In which Heather becomes a different sort of person.

Earlier this week, I had occasion to ask myself "when did I become the sort of person who chops up whole cow livers?" And I wasn't sure of the answer, but I was glad to be that sort of person.  As I stood in the kitchen with a massive beef liver from a freshly butchered cow from the biodynamic farm I workshare at, I mused over these meaningful life questions.

Maybe I've always been that sort of person, and just not had occasion to express that side of myself.

The next day, I had occasion to ask myself a similar question: "When did I become the sort of person who makes homemade liver pate?" Now, I know that I've been that sort of person for quite a while now, at least 4 years or so. But I had still never done it. Well, check that one off the bucket list!  (I used the recipe from Encyclopedia of Country Living for Chicken Liver Pate)

On a related note, there are now several packages of sliced beef liver in the freezer. If you think you may be the kind of person who would want to experiment with some, do let me know. Because it turns out beef livers are really quite huge. I suppose we will use them up, possibly within a year, but I could be convinced to share some with you. :-)  The cows were born, raised, and harvested on the same farm, and were grass-fed and grass-finished.

I've included some photos here for your benefit. Yes, you heard that right - for your benefit. Enjoy!

Also, Marie, who knows how to do summer right.

Some Christmas

Marie is at a pretty ideal age for Christmas - too young to expect presents, but old enough to enjoy. And young enough that we can dress her up super cute and love on her adorableness. She's so sweet and is currently into kissing. I read her her Christmas book yesterday (Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett - pretty much perfect for her right now! Kitties AND other animals!), and the last page with Annie and the kitties, she kept kissing and kissing the page. I love it! She seems to be learning new skills and words pretty much every other hour these days. Come see!

Marie with the stocking I made her this year, and her Christmas sweater! 

Love that face!

Hair clips from grandma. This is her "posing for the camera" face. Cute...

Grandma and Grandpa Ehli and 3 out of 5 grandkids. So festive!

So cute! Can I hug you all at the same time?

one

Happy birthday, Marie!  She is one year old!  We celebrated with a pumpkin extravaganza at the farm. Lots of Marie's friends came, ate cake, sang happy birthday, rolled around in the pumpkin patch, and generally had a grand celebratory day in honor of Marie's birth day.

Marie has been learning lots of new words lately. She now answers "what does the kitty say?" with "aaow" and "what does the doggie say?" with "woof woof". She picked up the latter while we were farm sitting last week and there was a dog. Some other words she says include touchdown (complete with raised arms), kitty, poop, mama, dada, toes, cow, moo, quack...

She also walks! She started taking steps a week or two ago, and yesterday took ~15 in a row. Watch out, Ginger kitty.

Here are some photos of her pumpkin birthday.  It is beautiful to be able to celebrate our precious daughter, and the whole year she has been with us. She is loved!

Our little pumpkin

What.. did you think we were joking about rolling around in the pumpkin patch?

They are all looking at the camera! Miracle! So many boys...

First cake in an overstimulated environment

Surfacing

Oh, hello! We are slowly surfacing from a beautiful, busy, and abundant summer. Marie's first. And how could I have let you miss almost the entire thing? Here is a quick flashback:

 

We helped my Grandma and Grandpa with their extreme garage sale in preparation of them moving.

 Lots and lots of canning... on the list (so far) is lots of dilly beans, dill pickles, peach jam (4 kinds!), canned peaches, canned pears, peach bourbon preserves, salsa verde... what am I forgetting?

 

 Marie's first hike on Mt. Rainier! It was a cold grey September day, but that mountain is gorgeous no matter the weather. Marie's the one wearing the bear hat (purchased in the gift shop when I realized I had optimistically only packed a sun hat for her).

 We had as many beach days we could fit in between everything else.  Not enough, that's for sure.

 Marie's first canoeing expedition, on Bead Lake near Joel's hometown. A secluded little lake in the hills, most of which was wasted on Marie. She wasn't too thrilled with us making her wear a life jacket, and also not letting her fall in the water.  It appeared she wanted a thrilling exciting day, while we had sought a simply subdued one.

 Caring for the garden (on the right, in April when it first opened).

 A family wedding! Beautiful and so well planned it was a delight to attend, and see some of Joel's family we don't see much (read: most of them since our wedding 6 years ago).

Lots and lots of swinging happened this summer. Lots. and lots more. Marie loves swinging! Good girl.  She is almost almost almost walking, picking up lots of things and holding them to her ear like a phone and saying "iowa" (she means hello, we're pretty sure), still sticking every new discovery into her mouth, and getting better and better at communicating. (Baby sign helps! She knows water and all done, and we're working on others).

So that's a bit of what we've been doing. How about you? Anyone newly pregnant? I'm sure you're out there.   School has now started for Joel in 2 out of 3 places, and we (well, Marie and I anyway) are looking forward to life settling down a bit and a decrease in travelling. Hopefully get Marie in some more swim lessons, catch up on dishes, that sort of thing.

