Happy Birthday BJ!

Saturdays supper with Linda and Sonny was to celebrate BJ's birthday. Unfortunately, it seems that BJ is the only person I didn't photograph! Linda made meatloaf, tons of green food for Saint Patty's weekend, and one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever tasted. 

Discussing business plans and options.

Playing with whoever would join.

So concentrated.

So cute!

BJ and Kelly were babysitting a neighbor's baby. 

Elijah loves the I-Pad.

And last, but not least, my handsome brother.

People, People Everywhere and Too Many Pints to Drink

This past weekend Isma and I visited Colin in Chicago. Saturday, after enjoying juice, croissants, and coffee, we headed downtown to see the green river and parade.

Singing...either they're Irish, drunk, or both. It's before 10 AM.

People in green streamed in from everywhere. 

Police on horses! 

The river dyed green.

Bagpipers motoring up and down the emerald river.

The fake car body is built around what I believe is a simple fishing boat.

Great day to advertise for the summer!

Even the dogs were festive (and pose).

Masses crossing empty streets to go to the parade.

It was so crowded, we couldn't really see the parade.

No Irish for lunch because of extreme lines.

The waffles were good, though!

Don't know why, but I like the blue tiles before the tracks.

Being weird in public.

(One) of my favorite speech pathologists

I just came across this photo, looking at old photos from this past year, and it reminded me how much I miss hanging out with Beth. She always has cute stories about what her preschool and school-age kids say in their therapy sessions. :)

March is Poetry

March's writing theme is poetry. We started out with "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Longfellow, doing mad libs and learning about meter and alliteration. Then, we went into parodies of songs and wrote "I am" poems. I'm kind of losing steam, though. I remember poetry being kind of dull in school, only interesting when I wrote it myself, not from an assignment. If your teachers made poetry interesting, what did they do? What made writing poetry come alive to you?

Spanish Treat

Isma LOVES croquetas. For him, these dough and meat concoctions are only comparable to his mother's paella, callos (another food from Madrid), and stuffed peppers. Around his birthday, Isma decided to try making croquetas. Before we'd only bought them frozen or eaten what his mom made us. Here's the recipe! Isma added some pepper to make them more flavorful.

Croquetas:
2 tablespoons oil                                       Filling: shrimp, shredded fish,
40 grams butter                                                     shredded chicken,
6 tablespoons flour                                               2 hard boiled eggs, or ham
3/4 liters cold milk
2 eggs
1 liter cheap oil
bread crumbs
salt

In a frying pan, let the oil and butter melt. When everything is hot, add the flour and stir it a few times with a wooden spoon. Little by little, pour the milk in, letting the mixture boil until it thickens. At this point, mix in the filling. Let the mixture cool for at least 2 hours.

After it is cool, mold the croquetas to the size and shape you want. Then, in a bowl, beat the two eggs. Dip each croqueta in the eggs, then in the breadcrumbs, again in the egg, and again in the breadcrumbs.

Fill the frying pan with 1 liter of oil, and when it is hot (I wonder what temperature, silly cookbook), put the croquetas in, about 6 at a time. When they are golden, take them out and serve!

Bubbling croquetas (croquettes) in oil.

Ready to eat.

They were delicious!

The Great Adventure

When I was little and my mom was looking to going back to work, our family friends, the McCurdys, chose to take babysit me while she was out. They joke that I am their third child, fitting perfectly in the gap between the two oldest girls and the three youngest. I loved being with them, playing with Arielle and Crystal and hiding from my mom when she came. When we got older we tried to make sure that my brother and their sister who was the same age married so that Arielle and I could be sisters.

Crystal is now married with three beautiful kids. Theirs is a household full of love, just like the home that I was fortunate to visit many times when I was little. Their family is about to grow again, as they are looking to welcome a little boy from Ukraine into their family. They are working on the adoption already, but they still have a long road ahead full of paperwork, excitement and worries, and planning.  If you would like to follow their journey, visit "The Sponseller's Great Adventure." You can support the adoption financially by visiting Crystal's Etsy store, "The Great Adventure". Whether you visit the blog or buy one of Crystal's homemade soaps, please pray for them on this great adventure!

After Much Waiting

After what seemed an infinite span of weeks, all of the pots had sprouts. Much to my chagrin, my novice herb growing skills didn't prevent most of my cilantro and some of parsley seedlings to die from root decay. Being too loving to plants does not pay off.