Easter with 911

The weather over Easter weekend could not have been better! March has come in like a lion and at time had us wondering if it would go out like a lamb. I tried to prepare for festivities early this year (and I am grateful that there will not be an Easter this early in my lifetime) because I was scheduled to have a wisdom tooth extraction (my upper right tooth's nerve was dying) on Friday when Joe is home. Saint Patrick's Day and Easter decorations were slight this year. April will seem a long Spring month without Easter. Needless to say, the children had several egg hunts, candy, lesson's on the Resurrection, even a call to 911--Poison Control. Cousin Katie and Jane came with Uncle Mike on Friday and were so excited about egg hunting that Katie hid some eggs in the backyard. Susie was funny to watch. She would collect her allotted three eggs and put them in her little basket. Then she would toddle off, drop the eggs intentionally, pick them up, put them back in the basket and find a new place to hide/retrieve her eggs again!

Katie had even hidden plastic carrots with pixie dust (colored sugar) in our garden boxes. Joe pulled one up by the green top and laughed--how clever! Uncle Mike brought kites and after pizza/soda pop picnic on the lawn, the children and dads ventured to a nearby grassy park to fly kites. Later, the children dyed hard boiled eggs together and cousin Jane slept over. Saturday, the Clayton family met together for another egg hunt, brunch, family baskets hidden by Grandma and Grandpa Clayton and an all around good time. Sunday, Joe made special bacon and "stuffed" french toast breakfast with cream cheese, glaze, strawberries, and cream. The children wore new Easter dresses and suits. Church taught us about Jesus Christ's Atonement and Resurrection, truly a reason for a joyful celebration! I came out of my room on Sunday afternoon after napping with the baby and Rebekah (my second daughter) said,"Dad called 911--Jonathan ate Iris leaves." He had been hungry after church and I suggested he go and get a hard boiled egg out of the fridge to eat because we were going to a family Easter dinner. Guess he was too hungry. Joe Googled irises and found out irises are toxic to eat, especially the roots. Joe called 911 which gave him the number to Poison Control which told him ingesting iris leaves causes irritation of the mouth and throat and to try and get him to dilute the effects with water/milk. Nothing happened. He is a strong boy. Later that night, I was speaking to my brother Dave and he said, "yeah, I ate iris leaves once. It caused my throat and mouth to swell some and become inflamed. It burned for a couple of days. They did look good though. Like you could eat them and that they would taste good!"

Farewell

Sweet Rebekah and I were up late talking on Sunday night about heaven. "Mom, do you really believe in heaven?" and such. Often times I've noticed that the Spirit prompts questions and moves us in a particular direction before a change in our lives. Rebekah went to her guinea pigs cage this afternoon to feed them and her sweet little pig from this summer that we were treating with antibiotics for suspected kidney stones had died. The funeral was after Joe got home from work and before dinner. What would heaven be without of fluffy, furry friends? A lonely place indeed.

Growing Pains

Joseph and I have been talking for years about enclosing a part of our house called the "breezeway". This is a strange open walkway at the front of our house that makes solicitors ask,"Is this some kind of funky duplex" and then knock on all the doors: to the office, upper hallway, garage, etc. There is a subcontractor in our area who we have been meaning to ask but was sure was booked for a year out at least--allowing us time to plan and save. When we spoke with him, he said,"I've got an opening this week. How early can I come over tomorrow morning to start?" Needless to say, March has been a banging, drilling, whirlwind of a month and we are under the stress of "new home builders" in an old home (1972). This has caused some growing pains, as we work within a budget to picture a new look to our house that will match the traditional feel. We spoke to a neighbor who said, "Once you start remodeling, where does it stop?" Well the remodel stops when the budget does...still, we have a list of "things to fix" when the money is saved. Here are some of the pictures of what has happened so far: New front doors--We found these at Costco for a great price. A Book Nook: We widened an existing hallway so the children could have a fun place to read! (This shows only a small corner of this unique room...lights and carpet coming). The open stairway is now an enclosed stairwell--banister still to come at the bottom. This is a door to the garage which now connects to the house. We are experimenting with different glazes on the new textured walls. (This is where frustrated Joseph want to "throw in the towel" because it is "wax on, wax off" hard work which does not go on quickly). Door still to be painted, trim still to come, etc. Under the stairs we left open to have a sort of "mud room" for children to be able to sit, take off shoes, and dump stuff...we have lockers for them but our front hall is the desirable dumping place right now. Note the floor...this is under the outside carpeting. We took off layers of cracked and peeling cement, sealant, etc.

