Happy Birthday!

Today is my favorite sister Sarah's birthday!

27 years ago:


25 years ago today!

Why did the United States become the leading economic power of the 20th century?

Schools and skills

Satire

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

Perfect Pirate Tuesday

or, Why It Took Five Hours to Make Lunch and How I Commandeered Dinner.

Ever since I found this recipe, I haven't been able to get it off my mind. I kept thinking about how good it would taste.

Finally I got all my ducks in a row (or should I say all my chicken legs?) and decided to make yummy chicken soup yesterday.

I started the pot of chicken and vegetables cooking, minus the onion. I had an unfortunate experience about a month ago with onions and haven't been able to look at one or buy one since.

When I got to the part about Jane's Krazy Mixed-up Salt, I started seriously debating whether or not it was worth a run to the store to get some, for the sake of recipe authenticity. Luckily, I found an approximate recipe on the internet and whipped that up instead. Suffice it to say I am really, really glad I did that. (Foreshadowing of yumminess to come.)

After the chicken had cooked and I had started on my third load of wash, I took the chicken out to cool. My kids were hungry, so we all had watermelon for lunch. And some sandwiches. I didn't have a sandwich, because the watermelon was, of course, an appetizer for my amazing soup.

When I had deboned the chicken and put the bones back in to simmer for another hour, I seriously debated the reality of eating this soup today. By now it was nearly two o'clock. Way past lunchtime in my book.

Carrying on, I chopped some summer squash, zucchini, carrots, and green onions so I would be ready when the broth was done. I totally skipped over the refrigerate-and-remove-fat-solids step. There didn't appear to be that much anyway, and I probably need a little more fat in my diet.

I strained, discarded, reheated, added, and looked blankly into my pot thinking something was seriously missing. Then I spent about twenty minutes looking for this. I searched and searched, but even though I remembered the exact title of the post, it wasn't coming up in the search function.

Then I started getting desperate and trying to remember what year I had read that in. I was working at St. Paul's. I made the recipe the next day or maybe that very day in the first apartment Jack and I lived in after we were married. Then I noticed "food" on the sidebar and gave it a try. Thank you for categorizing your posts.

Once that pot was boiling, the homemade noodles were ready. At approximately 3:30 p.m. I sat down to the most wonderful bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup that I have ever eaten.

It was at this point that I realized I had nothing even remotely appetizing for dinner. You see, many men (and I feel okay about generalizing in this case) don't believe that soup is a real meal. They would much rather have a piece of chicken, some noodles, and some cooked vegetables on the side. Something about food touching, hmmm? And I wasn't about to spend the next two hours cooking up something inferior. So I sent Jack a quick message to confirm the inevitable.

We went to Rosa's for dinner.

For second dinner, I had Chicken Noodle Soup.

18th Annual Lone Star Lineman's Rodeo

Across the street from our apartment complex we have a power substation, and next to that is a field of power poles which, until today, I had never noticed are not actually connected to anything.

Last year we saw a bunch of people congregated and wondered why in the world you would have an event close to so many power lines.

Yesterday a friend told us about the Lineman's Rodeo, and I decided that "fun for kids, free food, and climbing power poles" would at least make for an interesting story. And I'm such a nerd that I'm immediately attracted to this kind of event, but I hesitate to invite other people if I don't know exactly what we're getting into.



To be on the safe side, Ellen, Jack Jack, and I took Uncle David and Bentley along this morning.


Here's the run down of our two hour experience at this regional cultural extravaganza.

Fun for kids: Train rides,













face painting, water balloon launching, bottle rocket launching, inflatables for jumping and sliding, mini power pole climbing (complete with a hard hat and a harness), a sand pile and sand toys, rappelling, a water-misting tent, and of course, watching grown men climb power poles.

Free food: Sno cones,




"Texas Taters",



hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, brisket, chips, drinks, water.

Climbing power poles:









This was in fact a recreational competitive event. Teams associated with power companies from Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado gather and compete, racing up and down power poles with special gear to complete assigned tasks associated with the profession. One of the highlights was a simulated power line rescue demonstration.

These men were part of a team from somewhere in Texas.




It doesn't get better than this for fun, inexpensive family entertainment.

Picking peaches

Play group this week met at Bar T Orchards just outside of town to pick peaches. It was cloudy and threatening to drizzle, so the weather was perfect!

We were the first ones there, and the man in charge set us up with a wagon and three boxes for picking our peaches. I ended up using one box for peaches and two boxes for kids. Jack and Ellen loved it.

Sampling the merchandise:






Some of our friends came! Sorry we didn't get a better photo, friends.


There were lots and lots of peaches. We got 23 pounds. No, I'm not planning on canning this time around. We're just eating lots of peaches and cream.


Once we started sampling, we didn't want to stop, so we paid for our peaches and kept sampling all the way home.


Yummmmmmmmy!!


For lunch we ate peaches.

For dessert after the awesome dinner that Jack brought home so I would not have to cook on our anniversary, we had peaches and ice cream. I love you, Jack!

For breakfast we had Shredded Wheat and peaches. Actually, Jack Jack and Ellen only wanted Shredded Wheat. So I ate all the peaches.

For our after-nap snack we had peaches and cream. You know, the kind you squirt from a can. And then we ate with our hands, and I'll have to mop the kitchen floor for the third time in two days. Jack Jack looks like a perfect orphan with orange all down the front of his shirt.

Right now he's wiping his face with a wet rag and Ellen is yelling, "Cweam up, cweam up, everywhere!" Is that CLEAN or CREAM?

