On Monday, Anna discovered the stairs. Pushing herself up into a standing position on the first step of the landing. Tuesday, she crawled up the two steps to the landing. And today ... today, she started up the stairs.
Once again we have a determined little kid who knows what she wants and will do everything in her power to get it ... and will not be persuaded to do otherwise. Finding every possible alternative route to her destination, regardless of obstacle. ... sigh ...
** Don't you just love the fingerprint smudge smack dab in the middle of my little point-and-shoot's lens ... stunning visual isn't it ... fantastic quality don't you think ... 100% courtesy of Alexander. If only it could have better hid how desperately our carpet needs to be replaced.
I haven't done any serious apparel sewing in ages ... the little PJ pants I've made for the girls over that last couple years, totally don't count. Last year, Heather made this adorable shirt for her daughter. I loved the shape of the shirt ... light, breezy, comfortable, and thought that not only would this style look cute on my girls, but they'd find it comfortable to wear.
The pattern Heather used, was of course for little girls, not for girls the ages of mine, but she turned me on to a Project Runway, Simplicity pattern with these pictures on Flickr. Where it not for real examples of the shirt made up, I'm not sure I would have given it a try simply seeing it in a pattern book. I purchased the pattern late last Spring and have been collecting bits of fabric here and there to make it up in. Nearly a year later, things have settled enough (and I finally got the girls measured) that I could sit down and make the shirt this afternoon.
I am really pleased. It has turned out super cute! I'm hoping to find some simple white or yellow buttons to put in the center of the yoke, between the pin tucks. And I'm already planning what fabric to use next. One thing I have learned though about the Project Runway patterns which is a bit annoying - on this pattern, their yardage requirements are al-a-cart. This particular pattern allows you to mix and match elements ... this neckline with this hem length, and those sleeves. Great for my kind of sewing since I am always adding or subtracting something from the written way. But the yardage isn't straight forward like it typically is ... for view A, get purchase __ yards. Instead, yardage is listed element - sleeve, shirt/dress front+back+neckline, etc - separately. Of course I didn't notice this minor detail when I purchased the fabric, so now I'm finding myself using every blessed inch of the fabric I did purchase, and a little extra from my stash!
Hopefully I can keep up the momentum and make a few more cute shirts for their spring/summer waredrobe.
Today is my parents 35th Wedding Anniversary. I am so grateful for their example of love and devotion, friendship and companionship, service and sacrifice. I found this picture from their wedding day on my computer and thought I'd share.
Saturday and Sunday is our church's Semi-Annual General Conference. I am so grateful we have the ability to listen (and sometime watch streaming video) to the Prophet, Apostles, and other church leaders from home. It makes it so nice and easy to listen and focus on what they have to share with us, rather than wrangle with the children. Plus GR and I get to sit next to each other, something we get to do only 2-3 times each year.
In my Tuesday email to my ward, I included some links for General Conference Activity packets for kids of all ages (and let’s face it sometime we need a little help during the afternoon sessions!). Last year my cousin Allison emailed us a conference activity packet my kids loved! That packet has been updated and I've included a link to it, along with a few others. Hopefully you'll have some time tonight to create your own customized packet tailored to your kids likes and interests.
For those with teens, my friend Korianne, created something for her Young Womens aged daughter based off the young women's theme and personal progress. I created a companion one for Young Men, based off the Duty to God pamphlet. They aren’t fancy, but hopefully they will be of help for some of your kids.
One suggestion for these printables for Primary aged kids, print these out tonight so you have time to print them front and back to save paper.
Friend Magazine Coloring Pages - This website lists coloring pages from the Friend magazine, complete with descriptions and links directly to the coloring page on lds.org. This would be good for younger children, Jr. Primary and young Sr. Primary.
Here are directions for a full blown lap book you can create if you want to for General Conference. If you don't want to take the time to do that, consider just printing pages 5, 6, 8, 9. Page 7 is the same puzzle already in the conference packet listed below.
Conference Packet 1 - This packet is a more for Sr. Primary, and Jr. Primary children who are strong readers. The puzzles are harder so it is not something will breeze through in 2 seconds. Also, the packet looks more at them paying attention to the talks and taking notes. You could add in some coloring pages to give them some break time.
Conference Packet 2 – Deseret Book’s conference packet, more of a Jr. Primary/young Sr. Primary packet. 6 full size pages of things to watch for, pictures to color, pages to cut, etc.
And, I’m sure you’ve all seen this article in the March Ensign … "Preparing Our Children for General Conference."
Last week on our way home from soccer practices, we drove past this amazing site, and had to pull a U-ie, take pictures and just watch for a few minutes:
Just in case you can't make out what the photograph is of ... all the black masses, those are hundreds and hundreds of birds, covering the trees, grasses, water, etc. The next picture is a closer up crop of the picture above. I should have taken some video so you could get a better sense of how much noise this many birds make. The chatter was unreal! The next day, the trees were totally empty, not a single bird anywhere. Enjoy!
