Mexican Birthday

Erik's birthday is Thursday. Since he is on a diet I am not making him a big yummy cake or fancy dessert I've decided to make his favorite type of food (Mexican) every day of the week. Here is the menu:

Monday: beef enchiladas (these are from my Cook's country cookbook). These enchiladas are made with steak that simmers in a homemade taco sauce for 2 hours. It is unbelievable
Tuesday: Chicken enchiladas and homemade guacamole
Wednesday: Taco chicken (just chicken breasts with taco seasoning) and spanish rice
Thursday: Mexican beef pizza (I make pizza dough and put taco meat, peppers, cheese on top and bake it)
Friday: Cheese quesadillas and fresh salsa

Hopefully Erik will like this gift rather than a cake. I want a cake but I guess it isn't my birthday.

On Saturday Jenna had a sleepover and had 3 friends over. One of the friends had her kindle and I gave her the password for our wireless internet. Jenna said they were up until 3am (3am???) playing with the kindle. Yikes?!?

This made me realize we are behind the times. While we don't allow our kids to play electronics in bed, other kids will bring electronics over and we don't want them getting on the internet unsupervised. We have no internet filtering.  We haven't needed it. So after some research we found OpenDNS. This is a really easy way to filter content and it works. Hopefully we can stay a step ahead and protect our kids.

Books I am/have read recently

1. The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Our book club finished the book. Dan summed it up nicely when he said it was just like college, I'm glad I did it but don't want to do it again. That is exactly how I feel. I liked the ending and thought it brought the whole book together.
2. The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. This book is teeny bopper like Twilight. There are more books in the series but I'm gearing up for the beginning of March when Words of Radiance (Brandon Sanderson) comes out so I won't be reading them.
3. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. This is a fun twist on the Cinderella story since Cinder is a cyborg. It is the first book in a 3 book series
4. The Gripping Hand by Pournelle and Niven. This book is getting really good too. It had a slow start but I'm really enjoying it now. 

No bullets

For President's day we celebrated by going to the very American La Quinta Inn with Missy, Dave, and Amanda. We swam in the pool, went to a Mexican restaurant (obviously) on Friday. Then on Saturday Missy and I took the kids to Skyzone. It was a blast! We jumped for an hour and I did a few somersaults in the air (38 yrs old? who cares?). Erik, Dave, and Amanda went shooting. Then we all met up at Fathead's Brewery for lunch.

On the way Erik texted me "I bought something, no bullets so its okay". WHAT? I really thought he bought a gun. Turns out he spent 35 cents on the targets. GAH!

This was a nice break for us since both Missy and I have had a busy time at work lately. In fact, I wrote this little ditty to describe how I feel as a full time online faculty:

This needs to be sung to Snoop Dogg’s Gin and Juice:

With so much drama in the DDV
It's kind of hard being Gina-d-o-double g
but I somehow, some way
keep comin up with funky good code like every single day

May I kick a little something for the G's (yeah)
and write a few posts as I breeze through
two in the morning and the partys still jumpin 
cause my grading ain't done....

I wear pajamas all day grading my threads
And students keep calling til six in the mornin (six in the mornin)
So what you want to do scripts?
I got a calendar full of calls and my homeboys do too
So turn off the lights and close the doors
But (but what) we still love our jobs yeah!

Red velvet heart cake Grandma made for our small group

 For Valentines day Erik bought me roses. He buys me roses every year and these were particularly beautiful. My mother-in-law made a heart shaped red velvet cake for our small group and it was delicious.

The BEAUTIFUL roses Erik got me for Valentines day

 You may have seen the goldiblox commercial getting girls interested in engineering. Sarah got one from our friend Tricia as a late birthday gift. Sarah loves it and has been playing with it quite a bit.

Sarah playing with GoldiBlox

This is finals week for me so maybe I will start rapping again next session...

We live north of the wall

It is cold. The kids have had a lot of snow days and this winter has been brutal. One good thing is that we have a wood stove. It really is the center of our family now. We always sit by the fire - every night. I actually enjoy sitting by the fire with a cup of hot cocoa. It almost makes me like winter....almost.

Napping by the fire

 Sarah had her Daisy Scout Tea Party with her troop. She is enjoying Girl scouts and so is Jenna. I like that they have made some friends in the troop. It's a lot of work from the leaders perspective though.

Sarah's Daisy Scout Tea Party

 I tried to get a few pictures of Matthew playing soccer. He is running around a lot though and the camera on my phone is not fantastic. He loves "locker" and is excited to go every week.

