Sun, rain and hail

Today I went on a field trip with Quinn to the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center. The day started out a little rocky to begin with. When we went to get in the van to drive to school, it was completely dead. Madison had been in it the night before to retrieve something and left the dome light on!!! (How many times do I have to repeat myself about stuff like that?!). Soooo Karla was "our saviour" as Quinn put it and rushed over to rush us to school so we wouldn't miss the field trip bus. Part of the day it was absolutely beautiful with sunshine ... and then the rain fell... and then the hail pounded... well, we got to observe nature in a variety of different "climates" today. It is a pretty neat center. Quinn and I both really like nature so it was fun to look at stuff together. Here are some of the things I/we learned.

1. Moss on trees is one of the stages of decomposing.

2. It takes 50-100 years for a tin (steel) can to decompose enough to blend in with the dirt.

3. As far as scientists know, plastic does not ever decompose on it's own...so stop filling up the land fill with your plastic bottles and recycle them!!!

4. The Baltimore Orioles are just now arriving back into Northern Indiana and our guide spotted the first one at Merry Lea and thus put her in the lead in their staff contest of bird-watching (she was quite excited).

5. If you turn a log/branch over to look for cool critters under it, you should always turn it back down so that their habitat doesn't have to start all over, looking for new homes.

6. Hot dogs can still be roasted over an open fire in the middle of a rain shower.

7. Adults don't have to have umbrellas, we will survive if we get wet...although it is now confirmed that the hair style does NOT survive.

8. Hail melts quite quickly when the sun comes out and thus our group got to go on the hay ride after all.

9. TV weather people have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Surely they must roll a dice to get their forecast each day.

10. Quinn doesn't mind (yet) holding his mama's hand, strolling through the forest, and giving warm hugs to me in front of his friends. He easily turned down his friend's invitation to sit with them on the bus. He chose me because, "I can sit with them anytime, but it's not very often I get to sit with you on the bus."

11. It really was a good day...except for the rain... and the hail....The best part of the day?... tonight Quinn said, "Thanks so much Mom for taking the day off of work and spending it with me." It made this vacation day so worth it.

Cloves!

Michelle shared this web site with me... over 5000 recipes that use cloves!! Since you only use 1 tsp at a time, this ought to just be enough to use up my supply! : ) Thanks Michelle!

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes.php?foodido=1031,2431,6576,7898&title=clove

Quinn's Quips

Quinn's prayer last night went like this...

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day. Thank you for my friends and family. Thank you for protecting me today. Please help the saber-tooth tigers to mate. In Jesus' name, Amen."

And me... "What was that all about...saber-tooth tigers mating?" (!!!!)

Quinn said, "Oh, it's on Prehistoric Park on Animal Planet and it's this show about prehistoric animals and they really need these saber-tooth tigers to mate so they won't become extinct."

So I said, "Well, what exactly does mating mean anyway?"....

He replied, "Oh, it just means that they'll get married and have cubs."

Whew.....

Spice it up

Catchy title huh? I recently went through my spices because I can never find the one I’m looking for, some of them are ancient and really could probably be a hazard to our health! I have a question for you… what does one household need with 3 bottles of ground or whole cloves??? Yes, I have three!! That is an example of not being organized to know what I have and what I don’t have. SO, I pulled them all out and alphabetized them all when I put them back in and then typed up a list with the alphabetical order and posted it in my spice cupboard. Now, guess how many spices and extracts I have…37 different kinds!! That’s after throwing a few out and not counting some of my doubles (or triples). Is that ridiculous or what? You would think I am a gourmet cook or something. I don’t even know what alum is! I think it’s for gingerbread but I’m really not too sure. Scary. I always wished that I would have gotten one of those spice rack thingy-things … I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you now would I? So humor me, go count your spices and then make me feel better or even more ridiculous. And in the mean time… does anyone have a good recipe that uses A LOT of ground cloves??

