Lily is finally starting to pull her own weight around here. I was so proud when I told her to go get Clara’s burp cloth for me (which had fallen behind me on the floor) she found it, picked it up and handed it to me. I can also tell her to take Clara’s bottle to daddy and she does that. It’s just amazing to see that she understands a lot of what we say and can follow instructions. She’s not a baby anymore!
Big Helper!
October 14th, 2009 by Aubri
>So many pears, so little time.
October 13th, 2009 by Aubri
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If like me you have bags of pears laying around your kitchen counter and wonder what to do with them I have a solution, Poached Pear Surprise! So good!
Ingredients
- 4 medium ripe pears
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon milk
- CHOCOLATE SAUCE:
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1-1/3 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Directions
- Core pears from bottom, leaving stems intact. Peel pears. Cut 1/4 in. from bottom to level if necessary. In a saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Add pears; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Remove from the heat; stir vanilla into sugar syrup. Spoon over pears. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
- Meanwhile, combine walnuts, confectioners’ sugar and milk; set aside. For chocolate sauce, in a small saucepan, bring the water, sugar and butter to a boil. Remove from the heat; add chocolate chips, stirring until melted.
- To serve, drain pears well; spoon nut mixture into cavities. Place on dessert plates; top with some of the chocolate sauce. Insert a mint leaf near stem if desired. Serve with the remaining chocolate sauce. Yield: 4 servings.
John Rosemond’s Six Point Plan.
October 13th, 2009 by Aubri
Phil and I just ordered three books by John Rosemond who I mentioned in a previous post, the family psychologist who according to his website “no longer even “believes” in psychology, calling it a “largely disingenuous secular religion that has fostered more discord and disharmony in the American family than any other single contemporary force except, perhaps, television.” .
We’re reading these books together in the evenings when we can. We just finished “point #1” of Rosemond’s 6 points. He writes:
…the secret to raising happy, healthy children is to give more attention to the marriage than you give to the children. If you succeed at that, your children will turn out just fine.
His focus is on the family as a “unit” and putting priorities in the proper order within the family. This isn’t something I’ve heard very much from the “experts” I tend to turn to ie The Internet. I often do come across advise to not neglect yourself or your marriage, but I haven’t heard that it should be priority #1 which absolutely makes sense. (He makes a similar application to a single parent stating that they should establish an identity for themselves that has nothing to do with their children.) My marriage is the most important relationship in my life and if Phil and I do our jobs right, the kids will be gone someday and we’ll keep truckin’ along together. If we pour all we are into our babies what will we do once they’re gone and have families of their own? He says this problem is why so many couples in their 40s and 50s tend to divorce. They’ve neglected their marriage while they devoted themselves to their children, grew apart, then have nothing to give each other.
In a two-parent family, the marriage must come first. After all, the marriage created the family, and the marriage sustains it. The marriage preceded the children, and is meant to succeed them. If you don’t put your marriage first, and keep it there, it’s likely to become a mirage.
I think that deserves to be followed with an “Oh, snap!”
>Today we had…..
October 12th, 2009 by Aubri
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Blueberry pancakes….
Cavities filled, yuk, and……
SNOW!!!!
