Welcome to ChildHood

As a person who has made it through 30 years of life with no stitches or broken bones or visits to the ER for any reason, I am quite ignorant when it comes to what we may label "emergencies". My fear has been that something bad will happen and I won't recognize it as serious and then Abram will come home and I'll be in major trouble for not taking our child to the ER as they are bleeding to death on the couch. (that's a little sarcasm) Just this week I've had two of the typical childhood scares that could have ( but didn't ) end up in the ER.
First Rowan fell of her bar stool somehow and I think she must've hit her chin on it, because she split her chin open. It was a small gash, only about 1/2 inch long, but it was kind of split pretty good. So I wasn't sure what I should do. My tendency is to downplay everything, so I thought maybe I should up-play it. I did end up taking her into our Pediatrician because we have a copay. I let them assess and they said if she was older they would probably stitch it but at this age it would be more traumatizing and the location on her chin enabled them to just pull it back together as best as they could and bandage it without worrying so much about the scarring.
Tonight Brenna was sticking her fingers up her nose and told me she had really big boogers. Then suddenly she burst into hysterical crying and screaming saying it hurt and she couldn't get them out. They hysterical crying and screaming is normal occurrence for her, so I annoyedly told her to calm down and just go get a kleenex. I certainly didn't want her wiping big boogers on the carpet or couch. She walked around the kitchen still screaming, with her fingers up her nose saying she couldn't find the kleenex. I told her they were on the counter. She countinued bawling and wandering around the kitchen saying she couldn't find the counter. At this point I was less annoyed and more amused. She came in and said she wanted me to stick my fingers up there and get them out because they really hurt. I tried not to laugh as I explained my finger would not fit up her nose. I got up and helped her find the counter and the kleenex and showed her how to blow really hard to blow those big boogers out. She tried once or twice and went on crying that she couldn't get them out and they hurt! Finally she got me to understand that she had put two beads up her nose, one up each nostril and they were stuck up there. ARGH! I kinda started feeling freaked out, thinking how on earth will I get them out? Will I have to take her to the ER? What will they do there? Can I use some tweezer-type tools? I asked her to stop pushing her fingers up her nose because I was certain she was just shoving them in farther and farther and I called Abram. When he was a little boy he put a roley poley up his nose. So I wanted to find out how he got it out. As I was on the phone with him telling him I needed him to help me, Brenna came in much relieved because she had blown really hard and the beads came out. Thank Goodness! She did carry those beads around in her hand for the rest of the night. And hopefully the girls learned a valuable lesson. Unfortunately It all went over Lachlan's head so he may have to repeat the fiasco when he gets a little older.

Too cute

Mom: "Rowan, you need to say sorry for throwing your bowl on the floor. That is not okay."
Rowan: "'k"
Mom: "say Sorry"
Rowan: "Sorry, Bowl."

Memorial Day Weekend

Here are some of the fun things we saw/did.

"Taco Salad"

I made the quickest, cleanest, easiest, relatively healthy, and very yummy dinner last night. I am so excited about it, I told Abram we should start having it every night.
I took the remnants from a bag of tortilla chips, crunched them up into bite-sized peices, threw the rest of a bag of salad on top, dumped a drained can of corn, a rinsed/drained can of black beans on that, shredded some cheese and poured some ranch dressing and salsa over all. If you had sliced olives or cooked meat ready, you could add it too. Even the kids liked it. I loved how I didn't have to cook, get my kitchen all hot. I didn't have to make a mess with all sorts of different pans and bowls and stuff to wipe up and it was ready in about two minutes. Sweet!
Lachlan rolled over twice this morning. He just turned 3 months old yesterday. What a sweetie pie he is.
I took some pics of my messy house to show, but I thought it'd be better just to ask : what do you do to keep your house clean? Do you have a rotating schedule, or just clean it all every day? What have you found works best for you?

Musings from Pleasant View School House

This is a copy/paste from one of my favorite blogs : pleasantviewschoohouse.blogpost.com.

maybe I'm weird, but I dig this stuff. :

Friday, May 02, 2008

Lessons from Vintage Fiction

Vintage fiction has been my treasure trove for figuring out how to put together a homemaking life. Old housekeeping manuals will give you out-dated specifics about how to iron or polish the silver the way it was done in the thirties or forties, but it's the mentioned-in-passing daily routine that fascinates me so deeply.

