Countdown to School!

I have been looking forward to the start of the school year, and I'm feeling even more excited about it now that we've had the opportunity to sit down with each of the kids' teachers to talk about the upcoming year, expectations, etc.  This year, we have a kindergartener (in a blended K-1 classroom) and a 2nd grader!

While our teacher meetings went well, they didn't go quite as I would have expected.  We met with Mister J's teacher first, a very enthusiastic woman with a moderately strong Northern accent.  Mister J suddenly became uncharacteristically shy when his teacher asked him a few simple questions (parents' names, phone number, etc.).  When he did answer her questions, he spoke so quickly she had to ask him to slow down.  Miss M, on the other hand, was quite happy to talk with Mister J's teacher about summer vacation and give plenty of detail!

Then we were off to meet with Miss M's teacher, a calm, soft-spoken woman.  Mister J made himself at home investigating the classroom and reading some books.  Miss M was checking things out with him for a few minutes, and when she sat down with us to talk to her teacher she kept mumbling her answers.  Shyness struck again!  I'm sure she will show her true, outgoing, spirited self in no time!

This evening, I'm gathering papers and library cards that need to go to school, renewing our PTA membership, and re-linking my VIC card.  Tomorrow, I'll be gathering supplies to pack into backpacks, doing some laundry, and planning to pack lunches for the first time since June!  

Happy New (School) Year!

Happy New Year!

Nope, it's not January, but it's the beginning of another school year.  If you're like me, you count years not necessarily by calendar year, but by school year.  And a new school year means a new calendar!  

I'm a little behind this year - I just ordered my new momAgenda.  Since it begins in August, I'll have missed almost the entire first month.  *sigh*  But I'm still excited about getting a brand-new planner!

For the past two years, I've used the momAgenda desktop (first in fuschia, then in turquoise).  I debated a bit this year - kelly green faux crocodile or soft gold?  I've always wanted a green one, but the soft gold looked so, so pretty!  Then, at a Girl Scout meeting tonight, a friend of mine had the Home Office edition in charcoal.  Yes, I looked through her momAgenda - and periodically peeked in it when I thought of other features I wanted to check out.  (She was very tolerant!)  

I'd briefly considered the Home Office edition before, but worried that it would be too big.  Then I realized that since my Desktop never fit in my purse anyway, what was the difference?  The spiral binding, the pockets, and the tabs helped me finalize my decision.  It's always nice to see and hold something that personal before you buy it, I think!  

There was just one more important decision - the color!  Hot pink, turquoise, zebra, or charcoal?  Hmmmm...

I chose zebra!  Yep, surprised me, too!  

Ok, so here's where I tell you that if you want your own momAgenda, you can click here and - if you are a first time customer - you get 10% off of your order (of $15 or more) and I also get a little credit in the form of momAgenda dollars (to help me support my momAgenda habit).  

What kind of calendar do you use?  Pen-and-paper?  Electronic?  Do you have one calendar for yourself and one for the family?  How do you keep yourself organized?

PS - You are welcome to take a peek at my momAgenda anytime!

Home Sweet Home

Has it seemed a little quiet around here lately?  There's a good reason for that.  We've been on vacation!  Well, not all of us - Daddy stayed home while the kids, my mom, and I flew to Texas to visit my cousin and his family.  We missed Daddy an awful lot, but he wasn't alone for long!  While we were gone, his parents arrived to help out with a BIG project around here (which they are still working on).  I'll recap the project in a later post, but for now - vacation photos!  (And these are the ones from my mom's camera - thanks, Mom!!!)

Let me start by saying that it was HOT here before we left, and Texas had a break in the heat there just as we arrived - which made the temp the same as what we'd just left.  Thankful for that little break in their weather!  And, thankful for plenty of opportunities to go swimming!

We picked up a set of 'floaties' for Miss M before we left, knowing they would help her feel a bit more at ease in the water.  No worries, there were still plenty of adults keeping an eye on the kiddos!  She was soon swimming from one end of the pool to the other!

