More pie!

I have really been enjoying my adventures with making pies! I made a peach and blueberry pie with a pecan crumb topping [a little bit like a cobbler] that turned out delicious! It has fruit in it and only eaten after all their dinner is done :) I need to get my courage up to try the top crust! Email me if you are interested in the receipe! Very easy- just as they say, "Easy as Pie!"
Before the crust went on, it looked like this [Isn't it pretty!]:

Book Club

I have joined a book club [a nerd thing to do says Dan] through my mommy group, MOMS Club. January's book was Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. I was unable to make it to the meeting to discuss it- part of it was due to Monday's Snow Day. It was an interesting read about women in 19th century China- the parts about the feet binding was very interesting, the value of women in society- basically they need to bear sons, and the secret woman writing.... Check it out from the library or your second hand bookstore!

Catching up...

Well I haven't been very good about updating my blog for about 2 weeks now so here is everything that has been happening so you know why:
1. My darling husband has been sick for two weeks- seemed really well yesterday but part of that was that he had a great day at work: got to see a bank robbery [small one] and well saw the tape because they got there after it happened, played bad guy with an arm guard on to police dogs during some exercises- whew those dogs are tough, and on a particular sad note, a police officer died [on the side of the freeway when his car stopped working when he was making his way home] and his funeral was well attended today- Dan had met him last week. So if your car is on the side of the freeway- stay in the car- you are safer unless there is room to be 2 car widths away!
2. This weekend is drill weekend and one of Dan's buddies from his old unit that he was deployed with has transferred to Dan's current unit and stopped by so they could go in together. Dan really enjoys this guy's company so it is great news all around. We are having some cold and partly snowy weather up here so hopefully they stay warm and safe!

3. I had my first snow day on Monday- no school for both Solomon and Cyrus- out of the window went my daily to do list for Monday- I need to figure out what to have on hand for these snow days to keep the kids occupied while I do my to do list and other sad news was another snow/ice day on Wednesday but none on Tues, Thurs, and Friday and M, W, & F are my gym days *sighs* then to top it all off only like 3 inches of snow- not really enough to play in :( I want a good snow storm! If there is going to be no school then I want to sled down the hill, play in some snow- more than 5 inches and none of this stuff that melts when the day is half done- but boy it is sure pretty!
4. Cyrus started his baseball class on Thursdays!
5. Stress starting to build about next year- where and what time will my children be in school?! All the Open School nights are happening! I'll have updates and prayer requests in March about this issue.
6. Got a new health insurance and trying to figure out all that plus the rest of Dan's benefits and what we want...
7. Filed our taxes tonight! Whoo hoo!
8. I have been sick too [kids as well] and thankfully not as bad as I was sick before but still draining! The first week that Dan was really sick- he would come home after work and go to sleep so I was single mom for that week hence not posts on my blog :)
Alright I think we are all caught up!

Quote

Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.


-- Goethe

Yum Sunday

Since I love food I though it would be great to share recipes which may be a regular series of Yum Sunday [my other name choice was Tasty Tuesday]...
I saw this movie "Waitress" which is a great movie and the main lady role has this talent for making pies- as I am watching the movie and the main character is describing different pies [also works in a pie shop] my mouth began to watered [Dan's taste buds were salivating] so I decided to make my first homemade pie!
The boys had gotten some wonderful Barnes & Noble gift certificates for Christmas and they allowed me to get a pie cookbook [nothing like getting Mama a cookbook for something you want to eat]. Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie by Ken Haedrich and made the pie on page 84: Peaches and Cream Pie using the homemade single crust flaky pie pastry crust on page 31. I used local frozen peaches [Willamette Valley Fruit] that are outstanding and within my "green" resolution of buying food grown/raised within a 100 miles or less. It was declared "Yummy" by the family. This picture was selected by Solomon [and Cyrus agreed not caring].

'Nuther Quote Y'all

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.


-- Theodore Rubin

Small things to Great things

When I started my blog it was from recommendations of other moms through MOPS. I thought this would be a great way to be more in touch with our family and friends who don't live in the same state which is 98% of you all especially with showing of pictures of the boys.
Then I started to read other blogs- many have a specific point: a journey, organizing, money tips, food, mothering, etc and it is just mind-blowing how much help there is from all these people who sit at their computer for an hour or so to type out lessons they have learned and joys they want to share...
I want to share with you a wonderful blog called Home Sanctuary [http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/rachelanne/] and the reason is that she is doing a series of "small" challenges that lead to "great" things such as a loving home and a family taken care of. Each day she'll post a small challenge that you can do and if you do it on that day- you get points and have chance to win prizes- but most importantly you are not alone in your desire to want a warm, loving home [plus you don't have to think of all the small things to do- others will help].

So yesterday's small thing was to write a housekeeping mission statement: (How perfect for the New Year!)
I want to delcutter and prevent my "piles" from starting then for it to be a habit for the rest of my life. To create a clean, warm, inviting home. I also want to be more green- be conscious about my choices and the envionment around us.

Lastly the ideas Rachel from the Home Sanctuary blog is coming up ideas [along with many others who are participating] based on 3 general ideas:
Peace: What are some ways that you bring peace in your relationships? How do you create a peaceful atmosphere?
Order: What are simple things you do to create quick order in your daily life? It can be cleaning, organizing, scheduling, budgeting, etc.
Beauty: How do you bring beauty into your home in ways that please the senses? What are things you do to make your home feel good?

What to read?

I love to read and readily admit that I am addicted to words. Some people can't go without coffee in the morning or a soda or something that has sugar in the afternoon or can't drive without music on in their car, for me- I can't start, have a middle, nor a end without reading. Did you know that before I gave birth to each one of my boys- I read about 3 solid days before giving birth because I needed to stock up before I had no time due to around the clock nursing, diaper changing, etc that they needed [of course I was happy to care for them] but then I would get cranky if I go too long without reading something!!!

I wanted to pass on a great recommendation that my Grandma gave me: Janet Evanovich is the author and there is this series about Stephanie Plum who is a bounty hunter in New Jersey and there is a number in the title and it goes up to 13 currently. The series is funny, fun, and just an all around great read! Totally recommend it to anyone especially women!

So there is the picture of the paperback first book in the series so buy it or borrow it from the library, fix yourself a cup of tea and have yourself a great read! It is always nice to have a break from textbooks, non-fiction or the load of parenting books that I read.

Bowling

I took the boys bowling for the first time on January 2nd! Cyrus used a ramp- see metal bar behind him in the picture of Cyrus- so all he had to do was push the bowling ball down the ramp and there are bumpers on the side. Solomon started the first 2 turns with the ramp but after seeing a boy bowl- he tried bowling without the ramp and did amazingly well! Final score: Solomon 91 and Cyrus 77. Pretty impressive for their first time!