"oh, the weather outside is frightful ..."

We have lived here almost 10 years and this is our second snowfall. I missed the first one. It was snowing on Christmas Eve 4 years ago. I was on my way home from Albany, NY and was stuck in Atlanta's ever-crowded airport. Our flight crew was trying to get to Atlanta from Cleveland and was snowed in there. So, our plane- ful of people sat and tried to emulate a little bit of Christmas spirit by trying to not get too disagreeable with the situation. Then my cell phone rang. It was my hubby. He had taken the kids to Wendy's for a yummy homemade Christmas Eve feast and while they were there it had started to snow. Christmas Eve magic. I spoke loudly back into my phone, "WHAT?!? It's snowing in Houston??" About 200 pairs of eyes were on me and everyone waiting at my gate repeated like a chorus, "It's snowing in Houston?" I wanted to laugh and crawl under my seat all at the same time. They all pulled out their cell phones to verify. Silly people.

Today, I was walking Benj home from school when the thick white stuff started coming down all around us. It was magical. All the kids walking home from school started yelling the obvious, "It's snowing!!" We all danced around and tried to catch the stuff in our mouths. I pulled out my cell phone and called my hubby, "Look out your window! It's snowing!"

Lemon Season

I love this time of year. The weather starts cooling off, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, it's time to start pulling the Christmas lights out of the attic, and the lemons are about ready to pick. We bought this little lemon bush about 6 or 7 years ago and planted it in the ground. Which means it can grow bigger but it is still susceptible to freezing weather--which happens here occasionally. It is the only thing that we love to eat that is somewhat easy to grow here. You have to watch the freezes--especially in March when the blossoms are on, and this year I had trouble with birds and with Ike, but we got 15 lemons which is 15 more than I used to have. The last couple of years we have gotten 40 lemons--that's quite a lot of lemons from one little bush. So, what do we do with all of those lemons?

We give a lot of them away and use a few in cooking--lemon bars, lemonade, lemon pie, lemon chicken, and our favorite, lemon jelly. Chris's sweet aunt from California brought some lemon jelly to a family reunion and then was sweet enough to remember to email me the recipe. I suggest you give it a try. It is good stuff! I don't think she'll mind if I pass along the recipe. I think she said it was a state fair winner in AZ. If you don't have fresh lemons where you live you might find some at a store that will do but I'm sure they won't be quite as good. :)

Lemon Jelly
(makes 4 ½ pints + a sample)

4 lemons (our lemons are so big, we only need 1 1/2)
1 ½ c. water
4 ½ c. sugar
1 foil pouch of Certo (liquid pectin)
Finely shred enough lemon peel to make 1 tablespoon. Squeeze juice from lemons to make ¾ cup. Combine peel, juice and water. Let stand for 10 minutes. Strain to remove pulp and peel. Measure 2 cups of juice mixture.
In a large pan, combine the juice mixture and sugar. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Quickly stir in the pectin. Return to a full boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim foam. Ladle into hot, sterilized ½ pint canning jars, leaving ¼" headspace. Wipe jar rims and put on lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes (I use my steamer). Start timing when the water starts to boil. Remove jars and cool on a wire rack.

Tag!

Tag yourself! Copy and paste into your blog. Put an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not, then answer the questions at the end. This is for your entire life!

( ) Gone on a blind date
( x ) Skipped school
( ) Watched someone die
( ) Been to Canada
(x) Been to Mexico
(x ) Been to Florida
( x ) Been on a plane
(x) Been lost
(x) Been on the opposite side of the country
(x ) Been to Washington , DC
(x) Swam in the ocean
(x ) Cried yourself to sleep
(x) Played cops and robbers
(x) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang Karaoke
( )Paid for a meal with coins only?
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
(X) Made prank phone calls?
( ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x ) Danced in the rain
( x ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe
( ) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
(x) Blown bubbles
( x) Gone ice-skating
( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors
(x) Gone to the movies
(x) Got a speeding ticket

1. Any nickname? A few over the years—Princess, Greenyhead, Lizard, Skip, Isabeau

2. Favorite Drink? water

3. Mother's name? Michal

4. Tattoo? no

5. Body Piercing? Ears

6. How much do you love your job? I love all my jobs! Wife, mom, Preschool teacher

7. Birthplace? CA

8. Favorite vacation? South America—Chile and Peru. Loved Macchu Pichu! 2nd place: all our family campouts; 3rd place: Hawaii

9. Ever been to Africa ? no

10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes and breakfast and lunch and snacks

11. Ever been on TV? no

12. Ever steal any traffic sign? No, but I’ve paid money for one—antique store

13. Ever been in a car accident? I’ve been rear-ended a couple of times, not bad enough to hurt the car. —ooh, hit a deer in Grandpa’s red truck, that one was a mess.

