Pictures!

I figured out how to put pictures on the new laptop! So now I shall bombard you with random pictures and their corresponding commentary.

The Squatch takes his marshmallows very seriously. You can just see the gleam in his eye.

Katie trying to roast her marshmallow just so. Unlike James and I, she doesn't like hers burnt.

Marshmallow aftermath

Our Swedish Candle log...pretty nifty, huh? We've had two fires with it so far and there is enough left to have one more.

Eggs! The white one is a store egg, the far left is an egg from one of our new chickens that hasn't figured out how to increase the size yet. The two on the right are the monster eggs some of our champion chickens lay. The far right egg is from Big Martha, who has laid big eggs from the very beginning. No wonder she is the one to make the most noise when she lays an egg!

And here is the purse I knitted! See Grandma? I did it!

Snow! Crafts! Bread!

The weathermen have been predicting snow. First 4-10 inches, then 2-4, then 4-6, and then....it didn't snow. And didn't snow. Argh! I was surprised and happy to wake up to find that it finally, really snowed! Not a ton, but about 6 inches. Tyler woke up, looked out the window and exclaimed "Ho-wee Shoe!! It 'nowed'!" You can imagine I was thinking he was going to head another direction with that and I was wondering where on earth he would have come up with that phrase. I don't know where he came up with the phrase 'Holy Shoe' either...silly kid.

The kids were out by 7:15 am, trying their hardest to work with the light, fluffy snow.

There were rosy red cheeks,

And great big grins. And warm oatmeal from the crock pot when they came in. 

And in other news, yesterday I had a Martha Stewart on 'roids kind of day. I was highly productive, which surely means I will accomplish nothing from now til next Tuesday. Yesterday morning, the kids and I did a batik watercolor project, which we let dry and cut up for a few projects. I cut hearts from the paper and hung them from a tree branch on the ceiling for a Valentine's Day mobile. Probably first and last time I decorate for a holiday other than Christmas. And with the rest of the paper I made a set of coasters for some special people who's names start with R and P.

We put clear Elmer's glue on nice watercolor paper. I dried it with a hair dryer which made those nice little scallops. Then we painted over it with watercolor and sprinkled sea salt on it while wet. The sea salt (or any salt for that matter) sucks up the paint around it and leaves a light star shaped marking. I made the coasters by modge podging the artwork onto kitchen tile. While I was in the crafty mood (ok, so I am always feeling crafty) I also cut out the pattern for James' earflap hat, a purse for Katie, and the journal cover for Rachel. And now I have successfully turned this into my craft blog. Oops!

Close up of the glue/salt design

This one was Katie's. I cut my favorite section out for this coaster.

And on to the bread...no pictures available...but yesterday I decided that I simply must use up the remainder of the ridiculously expensive beer I bought for the mustard. $13 for a pint and a half? Is that normal? But I digress...I made yeast bread with beer. Two loaves to be exact. I was completely entralled with the incredible amount of foam that beer makes. I need to get out more. Then I thought to myself, 'Self! You should make that Buttermilk Flax Bread you've been wanting to try.' So I doubled that batch, which was supposed to make 6 free form loaves but I made 4 huge ones instead. And then I thought, 'What the heck! I shall make those homemade bagels I have been wanting to try while I'm at it!' And so I did. And I doubled the batch. And I am crazy. But at least I have 6 loaves of bread and 2 dozen poppy seed bagels to feed the hungry beasts that beg for food 10 times a day!

Hodge-Podge

Here is the (random) rundown from the last week, in no particular order:

