In the Kitchen

I have now completely given up on my food blog, but I still want to record the foods we try. Since this blog is our journal and I turn it into a blog book each year I've decided to post mine/our creations to preserve our love for food and trying new things. Here is what we have made over the past few months...

Pizza Dough Doughnuts

I got this recipe from Giada DeLarentiis (Food Network) and thought it was going to be great. We were pretty disappointed. I'm sure part of it was due to my poor doughnut making skills, but I just don't think the dough was right for the application.

Banana Muffins

I made these to use up some bananas and because Ava loves muffins. Ava helped make them and enjoyed the reward of licking the spoon. Ava is a good kitchen helper and will pull over a chair to stand on to offer me help. Sometimes she gets made when I don't let her help with things that are too dangerous.

Asparagus Tart

I had never made an egg tart before, so this recipe intrigued me. I wasn't sure what we would think about it, but it was a big hit. Ava loved it and woofed it down.

Cornish Game Hen with Rosemary Cream BiscuitsPeach & Blackberry Cobbler

(both from our garden) Veggie Spring Rolls with Apricot Sauce

There are 2 sizes. The bigger ones are made with spring roll wrappers and the smaller ones are made with won-ton wrappers. Everyone in the family enjoyed these. Rich made and ate the sauce. Watermelon Sorbet

Scary Nemo

While watching "Finding Nemo" in Italian Ava got scared for the first time. I was in the kitchen preparing dinner and put the movie on to keep her away from the stove and knives. During the first few minutes she started crying and getting upset because of the barracuda. She recovered quickly from that so I continued cooking. A few minutes later the same thing happened when the sharks enter the movie. This time she was reaching out to me and very upset, so I cleaned my hands and held her. After a few minutes she calmed down, but I had to sit with her until Rich got home. I was surprised because she has never been scared before.

18 Months

Eighteen months has brought on some interesting changes. Ava's personality and strong will has been surfacing more and more. At times it is wonderful and other times it can be quite difficult. Sometimes I feel like I'm living with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One moment we are playing having a good time and the next she is mad and throwing a fit. Along with her fits, Ava has starting hitting and kicking when upset. This change has not been pleasant and we are hoping it is a phase we can work through quickly.


On a happier note, Ava is still a cute, friendly, cuddler. She is quick to give kisses and snuggles to her mom and dad. She also loves to say goodmorning to Luca and give him a kiss at night. When we are out she often waves to people and can be quite friendly. It is pretty sweet, but sad that many people walk by and don't even notice. Ava gets really excited when someone notices and waves back. Last week she tried to follow a lady around Target that waved to her. It was cute, but worried me that she wasn't afraid of a stranger.


Ava's energy has also soared. It can be pretty exhausting keeping up with her. Now that our house is back together I don't have to worry as much and that gives me a little bit of a breather. Ava loves to run around and will often run up and down the hall making lots of noise. She also gets a funny manic energy as she gets tired. Sometimes the more tired she is the crazier she gets. Before nap and bedtime we try to wind things down with books so that going to sleep is a little easier. This works because Ava loves books. I often spend 20-30 minutes reading to Ava upon her request. She points to the rocking chair and tells me to sit down. Ava then gets a book or points to one she wants me to read. As soon as I finish one she is already pointing to another book and is ready to go. I have to admit storytime is probably one of my favorite parts of the day.


Ava's vocabulary is growing. She still signs a lot, but is picking up new words here and there. It is funny because she likes to talk with her mouth closed and mumble sometimes. She also makes up some crazy words that we can't figure out what she wants. If she really likes something or wants it she is more motivated to learn the word. This is why she can say cheese, cracker, bread, blanket, brown bear, panda and Buzz (Lightyear).


Ava is sleeping better again. Starting back in December until about April or May she was not sleeping through the night and struggling. It was a long several months for the both of us. The past couple months things have changed for the better and we are both happier. When she gets up she has to have her blanket, brown bear, and panda come with her. As soon as we get to the family room she puts them down and doesn't play with them again until it is nap or bedtime. Ava is attached to them, but it is only sleep related...thank goodness.


Ava still loves music. She often signs and says (her word for) music, so that I will turn it on. During Family Home Evening on Mondays her favorite part is music time. We normally would just sing an opening and closing song with a short lesson in the middle, but recently we have been singing more. Ava likes to lead, so we are taking this opportunity to teach her to lead music properly. It is so wonderful that she appreciates music especially the hymns since they bring such a sweet spirit to our home. I can't wait to see if Ava will further develop her love for music by learning to play an instrument.

