sleeping sitting up? and TOO STRONG

Hilarious. I just checked on Cora during her nap as I heard her cry out. She was completely still, sitting up, sucking her thumb. She was trying to sleep sitting up. I watched her for a couple seconds, and she started drifting over to one side. Then she sleepily woke up and cried because she felt like she was falling. So I laid her down, and she went right to sleep.

Also, Quinn has been getting a particular phrase mixed up a bit. Whenever he asks me for help, he says he can't do it because he's too strong. Huh? He yelled down to me from the top of the steps... "Momma! Please open my closet doors! I am too strong! I can't get them open because I am too strong."

cooking fever

On Monday I made homemade strawberry ice cream, homemade blackberry/apple/strawberry jam, 2 loaves of bread (whole wheat and white), and chicken pot pie from scratch! Because of the warm weather and all the fresh yummy ingredients available, I have some serious cooking fever! Granted, I didn't justifiably have time to do all this in one day, but I just got on a roll.

I had to break in my new ice cream maker attachment that goes with my KitchenAid mixer. Also, Israel got me Emeril's breadmaker (only one to make 3 lb. loaves...sweet) that I'd been wanting for a while, and I've been having a lot of fun playing with it! The breadmaker has a "jam" setting, which was so exciting to try!

Quinn was eating the jam by the spoonfuls. Oh my. I finally convinced him to eat it on the (homemade) bread too. He loves watching the breadmaker and dances when it starts the kneading cycle.

His face was pressed on the glass for so long that he had an imprint of the breadmaker on his forehead, nose, and cheeks.

When I need a meal that is sure to please, I go for the pot pie. It is a bit time consuming, but there is plenty of filling to freeze for future pies.

Bulgogi

I tried this yummy new recipe, Bulgogi, on the grill. It was scrumptulescent. Quinn helped me quite a bit. I was trying to get him to pose by the grill but all he wanted to talk about was the plane going by overhead.

(from Charity)

Bulgogi Recipe – Korean Barbequed Beef

Ingredients

1-1.5 lbs. of thinly sliced rib-eye steak purchased from a Korean market. Or you can slice your own rib-eye or sirloin steak across the grain in paper thin slices. Partially freezing the beef helps with cutting clean slices.

1/3 cup of soy sauce-I prefer Korean soy sauce but all will work, I also prefer light soy sauce

3 Tbl white sugar

1 Tbl sesame oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 of a medium yellow onion, halved and sliced into medium moon shaped slivers

2 green onions including the white parts, finely sliced into small pieces

2 Tbl toasted sesame seeds

2 pinches of black pepper

*optional 1/4 tsp. of ginger, finely minced

Directions:

Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl except beef and onions. When most of the sugar has dissolved, add beef and onion slices to the bowl and massage the marinade with your hands into each slice of beef. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. To pan fry, place a few slices of beef in single layers and completely flat on a hot oiled frying pan and fry each side until cooked. Some people prefer to cook the bulgogi until some of the edges have turned dark brown and crispy. Serve with a bowl of hot rice. Enjoy!

Cora has really come out of her shell!

Israel and I have really been enjoying Cora quite a bit the past couple of weeks as she has become very social and affectionate. She loves waving at people. Today in the stroller she was waving at people in their cars as they drove by. I could see some big smiles on people's faces as they saw this little girl waving away!

She does a lot of things just by watching Quinn. She is mimicking a lot of words and says "uh oh" all the time, as well as "thank you" when you give her something! What a riot. She drops things on purpose just so that she can have the opportunity to say "uh oh".

Cora's right deciduous incisor in the front (just taught about teeth in my forensics class so had to throw the names in there) is more pronounced than the left one, so it adds to her personality. I tried to capture it below...

Light and Darkness

I overhear Quinn talking to himself in the bathroom while I'm cooking dinner...

Quinn: Am I not scared to go in the bathroom with no light on and shut the door?

Mom: No, you are not scared. You can do it. Go for it.

Quinn: No, I am not scared. (smiling)

[He goes in and shuts the door. Then comes out in a few seconds.]

Quinn: I cannot stay in there. It's TOO BRIGHT in there. It's too bright. (squinting) I cannot see.

Mom: Too bright? You mean, it's too dark. It's too bright when there is a lot of light and too dark when there is no light and you cannot see. Do you understand.

Quinn: Oh, yes. Well it is too dark in there.

Quinn is usually very good with word usage, so at first it puzzled me that he would say the darkness is too bright. But then I got a glimpse into his little mind as I remembered this morning and many mornings. When I open the kitchen curtains in the morning, the intense light shines in during breakfast and Quinn cannot see at all. So he used the same word when he couldn't see from all the darkness. I love how his mind works and makes connections!

This little situation parallels so many situations in relationship to Christ. But I immediately think of Christ visiting Paul on the road to Damascus. The light from Christ was so powerful and intense from the Holy One that it was blinding to Paul. Paul's encounter with light created darkness in his weak, human eyes (like my little boy temporarily did in the dark). One verse that comes to mind regarding Christ's light is John 8:12.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

There is such comfort in a verse like this, amidst trial or a moment of doubting.

Israel and Quinn washed (inside and out) the XTerra last weekend. Quinn was soaked to the bone, which means he had a lot of fun.

OH. Baby.

Cora got her first Baby Doll this week. It was a very special time. Cora was REALLY excited and was shouting and kept saying "Doh Doh". She talks softly to the doll and touches her face.

Cora stood up at the window for the first time today. Every day she is doing something new and loves moving about, getting into anything she can. She's a sweetie, she is.

Quinn helps put the silverware away most mornings. He takes it very seriously and sets up his step stool and everything.