Merry Christmas!

by Julia

I am finally posting on the blog for the first time. My timing has to do with the availability of one of my teenagers to walk me through the whole process. The digital natives at this house tolerate my lack of complete comfort at the computer, as does Candace, who I whine to about it on occasion.

A quick intro: I am the oldest of this clan, I am married to David (we hit 20 years this past summer), and I have four intense children.

Here are the rowdies on Christmas Eve in their new pajamas. Santa and the elves outfit them yearly, along with their cousins. We are the only Fish family members not gathering together this year because our oldest came home from his first semester at college to see us! (And all his friends.)

So here we are with one of T's friends and the LDS missionaries for our Christmas Eve dinner. This meal, a Fish family favorite, is called Raclette. It is the name of the cheese and traditionally is served melted with boiled potatoes, cornichons, and pearl onions. We add shrimp in garlic butter on top of the snazzy machine you see in the middle of the table (Merlin and Pat gifted one to each of our families years ago). This meal also included a green salad, grape tomatoes, artisan bread, various fruits, and brownies with sorbet. Mer would be proud of the artistic cheese tower I made.

Here are the place cards I created for our guests. Yes, I am a calligrapher. I am addicted and I can't stop (that is redundant). This blog may soon look like Julia's portfolio.

The biggest surprise of the day was when we were sitting in church today and it was announced that the Thompson family would be singing a musical number. I had a moment of anxiety as the man announcing looked right at me and smiled. I smiled back, turned to David, and said through my teeth, "what are we singing??" He assured me that I was not expected to do an impromptu performance. Instead, my four children sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in all four parts. They were amazing! G (the nine year old) can almost hold down that alto by himself. I wondered why they sent David and me out for a walk last night. . .

I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas.

FISH FAMILY FAVORITES

by Stefanie
This post is about things in my house that make me happy right now. It's also about posting things that my sisters, Lori, Keri, and Julie should post but don't. This cute star was crafted by Lori and Keri. I can't even begin to guess how many they have made and given away. I wish I had more pictures to post of the various sizes, colors, patterns, and holiday themes they have put together, but they are all adorning someone else's home. Maybe at some future point they will post a tutorial on how to make them.

I have issues with the quality of pictures I can take on my phone--and I say that because these pictures just don't do the above art piece justice. Anyway, this was created by my sister, Julia, who is an extremely talented artist and calligrapher. I hope she will start posting as well as offering her art on "See Fish Create." Julia made this for me for Christmas in 2004, and it is a treasure.

These wreaths are made from pages of a book. Lori made the middle one for me and I made the other two thanks to her instruction. Different sizes of books make different looking wreaths. When I made the one one the left, I didn't like the weight or size of the paper and how it turned out, so I decided to experiment further and see how it looked spray-painted. It's hard to tell, but I used white, silver, blue, and a glitter paint. I was trying to make it resemble a snowflake--I'm not sure I succeeded. Lori also helped Keri make a GREAT looking wreath using coffee filters densely attached to a straw wreath. Wish I had a picture! We are at the mercy and unlikelihood of Keri posting a picture, but we can always hope.

Rarely does anyone enter my home who doesn't have the urge to take a shot at this hoop. That's ok, it's what its there for. Before my remodel, my boys had a little hoop hanging on the closet door in the entry that they would play on daily for hours, especially in the winter. Well, it beat the heck out of the door, plus I was worried eventually someone's foot was going to go through the door in the process of a dunk or lay-up. The chandelier was also a little marred from erring balls. In spite of the possible damage to the decor, I decided that the basketball activity was a good thing and to embrace it rather than fight it. At the time of the remodel, I had my contractors make a more permanent backboard (that I painted to match my decor), and then I bought a rim that I had powder-coated gray--again to match the decor. It's called give and take--they get the hoop, I get to decided the color. Anyway, my boys are a lot bigger now--and so are their friends; the play is rougher; my walls are a little beat up; so far we've only had one glass cover on the chandelier break, but I expected that and bought extra; and the fun is competitive and extreme. I'll repair and repaint when they grow out of it, but I don't know if that will ever happen--their dad enjoys it just as much as they do. And, like I said, so does everyone that enters.

This is my pantry door. It is painted with chalkboard paint. I love it to write messages, menus, thoughts, quotes, etc. I really need my sister Julie to come write all these things for me so they are beautiful to look at as well as legible. These days chalkboard paint comes in a variety of colors. It works best painted on completely smooth surfaces. Most walls have a texture, and it's hard to write with chalk on a bumpy surface!

Last but not least, my amaryllis are blooming! That's always happy. Merry Christmas!

Fish Family Favorites: Bulbs

by Stefanie

Every Autumn our brother Kevin orders amaryllis and paper white bulbs for his mom and sisters. (Thanks Kev!:) The amaryllis are our favorite. We love to give them as Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts and love growing them for ourselves. I personally have a hard time deciding which ones I should give away, and yet I want to give one to every neighbor and friend I have! They're so exciting and gratifying to watch grow and so easy to care for.