And this guy, who has made great strides in his swimming lessons at school, also showed off a new talent.  He's floating on his back!  That's Lily checking him out.  She's a funny dog - loves to catch a ball, but she can't quite make herself drop it back off in your hand or lap.  Instead, she enlists the help of Minnie.  Lily will drop it a few feet away, then Minnie will pick it up and bring it back for you to throw again.

We took a trip to the local Hong Kong Market (So cool!  Lots of interesting fruits and veggies!) to pick up some veggies and these guys for dinner (two crab and one lobster).  Miss M was not quite convinced that these could possibly be tasty.

My cousin's home is totally kid-friendly.  You already know about the pool and the dogs, but there were also plenty of TOYS!  Miss M got to play with the doll house and Polly Pockets that you see below, and also some teeny-tiny Polly Pockets (which the three kids eventually turned into a Polly-meets-Monopoly kind of game).

 And they had a few Legos, too....

We also did some touristy stuff while we were there.

The Beer Can House

My sweet kiddos

My favorite feature of the Beer Can House

 The Children's Museum

Also (no photos yet, but hopefully soon)...

NASA (Johnson Space Center) - it rained while we were there, for the first time in several months.

Kemah Boardwalk - dinner outdoors at The Flying Dutchman, which would not have been quite so nice without the rain earlier in the day to cool things off

Whole Foods - this might seem an odd stop, but it was a new store (and I loooove grocery stores!) so it even had some draw for the "locals."  Also, we got to see an electric car out front - plugged in for a charge!  Mister J was fascinated!

As if all of this wasn't exciting enough, guess who lost a tooth while we were there?  He was quite confident that the tooth fairy could find him all the way out in Texas.  Sure enough, there was a dollar under his pillow the next morning!

Please excuse that piece of gum in his mouth.  Gum has become quite the favorite around here lately.

As for me, I had time for some reading, some swimming, lots of visiting and laughing, lots of talk about food/cooking/the amazing grocery prices (noticeably less than here), and way too much eating!  My mom cooked some of her favorite recipes, we enjoyed my cousin's grilling and juicing (a-ma-zing), and had some fantastic meals out, too.  (Pappasita's is on my must-do list for our next visit!)

I'm sure I've left some things out, and I know I have more cute photos to post (which I may get around to - or not), but I have to say that I came home so relaxed!  We had a pretty much non-schedule kind of vacation (not the kind where you come home and need a vacation to get over your vacation) and it was wonderful!  The kids really missed Daddy early on - and I was really anxious to get home to him towards the end of our trip!  But I have to say, he looked really well-rested when we got home!

What I'm Reading

While we are busy packing fun into the last days of summer, I'm also enjoying a bit of time reading. I started "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" (by Barbara Kingsover) a few days ago and I'm already trying to figure out how much of our backyard can be reasonably turned into garden beds. Not too long ago, I mentioned wanting to try out lettuces, potatoes, garlic, and more. I'm less than 100 pages in, and I'm wondering now about fruit trees, berries, and more.

Is it to late to decide to live on a farm?

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You Can Find Me Here...

Hi Friends! I'm posting over at Triad Moms on Main today. Head on over to learn about our experience with geocaching, and how it's great family fun where ever you are!

Sleep Tight?

Oh, how I love to snuggle with my babies (who are not really babies anymore)!  Truly, I do.  But when it comes to having my 5-year-old crawl into bed at 4am - well, I have mixed emotions

I secretly love it - but honestly,  it's not the best sleep for me :(

Miss M is OK (that is, doesn't come to my bed at night) if she and Mister J sleep in the same room.  I am probably making it hard for her to learn to soothe herself back to sleep on her own since, for most of the summer, one of the kids usually camps out on the floor of the other's room.  When I do this, she rarely comes into our room.  Otherwise, she wakes up at 4am and comes into bed with us on a pretty regular basis.

