Say "Pumpkin!"

Last week was Henry's first kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin farm. It didn't matter that we've been to this particular pumpkin farm multiple times, the excitement level was as high as the mercury on an Arizona summer's day. I knew that there would be zillions of parents going along on this field trip because it was the first, and thought that I might escape being a chaperone, but Henry really wanted me to come and I couldn't say no. For a class of 2o kids there were about 15 parents along, so none of the chaperones had to work very hard.
This particular farm plays to the field trips big time. They have singing chickens doing the Star Spangled Banner (it almost felt sacreligious) and a heavily made up "Mother Goose" as the emcee of the pig races. She told corny jokes (no pun intended) and told us when to laugh, cheer, etc. I found her to be barely tolerable, especially since I have sat through the program a few times before, but the kids seemed to enjoy the show. After the pig races (our pig came in third out of four), we headed over to the train ride. This meant standing in line while we waited for the train. The kids were just sure that we'd miss the train somehow and were very concerned. Here they are watching for the train to pull into the station:Henry and I got to ride with Sammy and his dad (Henry's soccer coach) and I snapped some great shots of Sam pouting. I can't even remember anymore why he was mad at us, but check out that face!After a few minutes, he didn't want to admit that he was having fun, so he turned around, hoping his dad couldn't see:
I sat out the hayride, since I had smuggled Bronwen along and she needed to eat. That proved to be torture because the spot where I sat and waited was just near enough the bakery that the most exquisite smells wafted my direction. At one point I went over and looked carefully at each item before deciding that it wasn't worth the money or the calories. I returned to my bench with a very hot cup of cider, which took me ages to sip because of its temperature, and got me through until the class returned.
Here are a few more of my favorite shots of the day:

Brycen's not my kid, but I can't help but snap his picture when he's around. I just love those sweet little freckles!

Ditto for Eliza. What a doll!
The apple trees line the pumpkin patch.
Henry didn't care for the noise in the train tunnel.
And he wasn't about to do the chicken dance, no matter how much that crazy Mother Goose yelled for everybody to join in! He can spot ridiculous from a mile away.
After a lunch and cider under the apple trees and a few rides down the Coyote Mountain slide, the kids climbed the buses and headed home. Something drew me to the bus logo!

P.S. Days later, I realize that this was my 61st post and can't help mentioning that for Henry's sake!

Preparing for the Ride of My Life!

So here's our big news. As fun as it was to watch you all speculate, I guess I should finally share. I just filled out the official affidavit with the state for our new private home school, (Our last name) Academy! We have been talking seriously about home educating our children for about six months, although I have toyed with the idea off and on since I was in college. Over the summer I began to feel better and better about it, yet was scared to make such a big change and commitment. Our plan was to research this year and implement next year, but I think that was mostly because "next year" sounds very far away and less scary somehow. But during the past few weeks I have felt more and more led towards homeschooling our family; the Lord has put people in my path everywhere lately who home school or who were home schooled and I've had so many positive encouraging conversations about it. As we watched General Conference last week, many of the things that were said about families and parenthood supported our long list of reasons why home school would be advantageous for our family. This week I couldn't get it off my mind (remember, I do have a tendency to obsess) and finally spent much of the day Thursday studying about it and praying about it and I just knew that this is what God wants for us. Once I had that confirmation, I changed my prayers to, "Lord, take away my fear and help me have faith." He has done that for me.
We choose to do this for a number of reasons; naturally, the fact that we have a special needs child got the conversation going but the more that we have researched, the more we feel that this will bless our entire family. We truly believe that we will be led to do this successfully, although I am not naive enough to believe that it will be easy or that we will have a seamless transition.
We had a family council today and told the kids. They were enthusiastic. We explained that we would choose a date for Kimball's last day in public school. Henry will home school with us in the morning but will finish afternoon kindergarten before we remove him from public school. Kimball knew exactly how long he wanted to stay for--his class has a "Pumpkin Day" scheduled in two weeks that he wants to participate in. We chose a school name, a mascot, and a few units that we will study first (polar bears and sharks. Did I mention that I already know more than I care to about those two creatures because I live in this house? But we wanted them to have a role in choosing our curriculum, and I'm sure that we can find more to learn about.)
So, wish us luck! We are excited, nervous, and gearing up for negative feedback from the public school when we break the news to them. But we are armed with the confidence that comes from knowing we are doing what God means for us to do. I know that He will help us to do it well. Thank goodness for personal revelation. I am so grateful that He is mindful enough of our little family to lead us in our lives.

