I Made Something Edible!

Dear Kristen,

Little Mister’s birthday looked perfect for a one year old!  Way to go!  Simple is best, I think.  Munchkin’s first birthday was pretty much a yellow and red party – I just called it a Winnie the Pooh party so that I could make a beehive cake.

She doesn’t remember it, so it could have been a cupcake and green beans and she would have LOVED it!  (Cake makes everything great, Little Mister.  I’m glad you’ve realized this already.) But the other guests probably would have balked at the rest of the menu I served.

Recently I’ve been serving up messes in the GF bread department.  But, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I got a cookbook that looked promising – and so far…well, let me tell you.

What I tried:

BISCUITS!

Her’s looks like this:

Mine looked like this:

So not perfectly up-to-snuff (at least to match the picture) but she has the advantage of developing the recipe without a toddler attempting to sabotage her time.

See the blob shaped one? That’s Munchkin’s “triangle.” It doesn’t really hold a rigid shape with that much butter in it.

Taste? Good! Not the best biscuit you’ve ever had (that would have gluten in it, silly) but really pretty good.  A decent biscuit.

DINNER ROLLS! (I forgot to take a picture of these…I can insert a picture next time I make them.)

I made these because you can apparently freeze them if you under bake them and finish them up later.  The prospect of that was too awesome to pass up.  Messy to make, but not too hard, especially when Matt and the kids are watching March Madness napping on the couch and letting me work.

Taste? Good!  In fact, Matt actually didn’t qualify the “good.”  Just straight up good.  (We’ve learned that GF life is about good. Not great. Unless its a steak – that can be great.)

WHITE SANDWICH BREAD!

So I have a story here.  You know those moments when you are multi-tasking and basking in your own pride when you realize you messed up a task 2 steps ago without even realizing it?  And then, when you do realize it, you think, aw, yes Lord.  Thank you for humbling me.

That was Sunday.

After church, I had less than an hour and half to get everyone fed, bread made, birthday card created, dress-up clothes located and Munchkin packed in the car before we needed to leave for a birthday party.   Could I do it?  Of course! I’m a queen at multi-tasking!

Problem: Little Man didn’t nap so was tired and fussy which was quickly turning into “hangry” which in turn was ramping up my anxiety level.  I had Munchkin’s lunch done, bypassed mine thinking I’d get to it after I fed the hangry infant.  But I needed to get the bread in the machine before that.  After so many past failures, I was DETERMINED.  (That’s a kinda nice way of saying, stupidly stubborn.)

So I get all the wet ingredients put together – melted butter, egg whites, warmed milk.  And I put all the dry ingredients (minus the yeast) together.  And I am proving I am the queen of multi-tasking.

Or not.

Add baking powder. Check.  Add baking soda.  Add sugar.  Check.  Add salt.  Check.  Add sweet potatoes.  Wait; what?

Oh.

The page turned in the cookbook.  I didn’t notice.  The bread doesn’t have baking powder or baking soda – the sweet potato biscuits do.  Whoops.

Matt, being completely logical, suggests starting again.  Can’t do it!  I just used the last of the all-purpose gf flour that I made – so there is none left to try again. And I don’t have time to make more.  Certainly not in the 40 minutes left before I need to complete the next 4 steps of the day and leave.

So just throw it out?  NO.  I figured, it didn’t hurt to throw it all in the machine and give it a try anyways.  I can’t reuse the warmed milk, egg whites or butter…so might as well continue down the path of mistakes.  Make the bread and if its horrible, then throw it out.  (I should mention that the salt and sugar levels were exactly the same in both recipes, so it was really only the baking powder and soda added in.)

So I baked it.  Or the machine did.

And it tasted good!  Not just slightly edible.  Down right good – better tasting than all the other attempts!  Specially slathered in butter – which honestly makes almost anything good.  This makes me hopeful that if I actually follow the recipe to a T, it could be even better.

I didn’t take pictures of this either.  Let’s face it.  My pride was crushed and I wasn’t very optimistic.

One Down, Seventeen to Go

Dear Erin,

Thank you for your prayers. It would be nice if life was easy, but it rarely is. I hope you get a break in the weather soon, or at least a break from the weather.

Let’s talk about something more fun. I promised pictures from the party today, so here you go. I found during the process that a party, like a story, is all the better for editing. I had some grand plans, but in the end, for everyone’s sanity it was better for us to simplify. So – cake mix, only three colors of icing, one pic of LM instead of one from each month. I hope I remember this next year.

Unfortunately, I was still too busy to take many pictures, so the selection is limited – mostly to cake time.

The balloons were the most popular item with the under-3 crowd, and none of them popped, amazingly. No startled tears, so I consider them an unqualified success. The older kids had fun playing on Little Mister’s new slide from Mom and Dad, and then doing bubbles. The Pinterest party ideas I saw seemed a little insane and not a little awful about the children (Party game: “Snowflake says, ‘Guess how old I was when I turned over?'”). So in the end I ignored it all and went classic with rainbow colors and circle shapes – and toys for the kids and chat for the grownups.

We had cupcakes – chocolate and vanilla, with blue, yellow, and “red” (as red as you can make white icing in less than 10 minutes, so really pink) icing. LM’s had the number candle; the others had stars. The cupcakes were another hit with the kids. The chaos level seemed to go WAY up once the cupcakes were broken out, and at that point, I was very glad we had a backyard.

He didn’t really recognize the cupcake as food even after I broke it up and handed him the plate, and he was completely flummoxed by the singing. But once I actually put a little piece in his mouth, he worked it out. He didn’t eat much, but he seemed to enjoy what he had, even dancing a little while he was eating each piece. Yesterday, I caught him chewing on some frosting crumbs I had missed during cleanup, so I suspect he’s looking forward to the next time he gets to have straight up sugar and fat. (His father says that won’t be until his next birthday.)

