See, Mom? I TOLD you I could do it myself…
Archive for the 'life' Category
Changes in Bold.
7:06 am – wake up to screams of “Mommy!!!!!!!!”
8:45 – drop David off at the high school for a dodge-ball tourney
10:30 – leave the house again for Patrick’s soccer game at 11
Noon – pick up lunch at McD’s
1 pm – put Nathan and Chris down for naps
1:10 – sit at the computer for a few minutes to jot down rest of schedule for the day
1:13 – hear Nathan yelling; go settle him in again
1:45 – leave the house again for Russell’s soccer game at 2:15
2:05 – Arrive at soccer game to find that Russ has brought the wrong jersey, and have to drive back home to get it.
2:45 – Get back onto interstate to see big wreck, and have to pull over 2 times to let rescue vehicles pass by.
3:00 – Get to soccer game and watch Russ play the second half.
2:45 – stop at Hy-Vee on the way home to take advantage of sale ad stuff
3:30 – Game ends late, and also running out of gas due to extra trip back home. Stop for gas and then on to Hy-Vee
4 – start dinner – taco’s
4:30 – Get home to realize that I never loaded up the dishwasher, so I don’t have a big pot to cook the taco meat in. Figures.
7 pm – start baths/showers for whoever needs them.
7:45 pm – take David over to friend’s house.
8 pm – put Chris and Nathan in bed.
8:30 – put Patrick and Russ in bed.
11 pm – go pick up David from friend’s house.
11:15 – Collapse in bed, and try to focus on getting everybody up and ready for church in the morning. Oh, and Russ has another soccer game. Right after church.
Somewhere in there remind myself that it is truly a blessing to have kids who want to be so active, and to not project my “need to be a hermit all the time” introvert-ness on them
7:06 am – wake up to screams of “Mommy!!!!!!!!”
8:45 – drop David off at the high school for a dodge-ball tourney
10:30 – leave the house again for Patrick’s soccer game at 11
Noon – pick up lunch at McD’s
1 pm – put Nathan and Chris down for naps
1:10 – sit at the computer for a few minutes to jot down rest of schedule for the day
1:13 – hear Nathan yelling; go settle him in again
1:45 – leave the house again for Russell’s soccer game at 2:15
2:45 – stop at Hy-Vee on the way home to take advantage of sale ad stuff
4 – start dinner – taco’s
7 pm – start baths/showers for whoever needs them.
Somewhere in there remind myself that it is truly a blessing to have kids who want to be so active, and to not project my “need to be a hermit all the time” introvert-ness on them
So, in keeping with the backwards fashion, the thing that happened before the New Year’s Eve snowfall was Russell’s 9th birthday. He picked out a strawberry-flavored cake, and then wanted cherry frosting. Um, ok then.
Here’s the birthday boy and Daddy sticking the candles on. And yes, we’re still in pj’s.
Look at that smile – isn’t he gorgeous?
And the blow-out:
I completely forgot to get any pictures of him opening up presents, so that’s it. Stay tuned for Christmas…
Ok, so we didn’t have a White Christmas. Which was ok, cause I wouldn’t have been able to smell it anyway. I got the worst sinus infection, and the day before Christmas I realized that I COULDN’T SMELL ANYTHING. I went all jazz hands and tried to smell ALL THE THINGS, and there was nothing. No pine-scented candles, no baby head, no poopy diaper (ok, so that wasn’t so bad), but the worst part? I couldn’t smell my mom’s sugar cookies. It was horrible. It almost ruined Christmas. Almost. But it didn’t. Christmas pictures will be in a couple of days, or maybe even later today if I get all inspired. But for now, we’re gonna go backwards.
Today’s 12-31-12, and it snowed. It’s still snowing. This is quite possibly the best New Year’s Eve ever. I can smell the snow. The boys played outside for well over an hour, and no one cried. David only came in cause the 3rd layer of snowman fell apart when he tried to put it on top, and he needed a break. Here’s some pics of layer #1, and random snow pics of my backyard.
David as King of the Mountain:
Patrick as King of the Mountain or the top of a snowman:
Russell as King of the Mountain:
I told them to jump off, and managed to get these cool shots:
Someone even built Chris a mini-snowman, and he tried to add on another head or something…
Here’s the second layer of snowman:
And here’s the back ramp/stairs that David built to get it up there:
My little engineer. Snort. Little my aunt fanny. He’s gonna be 15 in 21 days, and he’s already 5′ 7 1/2″. I think my dad’s 5′ 6″. Nevermind that. I’ll just focus on all of them wearing hats and mittens that I knit. Cause I’m awesome.
Next up…Russell’s birthday, Christmas, cookie decorating, and Thanksgiving pictures. Most likely in that order.
Can you guess what it is?
How about a little peek?
Oh, look! There’s a Kindle in there!
I made a flap thing sort of like those fold over sandwich baggies, and David loves it.