Soup Recipes

Jared's Patient Appreciation Day was a success and so were my soups. I had many requests to post the recipes, so they are below. The vegetarian chili recipe can be found here.
This Potato Cheese Soup I only make when I am taking it to poison other people. It is not remotely low calorie or low fat. As a once in a while treat, or when fattening up your husband's patients, it is just the thing.

Jared's Favorite Potato Cheese Soup
(Thanks to Erin Mylroie for sharing this recipe years ago.)

• 12 cups chicken broth
• 2 onions, chopped
• 8 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped (or use a 1 lb bad of baby carrots)
• fresh parsley
• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 4 cups cream, half-and-half, or whole milk (I generally use the whole milk)
• Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 3-4 cups shredded cheddar cheese.
  

Bring the chicken broth, onions, potatoes, and carrots to a boil in a large stockpot. Allow to simmer for 30-45 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Maintain low boil while preparing the roux: Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until pasty but smooth. Slowly add milk or cream, whisking thoroughly to eliminate lumps. Allow to thicken as it cooks until the roux begins to bubble. Remove from heat. Temper the roux by adding about 2 cups of the soup to it and mixing. Add roux/soup mixture to remaining soup and mix well. Do not allow soup to boil after adding the roux. Add a generous amount of chopped parsely, salt and pepper to taste. Add about half the cheese to the soup and mix in. Serve soup sprinkled with cheese and parsley and freshly ground pepper. Serves 10-12

Beef Stew
(another favorite recipe from Erin)

• 2 lbs. lean stew meat
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 grated potato
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 bay leaf
• 2 t. thyme
  
• 2 cups red wine
• 2 cups beef broth
  
• 8 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 8 baby carrots
• 2 onions, peeled and sliced in wedges
  
• 4 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped
  
• 15 oz can crushed tomatoes in puree

Dredge the beef in flour. In a dutch oven over medium heat melt the butter and warm the olive oil. Brown the beef and garlic, then add the grated potato, cloves, bay leaves, thyme, wine, and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for one hour. Add the remaining potatoes, onions, and carrots and allow to simmer for half an hour more. Salt and pepper to taste (fresh cracked black pepper is best here.) Add fresh parsley and crushed tomatoes just before serving. Serves 8.

Soup's On!

Life is Crazy

I finally have my new computer and have been dying to post the past couple of days. But things are taking a rather crazy turn around here and I haven't had time. There are some exciting things in our future. . . stay tuned for more info. I will leave you to speculate for a few days (leave a comment with your guesses).
In the meantime, I am busy making soups and stews for Jared's Patient Appreciation Day tomorrow. I made rolls earlier this week and froze them. Hopefully things will be a bit calmer by tomorrow evening and I might even get a post in before the Sabbath!
Thanks for not giving up on me. I love knowing that people are reading and I haven't been giving you much to work with lately! Bronwen has resorted to reading the ads in the Sunday paper. Yikes!

Fighting the Forces of Evil

This morning over breakfast:

• Henry: Last night while you were all sleeping, I played Animal Trivia with Darth Vader.
  

• Me: Really?
  

• Henry: Yes. Darth's question was, "True or False: Monkeys really do have tails." Darth said "False!" I said, "Wrong! It's true!"
  

• Me: That silly Darth Vader.
  

• Henry: Yeah, because he lives in space, he doesn't know about monkeys. . . Then, I played Zurg. His question was , "True or False: Dogs really do live." "False!" said Zurg. "No, true!" I said. "False!" I showed him the card. "Darn!" Zurg said, and banged his hand on the game. . . . I won the game, Mom!
  

That's my boy. Battling bad guys and striking down evil, one trivia question at a time!

