Homemade Bagels

Just a little food for thought before I get into the post:

One thing I am greatly thankful for at our new home is our curbside recycling pick-up. I can just take the recycling down, dump it in our recycling can, and put it along the curb on pick-up day...very convenient! Back in Peoria, we kept a huge bag in our hall closet, and when it was finally overflowing (yes, I usually always neglected it until it was bursting), we would haul it down to the car, drive to the recycling center, and sort it into the bins. This was especially cumbersome during the cold winter months. SO, I am so very thankful to not have to sort through anymore, nor drive to the recycling center! A blessing indeed!

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that our recycling can is consistently twice as full as our garbage can. Seeing the two side by side, I became aware just how many items we use that can be recycled and repurposed, thus reducing environmental waste, both in terms of new production and landfills. Just taking a little extra time to rinse out those cans and milk jugs, and throwing your newspaper in the recycling instead of the trash seems to be well worth it. Now, I do realize that going to the recycling center is more of a nuisance and probably deters many of you from recycling at all, but I just thought I'd throw a bug in your ear. Do what you will with this tidbit of information...that's my soapbox for the day.

Now onto the post: Homemade Bagels! There are a number of things I have been wanting to try homemade, bagels being one of them. Other items include: homemade laundry detergent and homemade yogurt (this one makes me a little nervous, but I'm bound and determined to give it a whirl at least once!). I'll post about it when I get around to making them.

A few days ago, my little helper and I decided to give the bagels a go, and the result was delicious! Following is our play-by-play:

Mixing the dough:



My happy helper:



After kneading it:



Letting them rise:



Boiling them, 1 minute per side:



Ready to bake:



The finished product, complete with a smear of cream cheese..YUM!

Kid Stuff

Today finds us well--we hope it finds you well too! We hope you're enjoying a day of worship and rest. It's a breezy 73 degrees here, which makes for a lovely Sunday afternoon.

We had a sonogram last week, and Baby #2 is growing nicely and is as active as can be! Though it's still too early for them to give us a definitive answer, we're pretty sure it's another BOY!! As the sonographer was moving around, measuring different body parts, I caught a couple of glimpses of something that looked an awful lot like Abe's sonograms, if you know what I mean :) Ryan saw it too, and we both smiled at each other. Finally, I asked, "Is it a boy?" And after she took a good look, she said, "Yes, I think you're right! But, I don't want to say so 100%, because it's still early. I'll tell you for sure when you come back at 20 weeks."

SO, we can stop deliberating over girl names (we were having a terrible time), and now, we have it narrowed down to 3 boy names. We thought we were set, but now there are 2 other names that are contending for #1. I guess we'll have to see. Anyway, we're so excited for Abe to have a baby brother! And, I think they look a lot alike....Ryan tells me I'm silly, because you can't really tell from a profile sonogram, but hey, I can imagine can't I?!?! You can decide for yourself:

Baby #2 at 13/14 weeks:




Abram at 18 weeks:





In other news, it seems like Abe is changing so rapidly, both in his verbal and physical skills. It's amazing how fast they grow! He loves to "draw"--currently, his three favorite animals to draw are 1. an "elfant", 2. a "dio-soo" (dinosaur), and 3. believe it or not, a "walrus"! It's fun to see him imagine and create. As his language develops, he cracks us up at different things he says. He tells Ryan fairly regularly that "Dada's shoes stink!", and he is also on a kick of saying "It's SOOO nummy!" whenever he eats something. Hey, it makes a cook feel good :)

I'll update in a few days about how Ryan is doing since school started. So far, so good, but we're only a week in!

White Coat Ceremony

This past week marked the beginning of Ryan's medical school career, starting with orientation Monday morning, a plethora of activities throughout the week, and ending with his White Coat Ceremony on Friday afternoon.

