I am content

This photo is nothing to do with this post. But it adds some love to it.

About 5 years ago, I left my full-time job and became a full-time mom with a part-time job. I hated it. I didn't know what I was doing. I struggled, A LOT. Many things, both good things and bad things, happened this past 5 years. I think I made a post back when I started liking it.

I would love to say that now I am content. I am content where I am, who I am, what I do, what we do as a couple and family, how we do things, and a lot of things...I feel just content. Well, most of the time.

It could be because my baby is now a little boy who can understand what I say most of the time and able to follow direction if he wants to. And he is capable of somehow somewhat communicate between his baby signs and his increasing vocabulary in Japanese and English (sometimes it's a guessing game). His sleep schedule is set, so my schedule is kind of set. He tells me "NO!" a lot. But I know he loves me. Oh how much he loves me!

It could be because this winter has been mild. Having sunny days helps. It lightens up everything, house, my mood, my life.

It could be because my husband is happy at his new position. He is not stressed as much as before. He comes home and is able to relax. We chat and laugh. Oh he makes me laugh. I get never tired of that guy.

It could be....many things. But I am happy to be able to feel this way - content. Not overly happy or pretend everything is fine. Everything is not perfect, but I am okay with that.

When I had J 7 years ago. Many visitors at hospital told me that he was "such a content baby". I didn't quite understand the meaning back then, but I start to understand.

It kind of feels good.

Valentine's Day dinner

 For Valentine's Day dinner, I decided to make pink crepes for fun.

 

Adding a few drops of food coloring and imitation flavors wouldn't be that bad, I thought. So I tried.

I shouldn't have given kids choices, cherry or strawberry flavor. J wanted cherry, M wanted strawberry, of course. "Fine, I'd divide the batter in half and flavor one of each", I thought. So I did.

 

 They looked pretty pink as batter, not so much on the skillet, but sure it was pretty pink on a plate. 

 They smelled like artificial cherry and strawberry. 

I even made some chocolate ones too.

 

But J said to me, "Mom, will you make just regular crepes next time?"  M, who wanted the strawberry flavored crepes, didn't even touch it. K ate total 5 of regular and chocolate crepes, but no pink ones. I guess my pretty in pink crepe dinner plan failed. I don't think those leftover pink crepes will be eaten...oh well. It was still fun to see kids' reaction when they saw those pink crepes. 

So I took one last shot of the Valentine's crepes accompanied with smoked sausage sauteed with pancake syrup (I know it's weird, but J's favorite), and my new attempt on strata. I added sliced oranges to make it more like a descent dinner, instead of just dessert for dinner. 

 

Dessert for dinner? That sounds actually good.....

Speaking of dessert, my dear husband made this:

Chocolate mousse.  

Wow.  

It was delicious.

And it was his first time making mousse.

  

Here is him in whipping action with his recipe reference to the left (i.e. his laptop). 

I love when he works in the kitchen and I get to sit on the couch and watch some PBS show.

Well, hand whipping didn't cut it. After (finally!) he asked me where hand mixer was, he was successfully able to whip up actual mousse consistency stuff. The best part of this is that it was made of just chocolate bar and water. That's it. He found the recipe from a science blog. A SCIENCE BLOG! I didn't know he reads science blog. I thought he was history kind of guy. He said, "I love science. I read science stuff. I just suck at it."  So, that's where he got the idea of making this fancy dessert for his wife on Valentine's Day. What a man.

He loves me. 

I'm so loved.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday was M's very first Valentine's exchange at school. She's been loving doing all the fun things, just like her big brother gets to do in school. So, she was really really excited to make her valentine's (She says "Balemtimes Day"). I covered pretzels with white chocolate, M sprinkled the heart-shaped sprinkles. I cut the paper and wrote "To:" and "From:", she wrote all her classmates' names and her names (with help of the class list). I gave her heart-shaped stickers, she decorated the bags and the tag (girls had a lot of stickers, but boys got only one because they were boys).  And, she hand-picked each special pretzel for her friends. She was very proud.

 This is her "pink day" outfit. Pink shirt, light khaki pants with pink ribbon, pink socks, and pink hair. I must say, yes, I am enjoying having a little girl, my own baby doll. :)

 

This is J's. Being a 1st grader and a boy, he wanted to do as little work as he could for his classmate. I cut heart-shaped papers, punched holes. He wrote his names and put Dum Dum suckers through the holes. Above picture shows them kind of shoved in the corner.

But for his teacher, it was another story...(the fancy card above)

He used A LOT of stickers and decorated a card very carefully....

 And it says, 

 Yes, she is a really really good teacher and because of her, his reading and writing skills have improved dramatically this year.