Ahhhhh, fresh peaches.

Just for fun

Mosiac Meme by Flickr

To make your own mosaic-

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

My answers to these burning questions:
1. What is your first name? Lorraine, as in France
2. What is your favorite food? Sno cones
3. What high school did you go to? Midway
4. What is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Not a crush, but this kid is adorable - Freddie Highmore
6. Favorite drink? Water
7. Dream vacation? Chile
8. Favorite dessert? Key lime pie, I guess. Desserts are not my favorite.
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Patient
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One Word to describe you. Mother
12. Your flickr name. none. I don't even have a flickr account, but this actually looked fun.

Water olympics!

About a month ago, my sister posted this. I laughed, then thought about how fun it looked, and then decided that it would be perfect for our summer Primary Activity Day. And then I stole and copied every single idea she wrote about, delegated all of the supply assignments, and just showed up today for the fun.

And of course, I forgot to take my camera to document all the awesomeness of our exciting and wet summer activity, so I've provided copious text descriptions and links of representative children participating in similar activities, because it's just like being there. Our primary kids look and talk so much like my sister's students, and I look just like my sister. You won't even notice a difference, I'm sure.

We organized the kids (ages 3 - 11) into teams and gave them a cloth banner and paints. They had to come up with a name from the scriptures, a banner, and a cheer. Then we got group photos and heard everyone's cheer. They were awesome, but I have no pictures.

Next we played the water sponge relay. It was really, really funny to see 3 year olds trying to figure out passing over their heads or between their legs. The counselor in the bishopric over Primary said, "Who's idea was this? This is AWESOME!" And everybody got into it, but I have no pictures.

We kept the winning team in suspense and moved on to water kickball. The rules were very simple: Kick the ball. Run the bases. Slide home! Thank you to the Slip n' Slide provider. We had some kids in the outfield to retrieve the ball, but there were no outs or anything. Good thing, because most of the kids couldn't remember or didn't care what team they were on by that point, anyway. They all just wanted to kick and slide, kick and slide, and kick and slide, but I have no pictures.

After everyone had gotten to go for it, we announced the winners of the Unity, Spirit, and Sportsmanship awards. Oh yes, and the winners of the water sponge relay got the loudest cheers of all.

We let the kids go wild in the water hose while we got the treats ready: watermelon and popsicles, of course!

Ellen got to be my special helper at the activity, but there is nothing more special than seeing her wearing a three-sizes-too-big red Joe's Crab Shack T-shirt and hot pink shorts with a slice of watermelon in one hand, a chocolate popsicle in the other, a chocolate goatee on her face, and chocolate running down her arm and dripping onto her shirt, but . . . I have no pictures . . . of today.

Behold pictures unlocked from the vault of summers past:

Here's a good bucket relay sans sponges. Just imagine the red T-shirt.


This is pretty much what all the kids looked like.


And this is totally indicative of the looks on their faces as they were sliding under a shower of water to home base, except they were under the shower of water.


Happy fun summer water activities to you all!

And a big thank you to my sister, who is finally coming home! Thanks for taking these pictures, since I didn't have my camera then, either.

It's 8:00. Do you know where your parents are?

This morning after Ellen and Jack woke up and got out of bed, I went back to bed. I know, I know. You're all thinking, hasn't this woman learned anything from having kids?

I could hear Ellen and Jack in the kitchen. The refrigerator door opened. Then I heard,

"Okay, Jack. Okay, Jackie. Want some milk? I get you some milk. Wait right here, Bubba. Okay, Bubbalicious. I get a cup. Jackie want some juice? I get you some juice." (Shake, shake) "My can't open it, Jackie. Can't open juice, Bubba. I get you some milk. Wait right here. Here you go, Jack. I get you a drink. Drink yours milk."

It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud, but all I was thinking was, "Did she really just call him Bubbalicious? I've got to watch what I say."

Dallas Zoo

During Jack's break between summer terms we went on a little mini vacation. We left on a Tuesday after Jack got out of work and drove to a hotel in Dallas. We got up Wednesday morning and took the kids to the Dallas Zoo in the morning, met one of Jack's friends (who is working in Dallas for the summer) at Chipotle for lunch (yummmmmy), stopped for a quick visit to Jack's sister in Kemp, and then went on to Gilmer to Jack's parents' house, where we stayed for the rest of the week.

Yeah, we only took the camera out once the whole time: at the zoo.

There were cool statues and fountains of animals everywhere.


What is that, mom?


Look at the camera, Jack. Where's Daddy?


That was the last time we captured Jack's face in a picture.
Checking out his shoes:


We rented a "double stroller" at the zoo. This thing was amazingly easy to push. Hooray! We probably walked a mile at least.


At the petting zoo:


And after we walked most of one half of the zoo, we walked under the Interstate (yes, you could see and hear cars whizzing past because this zoo is really on -- or under -- the highway), and took the sky tram to see the rest of the zoo. We went under a waterfall:


And we completely wore them out. Jack never did get that shoe back on.


Why, hello, Rafiki. It was nice seeing you here.

This is the U.S.A.

Jack mentioned maybe having to work Friday. Are you kidding? This is the United States of America. No one works on the 4th of July, unless you really like fires and explosions.

Happy fireworks, everyone!

That's me wearing a patriotic hat and playing a patriotic drum with a spoon, in case you couldn't tell.


Who's this? :)

This is Ellen.

This is Ellen:


This is Ellen without a nap:


This is Ellen saying, "Bye, bye, Mom. See you later." This is why we keep the door locked and deadbolted.