Sunday, March 28, 2010

35 years

Here we are--celebrating 35 years of being married together with a hearty breakfast in a cottage on the shore--followed by a long beach walk. We sat on a rock and talked through lists we had made-- "Eight Greats"-- 8 highlights of the last 35 years--from Dallas to California to Costa Rica to Spain. I remembered our stay in a jungle shack along the beach in Costa Rica. Larry picked the remodeling projects around the house. We both had listed our trip wandering through the alleys of Seville and exploring the old core of Lisbon as a great memory together. What lies ahead? Hopefully, we have years of creating memories together in front of us. I'm thankful for this husband of 35 years.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Eggplant Pizza

Yumm... If you like garlic, you'll love this pizza. Got it from Ani (with a couple changes) and it's scrumptious! has a homey, earthy flavor and heats up nicely for leftovers.

EGGPLANT PIZZA

*pizza dough for one pizza
*2 tab olive oil
*2 cloves garlic (I like Trader Joes
frozen minced garlic cubes)
*1 chinese eggplant
*provolone cheese (or mozarella or both!)
*chopped green olives
*a little more oil and garlic

Make the pizza dough (or pick it up made from Trader Joe's) --spread it on a pizza stone sprayed with Pam and let in rise in a 100 degree oven.

Cut the eggplant into chunks and then saute it in olive oil and a glove of minced garlic

Then mix the 2 tab oil with the 2 cloves of garlic and spread them on the pizza. Top with cheese, then the eggplant and olives. What could be simpler?

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

Que aproveche!

7 Weeks with Charlotte

When Micah emailed offering to let Charlotte stay with Gr & Gr for 7 weeks after Christmas, I could scarcely believe it! We had won the grandparent lottery!

And the time with that girl turned out even better than I had hoped! Armed with Laurel as the world's funnest nanny and two doting Grandparents to attend to her every need, we made sure she would be well taken care of!

The sweetest moments for me with at bedtime. We'd pull a couple of library books off of the shelf, read and talk and sing a couple hymns til Charlotte was lulled almost to sleep. It was pure serendipity--a chance to be a "mom" again for a few weeks with adorable Charlotte. We made dinner together and baked brownies--I have the chocolate face photos to prove it! We made several trips to the library--playing puzzles and carefully picking out the weeks books. We had tea parties and played with Ani & Laurel's old doll house furniture in houses made of my father's childhood blocks. I loved, loved watching Charlotte and Laurel dancing in the kitchen--Larry and I would join in for a crazy dance-a-thon. When Charlotte visited me at school, she was the most popular girl on campus! While I worked after school, she'd color and draw on the board, build with blocks and "read" books-- great companionable time together. She loved Sunday school almost as much as I loved sitting with her in our JH class at church. What a girl!

So last Saturday we skyped with Micah and Charlotte. She came on and informed us "I'm in China!" How well we know. I miss that girl on my trips to the library and all the time in between. I'm just waiting til Micah and Jodi send Charlotte and Maryann for another good stay with the grandparents.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Christmas 2

Writing about Christmas in March? Well, just saying it was a very busy winter (more later). But I can't resist adding this pic to the blog-- good times with the "fam" all decked out in the monogrammed sweatshirts Ani and Laurel gifted to us-- ala 1985 matching family sweatshirts. It was a marvelous, memorable week together. So here are my "Top ten Christmas together memories":
#1. Micah, Jodi and the girls arrive at LAX! On the way home Charlotte shows me her "funny face." Hillarious! And we spend the afternoon snapping pics of girls throwing leaves in the backyard. They're really here!
#2. Micah, Charlotte & I spend a day picking up a visa-- and eating pralines at Olvera Street, drinking tea in Chinatown while we wait. good talk time.
#3. Everyone arrives and we have our first dinner together. Charlotte helps me make the salad while the butternut squash lasagne bakes in the oven. A joy to set all those plates around the table. Nothing could be better than that.
#4. Tuesday morning everyone got polished up to have our photo taken together in the park (Thanks Laurel for the great Christmas gift!). Bright day & pretty faces...
#5. Bridal shower for Ani at Aunt Kathi's-- the interview with Brian on the computer was a hit! Fun to all be together.
#6. Aaron and Jessica brought home a "Settlers of Catan" game-- great fun-especially the time I won!
#7. Evening walk with Jodi and Maryann bundled up in her stroller. We took pics of Christmas lights and talked about their plans ahead... Very dear for me.
#8. Trip tip lunch celebrating with Gr. Honey, Gr Stu and my lovable mom. The table was full and Larry read the Christmas story and lighted the advent wreath.
#9. Christmas Eve Service. Caroles that I love and my kids and the Grs. in the pew with me. What could be better?
#10. Christmas breakfast together--waffles with Cranberry topping, ham and lots of goodies. All together in different stages of wakefulness. Larry took a great video around the table and Maryann and Charlotte kept us entertained.
#11. (I know I said top ten, but I couldn't narrow it down more!) Aaron and Jessica made us all a yumptious brunch-- egg/bacon/cheese/avocado breakfast sandwiches. So fun to watch them working together in the kitchen.

That's it. It was a warm and wonderful houseful. I won't forget it. When will be all be together for Christmas again? God knows when. But my heart is thankful for the time we had together for Christmas this year...

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