And this was for me. I told my husband that he doesn't have to get anything for me, but of course he did. 

I got chocolate, really really good chocolate! - Ghirardelli dark chocolate series, hazel nuts, camel, and one of my favorites, orange filling. He loves me so much.

Last night, I was instructed to sit and play piano while they had some secret activity going on, so that they'd know where I was for sure. Now, that's just brilliant!

 I love J's "you are the best MoMMy ever!" I hope he will tell me the same when he is 16.

Oh, and this? It's just for fun. K groovin' and dancin' in the kitchen with his big sister's heart-shaped sunglasses. I love this child.

Letter M

 Instead of doing other things that I'm supposed to be doing (we call it housekeeping strike), I decided to make this: Letter M. 
Now it's hung on a dining room along with family photos (one next to M is my grandmother).

 It's 8x8 paper, outlined with letter M, tacky glued with small pearls, mounted on a frame I found at Goodwill for $1.99. Very happy about the result. Maybe I should have used different paper as background, but it's good enough now. 

 

Speaking of family, here is our recent family picture, drawn by my daughter M. Yes, there are 2 of her - one below is real her and the all pink one is her baby doll (18"doll she got for Christmas) named M as well.

Random pictures

 Now my wrists (I have carpel tunnel, but it seems to be doing better since I stopped wearing braces...interesting...) are doing better I can update. 

 

An ornament I made for annual (?) ornament exchange at work. I was too cheap and lazy to go to store to buy an ornament the night before at 10 am, I decided to make one. It took longer than I planned...but the recipient seemed to be very happy, so that made me happy.

 

My daughter having a tea party with her animal friends day after family Christmas celebration. It was her first tea party with her own tea sets she got for Christmas. Somehow you see carrots and corn on the cake stand and the tea is accompanied with a bottle of mustard.

 

 I'm just throwing this - the morning of Christmas, the gifts still intact.

 

Now, this was in October. Gingerbread skeletons for my son's 7th birthday treats for his class.

And speaking of birthdays, these are the kids' birthday cakes...

 

J wanted a army tank cake, of course. Flat Stanley was a special guest to the party.

 

M's request was my little pony. I must have been really tired by the time I finished. I wrote 6, instead of 5. She turned 5, not 6... Oh well.
 

This was K's. The whole just evolved as I started decorating. And it worked. Vroom vroom!

Now it's full blown winter here and I miss this place and her fresh beautiful produce

(Natalie's place, we call)

Lastly, this was a sign I made from a free cabinet door I got at Re-Store. It was originally $1, but the gentleman gave me for free. Maybe I looked horrible on that Saturday morning... Painted, scrap book stickers added, and ribbon to the hardware holes. Not the original quote, but this one suits better for me and my kitchen.

Silence

My oldest J is now in 1st grade. My daughter M is in afternoon preschool 3 days a week. My baby K is taking a nap. I have about 15 more minutes of silence to enjoy. The only noise I can hear is our dog snoring.
I could have been productive, but I decided not to be. I just sat in front of my laptop and did absolutely nothing productive. It was my 2 hour vacation.
I like it.

Eating good

Summer is over, school has started, and I have a little bit of breathing time on Monday afternoon. So I decided to post something....then I realized how many photos of food I have taken this past month or so....Well, I love food. What can I say?

My dear husband found a treasure over this summer. We call it "Natalie's place". She sells beautiful fruits and vegetables from her garden or nearby Amish farm. No pesticides. She is not "certified" organic farmer, but she grows them pretty much organically. And they taste like, well, what fruits and vegetable should taste, that you know they grew up with sunshine, not some fertilizer. You know they are picked by her hands with much care, not by...okay, I won't say anything more than that.

Anyway, we have been eating good, I mean GOOD, local food.

Here is very meaty "Stripe Roma Tomatoes" waiting to be canned.
Yes, they are from Natalie's place. Just gorgeous. And they are yummy!

Here is our dinner one night.
Menu:
- Japanese style hamburger steak (made with grass fed beef from my co-worker's farm) with Teriyaki sauce,
- Sauteed zucchini with bacon
- Steamed corn
- Steamed potatoes (blue, red, and white!) with home grown parsley and chives

Locally famous "Buttermilk Pie" with melons from Natalie's place as dessert.

Okay, this was random. But they are cute, aren't they?
This, nothing local. Just yellow cake cupcake (though I did made it from scratch only because I didn't have boxed cake mix) with baby face on top. They are just vanilla wafers decorated with royal icing. Specially made for my friend.

Army of canned peaches ready for winter,

and they remind me of this poster.
{Photo source here}

I really think I can eat this kid.

Mmmm!