Tonight

Randomness...

For Family Night tonight, we celebrated Seuss Week by reading a bunch of Dr. Seuss books and then making our own Seuss-inspired characters.

Then Henry got sick and I had to stop drawing and sit on the couch and watch Cake Boss for two hours while holding him. Davis put the girls to bed. I love him. Poor Sophia, she was so tired today - she napped at school (she never naps, and she told me after school, "I didn't know what happened, I thought I was awake, but Miss Teresa had to explain to me that I had fallen asleep" ha ha!), she had bags under her eyes, and then at bedtime she suddenly started sobbing. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me "I'm so sad, because I don't want to grow up! I want to stay just like this forever!" It made me want to cry too!!

Dinner was so yummy. I don't think I've shared these recipes, and they are staples at our house, so here you go.

Brown Rice That Actually Tastes Good
from Alton Brown
(this is like magic - I really am not a fan of brown rice, but I actually like it this way as much as white!)

1.5 cups brown rice
2.5 cups water
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the rice in a casserole dish. Boil the water, then add the butter and pour over the rice. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Fluff with fork when it's done.

Maple Soy Salmon
from Gourmet

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 (2-lb) piece center-cut salmon fillet with skin

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line bottom of a broiler pan with foil, then oil rack of pan. Boil soy sauce and maple syrup in a small saucepan over moderate heat until glaze is reduced to 1/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Arrange salmon, skin side down, on rack of broiler pan and pat dry. Reserve 1 1/2 tablespoons glaze in a small bowl for brushing after broiling. Brush salmon generously with some of remaining glaze. Let stand 5 minutes, then brush with more glaze. Roast salmon in middle of oven 10 minutes. Turn on broiler and brush salmon with glaze again, then broil 4 to 5 inches from heat until just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.

I usually make this dinner with sesame asparagus (I think the recipe was originally from Gourmet too - I have a whole box of recipe cards with recipes I copied out of Gourmet magazine when I had a subscription), but the asparagus at Kroger looked really gross yesterday. So I just stir-fried some snow peas and added sesame seeds tonight. Yummy!

I've totally given up on simplifying my life, or whatever, and just embraced that my brain is a mass of chaos and I have more things to do than I will ever, ever get done. Part of that is that every night after the girls are asleep, I am going to my office away from home

and working. On work, on "work" I've somehow decided to take on "on the side," on church and school stuff, on email and other correspondence that never gets done, on taxes, and most of all - staring at my redundant to do lists and calendars, willing the organization into my brain. So far it's not working, so if I owe you something - a phone call, if I'm supposed to get back to you about something, or we have a lunch date coming up - please remind me, again.

First Zoo Trip of the Season and Menu

Every year around this time, we have a random gorgeous sunny warm Saturday, and the kids and I run off to the zoo. Last year Henry was just a few weeks old. We have a family membership and the zoo is just a few minutes from our house, so we go often. But the first trip is extra special (and always starts with a quick dash into the zoo store to buy sunscreen, because I haven't stocked up yet!)

Henry was completely exhausted and did this the whole time.

Sophia's favorite - the giraffes.

And my favorite - the otters.

I also like the turtles sunning themselves on logs.

But this guy was particularly awesome - look at him with his little legs all sticking straight out!

It seemed springlike to us

but the bears were still snoozing... looking at them made me want a nap sooo badly!

My poor, deprived kids - they didn't get to the ride the train, they just got to wave at other people riding the train.

They make it so hard - you have to have $1 bills on you, which I never do. I just need to go one day and buy a hundred tokens and carry them with me at all times... yeah right.

Amelia loves the animal track in the sidewalk.

This gorilla (Katherine) was so funny - she quickly snatched up all the sweet potatoes the zoo keeper threw to the gorillas and then climbed into her little tree house and ate them all. Little hoarder! (and if you look closely you can see she might be sending a message to the other gorillas with her finger ha ha ha!)

I love that our zoo has farm animals.

We stopped for a snack - the kids had exciting new culinary experiences. The girls had their first Dippin' Dots and Henry had his first French fries - both a big hit!

