Letters from Pemberley

Peter and Cammy's Reception

Jun 15th, 2009 by ECM

The kids and I made it down to Missouri for Peter and Cammy’s Columbia reception this weekend, leaving Derek home to recover in peace and quiet. Our normal 7 hour trip took 9 hours, even with Leann in the backseat trying to soothe Elizabeth for the last 7 hours. When we finally arrived, everyone was ready to be out of the car! Here are some highlights from the weekend:

Uncle Peter helped put Tommy to bed…

Uncle John gave Tommy a nice, short summer haircut. I like my boys with short hair!

We took family pictures in the backyard before the reception. It was so fun to see Peter and Cammy dressed up! I have always wanted a sister for fun things like doing each other’s hair and dressing up, so it was so cool to have my new sister-in-law come over beforehand for me to do her hair. I tried to imitate her updo from the wedding pictures on facebook, but I put in about a hundred bobby pins because her professional updo came out on the way to the wedding and one of her bridesmaids had to re-pin it! I’m happy to report that her hair was still secure 10 hours later, when we were all hanging out at their apartment because of a gas leak at my parents’ house.

Actually, my camera battery died when I got to church for the actual reception, so I don’t have any pictures of the event itself or of us hanging out all evening with Peter and Cammy. We left Tommy with Grandma and Grandpa for the week, and Lizzie and I headed back home on Sunday. Thanks to all who prayed for that trip–she actually only needed to eat twice the whole way home, so I got by with no more stops than normal. Needless to say, we were glad to see that Derek had survived his weekend alone. Now I just need to get everything cleaned up after the insanity of the past week!

Posted in Elizabeth, Family, Tommy | 5 Comments »

First Lessons in Homemaking

Jun 12th, 2009 by ECM

Elizabeth has been read to a lot so far, mostly because Tommy wants me to read to him whenever his sister is on my lap. Sometimes she just wants to look at pictures during her tummy time, too. I decided that we could start our homemaking lessons early, using Blueberries For Sal. Can’t you tell how excited she is about it? I can’t wait to take the kids blueberry picking and then have Elizabeth help me can them! (I will have to learn how to can first…)

Posted in Children's Books, Elizabeth, Homemaking | 1 Comment »

Farm Share, Week 11

Jun 11th, 2009 by ECM

One interesting thing about having a farm share is that we’ve become very aware of how late the growing season is this year (due to the unusually cool weather). That means that our farmer’s crops are still scanty, and this week’s box was the smallest yet. But that’s okay–I haven’t exactly had time for trying new gourmet recipes!

This week we got lettuce, salad turnips, bok choy, oregano, strawberries, and rhubarb. Yesterday I tried a new recipe for Rhubarb Crumb Bars that was quite yummy. We’ve used most of the stuff up because I’m taking the kids down to Columbia for Peter and Cammy’s second reception tomorrow while Derek stays home to recouperate. (Don’t worry–Leann trained up to drive down with me, and our pastor’s family is keeping an eye on Derek here…)

Posted in Homemaking, Recipes | Comments Off

"Nurse, he cried, it's an appendix!"

Jun 10th, 2009 by ECM

I’m feeling a bit like Miss Clavel today, but with less nighttime interruptions. The only little girl who woke me up in the middle of the night was Elizabeth, wanting some food after a five hour stretch of sleep(!). All in all, I got seven hours, so everything is much less overwhelming today. Derek’s home now, with a very interesting stapled-up belly, and Tommy is thrilled that Daddy had an exciting hospital visit just like his favorite rambunctious French schoolgirl. We had help this morning, and Leann’s coming up tomorrow to help me drive down to Missouri for Peter and Cammy’s reception. Thanks for praying, friends!

Posted in Family | 2 Comments »

Two hospitals, one day

Jun 9th, 2009 by ECM

Well, Tommy and Lizzie and I all went to the children’s hospital today to see an allergist about Tommy’s food stuff. He is fine.

And Derek is in the hospital down the street recovering from an emergency appendectomy! He went into the ER at 3 am with stomach pains and had surgery at 11:30. I haven’t seen him yet because they won’t let me back, but he is going to be admitted tonight and will stay at least through tomorrow.

Our church and local friends are being great about helping out–but I am pretty frazzled. Please be praying that the kids do okay and that Elizabeth in particular nurses when I’m home and takes bottles of pumped milk when I’m with Derek!

Posted in Family | 4 Comments »

Pancakes, pancakes, we love pancakes

Jun 8th, 2009 by ECM

We’re all about pancakes at the Muller house these days…Tommy and I make pancakes or waffles at least 4 times a week now because he wants to help me with breakfast, and we’ve tested several great recipes of late. This is the most popular one right now:

Blueberry-Cornmeal Pancakes (from Martha Stewart Living)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk (you can substitute sour milk by putting 1 tsp vinegar in regular milk and letting it sit 5 minutes before using, but the pancakes really do seem fluffier when I use real buttermilk)

1/4 cup regular milk

3 Tbsp melted butter

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (optional)

Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter, and egg. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (mixture will be lumpy). Heat a griddle over medium heat and lightly butter. Spoon batter onto griddle 1/3 cup at a time, sprinkle blueberries on top of each pancake, cook until edges are set (3-4 minutes), flip, and cook on other side until golden brown. (Martha has a lot more to say about how to keep pancakes warm in the oven, etc.)

Makes about 1 dozen 5- to 6- inch pancakes. (It’s just the right amount for the three of us, so I whip up a double batch when company comes.)

Here’s a round-up of our other favorites:

Pancakes

Mariel’s buttermilk pancake recipe was our old standby for months, but it is a bit more on the complicated side for a toddler to do (separating the eggs is a no-go for Tommy).

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes–a Martha Stewart recipe, Katie made these for us this weekend–yum!

Waffles

Cornmeal Waffles (we skip the fancy Martha compote and just use syrup)

(I can’t find our other favorite waffle recipes online and I’m too lazy to type them up, so you’ll just have to come visit us if you want to try them!)

Posted in Homemaking, Recipes, Tommy | 5 Comments »

New Swing

Jun 5th, 2009 by ECM

Our little girl is a cuddler, and at 2 am, that gets kindof old. So this week I got on craigslist and found a great used swing nearby. We never had a swing with Tommy because he wasn’t really into it and we didn’t have room anyway, so this was an exciting “new” purchase! Well, Elizabeth loves it–can’t you tell how comfy it must be? (Wouldn’t you love to be squashed into a seat like that with your head all askew?)

Posted in Elizabeth | 2 Comments »

Farm Share, Week 10

Jun 4th, 2009 by ECM

This week’s farm share definitely made up for last week’s light one…bags of spinach, salad greens, and thyme have me excited about salads this week, a ton more rhubarb means I get to work on my rhubarb cutting skills (last week my rhubarb chunks were too big and the pudding I made was on the chewy side), we’re doing eggrolls with the kale tonight (I know it sounds weird, but we actually really liked it last time we tried), and the asparagus and radishes are a bonus we didn’t even know we were getting. Actually, I could have passed on those two–maybe our weekend guests will like them? Katie…? Derek, who likes asparagus but has been eating it for four straight weeks, even admits that he won’t be able to consume all this by himself! And there were actually more strawberries in our box, but I snitched some before I took the picture. You just can’t beat fresh-picked strawberries!

Posted in Homemaking | 2 Comments »

another reason to love cloth diapers

Jun 3rd, 2009 by ECM

So once Elizabeth’s belly button healed, we joyfully commenced free diapering. Yep, we might only have saved a little cloth diapering Tommy, but with every subsequent child, our investment in his diapers just gets better and better! I’m already doing a load of Tommy’s diapers every other day anyway, so we’re not even paying extra utilities to cloth diaper two kids. It’s enough to get even a sleep-deprived mom excited. =) If my earlier posts on Bum Geniuses and cloth diapers in general didn’t convince my readers, how cool is this? The kids are wearing the same kind of diaper in this picture–Tommy just has it on the large setting, and Elizabeth’s is on the small. Bum Geniuses really do work from 8 lb newborns to 34 lb toddlers!