Christmas Shopping!

I know that the birth of Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas- the very best gift ever given & received!- but I still get as giddy as a five-year-old all Christmas Eve night and into the morning! I love the anticipation of it all, the stillness in the early hours when I'm the only one awake, tiptoeing (I don't know why, it just feels like I should be!) near the tree, slowly lighting candle after candle until the room is all sparkly-glowy...

Then the house-shaking stomp gentle shuffling of ginormous little feet down the stairs, raspy voiced, uncontainable excitement, more candles lit- only these ones are birthday candles sticking out of coffeecake- and we celebrate His wonderful birthday, probably waking the neighbors with our heartfelt kitchen chorus. I cherish those squeals of joy, the heartfelt Thank you's and shared smiles.

But...today I'm talking shopping!

There is a great Holiday Gift Guide on the lovely Casey's blog, We Took the Road Less Traveled, and she has dedicated each day of the week to a specific theme (today's theme is Gifts for the Littles, wink wink). I know I'm trying harder to stay out of the chain stores and instead support local shops and businesses. Go USA! Here are the specific links if you want to take a look:

Gifts for Her

Gifts for Home

Gifts for Travelers

Gifts for Children

There are so many talented and creative people all around us, and I've really enjoyed discovering their shops through this Holiday Gift Guide!

Here are a few photos of some new things you'll find in my shop, Rose & Ruffle:

I've got a few marathon sewing shifts ahead of me to get some orders finished, but I'll be back in a few days with a round-up of my favorite Christmas cookies and goodies that I've posted on the blog over the years- they all travel well, are relatively simple & easy, and they make lovely gifts!

I think it's close enough to Friday now to say...

Happy Friday!

Busy Busy Busy

I couldn't let 11/12/13 pass without its due accolades! And I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner...and then CHRISTMAS! Where has the time gone???

Poor Ethan still can't make it through an entire day at school, so there's a ton of driving back and forth across town. And waiting. Lots of waiting around. But I really do love having him around during the day, so it's totally worth it.

Overall, today was a productive, happy day. I woke up early as usual and saw Bill off, and then did a few things I've been neglecting lately, things that make a world of difference in my well-being: I stretched. Like, really stretched. Took my time and focused on each muscle, each breath, and the most wonderful feeling of gratefulness and peace swept through me. Then I read from my devotional book, craving and savoring Truth. Reflecting and letting go. I refused to turn on the computer to check this or that, and instead, I got lunches and snacks all ready to go, cut out some fabric for pajamas, tidied up a bit, and was generally just a more pleasant Mom during the breakfast shift. I even had enough time to make apple pancakes (and they came out just the way we love them- that perfect crispness on the outside and fluffy, nearly-gooey insides)!

I had a decorating committee meeting at church about an hour after dropping Jonah off there for school, so I laced up the sneaks and managed to get in 4.5 miles during that time. Nice! Granted, it was absolutely freezing cold and my nose was like a faucet for our meeting, but it felt so great to have gotten all this accomplished by 9 am! More sewing sewing sewing, and I've got a little something exciting going on with my shop this week! It just happened to be the perfect kind of day for the ever-wonderful Beef Stew, which translates to: it was like Antarctica outside, and it was all I had in the fridge. =)

Those first choices really do set the tone for the entire morning, which in turn, sets the tone for the entire day. Believe me, I know all too well those harried days when lunches are thrown together in between arguing matches and harsh, snapping words, and though we barely make it out the door, there is anger, hurt, and tears. Oh the tears!. 99% of the time, it's because I didn't choose to manage my time well. What a difference!

Pretty flowers help, too.  =)

 

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Colossians 3:2

Best Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Another week is flying by, and I've learned something important: I cannot be trusted with Halloween candy.

Like, ever.

E-ver.

Okay, so I think I've always known this, but yesterday was a good reminder. Sorry, kids. Mom fail.

I may have needed that extra sugar to tidy some things up for my Etsy shop...it does always get worse before it gets better, right? And speaking of Etsy shops, I even managed to sneak in a little photo shoot with Caleb, which was so much fun! (I highlighted that on my facebook page if you want to sneak a peek!)

So onto the pancakes...
Until recently, I had never made buttermilk pancakes. Or made anything with buttermilk, really. I think I was slightly intimidated, but I shouldn't have been! There are no strange complications, and they are delicious!

Okay, so truth be told, the frozen blueberries had already thawed by the time I got the first three off to school and got back to make Ethan's pancakes (he is still easing back into school days because of his concussion), so the batter was purple. Thus, grey-ish pancakes. Otherwise, they'd be a lovely golden brown.  =)

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups {unbleached} flour

3 Tbsp cornmeal

2 scant Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp+ ground cinnamon

2 beaten eggs

1 1/2 cups fresh buttermilk* + 1/2 cup whole or 2% milk

3-4 Tbsp oil

1-2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix together dry ingredients; add the liquids and stir until batter is moistened; then gently fold in blueberries. We cook our pancakes on a griddle or pan with oil on medium heat.

