Snippets

We've been busy with the end of the school year (mostly for mom at work), swimming lessons for Helena and lots of other fun summer things (pool trips, birthday parties, playdates, etc.)  Some snippets from the kids:

- We joined the rec center by our house finally so that we can go swimming for cheap(er) this summer.  I messed up and didn't get them the documentation they needed to prove our residency was 'in bounds' before I tried to take the kids swimming today.  Needless to say, I was pretty peeved when they wouldn't let us in because of it.  It was super fun to tell two kids that we weren't going swimming because of a clerical issue.  Anyway, on the way home the kids could tell I was peeved and Harper asked, "Why was that lady blocking the door to the pool?" (She wasn't really physically blocking the door, he just thought she was...) "Well, the lady needed some papers from me that I didn't have."  Harper: "What is that lady's name? Is it Lady Gaga?"  Leave it to him to bring humor to any situation!

- At work today there was a kid in Harper's class that was having trouble with drop off.  I came in the classroom and successfully helped her calm down and start eating her breakfast.  Harper's teacher told me that when I left that he said, "Miss Tami, my mom is really great with whiny kids." Hmmm.....wonder why?!?

- Helena graduates from preschool tomorrow afternoon and starts in a Spanish immersion kindergarten / 1st grade class on Monday. (I have to work this summer so the kids are going to school still).  Where oh where did the time go?  Pics and video to follow.  I'll be the one with puffy eyes and mascara running down my face.  Helena is wearing an actual cap & gown....I can't handle it!

- We've been doing some intensive swimming lessons with Helena after the first round didn't go so hot. She has really improved this week once we started doing them closer together so we're glad to be on a better, less traumatic path. :)

-Emily :)

California Spring Break 2013

OK, I know.  I'm behind again.  We have had a few trips and visitors so I am hoping to get caught up to now very soon.  And, I got a new laptop for my birthday and Ash's condition on giving it to me was that I had to blog more.  :)  Yay for first blog from the laptop!  The first laptop I have ever owned.  I'm so behind!!

On to more exciting things....

We road tripped to northern California for spring break at the end of March.  We were able to visit my old Lawrence friends, Leigh Ann and Nate and their daughter Emerson in Sacramento.  Had a lot of fun with them catching up and letting the kids play.  Sacramento also has an awesome railroad museum.  I think Ash and I thought it was cooler than the kids did!

Emmie's little trampoline was quite the hit!  Yes, they are in their pajamas outside first thing in the morning.

Ash geeking out at the California Railroad Museum.

The kids were bored by the time Ash saw everything he wanted to at the museum.  Ha!

From Sacramento we went to St. Helena to stay with Ash's aunt Deb, uncle Bob and cousin Anthony.  The kids LOVED running around their property.  Harper learned within the first hour we were there that you can't walk on lily pads on a koi pond.  Helena learned that it is always spring in California, leading her to proclaim that we need to move there.  Deb was kind enough to watch the kids for us one day so Ash and I could spend the day wine tasting.  Ash's cousin Lisa set us up on the most amazing tours / tastings.  So fun to have a day to ourselves.

Harper restraining himself from throwing the giant rocks in the pond.

Me at the vineyard that I will forever remember for having the most generous pours ever.  :)

Easter Eggs with Aunt Deb.

 From St. Helena we did a little day trip to Point Reyes National Seashore.  Such a beautiful place.  It was foggy when we were there, but still very lush, beautiful and fun.  We stopped and did a couple of hikes and hung out on the beach.  We even saw an elephant seal beach with over 300 elephant seals on it!  Definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.

Harper showing us which way to go on our hike.

From there we crashed at our college friend's place in San Francisco.  Phil, Dana and little Layla were excellent hosts.  We grilled, watched basketball, went to the zoo, rode the bus and the train all around the city (the kids' favorite part of the trip) and spent a day at Fisherman's Wharf.  Harper discovered a love of eating crab, Helena discovered she didn't really like accidentally picking up a crab on the beach.