14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4 door

15. Favorite salad dressing? Ranch, raspberry vinagrette and homemade poppy seed

16. Favorite pie? Homemade apple, warm and ala mode

17. Favorite number? 4

18 Favorite Movie? Nacho Libre—I like movies that make me laugh

19 Favorite holiday ? Christmas

20. Favorite Dessert? Crème brulee

21. Favorite food? Mexican, indian, pork, all vegetables, chocolate, etc.

22. Favorite day of the week? Thursday—I try to get in the weekend attitude early

23. Favorite brand of body wash? I like soap—Lever 2000 and then followed with Bath and Body Works Sesual Amber body lotion--yummy!

24. Favorite toothpaste? Colgate

25. Favorite smell? sheets that have been dried in the sun

26. What do you do to relax? crossword puzzles, read, sing with the radio

27. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Driving a smaller car, maybe grandkids, maybe botox


Consider yourselves tagged...I will be checking your blogs!

Cait's Christmas List

So, what do you get a 17 year-old who seems to have everything? Cait did some brainstorming and here's her list:


1) pony (yes, a real one)

2) gift card to Target

3) plane (yes, a real one)

4) cute pilot (real)

5) Michael Phelps (yes, the real one)

6) white teeth

7) 50 lbs. hot chocolate

8) CTR ring (she lost her last one in a swimming pool)

9) Cheesecake Factory (yes, the restaurant)

10)lamb (real)

11)new tennis shoes (finally, something normal!)

12)a servant to do her homework and she will name him Jim Bob (?)

13)Japanese game show (?)

14)mouth wash

15)cute new baby scriptures

16)good ACT score

17)movies--Newsies and A Walk to Remember

18)be an EMT

--I'm going to forward this to Santa and we'll see what happens.

A real self-esteem builder :)

Yesterday I came downstairs dressed for the day/work. I was wearing a short-sleeved hoodie with a long-sleeved t-shirt under it. I'd worn the hoodie before but this was the first time with a long-sleeved t- under it. But, you know, the weather's cooling off--high of 80.


Benj took one look at me and said, "Wow mom! I've never seen you look like that before! You look cool!"


Was that a compliment?

A Bit About BOO-ing

The first time we were BOO-ed was before we moved here, so maybe 10 years ago. I actually remember it well. I had never heard about the idea of giving treats in such an organized way with the poem and accompanying BOO sign for the window. When we first read the poem, I felt very special. We were chosen! We were part of the chain! Then I read again--We had ONE day to make treats, copy poem/instructions, and new BOO signs. We shifted into turbo and put off our regularly scheduled programming to get the job done. But I was busy, could I fit it all in? Would someone know it if we were late or did it wrong? I know I stressed myself out about it WAY too much. I have a hard time with deadlines put on me that I don't agree to ahead of time. Anyway, after trips to the copy store and the grocery store to get the copies and the right treat, we went out to secretly deliver our yummy, perfectly planned delight. And guess what--in our little close-knit LDS neighborhood, there were NO houses left to be BOO-ed. We were the last ones! We were not chosen, we were the remnants. All of the running around to keep the chain going for nothing. We ended it. Chain over. We kept the treat. --After a couple of years of poems telling me I had ONE day to keep the chain going, I started to ignore them. I hoped that we wouldn't get BOO-ed so we wouldn't have to go to all of the trouble to pass it on. I should've just stuck up a paper ghost in the window to keep well-wishers away. I am such a grinch! :)

Now, I'm not all bad (I hope). There are some good things about this contemporary tradition. Neighbors reach out to each other and look forward to passing along a bit of thoughtfulness with their treat. But the best thing about BOO-ing, from my perspective, is watching my kids be sneaky. And for that reason, the last few years, we do our own kind of BOO-ing. We choose 4 or 5 friends/neighbors and make them treats. We enclose a note but leave out the demanding deadline part. They can have a treat with no strings attached--They don't have to pass it along! We just let them know it's from someone they know but we don't say exactly who. The kids dress in dark clothing and wear their best running shoes. We drive up to the house with lights off. We scout out the area--the best shrubbery/cars to hide behind and the best escape route. Chris and I sit in the car and giggle while we watch the kids sneak up to the door, ring the bell, and take off! They run, dive, hit the ground, flatten themselves behind trees, and set off car alarms (sorry Kristi!). When they all finally make it back in the car and Chris peals off down the street, they all breathe a sigh of relief and relive their moves. The adrenaline is thick in the air and they're all talking at once, same story over and over from different perspectives. "I didn't know they were going to come around the garage! I ran then hit the ground, then counted to 10, looked up, took off, hit the car (alarm), went behind the tree, army-manned it behind the bush, ran to our car!" Laughing, pointing, then--next house! I love BOO-ing!