Another thing Ava loves is the T.V. I'm not as happy about this discovery. There have been times when she points at the T.V. and tells me (signs) to "play" it. This is when I'm glad we have an armoire with doors, so I can close it and take away the temptation. When we do watch T.V. Ava likes the summer show "Wipeout" and sometimes it even makes her laugh. Ava also still enjoys watching "Music and the Spoken Word".

Overall, we are enjoying this new age even with its challenges. It is exciting to see her continue to learn, grow, and explore the world. We love being Ava's parents and can't wait to see what the next six months will bring.

I Do Exist!!

For the past several months Ava has called Rich and I both "Dada". She can say "Mama" but never associated it with me or recognized me as an individual. Most of the time it didn't bother me and it was actually kind of funny. When we were all together Rich and I would joke, "do you want Dada 1 or Dada 2." All joking aside, there has been a small part of me that wants to be recognized for who I am and to hear Ava say that special word.

Well it finally happened this week. A few times in the evening when we are all together she has called me "Mama." It usually happens when she really wants something or wants to be held by me. It is so wonderful to hear "Mama" and be recognized as an individual. It makes me feel a little more special and loved. Now I need to work on getting her to call me "Mama" all the time.

Chocolate Milkshake for Dinner

On Sunday all I had to eat was chocolate milkshakes. It doesn't sound bad and actually they were quite tasty, but I really wanted a big juicy hamburger or spaghetti with meatballs. The reason I only had milkshakes was because that was all I could get down. To make more sense I need to go back to last Friday night.

Friday night Rich and I stayed up late baking. We had some berries and peaches we needed to use and decided to make some goodies. As I made muffins and turnovers I of course sampled the batter and dough and probably had too much. This combined with some medicine I'm taking really UPSET my stomach. I had bad acid reflex and a restless night of sleep.

On Saturday I felt okay. I was tired and my stomach was a little bothered, but I enjoyed eating throughout the day. That night I had some more acid reflex and another restless night of sleep. It wasn't until I woke up on Sunday things were bad though.

That morning I felt terrible. My throat hurt. It hurt to swallow anything including water and my own saliva. Each time I tried to swallow I felt like I was chocking, but the pain was in my chest. It was strange and I didn't know what was going on. Luckily, being married to a P.A. I got my answer immediately without a trip to the doctors. Rich said the acid in my stomach irritated my esophagus and caused it to swell near the opening of my stomach...not good!

Throughout the rest of the day I was uncomfortable and starving. I tried to eat some saltines, but had to stop because I started feeling like I was choking and couldn't get them down. Rich did get me some Mylanta to coat my throat, but that only last for half a hour or so. He also prescribed some meds to help the acid in my stomach go down and help with the swelling, but that takes a couple days to kick in. The best thing he did was make me delicious chocolate milkshakes. Not only is Rich an awesome P.A., he is an excellent milkshake maker. The milkshakes tasted good and temporarily numbed my throat.

This experience has been weird. I never thought my esophagus could swell and stop me from eating. I wasn't in terrible pain it was just really uncomfortable and frustrating. The worst part was being so hungry and wanting things I couldn't have. At times like this I appreciate little things I normally take for granted like the ability to eat and having food. I truly am blessed in many ways.

I am also grateful for my wonderful husband. Whenever I'm sick he takes good care of me and not just medically. Rich is always so caring and concerned. He pampers me and gives me whatever I need or may want. He also steps in and takes over full care of Ava. Rich is an excellent husband and dad. I love him and know my life is better because of him.

THANKS RICH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!

Blackberries

Our blackberries have started to ripen. This year our thornless blackberry has given us a good crop. Once a week we have been picking 1-2 cups worth of berries. Ava has been loving it. She prefers to pick the berries and eat them right away. Last week we were able to bring enough inside to make blackberry turnovers.

blackberry turnover & peach muffin

(both from our garden)

Uncle Bob's Fish Tank

Ava loves fish, so we decided it was time for a fish tank. Since we were redoing our office we thought that would be a good place to put one. We also knew of a good sized tank and stand that wasn't being used. We asked Rich's brother Bob if we could borrow his while he finishes school in Boston and he said, "yes"....THANKS BOB!!

Once our office was mostly put together Rich and Ava got the fish tank ready. Ava helped Rich scrub the tank and Rich sanded off the salt on the stand. Bob had a saltwater tank, but we thought that would be too much work for us right now, so we are going to have freshwater fish.

