Mmmmm....

I made this yesterday afternoon.


And it was delicious for breakfast!

Phoebe "helped". Aren't we too cute in our matching aprons?!

Blizzard Fun

"March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb" doesn't really apply here.

The past few days I experienced my very first official blizzard. By the media blitz before-hand, you would have thought it was the end of days. There's not alot going on around here. :) However, because of the heavy media coverage, I was actually prepared for the snow and wind that came late Thursday night. It was a little weird, Thursday after dinner, watching Eli and Brad play basketball in driveway in 70 degree weather and anticipating the coming storm.

But we were prepared. I had stocked the pantry full of blizzard staples: cookies, milk, stuff to make french toast (the really good kind), enchiladas, queso, coffee, creamer, and Diet Coke. It took a trip to Sam's and a last minute run by Brad to United (which apparently everyone else in Amarillo felt the need to do) to be fully prepared, but better safe than sorry. And we were even a little disappointed Friday morning when there seemed to be just a smattering of snow on the ground. However, the wind was blowing 40mph and it was COLD! I think it probably even seemed colder because of the beautiful weather we'd been having the week prior. As for the snow, it just snowed and snowed all day long. I even learned something about myself during this blizzard: I don't mind the snow and bad weather (in fact, I kind of enjoy it) when I don't have anywhere to go. Schools and businesses all over the area were cancelled so I think everybody just stayed inside and enjoyed the unexpected holiday!

Friday morning the kids decided to go out and play. (Of course.) After layering them up in pajamas, jeans, sweatshirts, two pairs of socks, snow bibs, snow boots, scarves, heavy coats, hats, and mittens they were ready to go outside. I opened the back door and Eli was off like a shot. Phoebe stood there and cried, "Eyes hurt! Eyes hurt!" The wind was a little strong so Brad went up to the attic and pulled out the ski goggles. I put them on Phoebe and once again ushered her to the back door where she stood at the open door and cried, "Too cold! Too cold!" So she came inside and had a snack! That's my girl.


Eli only stayed out a little bit longer (the wind was really wicked!) and then we just spent the rest of the day playing games, watching movies, baking cookies, folding laundry, and cleaning bathrooms (it was Friday, after all).

Today is when the real fun started!

The wind wasn't blowing and it had stopped snowing so Phoebe decided she might brave the great outdoors with her daddy and brother.

Doesn't she look thrilled?


Then the next-door neighbors came over and we had an impromptu sledding party.
Of course, neither of us had sleds, so we had to improvise with inner-tubes. The dads tried it out first to make sure it was "safe".


After two runs, one of the inner-tubes slid over our sidewalk and got a hole in it. We covered the sidewalk with snow after that, but we were down one inner-tube. Eli and the neighbor boy sledding together. Eli was wearing the orange goggles.


Then Phoebe started telling her daddy, "I syide! I syide, Dad-dy!" So he carried her up and down they went!


When those neighbors got cold and went home (they let us borrow their inner-tube, though!) our other neighbors came over for more sledding fun! They brought more sledding toys and an actual sled. Phoebe now had a sledding partner in Emma.


The crazy boys!


After taking 272 pictures and one sled ride, I was really cold so I went inside to make coffee. The sun continued to shine and the temp got up to 45 and melted most of the snow. At this point, it's a little hard to believe we had enough snow to sled with, but I have the pictures to prove it! I think I'm going to work on an action-shot post for tomorrow!

What did anyone else do on their snowy Saturday?

A Post On Toast

A while back I mentioned that one of my favorite foods is spaghetti. My friend, Kristen (usually I'd put a link here, but if you know her, you love her and if you don't, her blog is private so you won't get to), wanted to know what my other favorite comfort foods were. Of course, that turned into a list! And since we've had all the excitement around here we can handle this week, I decided to share with you my Top Five Favorite Comfort Foods.

Keep in mind, I love food. I think that's why I love to cook. I like to eat the food I've made and share it with the people around me. Recently, I saw a news segment on a woman who does a pseudo Super Suppers from her own kitchen...only better. I thought, "I want to do that!" Well, after I run my own personal shopping service (spend other people's money on great stuff!), host my own Food Network show (all the cooking, none of the clean-up), and run a grocery service for retirement centers (yes, I love the grocery store that much!). None of these will probably ever happen because I don't like to take risks and what if they aren't really good ideas in the first place? But back to my obsession with food. Everyone has a different idea of comfort food. The food that transports us back to a time when things were simpler and that gives us that warm, fuzzy feeling. The food that we picture around a big farmhouse table filled with loved ones laughing and just makes us feel better.

