Surprise!

They told me we were getting together to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday.

And we were.

But first we were celebrating something else!

My husband and his sister pulled it off--a surprise baby shower for me and this sweet little one currently residing in my big belly.
I didn't suspect.  
Until I saw a long table of food in the house.  "No told me we're having a big party for Dad...."
Then I saw the smiles of so many women whom I love.
And they yelled, "surprise!"
It was really, really fun.


Aaron called his sister in January with the idea and asked her for her help.
She pretty much did it all.  
Now that's some kind of sister.
He owes you big time, Jessica.
And while Aaron could never have pulled it off without his sister's help, I am very impressed that he started the planning so far in advance.
I love the man, but he is not known for his planning skills.
In times past when he has tried to plan a party for me, it has gone something like this, "hi, I'm planning a birthday party for Greta.  It's tomorrow." 
He knew I've always secretly, and not so secretly, wanted a surprise party.
And what better time to surprise someone than when she is 7 months pregnant and in need of a little pampering?
Thank you, babe.  Really.  A big, huge thank you.

It was kind of overwhelming.  In a good way.
After I hid in the kitchen and cried for a minute or 2, I managed to collect myself enough to take a few pictures.  (it's hard to take pictures of an event that's in your honor)


The food was amazing.  Lots of my favorite things.  
Like The Leek and Goat Cheese Tart.
Everyone kept calling it "Greta's recipe".  While that made me feel awesome, I gave full cred to Molly.

Not only did Jessica outdo herself with food, but she rocked the decorations as well.
This is on of my favorite fabrics.  I used it on the curtains in the kids' room.
She used it on the table.

And on these mobiles.  Cute, cute, cute.  More pics and a little tutorial on how she made them over on Picnics tomorrow.

She gave me some to take home and they look perfect in the kids' room.

There was a lot of attention to detail.
Like these, my favorite Easter candies: Cadbury mini eggs.  Oh how I love them.

Did I mention that Jessica has 4 kids, ages 8, 6, 2 and 6 month old?  And she did this shower for me at her house? All while having to take breaks to nurse the baby and take care of her family.
She blows me away.
Thank you Jessica.  You gave me such a wonderful gift.  I love you.


Oh, and the presents were pretty nice too.  More on those tomorrow.  
(no the pram isn't mine.  but isn't it adorable?)

But honestly, the very best part of the day was being surrounded by so many people who I love.  
I know how busy these ladies are.  They have kids, husbands, baseball games to go to, birthday parties to host (the night before and that very morning) weddings to plan, 1.5 hour drives and all the other things that take place on a Saturday.
And they all set aside time to be there.
For me.
It was the sweetest gift of all.
And yes, I'm still crying every time I think about it.

I didn't get pictures of everyone because, like I said, it's hard to remember pictures when there is good food to eat, people to visit with and presents to open.  I did manage a few.


Up above is one of my favorite blogging buddies, Betsi, of My 3 Little Birds.
She has walked with me through a lot of crud in the past year.  Her friendship, via the world wide web, has been a true blessing to me.  She drove her tied, pregnant self a long way to be there.  It was so fun to see her.


And my little brother came, and brought his fiance.  
(who made baby these adorable booties)
Ben left with the dads and kids--I guess 6 kids, 8 and under was better than a roomful of women and lots of pregnancy talk.  But we did get to visit a bit.

This is one of my favorite pics of the day.  
There were 5 pregnant women there.  
3 of us went through miscarriages at the same time last year and are all here, pregnant again.
God is so good.
2 of us have a picture together like this at my fist shower, and now we are both ready to give birth for the 4th time.
It's a lot of babies.
And that's a lot of happy.

One of my all time favorite artists is James Taylor.  
My mom, sister and I love him so much it borders on obsession. (we've seen him in concert 10 times)
And one of his songs, "Shower the People You Love With Love" expresses the way I try to live my life.
I want to show people I love them.  I want them to know I care about them.  I want them to know they are important to me.  
Call me lame to have a James Taylor song as one of my life mottos, but just listen to it--it's good stuff people!
I know.  Cause I was showered with love.

