Cleaning House

There is a recurring theme here, as I work through the past week's events...

Last Saturday, Rylan went through promotions and earned her blue belt.

A warm up round of jumping jacks

Star block set

 

Blue belt!  I love the confidence showing here... When she was started last November, she was afraid to look her instructors in the eye.  This makes me very happy to see!

Here is a short video of our Rylan, along with the other Rylan (love it that there is another Rylan  - it is such an unusual name to begin with - and to have a classmate with the same name is just plain hilarious in my book)  doing the Tiger Set #2 with their instructor, Mr. Baptista.  The other Rylan then went on to do Tiger Set #3 on his own.  He was the highest ranked belt in this current promotions, and our Rylan is just one belt below him.  I think Rylan is only just beginning to learn Tiger Set #3 - and there are only nine weeks between promotions - I'm anxious to see if she will learn it in time...

Rylan's grandparents, (my dad and stepmom) attended the promotions - this was their first time seeing Rylan doing karate.  They loved seeing all the little kids in their outfits and they were very impressed with how long they could stand still, at attention.  (quite frankly, so am I!).  It was great to have them there.  Afterwards we went to walk around a sidewalk chalk art show that was going on across the street from the academy.

This square was just one of about 70 that various local artists were creating as part of a fund raiser for a safehouse.  There was some amazing stuff - I wish I had taken more pictures.  :(

On Sunday afternoon, our Girl Scout troop held a fall picnic and beginning of the year ceremony, including Rylan's Daisy Troop Investiture Ceremony.  I am the Daisy Troop Leader, and I can say, without a doubt, I have no idea what I am doing.  I just wing it.  I am trying to invest myself emotionally in this, but it is not working.  I have spent untold hours trying to make sense of the Girl Scout website and the program... but I am just lost as to what the end goal really is.  This is where Boy Scouts really shines for me - they know what they are doing.  I just can't really understand what the GS leadership is thinking here  - and they have had 100 years to figure it out.  I read about tremendous frustration on the GS message boards every day - so much that it is dragging me down and feeding my negative vibe here...  The bottom line is that if this is the way to bring Rylan together with other little girls - then in that respect, it is working.  Our group of girls is wonderful.  They are inquisitive, respectful and cheerful.  I just feel so much like a fish out of water with all of this, I hope I am not doing them an injustice by being so aloof.  Anyway... I digress.  Here is a photo.  Dean was running the camera during the ceremony, while I was bumbling my way through, pinning the Daisy pins on the girls and distributing patches.  I wish I had more pics to share, but they all contain a lot of other girls, and that requires a lot of parent permissions, so I am not messing with it.

We also had the girls do a flag ceremony.  Apparently this was the first time the troop has ever done that.  I had asked the other two leaders (Brownies and Juniors) during a planning session how they did the flag ceremony, and I got blank stares. (no, I am not indicating that my fellow leaders are in anyway negligent - it just had never been done before)  See, that is the thing about the Girl Scouts organization.  There is none!  The whole entity is just this feel-goody nebula of ideas for activities that girls could do, if they felt so inclined.  Here is what bothers me deeply.  See that American flag patch on Rylan's vest up there?  The Girl Scouts organization indicates that the patch is a required emblem.  Well of course, they do - they are a patriotic organization.  Why, in the second line of the Girl Scout Promise it reads : To serve God and my country.  If that is the case, why are there no clear and defined guidelines for proper flag ceremony procedure for the organization?  Sure, there is a loosely detailed run down on the GS website - complete with what to say, but here is the kicker.  It is listed as *optional*.  There is no *optional* when it comes to this.  If you are nationally organized patriotic entity, a flag ceremony should not be optional, it should be required.  Major fail, Girl Scouts.  I'm not some patriotic fanatic - but I have been to enough Boy Scout events to know that they take their flag ceremonies very seriously, and it is eternally shameful that the Girl Scout are all *whatever* about it. 

Long story short, we did one.  We took our awesomely huge flag that hangs on our house, and Dean rigged a pole and stand with stuff he found in the basement.  The extension pole from our paint roller, some PVC pipe and a patio furniture umbrella stand were used.  The beautiful thing is is that it worked.  The older scouts were excited to do the ceremony, and they did a pretty good job for only getting the instructions on how to do it about five minutes before we began.  My biggest fear is that they would forget what they were doing and accidentally drag the flag on the ground.  That would be bad.  But, nope - they did great.  I was also a bit pushy about doing a flag ceremony because our picnic fell on the date of 9-11, and it would be a shame if we skipped it.  As an afterthought - I really need to make it a priority to teach Rylan the Pledge of Allegiance.  There are just some procedural things in life that you never think about when you homeschool.  Saying the pledge is one of them.  Teaching the kids their phone number and address is another.  And fire safety.  And self-protection. (stranger danger).  I need to get on the ball with some of this stuff.

The rest of the week is a bit of a blur.  I spent a good deal of time cleaning (I just 'met' FlyLady - oh boy....) and working on making organizational tables for writing out short-term lesson plans.  I have always wanted to make a homeschool binder that would house everything.  Our schedule, lesson plans, book lists, long-range checklists...  So I started with the basics and will go from there.  I also had an incentive - we were holding a meeting with our homeschooling group (the topic was organization), and I, the organizer for this particular meeting, didn't want to look like an unprepared fool.  I've got all these great ideas in my head, it is just hard getting them down on paper.  I know that organization is THE number one topic of concern when it comes to homeschooling, and a lot of parents would be looking for ideas/help/answers and so forth. 

Wednesday we picked up Jordan from the airport - he was coming home from a six week stay with his mom.  The visit seemed to go okay for the most part.  Jordan sounded massively bored, whenever we talked with him on the phone.  His grandma (Dean's mom) kept him very busy with field trips and stuff to do on the days that she had him, while Jordan's mom was at work.  That was a huge help!  Jordan got to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of Braum's (lucky dog), several museums, do a volunteer day at the food bank, and play with his cousins.  He also came home with a ton of new toys - courtesy of some doting grandparents and money he earned cleaning the house for his mom.  It was a little bit of a rude awakening for him to come home with this 'stuffitis' mentality (gotta buy more stuff) and we are in the midst of our financial crisis (see other blog) and we have the mentality of BUY NOTHING.  I think he is over it, at this point.  The re-entry period is basically over.  He went through his typical gaming withdrawal, and has rediscovered the joy of reading.  The novel that he took with him for the six weeks was barely touched while he was there, but when he got home he started reading again and he is done with it.  Glad to have him home.  We are back on the full-blown school schedule with him this week, and he is actually happy to be back at it.  That says something about the level of boredom he experienced.  His mom apparently had a CT scan while he was staying there, and it is supposedly clean - no signs of cancer.  The odd thing is, there was no email message about this to us, so we are not sure what to make of it.  It is good news for sure - if it were me, I would have told the world!

Thursday night was the meeting.  I brought absolutely everything that I could think of that fit along the lines of organization.  I talked about grocery shopping, meal planning, house cleaning, scheduling, tracking school hours, short-term and long-term planning, goal setting and so on.  That got me thinking that maybe I would do a series of posts about each topic.  Then you won't have to hear me complain about anything else.  :)  The meeting went well, was fairly attended and I learned a lot from a couple of other moms who were there.  I am sure I came across as a psycho-organizational-fanatic, but oh well.  I hope not, but I think after passing around page after page of different sorts of lists and tables, the reputation couldn't be helped.  I tried to convey the fact that I have no short-term memory - no front OR back burners working here!!  If it is not written down somewhere, I will forget it.  If I don't plan my day, I will fritter it away without fail.  I use these lists for basic survival, people!

There was some emotion at the meeting - it has been a rough month or so for our group.  We have exploded in size (we are now 140+ families strong.  When we joined five years ago, there were only 50 or so active families), and there are so many differing opinions about which direction the group should go.  The email traffic went off the charts during the month of August, and it got to the point where I could no longer face my inbox, I was so overwhelmed.  I organize one of the three Park Days (three different days, three different cities) for our group, and made a change last month to the time frame to include a portion of the morning hours as well, to accommodate moms (like me) that have afternoon nappers.  Since no one hardly attends the park day, I felt I was well within my rights to do so.  I had sent out an email two months ago soliciting comments/suggestions, and I heard from no one.  140 families.  NO ONE!!!!  Excuse me?  So I said, f*#k it - if no one cares, I'll customize it to suit the few moms that do go.  We've had rain the past two Wednesdays, so I have no idea if this new time will actually bring more people to Park Day or not.  So, now I've heard that one mom in particular, who attended one of the other park days was talking smack behind my back about the fact that I had no right to change it. (I have never seen her there)  Talk about high school mentality.  So you wanna go there?? 

