BOOKS I FINISHED - JUNE 2017

The Boy Who Loved Rain, written by Gerard Kelly
A suicidal teenager, parents with secrets, an old friendship, people who are hurting, and a commitment to find healing.

p. 156, In the end I realized why it was she had never overcome her grief. She had made it her friend. It had become her companion, her identity, like a woman who takes her husband's name. She couldn't bear to let it go, even so close to her life's end.

p. 223, Adolescents are designed to be warriors - they sense a strength growing in their bodies preparing them to fight. By telling them the truth we give them weapons to fight with. Like all weapons, the truth can harm as well as heal  - a sword can cut your own arm as quickly as it can pierce the heart of your enemy - but if we are careful, if we not only give them the truth but train them to live with it and use it well, then they will take up the fight for themselves. If we lie to them, we are keeping them as children. Forgiveness is a weapon Colom can wield for himself, but we have to help him by letting him know who to forgive. We aim. He fires.

p. 224, We have to help him to account for his feelings, and therefore deal with them. We have to take off the bandages you so carefully wrapped him in to see the true condition of his wound. We have to let the air get to it. And we have to trigger his own healing response.

p. 228, Get up the mountain your fears have made by starting in the foothills.

I Am David, written by Anne Holm
This is school book for the kids that I read for myself and enjoyed. It's about a boy who seizes an opportunity to escape the concentration camp he's lived in his whole life. Risk, freedom, resourcefulness, hope, perseverance, bravery, cruelty, kindness, and integrity are all part of this fictional story.

p. 201, Johannes had once said that violence and cruelty were just a stupid person's way of making himself felt, because it was easier to use our hands to strike a blow than to use your brain to find a logical and just solution to a problem.

p. 211,  "... never let me hear you say it's someone else's fault. It often is, but you must never shirk your own responsibility. There's always something where you're at fault, too, and that fault you must discover and learn to recognize and take the consequences of it ... both because it's the only honorable thing to do and also because it's the easier way. You can't change others, but you can do something about a fault in yourself."

Confessions of a Domestic Failure, written by Bunmi Laditan
Laditan, along with those who comment on her Facebook page (especially this post), have made me laugh so hard at times. Her humor, sarcasm, and acknowledgement of the ridiculous pressures women put on themselves carried over from Facebook to this novel. I think my favorite part was the quotes from an alleged expert mom scattered throughout the book.

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THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for colors and the ability to see them correctly. What is something that you're thankful for?

SILAS' BIRTHDAY - 2017

Silas celebrated his birthday in a few parts this year. He wasn't going to be home at all on his actual birthday because of church and a church barbecue, and the rest of us were only going to be home a few hours. He suggested doing his birthday dinner and family gifts the day before, so that's what we did on Saturday night. His dinner of choice was cottage cheese with applesauce mixed in, e-z drop biscuits, and chili cream cheese dip with tortilla chips. He opened gifts from family members later in the evening.

Sunday was his birthday and he kicked the day off with the traditional doughnut date with Tim.

He collected a couple birthday freebies on his way home, then we all went to church. There was a church barbecue that evening and Silas helped set up, so the rest of us went home for a few hours and he spent all day there. Pretty great way for an extrovert to spend their birthday! People, people, and more people.

Since he was gone on his birthday, we took the birthday outfit pictures on Monday.

He wanted to go to Get Air instead of having a traditional party this year. We told him he could invite two friends, so Braeden and Natie went jumping with him.

I brought them all back to our place after jumping and they filled the rest of their time with dinner, dessert, climbing, more jumping, chatting, and playing games.

I don't think we've ever had birthday celebrations stretch over four days, but that's just the way it worked out this year and Silas enjoyed each little part of it.

MY BIRTHDAY - 2017

We don't ask for specific gifts in our family, but this year I requested a cheesecake for my birthday. My request was granted. 

The kids created this ...

... while I worked on a puzzle in another room. They also gave me some presents later in the day.

As did Tim.

