Gotta Blow on It!

*Reading Ava our Danger Ranger book

Jaime:  See that house is on fire.  Fire is hot!

Ava:  Yep, you gotta blow on it.

Menu Plan Monday

Having an entire week at home is a luxury! I’m looking forward to cooking as much as I can.

Sunday: Thai Meatballs with Peanut dipping sauce; salad; homemade bread. As long as you use GF bread crumbs and a GF bread mix, this is a safe meal. See recipe below. 

Dan’s new love

Delish and easy

Tasty like regular bread

With cheese—heaven

I have a new love

my dear husband bought it

I’m now in love

with the mixer

. . .

and even more

with him

*photo courtesy of http://renomart.com.au/

Best Christmas Toys

We’ve been quite blessed this holiday season, despite the negative economy.  If you are one of the 20 people behind the Google searches for toys for a 2 1/2  year old girl, this post is for you. 

New Favorites

While I haven’t been writing in the blog much lately**, I’ve been reading a number of blogs on a regular basis.  Here are a few of my new favorites:

• (No) Sex in the City:  Witty, concise and adorable.  Natalie’s a friend of mine on Broadway, and I love love love her product reviews.  
• Good Clean Food: They have some yummy recipes, great ideas and I feel healthier when I read it. 
• Bake Shop: Yummy yummy recipes.  Not great if you are going gluten free or trying to lose weight or cut carbs.  It’s my temptation. 
• Nothing is Lost Forever:  Nate’s an American guy living in Moscow.  His blog is deep thoughts, engaging conversation and a creative streak that inspires and enriches. 
• PO’d Teacher: She’s honest and not afraid to say what she thinks.  I love to read her because I think it gives me some insight into what my teachers may be saying at the water cooler and on those long walks to the ladies’ room. 
• CJane: So tragically CJane’s sis and BIL were in a plane crash in August.  She’s chronicled the beginning of their recovery and  how her life progresses.  She’s refreshing, sweet but with enough edge that you love her blog and want more. 

 

**I’ve not been updating the blog much lately, as I’m still trying to figure out how much info I want out there.  Hopefully I can figure out a way to continue updates, but maintain some level of privacy.

The 500th Post, a Recap of the Previous 499

This is the 500th post of our blog. (Not quite the same volume as my political blog, where I’ve written something like 2000 posts). I haven’t kept up this blog as much over the past year or so, due mostly to politics. I’m glad that the election is over and that it went in the direction I was hoping it would. I’ve focused more on other things now with some of my free time. It’s interesting to see, of the first 499 posts which are the most viewed. It all depends on google searches, it seems. Here are the top ten most viewed posts on our blog, starting with #10.

I go on the potty, Mama!

Dan, Ava & I have been working to help her grow out of her diapers.  It’s been challenging to say the least over time. Today Ava asked to go potty while we were at Target, and that’s when I knew we were doing something right.  I think we finally figured it out! I’ll share in case it will help anyone else.

I’m curious what ideas others have about potty training.  Please comment so we can get even better at this

Here’s our reward chart:

Here’s the Reward Box of Toys:

Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring

This is more for Jaime. You got me interested in ballet with renting Center Stage the other day, so I meandered around Wikipedia finally ending up on Youtube watching this, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring ballet. This is, as far as I know, the only recording of it. It isn’t produced much these days. It’s more of a concert staple, than a ballet these days. However, with your interest in ballet and dance in general, I thought you might want to watch this, truly most fascinating interpretive dance. I saw it once before, when I was studying music in California. Truly fascinating.

Part One:

Christmas traditions

Wow, what a difference a year makes!  Ava was putting each ornament onto the tree this year.  She loves the ornaments–especially the beaded star, shiny balls and apples.  As we placed the candy canes on the tree, I thought of wise men and their staffs.  When I explained that we put the tree up to remember Jesus and His upcoming birth, Ava asked if we’ll be having cake for His birthday. 

What a wonderful idea! I think we just created a new Christmas tradition. 

What’s your family traditionally do for Christmas?