Our days have been pretty eventful lately. 

Our toaster oven and crock pot broke. Has anyone else noticed kitchen items start to break around the sixth wedding anniversary?

We are swapping date night child care with our neighbors and also some other friends. This week we got out on a date, so nice!

A friend and I planned a craft day. Quinn normally loves to play with my friend's son, so we thought if we got them together they would distract eachother while we got some crafting done. Boy, were we wrong. They both sat there crying and reaching for us to pick them up. We still managed to get some work done, but they are for gifts so that's all I'm going to say.

My church's moms group meeting was pretty fun this week and even Quinn made some artwork. The one year-olds class decorated an ornament with thumb prints. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall while that was going on!

And Quinn tried to feed baby Jesus to Shinobi. I'm glad I was there to step in and keep him safe. It's the least I could do really.

Now I'm prepping for a cookie exchange party I'm co-hosting tomorrow. We'll be decorating sugar cookies and half of the cookies we gather will be going to HOTEL Ministry. I always thought I didn't like sugar cookies until I tried this recipe. They're light, crispy, and just slightly sweet. 

And our Christmas cards are bravely making their journey to many mailboxes, ready to spread some cheer! 

We had some big changes this past week. Quinn is now only taking one nap a day and only nurses when she wakes up in the morning. Such a big kid! Sometimes I look at her when we are eating together and wonder where this big kid came from. 

She says a lot more words now. And she is aware of the funniest things like when she hears a faucet turn on she starts rubbing her hands together like she is washing them. We were at a Christmas party last night and the hostess had set out a box of books and toys to play with. Instead of playing with the toys, somehow Quinn found a bottle of ranch dressing on the ground and was shaking it and snuggling it and using it as a pillow. What a silly and imaginative little lady we have! Fortunately, it entertained some guests. I wish I'd gotten a photo!

I'm officially finished with my handmade gifts. Three out of Quinn's four gifts this year are handmade. Jonathan and I like the idea of giving her a gift for each of these categories: something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. I read it somewhere and thought it was genius! It really suits any budget or age too. Don't tell, but her want gift is a rocking horse from my dad's cousin. His boys used it and he wanted to keep it in the family so he kindly gifted it to us. It's going in the sunroom and I think she's going to love it. Her need gift is tricky to describe. It's kind of like a quiet book except it's one big square with zippers, buttons, velcro, shapes and ribbons all over it to play with in the car. Her wear gift is a hat I crocheted. Her read gift is a board book that I modpodged over with pictures and words. 

Spoiler Alert for family and friends - this summer I harvested all the lavender in our yard and it's been drying in the guest room. In lieu of homemade edible gifts, I decided to put the lavender it into little sachets for gifting this Christmas. I think I'd like to do this each year. I love lavender and it has so many health benefits. So, if you're on my nice list you know what you're getting now :)

Picks of the Week 11.30.12

Fantastic Christmas Music - Simple Mom
When Kid Meets Nativity - Sit a Spell (hilarious)
The Christmas Conundrum - Jen Hatmaker

Enjoy! With some soup or a warm drink!

Thanksgiving was very nice. My family and Jonathan's family got together to feast at my parents' house. And we enjoyed some down time just hanging around Eugene. Jonathan took some extra days off too. I even got a 2+ hour coffee date with a dear friend! It's amazing how one can keep a conversation going without a baby around, haha. We also got some projects done and had some fun. 

Notice the newest trend in smiling? 
And when it's not raining, we're swinging. This girl can't get enough. 

I can't believe football season is pretty much over. Just as Quinn is starting to outgrow her duck gear from Nana and Papa. It was so fun watching games with friends as the weather changed from warm to cold and the leaves started dropping. Now the house is starting to get festive. I pulled out the Christmas box yesterday...

P.S. I printed a couple of these free Christmas printables for some frames in our living room, go get some!

