Sunny Days

Last week Thursday, we were bundled up in our warmest clothes, huddled around a roaring fire, watching the wind take down chunks of our trees.  I just can't resist posting what we did today.  It seems we've gone from 40 to 88 in less than one week. 

I guess March finally got the memo that's it's supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb! 

More Delia-isms

1.  Her answer when we ask who the two people God created to live in the Garden were: "Adam and Steve."

2.  Giving me a stern "Shhh!" when I whisper to Jetta during church.

3.  Climbing into my bed for a snuggle with the warning, "I'm gonna cold you up!"

4.  After another weekend of rain, distraught when we tell her we need to just get out of the house and go to Applebee's for dinner: "You mean we're never coming back?! I'm so sad to say goodbye to our house!  And I don't want to eat bees."

All By Herself!

This is Delia's very first time writing her whole first name totally by herself.  She's very proud!

A Rainbow for Dinner

Better sit down, folks.  I have shocking news: tonight my picky eaters not only willingly ate a whole plate of veggies for dinner, they also said they liked it and asked for the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!  How did I achieve this miracle, you wonder?  I'll tell you! 

We were recently served this delicious vegetable bake for dinner at some friends' house during game night.  Since then, Dave has been asking me regularly to get the recipe from Darla and put the ingredients on my grocery list.  It can actually be made with whatever veggies you like or have on hand, but I decided to make an intentional rainbow, thus making it fun for the kids.  The recipe is as follows, if you'd like to entice your own picky eaters or just enjoy a yummy and super healthy meal for yourself!

1 package apple-flavored chicken sausage (4 links), sliced
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 summer squash, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 dozen fresh brussel sprouts, halved
1/8 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Put chicken sausage and veggies into a large bowl and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Toss with olive oil.  Spread into a 9x13 pan and bake covered for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake additional 25 minutes, or until potatoes are fork-tender.



Gettin' Outta Dodge

Let me start with some disclaimers: I'm thankful for our house.  I'm thankful for shelter from 40 mph winds and rain that goes on for days and days.  I'm thankful my husband has a job that he loves doing and is good at.  I'm thankful to have 2 wonderful little girls to take care of.  But even when you're feeling most thankful, do you ever feel the need to escape? 

After not talking to Dave for a whole weekend and not seeing much of him for a whole month either.  After several days of just hunkering down inside the house.  After not sleeping because I am home alone and it sounds like the wind is going to rip our roof off.  After loosing power for hours at a time.  After the wind blows a basketball hoop down, right into the windshield of our van.  After hearing the harrowing tales of Dave leading 30 kids and 6 leaders into and out of a crazy blizzard in the mountains this weekend.  After all this, I was ready to get away.  So, yesterday we used Ella's day off to head to Sacramento for a much needed family outing. 

We went to the fantastic California State Railroad Museum, a place we haven't visited in years.  I was attracted to a new exhibit they have displaying fruit crate labels on loan from our state library.  These labels were affixed to the crates of produce that California shipped out via the Transcontinental Railroad from the late 1800's to early 1900's.  They are meant to make California look vibrant, evocative and fun.  I have always thought these labels are pretty cool and have a small collection of framed vintage labels decorating our kitchen and dining room.

The "Pick Me!" exhibit was neat!   It was housed inside a restored refrigerator car.  We learned a lot about how fruit and veggies were transported and also how the labels were actually printed.  Grandpa the printer will be proud that we got lessons in overlapping color plates and using the magnifying glass to see all the dots that make up an image.

This train museum is tops of my museum list.  Though completely indoors, it houses a dozen real train engines and cars, all giant close up and restored to look as they did a hundred years ago.  You can walk through most of them too.

We saw all the knobs, handles and gauges in the steam engine.

Ella led us through her favorite Pullman sleeper car several times and Delia got to ring the dinner chime in the diner car.  We all oohed and ahhed over the luxurious Gold Coast private train with its fireplace sitting rooms and full bathrooms.  We saw how letters were sorted en route in the mail car.

The top floor of the museum is dedicated to play train tables and model train displays.  The girls just loved running around and playing up here.

We continued our history lessons as we wandered around the recreated Gold Rush streets of Old Sacramento.  Most memorable was a stop in the one-room school house.  The girls saw what school would have been like "back in the day" and tried out the desks, the chalkboards, the fashions and the swings on the play yard.

