Code Red

Yesterday morning, Hayden, Hannah and I were downstairs getting stuff ready for school. You know packing lunch, flash cards, book reading, piano practicing. It was surprisingly peaceful, because Hope was upstairs with Scott. Oops did I just say that? Well, it was, but not for long. When all of a sudden I hear Scott yell, "Heather CODE RED!" Of course I go flying up to see what the heck is going on. I find: Scott in the shower with soap and shampoo all over, and Hope, still in PJ's, no diaper and poop all over her hands and a neat little pile of poop on the floor. My immediate response? "That's not a code red that's a code BROWN!"

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to the coolest Poppie ever. This picture was taken at Disney...he kept asking for water (it was Florida in August...we were thirsty) the waitress had some sparkle to her and so she brought him out a pitcher filled with water and ice. NOW we're talking :) I love that picture of my good old Dad. He's the best Dad a girl could ever ask for and the best Grandpa around. Happy Birthday Dad. I love you.

Updates

Hayden still has no front teeth! The dentist (our friend Todd) says they are there...they just haven't come down yet. They are getting close though. I will miss that toothless smile. Every day Hayden brings home a new book to read. He really likes reading and he seems to be liking piano. He is getting better at both. Yesterday, he read the book he brought home 11 times. He was so proud of himself!!
Little Miss pre-teen. She is at a hard"ish" stage right now. Just a little bit...mouthy should we say...but oh so cute when she wants to be! Already she'll spend lots of time on her hair. It must be just so. She is pretty good with the flat iron. Impressive. I had a skirt and shirt on on Sunday, and boy did she like it. She made me feel so good! It's been fun seeing her make new friends. I thought she was shy, but she sure seems to have out grown that!!
Hopey and Hunty. That's what Hope calls Hunter...Hunty. We love it. Hunter likes it too. What other 12 year old boy would sit down and watch "Abby's and Elmo" (aka Sesame Street) with his little sister WHILE she pinches his ear. It used to be she would rub softy the ear lobe, but not anymore. She pinches right on the cartilage. Ouch! Hunter is a smart nice boy, despite me :)
Hope giving her "babies sum mulkies" she loves her babies. I bought her this "Mickey Mouse with a bow" (Minnie Mouse, but it's NOT Minnie it's Mickey, okay???) that has a blanket attached to it. She sleep and naps with it daily. She loves it. But heaven help us all if that blanket is messed up. The blanket must be just right and Mickey has to be tucked in her arm. Ahhh, much better.

Keeping it fresh

So, you are probably like me in a lot of ways. Sometimes, I get a little bored...not bored like I don't have anything to do. Of course not, we've all got lots to do. But bored like...I'm not mentally challenged enough, bored like...I picking up the same things day in and day out. Lately, I feel like I am changing my attitude, my perception of what it is I do around here, this house, and with my family. It's still a work in progress don't get me wrong. But now my new perspective is this: My full time job is keeper of this house and all that's in it. That includes the house the people the food. It's my full time job and I get payed LOTS of money. Lot's of it. (haha this is where you need to imagine a little) So, if I want to keep getting those pay increases ;), I must keep it fresh. Find new ways to do old things. Find new ways to cook the same old food. Find new ways to teach my kids all that they need to learn. Find news ways to keep myself mentally stimulated and motivated at the gym. Keep on keeping on. I even called a bunch of people to meet up at the park. I haven't done that in a while, so that's keeping it fresh too.
**PS I'm probably the only one to tell a difference, but that's okay. It's huge to me.