Pictures!

Here are some Ike-related pictures. I know it's probably old news to most of you, but we're still living with it. The clean up is on-going and seems to be never-ending. Galveston will never be the same. Along the Sea Wall, there is no beach. The gulf waters come right up to the wall.

Last year, the first part of September, Chris and I celebrated our 20th down in Galveston. We stayed at an old Victorian house that had been turned into a bed-and-breakfast. http://www.coppersmithinn.com It was built in the late 1800s and survived the Great Storm of 1900. The next day, we chartered a fishing boat out of Crystal Beach and spent the day tanning and catching sand trout. We had the boat to ourselves except for our pilot/guide. Our guide baited the hooks for us and even cast them out. There's nothing left of Crystal Beach. There's not even a ferry to get you to the peninsula now.

The night of the storm we all slept (or tried to) in the family room. We watched the news until the signal went out and then Shrek and then Napoleon Dynamite until the power went out.

This picture is taken right around the corner from our house. One house lost 6 trees and the one next door lost 3. It looked like pick-up-sticks. A mini-tornado (there were lots of those all around that night) touched down here. Their front yard now looks like a war zone--holes and mud.

The kids wanted to try walking across this. What kid wouldn't?

Big trees = big mess. Lots of trees actually got tangled up in live wires which is one reason why it took so long for the electric to come back on.

Torn right out of the ground. You still see lots of this around the neighborhood. People are trying to get the stumps taken care of so they can put their yards back together.

Our messy front yard (and neighborhood).

Our debris pile out at the street. It was picked up a week before our power was on. Notice the pines are still standing, which is good because the one on the left is about 5 stories tall (the one on the right is actually an oak).

Chicken Foot game #427. Don't ask me why, but we didn't get tired of this particular game for over a week. We set up a table outside and ate and played out there a lot. The mosquitoes didn't move in until about day 10 after the storm.

Puzzle #1 of 3. Stef is protective of them--she did most of the work on all 3.

What the kids do when they get stir crazy.

One of the houses that Mormon Helping Hands helped clean up.

Chris said that in Galveston, boats were everywhere.

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

I'm back. :) Ike came and went 2 weeks ago today. We are fine, the house is fine, we didn't lose any trees--only some big limbs and the bird feeder. The power came back on last night about 6 pm. That's the focus of this blog. Living without power is nothing. Easy. So, why was I crying when I pulled into the parking lot of the laundromat and couldn't find a parking place? Why did I cry again when friends took my laundry for me? We were prepared. Always have been. We have a grill outside, a Coleman stove, lots of propane, flashlights, batteries, a galvanized steel tub for open fires outside, a turkey fryer that runs off of propane, water. We have clean water! The water wasn't interrupted at all but we were under boiling advisement for about 3 days while it was checked. We also have 4 55-gallon barrels of water in the garage and we had 7 cases of bottled water. Also, all of our cars tanks were full and we didn't have a generator that we needed to buy gas for. We have food storage! I've been working on our 3-month supply of easy to cook food, mostly canned. We really were prepared. The only line we ever had to stand in was for ice. After a couple of days we couldn't keep our fridge cold enough any longer and had to throw out a lot of food and transfer the rest to coolers. Every day we went in search of ice. 5 bags a day. Our new HEB was open soon after the storm and usually got 2 trucks of ice in a day. The arrival times varied so sometimes we had to wait on the shipment before we could buy our treasured 5 bags. We kept 3 coolers cold and put the rest in the outside freezer. After about a week, the freezer was ready for a clean out. Everything was thawed and after eating a lot out of it, we couldn't buy enough ice every day to keep it full. So, one cooler went to the freezer items and the freezer was cleaned out. We gave one turkey away and fried the other. We had to throw out a roast, some chicken, a couple pounds of hamburger, some ribs, and stewmeat. The day before the storm, I cooked about 5 lbs. of chicken and shredded it and stuck it in the freezer so we could easily add it to meals to eat after the storm. We had plenty of bread in the freezer, which was a blessing, because the stores could not keep bread stocked. The area is mostly back to normal now. We were the last block in our neighborhood to get power. The kids went back to school on Wednesday, I went back to work last Monday. Chris went back to work the Monday before. Life is getting back to where it was before but my emotions are not where they were before. After living on the edge of civilization for 2 weeks with only a newspaper and radio for news (the radio got old really fast--too much negativity), I feel like life will never exactly be the same again. On Wednesday morning before school started, the elementary school had a prayer for the families in the neighborhood and for the kids starting back to school. We all met at the flag pole and participated in a non-denominational prayer. Tears came to my eyes as I stood with my friends and neighbors and prayed with them. Only in Houston does the PTO think of praying with its students and actually does it. And no one will be suing. During the first week after the storm, we had the kind of experience that has made lasting positive memories. The weather turned cool (very rare for this time of year here) and people went outside. Neighbors helped each other clean up yards, cut up trees, rake and bag debris. And then after dinner the kids played. Freeze tag, toilet tag, flashlight tag, missionary tag, and lots of games and running. One night Chris and I sat on the porch and watched 16 kids in our yard and spilling out into the other yards, playing some kind of tag. We enjoyed watching their antics and strategies. We're surprised no one ran into any of the trees because it gets dark without any street lights or lights of any kind. We roasted marshmallows together and made banana boats and s'mores. After the cleanup in the neighborhood was under control, the kids would head down to the elementary school every day to play kickball, touch football, and swing. It was an amazing week of good old-fashioned play. As more people around us got their power back on (some as soon as the day after the storm), we had so many friends reach out to us and others who did not have power. We were offered help with laundry, dinner, and a place to cool off when the cool weather left us. These friends will always, always be dear to my heart. It really wasn't catastrophic to not have power for 2 weeks. We had all that we needed, thanks to our friends. Pictures coming soon--Chris has the camera down in Galveston today where he's helping clean up. Mormon Helping Hands sure stays busy around here. (I'm going to go vacuum now.)

Stef's Alarm Clock

Stef is not a morning person. She never has been. She's not really a night person either. She's always been a little bit sleepy. I've had her blood sugar and iron tested and they're fine. It's just that when she's not busy with anything in particular she prefers to spend her free time sleeping. :) She's not lazy. She actually loves to be active. She loves to ride her bike, play vollyball, and go do things with friends. She keeps up with homework, facebook, school activities, church activities. She just really enjoys sleeping, too. And when she's asleep, she's out.

So, now to the alarm clock. Stef recently got her own room for the first time ever. And I went and picked out a very cute and cheap alarm clock for her. She started seminary this year and needs to get up by about 5:15 a.m. She quickly learned about the snooze button and set her alarm for 5:05 a.m. So, at exactly 5:05 a.m. the alarm goes off and makes this horrible grating/shrieking/annoying noise. I get up and go into Stef's room and wake her up. Stef wakes up and pushes snooze. We repeat this 9 minutes later. The noise, I get up, stumble into Stef's room, wake her up and then she turns it off and this time, gets up. This morning I decided to be grateful that I have a new alarm clock that is so cute and that I have Stef to snooze it and then turn it off for me. And I'm very grateful that she mostly always gets up the second time.

Baptismal Covenants

I promise to serve the Lord, keep His commandments, and to always remember Him.
The Lord promises to forgive my sins when I repent, to bless me with the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and to give me eternal life.

Dixon Ticonderoga

It's school supply time, again. Do I sound less than enthusiastic? Don't get me wrong, I love school supplies. New pencils, highlighters in every color, the smell of Crayolas, fine-tipped ball point pens in black ink and maybe purple, too. Spirals without bent corners, doodles and messy leftover strips from tearing out pages. Graph paper, sketch paper, copy paper, construction paper, college-ruled, wide-ruled. When I was younger, I remember telling my mom that when I grew up I wanted to open a paper store (this was before scrapbooking). She was like, "Paper? What for? You can buy paper at Fred Meyer." Jace and Benj were going through their pre-packaged school supplies (purchased from the school to support the PTO). They both had a box of 24 pencils. Benj's were Dixon Ticonderoga and Jace's were an off-brand. Jace eyed Benj's pencils and turned a little green. Then his lightbulb went on: "Benj, how about if I give you 12 of my pencils and you give me 12 of yours and then we can both have the same kind of pencils?" Benj didn't see anything wrong with this deal and agreed. Jace got 12 precious Dixon Ticonderoga's and Benj got to match his big brother. I do have a problem with teachers that request certain items that are almost impossible to find. I have no idea where they're coming from. A few years ago, Cait had an English teacher that requested an orange pocket folder with brads. Each of the classes had a different color and Cait's class got stuck with orange. I drove all over Houston looking for that orange folder. I found many without brads. I found many without pockets. They would not do and I was getting desperate. If it wasn't in hand, in class by Friday her GRADE would be affected. Can you believe it? "I'm grading you on how well your mother can drive all over the city to find the elusive orange-colored folder. You have until Friday then I start taking off points." What? I bought a red hoping that we could paint it. Then dumb luck stepped in. There was a girl in another class who couldn't find red but happened to stumble across the last orange in the state. We arranged a swap and the grade was saved. This year our elusive supplies include a Composition Book with 3 binder-holes, 5 x 7 index cards that are on rings with a plastic cover, and ABC dividers. I have until Friday.

