Chicken Curry and a Birthday

A 7 month birthday, that is. No cake, no candles. Just a happy-go-lucky little guy who got to take a trip to Grandpa's office this evening to be weighed on the antique scale there. Official weight: 14 pounds...and 27 inches long. Whatever would we do without this bundle of joy???
In response to the requests for the recipe I used for the chicken curry last night, here it is. It's from an extremely helpful cookbook, Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook by Dawn Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good. I'll post the recipe the way it appears in the book; of course, I had to do things just a little bit differently. ;)

4 boneless, skinless chicken-breast halves
1 small onion, chopped
2 sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs.), cubed
2/3 cup orange juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 tsp. curry powder
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. cold water
rice

Toppings:
sliced green onions
shredded coconut
peanuts
raisins

1. Place chicken in slow cooker. Cover with onions and sweet potatoes.
2. Combine orange juice, garlic, chicken bouillon granules, salt, pepper, and curry powder. Pour over vegetables.
3. Cover. Cook on Low 5-6 hours.
4. Remove chicken and vegetables and keep warm.
5. Turn slow cooker to High. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Stir into sauce in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on High 15-20 minutes.
6. Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Sprinkle with your choice of toppings.

My main changes were cooking it longer than indicated, and not removing the chicken and vegetables before adding the cornstarch/water mixture.

New Mom asked what kind of flavor curry gives. I've thought and thought about this today, but haven't come up with an answer. It just tastes like...curry! :) Curry powder is actually a mixture of spices, I discovered last evening when looking at my spice bottle. To me, it's the flavor of Eastern food--not Asian as much as Indian and Middle Eastern. I love it! (And it's not hot-spicy, although some prepared curry dishes at restaurants are. The recipe I used doesn't have any spicy heat to it at all.)

One of the reasons I like to serve this dish to guests is that everyone can personalize it with their own toppings. Jeff, of course, adds lots of green onions to his since he's a big onion fan. :) As for me, the picture below shows how I like mine...

Family, Near and Far

We expected two guests today: Aunt Helen and Bob who are visiting from Chicago. However, as an added bonus, we got to see two other family members: my nephew Jason who dropped by this afternoon to borrow Jeff's bike to ride around in the mountains and scout out good hunting spots, and my brother Doug who was passing through town and got here in time to squeeze around the supper table with us and spend the evening here.

Aunt Helen and Bob come in for a visit every summer, and they get here by train which I think is the neatest thing! We always have them out for supper while they're in town, they always like to see what animals we have around the place :), and I always try to come up with a special meal for them. Tonight's dinner was a success (chicken curry over rice, spinach and fruit salad, marinated tomatoes, watermelon, pineapple milk sherbet, and turtles); so now I have to start thinking about what I'm going to make next year. :)

~ with the boys :)
~ brother and sister

I love having family here!

Simple Sunday

~ thankful for a cool mountain stream in which to dip my toes ~

Six Things

What better way to start a post than with my favorite picture from today? This boy...(happy sigh)...he's so wonderful...
Now, on to business. Mamajil from M Is For Mommy has tagged me for this meme so, without further ado, here are six random things about me...and my brain is having a hard time being very random; therefore, all six items will center around the same theme.

1. After my sophomore year of college, I worked for the summer at Camp-of-the-Woods in Speculator, New York--a tiny town that I bet you've never heard of and can't find on a map. However, it's a beautiful spot in the Adirondack Mountains and was a great place to spend a summer. (And since then, I've had the wonderful opportunity of going back there twice for vacation--once during the summer after Jeff and I met in Jerusalem; Jeff and I were trying to figure out our relationship and my parents had to get to know him :) and once after we were married. I would LOVE to go there again someday!)

2. Two friends of mine from college who were also music majors, Mac and Becky Holcomb (they weren't married at the time, but got married after they graduated...I played the organ for their wedding--hey, that's an extra random thing--woohoo!), had worked at this camp previously; and they are the ones who introduced me to the idea and encouraged me to go for it for which I'm very grateful.