Soccer shot #1

Soccer shot #2

My job has become crazy busy. I'm in meetings all day and at night I grade and work with my students. I feel like I have 3 full time jobs: curriculum design, full time professor, and mom. I'm not sure I'm doing any of them well.

Tomorrow is Valentines Day but I did not buy Erik any chocolate like I usually do. His goal is to weigh less than 200 lbs and he has been doing a great job of not eating sweets. He is much slimmer too. I'm not ready to give up sweets yet. No such goals for me! I want candy for Valentines :)

78 on Quiddler today

Matthew-isms

I have compiled some Matthew-isms. I love the vocabulary of 3 year olds!

1. Just talking! Matthew yells this whenever I sing. He really doesn't like my singing.
2. Get home take low off. In Matthew's world low= shoe and lock = sock. He often substitutes l's for s's.
3. Go work out in the basement rectangle light. Matthew loves to work out. Every evening at dinner we list our favorite things of the day. Matthew's favorite thing is always "Go work out in the basement rectangle light." There are a few rectangle lights in the basement that are particularly exciting to him.
4. Eat milk cup. Matthew doesn't seem to like eating (maybe he's not my kid). When I try to get him to eat dinner, he just wants to drink his milk cup. So he says "no, eat milk cup!"
5. Go to McDonalds eat chicken nuggets. This is the only thing he really ever wants to eat.
6. Go to store, buy more pee-la. He also likes pizza. When we eat something that is not McDonalds chicken nuggets or pizza. He will ask for those things. If we say we don't have pizza, he says go to store, buy more pee-la.
7. It is bumpy. Everything is bumpy to Matthew. 
8. It is berry lucky I don't yike it. This is another dinnertime sentence for Matthew. When we are eating something he doesn't like, he says it is very yucky and that he doesn't like it. It comes out as "berry lucky" though.
9. It is berry lippery. If it's not bumpy it is slippery.
10. Roll da leeves up. When he washes his hands he always wants his sleeves rolled up.
11. Work is broken. Matthew loves creating train tracks. One of the train tracks he calls "work". One day it was disconnected. So then, work was broken.
12. Peepee in the potty get nuke nack. Matthew knows that when he goes potty he gets fruit snacks. They come out more as nuke nacks.
13. Booboo light need a ice pack. If a light is broken or even just turned off, it has a booboo and thus needs an ice pack (what else would it need?)
14. Light is broken maybe Daddy wix it. Any light anywhere that is broken is Erik's responsibility, our basement, Kroger, driving along the highway. Erik needs to fix it.

Another interesting development with Matthew is that a few days ago he decided he was going to pee standing up. I did not teach him this - I don't know why he decided to do it but I want him to stop. He has absolutely no aim and our entire bathroom is covered in urine. 

We have had a lot of snow days. This week the kids had Monday, Tuesday, and today (Wednesday) off. When our school system has a 2 hour delay (we've had a lot of those as well) Matthew's preschool is canceled. So in the past two weeks Matthew has gone to preschool once, Sarah has gone to kindergarten twice, and Jenna has gone to school 3 days.

On a related note, our alphabet menu has been going well. 

The first week of January was A week. I made artichoke chicken. No one liked that but me.

The second week of January was B week. I made beets which were tolerated (Jenna and I liked them)

The third week of January was C week. I made coconut rice. Everyone seemed to like this.

For this week I really wanted to find daikon but had trouble finding it at the grocery store. So we are settling for dates and dill (not together).

Jenna's Bling!

Jenna has been diligently making her bed every day for the past month and a half. This was her chore to show us that she is responsible enough to take care of earrings if she gets her ears pierced. She made a chore chart for herself and checked off each day until her birthday. On January 20 we headed to Claire's at the mall to get her ears pierced. She was so excited!

Jenna and her bling

 Then we went to Olive Garden with Grandma and Grandpa since January 20 is Grandpa's birthday too. Olive Garden is Jenna's current favorite restaurant.  After dinner we all headed back home for some chocolate blackout cake. I made a 3 layer rich chocolate cake and dark chocolate frosting. Yum!

Happy Birthday Grandpa and Jenna

 So Jenna and Grandpa had a pretty good birthday.

Erik and I really dislike the wire shelves we have in all of our closets. Everything seems to fall over and then we have maple syrup dripping onto our flour and chocolate chips. Chocolate chip pancakes anyone? So he went to a craft store and bought foam board to put on the shelves then topped them with contact paper. It was a relatively simple solution but the shelves are much more stable. I know our pantry is messy but you can somewhat see the foam board on our shelves.

