My dearest daughter

It's been a year already, little girl.  I was not ready for it to pass as quickly as it did.  I will be honest with you, even if it is blunt and perhaps hurtful, I promise to always be honest - and truthfully, I was not ready to have a girl.  I was not ready to have a third baby, let alone a girl.  I was flat out scared.

How can I have a baby girl? I know nothing about girls! I know football and basketball, not tutu's and tea parties. I wear black and grey and white and stripes. And pants. I am going to mess up a girl. I don't know how to braid hair or clean ear piercings. I will let my girl down and she will wish for a "cool Mom" instead of me.

 And then it happened.  And you were born.  You came three days early and 18 hours faster than your brothers.  And from then on, I knew you were your own person complete with character and personality - a person to be reckoned with.  Someone the world had never seen.

And you are.  You are a bowl full of laughter and smiles - the ray of sunshine that brightens any cold day.  When your hand rests on my cheek, I know that life is precious and fleeting and moments like these are to be treasured.

You have changed me, Cal.  You have filled parts of me that I never knew where empty, but would always feel like I was missing something.  Your body is too small for the size of your heart and the strength and determination and guts and love you have for everything you do astonishes me.  I strive to be a better mother for you, a better female role model for you and I pray for the ability to demonstrate how much joy you bring to my life.

Calla's birthday party

 

On Saturday, we celebrated Calla's first birthday with a family party.  It was a long awaited event and the first birthday party we have had in Michigan (for any of the kids) since Gabe turned one (back in 2006).

It was a great day - full of love, laughter and celebration of our not-so-little girl.  She had lots of fun with her cousins and thoroughly enjoyed all of her new clothes. 

We chose a ladybug theme for Calla's first birthday party and decorated the house in all red and black.  Besides the standard crepe paper streamers, we had a birthday sign made out of scrapbook paper triangles and hung them with clothespins on ribbon.  My sister filled red and white balloons with black paper confetti and then took them to be filled with helium - giving them a spotted look.  I hung a picture of Calla from each month she has been alive on a ribbon and it is amazing to see the growth and change in her every month.  For our food, I put out two crock pots of spaghetti sauce (one veggie and one with meatballs), noodles, garlic bread and garden salad.  It was so nice to offer a real meal and it was minimally fussy.  Instead of cake and ice cream separately, I made ice cream cupcakes.  I layered chocolate cupcakes with vanilla ice cream and piped red whipped cream on the top.

Apple orchard and recipes

At the end of September, we went to a local apple orchard to stock up on some Michigan apples.  My kids LOVE apples and apple products.  I was really hoping we would be able to go out into the orchard and pick the apples, but because of the weather this year apple crops didn't do as well as previously.  The apples were already picked and sectioned into types and sizes.  The orchard also had a pumpkin patch and Halloween decorations and a playground, so it was still a lot of fun!

 

We have been making apple foods like crazy since getting our 1/2 bushel (about 20 lbs) of McIntosh apples.  What I love about apples is the natural sweetness.  Depending on the type of apple, sugar is not necessary especially when they are baked or cooked.  Apples go with so many other foods to create a salty-sweet combination.  They are the perfect blank canvas for any flavor profile and can be used in almost unlimited ways.

Here are links to recipes I have tried and/or are planning on making:

apple fruit leather

apples and peanut butter

apple peel twigs

baked apple chips

baked apples

crockpot apple sauce

Does your family have any favorite apple recipes?

Soup week

Welcome Brong family to fall in Michigan.  All week our days were filled with cold rain, high winds and freezing temperatures.  I officially declared last week soup week.  I have made many soups over the years, but they usually revolve around the ever classic Chicken Noodle (or with rice) and French Onion.  So this past week, we branched out of our comfort zone and experimented with five different soups. 

lasagna soup

lentil vegetable soup

cream of mushroom soup

crock pot zuppa toscana

italian meatball soup

It was a good week - warm and comforting like the tasty broths and creams we digested. By the end of the week, we had our fill of soups and sandwiches and I made chicken fried rice with cheese rangoons.  If I made any changes to the recipes, it was mostly doubling the size and/or adding meat (for my meatitarian husband).  

