Encouragement and Cheesecake

Last night I attended a meeting with some other moms at our church who are home schooling their children.  It was so encouraging.  Two of them had been at it for over 10 years.  Such insight from moms who had been in my shoes and lived to tell about it.

One of the moms in particular was a God send for me.  She has a 16-year-old son who is an Evelyn.  Not in name thankfully for him, but in personality.  He pulled many of the same stunts that Evelyn does and just about drove her out of her mind in the toddler years.  But he's 16 now.  And they are both still here and she didn't kill him.  This is good news.

It reminded me of how important it is as a mom to have women in your life who aren't in your same life stage.  It is so helpful to hang out with moms of toddlers and babies, but I NEED to hang out with moms of teenagers.  I have to see past the diapers, tantrums, and messes to where I want to be in 10 years.  As I write this I had to tell Evelyn to not throw her toys.  For the 3rd time today.  And for the 765th time this week.  I have to keep a long range view of her and not be swallowed up in trying to make sense of her overwhelming personality and behavior.

She's so excited today though.  Tomorrow is Scott's birthday, so that means today is baking day.  She loves to help me in the kitchen.  This is usually what happens though.  Bella wants on the stool too so she climbs up and freaks out when she's not allowed to chow down on whatever is being prepared.  My little foodie.

We are making white chocolate strawberry cheesecake.  Evelyn's mind is completely blown by the idea that there is cake that has cookies in it.  Delish.

Here's my recipe.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I use s'morables gluten-free ones)
1/4 cup melted butter
3 T white sugar

Combine and press into a 9" spring form pan.  Refrigerate to harden.

10 oz. frozen fruit (strawberries, raspberries, whatever you like best)
2 T sugar
1 T arrowroot
1/4 cup water

In a saucepan, combine the fruit and sugar.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer.  Combine water and arrowroot to dissolve.  Stir into fruit and heat over low until thickened.

1 bag white chocolate chips
1/2 cup half and half

In a double boiler, melt white chocolate into the half and half.

3 pkgs. cream cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, whip cream cheese and sugar until well combined, light, and fluffy.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Blend in vanilla and white chocolate.

Pour onto your crust.  Spoon a few tablespoons of your fruit mixture onto the batter and swirl with a knife.  Save the rest to be sauce to top the cheesecake.

Bake for 55-65 minutes at 325 until the filling is set.  Cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving. 

You can leave the fruit out if you prefer plain white chocolate cheesecake. 

And in case you hadn't seen, there are some new products in the felt food store!  More will hopefully be added in the next week as well.

Actually, By Law I Can and Some Outdoor Fun

There is absolutely no connection I can make between these two topics, but they are both going in this post.  So if you're trying to make sense of it, don't bother.

Part of this whole buying and renovating a 100 year old house thing involves lots of home improvement stores and shopping.  This is a fun adventure for me, particularly when I don't have to try to do so with a 1 and 2-year-old in tow.

Last night was not such an occasion.  Scott and I were looking at appliances at Nebraska Furniture Mart with both our girlies, neither of which wanted to be there.  Inevitably, Annabelle got hungry and wanted to nurse.  No big deal.  I've nursed at NFM before upstairs on the comfy couches.  We were downstairs though and I really didn't want to trek all the way up there, I just wanted to get back to evaluating refrigerators.  So I wandered toward the stairs looking for somewhere suitable.  There I found a large circular desk for sales associates with a table and 4 padded chairs behind it that was clearly for customers to use while ordering something.  It wasn't currently being used and there was only one employee at the desk, a young woman.

I walked up to her and asked if I could sit in the chairs as I just needed to nurse my daughter real quick-like.  She got very flustered.  Her response was to tell me that I couldn't nurse there, but that they had special restrooms set aside for that.  Ummm....no.  First off, I won't hide in a bathroom to nurse.  Where in the world are you supposed to sit?  On a toilet?  The floor?  Ewwwww.  I'll pass.

