My Dad's birthday is the 28th of December and so on years when we don't spend Christmas with my parents, we do our best to spend the 28th through New Years with my family to celebrate his birthday and the new year.
This year Daddy's parents decided to spend the 8 days following Christmas day with my parents, adding addition incentive for us to make the trip East to visit them. We arrived at my parents house very late Friday night just in time to spend all day Saturday (Daddy asked that we postpone his birthday a day to allow all of us traveling to arrive and so no one felt rushed with Mom and Dad's standing Friday night temple assignment) celebrating.
The celebrations started with Donuts as a mid-morning dessert after breakfast. Then a fun take-out for lunch from a variety of restaurants - oh so yummy! - and who wants to try and take four generations of people to one sit down restaurant? We figured take-out would be simpler, more fun, and just as cost effective.
After lunch, Daddy had requested a family music session with the strings, piano, and singing. Something we haven't really done in about 10 years. My sister's Suzanne and Mary Ann played an amazing piece attributed to Mozart called Der Spiegel. You put the single sheet of music on a table with the violinists facing each other and they start playing - each at what is the top of the sheet of paper from their vantage point. It's amazing and beautiful and fun!
Our little family with the addition of Joe's sweet girlfriend kd played Happy Birthday on the English Cracker Horns we got Christmas Day at Diane's (hopefully we'll get a YouTube video of that going in the next couple days). Everyone got a hoot out of that little surprise performance. Then Joe broke out the cello and we sang Christmas Carols.
Daddy's birthday cakes were a huge Homemade Apple Pie (made using my Aunt LaRee's recipe) and a decadent White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.
GR spent Christmas Eve morning at work, coming home after lunch to find that the kids had done a beautiful job of decorating the tree. I thought I'd snapped a picture or two, but they are no where to be found. They had a lot of fun recognizing the different decorations they've added to our collection over the years.
Diane's church did a Children's Christmas Eve service at 4pm. Singing carols and reading (and acting out) the prophets accounts of the Saviors birth has always been a part of my families Christmas Eve tradition, so to be able to merge the two traditions and attend a beautiful Christmas Eve service where the Nativity story was told and children were encouraged to participate, and favorite carols were sung, with family was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
After the service, we filled our bellies with one of Diane's amazing dinners and then headed for home to set out stockings, feed the reindeer, wrap more gifts and catch some shuteye so we could enjoy the next morning.
Christmas Day was really nice and laid back. Santa filled the kids stockings with all the traditional things - an orange in the toe (a tradition handed down from my father's mothers family), a few chocolates, a small box of special sugared cereal, and books, toys, tatoos, etc. to play with throughout the morning. The reindeer left scrumptious donuts as a thank you to the children for the yummy food, which ended up being breakfast ... more on that in a bit. And Santa was kind enough to deliver all our packages to Grandma's so we could mosey over there mid-morning after enjoying stockings and breakfast at our house.
Alex woke up Christmas morning at 5:30 screaming and didn't really let up until he simply didn't have the energy to scream any more and started to drift off to sleep around 9. So our grand plans of large super scrumptious gourmet breakfast of waffles, scrambled eggs, and sausage were completely forgotten as GR and I traded off trying to hold and comfort a baby who would have none of either. Thankfully, the super scrumptious and massive donuts the reindeer brought more than filled the children until lunchtime.
Everyone made out like bandits with their gifts getting at least one or two prized items from their wish lists. And despite my worst fears, no one was disappointed, making all the stress and fretting and worry worth it.
After cleaning up the wrapping and eating a bit of lunch, we spent our afternoon hours disassembling boxes and packaging and assembling toys, inserting batteries and doing our best to help and comfort Alex who didn't wander far from a loving lap.
Diane found some wonderful English Crackers for our Christmas Dinner. They contained musical horns, each tuned to one of eight notes, and sheet music to play 16 or so basic Christmas Carols (Jingle Bells and The First Noel) and other simple songs (Happy Birthday). It took some practice and serious concentration on the part of some to make our little horn group turn out recognizable music, but after a couple of practice rounds, we were successful in playing We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It was so much fun! Diane suggested we take the horns to St. Louis later this week and use them with my siblings and I thought that was an excellent idea.
Rebecca spent the first two days of this week at home with a cold, pair that with the two days last week kids were home sick and our one snow day and you're looking at a mom who hasn't left the house in ages to do anything remotely close to preparing for Christmas. GR did get the tree up Monday night, but that's the extent of it here ... it's up, not decorated and two sets of branches are refusing to light ... grrrrr!.
But the boys spent a couple of hours with Grandma, Grandpa and Grandpa's son Jeff this morning which was a huge help because it meant I was able to get the Christmas package for my SIL and family wrapped up, boxed up and mailed out in time for it to arrive for Christmas. I upload a picture to my Flickr account of the tutu's I made for my nieces. They turned out so cute!
Every year, I make grand, elaborate, totally unrealistic lists of things I want to make as gifts for more of a "hand made" Christmas, but alas, each year, I'm able to only pull off one or two projects. So far they've been fun and successful projects, but still, I really wish I could think of all the others in JULY instead of at the end of November, so I'd have a fighting chance at accomplishing a few more!
This afternoon the boys and I went up to the school for a special 1st and 2nd grade assembly in their Pod. It's close to the end of the month and time for the teachers to award the Character awards to students in their classes. This time Rebecca was awarded the RESPECT award. Here's what her teacher had to say about Rebecca and why she was given this award:
"She works to be a good role model for her class. She appreciates the talents of others and is always ready to praise others for their accomplishments."
We are incredibly proud of her for her and Emily both for being such great students and friend to her classmates. And as you can see, she was very surprised and thrilled to get this award!
We are still a live, and while tempted, I have not given up on staying with this blog and seeing it through it's fourth year. Let me just say that while December has some wonderful memories - which I will be blogging about in the coming days - it was a long, stressful month that I am grateful to close the books on, an not look back. So here's to highlighting the good, the fun, the memorable! (written 1/7/08)
When we last left the super six, boss number 2 was busy in the kitchen cooking up a storm in preparation for the Ward Christmas Party that night AND her Christmas Brunch the next morning...
The Christmas Party was really nice, and well attended but not crowded. And the three older ones were asked to participate in a Nativity Play that was really cute. I got pictures of all the kids dressed up in their costumes from a friend. I remembered at 5:30 they were suppose to have costumes for something that night, and after a couple of quick phone calls got to work pulling together two animal costumes and a shepherd ... one shirt and two pull overs from our closet, a horse/donkey mask from the dress up drawer, a some quickly sewn scraps from the sewing room, and we had our three costumes that didn't look half bad ... considering.