I was worried about the cornmeal adding too much crunch to the pancake, but it adds just the right amount of, well, something good! They're light, but they're incredibly rich and filling, too.

I altered the original recipe from my BH&G trusty cookbook, doubling it as well. Depending on the size of your pancake, it should yield about 15-18. Because of the alterations, I would not recommend trying to "half" this recipe. Unless you're a culinary daredevil, and then I say, go for it!  ;)

*You can also use sour milk if you don't have buttermilk. You can make 1 cup of sour milk like this: place 1 Tbsp either lemon juice or vinegar in a glass measuring cup and add enough milk to make 1 cup total liquid; let sit for 5 minutes before using. (Adjust amounts for 2 cups or more.)

Well, it's the next day now...I didn't quite manage to get this post finished yesterday, but I did get to hold a 2-month-old baby girl in the nursery all night last night!  =)

Caleb was tossing and turning moments ago, and in the past, I might have gotten annoyed. So worried that I'd have to stop what I was doing, as if that could be so important. Today my heart chose right. Iron unplugged, flannel gently folded, all that can wait. I tiptoed upstairs into his room, and he asked me to spend a few minutes with him (we had a lovely mini-conversation about hover crafts, air force piloting, and how he will ever choose which branch of the military to join) because he isn't feeling so great. Just him and me, side by side, early morning declarations of love whispered low between us.

One day I will wake up, and these children of ours won't be here. And I will long for more time to have cuddled and held hands and whispered low in the dark.

Okay, now I'm late...I'm thinking it's a cereal kind of morning for us!

Our Weekend & Late Halloween Pics

This has been a difficult week. I know I have soooo much for which to be grateful, but I find my perspective both lacking and faulty lately, and I've spent my time licking old wounds. Reflection is one thing, while wallowing is a beast of entirely different proportions.

Another huge blow in our adoption journey has left me feeling like a raw nerve, perpetually at the ready to feel more sensation -pain- than I can handle.

Parenthood has been particularly challenging this week. I have felt like a failure so many times in the course of just one day that it's really the only feeling left in me. Failure. Yikes. That's so hard.

Not only have I wondered why, but how. How to get unstuck, to capture moments of joy and name them for what they are. I don't want to waste time, to let these days pass me by without cherishing them. But sometimes it's just so hard.

We decided to hit the road and venture out to the coast yesterday after lunch. It was a beautiful day- perfect weather, laughter, sand between summer sun-abandoned toes, that magnificence of the vast sea which makes you feel so small in this great big world. And then the other stuff, impossible to tune out no matter how hard I tried. Cruel words, fits, rages, tears, callousness, grumbling, just plain meanness. The joy sucker-outers.

I tried. I really did! I can't say the battle was won, but I was trying. I hope that's better than giving up.

Here are some of the moments and scenes I wanted to hang onto:

This Mama and her little girl caught my attention- they were both so cute!

Poor Mama could not get her to look into the camera, but she kept on trying!

These photos were taken at Rye Harbor State Park. From there we headed south to Hampton Beach, where we hoped to let Ryder run free, but...4 horses were trotting along the shore and we were terrified of what Ryder might do to them. When we thought they were a safe distance away, we let Rydie off, only to have them circle back around and end up right where we were. Slightly annoying, though they were absolutely stunning to watch. 

All of my pictures from the beachy part of our day are on instagram - you can find me here if you want to see.

Then my parents came over to celebrate birthdays- my Mom and I are exactly 2 weeks (plus a few years) apart, so we ate dinner together -and ate ice cream cake, my favorite!- and watched a movie. Bill rented Parental Guidance last month and to my surprise, I loved it! Like, LOVED it! I enjoyed listening to my Mom and Dad howl in laughter at all the same parts we do, too. It's a great family film, and it's incredibly touching. Keep your Kleenex close at hand.

Today half of us aren't feeling well. Scratchy throats, upset stomachs, a variety of ills. I don't have it in me to get us to church. Which makes me feel even lousier. Maybe ice cream cake for breakfast will do the trick?

Friday night we had some friends over for the kiddos, and it was such a tepid, gorgeous night that we all played in the backyard with glow sticks. A trillion stars twinkled overhead. Lots of belly laughter. Friends. I was trying that night, too, and I'm glad because none of it would have happened otherwise.

Lastly, I realize that I did not get even one photo of everyone together on Halloween. FAIL. That's never happened before! Ethan still isn't back to normal, so he didn't even want to go. At the time, I suppose I didn't think much of that, but now, looking back, I don't like it at all. Makes him seem to grown up, and the years are racing by too quickly as it is.

I am glad, however, that I spent the time doing the little photo session with Isabelle ahead of time because it was pouring rain on the night of Halloween. After her friend's party, and then the rain...well, it's safe to say the dress is already past its prime. I know she'll enjoy dressing up this winter, though, and I won't have to worry about her messing it up then at least. Ha

Caleb the wounded soldier- that red food coloring on gauze looked SO real!

Jonah the evil pig- Don't ask. I didn't. Just went with it. Bill did the pink make-up for him.

And Cinderella, complete with sparkly eye shadow and lipsticked lips. She was really happy!