Friday Foods: Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

One of my favorite deserts in the past month (and I've got several.... the five pounds hanging around my tummy agree) is fruit crumble. I found a recipe online here and I'm just going to tell you the shortened version.

First you start with some fruits. I did rhubarb and strawberry. You could pretty much add what you have in your fridge. As long as their fruits. If you add meat or bread, that might be nasty. Just warning you!

Another time I made this I had a few raspberries left over, and I threw those in along with the strawberries and rhubarb. Now, depending on the fruits, add some sugar. For fruits that are more sweet (like strawberries and blueberries) you can add less sugar - maybe 1/4 or 1/2 a cup or so. For fruits that are more tart (rhubarb) add more sugar. 

 Next you take a lemon and grate a bit of the rind then squeeze the juice out of it.  You'll also want to add a bit of cornstarch to the fruits. This will make them a bit thicker - not so runny after its cooked.

For the crumble part, you mix flour, sugar a bit of salt and some melted butter. I also add just a pinch of cinnamon for flavor (or you could add some lemon, too). Dig your fingers in there and mix it up. 

Place on top of the berries/fruit. Bake until the top is brown and the fruit is all bubbly and warm. Yummy!

And very easy too. Now go make one!

5 months old. Warning: lots of pictures!

I cannot believe we have a 5-month old in our house! Seriously. The time if just flying by! And she is getting so big!! Ah! 

after bathtime

5-month stats

Weight: 15 lbs, 8 oz
Length: (just guessing based on the fact she seems pretty tall/skinny and following her growth curve thus far) around 25.5 inches

Clothes sizes: mostly 6-9 month sizes. She has grown out of a pair of 6-12 month size shoes from Gap. Our little girl has big feet. 

Diaper: We're still using size 3, but the next box we'll buy will be size 4. 

with daddy at Blenheim Palace

Georgia has such a personality. She is a silly girl who is really enjoying learning about the world around her. She is very active and busy all the time learning about the world around her.  She seems to be very high energy compared to other little ones her age. 

Smiling at daddy. She does this everytime he comes into the room!

We've had some excellent (read: better than California!) weather here this last month. We had two weeks of 60s and 70s. Absolutely beautiful! One of the best things about the warm weather was getting to dress Georgia in some of her summer outfits. I just love seeing her little arms rolls and her toes:

Development:

Just in the past week or two she began rolling from back to tummy. She does this all the time! But it mostly happens while in her crib and will then cry until we come to turn her back. She has know how to roll from tummy to back for about 6 weeks now, but seems to forget how to do it on occasion.  

Nothing is safe anymore. She grabs at our food, our computers and our phones. She loves eating paper and the noise that it makes when it crinkles.

She no longer sits quietly on our laps. She is trying to stand, trying to reach out for something, trying to make faces at people. She still loves people. She will do anything to get attention, starting with smiling, laughing, cooing and finally screaming if they don't give her the attention she wants.

Eating: 

This is becoming increasingly frustrating for me. Georgia is extremely distracted. She is interested in her feet, her hands, my shirt, the flower on my bra, or anything else within eyesight/reach. Pretty much she is interested in anything other than nursing. We give it a try every 2.5-4 hours, depending on if we're out and about. She never eats when we're outside of the house anymore.

 She has started taking some solid foods. She eats a few teaspoons of rice or pureed foods once a day. We've done sweet potatoes, butternut squash, banana, avocado and green beens. She doesn't seem to love any of them, but usually tolerates the bananas. 

Sleeping:
We still have a good sleeper on our hands! We moved her crib into the other room a week ago. She is a light sleeper, so would wake up when Dave and I walked around in the room. She goes to bed around 7 at night, and will get up around 8 in the morning. She eats 2 or 3 times at night, but goes back to sleep well. 

She is taking 3 naps a day. The first nap is about an hour and a half after she wakes up, and she'll sleep for an hour. The second nap is about an hour or two after she wakes up and is usually a long nap - 2 hours or more. And then she'll take a 3rd nap around 3 or 4. It'll usually be about an hour long.

Easter!

5-month picture

Grandpa's visit!

We had the privilege of seeing Dave's dad, Jon this last weekend. He was completing an around-the-world trip and this was his last stop. He stayed two nights, and we got in lots of walks, enjoying our beautiful (unseasonal) weather and eating good food. 

Hanging out with grandpa before bed

Grandpa playing on the floor with Georgia and taking some self-portraits.

Its such a blessing to see family since we live so far away. It makes the world seem a little bit smaller. We definitely enjoyed having him visit and look forward to seeing him (and grandma) in a couple of weeks.

