Chocolate Mousse and Chicken Sandwiches

How's that for a totally random title? It's referring to what I've been doing today - cooking. Plus cleaning. Now I'm blogging, and then I'm going to do some math. They are getting back this afternoon. Actually, their flight has apparently landed, so I'm expecting them back home in about an hour or so. Daddy took Josh and Katrina with him (yay!!) so it's quiet :)

To sum up some of the main points of the past 9 (nine?) days:

*Katrina likes her bedroom light to be left on for about 15 minutes after she goes to bed, but if you forget and it's midnight or so before you go up,that's okay too (just don't tell her mom I did that...more than once...)

*If you think Harold and the Purple Crayon is bad the first time through, let me assure you that it does not get any better the second time, or the third time.

*Likewise for The Best of Dr. Seuss...I am forever scarred from the scene in "Horton Hatches the Egg!" where the fish commits suicide. "Now I've seen everything," the fish says, and promptly pulls a pistol from behind his back and blows off his head. Shocking.

*Naptime. Is wonderful. Nuff said.

*Even if kids say they are going to throw up, they probably won't.

*Let me warn you that mopping the floor with 5 and 3 year olds is not for the faint of heart. They turn it into a slip-n-slide. And then they want to mop the floor again. Maybe here would be a good time for me to say that I am faint of heart.

*A 5 year old and a 3 year old can have pretty interesting conversations, such as on marriage. Josh and Katrina have Katrina's future spouse picked out. (I don't wish to publish his name here, but email me if you're curious...which you should be considering he's 16 years older...) He narrowly edged out his younger brother and a buffalo for this lovely slot. "Katrina! Do you `want to marry L____?" "Yes!! No...C______..." "Oh...ok. Wait, do you want to marry a buffalo?" "Yes!! A buffalo!" "You can marry a buffalo!!" "Yay!! Well, actually, I want to marry L____!" That was the gist of it. Sigh.

*Jane Austen is wonderful.

So needless to say, I'm glad they're getting back. And I'm signing off here and shall go stare at my math book :)

Today, which is Saturday.

But in 57 minutes, it will be Sunday.

At any rate, when did I post last? I think it was either Monday or Tuesday, but I don't feel like expelling the energy to actually hop back onto my blog and see. I'm lazy like that, you see. So I will start from one of those days.

*sound of deep thinking*

So Wednesday went well. I mean, if something bad had happened, I think I would have remembered it, so I am going to say that it went fine. That evening, Jessica had choir practice, so we went down to the church and she practiced and I ran and the kids played. I'm going to stick Thursday in this paragraph too because I don't have a whole lot to say about it. (Is this why moms don't generally blog - they can't remember anything?)

Friday was yesterday (yes, it was!) and I should be able to remember it. Josh, Katrina, and I made green jello. And ate it. All of it. I was impressed. I was cleaning up the supper stuff and I realized that they had eaten all of it. I guess they liked it. And we cleaned the house (and I use "we" in the sense of "I," predominantly.)

And then we get to today. (Have you gotten the sequential flow yet? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, just like we learned in kindergarten?)

***********Wheep!! Wheep!! I'm back!!***************
Yep, ladies and gentlemen, I did it again: I started a blog post, I got halfway done, I got distracted, and I left the blog post and went to bed. My excuse for such obvious neglect was because it was then shortly after midnight and I felt the need to get some sleep. BUT, I am also lazy (see sentence four of this post...), so I decided to not edit it so that it was written from today's perspective. Anyhow...starting where we left of...

Today - or rather, Saturday - was the game night. You know the drill - homeschooled teens get together to, well, socialize. It was really cold out. According to weather.com, with the wind chill, it felt like it was 7 degrees out there. However, weather.com was not playing freeze tag. Weather.com was not being tagged in a game of Fox and Geese. It was sitting in warmth somewhere in the tropics. So, please understand that, although I have the highest regard for weather.com, I think that it was off by about 20 degrees. It was cold.

