Odds and Ends

Last week was Drug Awareness Week with a different theme each day at the boys' school.  Tuesday was crazy sock day.  Do you know how hard it is to find crazy socks for boys?  These are actually from the ladies' "holiday accessory" section at Target, but shhhhh, let's not tell them. (The orange socks had tiny bows at the cuffs which I cut off before showing them to my boys):

 


Lavella and I had our very first Girls' Day Out.  We met up with our next door neighbors Alex and her three-year-old daughter, and went to see the Rogers and Hammerstein production of Cinderella, as acted out by our local theater.

 

Lavella could have really used a nap before we went, but overall, it was a great time together.


Making dessert for Greg is always a challenging endeavor -- he's not really a "dessert sort of guy", but he does enjoy the occasional sweet...it just can't involve chocolate, pie crust, nuts, cooked fruit, or dark caramel.  I think he's trying to stretch my creative genius.  For his birthday this year (Oct. 19th -- happy 33rd birthday, my love!), I made the old fashioned and elegant Floating Islands dessert: meringue "islands" poached in milk, "floating" in Creme Anglaise sauce.

 
(Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan -- my baking hero)

It was delicious, but we both agreed that the caramel drizzled on top should probably have been caramel sauce and not brittle threads.  I kind of enjoyed the crunch, but it was a little difficult to avoid getting stabbed in the mouth.


I recently came across a recipe for Caramel Macchiato Popcorn Balls and modified it to clusters instead.

 

Instead of using store bought caramel cubes, as the coating, I made my own caramel (are you surprised?) from this one on Allrecipes.com.  Instead of fussing with forming popcorn balls, I spread the sticky popcorn on baking sheets and baked them as directed in the Allrecipes version.  I wanted the chocolate and caramel to maintain their distinct flavors, so I opted to drizzle the chocolate (shot through with espresso powder and Saigon cinnamon) on top after baking instead of mixing it in to the caramel. 

 


Sharp darts are not often introduced at such a tender age, but Greg recently bought a dart board with the boys, and they were showing Jonah how to throw them a few days ago.

 


 


 


Andrew was presented with a Citizen Of The Month award for October, as well as Perfect Attendance, and the Hustle Award for Physical Education.

 
(With friends Clara and JT)


 

Elijah would have gotten a Perfect Attendance award as well, but the poor little guy was down with a fever one day, and even though I got a Dr's excuse for him, they still marked him as absent.  This ended with a melt-down at the end of his classes' awards ceremony.  I felt terrible for him; we're going to do our best to at least help him earn his perfect attendance this next 9-week period.

Last week ended with a Scare Away Drugs/Halloween parade at their school.  Our boys dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Sadly I didn't get any pictures of them together, but here's the parade.


 
(Elijah's teacher)


 
(Our friend Aby)


 
(Elijah)


 
(Our friend Kelly)


 
(Pretending To Be Reluctant Andrew)


Two days ago, I went from Fiery Redhead to Plastic Rockstar Blond.

 

It's the most artificial blond I've probably ever achieved.  I'm totally infatuated with this look.  I'm sure it'll pass quickly and we'll be back to red in no time.  Or purple.


So there you go -- a Random Friday Wrap-up!  Next blog post with have pics of one of Elijah's soccer games, but right now, I have some cookies to bake.  Have a lovely weekend!

Amidst the month

It's been quite a month. I know I haven't been blogging much, and that's what happens when I'm right smack in the middle of life and have no words...and then I like to wait for the perspective that time and distance provides.  I'm almost there.  I almost have enough energy to write, enough perspective to have anything worth saying.  (Yes, we're all healthy, no I'm not pregnant, and no we're not leaving the Army or moving out of Texas right now.)


So for now, since I seem to be fresh out of things to say, here's a sweet little knit that I completed at least a week ago with a tiny mitten blocker key chain (and pattern) from Kit Envy (I modified it a tiny bit because there is no row-gauge, so I just kept trying it on the blocker until it fit at the thumb and then the fingertips).

 

Right now I'm trying to get caught up with a pile of mending and hemming that I've been putting off for a while.

 

I like to procrastinate and let things build up, and then tackle it all at once.  It's a sickness.  Now that I'm elbow deep, I'm finding it strangely soothing.  I've started listening to At Home In Mitford on audio this afternoon (even though I own the entire series in paperback and have read them all -- love those books), and I find that it's the perfect accompaniment to the mindless needlework.

Even though the past month has been a challenge, I feel completely at peace.


 

And looking at this little face, I see that peace reflected back to me.

The tragedy of the bald butterflys

 

Lavella was racing all around Being A Butterfly yesterday, when suddenly she stopped short.

Lavella (sad look, sad voice):  "But Mommy, if a butterfly didn't have any antennas, it would be bald!"

Me:  "Okay...."

Lavella (nearly crying voice):  "BUT I DON'T WANT IT TO BE BALD!!"

Oh dear.  There are times when I literally have nothing to respond with.

Dinnertime

Elijah: "MOMMY!  Can we eat ALL of these things?!  It's just like CENTERS in KINDERGARTEN!!"


 


 

Watercolor children

Jonah's first watercolor experience.  I love watching the four of my children together when they are all peacefully engaged.  Truly, it's a thing of beauty.


 


 


 


 


 


 

Pickles and more!

It's sweater weather, and that's a beautiful thing.  Well, at least it's sweater mornings and sweater evenings.  Happiness in a big wooly hug.

I've been inspired to do some refridgerator and freezer canning lately.  In the past few days, I've pickled red onions (from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzan -- recipe here on Google Books), pickled some sweet and spicy Zucchini and white onions (by Heidi Swanson of 101cookbooks), made a jar of Tsukudani (pickled Nori), and a recipe of fabulously velvety Lemon Curd.

It pleases me to see all of the jars lined up in a row.

 
With the red onions and the zucchini, I actually halved the recipes, and it still made WAY more than we could possibly eat in a week (expected shelf-life), so I put the extra jars in the freezer (with a bit of headroom for expansion in each jar), and I can pull them out as needed.  Also, I halved the recipe for the pickled Nori, and ended up with one full jar -- plenty for us.

 


Pickled red onions and pickled zucchini over a chicken/aioli salad:

 


Lemon curd spread thickly on pecan scones:

 

Oh man, now I'm getting hungry all over again.

Egg Drop Day!

Firemen came to Andrew and Elijah's school to help out with Egg Drop Day.  They brought their ladder truck, and dropped the protected eggs down from a great height.


 

Each child designed protective containers for their eggs.


 


 



 


Andrew's egg made it!

 


Of course he had to crack it.

 


Andrew's whole 1st grade class.

 


We sat in on Elijah's class before his grade went out for their egg drop.

 

The teacher was trying to explain how to ask a question.  Statements like "MY HOUSE IS RED TOO!" is not a question.  This was surprising to some.

 


 


 


 

Elijah was so sweet, taking Lavella by the hand and showing her how to walk properly in line to walk out to the egg-drop zone.

 


 


 


All done!

 


Elijah's egg was also unharmed, but of course he ALSO had to break his open...and then started to eat it raw.  Moments like these make me proud to be a mom.

 


 


After the egg dropping was over, we all ate lunch together.  I love this little crew a heck of a lot.