Over Spring Break, one of the boys managed to break Becca's classes. If you remember, last year when she picked out her very first frames, she choose a super cute half rimmed frame. Sadly the lenses haven't held up well at all. They are very chipped all around the edges. While playing, either Sam or Alex (she could tell me who, but she's asleep), knocked them off her face, snapping the little piece of fishing line that holds the lens to the frame.
GR took them to the optometrists, got them fixed and scheduled Rebecca for her annual eye exam, which was today. Given that she's been having a little trouble reading the playlist on the radio in the car from the back seat, I wasn't surprised to see that her perscription has changed over the course of the year. Not significantly, but enough that new glasses are in order. While we waited for her eyes to dialate, we did a little frame shopping and she found a very chic new frame for her new lenses.
Rebecca and I made an afternoon of her eye appointment. While the other kids spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa, she and I had lunch with Papa at work and did a little Spring clothing shopping. Although the schedule was a bit tighter than I'd hoped, we had a really good time together. And found some super cute clothes. We're finding it harder and harder to have quality one on one time with our kids.
Last week, Rebecca was given the assignment to give a talk today during Sharing Time in Primary. Her topic ... Family Members Have Important Responsibilities. I encouraged her to think about the responsibilities of each member of our family, to remember the new song they learned for this year in January, The Family is of God, and to read a couple of paragraphs from the March Friend magazine. And then I asked her to type what she could of her talk, promsing to help her edit it into a talk once she was done.
She did such an awesome job! Here's what she wrote, I've put what I helped her add in italics, other than a few gramatical word choice changes made, it's all hers!:
Family members have important responsibilities.
In a house of order, everyone has a responsibility.
I will refer to “Family is of God,” in my own words.
Mother: She helps to care for her family. And she provides food for her family. And she nurtures and strengthens her children or child. One way my mom nurtures me is by helping me do laundry and teaching me to put my clothes away.
Father: He leads in family prayer. And he teaches his children or child to share and to care. My Dad teaches me to share by helping us set time limits on our favorite computer games so everyone gets a turn.
Children: We love and serve our family. And are good examples to each family member. I love and serve my family when I help my younger brother and sister, and when I help with family chores like loading the dishwasher and picking up my toys.
When I am a Mom, knowing what the song ‘The Family is of God,’ teaches will help me in my own family. I am thankful God gave us families.
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.
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Are you as blown away as I am!? She did an awesome job delivering her talk too. Since Daddy wasn't able to make it in to hear her, I suggested she use it to teach Family Home Evening. Tonight we have two soccer practices, so we had FHE last night. We had a great little discussion about each of our responsiblities and how when everyone does their part, our family is happier, the house is cleaner, and everyone has more fun.
We finished up our Spring Break week with a quiet weekend at home. I have to say I'm sad to see it end, but I'm also pleased. We had a lot of fun adventures, there were moments of stress and ciaos (it wouldn't be our home without it), but over all I think it was fun and relaxing for everyone.
Saturday morning the sewing group came back to life ... it's the group that over the last 5+ years has tried to put itself into extinction many times. Each year in an effort to keep it afloat I try a different teaching/project approach. This year the plan is to meet quarterly-ish and work on a different project each time. Many people said they wanted to learn to use a pattern, so yesterday we started with a skirt. Pretty simple, not too many pieces, a good beginner project. I had six people show up with more who wanted to come, but couldn't because of Spring Break traveling. We went over the basics of patterns and lingo, everyone showed off their fabrics and patterns and some even got started cutting out their garments. We've scheduled a second session for next Saturday morning so I can keep help everyone along at their different stages of the project. I'm hopeful this will be a successful year for the group. Everyone is excited about this project and doing future projects. My goal is to make sure that whatever project we work on in the group, that everyone walks away having learned valuable techniques that will translate to other sewing projects they want to do later on in life. Hopefully we can achieve this and we're able to keep up the momentum.
When I got home, Becca pulled out my scraps and decided she needed to make a little quilt, similar to her McKensie quilt. She's decided this one needs to go to a little guy who's due to arrive any day! She got the top sewn together, designed the quilting and we figured out the binding. Now I need an hour or so to help her learn how to stitch down the binding. It turned out really cute. I'll post pictures once she's done sewing down the binding.
We had amazing weather all weekend long. Mild, breezy weather that called us all outside to enjoy the fresh air. Sunday, GR got home earlier than usual from his bishop duties, and after some relaxing and basketball watching, I suggested a family hike. The kids enjoyed the hikes earlier in the week so much, and Sunday's weather was so perfect for an outdoor stroll, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. We saw some beautiful things ...
After our walk, we came home for a dinner of hamburgers done up on the grill, eating them picnic style in the living room while watching BOLT (a redbox rental). We all really enjoyed it, and it made a great little end cap to our week of at home vacationing.
