hope

lately our house is full of election talk. at the breakfast table while we read the paper, all throughout the day as we relate new things we heard on the radio and with pretty much anyone who enters our home. bee is soaking it all up and we have to be careful about how we talk about things. she knows where we stand but we are also trying (as hard as it sometimes is) to let her know that we have our choice, but others have theirs, and that is ok. 

she is full of questions ranging from why presidents wear ties to what a president does. earlier this week bee was quizzing me about the latter. i gave her a nice, age appropriate speech about how the president helps people and makes sure that things are nice in our country. she then asked why we want barack obama to be president. i told her that he would make sure that everyone would have a nice home to live in, a good school to go to, a good job and that he would make sure to take care of the environment. bee thought about it for a minute and then said, "well, i wish that my ceiling could be lower so that i could touch it." i laughed and said, "well, when barack obama is president, anything will be possible!"

but seriously, i am bursting with joy to be a parent during this historic time. things are going to be good, i can feel it!

twirly girl

monday night i made bee two new skirts. our kids have no halloween costumes completed, but i was busy making skirts! makes sense.

i was just so excited to try this pattern, which is so amazing and easy and cute. and so much potential for fabric/ ribbon combinations! i first saw the pattern on soule mama, of course.

bee loves the skirts so much. she wore one yesterday and the other today. she said that every kid in her class complimented her, but she is also going through a big lying phase, so.....

i never got a picture of the one she wore yesterday, but here's the one she wore today:

horray for having a girl!

"beef" stew

last winter i was dreaming of beef stew. this wasn't something that i had too often as a kid, when i still ate meat. but when i did have it, i loved it! those soft carrots, the gravy, even the beef! so, when i started thinking of stew, i checked out some vegetarian stew recipes. they all were a bit complicated and/or used tofu, which i think would just ruin the whole idea. i wanted it to be as authentic as possible, not some watered down version. so, i made up my own recipe and although it has slightly evolved, it was a winner from day one.

the "meat" source is what has changed most over time and now i think i am set on using seitan, especially since i am the master seitan maker now. bee even says that it's one of the things that she likes best about me. i have used some "beef" fake meat stuff that they have in the freezer at the grocery store. that is actually the tastiest and most authentic product, but it's pretty expensive. the homemade seitan is about a dollar a pound, so you can't beat that.

the basic recipe is this:

"beef" stew

one onion, chopped 

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

4 large carrots, chopped pretty big

6 celery stalks, chopped

3 small potatoes, cubed

olive oil

butter (or vegan butter to make it vegan)

half a package of mushrooms, chopped

2 tablespons soy sauce

3-4 tablespoons flour

salt to taste

about 2 cups of chopped seitan 

3 bay leaves

one box of vegetable broth

in a large pot, start sauteing the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and  potatoes in oil, covered. add a bit of broth if it starts sticking or needs a little more steam.

in a separate frying pan, melt butter and fry mushrooms with a little salt. when the mushrooms are cooked pretty well, add about a cup of broth. let it reduce down for a minute and then strain out the mushrooms and put them in with the other vegetables. 

add the soy sauce to the mushroom broth and then the flour. wisk the flour to make a gravy. 

once the vegetables are soft, add the gravy, bay leaves, remaining broth and seitan to the big pot. 

let the whole thing simmer for about 20 minutes to reduce down a bit.

the stew is best after it sits for a bit. i like to make it in the afternoon and then have it for dinner, but it is even better the next day.

i should note that this is also a meal that the whole family enjoys and that is really a huge thing for me right now. i am proud when my kids eat things like this, but it is also just so cute to see that tiny bowl and spoon filled with real people food!

apples: from the branch to the oven in hours.

we are so lucky to live across the street from an orchard. it is small but throughout the late summer and fall, we really never buy apples or peaches anywhere but in our neighborhood. it is one of my favorite things about where we live. i love that apple picking is not a once-a-year outing for our family. when we need apples, we walk across the street and in as little as ten minutes we can be home with a half peck. 

this past monday we picked apples all together for what may be the last time this year. we got some of every kind with the intention of making a pie when we got home.

at home, we got everything out on the kitchen table and worked together on the pie. bee cut up the cold butter, sampling the "butter juice" until we put an end to that. D peeled, sliced and spiced the apples (cinnamon, sugar, a little flour and some pumpkin pie spice). i ran around doing everything else.
once the crust dough was made, bee and i rolled it out. she got tired and started on some "scrap soup".
we made a crumb top so that we could make two pies and because we like it better. for the topping i just mixed together a half of a stick of melted butter, about a cup and a half of oats, a few tablespoons of sugar, a few tablespoons of maple syrup and cinnamon.

with the little bit of extra dough, i made cinnamon sticks, which are just basically just sticks of dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar.
the pies came out beautiful and were even better last night when we ate one with good friends, good beer and some delicious sage cheddar. i had never heard of cheddar with apple pie until i met D's family. now i am of the opinion that it is THE BEST way to eat apple pie.

fall festival

this past weekend was LONG and eventful. it really is worthy of several posts, so to keep my sanity i'm going to cover only one topic tonight. i hope i'll have time tomorrow to add a bit more. and there was a lot, for sure! the most exciting being the overnight that D and i spent with no kids, and an open bar at my cousin's wedding!