3. I don't regret the experience at all; but honestly, it was a very difficult summer. The main reason I'll blame that on is the fact that I had tons of pressure on me to learn a huge amount of music very quickly (I worked on the music staff and also waitressed in the dining hall). As it turned out, I was the main (almost the only) accompanist for that summer (that wasn't the plan, but that's the way it turned out), and it just about did me in! ;)

4. One of the things that lightened my heart during that summer was the frequent mail from home. My mother did an incredible job of writing to me! Who knows how many hours that summer she spent at her desk, writing the letters which were like a lifeline for me? If I've never said thank you for that, Mother, I'm saying it now!!! The sweet lady who ran the mail room at the camp would give a piece of candy to everyone who came to check their mail but didn't have any. Thanks to my mother, I didn't get candy very often!

5. One of the other girls on the music staff was named Debra, and she was a few years younger than me. Unbeknownst to me, she ended up going to the college I attended because of my influence. Sometimes we don't see the effects of the ripples that go out from our lives; but in that case, I did get to see it--after the fact.

6. One night at camp, I hopped into bed, only to discover that I wasn't alone in it. A chipmunk was there before I was, and I don't know if he or I was more surprised at our chance encounter. I jumped out of bed and wildly chased him around the cabin before finally shooing him out the door. You wouldn't think that would have been such a traumatic event to me...after all, chipmunks are such cute little critters...but for years (literally) afterwards, I lifted the covers and looked underneath before getting into bed and stretching my legs out!

I'm a notorious chain breaker, so I'm not actually going to tag anyone. But anyone can play along if they want! :)

Sometimes Life Is Exhausting

This is what David did this afternoon: fell sound asleep on the floor of the guest room during his quiet playtime. It was quiet, all right.

This is how I felt today, but didn't have the opportunity of doing.

Exhausted. Utterly.

The Unexpected

Expected: that Josiah would enjoy his tennis class that started on Monday and goes until next Monday...this will be his 3rd year participating in this summer class, and it's amazing how much he's improved (with absolutely no real practice at home or encouragement from us, simply the growth in skill that comes from being 6 years old and not 4 or 5)...I was looking forward to seeing Angie, a friend from church, there because all 3 of her children participate in these classes and are really quite good (I have a sneaking suspicion that they actually practice!) :)

Unexpected (good): Kara, a friend from high school, has 2 boys that are participating in these lessons, and it's been so much fun to reconnect with her while the boys are playing!

~ David's big thrill this morning during Josiah's class was climbing on these bleachers
~ Josiah and Adam (Angie's son) making a tennis ball sandwich
~ Josiah's class

*******

Expected: that we would go to the downtown farmer's market after tennis

Unexpected (a little bad): there was absolutely no parking in the parking garage, and nearly all the produce available at the market is also available in our own garden or our neighbor's garden or the produce wagon at the end of the neighbor's lane...it was kind of a waste of time for me, although we did get a beautiful-looking watermelon that we'll cut open and enjoy tomorrow

*******

Expected: that we would go to the library for the boys to turn in their summer reading records and receive their prizes, listen to storytime, and get some books

Unexpected (good): not only did we get to see our friend Amy and her son Adam who we often bump into at the library, we also got to see Julie and part of her family!

*******

Expected: that we would go to Chik-fil-A for lunch because we had some good coupons (in part, from the library reading program) and were able to eat fairly cheaply there

Unexpected (bad, very bad): two boys (brothers, ages 8 and 4 and 1/2) "attacked" David on the playground there...as far as I can recall, this is the first time that the word "attacked" has been used in connection with my boys; and man, oh man, did I see red!...I was feeling a little challenged in the restaurant because of juggling all 3 boys and trying to meet everyone's needs, but things were going OK, I thought...Josiah had finished and had gone to play in the play area...David finished a little later and also went to play...I was sitting right outside the play area where I could see directly in and trying to hurriedly finish my salad when, suddenly, I saw David's crying face through the window (couldn't hear it because that glass is fairly soundproof)...I grabbed the carseat with Tobin in it and the diaper bag with keys, wallet, etc. in it and left everything else at the table, rushed into the play area, dropped the carseat and diaper bag, ran to the play equipment, and called to David to see if he could come down...I didn't know what was going on at this point...just as I was contemplating my own ascent into the playground equipment to find David, Josiah came over and I sent him up to let David know I was there and he could come down...meanwhile, Tobin, probably overwhelmed by the haste with which I had moved him and the noisy, crowded, unpleasant atmosphere of the play area had started squalling as well...I took David in my arms and COULD NOT BELIEVE IT when he said that some people had "attacked" him..."attack" is such a strong word; even the sound of it, with its emphasis on the second syllable and the "t" and "k" sounds, is harsh...I was trying to figure out what had really happened, but between David's crying and the loud environment and my awareness that David might be telling only one side of the story, I realized that I just needed to get out of there, so I took David and Tobin back to our table, calmed everyone down, then talked to David some more...it wasn't until I had gathered all the boys and all our stuff and thrown away what needed disposing of and packed away what needed saving and made our way to the car where we all got in and talked that I finally felt like I had a grasp on what had happened.