The view from Phil and Dana's house.  Fun to see the bay and the fog roll in at different times.

Checking out the wares...

Ash ate an obscene amount of crab...

Helena ate an obscene amount of sourdough...

Family picture!!

Helena & Layla - Matching Target sweaters!! :)

The kids loved the 'gold man' street performer.

Harper fell asleep on the train...pretty funny. We did three transfers and he never woke up.

Thanks again to our wonderful friends and family for hosting us and making our spring break totally awesome.  Love, love, love me some California.  We'll be back.

-Emily :)

On Eating...

I believe I have neglected to mention here that we've had another little allergy hiccup with Harper.  We started seeing a new doctor (a naturopath) who suggested we try to take him off of dairy and wheat as well to see if that would alleviate some of his remaining allergy symptoms (mainly eczema but also a constantly runny nose). 

So, I took him off dairy about a month ago and his eczema got a little better (although not completely gone), his nose shut off, and weirdly his crazy earwax that he's had all his life (seriously, it's always been like a gooey brown science experiment in there) is all of the sudden COMPLETELY GONE.  Like, I keep trying to get earwax out of his ears and there's just nothing! Weirdly, I miss it.  Kind of how one might miss popping their teenage sibling's pimples.

(I have since read in a couple of places that this is oftentimes a sign of a dairy intolerance / allergy). 

I have yet to get the gumption to also take him off of wheat as the doctor recommended because I honestly don't have the energy or meal planning ambition.  We go back for a check up tomorrow and this may be the next step.  The doctor is hopeful that his gut can heal eventually and he will be able to eat at least eggs & dairy again when he's older.

So, if you're keeping count we're 'off' of eggs, nuts, dairy and gluten (for Ash only, really...).  Good times. 

That said, here are some recipes I'm digging lately....with modifications, in most cases.

Whole Wheat Pop Tarts - Great snack/quick breakfast for the kids!  I made with vegan Earth Balance butter today and I couldn't tell the difference from the last time I made them with real butter.

Kale Lemon Pesto - I made this just for Ash & I, and I was the only one who liked it.  I'm sticking by it, though.  If you like kale & lemons (Ash is a little iffy on lemony stuff sometimes), it's a good one.

Asparagus Brie Soup - I made this also for just Ash & I after we scored about 2 pounds of leftover roasted asparagus at a wedding we went to a couple of weeks ago (hmmm, that sounds weird now that I type it out.  oh well!).  Anyway, unlike the pesto, Ash says he'd eat this every day.  I substituted a GF all purpose flour in place of the regular flour.

Homemade Granola Bars - I also made these this weekend and they were a hit with everyone.  It's very hard to find nut free granola bars at the store.  Ours had oats, soy nut butter, dairy/GF chocolate chips and coconut.  Yum - O!

Allergen Free Chocolate Cake - I made this awhile back and just got the 2nd round out of the freezer to eat.  Hands down the best allergen free cake I have tried.  Moist, doesn't feel like you're missing something.  I used a GF all purpose flour blend and Ener-G egg subsitute.  I didn't make the frosting (because I'm lazy).  :)

I'll keep ya'll updated on our 'progress' - in the meantime if you have any recipes you want to share, I'm all ears!!

-Emily :)

Helena -- 4 & 3/4

Thought I'd post a little update on what Helena's up to.

I'm currently listening to her making Harper play school -- with fake nap time included! -- and that's one of the coolest things about having two kids.  Mine generally play so well together.  Helena is nice to Harper (yesterday, she even shared her pretzels with him) and they kind of freak out a little bit if we ever take them places separately.  It's cute.  She's a great big sister.  She even helped Harper pee on the potty for the first time yesterday!

Tolerating Harper in the reading tunnel at the library.

She is also very into drawing lately.  She definitely draws better than I did at this age (or possibly now, I totally suck at drawing).  Here is this weekend's rendition of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics:

No rendition of a parachuting queen, but good otherwise. :)

She also loves riding her bike with training wheels.  Her and Ash go on 'adventure rides' in the evenings sometimes.  One evening last week they went three miles!!