Erin left for Provo today and so did all of our money. We miss them both. :)

8 IS GR8

When you turn 8 in our family, you get to do some "grown-up" things. Such as learn how to light matches and use a sharp knife. You also get a big plate at the dinner table and a big fork and knife to eat with. When we were setting the table for the birthday dinner, Benj had a great idea: "Let's throw away all of the little [salad] forks! We don't need them any more." Silly Benj!
p.s. Baptism coming up on Sept. 6--mark your calendar :)

Origami and Chocolate-Covered Bananas

Something funny happens between sisters when they know that there's a limited amount of time before, all of a sudden, they don't live in the same house any more. Origami, together, for hours. Producing fish, penguins, cats and paper airplanes out of tie-dyed paper. Making chocolate-covered bananas together. Nuts or sprinkles on this one? Sharing the same kitchen. Looking through family pictures together. I like how you did this scrapbook. Showing the other one how to get pictures on a disc for printing at CVS. I love observing this. My girls are growing up.

Knick-Knames

I am the first to admit that I shorten names-- a lot. I've heard that it's a girl-thing. That's my reason and I'm sticking to it. I was given quite a long, old-fashioned name and always longed for something a little spiffier sounding. When I was about 6 my dad asked me what name I would like to go by. There was quite a list to choose from: Eliza, Liz, Lizzy, Betsy, Beth, the list seemed to go on. He listed all the aunt Liz's that I had and how Grandma goes by Beth. After I thought about it, for not very long, I decided on Lizzy because it had two z's and a y. Wouldn't that be great to write in cursive! That lasted maybe a week and then Liz stuck. My older brothers affectionately called me 'greenyhead' (not even gonna capitalize that one) and now call me "Isa"--short for "Isabeau." In college I tried to go back to Elizabeth, but soon noticed how I wasn't answering when people called me. Habits. When Erin was born, I thought in the back of my head that Erin was a short enough name that no one would ever shorten it. Of course you can shorten it! I call her "Er" on a regular basis. And that's not all --when she was a toddler, I called her "scuba" for quite a while. When I heard someone else call her that, I heard how ridiculous it sounded and soon went back to her real name. Caitlin was called "Punkin" for a long time before we settled on Cait. And sometimes still gets called Caiter. Stefanie has been Stef forever but she prefers Stefi--with a heart over the "i." Jace, the only one lucky enough to be given a one-syllable name was actually Jacie for a while and is still sometimes Jacer, J-man, and Buddy. And then there was Benjamin. To me he's not a Ben, but he's called that at school and at church. I don't know any way around it. I've asked people to please at least add the "j" and call him Benj. I've even written notes to teachers, but all to no avail. Last Sunday I was subbing in Primary and heard everyone around him calling him "Ben." I looked around, "Is that my son they're talking about? I have no idea who this Ben is." Maybe shortening/changing names is a family thing--like genetics. You get it from those around you. It's contagious. Does every family do this? You try out a name and keep it around for a while. See how it fits in the setting. See how other people like it --or not. Dust it off occasionally and when it's out-of-date, chuck it.

Graduation !

The highlight of June was graduation! Yeah! Erin worked extremely hard in school and graduated in the top 8%. She was in National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, Texas Scholars, and more. She was the winner of the CFWC scholarship and is now focusing on fall.

Other June activities: trumpet camp and scout camp for Jace, Girl's camp and EFY for Cait and Stef, dance camp for Stef, swim team, working hard for Erin and Cait learning to juggle two jobs. Lots of busy-ness and fun!

Need Some Blogging Help

I have been asked to teach a 20-minute Enrichment Night workshop on blogging. I am certainly no expert so I would like to ask for all of your help! Please take a minute and answer these questions for me-- Why do you blog? What got you started blogging? What sites help you be creative (name specific sites that help you do slide shows, templates, movies, music background, etc.)? How did you come up with your blogging name? Do you find it easy to manage or is it sometimes a headache? Is it worth your time? Any tips on security issues? What's the main thing you like/dislike about the blogging world? Have you ever surfed blogs of people you don't know? Anything else? Please answer as many questions as you can in the comment section of this post. If you have lots of info (which I welcome) email me at calm57@gmail.com . The meeting isn't until mid-August, so feel free to think on it or if you find new ideas or sites next month, come back and add to your comments. Thanks for your input! Liz

