It’s gonna get messy.
Remember, we are embracing the life-living, right sweet friends?
And the not-quite-a-baby will want to be in on the action, because he see’s the point.
Being apart of something good.
And the clean-up , it isn’t so bad when it’s a mess we’ve made on purpose.
The lovely messy.
Birthdays are for celebrating. And my beautiful mother just had her’s. And my house was full of love and laughter, as thirteen gathered around the table to say to her, ‘Happy Day’.
No stress around here, because we choose to embrace the good, the lovely. So food was made, and such yummy things too. Sister brings apricots and sage wrapped proscuitto, and a cheese plate of goodness, where the kids learn about pairing the chocolate with the cheese and apples. Brother brought a delectable box of hand crafted individual cheesecakes from a bakery in the city. Coconut Chocolate Cherry anyone? Perhaps you prefer seasonal pumpkin? Well, my dear, your wish is my command!
And we spent the night sipping Hendricks Cucumber Martini’s, ginger beer for the kiddos and a lovely assortment of growlers and wine.
How did I get all this goodness in my house, at one time?
And charades were played, which the little ones love. Where miming Black-Eyed-Peas and obscure US cities make for difficult guessing, but easy to laugh with, because that’s the reason games should be played. For fun. For joy.
And the kids were tucked into bed and the coffee is made as we sink in deep in the couches and think about love and life and the purpose of it all. I love how my family can get deep and heavy and the tears, well they come, and so do the tough questions and that is beautiful. Because that is real.
And soon ferry boats need to be caught and presents loaded in the car and hugs were given, generously.
These are the moments we live for, the ones where the lighting is dim and the only thing you can see is the good.
Okay, I feel like I have done a million recipes lately. And by a million, I mean two. Here’s another. And boy is it good.
Vegan Tortilla Soup
Take some onions and peppers and sauté in a little EVOO.
Add in some corn, pinto beans and diced tomatoes.
Cover the mixture with water and bouillon/broth. I’ve been using these little gems lately. 
Top with avocado {lots of it too, it’s good fat, yo!}
Vegan Tortilla Soup Recipe
Dice 2 green peppers and 2 onions. Saute in oil.
Add in one 30oz can of diced tomatoes.
Add in 2 cans of 14 oz pinto beans, rinsed.
Add in 2 cups of frozen corn.
Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and a tablespoon taco seasoning. (I get mine in the organic bulk section at Fred Meyer’s)
Cover with water and bouillon/broth, about 3 or so cups.
Get it to a nice rolling boil. Let simmer for awhile. 15 minutes if time is an issue, and hour if you have it.
Put a handful of tortilla chips in each bowl and ladle the soup over it.
Top with a generous amount of avocado.
Yum! Easy! Cheap! Healthy! All real ingredients that you can pronounce!
GOOD STUFF PEOPLE!
While Jeremy and I were away in the city the kids were having fun too. Grandpa and Grandma had plenty of fun things planned. Caramel apples, new apps on the iPad and visiting a neighbors pigs make for a fun day!
Discovering.
Climbing High.
And Bunny Traps.
And big brothers exploiting the younger ones.
Gotta love it.
Moses was working hard at school on his Pin Pushed Pumpkin! 
I asked him to share in his own words how he created it. Here is what he said,”I traced the continents on the pumpkin with a Sharpie. Then I pin pushed it. That means I used a pin and outlined each continent with it. Then I painted each continent a different color and the oceans blue. Then I labeled the continents and oceans. Because of this project I can see each continent like a globe. The best part of making this was painting it. The hardest part was pin pushing it because we had to be very careful to follow the lines we had traced. If I could choose any continent to visit I’d choose Europe because I want to visit Rome.”
I love projects like these, they include fine motor skills (pin pushing and cleaning out the pumpkin), painting, labeling and tracing. This is a great example of why I love his Montessori class. This would also be a great Harvest time project for homeschooling families! The globe is ready made out of the pumpkin!
I think it is a great addition to our Fall decorations!
I say Curry Sauce because it isn’t like the full on bowl of curry you would get if you ordered it at a Thai restaurant. Instead it is a rice topping, if you will, and one that isn’t too overpowering for the kiddos at our table.
First go ahead and chop all those yummy onions and green peppers and get them sizzling in a few teaspoons of veggie oil.
Then dice up in smallish pieces the potatoes and throw those in with the veggies. Open the coconut milk and pour it into the wok or pan. Get it nice and bubbly, we need to boil the potatoes in this mixture. Add curry and salt.
Look at it getting bubbly! Yummy! This part will take about 20 minutes, depending on the size of potato that needs to soften and how high you have it turned up.
While that is happening call your kids in to do their evening chores, put a toddler in time out for screaming in the kitchen, check a few kids’ homework, tell your son to turn down the song he is listening to on Pandora and chop up a bunch of cilantro.
Dish up bowls of equal parts rice and ‘curry sauce’ and top with fresh cilantro. Dig In!
Vegan Curry Sauce and Rice {serves 10}
Chop up 2 green peppers and 2 onions and sauté in a teaspoon or 2 of veggie oil in a large wok of skillet
Dice up smallish pieces of 6 medium sized potatoes and add them to the pan
Open 2 14 oz cans of coconut milk and pour it over the veggies
Add 1 teaspoon salt and 3 tablespoons curry powder { this is all about you and your families preferences here! And the potency of your curry powder. Not all are made equal! I purchased mine in the bulk organic section of Fred Meyers and have been happy with it. Maybe you like less, maybe you like way more. If it was just for me and my husband we would add more- but this is for a bunch of kids and the goal is for them to eat and enjoy it!}
Let it come to a boil and get those potatoes soft, about 20 min.
Meanwhile make a pot of rice. We used 3 cups of white basmati long grain rice and it was the right amount for this meal.
Chop one bunch of cilnatro
Serve one scoop of rice, topped with one scoop of curry and a handful of cilantro in a bowl and enjoy!
Some days you just feel loved. When those days come by you gotta soak it up, soak it in, don’t let it pass you by to quickly.
Because it is a gift.
This week I had lined up the babysitting services of Grandma and Grandpa, knowing Jeremy had been having some long weeks and long days and I wanted to gift him with a date night. My parents said bring them before lunch on Saturday and pick them up Sunday afternoon.
Um, yes. That will work. That will work very well. You know, that feeling loved bit?
Jeremy told me Friday he had the date all planned.
I love surprises. I know some people don’t, but I have always held tight that there are so few good surprises in life, I will take the ones I can get.
We drove into the city and landed in the U District. Parking on the street this sun shiny fall day. In my grey Miz Mooz heels and bright blue tights I felt nearly as cool as the college kids around me. And we made our way into the library and Jer pointed to the sign, GETTING PUBLISHED! A ROAD MAP FOR SUCCESS’ .
My eyes filled a bit with tears, truly they did. That is what happens when you feel loved, deep down. That is what happens when you feel known. It was the intention, the thought, the thinking about, Who is Anya and what will fill her cup? That is the part that needs to be soaked up. Because it feels so good.
And after the seminar {full of wonderful information thx so much SPL!} we got back in the car and headed downtown and parked on first and we walked to Le Pichet. Oh how I love you Le Picket! After all those years of walking past, thinking about how I would really love the chance to dine there, we did. 
Dining there was made even better since we were joined by my sister and her husband! See how the surprises keep coming? We shared a few bottles of wine and pate and cooked to order hour-long wait roasted chicken with braised cabbage and apples. I think I may have died my friends! And the talk was of trips we would love to take and auntie and uncle inquiring about my favorite subject- my babies, and smiles. Oh, the smiles.
We spent the night, woke up ready to grab some yummy-only-get-in-Seattle coffee deliciousness and headed home. We knew we needed to get the children eventually.
Begin by chopping all the veggies, while the beans are simmering using the quick soak method.
After the beans are down soaking, add all the veggies in a bit of oil (I used Hain Organinc Canola), the salt and pepper and most important the smoky chipolte peppers in adobo sauce! The chipolte truly adds enough enhanced flavor you won’t even miss the traditional sausage. Give it a try!
Once it has cooked for a good long while, mine simmered on low for five hours, serve the beans on top of a bed of fluffy white rice. Scallions are the perfect crunch for each bite.
We all just loved it, a fresh flavorful variation of red beans we hadn’t tried before. TWO kids said they wanted it for their birthday dinner. That is the best kind of thumbs up a cook can receive in this household! A side note, if it seems to spicy add more rice to your bowl of rice. But truly, even the baby had seconds.
Vegan Red Beans and Rice
Soak or Quick Soak 2 pounds of small red beans
Meanwhile:
Chop 1 head of celery
2 large onions
1 head of garlic
2 large green peppers
In a big pot add some oil and all the veggies, let them get golden for about ten minutes.
Add in 1 teaspoon pepper and 2to 3 teaspoons of salt (depending on your salty love)
Open a can of chipolte peppers in adobo sauce and take out three peppers. Chop them in tiny pieces and add all the pieces and the saucy-ness that they were covered in to the pot. I freeze the leftover peppers in the can in baggies, three peppers a bag.
Add in the beans and mix all the ingredients
Cover the bean with broth (I used veggie broth) and bring to a boil.
Once it has reached a boil turn it to low with the lid off. Let it simmer for hours until your house smells divine and you can’t help stopping what your doing every 20 minutes to have a little taste. It should be quite thick at the end of the day.
30 minutes before dinner prepare the rice. This meal will feed us for 2 days so I made enough rice to use for 2meals as well. Now I have a super easy meal for the next day.
Take one bunch of green onions and chop to use as a garnish. Obviously if you are trying to save money this is the place to do it, but I felt like it was worth the additional .79 it cost.
Yummy, on the cheap, and so so good!
Atticus, 23m
Lincoln, 4 1/2
Maisey, 5
Moses, 7
My heart is full, knowing I get to look at these faces each day.
Take in their smiles, their laughter, their dimples.
I try to step back, breathe deeper, and remember it goes so fast.
Somedays I must choose to put a smile on my face. My mind focuses on the toys on the kitchen floor, the markers left without caps for toddlers to grab, the bathroom left in a hurry so toothpaste {and worse} is left for the next person. Those things, they get in the way of my Smile.
But oh, the smile always, always feels so much better.
I will remember to choose to let my face reflect those of the littler ones around me.
Joy. Silly. Lovely. Ease.
I am apart of a writers group and can I just say how glad I am?
I was driving there last night giddy. Giddy people.
And it isn’t because I was finally getting out of the house. I get out of the house often. It was because I was getting out and doing something that really nurtures me and my soul.
I am an easily inspired person. I get choked up on the X Factor, okay? But I do know that being in a room with a dozen other people who are all dedicating time and energy, sacrificing to make their dreams come true- that is beautiful.
And it doesn’t matter if we won’t get published and see our books at B&N- what matters is that WE SHOW UP.
Showing up everyday at my computer means I have chosen to put other things on the back burner. I don’t answer the phone if I am the middle of working, I try not to do more then one activity a day outside the home, I do not watch all the shows on my DVR and I don’t feel {terribly} bad for not stepping up for the ‘extra’ thing I am sensing someone want me to do. I am being responsible with my limited amount of time. I am choosing the things I say Yes to carefully and the things I say No to less carefully.
And it feels good. Because through all of this, I am learning more about myself, what works, what doesn’t.
This summer on my 10 year anniversary my husband started the dinner conversation by asking me to tell him 5 things that fill my cup.
Things that give me renewed energy, happiness, don’t deplete me, leave me feeling more whole.
I thought it would be an easy question, but as we talked about it we realized a lot of the things we do with our time do not Fill Our Cup.
I want a cup that overflows people! Don’t you?
Going to my writing group helps fill my cup. And I can tell because I returned at ten o’clock at night beaming. And we did critiques of one anothers work people!
How is your cup filled?
