Today

I was looking at the pictures on my laptops photo booth file and found this gem from way back when. Wasn't this pup adorable?
We are all getting over colds, including Scout. It was her first of many I'm sure. It came on quick Sunday night and luckily she seems to be getting better already. She (and us!) survived a night of really bad sleep where she could only sleep propped up on our chests; if you laid her down she got pretty upset.  Understandably so as she sounded like she was drowning in our own crud. Luckily, Andrew got really good at using saline drops and the terrible bulb to clean her out and she seems to be doing better. Through it all, even with very little sleep, she has been pretty sweet. Lots of snuggles, little sad noises, and still some big happy smiles. All while dripping snot and sounding like Darth Vader :)

I might be teaching another class up at Western, which would make 8 credits next quarter. This one would be an online one, which makes it even more appealing.  The extra money is exciting; we are both looking forward to having our debt paid off and being able to save for the home improvement projects we want to get started on.

We have 12 more days until Winter Break. Enough said.

Our Thanksgiving

Pretty sure we had an awesome Thanksgiving. We ate way too much and enjoyed relaxing with our families. We didn't break out our cameras once (we were on vacation!) but the grandmas did and I will be sure to share pictures when I get them.

This little one brought smiles to everyone's faces. She is doing much better with other people as long as they greet her properly. She insists on meeting people from our arms, that they talk sweetly and smile at her, and then after (and only after) she has smiled back at them will she allow them to hold her.  Don't rush it or you get on the black list!  Once she has given you her stamp of approval though, she will reward you with huge, happy, full body smiles and wiggles. She can get people to do some crazy antics to get those smiles!

I hear people talk all of the time about how stressful holidays can be, trying to coordinate spending time with families.  Not to brag, but we have it pretty much perfect.   Our families are both very understanding and accommodating, no pressure or guilt trips, and we've worked out a good system.  This year we spent Thanksgiving with Andrew's family and then saw my family later that weekend.  We will spend Christmas with my family and then see his family later over the holiday.  Next year we will switch.  Our siblings were so accommodating as to get on the same schedule as us so when we have our holidays with our families, everyone is there.  It works great for us right now, because we really get to settle in and visit with people without worrying about coordinating times.  Someday though, we may want to have a holiday at our own house...here is your fair warning parents!

Redheaded Babies

Odd that my sister and I, who look nothing alike, have matching redheads. These goofy babies have hair that not only matches in color, it also grows in matching comb-overs.  Short on the sides and back, long on top.  We have a couple of miniature Conan O'Briens runnning around.  And, as you can tell, Levi knew exactly how to win Scout's heart:  put things in her mouth.

How to Walk a Baby in Freezing Weather

Step one: Leave baby in jumper or somewhere safe from the crazy beast that lives in your house while you put on your shoes and a warm fleece or sweater.

Step two: Remove baby from jumper and ensure that they have a clean diaper and are dressed in their typical clothing for your cool house: a long sleeve onsie and footie jammies.

Step three: Over these clothes, dress baby in a thick fuzzy baby bunting (all one piece with feet and a hood).

Step four: Get out the Ergo and starting putting baby in. Warning: About this time 100 plus pound beast will start going crazy and running around trying to make sure she gets included in the walk.

Step five: Steal your husband's huge warm coat to wear, zipped up over you and baby of course.

Step six: Add the finishing touches to the ensemble: beanies for both you and baby and gloves for mom - baby will dig her little hands in the folds of your sweatshirt to keep warm. Oh, and don't forget the sunglasses.

Step seven: Enlist your husband to put the harness on the beast and come walk with you.

Chicken Cacciatore

Another tasty recipe, this time found here. It's nothing fancy, definitely not worth photographing, but it was easy and delicious. We've been eating it plain, but I think it would be delicious on top of noodles (which happens to be how the recommended serving suggestion!)

Chicken Cacciatore
2 pounds of chicken, cut into chunks
2-16 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1-6 oz can of tomato paste
1 package mushrooms cut in large chunks
1 onion cut into thin slices
1 green pepper cut into slices
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
3-4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil

• Add olive oil to hot pan 
• Brown chicken on all sides. 
• Add onion, pepper, mushrooms, and garlic and saute until onions are starting to look clear. 
• Add tomatoes and rest of seasonings. 
• Cover and let simmer for at least an hour, stirring occasionally. It can simmer longer if you like. About 15 minutes before you are going to serve the sauce, uncover and let some of the water simmer off.

The Grape Wine pt. 1

Remember how I mentioned a few days ago that we had bartered some grapes for the use of our wine making gear? Here's a little bit more on the story, although it is far from complete.

