End-of-the-Summer Pool Party

I can't believe how fast the summer has gone by. Nathan and Leah started school yesterday and Malinda, Eve and Joshua start school on Monday.

Today was our playgroup's end-of-the-summer pool party and potluck. We had an ABC potluck, which is where the letters A-Z are put into a bowl and letter or two are pulled out and given to each family who is planning to attend. We got Z and C. I didn't have time to make two separate dishes, although I had some really good plans for what to make with those letters. Instead I combined the letters and made Cheesy Zucchini Wedges It was super simple and very yummy.

Here's a picture of Joshua at the pool. (Thanks Britney! Your camera is awesome!) The sun was in his eyes so that's the reason for the funny smile. A great time was had by all!

Baked Ziti

recipe from my friend Tobreth Hansen

This takes about 40 minutes start to finish and only one pot!!

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes (I use 1/2 teaspoon but the recipe officially calls for less)

6 cloves garlic, pressed or sliced (your preference I have done both but used pressed today)

2 14.5-oz cans stewed tomatoes, pureed in a blender (I have used plain and Italian seasoned and both work okay)

3 cups water

12 oz. tube noodles - I use penne rigate because I like it best

1/2 cup cream

1 oz parmesan (about 1/2 cup if you do not have a scale)

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

4 ounces of shredded mozzarella (about 1 cup if you do not have a scale)

Preheat oven to 475.

Heat oil in deep frying pan. When shimmering add garlic. Saute about 30 seconds then add the red chili flakes and saute a few more seconds. Add pureed tomatoes to the pan and reduce to a simmer. Heat for 10-12 minutes. Next, add noodles and 3 cups of water to the pan - set a timer for how long the noodles need. Cover. Turn heat to high until full boil and then turn down to a simmer for remaining time the noodles need. My noodles need about 11 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cream and parmesan and fresh basil. Stir to combine. Top with cheese and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. I have found Raley's brand cheese burns quickly so needs less time. Costco brand cheese takes about 12 minutes.

Now the cheaty note - if you do not have fresh basil on hand (it is better with fresh but what I made today was not with fresh basil) add a couple teaspoons to the tomatoes when they go in (I never measure this part). Then omit the basil at the very end.

Weight Watchers - 61 points for whole pan. Eat 1/8 for 8 points.

Spiders Beware!

Joshua just saw a spider, but it crawled away and we can't find it. Never fear! Joshua has a plan. He is drawing pictures of things that scare spiders and leaving them around the floor so the spider will be scared and stay away. He also tells me that if the spider crawls onto one of the pictures I can just fold the spider up in it and throw it away. So far we have pictures of...

a mouse

a police officer shooting a spider

a yellow jacket

a picture of a giant and a spider. The giant has an axe and a pokemon and they are causing trouble for the spider.

And finally, the dreaded pillow pet bee.

If you were a spider would you come near?

I've Been Creating the Perfect Berry Buttercream Frosting

I had a Cook's Illustrated kind of weekend. Since Thursday, I've been on a quest to make the perfect berry frosting - something I've wanted to do since I had this divine berry frosting at my favorite bakery in Los Gatos last year. I went there as a special treat on Thursday and it gave me the push I needed to get to work on it.

After reading several recipes I set out to create my own version (or try to recreate the one at "Icing on the Cake."

I tried two methods I found in recipes. One was a recipe from "Sprinkles Cupcakes." It was okay, but I'd seen a lot of recipes like it on blogs and it just didn't have that really good berry kick that I wanted - it was too bland.

Then I tried one that used a berry syrup and a buttercream frosting made with egg yolks that you temper and something didn't go right with that. So I added the syrup to my regular buttercream recipe and that was better, but still not what I was looking for.

By that time I had a really well formed idea of what I wanted to do. I worked on it this morning and by this afternoon I had made the PERFECT berry buttercream frosting!! Now I just can't decide if it should be my secret recipe. I think I'll hang on to it for a little while. Maybe I'll share it a few months from now. I can't wait to make cupcakes tomorrow to put the frosting on. YUM!!

Joshua thinks his name should be spelled...