After playing the aforementioned games (and freezing), we clunked inside, melted, and ate some food. This is where I must tell a story about the food. To make things different, we decided that the boys had to bring the food. They did and it was all good. But half the boy population didn't come because they'd had a previous commitment (and that would be the R___s*, for those of you who know.) Anyhow, Saturday afternoon, a mysterious car pulled up the driveway. I peeked out the window and was struck with terror - it was the R___ boys. (*this is where the scary drum music comes in*) I called up the stairs in panic, and Jessica came to my aid. It was the two oldest boys, and they, out of the goodness and kindness of their hearts, had made a soup for the game night gathering, even though they couldn't come (it was their mother's idea). They had also written a poem explaining the soup-making process. Both were enjoyed by everyone later that evening.

Then we engaged in some indoor activities, such as restarting the fire which had gone out while the adults occupied the house, playing Swap (or is it Slap?), an intense couple rounds of musical chairs, and a violent game of Mix Up the Fruit Basket.

Today (you know, if I keep procrastinating, this could get very long. I plan on publishing it today, anyhow.) was church and it has gone fine so far. I am eating lunch (yes, I'm working through lunch...anything for you, my dear readers!) and have plans to do some cleaning and food preparation. So I am going to sign off here. Thanks for reading!


*Pardon the blank line after R... I try to keep last names off my blog, and I have always wanted to put that little line after some one's initial like they do in books.

Tuesday

Okay then...let's see if I can summarize Monday and today :) yesterday was a busy day. The piano tuner/fixer guy came and fixed the piano's squeaky pedal, and tuned the piano. Then it was time to do lunch, and we had burritos. I chatted with some friends of mine (one of whom showered while I was IMing him. He was mysteriously gone for a couple minutes, and then got back on saying he hoped it wasn't rude that he hadn't been responding for a couple minutes, as he had been in the shower. I thought it was hilarious, and he said that I would be complaining to my mom, saying, "Mom...this guy I'm chatting with isn't responding..." But I said that my mom was in Florida and thus not able to lend an ear to my complaining. So I'm complaining here, which I so totally can do because he doesn't read my blog :D )

So after I got done talking to my friends, I did random cleaning up things, and then supper, and then got the kids ready to go to Awana. So we did that, and then home and to bed (not quite *just* like that...but the latter happened eventually!)

Today... I got some math done! I was glad about that. The kids have had three + meals today and are currently in bed. We had some issues concerning supper - eating the chicken was required before watching the movie, but Josh did not want to eat the chicken. After about a half an hour, he ate. Speaking of the chicken, our crockpot seriously is stupid. That chicken was in there for 4 hours on high and would not get done. I put it on top of the stove and I hope it got done. Isn't it normally supposed to take 2 hours? :P

Anyhow...we'll see what tomorrow brings!

*tries really hard to think of title* *fails miserably*

So, they left Saturday, which, since today is Sunday, I guess that means that Saturday was yesterday. Their flights went well and they landed around 2321. Before they left, I took this picture of Joanna and Katrina. They are inside Joanna's duffel bag...

Then they had to pose for a picture before leaving...


Josh and Katrina had been told for the previous two days that "after Mommy leaves, you can watch a movie!!" So they were excited and watched one forthwith.

Today has been busy. Church was this morning. I'm very thankful for nursery ladies :) This afternoon...well, actually, I can't remember what we did this afternoon. Oh, that's right! The electricity went out for about an hour. I did some transplanting of plants. Then Josh said that we should make ice cream. I was like, why not! So we made homemade vanilla/peach/yogurt ice cream. It was really good.

Anyhow, I'm sitting here and my eyes are telling me that they hate me and want to go to bed, so I think I shall take their advice! Something tells me it'll be a long day tomorrow!

Packing...

Yep, the "middle girls" are packing. Mom, Annetta, Lydia, Hosanna, and Joanna are leaving to go to Florida tomorrow. They'll be coming back on February third. And you know what this means, don't you? With Daddy working and Jessica doing college, Josh and Katrina will be predominately under the care of yours truly.

For 10 days. Me. Them. Yeah...

I'll be sure to keep you updated as to my sanity loss creative babysitting techniques. Also to complain. Comments welcome :)

Winter Pics

No winter is complete without a post of winter pictures. I thought I'd do that post now so we can have summer next week...sound good?

