Joel update

Joel survived his day at school Wednesday, and did a great job of facing all the teachers and friends he had said goodbye to the Thursday before. What a trooper.

He got to skip Thursday to go to OHSU for a pulmonary test. Our insurance stated that he had to have a pulmonary test that showed he had "Restrictive Lung Disease" in addition to the CT that clearly showed that the chest cavity has severely restricted space. One look at this kid with his shirt off and you can see that there is no way his lungs can inflate to full capacity.

So, the insurance company paid for the testing to be done so that they can pay for the surgery...

Anyway, it appears that the medical definition of Restrictive Lung Disease is someone whose lungs can only inflate at 80% or less of expected capacity for height and age. Joel ended up at 77%.

Now we'll see what Blue Cross has to say.

Make-ahead mashed potatoes

Every year for our church young women, we put on a fundraiser dinner to earn money for the annual summer camp. It is a super fun night, and the girls have a blast playing waitress that evening. We set up the gym like a restaurant, Aubrey plays the harp, and the girls serve the food. We serve the same menu every time. Lame? Well, it's easy, and also delicious and we have it down to a science. Salad, rolls, roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and a raspberry brownie sundae for dessert.

My heart rate jumps when it is time to make the gravy for this event. It has always turned out, but gravy can sometimes just do crazy things. I just use the pan leftovers from the chuck roast, add a bit of water to get the desired volume, beef base for more flavor, corn starch and my immersion blender. I blend it until smooth and then bring it to a boil.

Some things make this meal super easy. First, Montreal Steak Seasoning and chuck roast. Second, is Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes. Last, is Betty Crocker brownie mixes. But this post is about the potatoes.

The traditional mashed potato is good at first, but then as it sits gets clumpy and not very tasty. When you are feeding 50-60 people at one moment, it is tricky to cook mashed potatoes to be timed to be finished at a precise moment. This recipe is amazing, because you can make them any time during the day you are serving them, and then put them in the crock pot to stay warm until you are ready to serve them. Plus, they are the best tasting potatoes I have ever had. Maybe because there is more "other stuff" than potatoes? They are a hit.

17 potatoes
garlic (7 tsp)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk (slowly add more if you need to--too much turns them into soup)
3 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1 c parmesan cheese
2 8-ounce pkgs cream cheese

Peel potatoes, but leave some skin on. Slice potatoes into quarters (or eighths if they're large). Boil potatoes and garlic for 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain, but don't lose the garlic--keep it with the potatoes.

Soften butter and cream cheese in the microwave. Mash and blend potatoes, butter, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Have your crock pot pre-heated to high. When you have finished making your mashed potatoes, put them in the crock pot, cover and turn crock put down to low. You will need to stir the mashed potatoes every 30 minutes in the crock pot even though it is on low, or they will scorch.

Cinnamon Rolls

My mom called me in a panic Friday because she couldn't find my cinnamon roll recipe. Normally when someone needs a recipe, I can just tell them I have it posted on my blog, but in this case, I didn't. And I was at the church at crunch-time of serving dinner to 50 people when my mom called, so I couldn't give it to her. I promised her I would post it this weekend.

I cut this recipe out of the newspaper about 10 years ago, and it has never failed me. I love this recipe, and so does everyone else. I have big 13x18 inch pans I make these in (like a jellyroll pan with 2" sides, but I also have made these in 2 9x13 pans. The recipe calls for making 12 huge rolls, but I usually roll the dough long-ways and make 20, putting 5 rows of 4 in the pan. Otherwise, we had a lot of unfinished ginormous rolls, where 20 still makes big rolls, but an actually eatable size.