It was a good day ... even with a crazy hour in the late afternoon, which was mostly me having certain expectations pertaining to Devon's birthday dinner (we share a birthday), dropping the ball on making sure things would go as planned, and then flipping my lid when things didn't go right. No day is perfect, right?

MENU MONDAY - 6/26/17

Which things am I most looking forward to on this menu? Probably roasted broccoli, cumin lime sweet potato sticks, and meatballs. And the barbecue, of course.

NEW RECIPES FROM LAST WEEK
* alphabet soup with meatballs - This recipe from Dinner at the Zoo includes its own meatball recipe, but we used meatballs we already had in our freezer instead.

COOKING IN ADVANCE (These are often spontaneous projects, so they'll include things we did at the last minute the previous week and/or plan on doing in the upcoming one.)
* freeze several bananas for smoothies
* cook and freeze 2 lb. ground sausage
* peanut butter
* seasoned mix of black & pinto beans (crockpot, freezer)

BREAKFAST
* wheat germ whole wheat buttermilk pancakes
* egg & veggie scramble
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with a rotation of the following toppings - brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix x4

DINNER
* church barbecue
* leftovers (every Sunday so that we can have a day off from cooking, but bumping to another night because of the barbecue)
* pasta with meatballs (freezer) and marinara / roasted broccoli / Leslie's salad
* cottage cheese with applesauce / cream cheese & chili dip / tortilla chips / e-z drop biscuits (birthday dinner for Silas)
* beans (crockpot) / brown rice
* creamy chicken & rice casserole  / best bean salad
* quinoa & black beans / cumin lime sweet potato sticks

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* fruits and vegetables
* peanuts and dry roasted almonds
* popcorn with nutritional yeast, regular salt, or seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post.)
* pumpkin bread (freezer)
* dump cake 

Notes: Any chicken breasts, 93/7 ground beef, applewood smoked ham, or pork tenderloins in our menus are from Zaycon Fresh. We've been making bulk purchases from them for few years and have been pleased with their products.

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GOODBYE, TEEBS. HELLO, TYLER.

This cute kid told us yesterday that we wants people to call him Tyler.  His reason? "It's my name." Fair enough, buddy. Although he's never complained about being called Teebs, I've noticed recently that he chooses Tyler when people ask which name he prefers to be called, so yesterday's request didn't come as a big surprise.

All the little Ws have mom nicknames, things I call them that the rest of the world doesn't, but Tyler is the only one whose mom nickname became a real nickname. It's one that has stuck so strongly even close friends don't always remember his given name. He's totally fine with me continuing to call him Teebs because it's a mom thing, but my goal is to not do it in public until everyone else has gotten in the habit of calling him Tyler again. He realizes it may take a while for people to break the Teebs habit (including yours truly in public) and won't get mad if people forget sometimes, but from now on he'd like to be called Tyler. So, please call him Tyler. Thanks!

FORAGING & EXERCISING

Devon has been asking if we could go pick wild cherries in a some public places around town, so we headed out after breakfast on Monday to pick in a couple of them. Naomi offered to carry the stool and bowls when we arrived at Legion Park.

We had way too many bowls, as evidenced by the small number of cherries that were actually ripe and how high in the trees they were. Better safe than sorry.

We had a good time, though, despite only getting a few cherries. Devon is the only one who'd ever eaten wild ones before, so the rest of us were a bit surprised by how small and tart they were. I'm sure they'll be sweeter when they're super ripe, but they're still not as sweet as the cherries you buy at a store.

Legion has recently installed exercise stations, so we tried all of them out as we walked through the park. Naomi did some balancing squats ... in heeled boots, of course.

Silas and Devon found a log to try and knock each other off of.

Tyler came up with his own uses for some of the equipment.

The kids asked if I'd take a picture of all of them on this particular piece of equipment, and some of them opted for goofy faces.

A man walking by offered to take a picture of all of us together.

Then we took one picture of ourselves before we left the park.

It was a fun way to spend the morning!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for hair conditioner.

