A Day of Firsts

The other day I was getting ready to send some pictures to be developed, and realized I'd never posted many of them--GASP!!! So in the next couple days I'll try to get caught up :-)

These were from this past Veteran's Day, when David had the day off, and we decided to go to the beach. Usually we go to Manzanita or Cannon Beach, and avoid the more touristy places like Seaside. But I'd heard from some friends that the Aquarium at Seaside was a good place to take little kids, as they could feed the sea lions, as well as see lots of things, and it was indoors---the weather didn't look very promising so this was a good thing.

On the way, we stopped at a park which used to have the tallest Sitka Spruce tree in the world, because we wanted to see what it looked like after last year's storm--we had heard it'd been split in two by a lightning strike. If it's any indication, they no longer advertise it as the tallest Sitka Spruce, but as a Heritage tree. This was the first of our Firsts that day, because Kyra had never seen trees that tall before, or walked underneath a tree (see below).

We continued on to Seaside, with it raining most of the way. However, when we got there, the sun was shining, which was a very nice surprise.

Then we headed to the aquarium, where Kyra wanted nothing to do with feeding the sea lions, so I got the smelly task--yuck! But she loved looking at all the fish, the octopus was really cool, and she got to touch the sea anemones and other animals in the touch tank, which was a big hit.

Afterwards, we walked on the beach a little bit, and then we decided to go ride the Carousel, as this was also something Kyra had never done (#2 of the Firsts). I've always liked carousels as I remember riding them with my grandma when I was Kyra's age. My great uncle George (my grandma's brother) either worked with, or was the owner of Rainier Shows, a traveling carnival--I'm not sure which. Anyway, at the time, Rainier Shows were set up at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle Washington, and I remember Uncle George letting us ride the carousel. Good times.

At first Kyra was a little reluctant to get on the carousel, but by the end of the ride, I could hardly get her off her horse. David tried to take a couple pictures, and as you can see below, Kyra is hanging on for dear life :-)


After the carousel ride, we were starting to get hungry. We had packed a picnic lunch, so we decided to drive down to Ecola State Park and eat there. This was another First, as I had never been there before. The weather was beautiful, but really windy. While we ate, a herd of elk came and grazed right by the parking lot, which was really cool, and Kyra got to hold her first--yep, #4--woolly bear caterpillar. There were tons of them everywhere, so of course, we had to stop and pick up each one of them.

This one's my favorite...
She's so excited about the caterpillars!

After that, we headed into Cannon Beach, stopped at the yummy bakery for some sweet treats and coffee, and then headed for home. It was a great day, and one we'll remember for a long time!

Cute Christmas Craft Project--Homemade Advent Calendar

On my previous post, I mentioned that I have a Craft Disorder, so the fact that I was able to pull this next thing together, which was from the Queen of All Crafts, Martha--yes, that Martha, still amazes me. And I realize we're already 17 days into December, so you might want to wait until next year to try it. Or if you have more than one child, you could have them catch up by taking turns opening up multiple days. Anyway, I apologize for posting this so late, but if any of you are just dying for something to cure your Cabin Fever, you could try it.

Like my friend Allison has been posting, it's often hard to help children get the concept of waiting until Christmas Day for all the presents. So this year since Kyra is old enough to understand presents, but doesn't quite get the waiting, I thought it might be nice to have an Advent Calendar. That way, we can count down the days until Christmas, as well as practice counting numbers, and if we're very lucky, even get a little sweet or treat as well.

So around November 29th or so--nothing like planning ahead, right???--I started looking in the stores for an Advent Calendar, but never found just the right one. Either they were way too old for our 2 yr old, or really, really expensive.

I decided to search online for "homemade advent calendars" because you can find anything on the internet, and lo and behold, hundreds of sites popped up. Some were so beyond me though, I thought, "Yikes, that would take me the whole month just to complete"--remember NOT crafty!

But then I stumbled onto a mom-friendly site that had lots of different calendar options, one of which was a link to an old Martha Stewart article, which used baby socks, ribbon, mini-clothespins, and stickers to make the most adorable advent calendar. Finally, something I could do! And best of all, the only things I had to go out and buy were the mini-clothespins (found them at Michael's), and the ribbon. And amazingly enough, I still had 24 baby socks of Kyra's that she'd outgrown, and that hadn't found their way to the consignment shop!!!