DOUGH

• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1 cup water (105-115 degree)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup warmed milk
• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 7 cups all-purpose flour (or more if needed, up to 8)

FILLING

• 1 cup melted butter, divided
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

CREAMY GLAZE

• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 -8 tablespoons hot water

Directions:

1. 1 To prepare dough: In a cup, combine yeast, warm water and 1 tsp sugar, stir and set aside.
2. 2 In a large bowl, mix milk, remaining 2/3 cup sugar, melted butter, salt and eggs; stir well and add yeast mixture.
3. 3 Add half the flour and beat until smooth.
4. 4 Stir in enough of the remaining flour until dough is slightly stiff (dough will be sticky).
5. 5 Turn out onto a well-floured board; knead 5-10 minutes.
6. 6 Place in well-buttered glass or plastic bowl, cover and let rise in warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
7. 7 When doubled, punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes.
8. 8 Roll out on floured surface into a 15 x 20 inch rectangle.
9. 9 To prepare filling: Spread dough with 1/2 cup melted butter.
10. 10 Mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over buttered dough.
11. 11 Sprinkle with walnuts and raisins, if desired.
12. 12 Roll up jellyroll-fashion and pinch edge together to seal.
13. 13 Cut into 12 slices.
14. 14 Coat bottom of a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and an 8-inch square pan with remaining 1/2 cup melted butter, then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup sugar.
15. 15 Place cinnamon roll slices close together in pans.
16. 16 Let rise in warm place until dough is doubled in bulk,about 45 minutes.
17. 17 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
18. 18 Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until rolls are nicely browned.
19. 19 Cool rolls slightly.
20. 20 To prepare glaze: Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla; add hot water 1 Tbsp at a time until glaze reaches desired spreading consistency.
21. 21 Spread over slightly cooled rolls.
22. 

Pobre Joelito

We love Joel. He is always happy, and always fun to have around. But this past week was sort of an emotional roller coaster for him.

He was born with a condition called Pectus Excavatum. Basically, the cartilage of his chest wall is causing the sternum to grow down toward his spine rather than level with the ribcage. This causes a big indentation in his chest. It has become more noticeable as he has grown, and will continue to deepen as he grows even more.

We went to OHSU to have a specialist look at Joel, and they recommended a corrective surgery called the Nuss Bar procedure. Basically, they made small incisions on the side, and shove a metal bar under his ribcage that forces the sternum into the correct position. The bar is left in for a year or so, and then removed as an out-patient procedure.

A CT scan was done, showing that Joel's heart was shoved out of its proper place, his lungs were restricted by the shape of his ribcage, and that the dimension between his sternum and spine was in the severe/moderate range for this defect. I spoke with our insurance company, they said that Joel would definitely be covered for this surgery based on those criteria, and we scheduled his surgery.

That date was for 6AM yesterday. Joel went to school last Thursday thinking it was his last day for the year. He cleaned out his locker, said goodbye to his friends and teachers. He turned in all the work that the teachers had given him to do to finish up his year. He even gave up his solo in the upcoming choir concert because he would be recovering from his surgery.

And then it happened. We found out last Friday that our insurance company decided that they wanted Joel to undergo two more tests before they would preauthorize his surgery. He has to have pulmonary testing, and an EKG to see how his lungs and heart are functioning. After this, then they will pay for the surgery.

So the surgery is postponed.

But poor Joel. He spent Friday sort of like Rapunzel from Tangled. You know the scene were she finally leaves the tower, and she goes between running around screaming about how fun it is and lying in fetal position crying because she will be in so much trouble? Joel went between happy and laughing about the irony of his situation, to sobbing uncontrollably thinking about going back to school and facing everyone again. Their last day is June 17th, so it's not like it was just another week of school. If that was the case, I would have let him just be done.

I let him stay home yesterday, and he said he would be fine to go today and face everybody. But it took him about 30 minutes to get in the car, and another 20 minutes to get out of the car once we were at school. Again, laughing and then crying. But I made him go.

He gets to miss tomorrow for his pulmonary tests, and I promised him sour patch kids and DQ after school if he made it through the day with a smile on his face. We'll see what happens.

Where did this pectus thing come from? I have no idea. Nobody in my family has it. Nobody in Mark's family has it. But 4 of our 5 boys have it--2 are very minor, and one other as severe as Joel's. I'd like to see the Punnett squares explaining that one. 80%? We defy the laws of genetics.

Hiking

Why haven't I written a blog post lately? Well, I've been busy. Zack and I have been taking advantage of the FINALLY warm-ish weather. We have driven many days to our favorite spot at Wahkeena Falls.

