Minor Housekeeping

This post is mostly for my benefit to record things that I might want to remember in a few years. I haven’t written much about events in the last month or so, so I’m trying to catch up. These are some important things that happened:\par

\par
\tab
1. We went to Michael’s parent’s for Easter after church. The boys had a ball. All three of the boys, Zane, Judah, and Ezra, enjoyed the easter egg hunt, and the easter baskets Valerie had for the boys were very well received. Judah especially likes his new battery-powered Thomas, and the little castle with wooden people. The castle is a toy I especially approve of because there aren’t THAT many pieces, and they are nearly unbreakable and not likely to crack into small pieces or get lost under bookshelves, etc. Ezra like’s Judah’s Thomas, too – unfortunately. But they’ve been playing with their train tracks more lately as a result, and that’s good. Grandma Valerie also made little purple robes and crowns for Judah and Zane, in which they looked very, well, regal. And adorable, of course. Judah runs around with the crown on from time to time. The other day he ran up to me wearing it and said, “Look Mommy, I have a king on!” As usual the food at my in-laws was excellent!

\par
\tab

2. Ezra got a wierd rash, starting around Easter. It came up as little raised spots all over his cheeks, spread to his ears, and eventually on the tops of his knees, behind his elbows, and up and down his legs. By the time I went to my parents the Tuesday after Easter, it was obviously itching him a little, but seemed unresponsive to any lotions. It didn’t bother him much though, and the advice nurse didn’t seem too\’c3\’82\’c2\~concerned, so we just went along as we normally would. The spots spread and joined into patches, making him look like a Raggedy Andie doll.\’c3\’82\’c2\~About a week and a few days later it wasn’t raised any more and it’s gradually faded since then, but his cheeks are still redder than they are normally (especially after a nap) and I’m starting to worry about it and think about taking him to the doctor’s, even though it’s mostly gone. I hate to take him in so that they can tell me that they don’t know what it is and that it’ll go away eventually, so I keep thinking… “if it’s not gone in two days, I’ll make an appointment, etc.”

\par
\tab

3. We went to my parent’s the week after Easter – the last week of tax season. Michael hadn’t thought he’d be too busy that week, but ended up being totally slammed, virtually living at work, so it was a good week for us to be gone. While we were there I taught my dad and sister how to make No-Knead Bread. I also got together with Mystie and Meghan again at Meghan’s new house. That was fun and reawakened all of my carefully supressed desires to move to a different house. Grandpa Mike is having a stressful time at work these days, so it was good for him to spend some Grandpa time with the boys. He babysat on Friday evening while my mom, sister, and I went to an early Mother’s Day celebration at Meghan’s for the mother’s and daughters of the girls that I was raised with at my parent’s church. That was a lot of fun and so nice to see some of my out of town friends again before they scatter to the four corners of the earth. I took my little sister our for coffee for her 13th birthday (my baby sister’s a teenager now!) and then we went shopping at the mall and got her a pair of earrings for a present. So much more fun than finding something myself and shipping it! Judah amused his Grandma and Grandpa with his “reading” of pajama time. So much so, that he was requested to do it again for Uncle Sam, and then again for Uncle Ben. He knows the book by heart and recites it with great expression. We had to scurry home on Saturday and finish cleaning up the house and making church food because we had the third fellowship meeting at our house the day after I got home. It all worked out fine.

\par
\tab

4. Bread baking is still my current hobby. It’s a hobby that I feel good about because, after all, making food for my family is one of my main responsibilities, so I feel entirely justified in spending time doing something I love! Lately I’ve been having a lot of fun with No-Knead Bread. I got the recipe out of The Oregonian, but have modified it by using my sourdough starter in it instead of yeast. It works virtually the same, maybe a little faster and I love the sourdough taste! I love it with kalamata olives in it, but I’m the only one who will eat it, so I’ve mostly only made it plain for my family. I’ve probably made it ten times in the last month, at least. I’ve also been enjoying experimenting with recipes from The New Complete Book of Breads, which Mystie recommended and I got out of the library. I think I’m going to have to buy the book (or put on my birthday present request list!).

\par
\tab

5. Judah continues to say cute garbled things all of the time, but I don’t want to record them right now. But I did ask him the other day if he remembered GG (Great Grandma Mildred). He said he did, so I asked him what she did with him, and said right away, “She had cookies!” I was hoping he’d remember that (I’m sure that she was hoping so too, the way she plied them both with sugar cookies!), and it looks like his impression of his great-grandmother he knew ’til he was almost 3 is a sweet one.\’c3\’82\’c2\~You couldn’t ask for much more than that!

\par