We moved her back to her own room two nights ago, and for the past two nights, she's come into our room in the wee hours of the morning.  I'm certain it has to do with the security of knowing someone else is there in the middle of the night.  Just having her nightlight and stuffies is not enough. 

As I was tucking her in tonight, she asked if she could sleep with me.  I told her that she needed to sleep in her bed, and that if she came to my room I would help her back to bed.  She was immediately weepy.  And I was sad for her - and probably for me, too.

I feel like it is my responsibility to help her grow up, even if I don't want to - whether it's because I secretly love the early morning snuggles or because I just don't want to get out of my bed at 4am.

Believe it or not, I do want my children to grow up.  But there is some innocence that I want to hold on to for as long as possible!

(sigh)

This is hard work!

Fresh from Our Garden (at least some of it!!)

In the past few weeks, our Super Sweet 100 plants have been producing like crazy.  I just put two more baking sheets full of slow-roasted cherry tomatoes in the oven.  In 6-8 hours, they will be even more delicious!  (Yes, that's possible!)  These are SO easy, you just have to be prepared to give up your oven for the rest of the day!  Also, my kids enjoyed helping me get these ready to go into the oven - making sure the tomatoes are cut side up, peeling the garlic, and snipping rosemary from the garden.

I tweaked the recipe by adding the rosemary.  It smelled SO good!  Now that we have quite a healthy bush, I am thinking of thinning it a bit and drying some rosemary for use in the winter.  

I also used some of our larger tomatoes (not sure of the variety) to make gazpacho late last night so that it would be ready to eat today.  I used this recipe from the latest Real Simple magazine.  I've already sampled it - yum!  It's the first time I've ever eaten a cold soup, much less made one.  It was SO easy, and I'm looking forward to serving it alongside some of my fresh-baked parmesan pepper bread (another first-time-I've-made-it recipe) for an early dinner.

So, now that you know a bit about what's growing in our garden, I'd like to know if you have a garden.  If so, what do you grow?

In addition to what I mentioned above, we have zucchini, green bell pepper (just got the first one this week), banana peppers, okra, lima beans and bush beans, watermelon, parsley, basil, and cilantro that has already gone to seed.  We have had varying success with these, tomatoes and rosemary being our most successful.  I would like to try growing garlic, blueberries (for these muffins!), and give cucumbers another shot (ours are always bitter).  I'd also like to try lettuce, and maybe even potatoes!  So, friends, spill the beans on your gardening successes - and failures!  What have you learned along the way?

Summer favorites

(see full image)

A BLT made with tomatoes fresh from the garden...

Sweet tea in Mason jars...

Boiled peanuts...

Watermelon with a sprinkle of salt...


What foods (or drinks) mean summer to you?

I'm linking to Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays, even though it's Saturday!

Mommy, will you...?

This afternoon, as she was laying on the couch next to me, she asked me to rub her back. Remembering the times when I was little and would lay down with my head on my mom's lap, I invited Miss M to do the same. I pulled her pillow over and she snuggled in.

I'm enjoying these moments while I can, knowing they don't last forever. Within about 5 minutes, Mister J asked if she would help him play a wii game - and off she went!

PS - Check out that ponytail!  She decided to let her hair grow so it was long enough to make one ponytail.  Next up, long enough to have one braid, like Jessie!

Step One...

You may have missed our quiet announcement, and now I'm excited to share that today we took the first official step in our adoption process.  Although we've already spoken with our adoption coordinator, been to an information session at our agency, spoken to several adoptive families, and made several of the preliminary decisions, today is the day that we mailed our application.  It's been a long process to get to this point, so getting here is really exciting for us.

Once our eyes are opened, we can’t pretend we don’t know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act. ~Proverbs 24:12

I keep coming back to this piece of scripture over and over again.  I saw it on an adoption blog about the time we finally realized that we were being led to adopt a child - and it didn't just speak to me, it practically yelled.  That was a few months ago, but the work in our hearts started long before that.  It's an amazing story I hope to share here one day.  For now, we covet your prayers as we continue this extraordinary journey.