Dinner Tonight

Today was one of those crazy days when I hit the ground running at 6:00 am and never slowed down. Even now I have three loads of laundry waiting for me to fold and a dishwasher that needs to be emptied before I can load it with dinner dishes.
In spite of being gone all morning and for the latter half of the afternoon, I managed to plan ahead and make a crock pot dinner so that when we walked in the door at 6pm after Kimball's RDI therapy appointment, dinner was ready! And even more noteworthy is that it was something that both Kimball and Henry ate without complaining. (I don't know what is keeping Ian alive these days. I swear he never eats and lives on about 16 oz of low fat milk a day. If he were my only child, I'd be worried, but I've learned that these things pass. And he doesn't seem to be losing weight.) I did fib a bit to Kimball and tell him that it was hamburger meat. Kimball is a hamburgertarian and refuses to eat any meat unless it is in the form of a hamburger. It would have been unlikely that he'd eaten this with ground beef--but it was downright miraculous that he ate this turkey chili.
Anyhow, you should try it this week. It is diet friendly (Core if you are doing WW), full of fiber and protein--(beans are our friend) and easy to make.

Turkey and White Bean Chili

• 1 lb lean ground turkey
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 24 oz (3 cups) chicken broth
• 45 oz (3 cans) white beans
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 3 T. lime juice
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
• for extra kick, add one can diced green chilis

Brown the turkey, onion, and garlic in a frying pan. Place all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for at least 4 hours. Salt and pepper to taste.
This is a very mild chili--if you like heat, you need to add it. But my boys (including Jared) are wimpy, so they like it as written. We let Kimball put some cheddar cheese on it.
Enjoy!
P.S. Here's a Halloween picture from last year. Aren't they cute?

There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters

At 17 months old, I was blessed with a baby sister, a sidekick, a friend for life. Alli and I shared a bedroom until I went to college 17 years later, and when she 
came to BYU the next year,
my friends and I opted to spend another year in on-campus housing at Heritage Halls and she lived in the apartment downstairs. The next year we were back to sharing a room and then we traveled together for a study abroad one summer in Jerusalem (one of the highlights of my life so far.) I left on my mission to Russia in the fall of 1994 and by the time I got home, Alli had already left for her 18 month mission in Honduras. She arrived home shortly before my wedding. Since then, although we have not been roommates, we have remained close friends, talking nearly every day. She insists that she spent the first half of her mission praying that I wouldn't get married while she was gone and the second half praying that I'd find the love of my life and get married when she got home, so she is one of a few people who take the credit for Jared & me falling in love.
Alli has always valued, prized, and looked forward to the divinity of motherhood. I think that perhaps the hardest part for her of being single long past when she expected to be was that she couldn't be a mother. When Kimball was born she was living in Salt Lake City and I in Southern California, but within a year she had relocated, partly because she couldn't stand to be away from him for very long. She was invaluable to me when Henry, our colicky second, was born, especially when I struggled with post partum depression and really felt like I needed support on a daily basis.
When we moved north four and a half years ago, it was a blow to her to realize that she had little control over where our children lived, etc. She had always treated them as if they were her own and I think she really felt that way and was crushed when we felt inspired to move away. I missed her terribly, but you should have seen how my kids missed her--it was as if they had lost one of their two mommies! My heart has ached for her over the years since I became a mother, knowing how much she wanted the life I was living.
Then, a couple of years ago, along came Flint. He treats her with so much love and respect and is most definitely the man she had been waiting for all those years. They married and decided that they wouldn't wait too long to start a family. A miscarriage slowed them down and worried them that their plans might not come to fruition. But happy news! This morning at 3:15 am, their baby Isaac Flint was born!
Yesterday morning I got a call from Allison on her way to her last day of teaching, saying that she was pretty sure that she was in labor. Flint was working up here, so a few minutes later he called me for a ride to the airport. I fell to my knees and asked the Lord to please let him be there with her for the labor and birth of their first baby. Then throughout the day I frequently prayed for them. I know that I can be a worrywart, but when someone I love is in labor I always feel like I need to plead with Our Father for their life and the life of the baby. I guess it's because to deliver a baby we go into the valley of the shadow of death. And I can't imagine anything more awful at a time of joy and hope like the birth of a baby than the loss of the baby or the mother or both of them. I was so relieved and grateful when I got a text message at 3:30 am, telling me that all was well and that Isaac had come.
Allison will finally get to be the mother that she has prepared all her life to be. She has been so wonderful to my children and to her other nieces and nephews. I am so filled with joy and gratitude for this long awaited blessing in her life, and pray that she will find joy and fulfillment as she relishes motherhood.
P.S. (I hate using this blasted laptop. It regularly messes up the formatting and won't let me move pictures around or use multiple photos. Thank goodness our new PC is on its way.)

