boneless round roast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 medium bell peppers, diced
2 medium onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
two 28 ounce cans tomatoes
12 ounce can tomato paste
1/3 cup chili powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 cups water
shredded Monterey Jack cheese and sliced green onions for garnish
Pat beef dry with paper towels. In an 8 quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beef, one-third at a time; cook until browned. Transfer beef to bowl as it browns.
Add bell peppers, onions and garlic to drippings; cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Return beef to Dutch oven; stir in tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, chili powder, sugar, salt, oregano, and black pepper, breaking up tomatoes with the spoon.
Stir in water; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 1/2 hours, or until beef is tender.
Rachel's Notes: I cut the tomatoes with scissors before adding them in. Once everything is in the pot, I just throw it in the crockpot and let it finish the cooking.
To serve, spoon into bowls and garnish with cheese and green onions. Serves 12. Fills a 6 qt crockpot
The second award was a Liebster Blog Award from my friend Maryan. As soon as I got it, I started this post--3 weeks ago. Yep, that's got awesome blogging has been lately. But I still love it!
About the award: the award is for those of use who love to blog because we love the art form, not because we have a lot of followers. Here is the description:
“Liebster is a German word, meaning dearest or beloved, but it can also mean favorite. The idea behind the Liebster Blog Award is that it is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers in order to create new connections and bring attention to these wonderful blogs!”
What to do:
- Add the award to your blog. (Let's just see if I can make that happen, hmmm?)
- Thank the giver with a link back to them.
- List your top 5 picks and let them know they’ve been given an award by leaving a comment on their blog.
- Hope that your followers will spread the love to the blogs you’ve spotlighted.
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