A Soldier's Prayer

There is a family in our ward whose daddy just came home from Iraq. He served two consecutive terms. He had been gone for two years with only a short break after the first year. When the family walked into church yesterday, the smiles were incredible. His kids hung on his arms and sat on his lap throughout the service. He was asked to give the benediction in sacrament meeting. I have never heard such a personal and sincere prayer before. There is one phrase that he said that I can't get out of my head. He prayed, "We are grateful that we have one more day to prepare to be with Thee." I keep thinking--What am I doing with my day today to help me prepare to be with God again? Our soldier was looking death in the face every day. He was a very good soldier in an elite group and was fighting in the most dangerous areas of Iraq. But, we also face death every day. We never know when we will be called home. Are we ready? What are we doing to be ready? Isn't that the purpose of our life here-- To be ready to go back?

Joke of the Day

Here's another joke for you Marnie .... (as told by Stefanie)

There's a blonde driver and a blonde police officer. The blonde driver gets pulled over by the police officer and asks for her driver's license. The blonde driver looks all through her purse but can't find it. She asks the police officer what it looks like. The police officer says, "It has your picture on it." So she looks through her purse and finds her mirror. She hands it to the police officer and the police officer says, "If I knew you were a police officer I wouldn't have pulled you over."

Joke of the Day

Husband: Will you still love me when I'm old and overweight? Wife: Yes, I do.

Have An Armadillo Day!

Isn't it funny how some sayings stick with us? We find a funny or catchy word or phrase and start repeating it. Pretty soon it's part of our every-day vocabulary and even makes sense to those around us who know the history of the saying.

Last fall when I was walking Benj to school we were lucky enough to see an armadillo. This wasn't your usual road-kill, bloated, feet-in-the-air, dark red blood variety. We have been here 9 years and have only seen dead armadillos. The armadillo that we saw on this morning was alive and running! We followed it through 3 or 4 neighbors yards and around the corner. There weren't any other kids close to us to see it, too. It was just a moment for Benj and me to share. The rest of the way to school we talked about how cool it was, about where it was and where it ran to, and basically cherished the moment. Well, our day was not ordinary anymore! We had seen an armadillo and followed it for almost a whole block! We were so happy about it, the entire day was great. We were having an armadillo day! And, even now, when the stars seem to be aligned and everything is going great, we say that we're having an armadillo day!

Some pics of our latest escapades

Ready to go!

Prom girl got a corsage.

From Chris' trip to Switzerland--going up Mt. Rigi in a tram.

Luzernne, Switzerland --definitely gotta go there.

Benj a week later. Less swelling, more color.

Benj soon after dumpster diving--lots of swelling.

Stef going to 8th grade dance.

P.S.

I have been feeling so out of control I'm right back to my lists. Things were calm before. Sheesh. I think I need to vent. Two days after my last post, we were at a ward service project--great idea for a ward activity--family service day. OK, so we were cleaning out a couple of houses in a neighboring ward that needed some major help. Kids were in and out of the dumpsters all morning having a great time playing in the trash. Someone that didn't know there were kids in there heaved in a heavy table and it landed on Benjamin's face. Chris and I were inside scrubbing walls when we heard screams. Worst nightmare ever. When I climbed up on the side of the dumpster and looked in there was blood everywhere. I reached over the side and hauled him out (he was standing up and Jace was boosting him). Anyway, I carried him in the house and assessed. I always knew that you could bleed a lot from head/face wounds but this was ridiculous. He had a TINY cut right between the eyes that produced blood all over his face shirt, shoes, the dumpster, and me. It was like a fountain. His right cheekbone looked like it was starting to swell up so we got ice. We needed to treat him for shock. We took him home, gave him some ibuprofen and he was fine. No concussion, no broken bones, no stitches. He was up and running around within half an hour. Kids. It did look absolutely horrible and was so swollen all across his face that the school nurse insisted on icing him every hour for a whole week. We got that under control and then I got bronchitis. Lovely. Right when I was doing my visiting teaching conference. Luckily I had already done all the planning and arranging. I just had to show up, smile, and teach one of the workshops -twice. I had no energy, no voice, and was very out of breath. I love cough syrup with codeine. It is my friend. I'm going to make my bottle last a long time. Oh, did I mention Chris has been out of town most of the last 2 weeks? And we're making mother's day projects in preschool (which at the age I teach is mostly a teacher project), and swim team has just started. Practices every day. Oh, and did I mention I'm in charge of concessions? First meet is this Saturday and I haven't even pulled the book out from last year. All I really know is we're going to order chick-fil-a and not do hamburgers this meet. I did have a productive day today, though. I bought Gracie some more doggie meds. She's got a weird flea problem from all of the squirrels and possums she catches and it's hard to get rid of. She scratches and bites herself so much she gets sores and then infections. Very expensive at the vet. I 'm halfway done altering Erin's prom dress. Just got to tack the lining back down. (note to self: When Cait goes to prom, order modest dress 3 months early.) I finally sent J&K's baby gift today. I hope the outfits still fit. I got everything checked off my list today except changing the oil in the Mazda. There's always next week.