Sun-filled, Fun-filled Saturday

The Flames tied their game today against Northwest Indiana, 2-2. They didn't play very well in the first half and went to half-time with a 0-2 score. They played much better the second half and were able to tie. Madison played fairly well for as bad of a week as she had. I wasn't sure she would play at all today. She told me that after the game she told Marcus that she was "sorry I didn't play my best today but I'm dehydrated!" : ) She wasn't as fast as she usually is. She told me she was just "SO TIRED!" ...I wonder why? She is feeling so much better otherwise and her appetite is finally back.

Nathan joined us for the day and is spending the night. His family is going to a wedding in Chicago and they thought he would enjoy playing outside the entire day instead of being cooped up inside in wedding attire. I think they probably made a wise choice. It was so cute, Tony was teasing him at supper tonight and told him, "listen Buddy, I know your tricks!"... and with a sly smile Nathan said, "nuh-uh, you don't know ALL of them!" That's Nathan for ya, and his way of saying that he has more antics up his sleeve. Which he did.

We are dog-sitting for Duchess this weekend too. Beppe & Pakka went to Iowa for a wedding as well. I guess this is getting to be the season for weddings. She is always so well-behaved for us. We like to have her here.

Madison and Quinn had ball practice today and Madison went to Alexa's tonight for a birthday party and slumber party. I sure hope we didn't make a mistake by letting her go... probably won't help the fatigue factor any. But according to Madison, "Tracy throws the BEST birthday parties!" We went to Buffalo Wild Wings tonight. The boys brought money to play their 2 video games. Nathan earned "a buck-fifty" from Tony for picking up sticks today and Quinn brought money from his piggy-bank and it was all burning a hole in their pockets. They were disappointed that the games were out of order. Without our suggestion, our gentlemanly son decided to leave his "buck-fifty" on the table for a tip for the waitress. We talked about how hard waitresses have to work for their money and that she probably had a family at home that she didn't get to spend the evening with. I was proud of him.

Well, that's all for tonight. Hope you are having a good weekend.

Love to all, Leah

Is it Tuesday?

It felt like a Tuesday today because it was only my 2nd day at work this week. Weird! It was actually good that I was there because I was quite busy the whole day... it does make the day go super fast. I had my evaluation today and I was told that as soon as I say the words "full-time" ... their answer would be yes, right away. They've asked me too many times for me to remember, to go full-time. They used to just hint around at it, then they kind of "dream of what we could do if only...." and now they just flat out ask me about it. My answer has always been the same. The #1 reason I went back to school was so that I could be home in the morning and afternoon for the kids. I didn't get to do that much the first 5-8 years of their short lives. SOoooo, today, he (Vladimir) is now back to the "hinting around" about going full-time but he also told me that he was so happy that I have made my values and priorities very clear the last couple of years and that he respected me for taking a stand on them when it isn't easy to do in today's working world. YES! ... I've always been plagued by guilt, pretty much no matter what it seems. Guilty that I'm not at home more, guilty that I'm not at work more, guilty that I say no, guilty that I say yes, guilty that I have to be gone for an evening for an educational event, guilty that I'm NOT gone for an evening for education. I just can't win with myself! I have to give myself pep talks every now and then. When I'm resting in Christ, I have no reason to be guilty! If I've "covered" it all with Him and am acting according to what His will is for me now, why do I feel this way? I think some of it is natural for a mother... but some of it is the enemy, happy to leave me discontented. My prayer has many times been to arrive at the same feeling as Paul, in Philippians 4:11-13 which says this...

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."

I was totally not planning on a sermonette tonight... I really didn't even know what I was going to say tonight when I sat down at the computer but these words just flowed out. Perhaps this will be an encouragement for some one who needs this scripture tonight as often as I do.

Love to all, Leah

Finally!

