BLAH

So, our daddy has been gone now for almost three weeks on and off, mostly off. We have persevered, but I can't say it's been with much grace. He is in New York, Brooklyn actually, doing his first for-real trial in his four year career as an attorney. Most of his cases settle before they ever get to trial, but apparently Brooklyn is well known for large verdicts and so the guy trying to get his millions has no intention of settling. Trial experience is important and I know Ryan will feel like he's really got some good experience under his belt by the time this is all said and done. But for us, it is blah. We really love being a family and doing family stuff, like dinner. We even have an occasional "family night" where we sing a song we wrote to to tune of the Veggie Tales theme. It's called "family night", it's awesome. But when Daddy is gone Mommy, unfortunately regresses to cooking strange meals called "lunch for dinner". Not to mention that we have all been sick with a cacophony of viruses. Even the dog took a trip to the dr. for an oozy eye. I haven't been able to get to the gym much which is bad for everyone. It's just been really, really...yuck. So Daddy, just so you know...we love you and are very proud of you. You are a very good attorney and I know you are putting your all into this trial. But, we just can't wait to have you home.

Brothers and Huh-Cuts

I love this naked pic with the sexy black socks!

Oh, my boys are so special. They are finally learning how to be friends. One thing all of my children and their father too have in common is a gracious amount of hair. They are the hairiest bunch of kids you ever saw. Rowan has been blessed with the most of all. He was born with a full head of blond, coarse, curly hair and we have been cutting it since he was about six months old. Rowan also has very sensitive skin and so hair cuts can be pretty awful for him. He has recently decided that they are about as painful as having teeth pulled with a pair of pliers. We will let Rowan's hair grow for as long as we can stand it. Usually that means until old men start stopping me in the grocery store and commenting on the beautiful hair my son has. That actually is old man talk for "lady cut that kids hair!". So last week Rowan's baby fro was looking especially bountiful and we decided the time had come. We took all the kids and Ryan too in for a hair cut and let the poor Ladies at Cost-cutters give it a try. We had three different hair stylist beg, plead, bribe and scold Rowan into sitting still without any success before we gave it up. That means Momma has to cut the hair. Which I have done many times before, usually with only minor injuries to the two parties involved. Tonight was no exception. Hopefully the painful memory of Rowan's "huh-cuts" as he calls them will fade (please God). Either that or we will be meeting with a therapist in years to come discussing why my son shows signs of post traumatic stress disorder. sigh.

Little Bit O' Love

Ethiopian Food

Okay, so Ryan and I are really lovers of ethnic cuisine. We adore Indian, Moroccan, Vietnamese, German, Italian, Mexican, Chinese and Japanese (sushi!). We had a near death experience with some Korean, but survived. We actually will eat just about anything. So we decided to drag the kids out pretty late one night for some Ethiopian food in downtown Denver. We ate at a really nice little restaurant called Arada. The atmosphere was great and I was so excited to be surrounded with some Ethiopian people and culture. It was a little hairy, scary at first when we discovered just how intimate the restaurant really was. Not really for children, although many people had said on the Internet that it was. There were couples out on dates, obviously hoping to enjoy a quite night out with some ethnic food. So when Rowan decided to throw a huge fit about having to sit in the high chair, we got a bit concerned and a little red faced. However, after a good talking to in the bathroom he finally settled down, sort of. Fortunately, I had packed some pretzels and we ordered some sprite so he was relatively happy for a while. The big kids were told that they should try all the foods and if they didn't like it, they didn't have to eat it. And they were game! Even maybe a little excited.

So we ordered, not having a clue what to get. I'm sorry that I have to report that Ethiopian food was not what we expected. Injera, a staple of most Ethiopians is a bread that is used almost like silverware to scoop up meat and vegetables that have been cooked into stews or sauces. Injera is sort of like the inside of a pancake. It is spongy and cold! It is has a strong soda taste and doesn't do much to mask the spiciness of the sauces. Most of the dishes were heavily spiced, but had no other identifiable flavor. Unlike Indian food, they are not balanced with sweetness or saltiness. They are just spicy. We also sampled some Honey wine, which is just fermented honey with some seltzer added for fizz. The taste of the wine was not unpleasant, but the odor was very earthy. Okay it smelled like dirt or dirty socks.

Oh well, maybe we just didn't order the right dishes. Thankfully a little later in the night another family with children came in, so we didn't feel completely out of place. Time will tell if we will ever enjoy Ethiopian cuisine. All the same it was a fun and interesting experience.

Treasures

Luke 2:19
But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.