I meant to post about the 9-11 anniversary yesterday but time got away from me. I wanted to talk about how I appreciated the people standing on the freeway pedestrian overpasses waving the American flag. It was a touching reminder of how thankful I am for my freedom. Seeing them also gave me a lump in my throat when I thought about those who died and their loved ones who were left to re-build their worlds.
Our friend Roger was flying on a commuter flight from upstate NY into NYC that horrible morning and saw one of the planes hit the World Trade Center. Yesterday I remembered thinking about how awful that must have been for him and how terrified Amy probably was when she turned on the t.v. that morning. I'll definitely never forget the day he called us and shared his experience.
It was the only event I may live to see where the whole country came together to mourn, pray, and hope for a better, safer future for all.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Back to School
Well, we're halfway through our first full week back to school. Last week I went to two open houses. I met Ree's new teacher and reunited with her other teacher and the assistants. Then I took Hammie to his classroom and he enjoyed playing while I chatted with his teachers. He has the same ladies from last year. They're wonderful. They said he was quite the expert on the first day. After a summer without "friends" to play with everyday he's definitely glad to be back.
After 2 crazy, stressful days of negotiating with various people Ree is in morning preschool while Hammie goes to daycare. Then Ree goes to daycare for a couple hours while Hammie goes to preschool. All to the tune of about $100 more than our mortgage payment. Better than being $350 more than our mortgage, if they were both in full-time daycare, I guess? I must say it's a relief to have it all settled. I don't function well with loose ends, especially when they concern my kids.
Ree's new teacher is awesome. She keeps a spiral notebook in Ree's backpack so that we can send messages back and forth. It's a fantastic concept. Ree's support crew were really pleased with how much more she's communicating this year. That was really nice to hear. Tomorrow night we have her back to school bbq.
G has settled into his sophomore year without a glitch. He's doing great, just tired from the early wake-up time. I think he's going to have a good year. I'll go to his back to school night next week and meet a couple teachers he didn't have last year and visit with his Advisory teacher. He's a great guy who really cares about "his" kids. It's nice to have an advisory teacher like that because it's hard to navigate the high school world as a parent. There's the WASL, senior culminating project, SAT's, and many other hurdles. It's a bit overwhelming.
After 2 crazy, stressful days of negotiating with various people Ree is in morning preschool while Hammie goes to daycare. Then Ree goes to daycare for a couple hours while Hammie goes to preschool. All to the tune of about $100 more than our mortgage payment. Better than being $350 more than our mortgage, if they were both in full-time daycare, I guess? I must say it's a relief to have it all settled. I don't function well with loose ends, especially when they concern my kids.
Ree's new teacher is awesome. She keeps a spiral notebook in Ree's backpack so that we can send messages back and forth. It's a fantastic concept. Ree's support crew were really pleased with how much more she's communicating this year. That was really nice to hear. Tomorrow night we have her back to school bbq.
G has settled into his sophomore year without a glitch. He's doing great, just tired from the early wake-up time. I think he's going to have a good year. I'll go to his back to school night next week and meet a couple teachers he didn't have last year and visit with his Advisory teacher. He's a great guy who really cares about "his" kids. It's nice to have an advisory teacher like that because it's hard to navigate the high school world as a parent. There's the WASL, senior culminating project, SAT's, and many other hurdles. It's a bit overwhelming.
Funny Boy
Yesterday afternoon Bill cut up a green apple for Hammie to have for his after school snack. He ate a slice and said "this apple is delightful!" It's always fun to hear new vocab after school starts back up.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Fair Fun
Here are some pics of us at the fair. The little kids had fun. G opted out this year. He's too cool for the fair, apparently.
Elmer in daylight.
Sorry, I hope Ang and Lisa don't leave me forever. We had a science lesson here yesterday. I was outside watching Ree play and noticed something in the middle of Elmer's web. So I went down to the lower deck and whammo! There was Elmer eating a fly. So in I went to find my two boys to show them. Elm scurried back into his corner, but whammo! Another poor, unsuspecting fly flew onto his web and down he ambled again. So, here are some shots of Elmer in broad daylight. Elmer is a horny spider (sorry). I didn't realize garden spiders were horny, but LKP says hers always are, too. Ha! Spider humor.
Chocolate Zuchinni Muffins
I grew zucchini in my little garden spot this summer. While I do enjoy freshly prepared zucchini in healthy dishes.....I must confess that I mostly grew zukes to bake and freeze these muffins. They are so yummy! I got the recipe from a gal at work 8 or so years ago. I have made the tasty batter into bread or muffins every single summer since. They're such a hit that when I measure the dry ingredients, I measure for 2 batches and keep one batch ready in a Ziploc for when I want to make more. I find that measuring dry ingredients is the most time consuming part of baking.
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini (I peel them first, but you don't have to)
1/2 cup buttermilk
Mix all well.
Sift: (yes, I really do sift the trick is to sift 1 1/2 cups flour through on it's own then sift the rest of the flour with the other ingredients)
4 Tbs. baking cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Mix into wet ingredients until combined. You can either divide the batter into 2 loaf pans and top with a generous sprinkling of semi-sweet chocolate chips or pour into muffin tins and again, top with semi-sweet chocolate chips. This recipe makes 18 muffins. Bake @ 325 degrees for 1 hour if going the bread route, or for 20-22 min. if doing muffins. I only bake one loaf or 1 muffin pan at a time.
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini (I peel them first, but you don't have to)
1/2 cup buttermilk
Mix all well.
Sift: (yes, I really do sift the trick is to sift 1 1/2 cups flour through on it's own then sift the rest of the flour with the other ingredients)
4 Tbs. baking cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Mix into wet ingredients until combined. You can either divide the batter into 2 loaf pans and top with a generous sprinkling of semi-sweet chocolate chips or pour into muffin tins and again, top with semi-sweet chocolate chips. This recipe makes 18 muffins. Bake @ 325 degrees for 1 hour if going the bread route, or for 20-22 min. if doing muffins. I only bake one loaf or 1 muffin pan at a time.
Friday, September 5, 2008
End of Summer Party
We had a Labor Day party this week. Had lots of Galloways plus baby L, Lisa, Shelly, and our friends the McMasters. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone. The highlight of the night was when the hot air balloon people inflated their latest creation in the park. I didn't snap any pics of that, but it was pretty cool. Here are some pictures of the event. I'm pretty proud of the bouquet I created, since I'm not very good at it.
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