Wow! It's been a year since we moved! I can still remember packing up our one bedroom apartment with my newborn strapped to me in the Ergo. And my parents helping us drive the moving van all the way from Mountain View. And stopping every three hours to nurse my six week old baby in the car. And living out of a suitcase in my dear friend's guest room for a month. Oh, the stories Jonathan and I hold close to our heart from that wild season. I'm still not sure if we were crazy or adventurous. Good thing babies only need milk, diapers, and love.

Here's Quinn hanging out in a box while I packed. And she's in her hip dysplasia harness! That feels like a lifetime ago.

And here she is today playing in the surprise sunshine.

I hope we can always keep an adventurous spirit.

We've had a celebratory couple of weeks. We celebrated Jonathan's dad's birthday, a baby shower for some friends who are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia, a birthday party for our friends' son Cameron who turned one, and a birthday dinner for my grandpa. Plus some visitors and some shared meals. What a treat! Every photo of Quinn now is Max Cheeser Mode - closed eyes and cheesy huge grin. Unless she is balancing a spoon, that is.

Our house is becoming a little naptime Santa's workshop. I made a "quiet book" for Cameron, which was quite a fun project. I also gave our wreath a Winter makeover (the wreath is from the dollar store and so versatile), crocheted a hat for Quinn and made a flower to doll it up, added a ruffle made from an old black shirt to the neckline of a plain black tank top, and made a couple headbands out of old shirts for gifts. The sewing machine and I are getting a lot more comfortable with one another. 

 

My 13 month old loves books. She'll choose a book over any toy. She reads them out loud in Quinn language and enjoys flipping pages. She's got a new scrunched face smile.

She also just learned to drink from a cup by herself and say drink in sign language.

Halloween festivities were fun the past couple days. We made gingerbread apple upside down cake for Cake Club. We went to a pumpkin carving party on Sunday.

And Halloween night we went to a friend's party. Jonathan went dressed as the host and I impersonated the hostess. Quinn dressed as their imaginary future child ... it's a long story.

Nothing makes your house smell good quite like homemade applesauce. I have many memories making it with my mom growing up. The stuff from the jar doesn't even come close. 

I picked up some local organic and no-spray apples from a produce shop close by. Little Grabbie McGrabberson always wants to hold something from her perch in the Ergo when we are out running errands. This day she wanted to hold an apple of course. When I loaded her into the car she was still having fun playing with the apple so I let her keep it. As I was driving I heard some interesting sounds from the back seat and discovered when I arrived home that Quinn had eaten a quarter of the apple already! I found her juicy and grinning. It was hilarious. Those eight teeth can really do some munching. (Her dentist appointment went great by the way. She wanted to hold her new toothbrush all day.)

I decided to use the crockpot to make applesauce this time. And now I'm hooked. I peeled and cored the apples and cut them into pretty big chunks, probably about 10 chunks per apple. It took probably 15 minutes total. They really don't have to be pretty. 

These are the ingredients I threw into the crockpot:
- 3 golden delicious apples, 4 granny smith apples, 4 braeburn apples
- a scant 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 cup of water

You can always add more water later, but you can't easily remove it. No one has ever complained about applesauce being too flavorful. Stir it up and set the crockpot on high. At two hours I stirred it with a fork and mashed it a little too see how firm the apples were. At a little less than four hours it looked like the texture I wanted it to be. I mashed it with a potato masher until it was mostly smooth with some small chunks. It really didn't take much mashing, it was so soft and velvety. Then I put it into glass jars to eat, freeze, and gift. I'll definitely be making more batches, it was so easy!

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend with the two other families on our street with kids Quinn's age. It rained off and on, but was otherwise pretty fun. Afterward, we had some pizza and pumpkin pie. Our neighbor is very scientific and well-researched about his pumpkin pie baking and it turned out amazing. We also had some nice family hangout time and friend hangout time this weekend.

I made pumpkin mac and cheese for Quinn and me last week and it was delicious! And some pumpkin muffins too of course, 'tis the season!

Now I'm off to take Quinn to her first dentist appointment. I figured with eight teeth, it would be good to start taking her. Hopefully she's nice to the dentist!

Just a little Public Service Announcement from your friendly local blogger:

Did you know that most of the chocolate found at the store is harvested by child slaves? Halloween is such a fun time of year for kids in the U.S. It makes me sad that some children have to suffer so that we can get cheap candy. I know Fair Trade chocolate is on the spendy side, but even buying non-chocolate candy for trick-or-treaters helps. If you haven't purchased your Halloween candy yet, would you consider buying non-chocolate candy? Like these great lollipops on Amazon.com. Or I found a great deal on a giant box of fruit snacks at Costco today.

Alright, back to your regularly scheduled blog reading...

I thought it's about time for a crafting update. The colder weather inspires sipping warm drinks to comfort music while working on projects. 

I've got a fun secret project I've been working on, but there are two I can share. One is a Fall wreath decorated with pom-poms from a friend's blog.

I feel like it needs a pop of orange on it somewhere. I might have to go on a nature walk and gather some goodies. After years of apartment life, it's so fun to be able to decorate doors!

Another is a simple skirt and matching hair clip for Quinn. The skirt tutorial was so easy even I could do it (with my mom's guidance). I'll definitely be making more of these.

And I managed to overseed the lawn before the rain began with some Fleur de Lawn. It's an herbaceous, flowering lawn alternative that's a combination of grasses, clovers, and small flowers. I'm hoping it will fill in some gaps, be more low-maintenance, and look pretty next Spring.

Anyone else working on fun projects?

I've completed the next quarterly video of Quinn. If you have a spare 22 minutes and want to see how much she has changed from 9 months to 12 months, you can watch it here. Two of my favorite parts are at 8:30 and 15:30. She cracks me up.

So all my extra snuggling has paid off, Quinn has tooth #7 and 8 now on the bottom! She just wants to be held or on laps when she's working on teeth. 

For a long time now, Quinn has been content to sit and play with a couple toys or look at some books. But for the last week her interest in moving has drastically increased. Shinobi is no longer safe.

Quinn got sick for the first time last week. I'm amazed it took that long, breastfeeding is magical. She also had her one year check-up last week. She's continuing her streak of being in the 40th percentile for weight, 30th percentile for height, and 75th percentile for head circumference. She shared a paragraph with the doctor. She'll say things throughout the day, but a couple times a day breaks into a monologue a couple minutes long, haha.

I planted some blueberry bushes in my backyard this weekend. Hopefully they survive, I have a very black thumb. I have daydreams of sending Quinn out to pick some berries for breakfast next Summer, we'll see... We also went to Eugene for the weekend because my friend since birth (we are 10 days apart in age) was in town. Quinn got to meet her daughter Maya who is about two months younger. It was so strange realizing that was us over two decades ago!

 

Spying on the kids walking to school.

Sunday was a perfect Fall day for a birthday party at a park. The maple trees were just starting to change color and providing some shade, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was in the low 70s. My favorite sort of day. While Quinn napped, my parents and sister helped me set up pumpkin cupcakes, apple slices, cheese, and crackers to go with the iced coffee and apple cider. We hung red balloons from the trees and strung Quinn's monthly photos from a red ribbon. Dear friends and family began to gather and mingle. We feel so blessed to know so many friendly, sweet people that can all get together and chat with ease.

Quinn was passed around and entertained by loved ones. When it came time for her to eat her cupcake, she delicately pinched the frosting and brought little bits of it to her mouth. Quite a polite lady :)  We broke it into easy to grab pieces and then she got into it a little more. She was reaching for the cheese on the table so I gave her some of that and she gobbled it down. Next time I'm just going to buy a block of cheese and chisel away at it until it is the shape of a cupcake, haha. 

