family

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Sophie’s Birthday Party

Last Saturday, January 9th, we traveled to NJ for Sophie’s 2nd birthday party.  It was a “Fancy Nancy” tea party and all the girls had such a good time.  Aurie made tu-tu’s for the 5 girls and they each had a tiara.  Hannah wore her tu-tu all day until we went home after dinner!

Hannah in her tu-tu and tiara

Aurie’s friend who’s a face-painter was there painting the girls’ faces….and the moms’, too.

Hannah and Mommy

 Sophie’s favorite toy was a Thomas the Tank playset.  It was very funny to see all the little girls playing with the trains!

 

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Hannah’s visit to the Plastic Surgeon

Tuesday we had our 2nd appointment at CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). Our first appointment was December 2008 with the dermatologist, Dr. Yan. Although Hannah’s pediatrician could diagnose her birthmark as a Nevus Sebaceous, he wanted a specialist to confirm the diagnosis and to decide if she should have surgery to remove it. Dr. Yan had recommended that it be removed since it’s in a place where Hannah cannot see it easily to check on it for changes (it’s behind her right ear).

Anyway, we saw Dr. Jackson in plastic surgery. She was very nice and answered all our questions. Because of its size, Dr. Jackson said we could have it removed in one surgery or two. If we opted for 2, they could reduce the size of the scar. It’s borderline in size and her hair covers it so we chose to so it in one surgery so she won’t have to be under anesthesia twice.
In a few days we’ll talk to Dr. Jackson’s secretary about scheduling the surgery, but it won’t be for at least a couple months. CHOP has a surgical facility in Exton (about 45 minutes south of us) so we don’t have to go all the way into the city for the procedure. She will be completely out for the surgery, and it should only take about 30 minutes.
The reason they sometimes remove this type of birthmark is after puberty the make-up of them can change. Some can develop tumors such as basal cell carcinoma, but the most frequent type is trichoblastoma. In very rare cases the birthmark can become malignant. If you’re interested in learning more about this type of birthmark I found some basic information at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevus_sebaceous and more technical info at http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1058733-overview.

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Ringing in the New Year – UK Style!

We celebrated New Year’s Eve with some of our friends who also have young children. We thought a British theme party would be fun & then we could celebrate the New Year early so the kids wouldn’t be so cranky. We counted down to midnight GMT (7pm eastern) and the kids had fun blowing horns and wearing their hats.

We had lots of yummy food and I enjoyed making new recipes. I tried bruchetta with sheep cheese and wilted greens. The warm Locatelli cheese on bread with greens and drizzled with balsmic vinegar was terrific! I can’t wait to make it again! We also had artichoke cheese dip, mini quiches, fresh veggies and dip, cookies and chocolates.

I had lots of fun exploring allrecipes.co.uk for British recipes and settled on Bangers and Mash (pork sausage and mashed potatoes) and Buttered Turkey for dinner. Noah loved the sausage in the gravy! I can’t remember when he’s eaten that much meat. 🙂 I cooked one of the turkeys we raised this summer and it was so good with all the seasonings and butter!

One of our friends brought Bubble & Squeak as a side dish, even though we think it’s more of a breakfast dish. It’s made with potatoes, ham, bacon and cabbage. I think you can add any veggies you have to it. Traditionally it’s made with the leftovers from Christmas dinner.

For dessert I tried out 2 super-easy recipes… Lemon Syllabub and Apple Crumble. The Lemon Syllabub was so light and creamy! It’s made by whipping heavy cream and adding sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. After sprinkling a little nutmeg on top it’s ready to eat… Yum!

We’re already thining about next year’s party and wondering what country should be our theme! Any suggestions?

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Am I a Soccer Mom Now?

We finally made the big step on Wednesday….we traded in our little Mercury Tracer for a mini-van! A grey Toyota Sienna, to be exact. We’ve actually been thinking about getting one since last year, but had to put it off for a while.

I really like it and asked Dave to put a big bow on it for Christmas….like in the commercials and some movies! I know it’s corny, but I’ve always wanted a car for a present. 🙂

Noah and Hannah cried when we took the van for a test drive, but after a couple minutes they settled down. Now Noah is just so excited about “his” mini-van….it’s so cute!

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Noah’s 1st Day of Preschool

Noah has been looking forward to preschool since we visited it last spring and today was his first day. He was so excited and had a great time. He goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 2 1/2 hours. Today I took Hannah to get some fall clothes while Noah was in school. I think she really liked have time alone with Mommy… and having all my attention to herself! Anyway, here’s a picture of Noah in his classroom.

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Noah’s Birthday

Noah turned 4 this year! He had a great birthday party – the theme was Handy Manny. The day turned out very nice…sunny and warm so the kids could go swimming.

We had pulled pork, pasta salad, grilled veggies and potato salad. I also cooked a leg of lamb on my new rotisserie that turned out terrific! I used a recipe from BBQ University…here’s the link: www.bbqu.net/season2/210_4.html#leg_lamb.

For Noah’s toolbox cake, I used chocolate chippound cake frosted with almond flavored buttercream icing. I covered a wooden dowel with plastic wrap for the handle and iced that, too.

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August 9th – My Birthday

My birthday was a nice, relaxing Sunday. Rainy morning…we got home from church and the rain gauge read 2″. The rain cleared up in the afternoon so Dave and Noah went outside to do some work.

Close to dinner-time more dark clouds started moving in, and the Weather Channel said we were going to get a strong storm. Dave fed the animals and I ordered dinner. I was halfway there when the clouds opened up and I got soaked just running from the car to the restaurant! The closer I got to home, the more leaves and branches I saw in the road. Our driveway was just littered with branches! When I pulled up to the house I saw the tree in our front yard had blown over!
I went around the back of the house and hurried in the garage. There was just a flurry of excitement when I got upstairs. Noah had been at the front window and watched the tree fall. Dave was in the kitchen and saw the wind carry Noah’s empty pool from the deck across the backyard and pin it against the fence. The pvc railing on the pool broke and so did the fence rail.
While Dave watched the pool fly through the yard, the tree by the back barn fell. It missed the barn but took down part of the chicken coop fence.

Another tree fell near the back pasture at the edge of the woods and our neighbor lost 2 trees…one took the rungs off a section of our fence. The storm didn’t last too long at all but the damage was high. About a half hour after the storm past we lost power for about 6 hours. What a day!
Dave came home early from work on Monday and stayed home on Tuesday. He repaired fences and started the long job of cutting up the trees.
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Homegrown Harvest Dinner

We attended the Homegrown Harvest Dinner and Hoedown held by the French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust on Saturday, 8/1. What a fun night! Noah and Hannah really enjoyed themselves…Noah did the egg and spoon race and watched the horse pie bingo (I guess the cow couldn’t make it). Hannah walked up and down the little hill in front of our table all night.
It was our first time exhibiting our farm like this. I really enjoyed talking to people about the farm and the animals. We also enjoyed seeing all the other displays. We have a lot of ideas of how to improve our exhibit.
We thank the Consevation Trust for including us in this great event!