To top it off, the sun was shining in the blue sky over Sacramento!  We came home to reports of lightning hitting nearby power lines and more major weather, including hail.  I think we picked the perfect day to escape!

Trapped in the House

This was supposed to be a post about sledding and snow ball fights since we had big plans to join Dave at the cabin for a Saturday of fun in the snow with the youth group.  However, like last year, a winter storm warning was issued for the foothills and Dave told us it was too dangerous to make the drive on our own today.  Chain requirements started really low and the youth group caravan took at least 3 times as long as it normally does to drive up last night.  We're thankful everyone is safe and has several feet of fresh new snow to play in. But, we're personally feeling a little betrayed by the winter weather.  So, since we're stuck at home, we decided to go in the opposite direction and celebrate spring today!

We made spring and Easter shaped cookies and decorated them with pastel frosting.

We got out the Resurrection Eggs for the first time this season.

And we had a Spring/Summer Collection Fashion Show.  I let the girls dive into some tubs of next-size-up summer clothes I pulled out of the closet.  We set up a runway and they went crazy trying on outfits and strutting their stuff.  Delia loves to practice dressing herself and will "practice" several times a day, quadrupling my laundry load if I didn't stop her.  And a new dress is one the great thrills of Ella's life.   This was a hit that kept us busy for hours.  Don't you love how they strike a pose? (Yes, they did get goofier the longer we did this.)

We were all disappointed when things didn't work out the way we wanted this Saturday, but overall, we still had some good times.  Especially considering yucky rain and wind kept us from ever even leaving the house!

Marching through March

As I watch another week of this month fly by and realize I haven't posted in a while, thought I'd give you a quick update.  This week:

I started my librarian job.  Though different than what I expected, it was wonderful!  Both 4th grade classes have a majority of students who like to read and were easy to engage in discussion about literature.  I'm happy that two thirds of the job is with those guys, since 4th grade is the year I fell in love with books.  After their time in the library, some of the students even came back over their recess to keep talking books with me and just couldn't wait for next week's installment of "Mrs. V.'s Must Reads".  The kindergarten class was a hoot!  One kid actually raised his hand and asked, "Do you know you're Ella's mom?"  They listened to my story with rapt attention and each left giving me a hug. While I'll continue to learn where each book is, what to do when the computer crashes and how to manage each student's needs on my own, overall it is so exciting to be working with kids again!

Ella ran in a school jog-a-thon.  We didn't really bother with the fundraising element, but did go to cheer her on.  She ran/walked 25 laps!

It was "S" week at preschool, so Delia learned about Safety.  This made a huge impression on her, as she's found a way to work "Stop, Drop and Roll" into every conversation we've had with her this week.  She revels in demonstrating it as well.  If you're on fire, Delia's your gal!

We got the details finalized for a VERY special birthday surprise for Ella.  I'm going to wait to reveal this big secret on the blog too...but it's goooood!

I was invited to join a book club and had my first meeting on Thursday night.  Six of us ladies who love to read got together to discuss Sarah's Key.  I've never been a part of a book club before and thoroughly enjoyed searching for insight and sharing thoughts about deeper topics with other readers.  Next month we have to read The Red Tent.  Anyone read it?

Dave saw no relief in his workload.  March is always jam-packed with the usual fundraisers, winter retreats, youth group activities and meetings.  This month, he's had a good amount of preaching to do as well.

I realize most of this update is about me!  Strange that I spent so much time away from my house and family this week.  I feel like I've had an extraordinary week.

Abracadabra Kalamazoo!

The other night, Dave dug his big black box of magic tricks out of the game closet.  Since Dave has always cracked his family up with his amazing (and cheesy) magic skills, Kris gave Dave this kit as a gift years ago.  The girls were completely blown away as Daddy made cards disappear, guessed which colored ball was sealed in the box, pulled quarters out of ponytails, made his wand float and poured milk into a paper funnel.  Ella begged for explanations while Delia just made her own hasty magic.  She'd stop her trick to visibly hide a piece and when we'd call her out, she'd yell at us, "NO! YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT!"  Other laughs came from Ella switching Dave's magic words, "Abracadabra Kalamazoo!" to "Abracadabra Grand Rapids!"  She was excited to bring the one trick Dave revealed to school for her show and tell.

 

The girls already thought their Daddy was pretty cool.  They didn't know he could do magic too!  Now that the secret's out, we've had to pull the big black box out almost every night!