So I responded in a super nice and sweet voice because I was not trying to ruffle feathers, simply to inform, that actually by law, I could nurse anywhere that I was personally allowed to be.  So I was just wondering if I was allowed to sit on those chairs. 

If she looked flustered by my original question, it was nothing compared to how worried she got now.  She said she didn't know anything about that, but that I could go ahead and do whatever.  She later offered me a bottle water.

I've never had this kind of occurrence happen before and I have been nursing for almost 3 straight years.  I've nursed in just about every locale imaginable without issue.  Thankfully she didn't make a big deal of it, although I think I scared her to death when I pulled the law card. 

N3WAYZ... (I had to throw that in.  For some reason I was thinking about one of my former 8th grade students who would include that very word in papers she would hand in.  If you can't figure out what in the world it is you can declare yourself officially old.  Just kidding.  Kind of.)  We've loved having it cool down just enough to be able to get outside.

Evelyn thinks it has cooled down considerably and insists on wearing winter pajamas outside in 90 degree weather.  That child is so independent and strong-willed that I've decided she will one day either change the world or land herself in prison.  Dear Jesus...

Bring on the wagon rides!

I love seeing the sister-love.

And the mis-matched pajamas.

Look!  I made it into a picture!  I realized you hardly ever see my face on this blog, you just have to listen to my ramblings.  So here is what I look like most days.  No make-up.  Wearing a t-shirt and yoga pants because you just never know when you might decide to work out.  Not that I ever actually decide to do such a crazy thing, but hey, it could happen.

Another scissor incident.  We are dealing with some serious exerting of independence at our house.  Pray for us.  It may do Scott and me in one of these days.  The latest thing is deciding to un-potty train herself.  No joke.  If I have to clean up any more pee I will put that child back in diapers until she's 10.  And she took this picture herself.

I know I promised a poof tutorial.  I will arrive in the next couple of days.  Today during nap time has been declared crafting time!

Linking up...

And Then There Was Change

I've decided that Scott and I love to add big changes to our lives in clusters.  None of this nicely spread out business that makes the change easier.  Oh no.  Throw it all together at once.

The last instance of this was when Scott accepted his current job.  We moved to a new state.  He took the bar exam.  He started his new job.  We had a baby.  All within 3 months.  Crazy I tell ya.

So here we go again.  Our home study will be finished next week.  We will hopefully be going active with the adoption the start of next year.  So what do we decide to do?  Buy a 100 year old house to renovate!  This was not in OUR plan.  God tends to laugh at our plans though.  And I'm excited that God's plan for us involves me getting a renovated kitchen.  Yay God. 

So here's our beauty. 

We close in about a month and then the gutting, painting, building, and mold removal begins.  If you know how to paint, you may not want to let on because I will inevitably rope you into at least one coat in one of the many room that need some love. 

Case and point...

The ORANGE!!!!  I'm blinded!  That's supposed to be our relaxing, tranquil love den master bedroom.

And to add to the awesomeness, meet the neighbors.

Chickens.  My crunchiness is so excited about this.  As is my 2-year-old.  "Let's go see the chi-uns!"  I foresee many days standing outside watching chickens.  I can handle that.  We'll call it home schooling. 

Besides the kitchen that will be big enough to actually do some proper cooking in (woot!), this is the other room I'm thrilled about.  It's the attic.  And it will be a play room.  A huge space devoted to toys.  Maybe my living room will cease to look like a day care exploded all over it by 9:00 each morning.  These are dreams I have.  We'll see what actually happens though. 

It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

Happy Birthday to my sweet, lovely Annabelle.



It should be a rule.  No 1-year-molar activity during birthday festivities. 

These were the only two places she was happy for most the evening.

I even tried to convince her that if she smiled big enough to have a double chin that everything would be fine.

I had a bit too much fun decorating for this little shin-dig.  I'm not sure why that didn't cheer her up, but it sure was fun on my end of things.

