Last Week's Menu

This post is for my friends Gina and Maria who think it would be SOOOOO interesting to know what my menus are like.

Here's what I made for dinners over the last two weeks:

Sunday: Italian Chicken and Rice with Green Beans and Rolls

Monday: Chicken Crescents with Green Salad and Candied Acorn Squash

Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash with Marinara Sauce and Broccoli on the side

Wednesday: Butternut Squash Soup with Rolls (I used a pint of cream instead of the cream cheese and baked the squash before blending instead of boiling it in the broth.)

Thursday: Enchiladas with Sweet Corn

Friday: Homemade Pizza (it was ElemenoB's birthday party with her friends so we went with super simple)

Saturday: Tomato Tortellini Basil Soup with Goldfish Crackers

(This week we had a lot of squash because someone gave us quite a few from their garden and I had to give them all a try. The Butternut Squash Soup was for SURE a new favorite.)

Sunday: Mexican Chicken and Rice with Green Beans

Monday: Chicken Noodle Soup with Oyster Crackers

Tuesday: Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Green Beans

Wednesday: Beef Stroganoff with Broccoli

Thursday: Pigs in a Blanket with Green Salad

Friday: Baked Beans and Biscuits with Mixed Vegetables

Saturday: Chicken Stuffing Casserole with Green Beans

If anyone is interested in recipes for any of these or a list of what we make for breakfasts or lunches, leave a comment and let me know.

Melancholy Day

The stormy grey skies matched my mood this morning as I checked my email and found a message my mom had sent late last night: Aunt Bonnie passed away today.

If you wonder what kind of influence my Aunt Bonnie had in my life, you can read this post from February of this year. I've been thinking about her a lot today.

This past summer we had originally planned to take a family trip to the western states to visit so many of our relatives who are scattered throughout the area. One stop would have been in Oregon to see Aunt Bonnie and some of her children who live near her. However, we had a change of plans and did not make that trip. I have no regrets, really - more of just a wish that I could have seen her one last time and told her how much she meant to me.

That post I mentioned above? I kept meaning to print it out and send it to her. I still don't know why I didn't. But I didn't. It is what it is.

Isn't it funny how you can live so far away from someone and have had so little contact over the years - but once they're gone from this life you can miss them like crazy and wish for more time?

I have so many thoughts that can not be organized right now. It has just been a melancholy day.

Eleven Things

My oldest daughter, ElemenoB, is 17 years old today. She was born on 11/11, eleven days earlier than her due date. She is in the 11th grade and her favorite number is... (wait for it) ... 11. So in honor of her birthday I am excited to tell you 11 things I love about my ElemenoB. But since she is 17 years old (and so dang cute!) I get to use 17 pictures.


1. ElemenoB is super creative. She takes pictures, tries new recipes, loves interior design and enjoys finding empty containers that she can mod-podge with photos torn from magazines.


2. She is athletic. Elle runs cross country and plays on the basketball team at school. She has run in the Ragnar Relay twice and she loves playing ultimate Frisbee. She is such a great sport that she used to apologize to her opponents when she played aggressively against them in basketball.


3. She is musically talented. Elle can play the piano and she's trying to teach herself to play the guitar. My favorite instrument, though, is her voice. She thinks she sings off-key, but I love hearing when she and Thumbelina are singing together to the radio or a Relient K song on her iPod.


4. She can be a tomboy and a girly-girl. We knew from the time she was little that she was tomboy-ish. ElemenoB used to scream when we put jeans on her because they were "tooooo tight!" We thought she would never stop wearing pants with an elastic waistband. She would always rather have been climbing a tree than having a tea party. Anytime I would curl her hair as a kid she would get 'that look' on her face and as soon as I was done she would lock the bathroom door, get her hair wet and 'smooth out' what I had done. The girly-girl side started to come out when our neighbor, Amy, would dress our girls up for fun and it still shows up on occasion when she goes to formal dances and shops for dresses or shoes.


