McCurry Musings

Monday, December 22, 2014

Ruthie's Big Girl Bed

With Ruthie turning 3 (birthday party pictures to come), we felt it was time to move her into a big girl bed. To say she was excited would be an understatement. I can't believe how big and grown up she's getting!

So here's Ruthie and Daddy at the beginning of the process - breaking down the bed.

Here she is, "vacuuming" behind where the crib was. She got that vacuum from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas yesterday at the Sunukjian Family Christmas and has vacuumed the whole house multiple times.

Crib out!

Ruthie helped Daddy bring in the frame pieces of her bed. Such a helper. =)

And, here's the new bed!

Ta-dah! She's so happy!!

We had to rearrange the room a bit to make everything fit, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Such a big girl! We still plan on getting her a Frozen comforter, but that won't happen until Christmas. Don't tell her. =)

3rd Week of Advent Special Advent Dinner

For our 3rd Week of Advent Dinner, Ruthie and I started by making Christmas cookies. It's important to make sure the dessert is all taken care of. Priorities, people! We had a lot of fun. I let her do all the sprinkles and she thought that was pretty great.

And here we are, having spice pork tenderloin with apple and thyme sauce, scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole. Ian read from Matthew, a few verses about the birth story.

And here is the final product of the cookies. Very fun!

Last Advent dinner is Wednesday- tortilla soup (a Sunukjian Christmas Eve tradition), tangerines and another batch of Christmas cookies - which we'll be enjoying with the Marsh and Matthias families. Such a wonderful season! Merry Christmas to you all!!

Friday, December 19, 2014

2nd Advent Dinner

I know, I know, it's the 3rd week of Advent. I'm a little behind in posting, but believe you me, we're right on schedule as far as celebrating goes. I'll post this week's photos soon.

But last week, we celebrated the 2nd Week of Advent with a roasted lemon rosemary chicken, roasted potatoes, asparagus sauteed with red onion and mushrooms, strawberries and a key lime key for dessert.

Here's the chicken with soft lemon butter slathered all over it.

And here's the bird (and potatoes), all perty and browned!

The key lime pie was Ian's request.

Here's the family, getting ready for our Advent reading. Jonah always needs a snack to sustain him for the reading, even though it's only a few verses. You can see that he's happily munching away.

We are really enjoying our new tradition. More to come!

But now, it's time to get serious about celebrating our girl, who turns 3 today and has her very special Winnie the Pooh party tomorrow! We can't wait.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

New Advent Traditions

There are so many ways to celebrate Christmas. As Ian and I were thinking about the traditions we wanted to begin in our own little family, we did research, talked to other families, and talked to each other about what sorts of things were meaningful to us that would also work well for our family.

We knew we wanted to do something, so that Christmas didn't just feel like presents and decorations, but we also wanted to be realistic about the kind of traditions we were trying to start - something sustainable and enjoyable. Ian said he wanted it to involve food; I felt like I needed it to be something that wasn't everyday. As wonderful as the Jesse Tree is, it just didn't feel doable for me with our kids the ages they are.

So, we decided to do a weekly Advent Dinner. This means that on the four Wednesdays leading up to Christmas (the fourth being Christmas Eve), we're having a special advent dinner. This dinner includes a fancy meal, a special dessert, candles and an advent reading. Ian's in charge of the reading and I set the menu.

We had our first Advent Dinner last Wednesday. We also wanted part of the tradition to be that Grandma and Grandpa come to the first Advent Dinner, so we invited them and they accepted quite willingly. It was a great night and Ian and I feel really excited about this new McCurry Tradition.

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the actual evening, just leading up to it. Here is the fancy chocolate cake that Ruthie and I made together.

Here is the table - part of the festivities include using cloth napkins and fancy plates. So fun!

And we had appetizers! Nothing says "Party!" like appetizers. For this first meal, I made ground lamb kabobs, pilaf, roasted broccoli and cauliflower and grapefruit. So for hors d'oeuvres, we had an assortment of Mediterranean food - olives, feta cheese, pita and lavash bread, and wild pickles. So yummy!

Whatever your family does to make this season special, I hope you really enjoy it!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Miracles Can Happen

Today while I was in the kitchen cleaning up the breakfast dishes, I heard the toilet flush and the sink run in the bathroom in Ruthie's room. She had taken herself potty. All. By. Her. Self. Amazing! She is growing up, this awesome girl of ours.

Monday, October 20, 2014

A Glimpse Into Our Lives

Can you see this? It's a photo of our cell phone bill from a few months ago. I took a picture of it not because it was unusual, but because it is a perfect reflection of how it always is. And it's a perfect reflection of how Ian and I both use the phone. I'll give you one guess as to which one of us uses 10 minutes and which one uses 641. So much for the "shared" 700 minutes!

How does that man survive on ten minutes of talking a month? Actually, it's not even ten minutes, because the 25 second conversations he has go down on record as a whole minute, even though they aren't. I'm sure you're thinking, "Well, this doesn't count minutes spent talking to Esther, since they share a plan." This is true; but those minutes wouldn't even double his count. He's just not a phone guy. Good thing I live with him!

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Last Week It Was 100 Degrees

September is usually a hot month of us, but this past week was particularly brutal. I was VERY thankful we had fixed our AC last fall and believe you me, I ran it without guilt.

Well, maybe there was a little guilt, because each day during the hot spell, I tried to do something with the kids out of the house, so I didn't have to turn the AC on until nap time. One day we went to the Aquarium, one day we went to my parents, and one day, we went to Mother's Beach. I love Mother's Beach because there are no waves and it's not crowded and I can easily watch both my kids by myself.

On this day, the kids and I went pretty much first thing in the morning, and then Mary's kids joined us around lunch time.

We did a lot of this:

And this:

And I really enjoyed seeing those buns peaking out of his big boy swimsuit:

Here's a shot of Ruthie that also gives you a good idea of the beach. It's perfect, the water feels great (I pretty much laid in the water that whole day), and we love going there.

Hopefully your fall is a little cooler than ours (and actually, this weekend has been lovely so far) but if not, I hope you have a Mother's Beach of your own!