Joshua has informed us (now that he is learning to read) that his name should have a "w" in it. For the last week he has signed his name Joshuwa -make sense doesn't it? (phonetically anyway)

Leah & Matthew play Siciliano by Bach

Leah and Matthew played this in church on Sunday and it was BEAUTIFUL! This recording of one of their practices doesn't do it justice, especially since the camera was too far away from the flute, but it's still very enjoyable.

Eve's First Make-Up & Makeover

When my girls turn 12, we have a special outing to the department store for a makeover. This is their introduction to wearing make-up. I love it because it's a special time for us and because the girls get great instruction about how to wear make-up in a natural way - not overdone. We got a make-up artist that was so great about pre-teen makeup!! Here's some pictures of it all. Did I mention we had so much fun!?!

She's beautiful with or without make-up, but she looks a bit more grown up with the make-up. Here's the final result...

Picture of Nathan before a church dance

Melting A Heart

So, a few days ago, Joshua and I were sitting together and he said, "I'm so happy!" I replied, "What are you happy about?" and he pointed his finger at me. I said, "Me?" and he nodded his head and replied, "mmm-hmm" It melts my heart every time I think of it.

It Must Be a Boy Thing

Joshua has learned how to make himself burp. Last week sometime he had a big belch, and it triggered some kind of knowledge about how to manufacture one. So now, he thinks it's funny to do it. As I write this he is practicing burping - one must perfect the art, you know.

Heavenly Chocolate - Can you even breathe?

Leah's Yummy Cupcakes

Leah and I were watching the Food Network and Giada was on making her delicious food - as usual. We always feel inspired by watching the Food Network, but Leah was particularly taken with the yumminess of these. She was so excited to bake something, so we bought the ingredients, and the next day, we baked them. They look just like Giada's! We were so impressed with ourselves that we had to take a picture! Don't they look fantastic?! They're cupcakes that you make from a brownie mix with some extra special ingredients. They were really like brownies in cupcake form, but were still super yummy! We also learned a new frosting recipe - and I love to learn to make new frostings.

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Today is Joshua's 4th birthday! We love his happy disposition, squeezy hugs, and so much more. Over the past two weeks, he has decided he loves to sing, and lately you can hear him singing the Star Wars theme song pretty much every where he goes. He has always loved to adopt different identities for dramatic play. His most recent character is Luke Skywalker. It's amazing that, after all these years, little boys are still pretending to be Luke and saving the universe.

Here is a picture of the birthday cake we had for him on Monday, and some of his presents. It's a long story, but we celebrated his birthday on Monday instead of today, because Wednesdays are so incredibly busy & he was having a hard time dealing with the fact that there were presents in the house that he would have to wait 2 days to have. Bottom line... it isn't worth the hyperness and upset that is a small child on his birthday. And I didn't want everyone to have to endure two days of upset just so he could have his material belongings on a certain day. I figured that his birthday is about celebrating him as a person, not about getting presents & this was a perfect opportunity to teach that. He might not have learned that lesson, but our older kids did.

Today, we'll have Auntie Suzanne over for lunch and have some ice cream -keeping it low key.

Jensen Family Visit

Tonight we spent time with old friends. Joe Jensen and his family came to visit us while they were on their way to Santa Cruz. We had so much fun! It was great to see all of the kids get to know each other and create friendships. I was happy to finally get to know his wife Celinda. (We had met only once before at their wedding - a long time ago.) We enjoyed the company, and the whole thing felt like a wonderful family get together! We have always thought of Joe as family, and it was so nice to be able to include Celinda and their children in that feeling too.

Here we are - the whole, happy crew!

Cranky on Mother’s Day

I've thought about this for the last few years (it usually hits me at the end of the day on Mother’s Day)... 

On past Mother's Days, I have ended up being cranky about having to do things for my family that I would usually do without any thought or complaint.  Mother's Day is wonderful - don't get me wrong - I like to be appreciated, and I think our families do and should show us appreciation on that day especially.  But, I also think we moms set ourselves up for disappointment because we want to take the day off and do away with our responsibilities, and maybe have come to expect Mother's Day to be a relaxing, no-cares, kind of day.  Due to the nature of motherhood, we can’t take 100% of the day off.  In fact, it always seems that on Mother's Day we moms find ourselves in situations where extra mothering is needed.  Let’s face it, when Mom is home and not doing her regular, everyday things, the kids’ day gets a bit disoriented, and they get upset and might quarrel a more than usual.  