• On Monday, Jeff stayed home from work and we kept James home from school to go to the PA Farm Show. We even coerced Grammy and Chappy into going! It was fun to have them along, and although I could do without the zillion people there, we had fun. The highlight for us adults may have been the food court, where between us all, we managed to sample deep-fried mushrooms, beef hotdogs, pulled pork, fish, maple frozen yogurt, whoopie pies, 'toasted cheese' sandwiches, and a giant chocolate chip cookie. Going for round two was tempting. We got to see lots of animals, and peruse the newest farm equipment. $300,000+ combine anyone? The next day when James got home from school, he looked at me incredulously and said 'Can you believe that Mrs. R doesn't know what a combine is!?!?' Well, she does now I'm sure. That boy is destined to be a farmer.
• I let Katie choose her clothes today. She is dressed in what I can only describe as 'Psychedelic Mennonite,' with a long purple skirt, lavender shirt, hot pink tights, and sensible tennis shoes. All she is missing is the lace cap.
• Speaking of Mennonite, my mom grew up Mennonite in the far reaches of northern Minnesota. There are certain things that my Mom would make when we were kids that her Ma made them (German/Mennonite recipes). One of those things is Weronika which are cheese pockets. It is sort of like a peirogi but with a cottage cheese filling. I made them last night for the kids, complete with caramelized onions and bacon, and sour cream gravy and sauteed cabbage. It was delicious, and my arteries now have job security, at least for the next day or two. I also made sweet potato blintzes this week. I am not really sure what the difference between a blitz and a crepe is, but it was good. I've never made either before, but I have new cookbooks for Christmas and I am on a new recipe kick! So far everyone is happily putting up with my cooking shenanigans. 
• Tyler's repertoire of imaginary friends is growing. Today, I learned about his baby brother Frankie. 
• I made a grievous error in my last blog post...Jimmy Steward? Hello! I do know how to spell his name, I promise. I suppose that is what happens when you are quickly firing off posts in between peeling children off the bookshelves and such. Quality control gets a little lax.
• Have you ever wondered what would happen if you drop a brand spankin' new gallon of milk on the floor, from approximately waist height? Well, wonder no more. I will tell you. Milk goes EVERYWHERE, and then some. I was carrying in groceries from BJ's today and the box broke. The milk fell and split open. There was milk on the walls, the furniture, the ceiling, our clothes, the rug...basically all over the entire living room, and into the kitchen. It was epic. I can't imagine if the entire jug had spilled! 
• And one more thing...toothbrushes. I like to send toothbrushes in our shoe boxes, but I have had trouble finding decent toothbrushes and toothpaste at a decent price. Even though it seems trivial, I decided to pray that I would find some good deals on toothbrushes. Yesterday, my neighbor knocked on my door. He had two big boxes of toothbrushes that his sister, a teacher, had received in the mail. She was going to throw them away because she didn't know what to do with them. Um, hello! Besides the obvious answer which would be to give them to the intended students, I am sure there are a lot of people who could use them. My neighbor told her I might want them, and of course I do! There are 80 toothbrushes all together, and coupons with each one so I will probably get the rest I need for really cheap. When I prayed for toothbrushes, I didn't know they would show up at my front door!

The Christmas Par-tay

Last night was Jeff's Christmas party. This year, we weren't going to go for a few reasons, but Jeff was told by the BIG cheese that he should 'strongly reconsider' coming. So he did, and we went. And I was right! Jeff got an award, and not just any award. He was given the award which is basically 'employee of the year' type thing. Each year, they give it to one person who has made great achievements for the company. This year, because the company has grown so much (over 50 new employees this year just in Marlton) they decided to give it to 2 people. The award is really quite an honor. The owner of the company spoke about how the recipient of the award stood out due to their initiative and hard work, etc.. And then they announced Jeff's name! It was pretty awesome! He now has a fancy framed certificate and an even fancier watch. If it were me, I would be afraid to wear it. 

The party was nice. In fact, it was the nicest party so far, and that is saying something because it is always very fancy. To give you an idea of the caliber of the place, note that the bar was made entirely of ice and had the company name carved in front of the ice pillars. They served lemon sorbet in between courses to cleanse the palate, and the butter was served in flower shaped pats on plant leaves. The dessert bar was outrageous.  There was the dessert drink bar, which included all your dessert-themed adult beverages, along with root beer floats, hot chocolate, etc.. There was a chocolate fountain, with all manner of dunkables. There was a waffle bar, pancakes, crepes, cheesecakes, creme brulee and about a zillion little tarts and truffles and cake balls and layer cakes. The think that cracked me up the most was the table that had comfort foods on it. There were little triangles of PB and J, crusts removed, and cookies with glasses of milk. I don't know about you, but there is nothing I want more after polishing off a plate of ginger glazed salmon with pickled ginger rice than a PB and J sandwich. Or not. It was a nice touch though. If you couldn't find something there to make you happy, well then, you must not have a pulse.

And you wanna know something funny? I made myself a fascinator clip using my very own chicken feathers. It looks huge in this picture but its not really that big. I used some feathers from my sister, and threw in my own too. For one, I think they were pretty, and two...I know that people see me and think 'oh, there's Jeff's wife...the one with the chickens!' In fact, last year, one person told me that she thought I would look more 'farm-ish'. So, it was incredibly funny to me when two of Jeff's coworkers came up and started talking to me about the chickens, and how I 'slaughter' them and they could never do that, etc, etc. I refrained from telling them that I had feathers in my hair from the very chicken that is now residing in my freezer. 

