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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Farm Country




Our Lit n' Learning activity for this week was a field trip to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. The kids had a blast. When we arrived, they had a 2 week old kid out for the kids to pet. PJ was a bit intimidated and didn't want to get near it. Just as I convinced him to tough it, the goat let out a huge bleat, making poor PJ jump about a mile. He never did actually touch it, something that he said he wished he had done as we were leaving. Liza tried to get near a pygmy donkey, but he was being ornery so she didn't get to stay too long near it. But they got to ride the ponies twice. Liza went right to the tallest and rode that one both time. He stood more than 5 feet high at the saddle. PJ went for one of the smaller ponies the first time, but the second, he rode the second tallest pony. She was nearly as tall as Liza's pony, but not quite.

Just one more big field trip for this summer program. We will be heading to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point in a few weeks, then it's time for school. Wow, this summer seems to have just flown by. I can't believe I am already doing school shopping. Fun, fun. I am looking forward to getting both kids into school this year.

Slumber Party

So I have pretty much decided that I will let Liza go to the party on Friday, but I will not let her stay the night. I will pick her up about 9:30, maybe 10, then take her back Saturday morning for the breakfast. I have asked almost everyone I know their opinion, and I have some very clear lines. It is funny. Every mom living in Eagle Mountain says, "Nope, no way." Many are actually opposed to slumber parties all together, no matter the age of the child. Meanwhile, every mom living outside the city says, "What's the big deal? Let her go." This has been interesting. It makes me curious about other issues that may be so clearly divided.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Dazed and Confused

Yesterday I stated that Liza had been invited to a slumber party. I rashly stated that I would still let her go. After all, I don't want to be the mom that says "no" to everything. But I have really been having trouble with that choice. She is still only 6. I don't know what I want to do. Recently there have been some events that make me never want to let her out of my sight. I suddenly find that I can't trust my own instincts. AHHHH! I don' t know what I am going to do. I told Liza today that I could not let her spend the night; that it wasn't about her, but I just didn't think she was old enough. That sent her on an all day long quest to convince me that she will sleep like she would at home, be on her best behavior and that she will love me forever if I let her go. I told her I would let her stay until 9:30 or 10, and then take her back for the special breakfast. God, I am at a total loss. I have never doubted a decision so much. But then, this has just come at a really bad time for me. On one hand, I have a mom who says she will never let her kids have a slumber party. On the other, I have a mom who doesn't see what age has to do with it- Liza is certainly mature enough, it would not be the first time she was away from home. Jer says no way. I don't want to be the mom who shoots down everything. I feel like we are tough enough parents as it is. Other than age, I don't have any reason to say no. AHHHH! This is really not much more than a rant. I don't think I will actually decide what I will do until Friday. I think I will be on Jer's side. After all, if I talk to Savhanna's mom and ask her to call me when the other girls get up, I can take her over for breakfast. Savhanna is so close, you can actually see her house from my back door. AHHHH! I hate it when I doubt myself!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Slumber Party? Already?

Liza just got invited to a friend's birthday party. The girls were in the same class, but on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. While Liza was the oldest in her class, turning 6 just when school started, Savhanna was the youngest, turning 6 this weekend. Although, if you looked at Savhanna, the way she behaves, speaks and plays, you don't really notice the age difference. But she is a tiny little bug. Pretty too. I have to say, I admire this girl's parents. They are both firefighters for AF, and very busy. Savhanna is having a slumber party. Now that was a bridge I knew I would be crossing soon, but I thought I could see it just on the horizon. So is this as crazy as I think it is? 2 very busy parents, both highly qualified if there was an accident, but throwing a slumber party for a 6 year old? I don't remember how old I was when I had my first sleepover. Ahh, she's excited about it. I am going to let her go. Now I just hope she doesn't think she gets to start having them. I thought 8 or 9 would be good. Maybe 1st grade isn't as bad as I think it is. Then again, maybe it is.

Pioneer Day


First off: LOOK I FOUND MY CAMERA! Someone (my 3rd child by the name of Notme) apparently put it on the speaker behind the couch that is hidden by the curtain.
Friday afternoon, Tina and I went to my parents and in the heat, plucked 4 flats of perfectly under ripe apricots. That led directly to a very busy Saturday morning. We went right back to the pioneer spirit and canned 46 quarts of yummy goodness. It only took about 5 hours. Time well spent. We were both surprised by the amount we got. I certainly didn't think we would get that many. Ahh, come winter we will really be enjoying the freshness of our labor. In a few weeks we will go back for the super ripe fruit and make nectar.