The ceremony is what you might call an inauguration of sorts, into the medical profession. I'll admit that I did get teary-eyed as Ryan donned his coat! I was so proud of him and so excited for this journey ahead of us. We listened as members of the faculty welcomed the students and greeted them as colleagues, that though they were but student doctors, they were part of the field and should wear their white coats with honor.

In groups of 8, the students went on stage and positioned themselves in front of a faculty member (all of whom are also M.D.'s). As their name was called, the doctor put the coat onto the student, then the students wore them as the left the stage. It was really special.

Here are some pictures from the ceremony:

I took this picture because Abe had so much fun clapping when everyone else did...it just tickled my funny bone, because he really had no clue why we were clapping, only that everyone else did!




Waiting to receive his coat:




Receiving his coat:




Our family after the ceremony:




Ry and his Dad:




This was taken while we were waiting outside afterward:




Ryan's parents and my parents came up to be a part of it, and it was SO good to see them! We really enjoyed playing the role of host and having them with us. We spent the rest of the evening on Friday in downtown Milwaukee (the ceremony had been downtown), and then Saturday, Ryan was able to give us a thorough tour of his school. We ended with lunch at a delicious cafe in the village area of Wauwatosa.

Today we're enjoying a day of worship and rest, and tomorrow Ryan starts classes. As quickly as Wednesday, he'll begin working on a cadaver in the anatomy lab, and his first round of exams are in 3 weeks. Ready or not, here we go!

Lastly, because my sister-in-law keeps telling me that I need to post a pregnant picture, since no one knows what I look like since I don't live nearby, here I am at 12.5 weeks:




And yes, to answer the common question, I am showing MUCH faster than I did with Abram! I guess those muscles have a memory! I did't have a pooch like this until after 20 weeks with Abe! Ryan assures me that it doesn't mean I'll get bigger, just bigger faster, that my actual size won't necessarily be larger than last time--I guess only time will tell!

That's all for now.

State Fair and More

After deliberating for quite some time about how to tell the following, I came up with nothin'. I wanted to do something creative and fun, but everything I could think of was either boring, took way too much time, or had been done before by numerous others. SO, due to lack of anything better, I'll just state it bluntly: I'm pregnant! We're so excited that Baby #2 is on board, due February 22, 2012. Our prayer is that the Lord will call this new baby out to live a radical, Jesus-loving life even from the womb. Though I don't think Abe really comprehends it all, he loves to give "baby" kisses on my tummy. 1st trimester is just about at a close, and I'm glad to bid it good riddance--it's been a little difficult with a 2-year-old and a transplant to a new state!

Anyway, on to the state fair. Thursday night, opening night, there was a mugging that took place. Apparently, a group of 30-50 young people started attacking fair-goers as they left late Thursday night. It was pretty violent, though no one lost their life. Some people ended up in the hospital with injuries (mostly police officers who intervened). Needless to say, I was a little hesitant to go on Friday (we had planned all along to go on Friday), but Ryan insisted it would be okay. The place was to be swarming with security, and new security measures had been put in to place to keep individuals without guardians out of the fair entirely. So, we jumped into the car and headed that way, with the understanding that we would leave while it was still light outside.

When we arrived, it seemed that the fair was certainly not hurting any from the event the night before; there were thousands of people in attendance, and I'm glad we were 3 of them! We had a wonderful time. There was so much to do, and had we been interested in the rides, there would have been even more! We watched a bear show, pig races, saw all sorts of livestock (which Abe LOVED, especially the dairy cows), and ate lots of [unfortunately] unhealthy and overpriced food. Here is a brief photo diary of our trip:

The WI fair is known for their cream puffs: as you wait in line to order, you can watch them being made, fresh each day. They are humongous and so yummy! I took quite a bit of the cream off of mine though.