Today the kids had another outdoor adventure with Grandma and Grandpa, but this time it involved their bikes and a different park. They were gone just long enough for me to finish sewing up the nuzzie and get it ready to hand off. They got home after lunch and spent the afternoon playing Around the World in 80 Days, a little Wii, exploring the creek* and of course, listening to my book with me. Rebecca has decided she likes the storyline. Sam on the other hand can't stand it ... but that may also be a bit of sleep deprivation talking too. *
I've decided every house with kids should have a creek of some kind near by. While ours is technically in the neighbors backyard and is extremely small - hardly ever having real water trickling through it - over the last couple of weeks when the weather has been warm, it has provided lots of fun and enjoyment. They throw rocks in it trying to divert the water ... they search for fossils, bringing them into the house to wash the rocks in the bathroom sink to see what else they can discover under all the mud ... and they look for local wildlife ... frogs, turtles, etc. to catch.
Growing up we had a similar creek, only it was much bigger than the creek my kids have access too and a bit further away. My younger sibblings would play in that creek daily, doing exactly the same thing mine are doing.
Today we lost Alex for a very long split second. When GR and I realized neither of us had seen him and he wasn't in the house, we all split up in different directions looking for him. I walked through the backyard heading straight for the creek, holding my breath the entire time. I found him crouched at the edge of the creek - remember our creek is very, very small, a trickle of water no more than a couple inches deep and maybe at it's widest 6 inches across - in his socks, sand colored pants and train sweater vest, throwing rocks into the water. My water loving boy was totally in his element! His socks were black with water, dirt, and sand, as was his little bum.
* * * *
ETA ...
I totally forgot to mention GR's adventure today. While I'm driving up to visit my friend, GR calls.
"Phil (boss) and I are thinking about trying to get tickets to the basketball games today at the Sprint Center. And we realized we should probably let our wives know our plans." ...
"Well do you think you could do it for less than $100?" ... "If you can do it for less than $100, have fun! Dang, I wish you had the camera."
As we're trying to head home from our visit, sitting in the driveway, waiting for Rebecca to work through a major 20 minute meltdown in the car, GR calls. They'd gotten tickets for the daytime session (two games first round games), parked the car and eatten lunch for under $30 each! They were really good basketball games and they had a blast.
Tonight I introduced my family to banana boats. An old camp favorite.
Earlier we spent a few hours with my very good friend Amy Lynn who is in town for two weeks with her three kids visiting her in-laws. Banana boats were on the lunch menu - as the dessert of course - but we never quite got to that part of the menu. The kids were having a great time playing outside, and inside, and outside and inside, that the idea of dessert wasn't even considered.
The boys and I put them together for dessert tonight while the girls finished up their homework. I split the banana in thirds the way my grandmother taught me, laid the skinny banana sections in a tin foil "boat," while Sam and Alex piled handfuls of marshmallows and chocolate chips on top and then melted the chips and marshmallows in the oven for a few minutes.
Sadly they did not go over quite as I'd envisioned. Maybe it was because we were lacking in the campfire atmosphere department. Anyway, here's how they played out, Rebecca ate the chocolate and marshmallows, but totally and completely refused to touch the banana. Emily ate hers without complaint, score one for mom! Sam and Alex ate about half of their boats, and probably should have just split one. And GR did see what I was so excited about ... guess he didn't like they so much. He did say that maybe he'd like them more if he'd gotten a chance to eat his while it was still warm. I guess cold banana boats aren't that fantastic. Sigh ... oh well. The boys and I had fun, and I'm thinking they might make a fun after-kids-go-to-bed snack for me, cause I thought they were great!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
The three big kids have been spending a lot of time with a family up the street. They have three children all exactly the same ages as our three big kids. We first met when the girls attended preschool. They never were in the same class, but over the years the six have become good friends, and recently started playing together for an hour or so here and there after school.
While they were at our house over the weekend, I learned that they were planning to attend the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. Their mom and I decided to meet at one of the near by parks for lunch so we could snag a decent parking space and then watch the parade. We met up with so many different friends. Friends from church, friends from preschool, friends from soccer, friends from school. While we do not live in, what I define as, a small town, I love how at functions like this, it feels like a small town because you run into so many people you know.
The weather was beautiful, perfect parade weather ... clear, sunny and warm, nearly hitting 80. Consequently, the parade was packed with sight seers and participants. I've decided I like parades that last 30 minutes. After 20 minutes you've basically seen all there is to see, the kids have gotten candy ready for it to be over, but 30 seems a little more practical for all involved. From what I hear, this one went over an hour. Anna was thankfully able to seek refuge from the sun under a canopy with Grandma, Alex lasted an additional 20 minutes, and then he and Grandpa both retreated to the canopy. Once the five of us had absolutely positively had our fill of St. Patrick, I was able to convince Sam, Emily and Rebecca that we needed to head for the car and have ginormous ice cream cones at home.
We ate our ice cream cones, relaxed for what only seemed like 5 minutes, and then it was time to welcome Papa home and eat dinner. After a day out, no one felt like making dinner, so we took advantage of $.99 kid meals at the local all you can eat pizza buffet. You can't beat $15 for the six of us to eat.
Tonight, I also attended a Cooking Class (a new HFPE Group) at my friend Shannon's. We had such a good time! I have pictures of all the yummy things we made, that I hope to get posted next week.
