Sunday Dinner Mexican Fiesta: Matt's Birthday Celebration, Part Two

This is not the post where I make up for the last one that had no pictures of people.  This one doesn't have any people either.  Again, my only excuse is that I was preoccupied with making dinner.  But I will make up for both of these people-less birthday posts soon.

On Sunday I decided to have a Mexican fiesta birthday dinner for Matt.  I usually do some kind of big birthday dinner but I didn't let him choose this time.  Matt doesn't have a favorite meal.  He has things that he really likes and some things that he loves, but it's hard to pin him down on what his very favorite thing is.  I think the closest thing he has to a favorite meal are these burritos I make, which I named Matt's Favorite Burritos.  If I had asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner he would have probably chosen those, but we had them not too long ago and I wanted to try something else.  So I didn't ask him what he wanted this year.

 We started with a few decorations to jazz the place up and make it look a bit more festive.

 Audrey and Truman especially are big fans of these.  They think they are pretty neat and I kind of like the color they add to our undecorated house.  I've really got to get crackin' on that.  Or maybe I'll just leave these up and count them as my decorations.

 I also chose bright paper products for easy clean-up since I knew the dishwasher would be full of pots, pans, baking sheets, bowls, and lots of other cooking utensils.

 We kept our celebration small and had Matt's mom come to dinner with our little family.  We had Sour Cream Enchiladas, a Homesick Texan recipe I've been wanting to try.  Matt and I had the greatest sour cream enchiladas at Chuy's on Westheimer in Houston and miss them.  These were great!  I almost think they are better as leftovers than fresh.

 I rounded out the meal by making a salsa that was supposed to be like Pappasito's, but wasn't; a creamy tomatillo and avocado dip that I got from Marci's blog and which was wonderful (Audrey loved it!); spanish rice (from a bag); and Garlic Black Beans which were also yummy and also from Marci's blog.

For dessert we had some chocolate chip brownies since we were doing birthday cake the next night.

And the celebrating continues!

Saturday Morning Kolaches: Matt's Birthday Celebration, Part One

For his birthday this year, Matt only asked for one thing.

Kolaches.

If you do not know what I'm talking about or have never had the good fortune of enjoying a warm, fresh kolache, let me explain.

In the golden triangle of Texas, that area in and around Fort Worth/Dallas to Houston to Austin, there are a large number of towns settled by Czechs.  When they settled in the promised land, they brought with them their delicious recipes for kolaches.  Kolaches are Czech pastries that are usually filled with fruit or cheese.  They are made of a soft, slightly sweet yeast dough and have sweet fillings.  If you make it to that part of the country it would behoove you to find a bakery that sells them and buy and eat as many as you can.

I first had kolaches in high school.  The mother of a girl I worked with at AMC worked at a kolache bakery and would bring us the leftovers at night when they closed.  They were delicious and quick to disappear. 

After I left for college I didn't have them again until Matt and I moved to Houston.  Kolaches are more easily found down there than they are in DFW and there is a chain of Kolache Factory bakeries all over the place, although I did not particularly care for their kolaches.  You can even find them at Shipley Do-Nuts.  We started eating them and I quickly remembered my love for them and Matt quickly became a fan.  We both became quite particular to the sausage variety, which I had never had, and which are technically klobasniks and not kolaches at all.  But as I am not a Czech Texan I will refer to them as sausage kolaches and beg forgiveness from the purists out there. 

Kolaches are almost as common as doughnuts in Houston.  Whenever there was any type of morning meeting/seminar/gathering where food was offered, you can bet there would be kolaches.  When I had my department chair meetings before school each month, my principal always had a box of sausage kolaches and a box of doughnuts on the table for us.  When our apartment complex had a morning social, we were always treated to sausage kolaches and doughnuts.  When Matt had a morning meeting at Law School they enjoyed the same breakfast.  When we were moving out of our apartment to come to Washington, our helpers were given all the kolaches and doughnuts they could eat.  And for good reason. 

