Wordless Wednesday: Perfection

Dynamic Duos

A & E had their second piano recital on Saturday and this one was twice as special as the last: it was a duet recital and, while the other students' partner was their private instructor, the girls had the special honor of inviting John to be their partner. It comes in handy having a Daddy who plays piano! 

Abby, Elise, and John - it has been such a treat watching the three of you work together. There were moments of frustration followed by moments of celebration! I have enjoyed taking a backseat while you tackle this project without me. And, on Saturday, your hard work more than paid off! It was a show of poise and dedication as well as teamwork and love. Definitely love.

Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever. Those are two words that I rarely use - I love being home and, much like my children, can easily occupy hours upon hours within the walls of our house. There is always something that can be crafted or baked, built or drawn, listened to or read. And still, in my second year away from the school system, I still eagerly await the announcement that it's going to be a snow day. I can't explain it but, if you're friends with me and work in the schools, you probably got a text, as usual, sharing my excitement over the cancellation. 

The snow days two weeks ago were different because they hit us at the very moment that we could either be devoured by or triumphantly overcome Cabin Fever. Within a week's time, Abby got sick, Elise got sick, I got sick, Abby got better, Elise seemed to be better, I got better, Elise got an ear infection, and we got snowed in. Cabin Fever clearly sunk it's claws into us.

The girls and I pick up a respiratory cold about once a year. In fact, I had Elise at the doctor on February 3rd this year and the last time I had been there with a sick child was on January 21st, 2013... one year ago. I don't dislike doctors; I believe in the power of healthy bodies to heal. I am not anti-medication; I believe in the power of healthy bodies to heal. It is hard holding steadfast to that kind of belief when I live in a world where people inundate their bodies with medication... pain relievers and cough syrups, antibiotics and antihistamines. Do the research: illnesses and diseases are smart - they learn to navigate drug-infested systems and grow bigger, stronger, and more resilient. And I can't help but wonder what it does to a healthy system to be attacked by these power-house germs? Stepping down from my soap box now. Just food for thought next time you reach for the medicine cabinet instead of a cup of tea.

We are all well... the snow has melted... and we kicked Cabin Fever's ugly face to the wayside. Enjoy some pics from our time together, both in and out of the house!

Making salt-dough Valentine magnets...

KU Women's basketball game...

From snow to shorts...

Photo-A-Day Challenge: Day #25: Ground

Our 7th Anniversary was yesterday, July 24th. Seven years ago we were on a beach in Maui, getting hitched by a large Samoan man playing a ukulele. At that time, I didn't drink coffee. I liked "mocha" things - in high school, my dad and I frequently made after-dinner runs to Baskin Robbins for a cappuccino blast. Anyone remember those? My mom and I miss the jamoca almond fudge ice cream from there as well. Both coffee-inspired, but nothing at all like a cup of coffee. This picture of freshly ground beans, soaking in hot water in our pour-over coffee pot, represents John's ever-present influence in who I am today, one cup of coffee at a time. I'm not a daily coffee drinker and I always add milk, but I'll go without any sweetener or maybe a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. He's a good influence and I love my daily reminders of how "we" have changed "me". Happy anniversary (a day late) to my coffee-drinking partner. Thank you for keeping me grounded. Forever.

Photo-A-Day Challenge: Day #21: Fave Food

It is amazingly appropriate that the challenge keyword "fave food" coincided with John's birthday. I'm sorry I didn't bake you a cake, dear, but I feel confident that the pancakes and bacon that I made for your birthday breakfast were an obvious indication of my love for you. I'm sorry that this morning at the Merc while the girls were telling the cashier it was your birthday, they also told her you were 40. Totally my fault and I corrected the mistake immediately. After I giggled. But even when you are 40, I'll still shower you with pancakes for your birthday. Happy Birthday and we love you!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! 

From Elise:

"Happy birthday to you,

I love you because,

You're sooooo schweet...

Because you look like a banana!"

May 2009, Elise

From Abby:

"Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

You are so schweet...

Happy birthday to you, I love more than anyone!"

December 2009, Abby

Wordless Wednesday: SIX YEARS (raise a glass to many more...)

Wordless Wednesday: Drum, Daddy, Drum

And summer begins...

This summer has been much awaited, much anticipated. This would be the beginning of my 11th "summer vacation" as a teacher. But instead, this is the beginning of my first summer as a stay-at-home mom. We have been working toward this goal for nearly 4 years and it has taken the love and dedication of both sets of grandparents and my very hard-working husband to get here. I've had a lot of people (many of which are working moms) say "you're so lucky" and "I'm so jealous". But this isn't a gift that has fallen into my lap. My beautiful birthday bouquet? Definitely a gift that fell into my lap...

But staying home? This was a well-thought out plan that involved financial components, lifestyle components, and priorities. It was a plan that involved doing what we believe is best for our family. And I just happen to be on the receiving end of this most perfect plan. Let the good times roll!

Wordless Wednesday: Three reasons why I love my life

Yo-J

Growing up, our family trip to Minnesota was a highlight of the summer year after year after year (32 years for me, to be exact). When you have someplace that is special, the people, places, and things that make it so awesome stay with you forever. It might be a trip to Benjamin Franklin for nail polish. It might be that plastic goo that you can blow bubbles with. Maybe it's Yo-J. Anyone remember Yo-J? We bought it every summer at the little grocery store in Aitkin, Minnesota. And it was delicious. YOgurt and Juice: Yo-J. Go make yourself some. Feed it to your children. Use different juices. Whatever (see? already tossing the "whatever" around...see previous post).

