Today's Reading Selection

Amazon.com: Good-bye Tonsils! (Picture Puffin Books) (9780142401330): Craig Hatkoff, Juliana Hatkoff, Marilyn Mets: Books

We're preparing for Victor's tonsillectomy tomorrow.  We would appreciate any prayers you might like to send our way!!!  He is very focused on the unlimited popsicle consumption in his future.  His dad and I are a bit nervous.  We're on the surgery schedule first thing tomorrow morning. 

Thank you very much!!

On Bread-making and Questionable Parenting

This summer, I set 2 goals for myself.  The first was to learn to bake bread.  The second was to resurrect my knitting hobby (which would necessarily include re-teaching myself the basics). 

Well, the knitting part never happened, but maybe that's a better winter goal, anyway.  I can console myself with that line of thinking, I guess.

The bread-making endeavor, I'm very happy to say, has been successful!!  After years of not really feeling satisfied with the shape and texture of breadmaker loaves, a good friend clued me in to an important secret.  She uses only the dough cycle on the machine.  Then, you remove the dough, shape into a loaf, let it rise, and then pop it into the oven.  Wa-la!!!  Excellent bread every time (well, so far that's true.  I'm sure there is a dud in my future). 

I was inspired to write this post this morning because I left my fermenting yeast on the counter, and the kids got sight of it.  I guess I'd never left it in a conspicuous location before.  Anyway, I heard cries of, "oooh, yuck, whose oatmeal is this???!!!"  No one had made oatmeal today, so I soon realized what they were looking at. 

"Don't dump it!!" I yelled from another room, "It's my yeast!!" 

They backed away from the bowl saying, "oh, oh, it's the yeast!!  Don't mess with it!!"  You see, nobody wants to interfere with the sacred bread-making process lest he jeopardize his opportunity to consume the results. 

I should clarify, however, that the youngest among us still prefers the store-bought kind.  Perhaps because the slices are thinner and easier for her to manage? 

I have a breadmaker on my Christmas wish list that would allow me to make 5-6 loaves at a time.  Santa, are you listening?

A luna moth caterpillar in our backyard.  Photograph by Lucy.

Anyway, I'm avoiding the topic of my latest parenting blunder, which may have turned out OK in the end.  Yesterday, Miss almost-4 woke up and immediately announced that she wanted to have her ears pierced.  I tried to maneuver away from the topic with one of those vague 'maybe when your dad gets home', statements.  I explained about the pain and the need to take care of them, etc.  She was undeterred.

In Indian culture, girls get their ears pierced in infancy.  So, I'm somewhat of a rebel in my husband's side of the family because I hold out a few years.  Big sister had hers done at exactly the same age Miss Felic is now. 

Driving home from Mass, she brought the topic up again, and after my reviewing the potential discomfort, etc., she stated plainly, "I can handle it, Mom." 

So, after dinner, we headed off to the mall.  We got it done.  And she cried and cried.  I felt like the worst parent in the entire world. 

Today, everything is OK, and she is very pleased with herself.  I feel slightly better, but only just.  I think I'll go bake some more bread. 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

This is actually a very late entry for a linky party from a couple weeks ago.  I was so inspired by all the other bloggers who entered before and after photos of their entryway clean-ups that I decided to tackle mine. 

Auntie Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter encourages the 'reasonably clean' approach to housekeeping, not the 'let's just give up' attitude I sometimes take when overwhelmed by certain projects.  The catastrophe at my back door definitely fell into the category of 'overwhelmingly out of control.'

At our house, it's much more convenient to enter through the garage than the front door.  As a result, our front door doesn't get much traffic, looks pretty good, and doesn't cause me much consternation.  Most of the time, folks enter through the garage.