Kolaches are not a typical breakfast pastry.  They are better. 

Since leaving Houston we have missed a lot of delicious food, and kolaches were/are high on our list.  We have often talked about how rich we would become if we opened a Mission Burritos, Pappasitos, Chick-fil-A, and a good doughnut and kolache bakery up here.

So the only thing Matt requested for his birthday year was for me to make some kolaches.

Not long after we moved up here I was looking online for either kolaches or pimento cheese, both of which you can't get up here, and found the Homesick Texan blog, which I love, since I too am a homesick Texan.  I found recipes for both things and promptly copied them into a Word document and saved them.  Then, two or three years ago I bought a cookbook, America's Best Lost Recipes, and that too contained a kolache recipe.  But I was nervous that if I tried to make them they wouldn't turn out.  So I never tried.

Until Saturday.

Saturday morning I got up at 7:00 as soon as Matt left for basketball and started baking.  Most of the recipes I looked at, including my Homesick Texan one, consist of a dough that requires three risings.  So I had my work cut out for me.  After two and a half hours I put my kolaches in the oven and crossed my fingers.

 These are the sausage kolaches just waiting to be baked.

 After a somewhat extensive amount of research I finally chose these sausages for my kolaches.  I think that Shipley's uses Eckrich Smok-Y Breakfast Sausage links or something very similar.  They are not like a typical breakfast sausage either in taste or size.  They are a bit longer than a typical sausage and maybe a tiny bit thinner and have a flavor that is actually quite similar to the Johnsonville sausages I ended up using.  I had them at home last summer and searched all of the stores here, the Internet, and even Amazon to see if I could get them.  But I can't, so I read a bunch of reviews of recipes and found that a lot of people like these Johnsonville sausages, split in half.  So I decided to try them.  I also put some jalepenos into some of them.

 My finished kolaches looked just right and smelled divine.

 This is the dough for the sweet kolaches.  After the third rising you punch down the center to hold the filling.

 And here they are filled with sweet cream cheese, raspberry jam, Matt's grandma's homemade apricot-raspberry jam, and with cream cheese and jam.

 When I pulled them out of the oven they looked exactly right.

Then we tasted them.  Three hours of work.

And it paid off!  They were delicious!  They were almost exactly the way we remembered them and I am so pleased with how well they turned out.  I had two other recipes to try if this one wasn't right, but it was great!  I may still try the other recipes, just to compare, but I don't feel like I have to.

For the first time in almost five years we enjoyed some kolaches.  (Don't ask me why we never get them when we go home to Texas.  There is actually a kolache bakery pretty close to my parents' house but we never seem to make it there.  I think we just associate them so closely with Houston that it doesn't occur to us.)  I was happy that my kids got to try them too and that they both liked them.  I sometimes worry that they are growing up too far removed from my upbringing and their southern roots, if that makes sense.

Matt got the one thing he wanted for his birthday.  And now I'm thinking I might have to make them for our ward Easter brunch in a couple of weeks.

But a kolache breakfast, as monumental as that was, wasn't all we had planned for our boy.

P.S.  I realize that there are no pictures of this day with any people in them.  I was so intent and worried about the kolaches turning out that I didn't take any.  Not the greatest planning when it's for your husband's birthday, I know.  I will make up for it in a later post.  Sorry Sweetie.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Happy Birthday to the greatest guy!

From your biggest fans!

And the luckiest girl!

Who also happens to be one of your biggest fans.

First Signs of Spring

After a very long winter we are finally starting to see some real signs of spring around here.  There have been crocuses for some time now and the daffodils started blooming awhile back, but it isn't spring to me until the trees start turning pink.  And turning pink they are.

 These are so pretty and are all over the place.  It's even been warm the past few days, up in the high 50's and low 60's, although we have had some rain.

 I took these pictures earlier this week.  I also took the one I'm using as my blog header.  I'm particularly pleased with that one.

