Only One Month Left To Go...

for our due date that is (December 7th)-- but as many know, only like 5% of babies are born on their due date. And if I can make a wager now, I think Baby Swenson will want to bake a little longer. Then again, we all know what assuming does! ;)

Mom knows me well

and forwarded a few blogs that she thought I would like. And like, I do!! This lady and that lady are quite up my alley! Thought I'd share for all the other frugal wives & mothers out there who enjoys cooking yummy food and finds joy in the home & family life!

And this by far was a really really good read!

City Treats

At almost 35 weeks, I headed with Linds & my mom for a girls outing to the city! And I'm happy to report that I made it much longer than anyone anticipated! :) Of course, the girls were so kind & made sure to have lots of pit-stops planned into the day. After doing some shopping, our first rest was Williams-Sonoma where we were delighted to discover the author of Cookie Swap was doing a demonstration. Mom even got to participate & we all enjoyed the end products. They even had delicious apple cider to taste too-- so good!

Mom's finished cookie!

We also stopped in Crate&Barrel and had a conversation with some random yet delightful ladies who also decided to sit in the little staged living room area. One of them was also from Colorado--small world! It was a beautiful day: shopping, walking, and lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall cafe. And as you can see in the next picture-- I'm the only one who didn't walk away with any goods. Hubby was *so* proud (yippie, for wifey points!!)

Traditional German Food

We finally enjoyed the most delicious German supper this past weekend!! Anne cooked Traditional Goulash and W helped with the process (hopefully, to be able to re-create it in the future). Since we don't have the type of noodles she used, Anne made everything from scratch! I made some yummy pumpkin spiced cake for dessert and the boys enjoyed some authentic German beer. We had a delightful feast with the Nitches and Gillettes! I'm still waiting for her to translate her recipe into English to it can go into our recipe binder.

Happy Halloween!

From the motorcycle dude and his chef with a bun in the oven!

Getting My Fix

On Friday, I headed out to D-ville to visit one of my all-time favorite teachers at her new school. The kids had a huge costume parade--complete with the high school band playing & marching--with every single parent & grandparent out to celebrate. This school pulled out all the stops. On top of that was the 5th grade boy tradition of dressing up as girls!! So I saw a Hannah Montana, a Cinderella complete with white go-go heels & other blonde "girls"! The class was full of lots of pink, glitter, and giggles!! It was hilarious!! I loved how everyone was dressed up, even some of the parents! I never saw such collaborated spirit at our old school.

It was also a blast to hang out with 5th graders and just being in a classroom again! And the bonus of not being so exhausted after a day of leading kids!

Dog-Tested; Parent Approved

We're getting creative in trying out our latest and greatest baby products! Stuffed animals are good for cloth diapers, and Panchos are good for baby carriers! The rest of us had a belly-aching laugh session as we watched W be the first to demonstrate our new wrap. Shown here is the classic love my baby hold...Needless to say, we are both so stoked about wearing our little one as often as possible. After asking around (thanks, C!), we purchased a Sleepy Wrap & it arrived yesterday!! Many parents are aware of the great benefits to baby wearing & Sleepy Wrap has a "learn" section that provides actual research notations. I thought it was so cute that it came with a little pouch bag for storage in addition to a brief manual for 5 different holds with recommended age ranges! Oh, and the added bonus of the company being from Boulder, Colorado-- ahhh, of course, my granola loving nature sang at this! In just a few short months, I will hopefully post a revised photo with Baby S being carried instead. ;)

The Band Goes Marching

The last few years, W & I have headed downtown for the Farmer's Market only to be stuck in the middle of the Annual High School Band Parade/Competition. Being close, we tend to get awoken by the beats of the drums & tuning of instruments at Amador where they start...early in the weekend morning. This year we actually knew it was happening & accidently slept in for most of it. Ironic! We still managed to see some performances while heading down for our weekly fruit supply. We brought our German visitors & they were amazed. Apparently, they don't have things like this so they enjoyed watching the bands walk through Main St.

Side Commentary: Still funny to see high schoolers. Some look like 8 year olds while others look as old as me!! And many flag teams had males this year. I'd never seen that before! Times are sure a' changin'!

Favorite New Recipe

Well, the meal-planning & recipe adventure has been a success thus far. I found this new recipe in a wedding gifted French recipe book & we LOVED it! I served the tomatoes with some brown rice. And they make delish left-overs too!

Spinach-Ricotta-Stuffed Tomatoes (I added ground turkey since we're meat-lovers)

What You'll Need: (Serves 8)

8 big red tomatoes

Salt, for draining the tomatoes

3 T olive oil

1 C chopped yellow onions

Dry Spinach, about 4 C

Salt & Pepper, to taste

Grated nutmeg, to taste

1 C ricotta cheese

2 egg yolks

1/2 C toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup parsley

Shredded Italian Cheese, used as topping

What You Do:

1. Wash & dry tomatoes & cut off tops. With a teaspoon, scrape out all the inner parts while being careful not to pierce the sides. Salt the cavities and set them upside down on a paper towel to drain

2. Heat pan with olive oil over medium-low heat, add (turkey here) onions, & cook until tender (about 25 minutes)

3. Chop the spinach & add to pan. Then season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Cover over low heat, and stir occasionally, for 10 minutes. Careful not to burn.

4. Preheat over to 350 F

5. Beat the ricotta and egg yolks together in mixing bowl. Add spinach mixture (with turkey if added), toasted pine nuts, parsley and season with salt & pepper.

6. Gently blot tomato cavities dry with paper towel & spoon an equal share of spinach mixture into each one. Top each tomato with a sprinkle of shredded Italian cheese.

7. Arrange the tomatoes in a shallow baking dish & set in oven. Bake until the tops are well browned and the filling is hot & bubbly, about 20-30 minutes.

Meet The Germans

So for the past week and a half we've had some awesome people staying with us. Meet Matthias & Anne Nitsch...(wearing American sunglasses we lent them)They are visiting from Heidelberg, Germany. Our high school ministry went to Heidelberg earlier this year, and some friends of ours met these two wonderful people. So when the Nitschs needed to come to an English speaking country for school & wanted to intern at a church, they came to our city. Our friends asked us if we could host them until the end of October & we jumped at the chance!! We love having our guest room occupied & knew we could fit in some guests before little Swenson arrived! Matthias & Anne will be here for 5 and 1/2 months so they'll get to meet our little one too!

It's been *such* a blessing having them! We've had some awesome late night conversations about life, Christ, history, marriage, cultures, etc-- you name it, we've covered it. And it's been fun to introduce each other to new things. I couldn't let them not experience this, this, this, and to make sure someone brought them here. And they are huge fans of this cereal. They, in turn, made sure we saw this--which is quite addictive and has reoccurring references in our talks.

It's really cool how Christ is a constant thread & how He binds people from all different walks of life. We're really looking forward to experiencing a German meal & W is excited about trying the German beer. And of course, continuing to share lots of laughs and good company!! :)