Shopping :)

Let me say up front, here and now, that I don't like shopping. I really don't. It's just one of those areas in my life that I try to weasel out of whenever possible (and even when not possible.) But sometimes, it becomes absolutely necessary, and by that I mean when your gift cards from relatives are piling up, sometimes you've just got to tough up and spend them. That's what I did this evening.

My sister Jessica and our friend Arielle (picture :) ) and I met this afternoon, around 4:00, and walked into JC Penney. (Question: I've always said it "Penneys," but there is no "s" in the name. So what is the proper way to say it? "I went to Penneys?" or "I went to Penney?" Is it possessive, because it's his last name: Penney's?). Then we looked at each other and asked ourselves what it was that we had come here to buy. I had a gift card. But what should I buy with it? That is the sequence that all [female] shoppers go through. Sometimes they have no money or gift card, just an overpowering urge to shop. (I've never felt that way, but I have observed others acting that way.) At any rate, we decided that I needed a black skirt. Guess what? Penney(s) is fresh out of nice black skirts. (My apologies to those of you who consider their selection of black skirts to be 'nice.' They are, but they're not quite what I was looking for.)

So we moved on to Plan B....which was...well, look for anything, basically. (That Plan took some time to come up with, so I expect you all to be impressed with its intricacy.) I found a couple of cute things, and Arielle did as well. However, I now needed a black shirt to go with the two skirts (not the black one I had wanted, but nice nevertheless) I got. How hard can it be to find a black shirt? Not very hard? Guess again... Penney(s) didn't have one. Well, I mean, it did, but they weren't the right kind. (I feel that any guys reading this blog are rolling their eyes. For their sake, I say: "There are certainly different kinds of black shirts out there, and you have to wear the right kind. Ask a girl for help.")

So we went to Maurices. I think the girl Dave Barry wrote about was there. I can't find the article he wrote, but he describes what happens when ladies walk into a women's clothing store (such as Maurices) : you are attended by a female clerk who appears to be roughly 68 pounds, and who enters and leaves the store via the mail slot. If you ask her if they have a certain article in your size, she will look at you while one corner of her mouth lifts smirkily. "We don't have that in your size," she says, "but you might try across the street at Big Bertha's Duds for Whales." Then you will leave. Jessica bought something, but they didn't have any of the right black shirts. So, off we went again.

This time, we went to TJ Maxx. And there, within roughly 24 seconds of entering the store, I spotted and grabbed a black shirt. Of course, we then walked around the store to see if they had anything else, but they didn't, so we made for the dressing rooms. Side note: they have really nice dressing rooms. At least for the ladies. And there, we settled on The Black Shirt. Then we bought it. And then we had to find out where Arielle's family was. They were at Walmart, and Arielle's mom was buying baby things for a baby shower (so I heard). This meant that Arielle's dad and brother were sitting, very bored, in the little Subway that is as Walmart. After we girls had bought Jessica's socks, we were hungry and decided to eat at Subway. Some of you may know that I have a thing for meatballs...and the rest of you probably know that Subway has a meatball sub. But did you know that those things are explosive? Seriously...if our country ever runs out of bombs, we could just drop Subway's meatball subs.

After the adventure with subs and a drink (yes, just one. Three girls, one drink. Yes.) (and we paid the guy with about 4 dollars in change, and he probably thought we were really weird, and he would have been correct), we talked and walked around a bit. Then we dropped Arielle off at McDonald's where her family was, and went home.

Total time: 5 hours.
Cost: Over $100, combined.
Results: Multiple articles of clothing, fun time, etc.

Christmas Morning

Hey, everyone! I interrupt this blog (how DO you interrupt a blog?) to bring you a glimpse into our Christmas morning. Being the official person-who-writes-the-list-of-gift-recipients-and-givers-on-Christmas-morning, I also wrote down some snippets of the hilarity that happened that morning:

"I helped wrap, so thank me, too." --Josh, completely serious.
"So, I was in my room, looking for stuff to give..." --Lydia, who finds it easier to wrap random objects than to go shopping.
"Hey, that's MY pen!!" --anonymous sibling (anonymous because I forgot who it was) who recognized a possession that was given to another sibling (this relates quite closely to the previous quote).
"This must be from Lydia, since she spelled my name right." A certain sibling had managed to spell Erika wrong (she wrote Ericka) and got in major trouble. :)
Lydia gave Dad a mug that had "Hugs for my favorite Grandpa!" written on the outside. When he protested, she admitted that she hadn't even read it!