My Day in Food

*Apologies in advance for the crazy spacing.  I just can't figure it out tonight.*

I can't remember what I are for breakfast, but it probably had something to do with those evil chocolate chunk cookies from Costco.  But maybe not, since I had an orthodontist appointment at noon. 

I do remember that I had a late lunch.  I made one of my favorite new recipes - Thai Peanut Noodles from Our Best Bites (which happens to be my favorite online source for recipes right now).  I usually add some stir-fried chicken, but I skipped the chicken today.  And Miss M, who has never eaten it when I cooked with chicken, ate a small bowlful today.  She also helped me cook it, which may have also had something to do with her choice to actually eat it. 

Not only are they mildly spicy noodles in a soy/ginger/peanut/honey/sriracha sauce, it's topped with peanuts, green onions, cilantro, and lime juice.  I was thrilled that she liked it!

Later in the day, I decided I'd give a new recipe a try - something I've been wanting to do for ages.  The kids weren't interested - they were more interested in the painting I was starting, but I was waiting for paint to dry so they found something else to do.



Can you guess what I was making?  It's butter!  (Or, soon-to-be-butter when I snapped this picture.)  The process was very simple, though it took some time and plenty of effort.  I was very pleased with the result!





After the dairy adventure, it was time to start dinner.  I did most of the prep work, and hubs did most of the cooking.  We had sliders and "Aunt LuAnn's potatoes."  Delicious!  The kids recognize the potatoes by the aroma, and always love them.  And even though the kids aren't great meat-eaters, they each finished an entire slider.  I'll call that a success any day!

Dessert?  Oh, yes.  I'm all about dessert lately (see breakfast, above) - probably because of the evil chocolate chunk cookies from Costco.  They are really good smeared with peanut butter....

Mowing Lessons

I am not a fan of yard work.  Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I don't do yard work.  My husband has seen me mow the yard a total of three times in all the years we've been married.  The third time was yesterday.  When I told him I was going out to mow, he looked at me rather like I'd grown another head.  But the yard needed work, the temperature was really nice for July, and it was overcast.  I didn't think he would be able to beat the rain that was coming, so I decided I'd give it a shot.  After all, it's just walking in a few circles around the yard, right?  How hard can that be? 

I started writing my blog post in my head about 10 minutes after I started mowing.

Really, though, it started before I even went outside.  When I told my kids to behave because I was going outside to mow the grass, my son said, "Wow, Mom, I didn't know you had mowing lessons."  Ouch.  But in honor of his observation, here is my version of mowing lessons.

1) Fuel - Be sure you have spare fuel on hand.  I was pretty disappointed to find out that we didn't have any, but I was too excited about getting started to go and get more.  I figured that if I finished the front yard, I'd just stop there.  After all, it looked like rain was coming, so I didn't have time to spare.  And also?  I could close the gate and the taller grass in the backyard wouldn't show.  Great idea, right?  Until I ran out of gas in the middle of the front yard.  Phooey!  There wasn't anyone who could run to the gas station for me (hubby was working from home, so he couldn't just jump in the car and do it for me), so off I went.  I hope he will forgive me for ever being annoyed that he asked me to go get gas for the mower while he was mowing the yard.  Now I get it.

2) Hat - Wear one.  Headsweats caps are not just for running.  I wish I had worn mine.  I didn't think I'd need it because the sun wasn't out.  Also, I honestly didn't think I'd get all that hot since the weather was cool for July.  I have never had so much sweat in my eyes.  Also - I just might wear my running clothes next time.  Wicking fabric is good.  Cotton is not.

3) Method - I've heard you should not mow your grass in the same pattern every time.  No need to worry about that!  I am quite sure I looked as amateurish as I felt.  I had to go back for missed spots, and still left a few (tiny) bits of taller grass.  And I don't think my hubby will ever mow in as patchwork a fashion as I did. 

