Froggin'

Sam has been into froggin' lately. We spent almost a whole day down by the pond last week. It was a gorgeous day. Sam caught frogs and I was drawing. It was so relaxing. He caught 18 frogs that day! He has the net with him, but he really catches them by hand! A skill he learned from Bekah who is great at catching frogs.

Bekah's Concert

Here is Bekah at the end of the Orchestra concert that she had last week. It was a combined orchestra with other middle schools in the area. They got to perform at the new perfoming arts center, which is really nice! They did some really fun songs including "Rosin eating Zombies from Outer Space", which included some screaming from orchestra students throughout. It was a really fun concert. Jonah had his hands over his ears after the screaming and he kept whispering to me, "Are they going to scream again?". The first thing Sam asked when he sat down to wait for the concert was, "Can we have popcorn?". Anyway, Bekah did a really good job and loves to play the cello!!

The Bunny

"Our" outside kitty brought us a little present! A live bunny! Is this not ADORABLE!!!!

Sam had to hold it too!

Bekah did not want to let him go! He was so sweet. A little shaken up (understandably!) She has brought us dead baby bunnies before (and birdies and mice in abundance). One bunny ended up as two front legs, a colon and a tail left laying on our front doormat! That cat's a butcher!

A Very Rainy Day

Monday it rained HARD from 3p.m. until evening. This is what our street looked like! You could not see the street! Those garbage bags are floating down the street! A little later they broke open and trash was everywhere!

Here it is creeping up on the lawn. The good thing is that the pond in back is now full again. It had gone pretty dry this summer so we did need the rain, just maybe not all in one afternoon!

My Latest Project

I got this chair at a garage sale for $4.25! It was labeled a sewing chair. The seat lifts up and there is a place for thread. I have never seen a chair like this, but I love it. I had so much fun recovering it!

Da boiz

Since Rachel posted about recent boys' antics, I thought I'd post this picture that we took on Sunday when they were both dressed up after the annual primary program (when all the kids under 12 have little speaking parts and sing children's hymns for the entire main service).


Here they are in their normal mode, cruising in Sam's "big" birthday present. They've been honing their skills on the neighbor's John Deere tractor, and Rachel found this killer deal on Craigslist for $90. They bumped it that low because the battery was shot, but we got one shipped to us from ebay for $35! (and4-yr olds just don't care as long as it works!)

My Boys

Two stories, one about Sam, one about Jonah.

Sam-
Today was a normal day. I was getting bills paid and organized and he was watching tv. I put the bills, all ready to be mailed out, by the door (like I always do). I told Sam I was going up to take a shower. After my shower I heard him yell up to me "Mom, I opened all the mail!". Yeah, he opened all the bills, and NOT carefully! Ripped open! At least, by some miracle, he didn't rip any checks.

Jonah-
I got a letter from school on Friday that Jonah was out of money in his lunch account. How could this be I wondered since I budget out 2 meals a week from school and he brings his lunch the other days. I checked online to see the meal history, what he had bought with the money (which I didn't know about before this incident). He has been buying breakfast at school, 10 days of breakfast were on there! And yes, he does eat breakfast at home before he goes to school!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Some things Sam likes;

• Spider-man-loves to wear his spider man shirt (sometimes two Spider-man shirts at the same time)
• corn dogs (he says "hot dog corn")
• riding bikes
• juice, any kind, he has a two cup a day limit that he fights every day
• digging and crashing cars and trains (in the winter we fill a tray with cornmeal and he crashes things in that)
• Scooby Doo (and Shaggy too!)
• trying new foods, he always has to try what I'm having even if he finds out he doesn't like it, not a bad quality
• playing outside with Jonah and our neighbor friends
• Watching a movie with Bekah, and eating popcorn
• Playing with boats in the kitchen sink, this never gets old
• Loves to help make cookies (and then wants to crash things in the flour and sugar)
• Did I mentions he likes to crash things?!

Our New Cats

Kittens actually. Four months old. Brother and sister. We noticed that when they get ready to pounce on something, they both shake their little booties so cute so we decided to name the boy Tango (the one with stripes) and the girl ChaCha (the black one).

