Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Our Anna-ouncement

Before

After :)

We're thrilled to announce that Anna Marie Hendrickson joined our little family this past weekend. She weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces, was 22.5" long, and came into the world with no complications (thanks, Little Girl).

She followed her big sister's example, being born with lots of dark hair, and getting a touch of jaundice in the hospital. Fortunately, after a little light therapy (she was the Blue Light Special for a few hours) she was cleared to come home . . .

. . . and meet her sibs. Joy has already given her lots of kisses, and Daniel (our man of few words) even has a name for her: Mih-mih. They both think Anna's pretty nifty.

Welcome, Anna. We love you already.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Accessories and Reptiles

Joy asked me to read Fancy Nancy a few times this afternoon, then informed me that she wanted to dress up "fancy." We don't really have any dress-up clothes (which one of Joy's gal pals finds utterly scandalous) . . .

. . . but Joy decided my scarf fit the bill nicely.

Lest things get a little too girly around here, Daniel makes it abundantly clear that his favorite toy is his stuffed lizard, followed closely by our wooden train set.

Friday, August 19, 2011

A Miner Addition

Phillip returned from Utah today . . .

. . . where he and the family celebrated John and Emily's wedding.

We're so excited to have Uncle John be part of our family.

Awww . . . they're so cute.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Joy and Calvin

Joy is a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes.* I have several old C&H treasuries, and I view her interest in them with equal parts nostalgia and trepidation (Calvin is very entertaining, but as a parent I'm realizing he isn't the greatest role model).

Joy likes looking at the pictures on her own, . . .

. . . or having me read her a few pages.

She'll even "read" C&H to Daniel, if he'll hold still long enough, . . .

. . . though he usually prefers board books.

When she isn't reading, Joy likes to plink around on the piano (usually either "Praise to the Man" or some little tune of her own creation) . . .

. . . or practice flying.

*Just a heads up: The comic archive I linked to has great examples of C&H strips, but the commentator has a potty mouth.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

An Open House and Open Arms

We are excited to welcome a new member to the Hendrickson family. No, Baby Girl hasn't arrived yet--I'm talking about almost-Uncle John.

He and Emily came to visit us last night, and Joy had a great time playing with him. Looks like Joy built the Mesa Temple and John made the Los Angeles Temple.

Tonight we attended an open house to celebrate Emily and John's wedding next week.

It was fun to see familiar faces . . .

. . . and get to know John's family (here are his mom and sister chatting with Pink Grandma, while Joy deepens her relationship with Grandma's iPod).

After the guests headed home, the kids had a little after-party party with Grandma and her pop-up books.

Welcome to the family, John!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Cheesy Playdate

Nicole and I made cheese today. That's right, I said cheese.

We followed this mozzarella recipe, adding citric acid (courtesy of Whole Foods Market) at 55 degrees . . .

. . . then some liquid rennet (also courtesy of WFM) at 88 degrees. You can see that the milk is already starting to curdle.

At 100 degrees we scooped out the curds . . .

. . . then microwaved them a few times, squeezing out more whey each time. We then kneaded them a bit . . .

. . . and rolled the resulting cheese into balls. Considering that we started out with a gallon of milk, we didn't produce very much cheese. Now I know why cheese is so expensive.

We ate some of the cheese for lunch with bread and fresh basil. It was pretty good for a second attempt (our first was last week, using a different recipe, and the milk never curdled), but the flavor and texture left a little to be desired. Practice makes perfect, they say. My next dairy-related project will probably be yogurt, though--I hear it's easier, and we love it even more than cheese.

Speaking of home dairy production, we didn't want the kids to feel left out, so Nicole gave them jars of heavy whipping cream to shake until it turned into butter. The result was pretty soft and needed salt, but they seemed to have fun, which was the whole point.

Incidentally, Daniel's jar privileges were promptly revoked when I informed Nicole that he can open childproof caps. Fortunately, there were plenty of light switches to occupy him in lieu of the butter jar.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Burritos and Corn Dogs

This morning we went over to Red Grandma's house for a swim.

The cool water felt lovely on such a warm day.

Joy played in Grandma's raft . . .

. . . while Daniel and I tossed the ball around.

Then we dried off (here's Joy being a "burrito") . . .

. . . and went inside for a delicious lunch of grapes, corn dogs, and Hot Tamales (you can have 'em, Daniel; I'll take the Junior Mints).