Days' of Late:

A day at the park with our good friends: Christie & Bella.

Ooops, shinny hinny!!

Sweet girl, Petra.

Ivy Joy in Sunday school.

Easter photos coming soon!!

We love you,  A. Elrod

the happenings:

So, here are a few pictures from this weekend:

This is Thea~ she has started violin lessons @ school, and received her first violin this week. She has been very excited and enthusiastic about practicing (hopefully that continues to last!)

Earlier today, Andrew was driving home from the eye doctor's (girls in'tow) & they took a great interest in what was being played on the classical station (which happens to be the only station Andrew listens too!)...Apparently, an opera was being played & Thea especially took great interest in it..so, he turned one when they returned home (The Marriage of Figaro)...They were glued for the full two hours!! 

(I hope this continues to give Thea the continued inspiration she will need in her violin lessons!)

~ I did not allow them to sit this close for the entire duration of the opera...Last thing I need is an eye doc's bill x5!!

Blessings ~Ami 

How To: Christmas Tree Disposal

Christmas is over; the holidays have run their glistening, opulent, waste-expanding course.  Now it is time to resume the routine--time to box up the last vestiges of green, gold, and red, and hide them away with other seasonal memories.  Alas, there is one decoration that is more cumbersome than the rest.  I speak, of course, of the Christmas tree.

With this winter's temperature drop, and the corresponding rise of my electric bill, I found myself wandering along the outskirts of the woods for dry sticks and fallen trees--free fuel.  One evening, as I carried an armload of rotting wood up to our apartment I had an epiphany: Christmas trees are made of wood!  Why not burn the Christmas tree?  It is an energy efficient, hassle-free, money-saving, green solution!

 

Here what you will need:

1.   Last year's calendar

2.   A Nat King Cole Christmas Album featuring the holiday favorite: O Tannenbaum

3.   Pruning shears

4.   A handsaw

5.   A wood burning fireplace or stove

 

Begin by removing all decorations and lights from the tree.  This process can be made easier by trimming the branches from the tree as you proceed.

It is helpful to store these in a box as they await their destiny.

As you progress it will become necessary to saw the trunk into smaller sections.

Start a fire in the stove or fireplace using last year's calendar or datebook.  What better way to leave 2011 behind?

Once the fire is of sufficient strength toss in the pieces of trunk.  After that, you can begin to burn the lush branches.

Eventually you will have a roaring fire, cathartically releasing the last remnants of Christmas cheer into free, house-warming energy.

Sit beside the fire, drink hot chocolate, and play the King's O Tannenbaum as you and the family enjoy the show.

Johan is on iTunes!

Johan du Toit's album "Remnant Voice" is now on iTunes!  For those of you who do not know Johan, he is a missionary and pastor in France.  He is a South African native who has served in various ministry capacities in South Africa, Ukraine, the UK, and throughout Europe.  The album is unique, and deeply reflective.  Johan's philological leanings (e.g., 5. From the Periphery), and theological passion are replete in this work.  I highly recommend giving this album a listen.

2011~ Reflection....

Merry Christmas friends, family and followers!  Just wanted to give a Happy-Shout-Out on this fine day, in the remembrance of the birth our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ.  We hope you all have blessed and beautiful day!

I have an entire gallery of pictures that I've been wanting to post. Enjoy.....

   

Petra on the trolley earlier this year

A visit from the family...I love this shot!

Daddy's Birthday...he turned 30 this year.

Papa came for another visit, over his birthday~It was a very special treat!  & my first attempt at cake balls!

The girls at Zion's Christmas program, this was taken in Thea's classroom  

My beautiful girl....growing up too fast

 

Our Christmas tree...  (Petra was being a pill...you can see her hiding out under the kitchen table)

Ivy doing what she does best....being herself!

 She gives the best candid looks!

Thea, my girl with all the poises

I finally got her to smile  ;) though she wouldn't come out from under the table.

Happy birthday to Petra!  She is now 6 years old (gosh, where does the time go?!)

We invited some of friends from school our our neighbors to the local McD's play place...They had a rip-roaring ball of a time!  

Make a wish Petra!  The cake was super cute (a pink & red Santa frosted cookie cake)

Home-made gingerbread house...it was awesome. After a while, I had to remove Ivy from the scene...She ate more candy than she put on the house.

Petra, my calculated thinker (sound like anyone?)

Our non-convntional gingerbread house (if you notice, there are no windows & no door)  It's more like a ginger bread sod house.

Ivy was very proud of her 'cross' cookie

I think Thea was trying to give the 'smolder' 

Merry Christmas from the Elrod family

& Happy New Year.  Love to you all!

~Ami

Ami and Ivy on TV

Ami and Ivy made it into a NBC Dallas-Fort Worth news spot about the CitySquare Thrift Store.  You can watch the video here.

~Jewelry Show in Dallas,Texas~

I met a wonderful Greek lady who owns a whole foods cafe up the street from our apartment. Long story short: she's had significant time in the 'designing industry' and has taken me under her wing and now I'm partnering with her & doing shows again!  Here's the flyer I designed for our upcoming event:

~ Thanks to all who have supported me throughout the years & encouraged me as I've grown in my business!  Love~  Ami E.

Thea the Evangelist:

I went into the other bathroom  to wipe Ivy the other morning, and heard Thea 'preaching' to her stuffed animals. Apparently she was holding a 'service' in her room. Truly, a priceless moment. Here's just a few things I overheard:  'You must must love Jesus! You will be tempted to laugh at someone if they have a broken arm! You will be tempted to laugh if you see someone with a broken cheek! You will be tempted to laugh if they have a broken foot! You have to pray to not be tempted! You must love Jesus! It does not matter if the cheetah is faster than any other animal! It does not matter if the giraffe is taller than any other animal! It does not matter if the elephant if fatter than any other animal! God loves all the animals! He made them, He made all the animals! (here's where she goes all fire & brimstone on their furry butts) 'If you eat the candy you will be cranky! It will make you kill people! It will make you go in hell! You can not eat the candy! You must eat the fruits of the spirit! And you will go to Heaven!' (I think we need to clear up a few theological points with her concerning grace :{  I thought you'd appreciate hearing about our daughter the 'preacher' it was pretty darn cute.



Love Ami

Fashion Show & Maud's visit

Ivy Joy: striking a pose. Great back drop~ an appropriate flair~

Have you seen anything cuter than this recently~ I think not!  

& the only reason Thea is not posted here (& not because she passed up the opportunity to stage her own dramatic flair) is because the camera just happened to run out of battery & instead of telling her, we had to pretend (hopefully she doesn't see this post~ I'd never hear the end of it!  :)

Maud came for a visit!  (aka, my mama) Here she is helping Petra on her two wheeler.

The weather here has been wonderful! Truly a very pleasant Fall.

Ivy Joy kick'n it on her wheels.

How did Thea get so big? I find myself asking this question a lot. It's true what 'they' say, little ones grow up too fast!

I love my girls & I loved having my Mama here.  A little piece of home, a precious visit and wonderful memories made.  Love, Ami

Pant + Britches = Branches

just a few updates. This will probably be a random post~ but I've been wanting to get some of our 'latest news' out to all our readers:

Ivy loves to give 'back- asausages'
She also refers to our pastor as 'password'
I used the words pants and britches one day and in Ivy's world it became 'branches'

Thea has just recently (as of this morning) lost one of her front teeth. I awoke to her frantically panicking & afraid that she had swallowed it, but later found it in the covers of her bed. She was so excited and she looks adorable!

Petra has continued to be an amazing little person (and cuter everyday) & there are two little boys in her class that think so too. She comes home with stories of their harassment on the playground and during lunchtime. Come to find out during PT conferences, she's not the perfect angel she's painted the picture to be and consistently engages in 'quiet-antagonism.'  I thought I had more time to prepare for this!

