Chesed

I am officially bored with allergy friendly food. So I thought I’d kick it up a notch, dump some stuff together, and create something new and safe. Why not?

I took round steak, cut it into three inch pieces, fried it in a bit of oil (without rolling it in flour) to brown it, and put it in the crockpot. In the pan I added about three cups of water, some salt (I’m a dump it in cook), approximately 1/2 c. brown sugar, 3/4 c. vinegar, 1/4 c. honey, some squirts of mustard, and 1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder. I have no idea if curry powder is safe for Liam or not and I’ve rarely given him mustard, but you can’t learn without trying. When it boiled, I whisked in approximately 1/4 c. tapioca starch, brought it to a boil again, and dumped it over the meat. I turned the crockpot on and smiled proudly to myself. Am I a big girl cook or what? Or so I thought. I was already thinking about how I would feel when everyone started to rave over their yummy food tonight and asked for extra gravy for their mashed potatoes.

But now it’s 3:15 and instead of smiling at the simmering flavors, it really kind of stinks. Adam has been saying that all along because he hates the smell of vinegar. I hate to admit it, but I think we might be in for a serious flop. Maybe I should warn everyone to eat a large snack about now so they just aren’t very hungry tonight around 6.

I sat and watched the sun burn the mist away from the trees this morning while hummingbirds warred with each other right outside the window. Birds were swooping across the yard and I wished for one instant that summer would be far enough gone to open the windows and turn off the air. (And thought better of it immediately. Summer, please stay.) The beauty reminded me of two things.

1. The night I listened to the song, “What a Wonderful World,” live by Concordia. I tried to find Clausen’s version on youtube and couldn’t, but I liked this song by them, too.

2. Vacation Bible School. David and I were superintendent this year and opted for a Creation theme. David has been listening to Ken Ham some the last while and one of the things he came away with was this, “If you don’t believe Creation, you won’t believe the rest of the Bible.” It’s that foundational. I loved that it is so easy for children to get excited about and so easy to re-create.

Marcus and Missy, another couple from church, were our assistants; we could not have had better people to work with. They were excited about everything, had lots of good ideas, and best of all saw what they could do and jumped in and did it. Because of them, I have such good memories of that week and getting ready.

We re-created the scene of creation in a limited way onstage every night. David would talk to the kids about what God created that day and then raise the curtain so they could see. They loved, loved it. Since Bible School is only five nights instead of seven, he put days 1 and 2 together and days 6 and 7 at the end. My SIL, Kristina, did an amazing job painting posters to represent the days and to write out the poem on Creation. Anyone out there already know you are Superintendent for next year and want a pre-made theme / decor? Have posters. Will ship for cash.

We used those big rolls of plastic table cover for the sky and bought grass from a landscaping place. The fish really should have been swimming in the pond itself, but we didn’t want the kids to jump up on the stage. So if you ever do this, put the pond way in the front. The bamboo wilted pretty badly even though we put it in water overnight, but thankfully we had generous friends who let us cut more.

The last few years the attendance has pretty much fizzled out except for our own church kids. It’s not surprising. Our church is way (!) back in the mountains where no one except the ever present bikers go and the mountain folk who have lived there forever have passed the stage of school-age children years ago. When we passed out invitations in a subdivision last year, we got 0 response. I wasn’t surprised. Twenty-five minutes is far to drive your children every night and even though we offered transportation, I would never send my children with strangers, even to Bible School.

This year we tried something new. Instead of a group of people passing out invitations in one general area, every family was given three invites to give to people they knew and they were responsible to provide transportation. We still ran one or two vans for people who were comfortable but it made all the difference in the world to invite people who personally knew someone in our church. Our attendance hung out around 71 instead of 35-40.

The other very cool new idea we implemented came from Missy. Where she was from in Iowa, they have this fun way of doing offering. Monday night the kids bring pennies. Tuesday night nickels. Wednesday, well, you get the picture. It sounded like a blast so we tried it. I expected to get lots of pennies because what mom or dad isn’t willing to dump a pile of pennies in a little bag. But I was completely blown away. The year before our offering Monday night was a stellar $8. This time we had $32. I was sure that by the time we got to quarters it would drop off and definitely with dollars. I was wrong. We ordered a poster from C.A.M and put our offering toward their food for the hungry family. They sent a poster with truck stickers because $25 will buy enough seeds to grow one truckload of vegetables. They sent enough truck stickers to represent $600. David toyed with the idea of having one truck load represent $10 or something because we were afraid we wouldn’t end up with many trucks. Good thing we didn’t. The offering nearly doubled every single night and the momentum seemed to feed the children’s excitement about buying more trucks. By the time the week was over we had well over $700 in offering money! I think some teachers were helping because Thursday night we found a $50 bill and Friday night there were two 50’s and a $100. We filled that poster alright! The kids were ecstatic!

