48 posts tagged “family life”

Just another Sunday. Get up, get ready, go to church. Teach Sunday School. I must confess teaching has been pretty rewarding. The kids really seem to listen and get what I'm talking about. It could have something to do with my happy fun prize bag.

Go to Gary and Rob's for an afternoon of screaming at the television watching the Redskins and having a big family dinner. This week's dinner was beef stew with buttermilk biscuits and a dessert of dark chocolate fudge brownies.

As soon as the game is over, Rob, Steve, Victoria, Alex, and I are heading to the 9:30 club to see a David Crowder Band concert. I will be going as a slob since I dripped oil on my sweater and my favorite suede boots. Afterwards we are going to stop by Ben's Chili Bowl  for one of their famous chili dogs. I've never had one and I think I may be looking forward to it more than the concert. Seriously, I love food way too much.

So if anyone has any tips on getting oil out of suede, feel free to pass them on. I'm going to go surf the internets for awhile.

I woke up earlier than usual this morning. Victoria was going to a friend's farm to dress up like Boots from Dora the Explorer for a hayride thing they do. Sure beats asking to hang out at the mall, so I drove her down. The costumes weren't just cheap costumes, they were like mascot costumes. She promised me to get a picture or two. We'll see if she conveniently forgets.

After dropping her off I took the opportunity to call Hannah and stop at the grocery store. I wanted to make "Quick Tortilla Soup". It's windy with a good chill in the air. Perfect day for a huge pot of soup.

When I got home, I made a huge pot, big enough for a couple of days. Steve was outback attempting to turn the pool from a lovely green back to clean. The pool guys are coming to close it in a little over a week. I'm always so relieved when they come to close it. I'm so tired of trying to keep the thing clean by this time of year (hence the green hue it currently has).

Now Steve and Alex are at the dump getting rid of our old dishwasher and stove along with other random crap that was sitting out in the garage. There is still much more out there, but the van will only hold so much.

Josiah is playing some SpongeBob video game. Sophie is working on a project for school, something to do with the United Kingdom. Ashley is hanging out at the neighbors. I told Hannah I would post the recipe. So here I am. I was racked with guilt for putting it off until now.

Quick Tortilla Soup

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 tbsp taco seasoning mix

1 garlic clove chopped

6 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup thick and chunky salsa

1/4 cup lime juice

2 cups cooked chopped chicken

1 can black beans

2 cups frozen yellow corn

1/4 cup snipped fresh cilantro

2 cups broken tortilla chips

Toppings such as grated cheese, diced avocado, sour cream, and diced tomato.

In 4 qt pot, cook onion, jalapeno pepper, taco seasoning mix and garlic over medium high heat until tender crisp. Add chicken broth, salsa, and lime juice. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Stir in chicken, cilantro, beans and corn. Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with broken tortilla chips and serve with toppings.

So there ya go. A good soup for a nice cold day. I already sampled it several times, just to make sure it was edible and all. (Tamzen, I bet it would be good if you used vegetable broth and left the chicken out too!)

 

Video: Share a video that makes you laugh every time you watch it.

 

 

 This is a little video snippit that I took of Alex back in March 2006. Our little point and shoot has 30 sec video. Alex didn't realize it at the time so he was trying to get his smile right while waiting for me to snap the picture!

I had to take a break. This book weighs very heavy on me. I know it's fiction, but still it weighs heavy on my heart. I've found myself crying many times in the last 24 hours. I have to step away from it every so often. I need time to think and breathe. I think I'll grab one of Sophie's Judy Blume books for some light reading after this.

During my break time, I decided to catch Alex and Victoria up on their parts of speech. Nothing like a lesson in simple subject and simple predicates with a little diagramming thrown in. I'm amazed at how fast it is all coming back to me now. I really do love this stuff. I find that I am a good teacher, but I get frustrated when they don't get it right away. I've always just gotten it, and I don't understand when they don't get it right away and start to just give up on me. Luckily, the lightbulbs came on quickly and we finished 2 lessons. I think they'll be good for school by time I'm done with them.

I went back to the thrift store today and bought more books. I think I'll be making a habit of stopping by every week or so. Today's haul included a favorite childhood book of mine, Nobody's Cat. I remember taking it out of our school library many times. At $.25, I couldn't pass up buying it and sharing one of my childhood memories with the kids. Although, I only remember that the poor cat was a stray. I don't remember a happy ending. He could've been hit by a car or something. Guess I'll find out when I read it to the younger kids tonight. I don't think the 12 year olds will want to sit and listen to this one.

 

 

Alex discovered Man Vs. Wild this summer and spent a lot of time making lean-tos in the backyard.

Seriously, did I really give birth to her? She went from 6lbs 12oz to a full grown young lady in 12 short years!

Yup, this is actually all hanging from my rearview mirror.

Because everyone should wear goggles when they are watching tv and eating popcorn!

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, not so much.

Ashley's 9th birthday party in June.

Steve and his cool glasses. He bought them when he was in Arizona and wanted my opinion so he took this picture. Obviously, he didn't know I was going to stick it on the internet.

Sophia and one of our chinchillas, Schnitzel. They really do make great pets.

For the past hour, the arch of my foot feels like it is on the verge of getting a charley horse. I keep bracing myself every time it starts. Then nothing, it goes away. I almost wish I would just get the dumb thing, be done with it so I am not walking around in constant fear. Ok, oooh, there it goes again. Maybe I don't want to get one.