but first was saturday's morning at our favorite fall festival. we had to really squeeze it in because of the wedding we had to head out to in the afternoon, but there was never a question. we had to go! we have never missed it. now as bee gets older, and even this year for henny, it is really so much fun to experience everything with them. before we had kids, it was all about the food and the crafts and maybe seeing friends. now it's all about the games, petting zoo and dancing to the music.

this year bee played three games and earned herself a handful of candy. everyone is a winner!

first there was the golf game where bee got to drop 10 marbles down the board and see which hole they land in. bee had no idea about the rules or points or whatever. she just loved watching them bounce around and sometimes land in a hole.

next we played a game where we got to toss dimes to try to get them to land on a circle. bee actually did manage to get one on and that was a huge thrill. 
the last game we played was our favorite and by far the most inventive. i don't know what you would call it but what you had to do was roll this ball up a slight hill, by balancing it on these 2 poles and kind of pumping it uphill. D helped bee and i think he liked it better than she did!
henny enjoyed it all from D's back and then let loose when we sat down to eat lunch and listen to some music. henny danced and ate and then danced some more. 

coming tomorrow (hopefully), wedding and apple pie!

hey lady, what year is it?

yesterday while i was picking bee up at school, she was playing around with another little girl. they were acting all cute, hugging and trying to pick each other up a little off the ground. the mix of hugging and feeling proud about how strong their four year old bodies are was so sweet. until, this other girl's grandmother, who was there to get her, broke up the fun. the reason,"that's enough girls. that's not how young ladies behave. that's how men behave."

wow.

a bunch of things to be happy about

as promised, more joy comes today!

first off is bee's much loved vintage paper doll. meet ann-charlotte:

we got her at a flea market last weekend, for 25 cents and then promptly left her at a cafe ten minutes later. i rescued her later in the week and she has become much loved. i love her too. look at those clothes, and accessories! i only wish i got a picture before we started cutting.

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next up is henny's nap. i know, i just wrote about how much it's ruining my life, but who couldn't love a guy who knows when he's tired and just goes to sleep. here is hen during his still much needed morning nap:

and here is hen, after, just minutes after waking up:
how sweet and bright-eyed is he? just cuddling with his baby, who he grabbed after he woke up. at least i know, no matter how hard it all is right now, i'm doing right by henny by respecting his sleep schedule.

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i finally remembered to bring the camera to the farm today (as part of my striving toward positivity) and i got a few great shots.

bee basking in the indian summer:

henny feeding the goat and shrieking with laughter at the thrill of it all:
and finally, and most ridiculous of all, bee's new "scary face". she has been entertaining us with this face all day for weeks. here is just one of the pictures that i have of this beauty:
life is good, no matter how tough it sometimes is. i know that i signed up for this and that it is a job, and no job is ever perfect. but when i force myself to focus on the positive, i find that there is so much that i'm literally swimming in blog content!

celebrity done right

i've always thought that angelina was pretty awesome, what with her tattoos, six kids, hot husband, amazing work to help people all around the world. but this new magazine cover just put her over the top on my list. there she is, breast feeding on the cover of w magazine. lovely.

feeling negative.

i have been putting of writing here because i feel like everything i have to say is not very nice. today i decided that i'm just going to put it down, and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. maybe i'll keep the camera by me more and take a picture of something that is wonderful, because there is much that is wonderful around me. i just haven't been able to shake a bit of a funk for the past week or so. i think it's a combination of things.

mainly, the new school schedule is bumming me out. i feel like i do nothing, get close to nothing accomplished and have very little fun. it's school, hen's nap, back to school, lunch, another nap, maybe one hour before dinner and then bed. day after day. no visiting friends, no outings, no freedom. 

that all combined with henny coming into a new phase in his life. he is no longer a baby who would pretty much go along with whatever. he wants to walk, climb and get into trouble. he wants to do everything but he has so sense about getting hurt. he falls and hurts himself all day. no matter how much i stay on top of him, it's inevitable. even when i try to catch him from falling i feel like he gets hurt from slamming down on my hand or something. i think i remember when bee was this age feeling similarly frustrated. henny is caught between being a baby and a toddler. it's an adjustment for us all and just so sad to be there for.

i am also feeling negative about my weight loss. i have lost a lot of weight in the last few months but it seems to be done coming off. that might not be so bad if i didn't feel like eating EVERYTHING. i am doing well controlling myself, but it's so hard. i feel like i want to eat all day, and not good things. 

finally D and i are leaving the kids overnight for this first time (since henny was born) coming up and i am so stressed about it. i know everything will be fine and even is it's not, it's not that long of a time and we can make it all better when we get home. i just can't stop thinking the worst (obviously not THE WORST, but all the things that would make it bad): henny cries because of a new separation anxiety he has, bee has bad/sassy behavior, kids won't sleep, babysitters don't follow "the rules"....

phew.

ok, now that i got that off my chest, the next thing i will post will be cute or yummy or inspiring. promise.

window kisses

i have so much more to say, but not much time. right now i have  consignment sale that is sucking the life out of me.

but, it will be over after tomorrow, and then the debate is on! and we can watch sarah palin scare the living daylights out of us! and drinks will be drunk! not that they weren't tonight. ha!