The last night of VBS is traditionally celebrated with ice cream cones. Cleanup can be kind of a mess we found out last year. Some teachers put their rooms back together, some don’t. And the superintendents get left with all general cleanup. This year David made a list and everyone pitched in and helped because they knew what to do which went a hundred times better. Better yet, Missy and I and few other people fixed food and we all got to enjoy a pizza party afterward. And when that was done, let me tell you, we were so ready to be done. I loved the job except for the whole, pulling the boys out of abbreviated naps and trying to stuff supper into them at 4:15 so we could hit the road and dealing with their grouchy slowness for the next hour. But by the time we were halfway to church, everyone was excited again (except for Liam who’s bad attitude always lasted til we actually got there) and having so much fun.

And just for fun, here are some video snippets from the last night. Oh, and I uploaded tons of VBS pictures in the photoblog. I just didn’t add many here so the page wouldn’t take so long to load.

I should stop doing part I and part II posts. This is the third time I’ve left a post hanging in the middle of the story and I have yet to finish any of them. It bothers me because it feels unfinished. You know, like washing dishes but not wiping the countertops or draining the dishwater. Or baking a cake but not icing it. But by the time I sit down to finish a story there is always something new and more interesting to talk about. Maybe that means my life is more exciting than I realized. Or maybe it just means I’m long-winded and undisciplined. Oops.

Whatever.

But back to Virginia Beach … which I wish meant physically instead of in memory only.



After we left the beach part of our vacation, we headed to Jonathan & Heather’s house to spend the weekend. Heather is one of those girls who would totally fit into our family of girls. She stayed at our house one weekend a long, long time ago when we were all three still at home and it was like we’d become a sisterhood of four. But then our paths divided and she headed off to places like Romania and Poland and back to Georgia.

They moved to Virginia Beach a few years ago and Jonathan and David got to know each other through cabinetry work. Heather and I re-connected during my girl’s beach trip in May. And now finally the, “we need to get together” day had actually arrived.



Heather is one of those absolutely amazing hostess people I’m going to be like someday (I hope). They were all out the door and down the walk to meet us when we arrived. Inside the house I glanced at a beautiful table of china and crystal on my way up the stairs behind Heather to find our room. Our beds were all ready for us with a towel and washcloth and chocolate truffle. And then my heart went all flippety-flop because in Liam’s crib was a baby towel and washcloth and a little package of mini-marshmallows tied with ribbon in place of the verboten truffle. Is that not the sweetest thing?

In many ways, it felt like being at Heather’s house was more truly vacation than the beach. I was so glad we saved the best for last. She asked about Liam’s diet and fixed little versions of our food for him which meant he ate much better. In a million little ways, I felt so cared for all weekend long. Her only fault as hostess was that she kept apologizing over and over again that I “had” to wash so many dishes. I could not understand that because I was having an absolute blast talking to her while I did it. In fact, half the time all four of us ended up in the kitchen talking while we cleaned up.
 

A dinner that rivaled Olive Garden Friday night. A picnic lunch with Lavon and Karisa. Boat rides and wave runners all afternoon. Dinner out at Ruby Tuesday. Late night talks and iced coffee. Children who played and played and played and played together without fighting. Stimulating Discussions. Shrieks of laughter. Combing Damaris’ hair (Dear God, please may I have a little girl sometime?). No matter how I try, the description would fall flat in the face of how much fun we had.

David and I connected with Jonathan and Heather in a way I don’t remember ever connecting with another couple. We have tons of fun with other people. But often we’re either hanging out with his friends and their wives or my friends and their husbands. And while we have fun, one or the other of us is definitely more invested in the relationship. It was so much fun to hang out with another couple when we both felt like we were with a really close friend. And it was super fun to do it together as couples instead of me having girl time while he takes care of the boys or David doing something alone. The fact that our children meshed so well was like a slice of lime in my iced tea! (If you’ve never tried that, you are so missing out. I am crazy over limes the last while!) I’ve never been anywhere that felt so much like being with family without actually being family.



Damaris and Adam are like two peas in a pod. They are both smart, highly verbal, and intense. They laughed so much at the table they could hardly eat. But the funniest part of all was hearing them give each other a little dose of themselves. Like the time Saturday when both of them had long, long rides on the wave runners. Heather and I were getting ready to head out and both of them were looking marginally pouty because they thought it should be their turn again. They’d both been told they couldn’t go this time and you could see it in both of them … that serious disappointment coupled with, “how can I get back in control of this situation” look. And then Damaris turns to Adam and says, “Sorry, Adam. Sorry that you can’t have a ride on the wave runner again.”

And now we’re home. At least for awhile. Living on love, good memories, and a little iced tea.

How is it that my xanga subscriptions nearly go into hibernation mode until I leave for six days and now I can’t catch up and I want to read every single one so badly?

How is it that my brain composed thirty-seven posts in the last two weeks and not one of them made it to the computer? 

How is it that now that the boys are outside with their dad and the house is quiet, my brain is strangely quiet, too?

How is it that six days of vacation can fly by more quickly than one afternoon nap for the boys?

