We're Ready for Christmas

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Giveaways at The Vintage Pearl

The Vintage Pearl is having a couple giveaways. One is for a Vintage Silver Pendant Necklace and the other if for a Rustic Bloom Necklace. Both are very lovely. Go to her blog to check them out and the giveaway, too!

http://www.thevintagepearl.blogspot.com/

Traditions

Since Halloween is on a Sunday this year, we won't be participating in the usual fair of Trick or Treating. We are choosing to obey the Sabbath and to keep it holy. I didn't even buy new Halloween costumes this year. Our 2 year old is too young to complain, but our almost 7 year old son is a bit put off by it and doesn't fully understand why it is he won't be scoring hoards of candy this year. Oh, we'll still carve our Jack-o-lanterns and I still put up my Halloween decorations.

But, we are going to focus on our roots and traditions. Growing up, my family had many Halloween traditions. My mom would make a dinner in a pumpkin - delicious, meaty, cheesy and laced with pimento olives. Also on the table were rolls, jello molds in the shapes of a ghost and pumpkin, a salad (I think) and for dessert - the Chocolate Cream Snow Ghost Pie. Before partaking of this creamy, chocolaty, whipped cream-topped confection, my mom would read the story of why there was a slice missing from it. Ooooo. Scary. Not really. But it was always fun to listen to. In our neighborhood, there was one house that had a cotton candy machine. Now that was cool. You bet there was always a line of trick or treaters waiting for this tower of spun sugar. There he was, every year with his cotton candy. Awesome.

I've grown up. Got married. Got the 2 kids. I've carried my mom's dinner in a pumpkin tradition to my own family. Even got my husband to like the olives ;). The cotton candy man is gone, though. Thankfully, we are having a Trunk or Treat at our church this year on the Friday before Halloween and you can bet there will be a cotton candy machine!

So with Halloween on a Sunday, and being the faithful, obedient Latter-day Saint that I am, I will obey the Sabbath and show my children that we can still have a fun and tradition-filled Halloween without gorging on tons of candy.

So here's where the new traditions start. My husband has Irish roots. Uh, duh. Look at our last name. A few years ago I looked up "Traditional Irish Halloween." I was excited with what I found. I found a few things including a few recipes that I never made. But this is the year! So in addition to my mom's dinner in a pumpkin goulash (that will be eaten earlier in the week), I will be making some Irish Halloween recipes that will be eaten on Halloween Eve.

Colcannon. It literally means "white head." Now don't get grossed out. It's not that kind of white head. It's mashed potatoes, kale, butter, salt, and pepper. Sounds pretty harmless, right? You can also add milk, cream (yum!), leeks (double yum!), onions, chives, or garlic. This is a year-round staple food of the Irish, but at Halloween it's choc full of surprises - literally. It is served with prizes of small coins concealed in it.

Barm Brack. A yeasty bread with raisins, currants, even candied orange and lemon peel and usually made in flattened rounds. Often served toasted with butter along with tea. I've made Irish soda bread before, but this is sweeter than that because of the raisins. Barm Brack is the center of an Irish Halloween custom. The bread traditionally contains various objects baked into the bread and is used as a sort of fortune-telling game. The objects include: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin, and a ring. Each item carries a meaning to the person who gets it in their slice of bread. The pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, "to beat one's wife with," would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed within the year. Okay, I admit a few of these are a little off-putting, but it's just supposed to be for fun. I think I might just put a toy ring in the one I cook. Not too sure about baking all those other things in it.

Can't wait to try all this out and to see how my kids handle staying in this year.

Summer is gone...Back to School!

I am really behind on my blogging, but I wanted to post Colin's 1st day of 1st grade before I forget. I have a ton of pictures from summer and a lot to write about that, but I'll save it for another day.

Colin started 1st grade today. He was really excited, but I think a little nervous. On the way to school he said that his stomach hurt. Oh no. Could this be his father's nervous stomach passed down to another generation? But that went away as soon as he walked in and saw his classroom and his desk. He knows quite a few kids in his class so he was happy to see them. I snapped a few pictures before school, including the obligatory one at the front door, and measured him against the door jam of his closet (I've been doing this since we moved into the house on every birthday and now when he starts school). He has grown and inch and a half since January! Katie wanted in on the action, too. She is going to miss him this year. She has really grown attached to him this summer.

This is in front of his classroomand this is at his desk in his classroom. Notice how close he is to his teacher's desk and the front of the classroom? hmmm....

Signs of Summer

Everything's in full bloom around our house.