 Uh-oh....my inner high school bitch coming through...

* You've been a member how long?? Uh-huh... that's what I thought.

* You can get off your fat a$$ and organize your own thing if you don't like it.

* You can read your f*#king email and respond when I was ask for opinions instead of complaining after the fact.

* You can take your rude comments and go join the Christian group instead...

ooooo... now that felt good.  A little too good.   Just like cleaning house - I had to sweep that crap right out of my brain.  So sorry it had to fall in your lap, though.  Let's shine this all up with something pleasant to look at.

That's better

When life gives you tomatoes...

You have to draw the line somewhere.  You can only stuff so many cherry tomatoes in your mouth in a day.  And then there are the big ones.  Only so many sandwiches, or wedges drizzled in balsamic vinaigrette or sprinkled with sugar... Why do they seem to ripen ALL at once?  What do you do? 

I developed a tomato sauce routine years ago, when I was averaging 30 plants and had just a garden to take care of - not kids.  Now I am down to a more reasonable 18 (I started with 20).  Two are cherries and the rest are an odd collection of mismatched pairs of either store-bought plants or starts my dad gave me.  I have a new favorite though - German Strawberry.  Oh.  My.  That one is good! 

I begin by doing a massive picking.  I drag out the colanders and pick every red tomato I can find.  This includes the cherries because they have an awesome flavor.  I even pick the ones that have evidence of a bug or two, splits or end rot.  You can always trim that stuff away and use the good side.  A good-sized batch is enough to fill an entire cookie sheet - mounded up in a pile.  That is where I got the name for my routine - the cookie sheet method.

You begin by assembling your stuff....

* A cookie sheet full of a mound of tomatoes. Why a cookie sheet?  Because one cookie sheet (like the one above) will be exactly enough to fill your crock pot - an inch or two from the rim.

* Crock pot, set on high for the first hour.

* slotted spoon for retrieving tomatoes from the boiling water

* A large stock pot filled halfway with water, set to boil

* another cookie sheet

* a cutting board and empty bowl for the stuff you cut away, and for the skins

* a colander in the sink

* an empty plastic bowl in the other sink

* most importantly - a fan!  It's going to get hot standing by the pot of boiling water...

You set up in assembly-line style.  I begin by trimming the tops and cutting away the yucky stuff (if there was any) and then dropping it into the colander in the sink next to me.  Then Rylan (having a helper is great!!) will wash the tomato and put it into the bowl in the next sink.  Rylan is currently suffering from what I call the Cinderella Complex.  She insists on wearing a princess dress while performing menial household tasks.

Take the bowl of washed tomatoes and gently tip them into the boiling water.  The water should be at a full, rolling boil.  Let them stay in the water while you trim up another batch of tomatoes, and rinse them.  That should be ample time for the skin to split on the tomatoes in the boiling water.  The trick is to keep the cycle going continuously.  When you're done washing the next batch, remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and set them on the spare cookie sheet.  Leave them there to cool as you continue the trimming, washing and boiling routine until all of the tomatoes are done. 

At this point. all of the tomatoes should be on the cooling cookie sheet.  If you can, set the tomatoes from back to front as you go, so that you won't inadvertently pick up a hot one and burn yourself.  Pick up a tomato, and squeeze it gently as you hold it over the crock pot.  It should just slip out of its skin.  You might have to give it a little pinch where it attaches on the underside of the tomato.  When you are done, the crock pot should be full.

Add some fresh basil (if you have it) and a good heaping teaspoon of dried oregano, and a teaspoon of salt.  I grew some basil for the first time this year, and it is absolute awesomeness.  It is amazing how it immediately fills the entire kitchen with a heady aroma the second I cut it.  I am lacking in the knife skills department, so I've found a pizza cutter to be a very effective tool for making long cuts like this.  I also use it to cut noodles or wedges for my crescent rolls.

Next step is to take two large serrated knives and work them in opposite directions to cut up the tomatoes until no large chunks are left.  Then cover the crock pot and switch it to low.  Let it go for about 8-10 hours (or even overnight).  Your house will smell amazing as time goes on...  When it is done, the liquid should have reduced by quite a bit and you should see the level in the crock pot drop by a good amount.  Let it cool for a couple of hours.  This time around, I started in the early afternoon.  I got up with Dean around 1 am (he was leaving to hike Long's Peak) and turned off the crock pot.  I let it sit, uncovered, until I got up again at seven, and by then it was cool enough to bag it.