I can't take credit for these gorgeous pictures, as they are from the original websites.  Links to the recipes are in the captions.

Fun with Halloween costumes

I am not the biggest fan of Halloween, but I always tell my kids that if we are going to dress up I want them to be similarly themed and that we have to go all out for the costume.  I guess I don't really feel that badly about paying the extra money for the accessories and nicer costume as my kids play 'dress up' year round.  Since the appearance of the Avengers in movies and toys, the boys have become obsessed.  Last year, they were Captain America and Thor so we thought it only appropriate if they suit up as the other half of the super hero team this year.

I give you Zander aka The Hulk -

Gabriel as Iron Man -

They both play their roles surprisingly well.  Gabe is arrogant and struts around aiming his repulsor at random objects.  Zander runs around, throwing his plastic fists and yelling "Hulk SMASH!"  

If there were ever two characters that fit my boys.

Calla has gone in another direction entirely.  She picked out her lady bug costume.  I promise, she did.  Her face lights up whenever she sees it and tries to wear it constantly.  I am going to have a hard time telling her "No" when she gets older.  Have you ever seen a lady bug so cute?  Me either.

I didn't even orchestrate this make shift photo shoot.  Surprising, I know!

Making pumpkin puree

I have been reading all kinds of books about eating healthy, natural unprocessed foods - how to make and store food instead of buying it.  I will make a post with links to the books I have been reading, so thankful for the library and internet resources to educate me!  Anyway, one of the things Matt loves most is pumpkin pie.  Instead of a cake this year, he wanted a pumpkin pie for his birthday.  So instead of buying the canned pumpkin pie puree or mix, I decided this was the year I would make it from scratch.

 

 

 

When I was looking up ways to cook pie pumpkins, I stumbled on this link - Pioneer Woman makes pumpkin puree.  I love the Pioneer Woman.  And I love how easy this is.  At the Farmer's Market, I bought two pie pumpkins (smaller than normal carving pumpkins).  After cutting them in half, scooping out the gunk and cutting them further, I roasted them on cookie sheets. 

The second time I did this, I noticed that adding a small amount of water to the bottom of the pan helped keep the pumpkin flesh moist - almost like steaming it in the oven.  If you choose to do this, only add water until it's about half way up the edge of your pan.

After peeling the skin off the flesh of the pumpkin, I cut it into chunks and blended the meat into a thicker consistency.  From my two small pumpkins, I ended up with ten cups of pumpkin puree.  I froze six of the cups and used four in Matt's birthday pumpkin pie (recipe below).  I can't believe how much it made.  I have done this twice now (and have two pumpkins on stand by) and am still astounded by how easy the process is.  If you have any one that is a pumpkin fiend, like my husband, I highly suggest you give this a try!

Matt's Birthday Pumpkin Pie
(originally from Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Pie Throwdown episode on Food Network)

Let me just say that this was delicious!  I doubled the recipe and made three pies.  Also, I used a regular frozen pie crust and it was still very tasty.  I am definitely going to make this for our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Still alive! No worries...

We are still alive, I promise!  Despite being out of rotation for months now, we are finally getting settled into our new house, city, state, lifestyle.  A lot has happened since we left Texas.  We spent a fantastic summer at my family's cottage, enjoying lazy days in the sun and lake.  I caught up on lots of reading.  Gabe learned to swim under water.  Calla started crawling (is already almost walking!) and Zander is talking more than ever.  It really is amazing how much a few months, a drastic change in environment and being so close to the ones we love can affect a family.  We are loving Michigan more than ever - cold weather and all.  There are lots and lots of changes in the future for us (Matt starting a new job, Gabe starting Boy Scouts, hopefully buying a house) but I really think that getting out of the Army was the best decision for us and our children.

Below is a small photo recap of our summer adventures - please bear with me regarding the pictures, I don't have my Photoshop completely reinstalled, so I haven't gotten any of my pictures editted.

Last bit of business - now that I am no longer a military wife, I have to brainstorm a new blog title and web address.  Suggestions?  I have a couple of ideas but if you have any, feel free to throw them out here.  When I get four or five candidates I will post a poll!