Pool Days

 

Our neighborhood swimming pool opened up early this year. Like, beginning of April early. At first I thought that would be a good thing but then I realized that it is not. The kids want to go swimming every day and the water is freezing cold. I won't even get in right now. So they have to stay in the shallow water where I won't have to get in to perform any rescues. They still love it. They love it until their lips turn blue.

 

Little girl has some swim style. Not many people can pull off the whole swimsuit with my cowgirl boots on thing.

This is a cool dude. I think his skin is glistening from sunscreen. I promise we didn't oil him up for this picture or anything weird like that. Now I need to endure the humiliation of swimsuit shopping so I can actually get in the water with them as soon as it warms up a little bit!

I'm so proud of my nephew Tom. He recently fulfilled all of the requirements to become an Eagle Scout. Not many people can say they belong to that club. His parents had a ceremony for him a couple weeks ago. Mike was supposed to be there to participate because he is also an Eagle Scout and they needed another one in attendance. Unfortunately, Mike got sick (very sick) the night before and couldn't make it. But my sister found a replacement at the last minute. I'm sure that wasn't stressful at all!

I didn't get any great pictures. But here is one of my sister helping him with some sort of Eagle attire. At the end of the ceremony, Tom stood up before a room full of people and spoke so eloquently about what everyone meant to him and how every one in that room had helped him in some way during his life. I just wanted to cry. When did he get so grown up? I know he's graduating from high school this year and all but still! How can that cute little boy I remember be giving speeches and earning high honors like it's nothing? Crazy. I just can't wait to see what his future has in store for him. Or rather what he has in store for us in the future!

Spring Jamboree

We took the kids to Jake's school Spring Jamboree a couple of weeks ago. They had so much fun. They both loved the train ride. But Jake's favorite part of the night was the dunking booth. He couldn't wait to dunk Mrs. Ware. He succeeded. Twice. He was not a very good sport about it either. I recall some dancing around while screaming "I got her! I got her!" That's ok. She got him back with her water gun later...

 

 

I honestly don't remember where this picture of my children on a giant twister game came from. I have no recollection of that at all!

My Shameless Plug

Last night I started my new job. And it was so much fun! If you know me at all you know I am always thinking about new ways to make a little money. Without actually going out to get a full time job. So recently, after talking to one of the ladies at my part time job, I decided to join Stella & Dot as a "personal stylist." I think that's a hilarious term for someone who is doing good to put on mascara and brush my hair before it goes up into a ponytail every day!

Anyway, Stella & Dot offers a very cute line of jewelry, hand bags and scarves. And now I get to show them to people and sell them. Last night I had my official "launch party." I invited everyone I could think of to invite and ten of my friends and neighbors showed up. That is actually a pretty good number. Mike helped me clean the house all day and then I baked up a storm. My theme was "desserts and drinks" because I like alliteration and I figured if people had some chocolate and wine while looking at my inventory they might actually be happy to buy stuff.

I was really nervous because I knew I had to "give a group hello" which seemed scary. I don't remember what I said (although I know I managed to work something about Rick Springfield in there) but everyone was nice and I think everyone had a good time. Much of the evening remains a blur because I think I was having minor panic attacks the whole time. Or premature menopause. I felt like I was getting hot flashes the whole time and had to keep turning down the AC. Thanks to my sweet friend Barbara from work who got me started doing this I made it through my first official trunk show. I'm excited to see where I can go from here.

Time for the shameless plug. Are you ready? If you live out of town or couldn't make it to the launch party you can still support me as I get started with this business. Just go to http://www.stelladot.com/ts/cqcp5  and shop online. You have until May 24th for the orders to credit my show. That wasn't so bad, was it?

Golden Anniversary

This is the only picture I got to commemorate my mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary. Bad daughter. Mom and dad came down to my sister's house the day before I met Rick Springfield. You may remember that day? You may remember everyone agreed to have their anniversary dinner a day late to accommodate my need to see RS? So anyway, that Saturday-the day after their real anniversary we got to go to a very nice restaurant where Cheryl and Alan live to finally celebrate a marriage that has lasted for half a century. That is crazy talk. They have been such good role models to me about what a good marriage looks like. I never once worried when I was growing up that my parents weren't going to stay married. Well, I worried one time. It was the only time I ever heard them argue with each other. But when I asked them if they were going to get divorced they explained that you can argue with your spouse and still love them and not toss in the towel on a perfectly good marriage. So here's to mom and dad-we all love you so much and hope you have many more years to love, like and even irritate each other on occasion!

Rick's girls

Friday night Amy and I went to see Rick Springfield in concert in Austin. We were super excited to go to the concert to see our childhood idol again. This was my 7th time to see him! Turns out number seven really is a lucky number. Let's start from the beginning.

