Happy Independence Day!

Just dropping in to say that we hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July! My husband is starting the day off with a rifle competition, then it will probably be an early afternoon nap, then we’re headed over to my parents’ house along with Andrew’s family for some barbecued ribs, potato salad, fruit salad, chocolate mousse, strawberry rhubarb pie, peach-riesling sangria, and much more. We’ll follow that up with a few little fireworks for the kids and then, as this is Andrew’s last night in town before he leaves for school in Seattle for 6 weeks, my parents are keeping B for the night and we’re taking Eva along with us on a little date. We hope you have a fun and happy 4th! Here’s last year’s pictures, again:

rum-raisin brandy-peach cobbler

I decided this past week that my post-baby vacation was over and it was time to get back into my regular duties with a little more enthusiasm. One of those duties that had been neglected was baking desserts, so I pulled out “In the Kitchen the Costco Way” because it was new and has pretty pictures. I found a recipe for raisin peach cobbler that looked simple enough and wonderful enough to be my first post-baby baking adventure. The original recipe called for more raisins and omitted the rum and brandy, but I think that this slightly tweaked version is a little more tasty and, shall we say, grown up?

rum-raisin brandy-peach cobbler

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
generous 1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups canned peaches, drained
3/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground alspice
1 tablespoon rum
1 tablespoon brandy

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9″ square pan.

Soak the raisins in the rum and brandy (you can use White Christmas in place of the separate rum and brandy) and a little boiling water to really plump them up. Let sit for a half hour or so to absorb some of the moisture. Drain.

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup sugar, flour, baking powder and salt; mix well. Blend in milk and butter. Pour the batter into the greased pan.

Combine peaches, raisins, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice; toss to coat evenly. Spoon the peach mixture evenly over the batter.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Serve warm or at room temperature with a big ‘ol glass of whole milk. Ice cream might be good too. Makes 6 pretty decently sized servings.

Pacy James

In the process of launching my own etsy shop, I commissioned a seamstress to help me out with the projects that were beyond my sewing capability. Pacy James just created  her own etsy shop featuring her women’s clothing line  (men’s clothes coming this autumn).  Her style is absolutely fantastic and the pricing is very conservative.  Check out her storefront….

baptism gowns

I had originally planned to use the baptism gown that I made for Bella for all of my girls. Then I pulled it out last week and was reminded how ridiculously huge it was, even though I made it in the 0-3 month size and followed all the correct seam allowances and everything. When I say huge, I mean she could probably wear it now at the age of 3 1/2 YEARS. Anyway. So I decided that Eva should have a better fitting one, and I also decided that it would be nice for each of my girls to have their own to use for their girls (I’m a big fan of family heirlooms like that). I used the same pattern for Eva’s, but I made it a size smaller (the xxs, up to 7 lbs size that is still too big, but at least it’s an improvement). I used a different trim and tried out some “decorative folding” along the bottom. If you have any idea what the real name for this decorative folding is, please let me know. Maybe it’s just called pleats, I don’t know.

Eva’s dress is in the foreground with Bella’s in the back.

Here is Bella’s collar…

And Eva’s collar…

And Eva’s skirt…

And the trim on each of the skirts…

I do not recommend waiting till the last few days to get something like this done. I was up till the early hours of Sunday morning hemming Eva’s dress so that she could wear it for her baptism yesterday. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of Eva in her dress yesterday because everyone forgot cameras, but here’s Bella in hers from a few years back and apparently I have no pictures of Bella in hers either. Maybe we’ll get our act together for the next one!

Introducing the Tagger

The Tagger is Beloveds answer to the cliche of tacky and bulky comfort items. They don’t think children need to be over stimulated to be entertained and comforted. They have chosen quality fabrics that are interesting, elegant and texturized for maximum motor skill development without offending your sense of aesthetics.

Vice Pudding

Yesterday I had the brilliant idea of putting all my sugar vices in a single pudding pie. Graham cracker crust, some softened peanut butter, a can of cherry pie filling on top of that, some chocolate pudding on top of that, and some sweetened coconut on top of that.  The presentation still needs help but it is positively irresistible!

what I’ve been doing…

So this is what I’ve been enjoying lately.

Pretty much irresistible. Miss E will have her 2 week birthday tomorrow, and I’m happy to say that we’re pretty well settled into life with two now. She sleeps and eats like a champ, and I continually find myself thinking, “It’s not supposed to be this easy…”. She’s now 7 lbs 8 oz and growing nicely. She looks more and more like her big sister every day, and we’re carefully labeling pictures now because in a few years we won’t remember which is which (although digital cameras with date and time stamps do make it a bit easier). Life couldn’t get much better!

Evangeline Audrey

Born to Andrew & Betsy
5/20/2009 at 8:56 pm
7 lbs 3 oz
19.5 inches

grilled pineapple salsa

We put this yummy yummy salsa on some grilled cod the other day and it was oh so tasty. The trick is to grill the pineapple first – slice your pineapple into one-inch-thick slabs and grill till it has those nice lines, then chop it up and mix it with some cilantro, red onion, lime juice, olive oil, rice vinegar, and salt and pepper. Very sweet and satisfying!

…and, stay tuned toward the end of the week for an update on our newest little addition-to-be!

on why to ignore the nesting urge sometimes…

I so frequently hear women say, “Childbirth is what our bodies are designed for. Just sit back and let your body take over – you don’t need no stinkin’ doctors or drugs.” I agree that childbirth is one of the things that our bodies are designed for, but I also believe that we are living after the Fall. God cursed childbirth and gave us much pain and hardship in it, just as he cursed the ground and gave our husbands pain and hardship in their duty to tend the earth and provide for us.

So I am not one of those women who likes to “just listen to my body” all the time. Sometimes I need to ignore my body. For example, on Saturday I got the urge to get down on my hands and knees and scrub my kitchen floor and then polish it. This was undeniably the result of some unwelcome pregnancy hormone because as any close friends or family can attest, this is not a normal urge for Betsy. My kitchen floor usually has a random coffee bean and probably a bit of dried spaghetti somewhere in the corner under a cupboard. But I gave in to the urge on Saturday. Now my floor is very pretty, but I am in pre-term labor. I’ve had multiple ridiculous nesting urges over the past two weeks that have brought me to this point. And now here we are, fighting what my body is trying to do in order to keep my baby inside so she can be born healthy and closer to term. I do need my doctor and I do need my drugs because my body is very confused.

I imagine that before the Fall there wouldn’t have been such a thing as pre-term labor (someone please correct me if my theology is off). But here we are, laboring away under the curse. But God is kind and this labor is not in vain, nor are we doing it without His guidance and strength. Sometime in the next two weeks our Evangeline will be in our arms rather than in my belly and we can laugh heartily in the face of the serpent. God is good, and He does not abandon us.