Using a 4 cup liquid measuring cup, ladle out the tomato sauce until you reach 28 oz.  Why 28?  Because that is the usual size of can that is called for in recipes that use diced or crushed tomatoes (like spaghetti, chili, stew and so forth).  Pour it carefully into a quart-sized ziploc, and then seal it - make sure to push all of the air out as you go.  Then lay it flat on a cookie sheet.  Label it and then place it flat in the freezer.  If you don't have the temporary freezer space for a cookie sheet, lay the bag on top of a flat surface, like a pizza box or something.  This way, it will freeze nice and flat.  Then, once it is frozen solid, you can store it upright, or stack several of them together.  To defrost one, I recommend putting it on a plate and leaving it in your fridge over night - or your counter for several hours.   A full crock pot will yield about 6 - 7 of these bags.  This whole process took me about 45 minutes, plus the cooking and cooling time.  The taste is absolutely amazing and well worth it!

I love it best with elbow macaroni.  I just add several ladle-fulls on top of the cooked macaroni in a bowl.  Yum!  Like I said, you can use it whenever a recipe calls for diced, crushed or stewed tomatoes.  Enjoy!

Camping, the Girl Scout way

Last weekend we went camping at Meadow Mountain Girl Scout Ranch with our Girl Scout troop.  We went with five other families - yes it was for the whole family, not just moms and girls.  We were situated in a cluster of units, called 'tabins' (stupid name) that surrounded a campfire ring, tables, and a supply shed.  Here is our tabin.  It had eight bunks (the most uncomfortable sleeping platforms on this earth), a wooden floor, and a split between wood and canvas walls.  It was actually very nice to have room to spread out and we could set up Colin's bassinet near our beds and so forth.  I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on this campout, but it was nicer than being in a tent.

There were three main activities that the girls were focusing on during this campout.  Now, Rylan is too young to be doing badge work yet, but she will get a couple of participation badges out of it.

First up was making gorp.  Every family brought something to add to the mix...

It was very good - and was going to come in handy for the next activity - Geocaching.  There were seven (I think) geocaches spread out over the property, just for the purpose of the scouts to find them.  We split into three teams, each with a GPS and waypoint coordinates, and set out.

The camp property is pretty vast... this was going to be a bit of a hike!



This was our team, on our way to our first waypoint. 



Onlookers...



Brush pile.... NOT a bonfire waiting to happen...



Mt. Meeker, to our north...



Another troop was preparing to ride...



A meeting between teams.  There was some confusion about waypoints.



See all the berry seeds?  Bear scat.  Luckily, a few days old...



Now that is a happy hiker!!



We rested the remainder of the afternoon.  The kids explored around the campsite...

Not what you think...



Colin's first time in hiking boots (they were Owen's)

While the older girls settled down to do some Basic First Aid training.  Rylan sat in on this but quickly became bored.  About this time an afternoon rainstorm blew in, so we were in our tabin, napping with the boys, while Rylan was with the rest of the girls.  The girls were also to do some solar cooking with pizza boxes on this day, but the sunshine just never did show up.

Then it was dinner time.  Each family had signed up for one of the meals.  Tonight's dinner was 'Hobo packets'.  This was the highlight of the camp for me - it was an awesome dinner!  To make hobo packets, you can use beef, chicken, maybe even pork, and a variety of vegetables.  We had sliced chicken breast (pre-cooked), raw ground beef, diced potatoes, diced sweet potatoes, sliced zucchini, sliced carrots, and a bag of frozen corn to choose from.  Then you add some sauce or seasoning - jarred spaghetti sauce, salsa, minced onion, S & P, seasoned salt... the list is endless.  You make your packet by taking a generous square of foil, spray it with nonstick spray, make a central pile of the meat, veggies and seasoning you choose, and then wrap it up.  I would put in several dabs of butter for good measure.  Then just nestle it into the hot ashes of the fire, or on the grill plate above the fire, and give it a good 30-45 minutes to cook.  If you are using raw meat, I would go with closer to 45.  Pull it from the ashes, put it on a plate, and open carefully.  The great thing about this dinner is that it stays hot for a long time.  The kids really enjoyed it, and ate a decent helping for a change!

Then it was time for s'mores and a talent show. 

