week 49 in pictures

sunday: bird layla drew on the magnadoodle at my parents’ house.

tuesday: layla decided that it was picnic weather (cold, rainy, windy) and prepared a picnic for micah and herself.

wednesday: opening up the book for the day. (last year, before I packed away the christmas books, I wrapped them and put a number on each one, to be opened like an advent calendar – one each day.) the kids take turns opening them.

thursday: I spent my evening painting underwear on barbie dolls. 5 of layla’s barbies are now sporting shiny, nail polish undies.

also thursday: christmas baking has begun! layla and micah helped me mix up butter ball and cut-out dough. the next night, micah and I mixed up gingersnap and peppermint shortbread dough!

friday: this is what the top of the fridge looks like. the only way to keep ginger from wanting to play CONSTANTLY is to hide the tennis balls.

dave, trying out lesson one of our new saxon math curriculum.

also saturday: we took a trip downtown to see the trains at the center house, ride the westlake carousel, and do other such christmassy stuff. it was super fun. we started by parking at lake union, walked over to the seattle center, and looked at the trains.

then we went out and walked around the space needle a bit…

then we rode the monorail over to westlake center.

we saw the macy’s star.

rode the carousel.

then we went into the mall and grabbed a snack (while I did some secret santa shopping), and then headed to starbucks for some hot beverages. this is shane, enjoying his FIRST latte! I’m so proud.

then we headed over to check out the window display on the other side of macy’s where the trains are, and then headed to the street car to get back to our car.

those pictures will go into a design G insert.

and then there are some skinnies for center slots. 1) putting lights on our mini REAL tree for the family room. 2) layla as mater. “I’m mater. like ta-mater, but without the ta.” 3)I walked into the bathroom and found this. 4) when we got home on saturday, we discovered that ginger had eaten, yet another, loaf of bread.

{book shots will be added later}

Comments

someone googled this stuff and found me!

these are as is... spelling errors and all. how to use a bathroom scale seriously? how hard is it? if you want step by step instructions, read this . washing machine doesn't empty bummer dude rachel's restroom i seem to remember someone predicting, when i was in high school, that i would go into the portable restroom business some day... "locks of love" site:blogspot.com because i'm totally the authority on that sort of thing. my hair is still in a ziplock bag waiting to be mailed. http://rambling-rachel.blogspot.com/ i think you typed this in the wrong place does 2 year old talk with imagination is there any other option? SLUDGE IN WORM BIN yummy. diapers to bed well, considering the other option... yes, please! imagination and 2 years old once again. 2 year olds do like to use their imaginations. loose change in my washing machine what priceless wisdom are you looking for here? how to get some? where did it come from? what to do with it? duh! rachel joe

“you should have your head examined!”

… i just did! yup, yesterday i had the thrilling experience of sitting in a hospital waiting room for 2 hours, followed by another in a trauma room. no, i don’t think i had suffered any sort of major trauma – i think that’s just what room they had left to stick me in. i mused about where we would go if they had to kick us out because a ‘real’ trauma situation arose. thankfully, we didn’t have to learn the answer to that. i guess i was a traumatic as it got during that window of time. backing up, i wound up in the hospital yesterday because micah threw some clothes on the ground. the night before i had been folding laundry in the living room. i had a couple of stacks of ‘hang up’ clothes that were draped over the baby gate in front of the fireplace. yes, it’s a christmas picture, but i knew i had it in my stash. at any rate, there’s the ugly baby gate that the clothes were hanging on. also notice the wood mantle above it that the nativity set is on.

light n’ crisp waffles recipe - everyone's favorite!

i got this recipe from my dad. i have no idea where he got it, but these are the waffles i’ve been eating as long as i can remember. they are so delicious, easy, and HEALTHY! OHMYGOODNESS, i cannot help but go on and on about them because they are so incredibly fabulous! if you want to see my picky eaters eat, come on waffle night! i think last time I made these, layla (all 33 pounds of her) put away 4 quarters of a waffle. that’s one WHOLE 10 square inch waffle. (and yes, i did just pull out my waffle iron and measured it!) anyway, here it is, without further ado… 1 cup flour (I usually do 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat) 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal 1 cup rolled oats 2 tbsp baking powder* 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 1/2 cup oil 3 cups buttermilk put all dry ingredients into a bowl, break in the eggs, add oil, then stir in the buttermilk. *t he amount of baking powder is not an error, but is the secret of the crisp, tender result! let the batter stand for a short time (15-30 minutes) to allow t

beef stew recipe

another taken from the betty crocker cookbook, but i mess with this one so refer to the disclaimer … 1 tbsp olive oil 1 clove of garlic, pressed (or some good shakes of garlic powder) 1 lb. stew beef 3 cups of hot water (I probably use closer to 3.5 or 4) 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 3 medium carrots, cut in thick coins 2 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1-2 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 small onion, chopped 1/4 tsp salt 1 bay leaf *optional: 1/2 bell pepper of your choice; 1 turnip; 1/2 tsp browning sauce (whatever that is) 1/2 cup cold water 2 tbsp all-purpose flour heat oil in large pot. cook beef and garlic in oil about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown. add hot water, 1/2 tsp salt and the pepper. heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. cover and simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until beef is almost tender. stir in remaining ingredients except cold water and flour. cover and simmer

white chicken chili recipe

was just chatting about recipes w/ a friend and realized that i have talked about this recipe, even photographed a bowl of it, but haven’t ever posted it on here. what a shame, because it’s one of my family’s absolute favorites! i got the recipe from my betty crocker cookbook, and it’s one of the first things i ever made for dave and i after we were married. i even have the date written down next to the recipe and a smiley face, indicating we liked it. =) i actually don’t mess with this recipe too much, so here goes… i usually make a double batch so i can freeze some and still have leftovers. it freezes really well, so it’s a nice thing to have on hand. 1/4 cup butter 1 large onion, chopped 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped (or pressed) 4 cups of cooked chicken (chopped, cubed, shredded, whatever – sometimes i just throw in a couple of the cans of chicken they sell in a 6 pack at costco, if i have them on hand and don’t have any cooked chicken handy) you could also use turkey 3 cup

rachel's continued ramblings

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