Kids Cooking School - Banana Bread

Near the end of last school year the girls came home with a recipe box from grandma's house. The box had kid friendly recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc. This summer they have perfected one of the recipes from the box and it has become their go-to recipe when they are looking for something constructive to do and all the ingredients are on hand.



It's been a great learning experience for them, and teaching opportunity for me.

In the first week they made over 10 loaves of banana bread. The girls are learning as they go ...

• it is possible to make this recipe without using 7 bowls.
  
• a wire whisk works just as well and is faster than a sifter
  
• scrap all the ingredients into the main mixing bowl - don't leave anything behind
  
• when using all natural peanut butter, don't pour off the oil at the top of a new jar.
  
• cleaning up the kitchen is part of the cooking/baking process, you don't get to leave that part to someone else.
  
• it's best to clean up the kitchen while the bread is baking, so you can enjoy eating it when it comes out of the oven.

Yesterday after school, the girls made a batch for their teachers. The whole process is so much easier to sit through now than when they first started! It's quite exciting to watch the girls learn and get better and better at making this recipe. And their work has received rave reviews from everyone they've given loaves to!



Monkey's Favorite Banana Bread
2/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 small egg, well beaten
1 mashed up banana
2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

Remove butter and egg from refrigerator, 1 hour before using. Grease 4x2x1-1/2" loaf pan. Preheat oven to 325. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a square of waxed paper. Set aside. With wooden spoon, cream butter, gradually adding sugar. Add beaten egg and mix well. Mash banana with fork or potato masher. Blend well with peanut butter. Add dry ingredients alternately with mashed banana mixture to the creamed butter mixture. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 35 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a fork in the center - if the fork comes out clean, it's done. Let cool in pan on cooling rack 10 minutes before turning out. Refrigerate batter for up to 4 days. Makes 3 - 4x2x1-1/2" loaves. Makes 2 - 5-3/4x3x2-1/8" loaves.

Double recipe to make a full size loaf.

This recipe creates a very nice, moist yet light bread. Very different than the dense banana breads I'm use too.

I want to try using Soybutter or Sunflower butter in place of the peanut butter so we can use it school and give loaves of it to our peanut allergy friends. Anyone experimented with it?

Family Nightcap

Two exciting rounds of Rumis before sending the kids off to bed.

Gotta love a game, everyone can play and enjoy!

Back to School

The three big kids started school today ... we now have a fourth grader, a third grader, and a first grader. Monday afternoon we went to the school to see everyone's class lists. For the most part everyone is pleased ...

Sam has lots of kids he knows from lots of different places in his class. His teacher started at our school last year, but this is by no means new to teaching, but I'm excited to get to know her.

Emily, was disappointed her best friends aren't in her class, but I did point out that she knows lots of the kids in her class and in third grade, she'll rotate among the three classes for things like math, science, & social studies, so she'll still see them lots. I'm hopeful her teacher will recognize her need to be challenged. She is so incredibly bright, but isn't showy or flashy about it and her need to be stimulated and stretched can easily get over looked because she is quiet and goes with the flow so easily.

Rebecca, is finally, after four years, not in the same class as D*. They were well matched academically, but not so much personality wise. He recognized early on she was an easy, fun target for teasing - and she is. Her teacher is one who she knows well, they met when Becca was in 1st grade. I'm hopeful this familiarity with her personality will also work to her benefit. Like Emily, she is very bright. Rebecca likes things that are familiar, easy, comfortable. She needs outside help and encouragement to reach outside her academic comfort zone and stretch her mind. The incentive for the teacher is if she's challenged regularly she isn't as easily bored, so her mouth doesn't move as much.

As for Alex ... we were going to put him in preschool, but it looks like we'll need to push that off for a semester or more. To be in preschool he must be potty trained and he has simply decided he does not need or want to potty train. I have introduced, prodded, forced, made numerous incentive plans, bribed, and gone cold turkey. We have not had a single success all summer long, not one. I'm sad for him, but we'll find other things to do. I am really getting the vibe from him that once it all clicks for him, this kid will be totally potty trained in a snap. He's just gotta decide he's ready to do it.

50/50 odds ... not bad!

I entered a couple of drawings over the weekend with odds more like 1/1400 ... Ha! I like these odds much better.