The defensive "dummy" Hunter called Coach

It looks like Hunter's 7th grade football career is on break, if not over for the season. I think it's over, but we'll see. On Friday, the wise and super caring defensive coach, took a defensive dummy and clocked Hunter in the head. I know my football experience is low, but I thought you were supposed to knock people in the core with those...you know to knock them off balance. Not in the head, to knock their block off. Nice, right? Poor Hunter put his hand up to block the blow, and got his finger broken. On his left hand, down by the knuckle...on a growth plate. No band, no piano, no football, no wrestling (his flex class at school he was loving-that's another blog entry "why I don't want my son wrestling"...but I think I'll be out voted here) I have been really rather annoyed about the whole situation. So, much so, I held off blogging about it in fear I'd saying something so inappropriate like "I wish I had a defensive dummy to knock that coach in the nuts with"...ooops I said it anyway. Accidents happen, injuries even happen, but this seems a little needless. Scott sent "the" email to the coach today voicing our displeasure. I didn't want to come across like the "irate, over emotional Mother". Ha ha. We haven't heard anything yet. I was expecting flowers of apology.

After a couple weeks of "fancier" meals Scott made a comment last week that rather amused me. I asked him how this one asparagus orzo pasta dish was. We've had it before and it IS good. He hadn't commented, and that's usually a pretty good indicator on how he feels about something ;). Anyway, he said, "You know what sounds really good to me...plain old fashioned spaghetti!!!" So, I was thinking of him this week as I menu planned. We all need good old fashioned spaghetti every once in a while. But, I have been making this foccacia bread that is to die for. It's easy. They sell these delicious loaves of foccacia bread at my Costco. You take one of those, put lots of butter on it and then saute garlic and lay the garlic on the bread. Then you bake the bread just long enough to melt the butter. Yummy. You must enjoy the garlic though. I put 4 cloves on the loaf tonight. I'm sure we stink to high heaven, but who cares??? Have you ever had the garlic bread at Buca di Peppo? That's what it's like.

What is that book you are reading?

I am currently reading a book that I am loving- L.oving with a capital L. It's about...something I thought I knew a lot about but apparently, I really don't know much about...FOOD. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the book, but if I don't learn anything else from here until the end, it's been a good book, it's opened my eyes and made me see things I wasn't paying attention to. Things I had no idea even mattered.

So, last weekend you may remember me blogging about this wonderful Italian dinner we had at this restaurant here in Portland. Here is something that I copied from their menu: "The menu, which changes seasonally, is built around a commitment to using natural meats, the freshest seafood, and locally grown fruits and vegetables." The thing about it, was the food really was good, it really was fresh and you could tell. Typically, I'm not a lover of the tomato. Who would, the tomatoes you buy at the store typically, are not juicy, have very little flavor and they have a mealy feel to the pulpy part of the fruit. I had this caprese salad there that night that was delicious. The tomatoes they used were heirloom tomatoes. Click away so you know what I'm talking about. The only reason I knew what they were talking about was I had been doing a little research about rose bushes a while back and that term heirloom kept coming up. So, I checked it out, and since I have noticed it a lot.

Okay, so let me get back to the book I'm reading, that I'm loving. It's called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. My friend Kendra let me borrow her book. At the time she offered it up, I remembered somebody had told me about it...somebody had really liked it...I thought it was one of my sisters, but it wasn't any of them. So, whoever told me about it, thanks. Anyway, Kendra was telling me more about it, and I thought it sounded interesting. I took it home, but didn't start reading it for a month or so. I had other books to read.

At first, you hear what the book is about and you kind of go...hmmm okay???? You know Barbara Kingsolver, right? She wrote: The Poisonwood Bible (a favorite book of mine), Prodigal Summer, The Bean Trees, and several others. Let me quote from the back of the book: "Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial food pipeline to live a rural life-vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat."

While it's not realistic for me, or probably for you, to say I'm only going to eat/feed my family food that I have grown or raised myself, it is an interesting concept. For instance, it's got me investigating CSAs again. Go to this website Local Harvest and check it out. I am thinking about signing up with this farm locally, that grows fruits and veggies. From May-October or November, every week I will take delivery of locally grown produce. Because, as discussed in the book, we are getting produce from all over the world, not only is that bad for the environment, but it's bad for our taste buds too.