How is it that vacuuming sand out of the car can make me feel so much closer to the beach?

I wish I knew.

We’ve been talking about vacation since last summer.  A real vacation where you just go have fun in a fun place as opposed to the go have fun visiting family kind.  Last summer got lost in the tsunami of food allergies and fussiness and stay at home try to get betterness.

Then it was winter and who wants to go on vacation in the winter?  Not me.  Unless you can afford to travel way down south.  We couldn’t.

I wanted to use the money I made on my children’s books to do something fun or buy something special with the boys and vacation seemed like the best option.


Then it was summer again so we were talking again.  But for awhile it seemed that was all that was going to happen.  On the last Sunday in July David said, “You know, we really need to schedule our vacation.”  We looked at dates, checked the weather, looked for hotels and decided to leave that Friday.  We’d spend the weekend with our good friends, Jonathan and Heather, and then head to the beach for a three night stay. 

Monday morning when I checked weather again, the forecast had drastically changed and all three days we’d spend on the beach looked like rain.  I called David, fully expecting to put it off for another week.  He called back a few minutes later and said, “Can we be ready to go in 24 hours?”  Gulp.  But why not?  We’re getting really close to running into school time and I did. not. want to get to the end of the summer and say, “Oh, bummer.  We never got to go.”

Suddenly I was frantically searching for a hotel, calling Heather to make arrangements, and desperately trying to fix enough food for Liam since his freezer stash disappeared during my earlier weekends away.  The boys and I packed, did laundry, fixed food, got groceries, went to the library, packaged books, and packed some more.  And in a little over 24 hours we were gone.  That is so not like us.

The boys loved, loved, loved the beach.  It was nearly 8 Tuesday evening before we’d grabbed some food, hauled in all our luggage, and stashed the food in the frig so the pictures are dark and a little blurred from the slow shutter speed.  But I love the delight on their faces. 




I lived in safe mode and mostly used my small point and shoot.  After I got home and downloaded them I was a little sad to have the best week of the year fall a little flat, but it was worth it not to have to worry about my other camera get damaged or worse yet, walk away in the crowd.  So when I see pixels and flat images, in my mind’s eye I also see me letting go and having fun with the boys.

Let me tell you, going on vacation with these two boys completely redefined the meaning of vacation.  The last time we went on vacation three years ago, Adam was three.  He sweetly went to bed a little late, slept til after 8 in the morning, and took nice naps in the afternoon while we lounged on the deck.  This time sleeping in was a joke.  Both boys were up before 7:00 every. single. morning.  They bounced off the walls in excitement.  How did they manage to completely avoid my capable-of-sleeping-til-noon genes?  The redemptive factor in all of that was that we were out on the beach before the crowds hit.  The not so nice factor was that we could not avoid Liam’s naptime as we hoped.  Still, it was a small price to pay.  And an excellent reminder that David and I need to go somewhere alone for our tenth anniversary two years from now.  (Note to self: It is perfectly fine to leave your children at home for a few days. Repeat as often as necessary.)

Liam opted mostly for the sand because the water overwhelmed him.  The rest of us had tons of fun riding waves.  Finally on the last day I kept him on the wet sand and helped him jump up out of the water whenever the waves came.  From then on he loved  it. “Me bump ‘aves.”  He is just way too cute.  Adam was fearless of the waves at two and three and still bold at six.  He really started getting the hang of riding the waves in with a board and many times I saw his head covered in the spray of the wave.  Every time I waited to see him come up yelling for a towel and every time he surprised me by shaking the water out of his eyes and laughing with delight.  So maybe he did miss the sleeping in genes but he sure found a few other recessive treasures.








Virginia Beach got hit with a massive thunderstorm Thursday afternoon.  It was insane watching hundreds of people head off the beach at one time.  In six hours we got hit with nearly 6″ of rain.  Every single one of the dozen pool loungers next door got whipped into the pool by the wind. 



I went a little stir-crazy.  Worse than the boys.  I think David was about to despair with me.  But seriously, that’s a lot of being cooped up in a small space.  I need to learn how to do that sitting still doing quiet things.


  (How many of you can be the platform for your husband????????)





It was sad checking out Friday, but the fun wasn’t over.  We took the boys to the aquarium.  I wish I could say they loved it.  I think they did, but it took a little interpreting.  The place was jam-packed with people.  Next time I think I’d rather drive down for one day and enjoy it during the winter.  You literally had to wait in line at some of the displays and the petting area for the sting rays was two-deep in some places.  We never did get to touch them because the rays hung out at the bottom.  Who could blame them?  I bet they felt exactly like a stay-at-home mom of preschoolers at 5:00.   You know, “CAN NO ONE PLEASE TOUCH ME.”  We were pushing lunch time and ended up taking the boys outside to eat some yogurt.  Whatever the reason, Adam wasn’t enamored with the sea life like he usually is.  He just kept saying, “Let’s move to the next thing.”  But when we got out, he said he loved it?? 

