Gabby-ism: Driving

As we were leaving the store the other day, I heard a diminutive little voice in the back say, "I don't wike da way you dwive."

"Really?" I ask.

"No. I wike da way Gam dwives."

"Why?"

"'Cause she would take me to Toby's house."
(Toby is my parents' Yorkie.)

* * * * *

Yesterday as we were getting in the van I hear, "I don't wike da way you dwive." snicker, snicker.

"Really?"

"No. I wike da way Nate dwives." Giggle. Giggle.

* * * * *

Maybe next time Toby will do the driving.

You Create: Castle Cake

Note: Sara is ill and will not likely be posting for You: Create this week, but I had already planned to post about Kate's cake. So, I will go ahead and post this note and link up when she is feeling better. In the mean time, would you please pray for her health? Thanks!

Kate requested a castle cake again this year. I made it for her two years ago and she wanted it again. It is a two tiered cake. There are three standard rounds on the bottom (required to get the height needed for the door) and then two 6" rounds on the top. It is iced with decorator icing and stacked. I used a kit for the doors, windows and turrets, using almond bark to making the turrets stand on the tray.

Kate watched as I decorated it this time. I have to admit I took a few shortcuts this time. My time is more limited than it was two years ago when I made it for her last and she was impatiently bouncing and asking if I was finished yet. I didn't make all the individual leaves around the base, I just piped a nice green line and dotted it with the pink flowers. I also didn't put all the cones on top--it requires a good bit of work to ice them, and I thought it looked nice when I got those three on, so I left it as it was.

She loved it, and that's what really mattered.

Talking in Church

We were in church Sunday and they had children’s moments up front. Kate was front and center, of course. Gabby stayed with us, of course.

The poor woman who was leading it made the mistake of starting off with a question. She asked if they had ever gotten a nice present. Of course Kate had her birthday party the day before, so she answered right away, not just that she got a magic wand for her present, but a whole back story about how Gam and PawPaw gave her this wand [FYI: which was not her main present at all], even though they didn’t know that she had a wand before and that it was broken.

[Also FYI—our minister is in the middle of a series on how being mixed up in magic is bad and says that kids should not read Harry Potter. I’ll guess he’s not a fan of magic wands. Kate can tell you that magic is pretend, but of course didn’t during church.]

Then the lady gets to her point, which is stewardship. She asked if any of the kids knew what that meant. This was answered with silence. Kate, of course, can’t stand silence, so she pipes up, “I’ve read Stuart Little.” The whole church erupts in laughter. Yes. Now I’m the mom with the kid that says silly things during children’s moments. The gal tells her then she should be really good at saying 'stewardship.'

We’re new though and after that, the kids all filed out to go to children’s church this week, so no one has to know it’s us, right? Ha! After the service an older lady came up to us and asked if she was ours. Then the children’s minister stopped us in the hallway to make a comment about her too. So much for anonymity. Hopefully she won’t every say anything too embarrassing!

Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Kate's birthday party. She asked for two things in specific--a pinata and a castle cake. The pinata she wanted was $20. I really didn't want to spend that much money on something she was just going to break. So instead we made our own out of paper mache. I really wish there had been more time to decorate it, but we were working around Nate's naps and there were days that I planned to work on it that he just didn't cooperate, so it isn't the pretty little thing I had envisioned. That said, she loved it. She even specifically thanked me for making it with her in the middle of the hub-bub of yesterday.

I bought some candy to put in it, and Friday as we were doing some prep work for her party I warned her that I didn't plan to put the entire bag of candy in the pinata. She looked at me with great seriousness and asked, "Can we have three pieces?" She may never know that I had intended to put in about a third of the bag, but she was greatly pleased that I was willing to agree to her 'greedy' demand.

I asked what she wanted for lunch and she asked for sanwhiches and a veggie tray.

We were grateful that we had family here with us to celebrate her day too. My parents and sister were able to make it down to have lunch with her and watch her open presents. The three kids got a swing set from my parents!

Kate received a book from us, but her big gift was to be getting her ears pierced. We asked her over and over if she was sure and every time she nodded confidently. She could tell you how she would have to care for them and that it would hurt when they put them in. She decided against it at the last minute, after the girl already had the earrings out of the sealed package, so we had to buy them anyway. I suppose this will be the first of many lessons in getting what you ask for. I thought she would be more disappointed than she was. She hasn't asked about getting it done since, which is a good thing because I'm not up for taking her back for a very long time!

Tonight she was again demanding--she wants chicken noodle soup, so I put a pot on to boil after church this afternoon.

5 Years

(Sept. 27th 2005)

My first baby is five years old today.

(September 2007)

She went from the teeny-tiny baby that I prayed for over the course of many years

(September 25, 2010)

to an amazing little lady.

She is full of energy and spunk. In the past five years the two of us have been through a lot. She's the little one who first made me a Mama, who taught me how to care for a baby, and showed me what maternal love is all about. She's also the one who has tried me and stretched me. She has made me laugh and made me cry.

(August 2006)

We've lived in 4 states, been separated from her Daddy for awhile due to a move/house sale one more than one occasion.

(August 2007)

We've welcomed two new babies.

(Mother's Day 2008)

We've been through lots of ups and downs.

(Christmas 2009)

She has made me proud of her accomplishments and I love her. For five wonderful years you have been my baby girl, and I am grateful for you.

Eating our way Through Class

As a part of our homeschooling, we're taking a 'tour' of six countries. Part of that has been sampling the cuisine. Some of these have been fairly safe. We eat Italian food already, right? Well, there was the issue of the canoli.... Like, I have made at least one new dish though each time--I've never made my own sweet and sour chicken or lo mein. I also try to involve the girls whenever possible--like I'm not chopping veggies or things are not too hot.

This week we're studying Kenya. I knew the food might be pretty different. I guess if I was going to describe it in any manner at all it would be bland. I'm not sure if the people in Kenya use seasonings that weren't included in the recipes or if they don't season their foods as much as we Westerners do, but I added some salt and pepper to our dinner!


We had Ugali (which is simply cornmeal and water), Nyama Choma (roasted beef ribs), and Kenyan Cabbage (cabbage, tomatoes and onion).

Here's the rest of the fare we've been dishing up around here.


pasta with homemade sauce (Italy)


sweet and sour chicken, lo main, stir fry (China)


This is the girls making rugelach. We also made falafel and bourekas, but I managed to miss getting a picture of it. (Israel)

It's made eating dinner on Wednesdays interesting around here. I'm not sure that anything we've tried new will make it in our regular dinner rotation (there have been some things that some but not all of us like--falafel and bourekas are on that list with lo mein), but it has been a learning experience. Next week is Mexico and after that is Germany, so I'll be looking for things we haven't made here before. I'm seriously considering fried ice cream.

You Create: Canvas of my Own

So this week I completely stole my idea from Sara. If you haven't seen her painted canvases you've been missing out. They are beautiful, insightful, and inspiring. As wonderful as they are, I know that she's not been able to paint as much as she would like, so I tried, my very unskilled hand at it.


The girls love it, which is great, because as soon as I figure out where I put those picture hangers I'll put it up over their bed.

It is also fitting in that last week Kate and I were studying China, and therefore Chinese art. I told her that calligraphy was a way that they made art in their writing. She was a bit disbelieving at first, but changed her tune when she actually saw some in the book we got from the library. It seemed fitting that they would have written art after that too.

Thank you Sara for the inspiration. And my girls thank you too!

* * * *

Next week should hold a post about Kate's birthday cake!