a perfect fall day

Our fall welcome home party went off without a hitch, (despite the fact we were probably over capacity  in every room of the house!) and we were blessed with joyful fellowship and laughter. Some of the images from the event follow. The menu turned out to be perfect for an oversized crowd... We didn't get an official head count but are thinking at lease seventy people came and went over the course of the day's festivities. Thank you all for coming, bringing cards, gifts, smiles and hugs. We were overwhelmed with your love! It was a day for the record books.

fall+friends & family+ food= freakin awesome. 

menu & recipes:
pumpkin maple soup (i believe 6 pumpkins donated their lives for this hearty dish)
proscuitto wrapped pears & blue cheese bites
dark chocolate sea salted caramel krispies (these were addicting!)

rivers and roads till i reach you

WARNING:
entirely melancholy indulgent and sad. do not read if you want lighthearted. you were warned.

excerpt from this morning's journal:

time is a rambling vicious beast. i collect little vessels of time passage. there are tupperwares, vases, milk jugs and ziploc baggies with masking tape dates marked on them in my mind. for example, in the dairy case at the store, i make a mental note that the expiration dates i see are that much closer to October than the present moment. how many more pages in my devotional until the fall? the thickness, though smaller than the width of my pinky becomes a concrete brick on my chest. sigh. no matter how you slice it, 6 months and 14 days seems like a chasm that never closes. so you see, without even trying, my mind runs on a ticker (like the old fashioned train stations making the loud clicks as the flaps change the time/destination) a never ending countdown. its not that i want to live this way! my heart wants to be satisfied in the moment, thankful to God for each breath and sunbeam... not reaching and yearning for something on the horizon.

photo credit: surfer girls by kelco

(as a brief explanation, my husband is incarcerated and has been since 2011, and will be home, Lord willing, October 3, 2013)

mamma said there'd be days like these

have you ever watched someone else's kids and found yourself to be on your best behavior with them AND your own? suddenly you are creative, patient and even cut up carrot sticks just so. If not, this post might still make sense... even though i didn't tell the whole facebook world today what a good mom i am (just telling the whole blogosphere) i did have the urge to update my status during each bonding moment. because today it was if i had a supervisor or other little kids making sure i was on my best "mom game". i didn't have any visitors, but i totally brought it. (if i do say so myself)

pinterest "goo" recipe of cornstarch and dish soap! so great and a "clean" mess!

today i was the mom i always envisioned myself to be. life and sin gets in the way and usually i feel like i am carrying around a 100lb weight of guilt for all the "mommy things" i am not doing. well, someone should have been secretly video recording my day (and this day only) because I was all the things i hope to ever be to my little ones: patient, spontaneous, tickle-loving, hide-and-seek-playing, soccer ball kicking, devotional reading, cookie baking, craft making BOMB!

the reason i write all of this is not to show YOU or myself "see, was that so hard?" and feel the standard and pressure to live up to each day with my children to be super mom, but to remind myself that just like my bad days, i have good ones, too. Lord willing, these memories will outweigh the ones where i let them watch Curious George one too many times, give endless refills of goldfish, or I want to bake (or just simply do anything) alone.

today, God gave me a gift to be present with them and tend to their little hearts. tomorrow, i pray, i will have the same reserves and patience, but i am only human. thank you God, for loving me and speaking to my heart. (today's children's devo in Big Truths for Little Kids was on Samuel and the little boy who heard God's voice. )

P.S. the day still isn't over, so i am totally humble and praying that the other shoe could drop right in my face and all this mojo would be over. if that's the case, i will celebrate the little victories.

it's all you, grill

On one of the rare hot days in the Pacific Northwest, it's a welcome relief to not have to turn on any heating elements in the kitchen. So we take our food (and our piña coladas) outdoors.

The Menu?

• salt & pepper potato 'chips'
• Cilantro Lime Halibut
• grilled Romaine Heart with pecans, cranberries and creamy balsamic
• pineapple skewers

Directions:

take a few potatoes, clean and slice thinly or with mandoline. Toss with olive oil, sea salt & pepper. Grill on sheet of foil so it doesn't fall between grates.

Take fresh or thawed halibut fillets pat dry with paper towel, place in baking dish and cover with a bit of Italian dressing, coarse chopped cilantro and juice of 1 lime.

