three

Rosemary turned three yesterday. This morning when we were getting Owen up from his nap, she made up a song for him. "You need to learn to stand, you need to learn to walk, you need to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind...you need to obey mom, and don't be naughty, and you need to love God."

Jack and I constantly say to each other, "what a girl." precocious and hilarious and deeply loved.

tobogganing

When this snow fell, it was just too cold to go out.

Single digit cold.

Almost no degrees outside.

And both my kiddos have spent the week coughing and dripping and rashing and night-waking.

But today warmed up a bit. We said we'd go sledding.

Rosie said, "But let's call it tobogganing."

Tobogganing.

the oil cleansing method

One of my new year's resolutions is to continue switching over to more natural and homemade health and beauty and cleaning products. I thought I'd share with you (my two readers - Hi mom! Hi sis!) the things I've already started trying.

The first switch I made was to the oil cleansing method for skin, which I read about on Simple Mom.

I combined equal parts of castor oil and olive oil in an old glass spice jar. To clean my face, I rub a dime-sized portion into my skin, then hold a steaming washcloth over my face for a minute. I rinse the washcloth in hot water, then gently rub the oil off. I do this four to five times a week, and on the other days, to be honest, I just don't wash my face (sorry to gross you out, Kate).

Basically, the good oils bond to the dirt and bad oils, removing them from the skin without removing the good natural oils from the skin. I've been doing this for over two months now, and my skin isn't much different than it was before, when I was using cetaphil, except that it's a bit softer. I find the steamy process to be relaxing and kind of luxurious.

When I refill my little jar next, I'm going to try adding a drop or two of tea tree oil, to help control the occasional breakout.

And that's it! I recommend it.

Meatless Monday: new recipes

This week we've tried three new vegetarian entrees, each of them satisfying and hearty and delicious.

Using special Minnesota black rice, we made Wild Rice and Mushroom soup. I think next time I would cook the rice a little bit longer, and maybe use even more mushrooms. I used baby bellas along with a few shittake and oyster mushrooms, and I think next time I will keep it simpler, with all bellas or button mushrooms. (Click the images to view the recipe.)

This Tortilla and Black Bean Pie was very nice. With chips and guacamole, it's an awesome dinner. I did add spices: I upped the cumin to 1 tsp and added 1/4 tsp each of chili powder and cayenne. In all, I think I added 3/4 tsp salt ( one of my pet peeves is recipes that say "salt and pepper to taste"). I also used cooked dried beans rather than canned, and a sharp white cheddar for the cheese.

My favorite - and this could just be because of how hungry I was when I ate it - was Crispy Pan Fried Beans with Wilted Greens. We used cumin and cayenne rather than the spices listed in the recipe, though I'm not sure about the amounts, because Jack cooked this dish. It was so yummy.

our second Christmas

We escaped grey, icy Upland for a few days this month and celebrated Christmas again, this time with our family in Georgia.

We also got to meet new baby Rocco Paul, who was just 12 days old when we arrived.

Before we left, we had an early birthday party for Rosie (she will be three! Next week!). Trick candles had been purchased by accident, but Rosie adored them. We had several minutes of hilarious fun with them.

December in Little Rock

With weather into the sixties, we took every chance to enjoy the parks in Little Rock this December, playing at Pinnacle, Alsopp Park, the Rivermarket, & Two Rivers. The natural beauty of the Ozarks had us certainly thinking twice about the place we've chosen to call "home" for now.

We had three things to celebrate this December. First was Jimmy's engagement to EA, whom we all love. With her family we visited the Garvan Gardens Christmas lights.

Second was Jesus' birthday, which we celebrated with songs, fellowship, food &wine, gifts for each other, and gifts for people around the world via Compassion and World Vision. The gift for the whole family that was a hit was the board game Dominion. Rosie's favorites were binoculars and a magnifying glass (she is pictured here wearing every article from her entire dress-up box).

Third, of course, we celebrated Katie's 27th birthday with dinner at home one night and at YaYa's the next night.

It was a lovely trip, and as Rosie says, "I already miss my uncles - Uncle GDaddy, Uncle Mimi, John, David, and...John?" (Sorry, Jim, we're working on it.)

Directions In Which To Lean in 2012

(My blog posting dropped off at the end of 2011 for several reasons - the external hard drive on which I had stored everything, photos included, started malfunctioning; I began teaching again very suddenly and unexpectedly; and I hosted my first family holiday, Thanksgiving. I'm still having trouble with my photos, but am going to blog anyway.)