I have learned that produce is cultivated (that's not the right farm term, but I think you know what I talking about...I can't think of the word) so that produce is more uniform, withstands transportation better, doesn't mold and mildew as quickly. Taste?? Not even a consideration. Hence the nasty tomatoes, mealy oranges, and juice-less apples I find at the grocery stores all the time. Strawberries for instance. Strawberries are big here in the summer, and boy are they good. I used to think the strawberries from Costco were the best, until I had a locally grown strawberry. No comparison. Do you find it strange that we import and export roughly the same amount of potatoes? Why can't we just keep the potatoes grown in our own country and let (wherever else we import potatoes from) keep theirs? Don't even get me started on meat. That's a whole other blog post.

So, blah blah blah blah. Go read that book, it's a good one, and I want to discuss. I'm not going to go sell my house, and buy a farm or anything, but I think we could all make a few changes. And, don't get worried, it's not as "crunchy" or "granola" as you'd think. It might make you think twice about what we get at Walmart!!

Houston has power! At least my old street does.

Let me just start this blog post with a very important question...have you ever stubbed your toe and looked down...just knowing half of your toe was missing? I have, I do all the time, that's why I must wear shoes in the house. I have been blessed with a certain amount of grace, you see. Anyway, I stubbed my toe the other day, so hard I saw stars, seriously. I didn't even look down, I was concentrating so hard on not saying a bad word (my 12 year old was close by) when I finally did, I had about a half inch gash on my little toe. I caught the metal garbage can just right. Stitches?? Well no, it wasn't THAT bad, but it did hurt. It still hurts to wear close toed shoes, but I manage. I just wanted to share that.

Most of my friends in Houston got power last night!! My old house made it through the storm just fine, good old house!

The owner of my new gym is a big tri-athlete. She is a little "different" but very nice. Her story is pretty motivational. She used to weight 240, decided she didn't want to be fat anymore, and lost weight-diet and exercise. She started running, biking and swimming. In August she just won some race in OR. Anyway, I took her spinning class today. She is always a talker. Usually, it's about upcoming races and such. Today, she was talking about goals. When I got back from Disney, I looked at our pictures and decided it was time to loose a few LBs. Nothing major, I'm not saying I was fat, but I was getting a gut. So, I decided to pay attention to what I was eating. I stopped the recreational eating, you know get a snack for Hope hmmm get a snack for Mommy too. I was getting pretty hooked on sugar too. I was craving it, all the time. Have you noticed the more sugar you eat, the more you want? I was in a bad cycle. So, I decided to put a big hold on all the sugar. Funny thing happened, I stopped craving it 24/7. (I did enjoy my big piece of truffle cake the other night, don't you worry- I'm not crazy!) I'm still all about balance. I'm just saying, I was getting off balance and I restored balance. I had been a little bored at the gym too. So, I really started mixing up my workouts. I'm still bored with cardio, but I think that has to do with goals. I'm going to start really running again. Sad, that I wasn't "really" running this whole beautiful summer. I'd run, but only like 1/week. My miles were really low. But, I think I'll start putting some more miles up. As long as the itching thing in my legs goes away. Have I told you why I only run 1/week? With all the hills here, I get this terrible itching sensation on my legs. My legs actually turn all red. It has something to do with friction (the pounding going down hills) It's not weather related, I've had it in different places I've lived. It's friction I tell you!! But I'm hoping, if I run more that 1/week, my body will adjust. It's about being mentally tough, and surviving the torture until it goes away. Plus, I talked to her about swimming. They currently have clinics going, but they have already started. January is when the next round of clinics start. I don't want to wait until January though. Not sure what I'll do there, but I'm thinking. Just mixing it up and keeping it fresh. I just need to get my friend Julie in the pool with me. Julie? Strength in numbers. Maybe we can hang out and get some pointers from all the professionals. Did I mention that the people here are WAY into biking, swimming and running? Shoot, maybe I'll join a run club. They'll get my butt moving.

You a good girl!

Hope likes to go down to the bus stop with me (morning and afternoon) to get the kids. She likes to "walk Momma". Walking to her is either running, or stopping to look/touch something. She was being especially cute yesterday, and luckily I had my camera. I told her a couple times she was being a good girl (because she wasn't running into the street, picking flowers, or taking off her shoes). When we got home she gave me a big hug around my legs and said, "You a good girl Momma!"

Layered Chocolate Truffle Cake

Last night we went out to dinner with some friends. I'm really loving Portland. It's a fun city, with lots of good food to try. Vancouver, doesn't have a rich variety of fun restaurants like Portland does. We went to Serratto last night for dinner and I had some delicious homemade ravioli. We were in a trendy part of town that I had not been in before. It totally felt like parts of San Fransisco to me. Loved it. Then we walked to Papa Haydn for dessert. OH MY GOSH. I found the above picture and recipe on the internet. It looks pretty darn close to the goodness I had last night. I will be making that bad boy sometime soon. Can I just say, that anything with layers of ganache in it is going to make me happy.

Hurricane Rita

I have been tuning into the news about Ike. It looks like people have learned and things are going a lot more smoothly than when Hurricane Rita came for a visit several years ago, my real one and only brush with a BIG hurricane Not to mention, less people are evacuating, or so it seems. I talked with some friends who were making preparations this morning. Hopefully, the hurricane will be downgraded, and/or blow another way. Here's to hoping Ike turns out like Rita. This picture was going around after Rita struck Houston. Obviously, it was a joke. Remember Katrina had just hit, and there was a lot of destruction in New Orleans and also in other parts of the Gulf Region with Rita. It was like a big thunderstorm in Houston. We took down our swing set, our trampoline, taped and/or boarded up windows...only to have this kind of damage. Thanks heavens, but still it was a funny email. The only injury on our street? That would be Hayden, when a branch fell from a room top and scratched his face. School and work were "out" and all the neighbors had gathered for one of our team meetings. (The neighbors that didn't evacuate, stuck together. We all had walkie talkies and "team meetings" every couple of hours) Leisa are you reading this? Maria? Funny how those day leading up to Rita and then a few after are some of my fondest memories of happy times on our street. Ahhh memories.

Hunter has his first football game today at 3:30. The ONLY problem is, the other kids don't get home until 4, so we will hurry as fast as we can to get there. But I'm excited to see my boy play, and we have 2 soccer games tomorrow. Should be a good day, with some pretty weather.

I went to my first book club here last night. It was fun, and loud. We met at Red Robin and stayed until after 10:30. At about 10, they turned the music up really loud. That really didn't faze us, however. We managed to stay another 30 minutes or so in our seats. Finally, I guess we got the clue and took it outside. We read East of Eden, which is possibly one of my favorite book club books. I was happy that others seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. That's a good sign. Next up, Their Eyes Were Watching God. I have seen the made for TV miniseries put on my Miss Oprah Winfrey, but have not read the book yet. I liked the mini series, thankfully, I can't remember much of it. I must go fold some laundry and start dinner preparations. Once 4:00 hits...

Because I am such a good friend...

When it is cold and rainy and not so sunny here in the winter, please help me remember that I thought the summer here was pretty close to perfect. At least most of the summer. I love how it is cool in the morning, warms up during the day, and then cool again at night. I love to sleep with the window open. Last night as I snuggled into bed, with one light blanket nestled all around me, I could hear my wind chime blowing in the breeze, I thought it doesn't get any better than this. Perfection.

