What a week this one has turned out to be! Last Thursday afternoon, Scott brought Megan and Emily to stay with us for a few days while he and Cathy went on vacation to Chicago for their anniversary. We're told they had a great time, even caught a Cubs game. We had our own great time here with the little girls. Aidan and Esme enjoyed playing with their cousins - Aidan preferred to entertain Emily by making silly faces for her to laugh at, and help her practice shaking her head "no". Esme spent a lot of time playing dress-up, fairies and princesses with Megan.
Early Sunday morning, Megan and I got sick. Megan got sick
all over herself and her bed; mine was much milder at the time. I got her and her bedroom cleaned up, and she went back to sleep for a while, and drank some water when she woke up. She was still pale as a piece of paper when her mommy arrived to pick her up, but Cathy said she felt better by evening and even ate some dinner. I was dizzy and weak through the morning, but capable of performing tasks. About 1 pm that all went south and when I tried to stand up I would black out. So I spent the rest of the day on the couch, fighting fever and body aches. I slept awfully overnight, as fever always causes me to hallucinate - weird things like I make myself count something over and over, or I'm trying to get a bunch of people to stand in a straight line and they keep running all over the place...like I said, weird. When I got up this morning I felt so much better, a little weak (I didn't eat much yesterday) and tired, but I'm fine.
Jim got up at 4 am to go to Dallas for some meetings today and tomorrow, said goodbye and everything, but didn't tell me he was sick until he landed there and called me! He was also sick overnight and slept badly but says he feels fine now except for being tired. Aidan complained of a stomachache this evening just before bed, but at least right now he is sleeping comfortably. Hopefully that continues.
Jim took Esme to the doctor's office yesterday morning (three cheers for our pediatricians, who even have a few hours on
Sunday) because she had been coughing so badly for several days, and it had turned into that nasty barking-seal cough that spells "croup" so clearly. They gave her that wonderful medicine that takes the barking-seal element out of the cough so the child can begin to get better. (Yeah, yeah, I know it's a steroid.) She is better all the time.
Today Esme started her ballet classes at the community center here in Byron Township. She wore her leotard and tights, with a little skirt and her very own ballet shoes, and she was
so incredibly excited. She said today they learned first and second positions, and they did some leaping and twirling, and learned how to curtsy. What a sweetie.
Now, tomorrow the carpet and upholstery will be cleaned (not by me, thank goodness), and then I have to finish getting this house in shape for the party on Saturday - I am throwing a bridal shower for my niece Jessica, who will be married in July to Jake Kuncaitis, a delightful young man whom we are pleased to welcome into the Lowry family. I'm thinking about putting baby gates at the bottom of the stairs up, and at the top of the stairs down, so I don't have to clean those parts of the house! No, I'll do it right! :) Think I'm gonna need those baby gates anyway, as my little grandniece (wow, it makes me sound really old to use that word) Chloe will be attending the party!
Please excuse the out-of-order-ness of these pictures; there are a lot of them and not enough time this week to sort them out properly!
For Easter we were expecting to host a grand meal with my parents, but unfortunately they got sick, sick, sick just a few days before Easter and couldn't make it. (They are better now, but Papa was still coughing a week ago, so I hope he's even better still.) So we had to throw ourselves on the enormous dinner I had planned, and eat it all, just the four of us. It lasted a long time!
We had deviled eggs. I didn't make too many because they're loaded with cholesterol, and then decorated the empty spots in the plate with plastic eggs.
I made my famous vat o'fruit salad, but my family is always glad to eat quantities of fruit meant for entire regiments!
I roasted red potatoes in olive oil and rosemary (you don't miss the salt).
We even had a little bubbly. :)
Green beans without sauce on Easter is probably some kind of cardinal sin, but we
were planning to be good to Papa's heart! Besides, the kids like them better this way, anyway.
Now we get to the "slaving for hours in the kitchen" part. I peeled and cut twenty mangoes, pureed them in the food processor, strained
that through a sieve (it doesn't just run right through, let me tell you), added a teeny bit of sugar and a teeny bit of lemon juice, and froze the whole shebang in the ice-cream maker. Delicious sorbet, hardly any calories.
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Jim doesn't like mangoes, so I also made this berry sorbet - same process, except I used frozen blueberries/raspberries/blackberries. They don't run right through the sieve, either! It was totally worth it, though, this is super good. And the kids and I just finished the last of it today, so it's lasted almost a month.
I took the kids to the park on a super warm and sunny day. They can both swing by themselves now, so they think they're all that. :)
Not long after that super warm and sunny day, we had rain that went on and on, and even had some hail one morning! It had started to melt by the time I took this picture, but the largest pieces were quarter-sized. I was in my bedroom getting dressed when I heard what I thought was Nerf darts hitting my bedroom door. I lickety-split finished dressing so I could give the kids a piece of my mind, but when I opened the door they were sitting quietly on the floor in Aidan's room, surrounded by Webkinz toys and looking like they were witnessing the apocalypse. Hmm. Didn't realize they had no idea what hail was like! They were quickly reassured, then they thought it was cool.
During spring break, I took the kids to the Air Zoo in Battle Creek. Pretty cool! Here's Esme flying a fighter jet.
They have a great big satellite photo of the Earth on the wall, so the kids stood by their mitten!
This was a very interesting tidbit about Wernher von Braun, who figures into our Harter family history. He once said about one of our Harter ancestors, "If we do get to the moon, he will have had quite a lot to do with it." This quotation was published in a genealogy of the Harter family in 1969...just before we
did get to the moon!