Our first trade once joining the Bellingham Barter group was with a couple that we knew from our birthing class. They had grapes, but no gear to make wine. We have wine making gear and are always looking for ways to get fruit at a good deal. So we combined our forces, with them supplying the grapes and us supplying the gear and the experience. Well, some experience. We have never made wine from grapes before! 

They brought 90lbs of grapes! I wish I had remembered to take a picture, it was two laundry baskets full of grapes! Always in the past we have made wine in 1 gallon batches, so it wasn't a big deal to wash and press the fruit by hand. Well, washing and pressing 90lbs of grapes took way longer than expected. In retrospect, we should have used a press or a juicer. Sorry guys!

The boys hand pressing the washed and de-stemmed graped

After pressing all of the grapes, we were able to start 11-12 gallons of wine. Half of it was with the fresh pressed juice, and the other half was with the pulp in a mesh bag (called seconds), water, and some grape juice concentrate. We let both batches sit, with the yeast doing it's job, for a few days to ferment and then Andrew and I racked it into carboys.

Both batches of fermenting wine, ready to be racked (aren't you impressed with how we use the space where our dishwasher used to be?)

The batch of wine started from the pure grape juice, 6.5 gallons.  Look at all the crud on the bottom!

Empty one gallon carboys line up ready to be filled

The mad scientist sanitizing and prepping airlocks

Andrew siphoning out the wine into a carboy

5 1-gallon carboys filled with the second batch of wine, made from the pulp of the pressed grapes

All of the left over grape pulp, ready to feed to our compost pile

This last weekend, we racked the wine - or moved it from one container to another. As the sediment in the wine settles to the bottom, racking it helps give you a nice clear wine.

The large carboy, ready to transfer the wine into a bucket so that the carboy can be cleaned and then refilled with the wine.

Bucket full of booze

What is left behind - sludge

Racking some of the smaller carboys

Pretty wines.  We will go through this process of racking the wines several more times before bottling.  Each time the wine gets a little clearer.  Currently, we have the large carboy - 6.5 gallons - plus 4 one gallon carboys full of wine.

Giving Thanks

This post was written by Lauriel without permission from any of the other mentioned parties.  So they may or may not really be thankful for these things :)

Andrew is thankful:

• Books that Lauriel finds for me that are so good that I have a hard time putting them down
• My trumpet students that keep multiplying
• Weekends and evenings that Lauriel gets to be home and is happy instead of being stressed out and grumpy
• Getting to/having to maintain our own home

Lauriel is thankful:

• Andrew's amazing bread making talent, especially the pumpkin cinnamon rolls
• Weekends and home time when I get to see my amazingly, supportive husband, my happy baby girl, and our overly loving dog
• That we own our home-kind of, I mean, I guess the bank really does - even if we are broke
• Two good jobs that pay well enough that Andrew can stay home and take care of Scout

Scout is thankful:

• Getting to spend all my time with either Mom or Dad...no being dropped off with scary strangers!
• Jump, jump, jumping in my jumper
• Boobs!  Although, the bottle is pretty great too. 
• The ergo-it's a snugly, safe place to see the world from

Lucy is thankful:

• Windows to stare out of and a big yard to run around in
• That my humans let me snuggle on the couch with them, sometimes
• My best neighbor friends, Teddy & Tasha
• When my humans have eggs and toast they sometimes throw me a piece

John, Paul, & Abbey are thankful:

• That we get to climb up in the attic of the garage, it's like our own special fort
• For the motion sensor light that comes on when mice run across the driveway
• That our humans have decided to let us in to hang out in the house on special occasions - one at a time
• That we get a cat door to let us come and go as we please

Happy Birthday Emma!

Happy Birthday Emma!

Today

Good morning!

Less than 4 hours and I will be on Thanksgiving vacation! Woohoo! 4.5 uninterrupted days with Scout & Andrew and nursing on demand - goodbye pump! I'm excited to have time to visit with family, eat good food, and catch my breath. Between Monday being "work both jobs day" and Tuesday being "stay late for parent conference day" my brain is fried and my body is tired. I was a mess last night - so thankful that we aren't trying to keep that up all of the time!

No, I am not growing out my bangs. I am just not cutting them. Tomorrow is another day, but for today, my bangs are too long and I don't feel like cutting them. My students are all convinced that I cut my hair and can't be convinced that it is exactly the opposite.