We are starting off slowly by conditioning the tank with cheap and hardy fish. First we bought 2 shubunkins that will eventually go outside in Rich's pond. Then this past weekend we went to Capitol Aquarium (awesome fish store) and bought 2 Mollys, 2 Potbelly Goldfish, and 2 plants. In a few more weeks when the tank is conditioned we will decide what other fish we want.

Ava's Picnic

The other day while Ava was eating her snack she motioned to me to lay out her blanket. She then put her beloved Panda and Brown Bear on the blanket, sat down, and started her own indoor picnic. It wasn't long before Luca joined the party and was lucky because Ava decided to share.

Swim Lessons

Ava started "Daddy & Me" (starfish class) swim lessons July 5th. The lessons were Monday-Thursday for 2 weeks. It was a good opportunity for Ava and Rich to spend time together and for me to have a little break. I did go to a few lessons to watch and take some pictures. On the last day I even got in and we had a family lesson.

The lessons were in the evening, so Ava was usually a little tired. At first she didn't really care about the pool and clung to her daddy. By the last lesson she was getting in by herself and a little more relaxed.

Ava didn't learn to swim, but this is just the beginning. This class helps infants and toddlers learn to be comfortable in the water. Ava learned to ask for permission to get in the pool and practiced pulling herself out. She was encouraged to blow bubbles in the water, but she didn't want to do it. She also didn't want to kick her legs or use her arms. Instead she enjoyed playing with the pool toys and having her dad cruise her around the pool. Ava especially liked the elephant water can and the soaker balls. Even if Ava didn't master all of the beginner skills it was worth it and she will continue to take lessons each summer.

First Swim Lesson

After a few lessonsAva liked giving HI-5's to her little friend Katie
Ava practicing getting out of the pool At the end of class they played a fun game.

This night it was the hockey pokey. Last Swim Class

The Carpet is in...FINALLY!!

Since Mother's Day weekend our house has been a disaster and not very safe for a toddler. That weekend Rich removed the last of our popcorn ceiling and put up texture. We also painted the room and removed the old carpet. I was so happy and looked forward to getting carpet put in that room (the office) and our spare bedroom. We have been planning this for a while and thought the time was right. The following week we picked out carpet and set up a day for it to be installed. We made sure both rooms were completely empty and ready to go. I was excited to have our house put back together and our office finally organized.

When the weekend came for the carpet to be put in we ran into some problems. Our carpet installer is one of Rich's patients and gave us a very good deal because Rich helps him out. We get our carpet for a discounted rate and then he installs it for free. I know this sounds too good to be true, but it is. It has been a blessing, but this time it turned into disaster. The installer couldn't get our carpet because where it was stored was locked and the owner was out of town. I was a little disappointed, but figured I could deal with the mess one more week.

The next weekend the installer went to pick up the carpet there was more trouble. The carpet that was going in our spare room and the carpet pads smelled like cat urine...gross!! That is definitely not a scent we want in our house, so it wasn't installed again. We picked out some new carpet and figured everything was a go, but no I was wrong again.

We had a wedding the next Saturday,so I reluctantly agreed to have it done on Sunday. He called that morning and said he couldn't do it because the store didn't open early enough for him to pick up the carpet and have it done before our church time. By this point my disappointment was turning into frustration with a little bit of anger. I was tired of my house being a crazy mess for a month with limited (safe) places for Ava to play. We were confined to the family room and her bedroom. During this time the backyard has been a true blessing and has made life tolerable.

I decided to wait one more week and figured nothing else could possible happen. Well I was wrong yet again. This time I felt bad because there was a tragedy in the installers family and a very good reason for not being available. This week his mother suffered a stroke and shortly passed away. We thought about hiring someone, but since we didn't know until Friday it was too late to find an available installer. So again I decided to wait to give him time to grieve and make arrangements. Also throughout this entire ordeal he kept assuring us it was going to be done and soon.

By this time we were into the end of June and over a month of chaos. I was beginning to feel it all weigh me down and I was feeling a lot of stress. I know I'm not a neat freak, but I do like some kind of order. It also was wearing on me to keep Ava contained in such a small area and not allow her to roam around more freely. The end of the month Rich went on the Trek and I visited my parents, so I looked forward to 4th of July weekend and having carpet.