These are my resolutions, of a sort, though none of them are the kind that require me to do something every day, like read the bible or exercise or drink more water. I always fail at those. These are more like directions I have already started traveling in, and want to continue in for 2012.

1. Eat meatless one day a week, probably two, and when eating meat, try to eat more organically, locally, happily raised animals and animal products.

2. Start composting, and somehow or another, do more vegetable gardening this year.

3. Continue gradually to replace personal health and beauty products, and household cleaning products, with more natural alternatives (eliminate SLS, dyes, fragrances, chemicals, etc). (My pinterest inspiration board is here, and I'm always looking for suggestions!)

4. Use Common Prayer daily & read large portions of the Bible (Message translation for freshness).

5. Help Rosie develop better habits regarding toothbrushing, tv watching, bible reading &memorization. Maybe try a visual schedule with her?

6. Re-work budget and be more organized in spending (in January!).

7. Continue to have 2-3 evenings a week tv-free.

8. Continue to go on a date twice a month.

Would also like to (but don't hold your breath)...
-Revive the practice of morning pages (I haven't done them since 2005!)
-Go for a walk outside every day

PS- With both my laptop and external hard drive on the fritz, I'm blogging through an iPad app which seems to cut off my pictures on some (though not all) browsers. Still working on a fix :-(

And a happy new year

I didn't make time to create a Christmas letter like i have in years past...but for the sake of our little family record, here is a rough sketch of our 2011 in sum. Merry Christmas!

Highlights of 2011
January - Rosie's 2nd birthday
February - Papa and MaeMae visit and bring O's cradle
March - Mimi's visit/ Jack's TESOL conference in New Orleans
April - Owen's birth; O's first Easter and R's first Easter egg hunt
May - Katie and Elliott visiting for Memorial Day
June - Amy turning 30; visiting North Georgia and Macon
July - visiting Little Rock; Mollie and Anna visiting Upland
August - Peterson family reunion in the Smoky Mountains
September - Rosie is potty trained!
October- Amy resumes teaching at Taylor
November- Rosie & Owen are baptized at Gethsemane; Lepines come to Upland for Thanksgiving; James proposes to EA
December- We host the dept. Christmas party, and welcome the Brainers to Upland; we spend Christmas in LR; Rocco Accocella is born

Top Albums in 2011(Amy)
Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Adele - 21

Only live music... My Brightest Diamond

Top TV shows
Downton Abbey
Parks and Recreation
Friday Night Lights
Doc Martin
Sherlock
Top Chef
How I Met Your Mother

Top Movies
Money ball
50/50
Bridesmaids
Tree of Life
Super 8
Midnight in Paris
Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows


Top Books (Amy)
Finally Feminist -Stackhouse
Claire Fergusson mysteries
State of Wonder -ann patchett
Cookbook Collector - Allegra Goodman
Blood, Bones, and Butter - Gabrielle Hamilton
A Visit from the Goon Squad -Egan
Simplicity Parenting

baptism

Last year, at one of our very last times of worship with the good folks at Greenlake Presbyterian (hi! we miss you.), Mike Kelly preached about infant baptism. His logical presentation, interpretation of Scripture, and especially his pastoral and fatherly heart in the sermon completely convinced Jack and me that we wanted our babies to be baptized. With only two or three weeks left in Seattle, we weren't able to do it there.

In Indiana, it took us a good six to nine months to settle into a church home. But we did, finally, and this morning at Gethsemane Episcopal Church in Marion, Rosemary and Owen were baptized. We are grateful.

meatless monday: tuesday edition

Cauliflower gratin (from an old Bon Appetit mag, and just so-so); onion roasted sweet potatoes; french onion soup.

French onion soup always takes me back to Au Pied de Cochon, which is, I think, where we ate dinner one very late night on my first trip to Paris (do you remember, Laura? do I remember it right?), so late that the restaurant was closing, there was only us and a table of business men in suits, who were eyeing us wryly, a group of giggly American girls (and mothers)in long skirts, sipping our French onion soup. It was delicious.

some halloweens past

Going to a "harvest festival" church event in San Antonia as a childBonnie and Clyde - before we were married
F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

Charlotte's Web, Fern, and Wilbur