Speaking of food, here's our menu for this week:

MONDAY - maple soy salmon, brown rice, asparagus
TUESDAY - breakfast (dad)
WEDNESDAY - green pizza
THURSDAY - Deb's 3 bean chili, cornbread
FRIDAY - honey sesame tempeh and quinoa bowl
SATURDAY - chicken spaghetti, salad
SUNDAY - pork loin, brussel spouts, sweet potato bread

~~ HAPPY MONDAY! ~~

Happiness

This week was kind of crazy after we got back from Louisiana, but there were lots of happy things too. Wednesday night I went to a birthday dinner for a friend of mine and had the best time. It made me wonder why we don't do more for our birthdays (I have big plans for my next one!) I have another friend's birthday party next weekend, and I can't wait.

Speaking of can't wait... I also booked our anniversary trip this year, and I am so excited! Davis and I have never both been away from the kids, and it's our tenth anniversary in May, so we are going a vacation together. Tickets are bought, hotels are paid for, there's no going back now (we still have to figure out what to do with our kids ha! All of you with parents nearby, you are SO SO lucky!!)

I finally got an iPhone this week (I am so loyal to Verizon, I had to wait) and I found an app that organizes my grocery list by aisle and lets me add things just by scanning the label. I think it says a lot about me that this is the most exciting thing to me about this phone.

I was the "surprise reader" in Sophia's class Friday. It's so fun reading to her class, because they get SO excited! I could totally handle being a kindergarten teacher... for 15 minutes twice a year ha!

For lunch yesterday, I took the leftover pot roast from Friday night and put it on an onion roll and put it under the broiler with swiss cheese on top - it was SO good, Davis kept making fun of me because I was going on and on about what a great sandwich I had made (but he agreed!)

The weather yesterday was gorgeous, so the kids and I went to the zoo (photos in a separate post to come!) and then to my favorite store in the whole wide world to buy some gifts. I love that place, but oh my, I cannot walk out of there EVER without dropping at least $100. Every time.

I want to live there.

Last night was Sophia's school auction - wow! I love, love, love her school and everyone involved with it. We are so incredibly blessed.

Friday night I organized my craft/gift-wrap/correspondence cabinet and my sewing cabinet. Aaaah.

(if you tell me you don't have zebra scissors, I will be sad for you)

And to celebrate I let the kids stay up past bedtime and make this craft.

I hung them up next to our family bulletin board in the dining room, and they are definitely HAPPY.

And speaking of HAPPY, oh my gosh, where have these been all of my life?!?

Henry keeps standing up (though he makes no effort to walk) and he's so proud of himself every time he does. I love it!

There are so many little things to be thankful for and happy about, it is easy to miss them in all the hustle and bustle. It's easy for the big worries to drown out all the small joys, but when you sit down and add them up, those little joys do make up a whole lot of HAPPY!

I wrote this post before church, and then our Gospel reading today was

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:25-34

(Then we sang my favorite hymn and I bawled my eyes out - why do I always do that?!)

Road Trippin'

Oops this sat in my Draft folder all week...

Our trip home from Louisiana was much more peaceful than the drive down. You know why? Because I was OCD about it, and that proves me right - just throwing stuff in a car and taking off does NOT work. No, I cleaned out and vacuumed the truck while at my dad's, organized all the luggage (that's for my mental health), then I made little boxes of toys, books, colors, paper, snacks, and drinks for the kids, cued a movie up in the DVD player for the very end of the trip, then on our way out town - everyone went potty, I gassed up, got a big Sonic tea for me, put on some happy music, and we were off!

And it was GREAT! Other than getting stuck behind a stopped train in the middle of a little town for half an hour, it was smooth sailing. We stopped at Burges after we got around the train for a mid-trip treat - yum!!

And we pulled into home with big smiles on our face. Daddy had dinner ready - Sophia guilted him into making whatever she wanted, which was spaghetti and macaroni and cheese! And he had presents for everyone - a raspberry bush for me (I've been wanting one), princesses for the girls, and a bowling ball set for Henry to knock down.

The rest of the week kind of kicked me in the behind, but it's over now and I'm going to bed... at 9 pm!

P.S.
I know, Henry has a pink floral car seat. It was Sophia's old one and he doesn't care... but I'll get him a new cover soon.