FIVE

Five cheers for my beautiful girl - she rocks my world!

Dear Rowan,
On your fifth birthday, I am reminded of the day you were born.  The day that changed me forever.  It seems like yesterday and a lifetime ago all at the same time.  I barely remember what my life was like without you in it. 

At five years old, you are an incredible image of life.  It's impossible to summarize all the things that make up the wonderful and magnificent Rowan...but here are a few of my favorite parts of you...

• You love to create.  You'll spend hours painting, stamping, gluing, cutting, taping, building....creating things for yourself, your friends, and your family (though, you are certainly more into the process than the finished product).
• You enjoy being active and learning to move your body in new ways.  You have been practicing your headstands recently (getting close!) and this summer you learned to hula hoop.  You can't wait to go skiing this winter.  You scare the crap out of me when you ride your bike down the hill by our house (so fast!). You hiked 5 1/2 miles (twice!) this summer.  You have been practicing flips on the trampoline. Oh - and the new favorite - monkey bars...you've certainly got those wired!
• When it comes to learning, you are a sponge.  Right now, you are learning to add.  You can add 5 + 2 and 4 + 6 and even 7 + 12.  When we are on long car rides, you'll say "mom, can we do math?" - yes, Rowan, we can!  Just recently you have been experimenting with what happens when you have 5 peas and you eat 2.  
• You and Charlie have the most amazing relationship.  It's been incredible watching your relationship with him grow this past year.  You truly enjoy playing with him and involving him in every aspect of your life.  You have fun together, you protect him, he looks up to you. 
• Your favorite afternoon activity is having playdates with friends.  You'll play for hours and typically prefer to play with just one friend at a time.  You like to pretend - your favorite games are "mama-baby" and "hospital." 
• Like most kids your age, you live in the moment.  It's all about right now...not tomorrow, not yesterday, not later.  It's refreshing for us adults...after all, "now" is all we really have.  What a great teacher you are.
  
• Last, but not least, you are a good listener (yes, really!), you have respect for other people, and you are usually impressively patient.

Here's to 5 years of wonder, adventure, love, spunk, and magic.  

How did I get so lucky?

falling into fall

For the past few weeks, it's been amazing around here.  The air is crisp, the sun is shining, and the small amount of rain we have gotten has felt cool and clean.  I. Love. Fall.







One of my favorite fall time activities is apple picking.  I have fond memories of this from my childhood....climbing trees and silently eating apples while watching the people below me fill their buckets.  Macintosh.  Yum.  Apple after apple.  Drinking cider in the barn before piling into the car and heading home to bake mass amounts of apple pie.

Apple picking isn't quite the same out on the west coast in 2010 as it was in Vermont in 1985.  Oh no....not even close.  There are about 20 different varieties of apples to choose from (at one single orchard), the trees are pruned for easy picking (which means you can't climb them), you can actually drive around the property in golf carts, and you don't even need to pick the apples yourself (in fact, they prefer if you buy a bag to go).  Although quite different from how I remember it as a kid, it still remains a necessary fall time outing.

A quick house update...

...because everyone keeps asking.

Everyday, I drive by the construction site at least once.  It's so fun to see it happening (finally!) and I just can't resist.  Today there were probably 10 people working on various things around the site.  The job of the day (as it pertains to our particular home) was slinging rock into our foundation.  Early next week they should be pouring our slab.  I can't wait until they are framing! 

The best part?  THEY.  That's right...they are slinging rock, they are pouring our slab, they will be framing.  Not us.  Nope, not us.  We are busy too, however.  We are busy making decisions on things like flooring, wall finishes, door handles, cabinet layout, counter tops, lighting...the list goes on.  Those decisions, my friends, are certainly fun to be making!

foundation prior to the "rock slinging"

Ginger Biscuits

Okay, so they are actually scones but I can't stop calling them biscuits.  I think it has to do with the fact that I like biscuits better than scones (and I like scones).  The fact that I keep calling them biscuits is an indicator of how much I love these little treats.

A bit of history on the recipe...
About six years ago, I went on a search for the perfect scone recipe.  About a year and many many scones later, I found it.  As time has gone by and I have gotten more confident with my baking skills, I have modified the recipe to suit my needs & desires.  I almost always make cranberry orange or blueberry scones.  A good friend recently had a baby and I wanted to make some scones for her and her family.  I thought they would be perfect because they are not too sweet but sweet enough, a little bit healthy (at least compared to a cookie...we are talking snacks here), and can be eaten anytime of day (before breakfast, between meals, after dinner...after all, we need to keep those mama's fed!).  Her flavors are not cranberry and blueberry...her flavors are lemon and ginger.  No lemon was to be found so I went with the ginger.

At this point, I *think* I can claim this as my own recipe.  I have changed at least 3 ingredients and have modified amounts.  Anyone know the "official" rule on that?  Anyway...without further ado...

Ginger Scone Biscuits

3 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick cold butter
1 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 cup sugar (plus a bit more for the top)
2/3 cup plain yogurt or milk (I use yogurt)
1 egg

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry knife or fingers until it's a fine meal.  Stir in ginger and sugar.  In a separate container, beat egg and mix in yogurt.  Add yogurt and egg mixture to dry ingredients.  Mix just until a dough begins to form (do not over mix).  Knead the dough a couple of times on a floured surface.  Pat into a rectangle about 1/2 inch (or perhaps 3/4 inch) thick and sprinkle the entire rectangle with sugar.  Cut into squares and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes (until they are just turning brown).

Two important notes
1. Don't over mix (did I already say that?).  The less you handle the dough, the flakier the scone will be.
2.  I like them best when they stay soft after they cool.  To achieve this, you will want to really watch how long you cook them and try to catch them before they start browning.  It's harder than it sounds because they often brown on the bottom before the top so it takes a bit of guesswork.  This doesn't always work out for me and I'll tell you...they are still delicious if they are browned a bit.

simple laptop bag

A while back, Eric asked me if I could make him a small protective case for his work laptop.  Well, yes, of course!  Another project to add to the queue.  Finally, after months of putting it off and then forgetting about it completely, I managed to create this simple little padded bag.  It's a bit big but he wouldn't let me fix it and told me it was perfect (perhaps he was worried it would take another month or two even though I assured him that it would only take a minute or two).  At any rate, it should do the trick!

The best part is that I am finally getting good enough at sewing that I did this without any pattern at all (and it even has a zipper!), didn't make any mistakes, and finished it in under and hour.  Oh, and I didn't need to go to the fabric store either.  A complete success!