Gluten-free pizza!

I decided I wanted to try to make a pizza for lunch, but with Noelle and me on gluten-free diets, this becomes slightly more difficult.  I had some pre-cooked polenta, though, so I thought, Hmmm... cornmeal crust?  I browsed the internet and found enough inspiration to experiment.  Sure, it wasn't Lou Malnati's, but I'd still like to label it a success.  I liked it, and both the girls ate it up.  So, here you go!

1 tube pre-cooked polenta (I used a garlic and basil kind)
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 Tbsp gluten-free flour (or regular flour if you don't have to be gf)
A jar of pizza sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Whatever toppings you like


This is quick and easy.  Ready?  Pre-heat the oven to 450.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or use a pizza stone, if you have it).  Slice the polenta and throw it into a food processor with the water, corn starch and flour.  Get it well mixed.  Flatten the mixture out on the cookie sheet; I'm guessing my crust was about 1/4-inch thick.  Put it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Pull out the crust, spread the sauce on it, add toppings and cheese.  Put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.  (I actually was going to have it in there for 25, but my cheese was getting pretty browned.)  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Slice and serve. 

Because it's polenta, the crust doesn't get super crispy, but it's also not disgustingly mushy.  I give it a big gluten-free two thumbs up! 

P.S. I just grabbed a cold sliver of our leftovers, and it's pretty darn good that way, too!

Loads of Fun

Erin was in town the past couple of days, and whenever Erin is in town, immense fun is to be had.  We got lots of play time with her and with the Barnett clan.  Yes, I'm currently paying for the expenditure of energy coupled with poor sleepers, but we had fun nonetheless. 

First, Celeste and Erin were awesome enough to watch Riley while Noelle had PT; then they watched both girls while I went in for another ultrasound (more on that in another post).  So, obvsiously, the girls had a blast of a morning, and Riley, apparently, was a crazy lady-- screaming "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and flailing/dancing around to her heart's content.  I realized that Clayton is quite possibly the perfect playmate for her-- full of energy, so he brings out her more exciting side, but not too touchy, so she's not intimidated by the remote possibility that she may be knocked over or (gasp!) have a hand laid on her. :)  Oh boy... these are things we need to overcome. 

After naps, we headed to Naperville and red mango.  Mmmmm, red mango!  I'm glad that that place isn't in downtown Wheaton because I would be in trouble.  Frozen yogurt for breakfast, lunch, a snack and dinner?  Yes, please!  Then we took a stroll to the carillon, ran up and down the hill, and Noelle-- with the help of Erin-- walked quite a bit. 

The next morning (which began, by the way, before 6:30 for BOTH girls), Erin came with us on our first adventure (of the year) to the Glen Ellyn splash park.  If your kids like getting splashed, the place is awesome.  Contained, clean, fun.  Our problem is that Riley doesn't particularly like to be splashed, and Noelle doesn't particularly like cold water.  So it started off a little dicey.

 

But after Noelle realized that sitting in Mommy's lap fixes everything, and Riley, well, just realized that we were at the splash park, and it's a fun place, things got better.

But wait!  That's not the end of our adventure!  After naps-- this time a little bit better than the day before-- we first had a dance party...

... then we headed to "Clayton's house" again to play in his pool.  As Celeste said, we moms try so hard to create fun for our kids, and sometimes we just fail.  This wasn't a total failure, but it, sadly, left Riley with some crazy welts of mosquito bites. 

And neither girl really wanted to play in the pool.  But Clayton, as always, was fun and hilarious: jumping around, landing on his tailbone without a second thought...  We love that guy. 

So today, needless to say, we're lying low... until I get a super-fun offer that I can't say "no"... or I just get stir-crazy. :)

Blast from the Past Short Story

This actually happened-- I don't know-- a month ago, but I was reminded of this hilarious conversation when, this morning, Riley was talking about her "wollipop." 

We were at Grandma and Papa's house, and Ben and Riley were sitting on the fireplace.  Ben wanted to get Riley's attention, so he looked at her and said, "Wi-wey?"  Riley turned around, and in a school marm-y way, corrected, "No, Ben.  It's not Wi-wey.  It's Wi-Yee."

