Sunday in Sapin

John was shopping last week and came across a paella pan on sale at Williams Sonoma. The paella pan got his creative cooking juices going and last night we had one of the most delicious and beautiful dinners I can remember. I should link the recipe he used, except I think he combined 2 or 3 to get to last night's dinner. Spanish rice, mussels, clams, another white fish, chirizo, chicken, a medley of peppers - it was divine.

We were joined in this feast around our new table by Papa Ray and Grandma Jo, plus first time guests Jay and Sarah. We can't wait to have them all back!

I made this pie from my favorite cooking blog, Annie's Eats. There were no fresh (or frozen) cranberries to be found so I substituted frozen cherries. It was fantastic if I do say so....

Deep in the night Ava woke up sick to her stomach and all that entails. Today she spent the day tucked into a nest with her Grandma Jo. A snow storm is baring down on us and we don't know what the week will bring. This lasagna is in the oven for Monday dinner(with some modifications, of course, subbed ground beef, added some spinach) as we settle in to be snowed in...

"My Name is AMELIA"

We have lots of little nicknames for Amelia, the most frequent being Boo, Baby Boo or Mimi.

Boo and Baby Boo because she had the sweetest little soft pink outfit when she was brand new that said "Baby Boo" across the front. It was my favorite and I put her in that little outfit everytime it was clean. (It is also one of the few I have saved for her.)

Mimi because the babies at her first child care center couldn't quite form "Amelia" and so they called her "Aaaaahhh-mimi." It suited her.

Lately Amelia has been very resistant to any type of nickname calling, all but stomping her foot and saying, "my name is Amelia."

Amelia's child care was closed yesterday so she spent the day with Papa Ray and Grandma Jo. There she impressed my father with her name writing skills, which have improved dramatically in the past month or so. It used to be you could read her name if you knew what you were looking for, now she's actually got the hang of it. My dad was trying to find the piece of paper where Amelia had written her name when I came to pick her up, but it had gone missing. Last night I get an email from dad with this scanned image:

His email said, "Found the paper, Kate. I am not sure any of you knew your names at 3. I am certain none of you could write them."

Hardly a surprise out of our Amelia who is insistent on being called by her proper name.

Pasta

Wednesday will mark the beginning of my 39th trip around the sun. Since my birthday falls on a Wednesday night with all its school and work related time constraints we had a family celebration last night.

My Grandpa Roy's birthday was January 16th, mine's the 19th, so growing up I have many fond memories of joint celebrations where we always had spaghetti dinner. I love pasta, but little did I know that Grandpa Roy was not the biggest fan. Perhaps the tradition was born of my love of spaghetti, perhaps it was an easy (and inexpensive!) way of feeding our large extended family. But I haven't had a birthday I can remember that didn't involve some type of pasta dinner to celebrate.

Yesterday John really outdid himself for dinner. He made homemade noodles and Mario Bataili's Ragu Bolognese, a favorite of mine, but not necessarily of his.... We were joined by Papa Ray, Grandma Jo and Grandma Jane and talked at length about how much we missed Grandpa Roy. We all agreed he would have loved the pasta and would have been just crazy about our girls.

Ava and Amelia posing in front of the noodle making.....

Around the table

As you know, John and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary in November. For years I've told John what I wanted for a 'significant' anniversary was the Tiffany Etoile ring. When we were first married I thought we would return to St. John, USVI (where we were married) and John would give me the ring as a gift on the beach where we said our vows.

As our anniversary date drew closer our priorities looked a little bit different. Yes it is a beautiful ring. And yes, I would like to wear it some day. And oh would I like to take our whole family back to St. John to mark an anniversary, but this just wasn't the time. But we still wanted to do something special to mark the milestone.

This Fall I attended a party at West End Salvage and was given a tour by the owner, who told me about the custom tables they make. I immediately asked very nicely (ok, nagged) John to pay a visit. He went by himself, we met there over the noon hour and we started talking about buying a table to mark our ten years.

John asked, would it feel too functional, too much like an appliance? No. We love to cook, we love to feed people, we place a priority on dinner together as a family every night. We were married at Thanksgiving and I loved the symbolism of a table as our anniversary gift to each other. John took to the project with great enthusiasm and today our new table was delivered.

We can very comfortably seat eight around the table. We ordered an extender table that makes it easy to add 3-4 more. We also ordered a bench for one side. We just love it. We need to buy new chairs (when budgets allow) but take a look:

Pizza Friday around our new table (bench view):

Complete with the lovely bowl our dear friends Bill and Annie bought us to celebrate our anniversary.

Man I am crazy about that kid....

Yesterday Amelia wore a tiara all day at school. Why? Because she wanted to, that's why. When I came to pick her up and it was still firmly poised atop her head I said,

"Amelia, I love your tiara."

To which she responded quite forcefully,

"It's NOT a tiara it's a CROWN."

Longer

A new year is upon us, the Winter solstice has passed and from here to Spring there are only longer days. We've had a couple of unseasonably warm days for January in Iowa, the snow is mostly gone and the forecast is for the 30's and sunshine as far as the eyes can see. Oh I know there are dog, dog days ahead, but this mini-break is a welcome reprieve.

As the calendar starts a new year I am settling into a new job, one with a more predictable schedule and an emphasis on work/life balance. My mind wanders to summer with the girls, watching them swim like happy little otters and play outside until the last of their friends are summoned indoors.

Transitions can be hard, especially for a creature of habit like me, but this transition is allowing me to envision a longer horizon for me and my family and I am feeling ever so grateful at the beginning of 2011.

Ava and Jessica, in the pretty light, bouncing on the trampoline on January 3rd. BTW - Ava is wearing my hat and it looks so stinkin' cute on her I suspect I won't get it back.

Amelia spiked a fever last night around mid-night. She fought the fever with all her might as the children's Motrin took hold. She sang verse after verse of "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" as the medicine did it's work. She's been doing great all day and here she helps me prep dinner, Pioneer Woman's meatballs that were...ok... for a week night meal. I will keep the meatball recipe (they were tender and delicious), but will probably not make the sauce again.

Today, two weeks into a new job, I felt comfortable telling my boss I needed to work only a half day so John and I could split the day caring for Amelia. His reply, "I hope she feels better soon." Gratitude.