Romancing the 70s

I'm up - gosh, I almost said late, but it's actually only 9:39pm. Call me an old lady, eh? ANYway, Alif's out playing soccer and I'm up alone, and because we do not have cable and there is nothing on and also because I'm too lazy to SEE if anything at ALL is on, there's a paid program on that's advertising 70s music. It is corny beyond belief.

But all of a sudden, in the middle of "stuck on you . . . got this feelin' down deep in my soul . . . " my eyes misted over. I didn't even know why! Then I got an image in my mind. Funnily, it was sort of washed out in 70s colors, like I'm remembering pictures, not actual memories - but the image was of my Dad and my Mom and my sister and brother and me. Jerod has on brown cords and a too-tight polo, Megan and I have matching bowl cuts. Dad has a perm (yes, I'm serious) and Mom's hair is in the classic Dorothy Hammill. And we are happy.

I would never trade my life now to go back to that time. I love being a Mommy and I love relating to my sibs and parents as adults and I especially love being a wife.

But man. Memories can be powerful, can't they? Holding tight to my Dad's shoulders as he glides underwater with me on his back . . . making my two cats get married . . . Megan saying "under to" instead of just "under" . . .

I couldn't wait to grow up. I thought when I was grown up I wouldn't have to follow any rules. Ha! And like I said, I'm really glad that I am a grown-up now, but man - I miss those times. I miss being a family. It didn't feel simple at the time, but it sure does looking back on it. Well, in some ways. I don't know, I'm just feeling a little weepy tonight thinking back on all of it.

I think I was better off watching Married With Children. This paid programming is for the birds!

How the Shhhedule's going

Most people would probably post an update about their new Summer Schedule after - say, a week. I have such a short attention span that I am here ONE day later to tell you how it's going.

It's going great!

Ha! Ha ha!

No, really, though. Yesterday we got back to The Horse and His Boy. We're near the end and I have to say that I thought I was not going to like this book at all, but once we got around halfway, I realized I was pretty into it and liking the new characters quite a lot. I think it maybe helped that we took a break for a week and read Traitor in the Tower while Malachi was at camp. That was a book I thought would bore me to bits but I really REALLY liked reading it to the kids and I learned a ton from it!

Also I felt good yesterday about doing Wii Fit, and I cleaned off my laundry room shelves, which had bred rags like crazy. Whew! Gotta supervise things in there!

Today I did not do any sort of exercise or outside time at all but instead read my e-mails and tended my farm and other things that don't actually matter. Then we started working on a Seeds book that I downloaded for free a while back. It's like a lapbook but all in workbook form, all about seeds! Fun! We did 4 pages of that and it was much enjoyed by all children. Then we went to Wal-Mart to return an ice cream maker and to the store for food.

We came home and ate lunch and read our book again, though I had to stop early because everyone was very interrupty today.

And now I have to figure out how and why one particular child has lost the 2" usb pluggy-inny-part of the mouse while traveling from the table to the desk and back. How does this happen?? And I should also put away the groceries and do those afternoon chores.

Summer Schedule

I had lots of ideas at the beginning of summer - activities, crafts, outings - but guess what? Laziness has taken over! We've done a lot of fun things but I've also wasted many hours farming on Farm Town (ahem) and other online silliness, while the children bicker and sit staring into the air, a leg thrown over the edge of the couch. Yesterday was the worst of all, and I decided it as time to get back to a little more structure in our days.

So - I made up a Summer Schedule. It follows the natural rhythm of our days, but gives me a time reference so that our day are a little more structured (most especially important for a time-waster like myself and a routine-needer like Graham) and so that I actually fit in all the fun ideas we have planned for our lazy summer days!

Keep in mind that each time block has PLENTY of time for the activities listed, plus some. There's plenty of downtime throughout the day for someone to stare if they want to, build with Legos, create things out of cardboard, draw with pens, swing outside, hose themselves down with water - whatever.

Wake - 8am (meaning, from when we wake up until 8am - my older boys have actually been waking around 8:30 . . . ) Mom shower, TV is on (PBS for the kids). This morning I had plenty of time since I got up at 6:30 so I went online for a bit.

8-10 Breakfast, Caris & Canaan bath, walk/outside time/exercise (today we did Wii Fit - the idea is to get some movement in early in the day, especially for mama), morning chores (this takes about 15 minutes - basically just getting pets taken care of, laundry going and dishwasher ready for the day)

10-12 Craft or activity (today the big boys are watching an old movie of David & Goliath that I unearthed when I tidied the laundry room), mini-school (a few things to keep us moving through our lessons - maybe 10-15 minutes per child)

12-1 Lunch, read-aloud - I just finished reading them Traitor in the Tower and now we'll go back to The Horse and His Boy

1-3 Mom's relax time, usually computer, and kids quiet time

3-4 Mom quiet work (paperwork, listing on eBay, whatever), kids computer/tv/reading/outside. Canaan's usually still sleeping at this time so the point is for us to be doing something interesting but quiet.

4-6 Afternoon chores - this takes a good chunk of this time, but I work with one child at a time so the rest are free to play. I'll also get dinner going during this time if we're not at baseball

6-8:30 Dinner, boys shower, Bible study, kids to bed

Happy 4th!

Don't you love the fourth of July? I do! Patriotism abounds, the food is good, family and friends are around and - ahem - homemade ice cream. Yeah babuy!! Aren't the kids cute in their flag shirts? They're gifts from my Mom!

Last night was probably our quietest fourth ever! We had our dear friends over and the kids played in the inflatable waterslide while the adults made dinner.

