Tag Archives: visitors

Field Trip

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Thank goodness my sister-in-law comes to visit. When she does, not only does she bring good company for me and cousins for the kids, she also brings ideas of fun places for the children to go. This most recent trip, we took them to the zoo.

We saw geese tending their eggs under cover of brush.

We watched a peacock display for the nearby female he was hoping to impress.

The real lions were basking in the sun while the statues served as a great photo op.

Cowgirl loved using the map to find where we were and see where we were going.

Another great picture setting on our way out of the primate section of the zoo.

There were so many things to see; just not enough time!

My favorite part of the zoo was the rainforest building, which housed fruit bats and flying foxes, among other interesting creatures and plants. I love bats. What have you been getting out to see and do this spring?

Summertime Fun

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The boys are thrilled that it is summer break from homeschool.  They will only work on “academic” stuff a few days a week now when Farmer Boy is working on Alphabet Phonics with his wonderful tutor.  So what do my kids do now that they have more free time?  Pretty much what they did before.

 

They asked My Farmer and I to get them up as soon as we were awake this morning (well, I went to the YMCA first and THEN woke them up).  They ate breakfast as fast as they could and were out the door in a flash.  The spent the entire morning – four hours, I’m not kidding people – raking mowed pasture grass and making a haystack like they’d read about in one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.  They came in for a jug of water at one point.  After lunch, Farmer Boy went to check fields with Dad (got to keep an eye on those weeds and watch the moisture in the ground we are going to plant beans on), while Shooter spent some quality time with his books.  I dropped him off for Taekwondo, and when we all met up back at home they played matchbox cars until we went to see some out-of-town cousins visiting at Grandma’s.

 

While there, they looked for an escaped turtle and ended up finding a toad instead, ate sandwiches on the porch, and played on the swings.  After that, they hunkered down in the sand pile with pieces of bark and invented some sort of country that involved a tribal council and a national service department – evidentally that is a one-size-fits-all hero department consisting of every single branch of the armed forces, emergency services, and charitable organizations.

 

We finally had to make them come to the house when it was full-on dark.  They had a cookie from Grandma on the drive home, took lightening-fast showers, listened to me read about bees and fell into bed.

 

They both said it was one of the best. days. ever.

 

 

It’s the most wonderful time…

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Seriously, today is terrific.

 

We had Christmas with my side of the family this weekend.  It included one very late night, tons of gifts and lots of food.  The children’s favorite presents include stilts, John Deere work gloves and dress-up high heels.  I’m not going to bother telling you which gift was for whom.  That would be redundant.

I’m super-psyched because I got some of my favorite running socks AND a trainer at the YMCA!  I’ll blog more about that (the trainer, not the socks) as we go along.  Haven’t scheduled my first session yet but I CAN”T WAIT!  And tonight, I’m going to see two of my girlfriends for no other reason than we want to get together (GASP, wait, no meeting or committee or activity enmeshed? NO! Woot!).

On a side note – does anyone else find it weird that Nike has their socks listed as gear and not clothing?

 

My sister helped me do the mountains of dishes before leaving, my parents were off to the airport to see our family in Vancouver for the holiday.  We are all still a bit dazed this morning, but the kids were ready as soon as their toes hit carpet to open their science, painting or make-your-own-bouncy-ball kits.  We did all three successfully.  Now I just need to wrap and fill the underside of the tree with gifts for Christmas 2 of 3 on Saturday.

Oh.  And deal with the laundry. 

Time to call the middle school wondergirl!

 

We have no lessons, clubs, activities or appointments today, so we are happily taking the decompression time.  And have I mentioned it is going to be NEARLY 60 DEGREES here today?  The children are going to be storing up lots of fresh air.  My Farmer is happy on the tractor (fertilizing) the boys are already outside in John Deere gear practicing on stilts, (note to self; have them haul recycling full of Christmas wrapping shreds to the road) and my daughter is, of course, playing with one of the kittens.  In her new high heels.

Delicious…AND good for you!

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Or compared to “regular” quick breads, anyway.  I made this the other day and forgot how wonderful it was.  I had made and frozen some before my daughter was born (nearly FIVE years ago! Gasp!) and remember sharing it with my Gramma who came all the way from Canada to help me take care of my little brood.  We had it with herbal tea (on the side) and butter (on the top).  I knew I’d made something special when she asked me for the recipe…nobody can bake like she can!

