Conversation with Jacob

Jacob: Mommy, I don’t know when Willy’s birthday is and I need to know because he hasn’t had a birthday yet.

Me: Willy is a stuffed animal Jacob, he is not real.

Jacob: Yes, he is. And he needs a birthday so I can show him how much I love him. Did you know that Willy has friends? Their names are Birdy and Sealy. And can you make a cake for Willy and me and Dad can help? And right now, Willy is two, but when he has a birthday he will be three.

This is the second time Jacob has brought up the idea of a birthday for Willy.  And, Willy actually is two, we got him at Sea World on December 30, 2007, so if pressed to come up with a date, I suppose that would be it.  Seeing as how it has passed though, we may have to come up with another.  And what does one get a stuffed whale for his birthday?  Hmm…

Published in:  on January 4, 2010 at 12:34 pm Comments (4)
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Decade in review

I’ve been reading lately that the decade of 2000 has been one of the worst in U.S. history.  For me, however, it has been hands down the best decade of my life.  There were some hard times, but overall, WOW.

In 2000, my best friend and love, proposed.  We had a fantastic, fast engagement during which I moved to Abilene, TX and began teaching at my favorite position in Wylie (Abilene) ISD.  We were married at the end of the year and rung in 2001 on our honeymoon in Bali.

In 2001, I was given the opportunity to become a trainer for the statewide reading academy.  Brian and I took a great trip down to Austin for the training, and after training teachers for a summer, I started my Master’s program in Reading at HSU.  Our first year of married life was exciting and well worth the wait.

In 2002, I deepened some new friendships at Hardin-Simmons that are so dear to me still today.  Brian and I both continued working and taking classes toward our Master’s degrees.  We enjoyed some camping trips in and around Abilene.

In 2003, I graduated from my Master’s program and decided with my husband that it was time to leave Texas.  We moved to Alaska, Brian’s long time dream, and have not looked back.  We had an amazing month long trip/move stopping to see the Grand Canyon, Vegas, dear friends in Fresno (and some from Dallas that met us there), and taking a three day ferry ride past Canada to our new home in Fort Yukon.

In 2004, we experienced our first extreme temperatures in the Arctic Circle, watched Northern Lights dance over our heads as we walked to work in the early mornings.  We met and grew a friendship with some awesome folks who now live way too far from us.  We toured the state in our first summer in Alaska, driving the Denali Highway, visiting Seward, Anchorage and points between.

In 2005, we welcomed our first child, Jacob Liem.  What a joy.  What an experience.  What a way to deepen a marriage.  Wow.  I also put my teaching career on hold to become a stay-at-home mom.  Lots of work, but I’m having a great time still.

In 2006, we welcomed our second child, Tobias James.  Again, what a joy.  In addition to that, we moved from Fort Yukon, which was a hard move, but it brought us to some new opportunities and we experienced God’s hand using us in some really neat ways in Circle, AK.

In 2007, we welcomed Jamiee Danielle into our family.  We had a “baby free” summer and enjoyed seeing some more of the state with family!

In 2008, we welcomed our third child, Sarah Avery.  We had an incredibly scary experience with her, but were so lucky to see God’s hand as he guided surgeons and healed her completely.  She truly is a gift from our Father in heaven.  We also bought our first house in Fairbanks and joined a fantastic church.

In 2009, Brian took a job in Fairbanks, ending the weekend commutes, and we have enjoyed a great time being together as a family and being in love.  Also jumped into some great new friendships this year and I’m really excited about seeing them grow.

Thank you, 2000’s.  I will remember you fondly – even if the rest of the world does not.

Published in:  on December 31, 2009 at 1:52 am Leave a Comment
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Back posting

I googled myself tonight to see what was publicly available about myself.  One interesting thing that I found was my MySpace blog and Facebook notes popped up in a search.  I had forgotten that I kept the MySpace blog for a while, so tonight, I moved most of the posts from there to this website and backdated.

I wasn’t writing very much, but it was interesting to me to re-read stories that I wrote about Jacob before he was talking.  It’s already hard for me to remember him like that.  Several of the posts happened right about Sarah’s age today.  I wonder if she can do the things that he was doing then.  I’m sure my expectations were higher for Jacob since he was first and they are probably lower for Sarah since I’m just keeping my head above water on some days with three little ones.  I should test her out more!