Filling the cream puffs:




Ryan attacking his colossal cream puff:




More dairy! This was the highlight for all of us--the flavored milk! The line was ridiculously long, but it was worth it. At just 25 cents per cup, we tried all 5 flavors: banana, cherry-vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, and root beer. I was skeptical about the root beer, but it was quite tasty! The strawberry was our favorite. Abe with his 5 kinds of milk:




Watching the pig races-they asked all the children to jump and cheer to see if they would be chosen to be assigned a pig. If their pig won, they got a stuffed pig and a few other small prizes. Through 15 pigs, Abe cheered with all his might, waving his hands, clapping, stomping, jumping, and yelling out--it was so cute! I think all the other kids doing it must have helped Abe be comfortable enough to do it too. Alas, he wasn't picked, but, he still had fun and enjoyed watching the pigs run.




Abe loved the farm barn--playing in the corn (much cleaner than sand!):




The bear show:




Abe and Mommy in the tractor:




We also shared a pork chop sandwich, fried cheese curds (I LOVED these!), and a diet coke! It was such a fun time!

Lastly, we went to a picnic last night for the Physicians for the Arts. It was a bit awkward at first, since no one knew each other, but it turned out to be fun. Ryan got to know some of his classmates, Abe had a great time on the playground, and at the end of the night, we met a wonderful Christian couple whom I think might become a friendship for us! There was a sweet camaraderie and comfort with them. There's another picnic tomorrow night, so hopefully we can meet more people there.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Our New Home

Well, we've been unpacked and mostly "settled in" for exactly a week now. It feels pretty good! We're slowly figuring out how to navigate the area, sometimes without the use of our GPS!

Abram is doing better, though his sleep isn't entirely back to normal yet. We're hoping that will recover itself as time passes. He is, however, doing excellently on his potty training! That makes Mommy VERY happy!

Here are a few more pictures of our home:







I also thought it would be fun to include a list of thing I love about our new home and miss about our old, so here goes:


Things I Love:

1. I love that I can see my spices without standing on my tip-toes, because my kitchen cabinets hang lower.

2. I love having a garage to park in (though we are still learning to back out without having one of us guide the other...the garage is behind the house and our parking spot narrowly curves to the drive-way, so it's a bit of a challenge).

3. I love having my own washer and dryer!

4. I love that Abe has his very own space and that majority of his toys are confined to that area--we have reclaimed our living room!

5. I love having a park two blocks away.

6. I love having a downstairs storage room and enough upstairs cabinetry and closets for each thing to have a place.

7. I love that I don't have to go outside to get my mail! It goes through a cubby on the side of our front door and I access it from the entry way.

8. I love having sunlight come in on all 4 sides of our home (at our old place, only 1 of the 4 sides had windows).

9. I love having tile below Abe's dinner chair--makes for much easier clean up than carpet!

10. I love having a place where we can grill.

11. I love having a fireplace, fake as it may be. It sure looks pretty!

12. I love having a dishwasher that actually gets my dishes clean.

13. I love having a gas stove- personal preference, I suppose, but I really enjoy cooking with a gas-top.

14. I love my fridge with more shelving and adjustable shelving.

I feel like I'm forgetting things, but I suppose that's good for now!


Now for the things I miss:

1. I miss our family and friends being nearby.

2. I miss spacious streets without weird angles and turns.

3. I miss driving the interstate without stand-stills.

4. I miss my big walk-in closet.

5. I miss my big bathroom.

6. I miss our church.


The end! As you can see, the loves outweigh the misses, but that doesn't mean it's been a breeze. It's lonely sometimes, and probably even moreso once Ryan starts school-on Monday! It's hard to believe it's already here. Next week we have about 4 different picnics to go to, and looking at the attendee lists, it appears that there are other married students too, so I'm encouraged and excited!

Tomorrow we plan to go to the state fair--apparently it's a BIG deal here--one of the best ranked state fairs in the nation! I'm looking forward to getting some fried cheese curds (we are in the dairy state, after all) and showing Abe all the animals. Should be a fun outing and worthy of a post too, I hope.

Until next time.