Our Year in Review

As I sit here reflecting on the past year, my thoughts are dominated by the passing of mother-in-law, Joy.  It seems somehow fitting that she passed away at the start of the season of joy.  Every time I see the word “joy”, I think of her.  But it’s sad too.  We have a Christmas gift sitting under our tree, that was there before she passed.  I can’t bring myself to remove it. 

There will be a memorial service for her at the Frederick Seventh-day Adventist Church in the chapel, on Saturday, January 19, 2013 at 4:30 pm.

For those of you who didn't know Dwight's mom, she was a sweet and gentle person. She was a devoted mother. She was also an amazing mother-in-law. Dwight was always her perfect little boy but she welcomed me into his life and very quickly made me feel like one of her own. When we started having our own children, she was supportive and encouraging. She never had anything but kind words for me. She never suggested that I do things a different way. In fact she would quietly tell me that I was doing a great job. I feel so grateful to have had her approval and most importantly, her love. But with that very recent loss, it’s hard to write my usual lighthearted letter - as she herself would have said, “Uffda!”

Sadly, we had several losses this year. Dwight’s grandmother, “NeeNee”, passed away at the start of the year. We gathered with the Wold family for a graveside service, in January. In August I flew to Florida for a memorial service for my Aunt Charmaine (my mom’s sister) with my Van Belle family.

Fortunately there were many happy times as well. We went on several trips – I love trying new things and going new places so I’m hoping to foster that same passion in my family – particularly my husband.

• At the end of February we took our kids out west for a ski trip. We joined up with my father-in-law’s family for the week and my brother Jonny and his girlfriend, Julia, spent the weekend with us as well. Taking the kids to Colorado was very special for us.  Ever since our family started to grow, Dwight and I dreamed of being able to ski with our kids. It’s not something we’ll be doing every year (Yike$!) but it did live up to our expectations. The kids loved it and their skills improved rapidly. Oskar even managed to go down a black diamond before we left.
• At the start of the summer, my Grandma Prouty flew down and spent a little time with us – which was a wonderful treat. The Prouty family is huge (there are twenty-seven of us in my generation and all I can tell you about her great grandchildren is that she passed the twenty–seven mark a while ago). As I was saying, the Prouty family is huge so I’m incredibly honored that we managed to get some of her time.
• Dwight and I spent the first weekend in June, exploring Raleigh, NC.
• A few weeks later, the kids and I drove to Tennessee where we spent time with the Prouty family and then we had a quick visit with Bruce and Rita, in North Carolina.
• We celebrated Dwight’s 40^th birthday with a big surprise party. It required way too much subterfuge so I’m officially retiring from throwing surprise parties.  But it was a ton of fun and he loved it so I’m glad I did it this once.
• The following month, we also had a fun couple of days at Ocean City with just our little…ahem…large family of six (and a day trip to meet up with Dad’s family in Delaware, which was awesome).
• After nearly fifteen years at his previous position, Dwight started a new job, with Oracle. (On a side note, he started his new position one week before the kids started school. This is the first year the kids are all in school during the morning, five days a week. So naturally that’s when Dwight starts working from home. He is getting entirely the wrong impression of how my life has been, these past nine years! Not to mention, I’m not sure why the Universe apparently has a problem with me having time home alone. *hehe* But it’s actually been wonderful having him home. And I think he would agree.)
• We celebrated ten years of marriage with an overnight getaway to Alexandria. I'd never really been before, which is crazy since we live so close.  Dwight and I had fun wandering around and going for a nice, long jog together.
• We enjoyed an extended Labor Day weekend with the extended Engen family, at the Outer Banks (in the 4wd only section, which was an interesting experience).
• In October, the Wolcott family gathered here in DC where we participated in the ALS Walk, in support of Dwight’s aunt, Carolyn.

And through all this flutter activity, the kids continue to grow up at a startling rate. This morning I realized that Kardynn is now older than Oskar was, when she was born. 

Oskar is in 3^rdgrade.  He’s become obsessed with math – particularly pi. I’m so fascinated by this little boy whose brain operates NOTHING like mine. Right now is favorite book is one about math, called Go Figure!, that he checked out from the school library. He pores over it for hours at a time.  And then he’ll come quiz me on the formula for the area of various shapes.  It’s a little odd…and very amusing at the same time.  I just hope he somehow retains some of this enthusiasm until when he starts actually learning about this stuff in school.  He’s also become interested in programming.  Clearly he has 100% Dwight Engen DNA.