I got the ice cream mix all ready to freeze, and then discovered that the ice cream maker was missing. Egads! Alif had a hazy memory that ours may have actually burned up last year, so he sweetly ran off to Wal-Mart to buy a new one. He bought the last one in stock, and I was really grateful until I saw that it had an inside part that had to be frozen overnight! What ice cream maker doesn't use rock salt and ice? Darn it all!!
Not one to be easily foiled out of homemade ice cream, Lynette remembered seeing where one could make ice cream using a system of ziploc bags! We did it, and it totally worked! YAY! Here's my family's recipe for ice cream . . .

Homemade Ice Cream

2 - 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand)

Use two cans to measure out 2 cans of regular homogenized milk

6 well beaten eggs

1 quart half and half

5 teaspoons vanilla

In large pot beat eggs well. Add both kinds of milk; beat well. Combine the half & half and vanilla with the milk and egg mixture and pour into 3 quart ice cream freezer container and turn on freezer.

- For fresh fruit decrease vanilla to 4 teaspoons and add 2 cups of sweetened crushed fruit.

- For chocolate add 1 can Hershey Syrup and decrease vanilla to 2 teaspoons.

And here's how to use ziploc bags to make it, courtesy of www.kaboose.com . . .

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

After the bbq and waterslide fun we set up in the front yard for Alif's Annual Fireworks Extravaganza. He and Malachi did a bang-up (ha ha - snort) job. Graham and Ellie, the two resident fireworks scaredy-cats, were no longer scared and sat right up close. They even did sparklers!

It may have been a quiet night, but it was a fun and memorable one. Thank you Lord that I live in a free country! I am so thankful!

Some-hair over the rainbow

I have done this hairdo on Caris a few times now. I like it because it's simple, it holds all of her shorter side-hairs in place longer than most hairdos, and because the rainbow of rubber band colors is just plain cute with almost anything she's wearing. She may or may not be sporting this 'do now, two days after I took these pictures. :-X

Start at the top corner and gather a diagonal section into a ponytail. Secure it with a small rubber band. I love Roy G. Biv, so I started with pink since there was no red.

With the next section, you'll move a little closer to the center. With the next one, right in the center. Then a little to the opposite side, and finally all the way down in the corner opposite where you started, so the final ponytail hangs coyly over your sweetie's shoulder in the front. Then use your flatiron to curl it all up, and give her bangs a once-over with it as well.
And just for fun, isn't Canaan cute cuddled up with Daddy at baseball last night? It was SO FLIPPIN' HOT but Alif looks cool as a cucumber in his old-man rocking chair. And just as a final sidenote, I would recommend that anyone whose toddler has fat Fred Flintstone feet go to Payless if you are in need of cheap shoes. I've now tried cheapos from Target and Wal-Mart and three pairs have left raw spots on his little footies. Ouch! These suckers from Payless were 14.99 and are comfy as can be.

Pique Macho

Years and years ago, we went on vacation in Northern California. I am pretty sure it was when we just had the two boys, and they were like - oh, 3 and 4 or something like that. While we were there we visited the family of a lady who was then caring for Alif's grandma. They had a lovely home, sweet children, and they were so, so hospitable.

They spoke hardly any English, having come recently from Bolivia, but Alif's parents did their best to translate and Alif and I picked up what we could with our limited knowledge of Spanish. The husband prepared a huge, delicious breakfast. He was gregarious and smiling as he wielded a spatula in one hand and a beer in the other, both for drinking and for pouring bits into the meal as needed.

We so enjoyed the breakfast and more than that, we enjoyed our time with these new friends. Before we got into our car to leave, they hugged us and said, in Spanish, "we are family now!" When we were settled and on our way, we smiled at each other and wished we lived close to this family. They would certainly be among our closest of friends if we lived nearby.

Once we were home, I googled and googled for a recipe for the grand meal they'd served us. I knew the name of it but not how to spell it, and my finest efforts were unrewarded. As silly as it sounds, every so often that dish comes to mind and I wish yet again that I knew how to make it. Finally last weekend I asked Alif to call his parents and ask if they remembered what all was in it. They didn't, but they did know that the family we'd met was Bolivian.

Well, armed with this knowledge and my best friend google, I finally came up with the meal! Pique Macho!! YES! That's IT! There are dozens of variations, so I just cobbled together the best version I could, drawing on my limited memory and what simply sounded good. Here's how we did it . . .

Get a bag or two of frozen steak fries, and pop 'em in the oven to bake while you work on the topping. Potatoes are the basis for this recipe.

Your topping will include:
oil
spices (I used salt, pepper and cumin)
vegetables (I used onion, bell pepper, garlic and tomatoes)
meat (I used spicy sausage hot dogs, but strips of beef, regular hot dogs, breakfast sausage - anything like that would work)
eggs (I boiled and sliced mine, but fried eggs would be good too)
Next time I will probably add some beer. We do not drink - at all - but I think the beer would add something special!

Serve each person a little mound of potatoes, slop on some of the topping, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Oh, baby. Yes.

Monday's a good day for pictures

Swim lessons are going on but did I get any good pics of the actual kids taking the lessons? I did not. However, I thought Canaan was so cute being totally determined to get a tiny leaf out of the baby pool.

Yesterday Malachi left for camp. I was really looking forward to a quieter week, if I'm being honest, but instead it feels TOO quiet - downright lonely. And Graham, when his routine is off, is a bear. It hasn't been pretty.

But look! At Caris' earrings and missing front tooth! Now that's pretty! I took this in our dentist's office while waiting for the boys to have their checkups at the dentist. No cavities - yay boys!