Passport delays? NO WAY!

What ever the problem was a few months ago with crazy delays and such, the government has fixed. We applied for passports for Rich and me and the the two youngest. Today, exactly 2 weeks to the day later, the kids’ passports arrived! That was fast! They told us 8 weeks. I love that.

This is a modern autumn fairy

I really can't believe that it has been about three weeks since I last posted. It has been a psyco 3 weeks. For one of the weeks I was terribly busy with Book group hosting, the school festival and an autumn party for the kids- all in a row- Thursday, Friday and Saturday and Rich was gone that week. Also, I think we had A Peeping Tom that week too! And if that wasn't enough because of a sad situation at book group at my house, I decided to quit- unannounced as yet to the groupies. It has taken me a week to come off that stressful ride. And when I did, Sunday morning I heard about another story of infidelity! That makes 7, a lot of them connected. It is hard to have a conversation that doesn't include the sad topic or someone who hasn't been touched by it. Emotionally we all have! Back in BYU I had a religion teacher who's brother had just moved to a new state and was instantly called to be a bishop. In that same month he had to ex his stake president who happened to be in his ward due to infidelity, and had to recomend a new one. His brother, my teacher said, took a copy of the ward list and ended up blacking out almost all of the names. I feel that way too! I so need to make new friends! My mom once told me that raising kids was a lonely time, I didn't really get it until now!

Watch out Sanjaya! A new do from the Fall Festival!

On to a more positive note, I got a piano!!! I love it! It is an old upright and it sounds great- though I still need to have it tuned. It is so fun hearing Rich and Leif pick out tunes on it. Rich will ask me what song to play and I have a hard time coming up with new ones. He is really good! It is so homey!



Last night we had two extra kids sleep over and as I am obsessive about food, I had decided early on in the week to make french toast for today. On a side note, I get a little posessive about my maple syrup it being expensive and the kids wasting so much of it and they always ask for more.... So I made a buttermilk syrup that I had tasted a few years ago. I got the recipe but had never made it. Now I had an excuse. It was great. So easy and quick. My mom would make a syrup sometimes when I was little and it seemed to take forever. This one was done in five minutes! I put it in a pitcher and the kids drenched their toast and I didn't care! Everyone loved it!

Buttermilk Syrup
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter (or margarine)
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
In a medium saucepan, bring all ingredients to a boil - except for the vanilla extract. Allow to boil gently for at least five minutes. Remove from heat and immediately stir in the vanilla. 15 servings

Mealtimes

Last week the kids requested top ramen in their lunches. I obliged. I sent them to school with little thermoses. Leif who usually loves top ramen, once he got to the cafeteria something else caught his eye. When I picked up the kids he told me the lasagna looked and smelled so good that he put his lunch away and got in line and bought lunch. End of story or so I thought.
At dinner last night we had roasted chicken with vegetables. The kids were in heaven. They love chicken and it had been a while since I had made it. As we were getting to the bones, Leif requested the wish bone. Then they all did. Paris reached in the pot and grabbed a bone and said, “I got a wish bone” and started waving it in a circle, flipping juice all around. A few years ago as they were fighting over the wish bone for the millionth time, Rich and I told them that all the bones were wishing ones. So there has been a bit of confusion about wishing bones. We set them straight and they seemed fine with our rational. Our conversation then moved on to school lunches. Each said that when they tried to purchase lunches on Friday the lunch lady said that their accounts were empty. I was irritated because I sent money with them to put into their accounts for 4 lunches. I asked them how many times they had bought lunch. Each said 3 times. Atlas and Emilia had bought pizza three times on Fridays. Leif said that he bought pizza, hot dog, and pizza. I looked at him and asked him about the lasagna. He gave me his funny look and said that he had never bought lasagna and that it was a hot dog he got on the top ramen day!

Meatball taste so much better homemade and so easy and of course are better fried. Here is my favorite recipe. You can substitute the spinach for a tablespoon of pesto or chopped cilanto or any other mixed fresh herbs.
• 2/3 cup finely grated fresh Parmesan
• ¾ pound ground turkey or lean ground beef
• ½ small onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup fresh bread crumbs
• ½ cup cooked, squeezed dry, and chopped spinach
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Coarse salt
Combine the ground meat, onion, bread crumbs, spinach, egg, ¾ teaspoon of the salt, and the cheese in a medium bowl. Shape into 30 meatballs, each 1 inch in diameter. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Reduce heat to medium-low; add the meatballs and cook, turning, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs to a large saucepan.
I use them in pasta, soup, sandwiches and just plain. If there are any leftovers I freeze them!
My elf daughters:

I spy

Here is a photograph of most of the treasures that I have collected the past few months from the washer. My kids love to keep things in their pockets.

Today as Paris and I were getting in the car to pick up the big kids she said, “Ester cut her hair. It is so short. I’m never going to play with her again.” I didn’t say anything to her, but inside I was laughing so hard. First, Ester is 2 years older and has never played with Paris. Paris has wanted to play with our little neighbor but it has yet to happen. Second, all I could think of was how devastated I was when Emilia cut her hair when she was just 2 and it was finally starting to grow. And how she and Leif cut it again when it was finally looking “normal”. That second time I found the hair and the scissor about a week later stuffed in a pillowcase along with My Little Pony hair. I think I had a talking to both of them again when I found the loot and until Emilia was in first grade I was very wary of her having scissors. I let both her preschool teacher and her kindergarten teacher know that she needed supervision with cutting tools!

The Williams-Sonoma apple spice cake.

The best oatmeal cookies EVER!

1 C Butter 1 C sugar 1 C brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla 2 eggs 1 1/2 C flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 3 C rolled oats
Cream butter and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs. Beat well. Add dry ingredients. Drop onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 350 for 8-10 minutes.
Recipe from the Tillamook butter box!