Monday

Ok, so how excited am I this very moment? VERY!

OhMyLord, at the end of this week, we have a break from actuary exams, homework, getting kids up early and to school, it's big break season at work, and at church, YEAH!! And, icing on the cake--I just found summer project number 1 for Claudia! I was so happy about this I got her out of bed to show her (she wasn't asleep yet). She loves the movie The Royal Tenenbaums and look--it's the cross stitch!



Claudia is going to learn to cross stitch this summer (when she's not feeding the dog cake.)




Sammy was in a class play today (she was one of the narrators) and Jordan got to see it. Jordan reports it was a big hit! Tomorrow morning Jamie takes his exam and tomorrow night Claudia has her end-of-the-year band concert. I'm taking Wednesday off work to go to the school with the littles for their awards ceremony and 4th grade picnic.

Oh, and it's Super Tuesday II tomorrow. Can't wait!

This weekend

It's been a pretty lazy/fun weekend. Friday night Jamie was at Starbucks studying when we had a huge storm and the power went out briefly here and there. He said he is a math hero because he used his cell phone light to continue studying. Claudia and I watched The Soup after the littles were in bed and then Jamie came home and we gave Flight of the Conchords a whirl, but weren't too thrilled with it. We'll give it another chance, though.

Jamie spent most of Saturday studying. I think he did nine hours of practice tests. Claudia and I spent most of the day watching the DNC discussing the mess they've made of the Florida and Michigan delegate situation and making refrigerator magnets! The little girls mostly played outside but they spent a lot of time creating magnets, too.


Last night Claudia went to see a movie with a friend and I took the littles swimming.




I made a seriously unhealthy dinner last night--homemade corn dogs and french fries. We hardly ever buy hotdogs and I actually cringe when I see the children eating them because they're SO bad, but you know what? Those corn dogs were DIVINE.


Today we're skipping church because I want to watch the morning news shows. I'm hoping the McClellan thing comes up (I so think he shouldn't profit from that book) and I want to hear what's said about Florida and Michigan.

Miscellaneous

OMGosh, so busy but it's all good stuff!

Jamie ended up staying home from church this weekend to study. And it was just as well he didn't go to church because the senior high class he was going to talk to about the pride parade were in church so the seniors could graduate out of the program. Such amazing kids come out of this church! It's a good place for our kids.

Jordan and I started planting our container garden last night. This year we're doing tomatoes, serranos, jalapenos, bell peppers, lettuce, and cucumbers.

We're busy planning our trip to Texas that will happen this July. I'm so excited! We're going to spend our days eating Texmex and German food, visiting various historical things because that's what you do (we'll definitely hit the very boring Alamo just because Jamie and Sammy have to see it) and I want to make it down to Galveston so the kids can swim in the ocean. Jellyfish, here we come!

The girlies are out of school next Friday and they are definitely counting the days. Jamie's studying like mad and his test is Tuesday, June 3. It's definite that I'm going to be the social justice chairperson for our church so I'm very excited about that. It's a year-long commitment and it's really going to be a growth experience for me because in addition to running meetings and planning events, I'm going to be doing some public speaking and I have to write a social justice article every two weeks for the church newsletter. And we're marching in the pride parade on June 14th and that's all coming together nicely. Oh, and Beverly and Walter are visiting on the 15th!

Ok, so if you're in Texas or vicinity, we want to see you this July! Local friends and family, expect tomatoes, etc. and everyone, the kids are making crafts so expect a box of potholders, bracelets, magnets, etc. coming your way! And one lucky household might just get a special prize in their Box O' Crafts--a beagle!!

The Weekend

We had a pretty great weekend over here. Friday night Sammy went to a birthday party sleepover. Saturday Jamie studied, Jordan and I did some cooking and reading together, Sammy took a nap (she is a champion Sleepover participant--she can *really* stay up late!) and Claudia went to see her friend's rock band perform in the afternoon. Saturday night she went with some friends and their daughter who is the same age as Claudia to a living history museum and did this (as described on their website):

Leave the comfort of the world you know...
Become a fugitive slave on the Underground Railroad. Will you find safety and freedom? Will you be captured by the slave hunters? Every moment is filled with uncertainty.

