Trick-or-treat...

Merrick and I hadn't put much thought into Halloween this year. I guess we just kept putting it off figuring Gracie was too little to trick-or-treat anyway. Well, it was a good thing my parents picked up a little cheerleader outfit on a trip to Babies R Us. Granted, it is the "wrong" school, but I guess since her daddy graduated from Oregon State, she can wear it around proudly.

We headed to the Coleman's house for dinner and the Blazer game. We got the kiddos dressed and walked around the neighborhood - hitting every house with lights on. Gracie wouldn't say "tic teat" to anyone else, but she did say "tank u" (thank you) at every door. I think she had a good time, and a lot of that was because she was doing what the big girls - Tigist and Sydney - were doing. 

Sydney (as Dorothy), Tigist (as Tigger) and Gracie (as an OSU cheerleader)

Tigist was so helpful and made sure each of the younger girls always got (at least) one piece of candy in their basket.

Gracie - taking the lead at this house - got the hang of things quickly. 

Checking out the loot. She has no idea what candy is, and no, she didn't get any on Halloween (or after), but she has had fun with the little play-doh she got at one house.

More apples...

Shannon and I packed up a box of apples that didn't get pressed at the cider party and brought them home for an apple sauce adventure. It was much easier than we knew - and the results were oh-so-yummy. 

Little monkey...

The other night as she was helping daddy cook dinner, Gracie taught herself to climb up onto our kitchen chairs. I didn't know she had learned this new trick, so imagine my surprise when I found her half way onto the table. She pushed the chair just far enough away from the table that she was able to use it as a ladder. She got up, did a little dance, grabbed and orange from the bowl and squealed with delight. Merrick got home shortly after I witnessed this, so to show him the trick he had unintentionally taught her, I asked her to go get an orange for daddy. This is what happened...

That was a few days ago. She is still climbing, and is much faster now. It takes her about 15 seconds to get from the floor to dancing on the table. She's a silly little monkey.

Fast learner...

We have been talking for a while about needing to buy a potty seat for Gracie. It is one of those many things that was pushed aside until Merrick's work slowed down a bit. Well, last week we were able to head out to Target together to pick up a seat for Grace. She seemed excited enough about it, but who can really tell with her. She is generally a very happy little girl and gets excited about most things in life. Anyway, we put it together and for the past two or three days she will sit on it if we offer to help. We ask if she would like to go potty and she will nod (excitedly, of course) and say "pobby!" Well, tonight as we were waiting for dinner to finish grilling, I asked her again if she would like to go potty. We were with friends all day, and she hadn't had the chance to sit on her seat. Merrick whisked her into the bathroom and she immediately tinkled. We were both so thrilled I think we scared her a little with our clapping. She was, however, very happy to give high fives to both mommy and daddy. Who knows if she really understood what we were excited about, but it is a step in the right direction. 

Do you see the resemblance...

With so much happening in the past few days, there is much to blog about. Unfortunately for you blog readers, I'm not at home and don't have access to all my hundreds of recent pictures. So, for now, you get these. Three great pictures of our beautiful Gracie. Shannon calls her a Muppet. I think that is fairly accurate. (This is what happens when she pulls her piggies out of her hair mid-way through a day).

Do you see the resemblance? I think she gets this from Merrick's side of the family (that's what I want you to believe anyway.)

Ga n'ga falls...

On the way home we stopped at Multnomah Falls for a potty break and quick hike. Gracie was so excited as we walked along the little river and kept pointing and saying "ga n'ga" (translation: water). As we walked toward the falls, Merrick pointed to it and she squealed and clapped and then we watched as she followed it from the bottom all the way to the top. She had a great expression on her face - pure amazement. Since I drive by it a few times a year, I think I tend to forget how neat it really is. It is fun to re-discover places like this with Gracie and be reminded that God's creation truly is spectacular.

You can click on any picture to make it bigger.

Hiking to the bridge.

Ga n'ga, Ga n'ga, clap, clap, clap.

Looking up at the top

First time here with daddy.

With mommy.

These apples will land far from the tree...

Last weekend we took a quick trip up to Yakima - aka the Indian Nation, the Palm Springs of Washington, Apple capitol of the nation! Sunday was Amy's 30th birthday, and to celebrate she wanted to carry on the tradition of gathering enough apples to feed the state of Oregon for and entire day. So that's exactly what we did. We got hundreds of pounds of apples in preparation of this weekend's annual cider party! I somehow forgot to take a picture of the back of the trucks loaded, but will hopefully get some pics from Amy - I'm sure she took one (or ten). We had so much fun spending time with friends, and seeing a little part of the state we don't see very often. We drove by the high school where Amy's dad was valedictorian, we drove by her grandparent's house, we met her cousin and family, and got a fun glimpse into a part of her life I didn't know until know. Thank you to Amy's extended family for coordinating the fun. We are looking forward to carrying on this tradition for many year's to come. Thanks, too, to Brent and Hannah who opened their home to us Brownlees for the weekend. We always have a grand time with them and wish they were closer. Here are many, many pictures from our weekend... stick with me.

Gracie really wanted to be in the truck. She would grab an apple from the box, and throw it (which for her is gently dropping) into the bed of the pickup. She thought she was pretty hot stuff up there with daddy and Forrest.

Ephraim Alvis Arnold - by far my very favorite 6 month old baby boy. He is so sweet and happy. He seemed to love the day outside picking apples with his friends. 

Marisa - 5 months pregnant - was designated photographer. For some reason the nice apple farmer (see below) didn't think it would be good for her to strap on a picking bag. 

The aforementioned apple farmer who bonded with Gracie. She liked that he would hold her right in the middle of the action. He also let her "drive" the forklift, and later he peeled her an apple to eat. 

An apple picking bag - sounds silly - but they were so convenient!

These are the "rejects." They have been through the processing facility, and for some reason deemed unfit for sale. They are cleaned, polished, waxed and then sorted by employees. I grabbed one out and it was delicious. Two different farmers gave us hundreds of these reject apples. Normally they would be sold to Tree Top to make juice or applesauce. It was fun to take a quick tour of the apple processing plant. 

Here's a fun fact... apple picking season in Yakima is from late August through October (give or take a few weeks). Apples are picked and put into wooden storage crates (see below) and go into cold storage. Every day this plant that we visited takes about 200 of those crates out of cold storage and the apples are washed, waxed and sorted. They are boxed and sent off to grocery stores around the country. So, the only time of year that you are getting "fresh picked" apples is in the fall. If you buy an apple from a store in June or July, that apple has most likely been sitting in a warehouse in Yakima since the previous fall. Almost a year old. Crazy! Makes me appreciate the apples straight off the tree so much more.

Gracie knew there were apples in these bins, but she couldn't quite reach. 

With mommy's help, she got one.

The nice apple man peeled it for her and she was set. Yummy, juicy and MESSY!

Drew and Marisa riding to the orchard.

Amy and Ephraim.

Forrest

Ramie and Hannah

Nate

Gracie kept saying "uh-oh" and reaching into the box. I don't think she understood that we wanted the apples in there.

Got it!

Nice job, big girl. You rescued the apple from its date with the cider press.

Blow-out...

Yesterday I took extra care to dress Gracie in a cute dress for Bible study. She hadn't worn it out yet, and I thought it was a good day. She looked adorable, I must say. Well, that lasted all of about 15 minutes. We got to church and I dropped her off. It was my group's turn in child care, so I got put in the room with 2-year-olds. It was great - 1/2 my group was in that room - and we could occasionally peak (okay, we watched for a long time) at our little ones in the one-year-old class. There is a fish tank between the classrooms and we could look through the water to see what Gracie, Baylie and Sophia were doing. 

Back to the two's... Kim and I took a little guy to the bathroom, and while we were back there I heard Gracie crying. Not a normal cry, she was really wailing. If you know her, you know this isn't normal. I peaked around the corner to see what was going on, and she was getting a huge blow-out diaper changed. We are talking poop out her diaper, through the onsie, through her tights, through her fancy pants, and onto the dress. She hasn't done this for about 9 months. Since I was there, they asked me to come help. (Don't worry, Kim took the little potty-trainer back to the two's room). Even with me undressing her and cleaning her up, Gracie was still sobbing hysterically. They packed up all the yucky clothes and dug through the "clothes you can borrow" bin and found the smallest thing there. It was a zip up hooded sweatshirt, white, really cute and about a size 3T. I put that on her and held her until she quieted down. I wasn't sure if she wasn't feeling well, so I asked if she wanted to go home. She shook her head "no." I asked if she wanted to play and she nodded, "yes." So, I handed her back to the lady in the one's and watched them sit together and read a story. She was acting fine, so I went back to my own class. 

Poor Gracie spent the next almost 2 hours in just a over sized zippy sweatshirt - with nothing else on. The girl who had been so cute as we left the house in the morning was now barefoot with her diaper showing. After class, I took off the sweatshirt so we could leave it at church, and we put on one of Sophia's shirts. She was wearing layers, so we took the little short sleeve one. Baylie had a really cute brown jacket so we borrowed that too. Gracie again walked down the long hallway at church in just a little t-shirt. One of the leaders stopped me and said, "wasn't she in a cute orange dress this morning." Well, yes, she was. Thanks for noticing.

I got all the way to my car before remembering that I did have one child's clothing item in my trunk. Emmet's Halloween costume from last year. He was a lion, and we are passing it along for baby Ephraim this year. It is two pieces, so I threw the pants on Gracie. In an instant I became "that mom" who lets her child out of the house in whatever is most convenient. And yes, we did stay out of the house - we all went to lunch and then Shannon and I shopped a bit (until yet another dirty diaper) forced us to head home for nap time. I had to snap these pictures before changing her diaper. She didn't seem to mind, and hey - at least she was warm in those fleece pants!

68 weeks...

Yesterday marked a momentous occasion here at the Brownlee house. It was the first time in 481 days that I didn't nurse Gracie. At all. That means that for the last one year, three months and 23 days I have nursed her at least once. I don't think this is the end of nursing completely, but it is a start. I was out with girlfriends, so Merrick put her to bed. She has never gone to sleep without nursing first (she doesn't usually fall asleep nursing, it is just one of the last things we do before bed), but she didn't fuss at all. She just went down, grabbed Peesh (her sheep) and snuggled in. When I got home I picked her up thinking she would sleep-nurse, but she was so out that she didn't even try. We snuggled for a bit and I put her back down. What a big girl. 

Next step... getting rid of the binky!

Mmm, mmm, good...

It's that time of year again where I start craving yummy, warm, comfort foods. We haven't had anything out of the ordinary this week, but last night I tried a totally new recipe. Last Friday, when I was at Trader Joe's with Mandy, I picked up a butternut squash. This time of year, I eat a few squash a week. I love them. So, I knew I needed to use that up, but I wasn't really in the mood to make ravioli or something else time consuming, so we got this instead.  It was so yummy, that I just have to share it with you faithful readers.

Let's call it "Butternut Squash Baked Pasta"

(I sort of made it up as I went, with ideas I pieced together from a bunch of recipes I found online - I'll do my best to recreate it here.)

Ingredients:

• 1 box (16 ounces) of pasta - I think any short shape would work - I used the cavatappi shapes 
• 1 butternut squash - pealed, cubed and steamed
• 1 small white onion - diced
• 1 shallot - chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic - minced
• 8 fresh sage leaves - whole
• White wine
• Six slices (nitrite-free) bacon - fat trimmed off and chopped 
• Olive oil
• Brown sugar (optional)
• Cinnamon (optional)
• Pine nuts - lightly toasted (optional)
• Cheese! (optional) - 1 cup gorgonzola, 2 cups gruyere, and 2 cups parmigiano reggiano 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and start cooking pasta. You want the pasta to be al dente.
• Heat olive oil (about for gluggs, however much that is)
• Saute onion, shallot, garlic and sage leaves until tender.
• Add bacon and saute until bacon is cooked through.
• Add wine (I didn't have much left, so I used what I had - about 1/4 cup. I think 1/2-1 cup would be better - a little saucier). Let this cook together and reduce down for just a few minutes. 
• Add the steamed butternut squash (I steamed mine while the other stuff was sauteing). 
• At this point you can add more wine, or one recipe suggested adding a bit of pasta cooking water. This is also when you decide if you want this dinner to be a bit sweet. I added a one-two table spoons of brown sugar and a 1/2 teaspoon or so of cinnamon. I like those flavors with the squash, so I thought I'd try it. If you leave those out, you'll have a less sweet, but still very savory version of the dinner.
• Once everything has cooked together, add drained pasta to the mix. Combine well, and put everything into a large casserole dish (removing the sage leaves before tossing). 
• If you are one of those dairy-eating families, now is the time to add the cheese. The original recipe said to toss the gorganzola in with the pasta. Put everything into the casserole dish, then add the gruyere and toss lightly. Finally sprinkle the parmigiano reggiano on top. 
• Add a hand full of toasted pine nuts if you so desire, cover with foil and then bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake a little longer until it is a little brown and really bubbly.

Since we Brownlees don't eat cheese, I skipped the cheese goodness step. I did, however, add grated mizithra (sheep's cheese) to mine and Gracie's meals after it had baked. It was a delicious alternative.

So, there you have it. Let me know if you give it a try, or if you change anything else in the recipe. I should have taken a picture because just looking at it would have made you hungry. It fed us last night, and the left overs are in the oven for dinner tonight. Perfect!

Meet Peesh...

The other day I went to the mall with the Forbes ladies. We had tried the pumpkin patch, but it was absolutely pouring, so we didn't last long. After a yummy lunch, we headed down toward Bath and Body Works. I didn't need anything, but it is always fun to look. We hadn't hardly entered the store when we stumbled upon the new aromatherapy display. It was all sleep products - including the sheep. Gracie grabbed the little gray one - and it was all over. There was no taking it away from her. (Until the minute I purchased it, then she said - in her oh so sweet voice - "no, no, no, no" and threw the sheep on the floor.) 

Well, now that we are home, she loves it. She can't say sheep, it come out backwards as "peesh." It is pretty funny to hear. So, we affectionately call the little guy Peesh, and be sure to pack him with us when we leave the house.

5 years...

Today is our anniversary! I can't believe five years has gone by, and yet when I look back at all we have done in that amount of time, I can't believe it hasn't been longer. 

In five years we have: 

• Moved seven times, lived five different apartments in two states before finally settling down and buying our first house - which we have now been in for a year and a half. 
• We have traveled quite a bit (considering we did it all while on a student stipend). We have been to six countries and about 15 states. 
• Managed to get Merrick through his three years of grad school!
• Worked 11 different (paid) jobs before Merrick started at Mindspeed and I quit to be at home with Gracie. 
• Put many miles on our shoes as we both ran Hood to Coast (not the same year), have finished two 1/2 marathons and are looking forward to more.
• Lived in a hospital room for 26 days - praying that our baby would be okay.
• Welcomed Gracie - who was perfect and healthy -  and watched as we transformed from a married couple to a full-blown family. 
• Spent a year learning how to be parents to a wonderful, beautiful, smart, funny, and extremely strong-willed baby girl. 

We are thankful that God brought us together when he did, and that we have been able to spend so much of our lives together already (10 years and counting). We are thankful for our families who love us and have supported us from the beginning. We are thankful for the friendships we have, both old and new. We have been blessed in so many ways and have so much to be thankful for and we are very much looking forward to seeing what He has in store for us in the next 5 years. 

Merrick - Thank you for being such an wonderful husband. I know I drive you crazy at times, but you put up with me being me, and you love me unconditionally. You are, without a doubt, the best man in the world for me. I love you. 

Through the years...

These are so awful, I had to share. If you are interested, go to www.yearbookyourself.com. It is pretty funny.

The results...

Today I got a call from our pediatrician (who we love - in case you are in the market for a new doctor). The results from Gracie's allergy testing were back, and he wanted to talk through things with me. The good news is that we got the definitive answers we were looking for. The bad news is that our baby isn't allergy-free.

Dr. Moshofsky started out by telling me that Gracie is NOT allergic to wheat, milk, soy, fish, mold, cats, or dogs. It is nice to rule out those - especially dairy, as that is one we had worried about. He then told me that she is somewhat allergic to peanuts. This one is a little scary because peanut allergies can often cause really awful reactions. He is hopeful that she will out grow this, but for now Gracie needs to avoid nuts. Lastly he said "the egg thing is real," - meaning that she really truly is allergic to eggs. I guess in this test anything over 3.5 is "highly allergic," but that number can go up to 100. Gracie was somewhere between 4 and 5, which registered her as somewhat highly allergic. He is, however, optimistic that she may outgrow this allergy. We will wait and see. 

Because of this allergy, the flu shot is out of the question for her (it is an egg-based vaccine). Our doctor always tries to weigh pros and cons when making decisions like this and today was the first time he said, "if she was mind, I wouldn't take my chances with that vaccine." He recommended that Merrick and I, and anyone else she is in contact with regularly, get the shot to keep ourselves healthy. 

I am so glad we went ahead and had her tested. It is nice to know that her allergy is real, and that we do need to be very, very careful with what we feed her. Having an allergy to egg is annoying and slightly inconvenient, but it sure isn't the end of the world. It limits us on where we can take her out to eat, and makes it harder to let other people feed her, but that's about it. Food labels are getting better and better, so this will get easier and easier. 

Thanks for your prayers for our daughter thus far. We will now shift our focus and pray that she outgrows these allergies and is not accidentally exposed to something that could potentially make her very sick.