Coffee Cake & Tumors

I have officially handed the baking torch over to AbbySue. This girl, with her mega math skills, can bake me out of the kitchen any day of the week. This was her latest creation....Daddy said, "Best coffee cake ever!" (okay, maybe he's a little bias, but it really was that good.) She made it especially for the staff at Abiqua Animal Clinic, who have welcomed her to observe and assist at their vet clinic here in Silverton. This, of course, is her dream come true. She has watched a number of pets being spayed or neutered...assisted in dental cleanings...and (this week) watched tumors being removed from a dogs face. How in the world they all feel like eating coffee cake after this is beyond me.

AbbySue's Banana Coffee Cake:

1/2 C butter softened

1 1/2 C cane sugar

2 eggs

1 C sour cream

2 C bananas mashed

1 tsp. vanilla

2 C flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

preheat oven 350, mix ingredients together, spread evenly in 9x13 inch cake pan, sprinkle with topping, bake for 30 min.

topping:

1/2 C butter softened

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 oats

1/2 four

(blend together with pastry mixer and sprinkle on top of cake before baking)

Funky Town

It's not everyday that you get the chance to pack up your classroom and take it on the road. Last week Aaron needed to get some work done in Seattle and because it was also his birthday, we tagged along to celebrate.

Seattle is...hmmm...how can I put this? Seattle is funky. I mean, I think a lot of cities try "funky", but Seattle is the real deal. Where else can you take your kids to see the worlds largest "Chewed Gum Wall"? Or, run through a park whose trees are wearing hand knit sweaters? It's bustling in a grungy way. So being a teenager of the nineties and the daughter of hippies, I get it. I think our kids get it too.

From Pikes Place Market to the Seattle Aquarium, the Emerald City is delicious, friendly, and absolutely gorgeous, especially on one of those rare days when the sunlight sparkles across Puget Sound and the city dwellers crawl out of their cubicles , with those beady northwestern mole eyes....looking blindly up to a clear blue sky.

Yes, Seattle...your city is something to see. And we look forward to seeing more of you.
Our classroom.
Our hotel had the loveliest views.
Chewed Gum Wall...Zibby said, "Mommy, it smells like spit here." (of course I made them contribute their own freshly chewed Bazooka Bubble Gum...they were gagging. I think I scored some major gross out points on this one.)
Sweater Trees
Pikes Place Market
The Seattle Aquarium...who are these big kids?

My new favorite song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkxm8MTiqhA

Ignore the cheesy video. The lyrics are beautiful.

inspiration

When you have a very creative friend and she invites you and your three munchkins over for a visit first you feel loved and then you feel inspired.

And when your creative friend laughs after finding your (precocious) four year old scrubbing the family cat with their toothbrushes and toothpaste, you feel..well, first you feel humiliated....then you feel like you found a kindred spirit.

Thank you Rachael~

for the ideas and even more so, for your sense of humor.

(above: another attempt at craftiness...a felt flower attached to a hairband for one naughty four year old)

Peeps

Only these are the real kind...that get much bigger and (hopefully) give us lots of eggs.

Ben picked out a very tiny one (always for the underdog). The poor little thing almost didn't make it through the afternoon. We had to adjust the heat lamp a bit and we prayed together, but I tried to mentally prepare for the worst.

Zibby, watching the drama unfold, looks Ben in the eye, and says, "Your chick is dead Ben."

Ben bursts into tears. Zibby sits stoically.

Good thing Zibby was wrong.

That little chick came back to life like Lazarus.

Never doubt the underdog.

Another lesson learned...

Ben has always been about compassion,

and Zibby...she's steady in the storm.

("TNT" ~the name Ben gave his tiny chick..."the underdog" pictured above directly under the lamp)

Because of Love...

This evening we set the table and celebrated Love.

I found the old key at a local antique store. Kind of cliche, but true...

Aaron holds the key to my heart...because I trust him.

Who better to enjoy a candlelit dinner with than the three created between us because of Love?

My first attempt at pizza dough...not bad.

The chocolate, nutella, peanut butter covered strawberries...even better,

and cherry cobbler with vanilla ice cream...over the top.

But, that's what love is at times isn't it?

Extravagant.

something is missing...

Aaron is away more often than not these days. He has always traveled throughout our 13 years of marriage, and I consider myself independent, but for some reason the whole of us feels his absence more than ever before. It's difficult to be a (sometimes) single mom. Of course the work load is heavy, but that's not the hardest part. Ask anyone who is alone a lot and they will most likely tell you that the hardest part is simply being alone. And it's not so much that you want company. You only want him. Because even when you're mad, you are all about each other. That's the way God designed it from the beginning. Bone of bone...flesh of flesh. We are part of the other. Like it, love it, or leave it...you cannot comfortably be away from him. The two are one. And these two here, Aaron & Jennipher, have made Three. So, Jennipher and the Three are hanging in there until he comes home. And then we will hold him tight before he flies away...again.

(sometimes Zibby's face expresses my mood perfectly)

Quiet Winter Graces

Although we have had unusually bright winter weather and dusk lingers longer in the February evening sky, we still find ourselves lighting the candles and curling up with a favorite book on the window seat or in front of the humming wood stove on a cold winters day. These are the simple gifts. I'm beginning to feel grateful for a day that stands still enough embrace. Clean kid hair with just a hint of earthiness still clinging to the ends. The confused Camilla blooming unashamed with her daring fuchsia frills, adorning our dinner table with her beauty. And the way a certain four year old ends an evening prayer with, "thank You for gwace."

Yes....thank You.