We had a good time, and being able to visit with the other parents was fabulous - especially as a family.  We don't get together as "families" nearly enough in this group - it's mostly just moms and kids - so I like it when dads can be involved too.  This Girl Scout troop is a homeschool troop, so there is a kinship there.

The next morning we all settled in for a group breakfast, and wished Dean and another dad a Happy Birthday and sang to them.



All in all, it was a good experience.  The camp itself was a wonderful facility.  There was plenty of firewood, water and a pit toilet was nearby.  We had a nice shed to store our coolers and food boxes overnight.  There were several other troops in the camp, but we were spread out enough that you couldn't hear them very often.  But.

A couple of concerns...

1) I cannot stand screaming girls.  I just can't.  Especially the screaming for no apparent reason.  Most of the girls slept in the same tabin - so the screaming was intense at times.

2) There was an issue of the older girls being exclusive and shutting others out.  I have no idea, because I was mainly focused on not losing two toddlers in the woods or keeping them away from all things deadly, like the campfire, hot water and the cook stove.  I hope the older ones sort this out - I gather this is an ongoing issue.

3) One girl in particular, (I don't know her very well - in fact this was the first time I had ever met her) did an incredibly mean thing.  I won't repeat it here, but as soon as Dean and I heard her shout out something extremely inappropriate about another little girl, we looked at each other, too stunned to speak.  It reminded me of those horrible camp movies of the 80's, like Little Darlings or something like that.  The wonderful thing was that the other girls immediately told her to not say stuff like that - that it could hurt some one's feelings.  Good for them!! - Huge kuddos for doing the right thing.

But that got me thinking... Girls can be so mean.  The kind of emotional havoc that can ensue when a little queen bee is around can be devastating.  That is one of the primary reasons why I don't want Rylan in public school.  The subversive psychological warfare is unbelievably effective - worse than any bully who takes a swing on the playground or snatches your lunch money.  It's the same stuff that leads older girls to consider suicide when it gets bad enough.  But it seems that, whenever you get a bunch of little girls together, there is an unspoken event taking place. They are categorizing, sorting, sizing each other up, and determining who is on top.  No matter the age.  Alliances form and the low woman on the totem pole is shoved out.  I know.  I was one who was shoved out - in Bluebirds.  I even remember the day it happened - at a meeting at Suzi S.'s house.  That is the sad thing.  You don't ever forget it!

I will try my hardest to prevent it from happening in our own Daisy troop, but I have my concerns.  I suppose, in my role as a Daisy leader, I need to help guide these girls and help them manage their feelings and emotions as they grow (so much happens when their parents aren't watching...), but I don't want my own daughter caught in the fray either!   I suppose this is where I need to consider what is to be gained in the big picture.  I know that, at some point, there will be hurt feelings in our group.  Behaviors will have to be addressed (even more so since some girls are not accustomed to being in a group such as this - I know Rylan isn't), and life lessons will be learned.

There are plans afoot to return to the camp this November.  I'm not sure if this will be a whole family thing again, but I imagine since it might be considerably colder, the little ones would stay home.  We'll see!

On the inside...

Owen's chest x-ray, 9/3/2011

As I sat there, in the little Urgent Care exam room, looking at this copy of Owen's chest x-ray, I couldn't help but feel the very same feelings I had when I first saw him, 20 weeks old, during the ultrasound.  All I could think of was, "Wow.  I made that!"  I made this!  My body put this amazing little person together.  (Sure, sure, I know, Dean gets half the credit, but I'm speaking of the actual, physical product...).  My body regulated every process (spearheaded by explicit instructions from the DNA, of course) that created this little human.  It fed it, protected it, kept it at a certain temperature...  Amazing...  I see his little heart up there and I remember hearing it for the first time when he was ten weeks in utero.  His vertebrae, diaphragm, ribs, lungs...

Oh yeah.  The lungs.  Now those are a problem.  Ever since this little boy caught RSV at ten months of age, those pesky lungs act up every once in awhile.  See that circle?  Pneumonia.  No idea he was sick 24 hours before this chest x-ray was taken.  Really.  No cough.  No wheeze.  Not even a drippy nose.  Sneezing yes.  But of course, our whole family has been sneezing, courtesy of the pollen, for a few weeks now.  Owen got very wheezy and gurgly at bedtime, but steadfastly refused to have a turn on the nebulizer.  I was too tired to argue.  By 6:45 am. when I heard the very distinct sound of him coughing so hard he was throwing up, then it was time to take action.  The first round of Albuterol worked.  Four hours later, it didn't.  No idea, even then, that he was going in a very southern direction.  I didn't even know he had a temperature...  (LAME!)

