No Christmas Card?

Over the years, we've had many times when I wasn't sure if we'd be able to get a Christmas card out. Times when a baby was almost due (Eric) 

or when we had a new baby who was keeping us occupied (Alaina). 

We've had years when it seemed almost impossible to get everyone to look at the camera 

or when Jason was growing an obnoxious beard (AND no one would look at the camera...).

We even had a year when we'd be moving the week after Christmas (remember 2020?). 

Somehow, though, we always came up with something to send to our family and friends.

So, you might wonder why no card this year--surely things couldn't have been that bad.

Well, I guess it was just the right combination of unfortunate events to keep the magic from happening. But having said that, things did come together for us to enjoy a happy and peaceful Christmas only two weeks after moving for the second time in one year--so I'll focus on the part of our adventure that led to that.

In November we found a house that we thought might work for our family. Last December we'd signed a one-year lease, and we'd had it at the back of our minds that we might move the following year. As the time got closer to renew our lease, we didn't think it would be possible to move, but somehow things fell into place, and in mid-November we were offered a new lease at a bigger, much nicer house in a quieter neighborhood. That evening I got cold feet and told the new landlord we'd changed our minds (I had some worries about taking on extra expenses right before Christmas), but he called me the next morning and offered to have us move Dec. 15 rather than Dec. 1. That seemed to resolve the problems, so we signed the papers Nov. 13 and gave our old landlord one month's notice on Nov. 14.

First, we had to say goodbye to Janae's wall art at our old house, which involved a bit of painting. 

Then we decided to paint the new house, which had a LOT more wall space (here's before and after on the dining room).

After that, we were pretty tired, but we were excited to move (and had lots of help). This is our old dining room vs. our new one:

No more stained green carpet with uneven wear!

Old living room:

New living room: 

We traded this tiny kitchen (where I somehow made two turkey dinners and countless muffins, cookies, cakes, pizzas, etc. over the year)

for this much larger one.

We moved most of our things Dec. 11, but we were back and forth with cleaning, etc. until the 15th.

Somehow we managed to put up a tree (even if it wasn't a real one) less than 10 days before Christmas,

bake some cookies for Santa,

visit the cemetery,

and get Eric vaccinated,

all before the Big Day.

We had a beautiful white Christmas,

and some of us finally got to rest! (Watch out where you fall asleep when Janae, Alaina and Eric are around ... right, Ben?)

                                   

And as for the Christmas card, here it is … I made three different versions; I just couldn't get them printed in time to mail out :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that 2022 will be a happier and more productive year for all of us!

Our Artist in Residence

All art is used here with Janae's permission.

All of my kids like to draw, and--unlike me--they're all pretty good at it. Janae, though, has made a study of painting and drawing over the past couple of years. I've mentioned before that when the schools closed due to Covid in March 2020, Janae bought a sketch book and started spending hours every day drawing Hamilton characters. I thought she was amazing at drawing clothes.

Eventually she branched out, drawing characters from other stories. She studied anatomy online and started getting more detail into her characters' faces.

Still, her favorite scenes to draw and paint are from musicals.

When we moved to our current house, Janae asked if she could paint her walls, and since they had all just been sloppily painted with a drab grey, I agreed.

Over the past 8 months or so, she has created a tribute to musicals, which is still a work in progress on her wall.

She recently finished painting a scene from the Broadway version of Moulin Rouge, stretching across the wall just under her window. I was looking at it yesterday while putting away laundry, and I was just amazed at what Janae has accomplished with her drawing and painting.

A month or so ago, Janae also gave me a beautiful gift--a series of nature pictures she had painted for me. My bedroom is in the basement, and I've mentioned several times how much I miss my old room where I could look out the window and see our front garden. Janae said these pictures were for my wall, so I could see beautiful scenery even though I'm in the basement.

She said there are more to come, with a total of 15 already sketched. I've started putting them up, and it makes such a difference--not just because I can see beautiful nature scenes, but because Janae thought to do this for me.

Art adds so much to life, and I am very grateful to have a thoughtful, creative daughter who brings so much beauty into our home.