The rest of the afternoon was spent just hanging with the kids and getting ready to have a friend over for dinner. Earlier this week, we pulled out what we thought was going to be a pretty big roast to have for Sunday dinner. When we got it out to start the marinade, we discovered that the unlabeled cut of meat was actually several randomly sized chunks of meat. We're talking anywhere from half an ounce to 10 ounce steaks. What a shocker. After a quick trip to the store, our roast turned into yummy kabobs. While I was chopping the veggies, Liza comes screaming into the house. She and PJ had been playing. I guess at some point, PJ failed to pick her up, dropping her instead. Thanks to the holiday, my only options were wait until this morning to take her to the doctor or head to the ER. It didn't appear serious, but i was pretty sure that she broke her wrist. Again. This morning I get an appointment first thing, take her in, and it turns out, she just had a bad sprain. Anyone who knows my kids knows it was more likely to go the other way, but I am glad I took her in anyway. Better safe than sorry.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Busy summer

I have been super busy this summer. Between the activities I have lined up for my kids with the Lit n' Learning program and Music Movers, broken bones and birthday parties I feel like summer has flown by. I have taken pictures everywhere we have gone, but sadly, it seems that I have lost my camera. I had hundreds of pictures that I had not pulled off of my sim card onto my computer. This makes me sad. The pics at grandpa's farm, Porter's birthday, Liza's kindergarten graduation, all gone. Along with many many more. Swell. Maybe the camera will turn up. I hope so.

Anywho, here is a quick update on what we've been up to. Last week I took the kids to the capital building. I've never been. The kids loved to look at the rotunda. There was a little scavenger hunt available. We left for lunch at Memory Grove, and when all was said and done, the kids wanted to go back. They said they didn't get to see enough. I think I may just do that. They have tours every hour, so I think the next time we go, we will hop in on one of those.

This week, we headed to the planetarium. For all my love of space, I have never been. Did you know it is free? I didn't. Which is part of why I had never been. All you have to pay for are the shows. This would have been a great spot to have my camera. So sad. There are big displays for the kids to play on of the surfaces of the moon and mars. There is an actual space suit and planets scaled to a small section of the sun painted on the wall. One look and you realize exactly why Pluto was demoted. It was about the size of a bouncy ball. You know, the small ones you get from the dentist. We did take some time to catch Hubble. I thought there would be more about the things the telescope had captured. There was some, just not as much as I had hoped. But what we say was amazing. They take you actually inside the Orion Nebula. That was great. Since I can see that through my telescope. Although, it looks more like a smudge on the lens than anything else from here. After the planetarium, we wont to the fountain for lunch and to let the kids play a bit. Liza was soaked when we left, but it was so hot that she was almost dry when we made it back to the car. PJ crashed before we even hit the freeway.

In two weeks, the dinosaur museum. I get a break next week.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Grandpa's ranch





Yesterday we loaded the kids in the car for a long drive to Sterling, ID. We finally made it to the ranch at close to 2. The drive was longer than we expected. Rick's ranch is bigger than I expected. He has more than 100 acres where he grows hay, wheat and alfalfa. He has a couple dozen cows and 2 horses. I have no idea how many chickens. He has a huge vegetable garden. His goal is to live just on his land, and he's doing a good job of it so far. Just this week he sold his hay and used the money to by a huge ATV that he let us ride on all day. The kids had a blast. Rick was going to sattel up the horses and let us take them for a ride, but Titan, the male, was getting spooked and Nakita, the female was just as wary. So he harnessed them up with the lead and let the kids get on his shoulders to pet them as much as they wanted. I have to say, it was an awesome day with grandpa. He even let us get pictures with him and the kids. That's saying something.

Sadly, I learned the hard way that I am still super allergic to grass. I thought I might have some issues, so before we left, I took an allivert. Stupid useless allivert. Doesn't really work. Not when you really want it to, anyway. After less than an hour I was itchy, sneezey, watery, and totally miserable.

We had dinner before we left. Beef stew. I had to compliment Rick on his beef. The roast he had in it was so tender and tasted amazing. He says he feeds his cattle only grain 90 days before taking them to slaughter. They eat only grass before that and he doesn't shoot them up with hormones or antibiotics. He will give them something if they are sick, but he doesn't just treat them unless they need it. Well, he sent us home with easily 100 pounds of meat. The back of the car was half full before we left. I think he might have sent us home with more, but we were feeling like we were taking too much. I can't wait to make something up with all that. Yumm.