The morning of Saturday the 3rd Rich called to make sure everything was okay and our carpet was going in. His installer said he was planning on coming and would be at the store at 9am to get our carpet. That meant he should be to our house by 10am. Well, 10am came and went and I started to feel nervous again. Rich said he mentioned something about his adult daughter going to the ER the night before and I thought, "great he is not coming again." Around 11am Rich tried to call again with no answer. My parents came to visit around noon but we still didn't have carpet or a phone call. I went to lunch with my parents, Ava napped, and Rich waited. By the time we got back there was still no carpet and no word of what was going on. By this point I definitely lost all hope and my patience was gone. I know things happen and we have to be flexible, but this was ridiculous. I was most frustrated by the lack of communication...Just let us know so we don't waste endless weekends waiting around for nothing to happen.

Okay, now to the good news. After all this craziness Rich called the store and asked for one of their installers. He called several people and got one response. We were grateful and fortunate that someone was willing to install the carpet on the holiday weekend for a very reasonable price. On Monday the 5th our carpet was installed. The installer showed up on time, was professional, and did a great job. It was such a relief that I went a little crazy and did a happy dance. I ran around and rolled all over the carpet (check out the reenactment video below). That day we also put together our spare bed and moved some furniture back into the spare bedroom. We also started putting together our IKEA office furniture. We are pretty much redoing the whole office so we have to put everything together before we can put everything away. I'm just happy the carpet is in and we can now move on to the next phase of assembly and organization...YEAH!!

This is Rich priming and painting the office after he removed the popcorn ceiling.

This is part of the mess we had in our house for 2 months. This is our frontroom...isn't it so inviting?
This is our very green office before carpet. The color is very bright, but I love it. It is cheerful and like springtime.

This is Ava helping daddy put together some of our new IKEA furniture. They are sitting on our new carpet.

New Slide

I know I already posted some pictures of Ava on her new slide, but I wanted to share how we got it. Since Ava loves to slide we have been thinking about buying one of these small backyard slides. When I started to price them I was amazed at how expensive they are. I then started checking Craigs List for some cheaper used slides, but most of them were pretty expensive too.
At this point I kind of gave up on having a slide, but while visiting my parents a blessing presented itself.

While visiting some family friends I was talking about wanted to get Ava a slide and we talked about going to a used kids store in the neighborhood to see if they had any. That is when our friends said they had a slide they weren't using and Ava could have it. Of course I took them up on the offer immediately. My parents picked it up in their SUV and brought to us this past weekend.

Ava was excited and couldn't wait for it to be put together. While Rich and my dad worked on putting it together Ava played on the slide on the ground. My mom had to bring her inside until they were done because she just wanted to be in the middle of the building. Once it was done Ava got on the slide and didn't want to get off. She made my mom help her get up and then gave Hi-5's everytime she came down. Ava loves her new-used slide and wants to play on it all the time.

THANK YOU Lynn and Lloyd!!

Videos

Currently, one of Ava's favorite books is "Goodnight Gorilla". We read it before bedtime and say goodnight to all the animals. Most of the time we say goodnight to the animals several times. In this video we had already read the book several times and instead of Ava being ready for bed Rich was the sleepy one.

Ava has discovered my grandma's beaded rose shoes that I loved as a child. This weekend she actually put them on and walked around. I was amazed and a little embarrassed that she can manage heels better than me.

Dirty Little Girl

The warm weather has definitely been a blessing for us since we have been waiting for our carpet to be put in for the past 2 months. Our house has been a little cramped with only a couple safe areas for Ava to play. I have been grateful for the backyard and Ava enjoying it.

At first I thought I would have a hard time with Ava getting all wet and dirty since I like to be clean. To my surprise it doesn't bother me. I just make sure she isn't wearing a "pretty' outfit and then I let her go for it. I also have a big box of Oxyclean in the laundry room.

Old School Fun

As a kid I remember running through sprinklers on hot summer days for fun and to cool down. We thought since Ava loves to play with water this might be fun for her too. She didn't like going though the sprinklers alone, but she had a blast with daddy holding her.

4th of July

Since the 4th was on Sunday this year we started out our day at Church. It was nice because we sang some patriotic songs that help set the tone for the holiday. After church we came home and spent time together as a family.

Ava's favorite thing to do is play on her slide. As soon as she woke up from her nap she wanted to go outside, so we did. She kept going up and down the slide until she wore herself out and laid down at the bottom of the slide. At one point I even tried to go down the slide with Ava and just barely made it.

What's in Ava's purse?

Today it was a brush, comb, sunscreen, and stuffed turtle.
This morning I told Ava we were going "Bye, Bye", so she packed her purse and headed to the door. She just got her purse on Saturday from Papa & Nona Kurz and so far she loves it. Ava enjoys filling it up and then emptying it again. She also likes bringing it into the store and putting it in the shopping cart right next to mine.

Thanks Papa & Nona!