What's one thing you're thankful for?

MOVIES I WATCHED: 4/12/17 - 6/20/17

23 Blast
The true story of Travis Freeman, a high school student and star football player, who suddenly and unexpectedly went blind. A neat story of courage, perseverance, and teamwork that also includes a cameo appearance by the man who the movie is about.

BFG
A young girl. A giant. Bad guys. Good guys.  Adventure. Friendship. Laughter.

The Court Jester
Funny movie about a man who pretends to be a court jester and finds himself caught in the middle of two very different, very secretive plans.

Discovering Beverly Cleary
Interviews with Cleary, some of her illustrators, and other authors, as well as a peek at the neighborhood that served as the setting for her stories.

Hidden Figures
Three smart people who had their gender and skin color working against them. Three people who overcame significant challenges and whose work at NASA was instrumental in the first American orbiting Earth in 1962. Based on the lives of three women - Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson.

Lion
Based on the true story of Saroo Brierly, a man who was unintentionally separated from his family when he was a young boy living in India, ended up being adopted in Australia, and eventually sought out his biological family.

Mao's Last Dancer
An impoverished boy from China becomes a world renowned ballet dancer from America, a decision that cost Li Cunxin his Chinese citizenship.

A Man Called Ove
I read the book that preceded this book back in January and thought the movie followed it well. Ove is a curmudgeon whose life changes when a young family moves in next door. It's a reminder that the kindness we show others can help pull us out of our own funk and/or pull them out of theirs.

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OUR MARRIAGE HAS REACHED LEGAL ADULTHOOD

Yesterday was our 18th anniversary. Although we always acknowledge the day, we don't always make a point to celebrate. Sometimes that's because June is busy for our family and time just gets away from us. Other years it's because we're broker than broke and can't pinch a single penny to do anything special. And other times it's because "for better or worse" has found us in a season of worse and we just don't have the desire to fake happy simply because it's June 19th. 

But some years we do celebrate. Like this year. We hadn't made any plans in advance, but Tim sent me a text mid-morning asking if I'd like to go to dinner. He had a gift card burning a hole in his pocket, so I told the little Ws what was on our family menu for the night and had them make it, then Tim and I headed to Red Lobster. It was a low-key outing, a couple hours to eat for free and chat without having to parent. Perfect.

I was chatting with Beep during our Skyble study when I got home and she challenged me to celebrate our anniversary in some way every year, no matter what. She's right. Challenge accepted.

MENU MONDAY - 6/19/17

We finally finished up the last two recipes we wanted to try from Budget Bytes: Over 100 Easy, Delicious Recipes to Slash Your Grocery Bill in Half. It took a while, but we liked all the ones we made.

NEW RECIPES FROM LAST WEEK
* cumin lime sweet potato sticks - These aren't crispy like fries, but they're delicious. This is the fifth recipe we've enjoyed from Budget Bytes.
* parmesan herb drop biscuits - This is the sixth and final recipe we've tried from Budget Bytes. Devon made them to go with some quinoa broccoli soup and they were delicious.

COOKING IN ADVANCE (These are often spontaneous projects, so they'll include things we did at the last minute the previous week and/or plan on doing in the upcoming one.)
* peanut butter
* seasoned mix of black & pinto beans (crockpot, freezer)
* freeze 40 lb. of Zaycon chicken breasts (skipped marinades this time and just froze them in 3 lb. increments)
* freeze 30 lb. of Rotary strawberries

BREAKFAST
* nutty granola (skipping pecans and using extra of other nuts/seeds)
* egg & veggie scramble
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with a rotation of the following toppings - brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix x4

DINNER
* leftovers (every Sunday so that we can have a day off from cooking)
* kale & feta casserole / tomato slices
* new recipe / apple dijon kale salad
*  corn & bean salad / honey lime chicken enchiladas
*  pumpkin soup with kale sesame topping / apple & cranberry green salad
* Jen's chicken (crockpot, from the freezer) / brown rice / roasted radishes
* lentils & rice

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* fruits and vegetables
* peanuts and dry roasted almonds
* popcorn with nutritional yeast, regular salt, or seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post.)
* popsicles (these got skipped last week in favor of leftover birthday cheesecake)

Notes: Any chicken breasts, 93/7 ground beef, applewood smoked ham, or pork tenderloins in our menus are from Zaycon Fresh. We've been making bulk purchases from them for few years and have been pleased with their products.

** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. ** 

FATHER'S DAY - 2017

Four little Ws. One paternal parental unit.

HEADING TO A WEDDING

Just a few pictures we took on our way out the door last weekend.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the wildflowers growing alongside the road next to the Aurora airport.

What's one thing that you're thankful for?

DEVON'S BIRTHDAY - 2017

Devon's birthday was yesterday, but he suggested celebrating nine days earlier in order to accommodate something Naomi had wanted to attend this last weekend. Super thoughtful! As it turned out, her event didn't happen, but that's fine.

Dad came up on the party weekend to celebrate with us. He gave Devon a pantograph, something none of us had ever heard of. It's a device that allows you to draw copies of something that are either identical, bigger, or smaller than the original (Wiki description and Amazon selection). Evidently Grumps, which is what we call my dad's dad, had one when my dad was growing up, and my dad thought Devon would enjoy one. He was right. Devon loves it! They worked together to figure out how to use it, then Devon spent a bunch of time doing it on his own.

Later that weekend we had Devon's party. He's been talking for several months about wanting to play dodgeball for his birthday. It's his favorite game and all he wanted was a big group of people to join him in some games. We took part of our tax refund and bought a dozen dodgeballs, realizing we'll get more than our money's worth out of them over time, and headed to Ibach Park on the party day. Dad snapped picture of all 6 Ws before everyone else arrived.

A bunch of people came and most of them played at least one game, but the core group played five games (I think, don't quote me on that). I didn't take very many pictures, but here's one of Devon on the field.

And one group shot of the people who were playing right before we took a break for gifts and dessert.

Devon opened presents.

Then everyone dug into Devon's dessert of choice. Actually, his first choice was his three favorite candies - Jelly Belly, Mentos (mint, not fruity), and Hi-Chew. I hit Costco and bought a bunch of each kind, but had a case of candy panic the night before the party and didn't think we'd have enough. So Devon and I baked a double batch of lemon cupcakes at the last minute and got some strawberry frosting to go with them. That ended up being the perfect amount of sugar for the masses.

We hit the field for a couple more games after dessert, then called it quits. I'm so thankful for the group that showed up. His party was exactly what he'd been hoping for.

Yesterday was his actual birthday, the start of his teenage years. He and Tim had their traditional doughnut date in the morning.

He came back saying it was the worst and best birthday doughnut date so far. He originally chose two items, a cinnamon roll with maple icing and some other doughnut covered in sugar. Due to the way they were bagged, a little bit of sugar from one got on the maple of the other. He took a bite where the sugar was and thought it tasted weird, almost like there was a pocket of baking soda in the cinnamon roll. He proceeded to eat in the opposite direction of the sugar and it tasted fine, so he figured it was a fluke ... until he worked his way around to the sugar again.

He was pretty sure he knew what had happened, but he and Tim went to do a little investigating first. Their suspicions were confirmed. The bakery accidentally coated a whole bunch of doughnuts with salt instead of sugar! Tim and I both think that's hilarious because Devon is one who loves to prank people, but he got unintentionally pranked. So funny! They offered him some freebies to make up for it, which made him super happy.

We had to swing by the library mid-morning and he upgraded to a teen card. Later in the day we took a couple pictures in the birthday outfit. He's pretty sure he'll fit into the shirt perfectly on his fifteenth birthday. Time will tell.

Next up was a rite of passage, getting his own e-mail address.

He chose rice cooker mac & cheese, sausage links, and dried pineapple for his birthday dinner. Then he opened up gifts from family.

And with that, his birthday celebrations were done.