Today marks the first official day of Spring Break for the big kids. The goal for this week ... take full advantage of the time off school and relax the schedule and routine, spend lots of time outside playing and doing whatever we want. Make this week one long, at home vacation.
So this morning the kids played a little Wii and a couple computer games. One of our new favorites, Grandma Mum introduced to the kids is "Around the World in 80 Days" ... it's a Big Fish game. Everyone is playing and and working their way around the world.
Because it's Spring Break the local library has big kid activities scheduled all week long. This afternoon they had some Oprah singers in to share a few pieces from their upcoming performance of Charlotte's Web. It was fantastic and the three older kids really want to go and see one of the upcoming performances this Spring. Adult tickets are $10 and the kids are $5 ... totally affordable for what should be a fantastic performance.
Afterward each child stocked up on books for the week, and I picked up my latest book on CD, At home in Mitford.
Tonight Becca had soccer practice ... all three big kids are playing this Spring ... so after we got home from the library, I packed up a cooler for a picnic dinner at the park where she had practice. On the way home we picked up three boxes of ice cream ... birthday cake, chocolate marshmallow, and raspberry sherbet ... and ate HUGE ice cream cones on the back deck for dessert.
Anna, as of last week, is now 8 months old!
Time sure is flying by for this little one! Someone said I hadn't posted many pictures of her lately, so here's one from this afternoon of our smiling girl, and a little update on what she's been doing.
* She loves to smile! She'll smile back at you even when she's upset and fussing.
* She is ticklish, and will laugh and giggle when tickled.
* She has figured out how to turn her jonnyjump-up into a gentle swing, all by herself.
* She has also figured out how to twirl in her jonnyjump-up, but does not like to twirl fast.
* She is in the last stages of learning to crawl. Right now it's more the army crawl on her tummy, pulling her body forward with her arms and toes.
* She loves to pick up small objects off the floor - what we love to call the vacuum cleaner stage - but she's not interested in putting anything in her mouth yet. This also means she's not interested in feeding herself Cheerios, everything has it's trade off.
* She is terrified of the vacuum cleaner.
* She does not like to be tossed in the air.
* She loves being held and carried around by Becca and Emily.
* She loves to sit next to one of her big brothers and be in their arms.
* She is a very curious child. She wants to see and know and observe everything.
* She puts herself to sleep with the help of Aunt Mary Ann's magic blanket. We still have the cradle set up in the kitchen behind the love seat, even though she has nearly out grown it (a couple more inches and she'll be too long for it). For nap time I lay her in the cradle with her blanket and we all continue on with our morning. She's typically asleep before I turn around to look in on her.
* In sacrament meeting today she used my lap as a trampoline, causing most adults who watched her to work hard at not cracking up. She really gives your arms a work out holding on to her.
* I am constantly getting compliments from people on what a beautiful baby she is ... and when we're with Alexander, they also mention how calm and content she is. :)
* One of her favorite games is the Echo game ... she makes an "Eh" sound, and I'll echo her, trying to match pitch and inflection, etc. We can keep this up for 5-10 minutes, going back and forth. She thinks it's grand.
* * * * *
I made two huge quiches for dinner tonight. Emily was the only child willing to try it ... after one bite she said she really didn't like it. I suggested she eat a couple more bites to make sure. Didn't matter, she still didn't like it. GR thankfully ate the three pieces I sent with him to eat in the car on his way out the door for the evening. But I now have 11 pieces of quiche to eat this week.
Next week is Spring Break for the kids, so today Sam's Kindergarten class had their Green Day Party for St. Patrick's Day. The school is really trying to reduce the amount of sweets brought in for snacks, birthday treats, and classroom parties. Not an easy task with some holiday parties.
Food assignments were sent home a couple weeks ago and I was asked to bring spinach or bananas. Thursday night when I went shopping, the banana's were bright green ... so I picked up a bag of baby spinach and green grapes and kiwi so I'd have lots of options incase something went south in the kitchen.
Thankfully, our school hasn't gone the way of many who do not allow any homemade or home prepared food to be served in school. I decided I would give a quiche a try ... raw spinach just didn't seem like something 5 and 6 year olds would eat ... and I didn't think sauteed spinach would go over well either. So I consulted mom for a good crustless quiche recipe and gave it a whirl using a variation of my sisters favorite from the Moosewood cookbook. It was divine, and the entire pan got served up, and quite a few kids ate it - not mine, but I did see plenty of other kids eating it!
Alex is following in Sam's footsteps. Sam attended everyone of Emily's Kindergarten parties I helped with, and Alex is fitting right in just like his older brother did. He went right into the classroom, found Sam, Sam got him an extra seat and stuck to Sam like Velcro.
I'm looking for a cute, semi-casual, yet a bit dressy, brown shoe ... shoes I can wear with or without hose, and with a skirt or maybe with dress slacks. Not high heels, not open toed, but that in between spring/summer cute brown shoe. So while looking for a cute brown shoe ... a kitten heel or a sling back, or even a slide ... I found these ... here's a better picture.