Helena just switched classrooms / teachers at school in the beginning of June and is doing really well in her new class.  We had debated starting Kindergarten early with her, but decided against it for a lot of reasons.  She still loves school and is very focused for the most part on her 'works'.  One day this week she built a tower out of some beaded cubes and her teacher said she sat there for like 10 minutes just looking at it.  Her teacher said to her "Looks like you're waiting on something, Helena.", and she said , "Yeah, I'm waiting for my mom to come so I can show her what I did." (Her teacher then called me down to look at her 'masterpiece'.)  So funny.  She is sounding out short words now and is very good at writing her letters -- probably from all of the incessant drawing!  And she just went on her first official field trip last week -- to Discovery Gateway in downtown Salt Lake.  Mom went along as a volunteer! :)

Building at Discovery Gateway in SLC.

Helena is also in swimming lessons right now.  It's going a lot better than last summer.  We have a few sessions left so hopefully I can get a video at some point.

Helena and Ash at the lake in June.

She has also recently found out about Disneyland (more specifically Cars Land) and is insisting we go ASAP.  We have told her that Disneyland is a lot of money, which has come in handy when she wants something i.e. "Well, that's coming out of the Disneyland fund....oh, never mind." ;)

At one of her friends' princess parties with "Rapunzel."

 Speaking of princesses, Helena as become a little more girly the past few months.  We went weeks only wearing dresses.  She insists her headband matches her outfit exactly. And the more glittery the better.  We own a pair of gold glitter dress shoes that she has worn a hole into.  But I still make her wear her adventure sandals with her dresses just to irritate her aunt Jess. :)

I can't believe in the fall we'll have a 5 year old.  Holy. Cow.

-Emily :)

Sing Songy

Since I started working so early in the morning, Ash has had the job of waking Harper up.  Poor Harper, he likes to wake up on his own...he'll even say "Mom, I still sleeping!" or "Mom, I want sleep more!" just like a teenager in the mornings.  :)

Anyway, Ash sings various songs to him to wake him up.  (Fun Ash fact:  He's very 'singy' in the morning.  And he's very good at making up songs).  His old preschool songs are usually the go-to ones.  Harper knows about five songs and has started getting better at singing recently.  (Currently he can sing the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Up on the Housetop (yes, the Christmas one), and Itsy Bitsy Spider).  Here's he & Helena singing the "Good Morning to You" song at dinner time.

Lyrics: Good morning to you!  Good morning to you!  We're all in our places with sun shining faces....good morning to you!

I love Harper's inflection on the "you!".  He sounds like he's trying to increase his range. Ha!  Helena did a great job keeping him going, too!

Another song Ash sings that cracks me up is this one:

We live in Kansas.  Our home is Kansas.
It's the state in the west where the people are the best.
We live in Kansas.  Our home is Kansas. 
I'm a Jayhawker through and through.

I don't remember this from my Kansas preschool / elementary school days.  Does anyone else?  Just curious....  Ash went to montessori school in Lawrence before he moved to Detroit when he was 5, so I think the Jayhawk-ish songs were maybe more popular there?!? :)

Small sidenote:  Helena finished up her 'school year' and we got her 'portfolio' from her teacher.  In it was a list of her favorite this and that.  In the map unit ,she drew a picture and put that her favorite country is.....Kansas.

-Emily :)

Helena's Tap Recital

Helena had a tap dance recital right before we left on vacation.  Here's a snippet of her dance.

She did so awesome and we were so proud of her.  She did tell Ash not to come because she said he makes her nervous.  His feelings were hurt, but he obliged. :)

They did the dance twice and when the teacher asked them if they wanted to do it a second time Helena yelled 'NO!' the loudest.  Needless to say, we're still battling some shyness from time to time.  Which is also why you can tell the video is shot from the 2nd (back) row...less chance of her bolting & crying if I'm not RIGHT THERE.

Next up this summer...swimming lessons.  Then back to dance in the fall most likely. :)  Pretty sure we're not going to torture ourselves with tee ball this fall again. Ha!

-Emily :)

Anchorboy

I'm not sure how this started.  I think Ash was joking with Harper one day after he was doing some sort of asinine two-year old thing (you know, like wiping off candy with a wipe so that it will taste different/better, maybe?). 

So now we have our own little Steve Carrell in a weird voice I'm not so sure about.

And, for those of you who are clueless about the movie reference, here ya go. (Anchorman, circa 2004).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gId6nrMDmUU

- Emily :)

Kid Convo of the Week

Helena as been very interested in the 'food chain' lately. And she and Ash almost brought home actual chicks about a month ago while unsupervised when I was at Jazzercise. They had named them and everything (Annie, Sprinkles, Callista, Sparkle, and Cinnamon). All which gives you a little background on the following conversation: H - I want pet chickens! Ash - Sweetie, they won't be pets because we are going to eat them.  You don't eat pets.  H - It's OK. When we eat them, we can call them dinner.  -Emily :)

Back up and running....

Ash is the computer genius of the month since he fixed the computer all by himself after we contracted the worst. virus. ever.  Fingers crossed it doesn't mysteriously come back!  I was looking forward to that new laptop, though....hmmm....

Anyway, I was looking at my phone pictures the other day and thought they pretty well summed up what had been going on with us since I had a real, content-y blog....  So, here ya go, the last month brought to you courtesy of my iphone. :)

We took the kids to their first Jazz game.  Helena was a fan of the concession stand.  Harper, the little flying blimp.  We made it through the third quarter before meltdowns made us leave.

The Jazz played the Golden State Warriors....and that's blurry former KU player Brandon Rush. :)

Harper went through a 'sleep, eat, walk around with a band aid' phase.  He seriously would cuddle with a band aid.  At this writing I think we've nipped it in the bud and replaced it with a mini ladybug pillow pet.

Helena painted this wonderful rainbow butterfly.

Ash went to the Coachella music festival in California with his friend Mark.  I was jealous, but it was my own choice as I decided I'd rather die than take the kids camping at a hippie music festival.  He had fun. :)

I shopped for new flooring to replace our horrid mauve linoleum eyesore of a floor.  I'm hopeful the situation will be resolved soon.

Helena attended a birthday party wherein a creepy Rapunzel made an appearance.  (She's the one in blue on the left).

I went skiing.  Twice.  I love skiing.  I seriously can't think of anything I'd rather do most days.

And, a few days later....the kids and Ash were running through the sprinklers at our house when it was 88 degrees.  (Helena's face in this picture is hilarious!)

I had 2 book club 'meetings'.  My one book club is more of a drunk fest than the other.  Probably because it's always on a Friday night.  And I really liked this wine which is why I took a picture of it.  You know, for later.  Have we talked about book club?  I'm in two all of the sudden.  It's fun.  I'm keeping up with the reading which is a major accomplishment for me. :)  This month I read "The Weird Sisters" (OK) and "Bossypants" (by Tina Fey...good!)

Harper has also had hand, foot and mouth virus this week.  I'll spare you from those pictures.  It's like he has the chicken pox but is grumpier.  Poor kid slept for 14 hours last night.  Anyway, hopefully he's on the downhill slide!

Ta ta for now!  Next up....stale Easter pics! :)

-Emily :)

Obligatory Spring Playground Pictorial

Temps were in the 60's this weekend and we got outside to thoroughly enjoy it.  Winter hasn't been horrible here this year, but it sure is nice to be able to go outside more now!

Waving my arm out the window is so. fun. As is wearing my sister's sunglasses. (I think this might be one of my favorite Harper pictures ever...)

I LOVE swinging!

Getting ready to race...

Graduated from the safe baby swing.  This is a big step....I assure you.