When we were finished we watched the 3D imax on dolphins and whales.  It was hysterical watching Adam reach out and try to stroke a whale that appeared to be swimming right in front of his nose.




….to be continued

Just crazy. I knew it was going to be and every time I looked at my planner I would take a deep breath and say, “We can do this.”

I think we can. It’s just way crazy. At least it’s a fun crazy so no one is crashing, just tired.

The first week it seemed like all I did was package books, make phone calls, answer emails, and go to the post office. Thank goodness I was a little prepared for the aftermath thanks to my children’s books last fall. We had guests over Saturday night for an outdoor cookout … it was such a fun respite in the middle of a crazy week. Adam lost his first tooth that night when he bit his towel. It’s still up on his dresser. He has full intentions of saving every tooth. I’m sure he’d be thrilled with visitors to his museum.

Adam called me from the bottom of the basement steps. “Hey, Mommy. Would you have a vase for my two frogs named Snip and Bundle?” I just want to know what mom could resist those names? Seriously. We have two pet frogs on the kitchen island now. Adam catches flies and puts them in the vase for them. Sadly, Bundle died last night. I think there was too much water in the vase. Snip now has a few more rocks to sit on, aka gravel.

The next week David’s family minus one brother and his wife got together to butcher 150 chickens. Call me crazy, but we actually had fun while we were working. It really helped to have huge fans blowing the hot stinky air into the woods and away from us. The guys are super nice to us. They took off work and did all the nasty parts of butchering so we ladies only had to clean and bag the chicken. They have their limits though. We sat around inside the house so long talking after lunch that they started threatening to chop the heads off and stick them in bags. You’re welcome for sparing you any pictures.

Christy and I left for Ohio a day earlier than we needed to in order to market our books. You can read about our fun day here.
Thursday to Saturday was one of the most indescribable events I’ve ever been part of. Three online friends decided it would be fun to meet in real life and each of them invited more of their online friends to join them for a big blogger get together. It was the oddest thing to go meet people for the very first time and yet feel as though you know them. It was also odd to feel so intimidated by a few people online and then go find them to be so friendly and accepting and warm and funny and, well, normal. Apparently super heroes are normal, too. You know people are comfortable when the ice breakers finally cause a moment of silence.

Becky, Lisa, and Audrey really did an amazing job pulling the event together and making it be fun for everyone. If you’ve ever wanted to do something like this, GO FOR IT! I’m serious. There are so many women who’ve created great friendships online. Choose one or two of them and take it to the next level with a real life meetup. I am convinced you will not be sorry. I loved that I got to meet people I’ve “known” for several years and people I was only introduced to through this meetup. So much fun!

In case you think the guys in our house suffered at all, know that David is by far the capable one around here. I’m the one who thinks it’s so much work to go anywhere with children in tow. I squeeze out of going a lot of places whenever I can because I just don’t want to think through the food issues. Well, David packed the boys up and took them tent camping at the new boys camp in Maryland because the board was getting together for an overnight trip to get camp ready for open house. Oh and did I mention he shared responsibility with one other chief from camp to feed a group of 50 the night he got there via Dutch Oven cooking. Mmmhmm. I’m kind of wondering why I exist around here.

One of the fun things about this crazy month is that Christy stayed in Virginia between her Ohio trip and her Lancaster trip. She was with Mom and Beth most of the time, but Tuesday she and Mom came to spend the day here. Everyone else was going to join us for dinner, but Beth’s household got hit with illness so Kelvin kept the littles and Beth came alone. Christy chose grilled chicken, ceasar salad, calico beans, bread, and a raspberry cheesecake with a chocolate crumb crust. Oh my. I kind of wish someone would have a birthday every day. You know how family roots for each other? Well, that night mom did the bigger part of my attendance chart for vacation Bible School next week and Christy stayed until after midnight to help me get mostly caught up on the piles of book related work fogging up my brain. I got up the next morning feeling as though I could function again.

Next week after my trip to Pennsylvania and after VBS (David is superintendent), I’m going to sit on the deck and eat popsicles with the boys. And after a day or two of that I am pretty sure I am going to do more than write journal entries on my blog.

You know how little children will give another child a toy so they can have the one the other child is playing with? Well, I’m about to share lots of food pictures with you in hopes that you will tell me what you’ve been eating. Some parts of me are just not very grown up yet.

I’ve been coping pretty well with cooking allergy friendly food until the dog days of summer hit. And suddenly I’m so tired of cooking slow food international. I want to throw some hamburgers on the grill or better yet some hot dogs so I don’t even have to form hamburger patties. But I can’t. Liam loves hamburger but with not being able to put anything on it at all, it’s a pretty dry bite and he ends up gagging. But if I have to put rice with roast beef and gravy down in my planner one more time in the next seven days I’m going to croak.

Here are a few things I’ve been able to throw in to break up the big cooking days at least a little. Please tell me what you’ve had fun doing this summer. Even if it’s not allergy friendly, it may spark my brain with an idea for a substitute.

