I have no need of spoons

Lunch today consisted of some creamy whole-milk yogurt mixed with delicious pureed squash (I always want to try it thinking it's apricot yogurt). Taking advantage of such a moment, I've put together a little photo essay on the artistic qualities of lunch with a 8 month-old.

Contemplating Squash

Of course when Eve lifted her container all the yogurt would drip out. Brilliant.

A budding Jackson Pollack

That is my chair that I had just vacated. You can get upset your you can take a picture and call it art.

Uuuummm Mess!

Those are little bits of banana mixed in there. Uneaten of course.

Fascinating

Eve sat here mesmerized by the dripping water for over 15 minutes when I finally pulled her out.

Must Touch Water

Christmas Spirit is My Excuse

Two years ago Scott and I went to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert and heard the most amazing concert. The guest artist was soprano Renee Fleming (attachment of one of the pieces sung at the concert) which, given the fact that the tickets were free, was a chance of a lifetime to hear in person. The next year for Christmas I got the dvd of the concert and that brings us to this posting. The past few weeks Scott has been working late and it has been rainy and I'm excited for Christmas which basically adds up to me watching said dvd not once, not twice, but four times. It's great and I'd watch it again in a heartbeat.

We're being watched

We recently welcomed a visitor to our home: Erica, the Christmas Elf. Along with her came a note explaining that Santa Clause has sent her to check up on us and to make sure that we are being good. Every morning she is in a new place in our apartment but when people are around she has to hold very still, as said note explains.

This type of things is not unheard of. My sister in Dallas as well as my sister in Pittsburgh each have Christmas elves watching them as well. For those of you who don't know my mother, there is a reason we call her Mother Christmas.

Good thing Christmas elves are tough

Nice Profile

Note the shadow cast by those cheeks.

St. Nicholas Day

My family, being LDS, don't celebrate Catholic feast days, with one exception: December 6th. Last night if you had come by our place you would have seen three pairs of shoes outside our front door. We ran out of carrots a couple of days ago otherwise there would have been carrots in our shoes. This is because on the night before December 6th St. Nicholas rides his horse around to all the homes to see if the children are being good; a sort of pre-Christmas checkup.

Sometimes St. Nicholas sends packages in the mail (apparently he has a satellite workshop in Kaysville, UT) in addition to the gifts/treats left in our shoes. For example, this year Eve received a shiny Christmas tree that winds up and plays music while slowly revolving. Over joyed with this new toy, Eve immediately starts to whack it with her celery. It's all fun and games until mom puts it out of reach but a few tears bring it right back.

P.S. For those who care, I found glitter (from said shiny tree) in Eve's diaper. Real nice.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Whacking Shiny Tree

Yelling While Whacking

Too Far Away!

I Love Christmas!

GRANOLA

The rain here in Seattle has been steady all morning so Eve and I have been quarantined here in our apartment. After doing the fun and exciting household chores (laundry, sweeping, clothing repairs, etc.) we decided to make some granola. Scott and I are not big cold cereal fans. In fact all we have is Cheerios, or rather Joe's O's, which Eve devours by the handfuls. However, we do like granola. I've been experimenting for the past couple of months and I think we finally have a winner.

7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup almonds or walnuts broken up

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1cup sunflower seeds, raw or toasted

½ cup flaked coconut

¼ cup ground flax seed

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup maple syrup (I use grade B)

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cup dried mangos*, chopped

1 ½ cup dried pears*, chopped

*Not the sulfur squishy kind but the thin dry homemade-type.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Combine the oats, coconut, wheat germ, nuts, seeds and salt in a very large bowl. Mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, oil and vanilla. Pour the syrup mixture over the dry mixture, stirring and tossing till everything is very well combined.

Spread the granola over 2 large baking sheets with rims.

Bake for 2 hours, stirring the mixture after 1 hour or so. Remove the pans from the oven and let cool completely. Transfer the granola to a large bowl and mix in the dried fruit. Store in the freezer if you have room (ask my sister Mindy about storing home-made granola in the cupboard).