Madison went to school today and I went to work. Life looks like it will FINALLY get back to normal! She still hasn't gotten her appetite back yet. Yesterday she had 1 cracker. She really tried to drink for me though. Once I looked at her and she said, "Don't tell me to drink right now because I just set my cup down and I'm tired of you telling me to drink!" WELL! ...I accepted the sassiness as a sign that she might be "recovering". Ha! I was a little nervous to send her off to school. She was nervous about it too but she did fine, just a little tired, weak and her leg muscles are quite sore (dehydration). I did give her some Phenergan though before she left. She wasn't able to eat breakfast because of an upset stomach. She missed all of soccer and softball this week. We'll see how she does over the next day or two and ease back into activities slowly. Amanda, she has watched 4 Little House on the Prairie CDs... or 16 shows this week from Season 1! We wished you lived closer so we could borrow Season 2. I should check with the library...

Tonight I went to the team leader meeting for Madison's softball team. This year their fund raiser is cookie dough and coffee. I bet those things will go well. I get so tired of fund raisers but that's how these volunteer organizations survive and with 700 kids in this Little League... I guess it's necessary.

That's all for tonight. Hope you all are well!

Love to all, Leah

Hold on to that thought!

Well, I thought Madison was over this... this morning she was ready to go to school, I was completely ready for work but unfortunately when the bus was rounding the corner, she was in the bathroom throwing up again! Quinn was so confused... first I'm yelling at him on the curb to HOLD THE BUS because she is on the way and then I'm yelling at him to SEND THE BUS ON ... what a mess! So, Beppe & Pakka came over for a little while this morning so I could go to work and see the first couple of patients... who were on their way I'm sure. Poor work... they were a MESS!! I felt SO BAD to leave them that way! What a week... (Sigh!).

SO, Madison and I are home again... we just finished American Idol from last night. We have officially chosen Melinda as our favorite but I still think Jordan will probably win.

Love from sick-central, Leah

Turning the corner

Madison turned the corner around lunch time today. I was getting quite concerned about dehydration this morning... wow, does that ever give you the acetone smelling breath! I finally got her to light up a little when I suggested a Slurpee from 7-11. It was worth the trip... the calories were very helpful and she finally started to turn the corner. She kept it down along with one cracker for breakfast, 1 piece of toast for lunch and 1/2 cup of rice tonight. She acts so much better, even laughed! She lost 5 pounds over the last few days. She wants to go to school tomorrow so I hope she'll make it for the day. That breath though... whew, that needs to improve A LOT! She's sick of me telling her to drink! She plowed through 2 days worth of homework tonight and feels ready to go so that's great news!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day at 70 degrees! We sat out on the deck for a while and Madison laid on the deck under a blanket for at least 2 hours watching me do some clean up in the garage, deck and storage shed. She felt up to playing some Yahtzee today so that helped make the day go faster too. We even treated ourselves to manicures tonight while Quinn entertained the neighborhood kids again outside. He was so upset that Madison "got to" stay home today and he had to go to school. He seriously told me that he wished he would be sick so he could stay home too. I think his sick days have been entirely too much fun. I need to make them miserable in the future I guess. I made him some chocolate chip cookies today and had them piping hot out of the oven when he got home from school to ease his "wounds" of missing our day. "You made these just for me?... you really did?...awesome!"

Well, that was our day... Tony just got home so I'll go and visit with him.

Love to all, Leah

Quinn's quips

While reading a recipe Quinn noticed that it called for smoked provolone cheese.

"Why in the world would anyone want to add smoke to their cheese? That is so disgusting!"

"What?... What are you talking about?"

"Well, it says right here, smoked provolone (which he couldn't pronounce) cheese... why would someone want to add smoke?"

"No Buddy, not cigarette smoke... it's like a charcoal grill smokey flavor that is added to the cheese."

"Oh"

Quinn Quips

While helping him dry off from the shower, carefully treading around his "bad knee" (that is skinned up)...

Quinn said, "I just have no idea what I would do without a mom in this world... I mean, it just wouldn't work without a mom."

I said, "Oh you would do just fine with Your dad... he's such a good daddy that you would do great."

"No I don't think so... I mean, what if I had to go to the hospital or something, Dad wouldn't know what to do..."

(My number one fan is SO CUTE!).

A whole lot of nothing...