Shelves!

Since so  many of my students want to program games (they have no idea what they are in for!) I have modified some of my examples so that they are games. I'm pretty excited about some of the games I've made and now am brainstorming more games my students can write themselves. Like a dungeon game with monsters, tic tac, toe, hangman, but I also want to work on games like Tetris or Settlers of Catan. Those might be fun to implement in C++.

82 points on Quiddler today. 

Chiller parteeee

A barbie cake + frigid temperatures +  13 eight year old girls + lots of giggling = a happy party for Jenna!

Jenna's party was at the Chiller North. We went ice skating and then sang Happy Birthday to Jenna afterwards. She had a beautiful barbie cake made by a woman named Debbie at our church. It was a blast! Her actual birthday is on Monday and I'll post more later about that since she has been counting down the days to her 9th birthday.

Matthew LOVES trains! He built this entire track when we were at a train show

Hugging the wall at the skating rink

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Jenna!

Jenna really enjoys ice skating. They do offer lessons but Jenna is in ballet and gymnastics, adding a third activity would set me over the edge.

Speaking of setting me over the edge, our church did the Daniel fast for 3 days. This is based on Daniel from the Bible who only ate vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, lentils and only drank water for 21 days. It is basically a vegan diet. I'm 95% sure that no vegans are overweight. Can't happen. Who wants to eat boring food all the time?

78 points on Quiddler today!

Hope and Artichoke

Every once in a while I like to take each of my kids out on a Mommy date. I will take them to Starbucks or Tim Hortons for a treat and one on one time with Mommy. I ask them what their hopes and dreams are and if there is anything they are concerned about. The responses of each of my 3 children is very different:

Mommy: Jenna, what are your hopes and dreams?
Jenna: I hope that I can get the time thing that Hermione had so I can skip through time to get my ears pierced then skip through more time so I can be done with third grade. I just want to be in fourth grade, I hate multiplication tests.

Mommy: Sarah, what are your hopes and dreams?
Sarah: Once I dreamed I ate breakfast, then it seemed like I ate two breakfasts

Mommy: Matthew, what are your hopes and dreams?
Matthew: Light broken...booboo light... need a ice pack

They all have different hopes and dreams.

Something I'd like to do in the new year is try new foods. We tend to eat the same meals so I thought it would be fun to try a new food every week. Amanda and I came up with the idea to try a new food corresponding to a letter of the alphabet each week. So this week is A and we are eating artichokes and apples. No - apples is not a new food. I made the list but Erik decided that I would get to choose one food and he would get to choose one food. So we didn't just eat artichokes and arugula.

Anyway - if you'd like to see our awesome list here is the link.

We can start tomorrow - school is already canceled so we will eat artichokes!!

My score on Quiddler today was a miserable 8. The letters were pretty hard today with few vowels.

20 ups and downs of the year

This year was filled with many ups and downs. Here is my recap of the year

1. Best Wedding - Missy and Dave's in April. Congratulations!
2. Best Vacation - Paris, obviously
3. Funniest Joke - Person 1: I'm really cold, person 2: Go stand in the corner, person 1: why? person 2: A corner is always 90°
4. New Ministry - We Are Cherished
5. Most Heartbreaking moment - the passing of my good friend Lynn
6. Best New neighbors - my in-laws
7. Favorite day of the week - Thursday, all the kids are in school
8. New Favorite animal - puffin, we bought peanut butter puffin cereal at Trader Joes and it was so good, my new favorite animal is a puffin
9. Favorite monitor configuration - dual
10. New Favorite mac and cheese - Annies, no yellow #5
11. Favorite book - The Unincorporated Man
12. Best new comforter - Natural comfort microfiber from amazon, warm - so warm!
13. Favorite movie - Man of Steel
14. Best new job - my full time online job
15. Favorite song - Natalie Grant "Your Great Name", this song was not released this year but I like to sing it, a lot, loudly...
16. Favorite key on the keyboard - Delete
17. Favorite archery, fishing, and zip lining experience - Women in the Outdoors
18. Favorite family size - 7 (5 humans + two cats)
19. Favorite list - Animals and magical creatures 
20. Worst technology disappointment - Matthew breaking my new Windows 8 tablet

What was your best moment/worst moment of the year?

My husband - the magician

Merry Christmas!

