Road Kill Bingo

We are about to embark on a road trip from Oregon to Iowa.
Thanks to the modern invention of the car, this should only take 28 hours (not including bathroom breaks, eating, sleeping or getting out of the car on the side of the road so you can breathe and count to ten, or one hundred, before you lose your mind.)  Naturally I started thinking of what on earth we could possibly do in the car so we still like each other by the time we get there.  I visited a few blogs that  gave great ideas if you wanted to spend as much time prepping games for the trip as it would take to get there.  I decided to just go back to my great idea that I've had forever, but have never brought into fruition.  Road Kill Bingo.  Oh yeah.

I told the girls what I was making.  Heidi, who is four, looked very confused and concerned.  "You mean, we are going to try to run those animals over with the car?!"  Haha!  No, we are just looking for them on the side of the road, and if we see them, we check it off.  Then Naomi piped up, "Why don't we just play 'Animal Bingo' and look for living animals while we are driving.  That would be much less violent and gross."  There always has to be a voice of reason...  

Myth Buster

One really funny thing about having kids is hearing that all of the same jokes, songs and urban legends from my childhood are STILL circulating the elementary schools today.  My daughters are always flabbergasted when I know the punchline to their jokes, start singing along with a song they "just learned" or debunk the mysteries of life that a very reputable nine year old just shared with them.

We were out in the yard planting when a daddy long leg crawled by.  My eleven year old warned her sisters, "You know...daddy long legs are the most poisonous spider in the world.  Their mouths are just too small to bite humans."  Sisters were impressed with her vast knowledge and their not so healthy fear of spiders was heightened.  I heard and repeated this "fact" my entire childhood as well.  It sounded plausible, I mean, they DO have small mouths after all.  I finally decided to get the truth!

I am here to debunk this theory.  Daddy Long Leg spiders are NOT poisonous, at all.  They do not have venom or fangs making it not just unlikely, but IMPOSSIBLE for this myth to be true.
http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

I'm sorry to ruin a life long belief for most people.  Watch out because next I'm going to be telling you that you will NOT, in fact, find a whale with a polka dot tale "Down by the Bay."

Blueberries!!

This recipe is VERY loosely based off a cobbler recipe I found.  I changed it so much it's really not even the same thing, so I'm claiming it as my own. :)  p.s.  I took the picture and made the food in it.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

2 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1 T baking powder
zest of 1 lemon
1 c milk
2/3 c butter, melted

2/3 c brown sugar (less is fine)
2 t REAL vanilla extract*
2 T water
juice of 1 lemon
4 c fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, 1 c sugar, salt, baking powder and lemon zest together in a bowl.  Add in milk and butter, stirring to combine.

Generously grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Spread batter into baking dish. 

In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, vanilla and lemon.  Mix.  Stir in blueberries.  On the stove top, cook over medium heat JUST until sugar is dissolved.   

Pour blueberries and syrup over batter in the baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Delicious warm out of the oven!  Dessert or breakfast :)

*If you have a really expensive bottle of vanilla tucked in the back of your cupboard that you've been saving for a special recipe...this is it! 

July the 4th

Every year my opinion is confirmed, I just have the best birth-day ever.  July 4th is always buzzing with excitement and activities, not to mention parades and fireworks!

                        (me.  seriously contemplating how fun my birthday is...with my party hat on)

This year we decided to stick with tradition and head north to Monmouth where we used to live for their small town parade and festivities.  We sat with our good friends and laughed at the horrible excuse for a parade that traveled in front of us.  Heidi also kept us entertained with her antics.

                                               "Look Mom!  That horse is wearing leg warmers!"

"Hey Mom!  That Ass...Astro...That guy gave me candy!"

 Our favorite "float" was a truck pulling a flat bed full of hay bales, arranged so people could sit on them; only, there were no people sitting on them.  It was completely unmarked and didn't seem to be promoting any specific business or cause. We concluded it must be promoting Alzheimer's awareness and they all just forgot to show up. :)

After the parade we headed over to the main street park where there are crafts for the kids, food, booths etc.  The girls all had an opportunity to do a bit of screen printing and painting.

About three o'clock we headed back home.  I took a beauty rest (because I foolishly agreed to sleep in the tent again the night before) then had dinner, opened presents and went to fireworks. 

It was a lovely, lovely day!

Roughing it

Friday night the girls begged to set up the tent in our yard.  (No, this is not my tent, or my yard.)  It was a beautiful night and I didn't have anything commitments on Saturday, so I said why not.  We all threw our blankets and pillows in there and had a great time making crazing faces with the flashlight, reading books, Heidi even told us a silly ghost story.  As it happens any time you get a group of girls together and they have stayed up much past their prime, things got really silly and the giggled continued to crescendo until 11 pm when I finally had to threaten them with a, "The next person who makes a SOUND is going inside and I'm. not.joking."  There was immediate silence and they were all asleep in ten seconds flat.