The concert was supposed to start at 8:30 and the doors to the venue were opening at 7:30. Tickets were general admission so we wanted to get there early because we needed to be on the front row. We arrived at 6:30pm. Along with 14 other people. We were very happy to be at the front of the line. The excitement built as we realized we could probably outrun everyone in front of us if need be to make it to the front row.

In line we made some new friends. I began to realize that I am not the craziest Rick Springfield fan in the world. We met three ladies from the "valley" who skipped work and drove five hours to be at the concert. I was impressed. One of them even brought a guitar she had purchased at a previous Rick concert that was autographed by him. She was hoping he would play a song with it at the concert. They told us of their love for Rick and how many times they had seen him and met! him. Then I told them that I had asked my family to cancel my parents 50th wedding anniversary dinner that night so I could go to the concert instead. And they were all "okay, you win!"  (We had dinner on Saturday instead) And my family (to my knowledge) completely understood that I needed to be at that concert.

At 7:30 the doors opened. We hustled on in and made it to the front row and had a seat. Then we waited out the next hour with our new friends from line talking about Rick. They told us how you could purchase a "meet and greet" session with him which included an autographed guitar and an opportunity to meet Rick. Now, the last time we saw him I almost bought that package. But in the end I didn't do it because we just didn't have the money for the splurge. But now Amy and I were really considering it. She texted her hubby to ask him what he thought. I texted my sister asking her for money. Amy's hubby texted her back saying he thought we should do it. I never heard back from my sister. In fairness, she didn't get that text until later in the night. Anyhow, we couldn't believe that Amy's husband was willing to splurge on this for us. But he was and after much debate she went and bought the package.

Then we sat for the next hour dreaming of what it would be like to meet Rick Springfield. You have to understand this was going to be the fulfillment of an almost lifelong dream. A 32 year dream. What would we say to him? Would we be able to touch him? Would he ask us to join him on the road? The possibilities were endless. Finally, the concert started. He was amazing. The man is 63 years old and has the energy level of my six year old. He is still handsome as can be and he is still a great musician. He played all of the old songs we love plus some of his new stuff. Incredible. The only downer was a drunk lady right behind us who kept waving a picture of her and Rick in front of my face trying to get him to see it. She actually elbowed me in the head a few times. I thought about grabbing her picture and tearing it to pieces to make her stop but I knew with certainty that she would beat me up.

Anyhow, the concert ended. Amy and I (and two of our new friends) headed to the rendezvous point where we would be whisked away to meet Rick. I had just enough time to buy myself a Jessie's Girl t-shirt. Twelve lucky people were able to meet with him after the concert. We saw him walking over to our group with a roadie or something. I'm going "Amy, Amy there he is. Amy." Then he walks right over to us and says with his amazing Australian accent "who wants to go first?" And I said "I do! I do!" So he walked over to where Amy was desperately trying to unwrap her newly acquired guitar. He helped her get it ready and then autographed it per her request to her hubby for giving us the opportunity. Then we got to take pictures. He draped his arms around both of us and held on TIGHT! Pictures were being snapped. Amy grabbed onto him with both arms and said something about how we saw him for the first time 30 years ago and have been fans ever since. I honestly can't remember what he said to us.

I do remember the only words coming out of my mouth at that point were "oh my word. oh my word. oh my heavenly word." Because I am so eloquent. And cool under pressure. And that's exactly how I pictured myself acting when I met him after 32 years. So after the pictures were taken he started to walk away. And I realized my chance to connect and have a conversation with him was almost over. So I think I grabbed him and said "I have to tell you that today is my parents 50th wedding anniversary and I made my family postpone their party a day so I could come see you tonight!" And he was just looking at me very intently the whole time. And he looked a little teary eyed by my speech. And then he took both of his hands and placed one on each of my cheeks and smiled at me and said "thank you." Then he just enveloped me in the biggest hug ever. Then I died and went to heaven. Well, not really.

Meeting Rick Springfield was seriously one of the best moments of my life. Not because of some silly teeny bopper crush I had thirty years ago. But because he was so incredibly kind to us. He didn't act like we were lucky to be meeting him or that we were in any way bothering him. He actually seemed very humble and a little bit shy.  Yes, he is still handsome and nice to look at. But at this point the connection I feel toward him is more about the music. Every song he sings brings specific memories to mind-where I was when that song came out, who my friends were, how we bonded over a musician. We were afraid that meeting him might be a let down-that somehow he wouldn't be as dreamy in life as he was in our dreams. But, I am happy to say we were not disappointed. And I'm so happy to have had that moment with Amy-fellow fan, lifelong confidant and my full time giggle inspiring best friend.