 I'm adding these pictures in a little later and now I can't remember which was the header.  I think it was this one though.

I love these trees.  They really say spring to me like nothing else.

Well, maybe nothing except my itchy, watery eyes and itchy nose and throat.  Yes, with spring comes hay fever in all its glory.  I am excited to try Allegra this year since I seem to have built up a tolerance for Claritin and it offers no relief anymore.

But still, yay spring!

Alarm Clock

This is probably a weird topic for a post, but in my opinion we had another milestone at our house this week.  I mentioned last week that I bought a new alarm clock because mine quit working.  The clock and radio portions of my old clock radio worked fine.  It was just the pesky alarm part that quit on me.  I think it died sometime late last winter or spring.  It wasn't much of an inconvenience because the kids usually wake me up earlier than I need to be and if there was an occasion when I needed an alarm I made Matt set his and wake me up.  He didn't necessarily love the arrangement, although he never complained, but since I didn't use it all that often I never thought to put a new one on my shopping list.

Last week I finally remembered and bought a new alarm clock.  But I believe my old one deserves a moment of pause before it becomes part of a landfill somewhere.

 I can't remember exactly when I got this clock radio, but it was either in third or fourth grade.  I know I had it in fourth grade because my friend Kelli H. was excited to show me she got a white one with a light that was similar to mine.  I think I was proabably nine because it would have been after my sister Kelly got married and Peggy and I got our own rooms.  It must have been in 1987.  So that means I've had this thing for about 24 years.  That's pretty impressive. 

You can see from the above picture that my clock radio had a lot of functions.  It was a clock, radio, alarm, had a lock for the time so you didn't accidently change it in the morning when you were fumbling for the snooze button, and had a light.  I thought that light was the coolest thing.

 It even came with a replacement bulb which I never had to use.  The original is still going strong, even if it is a bit dusty.

 When I got this alarm it was this nice white color.  You might be able to see in the top picture that it turned kind of a yellow color over the decades, I think from the sun since the bottom is still the original color.

But it was a good clock, radio, and alarm.  For 24 years it was usually the last thing I saw at night and the first thing I looked for when I woke up.  From the time I got it until about the time I got married I had it placed across the room from my bed.  This was so I would have to get out of bed to turn it off.  I can't begin to count the number of times I got up, turned it off, and went back to bed with no memory of that ever happening.  Then when I was teaching I hardly ever used it.  I'd set it every night but would usually wake up a minute or two early and turn it off and get ready for school.  I was super paranoid about getting up late and having to call the school and have someone cover my first class because I overslept.  Luckily, that never happened.

So last week I bought this little guy.  Have you looked at alarms lately?  I don't think they had a single clock radio at either of the two stores where I looked for one.  They had some fancy ones where you could plug in your MP3 player.  Like I would ever do that.  I finally settled on this one.  It only has two functions: clock and alarm.  No radio I could rely on during a snowstorm to see if school is cancelled when the cable is out.  No handy dandy light.  It's just a clock and an alarm.  But I suppose it will have to do. 

It's weird to think that if I'm lucky I might be replacing this one 24 years from now when I'm 57. 

I wonder where I'll be and what I'll be doing then?

Truman's First Haircut

Truman hit another milestone this week.  On Tuesday night, at 16 months and 2 weeks old, he got his very first haircut.  I think it's interesting that Audrey got her first haircut when she was 14 months and 1 day old.  When I look at those pictures though, it is amazing how much hair she had compared to Truman.  You can click here to see the post about Audrey's first cut.

When Matt first started talking about cutting Truman's hair it made me a little sad.  He would look like such a big boy with a new haircut.  He wouldn't look like a baby anymore.  But even though it made me sad, I knew it was time so we started trying to plan a time when it could be done.  Without fail, every night Matt was home something always seemed to come up that forced us to postpone the haircutting plans.  So we waited, and waited, and waited.  By the time Tuesday rolled around and Matt was home, nothing was going on, dinner was on time, and Truman didn't rub food all over his head, any lingering nostalgia I might have felt before was gone.  I was ready for Truman's hair to be cut too.

After dinner we went upstairs and Matt got Truman ready.  I know a lot of moms cut their children's hair, but I am not one of those moms.  If it was left to me either Nadine or a barber would be giving Truman his first haircut and every subsequent one.  But Matt felt like it was something he could do so I let him.  Besides, I figure that he's a boy so he's had a lifetime of haircuts to observe.  Matt stripped Truman down to his diaper and set him on the counter in the bathroom.  Truman immediately slid down into the sink and we let him stay there.  I think that worked even better because it kept him somewhat confined and kept the hair off the floor.

He's a handy little fellow and kept grabbing things and moving all around.

 Matt started by using clippers on the back and sides.  That was where his longish hair was most noticeable.  His hair was flipping over his ears and the back had gotten really long.  It wasn't long like long hair long.  It stopped at the nape of his neck and he had no hint of a mullet.  But if you pulled it up you could see how long it really was.  Neither of my kids ever really lost their hair so Truman had some really long hair on top of his head near the back too.  It wasn't too noticeable since his hair is fine and lays down flat, but it was nice to get that trimmed up too.

 Once the back and sides were trimmed it was time for a bath.  He already looked so different and Matt wasn't done yet!

 This is how much came off the back and sides.

 After Truman's bath Matt took scissors to the top.  You can get an idea of how long it was from these pictures.

 Of course, before the cutting began I took a pair of scissors to Truman's head and got a nice lock of his hair that is now tucked in a labeled envelope with his baby book.

 Finally, it was done.  My baby has a big boy haircut.  He wasn't being cooperative with the camera so these are the best pictures I could get of his new do.

When Audrey saw his final haircut she exclaimed, "He's bald!"  It was pretty funny.  Of course he's not bald, but his hair is quite a bit shorter than it was.  When we were talking about cutting his hair Audrey kept telling us not to because she liked Truman to have long hair.  She's a funny big sister.

He does look more grown up and like a little boy instead of a baby.  But he's still my baby and he's still my Little Handsome.

Audrey's Rock Collection

I don't consider myself a collector of anything in particular, but when I was a kid I remember having a few collections.  I had older sisters who collected things like the little spoons you can buy at tourist attractions when you're on a trip and thimbles you find at the same places.  I think I decided at one point that I would collect plates.  I got a couple from different vacation spots and then abandoned my collection.  My heart wasn't in it.

I know at some point I had a rock collection, but it was mainly river rocks I picked up from my friend Stephanie's driveway that only looked pretty when they were wet.  I did collect glasses.  I got them from places like McDonald's and Hardees and my parents still have them in a box at their house.  I can't remember exactly what I have, but I know I have collections of glasses with Alvin and the Chipmunks, Smurfs, and Garfield.  I'm sure that looking at those glasses would take anyone near my age on a trip down 1980's pop culture memory lane.  For the longest time those glasses graced the top of the armoire my dad built for me.  But eventually I gave up that collection too and packed the glasses up in a box where they have remained.

I mention all of this because Audrey has her very first collection--rocks.  She started this more than a year ago and at first I thought it was some random idea she saw on TV or something and that it would quickly pass.  But she kept collecting and she kept talking about her collection.  Then she started talking about needing a shoebox for her collection.  Towards the end of last summer I finally gave her one and that made her happy.  After a very short while she began talking about how she needed to decorate the shoebox for her collection.  I have to admire the girl.  She decided on her own that she was going to start a rock collection and she has stuck with it.  I love that it is always on her mind and she is always on the lookout for a new rock, or five, to add to her collection.

I really love the way she says collection.  It's kind of like, "co-wection."