Dave, Becca, and Charlotte stayed with us for almost a week over Christmas and we were able to celebrate Christmas with them. Christmas morning the kids woke up to 114 gifts. Yes - 114. Maybe we went a little overboard. Or...maybe not. Next year let's add 831 more (as long as the tags say "Gina").  We played a game where each person would draw a number to see which gift would be opened next. Sarah had searched through all gifts until she found one that looked like the monster high build-a-monster kit she wanted. 

It was number 105. She fixated on number 105. She held number 105 and even said "I love you 105". Every time a different number was chosen she made a pouty face. Finally, Charlotte picked 105. After that, she and Charlotte were best buds.

Jenna and Sarah with 114 gifts

It turns out Erik is a magician with lots of tricks up his sleeve. He knew I really wanted this pan. When I opened it I was excited because obviously I love pans! Anyway on the front cover was a piece of paper saying I could be selected as a winner. Becca read the note and Erik said, sure you could win a vegetable peeler but some people win ipads or something like that. I opened the box and there was a brand new phone in it. The phone had a message saying "Congratulations you are a winner!"

I don't know about you, but when I see something that says "I could be a winner" to me that means "I am not a winner". However, fate seemed to smile in my direction and I won a phone!   Erik went along with it until he finally gave it away that he bought me a phone and tricked me. I know...magician.

Happy 6th birthday Sarah

 We celebrated Sarah's birthday on her actual birthday with another caramel cake. I think this will be my last attempt at making caramel frosting. The cake was delicious. The frosting looked weird and was way too sweet. Sorry Sarah - no more caramel frosting for you.

Jenna, Sarah, Charlotte, and Matthew

My new phone

 We loved having Dave, Becca, and Charlotte here. We played tons of games together and even had a hot chocolate taste test.
The hot chocolate ranked as follows:

1. Jenis
2. Panera
3. Starbucks
4. Mean Bean

Mean Bean is a local coffee shop. I made my hot chocolate for them and Becca actually voted it #2. That is high praise considering Jenis hot chocolate is $4.50 and mine is... cheaper.

The kids also played really well together and Charlotte seemed to want to potty train since Matthew has been doing a great job on the potty. On Christmas day he had no accidents. That is my Christmas present!

The four kids left our house in such a state of disarray that I'm hiring Carson. Like now.

Mrs. Shannon

Sarah's teacher made this cute sweatshirt using decorations from the dollar store. I thought it was cute and creative. The lights actually lit up!

The Church Christmas program

Tis the season of Christmas parties and holiday eating. It really is the best time of year. Our church had their annual Christmas smorgasboard and Kids program. The kids sang 4 songs: Hark the Herald Angels Sing, I'm getting nothing for Christmas, Do you hear what I hear, and Happy Birthday Jesus. They did a fantastic job - although I did a terrible job of taking pictures. Jenna is right below the label in the picture and Sarah is standing on the step below her. The girls really belted out the songs, especially Happy Birthday Jesus. They will sing that one on Christmas eve too. The older kids did a skit and a flash mob. I love our church!

Our annual Gingerbread house

The kids Christmas Program

The kids Christmas program from a different angle

We decorated our annual Gingerbread house. Matthew mostly ate the candy but Jenna and Sarah had fun decorating. It's probably why he looks distraught in the picture - he can't eat any more candy. Matthew is also doing well with potty training. I see the light at the end of the tunnel - no more diapers! Yipee!!

We are so excited that Dave, Becca, and Charlotte will be here for Christmas. The kids have gone bonkers with excitement at seeing their cousin. It will be fun to have them here and coerce them to play games with us and do cooking competitions.  My mother-in-law is healing well from her knee replacement although she has been very tired. We will all be at our house for a big party. Or something like that.

During Dave and Becca's visit we will not be doing our Focus T25 workout we have been doing the past month. I really like this workout, however, this break is actually a good thing since my ankle has been hurting quite a bit from twisting it on one of the exercises. The time off will allow me to heal. Injuries like this make me feel old. Wait, where did I leave my walker?

My favorite Christmas presents

Crafts at Sarah's party

On Wednesday we had Sarah's birthday party at our house. 11 kids all running around crazy. It was a great time. Last year and this year we did a game called the "fishing game". We set up a card table with a blue sheet over it. Then made a fishing pole using a clothespin to catch the fish. Erik folds himself up and squishes under the table with a bowl of candy. The kids fish over the side to see what they get. They LOVE this game! Of course, some of them always want to see where the candy comes from and walk to the other side. They see Erik under the table and say "There's someone under there!" 

