Out of the Mouth of Kate

Last night we were getting read for bed and Kate asked me...

"If you didn't have me and Callie and Baba, who would you want to be?  Like Mrs. Orr or a hyena...?"

Definitely NOT a hyena!! LOL

The neat thing about it was, I couldn't think of anything I'd rather be than Callie and Kate's mom and Cameron's wife.

The Sugar Bush

Last week, while reading Grandpa's Sugar Bush to Kate, I remembered going to a maple syrup festival  about 2 1/2 hours from here several years ago with Callie.  We had so much fun and Callie loved it.  We ran into friends while we were there which was a fun surprise.

Cameron and I decided this would be the perfect year to go again.  Thankfully, the weather cooperated and we had a wonderful day.

This building houses a "restaurant" and the big boiler where they boil the sap down.  It was warm and smelled wonderful inside.  

There were animals to pet and their spun-into-yarn wool to buy.  I refrained.  That kind of yarn is beautiful, but a bit on the pricey side.

There were all kinds of activities for the kids to enjoy.  Candle making, tomahawk throwing, and sawing logs, a hay bale maze and more. Most activities were free.

This thing was really cool.  Two big guys would turn the seats and then let go and it would spin.

This sugar bush is located in Salem, IN, out in the middle of nowhere!  The scenery was beautiful.

There were also several vendors selling their wares.  What I loved is that there wasn't any junk!  It was all handmade or historic items.  No crafts that a first grader could make or plastic junk.  This one was Callie's favorite.  She took this picture.

The festival will still be taking place this weekend too.  If you live anywhere near, we highly recommend it.  And you may run into someone you know, this year we saw the parents and sister of one of my very best friends from high school.  We had a great time!  It had been a long time since we had taken a fun road trip.

{This Moment}

{This Moment} A Friday ritual.  A single photo, no words, capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Notes:
Please ignore the pile of laundry in the background.
Toilet paper in the floor is being used for her FINGERS.
She loves these socks and does not want me to throw them away because they have polka dots.  She loves polka dots!

February 21 Daybook

Outside My Window--It is 22 degrees.  A heat wave compared to yesterday's 10 about this time of morning.  I wish we were getting buckets of snow like the East Coast.

I Am Thankful For--The usual winter things.  Warm blankets, heat that works, indoor plumbing.  I'm reminded occasionally that there are many who do not have these things.

I'm also very thankful to have my husband home to keep me warm! :)  For his hard work and dedication to this family.

I Am Thinking About--This house and property.  I think it's time to do a Gratitude post in that regard because the list of things to do, inside and out, is quite overwhelming right now.  If I just knew where to get some dynamite.....just kidding!

In the School Room--Nothing new or exciting here.  We are planning a fun field trip Saturday to a sugar bush to watch them harvest and boil the maple sap into syrup.  We went several years ago when Callie was little and she loved it.  There are all kinds of activities and things.

Little Red Riding Hood doing her school work

From the Kitchen--I made this pumpkin soup (adding 2 tsp. curry powder) from our garden pumpkins the other night.  Cameron really likes it.  I'll eat it.  Kate ate her required 4 bites and then I made her a hot dog.  Callie pretended to not feel well and still hasn't tried it. LOL  But she will.

Around the house--I'm working on new living room curtains.  They aren't finished yet, but they are started.  Cameron has gotten almost all of the wallpaper backing off of the bathroom walls.  Woo hoo!  Now we need to sand and decide on a paint color.  I really, really want bead board but that probably won't happen anytime soon.

The girls made valentine cards last week....I'm still sweeping up glitter.  At least it's pretty.

I Am Praying For--Continuing to pray for my friend Joanna.  They are doing much better right now so that is a praise.  

One of My Favorite Things--When Kate tells me she's glad I'm her mommy.  It doesn't get any better than that.

{Yarn Along}

It looks like I'm on a "toy" kick with knitting.  I'm really just trying to use up some left over yarn.  I can't really justify going out and buying yarn for something when I have a basket full of left overs from other projects.

I've been watching and waiting for the release of this bunny pattern because it is just so stinking cute!  I don't know who I will make one for because both of the girls were unenthusiastic when I showed it to them, but somebody somewhere is going to get one!  Kate did however, request a shawl like that for her animals and her doll, Ivy.  How easy can it get?

So Poodle got one first and Ivy will be next.

As for reading....last Friday I wasn't feeling well and so I picked up one of Callie's library books that she hadn't started yet.  I had never read A Wrinkle In Time before.  I only got to chapter 4 I think, but I really liked it and I think she will like it too.  I also started Sugar Busters!  It's good, but the diet plan is sort of confusing in that every breakfast is orange juice, toast or oatmeal.  Seems like an awful lot of carbs to me if you are trying to cut back on sugar.  I had no intention of following their meal plan anyway.  My meals aren't the problem, it's the snacks and drinks.  I just wanted to read something to tell me how awful my favorite things are! LOL  It was actually a bit of a blessing to not feel well the day before and after my sugar fast began.

