One week, No Computer, Long Post

We're back! Our formerly virus-riddled computer has finally been deemed clean! After paying the tech support guy a mere $120, we learned that what we had, the Vundo Trojan, was in fact "pretty gnarly." You would think I'd have a whole line of posts ready to type out when my computer was returned to me in good health, but I surprised myself by truly taking the past week or so off from it-- hardly thinking "This would be great for the blog!" as I normally view life. So sad... please tell me you can relate blogging friends! Maybe a regular week of "Computer Turn-Off" should be something I consider. So, just a few pictures and stories about what a week at home with no internet or superfluous errands to distract Mommy looked like:

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The week is a blur of game marathons, Shrinky Dinks, Ramona Quimby, Little People, puzzles and baking. I worked hard to not go insane over my constantly messy house. I think every toy and game we own got some use in the past 10 days. I realized I've become really dependent on letting the girls just play together while I "get stuff done." They are old enough to do this pretty well now. I needed the reminder to get down on the floor and set-up, pretend and play with them. One night we laid out all the dress-up clothes and shoes and made a little carpet runway. The girls put on a 5 outfit fashion show. When Ella ended her walks with this pose, and then Delia started copying, I had to pull out the camera!

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It's becoming tradition to watch a movie together as a family on Friday nights. We usually go with a Disney classic and lately have enjoyed The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. and Bolt. Ella is so funny in her play. After watching a movie, she'll act it out for the following week. She asked me to take this picture. In it, she's Penny. See Bolt, Mittens and Rhino posed behind her on the couch, just like the final shot of the movie? She had a whole ocean set up 2 days ago when she was Nemo's Daddy.

And just a silly picture of Delia to even things out. The past several weeks have been another real vocabulary explosion for her. She is speaking so clearly and conversationally. Instead of just copying phrases we commonly say, she comes up with her own stuff and it is funny! We've always known she was a big personality, we see it more and more each day.

Technical Difficulties

Hello faithful blog readers. Our home computer has caught a bit of a bug this week. It was not a crash- and-knock-out-the-whole-hard-drive-in-one-shot type of virus. Instead, it seems to be a slow, lose-one-favorite-sight-each-day type of virus. First I couldn't get on Amazon. Then it took away Google-Reader. Facebook had to be accessed through back-door methods and I couldn't navigate away from its home page. When our email refused to open or send, Dave and I started to take action. (Isn't it sad how long and how far we will go to push our internet-availability and not just turn off the computer?) Our own research and troubleshooting doesn't seem to be sufficient, though, so tomorrow our computer has a doctor appointment. Just wanted to quick explain why the blog's been so quiet this week and will probably remain so for a little while. I actually write this from Dave's office.

I've learned a neat lesson this week. I made a pledge to not do any shopping this week. It was an exercise in money-saving and viewing what things are truly necessities (turns out we didn't have any necessities this week that required a trip to Target or the grocery store!). This was a week I forced myself to be home-bound. An interesting twist to lose my internet this week too. I've actually enjoyed the removal of distraction and have done lots of fun things with the girls we may not have otherwise done. I'll have to blog more about that in a week or so, though...

Happy Harvest, 2009!

My computer time is short, but I wanted to post a few of the pictures I got from last night's church Harvest Party. Ella was so excited to go as a fairy, she couldn't fall asleep the night before the party. Delia asked all day, "I go church and be cow girl?" This year's party was another success, with lots of laughs, great fellowship and a whole hall full of people dressed festively.

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Dave was Delia's rodeo clown. I don't know if this costume, or simply his role as youth pastor, prompted the pie in the face he surprisingly and hilariously got from a few guys in the youth group.

I was reflecting, once again, and what a neat tradition this has become for us. Neither girl has ever trick-or-treated, so they don't even know Halloween as Dave and I do-- freezing in the dark as you trek from one stranger's house to the next and then consuming massive amounts of candy for the following months. Ella didn't even want to use her tickets on the candy games, instead spending about 10 of them in the bouncy house. She came home with just a handful of it. I'm a little bummed, since I was planning on raiding that candy bucket! :)

What we did come home with was about 10 painted pumpkins and gourds. Painting and bouncing equal Happy Halloween to these girls!

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And friends! What a great time Ella and Delia had running around with their friends-- little and high school aged!

After pie-eating contests, apple-bobbing, potato sack races, face painting, games, pizza, prizes and laughs, the night concluded with the costume parade. Here the Under-6 crowd lines up for judging.

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Thanks to Dave and his youth group for giving us such a fantastic alternative to the traditional Halloween!

Introducing...

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Our two newest additions. Sam II (Ella's prize) and Tiny (Delia's prize) from this weekend's Family Fun Night. Though Delia does seem to be doing her best to try and keep their life short (she dumped her whole glass of milk into their bowl during breakfast), they are tough little survivors!

Boo at the Zoo

Ella was thrilled when I told her she could wear her fairy Halloween costume out to the zoo this week. You know how much she loves to dress up, to wear dress-up clothes outside the house was a big deal for her. Delia was just excited for an excuse to sing, "We're goin' to the the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too. We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo!" For this special Boo at the Zoo day, we not only saw all our favorite animals, but also had faces painted, won prize bags by completing the animal clue scavenger hunt and got free rides for being in costume. It was a fun girl day, since Dave was busy with a wedding.