My brain is so tired that I'm not entirely sure what we have done in the last week, let alone being able to write about it all.  I think we:

• had impromptu dinner and visiting with friends in town
• juiced apples to make apple wine (3 gallons!)
• went on walks in the bitter but sunny cold
• raked leaves to put our compost piles to bed for the winter
• racked grape wine (is that redundant?)
• reorganized our living room to start preparing for a mobile baby
• went to Time in Play to get out of the house
• had crazy blustery weather with strong winds and heavy rains

But I could be wrong - feels like so long ago that I could possibly be dreaming all of that!

I'm thankful for my coffee this morning!  Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Barter-to trade goods or services without the exchange of money

Just like everyone else around us, we are trying to save money.  We don't feel broke...but we definitely don't have tons of extra money to throw around.  I mean come on, we both just finished school (and had to pay for two quarters of tuition completely out of our bank account...ouch), we bought a house, and we had a baby that came with more hospital bills than we were planning on.  None of these have been completely devastating, but considering they all happened within 6 months, we are having to budget pretty carefully.

We've done some of the usual, boring things:  cutting out eating out, being careful with our entertainment budget, not making purchases until we determine that they are really necessary, finding coupons for some of our purchases, actually making a plan for how much we get to spend in each area, and planning for future money needs.

We've also been discovering some fun, creative ways to save money.  Today's focus, bartering.  I first read about bartering on Sustainable Eats, in the context of people bartering home-grown or prepared food.  I started looking around a little at what bartering was happening here in Bellingham and found a few different systems.  We chose the free option (saving money, remember?) that is hosted on Facebook.  Coincidentally, we knew one of the people who run the system, another couple from our birthing class.

How it works is simple.  It's a closed Facebook group, called Bellingham Barter.  You have have to be added by someone already in the group and you can be deleted if you don't follow the rules.  There is no talk of money or gift cards allowed.  If you want to trade then you write a post, with a picture if possible, about what you have and what you might be looking for. Maybe like this: We have two garbage bags full of girls 0-6 months clothes.  Looking for living room lamps, glass carboys, home cooked dinners, canning jars, or ???  You can also make the focus of your post something you are really looking for. People comment back and forth, making offers, until both parties are pleased with the trade, then they set up a time to meet and swap.  Simple.  And everybody wins.  It's addicting, really.

I've been loving it not only because it helps us get things that we actually can use, without spending any money, but because it has helped us clean out our house.  And I have plans for more cleaning out and purging.  Andrew & I hate to throw anything away that may still be useful.  But we have a small house and a lot of hobbies.  So we are trying really hard to evaluate if it is something we will actually use, and if it's not, then find a way to pass it on.  Otherwise our house will fill up and someone will need to sign us up for Hoarders.

So far our trades have been pretty awesome:
We gave:  Two bags full of 0-6 month girls clothes (passed to us for free and that Scout didn't need) and a batch of lactation cookie dough.  We got:  Two living rooms lamps.

We shared: The use of our wine making gear in exchange for 90 lbs of grapes.  We made wine with the other couple and are splitting the final product.

We gave:  The composter that came with the house, that we weren't able to sell on craigslist, and no longer needed since Andrew built our fancy composting system.  We got:  A juicer!

We gave:  Two old duvet covers and 5 old T-shirts of Andrew's that didn't fit anymore.  We got:  A baby bjorn potty chair for Scout.

We gave:  A car seat that was passed on to us and some coupons for formula.  We got:  Some 18-24 month girls clothes and a few canning jars.

We gave:  Some dishes that didn't fit in our cupboards and were boxed away up in the attic...meaning we will never use them.  We got:  6 babysitting hours from our friends!

We gave:  5 wine glasses that we never use because I knock wine glasses over.  We got:  Board books and picture books for Scout and 2 new toys for her (that happen to be her now favorite toys).

Can you see why it's addicting?

Cousins

A couple of weekends ago - on November 5th I think - Matthew, Carina, & Harper came up to spend the day with us.  We ate delicious pumpkin cinnamon rolls (thank you Andrew), watched babies play on the floor...and in jumpers...and under playmats, tried mostly unsuccessfully to give naps, went for a walk at the park, and ate some more food.  It was a very uneventful day, but it was fun to enjoy our babies together.  Can you just imagine what trouble these cousins will be causing in about 6 months?

