soup for the (feverish) soul

it's been kind of a crazy week around here. or atleast i am wondering how it got to be thursday already. for starters it's been frigid cold since monday, so we're all starting to feel cabin fever coming on. looks like we have a brief respite this weekend before it gets back to crazy cold again next week. in addition, the girls had a round of vaccinations yesterday, which is an ordeal in and of itself. the appointment went fine, but poor roo has been a sad sack since yesterday afternoon. she's spent the last 24 hours with incredibly painful, swollen legs and a high fever. rest assured, it's still within the realm of a "normal, mild" reaction (though not according to us) so we're just riding it out. she seems alot better this morning and will put weight on her legs again, but it was a long night with a burning hot baby. pretty miserable no matter how you slice it.

so, given that sylvi took a much deserved (3.5hr!) morning nap, isa and i got busy in the kitchen. some soul food was definitely in order and we had everything we needed for a big pot of soup. isa and i rarely get to cook together in the kitchen, just the two of us, so it was big treat. after a half hour of chopping and mixing and cleaning she said, "wow mom. this is really alot of work!" amen to that, sister. and since she played such a vital role in making it, she took creative license to rename the soup too. from now on, what was ordinarily just Black Bean Soup, will be named Carrot Celery Pepper Onion Spice Bean Stew. did you get that? good.