My daughter, she volunteers to wash dishes, wipe the counters, set the table… I’m enjoying it while it lasts. And look at that fancy dress! Housekeeping never goes out of style 🙂
Also, she’s singing Run DMC. It’s tricky!
Category Archives: Photos
It’s a girl!
Puppy Haiku
Her name is Piper
She loves to play with the kids
We bought a puppy!
Today’s potato soup
I’m not much of a cook, but I am learning to master some basics, like easy pasta dishes, perfectly-cooked bacon, chicken noodle soup, and as pictured below: potato soup.
My mother-in-law taught me years ago how to make it, but with the years I neglected the practice. I was working full-time, going back to college, having babies, etc. But now that I am home all day I have the time to play around. And with time and the cooperation of my family (well, my husband at least) I am gaining more courage to try new things.
Not that potato soup requires a lot of courage. It’s hard to go wrong with potatoes, butter, and milk. But I don’t like a dull soup, so I add things, tasting as I go. Today’s batch was by far my favorite. I used sautĂ©ed onions, salt and pepper, garlic powder, dill weed, corn, and ham. The dill weed I added because I tasted the soup and felt it needed a little more sweetness. After sniffing around the spice cabinet and taking a suggestion from the internet, dill weed proved to be the perfect addition.  I added the corn and the ham at the end since they don’t need so much time to cook (the ham was already fully cooked). The ham and corn turned out to be good choices, and made for a hearty soup. We have a ton leftover, so I may just freeze the rest and save it for later. I love having leftovers for my lunches, but you can only eat so much potato soup.
So, in lieu of a cohesive conclusion to this post… Here’s to potato soup, and trying new things!
Secret ingredient soup
My kids may kill me for stuff like this some day, but I like to live on the edge. Luke and Natalie both love Ramen noodle soup – or, as we like to call it around here (for you Kung Fu Panda fans) – “Secret Ingredient Soup”. It’s easy to make (I use half the seasoning packet) but all the noodle slurping involved with eating them gets quite messy.
I have captured some precious Secret Ingredient Soup moments for you with a couple of photos.
Please note the concentration and gusto displayed by the boy as he eats. And then note that the young lady is enjoying some light reading while she scarfs giant gobs of noodles into her face. That is, if you call arachnology a light read.
Sadly, that’s all this writer has today. Happy Monday!
I think that last stocking got hanged
So. I have three Christmas stockings. The one on the left with the Santa Claus is my favorite, because my grandma knit it for me, and I used it every Christmas growing up. Only problem is that it stretches, but that’s not really much of a real problem.
The reindeer stocking in the middle was also knit by someone, though I can’t remember who. But, it has my name on it so I’m pretty sure it was by someone I should know.
The stocking on the rightwith the super-duper cute snowman was made years ago by my mother, and she made one for my husband to match, as well as similar stockings for the kids. This is the one I hang near the tree, with the rest of the family’s stockings. Only we have a problem. The ‘I’ and the ‘N’ fell off at some point and I can’t find them anywhere. But Mom is coming to visit this weekend, perhaps we can take a trip to the craft store and make some replacement letters?
And then… what to stuff in them? Candy, fruit, travel games? What do you put in your stockings at Christmas time?
Oh, the tree!
We put our Christmas tree up on Monday. It’s a real tree, in all its glory. We’ve had real trees in the past, but when we got a cat we stopped and bought a fake tree. Easier to retrieve from the floor and repair, only it has seen better days and doesn’t hold all our ornaments. That was well before we had kids, so the kids have never had a real tree before. This was their first year, and I really think they are enjoying it They helped pick it out, trim it up, and put the ornaments on. Just this morning I caught Luke leaving the table during breakfast to go turn the lights back on. We already have a good stash of presents purchased, so I’m excited to wrap them up and put them under the tree. After I get a new tree skirt, of course. Can’t have a naked tree all December, now can we?
Bus stop shenanigans
Waiting for the bus in below freezing temperatures makes us act a little goofy. Luke is beating the life out of the tree, and Natalie is demonstrating her deer impression. See those mittens up by her ears? Those are antlers. Pink, fluffy, insulated antlers.
Leftovers
The kids are at Grandma’s, and we have had a glorious time relaxing after the holiday. Yesterday after we dropped the kids off we stopped at the indoor shooting range. This is our idea of a date, because we both enjoy shooting. Mike is good at it, and has done well in competitions. In fact, I think he won the last one he competed in. I, on the other hand, am not so great. I just don’t get enough practice, but also the impaired vision doesn’t help. Though I surprised us both yesterday. I did a lot better than we expected. My reward? An early Christmas present purchased from the gun store, registered in my name.
After our time at the range, we headed to the local Italian restaurant for a good, Chicago-style pizza. Mike had been craving it, and I am always up for pizza. Even the day after Thanksgiving. We always like to order the largest sized pie and bring the leftovers home. Mike and Luke both just love cold pizza for breakfast. Silly boys.
So, this morning I had pizza for breakfast, and now I am enjoying the turkey day leftovers for lunch: pumpkin pie and coffee. We haven’t even touched the leftover turkey yet.
Thankfully the house wasn’t destroyed from the festivities, so it didn’t take much to clean up. Dishes are done, extra table and chairs packed away, floor mopped. Mike even got his voice back!
I have to say I was quite amazed and pleased to see so many people giving thanks on Facebook this year. And not just any thanks, but thanks for the simple, genuine things like family and friends and God’s blessings. There was a bit of a trend of hard times for many of my friends and family this past year. Many of us were struck with extreme challenges like major illness and even death, some happening on this very week of Thanksgiving. I honestly believe the devil was trying extra hard this year to bring people down, but if my personal Facebook feed is any indication, it didn’t work. People are still seeing the good in life, and thanking God for it. I pray that continues, and that we are all able to see God’s hand at work in our lives.
All in all, it was a pretty perfect holiday. I am still learning to cope with change and enjoy every moment of life I am given. I pray the same for whoever is reading these words. Now… on to Christmas!!
Time to make the donuts!
Thankfulness challenge day 15
Today I am thankful that my son is a true and caring friend. His good friend from school, pictured below (the tall one), left today with his family to move to Nicaragua. His parents are from there, but he and his little brother were born here in America. It is a big move, and Luke has been pretty affected by it. He was very sad to see him go, but was very thankful for this last goodbye this morning. The part that I am astonished at is that when we were discussing how much he was going to miss him, he remarked that it would be much harder for his friend because he is leaving ALL the friends he’s ever known. What an insight for a seven year old! I am thankful that I can learn from the innocent perspective of a child.
Little M.S. Runner 