Book Mania

Picture of a Home Library from Book Mania

I love books. I love reading, but I also love owning the books and seeing them on the shelf and thinking about reading them. I love holding a book in my hand. I love ratty, torn up well loved paperback and I love fancy leather-bound hardbacks with gilded edges. I love books with crisp new pages and I love the books that were my grandpa's when he was little. When I was little, I used to love watching the part in Beauty and the Beast where the Beast gives Belle the library. I always wanted a library like that. Now I'm content with our system of finding places all over the house to store and display books. But I still like to look at libraries and shelves of books. Andrew sent me the link to Book Mania, an awesome website devoted to "cultivating love and passion for reading". I especially love the sections on libraries, shelves, and bookshops. So many amazing pictures.

Happy Birthday Rachelle!

Happy Birthday Rachelle!

Hanging Out With Scout

Hanging out with Scout is pretty fun. It's getting to be a good mix of her entertaining us and then us entertaining her; it's a nice reciprocal relationship.  Very relaxing with lots of laughing and communicating back and forth.  Want a peek at what we like to do? After watching her do this for hours on end (slight exaggeration, don't worry) I'm not surprised that she needs to nap every hour and half. That would wear me out too. Did you like the guard dog on alert? Lucy is ever present...just in case you might want to pet her. Scout has been watching and listening to Andrew play the trumpet just a little too much. She's got the lip buzzing thing down. Supposedly, all she has to do is learn to tongue instead of breath attack and Andrew is going to bring her to lessons to demonstrate proper embouchure to his students. I probably said that all wrong.  It's cute.

Buttons and Favicons

I tried something new to go with the new domain name.  That's right, did you notice the website is now www.buildingthebasics.com, no more blogspot.  In honor of this monumental change, I decided to create my own button and customize my favicon.  It was really easy, you should try it!

To make my button, I followed these instructions.  If you want to add my button to your website, here is the html code.  It's also over on the sidebar.

<a border="0" href="http://buildingthebasics.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="6152043864_26514a46fb_b" height="146" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6042/6328075750_c35af47cbd_m.jpg" width="150" /></a>

It looks like this:

Next, I took the same picture and made it into a favicon by following these directions. Don't know what a favicon is? Don't worry, I didn't either. It's that little thingy up next to the web address in the browser. Yeah, that's really what I searched for. "Customizing thingy next to web address in browser"; I'm that cool. But I got directions, they were easy, and it worked!

Today

It's definitely getting to be beanie weather around here....

And generally, that makes us smile!

Yesterday evening Scout and I went for a little walk around the block. I plopped her in the Ergo, put a beanie on her, threw on one of Andrew's jackets, and zipped it up over both of us. It was very cute to see just her little eyes poking out of the coat as we strolled down the street.

I'm in the mood to write again. I just wish I had time. For some reason, I always feel like writing when I am a little bit stressed. I think the practice of putting my thoughts on paper helps keep them from slamming around inside my head and making me feel dizzy. We have some crazy scheduling at school up until Spring break. Lots of half days and conference days...lots of weird times and places to be. Maybe that's why my head feels all crammed up.

Andrew and I have been fighting colds, nothing life threatening, totally debilitating, or even bad enough to call in sick. Just enough to be miserable enough that, when combined with the ongoing sleep deprivation and over-busy schedule, it feels like we are in some weird torture program.

Scout's adorable and hilarious. And she really is an easy, fun baby. We got lucky.

We are getting excited about the holidays. Planning gift giving, ways to celebrate, get togethers, and when it is acceptable to start listening to holiday music and watch the classic movies. Well at least I am...Andrew can be kind of a holiday Scrooge. He, he sorry to out you Andrew.

Levi's First Birthday

A few very old pictures from Levi's first birthday (at the end of September!). We sure love that kid; he is a happy, social boy. It is so fun to see him walking around and communicating with everyone.  I loved what Rachelle & Taylor did to celebrate his birthday; I am totally going to copy for Scout's first birthday.

On the day of Levi's birthday they took him to do something that was fun just for him.  They let him run around the church gym with a ton of balls and toys.  Nothing fancy, no decorations, just the three of them.  And no baby gates or things to tell him to stay out of.  Just fun for him.

Then on Sunday, we gathered as a family and had dinner, dessert, and let him open his presents.  Of course these things never go as planned, but everyone was a good sport and enjoyed the celebration even though the power was out and Levi skipped his afternoon nap. He was still a happy boy and loved everyone clapping when he opened his presents!

50th Wedding Anniversary (The Scrapbook Edition)

Remember my mom's parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party that we went to back when Scout was less than a month old?  I wrote about it here and here.  Well, I made the scrapbook pages for both our family scrapbook and for Scout's Scrapbook.  Similar but with a slightly different focus.