Joel and I got married 6 years ago today. Congratulations us!  How different our life looked back then... hard to imagine there were nights in my life that weren't interrupted. I could sleep through the entire night and not wake up once! Whew that is what dreams are made of. Those oft-interrupted dreams. This baby is wonderful at many things, but not at sleeping.  We love her anyway. We'll keep her anyway. We'll defend and encourage and love her at all costs. And her first birthday is coming up this month! Stay tuned...

First parsnip harvest!

I'm so excited I can grow them! Did you know? All you have to do is sprinkle some seeds, be patient, and kabam! Parsnips!

Today's harvest

From the backyard...

Greens harvest: mustard Greens, blue scotch kale, chard, and a few peas

Herb harvest: black stemmed mint, greek oregano, sage, and lemon thyme

she's on a roll*

Marie finally learned how to roll over today! Once she realized she could do it, she proceeded to continue rolling over for the next twenty minutes. And since she can only turn from back to belly, she would cry and yell once she was on her belly. We'd flip her over again, and then, repeat. Over and over.. fun game, huh guys?

I am sure you have all seen babies roll over. So, in lieu of that video, I will instead post a photo to pull out on Marie's first dates:And one of her beautiful kissable face at sleepy peace (click on this one to see those gorgeous lashes close up):
In other news, I got a garden plot in the new Community Garden! Yay! We'll have access to them mid-April (they have to build the raised beds first). So I can start some seeds now and hope they grow. Any suggestions to heat seeds from below without buying anything?

*I apologize. That's the best pun I could come up with, and Joel isn't home.

Victory!

Before:And after:
One pair of wool longies, and one wool soaker, from a sweater that fit me weird. I mostly went by the instructions here. It cost me nothing, excepting the cost of the sweater which I bought a few years ago for a few pounds at a thrift store/charity shop in Scotland. It's real Shetland wool; however, I don't feel guilty cutting it up because directly under the "Real Shetland Wool" boast on the tag, it says "Made in Hong Kong".

Hopefully this will be a good solution to night time cloth diapering!

yesterday

Yesterday we entered the cold outdoors and took a walk to the nearest coffee shop (the nearest being a little over a mile each way - American cities, oh my!). Our little precious was all wrapped up and adorable. Joel thought she looked like an abandoned baby that someone had forgotten in the park. There was much discussion of the scene of Hook where baby Robin Williams/Peter Pan rolled down the hill in his pram. We would like to reassure you that if our baby rolled down a hill, we would go look for her.Joel just mentioned he thought maybe Tinkerbell stole Peter before his mother got a chance to look for him.

The things we will never know about Hook.

On that note... the baby is 8 weeks today! We leave for Thailand on Saturday! Please read this in commemoration of our first flight with an infant.

The fabulous hat is handknit from my friend and old college roommate, Jessica, who in addition to being a mad knitter, is a genius plasma physicist at Princeton. Wow, I can't believe I even know people like that!

Growth!

This is my garlic! I planted it in October and since the winter, I've been entering and leaving the house from the upstairs front door and haven't been in the backyard much, thus forgetting about the garlic, and neglecting the worm bin. Thank goodness both of those are pretty forgiving during the wintertime. Today I succumbed to the overflowing compost bin on the kitchen counter and finally brought it to the worms to work on. While out back, I ventured to the far back corner of the garden, only to be pleasantly surprised that this whole garlic-planting adventure works! Before planting, this area looked like wilderness, really overgrown like most of the backyard, and I had put a lot of work into making it plantable. When I went back today, there were only a few weeds which I pulled! I guess this mulch idea works too. :-)

We planted Susanville and Chesnock Red, and I'm fairly sure the garlic on the right, which is growing much better, is the Susanville. Should have written it down I guess.
In other events, this is Ginger purring away in Joel's arms.

Lazy New Year's Day at Home

Our most recent acquisitions

Any suggestions?

Why we moved back to America: Parades

Since it has been 4 months since our last post, I have concluded that you must be sufficiently questioning what we have been doing. Last time we posted (excepting the Salmiak Shampoo 'experience'), we were shivering in a very cold Glasgow. Now, we are quite warm here in suburbia. Since we drive everywhere, we never have to wear coats. I forget that quite often, and end up bringing a coat with me, where it stays lonely on the back seat until I carry it back into the house.

Joel and I are both working for the U.S. Census now! Woo hoo, temporary employment! It's going to be fun. (really!)

Anyway, enough about us. What I really want to tell you about is America. It is a funny culture they have here. They do love a parade. And how can one help but join the spectacle? Come and see:

All the awards go to this woman and her doggie for Most Excited Spectator! (Not even in the parade!)This adorable green horse actually moved up and down! Wonders never cease.

A free-flowing wine float is always the thing for family parades...

The Seattle Seafair Pirates - always a joy

This shot exemplifies the nature of the American parade - a constant barrage of BRIGHT colors and tacky decor!

Stayin' true to the cowboy heritage.. gotta love the jacket.

Farm animals on parade. Wonderful.

The daffodil princesses!

My little brother leading his high school band!

Grandma and Grandpa, Joel, Dad and Mom. (Note the free Census tote bag - classy!)

Well, if that wasn't sufficient to fill your need for a proper parade, please come visit. Maybe we can find another one.