Chocolate Amish Friendship Bread?

My sister gave me a bag of the infamous "Amish Friendship Bread" starter...thirteen days ago. As most of you know, the bag is its' own mini biosphere--a yeast starter, you do nothing but mush the bag the first five days, add milk, sugar, and flour on the fifth day, mush the bag the next five days and divide the starter and bake the bread on the tenth day. Taking a chance, after all I was going to bake it, I baked mine after thirteen days because of the construction project, children, and other life happenings around here. Chocolate! Yes, I think it was mighty tasty. Of course, it is really more of a chocolate cake than bread...umm, chocolate cake! The trick was to add chocolate pudding, chocolate powder, chocolate chips, cinnamon, coconut and pecans to the top--delicious. I would let you try some, but the children ate it all up tonight before bed! Anyone want to be my friend? (Now I still have to give two more bags and mini-loaves of the "bread" away!) [This bread has been everywhere! I received my first starter bag in Finland in 1995...Now it has found me again, half a world away.]

Miss Susannah and The Green Marker

Susannah is fast! More than any of my other children at thirteen months, she is drawn to pencils, crayons, and markers! Just as I was checking e-mail, Jonathan turned around and gasped. "Look Mom!" Susannah was trying to eat it? draw with it? defend herself from Mom taking the marker away? Note how very happy she is with her plastic spoon and marker. (She has no pants on because Joe has changed her--getting her ready for pajamas).

Forcing Spring

Several Saturdays ago, Joe and Hannah surprised me by bringing me into the kitchen where they had laid out potting soil, pots, and bulbs (we had purchased but didn't have time to plant in the Fall). It has been so fun watching the hyacinths and tulips and crocuses come up....we are forcing Spring inside earlier so in this windy, sunny, unpredictable weather--we can still smell the flowers of life along the way.

Noodles, Noodles, Noodles!

One of Hannah's jobs this week was to help make dinner. This would give me a chance to help teach Hannah to cook. Joe came home early Monday night and convinced me to go on a walk at twilight. I had the pancake mix box out and was planning on having a breakfast dinner and blending some tropical fruit to make a syrup with. When we got home Hannah was in the kitchen stirring a pot. "What have you got there?" we inquired. "I made dinner!" "What is it?" "Noodles!" True to Hannah's style the large pot was full of noodles: lasagna, curly, farfalle (bow tie), capalleni (thin angel hair), macaroni, spaghetti, etc. "What were you planning on having with your noodles?" "More noodles!...and parmesan cheese." Well, we fished out the noodle types that cook quickly and allowed the lasagna noodles to cook longer. We threw in a large, very vegetable salad and viola! Dinner! Last night Hannah helped me make a Campbell creation--Asian Wok Noodles (the secret's in the sauce)...garlic, scallions, julienne carrots and red pepper, soy sauce, ginger, rice wine vinegar, sugar, chicken bullion, and a dash of crush pepper with toasted sesame seeds and roasted peanuts on top. It passed the Joe approval test. Here's how it looked with the variety of noodles mixed in.

Family Dinner and Game Night

Tonight we had my (Julie's) side of the family over for Chicken Lasagna dinner and games. Lisa and I brought Chicken Lasagnas, Hyea Won and Dave brought Cesar and Green Garden salad, Amy brought peach Jello and Chocolate Fudge Ice-Cream Dessert. We also provided (homemade) spiced applesauce, thawed tropical fruit, mini-carrots, and nuts to munch on. Hannah spent a long time preparing school packets for each cousin that came. She was Teacher Jane and taught Rebekah, Lucy, Owen, and Jonathan. Mike came following his church services and we all ate and talked and played (Ticket to Ride (America) and Ticket to Ride (Europe). Mike asked the difference between the two and in a tired moment I commented..."Oh, the America version is easier because the other one is in European (?)." "What language is that precisely?," others joked. [The game uses the capitols of European cities as they are written in their original languages.] I called Mom and Dad on the cell phone. They are visiting Matt and Melissa. They enjoyed a wonderful dinner, talking, pineapple upside down cake and Ticket to Ride (America) in Arizona! Baby Andrew sang to us. He can now wave "hi" and say it (7 mos.). Susannah was interested in playing with cousin Alex and sipping out of other cousins sippy cups. A good time had by all. We decided to hold a potluck dinner and games (board games, Wii, and DDR--X Box) on the fourth Friday of each month. The main dish will rotate and the person planning the main dish will call and make food assignments. A Fun Family Tradition.