After the Almond Blossom

Each March I force you to appreciate the beauty of our Almond Blossom.  I take pictures of the girls strolling through the orchard, I brag about our warm sunshine.  But what happens after the bloom?  I thought this year I'd finally record the weeks following the gorgeous Almond Blossom.  As the white almond flowers age, they start to fall.  Strangely, this feels a little like winter.  Light breezes fill the air with floating petals and the ground is colored white where they collect.  The trees turn from white to green and my girls are bummed.  However, it's right about this time that we start noticing PINK!  The Peach Blossom starts right as the Almond Blossom fades.  While the almond orchards outnumber the peach orchards around here, we still have plenty of peaches to admire.  Long rows of pink trees (all different shades, depending on the variety of peach), stretch our spring out even longer and seem to take the edge off our Bye-Bye Almond Blossom Blues

"Shhhh!" (Just Practicing!)

Everyone has their "thing."  Some are masters of sports and can rattle off every past and present football player and coach.  Some are intrigued by politics and wake up each morning headed right to their news page to read about all the Washington bigwigs.  Some are students of entertainment and live for Hollywood's award season, knowing all the brightest actors, writers and directors.

Me?  I love Children's Literature.  I guarantee I know more than most about authors, their work and the prestigious awards they've won.  This passion makes one of my favorite things a perusal of the Borders Young Adult section, on the hunt for familiar names with new titles.  This interest means the 2011 Newberry award winners are already on hold for me at the public library.  This knowledge allows me to answer questions from my husband like, "Who are the two illustrators who've won the Caldecott three times?" after he reads the jacket of one of our daughters' books (David Weisner and Marcia Brown, by the way).

This morning I got a new little job I'm pretty excited about.  The library at Ella's school is run by a small group of volunteers.  When one of the volunteers needed to step down because of health issues, she left a Thursday morning opening.  With Delia in preschool at that exact time, I too have a Thursday morning opening in my schedule.  So, guess who's the newest librarian at our school?  With my love for Children's Lit and kids, I've always felt like a school library would be the perfect place for me to land professionally when I was ready to go back to work.  I'm thinking this will be a good run-through.  My little job will entail doing lessons and read alouds with 3 classes (one of them being Ella's kindergarten!), checking out and shelving the students' books and helping the volunteer who does the budget and buying know which books to add to the library.  I get trained on Monday and start next week!

It's just a one-morning-a-week, non-paying job, but I still just have to say it: YAAAAY! :)

Sweet Messages

Super Kid

This week is Ella's week to be her kindergarten class's Super Kid.  This means she's been spoiled!  One task was to make a poster displaying pictures of her growing up and listing favorites to show off in the classroom.  She enjoyed putting this together, choosing these pictures from the big stack I gave her.  She also wrote out all her answers herself and took charge of sponge painting the letters in her name.

As a treat for Ella, her teacher asked me to be the parent helper when the class made Green Eggs and Ham for Dr. Seuss's birthday yesterday.  We were encouraged to think of another something special Ella could share with her class this week.  Ella chose to have her Daddy go to kindergarten and read aloud her favorite story. She'd also hand out a snack we made together.

Since her favorite story, Just Plain Fancy, is about two Amish sisters who get a shock when one of their chicken eggs hatches into a fancy peacock, the snack we made was bird nests with jellybean eggs.

Though Ella came down with a long-lasting fever on Sunday morning and actually missed the first two days of her Super Kid week, she still felt special.  Dave and I also enjoyed the ways we got to participate!

Looking Back

Tonight I entertained myself by looking back at pictures of the girls in the blooms from years past.  If you are an immediate family member or kinda bored, I thought you may enjoy it too:

Blossoms 2010
Blossoms 2009
Blossoms 2008
Blossoms 2007

Fun to see how they've grown, right?  And will I continue to make them walk down the aisle of trees holding hands even when they're teenagers?  Yeah, probably.

"Bwooms!"

Don't be fooled by how grown-up the girls look in this year's almond blossom pictures.  Ella was still scared of the bees humming and needed lots of comfort and reassurance that they were busy doing their job and not interested in attacking her.  And Delia still can't properly pronounce the word "blooms."  Though, her inability to say the letter "L" is so endearing.  A big part of why I'm loving this year's blossom is her constant excited cheer from the backseat, "Wook at the beautiful bwooms, Mommy!"