4) Mower - Especially in the thicker parts of the grass, it would have been kinder (to my mower) to mow half-widths on each pass.  My mower let me know this by protesting at one point - and turning off.  I could not believe I was out of gas again - then I realized I wasn't.  At least I was able to restart it without getting my husband to come outside and do it (again)!  Also, our mower didn't particularly seem to like going uphill, at least at the pace I was walking.  When I'm running, I don't like hills, either, so I decided to change my method  in the middle of the backyard and go across the incline.  (Oh, yes I did - see #3.)

5) Corners - As far as push mowers go, self-propelled is your friend, but it still doesn't make turning corners any easier.  I openly confess to having not a lot of upper body strength.  I can still pick up my kids (and can still carry my youngest), which I thought was decent strength, but I felt like I was working hard to turn corners and work around obstacles (swing set, raised garden beds, mailbox, trees).

After I learned all of this with the mower, I looked at the yard and felt pretty good about what I had accomplished.  But it still looked unfinished.  So I decided I'd do the weed eating.  And I had to get my husband to start it for me (wimpy upper body strength - embarrassing).  And then he had to remind me to wear eye protection (thanks, honey!).  And then I busted the strap that was supposed to help me carry it around the yard (sorry, honey!).  But I still did the weed eating.  And I wondered how long my work would last if I scalped the edges of the yard because weed eating was not as fun as I thought it would be.  Probably because I busted the strap.  And also because my arms were already tired from pushing and maneuvering the mower.  But - the yard looked even better when I was done!

So then I decided to crank up the blower and clean off the driveway and the front walkway and around the air conditioning units.  And I had to ask my hubby to come out and crank it for me.  (Are you sensing a pattern?)  I'm chalking that up to having tired arms - you know, from maneuvering the mower and then carrying the weed eater with the busted strap around the yard.

And when I was done, I wasn't sure I'd be able to lift my arms to wash my hair.

But the yard looked nice, I was proud of the job I'd done, and I had so much more appreciation for the yard work my husband has been doing for so many years.  It wasn't perfect, but I still enjoyed the sense of accomplishment.  Don't tell anyone, but I might just mow the yard again sometime.

I found that little cord...

I finally hooked my camera up to my computer again, and found SO MANY photos that I wanted to share!  I don't have time to show them all, so I thought I'd share just a quick summary of the last month or so.

These two kiddos wrapped up another year of school! 
(For those of you paying very close attention, those are glasses frames you see on her face, but no lenses in them.  They were a favor from a friend's birthday party, and she wore them nearly every day for about two weeks.)

Compare to the same time last year....

If anyone knows the secret to make them stop growing, let me know.

Also on the last day of school, this little girl had a dance recital.

I also finally gave in to letting this little girl loose with some paints - thanks to her Daddy's encouragement.  She didn't make a mess like I feared, and really enjoyed the process.  

Also, when I wasn't looking, she turned five. We had a sweet little tea party at home with some friends, and I really enjoyed the smaller celebration.  I also loved all of the 'tea party food' that we served - and I think she enjoyed most of it, too! 

Although we had planned to picnic at a local park on the 4th of July and watch fireworks the that evening, our picnic got rained out.  We changed our plans to a back porch picnic, then a den floor picnic due to the rain, but did end up getting to see the fireworks. 

We're spending our summer days playing outside, cooking (because I'm serving a lot more meals now that I'm not packing lunches), and spending time with friends and family.  I also recently wrapped up my part-time, work-from-home job, so I'm hoping to add a few more things into our days - library visits, blueberry-picking, and other fun summer activities.

How are you spending your summer?  Can you believe how fast it flies by?

Hee hee...

This sweet girl just looked at me and whispered...
"I'm trying to keep my eyes open..."

Love her!

Guess...