Sam drew names for me, and the winners are:

* Heather G. * Lori * Deb * Kristy *

So I'll get them all mailed out in the next day or so. I've cleaned up my Publisher file so I can turn it into a PDF to email out and post it on Mormonchic. Camie, Heather H., Liz, and Jennifer, watch for an email from me with the file and cutting/assembly instructions.

We have two days left of summer vacation and we're planning on spending the day running threw sprinklers and playing in the pool. Here's to hoping water destrctions will keep children from screaming and crying and fighting.

Emily's Great to be EIGHT Birthday

Our sweet Emily celebrated her eighth birthday today! Eight years old! We packed lots and lots of celebrating into our one little day. When I asked her how she wanted to celebrate she said she wanted to go to either Dave and Busters (restaurant & arcade) or Famous Dave's (BBQ). It took a while, but she finally settled on Dave and Busters.



The kids started the morning off by going to our farmers market - a Saturday morning favorite! - with Grandma and Grandpa. While the four big kids, enjoyed the market, GR went and performed a wedding, while Anna and I made a huge birthday brunch for everyone to enjoy when everyone got home. Per Emily's request, the menu consisted of scrambled eggs (side note, to my sibblings - finally after years of failing, one of my two pans of scrambled eggs turned out like Mom's! yippee!), bacon, sausage, biscuits, cantaloupe, grapes, lemon poppy seed cake, the works, all served on my mismatched collection of china plates, that we only use for very special parties. It was scrumptious, oh so filling and served on time - 10:30am on the dot.

We hoped to miss a busy dinner crowd at Dave and Busters by going for a late lunch/early dinner. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had the same thought. But we got seated quickly, had a good meal and headed back to the game area. We played for a good 2 hours and the kids racked up some serious tickets - each hitting their own little jackpots here and there - reaching a grand total of 6398 tickets. They each got to pick a big stuffed animal (two poodles, a dragon and a tree frog) and a couple of little trinkets that will hopefully last longer than the weekend before the fall apart or break.



Then it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for swimming, cake & ice cream and of course presents.



Emily is growing into such a mature little lady. She is an excellent student. She has beautiful penmanship. I love reading her classroom journals. Emily is happy to help classmates who need extra help understanding something, and does it in a kind and compassionate way. Never making the other person feel dumb or less than adequate for needing help. She is also a strong reader. She and Rebecca love reading the same books and often share books with each other, talking about the characters and story lines.

She is a super helper with Anna and Alex. She is very loving and nurturing with them. I ask a lot of her and Rebecca and she is typically very willing to help ... diaper changing, feeding, playing, etc.

Emily is very thoughtful, always wanting to make something to share with someone else ... a friend, neighbor, teacher or family member.

We are so lucky to have this sweet girl in our family! Her beautiful spirit and bright, happy personality add so much to our family! We are so proud of her and the young woman she is growing up to be. She is very excited to be baptized and we are thrilled she has made this choice.

On a mission ...

Back in June when our good friends moved to a bigger place and the kids and I spent a couple afternoons helping them unpack. Rebecca begged and pleaded to be allowed to bring one of the huge garment boxes home with us ... I managed to get it into the van and home. She promptly set it up in the living room, filled it with pillows and blankets and climbed in with a book and flashlight. You can only imagine how everyone else felt about that - I nearly had four of them lined up on the basement floor. Over the next couple of days the box got banned from the main floor of the house, migrated down to the basement for a short visit before finally settling down in her room. Until a few weeks ago when I finally put my foot down and demanded that she break it down and put it in the garage. It might have something to do with the fact that she and Emily could barely move in their room - the box took up half of her available floor space and they were having an impossible time keeping what little bit of floor they had left picked up - Oh and that she hadn't even climbed in the box in over three weeks. Yep, time to move on.

Fast forward to this afternoon. The kids got a call from their good friends up the street ... "Do you want to come over and build a fort?!" I don't think they even hung up the phone... Becca grabbed her box from the garage, and a roll of packing tape and everyone headed off up the street to build their fort.

Excess Inventory - aka A Giveaway

A good portion of my spare time the later part of last week was consumed by this little book.