After eating, she had a lot of fun playing with balloons and her guests. We opened some presents at our house and then went out to dinner with our out of town guests. It was a very pleasant day. What a blessed girl to have so many people that love her!

On her actual birthday, we went to the park for lunch and after dinner. While she was swinging after dinner, we were chatting with some other families at the park. When it came up in conversation that it was her birthday everyone insisted on singing to her. Everyone at the park sang a hearty rendition of the birthday song and clapped at the end. This made Quinnie burst into a giant smile and start clapping herself. It was a very heart-melting moment. We feel so blessed to live in such a warm, welcoming neighborhood. Thank you, Lord!

Well, my baby is one-year-old. It breaks my little heart how fast she is growing up. 

It's been fun to reminisce about what was going on a year ago. I bought sunflowers at the Farmers Market because I had bought some right before Quinn was born. Her party was at 3pm yesterday and I was recalling my first contraction at 3:24 while dancing in the kitchen making zucchini bread. When we went out to dinner after the party, I was remembering talking to my doula and going for a walk as my contractions increased. And when we went to sleep last night, Jonathan and I recalled the contractions get more and more challenging as he coached and encouraged me through the night until we left for the hospital at 3 in the morning. What an amazing morning that was a year ago!

I just love this little sweet chickie. She brings sunshine to my days and light to my eyes. She has made me braver, fiercer, gentler, and more relaxed. She is a passionate, loving, jolly rascal. Jonathan and I feel so blessed that God has mercifully entrusted her to us and we can't imagine life without her.

Happy 1st Birthday Quinn!

 

And we've got an oven! Just in time for some Fall baking, yum yum. I'm going to test out these apple pie bars to take to some friends' new house tomorrow for after dinner. Then, I'll be baking some pumpkin cupcakes for Quinn's birthday. Which is less than a week away, aah!

We were in Sunriver last week with my parents and my sister and her husband. It was a lot of fun, I love that place. Swimming, riding bikes, walking, board games, good food, beautiful weather, what more could anyone want? Quinn went for her first bike ride and seemed to like it, she was singing every time which is usually a good sign. 

Her hair has now reached the point of being in her eyes constantly but I can't bear to give her bangs. So it looks like we are entering the clip phase of life. Her hair is so slippery so it is quite a challenge.

We've been loving this September weather! Each day is so gorgeous. We are trying to squeeze in as many picnics and park visits as we can because I know it will soon be cold.

We love to read. One of Jonathan and my favorite activities is to just read side-by-side. But, alas, reading alludes me these days. Mount Laundry beckons and the Shinobi hair tumbleweeds whisper my name. But I did manage to read two books lately and I thought they were worth reviewing.

I received Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp as a baby shower gift and as Quinn is developing a bit more, um, personality, I thought it might be good to start adding some tools to my parenting toolbox before I find myself in an emergency situation. Since I would read it before bed, I often began to doze off after a couple pages. This made it take a long time to complete the book. But even in my fragmented first read, I could tell that there was gold in there and I really wanted to soak it in. So I read it a second time, with a pen in hand and more energy. This book was so informative! It is so biblical and challenging. My biggest takeaway was this: there are a million books out there that can teach you how to have a well-behaved child if that is your chief goal. You can discover what motivates your child (their idols) and use that as a reward/punishment to get the sort of behavior you want out of them. We are all worshipers of something. But if your main objective as a parent is to point your child toward Christ, then your guidance needs to see through the outside behavior and focus on the heart of your child to show them their sin and need for a Savior. Wow, right? I'd be happy to discuss this book with anyone interested.