And then we have Annika, whose brain operates EXACTLY like mine (which has been very humbling – apparently I must have a rather challenging personality). She’s completely my little clone. But on the up side, she is a very happy child. She does everything with exuberance and enthusiasm. She has energy in spades. She loves to run. She’s a complete tomboy and even cut off her hair into an adorable little pixie cut this summer. She’s a wonderful organizer and list maker. She’s also going to be a fantastic babysitter.  She's in second grade.

Kiersten is a sweetheart. She has my mother-in-law’s personality.  This year she went into first grade. I was worried about how she’d transition to being there for a full-day but she’s thriving.  Having said that, this Fall has been a struggle for her because she somehow ended up with a nasty autoimmune disorder called Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP).  We’ve now been dealing with this for almost five weeks.  I hate to see my little girl in pain and it’s frustrating because there’s not a whole lot we can do for her.  But we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the worst of it is behind us. 

Kardynn is keeping things balanced and takes after her oldest sister.  Those two are either thick as thieves or fighting – there’s no in between with them.  Kardynn is enjoying one last year of preschool and loves being at the same school as her little cousin, Autumn.  Every day she gives me an update on her cousin. She always tells me what Autumn was wearing and how her hair looks.  (Based on those daily updates, I can tell you that my niece is one stylin’ little girl!) Kardynn is growing up especially fast. I think she loves her afternoons with me and Dwight, while the other guys are still in school. She’s a perpetual source of amusement and says the absolute cutest things (I’m not the least bit biased). She makes us laugh all the time and I’m a little sad that my baby is no longer a baby.

---

This letter took me a long time to write. The slideshow has been ready to go for days but I just couldn’t get the words together. It probably doesn’t help that we’ve had a lot going on, this last little bit. Five out of the last six schooldays, I was at the elementary school or preschool for various events. We’ve also been spending extra time with family and friends these last couple of days. Our lives are very full, which is a wonderful thing but time-consuming, all the same.  Next year brings lots to look forward to.  Ted's first baby - a little boy - is due to arrive in May. We're already making plans for trips we might like to take (including a trip out to Arizona for this auntie, to meet said little boy). We hope the coming year brings more of the good stuff and less of the bad.  We wish the same for you!

If you’d like to refresh yourself on how we all look, check out our virtual holiday greeting (a mere 2 and a half minute commitment).


Happy Holidays 2012! from Heather Engen on Vimeo.

(If you have any problems with the video, trying going to Vimeo and viewing it full screen).

Much love,

Heather, Oskar, Kiersten, Kardynn, Annika, Dwight

P.S. I’ve been a little nervous about writing this letter ever since my friend Sharon posted a link on Facebook to the Humble Brag letter 2012, a few weeks ago.  I assume people would prefer to read about the good stuff in our lives but I definitely don’t want anyone punching me in the throat! *wink*)

Dinner Conversation

Overheard last night at the supper table.

Annika and Kiersten were discussing a boy in Kiersten's class, who has apparently told both of them that they're pretty.

Annika, "He said that I'm hotter than Kiersten."
Kiersten, to Oskar, "What does that mean? That she's like, cooler than I am or that she's sweatier than me?"

DNA

Kids are great for keeping things light. Last weekend, when Dwight, Joy and I were talking to the kids and explaining that Grammy had passed away, at one point it was pointed out to them that Grammy lives on inside of each of them because she's a part of them - we pointed out some specific similarities - and that they all have her genes.

So yesterday I was talking to a friend and mentioned my mother-in-law's passing, in our conversation. Kardynn plugged her ears which I thought was coincidence but once we were back in the car, we had this conversation. "Mommy, do you know why I plugged my ears? I don't like to hear you say that Grammy died. It makes me very sad." Her little lip was quivering and tears were welling up in her eyes. I told her that it makes me very sad too. She attempted to comfort me and said, "It's okay Mommy. Her body parts are in all of us. But mommy, are her pants in us too?"

