Eugene

Last weekend, my husband and I traveled to Eugene, Oregon, where he had a meeting. We stayed at a lovely Bed & Breakfast. www.ariverwalkinn.com We ventured over to the Rhododendron Garden (so refreshingly humid after the dry weather of Idaho), visited the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (large Asian art exhibits) on the campus of Univ of Oregon, saw the movie Expelled (commentary on the Intelligent Design movement), and walked along the Willamette River. One evening we walked about 10 blocks to a little Thai restaurant, and on our way home we came across a percussion band playing in a parking lot with folks dancing to the beat. Unique, at least to us :-)

oh yeah, we attended dh's meetings... And most importantly, we found Trader Joes. :-)

More 4yo thoughts

You know that the child has moved on to the next developmental step when she graduates from wanting to be a child in the make-believe family, to wanting to be her own family. So this morning the girls were playing house. Not the dollhouse kind of house, but the girls are the actual characters. Usually the 4yo wants to be someone's child. Today she said no. "I want to be by myself. And I will be the midwife. And I will knit, because if you're a midwife, you must knit."

4yo Understandings

My dh has commented that he'd like to speak on every continent. He began saying this when he was able to visit/teach in Australia way back in 1993. He's been to Russia, but that particular area is probably consider more "Europe" than Asia. He's obviously been to Europe, having lived in England. (Do the English consider themselves European, or a continent unto themselves? I've got a number of English friends who will probably straighten me out rather quickly on that one.) Last December he spoke in Hong Kong. He is not counting Antarctica... So he recently said,

"Only 2 more to go, and then I can die."

This morning, my 4yo said to me. "Daddy said that after he flies two more times, he will die." It took me a few minutes to put it all together. I think "Daddy" needs to be a little more careful how he speaks. ;-)

Kasha Cookies

We tried these today. Original recipe used shortening, but I'm opposed to shortening, so we substituted butter and had great results. Even the "big" boys came in, tasted the cookies, and said "why don't you serve buckwheat like this more often!?" It's a hit!!

Kasha Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup uncooked kasha*

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in kasha. Form into balls and flatten slightly. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 deg for 10-15 minutes.

Makes about 6 dozen.
*Coarse or whole kasha makes cookies with nut-like texture and flavor. Fine or medium kasha makes cookies with flavor and texture of oatmeal cookies. From www.cooks.com