Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

So the big news is that I have found a pharmaceutical position about 40 minutes away from home. I heard about a position from an e-mail going around the chemistry department at App State. I applied and they originally said they didn't have an open position. About 2 weeks later they contacted me to see if I was still interested. I interviewed with them last week and the company seems pretty neat. Then yesterday they offered me a job. :) I will be doing QA/QC stuff, mainly QA though. This means I'll be reviewing technical documents and data. I will also kind of be in all the different departments ensuring they are doing quality work. It looks like for now A will be going down the mountain with me for a while since we are on all the waitlists for childcare in Boone. We managed to find a place associated with a church that has openings and is reasonable. For now, with us having 1 car this is probably the best arrangement. Chris will be able to walk to work, so he now we need to get him hiking boots, as the walk in his steel toed work boots may not be the best for him or his feet.

It is exciting, and as much as I've learned to cope with staying home, I definitely feel it is a good thing. Putting A in nursery will be interesting, but she will be close to me (at least for a while) and will hopefully do okay. She has always tended to enjoy being with kids her own age, and we've never had a problem, but we've also never done it for longer than a church service. Pray for us this next week as I start on Wednesday.

Blowing Rock

There is a legend here about Blowing Rock (http://www.theblowingrock.com/) and we went today. In March, I met an author at our library who made up a story, Isabella Propeller (http://isabellapropeller.com/), about the rock formations. I got him to sign a 2 books, one for A and one for N. N LOVES the story and we got to go to the blowing rock today. All week N has been asking, "Are we going to see the old lady?" Well, we didn't find the old lady today, but we did find some spectacular views. It is also interesting because A wants to act like N, and N wants to act like A. Neither girl is used to being a sibling, so we've had several tantrums, though overall it has been a lot of fun having Isaac and N here. To round out the post, let's see some pictures!

Me out on the "blowing rock"

Isaac and N out on the blowing rock

Dads'n'daughters on a rock formation

Seeing N climb, A wants to. And both need daddy's help.

Bath Time

We have a set of "girls" here. Everywhere we go they are mistaken as sisters, which ensures they are both Gorrell girls. I consistently remember being mistaken as my cousins sister on a regular basis. A though religiously follows N just about anywhere. N runs off somewhere and A totters after her. This morning she kept pointing to the door N came out of as she had been waiting for N to come upstairs.
Bath time is interesting with cousin N here. We went to Grandfather Mountain yesterday and wore the girls out. After their naps we played with bubbles which pretty much guaranteed a bath for both of them. A mainly chased the bubbles and tried to figure them out while N tried blowing them, but prefered to chase them. The bath though was interesting. N didn't want a bath, and then didn't want her hair washed. After we got them in the bath (with several ducks) I "styled" A's hair with soap and N decided she wanted her hair done too. Ah, the joys of having fun while cleaning.

Water Baby!

Thomas the Train

My father has been in town the past few days and we've had a grand time. We went to Tweetsie Railroad and Grandfather Mountain. We also managed to find a pretty decent bbq place for Chris, but apparently it isn't OK bbq, so it is sub-par.

At Tweetsie we got to ride with Thomas the Tank Engine. It was a special event and we got to see and have pictures made with the blue engine. It was really a very box like structure, but it was fun. A really likes trains in general and was calling them, "oooo ooooo" and pointing by the end of the day. It was super cute. The train ride was kind of cheesy and I felt a little simplistic, even for a family attraction. I also was not impressed by them dressing up people as "Indians" in the manner that they did. I know that in the time when the Tweetsie engine was running it was very cliche to think of Indians in that manner, it is quite insensitive to present them as such today. At Tweetsie we also got to ride a merry-go-round and pet some pygmy goats. Well, A wasn't so sure about the pygmy goats and they eventually parted ways without either one getting what they wanted.

Ready for a day at the park

A, my dad, and Thomas

A contemplating petting the baby goat

Friday we went to Grandfather Mountain. We hiked around on the "Woods Walk" and then had a picnic. After that we went up the mountain a little more and saw some deer and cougars. Then we finished by hiking up to the swinging bridge, which is a mile high. We crossed it, but then A decided that she wanted to walk around up there without being held, so we just went down the mountain. Overall it was a good day.

Exploring a waterfall area on the way up the mountain

playing peek-a-boo in a hollowed out tree

Notice the sign says nothing about teasing children or parents...

Each day we also managed to go swimming in the hotel pool where my dad was staying. A wasn't sure about it at first, but quickly decided that swimming was a lot of fun. I have a video that I will try and post provided my ISP works properly. 

Black Forest Bread Pudding

Okay, so bread budding, seriously Carolyn? Yes, I have always really really liked, okay, loved, bread pudding. For the past several years since I haven't had any bread I've been missing out. Last week when I made cupcakes for A & Chris, my cupcakes failed to hold together. There should have been enough gum, but they just didn't stay as cupcake, and crumbled well coming out of the tin. Well, I decided that I couldn't just throw the crumbs away, so what to make? I decided to make bread pudding with the crumbs. Here is the recipe:

I used a Paula Dean recipe that is heavily modified.

1 cup vanilla sugar (the recipe called for 2 cups granulated sugar, but since I used cake I figured I could cut some sugar here)
about 4 ounces cherry jelly
5 large eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 cups crumbled chocolate cake
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup chocolate chips (original recipe was for pecans, but I put in chocolate chips instead)

For sauce:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 c butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 cup alcohol (brandy, godiva, etc)

Mix together the sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour over the cake and let sit until oven is warm.

Preheat oven to 350F, grease/line a 13x9x2 inch pan.

Crumble together the brown sugar, butter and chocolate chips.

Pour the bread mixture in the pan. Cover with the chocolate chip mixture. Stick in the oven and bake until "set", 30-45 minutes.

For the sauce: mix everything sans alcohol in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar is melted. Remove from heat and add the alcohol. Pour over the bread pudding.

1 Year Check-up

We got A her one year appt today. She is doing great on the multiple skill sets. For the height she is about 40% and for the weight she is about 20%. The office was kind of put out that I asked if they were using the WHO breastfed baby growth chart. They went and found one, and then decided that it really was worth it since on the formula chart she is below the charts. Overall she is doing great they said, and were also very pleased to see a baby.

When they took her iron levels and picked her fingers she didn't flinch or cry. The nurse had asked 2 other nurses in for help with A since apparently babies tend to cry. They were all quite shocked when A reacted as she did, apparently teenagers have been known to pass out with the drops of blood they see. I talked about the blood and how it is really cool amazing stuff as the finger stick came out.