Memorial Day Weekend

We had another busy Memorial Day weekend! Saturday we had our annual party. All of the extended family was there (although we were missing Uncle Joe, who didn't make it out this year). We celebrated the April, May, and June birthdays.
Sunday night we went down to watch the fireworks. This was the first year we let J.D. stay up. He did great... didn't even flinch at the loud noise. The whole way home and even today he kept telling me "those were good fireworks".

Below are the annual Memorial Day Parade shots! This year rain threatened but pretty much held off. We felt a few sprinkles and that was it. We threw the boys jackets into the van thinking we might use them if it rained but they ended up wearing them for the first half of the parade. The weather started out a bit chilly, cloudy, and windy but by the end of the parade it was warm and sunny. You know the old joke... if you don't like the weather just wait five minutes!
We sat in our usual spot up on the bridge, much to Wesley's dismay... for some reason he was worried someone would fall in. We got a ton of candy this year, much more than in year's past. Our favorite, of course, was the Seroogy's meltaways!

The boys always have a good time but it is so much fun to watch JD. He just loved the whole thing! He got a little flag and just kept waving it and waving it. He even reminded me to wave my flag whenever he noticed I stopped. He didn't appreciate one of the firetrucks loud horn but was happy to wave or give high fives to anyone who came close enough.

It's one of our favorite weekends of the year! Just for fun here are the links to previous years. Click on the 2007 link to see just how much the boys have grown!!

Memorial Day 2009 (Parade and Party)
Memorial Day 2008 (Parade and Party)
Memorial Day 2007 (JD wasn't even born yet!)

Take a Picture

The boys always want to take picture when they build something. The old saying is true, the picture will last a lot longer than whatever it was that they built!

Awesome Lego High Rise built for Bob the Builder and Wendy...

Bob and Wendy enjoyed the view...

Here are all the dinosaurs in the house sorted by type. And, yes, all the boys can rattle off their names. Even J.D. knows several dinosaurs, his favorite is the brachiosaurus. [Thank you Dinosaur Train.]

Oh, fun!! Dino piggy back rides!

These guys are kind of scary...

What did Justus think of this dino display?
Two thumbs up!

Thank you to Wesley for taking these pictures!

Closer to 40 than 30

Tuesday was my 36th birthday. I wasn't feeling too old until someone mentioned that this year (May 18) was the 30th anniversary of Mount St. Helens erupting. Did you know I was living in northern Idaho at that time? That is a story for another time. The point of my mentioning it is this... to remember clearly something that happened 30 years ago made me feel old enough, but when I realized that I am now older than my dad was then almost sent me to the doctor for a Prozac prescription!

All kidding aside, I had a great day. Roz is home! So she watched the boys while I went out to lunch with Jerry. We went to Los Banditos Mexican restaurant (with a coupon, of course!).

After lunch I stopped at the thrift store to see if I could find any deals. I checked several jacket pockets and a few wallets but didn't find anything, so I settled for a couple shirts. I came home to this lovely sign:

Roz made a cake for me. I got home in time to make the frosting and snap this picture of Roz hard at work.

And here's the finished product:

One of the highlights of my day was all the Facebook birthday wishes. Everyone remembers your birthday on Facebook! It's really a lot of fun. So fun, in fact, that I think everyone should write on my wall the 25th of each month so I can feel special all year round!

Any Way You Slice It

A few weeks ago my dad shared some walleye and his batter recipe with us. This past Saturday we thought we'd get out the ol' Fry Daddy and give it a try. To be completely honest, fish is not one of my favorite foods, if we're going to eat water creatures I'd much rather have crab or lobster, but I'm brave and was willing to give it a try.

Jerry wanted to go all out. He was in charge of the fish and also bought the customary rye bread to accompany our dinner. I made fresh coleslaw and my homemade tartar sauce. At the last minute we decided to slice up some potatoes for homemade potato chips as long as we had the Fry Daddy out.

I used my fairly new (meaning very sharp) mandoline slicer to slice the potatoes for the chips. Being the careless adventurous person that I am I was using the slicer without the guard until I got close to the end of each potato. Do you see where this is going yet?

On the very last potato... you knew this was coming... I sliced my finger along with the potato. It didn't hurt at that moment but within seconds it was bleeding a good bit. The throbbing pain came a few minutes later. We got it wrapped up and carried on with the supper preparations. I'm a Jackrabbit, "carrying on" is what I do!

Jerry battered the fish and dropped it into the fryer. It cooked up quick and golden! We did the frying out in the garage so we didn't stink up the house, but here is what Jerry's prep line looked like (that last container in the line is the evil potatoes):
I'm happy to report the walleye was delicious. I was surprised that even the boys ate some (we told them it was homemade fishsticks). Eli asked for several helpings and little JD first asked "What is this?" and then "Can I have more?". The rest of the dinner was great as well, although I didn't really enjoy the potatoes as much as I normally would have.

My finger is still tender but healing nicely. I bumped it yesterday and it started bleeding again. It's like the ultimate paper cut. I joked about amputating my finger on Facebook, but I'm fortunate, it could have been a lot worse. I didn't get stitches but will probably have a scar to add to my collection. (I have one on my knee from a saw. Don't ask. And one on my wrist from a poorly wielded utility knife. Again, don't ask.)

I asked Jerry for title suggestions for this post. Here were a few he came up with:

• Fry Daddy, Sliced Mommy
• Mandoline Strikes Sour Note
• Just a Little Off the Top
• It's No Pocket Fisherman But it Slices and Dices
• How Am I Going to Blog with This Finger
  

Your turn... got any alternate titles for me?

Mother's Day Weekend

I'm catching up a bit... I've been so busy with my other blog lately that I've gotten behind over here!

Saturday of Mother's Day weekend we were invited to the wedding of one of Jerry's co-workers. Grandma Linda came down to babysit (thanks Mom!). We usually go out the night before Mother's Day to the LaForce formal dinner. Due to the economy, they decided against having it this year. (Thankfully, the family picnic at Bay Beach is still on!) So this wedding was good timing, we were dressed up and hanging out with some of the usual LaForce crowd anyway!


The wedding was at 2pm. It was a bit cloudy and chilly so I grabbed a coat as we headed out the door. I bought this coat (not pictured) at the thrift store last year because I thought it was cute. It doesn't fit quite right so I haven't really worn it (not sure why I kept it after I realized it didn't really fit, but I'm glad I did!). As we stepped out of the car at the church I put my hands into the pockets and found $15 dollars and a movie ticket stub! That is the second time that has happened to me in recent months. The first time I found $8 in a thrift store wallet that I bought. So I'm $23 richer thanks to some rather careless thrift store donors!

The wedding was lovely. I had to come home and look up the one of the wedding readings from the Book of Tobit. Those Catholics took me by surprise with a reading from a book I'd never even heard of! We had some time to kill between the wedding and the reception so we hung out at a local restaurant with a few of the other wedding guests. The reception was nice. Good food and good company... what more can you ask for?

Well, how about this? I came home to find a sweet sign hanging on the wall for me:

click to enlarge

The boys (and Grandma) did such a great job! Roz remembered me with a sweet card as well. Mother's Day included church and then pizza for dinner so I didn't have to cook!

My Kind of Math!

Wesley's penultimate math lesson for this year was about doubling numbers. I am totally not kidding you when I tell you that the example they used was doubling coupon values! Now that is math you can use in real life!

Garden 2010: May 16

We're so excited... winter is finally over and it's time for another installment of The Shown Family Garden! We had a successful beginner's garden last year and are ready to get out in the dirt again.

Last year's blog posts were my online garden journal so I'll be posting updates here on the blog again. It's fun to look back at how much things grew from week to week last year!

So here are the first photos for the 2010 garden! Jerry tilled and added compost on May 1st. We haven't planted anything in the main garden area yet. We bought a few heirloom veggie plants from the UWGB plant sale yesterday. We got some heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil. We're hoping to be able to save some seeds for next year!

Last year's strawberry plants had to be moved from their corner home to a new location. We didn't do a very good job clearing the area before planting and it was impossible to get the grass and weeds out from around the strawberries. Instead of fighting a losing battle I decided to move them.

I was a little worried that they might not like being disrupted as they were just getting going again after winter but I'm happy to report they seem to be doing quite well. We have tons of blossoms! There was no crop last year since we had just planted them but we'll get at least small harvest this year.

The herbs are doing awesome. My favorite chives came popping through several weeks ago and are doing well. If you remember, I got these from my friend Sara's garden last year. I had given her a clump from my garden the year before that. So the chives are technically from my old house!

I put out a few cilantro seeds but they haven't sprouted yet. I wasn't sure the rosemary, oregano, and sage would come back but they did! Looking back at how little they were last year at this time I'm just amazed. If you need any fresh herbs just let me know. I'm going to have way more than I'll ever be able to use!

If you're in the midwest an excellent online garden guide can be found here. And there is a very nice printable garden journal here. I also like this blog, be sure to sign up for the personalized newsletter!

Piñata Party

We're always looking for a reason to have a celebration. Cinco de Mayo was as good excuse as any! So we decided to make a piñata. If you ever decide to make a piñata, keep in mind they take several days to make and are messy! Lots of fun though too!

I did most of the paper mache part, but the boys helped with decorating. After debating what style of piñata to make we just went with traditional. We could have gotten more creative but in the end we knew it would just end up in pieces on the garage floor anyway.

