'Tis the Season to go Picking

What a lovely day! And we thought we would get some berries while the gettin's good. We went with our friend, Amy, and her son (Winn's buddy), Josh, out to Chiles Peach Orchard's strawberry patch.

 

When I conceived of the idea, I had this romantic vision of me picking berries in a white flowing linen dress and bringing them to my husband and daughter sitting close by on a picnic blanket under lovely asian inspired umbrella. Schaun would quickly clean them and hand them off to our friends who would dip them in some homemade lemon curd and sit idly enjoying the day. I wouldn't get the tiniest stain on my dress and we'd all have a jolly afternoon. Very Victorian era.

What really happened was barely throwing on some jeans and combing my hair (barely) and hauling ourselves out the patch where it would be incredibly awkward carrying our children on our backs (or fronts...depends on the baby carrier) while we tried to pick enough berries to make our HUGE containers look remotely full. Amy finally released Josh into the patch so he could bash around among the berries. And I finally set Winnie down in the patch where she was content to pick berry after berry and shove them into her mouth in succession. By the time we were done, she was drenched in strawberry juice from head to toe.

After the picking was done we sampled all the strawberry treats the orchard had to offer in its cafe (strawberry donuts, strawberry fudge, strawberry milkshake...very Forrest Gump) and drove our screaming children home for naps. It was a fantastic excursion that we hope to repeat next year!

Amy and Josh - excellent friends and great company!

Josh having a ball running around.

Winnie found the strawberries. 

And more strawberries.

And then there was more.

This is us...no white dress but awfully romantic anyway.

p.s. I did make some freezer jam that was delicious but *gasp* I forgot to take pictures :)

The big 1

You guessed it. Winnie turned one.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and as soon to be toddlers do, she awoke bright-eyed and crying her eyes out because of a fever. Nice. We gave her Tylenol so she could pull off the party and kept her away from the other kiddies. She did wonderfully and didn't melt down with sadness until late afternoon.

We had a party for her and invited her little baby friends along with some adult friends of ours. Rachel's parents were in town for the festivities and thank goodness for that. Not only was it great having them visit for the week from Connecticut, Rachel bit off way more than she could chew during the planning of the party and Grandma and Pop-pop saved the day by helping with Winnie, grocery shopping and cooking. As we always do in the Florian family, we had a great time planning a party together.

 Of course, Rachel's dad wouldn't let her BUY deli meat "when you can just roast the turkey yourself." So he literally roasted the turkey all night long so it would be ready to make sandwiches in the morning. And yes, it was delicious. My dad is king sandwich maker. I added my own fresh herb vinaigrette and Grandma did the assembly. They were delicious. Schaun was on Winnie duty and at the park early to claim our spot under the pavillion. Things almost came to fisticuffs but his mad negotiation skills prevailed and all was ready for Winnie's birthday bash when we arrived (late).

Gift bags for Winnie's friends...bubbles, balls and treats. Love doing this stuff!

You have to have balloons at a birthday party. Plus Winnie loves them.

Winnie's best buddy, Josh.

Another friend, Mia, indulging in her first cupcake. What an honor! 

 Mom and Dad loving Winnie

 She had a little giggle fest when we all sang happy birthday.

 Then she was confused.

That's right. Winnie's #1.

It Was Only A Year Ago...

...that our Winnie was born. It doesn't seem that she could have been that itsy bitsy but she was. I took these pictures when she was just five days old.  And thought I'd share a before and after of our girl.

 Teeny tiny baby, Winnie Lu.

Teeny Tiny Winnie foot.

Not so itty bitty, Winnie Lu.

A much bigger but not THAT big Winnie foot.

Visiting Family in the Great State of Utah

Schaun and I didn't plan on seeing his family until Christmas this year and realized that it would have been more than a year since we last saw them. So we did a last minute flight search, found something affordable and off we went.

Our first stop was to Payson, UT to visit my sister, Melanee, niece, Marlene, and great-nephew, Nolan. Of course we enjoyed the company of their families, made dinner together and let the babies play. It was particularly wonderful to see Marlene again. I haven't seen her in a year and at that time she was in the very first stages of recovering from brain surgery. I'm sure there's a more accurate and complicated way to describe her brain trauma but, if I understand correctly, she had a stroke. She was 21 years old, newly married and pregnant.

She's got a long road ahead of her but on this part of it she has made amazing progress. First of all, she had her son, Nolan. A year ago, she struggled to prop Winnie up in her lap and now she bends down and picks up my 20-pounder with ease. That's just a small example of her progress. Thankfully, Melanee had recently moved to UT when she had her stroke so she was there to help Marlene and Stephan pick up the pieces and start moving forward. Marlene and Stephan have since been able to move in with Melanee and Randy and she works hard as a mom and grandma (she loves even harder!)  We were so happy to catch up with them!

My great-nephew, Nolan. So cute!

Nolan and his mom, my niece, Marlene.

My sister & bro-in-law, Melanee and Randy

Winnie was fascinated with Nolan's head!

She couldn't get enough of Marlene's wheelchair.

Us.

Winnie lovin' Melanee's kitchen drawers

We spent the rest of our trip in and around Ogden, where Schaun's family lives. It was such a nice visit. Winnie was in her glory with all the people around and she took immediately to Grandma and her Aunties. It took her a bit to warm up to Pa-Pa Wheeler but it happened! There were lots of playdates with cousins, car-rides to get her to actually take a nap and tons of snuggling with Grandma. We were glad to be there for Schaun's Mom's birthday. The whole family got together and took her to dinner and we also had a family get-together at Schaun's brother's home. I made her favorite cake, black forrest. That'll be a separate post :) We took family pictures and Schaun got to visit the Ogden Temple with his sister, Shaylee. It was really fun to see Winnie with everyone. She LOVES being around people and Grandma has more toys than a little girl could ever want!

Love this pic of Schaun's parents, Jeff & Lael!

Winnie "helping" Grandma set the table.

Winnie and Pa-pa Wheeler

Grandma Wheeler trying to get a smile out of grumpy girl.

Schaun & his siblings.

Winnie's cute cousins! Enoch, Gideon, Harmony & Malachi.

Another adorable cousin, Oliver.

Us. And pretty mountains.

Did I say it was a great trip?!

Mad Wonton Skills

I MADE THAT!!! Sometimes I get chills just thinking about it! You know I love to cook and you know I love chinese food and I especially love good wonton soup. I got a hankering and literally woke up in the night getting excited thinking about making wonton soup. Is that weird? Researched several recipes on-line, read lots and lots of user comments and reviews of the recipes, applied some of their changes, added a few of my own, watched several "how to wrap wontons" videos on you-tube and successfully made amazingly delicious soup! What did we do before the internet? Ah...that's right. We learned how to cook from real live humans, like grandmothers, and stuff. Unfortunately I never knew my grandmothers, and doubtful they made wonton soup so thank goodness for the internet.

I combined recipes for egg-drop and wonton soups, added some extra veggies and presented it to Schaun (and Winnie, who just stared at it) for his approval. It was met with a resounding, "This is SO good!" I wouldn't do the egg-drop thing again, it was a bit overwhelming, and since this first time I made it again (there were so many wontons I froze a ton of them) with a fairly simple broth and fresh veggie goodness.

Winnie's not diggin' it.

Here's my best recreation, from memory, of my latest favoritest soup. I'm sure a new one will come along soon but for now...enjoy!

Wonton Soup
Serves 4-ish
(adapted from Pf Changs Wonton Soup Recipe)

The Soupy Part

8 cups chicken stock

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

1 Tbsp light brown sugar

2 Tbsp dry sherry

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp fish sauce (I like Tiparos brand, found in most asian markets)

2 medium carrots peeled and thinly sliced

10 baby bok choy, halved
1 small pckg cremini mushrooms sliced
2 slices canadian bacon, julienned.
2 thinly sliced scallions, the entire onion...not just the white parts

Bring chicken stock to a boil, add ginger, sugar, sherry, soy sauce, fish sauce and carrots. Cook until carrots are tender. Reduce heat to medium and add bok choy, mushrooms and canadian bacon, cover and simmer about 5 -7 minutes. Add scallions right before serving. This is tasty on its own without the wontons...you could add some thinly sliced chicken or just some nice rice noodles.

The Wontony Part
(makes about 50, 1/2 to eat now 1/2 to freeze and eat later)

1 lb ground turkey (for this recipe I like dark meat)
1 tsp light brown sugar
1 Tbsp dry sherry
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 Tbsp ketchup

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Use one teaspoon (and I mean only one teaspoon...don't cheat...measure it) in the center of precut wonton wrappers. Fold as instructed here or whatever way your creative heart desires. I recommend testing the structural viability of your creation before using any method for all the wontons. Boil in a separate pot. They're done when they float. Transfer to individual soup bowls and be amazed at your mad wonton skills!

Winnie's First Snows

The first snowfall of the 2010 Winter season came in early December. It was just a light dusting but as brand-spanking new parents, we promptly swept up our daughter and dragged her outside at which time she looked around and looked at us like, "what the heck are you doing to me?!" and took lots of pictures. We (or really I) squealed with excitement of "Winnie's first snow!" like she cared. Maybe someday she'll care that we took all these pictures of her looking dazed and confused. At least she'll see how very thrilled we are to be her parents, right? That's worth something!

We're all excited and Winn says, "This is lame."

THEN a couple weeks later we got a bigger snowfall that stuck around for a whole day or two (thank you Virginia!). That pushed me to finally knit her a cute hat so she could look the part of snow princess and have a warm noggin. Schaun promptly got her dressed and brought her outside for a taste of snow, literally.

So proud of her hat! Made up the pattern (kind of) myself.

She so doesn't want to eat snow.

Thanksgiving Galore

The day before Thanksgiving Winnie's first tooth appeared. It was just in time for the feast! Good girl. 

Schaun and I hosted a few friends (Dave, Tiffany & Daniel) and we got a little carried away with the idea of actually using the pretty things that have been given to us over the years. So we got out the china, crystal, tablecloth, silver, vases, etc. and had ourselves a shindig. And of course, we made way too much food. Dave handled the bird, which was delicious and some sides while Daniel, self professed cooking- disaster, brought the show-stopper chocolate cake and bread from a local bakery. I made the mashed potatoes, obviously, because that's what I do. Then there were carrots and parsnips, swiss chard, corn bread apple stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc., etc., etc. We just enjoyed cooking, chatting, eating, and eating some more. Good food, good friends, great holiday!

Zee Table...beautiful, no?

Lovin' my plate.

Lovin' the pumpkin pie.

Lovin' Daniel w/ leftovers!

Lovin' Dave & Tiffany

Love, love, lovin' the Winnster.