The fishing game

Sarah and her cake

 We had our last ballet class of the year tonight. The girls have also just started gymnastics. Matthew will start soccer in January. I'm so happy I can be home in the evenings so the kids can do more activities. We were always hesitant to commit to too many things. Erik is still hesitant.  Matthew is currently taking We Joy Sing, and he really loves it. But in the winter time, he will enjoy running around at soccer (it is indoors).

Sarah at ballet, Matthew peeking in the doorway

Jenna's ballet dance

In other news:

1. Yesterday Matthew said "I love you Mommy." That was the best Christmas present (Erik would say having him potty trained would be the best). Last year at this time he said about 10-15 words. Thank you Lord!
2. I was very wrong when I said the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley was not gripping. I can not put this book down. I love it! I'm almost finished. The book is told from the viewpoint of Morgaine (Morgan Le Fey in many Arthur stories) and shows the reasons behind her decisions. It is excellent and the characters are well developed.
3. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to our new cat Twinkles. I've been taking claritin but I'm still stuffy. Hopefully over time I'll get used to her. 
4. If I were to order my favorite races in Warcraft 3 I would list: Orc, Human, Night Elf, Undead. I must not be sophisticated enough to play Undead.
5. Jenna went to her first concert The Story Tour on Monday. She loved it!! The concert had many famous Christian artists (including Natalie Grant my favorite!) and told the story of the Bible. 
6. Since going to France I have been making all of our bread and we have tried to cut out preservatives. We also have tried cutting out artificial color but that proves to be very difficult. Then last night we decorated cookies and we all ate a TON of artificial color. So we might lose that fight.
7. 71 points on Quiddler today

Count your blessings

I often listen to sermons when I mow the lawn, clean, and sometimes when I run. One sermon I was listening to talked about counting your blessings. The pastor said, "how often do you sit down and count your blessings. List out what you are thankful for." I did just that. It took 2 pages front and back and I still wasn't done. There are so many things to be thankful for. Thanksgiving reminds us of this, but it is a good attitude to have all year long.

A present under the tree

I'm thankful that my parents watched the kids on Friday so Erik and I could go to a fancy restaurant Vittoria and see Catching Fire. This movie just made me more excited to see the next movie. Although I'm hoping they deviate from the book since I wasn't a fan.

Another thing to be thankful for is my husband.  Lately he has been getting up with the kids in the morning. Since I go to bed much later than him every night - I'm thankful for this! This is not the only thing about Erik I'm thankful for but sometimes it's the small things that add up to big things. He is a very giving person who is always willing to make sacrifices for us.

I'm thankful for my kids. Lately they have been asking to do chores so much. Today I was a little annoyed that they kept asking to do chores. Seriously?? Who gets annoyed their kids want to do chores??

I'm thankful for my job. It's amazing I can work a full time job from home and love what I do.

There are so many things to be thankful for. This is my tiny list, but as I said I wrote a lot.

Count your blessings!

It must have been love, but it's over now....

Picture it....1990. A roller skating rink with colorful lights flashing on the floor. Unskinny bop is playing in the background as red-faced teenagers whiz around the rink. Fake strawberry smoke fills the air as the rink is packed wall to wall with teenagers. Yes. The good old days. 

Kids don't skate for fun now do they?

Yes they do. 

And apparently we do too. 

I thought it would be great fun to take all 3 kids to Friday night meltdown while Erik played poker this past weekend. This was a heinous lapse in judgement by me. As I walked into the rink every molecule in me told me to turn and walk away. It was packed with teenagers. 

However the girls were so excited to go ice skating. There was only one other family there and they didn't have a 3 year old. Imagine an ice rink packed with teenagers and me with my 3 kids. It was a Friday night meltdown (different meaning when you have a 3 year old). Matthew did not like skating and screamed when he got on the ice. So I took off his skates and he ran up and down the bleachers in a craze. The girls had fun, but it took Sarah awhile to feel comfortable on the ice. Jenna took off and had a great time. The Chiller was great and refunded mine and Matthew's tickets. 

While I was chasing 3 kids around an ice skating rink, my mother-in-law had her knee replaced. She is doing really well and is now at a rehab clinic for a week. Then she will be able to go home. She was in a lot of pain but is doing much better now. The doctor said it could take 3 months before she is back to normal. I hope not since her bedroom is on the 2nd floor. I assume she will be doing jumping jacks and running marathons in a few days. 

Walking with a walker

 The kids loved her walker and the bed that could be moved up and down. It was a fun ride for them!