Hide-and-Seek

The girls are currently playing hide-and-seek, a game that Cousin Ben taught Riley.  Riley really really likes to play hide-and-seek, with a few exceptions:

1. She is very timid, so she is a little nervous to be the "prey" in any game, so hiding is slightly intimidating.  Yesterday, when she was playing with Mike, and he was hiding, she was anxious looking for him, too.  Go figure.

2. The concept of "hiding" is lost on her.  As we were just starting up this game, she volunteered to hide, so Noelle had to count (translate: Mommy had to count).  Riley stood there and watched Noelle while I counted to 10, twice, pausing every now and then to gently remind Riley that now would probably be a great time to hide.  Finally, Noelle just started following Riley-girl.  Riley ran into her room and exclaimed, "Okay, Noelle!  I'm hiding in here!"  When Noelle found her, she then informed Noelle, "Okay, now I'm going to go hide in your room!" 

Holy cow, I love these girls!

dark though it is

I've been very thankful this past week.  It wasn't our greatest week, to date, which is why I am so grateful for God's provision.  We had those big ol' storms on Tuesday night, which knocked our power out at 9:30 pm.  Mike had to leave the house to go out of town in the morning, at something like 4 am.  Yuck.  I won't dwell on the next few days but only say that the girls didn't sleep all that well, both during naps and over night.  And the power was out for 40 hours, so there was no getting in the fridge.  Things were a little dicey for the three days Mike was gone, and here's why I'm so very thankful: although I was absurdly exhausted, God gave me strength and patience that I most definitely did not have on my own.  I actually felt at peace. 

Once the power went back on, and as I thought about it, not having electricity isn't actually that big of a deal.  It wasn't super hot, and we don't have TV anyway.  Plus, I have a headlamp to read by.  But I'll tell ya, it FELT like a big deal.  Maybe it was just the knowledge that I was on my own and that this was one more thing, but I felt an incredible flood of relief when those lights flickered back on. 

I'm also so thankful for the beyond-amazing friends that God has given me.  On Thursday night, Becky and Seth (Gracie's mommy and daddy) offered to watch the girls for a few hours to give me a few hours alone during which I could restore my sanity.  This, to me, is beyond generous and still almost brings me to tears.  Just a few hours to regroup allowed me to love my girls more.  For this, I will always be grateful. 

So all this reminds me of a poem I first saw in one of Anne Lamott's books.  It's by W.S. Merwin, and it's called "Thanks".

Listen 
with the night falling we are saying thank you 
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings 
we are running out of the glass rooms 
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky 
and say thank you 
we are standing by the water thanking it 
smiling by the windows looking out 
in our directions 

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging 
after funerals we are saying thank you 
after the news of the dead 
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you 
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators 
remembering wars and the police at the door 
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you 
in the banks we are saying thank you 
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us 
our lost feelings we are saying thank you 
with the forests falling faster than the minutes 
of our lives we are saying thank you 
with the words going out like cells of a brain 
with the cities growing over us 
we are saying thank you faster and faster 
with nobody listening we are saying thank you 
we are saying thank you and waving 
dark though it is

So, yes, it's probably mostly an environmental and anti-war poem (both good things in themselves), but it can't be ignored that there must be a definite recipient of the thanks.  And sure, Merwin did actually move to Hawaii in order to study with a Zen Buddhist master, so we probably don't think along the exact same Creator lines.  But I can't help but be captivated by the realism, simplicity, and unstoppable momentum of the poem.  Plus, I may even claim it as one of my favorites, if only for the last few lines.  For some reason, when I read them, I've always pictured a little girl, standing on a balcony in the middle of dark night, standing on her tiptoes and stretching her hand as high as she can reach in order to wave to the One and Only God, who, though she can't see it, smiles back.  

It’s beautiful.

 

A Few More

Here are a few more pics from Fathers' Day weekend, courtesy of Grandma!

 Noelle: "What?  Haven't you taken enough pictures of me?"

 This one cracks me up.  Riley, two heads, and where's Ben?? :)

 

Loungin'

Cheezy face!!

Water Wings, Weddings and Walking Girls

I would have posted this earlier, but we lost power for 40 hours this week.  Ugh.  So here's an update from last weekend!