Here's what I have learned about a domestic life, courtesy of Grace Livingston Hill, L.M. Montgomery, and their ilk:

Homemakers have work to do. They get up early and make breakfast, since someone in the family needs sustenance before catching the trolley for a long day at the office. Homemakers have a plan for each day's special tasks. There's really no time to sit around; running a home is a demanding undertaking.

Homemakers dress the part. Need to make beds and clean? Try slipping a little cotton gown right over your nice morning dress to keep it clean. Going out to shop? A smart knitted dress is just right. Staying in for a family dinner? A crimson housegown is just the thing.

Homemakers make things beautiful. A room isn't finished until it reflects the homemaker's love of beauty. A pot of primroses on the dinner table, an embroidered bureau cover on the bedroom chest of drawers, a clean dresser scarf on the buffet in the dining room--creating a home takes attention to detail.

Homemakers think hard about meals. The planning and cooking of meals is an endeavor worthy of time and energy. Meals should be prepared with each day's needs in mind. Are the boys working hard on building a porch? Chocolate cornstarch pudding for dessert, as it can be eaten quickly, and people can get back to their project. No matter what else is going on, careful and appropriate attention must be paid to feeding the family.

Homemakers find out what they need to know. New to the neighborhood and don't know where to shop? Just follow the neighbor lady carrying the basket over her arm. Raised in splendor but married now to a working man? Take a cooking course. One of the privileged elite but ready to do your part for the war? Take that night course in practical nursing.

Homemakers can weather hard times. When money gets tight, they suck it up and move to the unelectrified shack in that rundown part of town and set out daffodils. When the bank fails they get the kerosene lamps and the oil stove out of the attic, and start cooking plain but delicious food. When the apartment's going to be demolished, they cheerfully move into a spacious stone barn for the summer.

Homemakers are indispensable. If mother can't do it, someone else must be found. There's no such thing as a family that runs itself, with every member gone to work or school every day. Without a guiding presence in the house, things go down deep and fast.

Kathryn Albertson Park

We went to K. Albertson park this morning, just the girls and I. We saw 4 turtles, actually got to "pet" one, tons of geese and ducks and red winged blackbirds. That park also has the 'world's largest ponderosa' on display. It is a beautiful natural wildlife habitat with walking paths and foot bridges. Abram thinks of it as a giant bird poop park, but I love it regardless of the goose poop. I thought there would be a lot more babies, we only saw one goose family with 7 goslings. The girls had a great time. We also saw a heron. Once again I should have taken the camera.

Then we went to cash 'n carry, a store that is for restaurants and other types of businesses. They carry bulk foods and all sorts of cooking/serving utensils. I stocked up on my flavored syrups (only $3.78/bottle) so we could make italian sodas. Yummy! We also got some button pork or cushion pork or something that you cook for hours in the crock pot til it falls apart in shreds so we could make sweet pork like the kind at Costa Vida. If you haven't eaten there, try the sweet pork burrito smothered in their tropical ranch salsa. oh YUM! I guess it is the same as Cafe Rio if you have one of those nearby. Thank you forever to Amberlie for introducing me.
Then we finally made it over to the Bear Creek park for the girls to play for a little while. My visiting teaching companion had us over for lunch. The girls had a fabulous time jumping on the tramp, watching Barney and eating burritos and italian sodas. What an excellent day!
My mom got me some more strawberries to finish making more jam. I only got 6 jars out of the last batch because I ran out of pectin.
So I'm already tired out and ready for a nap and haven't done any laundry or cleaning up from the weekend. Maybe some water will help rejuvenate me.
Hope your day is super fun too!
What are you planting in your 'garden' this year?

Eclair Bars

I just took a pan of these to a bridal shower and nearly everyone there asked me for the recipe. I thought I'd better share it with all of you. After all, the more eclair bars there are in the world, the better place it will be. I actually got this recipe from my sis-in-law, Megan. She brought them to a family get-together once and has been "stuck" making them ever since for almost every holiday. I even make them for her when she can't make it. :)

Eclair Bars

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 cube butter
Bring water and butter to boil. Remove from heat.
mix in flour til smooth. Beat in
4 eggs ONE AT A TIME.
Spread into a greased cookie sheet ( good luck with this part)
Bake 400F for 20 min. Cool.

Mix
2 small instant pudding pkgs. ( chocolate or vanilla)
3 cups milk
8 oz cream cheese softened
beat well
spread on cooled pastry
spread 8-12 oz cool whip on top.
drizzle with Chocolate syrup
chill or enjoy immediately!