This was a great family project, because David hung the ribbon for us, using a few small nails every so often along the length, and Kyra helped me put the number stickers on each sock--good counting practice! Then we attached each sock to the ribbon, using the little clothes pins.

Now what would an advent calendar be, without a treat for each day??? When we were growing up, ours always had chocolate behind every door. This was my intent as well, so I went to Costco and bought their bag of truffles, because I knew everyone liked them. Then during Kyra's nap, I filled each sock with a truffle, and we were set.

December 1st came, and Kyra opened Sock #1. She squealed with delight as she found the chocolate inside. Then the practical Mommy side of me woke up, and said, "Do I really want to give this child 24 days of chocolate?" So the following day we needed to go to Fred Meyer anyway for some groceries, and there I bought some small candy canes, little hair barrettes and a couple of cute bracelets to mix things up a little bit.

Day 2 came, and Kyra was again so excited to open up that day's sock. However, this time it was a set of hair barrettes. You should have seen her little face...."Where's the chocolate?!?!", as the tears were rolling down her face. So I explained that not every day will have chocolate; some days there will be other really fun stuff. I don't think she bought it.

Anyway, here we are at Day 17, and the Advent Calendar fun is still going strong--today was a Chocolate day, so we were especially excited :-) I've posted a couple pictures below so you can see our little calendar. And the best thing is you can use it year after year.

Check out the frown...
No more pictures, Mom, just let me eat the chocolate!

Enjoy the snow, and stay dry & warm!
k~

Double-Sided No Sew Tied Fleece Blanket

I will be the first to admit I have a Craft Disorder. Now don't get me wrong, I've tried on many occasions to "catch the bug" by hanging out with my good buddies who live for scrapbooking, or make their own cards or jewelry, or anything else that would make Martha Stewart proud. Even my own mother has tried to help me get over my craft shortcomings, as she makes beautiful homemade cards & sews like you wouldn't believe.

So last year when I was wracking my brain trying to come up with thoughtful Christmas gifts for people--I was ahead of the curve for the Advent Conspiracy :-), I remembered we had received one of those No Sew Tied Fleece blankets as a shower gift for Kyra from David's cousin, and I thought, "Now that's something even someone like me can do!"

So I went online, and after much searching, I found a pattern published by a fabric store in Illinois called Vogue Fabrics. Needless to say, I was very excited, but still a little nervous. I decided to call one of my very good friends, Diane, who sews beautiful quilts, and begged her to go with me to the fabric store. She was a great help, and soon I was on my way, with fleece in hand, and ready to conquer my fear/disorder.

After it was all said and done, my SEVEN blankets turned out rather well, and everyone loved them! I've also just recently made another one, a baby blanket, for an upcoming silent auction, which is really cute--it's yellow, blue & green, with little frogs & ducks.

So if you're looking for a great homemade gift for this Christmas, I'd highly recommend making one (or two or five) of these wonderful blankets. And once you get the hang of it, you can complete the whole thing (minus the pre-washing/drying of the fabric time), in just a couple short hours.

Double Sided No Sew Fleece Tied Blanket

Materials Needed:

2 pieces of fleece (see below)
sharp scissors
large safety pins

Choose two 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 yard pieces of fleece---For an adult sized blanket, use 2 1/2 yards for each piece of fleece. If you're making a baby's blanket, use 1 1/2 yards for each piece of fleece. Also try to find anti-pill fleece as the blanket tends to hold up better. I also tend to use one patterned piece, and one coordinating solid color, so as to cut down on any pattern clashes. Of course, you can use any fleece color/pattern combination you wish--it's your choice!

Prewash & dry the material before starting---This ensures your material is clean, and you'll have your final blanket size to work with, without worrying about shrinking.

Cut selvage from edges of fleece---For those of you who aren't familiar with sewing terms, the selvage is the rough part along the left and right-hand edges where the pattern or weave may be different, often making it unusable. Sometimes the selvage will also have the pattern name, or dye color examples, or may be all white, which will get in the way of your solid color or fleece pattern.