**Happy Valentine's Day**

I saw these muffins in the Aug/Sept 2012 issue of Organic Gardening.  Kate loves strawberries and I thought recently while looking through the magazine that they would be perfect for Valentine's Day.

I tweaked them a bit to make them gluten free.  If you want to make them with regular flour, just use two cups and leave out the xanthum gum.


Strawberry Stuffed Muffins

2 c. gluten free flour  (I used 1/2 c. potato starch, and the rest a half and half mixture of brown rice and sorghum flour)
1 c. sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten (room temp.  Just put in bowl of hot water while you slice the strawberries)
1 c. whole milk
2 T unsalted butter, melted (I used salted)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
12 med. strawberries, halved

1/2 c. confectioners sugar
2 t. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a 24 cup mini muffin tin with liners, if you have them, if not spray with non stick spray.  (I made regular sized muffins, but next time I'll do the mini size.)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and xanthum gum.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, butter and vanilla.

Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir just until well blended.  Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.  Top each with a strawberry half.

Bake muffins until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 10 to 12 minutes for minis.  Cool in pan for few minutes before glazing.

In small bowl mixed powdered sugar with lemon juice and stir until smooth.  Drizzle muffins with glaze.

Makes 24 mini muffins or 12 full size muffins.

{Yarn Along}

A couple of weeks ago Kate and I were reading The Mitten by Jan Brett.  It's such a fun story and anything by Jan Brett makes me smile because the illustrations are so wonderful!

I was thinking while I was reading that I had some left over chunky yarn from the football hats and that maybe I could knit a big mitten to go with all of the plastic animals that the girls have accumulated over the years.  I thought maybe Kate would have fun playing out the story.  I asked her (no sense trying if she wasn't interested) and she liked the idea.

Well, I couldn't figure out the thumb, so I just kept knitting until I got this.  For play I figured it was close enough.  Kate wished there was a thumb and I explained that she could have it to play with that day, or she could wait until I could get some help with the thumb.....I finished it that day. :)

I don't know how much she will play with it, but I know she has a little bit already.  It might make a good road trip toy.  We'll see.

I'm almost finished with An Everlasting Meal and I picked up this stack at the library this week. :)  We shall see what come of these.  There are some really cute dresses that I would love to make for Callie and the Reinvention book has some great ideas too.

 And I may read this to help me along with the next few weeks.  I bought it years ago at Goodwill and have never opened it.  I need some motivation!

I'm looking forward to visiting Ginny to see what others are knitting.

You Have Got to Be Kidding!

 

You might be a redneck?

 

Love Notes

January was a little intense around here.  Cameron was gone all month.  Add to that one teen aged girl, one feisty seven year old and a sinful, sometimes selfish, lonely for her husband and hormonal mama and you will get some down right ugly moments.

I first heard of a book called "Give Them Grace" over a year ago.  I had pretty much sworn off all parenting books, but I was curious.  Last fall a friend of mine told me she was reading it and how much she loved it and just a little bit about it.   I decided I would try it, but then sort of forgot about it for awhile.

Right before Christmas I went on a library book ordering binge.  Books about computer usage and what it's doing to our society, three in fact.  Call the Midwife, two novels, a book about books and "Give Them Grace".  After a while I realized all of those were not going to get read over Christmas break.  The novels went back, one of the computer books on CD went back and I started reading the parenting book on the way to Mississippi.  I cried over the Foreword!  I cried during chapter 1-more than once.  I quickly realized I was not going to be able to read this quickly or in front of anyone! So I switched to Call the Midwives for our vacation.  I only cried once during that book, and a person would have had to have a heart of stone to not cry for Mrs. Jenkins!

I started reading Give Them Grace on the way home.  More crying.  It's like this book was written just for me!  All of my worries and insecurities and mistakes as a parent are in here.  They aren't in here as in "this is what you'd better watch out for."  Elyse Fitzpatrick takes these thoughts that terrify and worry me and says something like, "Trust God.  He's the one in charge.  He's the one who created this child and he is the one who is going to save this child.  It's not up to you!  It doesn't matter what parenting philosophy you've tried or what curriculum you use, or anything else, it's up to God and it's a process that may not look like you thought it would.  The pressure doesn't belong to you.  He's got this!"

To my worry that I am not a good parent she says there are no good parents!  We are all human, sinners in need of God's forgiveness and grace just as much as our children are and it's high time we admit it.  To our kids and ourselves!