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The Reunion Tradition

Dave is giving me a wonderful gift that I get to enjoy in just a few weeks. I get to leave the girls in his care while I fly to LA and meet Anna and Heather for a long weekend. I CAN NOT wait for this getaway. I can't wait to laugh, talk, eat, shop and drink coffee with Anna and Heather. I can't wait to see Anna's world in LA. And I'm excited to do some touristy things. Just recently we got word that our request for 3 tickets to The Tonight Show was granted and we can now add "See Conan!" to our list of activities. I have been getting together with my sister and my cousin for a few years now, but this is the first time I'll be without Dave and the kids and in LA. Here's a look back:

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The reunion that started it all was in Michigan for Heather's wedding in the fall of 2005. We all stayed with Heather that week. I'll remember that week as one of the best for the laughs and late nights we shared while counting down to The Big Day.

When Delia was born in 2007, Heather and Anna coordinated their travels to our home to meet her. Another fun week.

It's become tradition now! Last summer we reunited once again. This week in 2008, at our home once again, was full of Olympic watching, hiking in Big Trees, Starbucks, pedicures and shopping in San Fransisco.
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Counting down to LA 2009!! Can't wait, Ladies!!

What

It's been a slow blog week. What we've been doing in the VM household is normal life. Just for the sake of posting something, here's a peek:

What we've been reading is The Trumpet of the Swan. When Dave is home, it's his nightly ritual to read Ella chapters from bigger books. She totally follows the story and absorbs every word of it! It's fun to see the new vocabulary infiltrating hers (like "cygnet").

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What we've been making is fall artwork. Ella is getting so good at cutting and continues to amaze us with her artistry!

What we've been eating is pomegranates. This has become a fun family time. We all sit around the table, crack one open and laboriously remove the sweet seeds while chatting and laughing. This snack was created to be time-consuming. We spend longer sitting together eating this than we do actual meals! The girls love them.

What we've been playing is lots of bike and bubbles. Our weather has remained warm and beautiful.

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What we have on the calendar are a bunch of fun church and school activities, family outings and even a trip for me. Hopefully this means more exciting posts are in our future!

A Few Fall Favorites

If you read this blog regularly you must know by now that I love fall and I love recipes. Here are a few favorites I especially love to pull out at this time of year. If the old adage is true, we certainly won't be needing any doctors any time soon thanks to the number of apples we've been consuming! Today we made the apple crisp and the girls were so excited to help. Ella manned and cranked the peeling/coring device and Delia snatched up and gobbled up any piece of apple that went astray. A warning comes with the caramel corn: only make this as an extreme exercise in self-discipline. It is that addictive! Thanks to Karen for sending me the healthy autumn chili recipe last year, we love it and hope you do too!

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Apple Crisp

Core, peel and slice about 10 apples, then lay to cover about 2 inches of a greased 9x13 pan.

Sprinkle over apples:

1 cup sugar

1 Tbs. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

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Mix and crumble on top:

1 1/2 cups oats

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cup four

1 cup butter or margarine

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve warm with ice cream!

Caramel Corn

3/4 cup unpopped popcorn kernels

3 cups any mixture of roasted nuts (almonds, peanuts, pecans...) OR extra 1/4 cup unpopped kernels, if you don't like the nuts.
2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Pop kernels using air popper. (Kyle says you can make this with microwave popcorn, just be sure to use the plain kind and take all the unpopped kernels out of the bag after popping). Pour popped popcorn into 3 greased 9x13 pans. Sprinkle nuts over top.

Combine sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in saucepan. Bring to boil. Boil 5 minutes and stir constantly to prevent sticking. Remove from heat and add baking soda. It will be frothy. Pour over popcorn and nuts, toss to coat. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Remove pans to stir every 20 minutes. Cool and store in sealed container.

Autumn Chili

1 lb. turkey breast, cut into chunks

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 15 oz. can black beans

1 8 oz. tomato sauce

1 cup peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash. (I HATE dealing with squash. I wouldn't make this recipe if Trader Joe's didn't sell me a bag of prepared squash cubes for $1.19)

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (can skip if you don't like it so spicy)

1 Tbs. chili pepper (can use less if you don't like it so spicy)

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups fresh spinach, shredded

In crock-pot, combine all ingredients and cover. Cook on low 10-12 hours or high 5-6 hours. Serve sprinkled with shredded cheese (pepper jack is good), if desired.

Fun Not Deterred by Rain

It's that time of year again when we feel really appreciated for our work. Funworks always goes out of their way to invite all local pastors and their families for a day of free fun. We were really looking forward to this day, but the typhoon-like storm that has moved through our area had Funworks looking like this today:

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So, no go-karts, no mini-golf, no bumper boats, no corn maze. Funworks still loves us, though! They gave us passes to use on another, sunnier, day and several bags of tokens to use for some indoor fun. We love you too, Funworks!

We had arranged to meet fellow-pastor Lloyd and his family for some Pastor Appreciation Day fun at Funworks. And even though we were confined to the indoors, we still had such a good time!

The kids loved the giant play structure with ball pits, ladders, shaky bridges, tunnels and giant twisty slides.

Ella led me though a mile-long maze of tunnels as we climbed our way to a slide that felt like it started on the ceiling. Here we are about to go screaming down.
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Delia and little Kathryn climbed the smaller playgrounds together. Delia always surprises me by being pretty scared of big, colorful play things. She didn't want to get anywhere near this one. Hmmm, thought climbing was her thing.

After spending a few tokens to bop alligator heads, ride motorcycles and roll skeeballs, we used our free rides on the crazy bumper cars. The rain and wind really kept people away so we loved having this pretty much to ourselves. We played Pastor Lloyd's family vs. Pastor Dave's! Those of us entertaining little ones cheered and danced in the black lights. Going out for a pizza dinner with the Wickers topped off our afternoon of rainy-day fun.

Crowder Concert

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

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And oh, how He loves us so,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all

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He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

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And we are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way… He loves us,

Oh how He loves us.

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Yes, it was as awesome as you'd imagine it to be!