After several years of research, Conner Prairie has developed one of the most dramatic, interactive programs available at any museum. Your experience will stay with you for days, weeks, possibly years.
Play the role of runaway and encounter a slave sale and a wide range of people, including a belligerent transplanted Southerner, a reluctantly helpful farm wife, a slave hunter motivated by financial rewards, a Quaker family and a free black family. This glimpse into our shared past will jolt and affect you in ways that reading a book or watching a movie about this painful part of America's history cannot.

They brought Claudia home right after a)we had gotten the littles in bed; b)Jamie had just finished making a very nice batch of chocolate chip cookies and c)we had just cracked a bottle of very mediocre wine. So we invited them to stay and they did, we chatted and had a really great time.

Sunday both littles sang in church and did readings for the flower communion (do you really want to know? Ok, it's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Communion) and after that we all went to the symphony to a really engaging program for kids where they went through the formation of the modern symphony. Also, they played ET music. Loved it!

Claudia's off camping with the entire 7th grade today for three days. We miss her so!

Jamie making delicious fried chicken.

Jordan approves of the delicious fried chicken.


It's time for shorts! Here are Jordan and Sammy in the beginnings of their summer wardrobes.


Sammy and Jordan singing in church at the flower communion service.




Claudia at church.

Spring Break Part III

Ok, so generally speaking, really the only reason to make your own soft pretzels is if you have a whole lot of extra hours on your hands or for some reason you can't get to the mall. However, we did have a lot of time on our hands today and I'm in the process of teaching the girls to cook so pretzels it was.

We started on the pretzels this morning and by 3pm, we had some. We made dough, the girls played outside, we did more stuff to the dough, we ate lunch, the girls went outside, we did more dough stuff, the girls went outside, more dough stuff, more dough stuff, then we boiled them, decorated them with course salt or cinnamon sugar or grated parmesan and then baked them and then I made frosting and that got drizzled on. All this work resulted in a supremely *OK* baked....thing.

Sammy and Jordan kneading the dough.


Making the dough into pretzel shapes.



Claudia decorating her pretzels.


Boiled and decorated and ready to bake.


The finished product.

Spring Break Part II

This morning we had Baked Alaska for breakfast. Hey, it's better than donuts!! Yesterday I made a pound cake (I need to find a better recipe because the texture of this one was weird) for it and then the girls made a very nice meringue this morning and we baked it. We put it on the top rack so the peaks burned but the ice cream survived and the kids all liked it. Success!!






Magic Rocks are growing like crazy.


Day one of playing with homemade gooze. This has been a big hit and played with a lot. It's also, apparently, something Bo doesn't like to eat, so that makes one thing!

Day two of playing with the gooze.


Sammy and Jordan cutting out homemade dog biscuits to bake. They mixed up the dough out of whole wheat flour, powdered milk, egg, chicken broth, and oil. Bo loves them! (The girls and the biscuits)

Spring Break Part I

Yesterday we went online, found photos of animals, printed them on transfer paper, I ironed the photos onto unbleached muslin and then we made pillows.


Sammy did the running baby elephant, Claudia did the baby tapir and Jordan did the baby ostrich.


I did emperor penguins.


Today we harvested moss out of the back yard and made terrariums. We threw some slag glass in for color. Claudia made one out of a big water bottle so she can use it for a habitat for her turtle.

The only people not going to Florida.

It's us. We're not going to Florida for spring break. The children tell me that Everyone is going to Florida.

Whatever.

Anyway, I'm on vacation Wednesday through Friday this week and I'm super excited about it. I have a tons of things planned and it will just be so nice to be able to spend time with the girls just having fun.

Sammy's Birthday Sleepover

Friday night we had a sleepover for Sammy's birthday at which the number of girls in attendance equalled the US deficit. Well, ok, not really--but the screaming did sound like we had trillions of girls here instead of just 9. We had a pinata and Sam and Jordan's very adorable Unitarian friend came to me to so earnestly share with me that an injustice had been perpetrated--not everyone got to hit the pinata!!!. To which I just had to reply, well, that's part of the pinata experience. Go get some candy! I think Sammy had a good time, so that was the main thing. I think Jordan and the guests did, too, so that was good, too. And they pretty much left Claudia alone so Claudia was a happy camper. They all seem to be very nice friends. There was some mild trouble with one because she's pretty hyper but she's a nice kid. They stayed up until 3 or 4 or 5, depending on which girl you asked.