 

 The party was at my parent's house in Des Moines if you're wondering where in the world we are.

Sweet deliciousness and some cupcakes.

Some pennants for her to kick while eating.

Pennant fun continues.

I have a new obsession with these flower poofs.  You will see them recurring several times.

My sweetums dangling from the chandelier.

My mom made a fish out of a lemon.  For reals.

Return of the poofs in garland form.

How could I not be obsessed with this new form of cuteness I've discovered.  And they're made out of felt.  Double win.

We managed a few moments of happiness from the birthday girl outside.

She makes my heart explode.

Yes, I made the outfit because I needed an excuse for more poofs.

Those eyes are going to keep her daddy busy in about 13 years.

Her first experience with sweet goodies.  And fire.

It felt funny.

But tasted amazing.

Seriously.  Who needs fingers?

Why are you all laughing at me?

It's because I'm adorable isn't it.

Yup.  That's it.  Let me pose for you.

Presents!

Poof, onesie, and hair barrette tutorial coming soon.

My Troublemakers

 I knew she was up to no good, but she was having so much fun unloading the shelf that I let it go.

This little crazy has lost her scissor privileges.  It only took about 2 days from date of purchase.  

Apparently she is getting in touch with her inner 80's adolescent.

New Products

Some new items will be added to the store in the next couple weeks!

Here's a little preview:

So How's the Adoption Stuff Coming Along?

I've been asked this several times over the last few days, so here's an official update.

The rest of the paperwork needed for our home study is in the mail today.  Our social worker just needs to finish up our home study and include the information from that paperwork for the rough draft to be done.  She will them send us a copy to look over.  We will make some changes, she will make the changes, and then submit us to be approved to adopt.

Our initial paperwork for our agency is in the mail today as well.  It is so weird to essentially tell people you have just met every intimate detail about your life, your history, your financial situation...EVERYTHING.  We still have more to do for the agency though.  We have to write a letter the the prospective birth parents, create a photobook about our family for prospective birth families to look through, take a class, read several books and lots of articles, and fill out a couple affidavits.

Once all that is done, we just have to have the rest of our money in place in case we get matched quickly.  We are getting there.  Slowly, but surely.  We are doing our best to save what we can each month, we have some very generous friends and family, and I'm still making and selling felt food.  I'm already getting orders for Christmas gifts!

We're also still working on preparing Evelyn.  She is adamant that we are going to adopt a girl even though it is more likely that we will be matched with a boy.  I would be thrilled either way.  In some ways I would love to have a son because we already have two beautiful daughters and I would love that experience.  But then I also think it would be a blast to have three little girls grow up together.  It's not in our hands though, so thankfully I don't have to be the one to decide.

We did have a very interesting experience recently at the library that I wanted to share.  We were there for story time and there was one other mom there with her son who was about 18 months old.  They were a Black family.  Evelyn picked out a book that she wanted me to read to her and the little boy came over to sit and read with us too.  The book was entitled, Who Will I Be, Lord?, and is about a little Black girl talking about all the members of her family, what they do, and questioning what she will do when she grows up.  It's a great book, but I was not prepared for some of the subject matter.


Some of the topics in the book include inter-racial marriage (and family disapproving of it) and slavery (including reference to slaves being beaten and mistreated).  These are clearly topics that will be discussed in our home, but they're not something that I have brought up at all with Evelyn yet.   I would have felt much more comfortable had the child been old enough to actually talk about these things or if I knew the family, but as it was, I was just left feeling awkward.


They are the truth of a painful past and present in America though.  I was reading last night in the book, Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In the Cafeteria, about talking to young children about slavery.  It had some amazing examples of how to bring it up.  How to not portray Blacks as passive victims, and also to not portray all Whites as dominant aggressors of injustice.  I really can't recommend that book enough to all parents, regardless of the racial make-up of your home.