We order our bulbs at www.johnscheepers.com. You can order gift boxes that come with the bulb, soil, and a pot to plant them in or you can just order the bulbs individually and plant them how you wish. Lowes and Home Depot also sell the bulb gift boxes. However, the bulbs usually aren't as big and the variety is limited. I will post the end result in several weeks when these bulbs are blooming!

FISH FAMILY FAVORITES: GOURDS

by Pat

Being at a temporary standstill in his elaborate landscaping project this spring, our son Kevin decided to plant gourds and pumpkins in his flower beds to keep the weeds down.  His initial planting was slow to germinate, and he was afraid the seeds had rotted.  So he replanted--and then all the seeds from both plantings germinated, and he ended up with this by August:

and this by October:

 

and I can't get enough of these things:

If you want an absolutely enthralling harvest next fall, plant a variety of gourd seeds in the spring.

Fish Family Favorites: Random Stuff

by Stefanie

Egg sandwiches with leeks, greens, and sometimes turkey sausage or gluten

sausage on an Orowheat 100% whole wheat, 100 calorie sandwich thin. Wow! That's a long name for a sandwich. We crave these at our house. Here's how to make your own:

Saute finely chopped leeks in coconut oil.

(*Note: Leeks and coconut oil are among our favorite things! Leeks are a mild onion that are a lot easier to cut than a regular onion. Cut off the ends; slice it length-wise; run it under water to wash out the grit; then slice it up! Coconut oil is amazing for many reasons. I can't list them all here, but check out The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife as well as www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com for the best price on the highest quality.)

Add some fresh or frozen chopped greens of your choice. (We like beet greens, collards, swiss chard, or kale). The water from them being washed or frozen should be enough to steam them and cook them down a bit. If not, add a tablespoon or so.

At this point you can add some sausage or bacon, but it's not necessary.

When the greens are cooked down, add some eggs and scramble everything together.

Serve on bread with mustard and Veganaise (another one of our favorite things for a more healthful alternative to mayo. I feel like the yellow label is the best).

Enjoy!

InstaHot. I don't know if that's it's real name, but magically out of this little faucet at my kitchen sink comes boiling hot water. It's incredibly useful and time saving: like when you need a quick cup of hot chocolate or herbal tea; like when you are canning and need to put the lids in boiling water first; like when you need to sterilize something fast--you get the picture. I use this multiple times a day. It's a must. Call your favorite plumber and get one installed today.

Hydrangeas. I picked these hydrangeas from my yard in September. I think they are going on 5 or 6 weeks now. I've changed the water twice and re-cut their stems once. Now, what fresh flower arrangement can compete with that?? I see the carnations lining up--but seriously, I'll I can say is "Wow, you make me happy!" every time I walk in that room. Come spring, pick yourself up some Endless Summer variety and plant them in your yard.

Colored eggs. Yes, these are the very eggs that go into our egg sandwiches, and yes, I raise chickens too. These colored eggs are a delight to behold and just as fun as playing "Colored Eggs" when I was a kid. Remember that game? Anyway, again, come spring, get yourself some cute chicks that will eventually produce these amazing eggs.

Date Night at Stew's

By Marci

Somehow our date nights have evolved into family outings.  We finally experienced Stew Leonard's for the first time.  We loved the animals, pulled-pork sandwiches, and maze-like approach to grocery shopping.  (I must say the customer service was excellent.)  I purchased their rice cakes dipped in dark chocolate to eat in the corner of the kitchen when my children are engaged elsewhere.

Whenever I see a cow, I think of Angus and/or my dad's excellent moo sound.

 I think our next pet will be a goat.  Baahhh.

 Nothing like a sweet red barn.  Look at that roof and trim work!

Fish Family Favorites: Baby Stuff!

by candace

I only have one child and he is only thirteen months old so I am not the expert but there are a few favorite things I've used over the past year:

VIDEO MONITOR

I have one similar to this. I totally thought this wasn't necessary but then the in-laws bought it for us. We love it! It's so fun to see what he is actually doing in there. And G (my child) doesn't make much noise...he doesn't cry when he wakes up so the only way I know he is awake is because I can see him. It's a lot of money but well worth it! Here is the little man sleeping...

BOTTLE DRYING RACK

If you use bottles you will love one of these.

MUSLIN BLANKETS

I know these blankets are becoming really trendy and there is a reason for that...they are amazing. I love them and they are pretty much the only blankets we've used for this little guy. I have a few by aden + anais (sold many places including Target) and I have a couple from Bambino Land (shown below). The Bambino Land ones may be a little bit softer but they are totally comparable.

TOMMEE TIPPEE BIBS

These funny bibs are my favorite. They have a little scoop that catches a lot, there is good coverage, they are easy to clean, and G can't pull them off!

More favorites to come...

Fish Family Favorites: Conference Weekend

By Marci

We enjoyed our church's semi-annual General Conference this weekend.  This picture of Michael "listening" to conference with all of our daughters makes me think of this great talk, one of our favorites.