Lists

I’m a list maker. That’s just how it is. Sometimes when things get busy and I feel like I’m running from one thing to the next, I cannot function without a list. I cannot start my day without knowing what needs to be done during my precious kid-free hours. I even write down my afternoon kid destinations even though they are mostly the same week after week. I write down things after I do them just so I can cross them off! Wow—I am accomplishing a lot! Mostly, the lists are made the night before so I can sleep knowing that I am ready to hit the floor running when the alarm goes off. This is life with five kids. Five busy kids. Recently life has been busier than usual. Extremely busier than usual. Lately, E. is busy with all that goes along with high school graduation. Ordering pictures, addressing announcements, AP tests, working part time, prom, studying for pharm tech certification, friends, church stuff, etc. C. is in Corpus right now with the orchestra. We miss her. She’s busy with practicing, tests, driving, church, tutoring 5 kids 3 days a week, and another year of swim team. S. just made the color guard for high school next year. Orchestra, private lessons for violin, studying, 8th grade dance, NJHS, swim team, and now color guard practice. J. is keeping himself busy with trumpet, piano, scouts, lots of GT and pre-AP projects, trying to mow lawns for a little pocket money (I finally hired him), swim team. B. is playing piano, and we have talked him into another year of swim team (he really doesn’t like it). So, I manage all of their schedules and my own. That takes lots of lists. I’m currently working part-time teaching preschool so I only have Tues and Thurs to get anything and everything done. This includes doing 15 loads of laundry a week, cooking lots of dinners, trying to lose weight, grocery shopping, substituting in primary, planning a visiting teaching workshop, making a t-shirt quilt for E., making a smaller quilt for NAM, altering E.’s prom dress, making a shrug for S.’s 8th grade dance dress and altering it a bit, planning concessions for swim team, ordering senior pictures, finding addresses for announcements, driving back and forth on Louetta every afternoon—to school, to church, to Target, to piano, to violin, to swim, to Kroger, to orthodontist. This past week, I’ve been flying without a net. I haven’t really had time to make lists. I’ve got my purse-sized calendar, which I consult occasionally, and then I hit the road. Looking back over this maddening week, I realized that there was a different feeling --something that I haven’t felt for a long time. I was enjoying all of the craziness as it was happening. I wasn’t trying to get through it just to cross it off. I was enjoying the moment and not just getting through it to get to the next thing. It was liberating to be free of the paper and pen! Not to say that all of my weeks will be like this, but for all of its craziness, I sure enjoyed it.

Joke of the Day

A Russian, a Texan and New Yorker were going out to dinner together. The waiter came to the table and said, "Excuse me, we have a shortage of steak tonight."

The Russian said, "What's a steak?"

The Texan said, "What's a shortage?"

The New Yorker said, "What's excuse me?"

April Fools' Day!

Sometimes we get a little silly with April Fools Day. I love to watch the kids thinking up tricks to pull on each other. Benj was so excited to take a fake spider to school to scare his teacher. This is a picture of our breakfast. It sure looks normal enough. The 'fried' egg is actually vanilla pudding with half of a canned peach on top. It was great. A few years ago we actually had meatloaf made out of Cocoa Krispies with bits of red and green fruit roll-up in it to help it look seasoned.

EASTER AFTERMATH

Look at what Caitlin and I just found. :) Happy Easter!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Chris and I in some wildflowers.

Caitlin

Stefanie

Jace

Benjamin

Cool old gas station--check out the pump. I bet it was full service.

Bluebonnets--our state flower.

Baptist church where Sam Houston attended in the 1850's.

We went exploring in the hill country (between Houston and Austin) yesterday and found some great photo opportunities. We found fields of wildflowers, pastures of miniature horses, ate Bluebell ice cream, and took lots of pictures.

Another Random Conversation

Benj and I were walking into Target and there's a man coming out with twin boys (they looked 2 or 3 yrs old), one on each hip.
Benj said: Wow!! Those are twins! This is the first time I've ever seen twins!
I said: What about Mitchell and Ryan?
Benj: Mitchell and Ryan are twins?

He Shoots! He Scores!

Benjamin had a basketball game yesterday. He's been playing for four seasons now with the YMCA. Things are starting to come together for him. He made his first basket during a game yesterday! There were about 10 seconds left in the game. He was open. His teammate passed him the ball. He went to the basket and shot. IT WENT IN ! ! ! It was a great game! He was a very happy boy!

