Everyone's Got a Story to Tell

Today is a good day! Christina started preschool! I was really worried about her and how she would react to being left at a strange house, but she did o.k.. It's nice that Miss Dana let her keep her monkey with her, even though we were all told don't bring anything from home except a back pack. That monkey is her best friend in the whole world!!! And no, I didn't get a single picture because the camera has been dying for days now, and refused to summon any energy from it's lifeless batteries. Darn it.

Mercedes was so cute today! She was SO excited about Christina going to school, that she helped pick out Christina's clothes, collected her backpack, filled it with paper, colored pencils, and crayons, and rode her bike in front of us the whole way saying, "Christina, you're going to school!" There's nothing like big sis being excited.

Alex had an experience yesterday. We have a Playskool play house on our porch. I was on one side and Alex was on the other. All of the sudden I hear him scream and start crying. I was on the porch and stood up so fast I lost my balance and fell off of it. When I got up, Alex said, "Bug scare me." Now, usually I don't encourage fear of bugs, so I said, "your o.k., let's find it." When I looked at the house where Alex had been, do you know what I saw? It was a huge black widow! These aren't your average spider either! They're absolutely beautiful and amazing with their strips of brown and white, but just as dangerous as the more common black. I am SO glad that "bug" scared him and he left it alone. And, I'm glad no one was bit and that I was right there to take care of it! WOW!

Thank goodness for tender mercies! And thank goodness for bug spray!

Quick Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Bread

From Anna Thomas' Love Soup. She says, "The loaf is crumbly at first but becomes less so as it cools down." I just thought it was good!

2 c. whole-wheat flour

2 cups unbleached white flour

4 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 1/2 t. sea salt

1/3 c. light brown sugar or raw sugar

1 c. rolled oats

1 large egg

3 1/2 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 3/4 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two medium loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg, butter, and buttermilk. Add the wet mixture to the dry one and stir together until just combined into a thick dough. Cut the dough in half. Wet your hands and quickly form dough into two loaves. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool 5 minutes in the pan and then remove it and cool on a rack.

More From Me

Good morning! School starts up again today. I feel like I need to take more credits; but, I'm really torn between actually doing it and everything we've got going this fall. Mercedes LOVES school! She is having so much fun. Even when I think, "Alright, that was good for the day. We'll be done for the evening." She still wants to have another lesson. I don't think this is going to be easy, but I look forward to all our time together and am excited about learning "new" things.

Mercedes has been on a bug kick. She goes out with her jars and catches bees, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, and spider egg sacks. I have no problem with any of the bugs, and knowing what I know about bees, these are o.k. too. But when she starts bringing spider eggs into the house, it really freaks me out. The last thing I want is baby spiders crawling out of the jar!

Christina has discovered a new puzzle. This girl is so good at them! It's amazing! She could spend hours putting them together. And then, when she's done, she's completely content to carry them around with her. She's also having lots of fun building things with clay and painting.

Alex is such a funny boy! He's always making me laugh. It's interesting that during the summer, when I'd get so busy with homework, he was the only one who could successfully peal me away from it. He's such a blessing!

Jake is on his way to the surgeon today. Too bad he's not actually having surgery though. We thought he was coming down with a UTI but it turns out it was a hernia! He's put on a good face, but there are times when he's in a lot of pain. Oh, the other day, Jake found out that at the end of the school year, we're supposed to mail all the K12 stuff back to K12. He was like, "What?! We don't get to keep everything? What happens if we don't send it back?" I guess he was very attached to all the cool stuff; and, now he just asks random questions like, "What about the clay? Do they really want used clay back?" And, "What about the [inflatable] globes? Do they really think these will still work when they get them back?" He has finely decided they donate everything to third world countries and this has brought him peace. Although, we have no idea what they really do with everything.

Well, I hope you have a wonderful day! Do many good things.

So Much to Say, So Little Space!

Holy moly, is it time to make a post or what?! Where has summer gone? We finished our summer classes and it's already cooling off out side. In fact, it's too cold to leave the windows open at night - unless of course you like waking up with a sore throat! (I know I don't)! We're so excited class is over! I'm so excited class is over! I feel ten feet tall. I don't know if its from the weight of four classes being over or if it's the fact that I finished the four classes, but it feels great! Now, I need to quit deflating and get busy around the house.

Mercedes school supplies came yesterday! We are so excited! It was better than Christmas, seriously!!! Mercedes was ripping boxes open and Christina would grab the contents out, squeeze it tight, and say, "Oh, my paint! Oh, my book!" It was SO cute! I have tons of laminating to do and haven't had time to paint our class room, but that doesn't matter. We have picked out the paint colors and will get around to it, but probably not this year.

Speaking of paint! I started repainting a little dresser and still haven't finished. I am a glutten for unfinished projects! The project wouldn't be tied up, except the nobs had been glued on and I didn't want them. I had reconciled myself to using them, but NO! So, I beat them off with a hammer which pulled some of the wood off. You'd think I could just go buy the filler and finish my project, but no. It's just sitting in the garage.

Earlier this month, when we were visiting my parents it rained every day! While I sat in class, the kids had a blast! My parents snapped the pictures and "Uncle" Konrad played the guitar. What a beautiful day!!!

Well, I must away. I hope you are all enjoying your day! Hopefully, I'll be back soon...