Which really, is all that matters. Cause pleasing a 14 year old boy is hard.
Nate let me sleep in until 6:40.
My alarm went off at 6:45.
I couldn’t reach it cause I was nursing him.
Steve was in the bathroom.
He came rushing out to shut it off for me.
David “forgot” to pack a sandwich in his lunch.
He had cheetos, strawberries, and a brownie.
I made him take a banana too.
I fixed and packed Russ’ and Patrick’s sandwiches.
I toasted toaster waffles for Russ, Nathan, and Christopher.
Russ and Patrick too the recycling out to the curb on their way to the bus stop.
I loaded up the dishwasher and let Chris put the soap thing in it.
That’s our next to last dishwasher soap.
I add dishwasher soap to the grocery list.
I let Chris vacuum until the dustbuster ran out of batteries so I’d have enough time to gather the laundry without a shadow.
Chris meets me at the bottom of the stairs “run owa baaaa-reees”
I put soap and bleach and softener in wash and let Chris load up the clothes.
Add bleach and fabric softener to the list.
How’d I run out of bleach, dishwasher soap, and fabric softener all on the same day?
I vacuum for real while Chris puts all the laundry in on the same side in one big pile.
Decide to play with new steam mop – it’s really cool.
Part of my floor’s not sticky.
Got Nathan down for nap.
Played with Chris for a while to let Nathan settle down.
Got Chris down for a nap.
Hung bleaches outside on line.
Ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast (10:30)
Mopped some more with new mop.
Read directions on mop – turns out that “holder” that Steve mentioned is actually a carpet glider. I can steam freshen the carpets. Cool.
Decide to knit a while.
Take out new summery top I’m working on and think I should try it on, cause it’s a bottom up one and it looks a little big.
Are my hips really that big? I’m getting gauge and I did the size I should for my size hips, and it’s HUUUUGGGGEEEE.
Whew. My hips aren’t that big.
Dang it. Now I have to frog. A whole bunch.
And re-cast on a smaller number.
Like 2 sizes smaller.
No, I’m not shrinking.
I think perhaps my yarn is stretchier than the one she used in the pattern.
Great, the boys are up now.
How’s your morning going?
Today I wish I could call you up and say “Happy Birthday!” I wish I could put the boys on the phone and let them each tell their Grandma about their day. I bet with a little prompting even Chris would be able to say Happy Birthday. You might not have been able to understand it, but I bet you would have pretended to, and been thrilled nonetheless.
But I can’t do any of those things.
So, if I have time after whoever it is that has soccer practice tonight gets done, I’m making your strawberry parfait, and the boys and I will eat it before bed.
And I’ll think of you, and wish I could give you a birthday hug.
I have used this recipe so many times I almost don’t have to look at the page. If I remember right, I got it out of a very old Workbasket magazine. Remember those? I have most likely made this 100 times, and have never messed it up. I probably just jinxed myself. At any point, I wanted to share the recipe in case anyone else has some browning bananas on their kitchen counter.
Banana Oat Bread
1/2 c butter or shortening
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c bananas
1/4 c milk
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c oatmeal
Cream together the butter or shortening and sugar, then add in the eggs. In a separate bowl, mash together the bananas and milk. ( I used anywhere from 2 to 4 bananas, depending on how many I happen to have that day)
To the sugar/egg/shortening mixture, alternate adding in the banana/milk mixture and the flour and spices. I usually add in 1/2 c flour and the baking soda and salt and cinn, then about half the bananas, then the other 1/2 c flour, then the rest of the bananas. Then stir in the oats. I’ve used both the old fashioned oats and the quick cook kind, and they both work. I do prefer the old fashioned ones though; it seems like there’s more “meat” to those.
Your batter should be fairly stiff. If I’ve used more bananas, I usually add in another 1/2 c of oatmeal here.
Grease the baking container of your choice. This is a lot of batter, so I use either a large loaf pan (those 9 x 5 ones) or 2 smaller ones, or 2 of those mini muffin pans. I made regular muffins once, but I don’t remember how many of those it made. It’ll make a huge loaf, or 48 mini’s. The mini’s bake at 350 for 15 minutes, the loaf for 1 hr to 1 hr and 15 minutes, depending.
I’ve added all sorts of stuff to this as well, and it always is awesome. We prefer the mini chocolate chips, or butterscotch is also good. Sometimes I add pecans or walnuts, but not usually, cause the oatmeal adds a nutty texture and flavor without using any nuts. Also, I add in extra cinnamon and sometimes nutmeg.
If you were going to make this, what would you add?
So, we have bunnies. Lots and lots of bunnies. So, we’re gonna try to grow some plants and things in these recycled styrofoam coolers. Someone was, well, I think the pictures are pretty self explanatory.
Picked a good day to have him wear a white t-shirt, didn’t I? I’m just glad I hadn’t planted any seeds yet.