Santa

Fortunately I'm not too attached to whether or not my kids believe in Santa because this weekend - after waxing eloquent about how nice it is to save the "magic of Christmas for the little ones" - a certain someone put presents under my tree labeled from Santa. #GrandparentingFail

Canning Soup

A few years ago my younger brother taught me how to can soup. He had learned the recipe from someone else and had made it so many times that he no longer needed to follow the recipe.  He just knew what to do.  That made it a little tricky for me to recreate it later on my own.  But I googled and found something similar and now I've done it so many times that I too can make *my* version without looking at a recipe.  Plus it's never exactly the same, even if I try.  Inevitably I forget something, or I decide to try something new, so every time it's a little different.

Two of my friends had expressed an interest in learning how to can soup so I invited them over for a canning session.  Unfortunately life happens - stuff came up -and we had to postpone our canning date.  But this morning, when it turned out that my little one was a little bit sick and would be staying home from preschool (life happens, remember?), I decided to take advantage and can some soup...even if I was doing it solo.  I documented it thoroughly so that I could share it with my friends.  Although I do hope that we'll still get together in the next couple of days for a canning session.  I mean, pictures are great and all but they can't compare with doing something in person with someone. But hopefully the photos will be a handy reference AFTER that!

I love this tomato based vegetable soup. In fact, I've shared the recipe before.  I'm not actually going to repeat the recipe now. This post was really just intended as a demonstration of how to can the soup. And even though I'm sure no one needs the photos of the soup-making part, I just went ahead and documented the whole deal.

Let's make some soup!

My brother puts a little vegetable oil and a little olive oil.  Sometimes I do that or I do one or the other.  Today I just used a little olive oil.  I threw the onions in first.

I didn't actually saute the onions, per se.  I just threw them in there and let them start to heat up while I cut up the cabbage.

I like to cut the cabbage in nice big chunks.  Those white parts from the stalk are my favorite part of the soup.  Yum!

I added all of the following to my soup.  I'm a vegetarian so I add some "fake meat". Sometimes I use Morningstar crumbles but I prefer the Boca crumbles. I think maybe they're a little bigger than the Morningstar crumbles, which I apparently like.  I also like to add some chunks of a soy product called "Vegetable Steaks".  I'm sure it's not the healthiest - with all kinds of preservatives and sodium - but they're yummy so I try to not think about it too much.  I like to throw in some dark AND light kidney beans.  I also typically add diced tomatoes and tomato paste.  Unfortunately I couldn't find tomato paste in my pantry so I grabbed a can of tomato sauce instead.  I happened to have vegetable broth so I put in two boxes of that as well, though usually I just add water.  I also added what was left of my Marmite, to add some flavor.

Typically I add the cabbage right away but today I added other stuff first.  I don't think it really matters what order you choose to add things. 

Let me put in a quick plug for my Pampered Chef garlic slicer.  I love having slices of garlic in my soup, as opposed to just mincing the garlic.  I use more garlic than my recipe called for, because the garlic isn't as strong this way, but it's oh so yummy! 

I added some green pepper.

 I added some celery.

At this point I tasted the broth and found it lacking so I added a cube of vegetable bouillon, to give it a little more flavor.

When my grandmother was alive, she loved to make soup and she always added bay leaves.  So now I always add bay leaves.  I'm not even sure what flavor they contribute and you wouldn't want to actually eat any of the bay leaves you encounter, but they make me think of my Grandma so they go into every soup I make.  And I have no doubt it wouldn't taste right without them.

I typically don't add a lot of seasoning - I think the veggies are tasty enough all on their own but I was being fancy for the camera so I threw in a bunch of stuff - parsley, basil, Italian seasoning...I'm not even sure.  I just sniffed spices and if it smelled like it would be good with my soup, I added it. 

I also added enough water to come up to the top of all the stuff in the pot.

After mixing all of that in, I took another taste of my broth.  I was feeling sad that it wasn't quite thick enough for my liking, so I looked around in my pantry and TADA I found the box of tomato paste.  I knew I had tomato paste.  So I added a can of that. (I always add some water to it first because I think it's easier to mix in that way.)

I put the lid on to help it get boiling.  At which point I realized that I never actually did add the bay leaves - just took a picture and then put them back away.  Oops!  I also remembered that I had some grape tomatoes I had wanted to use up...so I added both those things.