Corny Banana Oat Bread (recipe from Whole Foods For The Whole Family)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

2 eggs

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup rolled oates

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3 med)

Cream oil and honey in a bowl.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.  Combine dry ingredients.  Add to honey mixture alternately with bananas, beating well after each addition.  Pour into greased 5×9 inch loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about one hour.  May substitute melted butter for oil and brown sugar for honey – but I never have.

Getting excited…

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My Gramma is coming to visit next week!

She is the one I wrote this poem about, who came at Christmas time (I blogged about getting the house ready).

She’s been a good friend of mine ever since as-long-as-I-can-remember, and I love when she visits.  My kids adore her, my husband loves her, and she is always so fun to be with.  It has been a tough year for her – my Grandad, who she was married to for 60 years, died in July.  So I’m glad to get to share some time with her, to share my family and our crazy, hectic lifestyle!

However, spring has been so busy I may be cleaning out her bedroom and the bathroom and then just shutting the doors to the rest of the house.  She won’t mind – she’s a dream as a house guest.  It will make for a good story later, I guess!

Older and Wiser

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We had cousins in town during their spring break last week.  The kids had SO much fun.  At one point, Shooter (8 for a few more weeks) asked if he could do a specific activity.

We were all at a restaurant together, so I stalled with “We’ll talk about it when we get home.”

Our 9-year-old cousin looked at him with sympathy and said “That means you can’t do it.”

Gramma’s Biscuits

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This is a staple at our house.  I use these to make cinnamon breakfast treats, pinwheels, hot pockets, fast pizza…you get the idea.  I serve them with soup, salad, pork chops, steak, eggs and they make frequent trips to the field during harvest.  I like to make them when we have company; they are a hit with all age groups.  My Gramma made these with Farmer Boy when he was two and she was staying with us during Cowgirls first days outside of the womb.  I’ve been addicted to them ever since (for those of you counting, that’s 4.5 years)!  I have made a few changes to the recipe but it is essentially still hers, which is why, the many times I’ve been asked for the recipe, I always label it:

 

Mae’s Biscuits

Combine the following:

 4 cups flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour but you can use any combination you want)

2 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Cut in (I use the paddle on my stand mixer) 2 sticks butter or margarine (I use butter – margarine isn’t allowed in this house).

When it is “mealy” looking (it all looks the same, no big butter chunks) pour in:

1 and 1/2 cups something wet (Gramma’s recipe calls for milk, I find yogurt keeps them moist longer or I sometimes use almond milk) and

2-3 Tbsp honey (optional)

Mix until blended.  Dump onto a cookie sheet and pat down to about 1/2 inch thick.  You can then cut them into rectangles with a chef’s knife, or use an open-topped cookie cutter.  I usually cut them with a juice glass.  Arrange on the cookie sheet (notice this tip saves you needing to wipe down the counter!  Yay!).

Bake at 425 degrees for 11 minutes, until just golden brown.  Makes about 24 biscuits. These are incredible fresh, but keep well in an airtight container.  My sister-in-law made them with currants once and they were freaking delicious!

 

This is all that is left after this morning's batch.

The way we were…

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My parents are coming for a quick visit!

We are all so excited, we’ve been waiting for this all winter since it occurred to us how much fun it would be to take them to the YMCA.

We are going to play Wii and Dance Revolution in the family game room.  Each child is going to have a turn to play racquetball (they are beside themselves about this – they thought it was only something mommy and daddy did together for dates)!  And I’m so excited for my ‘rents to see the kids swimming – they’ve been progressing so fast since we switched to the YMCA learn-to-swim program.

My Dad swears he is not going to get in the pool.  But I remember all too well those snowy-white legs, (maybe once a year when it rained on our farm in the summer and he could go swimming with us) and we spent hours leaping off his shoulders, being catapulted from his linked fingers, jumping from the side into his arms.  All I’m saying is I won’t be surprised if there is a swimsuit stowing away in his bag.  I could be wrong – sometimes it is hard to reconcile your image of your parents from when you were a child with who they are now, just like it’s hard for my parents to easily see the differences in 18-year-old Jessi and 32-year-old Jessica.

One week to whip your house into shape

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Yes, you heard me.  Well, it won’t be a show home but it will be close enough!  I have one mantra I repeat often during my housework:  It’s better than it was!  I am a big believer in the FlyLady approach to housecleaning and organization.  I was one of those people who find the e-list to be overwhelming, but I read and enjoyed the book and have employed many of Martha’s techniques in my regular housecleaning and bless her often as I look around at my (close enough to) clean house.

