catching up...

well... i thought i was doing OK in keeping up with family "stuff" and pictures... expcept for the occasions when i just didn't TAKE a picture.... but I found some great stuff on my camera....

This is Anika at the Dove Kids Christmas Service. Her class used streamers and dance express thier Joy of the holiday -- to Felix Navidad. The class is almost all girls... so it wasn't a big stretch for them to participate in a dance!!

Can you see the gold star way up high on the baptristy ledge?? That is our Thor-man!! The kids did a Live Nativity -- with naration by some of the older kids and teachers... and the younger kids played the parts of the nativity "family." Thor was the Star... and wasn't real excited about being up so high... but that night his jitters didn't show at all!! The music leader, Greg commented that I was like Mary, willing to sacrifice my first born son (really, he wasn't in danger... it just looked like it... possibly).
The next joyous occasion in the family was the birth of Theo Gilbert Alan Montiel on January 17th. He was 7 pound, 7.7 ounces, 20 inches long (something like 57 centemeters) and was born at 12:27 p.m. I think 7 might be his favorite number?? Anyway, his is totally adorable... and has the BEST hair ever... stands up straight and tall, just like Holli puts gel in it every day! How cute. You can go to RCRH.org baby pages to see another picture of him. Holli and Jason took him home yesterday (Sunday).
Liv is growing... growing... She has officially denounced all forms of 'baby food' and most often refuses spoon feeding no matter the tasty morsels being offered. She far prefers hand to mouthing everything herself... and makes a royal mess... as you can see after this session of Ziti. I wonder if she got a bit of Italian in her somehow... she loves anything in spaghetti sauce??? She ate a whole beet last night at well (cut into bite size pieces)... and loves every kind of veggie we have tried. She follows her dads example... and picks out the green peas first, no matter what else is on her plate at the time.

So you might be wondering what a container of pureed beets and maple syrup and whipped cream have to do with each other?? My intention was to take a picture of the adorable pink pancakes we made together this morning for breakfast. The kids are home all day (vacation day, MLK Day)... and it's just too cold to go anywhere (-2). I used my new favorite cook book -- Deceptively Delicious. We made pancakes with beet puree! They are the most fabulous pink color ... and are light and delicious. No beet taste what so ever.... Amazing??!! Anyway -- the kids ate them up so fast, I never go a picture of the finished project! I barely got a taste of ONE pancake myself... Thor ate 15 (silver dollar size)... Anika at 13... the baby ate 3 or more...

Here is the recipe: (I had to alter the original just a bit becuase I don't have pre-made pancake mix on hand).
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 c white flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 ts. baking soda
1 Tb. sugar
Mix together in a large mixing bowl.

In a blender combine:
3/4 c milk
1 egg
1/2 cup yougurt (i used vanilla flavor)
1/4 c pureed beets (from a can of cooked regular beets)
dash of salt
Blend until there are no visible spots of beet or yougurt (1 minute or less).

Add wet ingrediets to the flour mixture. Stir until all flour is incorporated. Let sit for 4-5 minutes while you heat up a frying pan, griddle or electric skillet. Spray with Pam or small amounts of butter. Use an 1/8 or a 1/4 cup measure to make "silver dollar" size cakes on your pan. Cook as usual. Serve with warm 100% maple syrup and a dot of whipped cream.

Each serving (1/4 of the batch) is a 100% of a childs need of protien and carbohydrate for one meal -- and a 1/2 serving of vegetable (again, per child)!! If you serve it with a fruit side-dish, they would have a balanced breakfast: protein, carb, fiber, fruit and veg!!

Phantom Power??

If you were in my house right now, you might think I've made a New Year's Resolution to go "Green".... but it's actually just a coincidence. Dirk and I are both very clear on our political and moral standings when it comes to "Global Warming" (not really swayed by the "evidence" shown so far) and just being good stewards of this earth that God has created for us.

I'm not as concerned about the polar bears not having ice to live on at the North Pole as I am about my montly electric bill.

I'm definately NOT buying "carbon credits" to make up for all the extra resources I use... We send our tithe and offerings to our church and other similar ministries. If God wants us to start supporting "save the earth" funds... he probably should have not told us in Revelations that he was going to destry the earth anyway.

Even so, Dirk and I have taken some time to educate ourselves with various resources of information about basic saving ideas for the home. When it comes down to it, most of the way my parents and grandparents live(d) is the way to go.... just common sense... not so much dollars and cents spent on conveinences.

Phantom power is when an electical appliance uses electricity, even when we THINK we've turned the thing off. The first info we saw on this said you might be able to save as much as 40% of your electicity usage and bill each year if you stop phantom power usage. Here is the catch... somethings I don't want to turn off, becuase I do want it working when I'm not awake, or at home (ie: my phone answering machine and the DVR).