I could go on and on. :)

In the chapter on praying for our children, her daughter who is the co-author, talks about how Paul prayed for the churches.  He always started out with how much he loved them and how thankful he was for them.  Yes, he did eventually address areas where they needed to repent or improve in some way, but first he lavished them with love and thanked God for them.  Notice, he didn't lavish them with praise, but praised God for them.

In my experience, it was easy to be thankful for the baby or child still small enough to crawl up in my lap.  Not so easy to be thankful for the sassy thing who thinks she's all that.  And that describes every little girl at some point.  {and I'm assuming boys too}

I actually didn't cry over this chapter, but I laughed when I read about the tired parents prayer of, "Lord, just make them behave!" Yep, some days that's all I can get out.  I was so struck by the example of Paul's prayers for his spiritual children.  There's so much more to life than being good, but that's what my prayers are often like. 

I was inspired.  How long has it been since I have voiced out loud how thankful I am for the gift of our first born?  Does my 13 year old really know how much I love her or just how much I want her to "be good".  Does my 7 year old know how much her sister loves her, even though she bosses her around like crazy sometimes?

So....I decided that since Valentine's Day was coming up and the girls each have little felt purses with hearts on them that we made a couple of years ago, that we were going to write love notes to each other beginning Feb 1 through the 14th.  We will hang the purses on the door knobs or beds and fill up their love tanks.  After this month I know that every one's tank is a little low!  Kate could dictate to me what she wants to say to Callie. {oh there have been some really funny ones!}

When Kate cries, "Callie's mean!" and Callie cries, "Kate hates me!" we can go back and look at these little notes and hopefully be reminded that even though there will be fights, there will always be love and forgiveness and that it's all because of Jesus.  I hope that my little notes to them will remind them of my love and the Father's even when they have been punished or fussed at excessively.

We may stop after the 14th or we may not.  It might depend on if Kate can come up with something better than "I'm glad she's not dead!"

A Week in the Life

My life may not be exciting, but it is never boring!  I've said before, "I haven't been bored since the day Callie was born!"

This week we started out having our friend Jared for the day.  We built forts, I negotiated peace treaties over the riding toy and there was a wild road race on the Wii.  I even let them play in the rain for a bit.  The day ended with Kate's ballet class and chocolate chip pancakes for supper.  Maybe some of the best gluten free ones that I have made so far.

Tuesday, we took off early for downtown Indianapolis.  My dad had an appointment there that was going to take quite a bit of time and he wanted us to come hang out with my mom.  Now that was an education in itself!  I had never been to the VA hospital before.  Cameron warned me about the parking and what it was like (he has to go there a lot for work) inside, but wow!  That place was packed with people.  Mostly older couples and and older men.  Kate thought it was an adventure and the girls did great being patient and walking for EVER since we had to park in outer Mongolia. 

From the VA, we drove to the library, picked up a couple of books and videos, and then went on to a friends house for a short visit that had already been planned.  It was such a contrast to the previous four hours!  Her beautiful home, a pot of tea and some cookies.  I wish I could have taken my mom there.

Then home to supper and Callie had ballet.  I cheated this night and good friends of ours gave her a ride.  So Kate and I watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie and I got her to bed a tiny bit early.  She had already fallen asleep in the car once, so I knew she was worn out.

Wednesday would be considered by many to be boring.  We didn't go anywhere until ballet in the evening.  We did dishes, laundry, school, etc.  Kate is in first grade and is learning to read.  She has been a little bit reluctant in this department.  Art, recess and lunch are her favorites. :)  Until Wednesday.  She read me her "required" reading and never got "tired" and then she read almost all of Ten Apples Up on Top!  Do you know how long that book is?  Yes, there are only four lines on each page, but there's like 1000, I mean 70 pages!  I'm telling you, that was pretty exciting.  She was excited!

Today we had to run some errands in the sub arctic temperatures.  The only redeeming thing was the snow pouring down sometimes which made it very pretty.  Oh, and the girls rode in the car together for two hours without one disagreement.  Of course, I had bribed them with a snack from a drive through, but who cares?  They did it!  Oh, and Kate wanted to bring her books to read!!

Now the highlight of the week will be tomorrow.  Or today if I don't get this published in the next 21 minutes. 

Lord willing we will be picking up Cameron from the airport in the early evening!!!!!  Do you hear angels singing? He has been gone since January 6 for a work assignment.  I'm sure you've heard whining in the distance, not knowing where it was coming from.  Cameron didn't want me to mention it on-line so all those big, bad boogie men wouldn't be tempted to come and bother us.  I didn't whine too much.  Just a little.  Like when we saw the mouse in the kitchen.  I went to the bedroom and cried for a couple of minutes before I pulled it together and caught that sucker with a Red Solo Cup!  I bet Toby Keith didn't think of that did he?!

See?  How could I possibly be bored?