He got lots of very nice presents and will be one of the best dressed kids around for the next few months – he even got a panama hat! And a Steampunk Alphabet book – with the Doctor on the “T for Time Machine” page (I enjoyed finding that Easter egg). Of course, his favorites so far are the toys.

Everyone’s least favorite present was his first ear infection, which showed up this week. Poor baby hasn’t been a happy camper, and on Tuesday he was more cuddly than he’s ever been in his life. But Wednesday, we got meds, and he perked right up again. But I think this week has worn the boy out.

As for me, I was happy with how last Saturday turned out, and I celebrated in a quiet way once everyone was gone and LM was in bed. I can’t believe he’s been with us a year!

Springtime

Dear Kristen,

I’m so sorry for what’s going on over there in your church; I’ve been praying.  Praying and praying.

Praying for healing.

Praying for sleep – for us.

Praying for a multitude of requests.

And praying for springtime to show up.

It seems to be a confused sort of season.  Last night, lows in the 30s. Today, high of 58.  Tomorrow, high of 78 (Praise the LORD!) Saturday…low of 27.  (For awhile there, the forecast included snow for Saturday which made me cry a little.  And whine a lot.)

And no flowers yet.  Makes you want to leave the Commonwealth and head to our native land for an extended vacation.

Side Note: She still fits in this, almost 2 years later. I have petite children.

Why I’m Fasting This Week

Dear Erin,

Little Mister’s party on Saturday was a lot of fun and nearly exactly what I wanted it to be. He and his dad might have been skeptical beforehand…

but I knew what I was doing. More details and pictures on Friday.

But today I’ve got something else on my mind. Yesterday, our church became aware of some disunity among the leaders, and some controversial decisions that had been made, and so the congregation is uncertain and in pain right now. I don’t think details are important or appropriate here, but what I do know is that God doesn’t like to see the members of His Body hurting each other, or His children hardening their hearts against one another and not practicing the grace, mercy and forgiveness He has shown each of us. We talk it and think we are doing it, until it’s hard to do. And then we are called to give grace sacrificially like Jesus does and mercy sacrificially like Jesus does and forgiveness sacrificially like Jesus does!

And we have to be humble enough to sacrifice ourselves and our pride to really love and to really hear other people, even if we’re dead sure they’re wrong. Charles and I have been through the deaths of two previous churches and that leaves lasting scars, even when God does bring good out of it. I really, really, really don’t want to go through that again.

So, because I’m a member, and because I love my church, and because I believe that God can bring guidance, supernatural healing, and reconciliation if we ask, I’m going to be asking – constantly – until an answer has come. I’ll be praying and studying the unity of God’s people in the Scriptures, and even though I hadn’t planned to fast during Lent, I’ll be fasting on Wednesdays at least, starting this week.

I don’t know what God’s plan for our church is. One thing I have learned from the two earlier churches is that the Lord is who I base my faith upon, not the imperfect and fallible church, as much as I love the church. But I know He can do miracles. And if what we need now is miraculous reconciliation and great love and forgiveness among each other, I know He can do that. And I refuse to forgo the possibility of receiving that miracle just because I didn’t ask strongly enough. I’ve never been great at perseverance, but now is a great time to work on that virtue. I want to be like the persistent widow in the parable, who won’t give the judge peace until he grants her request (Luke 18:1-8).

I won’t ask you to fast, as you’ve done plenty of that lately for other reasons, but I’d really love it if you could be praying, too.

Getting Cultured

Dear Erin,

See, this is how I know it’s really my sister writing on the other end of this blog. When you hear “Montgomery,” you think WWII general. When most other people I know hear “Montgomery,” they more likely think this.

Anyway, I approve of your name suggestion for the cow, and I would totally use it…except for two slight problems. One, how do I explain to Little Man when he’s five that an Angus is a type of beef cow and people eat beef cows? (His cow is a dairy cow, or would be if it was real.) I don’t really want him to become a vegetarian at five because he’s traumatized by the thought of eating his best stuffed friend.

Also, I feel like a cow named Angus should look more like this.

These are Scottish Highland cows. Or, as we call them in this house, “fuzzy coos” – a holdover from our semester in Aberdeen. So, you know, the name Angus is Scottish, these are Scottish. Done, and done.

Enough about the cow. This past week was very cultural for Little Mister. Last Friday, he and I went for the first time to the Children’s Discovery Museum, and it was totally awesome. We had a picnic in the park outside under a tree that had a surprise in its branches.

Yarnbombed!

And then we went inside, where there are lots of fun things for older kids – a bubble room and a fire engine and even an exhibit on mammoths, so Little Man could bring Monty to check out his relatives some time. But even for the very littlest, they have a fun room to play and learn in.

Song time!

Look how many of me there are!

He has blocks; they must be better than mine.

We were there for well over an hour, and he had a great time and just conked out when we got back home.

Friday was much more his speed than was the museum we visited on Saturday – the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco – but Charles and I really liked it. While we were there, a string quartet was performing, and the way the music filled the high-ceilinged rooms and just hung in the air was ethereal. And then the artwork was kind of funny. I told Charles it was a little like someone took an art history class, then used their money to buy a piece from each person studied. So, name a famous male European painter up through the Impressionists and he is probably represented. Monet? Of course. El Greco? Yup. Gainsborough? Uh huh. And so on.

LM just liked the echoes, his own echoes especially. So we weren’t there for too terribly long, as we didn’t think everyone else enjoyed them quite as much. I had a good time, though, and then we drove home along the coast, capping off a lovely day.

So I’m sure LM is much more cultured now and well on his way to that PhD by the time he’s three.