You Don't See That Every Day

Do you ever wonder how the powers that be come up with the number of uses on their products? (sorry for the blurriness. these packages don't like their photo to be taken.) I have been buying this laundry detergent for a number of years now. I love the way it cleans our clothes, and the scent it leaves. But it wasn't until recently that I thought, gee, I have been going through a lot of detergent lately. Sure there is another kid in the house, but that shouldn't account for so much laundry! No, there are other culprits at work here. My girls are notorious for changing clothes; putting clean ones in the laundry basket; or using a towel once after a shower and dumping it in the basket. So I began an experiment. Just to see how much we were using. I like to run a full load when I do laundry (twice a week these days!) so I fill to the 2nd line on the measuring cup. And that has made all the difference . It appears that the "95 loads" is for those who don't...

my mom and my kids Birthdays and baptisms! On Saturday, my mom's birthday - the family got together and celebrated with her by having cake and presents. not enough candles for Mom! And our Miss M was baptized on Sunday evening! G. was able to do it this time too; (he had baptized S. and S. a few years back.) I didn't get any still-photos of the event, but the video camera captured her talking with the pastor, and the 'dunking' by her dad. Afterward the family went back to our house to celebrate. Of course this meant more cake and a few little gifts for her. It was a happy weekend!

Here's a picture of my mom and her sister. Don't they look like twins? My mom is the one on the right. She's the oldest of her 6 sibling, and today is her birthday! Long ago I used to wonder what my mom did all day. I figured since we were away during the day, in school, she didn't have much to do until we came home. How I laugh now at my naivete! My mom taught me all about cooking; if she gets a call around 5:30 pm, she' ll know it's me asking, "How do I cook this?" She tried to teach me to sew, but I wasn't such a willing pupil in that area. She is now known as the cookie grandma to my kids. All they have to do is walk in her house, mention how hungry they are, and she (usually) asks, "Do you want a cookie?" Happy Birthday Mom!

I finally made it to the beach! After months of pining away for the sand and wind and waves, I got to see my beloved coast. In Oregon going to the coast does not necessarily equate with flip flops, shorts, sun, swimsuits. As you can see in the photos. Even though there was NO WIND blowing, it was still cool. We had a lovely walk on the beach and then we visited my sister, brother in-law and niece. After another walk on the beach with them, I noticed baby K not acting like herself. Her head felt very warm - too warm -- and my mother instincts kicked in. I knew something was wrong, but not sure what. When we made it home that night, her fever was up to 104 and she was having little twitches, what I would call seizures, with her arms and legs. They went away with acetaminophen, but came back later the next day. We took her in to the doctor that evening and the good doc was able to diagnose - red sore throat, and fever ulcers on her mouth. A bug that is going around, lasts 3 to 5 ...

This week has held many firsts. And not for the baby either. We had the first sign of spring on Saturday. G mowed the lawn for the first time, I went and pulled weeds. It was lovely! The next day, the first actual day of spring; was rainy and wet; and then the first day of spring break, Monday, Today my son made his first breakfast - sort of. He followed a recipe and made pancakes for everyone from scratch! There was only a little trial and error - he put in 3 Table spoons of baking powder instead of 3 teaspoons. But we were able to triple the recipe, and came out with only 4 pancakes leftover. Pretty good! And today also - the first run around the track this year; the girls and I went to the high school and did a mile.

We all wore green today. And that was the extent of our St. Patrick's day 'celebration'. Although I had planned on a green dinner - split pea soup. Except I read the recipe wrong, and it needed to cook in the slow cooker for 6 hours, not 3 hours. Somehow I missed the instruction that said, cook for 3 hours, do this little thing, and then cook for 3 MORE hours. So I will throw together some rice and meat in a casserole instead. My little Irish-blooded babies won't mind! (I don't think split pea is their favorite.) My daughter did ask why the pinching was a tradition. I couldn't tell her the answer! But we did talk about the reason behind this day, and the man whom it honors - something that seems to get lost in the mainstream conversations. Did you know St. Patrick wasn't really Irish!?      "When he was about 16 years old, he was captured from Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his...

It was Pi day, but in our house we like to celebrate it as PIE day, because it's all about food around here. I have a growing 12 year old boy who is never full, a growing 10 month old girl who is always eating, and 3 other in-between, always-growing, always-hungry girls. (I happen to like food too). So this year I had high hopes of having a "pie supper", meaning pie as the main course and pie for dessert. Shepherd's pie to be exact, with my leftover pot roast from yesterday. But with the way of things in our household, time ran out on me. I often lay down plans and they jump up and run out the front door before I can snag them and make it happen. So plan B was put into action - spaghetti! Not really 'pie'-ish, but quick, easy and ready to eat before the minions revolt. I was able to make dessert pies though! We had pumpkin pie and gave away a chocolate pudding pie to the neighbor. So we were able to celebrate pi day with pie, and all went to bed with full tu...