Visa Update

This past week I wrote a post asking for prayers for Georgia's visa. Because the laws in the UK have changed, we do not have her visa yet - meaning that we cannot leave the country (she won't be allowed back in!). We had a trip planned to France the beginning of May, but unfortunately had to cancel that because we don't have her visa yet. The good news is that we got our money back (yay!) and the sad news is that I still have not been to France. Maybe someday soon.

We finally heard back from the office that is making arrangements for the visa and our appointment is the first week in May in Glasgow. We want to see the UK, and this gives us an excuse to travel up north and spend some time in Scotland. So we will be going to Glasgow for two nights, Stirling (the Wallace Monument), Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye and Edinburgh. We're really excited about this trip and if you have any suggestions or ideas feel free to pass them along!

Trip to the States: California, pt. 1

Grandpa Wallace & Georgia

Excuse the late post.... gosh... our trip was in February almost 2 months ago. Wow. Someone needs to play catch-up!

 Aunt Kate & Georgia going to church on Sunday. Georgia doesn't fit into those shoes anymore... sniff

The end of February, beginning of March, our little family went back to California and Colorado. In California, Dave had to do some work back in Monrovia, so we made a mini-vacation out of the trip.

Our dear friends Brandon (and Carrie) and their newest guy, Wyatt. He is 2 months younger than Georgia. 

We ended up being in California for a little over a week. The first weekend we were there we had a little party open house to see as many people as possible. Lots of family and a few church people came over.

Dave's bestie, Ben and Georgia

We kept very busy, shopping for items they don't sell in Britain, buying lots of baby clothes for Georgia and seeing many, many people. Here are some of the pictures from the trip:

 Dave's Uncle Craig and Aunt Linda. 

Matt's (Dave's brother) girlfriend. Love you, Kyan!!

Kyan, Jeremy (Kate's boyfriend) and Kate

Julia, me and Cassy (some of the youth from our church)

Matt (Dave's brother)

The Wallace family

Friday Foods: Thai Red Chicken Curry

I have been branching out from the traditional "American" foods and trying some new things. This is SO easy (only uses one-pan) and very tasty. It really tastes like its take-out!

First, take a package of chicken - the amount doesn't really matter too much.... I use about a pound. If there's more people or you want leftovers, feel free to use a bit more. Chop up into bite sized pieces. Sear in a pan to brown, but don't worry about cooking all the way through. Add an onion and a few cloves of garlic, chopped.

Let it cook for a minute or two, and then add a can of coconut milk. I've been using regular, but I would assume the non-fat stuff would be okay, too! Chop up a red pepper to add. I've even added a green pepper before...whoa! crazy! No, but seriously - if you like lots of veggies, you can add more! At least one pepper and you get to choose the color. 

Take one lemon grass and place it on the counter top. Grab a rolling pin or a jar and pound it. Its really satisfying! There's a nice crunch. Ah. It releases the good flavors. Just put it into the pan whole - you'll remove it when you're done cooking.  Into the same pan grate some fresh ginger. If you are lazy, you can add a little bit of the spice. It just won't taste quite as good. Make about 3/4 of a cup of chicken stock and add it to the pan.

The special ingredient is Thai red curry paste. Add two tablespoons - more or less, depending on how spicy you want it. You also really need a tablespoon of soy sauce. This is really important - we made this once without any soy sauce and it felt like it was missing something. Lastly, take a handful of coriander (if you're British) or cilantro (if you're American) and chop it up. Towards the end of cooking, add about half of it, and the other half you can sprinkle on the top for some garnish.

You let it simmer all together until the sauce is a little thicker and the chicken is cooked. Somewhere around 15 minutes should be good. Serve with rice.

Ta-Da! See? I told you that was easy! For the original recipe, click here.

Visa Issues

Georgia does not have her visa yet to live in the UK. We've applied for it, but the laws have changed and we actually have to go into an office to get her "biometrics" taken (fingerprints). Yeah. Seriously! When she and I came back into the UK (Dave had come home a week ahead of us) the Immigration Officer allowed us to enter the country for a maximum of 2 months. That means that we need to have her visa taken care of by the beginning of May. This wouldn't be a terribly big deal normally (we could live here illegally until our appointment) but we have a trip to France coming up (yay! a vacation!). The fear is that they will not let Georgia back into the country.

We have finally contacted the company that is "taking care" of the visa, and there are no appointments. None! They said the first appointments are in July. We're hoping that there is another office somewhere else in the country that we could travel and take care of this. Another option would be that Dave and I submit our own passports for 5-6 weeks. This is pretty much impossible because Dave has trips for work coming up (and our trip to France). The last option is that Georgia and I fly to the US to try to take care of the visa there.

Please pray for us as we try to figure this all out!

2 months vs. 4 months

2 months old: 

4 months old: