Mother's Day Show-N-Tell

My Mother's Day started on Friday morning with the annual kindergarten Mother's Day tea. All of the kindergarten moms gather in the classroom for a performance of our children. They sang Baby Beluga, You Are My Sunshine, and You Are Wonderful to us. We had to pass the tissue box around it was so sweet. We then had tea and cookies and received our school's traditional gift--a ceramic hand print and a watercolor lupine card. This is my 4th and last kindergarten tea so I was getting just a bit nostalgic...

On Sunday we took a picnic to a nearby lake and paddled around in the canoe.

My picnic choices were as follows: Wheat Thins and hummus, BBQ Baked Lays chips, honey roast peanuts, and fruit dip with strawberries and apples. The fruit dip is simple, just a block of cream cheese softened, mixed with a jar of marshmallow creme.
It truly is to die for, as was confirmed when I had to fish out a wayward insect who found his way into it and had succumbed to the dips deadly deliciousness.

We had a lovely paddle around the lake. We brought my faithful dog Suey. It was her maiden voyage, and she was not quite sure if she wanted to go or not. We bribed her with a little stale bread that we brought to feed the ducks and once we were out on the water she settled down nicely and enjoyed herself.

We found a couple ducks to feed, and a family of Canada geese with 5 fuzzy goslings. They were adorable. Suey found them quite fascinating, but luckily she stayed put in the boat.

Nat and Shelby, just to prove that they are their father's daughters, began eating the stale, freezer burned hot dog buns that we brought for the ducks. They weren't doing it to be funny, they were actually enjoying them. Ewww!

After we had come back to shore we ran into our old neighbors. We have been close friends since our oldest kids were babies. We joked that the only way we get together anymore is to just run into each other because our schedules are so hectic we are never able to plan a day together. It was nice to sit and catch up with their busy family.

I also had a nice chat with my son, and he sent one of the cutest cards I think I've ever seen along with some fun photos of he and his girlfriend.

Shelby made a nice watercolor card and painting at school as well as a classroom dessert cookbook. I got a chuckle from the sentiment written inside the card: Dear Mommy, Thank you for everything you do for me. Thank you for getting me Baby (her hamster). He is really sweet. Although he pees a lot I still love him. It is cute how you put him in your sweader he gets so hyper sometimes. Love your daughter. (I liked her spelling of sweater, and as an explanation, I like to put Baby in between my shirt and my hoody and let him crawl around).

We topped off this perfect day with Mike's homemade chile rellanos. Little Nat cracked us up by eating the fresh cilantro leaves like they were popcorn (again, no paternity test needed for that kid!) And we sat down to watch the season finale of Survivor. (I really didn't like Parvati, so I wasn't happy that she won, but when I found out her last name was Shallow, I thought that it was quite fitting!)

So everyone made a big fuss over me because I am the MOTHER, but to tell the truth, I would feel just as special and proud and happy even if they didn't. This mom-gig is great!

Spring Has Sprung

One of our spring traditions is to visit a local winery that has beautiful grounds and tons of spring flowers blooming everywhere.

It was gorgeous, and I even warmed up enough eventually to shed my 3rd layer! When I'm down to wearing only 2 layers of clothing you know that spring is definitely in the air!

Later the kids dyed their Easter eggs.

Nat spent a lot of time getting these two just right. They're her little friends now and are not available for consumption purposes any longer!

Sometimes Life Gets in the Way of Blogging

I've been a little MIA this week, just because of busy-ness (as opposed to business, I guess).

I started back rehearsing with my old troupe on Tuesday night. We will be performing at our local American Cancer Society's Relay for Life at the end of April. After watching other troupes perform at Rakkasah I am now inspired to re-vamp our old choreographies and "kick it up a notch" plus start working on some new ones. Luckily my troupe mates are into it too.

Suey got skunked. Not enough to make her really stinky, in fact by the end of the day we couldn't even smell it on her, but it was enough to bring the smell into the house and onto the carpets. I got down on my hands and knees and sniffed every foot of our bedroom carpet (not my finest hour, I'll admit) and couldn't smell skunk in any particular spot, but our room reeked of it. I've been using a lot of odor neutralizer and I think I finally got it to go away, well either that or we're just used to it now!

The funny thing about skunk smell is that when it's fresh on the dog like that it doesn't smell like skunk at first (and yes unfortunately I do have experience with this). It smells more like burnt rubber or something. It takes a few minutes for the smell to take on the traditional skunkiness. I think that Suey ran in from getting hit, and rubbed it off on our carpet while we were still wandering around wondering where that burning smell was coming from. But the good news--skunks are a sure sign of spring!

Thursday I spent time in Natalie's class helping the kids dye eggs for today's hunt which I'll be going to help out with as well. It was funny that to some kids dying eggs seemed a little foreign. They weren't sure what to do, whereas others were old hands and even knew about dipping them in one color then in another for different effects. Some didn't really get the concept of the egg being fragile and would plop it into the dye with a thud. There were plenty of dyed finger tips, including mine (and a few cracked eggs as well!)

Then there was the kids' Open House night-a night I always look forward to...we were one of the first there and one of the last to leave. We had to go to the book fair, then visit the girls' classrooms, then we visited the first grade classes so Nat could see what she's in for next year, then we visited nearly all the other classes. Since all my kids have gone to this little school, I know almost all the teachers and they like to know what Cam and Sis are up to now, and the girls just like to be social like their dad.

It struck me that I've had all of my kids go through the same kindergarten room. Each year I've volunteered in the classroom and each year was a lot like the others. The same little projects like the sunflowers in the fall, pandas at Chinese New Year, and portraits of Martin Luther King Jr. I'm very much a veteran of tempura paint and glue sticks. I will miss it now that my last one is finishing up her year.

I'm finishing up my week with last minute preparations for Easter. It's so early this year! I really am not ready yet. I haven't even bought eggs to dye yet. Tomorrow we'll be busy with that, and I know it will be a fun weekend.

The Day O' Valentines

My day went like this:

1: Go help in Nat's class. Help kids distribute their Valentine's and give them candy hearts to sort by color and count. Have lunch with Nat. Help Nat and 20 other kids get the ketchup on their tray for their chicken nuggets.

2: Received pretty flowers from Mike delivered by a guy in a tux. Thought about what a fun job it must be to drive around making people happy.

3: Made Funfetti cupcakes for kids with sprinkles on top. Attempted to pipe a red heart on each one. Much harder than it looks! Luckily kids aren't picky when presented with a cupcake.

4: Fed Funfetti cupcakes to nine crazy kids who just came from their class Valentine's parties. They say sugar does NOT make kids hyper. You can't prove it by me! Note to self: next time spike frosting with tranquilizers!

5: Went to dance rehearsal after Mike got home. We only have a little over a week until our performance, so I couldn't skip. Met Mike and the girls afterward at the pizza place just in time for the pizza to arrive!

6: Came home and finished off the vat o' chocolate I've been saving (leftover luscious Belgian chocolate from the chocolate fountain at the church chocolate extravaganza.) Decide that a graham cracker dipped in chocolate and then topped with mini marshmallows may be the greatest taste sensation ever invented. Dipped until we were fat and happy! (If there is such a thing as a chocolate hangover, I have one this morning!)



(Yes that is the dog's feet in the background. She's getting away with being on the couch and thoroughly taking advantage!)

7: Put girls to bed at 9:00. Can hear girls still up giggling at 10:15. Again, the theory that sugar doesn't make kids hyper is busted!

Hope you had a happy Valentine's Day too!

The Power of Electricity

After hearing two stories today of people close to me suffering through days of power outages over the weekend due to the big windy storm that hit us here in northern California, I started reminiscing about the ones I've lived through. I know "lived through" sounds dramatic, but, sheesh, when you have kids going out of their minds in boredom and are cooking yet another meal on the wood stove, it does seem like life and death. Or maybe I'm just a wimp; that's a possibility too.

One time in particular stands out for me. We live in the Sierras and it seems that sometimes even the threat of a snowflake knocks our power out, so we're kind of used to going a few hours or even most of a day without power on a fairly regular basis during the winter. We keep our Coleman lanterns at the ready on top of the fridge and the kids sleep with their flashlights.

This one year in particular we were hit with a ton of snow all at once right before Christmas. It was incredibly festive. We even cross country skied in the backyard. Of course the power went out. No big deal, until it stayed out for 5...longggg...days.

I was working at the time at our historic town's little general store, which was a small 100 year old building with almost no windows. At first it was humorous to hand customers a flashlight to do their shopping with as they came through the door. On day 3 it wasn't funny or cute anymore. I felt like I was a coal miner, so dark and dreary were my days cooped up in the little store.

I saw everyone's humor diminishing, from "isn't this kind of fun and rustic", to "please just put us out of our misery". Many folks were trying to make crazy deals with anyone who had a propane hot water heater to finagle a shower. We had a friend who was the housekeeper at a local inn and she got us in one of their little chalets for a shower. People really get rather desperate when they haven't had a proper bath in several days. And oh, how incredibly good it does feel to finally get that hot shower!