For Scout's Book:
For our family's book:

Spinach & Feta Pasta

Andrew and I have a new go-to favorite for a quick and easy dinner that tastes amazing.  It comes from this website, that I guess everyone in the world knew about before us.  You should look around, but not too much because it will make you hungry/want to cook.  I really want to make these, and this, and this...nevermind.

Spinach & Feta Pasta
(quick, easy, cheap, & good enough to serve to company)

I even stole their picture because 1) I keep forgetting to take a picture when we make it and 2) I really stink at taking pictures of food. 

8 oz. penne pasta
2 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
I bunch of fresh spinach, washed but no need to chop
1 onion, finely chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
A handful of fresh mushrooms, chopped
Feta cheese, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add pasta. Cook according to package directions. In the meantime, heat a little olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and mushrooms and cook until tender. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add tomatoes, heat through, and then add drained pasta.  Heat through and serve.  Add salt and pepper and crumbled feta to taste.

Let's Get It StartedI

I shared this video on facebook a couple of days ago, so many of you will have already seen it.  But it made me smile so I'm going to share it again here. 
I love that they are both still having fun and that she is feeling well enough to move around like that. 40 plus weeks pregnant with twins....I can't even imagine.  And she looks amazing. In case your wondering, the husband stated that she had a natural, unmedicated labor two days later, so all is well.

P.S. I originally saw this video posted on a Mom's group on facebook, that mom got it from another blog, and I'm sharing it here.  After I posted it on facebook, I saw that many other people were sharing it as well.  Crazy how fast media spreads on the internet!

My husband is amazing

Andrew celebrating his graduation-June 2011

And he is probably going to groan when he sees this post, because we are really not sappy and mushy...especially not in public.  But he is amazing and I don't thank him enough.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that I usually act like I take him for granted and that I'm annoyed with him, and he definitely doesn't deserve it.  But he forgives me (I think).  I wouldn't be who am I without him; he really is my best friend.

Want to hear why he is so amazing?  You'll be jealous.

He makes me coffee EVERY morning. 

Andrew with Lucy at Rough Around the Edges Class-June 2011

He makes dinner, cleans the house, chops wood, bakes bread, works in the yard, knits, and still has time to be an amazing dad.  Well-rounded and an amazing stay at home parent.

Andrew & I riding our scooter-May 2011

He lets me snuggle up to him when I am cold.  And put my cold feet on him to warm up.

Andrew & my dad at Potholes-June 2009

No matter the shape or size of my body, or what weird baby related thing is happening to it, he finds me attractive and is always tells me so.

Andrew tracing the Sneetches on Scout's wall

 He offers to get up with Scout in the night.  And when I say no, he usually thanks for me being such a good mom when I get back in bed.  Hearing thanks is nice.  I mean, I know Scout appreciates it, but hearing it is different.

Andrew doing handstands in Anacortes-July 2009

 He loves my family and treats them like his own.  We don't have any of the drama around in-laws.  It's awesome.

Andrew & Chris on their 100 mile bike ride-June 2009

He always asks me what I want him to get done during the day.  Who else do you know that gets to make to-do lists and have someone else work on them during the day?

Andrew & I on a backpacking trip August 2009

He is creative.  He can sew, bake, cross stitch, play music, paint, draw...you name it and he can probably do it.  He can teach himself how to do just about anything.

Andrew at Priest Lake-August 2009

 He is constantly making me laugh.  He is always doing something quirky, like coming up with amazing dance moves.  I'm not funny.  He is.

Andrew, Lucy, & I-January 2011

He get's up with me every morning at 5 am so that I don't feel so alone and grumpy getting up that early.  He gets the fire going and offers to make me breakfast.

Andrew & I at the zoo-June 2005

He is a naturally amazing father.  He is patient, calm, consistent, and entertaining.  He jumped in with both feet from the very moment she was born.  He has been at least an equal partner in parenting; I'm pretty sure that he does more than me.  I know I'm lucky on this one.

Andrew & I-Fall 2007

 He is athletic and active and pushes me to be, even when I'm lazy.

Andrew & Scout-July 2011

He has been very supportive of breastfeeding and always trying to find ways he can help make what we are doing easier on me.

Family Picture 2008

He is supportive.  I mean really supportive.  He hears all of my crazy ideas and actually seems to think they are good ideas and helps me make them happen.

Andrew & I a little too early at the tulip fields-April 2007

We have fun when we are together.  Just being home and doing normal everyday things are awesome as long as we are together.

Andrew & I at homecoming-I'm thinking it was fall of 2000

He knows me.  All the quirks and flaws, better than anyone else.  And he loves me despite all of my imperfections.

We really are a team and I can't imagine being me without him.