5. ElemenoB knows how to find beauty all around her. She appreciates things like mountains and flowers and trees and clouds and sunsets. When she takes pictures they capture the beauty of seemingly insignificant things. She is fascinated by the inner workings of the human body and wants to be an athletic trainer or physical therapist.


6. She has a twisted sense of humor. I'm not sure how to explain this one except to say that sometimes the things she thinks are funny really are not. But then she starts laughing and before you know it we're all laughing and thinking maybe it was funny after all.


7. She would rather shop at thrift stores than the mall. That's my girl!


8. ElemenoB is a good big sister. She loves her younger siblings (most of the time) and is a great help to them. She gets a kick out of the funny things they say and do.


9. She is a young woman of hidden talents. Her English accent is amazing when she wants to use it. She also has a talent for acting (you should have seen her in the role of Golem in the 5th grade production of The Hobbit!) and actually enjoys doing the neighbor's yard work.


10. She is a loyal friend. Some of her best friends she has known since elementary school. She is always making new friends, too. ElemenoB also has a knack for making others feel included.

11. ElemenoB is beautiful, inside and out.

Happy 17th Birthday, ElemenoB! I hope all your wishes come true.

Every Little Bit Counts

photo of my adorable niece shamelessly pilfered from here

In the month of November many people list things they are thankful for each day on Facebook or write a post about the things they are thankful for on their blogs. I will probably be writing up a post one day this month that lists some of the many things I am blessed with in my life - but today I am especially thankful for my cute niece Addilynn and her amazing parents.

Some of you are familiar with my awesome brother and sister-in-law, Daren and Shannon. They found out they couldn't have kids on their own so they began a process which eventually brought Addilynn into their lives through adoption.

Addi was recently diagnosed with a rare disorder called FOP. (You can click on that link to read a quick synopsis about it.) Shannon created a blog to write about their journey with Addi's FOP. To read their story (which also explains how they found out about Addi's diagnosis), click HERE.

They are also having a 'Drawing From the Heart' (funny fact: it was originally called a 'raffle' but she found out they needed to get a license for gambling if they used the word raffle) to help fund FOP research and find a cure. They are simply asking for everyone who is willing to donate what they can - from $1.00 to $1 million (if you happen to have that lying around in a suitcase somewhere...). To sweeten the deal there are even a whole slew of great prizes that have been donated for the drawing.

To be included in the drawing you can donate until November 26th. Winners will be announced Monday, November 28th. You can read more about it all HERE.

The hardest thing for me right now is that I feel helpless to do anything for Addi. When I hear something is wrong with someone that I love, I want to fix it. I want to make it better. Prayers and donating to FOP research is all I can do, so that's what I did.

I wrote this post because I want to do more - and I hope it will encourage others to help, too.

Musings On School Dances

Coolister before he left to pick up his date for Prom last year.

My kids have enjoyed their fair share of high school dances. Boy asks girl (or vice versa) in a fun, creative manner, they receive an answer and they go have a grand time at the dance with a group of their friends.

As a mom, the hardest part of these dances was watching my oldest boy drive off to pick up his date, knowing I was going to miss out on seeing his date's dress and getting pictures of the two of them together. Or hearing ElemenoB talk about the guy she asked to such-and-such a dance but never getting to meet him because she had to pick him up.

It is really unfair that I miss out on half of the photo opportunities for dances my kids go to (unless I decide to be a stalker - which I only do when I know the mother of the other kid). But I have a solution!

From here on out I propose that all parents who get to take pictures of their son/daughter when the young man/woman arrives to pick them up should ask the young man/woman for his/her mother's email address and then send her some pictures of the two of them all decked out. Either that or call and invite the mother over to take pictures so she doesn't feel like a stalker.

Are you with me? Let's get it started!