Some of the biggers "users" of Phantom power are microwaves, a TV that have a remote control, VCRs, computers, cable boxes and cordless phones. (here we go again... did my grandma have any one of these items?? NOPE!) The reason is that most of these have a built in function that causes them to draw small/large amounts of electricty to be ready to use when I get the "whim" to say.... "ON."

From what we've read, basic appliances like a toaster for instance, are really off when you are not using them -- they don't have a built in clock to give the time, or a built in computer that knows when to warm itself up -- to be ready for you when you wake up in the AM.

The info I saw on one website showed that the average family uses a microwave less than an hour a day -- which uses less than a $1 a month of power. But the built in clock uses about $.25 per day to keep on... is that just CRAZY! Not like a quarter a day is a big deal... but when you add it up the average family uses as much as $500 per year keeping appliances "ready"... but not really using them for any functional purpose. I'm not talking about your fridge keeping your milk cold... I'm talking about cell phone chargers... plugged in and charging a phone that is already fully charged... or a TV and cable box "ready"... when no one uses it for 20 hours.

So I guess I'm off to Walmart to buy some power strips. You know, those things we all had to get back in the 80's so we could plug 8 things on the same outlet. Turns out they have an even better funtion. When you turn them off, there is no power going through. I've already unplugged the extra radio (with a useless clock) and a few other things. The biggest things we are going to change is having our TV's, VCR, DVD and stereo on a powerstrip. I won't be putting the cable box on though... otherwise I won't get my shows taped while I'm busy or gone. I figure I can afford the $25 per year to keep it plugged in all the time since I'm going to save so much more shutting off the rest of the items.

The Word Became Flesh....

So here goes the preacher in me....

I just heard an amazing revelation (to me)about the date of Christmas. If you have been a believer for any amount of time, you've probably heard the Biblical Historical evidence that Jesus was almost certainly NOT born on December 25th.

Unlike my son Thor -- who was was trying to assure me that baby Jesus really was born at midnight on the 24/25th. (Got to LOVE that childlike faith... he doesn't need all the reasons why... he just believes). On the other side of that argument, I don't think there is anything wrong with going through the historical records, or scientific evidence to prove the Word of God. I know God's Word is true, because the Spirit living in me has given me the internal and external proof I need....

The clues given in Luke and Matthew's accounts of the birth of Jesus, give us a timeline for the actual birth date of our Savior -- likely sometime between September 25 - 29th. If you remember, there is an account of Jesus being circumcised on the 8th day, and is mentioned that is was also the Great Feast of the Tabernacles. This feast lasts for 8 days, meaning her was born on the First Day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Isn't it interesting how God chooses to have significant things happen on the same dates... consider also Passover and Easter. I really do love that about God.... His Word says that he will give us signs, all we have to do is keep a watchful eye open for them. (I think that also means a watchful Spirit, since not everything that is REAL is "visible" from our human perspective).

Is there any spiritual significance to December 25th, or was it really just a Pagan holiday turned "Christian" by the early believers/church? I have to say that in my heart of hearts it never bothered me if Dec. 25th was just a day someone "picked" to celebrate the birth of Jesus... In our modern world, people have tried to take Christ out of Christmas -- and focus on the material and commercial aspects of the Season... but for centuries before that Christmas really was (and is) a Holy Day for believers. The word "Holidays" derives from the Jewish "Holy Days." God created us with a need to celebrate and to honor special events.

Did God have a hand in helping the early church in choosing December 25th? I happen to believe so... and now there is evidence** of the significance of the 25th of Dec. In Jewish tradition there is a Holy Day late in December that is called the St. Michael and the Angels Feast... not recognized much now... but it is in their historical records. Isn't it interesting that we have a lot of Angels in our Christmas account too? ."


This is the MOST fascinating point.... If you count back 9 months, from the date of Jesus assumed actual birthday - September 25th, you arrive at a conception date of December 25th!! This was the day when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary.... and to quote John 1:14 "The Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us."

How Awesome is that!!! I believe that life begins at the moment of conception... and perhaps this was God's way of marking Jesus REAL entry into this world... the day of his conception! The Holy Day for St. Michael and the Angels Feast was one small sign set in place centuries before... to mark the time when another Angel would play an important role in our Christmas Story!

**from Bruggerman's Bible Commentary - Appendix, page 198.

Liv is growing up!!

ok.. It's probably unfair to post new "happenings" with Liv, and not post a current pictuer... but I don't have a picture a the moment... Liv is sleeping... so I'm not going to wake her... and if I don't get this blog done now, while she is sleeping... I'm in danger of never getting it done!!

Liv has had a big month as far as baby milestones:
- she started sitting up on her own
- she can pull herself up to a standing position
- she is crawling
- she is waving bye-bye
- she wants to give kisses, but trust me, no one really wants one from her (too WET!)