Anyway, this past Monday I finally gave in and we allowed her to decorate her shoebox for FHE.  It's not that I didn't want her to have a fancy box.  I don't know where she got the idea but it makes sense that she would want something nicer than the Circo shoebox her brown shoes came in.  But I have an aversion to all crafts, not just the ones that I fail at when attempting.  I just don't like the mess.  Whenever Audrey mentions doing a craft, which she mentions all the time, I change the subject or say maybe later or ask if she wants to color.  Coloring is about the extent of what I can handle.  But Audrey loves to cut, glue, paint, and be creative (which surprisingly, I used to love too), so for her box we took a trip to Wal Mart and spent an obscene amount of money buying pretty things. 

 The first thing we did was cover the box with white paper.  I had to buy a really large sketch pad to get paper that would be big enough to adequately cover the box.  I miss the days when I had access to butcher paper.  Someday I'm going to have rolls of butcher paper in my house.  Because you never know when it's going to come in handy.

Audrey was very intent on her decorating.  We bought some Crayola no-drip painting pens, that to my untrained eye, seem to be nothing more than markers with longer, pointier, more flexible tips.  I'm actually kind of glad they aren't actual paint pens like I thought they were because these are easier and washable and I can handle letting her use them on her own.

She carefully painted the entire lid and then Matt and I helped her put foam letters on the top.  She wanted it to say, "Audrey's Rock Collection," so that's what she got.

By the time she finished the lid it was pretty late so I convinced her to clean up and promised we could work on it Tuesday when Truman was napping.

 So when Tuesday rolled around and I was ready for both kids to be in their rooms so I could rest, I was reminded that we had to finish the box.  This time, Audrey was less careful with painting the main part of her box.  She was very excited to find spots for the glittery, princess themed foam shapes, jeweled butterflies, and fluffy pom poms.

 When she finished she was quite proud of her work.

 I think she did a pretty good job.  The only things Matt and I helped with were spelling and peeling some of the backs off the foam stickers.  The rest was all Audrey.

 If you look closely you can see that the two frogs have butterflies in their tummies and another one between them, just waiting to become lunch.

 Here is a shot of her box with the rocks inside.  Some of the rocks are pretty cool and some are just what you can find everywhere here.  Some aren't rocks at all but are just plastic jewels.  But she loves them and that's what counts.  We love her too.

 So, after our FHE craft we had some of Grammy's birthday cake for dessert.  She ordered herself a green, green, GREEN cake with shamrocks on it and we didn't get to have any on Sunday night because we had to leave so Matt could make it back to church for a meeting.

 Did I mention that the cake was really green?  Audrey loved all of it but the raspberry filling. 

 I realize that I am doing this post backwards.  Sorry.  Monday morning Misty, Tyler, and Dallin came over for a playdate and lunch.  It was so nice!  We hardly ever see them anymore and had been ages since we'd gotten together.  Audrey and Tyler played Candy Land all by themselves, by the rules.  Tyler is a real stickler for the rules so Audrey couldn't get anything past him and ended up learning the rules better than when she plays with us.  I love that they are big enough to play a board game all by themselves.  But I sometimes wonder where those little babies went.

 And who replaced them with these big kids who know so much?

 While I was busy taking pictures the two little boys climbed up on Misty's lap and looked at a book with her.  It was so cute.

I hope Truman and Dallin are good friends when they get older.  They are really funny together now.  One example, when Dallin is displeased he does a grunt/yell thing kind of like what Truman does when he is displeased.  But Dallin is a bit louder and Truman has never encountered anyone else's grunt/yell.  So the first time Dallin did it, Truman looked at me, ran over, and started crying.  He climbed up in my lap and wouldn't get down for awhile.  He's kind of a sensitive boy.  But it was really funny and I'm glad he got a taste of his own medicine.  By the time they left he was used to hearing Dallin so it didn't bother him anymore.  But they are so cute together.

We all had lunch together and then Misty had to go so we could all put kids down for naps.  I'm so glad we had a chance to get together and catch up.  We don't live that far, but sometimes it seems like we do. 

Life sure does get busy.