Creative Vocabulary

One of the weekly assignments in Cowgirl's fifth grade class is to create a vocabulary poster based on an assigned word. I think this is one of her favorite assignments each week because it allows her to be creative. I have loved some of the posters she has created, such as this:


and, of course, this:

However, I am pretty sure that this week's poster is my favorite so far:

Easily Entertained

ElemenoB is a junior in high school so she gets all sorts of letters and postcards from schools that want her to apply to attend college there. Some of them are formal, some are fun, some are ridiculous, and most of them end up in the trash eventually.

However, one provided entertainment value - a recent postcard from the University of Arizona.

It invited ElemenoB to check out a video made just for her at a specific URL so she typed it in and sure enough, there was her name emblazoned all over a few choice slides in the video presentation.

She was slightly impressed until she figured out that you could likely replace her name in the URL with any other name and it would appear in the video. She was right - and everyone took turns laughing as we created invitations for various people to attend the University of Arizona over the next half hour or so.









University of Arizona, thank you for making our day.

Giving Thanks For Thanksgiving

photo from eslpod.com

Dear Thanksgiving,

Just wanted to let you know that, despite the fact that the retail stores and radio stations have forgotten you once again, I have not. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christmas. In fact, I love it. It has just become so overwhelmingly materialistic and shoved down my throat the day after Halloween. I think that you serve as a great precursor to being inundated with ho-ho-ho music and people wearing Santa hats. No one should just skip over you, Thanksgiving. We need to remember to give thanks. So when it comes to holidays, please don't feel neglected when you see inflatable Santas and animated Grinches adorning the holiday aisles in stores. At our house, we haven't forgotten you. In fact, we have a playlist of Thanksgiving songs which we enjoy until your day has passed. Here is what we will be listening to until the day after we celebrate the things we're thankful for:

1. Thankful - Josh Groban
2. Thanksgiving Theme - Vince Guaraldi Trio
3. Colors - John McCutcheon
4. Prayer of Thanksgiving - David Tolk
5. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing - MoTab Choir
6. Thanksgiving Day - John McCutcheon
7. Thank U - Alanis Morrissette
8. When Fall Comes to New England - Cheryl Wheeler
9. Take Me Home Country Roads - John Denver
10. Thank You - John Mellencamp
11. Happy Thanksgiving - Debbie Friedman
12. Home - Michael Buble
13. Thanksgiving - George Winston
14. Celebrate Me Home - Kenny Loggins
15. Thanksgiving - Jim Brickman
16. Kind and Generous - Natalie Merchant
17. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
18. Thank You - Boyz II Men

Hang in there, Thanksgiving. I've got your back.

Sincerely,
Gerb

On Stifling Creativity

In preparation for a presentation that Allen is filming for work, he has been watching TED talks. When he came across this one, he showed it to me - and it struck a chord in both of us. It really made us think about what we may be doing to stifle our kids' creativity and how we can change that.



I'd love to hear what you think.

Lucky Me

When I think of the things I am thankful for, this guy is the first thing that comes to mind.

Allen takes such great care of our family - he is a wonderful provider and jack-of-all trades who can do pretty much anything that he sets his mind to.

His skills with woodworking continue to amaze me with each new project he undertakes. He dreams up his creations, designs them in his head, and builds them with precision and beauty.

From very early on in our marriage it was easy to see what a hard worker Allen is. He is extremely service-oriented and always looking for opportunities to help others, too.

He loves the outdoors. Not only does he keep our yard in immaculate condition (one neighbor reports she once saw him laying on the front lawn, cutting the blades of grass with a pair of scissors), he also loves spending time out in nature - hiking the mountains, rafting the rivers and biking the trails.

Allen has always been awesome when it comes to housework and taking care of the kids. I remember a time when I was getting home late at night from a meeting and one of the women there sarcastically mentioned, "I'm sure we'll all get home and our houses will be clean and the kids will all be in bed," then a friend of mine piped up, "At Gerb's house, that will be the case!"