Apparently when Josiah had gone in to play, two groups of children had formed who were "against" each other in some sense, although no one was getting hurt at that point and it was all in fun, just hiding from each other, finding each other, stuff like that...the imaginative play was rougher than I would have been comfortable with, however; and I'm kicking myself that I didn't go in at that time; instead, I simply assumed that everything would be fine...in any case, David was at the top of the equipment and had not even gone down the slide once when these two brothers approached him and hit him...from what Josiah and David told me, David yelled for them to stop and Josiah who was just getting to the top also yelled for them to stop...the boys had their arms drawn back as if to hit David again, but did indeed stop and run away at that point...by the time I had any clue as to what had really happened, the boys and their mother were gone, so I didn't have the option of approaching them to discuss the situation (maybe that was a good thing!)...but boy, does my spirit get riled within me as I think about it all!

I like Chik-fil-A. They're closed on Sundays which I respect, they have an indoor playground which comes in handy on rainy or hot or cold days, the toys which come with their kids' meals have some kind of educational value and last a lot longer around here than the (almost entirely useless, in my opinion) plastic toys that every other restaurant gives in their kids' meals, and they have the sweetest older lady who goes around cleaning tables and getting drink refills and tickling babies' toes (Tobin's, today) and generally being helpful. It's not as if we often eat there; but when we do, I really do like that place (although I think their prices are too high). After today, however, I never want to go back. I'm not saying I will truly never go back, but my non-rational heart somehow feels like if we don't go to that physical place, my little David won't be hurt like that again. Of course, that's nonsense. But that's how I feel.

I also feel like I'm so glad I homeschool the boys because, for pete's sake, if something like that can happen at the playground at Chik-fil-A under the watchful eyes of parents (and with me just on the other side of the glass), what in the world could (and does) happen on schoolbuses, in hallways and classrooms, on playgrounds, and in bathrooms? To clarify: just because I feel like freaking out and never letting my boys out of my sight again, I'm not really going to do that. Really, I'm not. I know they need to grow up and maybe dealing with a bully is part of that? How messed up is that though? I'm so grateful that I never had to deal with someone like that as I was growing up. But it certainly emphasized to me the importance of some conversations I've been having with the boys recently about personal boundaries and how to deal with someone who crosses the line.

As I've thought about it this afternoon and evening, I have found a few things for which to be grateful: 1) David was bold enough to speak up and yell "stop," 2) Josiah was quick to stick up for his brother, 3) David wasn't seriously hurt, 4) I'd rather have David be hit by another kid than abused in other ways, 5) it led into an intense but good discussion of how to be like Jesus in that kind of situation...what did Jesus do when he was attacked?...what does he expect for us to do?...how do we deal with it, knowing that we don't even know who it was and there is no way to go to the attackers and get an apology from them?...how do we manage to get the heart of Jesus to simply forgive without the other person being penitent? etc. These are really questions for me because I truly felt like a mama bear whose cub was wounded. Not exactly a peace-loving, humble, forgiving spirit.

Anyway, enough of this... But it was just all so unexpected! Completely out of nowhere. One minute David is excited to go play; the next he's reeling from his first taste of violence against him. Ugh. OK, really, enough...

*******

Expected: that Jeff would come home from work at his normal time, we would eat dinner here, and have a regular evening at home

Unexpected (good!): Jeff came home early and said, "How about if we go to the taco shop and get some food and then go to Riven Rock to eat and let the boys play in the river?" Sounds great!!!