This has quickly become our favorite chicken breast recipe hands down. I know italian dressing is a quick marinade and I still like it, but it almost always has some form of soy or dairy in it. You can find the recipe here.

Tuesday night we celebrated summer with these yummy bacon potato bundles.

Peel potatoes and cut into wedges and put on a sheet of tinfoil. Add slices of peppers and onions generously. One of these days I am going to remember to throw in some fresh mushrooms. Top with two slices of bacon and sprinkle liberally with garlic salt and Lawrys seasoned salt. How I do love the people at Lawrys for not adding MSG. In the original recipe, you grill these then top them with cheese and grill just long enough to melt the cheese on them. Since Liam can’t have cheese I’ve forgotten to add it and we don’t even miss it. That’s saying a lot with a cheese addict like me. Just the same, cheese is amazing here. The bacon grease drips down into the potatoes and gives this bundle an mmmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmm flavor. Since Liam reacts to the nitrites in bacon, we’ve found wonderful, organic bacon at Whole Foods that tastes like meat instead of pig fat. And me, the tolerates bacon person, has fallen in love. We add a little bit of olive oil because this bacon doesn’t have much fat and our potatoes were turning out a little dry. Pair this with any salad and find your tastebuds tingly with delight.

“Hats off to summer!” It’s what the boys and I yell while we wave our popsicles in the air at pool time, too.

Roasted marshmallows are the perfect dessert.

One hot, hot Saturday when “the men” were all working on the front walk in the afternoon sun, I was trying to think up a new smoothie concoction. Instead, I ended up with grape milkshakes. I have grape juice concentrate in the freezer that I don’t like and wondered what it would taste like with icecream. So I mixed the two together, added a touch of honey to Liam’s to disguise the goat milk flavor, and “the men fell in love. With me, too.

That along with some ryvietas and hummus made a perfect lunch break. Except Liam had to eat leftover rice instead. When we were in Ireland we learned about ryvietas. You can find them here, just with different names sometimes. It’s a thick, hard cracker that is just perfect topped with mayo, slices of peppers and tomatoes and cheese. Oh, my. Even David the meat lover thinks they are perfect.

And then of course there was David’s birthday meal which I would love to replicate every other day if I’d have that in-house chef I was referring to you know.

Steak kabobs over rice with hummus on the side, ceasar salad with my aunt Janice’s marvelous homemade dressing, and toasted bread with bruschetta. Definitely not happening every day, at least not the full version of it. This has got to be the most economical way to make steak. I used a 3/4 lb for all four of us and we were all stuffed! I used this marinade for the steak and popped the vegetables in, too, for the last five minutes or so.

Last night I was lucky enough to have plenty of safe leftovers for Liam so the rest of us had egg sandwiches. Now that is my kind of cooking. Bread toasted in butter topped with sauteed onions, zucchini relish, habanero peppers, eggs, and cheese.

Someone please inspire me. The simpler the better.

Me: “Liam, today is your happy birthday!”

Liam: smile

Me: “Now you are two!”

Liam: “No!  On(one)!”

I wonder how many times we’ve gone through that conversation the last two days!  It was too cute the way he kept insisting he is still “on”!  In the tub at nap-time he got all poochy lipped about it.  “No, me, oo(two).  ON!”  But he was so, so pleased every time I told him it was his happy birthday.  He’d get this slow, delighted grin on his face and just beam at us.  

Most of David’s family came over in the evening to help us celebrate with strawberry pie and ice cream.  I’d gone around and around trying to decide whether to try for a party at all.  I think I planned four or five of them in my head and after two days kept nixing them.  It was just too hard to come up with a menu for a meal that Liam could enjoy that I could do for a crowd of thirty-one.  And while it was of primary importance to me that Liam could eat the food at his own party, I really wanted everyone else to be able to enjoy it, too.  And I wanted it to seem like birthday party food.  Not say, baked chicken and sweet potatoes.  I quickly realized I was going to have to break one of those three rules or the bank.  First I thought we could do a BYOF (Bring Your Own Fish) cookout for whoever wanted to come.  I thought it was cool to think up a new idea.  David thought it was atrocious to ask people to bring their own fish.  Bam.  Then I thought I could do a Southern cookout with fried chicken (rice flour works well for breading) and pasta salad and dinner rolls and all that stuff but once again I was up to my ears in double dishes to make safe versions for Liam, palatable versions for everyone else.  And finally I gave up and decided on cake and ice cream.  Except that the more that I thought about a gluten free, egg free, dairy free cake with decorator icing … the more I just did not want to serve that to a crowd of guests who have never eaten that kind of food.  So a few days before the party I switched to strawberry pie and ice cream.  Well, between vacation and illness, the crowd dwindled to seventeen; but I was still happy with a dessert only evening.  Liam loved his strawberry pie.