Random Conversation

Chris (from in the bathroom): What do you call a disoriented ninja? Me: I don't know. What? Chris: Kung-fused. Me: Are you reading Boys' Life again?

Spring is Here

The goldfinches are in town. We put up a new fancy birdfeeder a few weeks ago. So far we've seen goldfinches, housefinches, and cardinals. There are others but I don't know what kind they are. Whenever we get close, they hop right up to the tree overhead and hide in the leaves. Somedays the white goldfinch "sock" is covered with birds but as soon as I get close with the camera they disappear.

Here We Go Again

It all started August 16, 1994 when Caitlin broke her arm. The UPS man had pulled up out front and Erin and Caitlin were running to the front window to 'see.' The sofa was in front of the window and as the girls ran to it to climb up, Caitlin hit it a little hard and ended up with a buckle fracture. Since then we have had 11 fractures in our little family. Caitlin has broken both arms twice (sofa, big wheel, bicycle, hurdles) and her nose (basketball). Jace has broken an arm (falling out of a chair trying to save his graham cracker). Benj has broken an arm (falling out of his crib). Stefanie has broken her leg (toddler fracture--don't know how it happened), a buckle fracture in her left arm (don't remember how it happened), a very bad break in her right arm during Hurricane Rita (the ER was fun that day), and yesterday she broke her clavicle. We were having a pretty good day yesterday. Erin was on the other side of the city at a HOSA competition. Caitlin was on her way back from an orchestra trip to San Antonio. Stefanie was at a friend's house. Jace was at a brithday party. Benj was playing over at a friend's. The house was quiet--it was weird. Chris and I were HOME ALONE. Then, just 10 minutes after Stef had left, we got the phone call. She and her friends had been jumping over each other and Stef had landed on her shoulder. ouch! As you can tell from the x-ray, it was a pretty good break. We went to the Emergency Clinic where they gave her a shot for pain, a shot for nausea, and took x-rays. They also gave us a sling and a prescription for more pain meds. That's all they could do. We have to follow up with our favorite orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. We're going to ask him for a discount.

Ranger Cookies

We love cookies!
At our house, we love cookies! Almost every Sunday, Caitlin (or sometimes someone else--we all love being in the kitchen) bakes a batch of cookies. For years, our favorite has been the recipe for chocolate chip cookies found on the package of the butter-flavored Crisco sticks. That's a good one--lots of brown sugar and we bake them on stoneware. Sometimes we use M&M's instead of chocolate chips. YUM! Then, about a month ago, I found this recipe for Ranger Cookies. I don't know where the recipe came from. It's been in my untried recipe file for a while (blog idea--how I organize my recipes). It is our new favorite and we've made them every week since! They are very hearty and a little bit oversized. The pecans and coconut toast up very nicely in them. Once we were out of Corn Flakes and used Rice Krispies--still good! We took a plate to our piano teacher and her husband called us for the recipe. They are so good we can't get enough of them. Give them a try and enjoy!


Ranger Cookies
Liz Merrell
2 c. flour
¾ t. baking powder
¾ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
2/3 c plus 3 T. butter (8 1/3 T.)
½ c. shortening
1 1/3 c. light brown sugar
2/3 c. sugar
2 large eggs
2 ½ t. vanilla
2 c. rolled oats
2 c. corn flakes
1 ¼ c. chopped pecans
1 ¼ c. shredded coconut
10 oz. Chocolate chunks (optional)
Preheat oven to 375. Grease baking sheets.
In medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and shortening until lightened. Add the brown sugar and the sugar and beat until very smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until evenly incorporated, then stir in the flour mixture until it’s incorporated.
Finally stir in the oats, corn flakes, pecans, and coconut. Let the dough stand for 10 minutes.
Shape the dough into golf-ball-sized balls with lightly greased hands. Place on the baking sheets, spacing about 3 inches apart and pat down to about ¼" thickness.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 11 minutes, or until brown. (note: the original recipe didn't include the chocolate chunks, but what is a cookie without chocolate?)

What we do with our free time now. :)

Thanks to Santa, we are now the proud owners of a Wii. This is new for us--never had a video game system before. We are enjoying it immensely! Some of us take it too seriously and some of us don't like that our athletic ability is labeled as good as an 80-year old. Benj has made Mii twins--two tall thin men with black spiky hair, white t-shirts, and both named B-man. Sometimes they play against each other in baseball. We don't know which one is better. We all have our favorite sports--I actually enjoy golf and bowling and Jace is learning the ins and outs of 'Madden 08'. Erin has had friends over for a Wii party. Fun times ahead!