Now that my kids are getting older, and as Nathan gets closer to moving-out age, I have started to realize that, on Mother's Day, instead of getting upset that I didn't get the day off, I want to appreciate that I get to be a mother and do all of these little things for my family, like combing hair, finding socks, ironing clothes, hurrying people out the door.

As Mother’s Day began on Sunday, I wasn’t thinking about this.  My family had made me cards and given them to me the day before.  Nathan decided he and Dad were going to make hash browns for everyone in the morning, as a gift to me.  After breakfast, as we were getting ready for church, I started to have to do more of the work, and I began to get a little resentful.  Not much, but a little.  This probably would have continued to build throughout the day, as I fixed lunch for everyone, etc. if it weren’t for a lovely reminder that I received at church.

I was out in the hall with Joshua when I saw a mom and her child.  The child was looking like she had been misbehaving a bit and that wonderful mom looked like she had been pushed to her limits already.  I imagined that this was not what she had had in mind for her special day.  When she was supposed to be appreciated for all efforts and love, she was being asked to problem solve and discipline. She looked harried - worn out.  But what I also saw was the beauty of motherhood!  Here was a mom, mothering her child.  And I thought to myself, “Isn’t this moment exactly what Mother’s Day is all about?”  This little child needed her mommy.  And I smiled.  

Whether in good times or bad times, we get to mother our children.  What a blessing!  When they have been rotten and we would like to have it easy, it’s still a blessing.  Instead of trying to push mothering away from us on Mother’s Day, we can embrace it and appreciate it.  We can find joy in the things that we have to do each day.  And we can say to ourselves, “I get to _______ for my children today, what a perfect thing to do on a day like today.”

After church, I came home and kids started asking, “What can I have for lunch?”,  “Is there anything else I can have?”,  “Will you make it for me?”, and I started to feel that grumpy feeling emerge.  My first thought was, “Hey, your supposed to be making lunch for me.  Or at least not asking me to make your lunch.”  Then my mind went back to earlier, and that scene  with the mom and her child.  And I had this great swell of love and appreciation for what Mother’s all over the world do everyday.  I appreciate that you take care of and love your children.  That you teach them and help them grow up to be kind, responsible adults.  Mom’s are awesome!  You are awesome!

Fire Station Visit #2: We rode in the truck!

"One, two fire truck... three, four fire truck... one, two, three, four fire truck.  Jump on board and away we go - in a fire truck.  Put up the ladder and drag out the hose - in a fire truck. " (from "Hard Hat Harry: Fire Trucks" video)

That has become our theme song around here, and that's just what we did on Wednesday - almost.  Our neighborhood station doesn't have a ladder truck, so Joshua didn't put up the ladder, but he did everything else.

We hadn't been to the Fire Station since December, so we went back.  And we had so much fun!

Firefighter Reggie said to get in the truck, but he didn't say we were going for a ride - with the Sirens on too! 

We only went around the station so the ride was no more than 30 seconds long, but we will remember it forever!

Joshua was both thrilled and scared about riding in the truck. Reggie said to get in and buckle up. He didn't tell us that he was going to give us a ride. This was J's face when the engine started, and he realized this was going to be more than just sitting in the truck.

Joshua got to do real firefighter work.

Drag out the hose.

This was a dream come true.

Joshua getting instructions about what to do next.

Getting ready to put out a "fire."

Putting out the fire.

Working the hose like a pro!

Reggie and Joshua pose for the camera.  Reggie was a great host.  He really let Joshua do quite a few jobs.

Since we used up some of the trucks water supply, it needed to be refilled.

Hooking up the main line.

The truck is getting filled up.

Putting the station's main hose back out to drain and dry.  It was a great day for Joshua.  It was very satisfying to him to be able to go to work.  His next wish is to come to the station to help them wash their trucks.  Stay tuned for that one!  I'll have to see if I can make that one work.

Joshua Can Read! (a few words)

Two weeks or so ago, Joshua began saying words and then letting me know what the beginning or ending sound was.  After he does that, he would try to guess which letter was making that sound.  So I have started teaching him the sounds of letters whenever he asks about it, or occasionally when something he has asked about comes up again.  Last week, I told him he could learn how to read because he was able to guess what so many letters were by the sounds.  He got super excited, so I found a book and a CD-rom that taught how to read.  We did a sample of the cd-rom lesson on a website.  The reviews were good and he liked the sample lesson so we bought the book and cd-rom.  Anyway...  it came in the mail yesterday, so today we did the first lesson on the computer.  The lesson focussed on the letters "a, t, s, c, o" and their accompanying sounds. Then it showed how to combine them together to make the words.  After each lesson, there are activities.  One of them was word recognition.  They show the words he has learned and he has to pick the correct word that the voice asks for.  He did that activity twice and on the second time around he got every one correct.  Now he can sight read "at, cat, sat".  And he almost has "cot" down.  The lesson also shows the word on the screen and asks them to type it.  He needs a little bit of help with that still, but I'm amazed at how fast that's coming along.  He only did it once and he's almost got it.

I'm just so surprised and impressed!  I guess he really wants to read!  I can't wait to see if his retention is good.  Tomorrow will be a good test to see if the info he learned sticks with him.  

P.S.  As I write this he is looking at the word LOVE and asking me, "Which letter makes the sound _____?"  Then he says the sound of a letter in that word and wants me to guess.

Eve Knits a Snake

Two things Eve loves are knitting/crocheting and photography.  

Every Sunday, Eve takes her yarn to church and crochets or knits as she listens, sometimes she finger knits things.  On Sunday, she finger knitted this tube and decided that it looked like a snake, so she tied it off and left some yarn for the tongue and split the end to look like a snake.  She had fun playing with it.  When I told her we should take a picture of it and post it on the blog she got her camera out and took this picture of herself.  I think she is so creative with it!

I love this picture ^ up here^

Joshua Climbs A Tree

Here he is - so proud of himself.  Yesterday, he asked me how people climb trees.  So I told him, then he asked if I would help him climb a tree.  I said I would in a little while.  Well, about 1/2 hour later he went outside and just did it all by himself.

You can see that there is a bike resting up against the tree.  Well, climbed on that and stood on the seat to get himself into the tree.

He didn't want me to take him down, so I let him sit there for a while.  All day he would go back and I would hear him call me to come take a look at his accomplishment.  Then when I would try to take him down, he would say that he wanted to stay there for a while.  I think it's so cute!

Malinda's Big Read

Malinda likes to read, but it hasn't been high up on her list of extra-curricular activities.  She has read books and enjoyed them, but picked only very short book.  She didn't really get the hunger for reading, until Twilight.  So many kids she knows have read Twilight (including everyone in our family except Malinda & Joshua.  Eve has only been allowed to read the first three books).   But we thought the subject matter was too grown up for her until recently.  

Now that she is nearing 10 yrs. old, we decided that the first book is an appropriate enough book for her to read.  She was so happy she just read and read and read.  Well, she finished!  It's a very long book, and she is so proud of herself!  I know it will motivate her to read more in the future.  She wants to read more Twilight, but that isn't going to happen until she's a bit older.  So if any of you have some book suggestions, we're taking them.

The Power of Television

Last week the kids had a whole week off of school, and on the first day there was a Pokemon marathon.  So, since the kids have loved Pokemon in the past, we had a nostalgic day of Pokemon.  The weather was perfect for such a day, because it rained all day.

Joshua had never seen Pokemon before, but once the kids explained it to him he was hooked!  He watched right along with them.  After a few episodes, he decided he was Ash (the main character), and ran to get dressed up like him.  Eve has some Pokemon stuffed toys, so Joshua grabbed one of those and spent the next several days being in character.  It hit me once again just how powerful an influence the media is.

I'm so glad that Ash's outfit is jeans and a t-shirt and a jacket.  Joshua has a track jacket that looks like Ashes minus a yellow stripe, but I don't have a picture of that.  It was strange to see him put aside his fireman persona for a while.

Isn't he cute?!!!

Fast forward to yesterday...  Joshua saw Jay Jay the Jet Plane and now he is Jay Jay.  Television is powerful stuff.  BTW, he has not dropped Fireman Sam.  The other characters are just that, characters, but he assures us he is still Fireman Sam for real.