Saturday was the BBQ contest - GR took 2nd place this year! - and our quarterly Primary Activity. We focused totally on the scriptures for this activity. We noticed that many of the older kids couldn't find a scripture when given the referrence ... they couldn't tell you if it was a Bible scripture, Book of Mormon, etc. And some younger kids were only really familiar with the Book of Mormon, not the Bible or vice versa, and definitely not the Doctrine and Covenants or Pearl of Great Price. Because of time constraints, we focused mainly on the Bible and Book of Mormon, having mini break out sessions (grouped by age - jr/jr, jr and sr) for the Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Mormon.

I taught the Jr New Testament session focusing on the teachings of the Savior by looking up scriptures in the Bible. I had kids in my group Sam to Emily's age and wanted to give them a take home reminder that would further help teach them about the New Testament. I instantly thought of a handout my Mom used in her primary teaching days - My Story of Jesus from a 1974 Friend and reprinted in March 1999. Since they range from new readers to strong, avid readers, I felt my handout needed to "grow" with the kids. I wanted it to be more than just a coloring activity, I wanted it to be something they would keep and use for a while.

I combined the illustrations from the Friend with coordinating text found in the New Testament Stories for Beginning Readers and included the scripture reference. Hoping my new readers like Sam can look at the picture and read the simple text, and my strong readers like Emily, would read the simplified story and both could practice looking up the scripture stories in the New Testament. I also included a couple of pictures from the Gospel Art Book and a few songs from the Primary Song book that talk about the life of the Savior. I am really pleased with how well the book turned out and the kids were genuinely excited about them too.

It is nearly impossible to accurately estimate how many kids you will have at an activity like this. I figured it would be 18-20 for that age group, but just to be safe I made around 24 books. Of course I have extras and the thought of deconstructing them kills me. Would some of you like to have one of your own for your kids church bag?

If so leave a comment between now and Monday morning, I've got at least four copies I can mail out, so I'll randomly pick four names if there are more than four of you who'd like a copy.

By the way ... it's a standard 4x6, inexpensive photo album and all but the last three pages are filled up. So your child can add some of their favorite pictures of Jesus if you'd like.

Dispelling all Myths

It's AUGUST. August! Really, August?!I

School starts in 9 days.

Emily turns 8 in 5 days.

Honestly and truly I thought that by now, I'd be totally caught up on our summer adventures, and things would be humming at sweet and smooth pace.

I guess it's time to just fess up and not try to hide the fact that I'm barely holding things together this summer. It's not so much that we have a lot going on ... 'cause frankly we don't. On the family end, it's been a normal, steady pace. We're doing fun things, having a good time, having wonderful summer adventures - at least I hope that's what the kids think and will remember.

I on the other hand ... I feel like I can't breathe, my condensed, bare minimum, let's just get by "to do" list is so overwhelmingly long I don't even know where to begin. My coping strategy right now is to have a Tuesday morning melt down ... full blown, totally overwhelmed, how can I get myself out of this mess, yelling, crying, eat a bowl of ice cream and bite my lip til its over, melt down. I gotta say while it doesn't do a thing to shorten my list, I do feel a bit better when it's all over. And I know that this too shall pass and I will dig my way out of all this 'stuff' that is crowding my life and get everything done in a day that is asked of me. But until then, you just might want to steer clear of this house on a Tuesday morning - maybe I will too. And to the deranged few who still seem to still think I have it all together ... ha, ha and ha! If only you were a mouse in this house!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Friday, Anna turned ONE ... my baby is one year old, man this year has flown by!

• She has only two teeth - they are on the bottom.
• Walking is now her main mode of transportation and she's pretty steady on her feet.
• She's a very determined little kid, who is not easily distracted or persuaded.
• She loves playing in the water - although baths are an entirely different thing.
• She is quite social and loves to be in the middle of everything.
• When she wants something, she screams/yells "Eeeehhhhhhhhah" - at ear splitting decibels, it's always shocking, it always make everyone jump, and it's especially disruptive in the middle of church.
• She is a very independent soul who loves to explore the world around her.
  
• Anna is a very happy, joyful child. She doesn't get upset easily. When she cries it's because she really needs something.
  
• Anna is tough and can easily hold her own against her rough and tumble older brother who tackles her to the ground, all be it gently, on a daily bases. She takes it all in stride, without getting up set and occasionally returning the loving gesture.
  