Here are Eli and Justus helping glue on the tissue paper fringe:

Here is the final product after drying for a day or so:

We worked so hard building and decorating it was almost sad when it came time to cut into it to fill it! We just bought a few bags of candy from the dollar store to fill it. I stuffed some newspaper in as extra stuffing as well. Here it is resting in a bowl to keep it from rolling away while I filled it:

Let's get smashing:

We had some friends from church join us for our Cinco feast and fun. Little Daniel enjoyed the honor of first hitter:

We went in smallest to biggest order so JD and Hayden were up next.

Then Eli and Justus had their turns. It was at this point we realized that we should have added a few more paper mache layers.

Last up was Wesley. A few big boy hits and our beautiful creation split open spilling the candy. For some reason I didn't even think to take any pictures of the candy frenzy that followed, but I'm sure you can all imagine that!

Thankfully, this year's piñata didn't attract all the neighborhood children. (I didn't put enough candy in there for the whole neighborhood.) Every time we make a piñata the boys say they want to make it a yearly tradition. Every time we make a pinata I remember why we don't.

Actually it wouldn't be so bad if I just started sooner, but I never seem to think of it until May and five days just isn't enough time. So, could you all remind me to start making next years Cinco de Mayo pinata about mid-April?

How Do You Spell...

Here is another for the silly speaks file:

Hayden is a bit ahead of the game thanks to his older brothers and is actually starting to read a little bit. He knows how to spell every family members name, well almost everyone's...

Me: How do you spell your name?
H: H-A-Y-D-E-N
Me: Hayden, how do you spell Dad?
H: D-A-D
Me: How do you spell Mom?
H: M-O-M
Me: How do you spell Roz?
H: R-O-Z
Me: How do you spell Wesley?
H: W-E-S-L-E-Y
Me: How do you spell Eli?
H: E-L-I
Me: How do you spell Justus?
H: J-U-S-T-U-S
Me: How do you spell J.D.?
H: Uhhh, I don't know.

May Menu... Better Late than Never!

Jerry told me I couldn't watch LOST tonight unless I got the menu done. So here is the menu. Whew! That was close! I have been meaning to get to it! Really! Since we're still in the first third of the month I figured it's worth posting.

We've been wandering aimlessly through dinners so far this month and it's no fun. Trust me... having a menu is very helpful. I hate that whole standing in the kitchen at 4pm wondering what to make thing. Even if I don't stick to it exactly (which I never do), it's nice to have a list of ideas!

Crazy Tuesday

Tuesday night was one crazy night! It was the awards ceremony for AWANA so the whole family loaded up and headed to church after dinner. We took separate cars so I could leave a bit early and get JD home to bed.

The awards ceremony was great! Wesley got a Sparky Award and memorized 77 Bible verses. This was his last year as a Spark, next year he moves on to the next group called T&T. Eli, Justus, and Hayden also got awards for finishing their books this year. The twins each memorized 33 verses. They were all quite proud of themselves and we were very proud of them.

Hayden

Justus

Eli

Wesley

The Whole AWANA Club

After the ceremony we moved on to a little carnival with games and cupcakes for everyone! Eli refused to play any games until he got a cupcake! That kid loves to eat! JD played a game or two and made a mess of himself with his cupcake before I decided it was time to take him home.

I walked out the church doors into the parking lot and saw the sky and thought to myself... that sky sure doesn't look so good. I had buckled one strap on JD's carseat when the sirens went off. I grabbed JD out of his seat and ran back into the church. [For you AZ folks, the sirens only go off when a tornado has been spotted. This was not a drill, it was the real deal.] It was a bit noisy in the church so the sirens couldn't be heard, but cell phones started ringing and word spread. We all filed into the church hallway (no basement at church).

My little weather lovers were a bit scared when they knew it was for real, especially since we weren't at home where they know our plan and we have our little emergency supply kit and weather radio. The cupcakes and candy being passed around in the hallway made things a little bit easier to bear, but there were still some tears. We sat there for a little while and then when we heard the tornado was a good ways to the south we made a run for home.

It was a pretty scary drive. Dark clouds (shelf clouds for those who are interested and here are a couple different photos of ours) and lots of lightning. I would not have been surprised to see a funnel cloud drop right in front of us. But, thankfully, we made it home without incident. In fact, by the time we got home the storm had moved farther south and calmed down enough that we didn't even feel the need to go to the basement. We got the boys into their jammies and sent them to bed with promises to wake them up if the sirens went off again.

Wednesday morning tornado was the word of the day. Even little JD brought me one of the weather books with a tornado on the cover. He also told me he was "scared in the brown car" and that he wanted "no more brown car tornado". [The boys call Jerry's car the "brown car".] 

It was a good lesson for the boys because they moved past their book learning and got a taste of what it feels like to be in real severe weather. Also because it was a good reminder about Who is in control of all things, even the weather. We also had a discussion about how our belongings aren't important and that the Bible says not to worry.

Here is a photo of the tornado that touched down south of Green Bay: