Really Quick Takes – Seven of Them

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Conversion Diary again. This is going to be extra short(ish), because I really need to be packing…

1. I just learned about the blog A Knotted Life yesterday. I love finding new blogs to read, and this one is very good. In addition to being a good read, Bonnie, who writes the blog, sponsors the Sheenazing Awards for (mostly Catholic) bloggers in several categories. Her post has a long list of new blogs to check out and I have been sucked into some sort of internet vortex looking through them.

2. I voted for some of my favorite blogs in several categories, including Conversion Diary, Camp Patton, Amongst Lovely Things, and Shower of Roses. But I also found (or re-found) several other blogs to read, like Clan Donaldson, Moxie Wife, Mama Knows, Honeychild, Like Mother, Like Daughter, and Catholic All Year. I know I will be checking out many more (I pinned the list so I can refer to it whenever I have a few minutes to look at a new one).

3. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is how close my kids are with each other. They miss each other when apart, since they are used to being together so much.

Our Golden Age (during which both of the older girls were able to be in the same gymnastics and swimming classes) is over. Miss has now moved up to the 5-year-old gymnastics class. I was able to find one time slot where both the 3-4-year-old and 5-year-old classes are held at the same time, so I don’t have to spend more time at the gymnastics center than what is absolutely necessary.

Since their classes are often going on very near each other, Miss constantly points out Lass to her teacher and classmates, “Look! That’s my sister over there!” This week when they were close to each other, Miss even ran over and gave her sister a quick hug. At the end of their classes they always hug each other and exclaim, “I missed you!” Then Baby Sis hugs both of them and says, “I luh loo!” I could just die from the cuteness.

4. Baby Sis is a climber. I know this. But I can still be surprised by some of the things she does. The other day she was in the kitchen with me. I walked away for a minute and then heard, “Mama! Down!” I rushed back into the kitchen to find her standing in the drawer next to our Learning Tower.

Heart attack. She’s not even two, and she’s trying to give me a heart attack.

5. Goldie Blox. My girls each got a set for Christmas. We love them.

I have to admit that I can’t stand Legos. But these are fun.

6. I made muffins this morning. It never fails that when I make muffins I always think I have too much batter to fill the muffin cups only “two-thirds full.” Every time, I fill the first row about the right amount. Then I get to the middle and start filling them too full because I just know I won’t be able to fit all the batter into 12 cups. Then I get to the last two cups, and I end up having to dip from the too-full ones to have enough.

They always come out well in the end, but I found myself wondering, after doing this again this morning, why don’t I ever remember that this always happens and just trust the amount? Maybe it’s because I only bake every six months or so.

7. Speaking of bone-headed moves on my part, a few weeks ago, I bought a new external flash for my camera. I was so excited to use it, I got it out of the box right away and hooked it up to my camera. It didn’t come with any instructions, but getting it hooked up was pretty straightforward. Except that I couldn’t get it to turn on. I looked for a charger and a plug and didn’t find one. I looked for something in the box to tell me how to get it going and there really wasn’t anything. Just a paper that said, “Press the On/Off switch…” Well I did that, repeatedly, and it didn’t work.

Finally, I got frustrated, deemed the thing defective, and put it back in the store bag with the receipt so I could return it at the first opportunity. I then had company one day and put the bag into a random cupboard to get it out of sight (you do this too, right?), which naturally led to it being out of mind. I forgot about it until yesterday and pulled it out, thinking I’d try to take it back today. I decided I would pull it out and try it one more time, just in case I missed something the last time.

As I was getting it out I happened to glance at that one piece of paper again. In addition to the brief comments about how to turn it on, it included a diagram with all of the parts labeled. One part, which I totally missed last time I tried it but was clearly labeled on the diagram was the “Battery compartment door.” *Sigh* Maybe I should start going to bed a little earlier.

For more quick takes, go here.

Happy weekend!

Joy to the World

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Amy

I love Christmas carols. Love them. I am nearly incapable of doing something Christmas-related without turning on my favorite holiday tunes. In fact, when I was wrapping gifts the other night, my husband was listening to some (quite lovely) classical music. It just didn’t feel right. So I grabbed my phone, plugged in my ear buds and started jamming to “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.”

When I decorate the tree, wrap presents, bake Christmas cookies, I must listen to Christmas carols. And to be honest, I listen to them any other time I get the chance too, or just sing my favorites at random wherever I happen to be. I’m the annoying lady singing along with the songs playing in the stores. Love me some Christmas carols.

I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. My Mom and I listened to Johnny Mathis Christmas music while making no-bake cookies for her bunco group every year, and the tradition kind of stuck. You know I am a Christmas tradition junkie. And I have music in my head constantly, so this is the perfect time of year to just sing out loud as much as I want (so sorry if you happen to see me in a store).

My favorite carols? Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting... I’ve also always loved Give Me Your Love for Christmas and What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? which I think are solely Johnny Mathis songs, though I’m not positive. Perhaps oddly, other songs that I have always included among my favorites are JM’s musical rendition of the Our Father (which is actually how I came to know the prayer by heart long before ever actually praying it), Do You Hear What I Hear?, Silent Night, and my all-time favorite, The Little Drummer Boy (which may or not be responsible for my previously-vaguely-held half-belief that there was a drummer boy involved in the story of Jesus’s birth).

Even when I didn’t believe in the story told in these songs or the God praised in them, I still loved the music and tradition of them. I’d sing along to them every year, without giving a thought to what they were about. “Joy to the World,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “O Holy Night”… I’d sing them all loud and proud and never stop to consider the beauty of the songs beyond the tune. I didn’t think about the words, so half the time I sang them incorrectly (“Long lay the word, in sin and err opiiiiiining…”)

But this year. This year, oh how I love these songs. This year I have a new appreciation for how truly beautiful they are.

My new favorite is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. I purchased some new Christmas music from iTunes this year specifically with this song in mind. I have to admit, I still don’t entirely understand what it means, but it’s so haunting and joyful at the same time. I can’t get enough of it.

The wonders and joys of Christmas are multiplying for me this year. Joy to the world.

Work, Eat, Play – Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Amy

We just had one of the best Thanksgivings ever.

It started bright and early in our kitchen this morning. We started baking pies right after breakfast. The girls helped me sort the contents of some old change jars to get pennies for weights on the crusts.

Then they sorted much of the rest of the change into their piggy banks while I made the fillings. They thought this was pretty neat. Miss even said, “This is the most funnest thing ever!”

Phase one completed:

I always want pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and my husband’s favorite is pecan pie, so we did both. They’re not pretty. I can never seem to create an aesthetically pleasing crust, but they were delicious.

My husband also started his sausage making venture today, so for most of the rest of the morning the big girls helped him prepare the ingredients to mix with the meat. Before the weekend is over he will be making 90 pounds of pork sausage, including the following varieties: breakfast, sweet Italian, chorizo, garlic, andouille, and brats.

The girls are so excited about helping him with this.

He also has a ton of venison to grind into burger. Last night we had a date night while we trimmed it.

Wine for me. Beer for him. Raw meat and big knives.

It was romantic.

Okay. Anyway. I’m writing about today. Thanksgiving. We were all busy in the kitchen all morning, except for poor Sis. She become a little frustrated a couple of times about not being able to join the crowd in the kitchen.

But most of the time she played perfectly well by herself. She is so chill. I walked into the playroom to check on her and found her playing pretend in the castle with Prince Phillip and a baby doll.

And my favorite part of the food prep:

Breaking bread.

We made savory bread pudding instead of stuffing, so we were actually cutting it, but I like to say we were “breaking bread.”

There’s something very holiday-ish and family-ish and together-ish about that phrase.

^^ That’s a Thanksgiving photo I can’t wait to show my girls when they get older.