Daily scoop of the kids:

Jacob decided he likes eggs today – but only hard boiled.  When he was one, I could get him to eat scrambled,but he never really liked them.  I am pretty sure that the only reason he likes them now is because he knows that some dinosaurs like to eat eggs and he wishes he were a dinosaur.

I was scolded tonight when Toby got into trouble.  I let a laugh slip when he disobeyed Brian in an incident involving pretzels. As Brian was discussing it with him, Toby was squirrely and smiling.  Brian said, “I don’t think what you did was funny,” to which Toby replied, “Mom did.”  Oops.

Sarah is a little menace under the Christmas Tree.  I have now re-wrapped four presents that she has unwrapped. AARGGHH!  She also insists of sticking her hands in the toilet daily and then slurping the water off of them.  Such a little lady…

And finally, Jamiee had mid-terms all week and finished the first semester of her junior year today.  She’s been out since after school and is seeing a late movie.  I hope she’s behaving!

Published in:  on December 18, 2009 at 11:14 pm Comments (3)

Anticipation

I love Christmas.  I love every bit of it.  Shopping, wrapping, decorating, lights, music, warm fuzzy feelings, the Advent.  It’s all great.

So, today was the day after Thanksgiving, and in my eager anticipation for the season to begin, my morning declaration to Brian was that I either needed to start decorating or buy something.  He did not want to decorate, so I got to go shopping.  Yipee!

I didn’t go crazy.  In fact, I didn’t buy much, but I did make a trip to our friendly Fred Meyer and picked up Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaur and a cute plaid Christmas dress for Sarah.  Made me feel much better.

I am still feeling the need to start decorating.  I wonder how long Brian’ll make me hold off…

Published in:  on November 27, 2009 at 10:56 pm Comments (4)
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Things that bug me

Wet/snowy shoes on the carpet.

Food left in bowls and on plates on the counter.

My kitchen radio station changed.

Obnoxious kids whose parents don’t realize they are obnoxious.

Repetitive jazz music.

Texting while speaking face to face with another person.

 

 

 

Published in:  on November 11, 2009 at 8:30 pm Comments (1)

Salmon

One of the many, many reasons we are so fortunate to live in Alaska is access to wild Alaskan salmon.  In Fort Yukon and Circle, we were very spoiled with fresh Yukon River Kings.  Now that we’re in Fairbanks, we have been getting our fish from the Copper River.  Brian has gone to Chitina for the past two years to dip net for Reds (Sockeye).  Not as much flavor (oil & fat) as the kings, but still amazingly better than anything you’ll get in the store.  So, throughout the year, we have a ready supply of fish for meals.  I really don’t know what we would do to replace that in our diet if we were to move out of Alaska because we eat it literally once a week.

I made some broiled salmon last night and decided to make some Salmon Chowder with the leftovers.  I was looking online for a recipe for Garlic Cheese Biscuits to go with it, and while online I found that a friend had posted on her Facebook a comment about G.C. Biscuits.  How timely!  We had a quick exchange and I said that I would type up my chowder recipe for her.

Before I post it here, let me throw out a few disclaimers.  1.  I do not follow recipes well… I cook by pretty much throwing things together and adjusting as I go along.  That makes it hard to write down what I did when someone asks.  2.  This is no gourmet meal… I am a budget cook who uses what I have in my pantry and freezer.  If you happen to make it and have some ideas for me, let me know!

That being said:

Stephanie’s Salmon Chowder

3 Tbls Butter
1/2 onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 Tbls minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth
2-3 cups potato diced (usually 3 medium potatoes)
10 oz corn (one small frozen bag)
2 -3 cups leftover salmon
2 cups milk
1 tsp. oregano
salt and pepper to taste
thicken with flour & water mixture.

Saute the onions, carrot, and garlic in butter until the onion is transparent.
Pour in chicken broth and add potatoes and corn.  Bring to boil and then cook for 10 minutes.  Add salmon, milk, and seasonings, bring back to boil and then add flour mixture to thicken.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

You could use a can of creamed corn instead of frozen corn.  I just always have corn in the freezer, so it’s on-hand.  You could also use canned salmon, but it won’t taste as good (unless maybe you’re using your own jarred salmon from this year’s catch).

