Valentine's Day 2014

Well, Valentine's Day was celebrated a day early in our household.  Who's to blame?  Me, of course!  It was Wednesday night and while Mike was driving home from work, I decided to call him.  Jules had been peppering me with questions all day relating to Valentines Day, wondering what gift Dad was planning on buying her, etc., et nauseum, and I thought I'd better remind Mike to buy a gift for Jules as well!  As we talked Mike asked me, "Isn't Valentine's Day Friday?"  "No," I confidently replied, "it's tomorrow, and seeing as its supposed to storm, you'd better get something now!"
And so, when Mike came home around 6:00p.m., he had two bouquets in his arms; red roses for me and multi-colored carnations for Juliet.
Fast-forward to Friday afternoon, at around four o'clock as I sat drinking my afternoon coffee, I happened to glance at the calendar, only to realize that....it was Valentine's Day!  Well, if that isn't typical me to get the date mixed up and not realize it till a day later!!!  Oh well, it was still fun to celebrate our love and enjoy all of the presents.  Juliet was so into the whole day that at night she made me write up a play (with all her ideas) and present it to Mike!  It was a play about a princess (Juliet, of course), a birthday celebration, a bunch of magic fairies, and an evil witch.  Juliet was so excited about the whole production that she was jumping up and down in excitement and could hardly contain herself.  I had to wear some of Juliet's ridiculously gaudy princess dress-up items since I was the queen and Jules wore her favorite pink dress.  Mike filmed a part of the play, and if I get up my nerve, I just might post it.  So that was our Valentine's Day, celebrated a day early.

I'm Gonna Be FAT!

The other day while I was putting Juliet to bed, we had one of those hilarious conversations that I just had to record.  Here's how it went:
"So Mom, you aren't going to get fat because of this baby, are you?"
"Well, when you are pregnant, your belly does get bigger..."
"But I don't want you to get FAT!  I want you to be skinny!!!!"
"Jules, I can't change the fact that you do get bigger when you are pregnant!"
"Like how big?"
I shoved a thin pillow under my shirt while Jules looked on horrified.
"That big?????"  Jules starts crying.  "I don't want you to have a big belly!"
I started backtracking at this point.  "Well, maybe not that big.  Just a little big, okay?"
"Okay.  I guess a little big is okay.  Just don't end up looking like ____________, okay?" (insert a very pregnant mom in the blank).
"Okay, Jules, I'll try."
Dear me!  Hopefully this weight-gain thing will be so gradual Juliet won't notice how big I will eventually become (Lord willing!).

Christmas 2013

Christmas at Home:  

                                              Christmas with Nana and Pop-pop:

                             Juliet LOVED the Calico Critter house from Nana and Pop-pop!

                                            Christmas in Canada with Nana and Grandpa:

                 Mike desperately writing his poem before the gift giving.  This is a Roth tradition!

             Check out the piggy banks Katrina made for all of her cousins out of empty Gatorade bottles!

Jules and Annika.  Jules is terribly proud of the pink "roses" in her hair!  It's her favorite hair accessory!

Surprise Tea party!

The other day I decided to take a nap (this is becoming more common).  Often around two o'clock, sleepiness hits me and I crash on the couch for a half hour or so.  Anyway, as I lay on the couch, I heard the china cabinet door in our dining room being slowly opened.  Hmm, I drowsily thought, is this worth investigating?  What in the world is Juliet doing now?  "Don't worry, Mom, I'm making a surprise for you!" came Juliet's cheerful voice from the room.  Well, okay.  Being too sleepy to argue, I fell asleep to the sound of delicate dishes clattering as they were being removed from the cabinet...  ZZZZ...  When I woke up some time later, there was the kitchen table set with the best china tea cups, the china teapot, and a glass plate with two types of cookies on it.  It was a surprise tea party!!!  Here are the pictures:

A proud Jules!

...and nothing broke!!!!

Bodecole!!!

This was my meal last week....

I suddenly had a craving for a childhood meal that my mom used to make quite regularly.  There is something so satisfying and homey about an old-fashioned dutch meat and potatoes meal.   I have no idea how to spell this, but the meal I made is called in Dutch something like "bodecole."  (Stop laughing at me, all you dutchies).  It was delicious!  Of course, when I was young I thought it was disgusting (other than the smoked sausage), but now I love it.  Funny how that happens!  I think pretty much every food I disliked when I was a kid I now love!  I kept the kale out of the potatoes for Juliet, knowing she would not like them, and overall it was a success.  Here's to kale, potatoes, and smoked sausage (with a side of fresh beans)!  What is your favorite childhood meal?

The Big Reveal

For months, Mike knew that he had to get glasses.  When we would be driving at night he would be squinting to read the roadsigns and I think he was pretty much a public hazard.  Anyway, a week ago we went to purchase glasses for Mike (I got new ones as well), and here they are!  We had so much fun trying glasses on!  The majority of them looked extremely dorky on Mike - Mike's head is large, to say the least - but we finally found a pair that we both liked!  Don't you think they make Mike look more intelligent?

On Teacups

If you've ever visited my parents on a Sunday, there is a pretty good chance that you've had coffee in one of my mom's delicate fine bone china teacups.  I don't know how many she has, but I have distinct memories of drinking from them and also carefully hand washing them afterwards (no dishwasher for those cups!).  I still have to smile when I remember Mike's first time coming over on a Sunday and being given one of those teacups.  First was the challenge of carefully pouring cream and  spooning sugar into the cup while desperately balancing the cup in its saucer.  Then Mike had the chore of actually drinking from the thing!  Did you just grab the cup from the top?  Did you pinch the handle with your thumb and finger in the hopes that the cup would not slip out of your grasp?  The challenges!  Anyway, when Mike and I got married, I eschewed the whole teacup business and used  healthy, good-sized American mugs.  But traditions die hard, and last time I was up in Canada, I decided that it was time I started collecting the things for myself!  I had about three in my china cabinet, but three teacups simply does not cut it!  One Saturday, with Ange and Josh and little Jules in tow, off we went to the flea market.  There were more teacups in the place then I could count, and one was prettier than the next.  This wasn't going to be an easy decision.  Well, Jules wasn't going to let this be a Mom event, and she loudly proclaimed which one she wanted, and could she please have a teacup for herself, and after nervously walking around the store waiting for Jules to knock some stand over, I gave in and told her she could pick out a teacup.  Now if you are Jules, you go for PINK!  Jules took her time and picked a rather ugly pink teacup.  Thankfully, I was able to get her to choose another cup after some persuasion, and we happily went home with our purchases in plastic bags.  When our trip to Canada ended and we were back home, I carefully washed the teacup and proudly placed it in my china cabinet.  I didn't actually intend to use it - or perhaps only when company came - and was simply satisfied with the addition in my china cabinet.  But did this satisfy Juliet?  Of course not!  "Mom, can I use the teacup at coffee time?  Mom, when can I use it?  You're not going to let me use it???  MOM!!!"  It seemed it was time to resurrect the old Sunday tradition of using teacups to satisfy a little girl.  Most Sunday afternoons, you will see Jules and I drinking from our teacups while eating a piece or two of chocolate...

           The teacup on the left is from Gran D., and the one on the right is Juliet's pink one!

                              Tea and chocolate, a natural combination, wouldn't you agree?