The kids loved the hospital bed

Going to Paris has greatly expanded my waistline. When I go running in the winter I have to bring kleenex with me since my nose runs. This is undesirable. I wanted to find a shorter workout (25 minutes) that would still be tough like P90X. I like P90X but who wants to work out for an hour? We bought Focus T25 which is a shorter version of the Insanity workout by Shaun T. We are currently on day 3 and I like it better than any of the other shorter workouts we have (Jillian, Jackie, Advocare, etc). So we will see if I have washboard abs in 5 weeks.

Maybe then I'll go back to the skating rink and relive my teenage years.

A family of 7

We have a new family member. For the past several months we have been feeding Twinkles and she has lived on our front porch. Erik even made her a little house and we put a blanket in it. Well she came inside a few days ago and the kids are ecstatic! Twinkles is not a huge fan of Panda and hisses at him. So the girls always want them to be friends and lock them in rooms together so they will like each other. Even so, Twinkles seems to be happy here.

Twinkles and Sarah

 Sarah had her first daisy troop meeting last night. I have signed up to be a leader and am overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork and bureaucracy that exists within the Girl Scouts. They have taken the fun out of girl scouts and replaced it with TPS reports. And for every $4 box of cookies the girls sell they only get 60cents for the troop. Yikes.

Sarah's Daisy troop

Tomorrow my mother-in-law is getting her knee replaced. This is a major procedure and we are praying for a quick recovery. She has been so helpful with the kids as I've been really busy this semester. Soon one of my course redevelopments will be complete so I'll just have the courses I'm teaching and one redevelopment. I've also been selected to be on the editorial board for a scholarly journal we are starting. I feel very editor-like. I'm excited that some of the people from our church are bringing her meals. It will be hard for her to go up and down the stairs for a few months.

In other news:

1. I bought a Raspberry Pi and the book Raspberry Pi for dummies. This is something I've wanted for a long time so instead of waiting until Christmas I bought one. Now I can't wait to play with my new toy!
2. Our Coo* book club is reading The Once and Future King by T.H. White. It is a whimsical book (that's my best word to describe it) about King Arthur. I like it but it is not gripping.
3. I'm reading the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. This is a well written story but like the Once and Future King, it is not gripping.
4. I'm also reading The Gripping Hand by Niven and Pournelle. Again, even though the title might promise otherwise, it is not gripping. 
5. So I like the books I'm reading and want to see what happens but I'm okay putting the books down. The next book I read had better be so exciting I can't put it down.  
6. Erik and I went running last weekend while the in-laws took the kids to chick-fil-a for lunch. Erik noticed that I clomp my feet when I run. I've known this for awhile and have wondered if my bad form will actually hurt me in the future.
7. I scored an abysmal 49 points in Quiddler today

A rainy Halloween

The weather on Oct. 31st was pretty bad. It was rainy and chilly, and I didn't think we would have many trick or treaters. I was wrong. Nothing stops kids from candy. Erik took 5 kids out Trick or Treating while I sat in my toasty house eating Take 5 candy bars. Seemed like a good arrangement.

Sarah's Kindergarten Class

Jenna's Third Grade Class

 The kids had parties in their classes. You will notice the kindergartners sitting so nicely and calmly while the third graders are acting crazy. Not a surprise.  I am the room Mom for Jenna's class and am just a Mom for Sarah's class. For a treat I brought peeled clementine oranges with a tiny cucumber slice in the center to look like pumpkins. They were a big hit!

They are so cute when they sleep

 Last week I went to wake up Matthew from his nap and saw him sleeping so soundly in his big boy bed. He has been talking so much lately and has peed in the potty twice. What a big boy!

Jenna (poodle skirt girl), Grace (evil scientist), Sarah (princess), and Matthew (train)

Grace, Jenna and Abigail's candy loot

 After all 5 kids came back from Trick or Treating the older girls dumped their candy on the dining room table and sorted it all. Then they took what they want and left the rest in a pile. We ended up with a LOT of candy. I'm not sure what we are going to do with all this candy. Right now I'm dipping reeses cups in extra peanut butter but that's just me.

Matthew's preschool class + another class

Brownies

 Today we went to Olentangy caverns with Jenna's friend Paige. The caverns were fun and it wasn't very crowded. The kids had a good time even though Sarah screamed a few times (ie slippery steps, seeing the Indian burial grounds, and various other non-important times). Then they did gem mining which is one of Jenna's favorite activities. Paige came back to sleepover at our house so Jenna declared today to be the best day!

Olentangy caverns 

Gem Mining

78 points on Quiddler today

Peanut butter bread - yum!