Today Madison and I were home because she was sick. While I love being at home I certainly don't like it because of having a sick child. The poor girl laid on the couch the whole day... when she wasn't in the bathroom. She has kept down 2 crackers today...that's about it. I had to play the "if-you-don't-drink-then- you'll-have-to-have-an-IV-started-and-give-you-fluids-that-way" card because she was pretty adamant that she wasn't drinking either because her stomach hurt too much. That made her pick up her glass pretty quick. Thank goodness she doesn't have a fever to worsen dehydration. Beppe found out that Madison was sick and was over within the hour with some of Madison's special peach tea... to woo her into drinking something. She drank it but unfortunately it didn't stick, if you know what I mean. Still quite sick at 8:30 tonight and was more than ready to go to bed and get this day checked off the calendar. Done. Made it. Barely. We did catch up on our American Idol episodes this afternoon that we were so far behind on. We decided that we don't have one favorite this year. Mark this down, I think Jordan will win it all.

Tony went to Madison's softball practice tonight to coach and Quinn went to his baseball practice. Quinn was so excited when he got home because apparently he made a triple play in his baseball practice. He was playing shortstop and caught a fly ball, tagged the runner out and then ran and stepped on a base. One of the coaches was so excited that he ran out on the field to give him a high five! He also said that he "fight-ed through the pain" and slid into a base tonight (on his "bad knee").... and apparently survived it.

That's all for tonight. Hopefully our day tomorrow will go better but it's looking very doubtful for school tomorrow. We were trying to remember when she last ate a real meal... I think it was on Friday night. She at least needs to eat and drink before going back to school.... ya think?!

Love to all, Leah

Sunny Sunday

Today was a beautiful day in the low 80's. Quinn got his second skinned up knee today, both bike wrecks... the first one was yesterday and was actually pretty bad. Taking off the dressing today was ...well, according to Tony..."what were you doing to him? It sounded like you must have been stabbing him or something!" Yaw, he had a "few" tears. Poor guy. Skinned knees do hurt don't they?

Also "poor Madison" today. Her stomach started hurting this morning and I'll spare you all the throwing up gory details but she ended up getting worse instead of better and can't go to school tomorrow. She said she had a terrible day. Quinn and half the neighborhood had a water gun fight, rode bikes and played baseball in our yard, while Madison laid on the couch under 4 blankets. Poor girl.

I practiced my cake decorating today. Dr. Poovendran is quitting his anesthesia part of his practice and will be in the pain clinic full time now. M-F. Yes, it will definitely be different but he will still take his 1 week of vacation a month so that won't change. We decided to have a "coming out" party for him tomorrow so I made the cake and the others decorated his office. Here is a picture of the cake... it is certainly not worth writing home about. Get this ... it took 2 HOURS to decorate it!! I even baked it yesterday!! Today it was making the frosting (twice) and actually getting it on the cake. Boy, hope that gets faster.

I hope you all have a good week. My stomach is now kind of queasy... Tony reassures me that it's all in my head so I'm going to try and buy into that thinking for now!

Love to all, Leah

Quinn's Quips

The setting: Laying in Quinn's bed, with him just ready to drift off to sleep, he suddenly has this urgent question...

"Mom, can you live without your eyes?"

"Yes, you can... there are a lot of blind people who do just fine."

"No, I mean, can you actually LIVE without your eyes at all?"

"Yes, as long as you don't get an infection... someone might have to wear dark glasses or may be a glass eyeball to make the eyes look normal."

"Yah, you sure wouldn't want your identity known... I mean, it would just be so embarrassing to walk around without ANY eyes... OK, goodnight."

Flames WIN!

You read the title right... the Flames soccer team won this morning! They played the Junior Irish in South Bend and beat them 6-2. It was so much more fun to be on the scoring side of things. Their drought has finally ended! The girls were actually their size... makes sense since they are close to the same age. Madison did a wonderful job on defense and Peyton did great on offense, scoring 3 of the goals! More than anything else we noticed how ALL of the girls have improved since the last season. It was amazing! Their foot work was so much better and you could tell they actually had some "plans" out there of what they were going to do with the ball. Seeing that improvement was the best part. I guess all those winter practices were worth it!