Check this out!

My last post about struggling to lose weight and beat the cravings must have hit a chord. In less than 24 hours many of you have either commented or sent me an email, sharing how hard it is for you, too.
Big thanks to Deborah Gamble, whose blog I adore, for recommending this blog to me. I love it and have added her to my blogroll. I have poured over several of her recent posts and can't wait to go back and read more.
By the way, I resisted the poison and feel stronger today (although chocolate in any form is still calling my name, today I feel like I can beat it because I did yesterday.) Thanks for feeling my pain with me!

Tempted

Many of you who know me well know me to be a fairly regular attender of Weight Watchers. When Henry was about one year old, I joined and lost 40 pounds and felt great. I know the plan works. The problem is that I haven't been working the plan very well since then. I joined up after I had Ian and lost some weight, but never got back to the weight I had been when I got pregnant. Then I had Bronwen. Suffice it to say that I have been back at WW for many moons now and all I have to show for it is a ten pound weight loss.
Now don't get me wrong. I know that if I hadn't been trying at all, I'd probably have GAINED ten pounds in the past six months rather than lost them. I just have such a love affair with food and have an enormous appetite while I'm nursing.
Anyway, I have officially declared this pansy version of Weight Watchers to be over for me. I am not going to eat the WW plan four days out of the week any more. I am not going to pay them my $40 a month in order to gain and lose the same pound over and over again. I know that their plan works and I know that I really want to lose the wieght and have a healthier lifestyle--so I know what I need to do.
I told my friend Mandy today that I was going to start referring to white flour and sugar as poison because they are surely my downfall, and I just need to get it through my head that they are detrimental to my healthy life. I need to see them for what they really are. I have no intention of giving them up completely, but I really do not need to be looking for something sweet to eat every afternoon. As a matter of fact, I know that I have it bad when I'm already looking for chocolate by mid-morning, as I was today. So, after our WW meeting today, I pledged to write down every bite I took and to stay as far away from the poison as I can while I detox.
Can I just say that I have been craving poison ALL AFTERNOON? In fact, one reason that I am blogging right now instead of folding laundry or something more worthwhile at 5:00 pm is that I have been working on dinner in the kitchen and I just want something chocolately and baked so badly. Yikes. I'm pathetic. But I just know that if I don't get over this, I am not going to be any thinner in January, because if I give into my instincts I do nothing but bake and eat from October through New Years.
Most of my readers have probably stopped reading at this point, completely bored by my ramblings. Believe me, today is strictly therapy. For me. But if you are still reading, feel free to pass along tips that work for you or recipes for favorite healthy foods (I don't do artificial sugar, so no Splenda recipes, please.)
And I promise to write about something more worthwhile and interesting next time.

Lucky 61

Scene 1: Kimball and Michal visit the allergist's office for a follow up appointment. The nurse checks Kimball's height and weight.

Nurse: Kimball, you weigh 61 pounds!
Kimball: (with much excitement) 61? That's Henry's favorite number!!!
Nurse to Michal: How did Henry get a favorite number like 61?
Michal: (shrugging) No idea.

Scene 2: Later that day, as the boys return home from school. It is the first time they have seen each other since Kimball's earlier appointment.

Kimball: (bursting through the door, eager to share his good news) Henry! Henry! Guess what? I weigh 61 pounds!!!!
Henry: (incredulously) You do? . . . . (as a smile spreads across his face) Coooooool.

Kids are so strange!