Ramblings

James brought home his first test this week. Test! A math test to be precise. Let me tell you, the boy loves math. LOVES it. And do you think he got that from me. That would be a big fat NO. But the test...there were 17 problems (or parts of problems) and he only got 1 wrong! They no longer give letter grades so the scale is different, but he got a 4 which is the highest, meaning my boy is ADVANCED in math. He can thank Jeff for that one. He is also enjoying reading and declared tonight that he loves school. Yay!

Katie the Crafty is at it again. She went to work on a plastic shopping bag, cutting a little here, a little there, until she proudly, and with a bit of humor, presented me with a bra that she made me. It was a wee bit ill fitting and not all that supportive when tried over my pajamas, but those details are trivial.

Tyler's latest hobby is to ride his tricycle full speed back and forth along the patio, making hair pin turns at the end. He will do this over and over and over again. Yesterday it was raining all day so I let him ride his bike in the garage. That was, until he crashed into the dryer one too many times.

Jeff has been having loads of fun studying for his FE exam. (Note the sarcasm there) Every night he sets the timer for 1 hour and works diligently through his practice tests and study notes. I even caught him cozy-ed up to his calculator manual. I thought those things were meant to be put away in file cabinets never to be seen again.

And with those updates, here are a few pictures from the last several days:

This is the Wendy's James built out of Legos. I was quite impressed. It has a patio with overhang, complete with lego hamburgers. The car could drive through and the interior had its own light and table.

On Saturday we went to Howell Living History Farm for their Fall Fest. I loved it! They showed you the whole process for growing wheat, from seed to baking as they did more than 100 years ago. This was a steam engine which was used to run the threshing machine. Tyler was scared to death of it.

The team discing the field after plowing.

Here is the steam engine hooked up to the thresher.

This is the thresher. The chaff went straight into the barn for animal bedding.

The kids got to grind wheat. Right after this picture Katie let go of the handle and it knocked her off the platform. Oops.

We walked out into the woods where the original homestead was and helped churn butter in the old kitchen. They had fresh bread, honey and butter for everyone. And we got to take home a bag of flour to make our own bread.

There were a ton of fuzzy caterpillars.

Hand holding on the way back. Can't beat that!

Community Concerns

The community my Grandma lives in is pretty awesome. It has everything...from doctors, physical therapy, dining hall, art/woodworking/stained glass/upholstery studio, indoor pool, golf course, beauty salon, cemetery and more. They even have their own church and the residents take turns teaching and preaching. One of the things that most humored/depressed me at Penney Farms was the reading of the 'Community Concerns' during Sunday School. The reading of the Community Concerns went something like this: "Please keep Bertha, Gertie, Bob, Cleatus, George, Bunny, Harold, John, and 54 other residents in your prayers, who are suffering from bunions/hip replacement/bursitis/heart palpitations/diabetes/black plague." I guess that is why Grandma always tells me never to get old. Then they go on to read a list of the people who have passed away in the last few weeks. Talk about depressing. The lady must have read off ten names, when she stopped and said 'My, we've had a bunch lately haven't we?' I guess when you get of a certain age, you just start to expect that to happen, but still... Later, we were getting situated for the church service. A lady a few rows ahead of us had a hat perched atop her head that had definitely seen better days.  A couple sat down behind us, and made a joke about sitting behind us to keep us in line. Then the guy leaned forward and whispered to Aunt Adrienne, 'Millie's* hat looks like it got run over by a truck.' I thought that was hysterical, but I had to stifle my giggles for fear of being kicked out. Poor Millie. She needs to hit up the Resale shop for a new hat.

**Name Changed**

Armadillo Hunt

And so it continues, my Florida adventures...the Armadillo Quest. I have always wanted to see an Armadillo. Grandma said that you don't really see them that often. Occasionally as road kill, but mostly just by the signs they leave behind, AKA the annoying little holes in Grandma's yard. I kept my eyes peeled on our excursions, but had no luck. Newsflash! Armadillos are nocturnal. Who knew? So a few nights I looked outside near the front door to see if I could spot one. Grandma suggested that I wasn't finding one because I needed to be calling out 'here, Armadillo, heeeeeere!' I think that was more a sarcastic attempt to get me to make a fool out of myself, but you be the judge. On Saturday night I decided to do a little walking. I happened to be in my pajamas and bare feet, but no matter. It was dark, and after dark in a retirement community equals ghost town. So I wandered about, looking for armadillos. Just on the off chance that one would be wandering around, I wanted to see it! On my walk, I spotted a few tree frogs and a toad. Not exactly what I was going for. I got toward the golf course and away from the lights. I figured that was the best place to look, though I was getting a little creeped out at that point, mainly because I couldn't see a thing. Then, I saw a shadow right behind me. Eek! I turned around quickly, expecting someone to be standing there. Instead, two street lamps were playing tricks on me, casting my shadow at varying angles. After that, I decided to call it a day and go back before I stepped on an alligator and peed my pants. I never did spot my armadillo.