So here's the dilemma. They look comfortable, and while comfort is a consideration, I'm looking for more than just comfort. They must be stylish. I really like the flower detail, but does it make up for the less than attractive, dare I say, Schoolmarm, Nun heel?
Today is Grandpa Bob's birthday and given that we spent the weekend in St. Louis, and it's a school night, we celebrated in. Rebecca called to ask Grandpa what he wanted as his birthday cake ... fruit pie, cream pie, cupcakes, layer cake, cheesecake, what ever he wanted. He requested cheesecake, and we took a cheesecake factory cheesecake sampler with three different flavors over after dinner to celebrate.
The kids made a card for him. On the back I traced each child hand and had them dictate to me all the things they love about Grandpa Bob. writing them within their hand prints. It was sweet and heart warming to hear them rattle off all their favorite things about Grandpa, what has left a lasting impression on their young hearts ... he plays with me, he makes us ice cream, he fixes things for us, he built the playhouse for us, etc.
I asked Emily, "How do you know Grandpa loves you?"
"Because he wouldn't do all those things for us, if he didn't." (in an innocent, duh mom tone)
What a great reminder that what is important to our children and grandchildren is our love and time, nothing more. To them it's so simple. I've gotta get a picture of the back of that card. It is a priceless treasure I need to preserve for them.
Alex and I got out of the house for a morning at the library ... we saw lots of our playgroup friends there, played with Duplos, picked up new Arthur and Franklin books for Alex, and a new book on CD for me. Then met Papa for lunch, went to the grocery store to take advantage of a baby food sale, stopped in at the craft store for 15" of orange jumbo ric rac so I could finish a baby blanket bundle ... and got home just before the big kids came home from school.
Earlier this month one of the bloggers I follow wrote about making ATC (Artist Trading Cards) with her children and swapping their creations with another friends children. What sponed from this little weekend activity, was an Artist Trading Card swap for kids ages 5-12, that 900 kids from all over the world signed up to participate. The kids were divided up in groups of six, paired with five other kids their age. Rules were emailed out, and a deadline was set (2/28). We got special heavy duty artist paper from the craft store, cut it down to the correct size - 2.5" x 3.5", collected all the necessary art supplies from around the house, did research on what artist trading cards look like, did lots of practicing and lots of creating!
The kids worked on them here and there for a full week, spending most of the past two Fridays, when they were home from school, working on their masterpieces. They had a really good time, came up with their own subject matter and titles and we even made small envelopes using some of Rebecca's scrapbook paper to hold their cards. I am so pleased with each child's creativity and their willingness to participate in this experience. They did a great job experimenting with different mediums and trying to do their very best work.
All of Emily's are going to the US, Rebecca has one going to the United Kingdom, and Sam is sending two overseas ... one to Australia and one to Dubai!
ETA: Their swap mates ATCs started arriving this week. Rebecca has already emailed one of her swapmates and has a letter drafted to another. It looks like she's going to get a few pen pals from the experience.
Once all the cards are in, my plan is to create a collage frame of all six ATCs (one from each of their swapmates and one of their own) to hang in their room.
Lori made an amazing Banana Sour Cream Cake for our January Enrichment I've been wanting to make for the family. Last week Sam and the girls wanted something to do after school and I suggested they make this cake for our dessert. I printed out the recipe, told them where to find the ingredients and with little more instruction from me, let them make the cake.
* * * * *
BANANA SOUR CREAM CAKE
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 cup oil (or applesauce)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) 1/3 fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 cup Walnut Pieces, finely chopped
HEAT oven to 350°F. Beat cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream and oil with mixer on low until moistened, scraping bottom of bowl often. Beat on medium 2 min. Pour into greased and floured 13x9-inch pan. BAKE 35 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in pan on wire rack. BEAT cream cheese and butter with mixer on medium until blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition. REMOVE cake from pan. Carefully cut cake crosswise in half using serrated knife. Place 1 cake half, top-side down, on plate; spread top with frosting. Top with remaining cake half, top side up. Frost top and sides. Press nuts onto sides. Refrigerate leftovers.
Note: Lori says you can successfully substitute applesauce for the oil!
* * * * *
Apparently, Rebecca was in charge of reading the directions and Sam and Emily were in charge of putting the ingredients in the mixer. Halfway through making the cake they realized they had put the cream cheese in the cake batter instead of waiting and using it for the frosting.
It was a great teaching moment ... I was able to talk to the girls about the importance of instructions and why you need to read through them a couple of times before you get started ... and I learned that I really need to give them more opportunities to make things in the kitchen with little interference from me - they can do it and they are old enough, even if the mess is out of control! Honestly, given the way the recipe is written on Kraft's website, it wouldn't surprise me if a number of adults haven't made this same mistake.
We baked up the cake anyway, frosted it (it's the cake pictured) and had it for dessert Wednesday night. It's not a mistake I recommend making. Thanks to the frosting, it was eatable. The cake hadn't baked correctly and we all decided a second attempt was necessary. Thursday afternoon I made it a second time so I could prove to GR (who had flatly refused to eat any of the girls cake) that it was an excellent cake and so I could take it to Julie's for Survivor. Everyone loved it! This is my new favorite cake that is not chocolate - where was this recipe when Anna couldn't tolerate any chocolate in my system?!