To celebrate, Grandma brought over the traditional donuts and balloons. Anna ate nearly all of her glazed donut on her own.



We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - her favorite - for lunch and were going to spend the afternoon swimming, but mother nature felt rain was more important so we stayed inside while Anna slept the afternoon away.

After naps, we took a box of ice cream, sprinkles and cones to Grandma's for ice cream cones. Everyone enjoyed those very much!





Anna had her 1 year appointment first thing this morning. She's doing fantastically. Defiantly has the height of the girls, but her weight seems more inline with the boys.

Weight - 21lbs 14.5 oz. (60%)
Height - 30.75 inches (94%)
Head Circumference - 19 5/8" (>97%)

Today ...

Yesterday, I finally convinced Rebecca to let me take her picture in the shirt I finished for her back in April. I really love it and wish I had time to make it a couple more times for her and Emily both.



Rebecca managed to break her glasses ... again ... I'm starting to question why these were recommended for kids given how easily they have broken. Anna took them off Rebecca's face, and wham, the ear piece was broken. Yesterday, she set her glasses on the bathroom counter, so she could brush her hair. She accidently set the hair brush on top of her glasses and the snaped in two. She wasn't being careless or silly, there was no loud crash, or bang. Thank goodness for warranties. When the gal who works in the frame shop saw GR coming, again and saw Becca's glasses, she said as soon as the new frames come in, she's going to order a back up set so they have a spare on hand for the next time this happens.

Celebrating Miss Amercia!

Our Fourth of July adventures spanned three days and we had a great time0!



Thursday night after dinner and a quick house pick up, we all went to GR's favorite local fireworks stand so he and the kids could purchased some "daytime" fireworks to shoot of at his parent's house. This is the first year that the kids have gone along and helped choose the daytime stuff we shoot off. And the picked some great things. Crop Circles and Ladybugs were some of our favorites this year.



Friday morning we took the kids to the dollar store and pick out something special. Becca and Emily both picked out cups shaped like ice cream cones with twirly straws that wrapped around the outside of the cup, Sam picked out new water balls for the pool, and Alexander picked up a new Micky Mouse baseball puzzle.

We spent the afternoon and evening at the home of Bill and Sharon. GR grew up their kids, and their son Rob is GR's best friend. For as long as GR and I have been together and we spent the 3rd of July at their house. Many of their kids were home visiting for the holiday so we got catch up a little bit, between helping kids with this and that.



Saturday morning was our pancake breakfast, at which the kids all astounded the adults around them by the number of pancakes they could each pack away. Onlookers were convinced they'd make themselves sick if they ate one more pancake, but they weren't. Pancakes are just one of those things my kids can eat by the stack!

We had a fantastic dinner at Bob and Diane's. Between Diane's friends, Bob's family (two of Bob's kids were in town this year) and my family that came (Mom, Dad, Suz, Joe and Katy) we had around 30 people for dinner.

The weather was so nice and mild ... we had some dark clouds roll by in the mid evening that got us worried, but it didn't rain and people came out in droves. This was one of the first years where GR and I did a better job of inviting more of our neighborhood friends, rather than having such a high percentage be church friends and acquantances.

We served 192 servings of ice cream! We moved out behind the playhouse so we were closer to the crowd. I also recruited some helpers this year. My sister Suz, soon to be sister-in-law Katy and friend Steph all helped us serve up all the root beer floats. I did up my cup size to a 12 oz. cup which helped equal out the root beer and ice cream per portions. The other thing we did this year was use dry ice to help keep the ice cream from turning to soup. It worked fantastically - that is unless it was in direct contact with the ice cream and then it worked a little too fantastically. Maybe if it were wrapped in newspaper?





The electric fire system GR, Charlie and Joe worked so hard on worked so well! In the past each shell has been hand fired, causing pauses of a couple of minutes between sets of shells. This year, they were able to flip a switch which sent an electrical current down a wire attached to each fuse, which would fire off each shell. The firing was well timed; by far their best shoot yet! His shows have rivaled professional shoots in the past, but his year, you'd be hard pressed to see much of a difference between his show and most other small town shows.