Erik took the kids to Trunk-or-Treat last night. The kids can walk around to different decorated car trunks and get candy. It's really all about candy this time of year.

Trunk or Treat

Since we returned from our French adventure, I've decided we need to eat less preservatives. One place we can easily cut out is bread. I've been making our sandwich bread. Homemade bread tastes better and has no preservatives.

Over the past few weeks I've made honey wheat bread (multiple times), brioche, croissants, pumpkin bread, banana bread, chocolate bread, and peanut butter sandwich bread.

The peanut butter bread was a great find on pinterest. It is AMAZING! I love sandwich bread and peanut butter - how much better can you get than peanut butter in your bread. So I made a peanut butter and nutella sandwich using peanut butter bread. Yup. That's heaven right there.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 1/4 cups water 

3 cups bread flour 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup peanut butter 

1 tblsp active dry yeast

It is from: http://dukesandduchesses.com/2013/09/peanut-butter-bread-for-the-bread-machine

Unfortunately Erik didn't like it that much so I have a decision to make. Keep him or keep the bread. I'm not sure which I'll choose.

46 points on Quiddler today.

Travel

Our trip was really the trip of a lifetime. We saw so much and really could have spent another week (month?) in Paris. I loved it so much. I've listed my top 20 favorite sites.

Versailles

Notre Dame at night

The Eiffel tower in the rain

On the Arc de Triomphe

1. Eiffel Tower - more beautiful than I thought it would be
2. Bike tour - riding bikes at night through the streets of Paris was wonderful
3. Notre Dame - Beautiful yet creepy (ie gargoyles)
4. Saint Chappelle - 1100 stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible
5. Rue Cler Market - fresh fruit, baked goods, cheese, whatever you want!
6. Versailles - ornate! The Hall of Mirrors is beautiful
7. Boulangeries / Patisseries - Yum
8. Creperies - Yum squared
9. Boat ride on the Seine river - It rained and I still thought it was picturesque
10. St. Sulpice - gorgeous church and even though the mass was in French, I knew what was going on
11. Sacre Coeur - 300 steps to the top and the view was worth it
12. Luxembourg Gardens - Lots of flowers and fountains 
13. Louvre - The sculptures were the best part of the Louvre
14. Arc de Triomphe - A nice view from the top, and you can see all the roads leading out from the Arc
15. Orsay Museum - Impressive Impressionist art
16. Champs Elysees walk - Lots of cutting edge stores and delicous food
17. Shakespeare and Book Company - a fun little book shop
18. Invalides - Napolean's tomb. Much bigger than I thought it would be
19. Latin Quarter - Shops, souvenir places, creperies, and fun cafes
20. Deportation Memorial - for the French victims of the holocaust

After our trip to France I wasted no time coming up with lists of other places I want to go. 

Here is a list of places I would like to take the kids to:

1. Washington DC
2. Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
3. Sacramento and Los Angeles, CA
4. Maine (esp Acadia National Park)
5. Colorado
6. Yellowstone National Park
7. New York City
8. Mammoth Cave, KY
9. Redwood National Park, CA
10. Niagara Falls
11. Biltmore Estate
12. Mackinac Island
13. Grand Canyon
14. Cape Cod
15. Blue Ridge Mountains, TN

Is there any place I'm missing? Should I take my kids somewhere else (besides Minnesota but we've already been there)

Places I want to visit that I have not been to (not including 48 states)

1. Germany
2. Greece
3. New Zealand
4. Hawaii
5. Israel
6. Alaska
7. Spain
8. Austria
9. Sweden
10. Scotland
11. Australia
12. Iceland
13. Newfoundland/Quebec
14. Denmark
15. Russia
16. Great wall of China and Hong Kong
17. Egypt
18. Morocco
19. Poland
20. Netherlands

This is my bucket list. Someday I'd like to visit all of these places!

I love Paris

Our trip to Paris was tres bien (very good) since I don't know how to say awesome in French.

I posted many of our pictures on facebook, but here is a rundown on what we did.