Life Is More Interesting with Fish

Disclaimer: I had a negative reaction to this article when I originally published it, but I'd like anyone reading to know that we did A LOT of research before putting any of these fish together and only tried combinations that others had found successful. Our bettas were all female, which often get along well. When we removed our large, unhealthy plant, the fish still had many hiding spots available. We have been fascinated with the process but have never intentionally left any fish in danger, removing aggressive fish and re-introducing them in recommended ways. Finally, through listening to expert advice and then experiencing some trial and error, we have established a harmonious, well-functioning community tank.

I never really thought of fish as interesting pets. They don't do much, and you can't hold them or interact with them like you can with furry animals. 

A few months ago, I wrote about our attempts at a betta sorority (See "Our Betta Sorority," July 2021, https://literarylamb.blogspot.com/2021/07/). By that point I'd already realized fish keeping was a pretty action-packed hobby. Little did I know how much drama was still to come.

Our three new girls--Belle, Little Red (Alaina changed her name to Makayla) and Ella--did get along well, just as we'd predicted, coming from the same tank at the store. They were healthy and active ... working as a team to eliminate all the other fish in the tank. The other betta (May) was the first to go, followed by the two male guppies (some bettas can't handle seeing other fish with beautiful, big tails), and then the female guppy, Claquesousette. So, the bettas were left alone with the clean-up crew to rule the roost.

After much debate, we decided to add two African dwarf frogs--Eric named them Marley and Marley.

Fortunately, these guys haven't proved a threat at all--they are dull colored and love the bottom of the tank, so the bettas have hardly even acknowledged them. Eric and I love to watch them shooting up to the top of the water and then back down, especially at bedtime.

Then one of our bettas died (Belle), and we found that our "terrible three" had been so well bonded that the other two went into mourning for her. Ella actually went into hiding and didn't come out even for food. We'd also taken a big, scraggly plant out of the aquarium, so even though there were still plenty of live plants and places to hide, it seemed a bit lonely and depressing with more empty space and so few fish visible.

We wanted to add some new fish to make things more interesting and started thinking about creating a community tank--which (according to Alaina) requires at least five different varieties of water dwellers. We had four, so what could we add?  We considered a few different options, but when we got to the pet store, we settled on ... more female guppies, along with a new plant.

This definitely accomplished our goal of livening up Eric's aquarium and drawing out Ella, who started swimming to the top a lot more. Our three new guppies (Angelica, Eliza and Peggy) were very active, chasing each other around in a friendly way. The two bettas seemed to be leaving them alone, too (maybe Belle had been the ring leader?), so we were pretty proud of ourselves for creating a harmonious community.

But, I forgot to mention that the male and female guppies at the pet store had been kept together, and that we found out later (the next day when we went back to get Alaina some guppies, too) that they just "assume that most of the females are pregnant."

I didn't think too much of it, until last night when Janae, Alaina and Eric called me downstairs to see the "baby guppies." There were two (already named King George III and Samantha), and they were so tiny and cute--barely visible, but definitely there!

While we were reading up on what to do with baby guppies, Janae and Eric witnessed Makayla eating King George III in a single gulp. Apparently, bettas, adult guppies and African dwarf frogs all consider baby guppies to be a tasty treat. In fact, some people keep the frogs with guppies to "manage the fry population." (One of our frogs actually looked suspiciously round compared to how we had remembered it, so there might have been quite a feast before we'd even realized baby guppies were there. Or we might have baby frogs coming, too....)

Alaina came up with the solution to keep the baby in our small fish net, suspended at the top of the tank so the little fry could stay in the aquarium but be safe from the snackers. Today, we got a breeding tank: a mesh box that also suspends in the tank but that provides more room for swimming.

So, we don't know if little Samantha will survive--or how many brothers, sisters, or cousins might be coming, since female guppies can give birth up to six months after being around males--but we are learning A LOT about fish.

And I can honestly say, they are at least as interesting as our other pets :)

The Muffin Alaina Didn't Know She Needed

Over the summer, Alaina and I became slightly obsessed with a Netflix show called Sugar Rush, where teams of professional bakers compete in three rounds, creating cupcakes, confections and full-sized cakes.

With Alaina's birthday coming up on September 6, we decided to try a variation of the show to see who would make Alaina's cake.

We planned a cupcake round for Saturday with three teams. One team would be eliminated, then two would compete with a confection on Sunday, and the winner would make the birthday cake on Monday.