It was a bit "painful" to get Madison up at 7am on a Saturday and she told me she felt tired during the game; hopefully they won't play that early away from our home field again. Of course Quinn was up and dressed already.

That's all... just wanted to share their news!
Leah

Busy Friday

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day... 70 degrees and guess what? I was off today! Yippee-yahoo! It doesn't usually work out like that for me. I actually spent most of the day indoors but so enjoyed the weather during my dashes in/out of places.

This morning Karla, Lisa, Eliza, Angie and I had coffee at The Refinery. I have to say that I thought that coffee was MUCH better than Panera!! What did you guys think? The atmosphere is better, coffee is better... it's just all around better!

I chatted for about an hour and then it was off to school to help in Madison's class. I do so enjoy going...however it does take off a pretty good chunk of my day. I'm usually there 2-3 hours. I'm just so happy to be able to actually get to volunteer at my kid's school. Me... a working mom, gets to do this!... I do feel blessed for what may seem like a trivial thing to you! I work with MANY working mothers (surprised?) that don't get this opportunity. I graded some papers and did some photocopying. I also had lunch with Quinn today so that was a special treat. I got to meet a classmate of his, Nathan C. (we have so many Nathans in our life!), and Quinn told me that he especially likes Nathan because his dad repairs airplanes for his job. He wanted Nathan to tell me all about it! Wow... what excitement (for Quinn).

I then had to head to the grocery store, one of my least favorite chores, and then to Target real fast and then home. It was now close to 2:30 so I unloaded and put the groceries away (handling each item 5 times... count how many times you actually handle your groceries) did some laundry, checked my email and before I knew it the bus was dropping off the kids. What a fast day!

The kids grabbed a fast snack and then we went to pick up Karla, Katie and Nathan and we went to the farm to see the calves. Madison and Katie's "job" right now is just to pet them and talk to them and build some trust so that they'll get to know each other. They don't even put a harness on for another month or so. This was Quinn's first trip and boy was he complaining because we had to leave "so soon"... like an hour later. Madison has decided that she would like to live on this farm and get up and do the milking in the morning. I wonder how long that would last.

After we got home from the farm, I had about 30minutes to make and feed the kids supper and get the kids ready because tonight M & Q went with B & P to see Charlotte's Web at their church. I was hoping to go out for supper or may be even to a movie with my dear husband but my dear husband is still at work as I write this!! I told him he owes me.

Tomorrow we have to leave by 7:45am for Madison's first Flames game for this season. I can't wait to see how her team fares against other girls the same age. Last season we didn't score any goals AT ALL... against 12 year old girls.

Love to all, Leah

Thursday

Today was just a pretty normal day... actually we were on the slower side at work, so that wasn't normal, but I'm not complaining!! Tonight was soccer practice for Madison and baseball practice for Quinn. After both of those we met Tony in a parking lot and handed Quinn over to him so Madison and I could go on to the 4H Dairy Club. We got there late, around 7:45 but that's the best we could do. We filled out forms to register the calf for the fair. There's more to "it" now that I'm the mom doing all of this. Surely my mom and dad had to fill out all of these forms when we showed our sheep at the fair. I certainly don't remember any of that!

That's all for tonight folks. Pretty boring huh?
Love to all, Leah

Cake decorating class

Madison and I went to our cake decorating class and these are the cupcakes we made tonight! Aren't they awesome?... Don't you think they are a little "too awesome" for us??? OK, Ok, OK... they aren't ones we made, but some day we hope to make. Here is a picture of the cake that Madison made tonight

... she practiced some of the various "techniques" that we learned. She was quite happy with it, so I am too!

We were the only ones in the class! The other 6 students couldn't come for one reason or another and class was cancelled last week so the instructor insisted that we come anyway. So, we had the instructor to ourselves... and according to her, it's "just like 3 friends getting together". She's real sweet. We had a good time and it was fun to do something with my girl.