Wild Women

 

Last weekend Amy and I ran a 5K race together. We had so much fun! At least we had as much fun as you can have while you are running. We actually did a lot better than I thought we would seeing as how we trained exactly zero minutes for the race. So out of 59 runners we finished 28th and 29th. I'm okay with the middle of the pack for now. This race was called the Wild Woman which I thought was highly appropriate for Amy and me. At the finish line we got a breakfast taco and a cup of beer to celebrate just how wild we are. So wild that I came home and took a nap afterwards.

 

In other news, I was wasting time on facebook a few days ago when my fb page told me that Rick Springfield is going to be in Austin on April 19th! What?! So Amy and I have secured our tickets and will be trading in our mom persona's for our wild woman ones once again. Can't wait!

Homemade Toaster Pastries

Emma Mae has been bugging me to make some homemade pop tarts. So I brought out my Homemade Pantry cookbook again and we made these together yesterday. They turned out really good. Jake and I loved them. Unfortunately, Emma decided she was not a fan. Here is the recipe. We filled ours with strawberry and blueberry jam.

Makes 6 pastries

Ingredients

• One recipe Basic Pie Crust
• Flour for the counter
• 1 large egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp. water
• 6 Tbsp. jam or Nutella for filling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the first disc of pie pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 9” x 12” rectangle, cutting away any errant edges with a sharp knife.

Cut the rectangle into six smaller rectangles. Gently separate the rectangles from the counter and lay them on the prepared baking sheet with at least 2 inches between them. With a pastry brush, paint each rectangle with the beaten egg. You will have some egg mixture left—set it aside.

Scoop 1 Tbsp. of filling onto each rectangle in a thin line down the center. Roll out the second disc of pie pastry, repeating the steps to create six rectangles.

Lay the new batch of rectangles over the rectangles with filling and seal by pressing a fork around the perimeter of each rectangle. Using the pastry brush, paint the tops of each pastry with egg wash and poke several times with a fork.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before dusting with powdered sugar or spreading with frosting.

From The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making by Alana Chernila (Clarkson Potter).

Makes two 9-inch pie crusts

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus additional to flour the counter
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp. salt

Directions

Cut the butter into half-inch squares and combine with the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your hands, toss the mixture to coat the butter in the flour. Put the bowl in the freezer. In a measure cup, combine one-third cup water, the vinegar, and salt. Stir until the salt dissolves and put the measuring cup in the freezer. Freeze both mixtures for 10 minutes.

Take the mixing bowl out of the freezer and blend the mixture on low speed with the paddle attachment until it starts to become the texture of crumbly meal. Take the measuring cup out of the freezer and, with the mixer still running on low speed, slowly pour the wet mix into the bowl. The dough will be crumbly at first, then after 10 or 20 seconds, it will come together in a ball. Stop the mixer.

Turn the dough out onto the counter and press it together into a large disc. Cut the dough into two equal parts, wrap each piece in waxed paper, and press each into a disc. Refrigerate for at least two hours, and up to three days.



Read more: http://www.oprah.com/food/Basic-Pie-Crust-Recipe#ixzz2PidC6wgm

Love notes

Two nights ago Jake wrote me a note for the very first time. Right there on my grocery list. I will keep it forever.

Jesus is Four!

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said." Matthew 28: 5-6.

Happy Easter! If there was ever a day of hope and celebration, Easter has to be it. We took the kiddos to church this morning fully expecting to drop Emma Mae and Jake off in their Sunday school classes while we went to teach our 3 year old class. However, when we got there we were told that regular classes were not happening due to Easter and that only children ages 2 and under were going to be provided childcare. Mike and I didn't even need to teach our 3 year old class. I guess I missed that memo! While it was nice to know we could go straight to Easter services I realized the implication of not being able to drop Em off at her class.

What I said out loud was "oh, you mean we all get to go into big church together? How fun!" But what I was really thinking was "oh man, would it be bad if we just turned around and went home?" Because keeping Emma Mae quiet and still and entertained for an hour in a room full of adults seemed impossible. But just like Jesus did so many years ago he performed a miracle in church. Emma was a little bit squirmy but she really didn't embarrass us. In fact, I think she did pretty well for her first time in big church. She really enjoyed the music. We have a pastor of music who is very passionate about what he does. So music is a great big event each Sunday. Today was no different. Emma was clapping and dancing and having a good old time. During the last song she wanted me to hold her so I did. I don't know the name of the song we were singing but the words Jesus is Lord kept repeating. When it was over Emma took her little hands and put them on my face and said "MAMA! JESUS IS FOUR! JESUS IS FOUR!" And I said "huh?" As she repeated herself I realized she was mishearing the word "Lord" and thinking we were singing "four".  So I tried to explain to her the real word and what it meant. But she was not having it. In her mind, Jesus is Four. And you know what? That's ok. I figure Jesus meets us all right where we're at in life. And if it makes Emma more excited about Jesus right now to think that he is the same age as her then so be it.