A Braces-less Jessica

Monday was the day that Jessica has been waiting for nearly four years -- braces removal! She is thrilled.

Family Photos December 09

Yes!! Your eyes do not deceive you! A new blog post, AND family photos! These are actually photographs of drawings of the various members of our family. Enjoy!

Daddy. Note the unibrow and apparent dental work (or lack thereof).

Mama

Jessica...the orthodontist couldn't separate the teeth from the braces, so she removed both.

Erika...I lack arms! How am I supposed to take pictures??
Annetta. One of her legs is shorter than the other.
Lydia looks like she was playing tic-tac-toe on her shirt.
Hosanna is leaning south.
Joanna. At least she has part of an upper appendage!
Joshua's eyelashes are impaled in his eye.
Katrina: "I have no hair!"
Drawing credits: Josh :)

An Adventurous Evening

This is a post about Thursday night. It started out with many apprehensive glances toward the sky, as a storm was supposed to hit that evening. However, with CAP and grocery shopping looming over our heads, my mom, Lydia, Joanna, and I set out. For CAP, it was PT at the armory, and that's always fun.

After opening formation and preliminary stretches, I took my band of cadets downstairs (where it was warmer) to do sit-ups, push-ups, and sit and reach. We ran all the cadets through the sit and reach, which measures how far past their toes the cadets can reach. Or, how close to their toes the cadets can reach, as the case may be. Then we buddied up and did sit-ups. You know what's really interesting? It's when you and another sergeant are both doing sit-ups, and you're doing it last because everyone else already went, and the rest of the cadets are just standing around, staring at you in silence as you perform your sit-ups. It's very motivational and you tend to make sure your elbows hit your legs every time, if you have several airmen staring at you... Then we lined up and did our push-ups.

At this point, we perambulated back up the stairs and into the gym. The other half of cadets were done with their run, so we were ready to go. One mile is twelve times around -- you go around the gym, out a gym side door, and through a hallway into the gym door on the other side. That's one lap. I had failed the mile run the month before, so I really wanted to pass it this time. It was about 57 degrees in the gym, but the hallway was warmer. The temperature played havoc on our gasping lungs. It was cold in the armory, and my toes were slightly numb. It's a weird feeling, running, warm all over, except for your numb toes. I passed the mile, but barely.

After all the cadets had finished the run, the other group was done downstairs, and we congregated in the gym to play matball. It's just like kickball, only you use mats instead of bases and you go around the bases twice instead of once. We shivered inside our jackets. My team had about 8 people on it. The pitcher from the other team would roll a ball toward the player, who would then -- with great speed and dexterity -- lunge forward, jerk his leg out and in the direction of the ball, so as to kick the ball in the opposite direction of where the player was heading. Well, you would think. Some times the player kicked the ball back to the pitcher. Those were not good moves. But, in the event that the player had rerouted the ball over to the left hand side of the room, he would then dash to the nearest mat/base. At which point, if he were lucky enough to avoid tagging, and if the danger of said tagging was imminent, he would hurtle himself at the mat with great force. Or, if the other team was fumbling/dropping/falling/sanding and looking clueless, the player could stroll casually to the mat while whistling a snotty tune.

At any rate, there were only two cases of head ball, which is where the opposing team tries to tag a player out by throwing the ball at him, but it hits the player's head. So it's good that there were only two, but it's not good that I was one of them. Thankfully, the ball hit the wall and then bounced back into my face, and my glasses didn't even get bent, though I was surprised.

