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!

Free time

So what do I do all day? All less than 3 hours of my no kid time? After the dishes are done and the house picked up- I am really strong... I have been baking. I love to cook. I love to create healthy whole food meals. I also like it to be quick and not have it be too complicated, not that I don’t like a challenge, but no extra steps! One of my favorites is chicken enchiladas, but I don’t like frying the tortillas and rolling them and burning my fingers and making a big mess so I have moved on to the chicken enchilada casserole. It is just as good- maybe better and so fast and easy. Layer the tortillas on the bottom of an oiled casserole dish, layer cooked chicken then shredded cheese. Then do it all again. Top with tortillas, cheese and lots of enchilada sauce. Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes at 375. Voila! Yummy dinner. I serve it with a green salad, Mexican rice and beans.

So all of my kids are different. Really different. Paris finishes her salad first, then Atlas, a bit later is Leif and when I am ready to cry, Emilia finishes her salad and is the last to be done with dinner. Rich and I take deep breaths and count to ten and wait with her.
It sort of feels like fall- at least the end of summer. I bought a box of apple, a box of peaches and a box of nectarines. Martha Stewart has an amazing recipe for apple cake but it it a bit labor intensive. I tried Williams-Sonoma apple spice cake recipe and it was just as good. Really they tasted the same and I was so glad. It is dessert and then breakfast. The kids dig it, especially when they get cake for breakfast. They don’t realize that it has whole wheat flour and apples and is much more nutritious then some other more traditional breakfast fare. Cake for breakfast.
I am still on a cooking high from making my first souffle. It always seemed daunting but I had all the ingredients on hand and gave it my best shot. It didn’t fall and there were no leftovers. Each kid ate a portion and 2 even asked for seconds. It was Williams-Sonoma spinach souffle. So good. But that was before I started photographing my cooking feats...
I have made bread pudding before but it had been a while. I had a loaf of good artisan bread that was a bit stale.... It was calling to me to make it edible. Bread pudding really is a lot like french toast. I am pretty sure that is how French toast got started- a lazy version of the pudding. But bread pudding is so easy to make. I served it with whipped cream, fresh sliced strawberries and drizzled it with maple syrup. After we ate it for dessert one night, the kids had bread pudding for breakfast. Two days in a row.

To Preschool

Paris is going to school and the house is truely quiet this morning. She was a bit nervous and I tried to tone down my excitement. There are some really cute kids in the class and it is small- 10 kids to 2 teachers. It would have been a perfect morning but Atlas forgot his homework at home and I brought him the wrong book. Oh well- I tried.

A Schedule

August 27, 2007

O.k. so it has been a week. Hallelujah! Now I just can’t wait until it is all day- they have had early out last week and this week. Labor day marks the real schedule. So now that school has started I am the taxi mom. There is ballet, ballroom, guitar, tap, swimming, and hip-hop. I am tired already! Really, I am excited and it won’t be too crazy as I have doubled up the kids and times. I would rather have them busy then bored and I really want them to have lots of options for college and scholarships and careers and hobbies. And yes I am an over achiever.

The attic is almost done. Though it has been almost done for a year now or more, it is getting close to being finished. We purchased attic windows and most likely will not do a dormer- at least not now. The trim is just about finished and the all we need to do is paint. And paint everything, even the floors and it will be all white. I can’t wait. So tomorrow I will be painting the main floor bathroom and maybe the stairwell. We have a new toilet and sink to install. It will be so nice.

The weather is cooler and bearable. Today it only reached the mid 80’s. Last night it sprinkled and it is supposed to rain tomorrow, but it never rains here! My garden is looking over grown and crazy, but that is the way I like it. The sunflowers are seeding and the birds are having a feast. We have seen finches, hummingbirds, warblers, a quail family and a few I don’t know. It is so cool doing the dishes and seeing them eat the seeds while perched on the leaves. I am glad that we don’t have a cat.

Back to School

August 20, 2007

To day is the first day of school. The three big kids are in school for a full day. Paris is still asleep and the house is quiet. I took the kids to school and as I was dropping them off the national anthem was playing- meaning we were a bit late! Leif and Emilia jumped out of the car with nervous excitement and took off as their classrooms are near to each other. Atlas stayed in the car as I drove closer to his room. The sweet music teacher was holding up a sign that said “289 days until summer” and beneath that “163 days until baby Chantry”. She miscarried during her first pregnancy last year in the 8th month. I don’t know if it was her sign, the national anthem or what, but just then I got all choked up. I have been excited for the past two weeks for school to start. The house has felt crowded, messy, hot and my head felt ready to explode. Now it is quiet, clean and all but one of my kids are gone for the day and the one home is still sleeping!

Last night I put the kids to bed around 8pm. Emilia got right in bed with Leif, their heads at opposite ends. Atlas on the top bunk. Paris got in Emilia’s bed and promptly fell asleep. I checked on the kids around midnight- Emilia was laying next to Leif and Atlas had gotten in bed with Paris and they were holding hands. It was too dark to take a picture.