And the big item for the big meal? Well, we aren’t real fans of turkey. For Thanksgivings past I have made prime rib, cornish game hens, etc. I have never cooked a turkey. And last week my husband went and butchered an enormous pig for us to eat. So the only natural thing for us to have for our Thanksgiving feast is… Ham!!

Ham smoked in our Big Green Egg. For 21 hours.

This is the first time using the Big Green Egg and the first time smoking a 20+ pound ham. First time smoking anything, actually.

My hubby is giddy about his new trick. The ham turned out wonderfully.

After our meal, the best way to finish the evening was with a family dance party.

The girls loved the Peanut’s Theme Song for dancing. We played it over and over and over.

Today was a day of giving thanks.

We gathered in the kitchen and worked together. We ate together. We played together. In my mind that’s what families do.

Every day I think about how fortunate I am. Every day I thank God for my life and its joys.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Fall Fun and a Girls’ Road Trip (Gulp)

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Amy

Oh, how I love fall.

We’ve been making yummy stuff.

^^Check out my budding chef grating nutmeg on the microplane.

They were so proud of their creation.

I had a lot of fun making the caramel apples with them.

I unwrapped the little caramel cubes into a bowl and showed them to the girls. Immediately Miss knew we were going to make caramel apples.

I asked them if we should go ahead and dunk the apples in and they immediately said “Yes!”

So, we did. And naturally the “dunking” didn’t work out with the cold candies just sitting in the bowl.

I asked them what we should do. My favorite part of the process was this:

Miss’s eyes lit up and she said, “Mom! We could put. it. in. the microwave!”

Everyone got very excited, and there was some jumping and shouting about the brilliant solution. Miss was so proud of herself when we took it out and it had begun to melt. She kept saying, “Mom, I had a great idea, didn’t I?” Love.

Later today we are leaving for a seven-hour girls’ road trip. We’re going to my old Kentucky home, Louisville. I lived there for four years while in graduate school and it remains one of my favorite places in the world. I’m meeting some of my dear old friends from my years there for a reunion, and we’re going to the St. James Art Fair. Can’t wait.

I must admit I’m kind of nervous about the trip. My husband has to work and can’t come with (my mom is meeting us in Lou to help me with the girls). I’ve never done a road trip of any length with them by myself. For inspiration, I’m reminding myself of my husband’s Aunt J, who drove an RV, by herself, with her five daughters to every state in the continental US when they were kids. I can do this.

Look out Louisville, here we come!

Rudolph on Repeat

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Amy

The holiday spirit is in full swing around here. Last night Daddy (aka Santa) helped me wrap the rest of the presents and get them under the tree. The girls inspected them closely this morning and eagerly asked about each one. They are excited about Santa coming tomorrow night.

Today was a day for playing Christmas music and making treats in the kitchen. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was on repeat, at Lass’s request, and we made cookies for Santa.

As Rudolph played in the background (for quite a while Lass was insistent we listen to nothing but that, but after a while I snuck in some Charlie Brown Christmas and we were all able to move on), the girls got warmed up with the rolling pin.

They had fun spreading out the flour and then got down to business.

After a few rounds they really got into trying to pound the dough flat before rolling it.

Santa is going to be very pleased. Especially since Miss says we need to leave chocolate milk for him to have with his cookies.

And speaking of Santa being pleased, he was very happy, as were we all, with the fresh (and huge) ham he cooked for our dinner tonight. He cooked the other ham from our hog at my parent’s house last week and was a bit disappointed by how it turned out. The flavor was wonderful, but the meat was dry.

Today he nailed it.

The house was filled with mouth-watering smells all day and the finished product did not disappoint.

We’ll be eating ham for Christmas dinner, and I have plans to use the bone to make a yummy ham and vegetable soup later in the week. I’m happy that we won’t need to be in the kitchen all day to make dinner on Christmas. I’ll cook some Brussels sprouts with bacon and sauté some fennel bulb and the meal will be complete.

We can spend Christmas day as it should be spent. Snuggling and laughing and playing sister games (though I will spend a little bit of time in the kitchen in the morning, after opening presents, cooking our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of creamed eggs).

We’ll probably play Rudolph a few more times too.

Merry Christmas.

In the Kitchen

Posted on November 21, 2012November 21, 2012 by Amy

The other night the girls helped me make pizza for dinner (our letter this week is “P”).

I love having them in the kitchen with me.

Today they helped me bake for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares and Pecan Pie (I’m really milking the “P” thing).

I don’t think there is any better way to help them use all their senses in learning and have a feeling of competence. They love measuring and stirring and mixing. Cracking eggs is a special favorite too. We make sure to smell all of the ingredients and taste what we can as we go along (we had to make sure the chocolate chips we used today were “good”).

Look at these faces. I love this. Love.

Unfortunately I’m not really a “this-is-going-to-be-super-messy-but-it’s-great-for-them-to-learn-so-who-cares” kind of gal when it comes to my kitchen. Messes in my kitchen make me anxious. I typically try to clean up as much as I can while I’m cooking. I don’t like dishes in my sink (thank goodness for a husband who does the dinner dishes while I put kids to bed). I don’t like stuff spilled on my counters and floors.

I’m a little uptight about my kitchen.

But. I do think it’s important to let them help with cooking and baking. I know they love it, and I do enjoy being in the kitchen with them.

I just have to give myself a pep talk beforehand is all.

“Deep breath. It will be messy. They will spill things. It will clean up. It’s no big deal. Now get out there and have fun making a mess with your kids!”

And I do.

Yes, I clean things up as we go along. I keep wet wipes nearby to wipe hands immediately after they crush eggs all over them. Sometimes I get a little antsy. Sometimes I have to step back and take a deep breath. But I have fun. And so do they. Even Baby Sis comes into the kitchen to watch her big sisters.

We had a successful morning today.

Here are the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares. It’s a Martha Stewart recipe. Delish. And, I got the tip from her site to put the foil in the pan before spreading the batter in it. Brilliant! After the squares baked and cooled I just turned them out onto a cutting board to slice them. I didn’t even have to wash the baking dish!

I’m especially proud of this pecan pie. This is only the second time ever that I’ve made a pie from scratch (Except for the crust. I don’t do crust. They have perfectly good crust for sale at the store. Who wants to make crust?)

I can’t wait to eat some of this tomorrow.

I have really wonderful memories of making holiday treats with my mom every year (with Johnny Mathis Christmas music playing in the background, of course). I also have fun memories of baking cookies with my cousin and getting into a flour throwing battle or smearing batter on each other (we were much older than my kids of course).

Time in the kitchen is essential for littles. I want them to have many, many memories of fun in the kitchen with me and with their Dad.

Tonight we are leaving for the Farm again to spend the holiday with family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cookies

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Amy

Recently, Miss has been showing a real interest in helping me in the kitchen. Every night she comes in and asks to help me make dinner. I love this.

Not only does she learn some good stuff, about cooking and measuring and following a recipe (or not), but also about the joy of cooking and spending time together in the kitchen. That’s my favorite part.

That, and the pride she shows in the finished product, hearing her family tell her how delicious her dinner is and being able to taste a yummy dish she helped create. Her proud smile is priceless.

Tonight, before making dinner, we got decked out in our aprons and baked cookies.

The girls helped measure and stir the dry ingredients,

then the wet ingredients,

Miss painted my finger nails this afternoon

Lass is smelling the combination of maple syrup and vanilla

This was her first time cracking eggs. She loved the feeling of the shell and just kept squeezing and crumbling it. I had to pry it out of her fingers, very carefully to keep the whole shell from going into the bowl. I couldn’t stop laughing as she just kept squeezing and squeezing it.

Miss is a pro at the eggs now and just needs a little bit of help.

And finally, the chocolate chips get added. Of course, they have to be sampled first.

Lass was not pleased at having to wait her turn to stir the cookie dough once the chips were added.

Not happy at all. Don’t worry, she didn’t draw blood.

And she did eventually get her turn.

Her face when she realized we had to bake the cookies before she could eat them:

Dessert after a yummy dinner.

Spending time in the kitchen with my girls is so fulfilling. Admittedly, I am kind of neurotic about my kitchen, but I really do try to push myself to not worry about stuff and just let them have fun. I want them to have great memories of cooking. I certainly have some wonderful memories from today.

What is Valentine’s Day?

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Amy

When I was much, much younger, I thought Valentine’s Day was a sweet, romantic day for flowers and gifts and professions of undying love. Then I grew up a little bit, and I decided that Valentine’s Day was kind of a silly, overly-commercialized “holiday” that was nothing more than a way for card companies and jewelers to make lots of money, and that one should really try to show love every day, not just on Valentine’s. Then I grew up a little bit more, and I revised my opinion of this holiday a bit. I now think of Valentine’s Day as a nice enough day. There’s nothing wrong with a day that encourages people to show their love for one another. I don’t think it’s necessary to show that love through expensive gifts, but showing love? That’s cool. I still think it’s much more important to show how much the special people in your life mean to you every day. An “I love you” and a kiss before leaving for work, or the store, or the basement. A kiss before bed every night. “I love you” and holding hands or giving a kiss for no reason at all but to remind someone they are essential to your world. That’s the good stuff.

Now that I have kids, Valentines Day has become something even more. It has become yet another way to have some fun with my girls.

I like home made gifts for days like Valentine’s Day. I make stuff with my girls for this holiday. To me it’s a great way to have fun together and it helps to neutralize the messages out there that your man must buy you big diamonds or a trip to Aruba to show that he really loves you on Valentine’s Day. Not that my girls see or hear these messages now, but someday I’m sure they will. So we’re starting early to make a point of showing love through special gestures and thoughtful, simple gifts, rather than flashy stuff.

We made little heart-shaped crayons for Miss to give to her friends at school, like the ones shown on my friend’s blog here, but smaller. They were inexpensive and pretty easy to do. The hardest part was getting the paper off the crayons (even soaking them in warm water didn’t work for many of them). The girls loved breaking the crayons up and putting them into the molds. Miss specially chose which crayon each of her friends would receive and she was very excited to go to school yesterday and give these special gifts to the other kids. Mission accomplished.

Miss had a great time at her school party, as did I.

She made another craft at her party, a potpourri ball. She also gave me another school-made gift that is made with paper hearts, her thumb prints, glitter, and her attempt to write her name, all laminated into one big beautiful work of art that currently hangs in a place of honor on our sliding glass door. She was so proud and excited to give these gifts to me that she had made.

When we got home, she and Lass had fun going through her box of Valentines from the other kids in her class.

Then we made special Valentines to give to Daddy, which they excitedly ran to give him when he got home from work last night. And as we do every day, we gave lots of hugs and kisses and “I love yous” and “You’re my wonderful girls,” etc. Just because that’s what we do. I always want my girls to know that, on Valentine’s or any other day, showing your love for someone, and thus the genuineness of their expressions of love for you, is always about what you do, day to day, not how much you spend or how grand your gestures on one day of the year. A happy life is made up of lots of small moments, not just the few big ones that tend to get lots of attention.

And speaking of showing your love through the things you do, last night I attempted to make paleo-friendly brownies for Miss to take to school today. Since her birthday is on Saturday and she won’t be back to school before then, I wanted to send her with a special birthday treat to share with her friends at school today. She requested brownies. I wanted to make them myself and make them relatively healthy, though still a “treat.” I had the best of intentions. Unfortunately, last night I had a bit of a mom failure, because the brownies just didn’t taste that good. They turned out how I think they’re supposed to. They’re edible, and not horrible. But they don’t taste like brownies. And if I’m going to send my child to school with a treat to share with her friends for her birthday, I’m going to make sure it’s yummy, for pete’s sake. So, I made a run to the grocery store last night, when I otherwise would have been composing this Valentine’s Day blog post, and grabbed some grocery-store-bakery-made mini cupcakes. They’re good, and I think they were a hit with the kids. So even though I totally flopped in my Mother-of-the-Year-all-natural-gluten-free-super-delicious-brownie attempt, the late night trip to the grocery store saved the day. I feel like a dolt and it sucked to make a run to the grocery store at 9pm, but that’s okay. And that’s why my Valentine’s Day post is a day late. Hope you had a Happy Valentine’s Day. We did.

A Week??

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Amy

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since my last post. I have had a lot of work come my way and a 2.5-year-old who hasn’t napped all week, so I guess blogging has escaped me for a few days. I always miss it when I don’t post for a while. I love sorting through and choosing the photos for a post and then writing about my favorite thing in the whole world, my family. So, what have we been doing this week?

Going to preschool with absolutely no tears whatsoever.

A little bit of baking and cookie decorating.

A fabulous play date with wonderful friends, where the cookies were gobbled up.

Trying on Halloween costumes. Miss has been planning to be a ballerina for weeks. Last night we tried Lass’s bear costume on her, and now Miss wants to be a bear. I should have known that would happen. But she is still excited about being a ballerina when I tell her about how we’re going to do her hair and what she will get to wear. She loves wearing a leotard and has a special fondness for tights. Plus I told her she can play with Lass’s costume after Halloween if she wants, so she seems happy with the current situation. For now at least.

We’ve been enjoying fall.

The weather has been crisp, but we are trying to still get outside a bit before it gets really cold. The girls love to play with our pumpkins.

And while showing off her muscles power lifting pumpkins, Miss saw this:

Then she just had to show off her hunting/stalking skills.

Lass got in on the fun for a minute, but seemed to not really notice or not care about the bunny, because she ended up walking on by.

Miss got pretty close to the little guy before he did this funny little stretch and hopped into the middle of this big evergreen tree.

The girls just moved right on to the next fun thing. Most of the leaves are gone from our yard, and I’ve pretty much closed up the sand box for the year. I guess mulch is the next best thing to play in.

We’ve just being doing our thing here. Watching “Go Blue” today. Happy weekend.

A Daddy Weekend

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Amy

I can’t really even put into words how much I love having a weekend when all the stars are aligned and 1. we are not traveling, 2. the weather is nice, and 3. my husband isn’t working. Oh, it’s wonderful. Fortunately, I do not need to rely solely on words to describe this happy time. I have photo documentation.

Daddy has been making lots of forts and Little Sister has been able to join in the fun. The girl loves to roll around on a blanket.

“Can I come in?”

This one lights up at the sight of her Daddy.

This morning we baked our banana chocolate chip muffins for Daddy.

This is the face she makes when she says, “Cheese!”

“They’re puffing up!” She kept calling the muffins “mushrooms.” This kid cracks me up.

After they baked, she “painted” honey on top of them.

She was so proud of herself!

She said, “I eat a bwownie out of the mushwoom!” when she picked a chocolate chip out of the muffin.

Sharing a special snack with Daddy.

And can I just gush for a moment about how ridiculously easy it is to take the girls to the pool when I have another pair of hands along??

I was even able to take photos for once!

Lass is happy when she can play with a ball. Or two.

Easy, easy, easy. I’m gushing here.

Did I mention this one loves to play with a ball?

We’ve been playing very hard this weekend.

And even after all this playing, Daddy is making bratwurst tonight. I can’t wait to eat them. Homemade bratwurst are the best.

I’m listening to fireworks outside right now. I tried to get Miss out of her bed (she’s not asleep yet) and take her out to see, but she didn’t like the sound. She wrapped herself around me, clung on for dear life, and said, “I want to go in my bed and go to sweep.” So she’s missing the fireworks tonight, but tomorrow we will celebrate the 4th of July. Mostly our day will consist of more of what you see here. Family. Love. Fun. Eating. Pool. Mix in some patriotism and perhaps a sparkler or two, and you have a celebration. Happy 4th of July.

Motherhood and Miscellany

Baking