I made a new recipe for dinner. I was tired of the same old same old. I made tamale pie. First off, it is cheap. Secondly, I love tamales, so a dish with a tamale like crust (or bottom, because wouldn't a crust be, uh, crusty?) sounded good to me.

The kids kept coming into the kitchen trying to guess what I was making. The ground beef with taco seasoning made them all think tacos. The pot of cornmeal mush had them all confused. The box of brownies I left out when looking for the cornmeal added to the confusion along with 4 packs of my emergency mashed potatoes. They were hovering about, looking over my shoulder, peeking into the pots and pans, anything for a clue as to what I was making and whether they would actually want to eat it. I finally told them all it was a surprise and that none of us had ever had it. Then I shooed them out of the kitchen so I could finish it up.

As I took it out of the oven, they all came running. "Will you tell us now?". I told them tamale pie. They seemed relieved as I pulled it out and put it on the counter. I'm sure part of it's appeal was the cheese I had smothered the top with. It didn't call for cheese, but you can't go wrong with adding cheese to most mexican dishes, in my opinion. I cut them all a slice and served it up with sour cream. They loved it. They want to know when I am making it again.

Hmmm, considering it is cheap, easy and well liked, probably pretty soon.

I'm really trying to blog every day this month. I meant to extend the challenge to every one else around here, but I didn't.

So um, there's really nothing happening today. I spent the day making my grocery list and clipping coupons. I also made Creamed Chicken with Peas to serve over rice. It just kinda popped in my head and sounded really yummy and satisfying. I recall my mom, grandmother and aunt making something similar with leftover chicken or turkey. It's like creamed chippped beef, but with chicken and peas instead. I ate mine over toasted wheat bread though. The kids prefer it over rice. They also prefer it without peas, but they'll just have to deal. I used to hate peas growing up, but now I actually like them. So far, 3 out of 5 kids like it and one my picky eaters, Alex is one of them. He actually went for seconds.

I don't even have anything for Art Show Thursday. I suppose I could paint my toes since Hannah has deemed it art. I keep looking at the blank paper next to the computer. I would love to just be able to draw something spectacular, but unlike Steve, I just don't have that ability.

In other news, I deleted a bunch of obsolete stuff here on my ancient computer so it would be nicer to me and let me do things like, open more than one window at a time or watch videos. I don't think it's running any faster. Maybe if I pat it and tell it how beautiful and wonderful it is and how I just can't live without it.

Ooh, and I found the volleyball! I've been scouring the house for 3 days now looking for the brand new volleyball we bought back in Spring with no luck. I was really afraid that it was hiding in our ivy, leather peeling and ruined before it was even used. Luckily the kids really did keep their hands off of it and um, it was at the bottom of a basket of laundry in the laundry room. Because that is exactly where one would keep a volleyball. Seriously, if I hadn't put it there, it probably would have been left outside and ruined by one of the kids. I am so smart, I put it there and now it's as good as new.

Ok, that's it. I'm done for now.

 

Or at least time to snuggle up with my honey and watch an episode or two of Scrubs? Seriously, this has been one long day.

First, we get up early again, as Alex has soccer practice today. Steve dropped him off on his way to work. I gathered up all my paperwork and the remaining kids and headed out to the kids' schools to withdrawal them and get their records. I was happy to find out that they mail them to their new school, so I don't have to go back, pick them up and deliver them to the school as I originally thought.

After that, we headed down toward the school. I figured we would walk around the Farmer's Market a bit since we had some time before I had to pick up Alex. It was ridiculously hot. So the kids and I picked out some yummy fruits, fawned over the adorable ducklings for a minute or two and decided we would rather sit in the parking lot of the school in our air conditioned van than walk around in what felt to be 100 temps.

I picked up Alex and Victoria noticed two of her new volleyball teammates. They had been practicing even though there wasn't a scheduled practice today. Victoria went off to talk to them, exchanging phone numbers so next time she won't miss out. I tracked down the principal, since the secretary was nowhere to be found, and gave him the kids' registration papers and the registration fees.

Then I came back here and started scouring the internet for online worksheets to help the kids get up to where they need to be. They are a little behind in some areas. Our public schools don't teach roman numerals (which Steve is a whiz at) or parts of speech and how to diagram sentences (which I love to do!). So the principal just asked us to catch them up on that.

I had my first session about the parts of speech with the 3 youngest kids. I figured even though Ashley is the one that needs it, it wouldn't hurt Sophia to review or Josiah to start learning. We actually had a good time and Ashley can't wait to learn about verbs tomorrow. It almost makes me think I should've homeschooled, but then I realize when the novelty of being homeschooled had worn off, it could have been a disaster.

Now dinner is almost done and it's only a little after 4. It feels like it should be 10 o'clock with all that we have jammed into one day. Steve isn't even home from work yet. Crazy.

Everyone is home. Life has returned to normal. That makes me happy. We have Vacation Bible School this week at church. So it's a busy week. I putzed out on UOF on Friday. I was in a mood and in no mood to deal with it. So I didn't. Yet, I feel guilty for not doing it, like I let you all down. Seriously, this guilty complex has got to go. It's been following me around my entire life.

Ok, gotta to make Steve his coffee and pack his lunch so I can send him off to work.

Show us what's in season.

And if you don't like picking 'em, I made some crab cakes too!

Steve made some squash and vidalia onions on the grill.

Victoria enjoying the steamed crabs while Peppy waits for her to drop something good!