{Real}
Since the garage door is, after all, in a garage, I hadn't given much thought to the appearance of things until Auntie Leila encouraged her readers to take a look from a guest's point of view.  Yikes.  We have a brand new house which has no grass (yet), so all spring and summer long, mud-caked boots, shoes and sandals have been accumulating in a heap at the back door.  It was not only an eyesore but also a safety hazard.  On more than one occasion, someone has tripped over the mountain of dirty, messy footwear hovering around that entrance.  Mid-project, I remembered to take a 'before' photo, so by then I had already moved the shoe pile outside and recruited some help.  I had also removed the filthy rugs.  Just to the left of the door in the picture above was the scene of the horrendous mess.  Here are my helpers:

They were put on the task of knocking out the dried mud clumps and washing up the shoes.  The little guy on the tricycle was shuttling the clean pairs back into the garage.  Helping is always a {pretty} sight, I think. 

Also problematic at this entrance was a huge tangle of bicycles and riding toys.  When returning said vehicles after use, everybody (myself included) has been shoving them in wherever able.  It was becoming increasingly difficult to find a place for everything due to the general mayhem.  I did manage to catch a shot of this disaster before I moved everything out:

To add insult to injury (our poor garage), when we got a new kitty a couple months ago, her litter box, food, bed, etc., got deposited right in the middle of the floor,because I couldn't find my way to the wall.  It's hard to see, but I cleared out a space next to the freezer to place all of Susan's (the cat's) things in order against the wall.  Much better. 

Here is the end result: tidied up shoes, clean rugs and floor, and a picture on the wall.  Next I need plastic storage for the cat food. 

Riding stuff has been lined up.  It's amazing how much more floor space is now available.  We can actually walk in there and get to the garbage cans with greatly reduced risk of injury. 

I think these 2 are pretty {happy} with the results, and with the popsicles they're eating.  Many thanks to the Ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter for hosting this link up!!  It's been a great help to me.  The {pretty, happy, funny, real} project is also a highlight each week.  God bless you! 

Beach Vacation

You know it was a good vacation if you're ready to get back to work when it's over. Hello washing machine, my friend! Did you miss me? Are you ready to take on all the sand we brought home?

The first day was a bit chilly, windy, rainy...  But still, isn't this coastline gorgeous?

An adventurous little girl who shall not be named decided to enter the water up to her shoulders on that first cool day.  Yes, in her clothes.  On the way to an air-conditioned restaurant.  The waves were a little stronger than she anticipated, so wading turned into a full-body soaking.

The rest of the week warmed up nicely, and we had plenty of great beach and water time.  It's only fun if you're completely covered in sand, apparently.

I love this angle with the boat in the background. 

On Lake Michigan, you get the beautiful, soft sand without the undertow, jellyfish, sharks... 

And at this particular beach, there's a little stand that sells freshly-squeezed lemonade.  Perfect. 

There's Pada in the hat.  We had lovely calm water (after that first day).  My parents joined us for a few days, along with my sister-in-law and 2 sweet, little nephews. 

That's a snowman made out of sand.  Perhaps he's the sandman. 

I love the sunny sparkles on the waves and the sailboat in the distance.  This guy likes to charge at the waves, like surfing (sort of).

Cousin buddies.  It is so much fun to have this little dude and his big brother (who is only 2) around.  They're leaving for Hong Kong (their daddy's job is taking them there) in a couple months, so we're cherishing every moment we get with them. 

Near our rental house, the beach was a bit rocky, but very peaceful.  Mr. 6 y-o was undeterred by the rough terrain. 

Also on the private beach, we were able to see this snapper up close and personal. 

There he is again, heading up the beach to safer waters.  (See that green blob at the bottom? That's Mr. Snapping Turtle.)

Good times with family...

...and friends!  Our primary reason for traveling to this particular city was visiting our good friends from Pittsburgh, who were also on vacation.  Here we are picking blackberries.  I don't know what Miss Felic was up to in the foreground. 

Grandma and her haul of raspberries.  Yum.

Couldn't resist this photo-op. 

