CA Girl

Kids are a funny breed. They say and do funny and odd things. Were we ever so funny and strange? Are we funny and strange to them? I find it amusing what will entertain them from day to day. With five kids in the house, the range of what entertains is surprisingly hard to gauge. It depends on the day, the mood, and what they find. Most recently it was being crafty. Being crafty is a good thing. I am not one of those mom's who sits down with them and helps them create a masterpiece. No, I am more of a lay it all out in front of them and say, "Have a blast! Clean it up when your done." So on Sunday, Kristin and Missy(one of the extras) decided to make crazy hats. They worked for about thirty to forty minutes. They started with a band to go around their heads and then taped strips of construction paper all around. Definitely a couple of crazy hats. On Tuesday, somewhere amidst the chaos, and before spraying perfume into his eye, Ryan and Emily had their turn at...

Yesterday was my birthday. I got love all across the internet. From Facebook, to my blog, to emails, forums, phone calls. and the like. I was feeling the love. I even got flowers from my mom and my sister. Roses. They are so pretty. We actually are not doing my birthday until Sunday. It's a good thing considering the way my week has been going. Monday went fairly normal. Got the kids off to school, with the promise of making a doctor appointment for Emily. She had been coughing for so long and she just wasn't recovering. It was a bad horrible cough that was causing her to gag. We went to the doctor and found out she has bronchitis. I asked about school and the doctor said she should stay home at least 2 days. Okay no problem. Tired after my long afternoon, I forced myself to make dinner. Savory Ham Pie. Not a scrap of it left. Yesterday Emily rested, watched TV, did some math, and played a little with her brother. I had my mom come and sit with Emily and Ryan ...

On this very day, some thirty years ago...a very special, kind, beautiful, loving, generous, intelligent, funny, bright and VERY MODEST person came to this earth. Isn't she sweet??? How can you not love her? Hard to believe she was just days old in this picture. Yes, days. She weighed in at 8 pounds 14 ounces. Ouch. That one hurt. Sad truth for mom, was she was the smallest of the three. She is the youngest. Remember that. She is the YOUNGEST! She lived in her first home for 5 years. There was a lemon tree and apricot tree in the backyard. And yes, it really does look like popcorn! She ate apricots and lemons alike right from the tree. Yep, she can truly suck a lemon! Are you loving the pixie cut? When she was about to turn six, she and her family moved to the place where she would do the remainder of her growing up...well at least her chronological growing up. The final growing up has yet to be seen! She loved to roller skate, ride bikes, draw, color, play barbies, ...

I frequently ask questions throughout my week. Much like our children do. I don't ask why the sky is blue, though I do want a short and simple explanation! No, I ask different questions. The questions are usually brought about by something that has happened to me, or maybe something I read online that makes me think, what the heck!? Sunday at church our Bishop had his arm in a sling. Well that certainly made me think, what the heck!? He and his family are very active so I wasn't overly surprised that he had sustained an injury. I was just being nosy and wanting to know WHAT he did. He opened the meeting with the usual ward business and such, and after the opening hymn and prayer he returned to the pulpit. He then made the announcement that he would dispel any rumors about his injury. He made a joke about getting in a fight with a young man who also had a sling on his arm. After a hearty laugh from all of us, he went onto explain that he had bought spring loaded stilts. ...

I guess if I am going to post a recipe every Sunday, I should create a rating system. I will say for this recipe as far prep goes, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being Really time consuming, I would give this one a 2. As far as taste...a 5. even my super picky eaters like this one. There is green bell peppers and onions in this recipe...shhhh don't tell. It comes from a cookbook my mom got for her wedding shower. Name of the book? Anybody's guess. 3 Tbsp chopped onion 1/4 cup chopped green peppers--I actually do use a little less since me and green peppers don't get along. 6 tbsp flour 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 1/3 cups of milk 1 1/2 cups of diced ham--I am not positive, but I think I double this. I learned the vague measurements from my mother. ;) 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 recipe of cheese biscuit dough** Saute' onion and green pepper in fat, stir in flour, add soup and milk, cook until thickened. Add ham and lemon juice, mix and pour into greased baking dish....