Interview Math

Seven days

+

Six nights

+

Four cities

+

Three kids

+

Two adults

(me and Nana!)

+

One Sienna minivan

=

Epic interview season adventures!

Believe me, interviewing is not as glamorous as it might sound.  Nonetheless, Nana and the super-duper trooper Bears shine on through thick and thin.  I wish I could say the same for myself!  Thankfully, tonight I wrapped up my last interview of 2011.  I have only two more to go in 2012.  We have our reunion with T and the Johnson Family Christmas Gathering to look forward to on Thursday.  And, not to be lost in the shuffle, our sweet E-Bear turns the big 3 in a few hours.  I will probably exercise my parental discretion and not  disclose the arrival of his birthday until Thursday, when we are all back together as a family.  But don't worry (MoMo!), a spectacular Lightning McQueen birthday cake has been ordered, and the Cars decorations will be on hand to make our little big man feel like the three year old prince that he is.  

Our crew can be hard to keep up with.  Tonight I am especially thankful for our friends and family who have come along side us for this wild ride. 

This Day in Happily Ever Johnson History

This one goes out to my love, who I am missing terribly tonight.  

Eleven years ago tonight, T escorted me as his date to Winter Formals.

His method of invitation will forever remain a legend-worthy tale. 

I will never forget walking into my dorm room to behold the Flower Smile.

Because I had invited him to my Sophomore Formal, which was held the night before, we spent two nights in a row together as each other's date.  It was a dream come true weekend for me. 

T later claimed that he was breathless as we walked home arm in arm.  I know I certainly was.

So to my dream prince, who I am missing tonight,

I love you.  

Thanks for making history.

The Most Important Thing on my Advent list

I love this season.  

I love the traditions, the preparations, the gatherings, the sights, smells, the memories.

But as we create these traditions & memories as a family, as we prepare for the season, 

as we gather with family and friends,

Lord, help us remember that one thing is most important:

"It is important however that what we propose, with the help of God, should be profoundly rooted in contemplation and prayer. Ours is a time of continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of "doing for the sake of doing". We must resist this temptation by trying "to be" before trying "to do". In this regard we should recall how Jesus reproved Martha: "You are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful" (Lk 10:41-42). "

~Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Inuente of His Holiness Pope John Paul II

(With thanks to my dear friend, whose Advent posts always inspire me, 

and whose recent post drew my attention to this quote)

Christmas Cookies 2011

There is nothing like a tall glass of milk with a frosted Christmas cookie.

Unless it's three or four Christmas cookies 

and a second glass of milk.

I have to thank G-Bear and E-Bear for my festive, nostalgic dessert tonight.

We made Christmas cookies all afternoon yesterday.  

Exhaustion rarely tastes this good.

This is our second year  making Christmas cookies together.

Last year we used Trader Joe's cookie kit, in all it's blissful simplicity.

This year we made our own gingerbread dough and four types of frosting.

I promise no children were maimed and no mothers lost their lives in this holiday feat.

It is hard for me to believe that I have accomplished this with my children two years in a row.  

Seriously, we have had a blast each time.

I wouldn't trade these memories for anything.

I have found that it pays to be prepared, but not overly controlling.

It pays to have rules, but not too many instructions.

I prepared by making our gingerbread dough the night before.

I let go by letting the kids roll out the dough and cut the shapes themselves.

I have two rules with the cookies:  Mommy does the food coloring and Mommy does the frosting.

Then the kids get biiiiiiig plates and lots of sprinkles, and they get to decorate them however they wish.

E-Bear and G-Bear took to work like pros.  They even did a great job sharing the jars of sprinkles.

Thankfully, we had plenty to go around.  

I am always impressed by their creations.

Baby Bear enjoyed watching the show.  He loves to be in the center of the action.

 This was a great way for us to celebrate "ThanksNicholas Day," as E-Bear kept calling it.

The recipes we used were fantastic, and they were not difficult to make: 

Gingerbread cookies from Everyday Food Magazine, December 2004

(I made the dough the night before and chilled it overnight -- so worth it)

The white glaze icing was 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 

and 2 Tbs water, then blended together with a mixer.

The colored butter icing was 2 1/2 Tbs softened butter, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 

1 1/2 Tbs water and 1 tsp vanilla, whipped together with a mixer. 

We split the batch into three bowl and then added food coloring.

The frosting recipes above made the perfect amount for our three dozen gingerbread cookies.

One last time, here are our creations.  Look closely and you may notice this year's new additions:  a snake (thank you, G-Bear) and a few sharks (thank you, playdough tool bag, raided by the Bears). 

Stop by for cookies!  We have plenty to share.  

On the Feast of St. Nicholas

German St. Nicholas postcard
 from The St. Nicholas Center

Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas.  I have been looking forward to celebrating this special Advent feast day with my kids for the first time.  In my mind, the Feast of St. Nicholas is a great time to reflect and revisit a joyful, grateful motivation behind the gift giving season.  I am hoping to share that gift giving spirit with my kids.  

This year, I decided that we would celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas by giving Salvation Army Angel Tree gifts to children in need.  St. Nicholas is someone who loves Jesus very much and showed his love for God by giving gifts to others in need, especially children.  How wonderful would it be, I explained to G-Bear and E-Bear, if we celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas by sharing gifts with needy children the way he did!  I chose two Angel Tree cards that matched G-Bear's and E-Bear's age and bought two age-appropriate presents for each of them to give.  

