Guess Who?

John found a photo album yesterday, and we had fun looking through it.

Here's a photo of me with my Mom and siblings 'way back when we lived in Albuquerque.  You can tell I was thrilled to be a big sister, loving that I am no longer the one in Mom's lap.  Yeah.

Now I know where JT gets that face.  Here he is at about age 4, in an angel costume at church.  Martha Harrison, JT's Sunday school teacher that year, dressed all the kids up, took their photos and decorated the class with them.  You can tell JT's thrilled with the get-up.

Oh, JT, you are so cute!

Pumpkin!

Luci planted pumpkins this year.  Today John harvested the very first one.  Luci and I worked to preserve it, and made some muffins along the way.  I followed the directions on this site.

Here she is!  This pumpkin weighed 7.2 lbs.  It is really too large for freezing, according to the things I've read online because the larger the pumpkins are, the stringier they can be.  We didn't let that stop us.

Not so sure about the innards!

It was really easy to separate the seeds from all that goop.  Just put the stuff in a bowl, add water, and watch the seeds float to the top.  Pick those out, then stir the mess again.  If the seeds are stuck to the fibers, just rub them between your fingers.  They will come loose.  The bowl of water makes it so easy.  I roasted the seeds (Luci added the butter and salt) and we enjoyed them after supper.  Directions here.

We steamed the pumpkin, a bit at a time, in the microwave.

Pureeing the flesh.  The site recommended a hand blender.  Mine did not work.  The VitaMix had no problem!

We had enough for three packets for the freezer (one will make a batch of muffins, two will make a pie), and enough left over for...

Muffins!  These were so good!  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins from allrecipes.com. 

JT refused to try a muffin.  He won't eat anything that's the same color as his hair (orange).  I tried to get him to taste just a crumb of one, a crumb loaded with chocolate chips, but he wouldn't!  He did, however, make off with half of the roasted pumpkin seeds.

The Great Pumpkin Experiment is a winner!

John's been busy!

This week John put together a platform for Luci to sleep on.  Before I show you this fantastic bed/sleeping platform, let me show you the other beds that Luci has had in her room since moving here:  

November 2006 ~~Bryan putting Luci's crib together

 March 2008  ~~  Just the crib mattress on the floor

 July 2008 ~~ a real bed, big enough for Mommy to sleep with Luci (yeah, right, as soon as she nods off, she's perpendicular!).  Also big enough for company, should any be brave enough to stay here overnight....

 December 2010 ~~ Maybe, just maybe, she'll sleep in this bed

and Today ~~ the extravaganza, the whoop-de-doo, the bed to end all beds!

Whatcha wanna bet that she won't sleep here, either?

This is a fantastic play space!

I figure this is just another pretty bed, set up for looking at.  Because I betcha she won't sleep in it any time soon.

Usually Luci and I end up on the floor in the living room.  When she starts out in her room, she ends up on the floor with me there--crammed between her bed and the kitchen playset (it's a tiny, tiny room).  So, we end up moving to the living room floor. 

It's getting kind of old for this old mommy.  I don't get stiff, which is a surprise to both John and me.  It's just that I'd rather Luci be able to sleep by herself.  She wants a little sister, then "I can sleep with her, mommy!"  Yeah, right.  I don't think that's happening.  So, I sleep with her.  Luci's counselor says this will pass, Luci will eventually not need me next to her.  Be tough, you say?  I baby her, you say?  You are not living with a sweet little girl who thinks she's being abandoned.  Again.  :( 

Look, Ma! No Cavities!

Luci and I had an appointment for teeth-cleaning and came back with a no-cavity report.  Yay!

But Luci is showing some serious need for braces....

And earlier last week, I found this sweet surprise on the top of a new carton of Daisy Sour Cream--a tiny heart!

First Day!

Our school year officially began yesterday.  Here's our annual photo.  I have taken photos each year, measuring them against the hutch to see their growth.  What you see is one boy who grew by leaps and bounds last year!  And yes, he's wearing his pajamas.  On a school day.  Because when you homeschool, you can do that. 

What you don't see:  Bryan, in the background, laughing at the two who must start school.  It was hard for me to see only two kids in the picture this time.  Sniff, sniff. 

Luci began Mandarin Chinese with Rosetta Stone today.  She's so excited about it!  I also began today, with the Mandarin, to keep her company. We use the homeschool version of Rosetta Stone and I love it.  It is almost like a game, and the homeschool version keeps track of everything for me, including scoring.

Bryan completed two years of Spanish (Latin America) with them, and JT completed one year or Spanish.  This year he's working on Korean.  Someday he wants to go to South Korea and train further in Tang Soo Do, so Korean is his big interest right now.  This shows a screen in the Mandarin lesson from today.

Here are some blasts from the past, showing how the kids have grown.

 1997  Only one student that year! 

 2007  I absolutely LOVE Luci in this photo.

2008

 2009

We are now pet owners.

Luci out-lasted me and so now we have a hamster. 

Yes, it's in a pink cage and yes its name is Fluffy or FluffBall (changing all the time).  And yes, it's MALE.  In a Pink cage.  With a name like "Fluffy."  I refuse to pay for the animal's therapy, so if it has issues then, well, I don't care.

Such a happy Hamster Mommy!

Road Trip!

Thursday...St. Louis

Luci was so excited to see the Arch in person.  Right before this photo was taken, she whispered, "Can I touch it?"

Saturday...Wall Drug in South Dakota.  Luci was scandalized at John's enjoyment of this beauty.

Jackelope!

Sunday...Mount Rushmore. My favorite picture of the whole trip.

Breakfast with the presidents.

Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming.  This pass was opened just one week before we drove through!  The snow was about 2 feet deep here.

Monday...Yellowstone National Park.  Old Faithful.

Yellowstone Lake.  I took a photo of Bryan and JT on this very rock nine years before.  Almost to the very day.  It was not snowy then!  We were amazed by all the snow.

More later!

For Mom

Mom, we are using a few "Pretty Things" for our 4th of July celebration today.  The carrots and tomatoes came from our garden, and we're having some corn on the cob from the garden, too.

And don't forget the banana pudding in the crystal bowl!  It's still in the fridge, hence this silly shot.

Thanks again for the Pretty Things.  Luci especially loved that we are using some of them today.

Wish you all could join us for ribs and potato salad!

Wild Blackberry Jam

We haven't had wild blackberry jam since we moved to this house 4 1/2 years ago.  I was so happy that John found some wild blackberries in our backyard this summer!  He and Luci picked enough to make 3 pint jars plus have a little left over for tomorrow's breakfast, and enough to make a little-bitty cobbler just for John.  Since Luci didn't pick very many, John got rewarded, plus, there's that whole "I hate the seeds!" thing that Luci has.  :)

We also had a few jalepeños from the garden that needed pickling.  There are not enough yet to make many jars--just enough for one and a half pint jars (I don't have any half-pint jars; they are on my shopping list now!).  I added carrots to make up the space in the jar. 

Here are the recipes I used for the blackberry jam and the jalepeños.

Why did you buy THAT?!

I get a lot of ribbing from my family when I go to Idaho.  One of the reasons I get teased is because I always buy a big bottle of vodka (they tease me for plenty more, believe me!).  Now, those of you who know me, know that I don't drink anything stronger than Diet Coke.  Maybe, sometimes, I'll even have unsweetened iced tea.  Yes, UN-sweetened!

So, Why did you buy THAT?!

Because I make vanilla extract with it!

The next question is usually, "Why buy it in Idaho?  Why not back home?"

Do you live in the Bible Belt?  If you do, and you don't drink, you probably don't want fellow church members seeing you leave a liquor store with a bottle in a brown bag.

That's why I buy that big bottle in Idaho, and trek it all the way back home.

When we started the Feingold diet for ADHD/ADD, one of the things to leave our house was artificial flavorings.  Guess what the affordable vanilla extract is?  Artificial!  So I learned how to make our own, and it's much better than the artificial stuff and much cheaper to make than buy the real thing in those dinky, pricey bottles at the grocery store.

Here's how to make your own:

Take about 15 vanilla beans per BIG bottle.

Slit them down the middle and shove into the bottle.  Yes, that's Luci helping.  It's her first time using a real kitchen knife and she felt so proud.  She was nervous, though, and only slit one bean; I did the rest.

Here's the newest bottle next to my last one.  There is still a long ways to go on that half-full bottle.  It can only get better, steeping longer.

Making a label is a must.  I always record the date and how many beans added to the bottle.

Here is a link to what vanilla beans look like growing.  I get my beans from amazon.com.  It is cheap.  You can use the cheapest vodka you like, and if gluten is an issue, look for gluten-free vodka.

Luci-isms

Just a few from our trip:

Upon biting into a banana nut muffin at one hotel:  I don't want this, it has an omelete in it! (we think she meant "nuts")


Upon driving through Kansas:  We are on the other side of the world!


LICENSE PLATE!!  We keep track of license plates and try to spot one from each state.  I even go so far as to carry a blank USA map, to color in each state as we find them.  Every once in a while, Luci would spot an unusually colored one and scream, "License Plate!"  thus ensuring the driver was fully awake.


On Day 14 of our 16-day trip, Luci says, in a mournful tone, I miss Bryan.  It took fourteen days, but she did eventually miss him.  (I missed him all along, but he didn't miss us at all.  Of course.)

Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig!

We all survived the trip out West to see my folks.  My folks even survived the visit!  That's saying something.  We added lots of noise to their house.

Today is our first day home.  This morning, before ten a.m., Luci has tried on four different outfits and modeled them all.  This is the latest today:

Her Williamsburg dress, and baby doll.

Mom, this is what they wore in the Sixties.  When they had ruffle-y sleeves and had babies.  And wore high heels all the time.  That was before America was invented.

I guess my job as teacher is not over, since there's lots of history in that statement of hers that needs correcting. 

After all the Western scenery (which was gorgeous in its own way), it is so nice to see our lush backyard!

More on the trip in future posts.

Luci-isms

Today was HARVEY day. 

That's Harvey and his Mommy, Tori, with Luci.

Isn't he adorable?  Really an angel.


Luci has been so excited to meet baby Harvey.  Tonight she was in Seventh Heaven!

She was Harvey's entertainment, and he, hers.

Here is Harvey when he got his first look at Uncle John. 

Harvey did warm up to Uncle John, and this was the sweet face we saw most of the time tonight:

 Luci-isms from today:

He's older than I was when I was a baby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aunt Quinet told us to grab our buns to make our own hamburgers.  I grabbed Luci's bottom and said, I've got Luci's buns!" and she got mad at me! 

Mom!  Don't say that in front of the baby!  It's a bad word!

I'm just not hungry enough.

We have a vegetable garden.  It is not a big garden.  John planted it one day with Luci while I was in town.

I came home to find he planted a whole row of turnip greens. 

He's the only one who really likes turnip greens.

I'll eat them--sometimes.  Sometimes.  Very rarely.  Almost never.

John decided that we need to put some up for later, so he brought in about half a bushel of greens.  I got about one-third of my way through the mess (properly, they should be called a "mess o' greens") and my hands and forearms were itching!  I did not remember that from past times of working with greens.  I killed a few bugs, too, and washed much dirt off the leaves.  That might be why they are called a mess.  Pretty sure of that.   I am fairly confident that I got most of the dirt off before blanching the greens. 

After all that work, I had enough for three side dishes at suppertime stashed in the freezer.  After all that itching, and chasing some bugs down, I declared that I was done with greens.  I'll wash up a supper's worth at a time, and cook them for John, but no more blanching big messes all in one night.

If times get tougher here than they are now, I might change my mind on greens.  But for now, I'm just not hungry enough.

She said WHAT?

Yesterday, as I was driving Bryan to his ACT test (more on that in a minute), he and Luci were tattling on each other. 

Yes, Luci was along for the ride at 7:15.  Because John was pretending to be asleep when we left home, and so Luci had to come with me.

Anyhow, Bryan tells me that Luci is no fun to babysit.  He was on the list for babysitting because John and I planned to go out for lunch later that day for our anniversary (20 happy years!).

Luci pipes up with, "Mom!  I don't want Bryan to babysit!  I want JT!  Because Bryan makes me watch bad videos, like Star Wars Lego Version!"  Yes, she really starts her sentences with "Because."  Because she learned that from me, her mama.

Bryan fired back with, "You shouldn't tattle on me."

"Oh yeah?  That's how I operate.  That's how my mind works."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, for the ACT test part.  I am Mrs. Calendar, Mrs. Plan-Ahead, I could have run all of the World War II campaigns (Africa, Europe and the Pacific theaters) all at once.  And done it well, too.

So, when it comes time to go on a trip, I pack.  I plan our trip.  I know well ahead of time where we are staying, what we are seeing, how much we can spend, and what to do if some child should have an accident. 

You can imagine my surprise when, about 5 minutes into our 25 minute trip home, Bryan calls me and says, "Uh, Mom, we are one week early.  I don't have to be here until next Saturday!"

NEXT Saturday.

Something tells me he's never going to let me forget this.

But you know the best part?  Some other kid's mom messed up, too.  That kid is the one who let Bryan borrow a cell phone (because you are not supposed to bring one to the test, I confiscated Bryan's) to call me.

Today's Market Activity

Helium was up.

Feathers were down.

Paper was stationary.

Fluorescent tubing was dimmed in light trading.

Knives were up sharply.

Cows steered into a bull market.

Pencils lost a few points.

Hiking equipment was trailing.

Elevators rose, while escalators continued their slow decline.

Weights were up in heavy trading.

Light switches were off.

Mining equipment hit rock bottom.

Diapers remain unchanged.

Shipping lines stayed at an even keel.

The market for raisins dried up.

Dr Pepper fizzled.

Caterpillar stock inched up a bit.

Sun peaked at midday.

Balloon prices were inflated.

Scott Tissue touched a new bottom.

...written by Anonymous, that clever soul!