Burpless Cucumber blossoms and vines

grape tomatoes ripeningSweet 100 Cherry tomatoes (we have both red and yellow)

Crookneck SquashCorn is on it's way

The pumpkin vines are taking over (there's cantaloupe in there somewhere, too)
Tiny green bell peppers will be ready in no time

Black Beauty Zucchini

Beefsteak Tomatoes won't be green for long (we also have Early Girls, and Celebrity)

more crookneck squash
Gardenias are in full bloom in our front yard and smell divine

Thompson Green Seedless Grapes will be ready in the fall. The vine arbors around our front porch

Day Lilies are abundant...and with the surprise of this new color...

This is the 3rd year for our Navel Orange tree and we will have a good crop

Colin Passes Kindergarten

Colin finished his first year of school at Hurley Elementary on June 2nd. All three kindergarten classes got together and had an ice cream party. Just got a few pictures as I was chasing Katie around most of the time. This is a picture of Colin with his teacher, Teresa Merrill. The picture to the right is Krista in kindergarten. What do ya think? I think there are some similarities.

Colin did very well in all areas. This school district grades on a 1-4 rubric. A "1" is far below the grade level standard. A "2" is approaching the grade level standard. A "3" is at the grade level standard. A "4" exceeds the grade level standard.

Colin has had a 4 in his reading fluency and comprehension, vocabulary, and literary analysis all 3 trimesters. He received 3's in his writing strategies and listening and speaking. 3's in science, technology, History/Social Science, Visual and Performing Arts, and Physical Education.

In Math, he went from a 3's from last trimester to 4's in all areas of math: Number Sense, Algebra and Functions, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability.

The most improved area is his Citizenship Skills. He had a hard time adjusting to being in school at the beginning of the year and didn't receive very good marks in these areas. He eventually adjusted and learned some valuable lessons this year about being a good friend, and organizing and completing his work. He really has blossomed and ended up with 3's in all areas of Personal and Citizenship Skills. I am very proud of him for that.

His reading and writing assessments are off the charts and I think he's really going to like the challenge of 1st grade.

This was Colin's favorite place to play during recess - the Sand Pit (as I so lovingly like to call it). He especially liked this tube. Now I see why - the shade! He would come home everyday with at least 2 tablespoons of sand in his shoes. Not to mention the damage it did to his pants and the stains on his socks. By the end of the year he had patches on all the knees of his jeans! One of the best things about Colin going to 1st Grade - NO MORE SAND PIT!

This summer, Colin is on a reading program that will challenge him and continue to improve his reading skills. He is also doing about an hour of other work everyday - math, writing, science, history, etc. - to get him ready for 1st grade. There will be many trips to the library, zoo, and other fun places this summer to enrich what he is learning at home. It's important to not let his mind go stagnant until the end of August.

Well done Colin! You made if through Kindergarten. Now onto 1st Grade!

Just Hanging Out

I found this picture while going through my photo card the other day. I didn't take it, Mike did. Good thing he took it and then I can only assume he got rid of the creature and the nest because when I went to check it out for myself on the back fence, it was gone. Thanks, honey. You know me so well and the fact that I hate any type of bee/hornet/wasp. And thanks for not telling me about it. By the way, great picture!

Mileage Milestone

On April 24th, on our drive back from Paso Robles, our 2004 Mazda MPV minivan odometer looked like this at 2:41 pm:At 2:42 pm it looked like this:Our car hit 100,000 miles! Our Mazda MPV has been a great car. Here's to the next 100,000 miles!

Princess and Prince Charming Dancing

Early Spring Break Vacation to Disneyland

So we took our last trip to Disneyland using our annual pass that we got last May 5th. It was also Mike's 39th birthday on March 23rd so what better way to celebrate than a trip the happiest place on earth?! We pulled Colin out of school for 3 days and headed down last Sunday.

This first picture is not of Disneyland, but of our trip down there. On the freeway in LA we saw this beautiful car. Mike and I are fans of Top Gear and on a recent episode they showed this car. It is the Porsche Panamera. It is the Porsche 4 door. It is beautiful. They were just released in the US so it was surprising to see it on the road.

Anyway...on to Disneyland....Very appropriate for the day. The hat lights up but hard to see here.The latest Disney princess...Tiana. She sang and everything. It was purely a coincidence that we caught her here in New Orleans Square and happened to be one of the first in line to get a pic with her. Katie's reaction to Disney characters is much different in person. She could care less.Don't ya wish you could trade places with her? I did by the afternoon of day 2.

