Tortilla Pinwheels

My mom and I were trying to decide what to bring to a halloween party today, and we decided Tortilla Pinwheels are always a winner.  My sister-in-law makes these and they are tasty!

I didn't follow this recipe exactly... I just put amounts that I thought would be good.


4 oz. dairy sour cream (I used Quark instead, for those in Germany)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies, drained (I used picked jalapenos, for those in Germany)
1 (4 oz.) can chopped black olives, drained
1/2 c. grated Cheddar cheese
1/2 c. chopped green onions (I used about 1/4 c. of leek instead)
Salsa to desired taste
Garlic powder to taste
Seasoned salt to taste
5 (10 inch) flour tortillas


Mix all of the filling ingredients together thoroughly. Divide the filling and spread evenly over the tortillas; roll up tortillas. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, twisting ends and refrigerate for several hours. Unwrap; cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick slices. Yield: 50 pinwheels.

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado...

Now he walks in quiet solitude, the forest and the stream,

seeking grace in every step he takes,

his sight is turned inside himself, to try and

understand, the serenity of a clear blue mountain lake.

And the Colorado Rocky Mountain High,

I've seen it raining fire in the sky

You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply.

Rocky Mountain High, ....in Colorado....

Rocky Mountain High

"Rocky Mountain High"- John Denver; Words by John Denver; Music by John Denver and Mike Taylor

For those who might have missed it, we are indeed moving back to the US sometime at the end of this year... which is rapidly approaching!  Right now it looks like it will be around mid-December.  Stu has accepted a position with Siemens to be a Zone Business Manager for the Western half of the US.  With his new position, we could live anywhere in the west, but there really weren't any other considerations than our beloved Colorado.  We'll settle back into the Denver Metro region.  We have had an amazingly wonderful experience here, and we're a bit disappointed to be ending our delegation early.  However, we are very excited to be back near family and friends.

Abigail is already excited.  I'll have to break the news to her that Aspen is not a forerunner in our potential cities...



Trip to the US - OK and TX

After the wedding, A and I headed south to where the "wind comes sweeping down the plain" (Oklahoma, for those who aren't familiar with Rogers and Hammerstein).  We enjoyed spending some time with my parents and my Grammy Nibeck (GeGe to Abbey).  We spent a lot of time playing and going on walks, so it was sort of back to normal for us. 

Airports with playgrounds are the best ever.

Yuck.

Stu joined us again on Thursday and we drove to Dallas for the weekend before we departed.  My brother and his family live there.  Little A loves having cousins!

Trip to the US - Wedding!

We set sail (or set wing, maybe) in mid-October for the good ol' US of A!  Stu's sis was getting married!  The wedding was in Fargo, ND, which is close to where Stu grew up, so we were able to see a lot of his family and friends all in one place! 

Toddlers are not known for sitting in one place for long.  We feel very fortunate that our little one is pretty good natured, and she did not let us down on the 16+ hours of travel.  Little A was so good... she sat in our laps most of the time and just played.  She even slept a little bit!  We brought a little play stroller, which helped keep her distracted during layovers. 
The entire time in ND is pretty much a blur for me.  Toddlers probably also are not known for being overly flexible, and this definitely applied to a 7-hour change in time.  The first night we got some sleep, but for our first 4 nights in the US we got up between 2am and 3am for play-time.  By the time she was ready to go back to sleep for her naps, it was mid-morning and mid-activity for us!  Oh well... we survived on minimal sleep!

Here we go!  Who's excited to sit on a plane for 9 hours?!

 The of candy falling in a jar is mesmerizing...

Wedding decoration overload...

Making new friends.  Little girl S became a favorite, because she shared her goldfish crackers.

Setting up the candy buffet...

Yummmmmm....

Abs loved playing with her cousins!

Argh, Blogger!  Why are you rotating my pictures?  This was sometime around 3am.  She's sitting in her play stroller.

Out of order, but I don't feel like fixing it.  More of Abs' cousins at the wedding.

I think it's mean that a hotel would put a pool in a location that you pretty much have to walk past it to get to your room...

 We love being the center of attention, don't we?

Sounds of a Toddler

You know those cd's they sell, like "Sounds of the Ocean," or "Sounds of the Blue Whale"? We are thinking about releasing one called "Sounds of a Jet-lagged Toddler at 2am". It sounds something like this:
"oooo.....oooo....aaahhhhh.....aaaaahhhhh....uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh....no, no, no, no....da-deeeeee, da-deeeeee.... (=sound of large stuffed bear hitting the floor)...(long pause). EEAAAAGGGHHH (=sound of intense frustration)...(long pause). oooh-wee....ooh-wee....ow-wee, ow-weee....mummy, mummy, mummy... (=sound of giraffe with beads in feet being continually hit against crib mattress)...(long pause). EEEEEUUUUHHHH (=afformentioned intense frustration). buh-buh-buh-buuuuuhhhhh....doo-doo-da-ddy, da-ddy... muh-mee...muh-mee..... (long pause)."

September

Little Abbey's dream... a long hallway to run up and down and up and down...

There is a coffee house near us that has what they call a "Babyccino."  It's just frothed milk with sprinkles, but Abigail loved it!  It kept her nice and distracted so she didn't want my Eiskaffee.  I'm pretty sure coffee and 16-month olds don't mix.

 All in a day's work... this is actually pretty clean for her.

We watched my neighbor's little boy who is about Abbey's age a couple of times.  They get along so well and they play so nicely together.  I think they're sizing each other up... Abbey, I'm pretty sure he's bigger than you are. 

He wanted Abbey to suck on a pacifier.  She tried it for a couple of minutes.  She really just chews on them, though.

They look like they could get into some pretty serious trouble together...

 Deep in conversation... I would love to know what they "say" to each other.

Finally!  We have teeth to eat an apple!

This is usually what it looks like at the end of the day around here.  She loves to take the toys out of her box one by one.  When she finishes that task, she turns the box over and sits on it to observe her work.

Learning about shadows...

"I'm on the phone..."

I don't know why this one is rotated.  I think it's so cute how animated and deeply engrossed she is in her conversation.  This could be part of the reason my phone is being held together by a rubberband now.

She figured out how to turn on the TV.  Stu said she was clapping when t.u. was shown, but I'm positive she's cheering for UCLA.  I'm pretty sure it's because of Daddy's favorite t-shirt (right, Ty?). 

I guess mouse wanted some grapes.