Especially since last night she had a total meltdown when I was trying to explain heaven to her and how we could all go there when we die to live with Jesus. She started bawling. Heaving, heavy sobs of sadness. Turns out Emma Mae does not want to live in heaven. She wants to live with us in our house forever. Also, she is afraid that her toys won't be in heaven. And she really likes her toys. But maybe, if she thinks Jesus is Four then she will also realize that heaven should have toys that four year olds like to play with. We can only hope.

I took the kids to our town's big egg fest yesterday. Enjoy the pictures!

Make your own Graham Crackers

For Christmas Mike gave me several cook books. My favorite one is called Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila. It is full of kid friendly recipes. I especially love the make it yourself snack items. These graham crackers are a favorite around here. Jake actually asked me to make this for his class snack a few weeks ago. The kids helped me make some today which is why the cinnamon sugar is all gooped up in the middle. Here is the recipe:

Makes 45-50 2x3-inch crackers

• 1cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup rye flour, plus additional for rolling
• 1/2teaspoon salt
• 1/4teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4tablespoons non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (I use Earth Balance brand), cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4tablespoons honey
• 2teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1teaspoon granulated sugar

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the all-purpose, whole-wheat, and rye flours with the salt, baking soda, baking powder, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and brown sugar. Mix for 10 seconds using the paddle attachment, then add the butter and shortening. Mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
2. Combine the honey and vanilla with 1/4 cup cold water in a liquid measuring cup and stir to combine until the honey is mostly dissolved. With the mixer running on medium- low speed, slowly pour the honey mixture into the bowl, giving the mixture time to absorb the liquid. Continue to mix for another 20 seconds, or until the dough comes together. It will still be slightly crumbly. Push the dough into a ball, wrap it in wax paper, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 3 days. The dough can be wrapped and frozen at this point.
3. Take the dough out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before you are ready to bake. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the dough in half, and lay one half between two sheets of wax or parchment paper dusted with rye flour. Roll the dough as thin as you can get it, ideally 1/8 inch. It will still be slightly crumbly, but just press it back together and keep rolling. Use a pizza wheel, or knife to cut 2x3-inch rectangles. Use a spatula to separate the rectangles from the wax paper and set them on a lightly greased baking sheet. The crackers won'’t spread, so they can be quite close. Re-roll any scraps and repeat. Then repeat again with the second half of the dough.
4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the granulated sugar. Sprinkle the crackers with the cinnamon mixture and prick the dough several times with a fork. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just starting to brown at the edges. Cool on a wire rack. The crackers are great out of the oven, but their flavor and texture improves the next day.                

Un-Process your food. Seriously.

We've been rethinking our attitudes about food around here lately. I have tried to give up sugar and white flour. Let me tell you this. It doesn't work for me. I can reduce the amount I eat but I have not been successful giving it up for more than a week or two. I really think I would be less tired all the time if I could give up the sugar but it just doesn't seem to be in the stars for me right now.

I can, however, limit the amount of processed food we buy at the grocery store. And just by doing that I think we are cutting back on sugar and white flour. Except for an occasional bag of tortilla chips or goldfish crackers I completely skip the snack aisle now. I'm looking for real food we can eat or prepare at home that has five ingredients or less and that doesn't list sugar in any form as one of the first ingredients. This is really hard. Read labels. There is sugar in everything! So, I am attempting to make our own stuff at home now. Hence, homemade peanut butter. Oh. My. Peanutty-goodness.

I have always been a Jif girl. And I really like the creamy Jif  natural peanut butter. So if I have to buy it that is my go to brand. But I really enjoy making our own now. You may have to rethink peanut butter as you know it to like the homemade version. Homemade (at least mine) is not as creamy and easily spreadable as store bought. But it tastes so good. Go ahead and make some. Here's how.

1 cup of peanuts
honey
peanut or vegetable oil if desired

Isn't that the cutest little jar you have ever seen? I only had about 1/2 cup of peanuts for this batch.
All of the recipes for peanut butter that I have seen say it only takes about five minutes to make it. I've decided that these people must have really good food processors. I only have a little mini chopper and it takes longer and I also have to add a tablespoon or two of Canola oil to make it creamy. Kind of defeats the purpose I know but at least I know how much oil is in there. So anyhow, I'm thinking about buying a big girl food processor so I can really get the job done with no added oil. You can also add some chocolate chips to make chocolate peanut butter which sounds like a really good idea to me!

Little Miss Sassy Pants