GR had a number of families get their family pictures taken, keeping him busy most of the evening. He was really pleased with how well all of them had turned out, making Saturday morning that much more painful. We lost all of the images Saturday - without even so much as a full size viewing of them all - due to a massive memory card failure. That 6G memory card had captured ~30,000+ pictures in it's lifetime and from now on we will be replacing our memory cards on a yearly basis. Thankfully, all the pictures lost were totally replaceable - they weren't "in the moment" captures that couldn't be recreated. He set everything up again Wednesday night and retook most of the pictures he'd taken Friday night, again capturing some really great shots!
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The brunch was a fantastic success. The 7 inches of snow that was suppose to dump on us during the night waited to come until Saturday morning and continued all through the brunch. The steady constant falling of the snow outside at Diane's country home, really added to the spirit and ambiance of the morning. The food was fantastic as always, and the company was even better.
Diane started her Christmas brunch when her kids where small as a chance for her and other friends with young children to get together and catch up during the busy winter months. It quickly grew to a guest list of over 100. It was considered THE social event to be invited to, and women would get very concerned if the didn't get their invitation in the mail for fear they'd be dropped from the list. A few years after she moved here, we started it up and rotate the location - her house or mine. It's still an opportunity to catch up with old and new dear friends, but also a chance to thank the important women in our lives and let them know how much we love and appreciate their association in our lives during the year. It's a lot of work, but well worth it.
Oh and one of the best surprises of all didn't arrive until late morning when most of our guests had gone home, my sweet sisters arose early in the morning and braved hours of treacherous snowy highways to spend the afternoon with me and my kiddos! It was so great to have them come and visit and play with my kids. It totally made their day!
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Sunday afternoon was Sam's Christmas Sing-Along at Preschool. This is by far one of our favorite events of the season. The kids work so hard on their songs, dress in their Sunday best, and beam from ear to ear as they sing their hearts out!
Sam was the first little kid on the stage and sang every word of every song. He's such a good little singer.
Last Saturday he was invited to a birthday party for a little girl in his preschool class. The party had a high tea theme, and so I encouraged him to dress up - at least a little bit ... black slacks, white polo shirt, gray sweater vest ... He's an option kid, and so I also set out chinos and a blue blazer he could wear instead. He comes out of his room holding a suit I purchased for him at a rummage sale over a year before, and announced he was going to wear his suit. I wasn't even sure it fit, but I couldn't talk him out of wearing it.
When Sam came downstairs dressed in black loafers, black suit (that looked like it was made just for him), white shirt and blue and red striped tie, GR nearly dropped his teeth. He looked so good and so cute! Of course when I picked him up from the party, like every good boy, his tie & jacket were off and his shirt untucked, but he still looked just as sharp in his suit.
Wednesday we kept the girls home from school. Monday Emily threw up in class two hours into the day, spent the rest of the day and all of the next on the couch. At one point Monday night her fever was over 104, but she responded well to Tylenol. The fever combined with some much needed rest seems to have sent her cough that has lingered for far to long, packing - hallelujah! Becca on the other hand still has her hacking cough and to be safe, we kept everyone home Wednesday.
One of their, we're-home-from-school-and-Mom-won't-let-us-watch-TV-all-day-like-she-did-yesterday, activities was to write out their Wish Lists for Santa. Then I entered them into the computer on a wish list website one of my siblings discovered last year and we have found very helpful when everyone is spread all over creation.
This is the first year the kids have really done wish lists. In the past their lists have been simple ... a flash light, slinky, umbrella, bath robe. This year their lists became true wish lists (complete with catalog and page number), and I'm trying to find a balance between letting them dream, wish, and believe, and trying to also help them understand that there are limits so no one is crushed if something isn't under the tree.
(Nearing the end of her wish list entries, Emily decides to make a last minute addition)Emily: I want a castle mom.
Mom: A castle? What kind of castle?
Emily: Well, not like the Little People Castle, a different kind of castle.
Mom: Okay, let's see what I can find (Mom does Google search for Toy Castle ... first link clicked on brought up a $400 Barbie castle ... I don't think so .... next one was beautiful, but still $300.) ... um, honey these are all pretty expensive. (Sam and Emily both thought this is pretty cool - and I totally agree!)
Emily: That doesn't matter, Mom, Santa's going to get it. ... Does Santa shop at stores?
Mom: I think he gets some things from stores. But don't you think Santa has a budget?
Emily: Well the stores probably let him take whatever he wants and doesn't have to pay for them.
Then from the background I hear Sam talking to Rebecca about how many things he has on his list.
Sam: I'm going to get every on my wish list because I gave it to Santa.
I have to admit I wasn't prepared for this. We haven't played up or played down Santa in our house, we've just kind of let the kids believe what they wanted to about Santa. We do try and visit Santa each year, but gifts aren't signed "From Santa," we don't leave cookies for Santa, and really Christmas morning, the kids have never associated the gifts they've gotten as being from Santa, they have always thanked Mom, Dad, Grandma/pa, Aunt/Uncle, etc. for their gifts (even if it isn't "from" anyone). So this intense understanding of Santa caught me off guard this year. GR and I have a lot of careful explaining to do ...
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ETA: GR just called. He talked with the kids this morning over breakfast and explained that their wish lists were exactly that - a list of wishes. And that Santa was going to look at their lists and might pick a few things from the list, but not to expect Santa to get everything on the list.
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I'm off to spend the rest of the day in the kitchen. I have scalloped potatoes and a fruit salad to make for tonights Christmas party at church. Then I have to finish the last of the appetizers for tomorrow mornings Brunch. I am really excited about it and really, really hope the weather holds this year! Last night the weather man said we're suppose to get 5-7 inches of snow tonight.
For some reason this year we're going to have a fairly small crowd. Despite inviting well over 100 women, only about 40 have said they are coming, and most are Diane's older friends who won't brave snowy roads. If that happens we are going to have a even more leftovers than we typically do ... so bring your appetites and friends!
It's December 12th and the mass of Christmas letters and cards haven't started to trickle in yet ... bless you all! I'm hopeful this mean that I'm not as behind as I think I am. Hopefully, you are still in the picture taking, and retaking and retaking ... deliberating, designing, writing, creating, addressing, licking, stamping stages that we are still in.
If you really are doing all the -ing we are, the next little bit of stuff might be helpful. And if you're done -ing for this year, maybe this will help you next year. I put together two photo card designs for a friend and want to share with you some of the fantastic digital images I found while looking for digital stuff to use on the cards:
2peasinabucket's Be Merry
Shabby Princess Seasonal Sampler
Shabby Princess Holiday Magic
There was a different freebie kit by Kate Teague for 2peasinabucket which has now completely disappeared from the internet (sigh) called Berry Days (so download the Be Merry one if you like it cause it could go poof just as quickly!). BUT I did find a couple of her card templates from this same line last night on Shutterfly along with a couple of other designers. Love the designs - classic, chic photocard designs that are all done for you! So nice.
As I mentioned we're still taking and retaking pictures of the kids trying to get the "almost perfect" picture. Saturday night some friends asked us to come to their ward party and take family pictures during their Christmas Party. Isn't that a fantastic idea?! She really wanted to encourage people to dress up for the party and this was a great added benefit! GR set up his lights, our neutral white back drop, a couple of stools and I think the results were really wonderful. About 20 families had their pictures taken and they turned out so nice! We are really hoping all the families are happy with their photos. Each family will have their raw image emailed to them by the weekend.
We're putting together a similar set up for our ward party Friday night in the Relief Society Room. We're really hopefully it will be as successful here at home as it was there. So if you're going to be there, bring your best smiles!
The kids are home from school today thanks to threats of a serious ice storm that was to hit Kansas, southern Nebraska, Missouri and southern Iowa, last night with 1-2 inches of ice. Thanks to warming temps that hovered between 30-31 degrees all night and seem to be holding today. The fairly constant rain we've had for the last 18 hours is only turning to ice on all things stationary - so thanks to the road crews and the adventurous people who are driving today, the roads are very wet and not icy!
So far the only Holiday decoration we have up are the kids Gingerbread houses. I know it's pathetic and sad. Someone said ... but you have kids you have to put up the decorations for them. Exactly, I have kids. Kids who have been sick constantly since the beginning of November. We will get the tree up and the stockings hung, even if it's done on the 23rd of December.
Tradition is that on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, Grandma Mum opens up her home for the making of Gingerbread Houses. The making of Gingerbread houses is a GR family tradition that goes back a good 29 years or so with little interruption. Before the intruduction of Grandchildren, you had to be 7 to be invited to come and make a house. With the addition of our crew we've found that that number can be fudged a little. Each year we try and invite new family or two and it's become a fun tradition to share.
Despite lots of friends not being able to join us, we had a grand time with those who could. Here are pictures of the kids building their houses, and of the friends who were able to join us.
The house in the upper left corner of the second set of pictures belongs to Emily. Here she's midway through decorating it and very upset. Her gingerbread wasn't dry enough and consequently her roof broke right where the roof and wall meets. J & Somebody helped her with the column solution ... very creative I thought. But in the end, she opted to forgo the columns and turn the overhangs into paths leading to the backyard.
Close up shots of each of the children's houses are loaded on Flickr. I think next year they each need to enter a house into the local charity auction.
This week was our local Festival of Trees. I've never gone to see the trees before - my children have, but this was my first year, and it was the perfect year to go! Mainly because, I actually knew someone who was doing a tree - she and her mom did a fabulous job! It was by far one of the best trees there, and I'm excited to say that it sold for $1100 at the auction. She was ecstatic to say the least!
Sam, Alex and I met Diane to see all the trees Tuesday morning and had a grand time. We saw a really cute holiday craft project to do with the kids on a tree decorated entirely of kid crafted snowflakes and stars - simple snowflakes made using 3 large popsicle sticks covered in sequins or rhinestones.
Sam's favorite tree was the Carousel tree. The tree slowly turned like a carousel and was decorated with carousel animals that also turned. It was very well done. There were many other creative trees and I've uploaded some of my favorites to flickr.
Diane and I keep hoping to donate a tree ... we have most of our ornaments, just need a tree and to find the prefect tree skirt and topper.
After seeing all the trees, the boys headed off for an afternoon with Grandma, and I went to the library to replenish our stash of books. I was informed by a certain 2nd grader who needs to list three books she's read each week, that all our books .... the four crammed-so-tight-we-need-another-shelf book shelves ... were boring and she didn't want to read them. So off to the library I went so we would have one less fight over homework.
Tuesday night we had a quiet half hour before bedtime and so GR read some of our "new" books. Alex was hilarious. He insisted on climbing over GR's shoulder and nestling down right in "the cave." He stayed for the first book and then wandered off, only to return the same way 4-5 times during the next three books.
The TODAY Show had a guy from Men's Health on this morning. He's made a top 20 list of the 20 Worst Foods in America, a list anyone who eats out - ever - should be familiar with.
The point is many of us don't think of the food we order at a sit down restaurant as being as packed with calories and loaded down with mounds of fat like traditional "fast food" restaurants (aka McDonald's, Wendy's, etc.). This list is eye opening to say the least! Before blinding ordering anything off a menu, I'm gonna have to some homework to make sure I know what I'm eating. I was shocked at how many calories and grams of fat could be packed in to a "simple" meal from some pretty basic places we've all eaten at.
You can all read the list yourself, but here are the ones I'm shocked at:
# 15 -- Worst kids' meal
Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni 'n' Cheese
1,210 calories 62 g fat * 3,450 mg sodium
It's like feeding your kid 1 1/2 boxes of Kraft mac 'n' cheese.
Your Best Option: The 390-calorie Grilled Chicken and Broccoli.
#9: Worst dessert
Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream
1,600 calories * 78 g fat * 215 g carbs
Would you eat a Big Mac for dessert? How about three? That's the calorie equivalent of this decadent dish. Clearly, Chili's customers get their money's worth.
Don't Overdo It: If you want dessert at Chili's, order one single-serving Sweet Shot; you'll cap your after-dinner intake at 310 calories.
#5: Worst pizza
Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza
2,310 calories * 162 g fat * 123 g carbs * 4,470 mg sodium
Downing this "personal" pizza is equivalent to eating 18 slices of Domino's Crunchy Thin Crust cheese pizza.
Swap Your Slices: Switch to the Sausage Flatbread Pie and avert deep-dish disaster by nearly 1,500 calories.
#4: Worst pasta
Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce
2,430 calories * 128 g fat * 207 g carbs * 5,290 mg sodium
This meal satisfies your calorie requirements for an entire day.
Downsize the Devastation: Ask for a lunch portion of this dinner dish (or any pasta on the menu, for that matter), and request regular tomato sauce instead of meat sauce. You'll cut the calories in half.
And #1 ... well you're gonna have to read what has more calories and fat than eating 14 Krsipy Cream Donuts.
We're alive here, but just barely. By the end of last week all the kids had sore throats ... some with coughs, others with fevers, others with laryngitis like symptoms. Alex and Sam have definitely been the hardest hit. Alex came down with what seems like croup Friday night. We're still working through is coughing and wheezing, but he's sleeping better than that first night (that was awful!). Sam whispered much of the weekend and although his voice is almost back to normal, his energy level is still not where it typically is, by 5pm he's wiped out!
Last week I spent many hours in the sewing room making baby blankets and pillowcases. My sewing to-do wish list was way more ambitious than I had time for, but I still got lots accomplished, and have more that will wait to get sewn up after the holidays. Saturday's back to back shows, went okay. The jury is still out on whether or not it was worth the vendor fee and time given the limited amount of product I sold.
Since I was up all night with Alex and he would not allow me to put him down, GR went to the first show at the local high school for me. We passed out a few business cards and sold one bundle but it definitely not what we were hoping for. GR and I traded places for the second show. This time I was in Westport with 7 other Etsy sellers from around the KC metro area. It was great to meet the other sellers and see their amazing products, but we just didn't have the traffic there like we had hoped. It was VERY slow and while we all enjoyed meeting one another and putting names and faces with shop names, there were very few sales for everyone involved. I'll have pictures of the show and the awesome trade I made (bundle for necklace!) on Flickr later tonight.
This weekend we also had lots of family visiting. Elspeth and Merryn came in to attend Sunday's Cheif's game, and we were able to have dinner with them on Friday & Sunday night. Friday night the weather was beautiful, so we all gathered around the fire pit to make s'mores! We had a great time - Alex and Merryn were both having s'mores for the first time. To consolidate the number of blinding flashes going off in low light, we took all the pictures with Elspeth's camera, so I'll share pictures once she has a chance to send them to me.
Saturday and Sunday Grandma Mutti and Grandpa Art were in town to attend the annual Primary Program at church. With Alex not feeling well, my back to back shows, a birthday party and practice for Sunday's program, it was really, really nice to have the extra help.
The kids did an amazing job in their program Sunday - oh my goodness all the kids did such an phenomenal job! Each had a speaking part and each of them wrote their parts themselves and memorized them. We were so proud of how well they sang and recited their parts!
After church Rebecca requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner - since it was a special night after all - and we called Diane, Bob, Elspeth and Merryn to see if we could bring dinner to them. Making dinner meant the whole family had to get involved while Alex slept and Papa iced his back. Sam and Becca helped me make the meatballs, Emily helped Grammie with the rolls, and everyone helped seed one of pomegranate Great Grandfather sent Daddy from his bushes/trees in Nevada for a yummy fruit salad. We've discovered Sam LOVES pomegranates and can easily eat half a pomegranate in one sitting!
And a very happy birthday to my Sis, who is one year older and wiser today!
This weekend I used the little camera ... yes it still "works" and no I haven't replaced it yet, and finally downloaded some forgotten pictures from the memory card.
This picture was taken on September 11th. Sam, Alex and I spent a really great day together, running errands and sharing a simple lunch at Target from the deli. I love the days when I get some one on one time with the kids and for a least a little while, they are able to run the schedule, do things on their timetable, the way they want to do them. I need to simplify my life so we can do more of that.
Today was beautiful! The sun was bright, the fall color was just right and there was very little wind - a prefect day for taking family pictures ... unless the babies of the family are camera shy. This afternoon we put everyone back in their fall clothes and met some friends at a little lake to take pictures. First pictures of their family, and then of the kids. I think we got some good shots of our friends, but as you can see below, we're getting closer but we're still not quite there yet. Maybe the old adage of "third times a charm" will work out better for us.
Above: Everyone decked out in their Halloween garb. Emily - started out as a Butterfly Princess, but in the end I think she simplified it with Fairy. Rebecca - A rock star... last night she let me put her hair in little ponytails, put glitter in it and tease it up for her. Sam - Diego. Alex - Our fourth Little Pumpkin
Below: Sam's preschool class pose for a picture after their Halloween Parade for the parents. 
Below: Emily's stash. Between the trick-or-treating at school last week, last night's trunk-or-treat at church and tonights trick-or-treating, there's a LOT of candy in this house. Grandma and Grandpa came over and had dinner with us (pizza, it's tradition), helped us get everyone in their costumes and then held down the fort and handed out candy (nearly 90 pieces) while we walked the neighborhood. The weather was perfect, and consequently we have, dare I say, too much candy. The amazing thing is, they got a lot of the good stuff this year! 
Below: Our little pumpkin.
We hope you had a wonderful Halloween!
And for those of you who still haven't put all your blogs on Bloglines (such a huge time saver!), I finally learned how to change the date and time of my posts, and have a new "old" post about our Saturday pumpkin carving, you might want to see.
I stumbled across a blog this spring called MAYFLY. A few months ago - right after we returned from our trip to Michigan - she and her family made a long road trip to the beach and she posted pictures of a car organizer she made for her mini-van. Many of us begged her to sell them, or develop a how to tutorial or even just simple dimensions so we could make our own. Well today, she posted a fantastic tutorial and I wanted all my kid carrying, mini-van/SUV/car driving friends to know about it.
I'm off to sew the last few eyeballs on the art smocks before the get shipped off this afternoon! Yes!
After years of less than ideal attempts to carve pumpkins with the children we finally had a successful attempt! Bob and Diane graciously opened up their backyard Saturday night for a simple, fall family gathering to carve pumpkins, eat chili and roast marshmallows. Looking at the pictures it almost looks like it came right out of the pages of Midwest Living Magazine ... everything worked out perfectly. There weren't too many people, the weather wasn't too cold or too hot, the kids got along fantastically, no one got hurt, everyone went home with a beautifully carved pumpkin, and they all had a really fun time!
GR spent all of Friday night on the living room floor scraping the guts out of four huge pumpkins so the kids could start designing and carving right away. This I think is key to successfully carving pumpkins with your kids at home ... having them prepped and ready to carve, and having those small kiddie pumpkin carving saws they sell in the kits. Fantastic inventions!
We invited a few families we haven't hung out with in ages ... all friends from collage who have married, had kids and moved around a bit in the last 10 years. But on the rare occasion that we're all together, the years melt away and we all instantly become 20ish again. The three oldest kids of this group spent their first Halloween together 7 years ago, and although they don't all remember each other, as parents it's still fun to see them back together again.
We also invited Emily's soccer coach and family to join us. They are such an awesome family ... turns out they do serious pumpkin carving every year ... when we found this out, we were all a little relieved we had decided against a contest.
As you can see, everyone did an amazing job on their pumpkins and I think the kids really enjoyed being allowed to be as involved in their pumpkins as they wanted. Most of the older ones (5 and up) stuck with it and finished theirs with a little help here and there from Mom or Dad. Even the parents got into it and carved their own pumpkins.
Once everyone got their pumpkins carved, we had some yummy kid friendly chili ... we finished two of the four crock-pots of chili I made, Diane's homemade cornbread and apple cider. And then kids all gathered around the fire pit and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.
I just downloaded a weeks worth of pictures from the Nikon and wanted to share a few of them ... before the boys and I head to the library to return our latest stash of books and get new ones!
This fall, I've been loving the Kansas grass and it's amazing color. So much so that I wanted to get a picture of the kids with the beautiful tons of gold and bronze in the background. GR thinks I'm crazy ... he doesn't see the beauty in this at all, that or he knows that we will never get all four happy and smiling and looking at the camera at the same time with the perfect background... I'm simply asking too much. And Sunday within 5 minutes of pulling off the country road to attempt my picture, it was obvious Alex simply wasn't going to leave my side for a picture, no matter what bribes I tried to offer.
Hopefully I'll have more luck Saturday night when we carve pumpkins.
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Wednesday, I got Emily's tutu finished before she got home and she LOVES it, score one for mom. And before I went to bed, I also got the elastic in Sam's Diego shorts - and they fit, score two for mom. Last night the school had their annual fall potluck and trick-or-treating PTA activity. We were asked to bring a main meat dish large enough to serve the number of people we were bring, a side dish/salad/fruit, and a bag of candy for trick-or-treating.
I find potlucks like this so funny ... or at least an interesting study of human behavior ... but there's no need to get into that ... potlucks (with the possible exception of church potlucks where you wouldn't be caught dead not bringing a dish) are what they are.
Here are the kids all dressed up with one of the girls good friends - our pink power ranger - (she and Becca have been in the same class for 1st and 2nd grade and I love her parents) ready to go trick-or-treating. There was enough candy for them to go through twice and they were very excited to sit and eat a little bit of their candy while Papa and I helped to wipe down tables and get them put away ... clean-up, that's another interesting study of human behavior ...
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And for those who are looking for a last minute Halloween craft project:
After seeing this garland in a couple of different places, I decided I wanted to make one for myself. I went in search of the prefect font and clipart and started designing. My 3" circle punch, 3 sheets of 8.5 x 11" w hite cardstock, 2 sheets of black and 2 sheets of festive orange 12 x 12 cardstock cut into squares - black 3.5", orange 3.75" - a little glue and a small roll of 3/8" ribbon and it was done. A little longer than I intended, but I'm really happy with it. And there's plenty of ribbon to break into a two tired garland.
Since I haven't been able to get my ducks in a row to have a hand sewn crafty giveaway like I had hoped, I'm hoping that a freebie download will tide you over. So here are the circles ... all the letters to spell out HAPPY HALLOWEEN, and four Halloween spacers ... for your Halloween crafting pleasure!
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And a big thank you for all the help choosing the fabric from Sew Mama Sew. I would have been super happy with a yard of anything, and seriously considered this Amy Butler print, all of the colors of this Kaffe print, love all the fabrics in this Urban Chicks line, but especially this one, and oh so many more. But this is what I ended up getting:
1 yard of Whimsical Flowers Summer - very impractial of me, since I don't have a clue what I will do with it, but I love it and it makes me smile
2 yards of Tricks and Treats - the boys need Halloween pillowcases
1/4 yard of Stars on Orange - I guess that's all they had, cause it wouldn't let me purchase the 1-1/2 yards I wanted.
I'll try and post pictures when they arrive!
I'm up to my eyeballs in sewing projects, and I love it!
I'm about 50% done making a custom order for 6 art smocks for a preschool in Michigan ... more on that once they ship.
Emily wants to be a butterfly princess, and needs a tutu. I went to purchase one from etsy, and discovered no one makes tutus for a 6 year old who wears a size 8-10 ... so I purchased 10 yards of tulle, searched the internet for tutorials, and I'm hopefully less than an hour from finishing her tutu/skirt - just in time for tomorrow night's first costumed event!
Sam's Diego shorts are huge on him and they need a small piece of elastic put in the back. He is so excited to be Diego this year ... so excited! It's been on my sewing list for three weeks now and tonight it MUST be done.
I'm also trying to get baby blankets, nuzzies, pillowcases and art smocks made made for my shop ... I've decided to do two back to back shows in November on the 10th, so I'm trying hard to stay focused and sew my little fingers to the bone! I'm making progress, but withe very thing else that's going on, it's painfully slow!
I could use your help though, Tuesday I found out I won a yard ($9.10 value) of fabric from Sew Mama Sew - and got the emailed details about it yesterday. I have until Thursday to choose my yard. I only had 30 minutes yesterday - to browse their website ... so many beautiful fabrics. I've ordered from them before than they are fantastic! Please help me choose what ONE yard (I know, only one) I should have them send me.
Wish me luck, I'm off to finish sewing my layers and layers and layers of pink tulle!
Tuesday night was the schools Family Reading Night promoted by the PTA and school library. 200 children and parents filled classrooms where volunteers from throughout the community read stories and poetry to the children. One of the classrooms we enjoyed the most had the classroom desks covered in books with jokes, riddles and rhymes. The children were encouraged to find their favorites and then share them with the group using a portable microphone.
Both Emily and Sam took turns sharing some of their favorite jokes from a really cute book of Monster Jokes. Since good, funny jokes are a high demand, low supply commodity in this house, I was glad I had paper and pen to jot some of our favorites down. Maybe the kids can use some of these when they Tricker-Treat...
Why are a monster's fingers never more than 11 inches long? Twelve inches makes them a foot.What do you get if you cross a monster with a scout? A monster that scares old ladies across the street.What happened to the two mad vampires?They went a little batty.What happens when monsters hold a beauty contest?Nobody wins.And the answer to my last joke, (I can't believe no one even attempted a guess) ... What do the letter A and a mouse have in common? .... They are both found in the middle of SNAKE.
Well, yes it does seem the masses have spoken ... after posting that super cute picture of Sam sporting his new haircut, I thought ... no one is going to believe me when they see this picture that the cut is really the butcher job I'm describing, but it is. I keep finding problem area's that need fixing, so I'm waiting a few weeks (to give his hair a chance to grow just a bit so there is something to work with) before I call Ann to work her magic on all the kids.
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GR got a call Thursday from his doctor confirming his worst fears ... the MRI didn't show any signs of a herniated disc. The doc reading the MRI labeled it ... degenerative disc disease. We still aren't really sure what that means. Friends who read charts frequently say it's a very common notation on back MRIs and so we aren't sure if it's a catch all phrase for "welcome to being 33 and by the way, your back sucks!" His doctor has him scheduled for physical therapy to help him learn how to strengthen specific areas of his back. The hope is that PT will allow him fully recover from his injury, if not we'll consult a neurosurgeon.
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Rob and Amy Lynne (from NYC) were in town for a long weekend because Rob's baby brother leaves tomorrow for the MTC; he'll be serving a 2 year mission for our church in Oregon. So Friday night while the three older kids had a sleepover with Grandma & Grandpa breaking in the new fire pit in the backyard, GR, Alex and I drove up to GR's old hometown to visit with Rob and some of his family.
Rob and Amy Lynne have two adorable little girls. Their youngest, Genevieve was born in early September and is such a beautiful baby! And for not quite six weeks, she is so tiny ... barely as big as Alex was at birth. How quickly you forget ... it was so fun to hold a new born again and try and remember my own kids being so tiny.
Alex was very interested in the little baby. I had him sit next to me on the couch and placed Genevieve in front of him so he could study her more. He instantly, took hold of her clothes with both hands ... left hand at her collar, right hand at her chest and firmly yet carefully pulled her toward him. If we'd have let him, I'm sure he would have held her right to his chest, skooched off the couch and toddled around the living room with her, just like he does with the girls baby dolls. He was determined to make sure he give that baby plenty of loves! Once we got Alex to relinquish his hold on sweet Genevieve, I returned her to the safety of her mama. We kept a very close watch on her and her admirer the rest of the night.
It's been nearly five hours since I had Sam's hair cut ... it's school picture day, need I say more? I went the easy route, and I'm regretting it. The gal I love and trust with everyone's hair is 30 minutes away on a good day, and there just wasn't time in the schedule to swing it, so I went the easy, cheap route and Sam got a haircut to match.
I told her I didn't want a short little boy/man hair cut ... that I wanted it to be a little longer so his hair would have a chance to curl ... I told her it was picture day ... I told her I didn't want it super short ... so in case you didn't know, this isn't super short.
Now that I've had five hours to process it and get use to the fact that all the curls are gone ... that he now looks 6 not 4 ... that when he hopped down from the chair, it was styled horribly making it look 10 times worse than it really was (total comb over, nothing on his forehead - YUCK!) ... that it's only hair and maybe by the time we take Christmas pictures it will look "normal" ... he really likes it ... and he always, no matter what, looks so charming and cute! ... I think I'm okay with it. Oh, and from now on, it doesn't matter how packed the schedule is, I'll always make time for a drive to the beauty salon!
Saturday was the school Fun Walk and another Saturday full of soccer games. Emily had an early game which meant she couldn't do the walk with us. While she and GR went to the game, the three other kids and I enjoyed the fun walk/run. Becca and Sam rode their bikes, and I pushed Alex in the stroller, doing an odd mix of power walking, jogging and running in an effort to keep up with my two speedy bikers. It was great exercise and proof that I really need to exercise more!
I'm really sorry I missed Emily's soccer game. Her team did a fantastic job of playing together and showing vast improvement to their skill level! Emily scored 2 possibly even 3 goals in the game. Up until this point, despite the team working really hard, and playing great games, I think all the parents had resigned themselves to the fact that our team was simply out there to help all the other teams win.
After coming home from a day at the soccer fields, we came home to an answering machine message telling us that Emily had one the #1 prize from the Fun Walk (the kids got to put their name in buckets for a variety of different prizes - the number of times was determined by the amount of $$ they collected and food they brought in for a food drive). We were all so excited for her!! Here's a picture of her on her new bike!
A couple of quick shout outs and family updates ...
Heather, the tea towel is beautiful! (I WON the blue and yellow tea towel!! in her happy accident giveaway!!) It arrived early last week and I'm loving it. It is such a great bright spot in my kitchen! So thank you.
To all who called, emailed and commented on my school participation whoas, thank you!, thank you! thank you! I know I have a huge support group out there who are always happy to play with my boys. And I really appreciate that. That morning when I took Emily into school I mentioned to the teacher that I wouldn't be there because I had checked with five friends and none of them were able to watch the boys ... her response, "Oh, okay. Well, thanks for trying." *sigh*
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To those following the saga of GR's back.... he has an MRI scheduled for Friday, that was the earliest they could do it. A couple of weeks ago he strained his back playing with the kids. Last Thursday at Becca's soccer practice he was doing the monkey bars with Sam and Emily and dropped from the bars to the ground ... all of maybe 6 inches and that was it. He's been in severe pain ever since - no position is better than another, nothing takes the edge off. The ER and his doctor are fairly certain it's a herniated disc, but the only way to confirm it is to have an MRI. So we are potentially looking at surgery in our near future. Until then, he's trying really hard not to feel completely useless. He can't play soccer with the kids, he can't walk them to school, he can't pick them up, he can't do much of anything.
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Yesterday, I had the camera out to take pictures for a Mormonchic.com article.
0 I hope to have posted late tonight. Sam wanted me to take pictures of him, and here are the results. A few cute and charming shoots followed my pure silliness. We had a lot of fun. Alex watched and then started to mimic Sam's craziness the best he could. Then he moved on to Murphy ... you'll see in the pictures, first he innocently sits next to the cat, then he sits on the cat ... ride 'em cowboy!, and then falls off when the cat decides he's had enough of a 22 lb. baby sitting on him.
A couple of years ago our school decided to do away with school fund raisers ... you know the cookie dough, popcorn, gift wrap, candle fund raisers where you purchase $60 worth of stuff and if you're lucky your kids school gets 20% of the sale! So instead of all that, they have a family fun walk fund raiser where 100% of the money collected goes to the school. This year the girls were very excited about the possibility of collecting the most money in order to win a pizza or popcorn party for their classrooms.
Once we collected from the grandparents and of course us, we started to look to other places where we might be able to bring the girls a little extra cash for their school. GR wasn't comfortable simply asking his co-workers for donations, and frankly neither was I. Neither of our Dad's would take order forms to work with them, so why break the tradition now? But I know his co-workers enjoy yummy treats, and so I thought maybe just maybe if we made some treats and asked for a small donation, we might be able to get the girls a few dollars to add to their sponsorship envelopes. Last week we tested the waters with 11 of Alyson's Scones ... Cherry Chocolate Chip and Cherry, Golden Raisin with Orange Zest. By 9:30 they were gone, GR had collected nearly $20 and people were asking for more!
With the request for more, and the girls still a far cry from winning any kind of party for their classes, I whipped out three more batches of scones (Cherry Chocolate Chip, Orange and Golden Raisin and White Chocolate Apricot) and a batch of Monster Cookies for GR to take in this morning. Once again we asked $1.50 for each scone and $1 for a bag of three cookies. By 11 he'd sold 19 of the 24 scones and by the end of the day all 12 bags of cookies were paid for. So the girls now have $60 ... $30 each, to add to their envelopes for the school fund raiser. Can you believe it! I am overwhelmed by how generous everyone was and how willing they were to support the girls and partake of our humble treats.
And although I don't think their classrooms will win any grand prizes, they have had a good time with it, and they are planning their Thank You notes for Papa to take in and share with everyone who supported their efforts.
And I think I see a family pizza & popcorn party in our future ... picnic style on the living room floor.
Sunday, 23 September 2007
In our family Sunday's can be a hard day to celebrate a birthday, but despite a full day, I think the kids and I managed to make it a special day of celebrating Papa.
While Papa slept in (a rare treat on Sunday mornings), the girls made special birthday art projects while Sam helped me make a special birthday breakfast of sausage and French toast. Sam is very quick to remind me every time I bring the eggs out of the fridge, "I am very good at cracking eggs, Mom. Grammy taught me! ... Let me crack the eggs, Mom, I can do it!" He cracked all 10 eggs for me and there wasn't a single shell! Pure perfection!
Last week when I asked GR what kind of cake he wanted it took him a couple of days to give me something more than "chocolate." Saturday night while we were out with friends, (more on that later) he said he wanted a chocolate pie ... any kind. So at 11:00 when we got home, I surveyed the kitchen and headed to the all night mecca of food and birthday stuff to see what I could find.
I came home with a Chocolate Fudge Torte as my - you can never have too much chocolate cake, back-up birthday cake and resisted the intense late night urge to purchase all things chocolate and passed up a beautiful, Boston Cream Cake and Chocolate Mouse Pie. I also came home with the "ingredients" to make an Oreo Cookie Pie which I managed to almost get assembled (thanks Love for finishing your pie so I could shower!) along with breakfast before dashing out the door for a Ward Conference.
GR's evening birthday celebration was very simple, and I'm grateful he didn't think it was too simple and feel slighted. For dinner we had one of his favorites - steak, mashed potatoes, sweet corn and glazed carrots - and our chocolate cake/pie sampler (both were excellent!). We also had a dinner guest to share in the celebration. For the last week, GR has wanted to have a friend over for dinner and schedules just wouldn't work out until today. And I'm so glad! It's always nice to have friends to share these little family celebrations with. It was a fun, simple evening with good food, good friends, good conversation and a healthy dose of the kids corny jokes. Here's a recent favorite:
What do the letter A and a mouse have in common?
Happy Birthday my Love!
Saturday, 15 September 2007
GR has been working insane hours at work for weeks now, and there is little end in sight. Consequently, we aren't seeing him as much as we typically do when his work hours are "normal." For months he's been looking forward to helping set up a huge $15,000 worth of product fireworks display for 9/15. Then his work schedule went haywire, and a regional, all-day Boy Scout training for church also popped up on the calendar for the same day. It wasn't necessary a decision he liked making, but I'm grateful he choose to go to the BSA training and hang out with us afterwards instead of going and playing with friends and the fireworks.
After a quiet evening at home, and everyone taking mandatory naps, we loaded the kids in the car 30 minutes past bedtime and made the 45 minute drive along county roads to the "blast" site. The show started at 10pm, lasted 18 minutes and was amazing! We had amazing seats ... right in their safety zone - it's good to be friends with the people in charge - 100 yards or so from where they were shooting them off. It was so loud, but one of the best shows we've seen in a long time! As we had hoped, Alex fell asleep in the car and for the most part, stayed that way the entire time! What a blessing! And I survived church the next day - yet another major blessing!
I have a brand new roof! I am so excited! The crew started at 9am this morning, and worked as hard and fast as they could all day long until the finished it ... The picture of the house was taken at 3pm ... when I had to leave at 5:45, they were still popping nails as fast as they could, but they got it done.
Why the new roof? Remember the wind storms we had a while back in 2006? Well it turns out the damage we sustained to our roof was more substantial than we initially thought. A month or so after the storm, we had a roofer come out and replace the missing shingles on the garage, but we had no idea we had extensive damage near the chimney, above the master bedroom until this spring. Our back neighbors catty-corner to us, mentioned we had 10 or so loose and missing shingles, so we started making phone calls to our insurance company and roofing companies to find out what our options were. In the mean time, we got hit with lots of heavy rain ... yet another reason to paint the master bedroom.
The insurance company called the roof a total loss and gave us money for replacing the roof as well as repainting the master bedroom. Instead of going with the roofer who came and did the inspection for the insurance agency, we opted to go with a smaller, locally owned company, and I am so glad we did. They were amazing. They worked fast, they did high quality work (better than what I would have gotten with a larger company) and their price was 25% less than the other guys. So if any of you locals are looking for a good roofing company, let me know!
I got home too late tonight to take pictures of the finished product, but I'm very pleased with the color shingle we choose - thunderstorm gray. It was such a hard decision to make ... how is this four inch picture going to look aver 2000 sq feet of shingles? But when I left tonight, it was looking so nice with the color of the house! Here's a close up from the next day ... I've been told, it looks so much better in person, what a relief!
The first grade teachers have started a new thing this year. Each trimester they are inviting all the parents in to observe their child's classroom during reading groups for about 30 minutes and then when the children leave for one of their specials, the teacher and parents will discuss the children's progress in reading, what goals the classroom has, as well as the individual reading groups and what we as parents can do at home to help our child be a strong reader.
For some reason I thought that being a stay at home mom meant I would be able to be super involved in my children's education and school life. And up until this year, I've done okay at being at least a small presence in the classrooms at school and preschool. This year, however, with a very little toddler and a preschooler going in the afternoons, not mornings, I'm learning it's going to be incredibly challenging to be involved in the girls classrooms during school hours this year.
When the schedule for this reading meeting came home Monday it had an explicit note saying something to the effect of "We're sorry but we simply don't have the resources to accommodate siblings. We're sorry for the inconvenience." the search started ... five phone calls later, so am I.
Do I really want to take my boys with me ? Are you kidding?! heck no ... I know exactly why they asked to have no siblings there ... parent orientation with all four (by myself) was a joke. There is a part of me, you know that part of you that thinks of Emmy not having her mom there tomorrow, that wishes I had the option - when all other options have been considered, tried and exhausted - of taking them with me ...
The boys and I are, however, defiantly going in for lunch tomorrow! That sounds like fun, and a good way to make both girls feel extra special! On the menu ... Bean Burrito or BBQ Ribbette Sandwich
Sam started Preschool Wednesday (9/5), and he is having a great time! The school invited the kids and their favorite adult to come and visit the classroom the Friday before (8/31), see the classroom, meet the teachers and some of the other kids. It's a great way for the kids to ease into the classroom and learn all the ins and outs before the first day.
The boys had a great time playing in all the different stations. Alex was particularly fascinated by a toad Mrs. S had found living under her porch. (This is one of Mrs. S's talents ... bring in fun living things for the kids to observe and learn about ... typically she has insects (caterpillars, butterflies, etc.) and reptiles (frogs, toads, tadpoles, etc.) He would hold the jar with the toad in it and watch it very carefully. If I'd a let him, he probably would have sat there watching the toad all afternoon.
The other fun thing about his class, is not only does he have the same teachers Becca and Emily had, he's going to school with siblings of kids who were in their classes (okay so this doesn't make his experience any easier, because really, he doesn't remember any of these kids, but at least I recognize and know some of the other parents and that's fun for me) ... So of the 11 other students in his class, three siblings of older children we know, one is also in Sam's primary class at church and one is also on his Soccer team - Mom's the coach! It's a small world after all, even if their numbers say otherwise.
Note: When Sam went to visit his classroom he was given a tote bag for the school year ... to take papers home in, etc. And was told to decorate it however he wanted to. We had lots of talks about what he wanted to put on his tote bag ... Spiderman, Batman, TMNTurtles, cars, rockets ... it took a while but he finally settled on a rocket. I found a simple coloring picture of a rocket online, resized it a couple times in photoshop so he could pick the size he wanted to use, and got my basket of scraps out to find some fun fabrics to make a rocket appliqué. Meanwhile, Sam grabs the ice cream bucket of markers from the art supply cabinet, grabs his tote bag and rocket coloring page and heads to the basement to start his masterpiece with me following behind with "options." Can you see where this is going? I didn't.