And it was really, really good.

I have much to be grateful for.

Love from,

Greta

PS.  Other songs that I'd like to be an expression of my life:

This one and this one.

What are yours?

Life Right Now

I'm sure you've notice I haven't been around much.
It feels a bit like I have fallen off the edge of the blogging world.
I've hardly been reading other blogs, I missed my favorite craft fair last weekend, I have months worth of  stories to tell and pictures to go with them, my project list grows, but I don't get to any of it.


Today, for the first time in months, I spent a little time cruising blogs.
And you know what happened?
I got jealous.
I was jealous of people's crafts, their photos, the workshops they are attending, their Etsy stores, their trips to craft fairs, the homemade vanilla extract they are giving as gifts.
I was jealous of the time they had to pursue those things.


Because sometimes, especially lately, I want more time.
More time for me.
More time to do the things I want to do.


And time is one thing that is in very short supply these days.
As I mentioned here, the time I do have, I spend with my kiddos.
And so those other things, they have taken a back seat right now.
Sometimes that can really bum me out.


But then, this afternoon, we made biscuits.

And these little hands, these chubby fingers, these mess makers, reminded me that 
this is my life right now.
It isn't forever.
In fact, everyone tells me how quickly it will vanish and how much I will miss it.
This is the time of afternoons in the kitchen together.
Of being thrilled by squeezing orange juice from our own oranges and pushing out biscuits with a glass cup.
This is the time reading aloud, and learning to write and counting by 20s.
This is the time of them.

I wish I could find a way to balance it all.

There appear to be women who do it all and then some.

But I can't.

At least not right now.

I can choose to be frustrated by that.

Or I can choose to embrace it.

I can choose to be happy.

It seems to me that whatever I do in life I would be missing out on something.

If I were taking classes to become a better photographer, or spending countless hours developing my blog, finding good material and writing more, or crafting up a storm, I'd be missing out on them.

Each of us has our own calling.
And our lives have their own rhythm.
The thing that I forget sometimes is that those things change.
Right now my calling is to be a mommy and to raise my kids the best way I know how.
Right now the rhythm of my life is making biscuits and reading Peter Pan.
But it won't always be.


Sometimes I forget.
And I am thankful for little reminders.


Love from,
Greta


ps You can find out about the biscuit recipe here.

Fresh From the Oven: Blueberry Bran Muffins

I wanted to bake something all day yesterday.

But I was out of brown sugar. Do you know how many cookie and cake recipes call for brown sugar? Many. And, I wasn't about to drag all 3 kids out in the rain just for brown sugar.

Thus my oven stayed cold.

Until about 10:30 pm when I remembered this recipe. It didn't call for brown sugar. So I started mixing up some muffins.

Why, you ask, were you mixing up muffins at 10:30 at night? Well, first there was the craving for baked goods, but also Lilly was awake. Like her brothers before her, Lilly sometimes wakes up wanting a midnight snack. And since we were up feeding her, why not make some muffins?

"You know what is great about this recipe?" I said to Aaron as I stirred.

"I can leave the batter out all night and just pop these in the oven in the morning so we'll have hot muffins for breakfast."

"Really?"

"Yep. Says so right here. Leave out at room temperature."

After I spooned all the batter into the muffin tins, I consulted the recipe again for a final look at the "leave out at room temperature" bit. Oh.

It actually meant bake them ahead and then leave out at room temperature.

That is what happens when you combine pregnancy brain with pregnancy tired and baking at 10:30 pm. You turn into a real moron.

"Guess I'll be staying up a bit later tonight."

So at about 11:30 pm, I had a warm muffin, slathered in butter and it was really good.

And it was really good for breakfast this morning, too.

Here are the details.

The recipe is from the Readers' Favorite Restaurant section in Bon Appetit magazine. The muffins are made at Ristretto Roasters in Portland, Oregon.

I know they look hearty. They are. They have 6 cups of bran in them. But they are also moist and tender and just the right amount of sweet. They taste lovely all by themselves, and even better with a bit of butter.