Last night I was desperate for something different to make for dinner. Soup is an underutilized meal option in this house, and I've been wanting to change that. So I went in search of a soup that used a some ingredients I needed to use up ... namely chicken and potatoes.
The recipe was relatively simple, used stuff I always have on hand, was yummy and everyone ate it - meeting all the necessary requirements to be added to the home cookbook for future dinners. I'm thinking it would freeze well for those who like to do that kind of thing. For reference, here's the original recipe.
CHUNKY CHICKEN-POTATO SOUP
3 medium potatoes or 6 small potatoes
1/3 cup dry diced onion (or medium onion)
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cans chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
1-1/2 cups milk
1 (16 oz.) can corn, drained
Peel and dice potatoes into 1/2 cubes, rinse under cold water and set aside.
Place dry diced onion in small glass dish, cover with water and microwave 45 seconds to reconstitute.
In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the onion, stir until heated, approx. 1 minute (if using fresh onion, cook stirring, until wilted, 1-2 minutes.). Stir in the flour and cook stirring constantly, until the flour and butter are completely blended, 1- 2 minutes.
Slowly pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. When the mixture returns to a boil, add the potatoes and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
While potatoes cook, dice the chicken. Increase the heat to medium when the soup returns to a boil, stir in chicken, milk and corn. Cook until chicken is heated through.
* * * * *
The chicken was leftover from a crockpot chicken recipe I heard about on the radio. The flavor was very nice and I think it really complemented the soup.
1 whole chicken (4-5lbs)
1 lemon, pierced
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup orange juice
Clean chicken cavity, pierce lemon and insert in cavity and place in bottom of crockpot. Mix honey and orange juice and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove skin and bones and serve.
Today the girls have a spirit day activity at school that Rebecca informed me of on Saturday. I told her that if we needed supplies we had to purchase them Saturday night ... they couldn't be purchased Sunday or Monday morning. I also explained to both girls they would need to be 100% ready to walk out the door -- breakfast eaten, teeth brushed, shoes on, backpacks packed, jackets found, etc. -- at 7:00am, giving me 15 minutes to work on each girls hair. To make hair their length crazy with only rubber bands -- sorry I nixed the desire to use hair "spray paint" and decided that doing an egg white/Elmers glue concoctions to get spikes, was impractical given the amount of time we'd have in the morning to pull it off -- I was going to need every bit of those 15 minutes to do anything with their hair.
The results ...
Emily let me do what I wanted, and I love the results. It's fun and quirky, without being too distracting. I use to do this to the girls hair when they were younger on a smaller scale - one twist bun on each side of their head. Emily now has too much hair to do it with, and I'm not sure Rebecca's is long enough.
Rebecca handed me four bows and rubber bands and I was given creative licensing from there. Isn't it fantastic! Her's definitely has the crazy hair day look going for her! I divided the hair in to quarters, braided each section, looped it, and secured it with the hair bow clip.
I just hope both styles survive a day on the playground!
ETA: It turns out that today WAS NOT crazy hair day! The girls weren't the only ones who thought that today was the day stuco had designated as crazy hair day. The girls just took down their hair and stuffed all the rubber bands and bows in their backpacks.
[Remember Sam's Silly Hair Day at preschool? We offered lots of suggestions, but he was very content to sit this one out!]
This post may really only make sense to my parents and sibblings, well and GR of course, since he took the pictures. So please allow me to indulge a bit in remembering.
The images are scans of damaged 35 mm film taken, I think, during the fall of 1996, it could possibly be the fall of 1997. The film was scanned back when I was working, so 7 years or so ago. I'm sure scanners today could do a better job of "restoring" the images if I knew where the film was...
They are pictures of me and my little brother Sam (for whom my Sam is named) ... GR and I were visiting my parents for the weekend. Sam had gotten the 68' Chevelle running and took me for a drive on my parents street. He drove me around the two cul-de-sacs and then turned the wheel over to me and I drove the beast home. It's the only time I driven the Chevelle, and I'm glad I got to experience it with Sam.
Now, I wish I could remember more about the experience. If it were not for the pictures, I'm not sure I would remember it at all. What I love about these pictures is the barely noticeable expressions on Sam's face ... the proud confidence of taking his big sister on a drive in a car he'd worked really hard on cleaning up and getting moving ... then the reversal of rolls, as for a few minutes, he became my big brother, opening the big heavy pea green doors of Chevelle and telling me to switch places with him. Giving me the encouragement and the confidence to drive us home, as if he were the 21 year old and I was the 16 year old on my first drive around the block.
Tonight marks 11 years since Cam and Sam's accident ... the accident Heavenly Father used to instantly call Sam home. While the rawness of this weekend in 1998 has healed, pictures like these, or those my Dad recently reclaimed from their scouting days, or talking about Sam around the dinner table this past Christmas, remind me how much I miss him, and how hard I want to work to be with him again.