Guess who we will be celebrating this weekend? More to come (I promise)!

Ending the week on a high note

Remember that time...?

... that Mister J got treated for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? 

You know, because his symptoms were pretty much a perfect match for RMSF.  And although it could be just your run-of-the-mill nasty virus, there's still that chance that it's RMSF.  Which you should treat no later than the fifth day of symptoms.  And since the second trip to the ped this week for the crazy fever, combined with nausea, chills, and some "who is that?!?" crankiness happened to be on the fourth day of the fever, the ped called in the prescription.

Better to err on the side of caution - but as a friend of mine put it, I just might win the 'strange illnesses my child has had' contest in the after-school pick-up line.  This from the friend whose daughter has a fever so high that the thermometer simply said, "HIGH."  (She's thankfully doing ok with some good meds for a big ol' ear infection.)  And I'd likely have to compete with a school mom friend whose son's spider bite just might be MRSA instead. They each had a visit to the emergency room.  We just rated a "can-you-be-here-in-45?" appointment with the pediatrician.  This is a contest I'd be glad to lose.

(PS - With a dose of acetominophen, this afternoon's fever, headache, and crankiness subsided.  However, the fever spikes at night, even with ibuprofen.  Hoping we see and end to this very soon.)

Pretty paint!

Enjoying some food and fun on a *warm* summer afternoon. 

By the way, guess who's nearly 5 years old?

The Bright Side

This post isn't so much about the lunch I packed this morning, but the reminder that came from from my family while I was deciding what to pack.

The story started yesterday when the kids and I got home after school.  I walked into a house filled with the aroma of freshly-baked bread.  Now that wouldn't normally have been a problem, except I'd set my bread machine so that the dough cycle would be finishing up as we walked in from school.  

I had some volunteer commitments yesterday, so I'd prepped the ingredients and set the timer on the machine.  The plan was that we'd get home, unpack backpacks, get everyone's hands washed,  and start making pizza for an early dinner.  Accounting for the time it takes for three cooks to complete such  a task, I figured the pizza would come out of the oven in time for us to eat and then get to a 6pm meeting at church.

Needless to say, I was a little deflated when I figured out that something had gone wrong.  I even posted this on my Facebook status:

Came home from school to the wonderful smell of bread baking - except that my bread machine was supposed to only be running the dough cycle.

Bread machine - 1, Person who thought she knew what she was doing when the set the dough cycle to run while she was gone - 0.

I did get some great encouragement from a friend and from my husband.  You know, fresh-baked bread isn't all that bad.  But my plan had been interrupted.  

Since the bread smelled good (and really, I thought it did), we tasted it.  Amazing - it tasted good, too!  (It would have make a great pizza crust!)  Once it cooled, I wrapped it up - thinking it was too good to waste, but wondering what to do with it. 

Fast forward to this morning.  The kids and I were in the kitchen, and asked them what they wanted to eatfor breakfast.  "Can we have some of that bread?"  Really?!?  So I gave them a taste while I asked them what they really wanted for breakfast (cereal? granola bar?).  And they liked the bread.  Hmm.  Now, I enjoy a savory breakfast as much as the next girl, but I just didn't think Pizza Dough Bread was the best way to start the day.  So we decided to pack it in their lunchboxes - with slices of pepperoni and cheese, marinara sauce for dipping, and strawberries.  They. were. thrilled.  I was dumbfounded.  But mostly, I was reminded that even when I think things are all fouled up, there's usually a way to turn it around for good.  Thankfully, I had the help of some family and friends to remind me.

On my Facebook wall today:

Making the most of yesterday's bread machine snafu.  "Breadsticks" with marinara, pepperoni and cheese, strawberries.  The kids asked for the bread for breakfast, too!

And in reply to the comments below my photo:

I'm proud of my kids for helping me make the best of the situation (and figure out a lunch plan pretty quickly!). Hubby and the kids LOVED how the bread tasted, which made my day!

From my sweet boy

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