We had an enormously huge and, overall, awesome weekend.  It began with an early Fathers' Day celebration.  We went up to Arlington Heights, where Mike's extended family gathered.  I have to take a moment to say just how cool it is that his cousins have lived near him almost his entire life.  Only recently have people begun to move off and spread out.  But coming from a family where we would see our cousins and grandparents only a few times a year, this phenomenon has always been really fun to me.  So we met up for brunch and hang out time before the guys left for their annual golf outing.  Sadly, they didn't get to hit Abbey Springs this year, but they did still get to spend time together.  Before they left, however, I got these gems of the kids with Uncle Dan. :)

 

Then Papa got in on the action, looking out the window with Noelle.

 

Riley wasn't in a photo-happy mood, but I could have died at the cuteness of these Noelle and Daddy shots...

Now that I'm looking through the pics again, Noelle was a photo shoot CHAMPION!!

Biker extraordinaire...

As I said before, the boys went golfing, and after naps, the ladies (and Ben) went to Great-Aunt Nancy's place for a pool party!!  If you know Riley, you know that she's not the most adventurous kid in the world.  But Aunt Nancy had water wings, so we suited Riley up.  I didn't expect much, though.  I was, ridiculously and happily, very wrong!  Check out my brave girl, swimming by herself.  She did this for a LONG TIME, too!

Aunt Sam is a great favorite with the kiddos, clearly. :)

Noelle demanded a ride in the innertube, and let me tell you, this was a great set-up for both of us.  She kept me warm (and decent, ha!), and she enjoyed lounging.

But they didn't only have a pool at the Seiferts'; they had a ball pit, too!  Look at these next two...

Monkey see...

 Monkey do!

Now, on Sunday, we had the wedding of our friends, Chad and Kelley.  Sarah and Jeff volunteered to watch our kids for the wedding.  Now remember, Sarah and Jeff have two of their own (and one on the way), so we may be eternally in their debt. :)  On the way from the wedding to the reception, I got a text from Sarah, informing me that Noelle had WALKED!!  Apparently, she didn't want Riley to show her up with her swimming abilities, so this was her play for attention.  Of course, I didn't get to witness the first real walk (up to this point, her max number of steps had been two), but Sarah caught one of her walking stints on video.  Sorry it's sideways... I'm not sure how to adjust that.

Now admit it-- that's one of the cutest things you've ever seen, right?  And for good measure, here's Noelle standing, too.  She's been doing this for a while, but it's still worth a pic.

If you've read half of this, nice work!  It got a little sloppy there near the end, but I have been in process for about a week, and sometimes you just have to know when to cut it short.  So there you go!  Now, onto this weekend (and perhaps some more pictures from last weekend that Mom Green got).

Whooooo!

I have a monster post coming about last weekend, but to tide you over until that's finished, here's my favorite picture of the moment. :)

The girls recently found this part of Riley's Halloween costume and have been wearing it, off-and-on.  Noelle decided she wanted to wear it while she was also sporting her helmet.  I laugh every time I look at this!

Really Random Things

I'm not going to call this an advice post because, first of all, I know that every family and every kid is different, so any parenting "advice" that is ever given or gotten may or may not work, depending on the child.  Second, I like to quote my Granny, who once stated, "I've never taken any advice, and I'm not about to give any..."  

So these are random things (and I truly mean random) that have worked in this household for the past two years.

1. If you use fresh herbs when cooking, buy a basil and rosemary plant.  I use basil A LOT, mostly because I make lots of wraps for lunch, and I like to toss basil in almost all of them.  It can add up if you keep going to the store and buying pre-packaged basil, but I got my plant at Trader Joe's for $2.69, and it regenerates at a crazy rate.  Plus, I feel super cool using fresh basil from my, er, garden.  I don't use rosemary as much, but for the few recipes I do use it in, it's worth it and also grows back fast.