Eric and I teamed up, Jason worked with Ben, and Janae decided to go solo.

The cupcake round had a hamster/bunny theme, and I thought I had the perfect idea. 

Alaina has researched both bunnies and hamsters extensively, and she's never afraid to correct misconceptions about these furry pets. For example, whenever someone talks about feeding a bunny a carrot, she tells us that bunnies actually prefer bananas.

So, I found a recipe for banana split cupcakes--which we were planning to present as the "ultimate bunny treat"--and Eric and I gathered our ingredients. We planned ahead, making a vanilla cream filling on Friday so it would be cool enough to put into the cupcakes on Saturday.

Janae, Jason and Ben hadn't done as much planning, and I helped Jason avoid a near disaster with his caramel filling for his carrot cupcakes (he hadn't read the recipe through and was adding all the ingredients at once!). 

Then I helped Janae follow her recipe for Heavenly Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes (my go-to recipe anytime we need chocolate cupcakes) and melt her colored chocolate, even filling her piping bags.

Being the most experienced and helpful baker, I wasn't prepared to be eliminated in the first round, but that's exactly what happened! After tasting all three cupcakes, Alaina told Eric and me that our cupcake tasted too much like a muffin. In her words: "I didn't want a muffin, but you gave me a muffin." 

Now, for the record, we'd made a banana cupcake--not a muffin--but it did have a bit of a muffin-like texture because it contained mashed bananas. In hindsight, we probably should have used a banana extract instead. But regardless of the reason we were eliminated, I was heartbroken that it meant I wouldn't be able to compete in the confection round or make Alaina's birthday cake--something I've done every year since she was born! I really thought Eric and I would win.

Anyway, the theme for confections was Alaina's favorite books, so Jason and Ben made a "Cornelius Fudge" wand out of fudge, and Janae ambitiously replicated the covers of all six Land of Stories books out of brownies and (quickly melting) ice cream, completing them at around 10 p.m. Although Jason and Ben won, by this point Alaina had had so many sweets, she said she couldn't possibly eat a birthday cake the next day and wondered if we could just have a fruit salad instead.

I wasn't sure whether this was a triumph or tragedy, but we did learn some things.

1. There is such a thing as too many sweets! We are all major sweet tooths, and none of us ever thought we'd reach our sugar threshold so quickly. When we're watching Sugar Rush, Jason often comments on how difficult it would be for the judges to taste so many sweets for a living, but I honestly thought I would never have a problem with it. After three dozen cupcakes, a batch of fudge and a full tray of brownies and ice cream, however, we all agreed that we didn't want anything sweet for a LONG time (or at least 48 hours or so).

2. Maybe sometimes a muffin is just what you need ... ask Alaina :)

Blueberry Pie Elves

My parents have the BEST blueberries in their yard, and over the years my kids and I have spent countless hours picking them. 

Attempting to use them up, I have made blueberry muffins and blueberry crisp, blueberry pancakes and blueberry cheesecake, blueberry sauce and blueberry scones. All of these items have been delicious. But what about blueberry pie?

My mom's blueberry pie is one of my absolute favorite desserts, but I have never been skilled at making pie crust. I have tried many different recipes--even with my mom's tips--but they have never turned out. They might have looked okay, but they've always tasted awful. I basically accepted that--along with jam--traditional pies would never be on my list of culinary achievements (everyone knows I can make a ghost pie, but that has an Oreo crust!).

Well, that changed last year when I discovered ... the galette. I first tried making this rustic, free-form pie with apples, and it actually worked. Blueberries were soon to follow, and now I can make one anytime without the slightest hesitation. I know it will turn out!

It's so easy Eric can do it ... and so can Alaina and Janae (probably Ben, too, but I haven't enlisted him to my production line yet).

We make them two at a time--and even have a few in the freezer. 

It might not be a traditional pie, but in some ways I think it's better. I love that it has more filling and less crust, and I'm happy I can actually make it!

So, we are blueberry pie elves after all :)

Our Vancouver Island Holiday

Way back in March we booked a summer vacation on Vancouver Island, hoping that it would be safe to travel by August, at least within B.C. 

On Thursday, we finally began with a ferry ride, leaving Horseshoe Bay for Nanaimo.

Everyone was excited, and we spent as much time as possible out on the ship's deck.

When we got to Nanaimo, we had a few hours until we could check into our condo, so we went to see the famous Goats on the Roof. The roofs at this rustic marketplace were covered with long, dry grass, with goats roaming around eating it. We looked in the shops and had some ice cream,

then Eric made his first souvenir purchase: a wooden sword.

When we finished there, it was time to check into the Inn of the Sea.

You never know what to expect with a place you've only seen on the Internet, but we loved our condo. We had lots of room, everything we needed to be comfortable, beautiful views of the ocean and easy access to the beach and pool--which were only about a one-minute walk from our patio door.

In the mornings, when the tide was out, we explored the rocks and tidepools.

In the evenings, we could walk far out into the water before it even came up to our knees.

Eric's second souvenir purchase: a slingshot

The surrounding area was known as Oyster Bay (now Ladysmith), and there were LOTS of oysters to examine. Eric wanted to open one and find a pearl, but that's not as easy as it sounds!

The beach was covered in crushed shells of all kinds, and it was really beautiful. Needless to say, we spent lots of time there.

That first evening, we decided to order pizza, but we found that our cell phones didn't work in this remote location! We ended up driving 15 minutes into the town of Ladysmith, where we enjoyed Roberts Street Pizza.

We all slept really well that first night--maybe because of the fresh ocean air, or being so far away from traffic sounds at home.

On Friday we made Jason's dreams come true by floating down the Cowichan river in inner tubes, which we rented from The Tube Shack--a company with a shuttle service to pick us up at a certain point down the river. 

Eric and I shared a big tube, and Eric wanted to steer us through all the rapids. Luckily they weren't too treacherous! We got stuck a few times, but we managed to make it to our end point in about two and a half hours.

On Saturday we drove an hour and a half to visit Victoria. We'd been there before, five years earlier, when Eric was two. He'd been miserable, so we were excited to see the city again under happier circumstances. We went to some of the same places, including the Parliament Buildings, the Royal BC Museum and Craigdarroch Castle.

When we got to the Parliament Buildings, I was not prepared for the emotion I would feel seeing all the little shoes and stuffed animals on the steps to commemorate the lives of Indigenous children who had died in residential schools. I had to look away and could not keep the tears from flowing. The entire time we were on the grounds, I could not look at the display. Driving around Ladysmith, we'd also seen red dresses hung at the ends of driveways as reminders of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children. It is heartbreaking to think of this aspect of our country's history.

After visiting the castle, we drove over to the University of Victoria, since Alaina has expressed interest in attending there someday. She loved the grounds, and we even saw a deer on campus.

We had been hoping to make it to the Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site to see the lighthouse there, but unfortunately we arrived just as it was closing. So instead, we spent some time at the nearby beach, which was the windiest place we visited during our trip! 

On Sunday, we drove back into Ladysmith to hike the Holland Creek Trail. 

We'd read that at least the first half of the trail was "easy," accessible by wheelchairs and strollers (the only type of trail certain of our kids are willing to "hike"). However, the entire first half we climbed steep hills and steps, maneuvered narrow pathways and relied on rocks and tree roots to keep us steady. Were we on the wrong trail, or had the reviews been that inaccurate? 

Sure enough, when we looped around we were on a flat, easy trail. We started to see people with kids and strollers and realized we'd started on the "wrong" side of the loop. At least we got some exercise--over 14,000 steps that day! 

We had to check out of our condo Monday morning, although it seemed as though we'd just arrived. We'd planned to spend the day in Parksville and Nanaimo before catching our ferry home at 6 p.m.

In Parksville we visited Morningstar Farm, which had a few animals for kids to pet: a big bunny, some goats and cows, and two very entertaining llamas. 

We spend the next few hours at Rathtrevor Beach, which had sand stretching a full kilometer before the ocean. This area is known for its calm, warm water, but we'll remember it for all the sand dollars and crabs Eric collected.

Then we went to Nanaimo for ... Nanaimo bars. They did not disappoint.

Soon we were in line for the ferry back to Horseshoe Bay, which was a beautiful trip as well. Vacations are never long enough, but we definitely enjoyed this break from our regular lives and routines.