James Returns

After a delayed flight, James returned home last night after a five day business trip to San Francisco. We're so glad that he's home. Granted he did bring home some chocolate-covered berries from "Chocolate Heaven" at Fisherman's Wharf, but still we'd just rather have him here with us.

On Monday, our phone rang one solitary ring in the afternoon. I thought that was strange. Later, James told me that he had walked all the way from Fisherman's Wharf, along the shore, across the Golden Gate bridge and back. He tried to call me from the middle of the bridge on his cell phone, but the battery died after one ring!

To change the subject... I have a Josi update. She had her scope performed yesterday and everything looked normal, but they did a biopsy to check for cells which would show either signs of reflux or signs of allergies. They will get the results of the biopsy next week. Josi is doing fine.

Poor Sophie Part 2

Sometimes planning ahead is not enough... Sophie woke up looking as white as a sheet with no color even in her lips. I've come to learn to grab a container to keep handy when I see my kids looking like that. She slept most of the morning, but part of the time, I cuddled her on my lap while I read aloud to the kids. I guess the container should have been directly under her chin. We both received quite an upleasant shock. I'm just glad that the library book was spared

She seems to be better now.

Eight is Great

Evan will be eight on Thursday. He informed me that in six more years, he will be fourteen... Aaaaaaaaagh!

Due to scheduling conflicts, we decided to celebrate his birthday early. We invited Mom, John's family and another family from church to come over Saturday afternoon.

Friday night, since I couldn't sleep, I decided to make a card. After a while, James came and helped me, because he couldn't sleep either. Evan tells us that when he grows up, he wants to live in a treehouse (the influence of My Side of the Mountain evident here) and be an inventor (maybe Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang). On the front of the card, we wrote: "For your birthday, we wanted to invent a CAKE EATING MACHINE..." Inside: "but then we realized: That's Why We Have YOU!!" I made a little collage below this of small scanned in pictures of Evan with cake at each of his previous b-days.

Matthew (the next day, of course) wrote in the card: "Dear Evan, Thank you for playing with me. I made a present for you, but it melted. It was made out of ice. Happy Birthday! Love, Matthew" Sophie wrote: "Love Sophie" and drew a little picture of herself.

When the guests arrived on Saturday, we put old t-shirts on the kids, supplied them with painting paraphernalia, and gave them sticks and driftwood from Mom's yard to decorate as whatever creature they could imagine. All the kids enjoyed this activity, but Michelle and Sophie especially spent a lot of time on the details. Michelle painted a woodpecker and a chameleon into existence. Sophie's stick morphed into a "moose"(?!) and Conner took offense when we mistook his kitty-cat for a lizard.

Of course, we ate cake and watched Evan open presents. We gave him an electronic snap-circuit set with which he can make "over 300 exciting projects". Right off, the boys put it together to launch a small plastic fan in the air. They also quickly figured out how to cause it to emit all sorts of loud annoying noises (James bought the present, not me! ...But seriously, I think the gift is great fun. John, Jms' bro., said that he wants one too.)

Angi ran out to buy some bottles for Josi. I came into the room as John was feeding Josi and saw her start to cry when she caught sight of the bottle. She suffers from reflux and may be developing an aversion to the bottle. I danced around and distracted her with toys so that she ate without fighting it. Prayer request: She is going into the hospital on Friday for a scope to see if they can find out what seems to be the problem and what possible solutions might be. Pray that the procedure would go smoothly, for peace for the family, and for a resolution to her eating difficulty. Thank You!

Poor Sophie

Last night, at a graduation open house, someone accidently spilled a cup of punch on Sophie's head.

Today at church, a child slammed a door in Sophie's face and now she has a big lump and a cut on her forehead.

On a lighter note... At the grad. open house, Patrick goofed off with the kids and was pretending to have a "hideout". Today, Sophie informed me that she and the boys "conquered" his hideout!

Marinated Tomatoes

Here is a delicious recipe that I received from Kathy D. at church...

6 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion or sweet onion
1/2 cup olive or canola oil
1/4 cup red wine or cider vinegar
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 T. snipped fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried thyme (editing to add that I like this better with basil)
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground pepper

Place tom.'s and onions in a shallow serving bowl. In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients; pour over tom.'s. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.

I use the tomatoes-on-the-vine from the grocery store when on sale and they taste great in this recipe. I'm sure that garden tom.'s will be even better!