A Messenger Bag For Kimble

I made a messenger bag for Kimble. I thought he would like it, since he loves to carry around purses to hold his treasures, and he is always shoving things in his underwear because he needs a pocket for his toys...but he hates the bag. He wore it for about two seconds (for me to take a picture) then he tossed  it on the ground and never looked at it again.

 

I even made some special pockets just for his cars...and the inside is big enough for his toy dinosaurs and books.  At any rate, I like it, but still want to tweak the pattern a bit, before I'm happy with it, but it was fun to do.

Field Day and Lunch Dates

Today was field day for these three kiddos.  They each found hats to wear, totally excited to spend the day lathered in sunshine  and playing games outside in the beautiful weather we are having this week.  Winter finally decided to give up it's command and we went right to summer, with temperatures in the 80s.  So delicious.

 

 

Kimble and I were invited to The Husband's work, to enjoy a BBQ lunch.  Little Kimble was so excited to get his own field trip, and loved the time he spent with his daddy.

 

Later, we peeled and cored and sliced about 20 pounds  of apples and then I cooked them down and prepared a huge batch (three big pots full) of apple pie filling, which we put into ziploc bags and froze.

Some of you requested info on the batch of guacamole we did last week.  Guacamole is difficult to freeze, or even refrigerate. It's sort of a "make fresh and eat it right away" type of food.  That being said, if you add enough acid (lemon or lime juice) to counteract the oxidation of the avocados, then it'll work.  So I can't give you an exact guacamole recipe, because it's all about getting to the flavor that you like, but besides avocados, we add in some diced tomatoes, cilantro, diced onions, cumin, lime or lemon juice, garlic, onion salt, pepper, and jalapenos.

We froze them in freezer quart-size bags and removed  all the air before sealing. Then we flattened them and stacked them up.  To serve them, we removed a bag and let it thaw in the fridge.  As it thaws, it oxidizes a little bit, turning slightly gray/brown on the outside.  I just stirred it all up and although it's not as bright as fresh guacamole, it still tastes great.  Hope that helps.

City Cleanup

We started noticing strange occurrences around out city this week.  There were piles of trash, discarded household items, bulk piles of giveaway things, and evidence of yard cleanup in the works.  So we figured out what was happening. It was a city-wide cleanup.  There was a schedule of when to put out your piles, and the city would come clear it away free of charge.  You could also put out items you wanted to give away, and people would come around and swipe it if they wanted it.  A Win/Win situation.

 

So we did some investigating and discovered that our neighborhood pickup was scheduled for the next day.  The Husband decided it was a perfect opportunity to get rid of the huge pile of wood, branches, leaves, and old Christmas trees we had cornered on our side yard.  We got all the kids out there, each outfitted with gloves and rakes and wheel barrels, and we busted through the debris to get it relocated from our backyard to our  front side yard so the big front loader could scoop it up.  Here is a picture of the new pile, ready for pickup.

 

Kamy and Keaton are standing in the spot that was overfilled with the debris, and in the final stages of getting cleaned out.

 

It felt so nice to get it all cleaned up!  Horray for city cleanup!

 

Visiting Kennedy

Kennedy had a school play today.  Boy, the last two weeks are crazy filled with activities for the school kids.  I was happy to have this time free to get up to the school and witness Kennedy's literacy group do a reading of two stories.  They are practicing reading outloud and not sounding like "robots".  Read with feeling!  They all did great, and Kennedy was so excited to have Kimble and I visit her classroom.

 

Dentist Buddies

It was another dentist appointment for these two boys, and this time, I managed to have Kamy home to be with Kennedy and Kimble, so there were no mixups at my friend's houses again!  This time, I actually enjoyed the experience of waiting in the waiting room for these two to get done. I didn't even have any anxiety issues over being at the dentist (even thought the appointments are for me, I have major anxiety every time I walk into a dentist office, let alone have an appointment!).   I passed the time away with a good book, and quite enjoyed the 1.5 hours of relaxation.  Afterwards, the boys were given Frosty coupons, so I got them redeemed.  They were happy.

Mother's Day

The Husband and I don't often exchange gifts for Mother's Day or Father's Day.  Instead, we ask "what would you like for us to do today?"  This usually entails special meals being prepared and served, acts of service, and extra love being shown.

I had a few suggestions for the day.  1.  I didn't want to be in charge of making sure the kids did their chores.  2.  I wanted happy thoughts and kind words spoken throughout the day (in other words, no bickering!).  3.  Breakfast in bed would be lovely.  4.  Pictures of me with the kids.

 

It was a nice day. I sure do love this group of people!

Writing

I love to write.  I have ambitions to get books published.  I have a few children's books that are done, and another idea for a book that I've written a bit for, and created a long list of writing prompts to help me complete it.  I'm feeling the itch to actually follow through with all of this.

I've decided to pursue finding a literary agent, and am excited about this process.  Yay!

Avocados

The Husband has a friend at work who also works for a food company that delivers orders to local restaurants.  Every week, we are given a list of their specials, and we have the opportunity to buy from them as well.  This week, we couldn't pass up a big box of avocados for 13 dollars (we also bought a big box of apples, and two boxes of chicken).  The avocados were ripe as could be, and ready to be made into guacamole.

The Husband and I worked together tonight to prepare a huge batch of guacamole, which we then bagged into 12 separate pouches of 10 servings each.  Into the freezer they went.  Now that's a bargain!

Spelling A

 

Although school is still a struggle, and homework is always paired with grief and fits and frustrations, we do have some proud moments.  Today, Kolby came home with an A on his spelling test.  This was hard-earned and desperately sought after.  He was so proud of his accomplishment.

Bread and Water

Today we got a big rainstorm, and it lasted throughout the day.  I love rainstorms, but most especially thunder storms.  The smell of freshly fallen rain and the sound of thunder booming in the distance, (sigh) it makes me happy.

 

Today, in honor of such lovely spring weather (we don't get many rainstorms here), I baked a few loaves of bread.  Freshly baked bread is a weakness of mine.  So  heavenly.

 

When the kids came home, they each got a fat slice  of bread, with a generous helping of  honeybutter.  Delicious.

 

 

Then they played outside for a while.  It was raining off an on at this point, but they didn't care.

 

They took advantage of the big water puddle in front of our sidewalk, and had fund riding their bikes through it and splashing around. Kennedy borrowed Kimble's bike and had fun riding through the puddle and making lots of backsplash.

 

It was a great day to play outside.  Hopefully Spring is here to stay!