Helena did AWESOME on her big bike this weekend.  Way less crying than in the fall.  But, it's very annoying when your little brother and his car keep pushing your back wheel.

- Emily :)

Successful Recipes

Wanted to share a couple of new recipes we have tried out this past week - both from the Whole Foods website.  I love this website for recipes because you can search by your dietary needs.  So I usually look for gluten free recipes and then scan for egg less/nut less recipes or substitutions I can make.

First off, Salmon Chowder.  This was a big hit with me, Harper & Ash...Helena, not so much.  She ate the salmon out of it, though.  That's about all you can ask from her most of the time. :)  The only modification I made was I used some leftover salmon I had instead of raw.  It probably flaked up a bit more than if you cooked in the soup from raw, but it was still yummy.  Also, yummy the next day for lunch!

Second was Tamale Casserole.  Seriously, Ash & I probably could have eaten the whole pan.  And Helena tried it after much coaxing and we asked her what she thought and she said, "I don't want to tell you."  Which means she liked it.  Funny.  I used a gluten free cornbread mix made with Ener-G egg substitute and I used normal milk instead of buttermilk.  Oh, and no green chilies since I didn't want it to be too spicy for the kiddos.  Fabulous!  This one for sure is on the permanent list of "food we can all agree on." (Yes, I really have a list with this title.)

-Emily :)

New Official Jobby Job

Well folks, I'm officially entering the part-time working world.  No, my blog hasn't hit pay dirt....(har har).

I'll be doing office/marketing/fundraising stuff for Helena's school -- Dancing Moose Montessori. :)  I'm super excited about a lot of aspects of the job and love the fact that I get to take the kids with me and they can go to school while I work.  Even Harper is a montessori kid now!  (He's been doing great in his new class!)  And the generous tuition discount doesn't hurt either.

The worst part of the job is that we have to be there pretty early...7 a.m.  So, that will be an adjustment to our schedule but hopefully it won't be too painful.  I don't have to feed the kids breakfast before we go, so that cuts a lot of getting ready time out of the equation.  I'll only be working until 10 a.m. right now, everyday, but eventually it will be a couple of hours more. 

My official start date is March 5th.  I'm excited to be doing something more than what I have been, but kind of sad that this phase of our lives is coming to a close.  But, it's going to be a good thing for everyone, I hope.  I honestly never envisioned myself as a SAHM forever.  This is probably one of the better scenarios I could have envisioned for my work/life/mom balance.

Anyway, more later, but just wanted to share our fun news!

-Emily :)

Snowy Sunday

I know, it's Tuesday.  But bear with me...

We've been enjoying the past couple of weekends with Ash home and not working the whole weekend!  Yay!  So nice for him to have some downtime after working so much in Dec./Jan.

Anyway, on Sunday we went to a fast food joint for lunch and it had a little playplace that was just the right size for Harper and Helena.  And, they had it all to themselves.  Welcome to Sundays in West Jordan!  Where the heathens play at Arctic Circle alone!
They had a blast (they didn't even notice that Ash and I ate ice cream without them....) and as we were leaving Helena said:
"Well, that was just delightful.   Can we do this again sometime?"

-Emily :)

Eating / Allergy Update

I keep forgetting that I haven't posted an eating/allergy update at all since I broke the news of Harper's allergies and Ash's giving up gluten a few months ago.

Turns out Harper is highly allergic to nuts (specifically almonds, cashews and peanuts) and moderately allergic to eggs.  It's more likely he'll grow out of the egg allergy than the nut ones.  But, we'll see.  It will be interesting to see if and when we reintroduce things what his actual reactions are.  You know, when he can tell us more than "itchy" and "yucky" and throw a plate across the room.

We've been doing well so far.  LOTS of eating at home, which is good for us and our bank account.  And I'm glad that me staying home for now means I'm totally in control of his diet for the most part.  The hardest thing is going to a party/potluck/eating at someone else's house, to be honest.  Ash can usually deal by pre-eating or just not eating, but other times I take food for Harper just in case.  We were at a breakfast potluck the other day and Ash & Harper shared some fruit while Helena and I ate muffins and egg casserole.  Harper had a hard time understanding why he couldn't share the chocolate chip muffin (there were tears).  Poor guy! 

