For Christmas my mom gifts a calendar to each person in my family. Last year, Brian received a calendar of vintage University of Oregon Game Day art. Very cool.
January rolled around and the calendar was done. We knew we had to use the prints somehow. Brian’s mad skills led to this awesome window-pane collage in our basement. I love my handy husband!
I’ve finally ended my search for a great clam chowder recipe. This is seriously the best I’ve had. I made a few tweaks to the original recipe to make it my own, and it was a hit with the family. Give it a try.
Saute the bacon pieces until crisp. Remove the bacon from pan and put in crock pot. Saute onion, garlic, celery and potato in bacon grease until soft. Add to the crock pot. Add potato soup, milk, clams w/ juices and seasonings into crockpot and stir to combine. Set crock pot on low and cook at least 4 hours (I let mine go all day and the smell is soooo awesome). Spoon it into bowls and you are set. A nice crusty bread or even some crackers are a nice touch, but not necessary. Brian, of course, had to add more black pepper 🙂
Sam asked me recently,”What’s your most favorite thing to do?” Without even really thinking it over I responded, “Sing…in the car.” Yes, I’m one of those people you see at intersections belting out songs. That, of course, looks hysterical ’cause you can see the mouth moving, but you can’t hear the music! Oh the humiliation 🙂
Anyways, my latest pick for driving sing-a-longs is the Strict Joy CDs from The Swell Season. Who, you say? Have you seen the movie, Once? Did you hear Kris Allen sing “Falling Slowly” on American Idol last year? Hopefully, one of those is helping you out. The two leads for The Swell Season are Glen Hansard (also front man for the Irish band The Frames), and Marketa Irglova, (a classically trained Czech pianist and vocalist). They came out with the AWESOME musical movie, Once, a couple of years ago and got on so well, that they just keep writing songs together.
The songs blend great acoustic guitar, great piano, great harmonies and can be both folky, rocking and just really pretty. I have the 2 CD collection that includes the new material and a great live-performance set with the “Falling Slowly” song backed up by an 8th grade choir. Very fun. The collection also came with the live-performance DVD (Glen really does play that guitar he wore a hole in). Brian and I both enjoyed watching it. The DVD includes some interviews and some footage of them working on new material.
So, watch the movie, listen to the CD, and sing, sing, sing!
So excited! I’ve signed up for an online photography class through PCC. I’m hoping to learn some new techniques and get some feedback on my work.
My photography “hobby” is really turning into a great opportunity. I’ve got 3 different basketball team photo shoots coming up and my business plan is taking shape.
My family loves to give and receive books for Christmas. Brian added a real gem to my book collection this year: William Kamkwamba’s memoir, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Kamkwamba tells magical stories of his childhood, his family and his life in Malawi. For a young man he paints vivid and insightful pictures of the politics, cultural superstitions and extreme poverty and famine that engulfed his people.
While I enjoyed the education of this book, what it really delivers is inspiration and hope. William dreams of bringing a better a life to his family and he makes it happen. He takes his natural gifts of curiousity and science exploration and turns them into something literally electrifying. William’s story is a great one. I feel fortunate that it was discovered and shared.
I’m encouraging Ben, who is 12, to read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It’s message is so relevant for him. We should all take our “crazy” ideas and just give ’em a try. Trust in ourselves and each other and great things can happen.
Nice pick, Brian!
Oh, Ducks! What happened? That was far from the Ducks’ best effort, but, hey, we still gotta celebrate making it to the Rose Bowl. Maybe we all need to shed a quick tear and watch the video one more time ’cause I really do still “Love My Ducks.”
At least the game gave me an excuse to postpone the New Year’s diet for a day. The wings, fondue and tacos probably set me back pretty good!
We’ve been going to White River on Mt. Hood for years. It’s a great place to take our sleds and get some really good rides. There’s plenty of room to spread out and many choices of hills for the brave and not-so-brave. You do have to watch out for the occasional goof ball with an inner tube that flies down the hill, out of control and at crazy speeds. Luckily, those people usually wipe out gloriously and leave early in the day!
The boys had a blast on this most recent trip with their new sleds. We also tried out our new snow shoes. Boy, those make the hike up to the slopes so much easier. Brian and I can’t wait to use them again on a more scenic day hike. We’ll probably try Trillium Lake next or maybe a bigger adventure near Bachelor.
As usual, White River made for amazing pictures. Enjoy!
Christmas brought the boys each their own BB gun. Our first day of gun safety lessons and target shooting was very fun 🙂
For days after Christmas, the Windheim’s build Legos. This is the first year that mom hasn’t had to help at all…kinda makes me sad. Thank goodness Santa gave me my own little race car set so I could join in the fun.
Now to the point…
Brian experimented with my camera and some time-lapsed photography software to create a video of this year’s Lego projects. Take a look.
Lego assembly time-lapse from Brian Windheim on Vimeo.
Wow. We had such a great Christmas this year. The kids were amazing. They each, on their own, made gifts for the whole family and asked for special shopping trips to purchase small gifts for each other with their own money. They were so proud of their gifts and really got into the spirt of giving rather than just receiving 🙂 That made Christmas morning extra sweet.
And, then, there was the comedy. After each gift was opened, no matter who it was for or who it was from, Joe gave the receiver a hug and warmly said, “That was my idea.” It got to be really, really funny!
And, the pets had their memorable moments. Otto never let his new toy leave his side, and Smokey never left the tree. He will be so sad when we take it down.
My favorite gift to give this year was snow shoes and poles for the entire family. We’ve been talking about trying it for years, and now we’ll really do it! I think it really surprised Brian…which I absolutely loved 🙂
I’ve posted all of my fun photos from the family Christmas Eve brunch and from Christmas Day on my photo site. Hopefully, I captured a small fraction of the joy we felt this Christmas.