Place the two pieces of fleece back to back, with the Right sides out---This took me awhile to figure out what the "right" side of the fleece was. The right side of your fleece fabric can be the one you like best. But if you want to use the true right side of the fabric, it is the one that the selvage naturally rolls towards when lightly stretched.

Trim up any excess on all sides so both pieces of fleece are the same width & length---This will be important when you go to tie the strips, as it's easier to tie them if they are both the same length.

Pin the two pieces of fleece together---I use large safety pins, because they are easier to use than stick pins. Also by pinning the fleece together, this helps to keep the two pieces in place when you are cutting the strips. I also like to place my patterned fleece on the bottom, and my solid piece on the top, so when I'm cutting, I don't get distracted by the pattern---this is just my preference.

Cut a square out of each corner of the fabric---If you're making an adult sized blanket, cut a 5" square. For a baby blanket, cut a 4" square. This will make things easier when tying the strips.

Cut strips into the sides that are 2" wide by 5" deep, like you're making fringe---Don't worry if they're not exactly 2" wide, or 5" deep. The key is to make them long enough to tie. There's nothing worse than trying to tie a strip that's too short.

Tie one of the strips from the top fabric to the coordinating strip of the bottom fabric---If you search online, you will find many opinions as to the best kind of knot or tie. I've found a double knot works best. Also if you tie every other fringe, then flip the blanket over to tie the remaining strips, it tends to look cleaner.

There you have it. As I mentioned before, these make great gifts for Christmas, or baby showers, or just for yourself, during these long cold winter nights. And if you're lucky enough to catch a sale on fleece, they can be made for around $20! Enjoy friends~k

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

I'm back! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last blogged, but I blame it on the fact we recently got a new photo software program, and I'm still trying to figure out how it works...And since I'm still not 100% comfortable with it, I'll follow through with my promise to my friend, Heather K, and post my super easy, absolutely delicious truffle recipe :-) Also I have to give credit to Kraft's Food & Family magazine for these yummy treats, as they were the ones who originally published it. So without further ado, here it is:

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
Prep: 20 min. Total: 1 hour, 20 min. (including refrigerating)

Ingredients:

1 package (8 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed

Truffle topping options--You can make all the truffles the same with just one topping, or mix & match for variety:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts
1/4 cup toasted coconut
1/4 cup grated white baking chocolate
1/4 cup finely crushed Nabisco cookies

Preparation:
Microwave chocolate in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. Cool to room temperature. Gently stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate 1 hour. Scoop peanut butter mixture with melon baller or teaspoon, then shape into 1-inch balls--be prepared to get your hands messy! Roll in preferred topping. Store in refrigerator.

Makes 3 dozen These make great hostess gifts or holiday desserts. Enjoy!

Halloween 2008

Halloween this year was interesting, because Kyra's at that age where she kind of understands what's going on, but in many ways is still just a little, bitty girl.

For instance, she loved the whole idea of dressing up, and couldn't wait to put on her fairy princess costume, complete with crown, wings (thanks Katie!), tutu and wand. However, when it came time to actually go door-to-door, it was a little overwhelming for her. She loved ringing the doorbell, but then when someone she didn't know answered the door, she didn't quite know what to do--we only went around to our neighbors' houses, but it wasn't like ringing the doorbell at Grandma & Grandpa's.

The very cool thing was, even as late as that morning, the skies had continued to pour rain, and the evening forecast didn't look much better--Showers, instead of just plain rain. But about 3 o'clock, the clouds went away and the sun actually came out! And miracle of miracles, it stayed dry & was even fairly warm! How often does that happen here?

All in all, she had a great time, looked absolutely adorable, and we have more candy than should be legal---it turned out we didn't have anybody come to our door because we were out with her during the prime candy hunting time, so the 2 very large bags of Costco candy we had bought to hand out, is unfortunately still here! Boo!

Here are some pictures from our pumpkin carving party and the cutest fairy princess you'll ever see:















Blessings friends!
k~

True Love

Want to know what true love is? Just ask a two-year-old. This was the conversation that Kyra & I had in the car this morning:

Mommy: Kyra, I love you. Do you know how much Mommy loves you?

Kyra: You love me a whole bunch because you share your cherry Chapstick with me.

Priceless! Happy Friday friends! K~

Need Recipes?

My dear friend Katie posted on her blog today that she is in search of some variety in their dinner menu, and believe me, I've been in that same position on many occasions!!!

It's 5 o'clock, and although the kids would love macaroni & cheese with hot dogs for the 3rd time this week, your stomach, not to mention your diet, just can't handle it. You're desperately looking for something quick & healthy, that also tastes half-way decent, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg to make.

As Jenni commented on Katie's blog, one of the things I've come to rely heavily on is the sharing of recipes, either from friends or other online sources. Simply Recipes is one of my absolute favorite food blogs, and I find a majority of our meals come from recipes posted there.

It so happens I'd also been in the habit of posting my favorite recipes here, once a week, labeled as Culinary Delights, but then lost my link list one time when I was changing my background, and never got back into it.

So today, I decided to resurrect my recipes list, and change its section title to something a little more simple: "Favorite Recipes". Enjoy, and Katie, I hope this helps :-)

Happy Eating friends! K~

The Great Pumpkin Caper 2008

Yesterday was a perfect day for a pumpkin hunt--blue skies, warm sun, and best of all, family to share it with. We went back to the Plumper Pumpkin Patch, (see here for a peek at last year's adventure--I can't believe how much Kyra has changed!) and had an absolute blast!

Here are some pictures from our day.

I think we should get this one, Grandpa!

All smiles at lunch

Daddy & Kyra
removing muddy shoes on the porch

Have a great week friends!
k~

"In Sickness & In Health"

If you've ever attended a wedding, you've more than likely heard the phrase above, nestled in amongst the rest of the vows, "In good times & bad....till death us do part." And if you're like most married couples, you probably even said these very words, or something very similar.

The reality is, when you're caught up in the middle of the emotion & joy of that wonderful day, sickness, and all that it entails, is really the farthest thing from your mind. And it's not until you're sitting there holding your loved one's head, as they heave their cookies yet again, or worse, sit by their bedside as they struggle to breathe, that you grasp the true meaning of this phrase.

I was in a coffee shop the other day, and overheard a woman talking to another woman, and the first said, "I'm really struggling with my husband who has Alzheimer's. Some days I feel like I could just run away, far, far, away." I don't doubt in the least that she has stopped loving her husband. It's just that sicknesses, illnesses and injuries change people.

And I'm not just talking about the Christopher Reeve type of critical and in his case, ultimately fatal injury, although that is definitely the extreme of all and life-changing. Even when someone has something as minor as a common cold or flu, or pink eye, it changes you. Suddenly you are vulnerable. Weak. Unable to carry out your day-to-day activities. You may even have to rely on someone else to take up your slack, either at work or home. This, in turn, can put a huge amount of added pressure on that person, who may themselves be struggling just to get by.

So I guess my question is this: how do you continue to honor & and uphold the marriage vows that you took before God, your family & your friends, when the person you are married to, is no longer the same person, due to an long-term injury or illness, and you may not even really like them any more? I know a vow is a vow, but what about the caregiver's personal health, physical and/or mental? Is it ever okay for them to say, "I'm done. I can't do this anymore."?

By the way, David & I are fine :-) This is just something that got me thinking after I heard the comment in the coffee shop...What are your thoughts?

Heather's Hope: Racing for the Cure 2008

As I write this, I'm still a little sore & tired from yesterday, but it was SOOO worth it! Kyra & I had the privilege of joining my dear sister, my mom, several of my mom's friends, and a whole bunch of my sister's friends & coworkers in the Portland Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure, the largest of its kind on the West Coast, and third largest in the world.

Our team, Heather's Hope, was named for my sister, who as most of you know, was recently diagnosed with extremely aggressive & invasive breast cancer. Her daughter actually came up with the name, and it couldn't be more perfect. In addition, my sister is a great lover of shoes of all kinds, but especially high-heeled ones, so when someone found a Hope shoe statue for her (see below), it was a given that shoes, in some form, would be part of the team as well. By the way, the hats (pictured at the beginning of this post), were put together by Righteous Clothing in Clackamas, and I highly recommend them if you ever need custom logo apparel!


When we first signed up for the race, I decided Kyra & I would do the 1 mile walk, as I knew she wouldn't make the 5k (3 1/2 miles), and I didn't want to throw her in a stroller. Then we found out the rest of the team, including my sister, had signed up for the longer walk. This caused some problems as I knew we couldn't do the whole 5k, without bailing out half-way through. But to be with the rest of the team would be really cool--some 60 people strong at this point.

In the end, Kyra & I, & David, too, it turned out, did the 1 mile walk, under skies that threatened to rain at any moment--thus the matching yellow raincoats :-) After we were done with our race, we thought we might try to meet up with the rest of the team, as their race didn't start for another 30 minutes.

Have you ever been at an event with 45,000 other people, and tried to find someone, or even a bunch of someones? We thought, "We'll just call (my sister's) cell phone", as she promised to have it on. No such luck.

Their race began, and still no sign of them. It turns out the race folks had split the crowd to go up two different parallel streets in order to avoid a huge backlog at the beginning of the race. We walked up one street, mainly in search of some coffee, but also in hopes of seeing them. We found out later they were near the beginning of the crowd, AND they were on the other street. Oh well.

We stopped for some coffee at Starbucks, and then sat on the curb to watch the parade go on, and on, and on, still thinking we might see them. Then we continued to follow the race down Broadway, and let me tell you, to see the whole length of Broadway, as far as the eye could see,just a sea of colors, and people, was pretty overwhelming.

By this time, we'd pretty much given up trying to catch them during the race, so we decided to head back towards the finish line down at the waterfront, thinking we'd at least be able to walk across that with the team.

We made it back to near the finish line--some 7 or 8 blocks, and actually caught up with them before they crossed, which was totally a God thing!!! I got to cross the finish line with my sister in sight, and holding both my mom's and daughter's hands. Then after that, we walked around a little bit at the waterfront, seeing all the sights, and then headed back to the car, and to Beaverton for some yummy Chinese food at House of Good Fortune in Murrayhill.

So our 1-mile walk ended up being a little more than that, but Kyra was a real trooper, and hardly complained at all--I think I griped more than she did! She also got to be a princess up on Daddy's shoulders for most of the walking, other than the race, so that helped :-)

I'll leave you with some snapshots from the day...

Starting the 1-mile walk

The Starbucks stop

Kyra & I with our hero,
my sister Heather,
at the finish line

Some of the Heather's Hope
team members

My mom, Kyra & Kristin

Kyra & her Auntie Hedy

Please continue to pray for my family as Heather starts her first round of chemotherapy this Wednesday.

Blessings friends,
k~

Manzanita & Mom 2008

I just realized when I was pulling some other pictures from our cameras today, that I had never posted about my Mom's Annual Birthday celebration at the beach, and since it's an annual pilgrimage, we need to document it properly :-). By the way, click here for last year's trip--I can't believe how much Kyra has changed!!!

Every year my Mom likes to go to the beach for her birthday, as it's one of her favorite places in the whole world to be. This year the plan was to spend a whole week at some friends' house in Cannon Beach, the week of her birthday.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen as we were thrown the huge curve ball with my sister's cancer diagnosis around the same time. But Mom still needed to feel the sand between her toes, so we decided on a day trip instead. It was also supposed to be really hot in town, so a trip to the cooler coast was especially desired.

Mom, Dad, Kyra & I drove out to my favorite Oregon beach, Manzanita--where we also spent Mom's birthday last year, and had a fabulous time. The morning was a little cool, and we began to think we would never see the sun. It was also really windy, so sweatshirts were our friends.

After eating a nice picnic lunch that Mom had packed, the sun finally came out, and it was down right balmy :-) Kyra had a blast playing in the sand, Mommy rested on the blanket, and Grandma & Grandpa relaxed and read. Then about 4 o'clock, I realized I couldn't take any more sun, and thought it might be nice to start packing up, and thinking about where we wanted to go for dinner.

We ended up driving up the coast to Cannon Beach, where we ate at Moe's, right on the beach. Then after a nice stroll on the sand, we headed home. All in all, it was a very nice day...not what we had expected for this year's birthday celebration, but nevertheless, nice.