{ Liam’s Allergy Friendly Strawberry Pie *

Rice Pie Crust

3/4 c. rice flour

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 t. xanthan gum

1/4 c. crisco

1/4 – 1/2 c. water (I think I used roughly 1/3)

Cut crisco into dry ingredients.  Add water.  Roll out. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Actually I baked mine more like 25 minutes and it was a tiny pie. 

Filling:

2 c. water, divided

1 c. sugar

1 drop lemon juice (or 2-3, whatever happens to fall out)

a few drops red food coloring

1/3 c. tapioca starch

Bring  1 3/4 c. water, sugar, lemon juice, food coloring to a boil.  Add remaining 1/4 c. water to tapioca starch and whisk ’til smooth.  Slowly add tapioca mixture to boiling water while whisking to avoid lumps.  It may or may not take all the tapioca mixture.  Mine didn’t.  Just add til it’s the right consistency.

Cook on very low heat (stir often) for 15 minutes until the starchy flavor is gone.  Taste testing is an amazing job.

Let cool at room temperature.  When the mixture is still just a little warm, add washed sliced berries and stir.  Fill baked pie crust and refrigerate til cool.  

Top with dairy free topping of your choice.  I was planning to use a cookie cutter in the goat milk ice cream we make for Liam; but we were still making it and it was very soft serve.  When it went on the pie, it looked creamy like whipped topping but by the time the candles were blown out it had melted down into the pie.  Liam didn’t mind.  * As always: gluten, dairy, egg, soy free}

Difficult as it has been to find satisfactory recipes, there are a few recipes I am thrilled to have thanks to Liam pushing me to experiment and branch out.  Sometimes people say to me, “How do you find time to do that?” (referring to blogging).  I always sort of cringe inside.  Yes, I know  I could be out there weeding flower beds or gardening or sewing or baking bread or doing something productive like they are.  But I am not everyone else.  And all writing-is-my-outlet and I-love-the-social-interaction aside, had it not been for blogging, I would never have read Lisa’s blog post about milk allergy induced eczema several years ago.  Her knowledge helped me pinpoint what was happening to Liam much more quickly.  Another friend from Ireland shared a fantastic recipe for Garlic Chicken Wings in the comments section here.  I’ve never followed the exact recipe (one of these days I keep saying), but I altered it just a little and it is now hands down our favorite marinade for chicken breast.  How I love that input and help from people.  

I think the olive oil is the secret to the most super-moist grilled chicken you’ve ever encountered.  And all that garlic.  Mmmm, num, num.

Here is my version:

2 c. olive oil

1 T. salt

1 T. pepper

1 T. basil

1 T. oregano

1 t. thyme

2 1/2 T minced garlic (or make that about sixteen cloves if you’re one of those real chef kind of cooks who does it the real way.  I’m the “jar in the frig” cook variety.)

Marinate for several hours.  Grill.  Try not to overindulge.

Liam’s short but sweet happy birthday dinner included grilled chicken breast, herbed rice pilaf, and green beans.  He is on a super green bean kick.  In fact, some days I run downstairs to the freezer to grab a pint out of the freezer and cook them for lunch.  I mean what would you do if you saw an almost two year old standing by the stove literally jumping up and down in excitement saying, “be beans! be beans! be beans!” because you said it was lunchtime?  I cannot resist.  

Back to the party.  It got late and dark; but I love these pictures so much.  These little cousins have no idea how fortunate they are to live in the same community and celebrate life together.  And at every birthday party, they are all so excited to see all the presents and to play with them and even help unwrap if they could just get it done before their mommies and daddies stop them!   It’s so sweet to watch them and probably one of my favorite parts of this stage.  Sometimes children’s lack of inhibition is totally endearing.  They just love life and happy moments and they dive right into them.

Liam seemed a little at a loss as to what to do.  When we sat him on a little chair, he looked around trying to figure out what was going on.  He was pleased with all his things; but when he got to the little tractor, he was lost in a world all his own.  The rest of the cousins opened and oohed and ahhed over the water sprinkler from Pa Beachy and Grandma while Liam concentrated on driving his tractor through the maze of strawberry pie crumbs on the table.  He doesn’t know it yet; but he is going to love that sprinkler so much.  Adam has a toy that shoots water up and out; but it’s half broken and I can hardly get it to stay upright in the grass.  Adam thinks the sprinkler water is too cold.  Liam just runs into it and giggles hysterically.  I love that this one will work on the deck.  

But the funniest part of all was that as soon as the gifts were all open, Liam headed inside to play with his old toys. 

My catharsis at every first time food event is hopefully over.  Or at least the worst of it.  We’ve done holidays.  We’ve done a weekend away from home.  I’ve eaten lunch out with other moms.  We’ve gone to potlucks laden with peanut butter. And now we’ve celebrated a birthday.  I am still a far cry from one of those moms who only say happy, upbeat, this is not a problem things; but I finally feel like saying, “Yes, we can do this.”  