At this point it had already been sitting on the stove for a while but I set the timer for 45 minutes.  I just wanted to make sure that it didn't sit there too long without my realizing it. 

While my soup was simmering, I filled up an 8 qt pot of water.  You have to figure out how much water to add to the pot of water so that when it's full of jars, the water will come up to about an inch below the top of the pot.  Typically I just hold down 4 jars while I fill up the pot with water.  But since I was being all fancy and taking pictures, I actually filled them with water too to keep them down in place.  Once you have the right amount of water, remove the empty (or water-filled) jars and get that pot of water boiling.

One the soup starts boiling, I turn the heat down to about medium...maybe medium high.  I always crack the lid because otherwise it gets super messy as the lid bobs around and tomato soup sprays everywhere.

In a third pot of water, you will boil the lids.  You do this to a) sterilize them and b) soften the wax to seal the lids onto the jars.  I think you're supposed to boil the lids for at least 10 minutes (when using this method of canning).

These are the supplies I use.  At some point I purchased a canning kit from Amazon and I think it's totally worth the $12.  A couple of them items are pictured below.

(Sept 13, 2013 note: Not all of the items pictured are from the kit but not all of the items in the kit are pictured...just in case that wasn't obvioius.)

As the soup simmers, I watch for the cabbage to soften.  In this case, I started canning after about half an hour.  And really I should have started before that but I had forgotten to start my other pot of water boiling so I had to wait on that for a couple of minutes.  You want to get started while it's still a little undercooked because the soup will heat some more when you place the jar full of soup into the pot of boiling water and of course when you reheat it at some later point. 

There's my big pot of soup (I think that's a 12 qt pot), the small pot of boiling water for the lids and the 8 qt pot of boiling water for the cans, after I fill them up with soup.

My first jar is filled with soup and ready to move to the pot of boiling water.

I use this handy dandy tool to move the jar.  My brother drilled into me what a bad scene it would be if one of those jars fell while doing this so I'm always super careful about moving them.  The thought of hot soup and broken glass about my feet is enough to keep me hyper focused every time. 

I actually bought some new jars for this canning adventure.  In the past I've always used regular size jars but I had always regretted not having purchased wide mouth jars.  I was certain that they would be easier to work with.  Well, guess what?!  Almost immediately I realized that I'm not actually crazy about the wide mouth jars. The wide-mouth jars probably *would* have been helpful my first couple times canning but then I bought that kit from Amazon, which came with that great funnel.  With the funnel, the wide mouth jars were equally easy as the regular jars to fill.  Unfortunately that wide rim made them a pain to move.

(Nov 19, 2012 note: one of my kind, discrete relatives quietly pointed out to me that I was using this tool upside down.  *ha*  Which totally makes sense and I think it will work much better in the future.  So you can disregard all subsequent grumbling about how my tool didn't work with the wide mouth jars.)

If you're not using a funnel, make sure you don't have any food up around the rim of the jar, that could potentially cause a problem for the seal.

Here are four of my jars in the boiling water.  You can see here why it's important to get the water measured correctly ahead of time so that it's not spilling out of the pot when you add the jars of soup.

I can't remember when my brother told me to add the lids but I typically do it when the jars are still in the boiling water.  I have this fancy shmancy magnetic tool to move the lids from the pot of boiling water to the jars.  Once again, the wide mouth jars messed me up because these lids were bigger and therefore heavier so they didn't work too great with my little magnetic tool.

I used my same grabber tool to remove the jars from the pot.  (I do not have a clue what it's actually called, but I'm guessing not a grabber tool.)  I was again regretting the wide mouth jars because it was hard to get my tool in there without sliding the lids around on the other jars.  But it still worked.  I get a rotation going.  I take a jar out and then move a new full jar into it's place, before taking the next jar out.  That keeps the water up nice and high on the jars to keep everything sterile.

When I so remove the jars, I use this tool to hold them while I tighten the rings onto the jars. This helps get a good seal.

Since the wide mouth jars were giving me trouble, I eventually stopped even trying to use my little magnet tool and I just used tongs instead.  (These tongs also came with the canning kit I purchased from Amazon.)  The tongs worked fine.

Here are the finished jars of soup.  As they're cooling, you'll hear the lids pop when they seal.  Once that happens, the lids won't have much give to them - if at all.  These jars all had great seals so they didn't budge at all, when I pushed on them. 

