The Sweetest Broken Record

... your ears may ever hear. At least mine. :)

I was able to help him through the entire song after he saw me pull out my camera and asked me to sing with him. Otherwise, if you are in our home, you will only hear "Yes, Jesus loves me" over and over and over again.

But sometimes, when days are rough, that is all the reminder you need to put a smile on your face.

By the way, thank you all for your kind notes, small gifts of love and thoughtful prayers. Len's death is starting to sink in with the boys a bit more each day, but they are handling it well. At dinner last night, Liam was complaining that his lips were going to die and fall off (they were chapped and his mother's overly zealous seasoning of the soup didn't help...), and Aiden responded "Mommy, Leonard died too!". It was the first time that Aiden has mentioned Len that way. Otherwise he has always talked about wanting to see him. I'm still not for sure if he comprehends or is just relaying the talking points he's heard. But it was still a first.

My mother and Joel's parents came in for the funeral, and life is  now starting to get back to a "normal" routine (if you negate the boxes and packing)-- for another week that is, before Auntie Katie arrives. :)


Also, a random tidbit. For those that follow the blog and remember Liam reciting Psalms 23... well, after he did so, my mother gave him a book that illustrates Psalms 23 (KJV even!), to help him remember the order of the verses. It's also been fun for him to  pretend to "read" the book.

Well, thrifty me found The Lord's Prayer, for super cheap by the same illustrator-- also in KJV. I bought it, thinking about how I wanted to teach that to Liam someday and it'd be fun for him to be able to "read" that book too. Well, Sunday afternoon he shocked both Joel and I when he was reciting it for us from the back. We thought he learned it in Sunday School (or Joel thought I taught him during the day)... but no, he learned it from us reading the book to him a few times.

So if you want some visuals to help your kids learn those two portions of Scripture, well, this Momma recommends them :)

Beyond Sochi

It actually started before they even really knew what a real bobsled run was. A couple of days after the beginning of the Olympics, they randomly took the yoga mat and turned it into a "bobsled". Perhaps Liam just combined the two words as he was listening to a library BOB book in the background. Who knows.

(notice the fall...
for some reason his bobsled run always ends in a crash...)

From there it progressed to cardboard boxes from Costco. No matter how much we get on our weekly shopping trip, the boys are always scouting out for "good" boxes. I don't mind, as I don't want them ruining the boxes that we need to start packing. :)

He even got Nana involved...

And then after Joel took me out for Valentine's Day one evening, Liam was insistent that as my knight, he needed to take me out too.

For a walk. In the park. As we listen to music.

Romantic, huh?!

Until you remember that our park currently has mountains of snow. No joke. Mountains. They've been using dump trucks to unload snow into the fields, since no one in there right mind is wanting to go for a walk when the high is in the mid-20s and the wind chill reduces it down to a bitter single digits.

So, after a couple of unsuccessful ideas of my own, I finally hit jackpot. Watch a couple of "bobsled" movies on the computer while eating a cupcake.  ... We stay warm, we get to fill our bellies with sugar and we get to watch a (5min) movie.

Bingo! :)

And for once, NBC saved the day. (You probably won't hear me say write that ever again!) We were able to watch one bobsled movie (Liam's comment: that's dangerous!), one snowboard half pipe movie (Liam's comment: that's dangerous! My Daddy does it the good way), and one skeleton movie: (Liam's comment: that's really dangerous!)... yes, he extended out his cupcake as long as he possibly could, citing that it was too sugar-y to eat too fast.

So then, of course, his bobsled runs had to become a bit more "dangerous" themselves.

But after a couple runs that ended in crashes with tears (notice the proximity to the fireplace, despite this Mommy's warnings...), we are back to the safer runs.

But apparently it's still too dangerous for Mommys. :)

Valentine's Day Dates

We actually went the day before Valentine's Day. Joel celebrated the actual day with his coworkers yet again- this time with a cadaver course. Romantic, eh? :)

We were going to hit up the little brick oven pizza place that I absolutely love (Phx people, think Pizzeria Bianco-- yes, it's that good, minus the wait)... but there was a wait. And I didn't feel like waiting. So, we went for the chain instead. Because he had never been. And I was craving their baci prosciutto. And Aiden wasn't with us, so I could eat it guilt-free. Less romantic, but I told Joel that I feel like society is calling us to "eat local", and anything less then random little eateries are bad, and it's upto the "younger generation" to break the mold, as only the "older generations" go to the chains anymore.... etc etc.

Well, you know how much I hate being dictated to by the politically correct of this world (who knew behavioral psychology would have such an effect on me!).

And thus, my husband got Papa Vinos... and my soapbox.

And my notepad and pen. Because I'm all about accomplishing objectives on our "romantic" dates.

The poor guy.

But he did get barbeque chicken pizza (a diversification from his usual calamari appetizer). And some super-de-duper seafood pasta dish, to which he got the privilege to also hear my nostalgic recollection of Katie and I's attempt to keep bivalves as pets in our bedroom closet. ... Remember that, Katie? :)

And me? Well, I got my baci... leeks, prosciutto, romano cream sauce and all! Yum!! :)

And to be nice to the babysitter (aka Nana), we took Callum. And he's such a gentleman, he tried to get the bill for us. And eat it.

As for the boys... well, they had a special, romantic dinner too. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God..."

I John 3:1

May you comprehend and know the breadth, length, depth and height of the love of Christ, not only on this day set aside for materialistic love, but every day of your life.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Len

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."

Psalm 116:15

Still a bit numb from the past 48 hours. The Hitz family could definitely use your prayers. Death is hard, even when you know that there is no more suffering, and that heaven is the eternal reward. Although I've had a number of relatives pass away this past year, this was the first person that the boys have been quite attached to-- Len was like a grandpa, to me and them.

