I’ve always been very careful when it comes to agreeing with people that say that being a parent changes everything because I don’t believe it changes everything. (I’m actually kinda slow to agree with anything people say about being a parent other than the fact they grow up too fast.) With that said, I thought this comic by Grant Snider gave a great perspective.

You can see the rest of the comic by Grant Snider titled A Year In Parenting here.

Every parent thinks their baby is the next Einstein, but I really think we’re on to something here…

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Sign hanging in Einstein’s office at Princeton)

One of the unintended consequences of the new furnace is that the basement is warmer and drier during the winter months due to some slight changes in the duct work. From a home improvement view point, this is great. From a potato storage stand point, it took a marginal spot for potato storage and turned into a poor spot – ideal potato storage aims for 40 degrees and 95 percent relative humidity. The basement was never close to that, but now it’s even further away.

Why is that an issue? Over the last month many of the potatoes from the garden that were stored in the basement had started to sprout. After making a few potato dishes for Christmas gatherings, we still had way too many sprouted potatoes to use up in the next few weeks. Now that there’s room in the freezer, looking at ways to freeze some of the potatoes was an option. Last year, we tried to freeze mashed potatoes. (They weren’t bad – just be certain they go straight from the freezer to the oven to be warmed back up.) This year, we thought we’d try something a little different and try freezing homemade fries.

So, early one morning when it was too cold to do anything else, Lulu and I sat down and sorted through roughly 40 pounds of potatoes. Anything starting to sprout was scrubbed clean, sliced, and soaked in cold water.

The fries were removed from the water, placed between two dish clothes to remove excess water, and then fried for about eight minutes – just long enough that they were about half done.

Once the fries spent their time in the frier, they were placed on a paper towel to remove any excess oil and then moved to a cookie sheet and placed in the freezer. (Freezing them on a cookie sheet before bagging them insures you don’t end up with a giant frozen ball of fries when you’re ready to use them.)

Once they were frozen, they were placed in a large freezer bag and then back into the freezer. We filled three large freezer bags in all.

Now when we’re ready to use them, we can either finish the fries in the frier or simply bake them on a cookie sheet.

Last year I placed an order through a seed catalog I had received in the mail shortly after Christmas. It was one of 2 catalogs we received last winter. The other day, the DW returned from the mail box with this:

That’s five catalogs in one day. I’m guessing some of these are owned by the same parent company and “sharing” their mailing lists. This could be quite the stack by the time the month is over. I guess the bright side is that with the arrival of seed catalogs spring really can’t be that far off. It might be time to start planning what’s going in the garden in a few months.

Happy New Year! With 2013 wrapped up, I took a few moments to look back through a busy year – Peanut’s visits/stays at the UIHC, projects around the house, work in the garden, and just keeping up with the kiddos – it’s a little hard to believe how much we managed to squeeze into one year. It made picking just a few photos to highlight the year difficult, but here’s what I came up with. Just click on the photo to read the story behind each one.

Lift Off!

Spring garden

Peanut has a party!

Lulu and the giant slide

Working in the kitchen

Just a glimpse at what grew

A bad hair day

A lucky find

Peanut playing while waiting for her ride home.

Best wishes to everyone for a great 2014!

December is always a busy month and this year was no exception. Holiday shopping and family get-togethers are standard, but add Peanut’s check-ups, a couple unfinished projects (more on that later) and my week out of the country, and things got even more hectic. Here’s a handful of shots that touch just a portion of the things I didn’t cover this month…

A snowball fight breaks out while taking the Christmas card photo

Peanut doesn’t like the idea of being used as a human shield

Peanut gets her first up close encounter with a cat

The girls spend an afternoon with their Nana and great-grandmother

The kiddos made place cards for Christmas Eve dinner

A frosty door on a cold December evening

Sissy’s Christmas greeting on the cabinet chalkboard

Lulu’s post-it note countdown on the refrigerator

Christmas morning chaos under the tree

Peanut shows everyone she knows how to walk… at least a few steps

Merry Christmas from…

Hold on… not quite ready…

Put the snowball down… please…

What is the baby eating?

Ok… close… let’s try one more time…

Perfect!

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Under our new definition of “normal,” it wouldn’t be a normal month without a trip to the UIHC for a Peanut check-up. Last Monday marked the day this month and Peanut was on her way for a quick visit with her GI doctor. (She doesn’t see her team of surgeons as often now.)

As check-ups go, this one was a bit of a mixed bag. Peanut is just shy of 20 pounds (that’s in the 15th percentile for her age), her most recent incision is healing nicely, and everything that was reconnected seems to be working without issue. She’s still battling with a horrible diaper rash, but even that is under control most days. With all that, maybe the most noticeable thing is that Peanut is starting to fill out – chunky? – not even close, but her cheeks are starting to resemble infant checks for the first time ever.

But, all of that progress was tempered slightly by Peanut’s most recent blood work. Unfortunately, some of the results showed some underlying back-tracking in her progress. Among some of the results, blood tests done to monitor Peanut’s liver function came back with elevated results. You may remember that she was on a medication to help with her liver function for about a year, until a couple months ago. At this point, the doctors have decided that a wait and see approach may be the most prudent. There’s a chance that the liver numbers are still the result of Peanut recovering from her surgery at the end of October, and it may correct on its own. We’ll need to wait until next month’s check-up to find out.

In the meantime, Peanut never fails to impress with what she manages to learn on a daily basis. Her list of words is now too long to keep track of and she’s started adding multiple syllable words as well – though, her favorite word is still “no.” She’s been caught a handful of times sneaking in a few steps while standing before dropping to her knees to crawl after someone or something. And her appetite is the best it’s ever been. Actually, we’ve discovered one way to get her to eat just about anything – have Lulu feed it to her. It’s rather a sight to see. If Lulu has the spoon, it doesn’t matter what’s on it Peanut wants it. And if letting your older sister shove a spoon in your mouth doesn’t sound like a good idea, Peanut is way ahead of you – the majority of the time, she will pick the food off the spoon with her fingers as Lulu presents it instead of letting Lulu feed her. Let’s just say that’s one smart girl.

Five years ago today we had a blizzard. Four years ago it was measurable snow… same thing for three and two years ago. Last year about this time, I took this picture:

Blizzard 2012

Why do I keep track of this? Simple. Five years ago today is the day that I married the DW. For several reasons we wanted a December wedding even though we were well aware of the risk of what Mother Nature can throw at you in Iowa in December. I remember the first few flakes falling as we walked from the chapel we were married in to the reception area. Our caterer meet us at the door of the ballroom – prepared to move dinner up by an hour so our guests could be home before the worst of the storm settled in.

Blizzard 2008

Every year since that day, it seems we’ve had some sort of winter weather event on or very close to the 20th of December. It’s gotten to the point that our anniversary wishes now sound like “Happy Anniversary! How much snow this year?” Maybe I should take it as some sort of sign or warning… or maybe everyone who always wants a white Christmas should be sending the DW a little gift in appreciation of the last 5 years… or maybe we’re due to break the streak next year.

And in case you’re not familiar with the weather in Iowa today… just let me say this: it took me 30 minutes this morning to warm the car and peel 1/4 inch of ice off the windshield before sliding to work this morning. Plus, they’re now calling for several inches of snow arriving tomorrow… Happy Anniversary, Dear!

I’ve been back in Iowa now for the last several days after spending a week in the Dominican Republic for my “real job” – the one that pays the bills, not the one with the job title of “Dad” – but I have been slacking on posts as well as projects I had planned to wrap up before the end of the year. But, don’t worry – I plan to be back on track bright and early tomorrow morning!