Pretty good for our little 8 month old! This morning I left Anika and Liv at home with my dad for the morning while I went to Zion to make Julekake with Thor's 2nd grade class. (christmas bread) As I was leaving, I waved goodbye to Liv and said in my best baby-mommie talk "bye-bye"... Liv was doing her usual "mommie I don't want you to leave - laugh - cry" and said clear as a bell..."bye - bye"... My dad and I were both speachless... I have a witness for this, so it's not shameless mommy bragging!! But I couldn't get her to repeat it when I got home today???

Since I didn't have any good pics of the kids today, I thought I'd share some pics
from one of our favorite Christmas books -- The Christmas Treasury by Jan Brett. The stories are wonderful, adventuresome and fun, even for growing-up boys... but the drawings are the MOST amazing kids's-book illustrations I've ever seen. Thor, Anika and I all love "The Trouble with Trolls."

What is that thing called?

I just have to share Anika's latest...
As we are sitting at hockey practice, waiting for the ice to be reconditioned...

"Mom, when is the zambalonie going to come out again?"
"yes, honey... Zamboni... "

smiles

Can we EVER get the Lefse made?

I think most of you know "lefse"... if not, I've included a handy little photo.

It's been a family tradition for as many years as we can trace our family (at least back to 1890's). For my brothers and I, the connect is my Grandma Alice. In the years I knew her, she made lefse completely from scratch in her tiny little cottage house on the farm. I don't have a lot of memories of Grandma cooking anything... but lefse is kind of memorable because it's such a MESS!

Grandma was a pro, for sure. I still don't think my lefse is as good as hers. But I guess she had about 60 years experience under her belt before I even tasted it! I've been making it since I was about 20 (don't do the math, but I guess that makes 16 years for me). Grandma died when I was 12, and there was NO LEFSE for the family holidays. No one else had made it without Grandma before. (well, maybe Layne did once in college or something??) I was home from college and told mom, I think we need to make lefse. Thank goodness she knew the basic technique (also kind of messy)... becuase Grandma's recipe looked like a mystery to me.

As I recall it looked something like this:
10 pounds white potatoes with butter, salt, sugar and milk.
Mash. Rice.
Add
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt2 cups flour
more flour

Roll. Bake.

After a few tries and lots of severe mess ups... we finally arrived at a product that was soft, mostly round... and great with butter and sugar!

I remeber asking Grandma some other time of year,
"when are you going to make lefse again?" She replied quickly,
"lefse is for Christmas, ONLY."

Anyway, back to my point. I can give up a lot of things at Christmas, for the purpose of preserving my sanity.... we don't do stockings (or Santa), we have a VERY small tree (this year), we aren't doing a lot of Christmas cookies (becuase the two adults in the house would like to try to NOT gain weight this holiday season)... but I just can't have Christmas without some sort of lefse.... somewhere.



OK -- I have to re-phrase that.... "Some sort of lefse" does not equal mass-produced or commercially produced lefse. If I was satisfied with that, I'd go really cheap and schmear butter and sugar on a white flour tortilla. (sorry Jason).

Christmas Crazy

Just got home from spending a fun afternoon at Gp's Moeller's. Not like it's far away... just down the street. But somehow, when we get there no one wants to move (after dinner)... even it it's less than 100 yards to get to our house!

Mom and Dad had a great dinner of baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravey, veggies, bread.... and warm apple crisp with ice cream for dessert. I REALLY wanted to take a nap after dinner, but Thor needed to get ready for hockey practice (3:30 p.m.) and Dirk wanted to get our drives and sidewalks "blown" of the snow. He hadn't had a chance to blow snow since the last snow fall on Friday. We have a lovely blanket, with a few inches of snow ... frosty trees, etc. It really looks like Christmas now!

Everyone has been asking.. I'm not sure why... but I give the same answer... Yes, I love the snow... all of November and December, snow is GREAT! Then, by the end of January I'm DONE with it. I'd love to spend February and March in 50-60 degree weather, with just nice rain... but no mud.... I know - it's not a physical possiblity... but that is my "dream" world. So yes, the snow now is great... we're supposed to have snow, it's Christmas!

Anika, Liv and I stayed home the rest of the afternoon and made Spritz cookies with Grandpa and Grandma. Liv was her normal happy self until JUST before I was ready to get the cookies put out on the pan. She just wouldn't be consoled by anyone... so Grandpa picked her up, to discover she was REALLY wet all over... how silly were we. She hadn't been changed since before she went down for a nap... and was quite upset about it all. 10 mintues later and dry diaper in place... and we were back on track... baking cooking and making memories!

Now we're getting ready to watch The Amazing Race -- eat a little popcorn and snuggle in for the night. Hope you are having a cozy eveing too?!