P.S. I did ask Grandma if she would care if I took her golf cart out at midnight to spotlight armadillos, and she said yes, but I decided that sleep was more important than a misguided late night joyride in a golf cart looking for illusive armadillos. Beside, how would I explain that one to the security people?

P.P.S. There are a plethora of geckos down there, which I happen to think are cool but Grandma HATES them. Every time we go in and out, we have to make sure not to let any geckos in. She keeps a designated vacuum in her house for the sole purpose of sucking up any trespassing amphibians. Once the offender is safely stowed away in the vacuum bag, she covers the end of the hose for several days to make sure it doesn't get out before it dies. 

Adventures In Florida

Well, the party is over and I am back home. I had a ton of fun with Grandma, but I was happy to get back and hug my peeps. Grandma and I stayed pretty busy, and mostly out of trouble. Here are a few of our adventures:

• Shopping at Resale! Resale is a thrift shop type place that is run by the people in my Grandma's retirement community. It is open two days a week, and there is usually a line at the door when it opens. Everything is very cheap. And since I know the right people (wink, wink!) I got in for my own personal shopping experience. I scored a number of things, including a very nice leather purse, a rather large yellow polkadot sundress that I will cut apart to make a dress for Katie, some vintage flower buttons, a cut-work hand embroidered table runner, a pair of like-new Liz Claiborne dress shoes...all for a whopping $12! I later scored a really cute dress for $3, pictures to come. 
• Playing Wii with Grandma. There is a community room at Penney Farms that has a Wii, ping pong, air hockey, and puzzles. (Side Note: We did a 1000 piece puzzle, and I remembered how much I love to do puzzles!) The directions on the Wii state that if you still can't figure it out, call your grandchild. Well, wrong grandchild! I know not how to run the Wii. So we roped some stray teenager into giving us a little tutorial on how to play. Grandma pretty much shamed me at Bowling. Then I creamed her in Tennis. After exhausting the possibilities of the Wii (translation: we couldn't figure out how to get the boxing game to work) we went on to air hockey. Things were going well. By my incredible skills and magic luck I was way ahead. The game was pretty hilarious, as is. I mean, whose Grandma is cool enough to play a lively game of air hockey with them? Mine! And then it all took a turn for the...well, you decide. Grandma shouted 'Look! Look out the window! A giraffe!' Of course, when someone tells you to look, you look. In the second or two it took me to figure out that she had said giraffe, and that she was pulling my leg, Grandma made a very well placed score straight in the goal! Cheaters never prosper, Grandma! :) After that, we couldn't stop laughing at the whole thing. Here we are, scoring only by shear luck, when she fakes me out and makes a well placed goal straight in the slot. That one couldn't be replicated again if we tried. So while I was still laughing, Grandma scored TWO more goals! And she beat me! She took away every last shred of my dignity. I tried to regain it by beating her at Scrabble, but one stupid move cost me the game. I do have proof, somewhere, that I did beat her at Scrabble last year. She is a force to be reckoned with! She and my Aunt Lynn are Scrabble masters. Actually, we did decide we are evenly matched at those word games (we played Bananas too). We kept pretty close in score throughout each game.
• And since this post is becoming a whole lot of rambling, I shall sign off for now and continue rambling tomorrow, when I will fill you in on my valiant quest to spot an armadillo.....

First Day of School/Air and Space Museum

Well, today is the first day of first grade...and if you get that Veggie Tales song stuck in your head, I apologize. It is still stuck in mine. James was barely nervous at all, just excited and ready to be back at school. May it continue! I still don't feel ready for the whole 'full day' thing...seems like a loooong time. I packed his lunch (homemade tomato soup at his request), made sure he had all his supplies and off he went. Off to big, fun first grade.

And in other news (or is this so delayed it counts as past history?), here are our pictures from the Air and Space Museum in Virginia. If you ever get a chance, you should GO! Admission is free, parking is $15 which is quite a deal for a carload of peeps. 

Really cool Blackhawk (I think?)