I have so many memories of our moments together, the most recent quality time being the whole day we spent at his place after he found out Joel left to Africa that morning. He was there for the big moments... the first person besides immediate family to hold Callum. He taught Liam how to ride a bicycle. First birthday parties. But he was also there for the little moments. Showing up early to help out at church lunch. Randomly taking the boys into service to help me out. Our bimonthly dates at the Breakfast Club. Being the only one that could get Liam to eat meat (other then hotdogs, chicken nuggets and sloppy joes) for half a year.

And then there are the tangible things that I am sure will remind me of Len for years to come. Fruit snacks (he bought a box from Costco so that he could weekly treat my boys each Sunday). Chocolate covered strawberries (an after meal treat from the Breakfast Club). Creme Brulee (when we'd eat out at dinner, he always got it in memory of Audrey). Scotcheroos. Wine and proper meals/hosting. Nightlights and glass artwork. 

I have so many memories and feel so blessed that the Lord placed him in our lives for 4 1/2 years. He is Joel's great uncle, but he has felt so so so much closer then that (living only a mile away I'm sure helped that feeling too!). Here are a few pictures of some of the memories that are instant in my mind.

Chef Liam: Lemon Curd

Hi, this is Liam here. I think it's been a bit of time since I had a guest post on our "family" blog. Well, it seems like Mommy does most of the blogging and limits our technology time. But she gave me permission for this post. Why do I get to write the post?

Because I'm Mommy's knight.

Oh, that's not reason enough? Well, then maybe it's because I loooooooooove lemon curd. Well, that's what Mommy calls it anyways. I call it lemon jam. I first had it when I was over at Nana and Papa's house. Nana didn't have any normal jam in her fridge. Actually, she didn't have any normal peanut butter either. But I always have peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch (and yes, it's jam and not jelly-- but trust me, you don't want to get Mommy started on the difference!). So what did she do for Aiden and I?

Well, she gave us sunflower seed butter and lemon curd. Trader Joe's to the rescue, I tell ya! I love Trader Joe's. It's my favoritest place. Aiden and I like to find Cocoa the Monkey. Have you found him before??

Well, let's just say that her version of pb&j became my new favoritest thing. Aiden, well, he could take it or leave it. And technically he can't have a lot of it anyways, because of the butter. He can't have my cow's milk stuff you know.

So anyways, she said I could make this post, because we ran out. And I wanted some on a sandwich. And we had the ingredients.

So here is what you will need. It really only takes 5 things.

1. Lemons
2. Sugar
3. Salt
4. Eggs
5. Butter

Mommy has only attempted lemon curd once before- before I was born when she was on a blueberry scone and lemon curd pregnancy kick. And she didn't quite stir constantly and fast enough in the saucepan on the stove and the curd... well, it curdled. It made it look almost like little baby bobas. But my Mommy doesn't like bobas (she doesn't like Halloween either), so she wasn't discited.

So she had an idea to use the vitamix. Because the guy at costco makes yummy soups with it. And it worked! She wasn't sure what to do about the creaming the butter part and ran upto the internet really fast to figure out if anyone else had made lemon curd before in their vitamix. (Aiden and me like it when she runs up to the computer really fast, because we follow her and then ask to see movies. Aiden wanted an octopus movie. And I wanted a humpback whale one. We saw the octopus go through a little tiny itty bitty hole and pretend it was a stingray. We also saw the humpback whale sing. The guy said that no one knows why humpback whales sing. But I said that's silly. They are singing to God!) Someone had, and said to put the butter in last, so that's what she did instead. Otherwise, she mostly followed Ina Garten's recipe, because she said it has lots of stars. But she didn't put as much sugar in it. Because sugar isn't good for you. And I don't like sugar. I like protein. That's why she used Ina's recipe too. Because she uses the whole egg, not just the yellow part.

So here's a picture tutorial on how to make lemon curd. Mommy let Aiden and me make it. She tried taking pictures the whole time, but after we kind of spilled sugar across the table and Aiden was playing with it like snow and brushing it on the ground and I was laughing and being bossy at him and telling him not to and Callum was pulling on her leg because he wanted to be held... well, she kind of got distracted.

And of course, she thought it best if she did the egg part. We crack eggs, but she was afraid a little tiny itty bit of shell might get in the curd.

First, you need a happy cook.

Then you need to zest the lemons. Mommy has us use a microplane.
 

And Jesus likes us to share. So it's good to let others help you too.

Next you need to get the lemon juice. You can do that one of three ways...
1. Do it by yourself one-handed.

2. Hold the jar while your helper squeezes the juice out.

3. Use your head and push down with all your might.

Then, after you add the zest, juice and sugar to the blender... pulse and blend it a bit. Then add the eggs and blend it on high for a few minutes.

You want it to get to about 170 degrees. That makes the eggs ok to eat-- unless you are the raw egg type of person (or like cookie dough :)  That's about 4 minutes on high. Add the butter chopped up and blend about 1 more minute.

Pour into a bowl, chill in the fridge, and then transfer to jarred containers and use within a couple of weeks. Then, the best part...

... you lick the blender!

And lick...

And give it three thumbs up.

** By the way, Mommy thought it would be funny if we italicized all the words I really say a lot in person... in case you were wondering. Probably only Daddy will smile for that.

Oh, and don't judge the pajamas. Sometimes Mommy just doesn't want to battle with us. :)

The Debate

Did anyone else catch the debate last night?

http://debatelive.org/

 

 It was between Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and Ken Ham (AiG, Creation Museum). They debated whether creation is a viable model of origins in today's modern scientific era...

... did you see it? What were your thoughts?

Tent Camping...

... because I won't let him camp outdoors in our current snow-blanketed yard.