2. When going grocery or Target shopping with your children, it can be dangerous to set the you-can-walk-and-not-ride-in-the-cart precedent.  Mike and I learned this one weekend, about a year ago.  I had pretty much always kept Riley in the cart when we went out, but it was the weekend, Daddy was there, and we had a one-to-one ratio thing going.  Roughly 75% of the way through the outing, Riley was getting kind of unruly (or something... I don't quite recall), and we tried putting her back in the cart.  I'll spare you the details, but the event ended with Mike carrying Riley out, football-style, while she shrieked like he was ripping her eyebrow hairs out,  one by one.  The next few trips out during the week were a little bit of a battle, but Riley eventually readjusted to the fun that is riding in a shopping cart.  But I really shouldn't gloss that last part over.  Again, this may be just the Riley-Heather dynamic, but I've found that in many situations, we have to go a few battle rounds, but if I hold firm, things get WAY easier in the long run.

3. Grooveshark is amazing, and I can't get enough.  If you're a stay-at-home mom, and you have a computer that's close enough to your play area, I've found music makes my life roughly 80 times better.  We have music on throughout most of our day.  I have a Disney, Muppets and VeggieTales playlist, and I even have a Mommy mix that I can occasionally sneak in.  Music provides some backdrop to my conversations that usually go like this...

Riley: So... what'd you do today?

Me: Well, not much yet.  I woke up, got you and Noelle breakfast, read some books with you...

Noelle: Yeah!

Me: What did you do today?

Riley: I woked up, played with toys...

Me: Cool. 

(Silence)

Riley: So... what'd you do today?

And music also often brings on spontaneous dance parties.

4. Use the library.  Yes, as I recently mentioned, I have been a library-avoider up to this point, but it’s a great rainy or winter day outing.  See that post for more details.

5. When moving your little man or lady from a crib to a toddler bed, try to convince him/her that he/she still cannot get out of bed without your help.  This one will probably work for only maybe 50% of the people who try it, be warned.  It worked for Riley, though.  When we first transferred her, we still picked her up to get her out of bed.  We never really had a problem with her getting out of bed in the middle of the night or during naptime.  (That came later.)

6. Do not ever turn down free Starbucks.

7. The crockpot is an amazing device, and whoever invented deserves a big smooch on the lips.  Here’s a recipe Celeste gave me that I made yesterday.  THREE ingredients, and it’s awesome:

Put pork tenderloin in the crockpot.  Cover with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce.  Dump can of either apple pie filling or chopped pineapple (partially drained).  Cook for 4 hours on high. 

8. If you have kids and a shedding dog, your house will never be clean.  It will have toys and indescribable amounts of hair strewn everywhere.  There’s nothing you can do about this.  Fight the guilt.  I often lose the fight, but I still try.

9. Get yourself a ginormous Rubbermaid container to “hide” toys in. Sure, it’s still painfully obvious that you have too much stuff, but at least it’s all in one place.  And besides, when you dump every single toy out, you can have this kind of fun, too.

10. Buy Simply juices.  Oh man, we love Simply Apple Juice and Simply Lemonade.  The girls only drink apple juice that’s about 50% water, 50% juice, but Simply is so good that they don’t mind in the least.  I like using the lemonade to make Passion Tea lemonade, a la Starbucks. 

11. It’s okay to not like numbers that end in 5 or 0.  That’s totally normal.  Top Ten lists are way overrated.

Zoo Antics

We love Cosley Zoo.  It's absolutely perfect for the current Green girl stage of life.  It's small enough that Riley can walk around the whole thing a few times without getting tired.  And the animals are close enough that the girls occasionally get to pet the goats and even the horse.  Yesterday, Riley was cracking me up.  I mean, the girl was on a roll.  Here were her top comments of the day...

First, we made it over to the snakes, which Riley-girl loves.  She danced around a little in her excitement about the snake; then she stood and stared at it for a little while.  Eventually, she cocked her head and said, "Hey, Snake!  So... what'd you do today?"  This is Riley's go-to conversation starter.  Sadly, Snake wasn't feeling very talkative yesterday.

Second, Riley was leading the way through the area where you can see the foxes, raccoon, deer and peacocks.  She walked on ahead of me and exclaimed, "Oh!"  I asked, "Is someone there?" then moved a few steps closer and added, "It's the peacock!"  Riley looked at me and answered, "No.  It's just Kevin."  Perhaps she's a little too attune to Pixar characters.*

Last, we were nearing the end of our outing, so I asked Riley if there were any other animals she wanted to see again.  She contemplated for a moment, then exclaimed, "Let's see the pigs!  Tha's what I'm talking 'bout!"  Where she comes up with these things, I don't know.  But I love it. 