Space Shuttle

I think this was the first manned space capsule...don't quote me on that. From the 50's

Tail end of the space shuttle

This one was beautiful, wood and cloth

Hello, huge plane! (too big to fit in one single picture)

One of my favorites: Air-phibian (it can fly, then the wheels detach and it drives)

Spirit of Texas helicopter

The Real Space Shuttle: This one was amazing to see in person, and it is made up of small squares of material...it looks like a quilt up close.

The End Of Summer

I'm sad to say that the summer is coming to an end. It has gone by so fast, and I don't really feel like we've done anything terribly exciting. I guess a non-eventful summer is a good thing. This week, James rigged up a pretty clever boat out of a small storage bin, a dowel stick, and a sail. He even tied a tether to it, which he attached to a bracelet so it wouldn't sail away.

Of course, we had to take it on a maiden voyage. It sailed quite nicely, despite the Pocket Sized Dictator running around brandishing half a tree. 

There were little minnows and crawdads. I am sad to say that my once ninja-like catching skills are dusty from misuse. I did catch two crawdads though. The little tiny ones that hurt like crazy when they pinch you. Tyler found out for himself what it feels like. 

The boat sailed quite nicely until James tripped and ripped off the sail. 

But the boat was repairable, and of course there was more to do at the creek. They even pretended to like each other so I could take a picture! :) 

P.S. Yesterday we got the 'yellow postcard' in the mail, which has the location of James' bus stop and more importantly....his teacher's name. A few weeks ago, James had told me he met one of the three 1st grade teachers last year and really liked her. He really hoped he got her. Well, guess what?! He did! There was a grin from ear to ear when I told him which made me very happy too. His friend Kayla from church is also in his class. Since I have no experience with the teachers at his school, all I can do is go on is her web page through the school. And if that is any indication of her teaching skills, she is on the ball! James' Kindergarten teacher has only the most basic of information up. His first grade teacher has well over a dozen different pages up, including pictures from all the fun activities she did with her class last year. I am excited to see how it goes!

Fun Times! (Finally...I'm Blogging!)

We were quite busy over the end of last week and the weekend. On Thursday, I took the kids to the Grange Fair and we had a lot of fun. They ate their first cotton candy, with mixed results. Katie didn't like it, and the boys ate it but I don't think it will be a favorite. The best moment came when Jeff got home from work, and Tyler excitedly ran up to him and proclaimed "Mommy bought us rotten candy!" While I was still giggling about that, Jeff replied that cotton candy was gross, because it is 'like eating a sweater.' And that pretty much made my day. The fair was lovely, as usual. I showed excellent restraint by only taking about 15 photos of the antique tractors. Katie is turning out to be a chip off the old block. She saw one she liked, and declared it 'go-geous!' Tyler wanted to drive them all. James really wanted to see the pig races, and he got his wish. Our pig never won, but it was entertaining regardless. I fell in love with a pretty milk cow and have now added that to my farm wish list. The farmer was so nice and let us sit in the straw with her and pet her for quite a while. He even held her tail so she wouldn't swat us!

Huge! And beautiful horse...one of a pair of percherons (I think...)

Ain't it purdy?

Katie not so thrilled with the cotton candy...'it has too much sugar in it' Yep. That pretty much sums it up.

Tyler ate cotton candy like it was his job.

Pig Races

My super-d-duper fan I got...I don't know why, but this fan cracks me up every time I see it.

On Friday, we dropped the two younger gremlins off at Grammy and Chappy's and headed off to Virginia with James. Tyler couldn't wait to go to G and C's and in fact, climbed up on the play kitchen and yelled at the clock to 'hurry up and move your hand so we can go to "ginia" because he couldn't wait to have a 'feep over'. The car ride down was...glorious....what can I say? No fighting, nobody said they had to pee, only a smiling gap-toothed boy who occasionally complained not being able to run in the car. In other words, it was the perfect car ride, if there is such a thing. We arrived at Rachel and Phil's abode and hung out playing Connect (probably spelling that totally wrong). I would like to say that I showed off my video game prowess but the truth is, James kicked my butt. And Jeff's. Funny thing is, I think he has played video games a grand total of once in his life. Saturday morning, Jeff and Phil ran together and then Rachel and I went on a run. It was so much fun! Afterward, we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum which was totally, completely amazing! We got to see and stand under the actual Discovery Space Shuttle, as well as see a ton of other planes. It was so cool. I will post pictures of it as soon as I can get them off Jeff's fancy new smart phone. Until then, here is a picture of James and Uncle Phil chilling with Henry. :)