Urgent Care is great.  Especially since emergency medical care concerning your children has this annoying statistical trend to occur outside of regular pediatrician's office hours.  Our local facility (a block away) is okay, but the one across town is better, so we made the drive and they ushered Owen right on in.  The nurse was terrific, the Dr. was a little annoying.  I know Owen is three, but please don't talk to him like he has a learning disability.  He 'gets' it, and doesn't need to be told that he has bananas in his ear when you turn the otoscope on him.  Geesh.  The x-ray tech (dressed in a glaring bright red shirt that screamed Husker Fan) gave Owen a really hard time for the fact that he was dressed (courtesy of his father) in OU regalia in honor of the first game of the season.

It is not an easy task to get a three year old to stand still for a chest x-ray.

But there it is.  Owen is currently on the mend.  He gets winded going up the stairs.  He enjoys a steamy shower each morning (thanks SIL for the tip) and has been able to sleep pretty well at night.  I don't know what the future holds here.  I suspect that an asthma diagnosis is pending... but he is a long way off from using an inhaler yet.  We also have some uneasy suspicions about Colin as well.  He has been very wheezy for about a month now.  I am wondering if pet hair may be a contributing factor.  Only time will tell.

Last thought.  I am forever grateful that we have the medical insurance that we do.  It is comforting to know that in times of worry - how we are going to pay for it isn't one of them.  We are very, very fortunate.  It is easy to see how one little medical crisis can set into motion a financial disaster. 

Don't do it...

Word of advice...

If you ever feel inclined to look on Facebook for friends from the past, you're going to come upon something unexpected.  Like a name you recognize on another friend's 'friends list'.  And you will stupidly click on that name, even though you know you shouldn't, because you will see something you don't want to see.  And then you see it.  Photos of your exhusband.  With the whore he left you for.  And his two beautiful twin boys.  And then you will throw up.

Birthday Bonanza

I am a really lame mom.  I have a blog and I don't even post about any one's birthday (but my own....)

So I am going to make up for that.  Now.  Since we have all now officially celebrated a birthday this year - I might as well regale you with pictures and cute moments from each birthday.  Be careful not to choke on the sappy sweetness of it all...

First up - Colin!  He turned the big '1' on Feb 5th

My gosh - he looks so tiny then - and it's only been six months!   This was such a fun birthday - we had brunch at home with family and close friends.  Come to think about it - I may have blogged about it.  I am too tired to back looking through my posts, so I will just do every family member here equal justice and call it good.  The best moment of this birthday was the second my brother, SIL, and three nephews entered the house and helped pull all of the last-minute party prep together.  You all saved me some serious face that morning!

Next up is Owen, turning three on Feb 28th (although his birthday is really on the 29th)

I think I did a blog post about our visit to the WOW museum the day before (the car picture), but for whatever reason, I never did come back and mention his actual birthday.  Owen didn't really specify what kind of birthday cake he wanted.  I knew that he was sad about losing his Thomas train that he got for Christmas, so I picked up a new one, and made a train cake to go along with it.  For me, store-bought cakes for birthdays are absolute sacrilege - I won't do it.  so I made up a train cake on my own.  And it looks it.  I never said I was good at this.  But the boy loved it (I mean *look* at that face!!) and it was priceless.  What made it all the more special is that his Oklahoma grandparents were able to link up on video chat and sing along with us as Owen blew out his candles.  That was the best little family celebration ever! 

Jordan turned 11 on May 9th.

For us, what has worked best for our kids is birthdays in small doses.  We don't do big parties.  We don't do sleepovers.  We don't invite lots and lots of kids that we only 'sorta' know.  We invite a close friend or two.  We do a family dinner and cake - ON the actual birthday.  Jordan did have a 'big' party when he turned five.  I had only known him for two months at that point.  I remember making two cakes.  We invited kids and their parents.  We served appetizers and drank beer and wine.  It was such a nice party - but I didn't know anybody except this little girl pictured above, standing with Jordan.  Here we are, six years later, and they are still the best of buds!  No birthday would be complete without Abbi.  It also happens that Rylan just adores Abbi.