The only disadvantage we had this year was the wind. It was blowing straight south - toward the crowd - covering everyone with a layer of debris and ash instead of away from the crowd and into the woods. But everyone took it in stride and still left the show saying nothing but praise!



Every year I am astounded by the size of the crowd - well over 200 this year - and the interest people have in coming out for a backyard show and enjoying one another's company. I am also deeply touched and humbled by the number of people who over the years have asked contribute to what has been fondly coined the "Save GR's marriage fund" (aka the root beer float and fireworks fund). The thoughtfulness and generosity of our friends and neighbors, leaves me speechless and with a lump in my throat.

Preparations

June 30th, 2009

This time of year means lots of preparations happening at this house, gearing up for good times to come.

GR and his band of merry men, have been working hard for weeks now building a new firing system for this weekends fireworks display. The hope is that it will allow them to fire each shell more quickly, resulting in fewer and shorter pauses than hand firing all the shells. If this works, this years show should prove to be the best yet.



And because they are hoping to go with electric fire, they need tubes for each shell so they won't have to reload any ... that's a lot of tubes. Each year they add a few more to their inventory, so building racks has also been on their Tuesday night to-do list.





GR has also started testing rib recipes for this years Ward BBQ Contest. The kids LOVE this tradition and are becoming quite good little food critics. GR made this recipe on Saturday, using some special finds we got last week at the Farmers Market. There are plans for a few more taste tests but we're pretty confident we've found the recipe he'll use this year. From what we can tell, this years contest should be a good one, the competition will be fierce and fun, sure to produce amazing ribs from all who participate.

How many CSRs does it take to repair a dishwasher?

The full story ...

Earlier this year we had our dishwasher serviced. The top rack dishes were not getting clean ... grit was getting cemented on the glasses every time we ran the dishwasher. A royal waste of time and water, if you ask me, since they all had to be hand scrubbed in super hot water to get the grit off.

LeRoy came out, cleaned out the motor and got it working, but wasn't sure how much longer it would last, predicting that within the year it would need to be replaced. At the end of the service call he mentioned a service agreement/warranty I could purchase for $90 that would cover all parts and labor on the machine for the next year. I bought it on the spot after clarifying that it would cover all parts and labor (LeRoy mentioned the motor would cost ~$300) ... $90 seemed like a good investment.

Fast forward a few months ... The dishwasher worked really well for a few weeks after LeRoy left and then it went back to it's old tricks again. Near the end of May, I was able to make an appointment for June 4th, and requested LeRoy to come back.

June 4th ... Within 10 minutes of looking at the dishwasher, LeRoy assessed that the motor did indeed need to be replaced. His inventory list showed it wasn't on his truck, but he went to look anyway, and found one - yippee!! Took out my old motor, went to install the new motor, but discovered the seal from the old motor wasn't salvageable AND he didn't have the part on his truck - he searched his truck for a good 45 minutes trying to find it. His inventory sheet listed one in stock, otherwise he'd have never started. So the part got ordered - it would be shipped to the house -LeRoy would return the following Thursday. In the meantime the dishwasher would not - could not be used.

June 9th ... Sears called to tell me the part had shipped and to call them when the part arrived so the service appointment could be scheduled.

June 10th ... The part arrived, but when I called to confirm arrival of the part, the only service appointment available is Friday. One more day, we can handle that.

June 12th ... late afternoon, LeRoy arrives. He installs the new motor and seal lick-ity-split. My friend Kelly who's over with her kids, loads my dishwasher and starts it. 10 minutes into the cycle, water pours out of the bottom of the machine. I call LeRoy's cell - he comes back ~5:30 and finds that the drain pump needs to be replaced. Another part that needs to be ordered.

June 18th ... I've had no word from Sears, so I call. CS has no clue what I'm talking about. No part is on order, no follow-up appointment is scheduled. I make an appointment for Monday, request LeRoy, and specifically tell the CSR that I speak that a drain pump needs to be on his truck so he can make the repair.

June 20th ... LeRoy stops by the house first thing in the morning. Becca answers the door and before I can get downstairs to talk with him, he tells Becca, that the drain pump is on back order and he's not sure when it will come in. I am totally confused, and call Sears ... relay the timeline and repair history to three different CSRs in an effort to determine if the part will be in for my Monday AM appointment - trying to explain that there is no point for a repairman to come without the part. The part is ordered that morning, and a "rush" is put on it. I am told to call back Sunday to track the parts progress and if necessary reschedule my Monday morning appointment.

