Happy Birthday, Aunt Kimmy!

Today is Aunt Kimmy's birthday, and we've been awfully excited about it! Hannah's been singing Happy Birthday all morning. We took a video just in case she gets shy when she actually sees the birthday girl tonight. :)




Her version of the song goes, "Happy to you! Happy to you!" She was a little distracted and only sang one line of the song, because she's discovered that you can actually see pictures and videos on the camera, which is what she was asking when she said, "See."

Near to Nothing

My sister and I have been talking about starting a blog for a long time now, and we finally did it!!! We have been asked on several occasions to share our kitchen "secrets," so here they are! The main point is to share recipes, tips, strategies, etc. for preparing meals on a tight budget. So head on over and check out Near to Nothing!!!

Happy Anniversary, My Love!

Today is our anniversary. Unfortunately, we're both miserably sick, so we're postponing our celebration until we actually feel like celebrating. I guess it's just a reminder of our vow that we took to love each other "in sickness and in health." :)

It's hard to believe that it's been four years since we said, "I do." It's hard to remember a time when I didn't know James, and it's hard to imagine what life would be like without him. I'm so thankful for these four years we've had together. Though they've not always been easy, they've been good. There have been times of laughing, crying, hoping, praying, loving, confessing, forgiving... I could go on and on. We pray that the Lord will bless us with another 60+ years (wow, we'll be OLD!) together, and all of the joy and trials that come with those years!! I love you, honey!

Monterey

James and I were blessed to be able to go on a mini vacation last weekend. It was our first vacation in over two years, so we were REALLY looking forward to it. It was also our first time away from Hannah, which wasn't really as hard as I thought it would be. It actually worked out really well for us. Keanna's birthday party was last Saturday (and also happened to be my Mom's birthday), so we surprised Keanna by showing up at her party (I love surprises like that!), then James and I left Hannah with my parents and went to Monterey. It was a wonderful time for us to spend time together without the distraction of work, home, Hannah, etc. Did I say it was wonderful? The last year-and-a-half has been a very busy and stressful season for our family, so we were excited to be able to get away. And I think Hannah had fun on her little "vacation," as well. She had a blast playing with all the fun toys at Mama and Bapa's house, and playing with her cousins. She LOVES other kids, and I'm sure she's going to have the time of her life playing with all her Pichura cousins this summer! :) Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip.

Hannah got a very special treat at Keanna's birthday party - ice cream!!!

The Lone Cypress on the 17 Mile Drive.


We went back to where James proposed to me almost 5 years ago! Spanish Bay along the 17 Mile Drive.

James in Carmel, with Pebble Beach behind him.


I saw this in a restaurant, and figured all members of the Parker family were represented here. Moxie for Dave and the Red Sox for everyone else. :) James agreed!

Monterey is gorgeous!!

We went black light mini golfing.

We went to Dennis the Menace Park, which was super fun! We got to be little kids again! :) And since we went at night, there was no one there!
James on a climbing wall at the park.

Now that we've had our relaxing vacation, we're ready for the crazy (in a good way, of course!) family vacation next month! :)

Truly a Parker

Making great strides in the speech department:

Homemade Brownies and Pitas

For those of you who asked for my brownie and/or pita recipes, I figured this was the easiest way to get it to all of you. If you know anything about me, I have this strange need to alter just about every recipe I try. Anyway, I'll post the original recipes, then give you my alterations.

I got the brownie recipe from AllRecipes. Here is the original recipe:

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.
4. Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.

**My alterations: Instead of using 3 cups white sugar, I used 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar. Also, instead of using 1 cup cocoa powder, I used about 1/3 cup cocoa powder and 2/3 cup dark cocoa powder.


And here's the pita recipe:

1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

1. In a large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Add 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.)

Alternately, if you have a bread machine, you can put the ingredients in the pan in the order listed and use the dough cycle. Skip to step 3 if using your bread machine! :)

2. Put your dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise, until almost double (about an hour). I like to turn my oven on for a minute or two, then turn it off, and let the dough rise in there, since our house is cool.

3. Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6- or 7-inch circle.

4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop or table, and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for about 25-35 minutes, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin though! :D)

5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 rounds, side-by-side, onto a wire rack, such as is used for cooling things. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until puffy and just slightly browned. (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable.)

6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towel, to soften. Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between damp towels as soon as they're baked. Allow breads to completely cool.

7. Cut pita breads in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired. :)

8. Store pitas in a plastic zipper bag in the fridge for a few days, or place in the freezer for longer storage. To re-warm pitas, wrap them in a damp towel and then wrap in foil. Place in a warm (200-250 degree) oven for about 20 minutes.

**My alterations: Instead of 3 cups all-purpose flour, I used 2 cups all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour. It's not as healthy as whole wheat pitas, but definitely a little better than using all processed flour. :) If you're looking for a whole wheat pita recipe, there's one here. I haven't tried it, so I don't know how it is, but it's from the same site as the recipe I posted above, so it's probably pretty good.

The Many Faces of Hannah Grace

As most of you probably already know, Hannah is a huge ham. For those of you who didn't know that about her, let me show you. Keep in mind that all of these pictures were taken within the span of about a minute or less.

This one's just plain scary:

Hannah loves to dance...as long as no one's around...except Daddy and Mommy.



Hannah and Linnea absolutely LOVE each other! It's so neat to watch them play and interact with one another. Linnea thinks Hannah is quite funny and entertaining. :) Hannah thinks the same about Linnea.