Our cat has decided that she's had enough of all the nonsense and took a flying leap off our balcony into the bushes and got away for one evening, and we now had the railing screened off to prevent any further suicide attempts (or escapes) Her one sole purpose is to provide us girls with furry-friendly emotional comfort--sorry Meow.

Andrew & I's schedules are crazy considering we have one car, work at our church which is apx. 45 min. away--keep up with private school schedules, fundraisers and activities--and somehow end the day with enough energy & grace  to pull off a family meal together (& not to mention the mountain of homework we both have to complete).  For example a typical evening looks like this: (& this just happens to be a ply-by-ply of this evening since it the freshest in my memory, but not much unlike any other) I arrive home from picking the girls up from school and making a quik stop to the Super-Walmart (which ended up being 1 hr, mainly because everyone has to take their afternoon 'poo' at different times) Ivy is riding her bicycle in the apt. with Petra who decides to chase her around the apartment with the scooter and ends up getting smashed in the face by Ivy's handle bar. So, I decide it's bath time for Ivy while I help nurse Petra's wounded nose. I set the table--check--dinner is ready--check--Andrew calls, he's riding his bike & almost home--check-- Thea is cooking a pretend meal in the play ktchen with dried beans and uncooked noodles--check-- Oh ya, get Ivy out of the tub. I walk into a lake in the bathroom as she is having her own 'tea party' on the ledge of the bathtub..I grab the towel and as I turn around she slides out of the tub face first (because Ivy does everything face first) into the toilet seat and busts her lip open.  Andrew walks in the door (drenched with sweat from riding as usual--bless his heart!) to Petra with an ice pack, on the couch crying about her busted nose--screaming from the bathroom because Ivy is 'blooding' everywhere (Ivy language--it really wasn't that bad)  and Thea trying to serve him a meal of raw beans & noodles--welcome home daddy!  Just a regular night at the Elrods!

I'll have pictures for you all tomorrow. Alls well now--everyone is sound asleep (praise the Lord) and I'm ready for that myself. We miss you, love you & pray for you.  Always ~Ami

The Criswell College Omelet

"In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love"...

And in the autumn the thoughts of the resident Criswell mycophagist turns to things fungivorous and culinary.  It appears that there is a healthy mycorrhizal symbiosis at work amidst the roots of the pristine oaks in the Criswell campus courtyard.  A relationship that has born much fruit:

What is one to do with such gems as these fulvous fungi?  Such fine specimens of boletus deserve far better than to desiccate unnoticed among the fallen oak leaves.  They deserve to be in an honorary omelet, an omelet dedicated to the institution that nurtured them--a Criswell College Omelet.

[Disclaimer: Please do not eat any mushroom that you are not certain you have properly identified using several of your senses.  It is best to have an experienced forager show you the ropes before eating things you find growing in the woods--or the Criswell courtyard.  There are many poisonous mushroom species, and a few are even deadly.]

Step 1:  Clean and cut these blue-staining boletes.

 

Step 2:  Sauté in butter, and salt to taste.  (Some blue-staining boletus have been known to cause "intestinal distress" when not thoroughly cooked.  So cook them well just in case.)  No additional seasoning is necessary as these have a naturally pleasant, meaty flavor.

Step 3:  Add onions and continue to cook.

Step 4:  Add kale, continue to cook.  The kale may require additional salt--add to taste.

Step 5:  Prepare three eggs--beat 2 full eggs and 1 egg white.

Step 6:  Grate cheese.  I prefer an aged cheddar mixed with fresh mozzarella and a hint of havarti for this dish.

Step 7:  On medium heat add the eggs to the boletes, kale, and onion.  Flip once it has cooked through, add the cheese to the top and fold.

Step 8:  Plate it.  Attempt to draw the Criswell College "logos" shield in sriracha, and serve.

Step 9:  Bon appétit!

*******

How did it go?  I will not leave you in suspense.  The omelet was exquisite.  And I did not experience any side effects--beside a new layer of appreciation for the Criswell campus.