I didn't get into bed until 10:30 ish. And since school started that's a little on the late side for me. Wild I know. BUT, we had two soccer practices, football practice and a parent curriculum meeting last night. So, it seemed perfectly logical, that I would try and make homemade pizza last night for dinner. Right, when you don't have any time, you should be rolling and kneading dough and letting it rise?? Perfectly logical. BUT, if you know anything about me, when I set my mind to something...by golly nothing slows me down. So, my spinach artichoke pizza was sounding oh so good. And I had everything, so why not. Well, as it turned out, my kids ate leftovers, and Scott and I didn't eat our lovely pizza until AFTER the parent meeting at school. But in the mean time, my kitchen looked like a bomb had exploded. I had blanched spinach left out, my Kitchen Aid out, all manner of pizza making supplies left out on the counter. Not to mention, the left-over layered enchilada mess that the kids so lovingly- did NOT pick up. Oh oh and not to mention again soccer stuff that was left all over. As I stepped into the house, I felt my face flush. I hate it when the house is a mess, and I hate it when I come HOME from someplace all nice and relaxed to a messy house. But you know what I hated even more? As I kicked my way threw the mess, I saw some lovely veggies our friends Todd and Julie brought over from their garden. At first I forgot all about my irritation, oh look tomatoes, and zucchini and squash!! And then I realized they had seen the state of my kitchen and/or house. Really, I was just being a good friend, if ever her house was a wee bit messy, I wanted to make her feel good about herself. "At least my house isn't as messy as Heather's was that day!"

It can't be the end of the napping era for me, it just can't be!

I made this Layered Enchilada Bake last night for dinner and it was yummy. The nice people over at Kraft even put together a little how to video. Wow. Deluxe. I have made it before, but last night it just seemed extra good, and SO easy. I also tweaked it a little bit, I added ground turkey instead of hamburger and I DID NOT add the Italian dressing. Taco seasoning and salsa were enough for me, no mixing of the ethnic spices, please. Plus, I used those tortillas that you cook, you know the ones that you get at Costco, everything tastes better with those tortillas, am I right or am I right? You know what else is good with those tortillas? Butter and cinnamon and sugar, I'm just saying.

Hope is back to crawling out of her bed. Jeez. It took 4 tries yesterday to finally get Hope to nap. Tries number 2 and 3... I wasn't very nice. Try number 4, she was looking to make up, get a kiss, and grab an Elmo book. For about 2 weeks now, after every nap time she would just suddenly...appear. She was stealth. It can be a little nerve wracking, but as long as she took a good nap, I was okay with her getting herself out of bed. Let's face it, it's one less trip for me. But yesterday, OH boy, she had gotten herself up at 6:20 and was ready for a nap at about 9 am. So, she WAS napping, and she did, she just made me work for it for about 5 minutes. It can't be the end of the napping era for me, it just can't. So, I will continue putting her back in bed, until she remembers that I am the boss, and that naps are very very important.

Well, I don't know, maybe you DO need shampoo AND conditioner?

Yesterday was a lovely day. And if it means I'm getting older because I loved such a day, then so be it! Hope and I went over to this nursery Shorty's, and I proceeded to walk around and LOOK for about an hour. I filled my cart with some pansies and then a few other things to change out my planters. Love it. Then, I headed up to the bird store. Yes, the bird store. I'm making friends with the guy in there, he is very helpful. I finally decided on a hummingbird feeder. Most of them have migrated, but there is still one species that lingers. I may or may not get very excited when a new bird comes to my feeder. Later, I came home and had fun playing with my flowers. And that is why I say I must be getting old. Because, I loved my day. I loved going to the bird store, and hanging my new feeder, and planting my flowers. Isn't that something that "older" ladies enjoy? I don't care.

And, my house is clean. Ahhh, you don't realize how hard it is to keep up when the kids are around 24/7, until they go back to school...and you're like ahhhhhhh.

Hunter came into my bathroom this morning dressed and ready for his day, and proceeded to ask, "Mom should I put shampoo and conditioner in my armpit hair?" I smiled (a little) at first and politely told him, "No that wouldn't be necessary." Then I busted up, I couldn't help it. And I told him sorry, but that was too funny and it was going on my blog. He just smiled and said, "okay". Maybe he is some kind of amazon, and I need to check into it. Maybe he has a lot more arm pit hair than I'm giving him credit for. Maybe.

And, wait for it...pictures!

He completes Her

My sister is getting married! Go check out all the details. I'm the ONLY sister that hasn't met him, but I still love him. If he makes Hayley this happy, well then, it's all good! He completes her :)

It's going to be a faaast year

First days of school went great! Hayden said this was his "best first day of school ever!" I smiled, he's only in 1st grade. He did go to preschool for a few years...so...maybe he was lumping that into it too. Hannah knew 3 girls in her class. One from soccer, one from Activities Days Day Camp (she was in her group) and then another girl that lives down the street and around the corner. Yippee. Hunter is busy busy. And the real homework hasn't even started yet. The year will be going very fast, I can already tell.

Hope is now talking in full sentences. The only problem is I can't understand her. I can usually pick out a few words, but she really has a lot to say I'm not quite getting. It's really pretty funny, it's like it's her own language. I'm sure the "understandability" with catch up-hopefully soon. She isn't the most patient and/or understanding of children haha.

I'm off, I'm taking the day off from the gym so I can get some "stuff" done.

First day of school...

finally. Not that I wanted my kids to go back to school, heavens no :) BUT it's September 2nd! And it's just now the first day of school. What is kind of nice...listen...can you hear that? Yeah me neither, it's totally quiet. Hope is even asleep. With the start of school, comes all the activities too though. Always a trade-off. Hunter was loaded down with school supplies, football stuff and a helmut. He will dump most of that stuff off,and leave it. For a little while anyway. Oh the smell of the football stuff when it does come home though! We missed meet the teacher this year. First time EVER for me to miss a meet the teacher. Oh well, I drove everybody and figured out schedules, rooms, teachers, school supplies today. No biggie. Hayden is back to a full day of school. Yippee. He was excited to be able to eat lunch again at school. Priorites. Hannah was a little nervous about changing schools-again-but I think the praying helped because she felt pretty good this morning. I'm excited to hear how everyone's day went.


I got Hunter a bunch of new clothes mid summer this year. All of a sudden the kid needed new stuff. So, I didn't buy him a whole lot for school. Except new shoes. Shoes are important to boys that age. The ones he liked were even on sale. Score.
She was up and ready about 2 hours before she needed to go. ;)
Normal smile Hayden, please?

Look at all the stuff.
You can't see them, but Hannah has her birthstone earrings on that we got at Disney. She planned her whole outfit around the earrings!!
He was excited!

The happiest place on EARTH.

The happiest place on earth.

Hannah and Hayden both had autograph books, but it was Hannah that was my girl and WANTED all the autographs. I think Hayden did most of them, because I said. (haha) Not Hannah though, she is a girl after my own heart. The ones Hayden didn't want to do...no problem, you better believe I was in line with "his" book hahahaha.

Hayden as Jack Sparrow. My little pirate..

It really was SO hot in Florida...in August, what do you expect, right? We lucked out and only had rain ONE day for about 1 1/2 hours!! We missed all hurricanes. Poor Hope looking oh so hot. Her hair was wet and curly the whole time we were in Disney.

Hunter "rocking" out at one of the parades. He was cute. People were dancing, and he decided to "dance it up!".

Here we are at Hollywood Studios, aka MGM. As of 1/1/08 they changed the name. We were lucky enough to be able to have my parents come to Disney with us. I'm telling you, what a great time we had with them! They didn't look at me funny when I started to cry at one of the parades. I think it was at that point my kids kind of looked at me and thought I may or may not be a little crazy. My parents teared up as well, and we had a little cry fest reliving some of our childhood memories. Good times good times. Scott was our official fast pass getter and meal planner. He is a real trooper and he knows how to do the park.