I must admit that I am nervous about how this will go over.  I am obviously a novice parent in this regard.  The gifts I chose for our Angel Tree children are similar to ones that we are already blessed to have in our playroom, but (unfortunately?) just different enough to be novel. I want this feast day celebration to foster the joy of giving for my kids, not fester feelings of envy.

Yesterday, I showed the kids the gifts we would be giving.  I asked them if they thought the toys would be good presents for a boy and girl like them who didn't have any toys to play with.  They both agreed that the presents were great.  They were also quick to mention that they didn't have those toys either.  

So today, pray for my novice parenthood attempt, our trip to the store to drop off the gifts, and most importantly, for us all to have generous hearts like St Nicholas'.  Today, G-Bear and E-Bear will each get to carry their toy bag into the store and give it to the clerks.  We have discussed how happy the children's families will be when the store calls to tell them that G-Bear and E-Bear have brought gifts for the children.  We have also discussed how we will celebrate our feast day gift giving at home after our drop off: by making special St. Nicholas coloring pages and decorating Christmas cookies together.  And finally, we have talked about how, at the end of Advent, we will be so blessed to celebrate Baby Jesus' birthday (God's great gift to us!) on Christmas Day, together as a family, with presents for each other.

Thank you, Lord, for St. Nicholas and for the legacy he left.  May our hearts overflow with love for you and our neighbor.

Grocery Bag

I seem to be rather sporatic in my posting these days.  My clan remains voracious, however, and meal planning must go on.  I might as well post our ideas for the week, right?  

Day One

Dhal makhani from Tasty Kitchen

with brown basmati rice and broccoli slaw salad

This looks like an easy, delicious indian lentil dish -- don't be intimidated by the name.

Photo and recipe from Tasty Kitchen

Day Two 

Butternut squash couscous curry from Real Simple

with oranges and spinach salad

This is one of my favorite squash recipes from the fall season!

Photo and recipe from MyRecipes

Day Three

Spaghetti and meatballs from Everyday Food Magazine

with steamed peas and homemade bread

G-Bear has been asking for spaghetti all week!

Photo and recipe from Martha Stewart

Day Four

Crustless veggie quiche from Cooking Light Magazine

with spinach salad and fresh fruit

I love crustless quiches because they are so easy.  

The kids love the "egg pies" as long as the ingredients are minced.

Photo and recipe from MyRecipes

Day Five

 Our favorite Tortilla Soup from The Mansion

with corn muffins and carrot sticks

A great slow cooker soup, and one of my favorite recipes

 Blessings on your kitchen!

Sunday Snapshots

We have had a big week around here.  It is nice to have our Sunday to recover.

We started the week by welcoming T back from his tournament trip.

By Tuesday night he was off again, this time to Nebraska,

and I was leaving from a different airport for interviews, Baby Bear in tow.

Baby Bear and I spend most of Tuesday night sleeping on the floor of the Cincinnati airport

because our connection was delayed.  Thank goodness for our dear friends who picked us up

in the wee morning hours when we reached our destination.

On Wednesday,

T manned the basketball team,

I interviewed all day,

Baby Bear wowed our friends with his sweet charm,

G-Bear attended a Moravian tea with her preschool friends

and Nana held down our fort.

On Thursday, we said goodbye to Nana,

and we jumped head first into Advent as a family.

By Saturday, the Bears were still all smiles.
We had a lot of people to thank for helping us through the week,

and we had earned every bit of our relaxing brunch and pj morning. 

We are taking a moment to recharge and reflect today, 

and light our second Advent candle,

so that we may begin the week tomorrow,

with joyful hearts and lives that light up the world for others.

Beginning to look a lot like...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

Today our Elf on the Shelf began to hide in our living room.

Our Moravian star is shining on our porch,

our Advent wreaths are up on our window,

the Nativity sets are out,

our Christmas tree is up,

and thanks to T, G-Bear and E-Bear, the lights are going on.

What a great way to start December.  Send us your Christmas cards....we need them to decorate our tree!

Grocery Bag

Whether we need to make use of leftovers or breakout of a turkey and stuffing rut, meal planning is the key to our success!  Here is our plan for the week:

Day One

Turkey tetrazzini from Simply Recipes

with pineapple and green salad

Photo and recipe from Simply Recipes

Day Two

Broccoli and potato soup from Southern Living Magazine

with homemade bread

Photo and recipe from MyRecipes.com

Day Three

Pumpkin Chili from Food and Whine

with cornbread muffins

Photo and recipe from Food and Whine

Day Four

Slow cooker teriyaki chicken from A Zesty Bite

with basmati rice and lemon butter lima beans

Photo and recipe from  A Zesty Bite

Day Five

Soy-ginger glazed salmon from Food & Wine Magazine

with couscous and steamed broccoli

Photo and recipe from Food and Wine 

Blessings on your kitchen!

Advent 2011

Today we are celebrating the arrival of Advent.

This morning, the kids and I unpacked our Christmas decorations to Christmas music.

This afternoon we celebrated the new liturgy changes at Mass.  

Tonight we will welcome T home from his trip with the basketball team.

Whew! This is just our first day of the season!  With all we plan to enjoy between now and Christmas, may the most important changes and preparations will be in our hearts:

Father in heaven,

our hearts desire the warmth of your love

and our minds are searching for the light of your Word.

Increase our longing for Christ our Savior,

and give us the strength to grow in love for our neighbor,

that the dawn of His coming

may find us rejoicing in his presence

welcoming the light of his truth.

~Opening prayer, First Sunday of Advent, Year B

God bless us all this precious season!