Well not only did I have crazy-bored kids, a dreary and dark place of work, and the challenge of cooking meals on the wood stove, I also had a 30 gallon tank of tropical fish I was trying to keep alive. I would scoop water out and pour it back in several times a day to keep their water aerated and I also started heating up river rocks on the wood stove and putting them in the water to keep the temperature up.

Finally Christmas eve dawned and still no power in sight. The last report we'd heard was that a major line was down somewhere deep in the woods and crews were still trying to get to it through the drifts of snow. My Christmas spirit was fading fast. I had had to look at my dark Christmas tree for 5 days and it was just making me more depressed. The thought of facing Christmas morning without our tree lights was just too much for me to bear. That night we left to go down to the next town and get a decent meal and the kids happened to ask what I wanted for Christmas. I said "I want the power to come back on!"

When we returned that evening and pulled into the driveway, we could see the tree lights sparkling at us through the windows. The kids shouted, "You got what you wanted for Christmas!" and indeed I did. To the average person it was the restoration of modern conveniences, but to me it was a Christmas miracle which was the restoration of my Christmas Spirit!

And none of my fish died. The end!

Just Following The Four Food Groups

(You have to remember a certain Carl's Jr commercial for this to make sense:)

Hot water. Tea bag. Box of See's. Don't Bother Me I'm Eating.

Hey, I never claimed I was eating healthy!

Which reminds me of my favorite Christmas movie, Elf, in which Will Farrell's character Buddy recites the 4 food groups according to elves: candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup! Yum! 'Tis the season!

My mom used to always give Mike and I a box of See's for Christmas, and I would very conspicuously scratch Mike's name off the name tag to see if I could make him crazy. It usually worked.

This year one of his subcontractors sent us a box. I picked it up at the post office, noted its weight and shape, then proceeded to scratch my husband's name off the label and replace it with mine. I knew exactly what this seemingly inconspicuous brown package contained and I was going to claim it as my own! My little label adjustment did not go unnoticed and I was thoroughly lambasted by my husband and Sis. Just a little Christmas fun you guys, sheesh!

As soon as a box of See's is opened I always claim the chocolate that has the caramel and marshmallow layers in it (the treasured Scotchmallow). I'm pretty sure none of my family knows that this particular candy exists, as they have never sampled it, let alone seen it. I plan to keep them in the dark, for as long as possible, if not forever. It's my little secret, Bwwahhahaha!

The other morning I was in a hurry to go finish my Christmas shopping while the kids were at school, so I grabbed a couple pieces of See's on my way out the door. I never got around to eating anything else, and on the way home I realized that I was famished. That's when I remembered that I had little candy canes stashed in my glove box and proceeded to eat two of them. Yum...got 2 of the food groups covered. If it wasn't for the candy corn I could easily adapt to the Elf way of life!

My Favorite Ornament

This is my favorite ornament. My mom gave it to me on what would be her last Christmas.



Of course we didn't know then that would be the case, and that in 4 short months pancreatic cancer would rob her of knowing her last grandchild, or seeing her grandson graduate from high school, or from watching her eldest granddaughter grow into a young woman, or seeing little Shelby be baptized into the church that she held in her heart.

So on that first Christmas without her, as I was trying to make it one day at a time through the holiday that she always brought so much life to, I came across this ornament she had given to me the year before, and that I had completely forgotten about. I remember just feeling so blessed to have this last gift from her.

Holding this in my hand it was like she was giving it to me all over again. I could see her holding me on her lap and it was as though she were looking right at me through the picture. I am touched every time I look at this ornament, and it means so much to me that she thought to give me something so meaningful.

I don't pack this ornament away with the rest of the Christmas ornaments and decorations, I keep it in the top drawer of my dresser along with other things that remind me of my mom: a score sheet from one of our Scrabble games, a children's book, and a birthday card.

Ode To The Fake Tree

Sung to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree"

Oh fakey tree, Oh fakey tree
Oh tree of green unfading.

Oh plastic tree, oh plastic tree,
your pre-lit branches please me.

You're waiting in your cardboard box,
convenient and no trunk to chop.

Oh artificial loveliness,
You never leak your sap out.

There was a tree that was so dry
no needles left and I did sigh,

"The hardware store sells trees half-price,
on Christmas Eve, lets buy one!"

That's how you came to be our tree
Oh I do love you dearly

Don't have to wait on husband now,
when your time to shine comes yearly.