Last night, the girls asked if we could sleep in the tent again.  Why not?  Only difference was I had to be up for work at 7am and I didn't have a clock with me. (Yes I still live in the dark ages and No I don't own a cell phone.)  The girls fell asleep rather quickly and I laid there wondering if I was a man and didn't have hips, if camping would ever actually be comfortable.  I'm not so sure.  Leah and Emilia were sleep yelling at each other.  Entertaining, but not restful.

Eventually I fell asleep but I kept dreaming that I overslept and missed half a day of work.  Then in my dream I would wake up and tell someone about the dream and go back to sleep (in my dream).  This happened three times before I finally just got up, really confused if I was actually getting up, or if I was still dreaming that I was getting up.  Heidi was happy to finally have all of my blanket that she had been fighting me for the whole night. When I came inside it was only 6 o'clock.  I knew if I went to my real bed there was no way I would get up again by seven, so I decided to go for a "run."  I hadn't even finished tying my shoes before my body was reminding me that I hated running and this was the worst idea ever...except for sleeping in the tent in the first place.  I went anyway.  I didn't pass out, so that's good news.  I have a feeling as long as I leave the tent up I'm going to be bombarded with requests to sleep in it every night.  Either we need a good old fashioned ghost story freak out, or some strategically planted spiders to disenchant those girls from sleeping in the tent.  This could be fun.  :)

I don't wanna grow up!

Lars had his birthday on the 18th.  The girls picked out a set of Nerf guns for his present.  (Back story: Any time we go to a store, Lars will peruse the toy aisle and make the comment, "They never had toys like this when I was a kid!")  This was, hands down, the favorite family gift.  As soon as they were out of the box, Leah grabbed one Nerf gun and Lars grabbed the other.  Leah immediately started trying to shoot at Lars and Lars immediately dove into a sermon about Nerf gun safety, including first and fore most, never aim at someone's face.  In the next second, a Nerf dart came whizzing across the room and hit Lars directly in the eye!

Leah fell all over herself apologizing, "Sorry Dad!  I was aiming for your chest!"  I fell all over myself laughing.  Lars immediately instituted a "No Nerf guns without safety glasses" policy.  (Which is hilarious if you know ANYTHING about Lars as a child!)  The rest of the day little girls in sunglasses (because who actually owns safety glasses?) were running around my house shooting Nerf guns at each other.

Best. Present. Ever. 

NAOMI

While I vividly remember giving birth to this child, I often wonder if she's actually mine.  People say she looks like me, but the similarities end there.  Naomi likes order, predictability, repetition.  As her birthday approached this year I asked her what she wanted to do for a party etc.  Naomi handed me a piece of paper divided neatly into categories, Food, Games, Guests and it even included a mock up design of her birthday party invitation.  She wanted her party on the 1st, because that's the date it was on last year, and she informed me, the date her party will be on EVERY year until she dies.  For dinner she requested her favorite meal, Sloppy Joes, because that's what we had last year and that's what she wants EVERY year for dinner on her birthday until she dies.

Yesterday Naomi approached me and said, "I think you chose a very appropriate name for me.  NAOMI.  Almost every letter is symmetrical.

That about sums it up folks!

Negotiation

My current photography assignment is a self portrait.  It's difficult.  Not just the context, but physically taking a picture of myself with a 35mm film camera.  I had an idea, set up the camera on a tri-pod, set up the lighting, attached the shutter release cord and then realized the cord was only about 8 inches long.
Help!
So I snagged Heidi off the couch and asked her to come help me.  All she had to do was press the button.  Well, she whimpered, and whined, and complained that it was going to be boring.  I tried to bribe her with fruit snacks, crackers with the nasty cheesy spread.  Nothing.  Finally I offered five pennies.  Her little ears perked up.  She looked at me, realized she had the upper hand and said, "Fine.  But I want ten more."  Fifteen pennies it is.
Heidi pushed the button 36 times at my command.  I thanked her and sent her off on her way.  Before she left the room, Heidi turned to me and said, "Actually, I really wanted a dollar."
I gave her 15 pennies and I'm looking into Pre-Law Kindergarten.

Who are you?

So this whole full time-student, part-time mother thing has been a challenge.  I've been trying to decide what my summer plan will be, if I should go to school and plow through it or take some time off.  Well, last night I got home from school/work/studying at 8pm and when I walked in the door my girls all ran to me, hugged me and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Um...I live here.  I'm your mom.  You know...that lady who's holding you in your birth photos.

That made my decision for me.  Summer break from school.  I'll still be working but there is very little mental investment required there.  That means I'll have time again to thing about things like my children, my dear patient hubby who puts up with me being gone 100 hours a week, blogging, cooking...I don't know...maybe I'll sleep too.  That hasn't happened in a while, and it won't for three more weeks until this school term is completed.  After I wake up from my three day coma, watch out because I'll be catching up on the last, eh, year. Blog overload.  You've been warned. :)

Anatomy and Physiology

This album came up on my Pandora station.  The girls all saw it.
8 yr old. "What is that?!?!?"
7 yr old.  "Duh.  It's his toe."
10 year old in a fit of laughter, "That's a long toe!"