June 21st ... I call Sears ... mid sentence we are disconnected. I call back and am told they are experiencing call center issues and to call back in an hour or so.

June 22nd ... A technician is still scheduled to arrive anytime between 8 and noon. I was told he would call ahead to let me know what time he would arrive and if he could not reach me at home, he would call the cell number. Consequently, with cell phone in hand, I take the kids to VBS. On my way home I call Sears to determine if the drain pump has arrived. Drive on hold and am home by the time I'm talking to a real person. While talking to the CSR I discover a post-it note on the door from Glen who was in my driveway at 9:14, six minutes before I walked in the door. I loose my temper and vent a bit of frustration at the entire system ... why ask for a number you have no intention of given the repairman? What a royal waste of every ones time!! The CSR gets in touch with the repairman who eventually calls me and shows up around 11am ... he does not have the part necessary to fix the dishwasher, but as to not waste his trip, takes a second look to see if there is anything more he can do to help the dishwasher along. Glen finds a few more things that could stand to be replaced, orders all the parts and tells me he'll be back on Thursday to install everything.

June 24th ... call from Sears CS ... seams my parts will arrive sometime Thursday. They cannot guarantee UPS will deliver them before the repairman arrives, and suggest moving the appointment to Friday morning. I tell the CSR that I want to keep both appointments so my dishwasher that services a family of seven, has now be inoperable at no fault of mine, for three weeks now, can be up and running as quickly as humanly possible. I'm told that it is physically impossible for me to have a service appointment for Thursday and Friday. I press the matter more than once and the CSR could really care less. Backed in to a corner, with no where else to go, I relent and change the appointment to Friday morning.

June 25th ... the parts arrive.

June 26th ... Glen arrives. The parts department sent him six of one of the parts he ordered ... five more than he needed. Thankfully they sent all the other parts too and was able to install all the necessary parts. It took him quite a while to get everything cleaned out, taken a part and then put back together again. But the machine now works!!

LeRoy called an hour or more after Glen left to let me know that the drain pump he had ordered for me had arrived. I brought him up to speed on what had happened on my end, and he did the same. Turns out when he went to order the part on the 12th they were back ordered, so he tried to get the part through other connections in an effort to save time and, well it didn't save anytime. Thankfully he'll be able to use the part elsewhere and since it will be on his truck, this all won't happen to someone else.

I should explain that I was really happy with the two repairman that came to service the machines. The customer service department and the parts department - not so much.

Thanks to all who had some fun with GR on facebook about all this ... you helped us smile our way through a straw that was trying to break our back. More thanks to those sweet soles who came and washed our dishes ... totally unnessecary, but oh so nice to have good conversation and a clean kitchen in the end (gave me time to clean up everything else).

My mom's been in town ... last night while we went to the MoTab concert, she got all the kids involved in hand washing the dishes and drying them. They were actually arguing about who would do the bubbles and who should rise. Hopefully we can carry this over to loading and unloading the dishwasher. I'm so behind in handing out specific chores and daily tasks to the kids. They do their share of work around here, but it's by assignment, as needed, and if I can just get some breathing room in this schedule of mine, I need to create a daily tasks chart for each of them and expand their repertoire to something more regular than - by assignment as needed.

I am just so glad this is all over! Now if Commerce would just send me the ATM cards I requested weeks ago, there will be no more reasons for me to call 1-800 CS numbers.

Green Sky

Sam's t-ball game got cut short thanks to this ugly looking storm that came rolling through this evening. The temperature dropped a good 20 degrees, the wind picked up and there was a sinister teal green tint to the sky hiding behind the large wispy gray clouds and the heavy dark charcoal gray clouds.



The storm didn't produce nearly what I thought it would given the amazing cloud display! I totally expected to spend much of the night camped out in the basement with the kids all in makeshift sleeping bags, holding their one of the six or more flashlights we own. All the flashlights of course contain dead batteries, because in this house they are toys, not items for emergency preparedness. Thankfully, that was not the case! Power was only out for a few minutes, and no sirens sounded.

Note to self ... buy a lot of D batteries the next time you are at the store!