I've never had cats before since I was allergic all my life. I've just realized that I'm not anymore. Bekah really wanted kittens so they are kind of mostly for her. The cats have been really sweet so far. Not quite as destructive as puppies! Still getting used to the litter box thing though, not a huge fan of that!

Sam's Cast

Sam broke his arm three weeks ago. Now it is time to get the cast off. We went to the Doctor yesterday to get it removed. Sam was not too thrilled with the saw that they used. It was pretty scary! After they got it off, they took another x-ray and it is healing well. He has to wear a wrist brace for 2 weeks and then they will x-ray it again.

Branson Vacation

A couple of weeks ago we went on a little family vacation to Branson, MO. We kind of took some back roads since it was the most direct route our GPS guided us to the Talking Rocks Cavern on the west side of Branson. We happened across a happy accident in southwest Missouri on a bathroom stop in part of the Mark Twain national forest.

There's a state park called Roaring River, there was a bathroom we could see from the road and there was a nice, big playground on the other side of the parking lot...perfect after 3 1/2 hours in the car. As we walked to the playground we noticed a guy walk down an embankment and we heard some distant noise of water. There was this pretty, little, spring-fed mountain river that was very shallow, totally clear and moving very slowly (in that part). This turned out to be our favorite part of the trip and made sure to stop there on the way home. We'll put up another post with some pictures from the other days.

The kids liked Talking Rocks Cavern. It's the first cave they've been in. There were some pretty formations. I've never heard of "cave bacon" before, but you can see why, and this cave is famous for it's bacon!

Yes, that fish was alive...though just barely. It was floating belly-up, but I could see it was still breathing. I think someone upstream must have had it on a stringer for a while and weeded it out before they headed home. The kids enjoyed touching and holding it (and it makes a pretty cool mountain man photo!).

The Terrible Horrible No Good, Very Bad Day

Today;

• Woke up with a headache


• Alan's car wouldn't start, still is having trouble


• I had to go to the dentist


• Left the kids home alone for the first time with Bekah


• Need fillings


• Had a flat tire on the way home


• The flat tire was brand new


• Had to wait an hour for the insurance company guy to come fix my flat tire


• Was worried about the kids


• Left my phone at home and couldn't call anyone


• Sam broke his arm falling at the park


• Alan had to go to three urgent cares before finding one that accepted our insurance

The blessings;

• My headache went away quickly


• We are getting dental insurance soon


• My neighbor rescued Bekah from babysitting her brothers and they all had a good time


• I noticed the flat tire as I drove slowly through the bank and was able to stop there and take care of it safely


• I was able to use the phone at the bank


• Sam had a ton of fun on his new bike before he broke his arm on the playground


• we just got our new health insurance cards in the mail Saturday


• There was no line at the urgent care, they got right in

After the flat tire and the dentist I said to the kids, "All we need is for someone to break their arm today!" I'll never say that again!!

Pond Life

We were walking around the pond in out in back of our house last Sunday and this is what we saw! Alan and I watched it finish off the frog, so amazing! Don't worry, this snake is not venemous.

Jonah being goofy at the pond. Ready to catch a frog though!

Now on to this week, We caught a big bullfrog for the first time. Alan had to wade into the pond, but he got one. Oh the excitement!! Too bad Sam was asleep (not feeling well poor little guy). This is our neighbor friend. At one point the frog got away and there was lots of screaming and laughing as they chased it down. We put him back in the pond shortly after.

Up close. Isn't he darling?!

We love our pond and all the wildlife out there, especially the frogs!

Funny

My Brother and his wife just had a baby yesterday. They added a second little girl to their family. Her name is Ellia Naomi. She had a few problems at birth and is in the NICU for a couple of days, so I don't have a picture yet of her. Her big sister Sophie (2 1/2) is already protective of her little sister. It just reminded me of when Sam was born. This is the face we got when Jonah met his new brother. Really I think Jonah would have been ok to leave him at the hospital. It always makes me laugh!

Mother's Day Prep

I asked Jonah what he was going to get for me for Mother's day. He thought about it for awhile and decided he would get me an Indiana Jones Lego set. I asked him if I could play with it all by myself. He thought about that too and thought maybe he would need to "help" me play with it. Isn't he sweet!

Piano Competition

Bekah participated in a piano competition last week. She did really well! She scored a 1! She really worked hard practicing for this and I am proud of her. She had to have her piece memorized, play for a judge, and take a theory test. The judge has the music and writes down comments (mostly positive and encouraging ways to improve). She didn't even seem nervous!

Indulgent

I hardly ever do something for myself that I would call indulgent. BUT today I did. I saw a commercial that Jerry Seinfeld is coming to town and I said I AM GOING! He was in Lincoln and I wanted to go so bad, I didn't buy tickets because we were poor students. I regretted it and made a promise to myself that next time I would go. I am so excited! I barely got tickets, they were almost sold out, But I DID get some. Can't wait!!

Yummier Than Squid Food

Tonight for supper I made a Sandwich with pizza dough. You just put the meat and cheese in and fold it over and bake it. Tonight I put Turkey meat with pepperoni and chipotle cheddar cheese. I was a little iffy on the cheese not knowing if it would pass the "Jonah" test. He is so picky, he won't eat "mixed up" foods like casseroles or soups and refuses any chips with "grass" on them. He studied it for a while. Then he asked me;

"Mom, what do Squids eat?"

"Ahhhh-Fish?"

"This kind of sandwich is yummier than squid food!!!"

I'm taking it as a compliment.

Guess Who's Six?

Can't believe it, Happy Birthday Jonah! He's a really great kid and a joy to have around. He keeps us laughing everyday.

Day at the Park

Fun twirly thing. This was a real crowd pleaser, there were always tons of kids on this!

Sam on the rock wall.

Jonah and the whale. You may have noticed the reimergence of the Nemo hat. Jonah LOVES his Nemo hat. It is getting a little bit small, don't know what we will do when he outgrows it.

Bekah and the Gorilla. This park is near the zoo so there is a definite animal theme.

Jonah on the rock wall. They really had fun on this.

Goodbye Green, Hello Red!

Well, it's over. The green van finally died. It has served us well and built up our faith. It went out in a blaze of white smoke on my way home one day two weeks ago. I thought it was on fire and was kind of scared. Sam and I got out fast and ran into the house. It wasn't on fire, but there were serious issues. Here's a few things that are wrong with this car:

• Broken driver's sideview mirror.
• Rearview mirror that has been glued back in place more times than I can count.
• Tape player working only when it wants to.
• No heat for about a year and a half. (The kids and I have good memories of driving to piano lessons in NE piling on blankets and wearing long johns with the promise of hot cocoa when we got home. It was SOOO COLD. We really didn't go out if we didn't have to!)
• No defrost.
• Having to lock side door by hand.
• Back door being locked shut for about 3 weeks.
• Always having to charge the battery.
• cigarette charger not working for plugging in the all important DVD player.
• The fun and excitement of not knowing if the car will start.
• Not to mention the head gasket that finally did it in.

Enter the red van! What do I like about this car? EVERYTHING WORKS!!!

Sopa de Arroz

I've been into cooking lately and trying new things. I get a lot of recipes from the kids cookbooks at the Library. Since I'm in the kids section all the time they are handy. They have a lot of international cookbooks so it's fun to learn about other cultures as well as get the recipes. The recipes are usually really easy since the cookbooks are geared towards kids. We have tried Thai and Mexican and I want to try some Japanese next. This recipe is one of my favorites. It's easy and the ingredients are cheap.

Sopa de Arroz

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup cooked rice
1 clove garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green chile (use two if you like it spicy)
2-3 tomatoes
4 cups beef or chicken stock
1 cup chopped chicken. cooked(opt.)
salt to taste

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add rice, garlic, onion, and chili pepper. Fry until brown, stirring often. Add tomatoes, chicken, stock, and salt. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add;

Tortilla chips
Cheese
Sour cream

Too Good!

I just found this recipe for frosting and mixed it up, I haven't even frosted the cake yet and I know this frosting is a wining recipe. And it's easy too!

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar


DIRECTIONS
1. Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.


ENJOY!!!