Unexpected (bad): bees...lots of bees...swarming around us as we were trying to eat our food. Not fun. Need I say more? (Fortunately, God protected us; and no one was stung.)

Unexpected (good!): a woman who lives near the river and whom we met some time ago through church activities came riding by on one of her horses!...it was nice to see her, and we talked for a little while...then she said, "if you can wait here for 15-20 minutes, I'll ride back, get another horse who is more gentle, and come back for you to ride him"...sure, we could wait!...I rode a little (my first time ever riding bareback), then Josiah did (his first time ever riding a horse, period!), then Jeff did...Debbie offered for David to ride, but he wasn't interested...that was really a special treat--an unexpected gift and upbeat way to close out the day--and it re-ignited my desire to someday have a horse :)

~ Josiah, David, and I on a rock in the river
~ a few times, David slipped on the wet rocks or otherwise found himself in more of the cold mountain water than he planned to be in...it was always funny to hear his exclamations! :)

~ Tobin, the Peaceful One, kicking back

~ trying to remember how to ride! "but there's no saddle or stirrups...what do I do now?" :)
~ Josiah on Major...I was SO PROUD of him because I knew he was a little scared about it all, but he did it anyway...go, Josiah!!!
~ Debbie led the horse the whole time Josiah was riding him, although she didn't do that for Jeff and I
~ the barefoot, bareback cowboy :)...Jeff used to ride a lot when he was younger, but the last time he did was before we were married...actually, the last time he rode was the first time I met his family, and we went riding with his sister who has owned and ridden horses forever...I was trying to make a good impression on her, of course, but ended up nearly fainting...the fact that the horse I was on was influenced by Kim's and Jeff's horses to move MUCH faster than I was comfortable with certainly didn't help my ability to stay conscious!...all's well that ends well, as they say; and Jeff married me anyway and his sister even likes me :)

~ in the end, Josiah and David concluded that it's easier to pretend to ride a tree-root horse than it is to ride a real one! :)

Another First

Tonight for the first time, Tobin got to swing in the baby swing on our swingset outdoors. Previously when we were outside, he would lay contentedly on a blanket on the ground, playing with a toy, sucking on his toes, looking around at everything, etc.--all the excitement a 6 month-old loves best. But after supper this evening, when I took the boys outside to play for a while, I decided to try Tobin in this swing and see how he liked it. Well...he liked it! He did end up eventually sliding down and contorting into positions that looked quite uncomfortable, but that didn't seem to bother him; I would help him get back into a better sitting position--more for my sake than his, I think. I'm sure he'll spend many more happy hours in this swing in the days to come!
Just for fun, here is a picture of David in the same swing from April 2006, one day after he turned one year old. Do you think Tobin and David look alike? The comments we've been getting recently about Tobin are, "Oh, my, he sure looks like he belongs in your family," or "Wow, he looks like his brothers," rather than specific comments of whether he favors Jeff or I or whether he looks more like Josiah or David. Personally, I see some of both his big brothers in him; but beyond that, I can't decide on the specifics.

The downsides of our very fun evening were that David fell off his swing (he decided he didn't need to hold on--silly boy--fortunately, the swing was barely moving so no serious injuries were sustained in the incident, but hopefully a lesson was learned!)...and I hurt my back by giving David an underdog. Since I was trying not to do a high one, I guess I leaned in a funny way at the end of the underdog to shorten my stature to make his swing stay low. Whatever I did, it hurt...and still does. Oh, well, a sore back is a small price to pay for a delightful evening with my boys!

Just Add Water

For summertime fun in the country, all you have to do is get out the sprinkler, drag out the hose, connect the two, then...just add water. Oh, and if you have a boy or two handy, add him into the mix for some good, clean, wholesome pleasure--guaranteed!

Making Lunch Fun

Back in November, I wrote about being creative, in a kid-friendly way, with food presentation for the boys' lunches. I still make various pictures and designs on their plates from time to time, although a happy face is the one I use most often (also the most requested by the boys). :)

However, recently, I've been noticing on Morning's blog that she's starting to have Muffin Tin Mondays where she serves lunch to her little boy in a muffin tin--of course! "What a great idea!" I thought, but did nothing like it until inspiration struck today at a neighborhood yard sale, of all places, when I found two muffin tins for a quarter each. Aha, perfect for making lunch more fun for Josiah and David! And so, this was our first lunch in a muffin tin...

