Christmas 2009 and Happy New Year!

A typical scene at gift opening on Christmas Eve at the Stafford residence

Anju loved her new dolly potty, diapers, cream and wipes.

   I think every doll in our home is throughly clean.

The kids took advantage of the snowy, yet warm (for MN) weather

 to enjoy the outdoors on Christmas Day.

We purchased what the kids lovingly call the "Fake Wii" at Walgreens

for $20 on Black Friday.  There are only 2 controllers.

However, Santa brought Solveig a Pez type

 candy dispenser shaped like a Wiimote.  

Anju picked it up and started playing with the kids. 

Then, Shawn and the kids left on Tuesday to spend some time with his parents and sister.

  Four hours into the trip, this happened:

No one was hurt, and the accident fortunately happened near my parents' house,

so they could help out with the aftermath.  We are so very thankful for

the evident hand of God and protection of angels during this event.

They returned today in a new car--yes, the exact same model as the old one.  The person they purchased it from ended up being someone I had attended church

 and Sunday School with as a child.  It really IS a small world!

So, we have had enough excitement and are happy to see 2009 come to a close.

I, for one, am looking forward to school starting again on Monday.

We wish all of you God's richest blessings in the coming year.

Sleigh Ride

Enjoy!

Our attempt at a Russian meal

Sol and I created our version of a Russian dinner right before Christmas.  I made the potato filling and dough following Natasha's recipe, and Solveig formed the peroshkis.  I also made Natasha's borscht recipe to go with them.  They tasted very delicious, and now we learned a few things to tweak so next time it will be even better.  

Anju enjoying Christmas vacation

Anju trims the nails of Mama's bear after Mama finishes clipping her nails.

Ho, ho, ho!  Merry Christmas!

The Big Skate Show and Weekend Visitors

Solveig and Jonah had their figure skating show on Saturday.  It is Solveig's 4th year.  She is working on Badge 6 in the Basic Skills program, and just earned her Syncro 1 (synchronized skating) badge this session.  There is only one other student enrolled at her level, so the two of them get to skate together.  The Basic Skills program through US Figure Skating goes to Badge 8, and then you are ready to do advanced skating: either singles, pairs, synchronized, dance, etc.  Jonah just started in October, and earned his Snowplow Sam Badge 1 at the end of this session.  He has a whole crew of little girls in his class- which he is not so happy about.  Hopefully when skating resumes in January, there will be another male.

Jonah's group at dress rehearsal wearing "chipmunk" ears

Solveig and Julia

(Julia was also one of the girls making peroshki in a previous post.)

Solveig and Julia did a performance to "Sleigh Ride" and Jonah did a Christmas number sung by the Chipmunks.  My dial-up is not cooperating recently with the videos- but believe me, I'm still trying.  They both did a great job,  and of course we were very proud of them.

Daddy, Sara, Anju, Sathish and Ryan watch the ice show

Anju enjoyed watching them skate with her Auntie Sara and the rest of the gang.  She warmed up to all our weekend visitors, even Sathish, whom she had been leery of in the past.  We were lucky enough to have Shawn's sister and her boyfriend, Sathish, come up from Rochester, and my parents and brother up from the cities to see the kids skate and do their Sunday School program.  

Then, the Sunday School program was the next day.  Again, all the kids did a great job.  Jonah said his lines loudly and enunciated well, Solveig read her passages well and did a great job with her duet of "Silent Night".  Even Anju did well for a 2-year old, remembering to hold up the cross high so everyone could see it before placing it under the tree and doing the actions to the songs.  She stayed up front throughout, and according to video my dad took, it looked like she only pulled the skirt of her dress up over her head once.  I couldn't see well from my vantage point over at the piano, but it sounded like a success.

Grandpa Rick and Solveig play checkers

Sara, Sathish and kids

Rasmussen grandparents with their grandkids at church

"Hunka" with his nieces and nephew

Thanks to all our weekend visitors, and Merry Christmas to all!

Supplies for India and Guests are on their way!

This Sunday, our Sunday School brought supplies to send to orphans associated with our church body in India.  We were able to collect school supplies for them last year and send them with traveling pastors, and our children were so happy to be able to send things to kids who would be excited over something as simple as a box of crayons. I think having Anju in their midst has made this endeavor seem so much more meaningful for them.  They aren't collecting for some mystical group of parent-less children somewhere across the globe, but for kids like Anju, who is one of them.  We mailed them Monday to an Indian seminarian who has finished his studies and is returning to India this week.  

Solveig and Jonah are very excited about their upcoming ice show, and the fact that we will have so many visitors this weekend to watch them perform both at the ice show and at their Sunday School program the following day.  Anju seems to sense the excitement in the air, and loves to practice "In a Little Stable" in preparation for the Sunday School program.

Dad, I'm getting ready for you! :-)

Yesterday I got 4 qts of apple pie filling, a pecan pie, an apple pecan pie, and a Scandinavian almond apple cake made.  We'll see how far I get today.  I did the "glutenous" stuff yesterday, and hope to accomplish some gluten-free treats today.  I figured having flour dust all over the kitchen would be a bad idea when I'm trying to make some treats that my sister-in-law can enjoy should she choose to do so.  

What? I have a blog?

So, yes, we have been very busy.  Some things I've been meaning to post, but haven't found a spare moment before to get on here:

Our family tried making Oktoberfest pizza and it was a hit with everyone.  Crust, layer of mashed potatoes, layer of sauerkraut and caraway, layer of turkey kielbasa, and topped with cheddar cheese.  Hmmmmmmmm!

We welcomed a new pastor to our circuit.

Anju got a new rocking moose at a local craft show made by a man we know in the community.

Anju creates her art at library story time.

As expected, this is all I've got for now, as my princess has awoken from her slumber and is beckoning me.  I've been trying for days now to upload a video of a song from Jonah's Christmas program at school (last Thursday) and so hopefully it will soon work.

Peroshki with Natasha

Solveig and I went over to our local public library on Tuesday night to see our Old Believer Russian friend, Natasha, demonstrate how to make traditional Russian peroshki.  

She showed us how to form the dough, and fill it with a potato filling she had made from yukon gold potatoes, garlic, onion and dill.  She said you can also serve them "Americanized" with ground beef and onions, or whatever else you want in them.  Solveig and a couple of her friends got to go up and help Natasha make them.  She put the scoop of potato filling on the dough, and the girls folded the dough around them and formed them into the desired shape (with a little help from Natasha).

(Wikipedia picture)

They looked like this, only with potato filling instead.  

She deep fried them, and they were soooo delicious.  She recommended using coconut oil (which I incidentally have just received in my order from the online Indian grocery store) to get them the crispiest, and the healthiest.  They are similar to pierogies, which many of us are familiar with, but have a delicious, fluffy, golden outside instead of a pasta shell.  She said the dough can be used for many recipes, including the Indian (Native American) fry bread that is commonly served here in Northern Minnesota.  There is a phenomenon up here known as "Uff Da Tacos" which she makes with this same dough.  Apparently that's what happens when Scandinavians and Native Americans live together long enough?

She gave us the recipe for peroshki and also borscht, the traditional beet soup.  She also talked about the history and food traditions of the Old Believers.  They try to live off the land as much as possible, and try to only eat organic foods.  She makes everything from scratch.  She came from a very small family, and was not brought up quite as traditionally as her husband was.  When she got married, she did not know at all how to cook, but was taught by her patient mother-in-law during the time that her and her husband lived with his parents right after their marriage.  Now she is able to make all the traditional foods easily and quickly, and is teaching her 5 children to do the same.  As soon as I get some cabbage, Solveig and I are going to work on this meal.  Solveig loved the peroshki so much, she had two.  

Next Tuesday, they are having a demonstration on how to make lefse, which I strongly urged Natasha, who had never before experienced it, to attend.  Maybe we'll see her there?

Comments, anyone?

There is going to be a new show on ABC, entitled, "Find My Family", where adopted children are reunited with their birth parents.  I found this article and discussion on rainbowkids and was wondering what other adoptive parents or adopted adults reading this blog thought.

There is a wide variety of opinions expressed in the article and comments.