This birthday, more then any other birthday I’ve celebrated, felt like an incredible celebration of life.  The past week I have been thinking so much about Liam and what he has been through in the past year.  The months of sickness and pain and no weight gain.  The months of trying to find what works and what doesn’t.  The constant vigilance and the price he has to pay when I goof even the tiniest bit.  But bigger then all that, the adorable, happy, sweet, healthy, funny, chubby-cheeked little boy he has become in the past six months.  I’m crying all over again just thinking about it.  He is beautiful.  An amazing gift from God to us.  And I’m just so, so, so glad God is giving us grace to muddle our way through as we learn how to take care of him.

Today for the first time Adam walked into the library all by himself. Liam had just fallen asleep and not wanting to wake him, I asked Adam if he wanted to try doing it solo. Much to my surprise, he thought for two seconds and said, “yes.”

I coached him through the, “I’d like to return this book, please,” and, “could you help me find, Little Town on the Prairie.” Then I handed over the keys with my library card attached.

“Are you sure you want to do this.”

“Oh, yes,” he said, scrambling out the door.

When the double doors of the library swallowed him, he looked so tiny. I watched for the top of his head through the window but couldn’t find it right away. Then I saw him walking back to the children’s section and returning with a librarian.

It was only a minute or two until he reappeared beaming and giving me a huge thumbs up as soon as he saw me. I was beaming, too; but there were two teeny weeny tears in my eyes, too. Because I was just so proud of him.

Sometimes we seem to grow about six feet in that many minutes.

One of my very favorite things about children is the funny things they say. I think this is partially why I still look back at the year Adam was three years old as being one of my favorite years with him. That year he said things in such funny ways, he had me laughing multiple times a day. He’s still fun to be around; only now it’s often the concept I’m laughing at more then the twisted words.

On our trip to Maryland, I sat between Zachary and Liam. Zachary always asked me to “please buckle him” and I’d say, “Sure, Zachary,” and do it. And every time he would seriously tell me, “God ‘ppreciates when you buckle me.” Is that not just angelic? Anyway, his cuteness inspired me to document some of the cute things the boys are doing and saying. I often keep a piece of paper on my desk to scrawl the gist of things down as they happen so I don’t forget them. I just wish I would have started tagging all my blog posts way back in the beginning because it makes them so much easier to find.


Recent words from Adam that either made me laugh or surprised me with the things he is thinking about:

“I’m going to go scale myself.” He is constantly confusing the words “weigh” and “scale.”

“What does multitude mean?”

Since Christmas I’ve been reading the Laura Ingalls series to Adam. We just finished, The Long Winter, yesterday and he was utterly dismayed at naptime that there was no available Ingalls story. It’s been funny seeing him try to connect it to life today. Last night he shoved his plate back and said, “This is when Pa would push back his plate and finish his tea.” The other week when we were driving down the road he heard someone yelling. “Mommy,” he said seriously, “I just heard some rough talking.” (We’d just been reading the part in, On The Shores of Plum Creek, where Ma doesn’t want Laura to get close to the railroad men because of rough talking.)

“Mommy, some day I want to have a screaming festival.”

I do. not. do. well with cold weather and definitely not with cold, grey weather. Adam has obviously picked up on this. Back in March when we were having yet another cold snap he checked accuweather for me and said, “Those two 59’s just cheer me right up.”

In a lot of ways, Adam has always been our more difficult child. He is not hyper, in fact, sometimes he gets himself into trouble simply by not being motivated to do anything. But he is so intense and so strong-willed. When he was very tiny, he was cuddly; but by the time he was a year old, he was fighting for independence almost every waking moment. He wasn’t thirteen months old before he hit the terrible twos. Two months later he would throw a full-blown temper tantrum at the very idea of needing to hold my hand to walk somewhere. He blew our minds so many times and I had many, many days when I wondered if anything we were doing was working at all. But one of the things that has made it so much easier to work with him is that he is so transparent and honest. I do not think he has lied to either one of us ever.

I love, love, love that about him. I also love that he is so responsible for his age; although sometimes I worry that he is taking life too seriously. He always checks the gas level when I start the car and if we are anywhere close to 1/4 tank, he is totally worried that we are going to run out of gas (we never have). Ever since he found out what those white signs along the road stand for, he watches for them and checks our speedometer like a hawk to make sure we are not speeding. And 48 in a 45 mph speed zone is enough to make him issue a warning. He is so paranoid about being buckled in that it is almost inconvenient. Because he is so slow and methodical, I often start backing out of the driveway while he is getting settled. “Mommy, WAIT!!!! I’m not BUCKLED yet,” he yells. And if on very rare occasions I make him get unbuckled to quickly pick something up off the floor for Liam he does it so frantically I feel guilty for asking him to do it.

Adam is completely taken up with school and everything school related right now. One day while we were at a gas station he watched a man in his early twenties (?) get out of his car and sling a backpack from the trunk to the back seat. Adam was incredulous. “Mommy, how OLD is that man and he STILL has a backpack?”

Today when he and Liam were playing church I heard church come to an abrupt end. “Ok everyone can stand up and have a nice life.”