Spray Romaine Hearts with olive oil or canola, place on grill briefly just for charred effect. Top with grilled pecans, cranberries and *balsamic dressing (recipe to follow)

Skewer large chunks of pineapple and grill on foil for a few minutes to achieve slight grill marks and thus releasing caramelized rich flavors of the fruit.

*Balsamic Dressing:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon chives, minced 1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped 1 1/2 teaspoons plain greek yogurt 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon sugar 3/4 cup olive oil, extra virgin salt fresh ground black pepper

Whole Wheat Peanut Noodles

cook about half a package of Whole Wheat spaghetti noodles according to directions.

cook/steam shelled edamame soybeans till tender.

drain noodles and place in bowl with edamame

add: 2tbsp creamy peanut butter

        1/4 c. Soy Veri Teriyaki sauce

        1/4 c. fage' or other greek yogurt

stir to distribute throughout the noodles

add sliced green onions cuts diagonally

and garnish with 1-2 tsp. sesame seeds

*optional- add red chili flakes, satay peanut sauce instead of the PB, or crushed garlic

enjoy! the kids love it and always ask for seconds. loaded with protein, whole grains, and active cultures its a complete meal.

 



art school

whenever reed and i paint or draw together i always love his creations over mine. he should be my teacher.

"mommy colors" reed paul jackson 2011

"mask" reed paul jackson 2011

"thursday morning" mom jackson 2011

sugar sugar

we made sugar cookies the other day and decorated with meringue frosting. i had a hard time letting go and relinquishing control to my 3 year old when decorating. but after frosting and sprinking a few, he was more interested in eating rather than the work. yay! we got the best of both worlds- i could add my "finishing touches" and reed was able to be involved without me grabbing the piping bag from him each time.

we made this dough from the martha stewart "cookie" issue for sugar cutouts. recipe here. i am also big into versatile doughs- where you can make many "different" cookies from one dough- hence the addition of thumbprints below.

*just double the sugar cookie batch* roll some into little balls* dip in beaten egg yolk*  roll in chopped pecans* then squish a little chocolate disc or jam into the center... voila!*

 

here's the little treat bag for our friends and neighbors

Fresh

So far this summer we have enjoyed little samplings of produce from our garden. While last year was a wonderful year for the tomato, our summer (if you call it that around here) has been unseasonably cold so we have had to rely on more cold tolerant crops. Carrots have been a choice favorie, along with peas, chiggioa beets , rainbow swiss chard, and of course the easy, quick growing radish. Here are a few snapshots of our modest, but choice bounty. What have been your best producers this summer?

~also, green beans are on the rise and I can't wait for winter and summer squash! my garden is filled with them!

let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of france

I awoke this morning to Reed's exclamations and babbling. When the baby comes, he will surely be out of the crib and into a "big boy bed". Until then, he wakes me up from a distance with the sweetest disposition I have ever known of. How can someone wake up smiling and laughing? Surely, that did not come from me.

Dirk insisted I stay in bed while he got Reed and went to make breakfast. I arose lazily an hour later to Amaretto coffee in the pot, Reed running to and fro with a full belly and Dirk sipping coffee while reading the Saturday paper. Ahh... If every day started like this, there would be no need for grumpiness. I lit a few candles, wiped down the counters, plugged in my glowing pumpkin and settled in to join the crew. The coastal rain (more like drifts of wet fog swept through) trickled and I could hear the chickens clucking right outside. They were low on food, so I let them free range today. There is nothing more satisfying than pouring your cup of coffee and looking outside your kitchen window to see them squaking and eating windfall pears and apples that littered the ground.

I am just about ready to take on a new media for my art. I won't disclose the materials just yet, because I am cautiously curious to see if the medley of forms will take shape. Just wanted to encourage everyone else out there to bask in the simple fall rain, coffee in your hand, and family that surrounds. If you don't have any of those, come over here, we've got lots to share.

Dirk is fully engrossed in the UW vs USC game and I am eager to be a cliche little wifey and make bratwurst with sauerkraut and carmel apples. To be honest, the food is an afterthought for Dirk, as he laments UW's defense. He humours me, though and gobbles it all down. Happy All Day Saturday Morning.


**A little P.S.: after reading this I basked in the fact that we may be poor, but we sure are blessed. While running errands this morning, the Ingrid Michaelson song: You & I was blaring through my car. I thought I'd share it with you. It makes me happy because I love spooning, the south of France, and dancing. Listen if that all sounds like incoherent babble.