I substituted 1 cup of applesauce for 1 of the cups of sour cream. I also used whole wheat flour instead of white. Lastly, I used oat bran rather than wheat bran because that is what I had on hand.

I think the muffins were still marvelous, and a bit more healthy.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups sour cream

1 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup robust flavored (dark) molasses

3 large eggs

6 cups wheat bran

2 cups frozen blueberries (do not thaw)

Pre heat oven to 350

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Whisk sour cream, sugar, oil, molasses and eggs in a large bowl.

Whisk in dry ingredients.

Ad wheat bran and stir until almost blended.

Add frozen berries and stir until evenly distributed.

Divide batter into prepared muffin tins (use liner or spray with cooking spray) makes 24-30 muffins, depending on tin size.

Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. 20-25 minutes.

Cool 10 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Do ahead: can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. (I do believe they mean after they've been baked!)

Rocket Pops

James really loves food. He thinks about it a lot. And he really appreciates it. He often makes comments about food like this, "yummm. A nice, cold Popsicle sure is refreshing on a hot day."

And though it has not been all that hot around here as of late, we are still enjoying our Popsicles. Especially the ones we make ourselves.

Handmade is best.

This batch was peach, mango cream. We used 100% peach juice, some fresh peaches, frozen mango chunks and vanilla yogurt. We poured them into our rocket pop molds that Nana bought us, froze them and voila! Rocket pops!

Aren't they cool?

And they taste good too!

Handmade Popsicles. Just one more thing to love about summer.

I think the next recipe we are going to try will be watermelon. The hardest part will be putting the watermelon in the blender to juice instead of eating it. I love it that much. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Do you have a favorite Popsicle recipe?

Lazy Saturday

I love a Saturday when we have no plans. It doesn't happen very often, so it seems like an occasion to have no occasions. This Saturday was like that. It was made even better because it rained. The boys stayed in their jammies all day, despite the fact that Aaron took them to Aroma di Roma for bagels and croissants (neither which are Italian, hmmm). Lilly and I slept in. I went grocery shopping by myself. Everyone took a nap. The sky was cloudy. Inside it felt cozy. It was very relaxing.

After naps, the boys and I made pumpkin bread. This bread is oh so good. Even the batter is good. It fills the house with a deliciously spicy smell and makes it feel like autumn. The recipe is my Mom's and it has been a staple in our family for years. Some of us have been known to make a couple of loaves in a week and not even give any away. It's that good.

James and William love to bake with me. I use the time to teach them about halves and wholes and teaspoons and tablespoons. Oh, and to referee the fights over whose turn it is to dump flour in next. Their favorite part about making pumpkin bread is when we add the pumpkin and the batter turns orange. It gets them every time.

I decided to put the recipe here because I love the idea of making recipes into a family recipes. I have several recipes that were Aaron's grandma's, that his mom makes and that I now make. They are labeled as Grandma Georgia's cheesecake or what have you on the recipe cards,and I plan on sharing them with my children. "This is my great grandma's shortcake recipe", William can say to the girl he is trying to impress. (I always tell the boys, girls love a

guy who can cook) When we make the pumpkin bread, we talk about Granny and how she made this bread for Uncle B a lot when he was little because it doesn't have milk in it. We share a little family history as the Kitchenaid mixes our batter.

Because it was such a relaxing day, I decided to try a new recipe for dinner, thus dinner was a little late, and the boys got to have a nice, warm piece of pumpkin bread before dinner. Thanks, Mom. It was yummy.

(Aaron says the bread in this photo looks a little like meatloaf, but I assure you it's pumpkin bread)

Granny Wujek's Pumpkin Bread

Heat oven to 325

Mix 2 cups sugar and 1 cup oil in a large bowl and blend well (I use my pink Kitchenaid mixer for this)

Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well

Add 2 cups pumpkin

Sift together (I actually skip sifting, pour the dry ingredients right into the mixing bowl, and it still tastes great) 3 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon nutmeg. Add to wet ingredients and blend well.

Bake in 2 greased loaf pans for about 1 hour. (we always do 1 loaf pan and 1 muffin tin. The muffins freeze great if we don't eat them all first.)