Pretty quickly I learn that Sam has no intention of having my fabric rocket on his tote bag ... he's very happy to color the piece of paper I printed for him and put that on the tote bag ... when I explained that that wouldn't work, he said he would color the rocket onto the tote bag ... when I explained that washable markers on a bright red canvas...needs to last you all year... through fall, winter and spring... just wouldn't work ... they are washable.
We got into a pretty embarrassing, yet incredibly heated shouting match with Sam screaming ... I want to color it ... and me screaming ... I don't know how to do that ... I want to color it ... I can't make that work ... I want to color it .... It won't work, you can't color it with washable markers .... I want to color it ... I don't know how to do that ... I want to color it ... you can't! ... I want to color it! ...
I should explain that I was trying to do this with materials I already had in the house, that would be durable on the bag but not leave lasting marks on him or the house, and I'll be honest, wouldn't look disastrous in the end. I don't have fabric markers here ... don't have inkjet iron on transfer paper ... but I do have lots of fabric.
When it was obvious Sam wasn't changing his mind, I asked if he wanted to help me with a sewing project. He likes to run the peddle when I'm sewing, so he quickly said yes. I suggested a rocket fabric, which he thankfully liked, he picked the window fabrics, drew the pattern on the Heat-n-Bond, ironed it to the fabric, picked the fire fabric - he rejected four before we found just the right fabric for the fire - and helped me sew every piece of the rocket to the tote bag guiding the fabric and pressing down on the peddle to make the needle go up and down. He did an awesome job helping me and I'm really proud of him for sticking with me through the whole project.
With Sam's approval, I made a few additions to the inside of his tote bag. He has a loop/harness to carry Spiderman with him to school, if he wants. He also has a nice deep pocket (made from Spiderman fabric) on the inside for him to put other treasures he decides to take. Last year, on most preschool days, Sam would take some kind of toy or treasure with him to school. Typically they were race cars, but sometimes it was a stuffed animal, action figure, or Happy Meal Toy. So I felt a pocket for them to ride in was defiantly a feature he would use and need this year. So far Spiderman and Michelangelo have both spent a day at school with Sam.
The best part of this whole experience is that he is really, really proud of his bag, he participated full in the project, and although we weren't able to color the rocket, the alternative is simple and so very Sam. I'm hoping we can add to it throughout the year with little reminders of activities, field trips and other fun preschool memories.
Heather is once again sharing the love with a super cute retro towel set (pictured left) SWAG giveaway on her blog. Simply drop her a comment by Friday night, and you're in the running for possibly finding these cute accessories in your mailbox! She does great work, and I couldn't resist sharing them with you.
I've considered doing something similar here for a while now ... I know that would be a bit odd ... this not being a public, open to the world kind of blog, but still as more and more friends move away and my "reader" base grows ever so slowly, there could be four or five of you out there who might like to get a happy package from little 'ol me (not bad odds for winning!). Any suggestions on what the drawing prize could be?
We've had some interesting questions asked in our house lately that I want to document ...
Rebecca:
A while back, it might have been for Diane's birthday, we were at her house having dinner, I've forgotten the specific details of the conversation ... someone please fill them in if you can ... but it prompted Rebecca to ask "Who's Elvis?"
Well the half of the table that heard her quiet question, gave a quick gasp, the way you would if one of your friends had asked the same question ... A shocked, what do you mean, who's Elvis? Do you live under a rock? Do your parents live under a rock ... how can you not know who Elvis is? You have truly been deprived... So GR and I are scrambling to solve this problem. Thankfully Grandma Rita, a very good friend of Diane's, is a huge Elvis fan, and we're hoping she can help us quickly catch Rebecca up to speed.
Emily:
Curious George is still one of the kids favorite afternoon shows to watch after school. After watching one of the stories about the country and the city, Emily asked, "Mom, do we live in the country or the city?" ... "Well ... neither, we live in the suburbs." I then had to explain what in the world the suburbs were.
Sam:
In primary over the last month or so, the kids have been talking about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sunday on the way home from Church Sam noticed two different churches with large wooden crosses outside. When he saw the first one, he started talking about how Jesus died on a cross and that Jesus was resurrected. He wanted to know how and why Jesus died on the cross. When he saw the second cross, he asked, "Who died on that cross?" "No one sweetheart, it's a symbol, a reminder that Jesus died for all of us." "Why is it there if nobody is going to be made dead on it?"
This led to a good dinner conversation about why many churches have crosses outside and inside their buildings and why we don't.
There's been lots of talk in the last few months in my little blogging circle of friends, about increasing whole grains in their diet. One of the benefits of eating whole grains is FIBER!
My dad is always interested in how much fiber a slice of bread has ... it's not real whole wheat bread if it doesn't weigh a ton and have lots of fiber in it. No wimpy, pumped full of air, colored with molasses bread for his family! Anyway, when you see one of us in the bread isle of the grocery store, looking at the labels of three or four different loaves of bread - at the same time - that's what we're doing, comparing fiber content.
A week or so ago, I made an interesting discovery that warranted a phone call home to my dad. Reading the nutritional label on the back of the bagels we LOVE and splurge on pretty regularly, I learned they have a ton of fiber in them! More fiber than a slice of bread ... but you're also eating twice, if not three times as much food ...
Yesterday while shopping for items to go in a special trail mix (honey nut chex, honey nut cheerios, raisins, peanuts, mini m&m's, mini marshmallows) Emily wanted to take to school today to share with her classmates, (Today, she was the special kid of the day ... a title that will rotate through the class multiple times through the year) I discovered a new multigrain cracker that Alex and I have decided is a definite keeper. Who'd a thought the box All-Bran multigrain crackers would really taste great?
Last week Rebecca was in tears because she missed buying her lunch on spaghetti day, and as usually I was the bad guy. In an effort to show her I really wasn't a heartless mean mom out to make her life miserable, I made her spaghetti and meatballs (never made meatballs before - and they turned out delic!!) for dinner. I had a box of whole wheat noodles in our food storage, waiting to be tested on the family and decided to give them a try ... no one noticed. So, I purchased three more boxes, and I'm phasing the "regular" noodles out of my food storage, know of any upcoming food drives?
Here are the facts if anyone is interested:
Wednesday afternoon, this is what Sam and I made, and it is, oh so good!
Blueberry Crumb Cake
Cake:
2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar (although I'm pretty sure I accidentally doubled this)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups blueberries
Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and gradually beat in sugar. Add eg and milk and beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients.
Dust blueberries lightly with flour. Fold into batter. Spread into greased and floured 9-inch square baking pan.
To prepare topping mix together sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter and mix into course crumbs. Sprinkle crumb mixture over cake batter.
Bake at 375°F for 40-50 minutes.
