the many happenings of November and December

Silas turned 3! We celebrated with a family party and a trip to the zoo. He was a happy boy.

My Mom and brother Steven visited for Thanksgiving. We braved Washington D.C. and Annapolis in verrrrry coooold walking weather, and cooked a lot of comfort food. This was one of my favorite Thanksgivings so far: the boys were up early rolling out pie dough with Ricky and me, and that set the stage for a peaceful day of cooking. We even had time to walk by the lake while the turkey roasted.  

My brother Luke came home from Italy and stopped by our place for a few days. He was all traveled out, so we enjoyed a lot of cozy at-home time. He brought really good wine, and we made good food to go with it. We did venture out to see The Hobbit 2 in Imax 3-D, which very much exceeded my expectations visually. Luke, being one of those people who actually read the book, of course had some qualms about the adaptation.

Ricky's family came for Christmas (we started a new tradition a few years ago of alternating cities, and this was our turn) and we rented a big house in Annapolis so we could all stay together. It had an enormous kitchen, a fireplace, huge windows, and many other fun details--the boys' favorite being the electric fireplace in their room. 

 The grandparents stayed a few extra days, and we ventured out to see the big tree in D.C., and took Nicky ice skating at the National Sculpture Garden. It's one of my favorite spots in the city: Nicky used to take naps there when he was a toddler and we lived here for a summer, and it has an enormous fountain that doubles as a skating rink in the winter.

Ricky and I even got to take a little getaway to Philadelphia, which was truly special. We saw the Pennsylvania Ballet Company perform The Nutcracker on its final night, and visited the touristy things like Independence Hall, the "Rocky steps" at the Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Eastern State Penitentiary. And of course we sampled some cheesesteaks.

We made it back home for a quiet New Year's Eve with good food and drink, and one last night with Abuela and Yoko (there's a story behind the name; let's just say Nicky couldn't quite say Abuelo when he was little) and a farewell to them on New Year's Day.

Whoosh! We're tired but happy, and right now enjoying a big-for-us snowfall from last night. I may wrap my head around a routine again sometime soon. I hope your holidays were lovely; I don't think ours have ever been this jam-packed before! We were rich in visitors, which is really quite special when you've moved thousands of miles and don't see family too often.

On to 2014!

What I'm Into- October 2013

This is the part of the month where I get to look back on what I ate, read, watched, listened to, loved, and whatever else, thanks to Leigh Kramer's link-up. It's fun; you should try it!

Happenings

• Ricky and I celebrated eight years of marriage. We found a great babysitter using Care.com (which I must say is a great option for people who just moved thousands of miles and gave up two amazing babysitters back home) and went to see Over the Rhine in Alexandria, Virginia. It was such a treat. I already professed my love for Over the Rhine in last month's post, but they are truly amazing to see live. Some people sound better on their album; not them. They absolutely fill up the space with the most gorgeous, full sound and it feels like an otherworldly experience. 
• I've been going to the gym twice a week. This is a big deal. There's a gym within walking distance of our house that offers two hours of childcare per day, so really it's a win-win for us. The kids get excited to go see "gym buddies" and I get to work out on a regular basis. I'm starting small as to not scare myself away (that's how these things work for me), but I'd like to move up to three days eventually. It feels good.
• I've been writing more. I have a new project in the works that I'm really excited to share.
• We're looking for a church community. It's been slow-going, but there are few more on my "list" that I'd like to try out. Honestly, the sheen of living in a new place is wearing off, and I'm feeling the loneliness more acutely these days. We have a little joke about our new town--when we can't find something, it's just "hidden in the trees" because, well, there are just so many trees here compared to the desert we came from. So, I hope that our place, whatever it may be, is simply hidden in the trees and we haven't found it yet.

Reading

• I so enjoyed the memoir When We Were on Fire by Addie Zierman. I laughed, cried, and nodded all the way through it. 
• I took my time with All is Grace by Brennan Manning with John Blase, processing the difficulty of his story . It's a sad book, in a way, but also one of the most encouraging things I've read in some time. Grace is a mystery we try too hard to explain, I think. I have some more thoughts on this book that I'm trying to form into a post.
• I'm in the middle of The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church by Greg Boyd. I've wanted to start reading some of his books, and this seemed a good place to start. I hope to have some thoughts to share on that too. He addresses things that have bothered me for some time, but also challenges some preconceived notions that I realize I still have. It's a stretching read.
• Sarah Bessey's Jesus Feminist, which comes out next week, is definitely on my list for November and I've also been wanting to read Carry on Warrior by Glennon Melton. 

Eating

I'm back in a good cooking routine, making dinner every weeknight and usually one big meal on the weekends. When I was working night shifts earlier this year, I pretty much lost the will to cook; there was just no enjoyment in spending the time, and cleaning the mess, unless maybe I had a long string of days off and a wee extra bit of energy. I needed things to be as simple as possible. So, it's been nice to rediscover the catharsis of stirring, tasting, seasoning, and smelling at the close of the day, as the sun sets, or the thrill of throwing something in the crockpot at ten in the morning and knowing dinner's done. My favorites this month:

• Butternut squash lasanga made using a sauce with pureed cooked squash and thickened milk, with lots of warm spices.
• Pasta with the same sauce from the lasagna, with Italian sausage and cooked spinach, sprinkled with parmesan. Better than mac & cheese, in my opinion.
• Sweet and Spicy Chicken Drumsticks and oven roasted broccoli--just cut up a head of broccoli, toss it in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and shredded parmesan, and roast on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees for 12 minutes or so. Even the kids devoured it, much to my happy surprise.

Listening

• Tiny Desk Concerts! Do you know about these? I recently discovered them and think they're so fun. My favorites so far are: Basia Bulat, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, The Civil Wars, and The Lone Bellow.

Watching

• This time of year, I just want to watch the Harry Potter movies. Ricky and I did the closest thing we could to a marathon by watching all of them in about two weeks. We may have been a little giddy about it.
• We also discovered the show Scandal. It's a fun political drama that's pretty well-written, even if the central romantic relationship is kind of ridiculous. Anyway, it's a good watch-together show. 
• We've been having living room floor picnics and introducing the kids to "old" movies on Friday nights: E.T., Disney's Aladdin, Lady and the Tramp, Robin Hood, and Home Alone (which was pretty inappropriate for our kids. I did not remember some of that stuff. Oops.) I want to do The Sound of Music, but I don't know if they'll sit for it just yet. 

So that's my October. How was yours?

Shenandoah

Yesterday we took a day trip to Shenandoah National Park, to see the fall colors. It was one of those perfect Saturday mornings: coffee in hand, road ahead, babies in the backseat and a few hours to talk with Ricky about anything and everything. That's still my most favorite thing.

We took Skyline Drive, which of course just reopened. A long line of cars waited (in my mind, triumphantly) to enter National Park land. Ours again, these treasures.

We stopped off at Big Meadow Lodge for some lunch, playground time, and a very short hike that intersected with the Appalachian Trail and had some amazing views.

I think this may be my favorite picture of Silas ever. Taken by Ricky.

What an abundance of beauty.

flying

“You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck.

"Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.” 

-Roald Dahl, Matilda.