After the jars were cool, I wrote the date on the lids. Now they just need to get put away on a shelf for a rainy day...or tomorrow.

One quick note about this particular soup.  It seems to be quite forgiving but the one thing that I learned is to  not add pasta.  My husband and kids love it when I add noodles but if you're going to do that, add the pasta when you re-heat it.  The time I tried canning it with pasta, I think the pasta pickled so it did not taste right and I ended up dumping a couple of the jars.  I don't think they had actually gone bad but they didn't taste right to me and I wasn't about to take chances.  Not to mention, the pasta soaked up all the liquid.  This pasta thing is probably some known fact and experienced canners are probably chuckling at my mistake but I learned through trial and error.  So yeah, take it from me, don't add pasta to this soup before you can it.

If you do give this a try, tell me how it goes.  I hope you enjoy your canned soup! My kids love to add gold fish crackers so now we call it "Goldfish Soup"...because we're creative like that.

Post Script: If you read the comments below, you'll see that my brother called me out on my broth and called this one a "crime".  (*hehe*  He's passionate about his soup!)  He doesn't approve of my adding the seasonings.  And honestly, I have to agree with him.  This tasted fine but I do prefer the garlicky-tomatoey goodness of my usual simple broth. He actually adds a de-veined jalapeno pepper as well.

Messages from The Universe

Although I do my best to live in the moment, I have to confess that for about 7 years now, I've been secretly looking forward to the day when all the kids would be in school and I would have a few hours to myself on weekdays.  Perhaps it's not been a very secret desire, come to think of it.  I'm pretty sure every one of my friends knows how much I've been looking forward to this. In fact, every so often over the years I would entertain the idea of homeschooling the kids but then I would remember how much I was looking forward to those few hours of time to myself and that would instantly zap any such thoughts.

Last year was the magical year when Kardynn's time in preschool would overlap with Kiersten's time in Kindergarten. But The Universe has a sense of humor because, I suddenly found myself caring for a little one once again.  I'm actually very grateful for the time I got to spend watching my niece last year, but it was a funny turn of events all the same.  (On a side note, it made me realize how far we've come. Wow! Watching an infant is time intensive.  There's no easy slipping away to do things like...post on your blog.)  I still did get time to myself a couple of days every week but I just had one day of negative productivity thrown into the mix.

Time moved along and my niece switched to full-time daycare.  But by then summer had arrived and the house was once again a constant center of activity with everyone home from school.  But The Universe wasn't finished having a little fun at my expense. One week before school was to start up again, my husband started a new job...working from home.  "Seriously, Universe?!  Are you kidding me?" 

But that's okay because his being home didn't really interfere with what I wanted to do, which was to exercise. All summer I'd been looking forward to being able to exercise five mornings a week.

Two weeks after Kardynn started preschool I finally caved in and went to see a doctor about the pain in my heel.  At that point I'd been in constant pain for about 5 weeks.  And what happened with the doctor is hopefully The Universe's last little joke at my expense. I've been temporarily banned from all exercise while my foot heals from plantar fasciitis.  I supposed to run a half marathon on November 9 but I've finally accepted that it's not happening.

So this is a reminder that I'm not in control and that I have to go with the flow and roll with the punches as best I can...and that The Universe has a wicked sense of humor.

Sam the Author

I'm making a quick appearance to brag about my 10 year-old brother.  I convinced my dad to send me these two samples of Sam's writing. (When you read this, keep in mind that he's 10.)

(He was at a coffee shop, waiting for his mom and her friend to finish up their drinks.  He entertained himself by writing about what was going on around him.)