Chicken curry with basmati rice.
Stir-fried tofu with ginger and lemongrass.
Lemongrass and coconut jasmine rice; I served this with the above tofu. It's a bit sweet, and tasted really nice counteracting the VERY spicy tofu.
Thalipeeth - an Indian veggie bread. Kinda spicy!
Mulligatawny Soup - this has lentils, potatoes, carrots, apples, and lots of other stuff in it. Spicy again! Made the thalipeeth to help our tastebuds, but it was spicy too! Next time I make Mulligatawny soup I think I will serve it with naan.
Steamed pork dumplings. My only error in making this was making my own wonton wrappers instead of buying them. The meat inside cooks very quickly, but the dough wouldn't cook at all while steaming; we eventually just boiled them and they cooked up really nicely. I bow in respect to Yung Im Laursen, a friend's mom, who used to make these perfectly all the time. It's a lot of work!
Creole tomato tart with herb crust. There is a layer of goat cheese in between the crust and tomatoes. Super yummy, even with early tomatoes. I can't wait to try it with some summer ones.
Sweet potato vichysoisse. Oh, my gosh, this was so good that at some point I'm going to make a whole batch just for myself. The children, however...first they gagged, and then they cried because they thought they were disappointing me. It may have been the leeky flavor, or it may have been that it is served cold, but they just didn't like it. Poor kids. So next time I
can eat the whole batch myself. :)
After the vichyssoise incident, I let Aidan pick my next recipe. He chose chicken Clemenceau from my New Orleans cookbook. It was good! Boring, but good! :) And in the course of making it, I learned how to quarter a whole chicken. I've never even bought chicken with bones in it before, and here I am, quartering a whole chicken. Weeeellllll, no feathers, no innards...
I was honored that Aidan wanted me to be a chaperone on his class trip to Lansing. We toured the Michigan historical museum and the state capitol building. Here's the Senate chamber. It was Friday. What do politicians do on Friday? Not work, apparently.
On our way home from Emily's birthday party in Grand Blanc, the kids were so wiped out they slept the whole way home.
Still a blanket girl.
In Chicago at Cosi for lunch on the last day of spring break, the kids wanted to smell Jim's latte. Aidan, Esme and I
love the smell of coffee, it's the taste we can't stand!
Aidan at the Lego store in Chicago - with Indy!
Esme gathering Easter eggs in the front yard on Easter!
Look, Mom!
How this became a race, I'll never know. I think it started when we introduced a second child to the mix. :)
Counting up!
Where else can we look?
Happy Easter, everyone!
Aidan and Esme cleaning the windows on the John Hancock tower in Chicago. Well, sort of. :)
The Chicago River, and my two yahoos!
Aidan and Esme at the Art Institvte of Chicago.
Well, of course we had to take pictures here, what did you expect?
You rock, Jim. (You can see the rest of our feet in the top of the picture).
Aidan and his friend Tyler on the bone-crunching bus ride to Lansing.
Mrs. Abbott's fourth grade class at the Michigan historical museum! In the background you can see a live white pine that grows through the center of the museum, surrounded by a stained glass pool/fountain. The white pine is our state tree. Aidan is in the back at left.
Sitting in an old-fashioned schoolroom.
Aidan and his friend Ricardo in the Motor City section of the museum!
Don't forget Motown...
On our walk to the capitol!
Here they all are: Tyler, Ricardo, Jason, Noah, Tyler, Jermain, Kelcie, Chase, Aleigha, Michael, Kamber, Dakoda, Amber, Mrs. Abbott, Stella, Natalie, Matthew, Max, Krystal, Gavin, Samantha, Joey, Bryor, Jordan, Aidan.
Aidan laid down on the floor to take this picture of the dome!
The governor's "formal" office, used for signing important things in front of cameras. She wasn't there. Big surprise.
The day after riding halfway across the state and back in a horribly uncomfortable school bus, we took a much more comfortable, leisurely ride almost all the way across the state to go to Emily's 1st birthday party. She seems a little underwhelmed. :)
Cameron and Megan have healthy relationships with their dinners.
Aidan and Joshua look so much alike, they could be brothers. But they're not related at all! They share the distinction of both being nephews of Scott and Cathy, and they're almost the same age. Which makes for more fun at Hollopeter-Chrisman family gatherings. :)
That whole cake isn't on her tray, just one cupcake. She was a little unsure about that stuff, but eventually warmed up to the concept of frosting.
Last year my crabapple didn't bloom at all, just leafed out. I didn't have the lawn fertilized this year - I was pretty sure that was the culprit of NONE of my flowering trees blooming last year - and my gamble seems to have paid off!
Pretty, pretty, I love it when my work of three years ago starts to show! My garden is really filling out now and looks terrific in spring. Just needs some work for the fall. Chrysanthemums, perhaps?
Grilled chicken and bananas with watermelon relish. The chicken is marinated in stuff that includes orange juice, lemon juice, and rum. Well, rum flavoring, 'cause I didn't want to buy a whole bottle of rum to use 3 tablespoons of it. Turns out rum flavoring is still 29% alcohol! This was a hit with the whole family - I think it was the grilled bananas that put it over the top. Tasty.
Cardamom-spiced basmati rice pudding for dessert. It has raisins, almonds, and pistachio nuts in it. Delicious.
Shortly after Megan and Emily arrived, we took this cousins picture.
Friday evening we took everybody out for ice cream...
...and some playtime at the park. Megan loved our Whistlestop playground!
Emily was such a good little girl while she was at our house. Thank you Scott and Cathy for sharing your little girls with us!