Published in:  on November 8, 2009 at 8:55 pm Comments (2)
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Colored pasta

The boys have been wanting to use glue a lot lately when we’re doing artwork.  I have been reluctant, but finally made some colorful pasta for them to use.  It’ll be a gluey mess, but they’ll love it.  I used the pasta that we had in our pantry – spirals, bowties, and some penne, but pretty much any kind could be dyed and used.

To make colored pasta for artwork:

Put a small amount of rubbing alcohol in a gallon size bag – about 1-2 tablespoons.  Drop in about 10-12 drops of food coloring.  Throw in some pasta and shake it up.  Dump it out onto newspaper and let dry.  Add NO water – this will make your pasta sticky and it’ll be a mess.  It’ll dry pretty fast.

Published in:  on November 7, 2009 at 9:07 pm Comments (1)

Just say no?

As I was sitting here reading Brian’s blog today, I watched my next door neighbor walk into his special spot – his pot smoking spot.

My sister and I have laughed about how much Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No campaign and the warning that you could DIE the first time you tried drugs impacted us as teens.  Neither of us have ever tried them.  Until I moved up to Alaska, I still had it in my head that if you did drugs you were a “druggie,” and your life was headed for disaster.  Now, that is probably true in most cases, but I do recognize that marijuana is surprisingly accepted and used recreationally – especially up here where full legalization of marijuana hits the ballots every few years.

We have not been big television watchers, but have enjoyed Netflix over the past few years.  We have enjoyed several of the HBO series, but after seeing all that we wanted to see, we were looking for something new.  I read briefly about Weeds and thought that it sounded interesting.  I watched a season or two, but have since stopped.  It was just way too morally corrupt – but somehow the Sopranos passed my bar… hmmm… I digress.  So anyway, it has had me thinking about marijuana.

I visited the parent of one of my daughter’s friends recently and saw tacked on the wall their medical marijuana license.  I was pretty surprised.  When I asked my daughter if she knew about she said that she did and that the parent smokes in a special room in the house.  Wow.

And then there’s my neighbor.  It was mid-winter last year when I walked out and smelled it for the first time.  I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but smelled it on several occasions.  There is a rental house near ours with college students in it, so I just assumed that it was coming from there.  But then my daughter was outside one day and found him lighting up on his back porch.  Since then, it’s become a regular occurrence.  During the summer, he sat outside in a screen room, now he goes into a shed.  He even mentioned to me that he drinks less because he smokes more, which he thinks is healthier.  I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s interesting to me that he can speak so freely about it without knowing my thoughts on the issue.

So, you may be wondering, what is my point here?  Why am I writing this?  I’m not sure.  Just thinking about it.

Published in:  on November 5, 2009 at 4:14 pm Comments (4)
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Oops

Well, I missed my first day in NaBloPoMo. Bummer. I intended to do it last night, but I got distracted moving into my new MacBook. After several hours of transferring data, I all of my info is now on the new computer, and I’m lovin’ it.
Sorry NaBlo… I’ll post twice today.

Published in:  on at 11:14 am Comments (2)

The man

For any new readers that may stumble across my blog on the NaBloPoMo randomizer let me say that being a stay at home mom means that the majority of my posts will have to do with motherhood.  I do believe that there is much more to me than that, but day in and day out, I am neck deep in kids – from preschoolers/toddlers upon waking and a teen who is only in bed minutes before me.

That being said, here’s my mom story for the day…

For MONTHS we’ve been working on getting the boys to say their whole name.  They are both really good at their first and middle names, but they seem to always leave off the last name.  I’ve told them that it’s important to know in case they ever get lost or can’t find me in a store.  So, today, while outside building a snowcave, Tobias says (completely out of the blue), Mommy, if I ever get lost, I’m gonna tell the man, “My name is Tobias J.”    The man, I wonder where he got that and what made him think of it while we were shoveling snow…

Published in:  on November 3, 2009 at 10:50 pm Leave a Comment
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