This picture is ironic because Mike does not ride the teacups. He went on the Matterhorn while the kids and I rode the teacups and went on the Snow White ride. But for posterity sake, we got a pic of it anyway. This is something we had never seen before at Disneyland. They are the volunteer fire department band and they played Dixieland type music. During the show Chip n Dale and Goofy came out and danced to a couple of songs. It was really neat to see. Katie loved the music and danced her fanny off, too.Okay, this was cool. The latest addition to the Anaheim Lego Store. This is an Indiana Jones made completely of Legos. All the kids (including Mike) were thrilled to see it.This was what we found on night 2 when we opened the doors to get the kids out to take into the house we were staying at. They were completely out. The car had never been so quiet.The last day of the trip we could only stay until noon. I had to get back home because of a prior engagement. We took it easy and tried to look at things we hadn't really before. One was Snow White's wishing well. Colin loved the echo it made. Prior to visiting the wishing well, we took a tour through Sleeping Beauty's Castle. That was really neat.Mike had to get his Churro before leaving. It is a tradition.By the end of day 3, the kids were ready to go.Waiting for the tram to take us back to the parking garage. "Say 'bye, Disneyland!" It will be at least 2 years before we head back down. Here's a tip - if you leave at noon, there is no waiting for the tram!

A New Look

I have this corner in my front room that has a side table and a lamp that I just don't like very much. After being in our house almost 3 years now, I finally decided to do something about. It only cost me 35 bucks, too!

The table was already there, but it used to be a distressed blue color. The floor lamp we used to have there has been through 4 moves and is 8 years old. I was at Pier 1 last night and found a great lamp for a great price. I hurried over to Michael's Crafts and had to buy paint for another project, so I picked up a can of matte black Krylon spray paint.

After dropping Colin off at school this morning, I spent about 20 minutes in the garage spraying the table. That's all it took. As I was spraying I kept asking myself why it has taken 7 years to fix this table? I am very pleased with how it turned out and now this corner of the room has the look that I have been trying to accomplish for almost 3 years now.

Cleaning Freak

About two weeks ago I purchased this:

I am addicted to it. It is made with plant and mineral based ingredients. It is not tested on animals and uses recyclable packaging. It doesn't smell like chemicals. Actually, it smells wonderful. It has a coconut-based cleaning agent and essential oils, like lemon. It cuts through the grease...REALLY! Even on my stove top. It doesn't leave a residue on your counter tops.

It contains no phosphorus or bleach.

I mostly use it in my kitchen, but I have also used it in the bathroom and it makes it smell soooo purty! My 6 year old son constantly misses the toilet bowl and leaves a nice puddle at the bottom of the toilet. I spray this on it and it cuts through the dried up gunk and leaves it smelling great!

I think I have found my cleaning product. Can't wait to try out the other cleaners in this line.

http://www.greenworkscleaners.com

For Valentine's Day: Love One Another

A short, but beautiful video about love set to music from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Share it with your loved ones.

Love One Another

Visiting Teaching Handout

I found this cute and simple to make handout for the February visiting teaching message. You can find the instructions and template for the purse and coin toppers at Kristin's "See Me Visit Teach" blog at: http://www.visitingteachingblog.blogspot.com/

Thanks Kristin for the cute idea! You have so many!


This is my version:I got chocolate coins from the bulk candy at Winco:It literally took me 10 minutes to make this. I used scrapbooking paper or cardstock. This paper was 12x12 and I just cut it down to 8 1/2 x 11 to run it through my printer. A quote from the message is printed on the inside flap of the purse. If you want help to make one call me and I will walk you through it. If you would like a blank template of the purse, just email the blogger with your email and she will send one to you.

Meyer Lemons

Delicious Meyer Lemon recipe on my food blog. You will love these muffins!
http://seasonalbites.blogspot.com/

Farmer's Market Dinner

Check out my recipe blog for a delicious Spinach Salad and Blood Orange recipe!

Totally Random

I was at the grocery store tonight and I was approached by an older Hispanic lady. She asked me in Spanish if I spoke Spanish. Me? I thought to myself "totally white, blonde hair, light eyed person speak Spanish?" I was surrounded by others who obviously spoke Spanish, but she asked me.

So this was our conversation in Spanish: I told her I did and she asked me about Parmesan cheese. I took her over to the freshly shredded cheese. Then she asked me if it came in blocks, so I found one for her and handed it to her. She then asks me if that is the best cheese for quesadillas. Really? I kept thinking to myself why would she ask me such a question? I told her that Parmesan is more for Italian foods and pasta dishes, things like that. So she asked me what is the best cheese for quesadillas. I told her that my kids love Monterey Jack in their quesadillas and I thought it was the best cheese for that. So I took her over to the bulk cheeses and showed her the Jack. She thanked me and I went on my way.

Totally random. Out of all the people that were around me that obviously spoke Spanish, why would she ask me if I did? Another situation where my missionary experience in Guatemala helped me to help another...even if it was a random and small thing like a conversation about cheese in Spanish.

Crazy Hair Day!

Today was Crazy Hair Day at Colin's school. His hair is crazy long right now because I am having him grow it out. Mike thinks it looks like Marcel (from Top Chef), Wolverine, and the Heat Meiser!