Christmas meal planning with our entire family was fun....we tried some new things and there were several 'conference calls' about menu planning and who couldn't eat what and what the hell is gluten exactly anyway?!?

The hardest meal is breakfast -- no eggs in anything for breakfast is hard.  So oftentimes I'll make eggs/toast/sausage and Harper will just have the sausage and toast and Ash will have his GF bread.  Another example is the other night I made chicken fingers using crushed up tortilla chips as the 'breading' (with eggs as the 'sticky stuff').  So me, Helena, and Ash ate the tortilla chicken fingers, while I cooked Harper a plain piece of chicken without the eggy stuff.  Kind of a pain, but such is life.  We all rarely eat the exact same version of things at meals where we're all together. 

It's also hard to bake without gluten or eggs.  There are good substitutes for eggs and gluten, but when you eliminate both it sometimes gets a little hairy -- things tend to just not stick together as well.  Oftentimes substitutes for gluten contain nuts as well.  This has resulted in me pretty much not baking for the most part.  Or, I'll just bake something for the kids and I.  I've had some success with a banana bread recipe that was egg/gluten/nut free.  And I also found an awesome sugar cookie recipe so Harper can decorate cookies for holidays (a popular afternoon activity for us around here).

So, there you have it, the food allergy update.  I'm still feeling my way through it and trying new things and looking up new resources.  Thank goodness there are readily available substitutes nowadays.  I can't imagine having all of these allergy issues 50 years ago!  And I'll try to be better about posting recipes I've been trying along the way. :)

-Emily :)

Frog!

Helena is participating in 'Animal Club' this month at school -- basically an after school class with her favorite teacher ever where they learn all about animals. 

I picked her up last week and this was her 'homework':

 Yep, taking care of a little African Dwarf frog. Helena's been very good at remembering to feed it (much better than me...) and so far Harper has yet to dump it out of the bowl.

We've got one more week with the little fella and then we can either give him back or adopt him.  I'm praying Helena doesn't want to adopt him...

-Emily :)

KC and the Galbreaths

We did a quick jaunt up to KC when we were in Kansas over Christmas to see Ash's grandma and aunt and uncle and a few friends.  We had a lovely barbecue dinner at Uncle David and Aunt Lisa's and the kids all had fun playing together and opening presents.

(Sidenote: I think I've had approximately two dinners with Ash's entire family that weren't barbecue in the 10+ years I have known him. :) )  KC, born and bred.

Eating said barbecue (yay Zarda's!)

Ash's cousins Megan and Brendan with Helena.

Aunt Barb, cousin Chris, and Great Grandma Claudene.

Cousin Ian chillin' with Harper.

And that, my friends, is the end of my Christmas rundown.   On to what is actually happening in the present....which at the moment is....very little.  It's snowing.  That's about all. :)
-Emily :)

Twister with a Toddler

Really, what goes with Christmas morning better than a good old game of Twister.  Thanks Santa!  What a great idea.

The first family match was between Meemaw, Helena and Evan with a Harper 'challenge' thrown in.  Although from the pictures it looks like he was mainly picking on my brother.  Lots of activity considering we hadn't even had Christmas morning breakfast yet!

"I'm all fours red!"

Wrestling Evan for position....

OK, that's better.

Meemaw is still in good spirits.

"Let's see here...."

"Yes, that's the ticket!"

"Now who can I 'help'?!"

"All of this monitoring and I'm tired!"

Whoops! Game over!  Hope Meemaw's OK!

Ash and I engaging in what I termed an 'antagonistic' Twister game.

This was the beginning of the end for me.  You'd think all that yoga would pay off!

Much calmer game with just Ash and Helena.  I love this pic....so cute!

- Emily :)