To get to Wahkeena Falls parking area takes a windy, slow drive. But if you take the freeway and park at Multnomah Falls with all those touristy suckers who don't know there are other spectacular waterfalls, you can take a trail and walk 1/2 mile to Wahkeena Falls. It's faster to park at Multnomah and walk to Wahkeena than to take the old Historic Highway directly there. Plus, you don't get carsick or have a headache when you get there.

Once at Wahkeena Falls, you can take a short .5 mile trail up to the bridge, and continue on for about 4 more miles if you want to hike up and across to the top of Multnomah Falls and back down to the car. Or you can skip the trail and just scramble up the rocks in the middle of the creek to get to the bridge. Zack and I did both this week. Only I fell pretty hard when we were climbing up the rocks, and my shin may never look the same. But it was worth it.

We pack a lunch and go sit on this bench to eat it.

I love Zachary. The days are ticking by too fast when he will start school this fall, so we have to enjoy every day until then.

More mummies

I have some more pictures of our NY adventure from the last day we spent in the city. We decided to go back to the Met one more time (yes this was 3 days in a row we went to the Met. It is that amazing).

But this day was very exciting because Stephen and Kit came from Connecticut to spend the day with us in NYC. They met us at the museum where we spent a bit of time going through the 19th and early 20th century paintings again, and the Ancient Egypt exhibit, which I believe you could spend a full week in.

Abram taught the cousins some cool things about the ancient Egyptians.

This granite sphynx was very cool to see and very well preserved.

Apparently we have no picture of the full temple they rebuilt inside of the museum, but let's just say you actually feel like you are in Egypt with the way they were able to recreate such a structure. It was really, really stunning.

After the museum we got on the subway and went down to Little Italy. Our intent was to have pizza at Lombardi's, which claims to be the first pizzaria in the US. Regardless of whether that is true or not, they truly had the best pizza I have ever eaten.

Right down the street from Lombardi's is a place called "Rice to Riches." All they have there is rice pudding. Yes, you read that right.

I am not a huge fan of rice pudding. Sure, it's OK. But there are about 30 other desserts I would choose before I would choose rice pudding. Mark, Stephen, Jacob, Ben and Casey decided to have rice pudding for dessert. I went in with an open mind and sampled about 5 flavors, which were all very tasty in a little spoon, but I just could not imagine eating an entire bowl of it, even if it did taste like chocolate or berries.

Kit, Abram, Alison and I all felt the same way and decided to go next door to Pink Berry to get frozen yogurt. But the boys were all happy with their rice pudding of various flavors.

After our trip to Little Italy, we rode the subway north again to the museum, where we said goodbye to our Connecticut family. Don't you think Mark's brother Stephen looks a lot like Mark?

We walked on down Central Park to FAO Schwartz, where the boys had been wanting to go play the Big Piano. We were there right at closing time, and nobody else was at the piano, so they got to play for a while. Turns out that Rachmaninoff's Prelude #3 in C# minor is a little trickier to play on that big piano.

Salvation

Sometimes Zachary says something that reminds me that he is a very smart kid who never misses a beat. He pays attention to everything, and remembers everything. Always. It is amazing.

Yesterday we got Coraline in the mail from Netflix. I had been hesitant to let the kids watch it, because it looked really creepy to me. I may be the only human who did not enjoy The Nighmare Before Christmas, but somehow that level of creepy just doesn't appeal to me. But they wanted to see it, so we finally put it in our queue. Zachary was OK for the first hour or so, but then it just got too dang spooky for him, and we turned it off.

Today as we were driving Noah and Savanna to school, Zachary was telling the kids about how Coraline was too scary for him. Noah said, "Zack, you can watch Lord of the Rings and Terminator Salvation and not be scared. Why would Coraline be scary to you?"

Zachary answered a question with a question. "Why do they call it 'Terminator SALVATION' anyway? Salvation is only in church movies."

Not that we watch a lot of church movies, but somehow he knew that salvation is a church word. He is paying attention.

Really, it is amazing what Zachary can sit through for movies without flinching, and then what minor thing will frighten him. For instance, about a month ago he watched The Little Mermaid for the first time. He loved it, but at the end when Ursula turns into the big monster, he buried his head in his blanket and said, "I just can't watch this!" And then he can sit and watch Aragorn and Legolas battle for middle earth and think nothing of it.

What a kid.