The other book I read was The Organic Lawn Care Manual by Paul Tukey. Exciting, I know. I first heard about it from this post a couple years ago and tucked it away in the back of my mind. Large parts of our yard are overrun by dandelions from the time the house spent on the market with no one living in it. My parents are coming up for a big yard work day, so I wanted to educate myself so I could know how best to use our time. I saw that my local library had the book so I checked it out. With a dog and baby, I don't feel great about putting chemicals on our yard. I use this easy weed killer recipe already but it isn't great for grass. This book was very convincing if you are on the fence about a natural lawn. It had a ton of practical advice and troubleshooting tips. Most helpful for me was at the start it asks you a series of questions about your yard, one of which is how you use it. We have a ton of grass and it feels pretty overwhelming. It made me realize that we would like the front to be in good condition because it's a small area and is kind of the "face" of our home. But for the sides and back, my main goal is just that it's soft underfoot and mowable. The back especially is more of a social area and there will be lots of foot traffic. I also learned that our decision to not water it this Summer wasn't a bad idea (phew), moles are actually helpful for keeping bugs in check (we have moles), and if your lawn is at least 5% clover and you mow without a bag that alone is enough nitrogen to fertilize your lawn.

Anyone else read anything good lately?

It's been a wild week. Three friends had babies on Labor Day weekend. Blame it on the full moon or the name of the weekend I guess. 

We are still oven-less two and a half weeks later, but a neighbor let me get some baking done at her house. Fortunately we found out that our home warranty will cover it so our finicky 1960's oven will be replaced with a brand new one! Hooray! 

Jonathan got food poisoning late Tuesday night. Or we thought it was food poisoning until I awoke with the same symptoms late Wednesday night. And my mother-in-law arrived at our house Wednesday afternoon for a visit and was staying overnight. She was a huge help with Quinn on Thursday as I was recovering. Just a nasty 24 hour bug. Unfortunately, since we didn't know it was a virus until after she had arrived, she got sick Friday. And I talked to our Monday night dinner guests and they had it Tuesday night as well! So miserable! Thank God Quinn didn't catch it, she's still getting immunity from me :)

My parents took us to Quinn's first Duck football game at Autzen on Saturday. It took some getting used to, but she ended up liking it. We would dance with her and clap with her and when the crowd cheered, I think she thought it was for her, haha. 

We zipped down to Eugene early Saturday morning and got back Sunday morning in time for church. There was an event between services to inform the body about different ways to get involved starting in the Fall. We hope to start leading a home group in a couple weeks. Then, after church I met with a client for some bookkeeping help. 

I think this week will be a bit more tame. I'm hoping we can soak up the final drops of Summer. It's already getting dark so early! September is such a lovely month in Oregon.

Labor Day. A day to celebrate the fact that in our country there are laws that protect children from being exploited. It's very sobering to learn about many sad situations for children all over the world. Especially now that I'm a mom.

In the Lake Volta region of Ghana, forced labor is the daily reality for kids who have been trafficked into the fishing industry. Great poverty leaves many mothers with a difficult choice: sell their children to someone who can take better care of them or watch them starve to death. Most of the mothers are told their children will be given food, housing, and an education. Instead, the kids are often taken to Lake Volta where they become child slaves and their mothers never see them again.   

Here's some good news: an organization called Mercy Project is working to break the cycles of trafficking around Lake Volta by providing alternate, more efficient, sustainable, fishing methods for villagers – ultimately eliminating the need for child slaves. Because of the work Mercy Project is doing in Ghana, the first group of children will be freed this month from Lake Volta. Mercy project is hoping to spread this great news via bloggers sharing their ten minute documentary.

The video opens with the phrase, "One of the few universal truths is that children should be happy." Everyone knows this. That's what makes a child a child. Laughter, giggles, grins, delight. There are two little boys shown working in a boat, they can't be older than six years old. Their tiny hands are holding onto oars and their eyes are wide with fear. I can just picture children I've nannied or worked with in classrooms that age. But I can't imagine them working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, doing hard, physical labor, eating one meal a day, and then falling asleep at night on a dirt floor filled with other slave children. But this isn't a sob-story video, it's about the positive changes that are already taking place and that will continue on into the future.

Would you take ten minutes from your day off to watch the video? Would you pray for these children and the adults trying to help them?