Homemade Yo-J

• Organic homemade plain yogurt
• Organic blueberry juice
• Organic lemon juice (just a tiny dash)
• Local honey
• Whisk away
• Drink

There is nothing involved in this recipe. You probably do it all the time. But I hadn't made Yo-J in awhile and this morning it was a lovely treat for the three of us girls. Speaking of treat... John and I don't go big when it comes to gifts, especially for each other. Hell, I bought him drumstick chopsticks this year. Seriously. Chopsticks on one end, drumsticks on the other. He told me that he loved them and I believed him. However, he surprised me with a killer tabletop photobooth - it has the screens on two sides and the top with a backdrop and then two lights that shine in from the outside. I took the pics above with it and I am loving the quality. Thank you, dear! While I was sitting in the kitchen savoring my Yo-J, it seemed strangely quiet for having two small people in the house with me. I found the girls, in my workroom, posing their little critters in the photobooth and taking pictures with my camera. They took these pictures - 100% on their own. Now I'm not feeling so smug about my pics, because theirs are damn good. 

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day (yesterday, today, and always) to two very amazing dads.  I feel the pictures speak for themselves...

The obligatory Valentine's day post...

Yesterday was Valentine's day. Personally, I love it, for the following reasons:

• #1 I have a sweet tooth. 
• #2 I love making cards. 
• #3 I love getting mail. 
• #4 Flowers are beautiful. 
• #5 Random little presents in February make me happy (both giving and receiving).
• #6 I have a dear hubby who gave me flowers that satisfied both #'s 1 and 4 above.

So, my Valentine's baking consisted of cream-cheese frosting filled strawberries and mocha cupcakes with espresso buttercream frosting. Oh. my. sweet. sweet. tooth. Here's the rundown:

Filled Strawberries

• Cream cheese frosting of your choice (mine was simply cream cheese, powdered sugar, a little vanilla)
• Strawberries - washed, stems sliced off, and "X"s cut through from the pointy-end almost to the flat side, but not slicing through
• Sprinkles
• Melted chocolate for drizzling
• Holiday-colored M & Ms for garnish

Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting, as seen on My Baking Addiction. I'm not going to re-post the recipe, I'm just going to reiterate: Oh. my. sweet. sweet. tooth. I found the batter to be unusually runny for cupcakes, so as I waited impatiently for the timer to beep, I worried that my dessert masterpiece was already a flop. Wrong. Moist cupcakes with a hint of coffee, smothered in the richest espresso frosting you can imagine. Topped with dark chocolate-covered espresso beans - yes, please! I went running shortly after finishing these. And again the next day. Yet I feel like there is still buttercream frosting running through my veins.

Last, but far from least, you can see some tiny heart candies pictured above. These would be Petit Sour Hearts by Jelly Belly. My mom stumbled across them several years ago and gave them to me for this fine holiday of sugar. My mouth waters just thinking about them. They are, hands down, my favorite candy. Never, I tell you, never pass them up if you are lucky enough to stumble across them. (Thank you, Mom, for BOTH bags that you gave me this year.)

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. Happy Valentine's Day to my life-loving baby girls. And Happy Valentine's Day to my wife-loving husband. I could definitely feel the love this year!

We got engaged on Valentine's Day 2006, married in Maui that July.

Team Lawrence does dinner!

There is a children's book called I Went Walking.  This afternoon, we lived our very own real life version of this book. And in the words of the girls, here is what we saw:

• "pink pig. no real. pretend."
• "black cat. no, gray. no, white cat."
• "three cats."
• "anderson, momma, baby."
• "man. fix door. tool. driver." 
• "truck. dirty. rust."

We saw a pretend pink pig.  We saw three cats; the friendliest of the bunch was white. We ran into our friend Anderson, his momma, and his baby brother. We saw a man fixing his garage door... with a tool... a screwdriver. We saw an old rusty truck.

As you can see, it's hat-making season in our house.
Lucky for me, I have hat-loving ladies.

After our long and very interesting stroll, we came home to feast upon a pot of potato soup made by our very own Chef Daddy! Soup season is upon us - if you've got a pot, some of this, some of that, a little broth... voila! Soup was the probably the number one vehicle for veggies for the girls last fall/winter. They acquired tastes for broccoli, peas, spinach, corn, cauliflower, green beans, onions, peppers... you name it, their little bodies ingested it with a soup spoon. Here's a quick run-down of ingredients:

• 
  About 8 potatoes - yukon golds, medium size
• 4 pieces of bacon
• 2 leeks of average size
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• 1 quart chicken broth (homemade chicken stock is the ultimate)
  • + 4 or 5 additional cups of water
• 
  5 pieces of roasted garlic
• 2 Bay leaves
• Fresh oregano
• Fresh rosemary
• Salt & pepper to taste

Tools of the trade:

• Large soup pot - Le Creuset is the champion soup-maker!
• 
  Stick blender (or regular blender)

And here are some snippets of info from John's soup-savvy mind:

"Before we start, you could easily “healthy” this recipe up by simply omitting bacon and using extra-virgin olive oil instead. However, this is not the particular route I chose for this particular soup. In my humble opinion, few things go together so well in life as bac’n ‘n’ taters...

As far as soups go, it does not get much easier than potato. Plus it is healthy, inexpensive, and like most soups, gets even tastier after a day or two in the fridge."


-John "Daddy-doo" Lawrence

We love John for a lot of reasons.  But, his overall love of being in the kitchen is definitely at the top of the list! Time after time, I've said to John "Dear, do you get tired of doing dishes every night?", and his consistent response is "Not if it means that I've had a good home-cooked meal". Thanks, dear, for dirtying dishes in order to replenish us from our walk-about with this hearty soup and then doing dishes so that I can sleep peacefully knowing that the kitchen is clean. 

A slice of warm cornbread and fresh dark chocolate and cherry whole wheat cookies for dessert (recipes for both to come) perfectly accompanied our potato-bacon goodness.