Oct. 1: Our plane left at 1pm for Paris. We went with Duane and Joy, with whom we also went to Rome. Joy is 21 weeks pregnant and was a trooper with all the walking we did!
Oct. 2: We arrived in Paris at 9:40am. We rented an apartment from Slim (who was excellent!!) and he met us outside of the apartment at noon. We were on the second floor of a windy staircase. The apartment was cozy and we were living alongside real Parisians. That was amazing. Our apartment was next to an open air market on Rue Cler. Here you can find anything you need (cheese, bread, fish, vegetables, fruit). We went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysees the first evening.
Oct. 3: Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle. Saint Chappelle has 1100 stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible - beautiful. That evening we went on a night bike ride through Paris that included a cruise on the River Seine. The bike ride was the highlight. I loved it! I'm looking at all the cities that Fat Tire Bike tours offers bike rides to pick my next vacation.
Oct 4: Sacre Coeur and Montmartre. This area seemed less safe since there were several thieves and pickpockets but the church was beautiful. Next was the Louvre and the Orsay Museum. 
Oct. 5: Happy Birthday Duane. We celebrated by going to Versailles. We packed a picnic and Duane packed a bottle of wine. While we were eating crepes a buckeye fell on Duane's head. We were sitting under a buckeye tree at Versailles!! So we got someone to take a picture of the four of us doing OHIO. This evening was Nuit Blanche in Paris. That meant parties until 7am. We walked around and saw people dancing and art displays then we got home around 1:30am. No all night parties for us!
Oct. 6: Mass at St. Sulpice then we took a stroll around Luxembourg gardens. We ate some macarons, went to a book store and just had a relaxing time. At 5pm we rode the Eiffel tower to the top for spectacular views. Then we went to the Latin Quarter for dinner. This was a lively place with lots of shops, creperies, and good French food.
Oct. 7: Au Revoir Pairs!

My thoughts on Paris, France.

I love this city. I could live here. Erik and I talked about renting an apartment for a month and just living here with the kids. I wish the kids could have experienced this culture too. We actually felt pretty safe except for the Sacre Coeur/ Montmartre area. I loved walking around and seeing the city and the people. Paris is clean, easy to navigate (the metro system was straightforward), and so much delicious food!

My thoughts on the people.

They were much nicer than their reputation. We tried (terribly) to speak French but so many people spoke English. Everyone was friendly.

My thoughts on the food. 

We had a lot of picnics (or take away food) since it is easy and we can go wherever we want to eat. We also ate at several outdoor cafes. These are all over in Paris and I loved them. We could sit at one for hours. I think the locals do this!

Escargot - Much yummier than I thought. Duane is always daring (he ordered foie gras while we were there). He ordered snails which horrified Erik and Joy. I actually thought they were delicious! Erik and Joy did try them reluctantly.

Fromage - I thought the cheese would be amazing but it was all stinky. Even muenster which I really like was stinky. I was disappointed in the stinky cheese

Pain au chocolat - Chocolate croissants. They were buttery and perfect. This is normal breakfast for Parisians. A croissant and a hot drink like coffee, tea, or chocolate.

Crepes - My favorite! I loved the nutella crepes and would stuff myself with them after I was already full. Yes they were that good.

Macarons - light yet somehow rich. They came in a variety of flavors and were so beautiful.

Chocolat Viennoise - This makes starbucks look like gas station hot chocolate. I have no idea how they made this hot chocolate but it was unbelievable.

We had an amazing trip and I'm ready to go back. I love Paris every moment. Every moment of the year!

How time flies!

I went to my High School Reunion last weekend. It was wonderful to see people I haven't seen in years. How many years? One of my friends asked if I was going to my 10 year or 20 year reunion. Wow - thanks :).

Angela, Me, Taneia, and Heather

 Seeing some of my friends from high school was amazing. When Susan, Norman and I got together it was like no time had passed at all. The three of us were such good friends in school.

Susan, Me, and Norman

I also got to see my friends who played saxophone with me in band. I don't know if it's like this with all instruments (because all other instruments are inferior), but our saxophone group was pretty tightly knit.

Now that I've switched to online my workload has increased tenfold. I thought on my session off I'd get a break. Apparently no. I'm a subject matter expert for several classes and am doing a ton of modification on courses with tight deadlines. It's been pretty crazy. I feel like I have a real job. Bummer.




Matthew really loves hats. He has been carrying hats on his hands and calling them "hand hats" for awhile. I even bought him a hat at goodwill for him to carry around. Erik didn't want him playing with his "good" hats.

Matthew <3 hats

Speaking of how time flies - my friend Jen was planning on getting rid of her blue chair. Prior to that, we snapped a picture of Jenna and Nicholas sitting in the chair. We had several pictures of them together when they were babies.We had to get a picture now that they are older.

Jenna and Nicholas (1 year old and 8 years old)

I also had this picture of when Jenna was only a month and a half old and Nicholas is about 5 months old. You can see the size difference between the two kids. Although the size difference is much smaller now, they are still good friends.

Jenna and Nicholas in March 2005