[** I uploaded the pictures so you can click on them and see them in their larger format ... given the poor quality of the film and the motion blur it might better help you tell when Sam is driving and when I am driving. I'd forogtten the massive perportion difference between his frame and mine ... and yet I could still lift him off his feet when needed! **]
Remember this shining face? If you're old school university ward - and a handful of you are - you already know Kim. If you're not, many, many, many moons ago we were in town friends ... but marriage, school, babies, and a bunch of moves have made us long distance, via the internet - okay we can be honest here - via our blogs friends. [Mom, Kim's the one who taught Rebecca most of her American Sign Language words as a toddler.]
She's needing a little help from her friends, and her friends, friends, so I hope you'll oblige. Have you heard of BlogHer? It's a conference of women bloggers (who mainly use their blogs as a business venture) and this summer marks it's 5th year. Kim is a finalist in a contest to send her to this summers conference in Chicago, expenses paid! The only way she'll make it there is if she gets the most votes on this poll which ends on the 23rd of February. So if you wouldn't mind checking out her blog, and giving her a shout out on the poll (she's the second one listed), I'd appreciate it and I know this awesome mama would too!
At the beginning of the year I was released from teaching primary and given a new calling at church ... I am now the ward communication specialist. As part of my calling I prepare the Sunday bulletin and maintain the ward website.
While archaic and at times extremely frustrating, the ward website (housed within www.lds.org) does have a couple cool functions. One of those functions is the ability to send an email broadcast to all registered members with a valid email address listed.
Since external member email lists are a no-no, we are now sending our weekly ward email via the ward website and today - today - is the very first time all year that:
1. The email sent the very first time without failing - more than once I've had to submit the weekly announcement recap email three times before it would actually send.
2. I finally figured out how to keep all my - " and ' from turning into ? and other weird characters.
3. [and this is the big one] I didn't call the technical support line to talk with Rachel or Lizzie for help with a problem!
Since the first of the year, I've been a sub in primary twice, helped teach a lesson to the young women, taught relief society on this conference talk, and finally today, spoke in church.
I really hope this means I'm done for a little while.
Me preparing to speak or teach is not a pretty experience. While I love the studying part of preparing to speak or teach, collecting my thoughts, and organizing them into something with an introduction, main points and conclusion, with personal experiences, analogies, scriptures, and original material mixed with quotes from prophets ... is in GR's words, painful to watch. The entire house comes to a screeching halt while mom is glued to the computer pouring over conference talks and Ensign articles, trying to decide what exactly she's suppose to share with a room full of people who are so much more qualified to speak on any topic than she is.
I must have followed the Spirit correctly on Sunday and shared what I was suppose to, because in all my years of speaking in church, I can't remember ever having more than two or three people tell me they appreciated my talk, and this time I did.
My topic was the topic for Primary on Sunday as well, "The priesthood blesses my family." We talk a lot about the blessings of the priesthood in the church, but not so much on how it directly blesses the family, so I found preparing for this talk very interesting as it pertains to our family.
I'll share two points from my talk ...
First ... "... the most important exercise of the priesthood takes place in the family. [We have been taught that] each husband and father in the Church should strive to be worthy to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. With his wife as an equal partner, he presides in righteousness and love, serving as the family's spiritual leader. He leads the family in regular prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. He works with his wife to teach the children and help them prepare to receive the ordinances of salvation (see D&C 68:25–28). He gives priesthood blessings for direction, healing, and comfort.(True to the Faith)" ...
"Elder Merrill J. Bateman, in a conference talk a few years ago stated, “It is expected that worthy holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood will use the power delegated to them to bless others, starting with their own families. One of the great inheritances of the Restoration is that a father ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood has the right to bless his wife and children when prompted and when a blessing is desired by them.”
Second ... "One of the lessons I will take from preparing this talk is that my husband and I need to do a better job of providing opportunities for our children to receive priesthood blessing from their father. To see, beyond the influence of having a righteous loving priesthood holder lead our family in family prayer and family home evening and scripture study. Over the years, they have watched him, after hanging up the phone, stop what he is doing, put on a white shirt and tie, double check his consecrated oil, and quietly walk out the door to assist in giving a blessing many times, but have rarely witnessed it in our own home."
We had lots of valentine activities during the week all gearing up to a quiet Valentine's Day spent with the ones we love.
The kids easily made over 100 Valentine's. The three older kids needed very little help from Mom this year - I just provided all the supplies, lots of heart cut outs, glue sticks, special valentine pencils and tape. Thanks to my stock pile of scrapbook paper, various heart punches, and my circut (GR's Valentine gift to me last year - purchased just for projects like this) my involvement this year in this part of the process was less hands on than it's been in the past. It's always fun to see how each child chooses to use the exact same supplies, they all turned out a little differently and were all charming.