One of my favorite things about Allen is that he does not take himself too seriously. He knows how to laugh and be silly and have fun.

I am so lucky to have him as not only my husband, but my best friend.

Happy birthday, Allen!

Thankful

(A glimpse of the mountains on the way to my kids' school. Don't you think the view is... cool?)

The sound of waves on ocean shore,
A laugh, a smile, an open door,
A bird in flight, the dreams that soar,
These are the things I'm thankful for.

Sunrise, sunset, a garden gate,
Freshly baked cookies on my plate,
Some time to read, write and create;
These are things I appreciate.

Great times with family, friends and food,
Songs which dispel an awful mood,
For falling rain, for clouds that brood;
For all these things - my gratitude.

A donut topped with maple glaze,
To bask in sunshine's warming rays,
The insights gained in passing days;
For all these things I offer praise.

~Gerb (November 2009)

Wishes

photo credit

If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets in the sea. -Eric Bogle

Some days I wish my hair looked good short.

I will always wish I could play the piano.

I wish someone could find a cure for cancer and FOP.

I wish they made carseats with wheels and handles (like rolling luggage).

I wish I had good fashion sense. Or a personal shopper who does. Or both.

Sometimes I wish I was a boy.

I wish eclairs and brownies and chocolate and ice cream were good for you.

I wish I could dance well enough to be the star of a flash mob.

I wish I was less judgmental.

Sometimes I wish I was invisible. Or a mind reader.

I wish I still owned that pair of Flojos from high school. Those were awesome.

I wish I had a food replicator in my kitchen like they have on Star Trek. Or a house elf. Or both.

I wish everyone could just get along.

The Ghost of Halloween Past

We have a trick-or-treating rule at our house which was my brainchild. It is: No trick-or-treating after you reach the age of 12. Some people pat me on the back and shake my hand and say things like, "YES!" when I tell them of my rule. Others... not so much. The reason I instituted this rule is because I get sick of seeing teenagers carrying loaded pillowcases from door to door - and often without costumes, mind you - ungratefully holding their bag open with expectations of free candy without so much as a 'thank you'. My teenagers (costumes or not) will not be those teenagers. For the most part it's all fine and good because once my kids hit the teenage years they (mostly) no longer have any desire to collect candy amongst the younger set.

That being said, I do feel a small twinge of guilt when I enforce the rule. Why? I shamelessly trick-or-treated until I was 17+. But for me, it was survival. I had to collect enough candy to live off of until our friends from church started bringing by the Christmas goodies. I fondly remember how we would trek over to the neighborhoods where every other door for a full block gave out a full-sized candy bar and we didn't give up until our bags were full to overflowing and there were no longer any porch lights on.

Then came the trades. My brothers and sister and I would sit in a circle on the living room floor and lay our candy out in piles (chocolate, not chocolate and undesirables) and barter for our favorites long after our parents had retired for the night.

The next step was finding a good place to hide the stash. It was almost like a game to try to find where one of my siblings had hidden their pillowcase. (And maybe I would sample one or two of their chocolates as a reward.) More often than not I cached my candy in 4 or 5 different places in case one of them was discovered - and the bag filled with my favorites always went in my backpack.

Last night around 10 pm a group of costumed teenagers came to my door in search of some candy to add to their already overflowing bags. TEN P.M.! I must be getting old and crotchety because I told them we were out of candy when really there was still a whole bowl full of treats on the piano. I felt a teensy bit bad when they politely thanked me despite leaving empty-handed and Allen pointed out that I could have gotten rid of more candy.

But I didn't feel too bad.

Because old habits die hard - and that leftover bowl full of colorful cavity-inducing crap was mine!




(Anyone want to trade me a Twix for 3 Dum Dums and a lime Tootsie Roll?)

Just Another Normal Sunday Afternoon

I found these pictures on my camera today...



...and fell in love with my kids all over again.