~ for Josiah: lettuce, blackberries, colby jack cheese, pepperoni, goldfish crackers, cherry tomatoes, and a whole nectarine in the center
~ David's was almost the same, except I sliced his nectarine and didn't give him any lettuce

I'm sure we'll do this again sometime! Anything this easy and fun deserves to be repeated. :)

Forgot to Mention...

...that Jasper is a mix of black lab (his daddy) and basset hound (his mommy, from whom he obviously inherited his adorable ears!). Mixing those two breeds seems kind of funny to me, but I love the result!!!So much for having an indoor dog. Jeff got right to work on a pen for Jasper today, and after a trip to town for supplies, had it built by early afternoon. It's actually a really good thing for Jasper to be outside; he's got room to move and will grow used to the other animals we have. Besides, cleaning up after a dog is not exactly my cup of tea! When he gets bigger, we'll transition him into the pasture with Molly and the calves.

There is nothing like a boy and a dog--unless it's two boys (or even three) and a dog! I am thoroughly enjoying the way Josiah interacts with Jasper. This is what I was imagining when we got Molly a couple of years ago, but Josiah just wasn't ready for it then. We still have Molly, of course, and Josiah is definitely braver with her now than he used to be; but I can visualize Jasper growing up with our boys in a different way than has happened with Molly. It also helps that we got Jasper in the summer when it's so pleasant and easy to be outside, giving us lots of bonding time with him.

I also forgot to mention my weight from Monday morning: 147.6 pounds. 10 pounds down (well, almost)...7 more to go...yippee! :)

A Dog Named Jasper...

...or Jack. The above-30 folks in our household call him Jasper. The younger-than-10 group calls him Jack. So we said his name could be Jasper Jack Fisher, but Josiah corrected us by saying that his name is Jasper but his nickname is Jack. When we asked Josiah why he wanted to call him Jack, he said earnestly, "Because I've always wanted a friend named Jack!" :)

So...who is he? And what is he doing in our house?

He is a completely adorable puppy that Jeff brought home this evening. I saw Jeff walking up the steps from the garage with something in his arms--something strange, something different than what he normally carries. It took a few seconds for me to realize what it might be--and then, all dinner preparations were ceased as I quickly went over and sat on the floor, joined by the boys, to hold and cuddle and pet this beautiful little creature--so soft and shiny!

We had "talked" about getting another dog, our discussion being spurred by the fact that our 10-doors-up neighbor's dog had puppies (11 of them--can you imagine?!) and we could have one if we wanted it. But I didn't realize we were really getting one...and that we were getting it TODAY! It would be a little like Jeff coming home after work one day and finding me holding a child--our new child. "Well, dear, we talked about adopting a child. Here he is!" ;)

I never know what Jeff is going to do. He keeps me on my toes. He's very good for me. And this has happened before--in fact, the day we got our other dog, Molly, was very similar to this one, except that he called from work that January (2006) day and said, "What would you think if we got a dog?"

"Well, OK, that would be nice. Maybe when it's spring..."

"Great, I'll bring her home."

Um, thanks for the advance warning. ;)

Anyway, Jasper is the sweetest puppy--much, much calmer than Molly was as a puppy (although she was very sweet, too!). He's shy and a bit of a scaredy cat--rather, scaredy dog. Our Plan A for getting another dog was to have him in the pasture with Molly, but it seems like it will take some time for the dogs to get used to each other. Plus, Jasper is small enough to slip through the fence easily, so we don't want to put him up there now. For tonight, he's snoozing on our porch, after having spent some time indoors this evening. I always said that I never wanted an indoor dog, but I don't know. He sure is a sweetheart... :)

Tobin Still Gets a Little Lost...

...in this farm toy. It makes me laugh to see just his head poking up and floating around. Where did the rest of you go, little boy? :)

~ "how convenient that David parked his tricycle so close to me; now I can reach these red and white things..."
~ "...maybe I can eat them!...rats, they aren't long enough...oh, well, I'll just feel them for a while and study them intently...I'm sure this is helping my brain to develop!"