H is for Helium: Balloon Party

It started with an idea. Balloons, red and blue.

And a birthday boy, of course.

Refreshments were served (there's always room for Jell-O).

Games were played.

Prizes were won.

Cake was served.

And eaten.

For everyone else, there were cake pops!

It seems a good time was had by all.

Happy Birthday to my darling 1-year-old boy!

U R SWEET

This day has been a bit of a trial. Little Omi has the flu. She started on Tamiflu yesterday and also said "all done" for the first time—when we tried to give her the dose of yucky, bitter liquid. This morning, we tried to sign up for a swim class at the YMCA. Most of our playgroup is signed up already, so we really wanted to get in this particular class. It's full, of course. Wah. Then while I was online finding this out, Little Omi was climbing up on the sofa where I had stupidly left a full glass of Coca-Cola balanced precariously on the back of the sofa and against the wall. This got knocked over, of course. Nap time was a disaster.

But, things are looking up. When I went out to check the mail, this was waiting for me on the front porch:
A sweet basket full of heart-shaped cranberry muffins, and two sweet tea towels. Did I mention Little Omi loves crocodiles? Or that I love muffins? And tea towels? What a sweet mama I have. This is definitely one of the benefits to living right down the block from your mother.

The littlest snowman

We received the tiniest of snowfalls yesterday, but it was just enough to make a very short snowman. Little Omi did not like to put her feet on the snow, so we had to clear away what little snow there was so she could stand on the grass to admire Aunt Sassy's handiwork.

Tonight we got together with our good friends B & L for some home-smoked pork ribs. Mmm! B smoked the ribs, and Aunt Sassy made mashed potatoes and cole slaw. And to top it all off, she and Little Omi baked ginger snaps, which we enjoyed with some delicious home-canned peaches from B's mom.

After dinner, B entertained us with some great guitar playing and taught me the chords to Wilco's "California Stars," one of my all-time favorite songs. Little Omi accompanied us by playing the harmonica and scratching the walls.

Taking a break from all your worries

It's just 3 days until Thanksgiving, and my sister is in town. She's already whipping things into shape around our house, and for that I am eternally grateful. For our Thanksgiving dinner this year, we will not be eating turkey. No, no, it's not for some moral reason. It's because my sister always gets sick on Thanksgiving, and we think it might have something to do with the turkey. So, we're going to make a pork rib roast instead. Tomorrow we will make the first of what will surely be 25,000 trips to the grocery store for ingredients and supplies. Wish us luck!

p.s. Good grief!

Picking up, sorting

At 18 months, Little Omi is really getting the hang of sorting objects. Today we spent quite a bit of time in the back yard picking up pecans. For some reason, the dogs haven't been able to eat them all yet, so we collected quite a bounty!

GABA-dabba-doo

Am I the last person on Earth to find out about GABA rice? We eat a lot of rice at our house, 99% of it Calrose. I recently picked up a copy of The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood by Dr. William Sears which really drives home the benefits of eating brown rice. Now, I grew up eating brown rice, but Big Omi refers to it as "dog food." I can see why, too, since our rice cooker does a very poor job with it (see how I conveniently blame the rice cooker when it's likely that I should be soaking the rice prior to cooking it, but we'll get to that) and it often comes out underdone and slightly crunchy.

As it turns out, scientists have discovered that pre-heating brown rice at 104°F for 2–8 hours before cooking it activates "gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid believed to have health giving properties such as lowering blood pressure, improving kidney function and relieving stress" (from the Zojirushi Web site). Wow. I should point out that it was Big Omi who came home with this information, saying that he was on board with making the switch to brown rice, but was I ready to commit to the extended heating and cooking time? And, oh, yes, we would probably have to buy a fancy new rice cooker that has settings to pre-heat your brown rice and get the GABA flowin'. Okay... now all I need to do is find a good local source of quality brown rice.