When we got back from Carmen’s wedding Adam was asking us all about it.
A: “Were you in the bridal party?
David: “No.”
A: “Why not?”
Me: “Well, usually you put your closest friends in the bridal party. Like, when you get married you will probably have Liam and Rochelle and, I don’t know, maybe Lawrence in your bridal party.”
A: “Um, no, not Lawrence because he lives pretty far away.”

Back in February when Adam had a really nasty bout with the flu, he lay on the couch completely miserable. “Mommy,” he said listlessly, “my brain is just not telling me what to do. I think I might have brain infection.”

One day when Adam wanted me to do something with him, he wasn’t very happy about my saying no. I told him my long list of things I had to do right then and he said, “Well, set the timer for ten minutes and see what you can get done.”

And this is where I wish I would write down the whole sentence instead of just scratching the gist of it out on paper. Because I don’t have the background for this but apparently somewhere naughty children were referred to as “boogers.” I suspect that it may have been in the Laura Ingalls books but I can’t say for sure. At any rate, what I do know is that Adam said, “Their children were always boogers — even from the first day they were out of the tummy.”

Liam’s communication is so incredibly limited compared to what Adam was saying by this age … which is why I don’t even go back to look. I think I’d worry. But he is quite capable of getting the point across 85% of the time and the other 15% of the time he screams. He hasn’t seemed to figure out that screaming isn’t helpful.

What really cracks me up though is the way he turns words around. Like “shoes” are “oosh” and “snow” is “nose.” But a nose is “nose,” too and probably means he needs a tissue.

Mostly there are words like ‘ouse (house) and ‘ac – ke’ (jacket) and b’k’st (breakfast). Adam taught him to say ‘ikes (yikes) and for a long time he would yell it several times a day because it always made us laugh.

He does incredibly well with pretend play and interacts with us a lot so I’ve never really worried about him. Still, I felt like cheering the day Liam told David his first story. The tree trimmers were on our road one morning and that night at the dinner table totally out of the blue Liam pops up with, “Up, up, up, up, dees (trees) high, up, up, up.” YEAH, Liam!

He loves to talk on the phone and if he is hard to understand in person when you can see all the nonverbal cues, he is impossible across phone lines. Still, he waves his hands frantically saying, “u-lo, u-lo, u-lo” (hello) whenever the phone rings.

In a lot of ways, we have babied him. This has much less to do with him being the youngest and much to do with the fact that he is so often unwell and sometimes it is hard to tell if he’s not feeling well or being grouchy. Plus, all the unwell issues last summer seemed to slow him down developmentally for awhile last summer and he acted more like a baby then other children his age for awhile. So he gets catered to too much and held more often and cuddled and cajoled. I realized very quickly that he is NOT a baby anymore when I was trying to say something and he put his finger on my lips and said very emphatically, “shhhhhh.” Or the day when he was screaming at the top of his lungs because Adam was keeping him from opening the door. I sat Liam on the recliner and told him to sit there til he could be sweet and went to have a talk with Adam about being kind. When Adam and I got back we stood beside the recliner and Adam apologized. I looked at Liam and said, “Can you be sweet? You need to say “please” instead of screaming. Can you say, please?” He glowered at us both and shoved Adam with a sullen, “Mooooose.” (move) Nope. Not a baby anymore.

I love this stage with the boys!

Thumbs up for another recipe success for Liam.  Since we raised our own chickens last year and had lots of whole birds in the freezer I’ve been doing a number of the roast / potatoes / carrots in the crockpot dinners only with a twist.  Instead of roast, I used chicken.


First thing in the morning (well, I mean after the first cup or two of coffee which goes without saying), sprinkle the whole, frozen chicken liberally with garlic salt and Lawrys season salt (didn’t I tell you those two items are staples at our house?).  Sometimes I switch up the seasonings and use Italian seasoning or lots of basil or whatever happens to be the mood of the hour.  Place breast side down in the crockpot and turn on high (you can turn it down at lunchtime if it’s getting done too quickly).  Add water til it’s about half full.  Let it simmer until around 1:30 or two then add potatoes, carrots, and fresh mushrooms if you have them.  I don’t peel the potatoes, but I do quarter them so they get done quickly … and so they fit better into the little crevices. 

What I love, love, love about this meal is that
1. It’s so easy (pretty key point since allergy free cooking is mostly, not quick and easy).
2. We all like (very important since sometimes allergy free cooking is blah) it.
3. The potatoes and carrots are so wonderfully flavored from cooking in the chicken broth that Liam can easily get by without any butter or sour cream.  The rest of us could should, too.
4. But what I like best about this meal is that the last time I made it, I searched around and found this wonderful cornbread recipe.  It was heavy but super-moist and somehow it made me feel as though we were living back in the pioneer days.  You know, like back before there were little boxes of Jiffy corn bread mix.


Liam ate and ate cornbread and kept making little “num num” noises.  Happy child.  Happy Mommy.  Happy all of us.


See other allergy friendly recipes here.