The Coffee Shop
The air rung with the dusty taste of coffee.   The maroon tables were spotted with sugary orange specks.   The empty ashtrays stood like rooks on a chessboard; unmoving and imposing.   A field of white dust spilled on the corner of one ashtray, an orange cigarette and a white one sharing the ashtray with their burned tips.   A brown paper towel lay r/5 under the left ashtray.   Beside it was a tall metal pole with lines of material ridging out.   2/8 of the way up was a thick ring of white plastic, a hook hanging out. When the hook is lifted, the pole will come crashing down on the table.   Dirty straws hang menacingly beside the saucers holding scalding cups of coffee with a white rose in the middle.   Columns of silver screws guard the boards with flat heads and inviting spaces.   Droning voices argue monotonously, smiling and nodding with flat, unshaved faces.   Women smile and approve in both sincere and false optimism, changing quickly with the first litter of pessimism.   Pens quiver in wavering hands,unused ink drying up in the sun.   It is lifted up and tapped on blue lines of paper.   Squares are drawn and speckled on this sheet of snow.   The metaphors switch to physical as high hands and pained fingers dance around in the language of emotion.   Stern faces replace the exaggerated happy ones.   A lone laugh creeps in before it is smothered by the pained atmosphere.   Pats of hair and wiggling fingers show the tension and nervousness of the conversation.   Straight lines of sound cut through gibbering voices.   The table acts as a stage for the fingertappings of buildings, plans, and life-changing ideas.   Strained smiles and polite shields of gratitude disguise the battlefield as a royal tea party.   The world awakes as bikes and cars pile up at lights and whiz past statues, the humans pasted to their spot.   The people clatter on, moving the conversation forward but staying still.   The buzz of silence is shooed awy, the talkers determined not to let their mouths close.   The buzz of silence hovers around the bystanders feeding on the fertilizer of boredom.   Quiet sips of coffee approach the mouth but never make it in.   The pencil stops and drops on the table as this writer goes to sleep.

(The first chapter of a book that he started.)

CHAPTER ONE
        As the orange sun set over the ravaged, broken sand pillars of the
desert, the Rashniki scuffled in the dirt. They were the size of the
mouse, but life depended on them, and many stages of glory had taken
place on their soiled homeland. This would be their downfall, as the
blood of the fallen contaminated the water. Once the gods of the
heaven, the dust on Faral Plain was their hearth and brethren. They
never wondered about the world miles away from them, but kept to their
universe of destruction, and lingered in its aftereffects.
***
        The bushes on the palace wall were empty, hollowing and decaying on
their narrow stumps. The windows on the palace shone with the elegancy
of sawdusty boards. Its doors were lined with wriggling termites. The
steel tiles of the castle had crumbled into dirt. The inside of the
castle, however was as neat as a diamond ring, perfectly carved with
miniature sapphires arranged within half a millimeter of each other.
The chairs of the palace all faced northwest, and the beds had not had
a wrinkle on them for 7 years. The castle was under siege. Castle
Rashniki had been the most powerful of its kind, the Durnaiya, but its
legacy was withering away as its dependent creature was scuffling in
sand and dying of thirst. The prince of Rashniki, Yu Kretti, was
slipping into a trance. Within a year of this trance, he vanished, and
items started disappearing. It was immediately understood that Kretti
was now a ghost, and King Rin took over the castle. It has been 6
years since that happened. The clouds of dust around the palace door
are gone. Rin has finally dared to step out.
***
        Rin stopped momentarily at a village tavern.
        “Eh, man, ye got 9 silvs? Oth’wise ye can’t step a wav’rin’ foot ‘to
dis tavehn. Well, ya gots ‘dem, ya rich drunk? Eh?” The man’s speech
was so drawn out it sounded like ‘duuuunkk’.
        “Leave me be, you vulgar, misbegotten foe of our land!” The men
laughed like hyenas.
        “’O ya dink ya are, a durn noblesm’n, tossed ‘pon our f’ne flurr l’k
a k’dnipped pr’nce? Eh?” The king ignored him.
        “Those who talk the most have the least to say,”Rin muttered.
        “Kya-aaa-aaa-aaa-haaa!” The bartender chuckled. “Put down you, Bart
E.” Bart whipped the bartender with one finger, sending him flying
into his own barrel of whiskey. It pummeled the bartender as if
avenging themselves for being locked up in a dark cellar. Bart turned
back and glared at Rin.
        “A Gehehara,” Rin breathed. “Superhuman strength, feeds off addiction
to one thing. Perfect place for one.” Rin however, was not very
concerned. This gehehara did not look very intelligent, and Rin
whipped him straight in the belly with the flat of his sword. Bart lay
out of breath on the ground. Rin marched out of the tavern, head held
low, but with the apparent posture of a king.
***
        In Yenta City, a white palace stood in the middle of a grand lawn.
500 slaves could be seen marching up to that palace, surrounded by 1
guard for each of them. No chain was tied to their ankles, but the
guards were Tenharkanas, and used telekinesis to bind the slaves
together.
        “My king!” a guard yelled to King Harn. Beside Harn stood a tall
elegant lady, whose black hair hid her face. Her name was Hakke. She
blew the guard up from the inside out. He had made the fatal mistake
of not bowing. Yenta had no prisons, as Hakke pierced the evildoers
(to her) with daggers of hot flame before wiping them out from memory
instead of killing them.
***
        Rin traveled around, defeating various geheharas and tenharkanas (the
most common types of creatures around his area). One day Rin traveled
to Faral Plain. As he climbed onto Ranka Pillar, the highest sand
pillar in the plain, he noticed a deep gorge in the rocks. Rin jumped
into the gorge. He flashed his blade, stuck it into the rock, and
pulled it out. The rocks were soft, as if someone was playing with
them. He noticed a small spring bubbling up, some rodents, and a small
tree that had olives growing on it. The gorge could sustain life for
centuries, as long as the livers were small creatures. Rin saw one of
the rodents fly up and play with lightning. Rin gulped. These were the
animals that his castle depended on to soar high and live low. They
were the Rashniki, and they were inviting him to their home.