Stitches

Well it's happened, someone at our house needed stitches. Normal Saturday morning, boys watching tv, goofing off, a little rough play and then THE CRY. It's Sam. Bekah brings him upstairs with blood spilling out of his mouth. Alan and I are getting ready for the day. Alan has to go to work in 5 minutes. He will be late. I ask Alan if it needs stitches and he says yes and pulls out his med kit. Oh yeah, HE can do it. I was amazingly calm through the whole process. I was holding limbs and looking the other way, but I did sneak a peak and didn't feel like fainting. Sam was really good. I expected him to start screaming when Alan gave him the shot in his lip, but he just whimpered a little and stayed still. Two stitches in his lip. The sad thing is through the process of sewing him up I was thinking that I should get a picture for the blog. I will take a picture of the stitches some time today, after my hands stop shaking!

Winter Happenings

I haven't blogged for a while so I thought it was about time to start up again. Here are a few things that have happened this month.

• The back tire blew out on our way home after Christmas. It happened on the highway while Alan was driving. It really happened so fast that I didn't even realize what had happened until we were almost completely pulled over. I am so glad that Alan was there and that he was driving. I tried to entertain three kids and a dog on the side of the road for an hour. There was a big hill the kids enjoyed playing on and it was pretty far from the road. We played red light/green light, tag and Simon says. Needless to say we started off the year putting 4 new tires on our van.

• I finished painting our master bathroom with the SECOND color choice. The first yellow we chose was way too bright on the walls, so we re-painted it. Much better! I even got a little valance sewed for the window and finished staining the cabinets. All I need now are some bathmats and I'm done. We stll want to change the light fixture and other hardware, but that will have to wait for a while.

• Bekah turned 12! I turned 30 something! We went out to Red Robin to celebrate both birthdays. Alan's parents came down too to celebrate Bekah's b-day. We had her favorite dessert, marshmallow brownies.

• The week of my birthday we had three "ice" days where the kids had no school. Great birthday present! They were actually ok, but I was happy to send them back to school on Friday!

• On nice days, Sam and I take a walk. He rides in the stroller and has decided that he always wants to sleep on the walk. He brings his blanket, lays down, and before I know it he's asleep! I just wheel him in the house afterwords and he stays asleep! I wonder how long this will last?

• We were excited to see that a Goodwill was being built near our house! It opened in January and I was there opening day with all the crazy people. It is now the closest retail store to us. I've been three times already.

• Jonah asked if he could stay home the other day because he wanted to eat noodles(Ramen that is) for lunch. I told him I could send noodles with him to school, but he said he wanted to eat them at home. Nice try Jonah, very cute but didn't work. He did eat us out of Ramen the three days he was home though!

• Alan and I are working our way through the DVDs of Scrubs, pretty funny show!

• I just read a good book called Cassandra and Jane, by Jill Pitkeathley, about Jane Austen and her sister and their life together. It is fiction, but I thought it was really good, especially for Jane Austen fans. Even though I'm not a huge fan of her books I like the movies. I may try the books again after reading this book.
  
  

If I Only Had a Brain

Jonah is still interested in the body and checked out some books about the body on our recent, infamous trip to the Library (see previous post). He was reading one and sitting by Sam, telling Sam all about it. I heard this,

"Yeah Sam, everyone has a brain, even yoooouuuuuuuuuuu".

Kicked Out

Last week the kids were still home for Christmas break so we decided to go to the Library. We went and did the usual Library routine, hanging out in the kids section, playing a few games on the computer, jumping off the chairs a few times, MAYBE reading some books. Then we went over to check out the crafting books for Bekah and I. My usual approach to this is to sit Sam in the stroller and have him eat a snack. He was having none of that. Jonah sat down to read some stories he had chosen and Sam climbed and wriggled under a few chairs, they were somewhat under control I thought. A few times Sam ran to where I couldn't see him and I went to get him and put him in the stroller since running away is unacceptable. We were finishing up and getting ready to go. Sam was crying at this point because I put him in the stroller, hence the reason we were getting ready to leave. This is when the Librarian came over and asked me, "Were you getting ready to leave?". "Yes", I said. "Oh good, because we've had a few complaints", she said. I gave her a withering look as I finished getting Sam strapped in. "I know she said, I've been there". Ok, so I wasn't mad at her at all. BUT we were in that section for about 5-10 minutes and I know my limit and was leaving. I was flaming mad at those people who complained, obviously they have never had children. AND the kids weren't even being that bad. AND there were other kids behaving much worse. AND I feel that it is my right to be in the Library as much as anyone else. I have never had this happen in any Library I've ever been to, and my kids have really behaved much worse at times!