This will be our third year with an artificial tree. We would usually go into "the back 40" and cut our own, but what looks good outside doesn't always look (or fit) so well inside. Then there was the year that the tree decided to leak it's sap onto everything--from the ornaments to the carpet. What a mess---happy flippin' holidays!

For a few years we bought a tree at the local tree lot. First to find a time when husband could fit it into his busy schedule to come with us with the pick-up truck to transport the thing, then forking out the 50-60 bucks, then the waiting for husband to trim the bottom of the trunk off so that it would drink it's water, put it in the stand, and bring it in. This sometimes took days. And lets not even talk about getting rid of the thing once Christmas was over...

I found that the trees from the lot would dry out quickly and 3 years ago we had the tree that broke the camel's back. This tree was so dry and losing needles so quickly that by Christmas we were going to wake up to a festive brown twig and a carpet of needles. I had been looking at the artificial ones and noticed that all Christmas items went on sale at Ace Hardware on Christmas Eve.

On the 24th of December, I drove to the hardware store, got my pre-lit, easy to put up fake tree, brought it home, completely undecorated the real tree, threw it out the door, spent 20 minutes cleaning up needles, put up my new tree and redecorated. I've never looked back. Yay for fake!

'Tis The Baking Season

The fabulous preschool Soup Dinner soup turned out to be just that (read the previous post to know what I'm talking about). And I made notes so I will know exactly what I did right. I just have to find the notes now...I put them on the counter of doom, so they've got to be here somewhere...shoot!

Thinking of preschool, for several years running I've been involved with our little co-op preschool and their annual day-before-Thanksgiving bake sale. This is the one big fund raiser of the year for this school, with the emphasis on BIG.

This bake sale is a huge seasonal event in our town, second only to the hanging of the lighted snowflakes on the power poles to welcome the skiers and their money to our slopes. The sale runs from 8am to noon, but is usually sold out before then.

Each family (and there is generally 16-20 families) is required to bake enough goods to equal a $90 profit. I usually bake about 6 pies, 6-8 loaves of banana or pumpkin breads, a couple batches of festive cookies and some cranberry bars. It is a ton of work not only because of the baking, but the goods have to be packaged to look like they fell out of an issue of Martha Stewart Living. Packaging and wrapping is not my strong suit as anyone who has received a gift from me can attest to.

So this year, since I'm fresh out of preschoolers, I don't have the bake sale pressure on me. Strangely though, I am so in the mode of baking my pants off at this time of year that I really am missing it. I volunteered to bring 3 pies to our family celebration even though there will be only about 7 of us there. I was worried that this might be a bit much but my sister assured me that there's no such thing as too much pie. I'm pretty sure she's right! I am also going to whip up a few pumpkin pies to drop off to the preschool as a donation, though I'll leave the wrapping and decorating up to them.

I guess it's kind of funny that when I'm not required to do something it's somehow a lot more appealing and fun to do.

Give Me Something Good To Eat

Well, Halloween was a success. And contrary to the previous post, I didn't take my kids out on the wrong night and insist that they be given candy by confused door openers. At least I got Halloween right. Wish me luck with this upcoming time change though!

Our whole county is pretty rural and hilly, with a lot of vacation homes, so the one little neighborhood that's pretty much normal as far as flat terrain and full time residents, gets the brunt of candy seeking kids from the 3 towns surrounding it. It is quite a sight. As this event has grown, the fire department and sheriffs come out and block off the streets and direct traffic, and a local business runs a candy drive to help out the residents who see somewhere around 900 trick-or-treaters show up at their doors.

This particular neighborhood is very welcoming with almost all of the inhabitants decorating their yards to the hilt and others turning their yards into spectacular haunted houses. They even hand out free cups of hot cocoa. It really is something to experience. We always have a great time and we always see everyone we know. It makes me glad I live in this crazy little county.

The day after Halloween the teachers take an "inservice" day. Yeah, right. I realize they don't want to deal with over tired kids hopped up on sugar, but don't they consider where all those kids go on a Thursday when their parents are at work? Yep, about 50 of them come to my house. Ok, not 50, but it sure seemed like it. Those teachers have no consideration I tell you.

I'm not even convinced the teachers are working. I bet they show up to school, celebrate with Irish coffees and Krispy Kremes, give high 5's all around, call it a day and go shopping for those day after Halloween bargains. It's a conspiracy, I can smell it! Now I'm off to go dig through the candy buckets to find a little morsel (or two) to make me feel better...