30 minutes of my life this morning

Email written to GR this morning ... sent at 9:51 am.

Took kids to VBS @ Methodist Church … Got home at 9:20. Found note from repair technician … not LeRoy … on door. He was there at 9:14. He did NOT call my cell phone - [why ask for my cell number when I make the appointment if they don't give the repairman my cell number to call]?

While he was in our driveway I was on the phone [my cell phone] with customer service and driving home. Supposedly, the technician will call me back. I STILL DO NOT KNOW IF THE REPAIRMAN EVEN HAS THE PART NECESSARY TO FIX MY DISHWASHER!! I’m suppose to discuss my problem with him and see if we can find a solution.

I got rather frustrated on the phone … I feel I was justified, although I did explain that it was not her fault, but I had talked with 5 different people this weekend trying to resolve my issue and no one, no one has been able to truly answer my questions and resolve my issue.

* * * * *
Alex is singing “Rock and Roll with Rudy” over and over and over again. I’m confident he’s on his 2nd round of 100!

* * * * *
Anna tried to eat the flowers I put in the trash can.

===== end message =====

After hearing about this email, and knowing a bit about our dishwasher saga, said we should be a reality tv show ...

This dishwasher mess is about to put GR and I over the edge. We've been without a dishwasher since the 4th and when Glen returned to look it over an hour or so after he called, Sears had not supply him with the necessary part to make the repair nor had they given him my cell number. Thankfully he did his due diligence and looked over the machine to familiarize himself with what was wrong. He found a few more things to replace, and when it was all said and done, he ordered $169.26 worth of parts (including a drain pump) and said he'd be back Thursday morning to install them.



When this is all over ... meaning the dishwasher is in good working order ... either because all the necessary parts have finally arrived, or GR gets fed up and goes to Best Buy to purchase a new one, I'll post the play by play of what it's taken to get it up and running.

----------------------

In other news, Anna took her first steps this afternoon. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's to swim and she took a few steps in the kitchen on the tile!! My friend Kathy said she'd taken a little one at church yesterday so I was totally surprised when she took 3-4 in a row this afternoon! It won't be long now!

Father's Day

Ever had one of those days where you expected one thing, got another and in the end it was totally okay? In a nutshell, that was today.

I woke up to GR talking to his councilors on the phone, saying he wouldn't be at his early morning church meetings and he wasn't sure if/when he'd make it in for church. He'd gotten a migraine and felt sick to his stomach.

GR takes the church program in for me and it magically gets photocopied and folded. Since he wasn't going in, I needed to get it to church earlier than 8:55 when we typically roll in. Anna and I got ready, and just as we left for the church around 7:40, the girls woke up. I asked them to please remind everyone to get dressed for church and eat some breakfast, suggesting that if the boys weren't awake by 8, to wake them up. I would help them finish things up when I got back and we could leave. Anna and I didn't get back until nearly 8:30 and I was very worried about what I was going to walk into. But I found everyone dressed, shoes on (Alex needed help getting his on) and fed (I have no idea what they ate, because the kitchen looked exactly the same way it did when I left.)



I am so proud of all they did this morning!! The more I think about it the more amazed I am. Our Sunday mornings never go that smoothly! When I told GR about it this afternoon, he was totally clueless. He had no idea I'd left and the children had gotten all ready for church by themselves. Obviously, they did it without fighting or arguing too much, cause he slept through the entire thing.



We spent a quiet afternoon at home playing and baking. The kids & I decided to make Ester Bolick's Orange Maralide Cake for Father's Day. This cake is quite famous in my Mitford Series and in the book I just finished listening too, they give the recipe. The cake was beautiful, and yummy, but as is true with most things, it wasn't quite as good as the book.

** The picture of the kids was Friday's attempt at getting a really good shot for them to send out as a Father's Day remembrance. Sadly, all their willingness to participate got used up picking peas. This frame (only one of four I took in total) was good enough to email the Grandpa's, even though the cards never happened.

Working for Peas

Our playgroup met at a local farm to pick peas this morning. Pick all the peas you want, the farm will keep half, and you get the other half to take home as payment for your labor. The weather was pretty mild when we started out, but in an open field, the sun got pretty warm.