We began with a small family celebration the day before his birthday, which just happened to be Mother's Day as well.  One cake for three kids - three sets of candles for Owen, Rylan and Jordan.  My brother and his family brought up birthday presents for all three kids- so it was quite a day!  On Jordan's birthday, I made his favorite cake - Chocolate Blackout Cake.  You black out from the sugar over-load.  Jordan was a trooper - he had to wait until after his scout meeting for his cake.  The Oklahoma grandparents arrived a couple of days later, and we went out to dinner to celebrate both Jordan and Rylan's birthdays.  The restaurant pick was Jordan's: The Hibachi Japanese Steakhouse.   Jordan brought along his good friend Gabe for the evening.  A couple of weeks later it was miniature golf and dinner out with friend Abbi.

Rylan turned five on May 12th

Poor Rylan.  Last year it snowed on her birthday.  This year it rained.  But she hauled in so much in the present department that she didn't seem to mind.  She began the day with a gigantic pink doll house that dominated the kitchen table.  She went shopping with Oklahoma grandparents and added stuff to it.  Then we worked on her fairy birthday cake.  Shortly after Owen's birthday (like the next morning), she said she wanted a train cake too.  Really?  Why?  "Because I want those chocolate railroad pieces".  Oh - the KitKat bars that I had used for the train tracks.  I bargained with her that I could use the KitKats and build a fairy hut or something.. Well, I forgot about that, but kept the fairy idea.  She loved her cake.  If the fairies didn't cost $6.99 a piece, there would have been more of them.  It would seem to be, judging from the reaction, that the best gift of all was the Rookie Perplexus that Jordan gave to her.  Bless him - he even paid for it too.  That hug above says it all.

Kirsten - 40 on August 8th.

Okay - most of you knew that anyway.  Here is my picture with my birthday cake.

My *lovely* children (with the help of my mother) decided that I needed ALL of my forty hard-earned candles on my cake.  That is a 13 x 9 pan of Mississippi Mud deliciousness there.

Dean - 41 on August 28th


Dean began his birthday by being serenaded by a campsite full of Girl Scouts.  Another dad (in green) has the same birthday (small world!), so they both got the Birthday song treatment.  We got home from camp, did lots of laundry and showers, and closed the day with a yummy dinner and Buster Bar ice cream cake for dessert.  Oh.  my.  yum.  See?  Only one candle.  Dean claims that when you hit '40', you get to start over again with the candle counting.  Cheater.

Bless you before you depart...

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.  Let me learn from you, love you, savor you, bless you before you depart.  Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.  Let me hold you while I may, for it will not always be so.  One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky, and want, more than all the world, your return.
-Mary Jean Irion



I have used this quote before - in my very first blog post ever.  I love this quote, and I need to be reminded of it from time to time.  We had our normal day today.   Nowhere to be, nothing to prepare for... just 'be'.  It was wonderful.  Owen and Colin ran around the house in just their diapers for two hours this morning.  They fussed and hit and pushed and shoved occasionally - yet it was all good.  They were tired, and rightfully so after a string of crappy, busy days with missed naps.  They went down for a nap right after lunch, and slept for four straight hours.  When they woke up, they were much more pleasant to be around.

Rylan and I enjoyed our four hour break by doing a relaxed stint of school work and calling it good.  She completed a math workbook and finally got to use the giant sticker for the last page.  We put it on the fridge.  She played with attribute blocks, built a mini dollhouse out of an empty Pampers box, drove her Barbie around and did Reading Eggs for a solid hour.

I sorted receipts, opened the mail, washed dishes, started a load of laundry, cleaned off the desk and got Rylan's first science lesson ready to go for tomorrow.  We had a very nice dinner, and played a dinner table game while eating.

Nothing of what I just wrote about was spectacular.  No pictures to share.  Yet, I too, want to bless this normal, average day before it departs...

I didn't have to nurse a sick child

I didn't have to worry about not having enough food to eat or clean water to drink

I had a safe home to enjoy my time in

I went about my day with the quiet assurance that multiple family members were only a phone call away if I needed them

My husband was working hard at a job he loves

My car was in the garage, if we needed to go somewhere

My computer connected me to my friends, my library, my bank, my world...

The sun was shining and a soft breeze blew all afternoon



When times get hard, don't complain and cry out "Why me??!!"  Just remember that there were plenty of normal days when it was just not your turn...