Here are some pictures from that day:

Grandma & Kyra
playing in the sand

Grandpa taking pictures

Sweet Kyra

Grandma & Kyra
(with Grandpa looking on)

Happy times,
k~

Expectations, great or otherwise

When you're 18 years old, and you think about your future, your 20 year high school reunion seems SO far away. I mean, come on, you'll be 38!!! That's practically middle-aged :-)

Well, this past weekend, what seemed so far away then, became the "here and now"--My 20 year high school reunion for good old Sunset High School, was to happen in a 2 night event. The first night, Friday, was an Alumni-only get together at a sports bar in the Pearl district. The second, Saturday night, was a semi-formal affair at the Governor Hotel downtown, and you were welcome to bring your spouse, partner, etc.

I'll be honest, I had no desire to attend the Alumni only event....Mostly because I didn't want to go by myself--I know, I should grow a spine!, but I also didn't want to spend the extra money on something I wasn't that thrilled about going to anyway.

Instead, David & I went to the Saturday night event, and he arranged for us to spend the night at the Hotel Vintage Plaza as a bonus!--Kyra, in the meantime, had a sleepover at Grandpa & Grandma H's which she loved!

We checked into our hotel room around 4:30, and had a couple of hours just to relax. Here's a picture of our room, which was on the top floor, and had one wall which was entirely windows--pretty cool!


After grabbing a light snack to hold us over until dinner, we changed into our nice clothes, and walked the 4 blocks or so, to the Governor Hotel.

She cleans up pretty well...

When we got to the Governor, we were a bit early, so we hung out in their lobby for a little bit. Finally it was time to go upstairs to the reunion. By this time, I was more than a little nervous--Would anyone even remember me? Am I under-dressed? I hate these shoes...

While standing in line for our name badges, I hear this, "Kristin?" I turned around, and standing there is my best friend from my sophomore year, Christy Baker Hurlman. I literally have not seen or talked to her in 20 years, even though we both live in Portland. And then she says, "You know, I came tonight just to see you." I said, "Oh, you're sweet." And she says, "No really. I went to the thing last night, and I almost didn't come tonight, but I knew it would be the only time I'd get to see you as you hadn't come (last night), so here I am!" Wow, that's pretty cool!

So we found a table with Christy & her husband, as well as another couple, Susie Doty Romani & her husband, and had a great time catching up and reminiscing. Then it was time to eat, and the food was really good--A lot better than at the 10 year, even though it was held at the same place, and this time I don't think they ran out of food.

After dinner, we sat and talked some more, although by this time it was really hard to hear each other because the "background" 80s soundtrack had been cranked way up. In addition, some of my illustrious classmates had visited the open bar a few too many times, so the overall noise level had risen significantly.

Looking back, I would have to say that I was a little disappointed with the reunion. Although I was thrilled to reconnect with Christy again, I was surprised at how "clique-ish" everyone still seemed to be, and as a result, how intimidated that made me feel. I just thought since we're all now adults, we could get past those inevitable and sometimes very painful/hurtful "labels". It shouldn't matter if you were the biggest geek, or the most popular person in school. We've all lived 20 years of life since then, and are definitely not the same people we were in high school.

So David & I were talking afterwards, and I was telling him how I wished the evening had been a little different, and he said this: "If you weren't friends with someone in high school, it's not likely they're going to strike up a conversation with you to 'catch up'." While this is true, I guess I thought it'd be more like at a party or get together, where you don't really know someone, but you exchange pleasantries or funny quips or stories, because that's what adults in social situations do.

That's why I titled this, expectations, great or otherwise. Because I had hoped people could move past all that was high school, and get to know people for who they are, now. Because there are some really great people out there, and it would be too bad to let a 20 year misconception get in the way. Maybe we all need another 20 years...

Blessings friends!
k

P.S. We got some great news today! My sister's cancer has NOT spread to anywhere else in her body, per the whole body scan she had recently! This is a huge praise! Also, this Sunday (the 21st) Kyra & I will be walking the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, as a part of Heather's team, Heather's Hope, so that should be fun!