Okay, this is where the plot starts to thicken. I was on the far side of the gym with my team, waiting for my turn to kick the ball. I heard my squadron commander calling me over, so I jogged to the other side to see what she needed. On my way over, however, a second catastrophic collision occurred. Dominic was attempting to throw the ball (which was a basketball) to someone. This in itself is a perfectly rational thing to do, given the activity. However, the problem was that the person he was throwing the ball to was directly on the other side of me. Dominic wound up, and threw the ball. It came speeding toward me at roughly 345 miles per hour. I'm glad I had my hand up, because that would have really hurt my face. My hand was red for a couple hours. And here I thought Dominic was my friend!

But that wasn’t the plot thickening part. What I was referring to was the phone call which I had gotten called over for. Normally, your little sister doesn’t call you via your squadron commander’s cell phone just to tell you what she had for supper, you know. She told me that the weather conditions atop our hill were really bad. They were so bad, in fact, that the people that Jessica was getting a ride home with had ran into a woodpile because they could not see. After a several-minute-long conversation, I figured out that the weather was bad, Annetta didn’t want us to try to drive home, but everyone was okay.

I went back to the thrilling game of matball. This time, they had rearranged the teams, so I attached myself to Dominic’s team. “I feel it’s safer on your team,” I told him, rubbing my smashed hand.

Well, after closing formation, the brave band of travelers mounted their van and set out. At first, the weather was clear. But, as we advanced into the storm, it grew worse. (Logical progression, don’t you think?) After several cell-phone consultations wit h the home front, it was decided that the safest plan of action would involve stopping at Uncle Steve’s house and waiting for Daddy to arrive home from work. Then, we would know if we should try to come home. He got home around 2220, and after discussing with him the pros and cons of going home, we set out. Uncle Steve and Andrew (my second cousin) went first in their truck. We followed slowly behind. The snow was coming down, and occasionally the wind would blow and you couldn’t see a thing. Uncle Steve had to drive carefully to stay on the road, because everything was covered with snow. Thankfully, snowplows had gone through, so he could follow drifts along the edge of the road.

We live at the top of a hill. The hill is steep and curvy. Our neighbor, who has four-wheel drive, drove to the bottom of the hill, and then we followed him home. I was so thankful that we were able to follow them home!

Anyhow…really random, long post! How are you all doing?

Game Night

So, you all have probably heard of Game Nights, which is where random zoo escapees homeschoolers get together and read the dictionary or sew quilts play games, eat food, and socialize. We did that again...about a week ago. (Or maybe two weeks. I know I haven't blogged in a while -- I decided to after my blog was being compared to my sister's more-frequently-updated blog...and hers is the epitome of un-updated. Can you imagine?? My blog is incomparable! Anyhow...!) And I am blogging about Game Night, if you hadn't picked up on that yet.

Due to circumstances beyond our control (I like how that phrase sounds. It doesn't really fit here, but I don't think I've ever used it, and I want to. So there. Like that.), Jessica was sick and couldn't go to the game night. However, she was mentioned, and/or thought of by the attendees thereof. We did a talent show, or as Daddy called it, Tiny Talent Time, where most of our number showcased their various talents. Logan and Jordan regaled us with a comedy performance, and several (Rachel, Shiloh, Kimberlynne, Rachel-the-other-one, and Aaron) played musical instruments. I was going to do something, but I had no computer to show my slideshow on, and I hadn't printed my photo project, so it was a no-go for me. Not being much of a fan for being in front of people, I didn't let this negatively effect my lighthearted spirits.

Anyhow, since I videotaped most of the performances to show to Jessica later on (she almost died when she heard Logan say that he was going to tell lawyer jokes because she wasn't there to get mad), I have no pictures of the talent show. BUT, I do have pictures of the rest of the time.

First, we have The Gang. Playing Uno... and Speed Uno at that.

Yep. Definitely Uno. And I have to add Uno to the computer's dictionary because the red line bothers me.

We also played Spoons. It involved a spoon war with the guys who were playing Monopoly down at the end of the living room. I shall not go into details or name names, except to say that the guys insist that the girls started the spoon war, but we girls know that it was the guys (coughJordancough) who started it. Ahem.

And then we played Pictionary. In keeping with my customary humility, I will not say which team won.

That basically wrapped up our evening. I shall here include a picture of some of the guys.

And I will close with this heartwarming photograph of some of the mature home educated girls. Truly they are maidens of wisdom and virtue.