Blog Background ADD

To anyone (if there is anyone) who reads my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I am a frequent background changer.  I just can't help myself; there are so many great-- and FREE!-- backgrounds out there!  But I want you to rest in the fact that I think the current one really fits us, right now, so it will be up for at least a week or so, I think! ;)

In more exciting news, here's a Noelle update for you all.

Nicknames: Well-well, Destructo, Baby Godzilla, Peanut

Favorite words: Yeah! (said with great enthusiasm), Uh-oh, Baby, Bunny, Diap-y, Thank you, Hi

Favorite pastimes: Dismantling anything and everything she can get her hands on.  Yesterday, she took apart a Lego castle while saying, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" over and over again.  Reading.  "Spelunking" or climbing in between the panes of our glass table.  Standing.  Supported walking.  Going to Trader Joe's, so she can get a lollipop after Riley finds the monkey.  Standing at our screen door and screaming joyfully at any passersby, dogs, birds, etc.

Favorite foods: Gerber Yogurt Melts, string cheese (she prefers to eat it with a fork), cheese puffs, bananas, soynut butter and honey sandwiches

Friends: Gracie, Clayton, Aubrey, Robbie, Ellie, Maddie

 

Cuteness Level: Off the charts

How I Became a Library Champion

It's true that I have a few quirks.  But I think it's also true that Mike would tell you that these quirks are simply delightful.  At least he would if he knew what was good for him.  With that said, one of my not-so-endearing quirks would be the fact that I have been, for most of my life, been... uh... afraid of libraries.  Well, fear is a little too strong.  It's not like a go into convulsions and get tightening in the chest or anything.  It's that the books are just so gross.  I do have a tendency toward OCD, and nowhere does that become more apparent to me than in the library.  The feel of library book pages are almost enough to make me gag.  My skin's crawling, just thinking about it.  Does anyone else feel this way?  I think it's that I have no idea how many people with questionable hygiene, and perhaps one or two communicable diseases, have handled the book.  So I steer clear.

But I realized two things rather recently.  First, the girls LOVE going on outings to the library.  They like pulling new books out to read, playing with the puzzles, bouncing on the oversized stuffed book, and checking out DVDs and music.  And for me, it's a really easy time.  The big room at the WPL is open enough to allow the girls some freedom, but contained enough to easily monitor them.  Second, now that we don't have cable or even basic channels, the library is a super-cheap option for TV shows and movies.  Mike and I are currently working our way through "Alias", and I occasionally pick up a season of 30 Rock or something like that.

So now, I can proudly say that the Green girls are regular frequenters of the Wheaton Public Library.  We've rented tons of DVDs, music to keep Mommy from going insane with the same Veggietales CD going on repeat, and we have even checked out children's books... TWICE!

I have yet to check out a book for myself, though.  Yuck.

UPDATE: I went to the library last night to get our next disk of "Alias", and I picked up a book!  Literally, that's all I did-- picked it up and read the back-- but this is pretty big for me.  Big pat on the back for Heather.

Sisters?

I've been told by quite a few people that Riley and Noelle are looking more and more like sisters.  I don't think I'm very good at discerning those things (at least, for some reason, in my own girls), so I'll let you decide for yourself.  Drumroll, please....
On the top, Riley.  On the bottom, Noelle.  There's a pic from 6 months (can you believe I found decent pictures of them, wearing the same dress?!), 12 months, 15 months and 18 months.  You have to click the pic to see the whole thing.  What do you think?

Babies

There really aren't words to describe how much Riley loves babies, and especially beautiful, super-happy babies like Aubrey.  Maybe a few pictures will suffice in place of words.

 This is how Riley spent the first half hour of watching Aubrey.  She couldn't bear to put her down.

 Yes, Noelle is a tennis ball.  The girls found this Halloween costume a few days ago, and one of them has been wearing it ever since.

Bow casualty.  That's just one of the consequences of being so unbelievably cute.