We're Still Here

We've been so busy having fun this summer, that I've not made the time to come report about what we've been up to.  But I will!

Oskar's Birthday Poem from Grandpa

Oskar Engen, just last night,
Lay in bed not feeling right
About to lose his birthday.

Mama said, “Your forehead’s hot.
Don’t know if you can, or not
Celebrate your birthday.”

Oskar Engen, feeling sick
Decided he’d get better quick
Because it was his birthday.

Didn’t want to be in bed
When he could eat cake instead
Because it was his birthday.

Oskar wondered what to do
If Mama thought he had the flu
Would he get his birthday?

Oskar ran to get a pail
Had a plan that would not fail
Had to save his birthday.

Filled it quickly up with ice
Stuck his head inside it twice
Gonna save that birthday.

“Mama, feel my forehead now.”

“Oh wonderful, no fevered brow.
Let’s go celebrate your birthday.”

That dear friends, is why he’s here
Feeling full of birthday cheer
Celebrating one more year.

Oskar -  Happy Birthday

Rough Week

We're off to a rough start this week. 

It started this weekend with Annika's triathlon - her first triathlon!

She did a great job except that she missed the second loop on her bike ride.  A race official suggested that we not saying anything to Annika and just let her have her day.  

Well, that was all well and good until the results were posted and Annika came in first.

So I sat Annika down and explained why we would need to pull her out of the race. Annika was very disappointed.

The next day she was climbing a tree and a branch broke, causing her to fall.  My dad guess-timated that she fell about 12 feet.  Luckily her injuries were nothing worse than scraped up arms, knees and back.

Meanwhile, she'd had a tick on her head that Dwight pulled off.  The site got infected and started to weep - which was not a pleasant thing to have happening on your scalp.  So we took her to the doctor and got her started on antibiotics for that.

When we got back, we picked up Kardynn, who'd been with friends, and discovered that she had a 102 degree temperature.  The next day Kiersten succumbed as well with her temperature spiking as high as 103.7 (under the arm).  It was obvious that Kiersten wasn't feeling good.

But as soon as the fever reducer would kick in for Kardynn, she was bounding around like usual.

So we spent the day hanging around the house.  I moved around furniture in the basement, helped Oskar make banana bread and canned some soup. Today my tummy feels a little topsy turvy but hopefully it doesn't amount to anything and everyone manages to stay healthy for the rest of the week!

LoCo Rain

I love storms...perhaps it's the photographer in me. I love the big, ominous clouds. I love the sound of the rain. Today was especially magical because you could see (and hear!) the storm coming, but it was still bright and sunny out.

 

The sun was still shining when it started raining.  Oskar made me chuckle when he said, "The plants must be very happy because they're getting everything they need right now - sunshine and water."

I tried to get a picture that would convey that it was actually a pretty heavy rain.

 

Kardynn's umbrella has seen better days.

I spotted lightning so told the kids it was time to come in.  The accompanying thunder made them happy to comply.

Kiersten was away for a play date so I grabbed my camera on our way to pick her up.

Check out the Loudoun County flood waters!