Tony was working so Quinn hung out with Nate. Grandma Jo, they have now started using Nate's "Chat Now" phones... basically a walkie-talkie and it works from his house to ours so they aren't tying up the phone line now. They had to "chat" while Quinn was brushing his teeth, getting his PJ's on... they might as well live together. We are thrilled because they (Quinn & Nate) have decided that they will go to Camp Friedenswald this summer for 2 nights! Quite a big step for both of them I think but there is strength in numbers and as long as they keep their shoulders velcroed together, they're confident they will do great. Madison was talking camp up to Quinn and was listing off all of the fun things you can do... "you can throw note balls to each other during rest time..." and Quinn was buying all of the fun until he heard that, "That is the problem! I don't know how to throw a note ball!"...and from Madison, "You write a note, wad it up and throw it at the person!"... and from Quinn, "Ohhhh" with relief in his voice. Whew... let's get all the particulars down. Madison informed me tonight that she is going to camp every single year, even when she has gray hair... I guess by that time she'll either be working at the camp or running it! Ha!

Well, that's all for tonight folks.

Love to all, Leah

What to do with these Easter eggs??

Does anyone else have hard-boiled colored Easter eggs staring at them every single time you open the refrigerator? Madison and I love deviled eggs. I haven't gotten around to making them yet and really, how many eggs can you really eat? ...Not that many if you appreciate your current cholesterol level. I thought I would look for a different recipe though... to shake things up a bit. I went to www.tasteofhome.com and "only" found 80 different recipes! Who would have guessed you can do that much with an egg yolk! Anyway, here is a recipe I thought I would try. Anyone want to beat me to it... and tell me if it's worth "risking" my colored Easter eggs on?

Garlic Deviled Eggs

6 hard-cooked eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 to 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 green onions with tops, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon salt
Paprika

Slice eggs in half lengthwise; remove yolks and set whites aside. In a small bowl, mash yolks. Add mayonnaise, mustard, onions, garlic and salt. Fill egg whites; sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 1 dozen

Stress Relievers

Hello, We had a good weekend... COLD but good. We tried to practice some stress-relieving activities. Some of "us girls" decided to go shopping and out for supper. What better way to relieve stress huh? So, Friday night was a shopping night and out to Don Pablos with Karla, Lisa and Angie. It was great. Tony took the kids to see the movie "Meet the Robinsons" and out for supper. They had a nice evening with just Dad, which was really good for them too.

Yesterday Madison and Tony had softball practice from 10-12 and then they ran a few errands. She was supposed to have soccer in the afternoon but somehow came up with a sore ankle after her Thursday night practice so she didn't go. She must have gotten kicked off the side of her shin guard or something because her shin is swollen and it's swollen down into her ankle. This is her second injury this season already (remember the back?...and before that it was the wrist?). I think I need to start praying about that...injury prevention. Quinn had baseball practice at 4pm but after 1 hour and snow flakes blowing around, they quit early (thank goodness).

So anyway, Madison and I went with Terry, Karla, Katie and Nathan to the farm that has the calves that Katie and Madison are going to show at the 4H fair this summer. This was their first meeting. The calves are about 6 weeks old. The farmers have a "system" to their naming of the cows because they are all registered. It just so happens that Katie's calf is named "Honey" and Madison's is named "Crisp"... pretty cute huh? We were there about 2 1/2 hours, touring their dairy farm. Twice a day they milk around 210 cows. Wow! It was a very cold but interesting afternoon. Each cow gives around 100-120 pounds of milk each day, this is approximately 15 gallons of milk per day!

Madison meets Crisp for the first time.

Crisp

Honey thinks Katie's fingers taste pretty good.


Today was church and then to Hacienda afterwards for lunch. This afternoon at 4:30 is Small Group at Rex & Angie's house and that pretty much wraps up our weekend. It sure went fast! I hope you all have a good week.


Love to all, Leah