We made a little excursion to another nearby town for a shopping trip.  The baby in the stroller is turning one!!

Here's proof of his official first birthday.  He is such a sweet little guy.  And his mommy makes the coolest cakes. 

Something interesting must have washed ashore.  I like this shot because the lighthouse is visible in the background.  We chose the windiest day to walk the pier, and huge waves were crashing up and over the top.  Exciting, but not my smartest parenting move.  Fortunately, we all survived. 

What a great trip!!  Beautiful scenery is always enhanced by pleasant company. 

P.S. May I humbly request continued prayers for our friend Anna?  She begins chemotherapy on Monday.

A New Love

He's been asking about this for, I'd say, about 2 years. The timing finally seemed right.

After 2 classes, he is completely hooked.

We like the emphasis on discipline, self control, and respect.

He likes the yelling and kicking (and everything else about it, too.  Especially the uniform.)

This is somebody else's reaction.  Actually she was just trying to keep herself entertained by patting herself on the cheeks. 

Last night, as he was drifting off to sleep, I heard him whispering to himself, "Taekwondo...Taekwondo..." 

We're off on a week-long vacation tomorrow!!!  Can't wait.

{Please keep the prayers coming for our friend Anna.  Thank you!}

Please Pray

Please pray for a young lady named Anna. She and her family are good friends of ours. This week, a tumor was discovered on her femur, and she is having more tests today.

Thank you!!!

Monday Report

Our local ballet school/company is moving to a long-overdue, much-deserved new location, so I spent this afternoon with other parents, students, staff and friends of the ballet preparing for the transition (specifically, scraping 10-year-old gum off the inside of garbage cans - this was not glamorous work). After 50 years in the current location, the job of moving the organization is a big one. One of the tasks is cleaning out the costume shop by way of a rummage sale. Those of us working today got the first pick of well-used tutus. I came home to two very grateful little girls.

Aren't these pretty?

And when I got home, my kind husband had already prepared dinner, and we had our first outdoor meal in our new house!! We finally have a patio and a table on which to dine al fresca. What a pleasure.

Happy Monday!

Catching Up

It's been a busy few weeks, and I haven't been very good about posting pictures. So, please bear with me while I document some family memories.

First of all, I logged into my library account today, and it said, "user is delinquent."  I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure I've never been called that before.  Maybe that doesn't exactly count as a 'family memory.' 

More importantly, we visited Cincinnati for a big two-year-old birthday party!!! It was lots of fun, as you can see:

Here's the birthday boy!!!

Here's birthday boy's baby brother with 2 big cousins.  He looks a little nervous, me thinks.

Love this one of Grandma feeding that same sweet baby.

The next week, we had a nine-year-old birthday party for Ignace!  All he wanted to do was play baseball on a regular diamond.  So, we rounded up some amenable and loyal friends, and headed to the playing field.  Yes, it was almost unbearably hot, but still lots of fun. 

Here's an action shot (sort of).

... and another.

Some little sisters thought digging in baseline dirt should be part of the game.  Also, running bases in the correct order is optional.

Nine years old.  We'll have 2 of those in the house until Lucy's birthday in October.  Makes life interesting. 

Finally, here is this year's crop of 4H projects: a pretty apron (sewn herself with help from Grandma), a popcorn snack mix, a dinosaur diarama, and a painted rock.  Yes, Felicity officially entered the fair this year (but she was napping during the photography session).

She earned reserve grand champion in sewing and the fashion review.  Very exciting.

This was an entry in the foods division.  He made it himself.

A little hard to see, but there's a flying pterosaur and volcano in there.

I noticed that it may appear I'm describing my child as 'talented' on the label above with her project.  While I do believe she is just that, 'talented' is part of our 4H club name, the Talented Tigers. 

I'll conclude this lengthy post with team shots of the fierce players at Ignace's baseball game.  This was a serious competition, folks. 

The visiting opponents.

The Home team.