For Alex's playgroup valentines, I used the "My Funny Valentine" clipart again for the 3rd year in a row - this has honestly been the best $5 I've spent on clipart. Alex and Anna had a great time at the Valentine party at playgroup. We got to visit with friends, pass our valentines, eat sugar cookies, play with playdough and decorate a Valentine bag. Having a bag of Valentine's for Alex was so helpful Friday after school when all the big kids came home with thier bags and buckets of valentines. Alex was able to join in the fun of dumping out his Valentines and reading through them just like the big kids. And he had just enough little treats included with his cards that it kept him happy and out of the big kids candy too!
GR and the kids helped me cut out sugar cookies for a cookie decorating playdate we had after school Wednesday. One of our playmates has a sensitivity to red dye #40. I wanted him to have the option of decorating cookies with something other than white frosting and white sprinkles, so I went on a hunt for a natural red food dye and decorations. I called my local natural food store - they no longer carry a natural red food dye, and most of what I saw commercially online wouldn't get here in time and was a little expensive for an occasional batch of frosting. The discontinued dye came from beets, and the dye free/vegan blogs I found, used raspberries to tint frosting pink. So after consulting these resources, and making a phone call to Sandy Gluck of Everyday Food, I decided to give both raspberries and beets a try. I ended up using ~1-1/2 tablespoons of raspberry puree (made by pushing frozen raspberries through a sieve) and a teaspoon or so of beet juice from a can of beets. The result was beautiful and scrumptious. I've run into red dye issues before, and I'm so glad I now have an alternative that I can easily use in the future.
There is nothing quite like the thrill of getting a piece of real mail delivered to you, expectedly or unexpectedly. Maybe that's why it's always been important to me that our kids send valentines to the special people in our lives. We don't always get them sent to the same people each year, and we've been known to send digital valentines, but I'm hopeful that it's teaching them an important lesson about letting the special people in our lives know how important they are to us.
We hope your Valentine's Day was special and that you were surrounded by reminders of how much you are loved and appreciated! We celebrated with lunch out with Grandma and Grandpa - Rebecca requested Mexican so we abliged, GR bought new appliances we had scouted out the night before on our "date", and had heart shaped pancakes for dinner, complete with red sprinkles, whipped cream and strawberries.
(Alex and Anna at the playgroup party Thursday.)
Earlier this month GR and I received a gift from one of our ward members! GR had asked her to make him a hat using the brightest yarn she had and after finishing his, she decided to swap out the red for hot pink and make one for me. I think these will make great additions to our emergency car kits ... my winter coats are dark brown or black and I figure this could double as safety feature!
January was Alex and my turn to plan playgroup. January weather in Kansas over the last 10 years or so has proven to be much like a yo-yo, fridged one day, summer like the next. Thankfully the yo-yo swung in our favor all month long, since we picked these activities on the 1st of January and for the life of me all I could find was a 10 day forecast.
Our first playgroup activity for week one was a trip to a local museum. Alex and I had the entire museum to ourselves and discovered little treasures we'd never seen before - and didn't feel the least bit bad about breezing through the entire four level museum in 30 minutes flat. Sometimes we are fast, and sometimes we are slow.
Week two we scheduled an open play day in the church cultural hall, hoping everyone would be looking for an opportunity to get out and run. The weather performed beautifully - all weather forecasts were hoping for a HIGH of ~10 that day. Kids played and played and played for two hours! before mama's and kids finally headed home for lunch and naps. Our little band of boys (I had picked up 2 extra cute boys for the morning) stayed a little later and enjoyed the big empty cultural hall all to ourselves.
Week three brought warmer temperatures (high 40s) and a hike around the neighborhood lake and playing on the playground. For this activity, Alex and I held up the rear of the group the entire time, never actually making it to the playground. He wanted to look and see and explore every possible inch of the nature trail. We listened to birds sing and watched them fly, we found frozen Osage oranges starting to thaw, and fuzzy green moss, and hoof tracks in the mud, and lots of sticks.
[Please note Alex's hat. GR made it for him to replace his rainbow hat which he's worn for the last two years, which of course is now way too small.]
Week four was our Kansas Day celebration. We planned a couple of simple crafts - a tissue paper sunflower (glue squares of yellow and brown tissue paper to a blue sheet of construction paper) and a Kansas facts coloring page - and had balloons kids could bounce and kick and throw around the cultural hall. Then we shared a simple but bountiful potluck lunch/snack before cleaning up and heading home.
I must say all the 2009 playgroups have been very well attended (including this weeks trip to Baker Bob's - by far the most popular!) ... other than our museum trip (which I understand not everyone heard about in time to come) we've had the same 20-30 kids at each one!
A great opportunity for cake AND birthday candles! Thank you Kansas!
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The more and more I learn about the CPSIA and how it will potentially impact my life and my little business the more and more I pray the government will not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to all the concerns being voiced with how it is currently laid out. If you're not sure what I'm talking about ... read this. It's what hundreds of bloggers posted yesterday, hopefully you saw it on someone's blog.
For information about the CPSIA and how to make your voice heard, I found this CPSIA Action Kit made up by Etsy extremely helpful. I'm extremely frustrated with Dennis Moore at the momment. I've sent him three seperate emails and I've heard NOTHING back from him.