Here's some of the food. Sammy picked out kabobs--fruit and chicken nugget--and lime sherbet punch. Not pictured: The requisite cheese pizza and potato chips.


The lame-looking cake that was only ordered several hours before the party, which I feel *bad* about and that I had to sort of bully the cake person into picking out the cake and writing on it for me. Guess what? No you *don't* need 24 hours notice on a cake! So annoying. But hey! Disappointing results, anyway!


Here's Sammy getting ready to blow out the candles. Isn't she adorable?!?!!


This is Sammy attempting to open gifts. She started out on the couch with just Jordan, who was writing everything down for her so she could do thankyou notes) and then it devolved into this. And then Sammy tried to move off the couch and away from everyone and they followed her.


Here are the treat "bags". They decorated flower pots and made shrinky dinks.

Stuff Lately

Wow, it's been so long since I blogged, I don't remember what all I've told all y'all! Anyway, hi! We're super crazy busy lately but in a pretty good way.

Highlights are, Jamie got his study materials for his next test so he's going to start working on that by this weekend. He's also going to meetings because he's involved in the mediation process for our church (we're pro-keeping the minister).

I changed my work schedule to be home Monday/Wednesday/Friday afternoons when the kids get home through the end of this school year. It's working out pretty well. I'm also, very unexpectedly, playing in a concert this Sunday. It's a big regional thing and for some reason, our band has been very short on clarinets lately. Not just me (I decided to sit this one out because I knew I wouldn't have time for rehearsals and practicing) so they asked me to show up. I haven't even seen the music yet, so this should be interesting. Also, I'm organizing our church for the Pride Parade this year. I am *super* excited about it!

Our other big thing right now is Sammy's having a birthday party sleepover this Friday night and so far we have, including Sam and Jordan, nine girls coming. What do I have done for the party so far? Nothing! Well, that's not true. I did design and send some invitations and make a bunch of phone calls. We'll pull it off and Sammy will be happy. My friend Jennifer pointed out to me recently that I never start on a party until the last minute and since I've known her for ten years, I have to concede that she's probably right about that.

Here are Sammy and Jordan on their way to a murder mystery birthday party last Friday. They were assigned roles and asked to wear costumes.

Sammy's supposed to be a brainiac who loves Star Trek (she has a Star Trek communicator on her jacket) and Jordan's supposed to be a tough girl (we went with a Vespa Logo instead of Harley Davidson for a pin).

Super Fun!

We had such fun at the movie tonight and it was snowing when we walked out of the theater.

Theater!

Tonight I'm taking four girls (Sammy, Jordan and they're each bringing a friend) to the Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers 3D IMAX movie. We've been advised to get there an hour early to get good seats and that good seats equal back seats so it's easier to dance. Fingers crossed that my camera feels like working tonight!

Next upcoming theater event--The Vagina Monologues on the 15th! One of our friends is performing in it and you should have seen Jamie's face when I told him I wanted to go--it was pretty hilarious! He immediately claimed he "has to study" so he "can't go". Fine!

Monday Monday

It's Monday and I'm exhausted (in a good way!) from the weekend! Claudia had a blast at a youth convention in Cincinnati but we had to get up *early* on Saturday to get her to the drop off location and Jordan had choir on Sunday morning *early* but they're singing something with a banjo, so that's pretty fun. Jamie got a ton of studying done so that was very good, indeed.

Jordan decided she wanted bangs after all. Cute!

The Weekend

Pretty ok weekend. On Friday night, Claudia went to a going away party for her friend, K. who moved to California this weekend. The littles and Claudia got haircuts on Saturday and I took all three to the mall and that was actually pretty fun.

Jamie studied all weekend but took a few breaks to eat, get a haircut, pick the littles up at church so I could take Claudia to an ice skating thing with her sunday school class, play backgammon with Sammy, rent a movie for us to watch with Claudia tomorrow night after Jordan's in bed (Sam's at her mom's tomorrow night) and teach Jordan some blues guitar.

Sledding on Sunday

Jamie took Jordan and Sammy sledding today (Claudia went shopping with a friend).

Jordan and Sammy looking at book orders