PeterAndJessica.com

El Fin

Peter & Jessica — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 06:02:04 +0000

This is the end! To make my blogging life a little simpler I’m moving over to a WordPress blog: http://jessicajoy17.wordpress.com. Once there, you can easily subscribe by email or RSS. See you over there!

Applesauce

Peter & Jessica — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:29:00 +0000

A few days ago my friend Melissa and I made 18 quarts of applesauce each in my kitchen. It literally took all day! We were really tired by the end, but we have yummy homemade applesauce for a whole year!

Melissa is improving her photography skills every day with her new SLR camera. You can see some great pictures of our applesauce day on her blog.

Little Helper

Peter & Jessica — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:01:34 +0000

This year we bought two pumpkins to carve and put out on our back deck. Jimmy “helped” dig out some of the stringy insides. We named them Barney and Floyd.

Jimmy also helped me make cookies for the first time. He figured out what the best part was pretty quick.

Puzzle Craze

Peter & Jessica — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:37:26 +0000

One activity that has been dominating Jimmy’s time at home is putting together jigsaw puzzles. Until just a few days ago, he only had one puzzle with a big black train. He loves the train, but he also loves the challenge of putting all the pieces together. It’s a 48 piece puzzle and he does it completely on his own! Last week I timed him at 25 minutes start to finish, but he’s been doing it about 5 times a day, so I’m sure he’s become faster.

Yesterday we bought him puzzle #2. It’s a $.30 bargain from a thrift store. Twenty five pieces with a picture of two dogs and a fish. He’s not quite as inspired about it. The pieces don’t stay together very well and there’s no train! We plan to get him a few more puzzles soon.

Baker

Peter & Jessica — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:53:54 +0000

This gorgeous weather we’ve been having inspired us to make the trek up to Baker after church on Sunday. There wasn’t a cloud in sight! And Jimmy did not get car sick! Yay!

Jimmy wasn’t too interested in views, but he did enjoy the snow and walking on the trails. We were surprised how well he did on the trail. He kept forging ahead, up big steps and down little hills. But his favorite part was definitely the snow. Well, he loved throwing it, that is. I’d say he’s well prepared for our first snow this winter.

Here’s one cute picture, but if you want to see more you can go here.

Birthday

Peter & Jessica — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:09:28 +0000

Saturday we had Jimmy’s first official birthday party! No, he wasn’t born in June, but his birthday is exactly six months earlier. We have made the switch to a summer birthday party because our Decembers are packed full already.

I’m not sure which was more fun, planning the party or having it! I used the party as a deadline for a couple of projects including reorganizing Jimmy’s room and sewing curtains (Lightening McQueen & Mater patterned) for his window. I finished both projects! The most fun thing was designing a Thomas the train cake for him. Our family is big on ice cream, so an ice cream cake seemed appropriate. Then it was a matter of creating a train scene on top. See the pics below.

We had a great group of partiers including two great grandparents, one set of grandparents and my friend Melissa and her husband. After Jimmy went down for a nap we all played cards!

First present of the day: Thomas the Train shirt that makes train noises.

New book: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Animal Kingdom. (getting started on home schooling early

Cool green van, handmade by Melissa.

New vehicles.

Ice cream cake.

A Favorite Recipe

Peter & Jessica — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:25:16 +0000

This is a yummy, fairly simple chicken noodle soup recipe that we’ve come to like. I’ve never really gotten into making traditional chicken noodle, so this is a nice alternative.

Thai Chicken Soup

by Judith Mack, Cook’s Country Magazine

Use the side of a chef’s knife to smash the ginger and garlic. I suggest breaking the noodles to prevent excessive splashing and slurping. Also, maybe adding a few vegetables to add more substance. Celery maybe?

3 quarts low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 T. grated zest, plus 1 T. juice from 1 lime

1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled, sliced thick and smashed

6 large garlic cloves, unpeeled and smashed

5 jalapeño chiles, halved lengthwise and seeded

Salt

1/2 lb. rice noodles (width of angel hair pasta)

3 T. minced fresh cilantro

3 T. minced fresh basil

5 medium scallions, sliced thin

Pepper

Lime wedges (for serving)

1. Simmer broth in large pot. Add chicken, zest, ginger, garlic, chiles, and 1 t. salt; reduce heat, cover, and simmer until broth is flavorful and chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken; cool and shred into small pieces. Discard ginger, garlic, and chiles.

2. Return broth to simmer and add rice noodles. Reduce heat and simmer until noodles are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in shredded chicken, lime juice, cilantro, basil, scallions, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with lime wedges.

Speaking of recipes, my default dinner that I make when I’m tired or out of food is pancakes. And more often than not, we have an overripe banana lying around. So I mash the banana, add it to the batter, add a small handful of chocolate chips, and wallah! A scumdilliumptios dinner. If you want to make your pancakes healthier than just white flour, you can add oats and some whole wheat flour and still come out with yummy pancakes.

Many happy dinners to you!

Spring?

Peter & Jessica — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:17:06 +0000

It’s 33 degrees and it’s been snowing since we woke up. There are blossoms on trees and bushes, beautiful flowers here and there, but they’re all covered in snow! I hope they make it!

Because it’s just above freezing (not to mention it’s spring!) it isn’t all that thick for the amount that it’s been snowing. It’s just melting underneath. But it’s so fun to watch the flakes fall and listen to our snow playlist. And of course spend a little time out in it.

Peter and Jimmy are huddled on the still-green grass under a big tree.

Arrrrrgh!

Peter & Jessica — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:54:58 +0000

Today I woke up to the disturbing discovery that a mouse had been in our pantry. Again. It’s been quite awhile since the last one because we had plugged up a hole under the kitchen sink and I was foolishly hoping that we would never see one again. The first clue that I had was perhaps more disturbing than the mouse itself. My precious dark chocolate heart that Peter had bought me in Victoria was gnawed on! My first thought was that Jimmy had done it, but it was up on a shelf out of his reach and as I looked further there was “evidence” of the mouse’s entry. I couldn’t believe it! Why did he have to eat my dark chocolate of all things??? My first instinct of course is to get rid of him anyway that I can. But then…the soundtrack to Ratatouille is playing and…what if…maybe he just has really good taste…

Easter

Peter & Jessica — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:48:43 +0000

This Easter we had a lovely time at the Rust Ranch. We ate lots of yummy food, played cards (Wizard & Dummy Rummy) and watched A Bug’s Life. (Peter is on a Pixar kick, having just read a biography about them, and hadn’t seen A Bug’s Life yet.)

The next day, was of course a TFC day and we all enjoyed the easter egg/scavenger hunt planned by two of the students. As you can see some of the staff got to wear lovely bunny ears. Jimmy didn’t want to wear them at first, but now he has become quite attached to them. In fact, he wore them to the library and the store yesterday! Having a cute two-year old is enough of an attention grabber. Imagine what adding bunny ears does!