I miss writing here... I guess it's very quick and easy to update Facebook and feel that my work of updating the world is complete.
I have lots of pictures I'd love to upload sometime soon.
Today we made peanut butter pinecones for the birds outside. (Spreading pb on pinecones and rolling them in birdseed.) The kids had a great time, and I *think* I got all of the birdseed out of the peanut butter afterward...
Joel is loving nursery school. I am sad, though, that school takes up so much of our time from here on out. We went to the Children's Museum the other day and I got a little misty about not being able to do that very much anymore. And it just gets more and more hectic from here on out. (And we're an incredibly unscheduled family... I usually try to get to the grocery store on Sunday or Monday, and we always hit the library on Monday. That's about it.) Soul-searching abounds...
Our Advent is very happily moving along. The Advent calendar I made is up, the right candles are being lit each morning, we've had one of three rounds of ornament-making to make our tree lovely, and Joel can point out the Roman Empire on the map. Good times.
I haven't cooked much this week as Joel and Asher have chosen our dinners at the last minute twice now this week. Both times they've chosen roasted kale, broccoli-cucumber-red peppers with dip, cheese, and hot dogs. I need to get making some hummus this weekend for variety!
I'm making a few Christmas presents this week. I'm making some lacing cards for Joel, knitting a bear for Asher (Joel chose bright blue yarn for him), and making something for each one of us that cannot be mentioned yet, since Neil can read. But it rocks. Trust me.
Hopefully pictures soon. The fall has been a lovely time to be in the Berg home.
Oh, and I've started running. I ran a 5K last weekend at 35:41. I'm feeling pretty good about that!
A great use of a blog - I want to remember this recipe, and my mom wanted it, too. Here we go!
No Crust Pumpkin Pie (in the microwave!)
2 c. pumpkin (or 1 16 oz. can) 1/2 c. evaporated milk or heavy cream 1/2 c. sugar (could be less) 3 lg egg whites, slightly beaten 2 t. pumpkin pie spice 1 T. flour
Combine all ingredients, beat until smooth. Place into microwave safe dish (I used a glass 9x9 pan).
Microwave uncovered 5 minutes on high, stirring often.
Cook on medium 12-15 minutes, or until almost set in the middle.
Our house is under contract! Yay! We will be closing no later than mid-August. It is so, so, so wonderful to have it off of our collective minds. We are ready to move on!
The other big thing happening right now is our next move. We decided that our current place isn't working too well for us. It's on the 2nd floor, doesn't have much room or yard for the boys to play in, is pretty small for all of our stuff, and not terribly conducive to having guests. We have found a lovely new place - a four bedroom house with a garage, a dishwasher, a yard, and sidewalks, about two blocks from three city parks, and in a lovely town. We are incredibly excited to be moving there in two weeks!
The boys are incredibly fun right now, too. Asher has learned how to blow kisses (which, if you've never seen a one year old blow kisses, it is quite possibly the cutest thing on the planet), he's a crazy climber, stops to meet every animal we encounter, and waves to strangers everywhere. He's starting to plop down in laps to read books and is actually starting to sleep fairly well! Joel is over halfway through the Magic Tree House books (we started reading them at the beginning of June), is close to filling up TWO library summer reading club cards, is turning into an excellent chef, loves tumbling class (he can do headstands against a wall completely by himself now!), and has recently begun to love playing dress up. (Thank you, garage sales, for helping me with outfitting him!) The boys love each other, and spend a good part of their day giggling with each other.
The harvest season seems to really kick in when blueberries are ripe. Blueberries really signal summer to my mind. I've just finished freezing 4.5 gallons of them, and the whole time I was smiling whilst thinking of peaches, tomatoes, and corn in August, and apples and pumpkins in September and October. I think blueberry season really kicks off my favorite five months of the year - the summer to autumn transition is absolutely magical to me. And this year I have TWO kidlets to share it all with! What a lovely and blessed life we lead.
Asher at the petting zoo (Cinci Zoo). He is such an animal lover! He's the one who's going to come home with frogs in his pockets... (or goats in his pockets, which would be decidedly worse.)
We spend large portions of our days out on the front porch in this dirt pile, raking, digging, building zoos, constructing buildings, and watching the bigger vehicles on their way to construcing real buildings.
It's been a rough couple of months here in the Berg House. We've done lots of soul-searching, decision-making, decision-unmaking, and questioning. Our house, still not sold, is a burden on us - but "Turn That Frown Upside Down!" is just not working for us.
Neither is our current rental. It's on busy streets with loud and huge vehicles - not so great with a one year old who loves running directly toward them. There's also not really a place to play or run around. Just not a great place to be.
We're also trying to look for a community down here, a church or similar. We've checked out traditional, contemporary, very different, etc. I think our problem was best said by our friend Ryan a few years ago: "I just think I don't like church." It seems like a good place to meet people and have community, but we just don't like them.
So, it's a time of change. And a good one! We're trying a couple of super-alternative church sort of things. We're hopefully soon moving to a new rental, only a house in a neighborhood (like home!). We're just going to accept that our house will sell... sometime. (I'm hoping that, in perfect cosmic justice, it will sell as soon as we sign a one-year-lease...)
Kids are huge and growing. Pictures next time. Joel is in a tumbling class and T-3 months from starting nursery school. Asher is now one, and doing incredible things. Neil and I are continuing the contemplation, continuing on learning about where we can be more mindful and becoming more content.
Happiness and humor and cute kid stories next time. I promise. There is so much to tell on that front, as well.
We spent this afternoon at the park, and there was a little boy just about Joel's age there. I could see the two boys talking, and Joel trying to avoid the other little boy (very strange for Joel, who loves making friends!). Joel ran up to me:
Joel: That boy is saying, "Flrushbly fishleramy"!
Me: What is he saying?
Joel: "Flrushbly Fishleramy!"
Me: Okay...
Joel runs back to the little boy.
A few minutes later I could see that Joel was really avoiding the little boy, going the other way when he saw him coming, that sort of thing. So I called him over:
Me: I think that little boy wants to be friends with you! Let's try to be his friend and play with him, okay?