My Grandfather would be so proud to see what great pea picking great grandchildren he has! We arrived at the farm around 10, and it was obvious the rows had already been pretty well combed - especially the Sugar Snap variety. Rebecca, Alex and Sam worked with me in a Sugar Snap row, doing a very nice job of working together combing through the plants, looking for peas that were long enough and fat enough to pick. Emily worked with my friend Donna over in the Snow Pea row. Those two had much better success - Emily's peas (in her right hand) represent 1/4 of the peas they picked. 1/2 went to the farm, 1/4 went to Donna, and 1/4 went to Emily.





Now that they've done all this work, I'm really, really, really hopeful they will actually EAT the peas when I serve them for dinner. We shall see.

After the work comes the play

The kids helped GR wax the minivan today and after wards were rewarded with a run through the sprinkler. They had such a good time. When I saw that they had gotten the umbrellas out, I handed GR the camera. Here are a few of my favorites that perfectly capture their ability to create pure joy and happiness out of something so simple ... water and an umbrella.

Special Date Night

We don't go out on dates but a few times each year - and really, the times we do get out, it's for church or work functions and I hardly call those dates ... five kids the ages of ours just make it less than easy to have a date night, even with willing family and favorite loyal babysitters.

But when our friends Kevin and Katrina called to see if we'd be interested in attending a Friday night cooking class at a Whole Foods type store that included being served the gourmet dinner we'd be shown how to make, we moved heaven and earth to go.

Over the years I've heard amazing things about the chefs they have teach here - my favorite scone recipe, Alyson got from a class she took from them, and it was great fun to finally experience it first hand. Chef Paige, shared with us a Mediterranean-Inspired Summer Menu that was fantastic and so satisfying. I have to admit that GR and I both felt extremely uncultured and uneducated in the ways of the culinary world, something that hopefully we can remedy once the kids are a little older and can be a bit more self sufficient. We've had a taste of the outside world and well, it was nice.

Potato Gnocchi with Asparagus, Browned Butter & Herbs (we forgot to take a picture until we were all to the very, very last bites on our plates, between the four plates, there was just enough to piece together this fork full. It was amazing, and I hope I can learn to duplicate it at home!


Roasted Rack of Lamb with Mustard Breadcrumbs served with Green Salad with Seasonal Vegetables & Olives


Apricot Custard Tart with Almonds


We truly had a magnificent time. It was a wonderful way to spend the eve of our 11th wedding anniversary. And it was so nice to spend it with friends, thank you Kevin and Katrina for thinking of us. Thank you again to your friends for making other plans and giving us their spots! And thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for making sure the right child made it to the right activity - both scheduled at the exact same time - Sam to his t-ball game, the girls to practice.

It was such a memorable treat for us.

It's All About the Details

Well before I opened Tiny Stitches, I wanted a label I could sew onto my handmade baby blankets or burp cloths, signing my name to what has been my signature baby gift for 12 years. I wanted something chic, I wanted something durable and I wanted something I could afford. I tried to talk myself into something I could print on my home computer and iron or sew on to the fabrics ... but I worried about the durability. My stuff gets used, and used a lot - just the way I like it! I needed, okay I wanted, something that would hold up to being washed and washed and washed and washed through multiple babies. I knew I needed - wanted - a woven tag/label.

Over the last two years I've looked on and off at all the woven label possiblities on and off Etsy, trying to find something that would meet my needs. The hard part is I don't need 1000 labels. I couldn't use up 1000 labels in my lifetime, not to mention the huge investment they would be - ouch. There simply isn't that kind of cash laying around these parts!

Earlier this year Heather and I were talking about labels and she sent me the link to an Etsy shop I'd ear marked before, that provided small runs and allowed me to design my own label, using whatever fonts I wanted. Just before we left for St. Louis for Rebecca's birthday, I took the plunge and ordered my very first run of labels! They arrived on the 21st of May and I love them.

I quietly carried one in my pocket for days. I carefully hand sewed them into a friends baby gift (which had be finished for nearly a week ... yes, I was waiting) during the girls softball practice, so I could finally mail them to her.

Now hopefully long after someone gets my blankets and has lost the tag and business card I ship with them and a someone asks who made their blanket, they can look at the corner and say ... Kathleen of Tiny Stitches.