Homeschooling has brought new challenges as far as cleaning, for my family.  We’ve had so much more time for fun at home, and for new and exciting evening activities!  I’ve been having such a good time and been so invested in our learning that I let my routines slip…for several months.  So when my Granmother from Canada is coming to visit, it’s panic time.  Mind you, she is not a “white glove” kind of gal.  She would never be bothered if my house was cluttered and dusty.  She is the kind of great-grandmother you find on the floor playing with the kids and saying that peanut butter and jelly is just fine for her too.  But she is a very good friend to me, a very special relative, and I want to show her how excited I am to have her staying with us for a few days before she heads to mom’s house. 

Oh, and she is an excellent housekeeper herself, so I’d like her to feel ‘at home.’

I pulled out my emergency plans and wanted to share them with you.  It worked for me.  The house looks (close enough to) beautiful and Gramma is arriving tomorrow.

Step one:  Choose an area to concentrate on (I always pick my living room and kitchen because that is what most people see when they visit and where I spend the most time).  Every day for the next week spend at least 15 minutes decluttering that area as fast as you can.  Set a timer like FlyLady tells you to, it works!

Step two:  Make a list of the things you need to do every single day.  My list looks like this:  One load of laundry (this includes folding and putting away-darn it!), Make bed(s), check bathrooms, switch out hand towels (I’m a germiphobe and this makes me feel so good), set coffee maker for the next morning, plan a menu for tomorrow, check the calendar for activities/appointments today and tomorrow, load/start/unload dishwasher.  This, of course, does not include things that happen every day like prepare, serve and clean up after each meal, wipe the four-year-old’s bottom, pick up seven thousand lego pieces after you step on them, yell at children to stop fighting…

Step three:  Make a list of the things you want to do on a weekly basis and divide them out among the days of the week.  Flylady does her house cleaning for an hour once a week, which might work great for you, but I have found I cannot make it all happen in one day with the kids underfoot.  So my list includes all the things I like to have done in a week but I do one or two of them per day, which means 10 or 15 minutes of work and at the end of the week it’s all been done.  My weekly list looks like this:

Monday:  Dusting and clear hot spots of accumulated clutter

Tuesday:  Sweep (maybe mop) and take trash to the road

Wednesday:  Clean off porch and entryway, wipe down bathrooms

Thursday:  Sweep (mop if I missed Tuesday), clean front picture windows

Friday:  Clean out van and fridge if they need it, change sheets on my bed

Saturday:  Kids pick up their rooms (which involves me standing over them)

Sunday:  Vacuum

Step four:  At the end of the week pat yourself on the back and look around at how much better everything looks than it did last week!  Then modify your lists if you found things that didn’t work or have ideas for what could work better.  On weeks I am not preparing for visitors, it brings me lots of peace to know that anything I don’t get done will still be waiting on the list for next week and I can do it then.  Keep doing this and you will be amazed at how this bit or organization staves of the catastrophic house mess that usually had to occur before I could motivate myself to tackle the huge job.  I was constantly swinging from horrid to excellent, now I am just maintaining close enough. 

Now keep in mind that I do all of these jobs so the house is close enough to clean.  I do not do any of them perfectly.  If something is in my way when I am vacuuming, I just shove it out of the way or vacuum around it.  When I dust, I am not getting out anything wet – I am using a feather duster and hitting all the major surfaces.  When I clean out the van, I may only have time to pull out this week’s garbage and abandoned cups but not to wipe down surfaces or vacuum.  I do not clean all my windows on window day, just the giant ones that we and all our company look out of and are always getting finger/face prints as the kids watch wild turkey, deer or thunderstorms.  When I clean off the porch that may mean just shaking out the welcome mat, sweeping as fast as I can and hollering at the kids to move their toys to the back porch (where they belong!).  But any little bit of cleaning I can do means it is better than it was before, and better than it would have been next week when I tackle the job again.  Now I always feel like my house in a general maintenance pattern, that things never get as bad as they used to and most of the time I would not actually die of embarrassment if someone pops in.  There are days I may need to be hospitalized for embarrassment, but not actually die.  My cleaning philosophy is to go for the appearance of regular housecleaning.  I figure one day I might actually get around to some of the deep cleaning routines FlyLady talks about.  But for right now my daily/weekly lists are close enough.