My Top Five Favorite Comfort Foods:
1. Spaghetti. Nothing exceptionally fancy--although Italian sausage and a little red wine make magic with a jarred spaghetti sauce. My favorite it Ragu Roasted Garlic. Top that with some Parmesan cheese, add a salad and some hot, crusty bread and it can make even the very worst of days seem just a little bit nicer.

2. My mom's homemade biscuits with my dad's gravy. Seriously, you would never let a canned biscuit touch your lips again.

3. Toast. I love it in all it's forms. A yummy San Francisco sourdough, buttered, and crisped up till it's nice and crunchy. A plain ole' piece of white bread with butter pooled on the top. A nice whole grain with melted cheese. When I was pregnant (both times) I ate cinnamon toast almost every night before I went to bed. I even bought myself this toaster a few years ago for my birthday. It has the unique ability to be both a toaster oven (to make cinnamon toast and toast with the butter applied before toasting) and a traditional pop-up toaster (for when you want to toast a bagel, a waffle, or a piece of toast in which you want to apply the butter after toasting). I could probably devote an entire list to just my Top Five Favorite Ways To Eat Toast. Hmmmm...

4. Beef Stroganoff. I'm not talking the fancy dutch-oven kind, I mean the kind with ground beef, a can of cream of mushroom, and sour cream. It sounds like a recipe from the 1950's (and it probably is), but it's soooo good. Especially with green beans.

5. Egg Custard Pie. Mmmmm. If you've never had one, you should try it sometime. It's an old-fashioned pie you don't see too many places anymore. My mom makes the most delicious egg custard pie on the planet. It's my dad's favorite pie and my mom made him one every year on his birthday. Until she figured out that my sister liked it, too, and then the rest of us got it more often. (I don't have one favorite dessert so my mom never really made one just for me.) I like it warm from the oven when the custard melts in your mouth, but it's just as good cold for breakfast, too.

What's your favorite comfort food?

Adventures At The Hair Salon

The everyday adventures of a stay-at-home mom usually consist of grocery store outings, snotty noses, and trying to justify the jelly in their pb&j as a "vegetable". They usually don't include Destruction of Property...unless, of course, you are speaking of your own house (which I wasn't).

Normally I enjoy going to the hair salon. It's quiet. I get to sit and read a magazine (or both). Someone else washes my hair and makes it look like I never could. Today was not one of those days. Due to some scheduling snafu's, I had to reschedule my hair appointment from a late afternoon (when Brad could watch the children) to 1:00pm today. I forgot about it until yesterday when they called to remind me and by then, all my friends were too busy to watch them. Instead of rescheduling, again, I thought, "I'll just take them with me. How bad can it be?" I'm sure moms all over blogland are laughing until they fall out of their chairs.

I packed up the DVD player, some books, a snack, and stopped at Sonic for a little Diet Coke with lime support. Then I felt bad that they were having to sit still and behave for about 2 hours so I bought them a couple a drinks, as well.

Off to the hair salon where I set the kids up in some comfy chairs with the DVD player on a little glass-topped table playing "Ratatouille". I was just getting comfy in my own chair thinking, "Okay, this might just work out," when I heard a terrific crash from behind me.

Phoebe had leaned on the table to reach her apple juice and toppled it over. When I turned around, the table was in pieces, the drinks were spilled and smashed, the DVD player was open with the DVD thrown across the room, and both children were screaming! Thankfully, no one was hurt, but I was so embarrassed! It had scared Phoebe and upset Eli about his Sprite, but no major damage (except to the table).

My stylist (who's also the owner) assured me it was fine, that she had a son herself, that accidents happen, blah, blah, blah, but I still felt bad. She still did a great job with my hair and even let me make another appointment (after Brad gets off work next time!) so maybe I haven't been banned forever from the salon. That truly would be a tragedy.

Never a dull moment in the life of a mom!

Responsibility

My mom always said, "You are only responsible for your own actions."

Turns out, she was right.

For the last few years the spiritual formation of my children has weighed heavily on my heart. I'm a generational Christian and for this blessing, I am so very grateful. But, "with great power, comes great responsibility" and with all the church statistics of children leaving the church when they leave home, it's been even more of a burden. We've always prayed when putting the children to bed and attended church and read the Bible (sometimes), but it just doesn't feel like enough. We used those "teachable moments" to talk about God, but we weren't feeling like we were being purposeful in forming our children. It just wasn't enough.

Last year around this time I attended the Conspire Conference at Willowcreek Church outside Chicago, IL. It was amazing. My friend, Heather, went as well. We were inspired and enriched and excited. We were going to change the Children's Ministry at our church from one focused on programs to one focused on families and how to equip them in the spiritual formation of their children. How very noble and inspired and presumptuous of us! It didn't last very long. We were soon frustrated and tired. There wasn't much change in our families.

So this year we went again. I was torn about going because of the "letdown" after last year. But I decided to go anyway and I had an epiphany. Actually, Heather and I both had an epiphany. She wrote about in her own blog (and did it much better, I might add!). We were attending a breakout session on Visionary Parenting and everything the presenter said we looked at each other like, "Yes, that is what I was thinking!" I wished Brad was there to hear this message. I wished all my friends who were parents had been there to hear this message. It spoke to me and we both felt like we were at that conference for that small hour and fifteen minutes. As we discussed it later, we both realized that it had to start with us and our husbands and our children. Maybe we weren't being called to change the Children's Ministry and the church...maybe we were called to disciple our own children. We could not rely on the church to do what God had put (literally) in our hands. We had to be responsible for our own actions! See, I told you my mom was right.

Okay, so what does that look like? What does this mean for my family? What does it mean for my heart and my walk with Him? Heather and I made a commitment to each other and to our families to do something. Even if we are the only ones who feel this burden. We know there are so many good resources out there. We just have to find them and USE THEM! We want our children to have a heart like His and a desire for His Kingdom. I am hoping that this blog will be a place for parents who are already being purposeful in their children's spiritual formation to offer advice and encouragement. I hope it's a place where I can be open and honest about this journey and the failures and successes we encounter. I hope this a place where I can be authentic enough to be accountable. (Don't worry, I won't talk about this all the time...there will still be lots of funny stories and pictures of my children!)

Like Heather, I also ask for prayers for our family. I know that this is what God wants us to do for our family and with Him nothing is impossible...but it's me I worry about! Specifically, I ask for prayers in three parts: 1) that Brad and I stay motivated and "on fire" for this task, 2) that we find other parents here, in the flesh, that want to join us on this journey, and 3) that Brad and I are able to work on our own spiritual formation as we hope to do for our family.

See, already a cute picture of my children. Keep in mind here that the McCall house had a "pajama day" (this picture was taken just before lunch) and Phoebe is in a "no clothes" phase. She spent most of the day completely naked!

Our Sunday Best

I have beautiful children.




The song I refered to in my earlier post, was from the Peter, Paul, and Mommy record my parents played for us when we were small. The song may be a generic children's song, but I've never heard or seen it on any other children's complilation CD. I'm thinkingof ordering it so my own children can listen to such hippie children's songs like "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "Mockingbird".

"We're Going To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo..."

If you can name that tune, you might have had parent's who were hippies. Like me.

I actually wrote this post a few days ago in the airport waiting for my flight to Chicago. I was going to post it once I got there, but there was no free interent at the hotel we stayed in and I didn't want to pay $14.95 just to post a blog. I have several posts floating around in my head so there may be some "doubled" up days ahead.

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo on Tuesday. I love the zoo. I like being outside, seeing the animals, eating a picnic lunch. I have a friend who believes thinks that if you've seen one zoo, you've seen them all. This trip inspired yet another list.

Five Things To Do When You Go To The Fort Worth Zoo At Spring Break

1. Don’t Go. On a nice day in the metroplex over Spring Break approximately 275,685 people will be going to the Fort Worth Zoo. If there is absolutely any other time that is feasible for you to visit, go then. Since it wasn’t for us and we live in a town with an almost non-existent zoo (cows and pigs do not make a zoo; that’s a farm), yesterday was the only day we could attend. It should have been a clue when they made us park in a soccer field.

2. Wear a bright color—like green. Unless, of course, it’s St. Patrick’s Day and E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E is wearing green. It makes it kind of hard to spot your children in the massive crowds.

3. Take lots of pictures. Be sure to document the memories from this day with lots of pictures of your children enjoying the animals and just generally having the time of their lives. Except when you’re two year old is throwing a fit because she couldn’t see the animals/ride the carousel/walk by herself/throw rocks at the alligator and every shot will be filled with at least 5 people you don’t know.



These are the only three pictures I took.

4. Do not go to the restroom for ANY reason. I think I spent more time in line at the restroom than actually viewing animals.

5. Wear sunscreen. Being the conscientious mother that I am, I liberally smeared it all over both of my fair-skinned children, but forgot to put any on myself. I am sporting an interesting sunburn from my ¾ length sleeves and cropped pants.

My mom said that the news reported that there were record crowds at the Fort Worth Zoo on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Go figure.

Going Green

...And I'm not talking about the environment!

We woke up this morning and those mischievous leprechauns had left a trail of shamrocks through Nena and Grandaddy's living room.


Luckily, the leprechauns were frightened away by Maggie the Dog, but dropped their pot of gold on the breakfast table. I'm thinking these were some leprechauns that do some flea market junking considering the white enamel "pot" they left behind. :)




Those leprechauns got ahold of our breakfast, too!


Eli and Phoebe were a bit wary of the green milk, but after a taste decided it was pretty good, anyway.



Even our food was GREEN!


Hope everyone enjoyed their St. Paddy's Day!

My Very First Blind Date

Today I went on my very first blind date.

And no, it's not what you think.

I have read and admired a fellow blogger for quite a while now. I knew who she was at ACU and her husband even lived on the same street I did when he was in grad school, but we weren't really friends and didn't even really have the same circle of friends. But ACU is a pretty small pool and everybody kind of knows everybody else. Since she lives "near-ish" my parents, I emailed her and asked if she wanted to get together over Spring Break. I was very worried that she'd be busy or completely not interested in meeting me in person. She did and we spent a great couple of hours at an indoor playground. That gal sure knows how to entertain some kids!

Thanks for a fun day, Lynley!

I took a few pictures of the children at this very cool indoor playground. Unfortunately, my camera was on manual focus for most of them so we didn't end up with too many good ones. Here's the few that I ended up with.

Five Things

Well, we survived our trip to the Big D and now our Spring Break has officially begun. We left Brad at home, but I think he was having his own sort of Spring Break because I woke him up at 8:45 this morning. Since we are not there to "bother" him, I guess he decided to sleep in. :)

The drive from Amarillo is loooooonnnnnggg and booooooorrrinnnng. It's six hours of flat farm and ranch land and little bittie towns like Chillicothe, Memphis, Quannah, and Vernon. You have to plan your bathroom stops pretty carefully because you may just get stuck in the literal middle of nowhere. Or 5 o'clock traffic in downtown Fort Worth. It's a good thing Eli's a boy and we had an empty Sonic cup...use your imagination. :) The children actually did really well this trip. Phoebe decided not to take a nap, but was pleasant anyway (until about 7pm last night) and we spent a nice trip reading books, singing countless boisterous rounds of "Wheels On The Bus", and watching DVD's.

In those few quite minutes during DVD time, I made a list in my head. That's what I do when I travel. Since I'm either the driver or the "sitter" (I get pretty carsick so I can't read or work or anything), I make lists in my head. These lists are always "Five Things" and I've made some pretty good ones over the years, but I'll have to share those with you another day. Here is yesterday's list:

Five Strange Things You See When Driving From Amarillo To Dallas:

1. The sign outside Clarendon that reads: Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Inmates. So, does this mean we are supposed to pick up the harried hitchhikers, thus saving them from the insane inmates?

2. The field of camels just west of Wichita Falls. They have been there for at least 6 years so I don't know if someone raises camels for whatever purpose or if they just got lost. What's really interesting about these camels is that they apparently eat trees. I guess I had never really thought about what camels eat, but all the trees in "their" field have been stripped bare up to a certain point. That point being as far as their tongues will reach.

3. The "Overcoming Faith Christian Center" on 287 in Fort Worth. Hmmmmm. Brings up some interesting philosophical questions, doesn't it?

4. The vintage convertible just east of Wichita Falls that sits in some farmers front yard with two bikini-clad mannequins lounging on the back end. At Christmastime, they wear red Santa hats tilted rakishly to one side and around the Fourth of July, these bathing beauties sport American flag bikinis.

5. The It'll Do Motel in Clarendon. Would you like to stay at the "It'll Do" Motel? I think I'd prefer the "Unexpectedly Nice and Clean Hotel" myself.


Hope everyone has a Happy Spring Break! (Or at least a good weekend since I realize that in the "real world" people don't get Spring Breaks!)

I'm Not Mary Poppins

Let's be real here.

Today has not been a good day. When I woke up this morning, my back and hips and knees and ankles ached and that is never a good sign. Since they've been working on my bloodcounts, I've felt pretty good the last few weeks. (My white blood count and hemoglobin is still low, but my iron and B-12 levels are up.) However, the Gleevec still has side effects and they still kick my rear every once in awhile. My back and hips ached so badly this morning, I had to take some pain killers...which made me nauseous and "headachy." After spending most of my morning on the couch with heating pad, I rallied for a little dress-up time with Eli and Phoebe (that girl really knows how to accessorize!) and then lunch. About lunch, my painkillers wore off and now I'm back on the heating pad. My sweet, big boy Eli got his sister out of the barstools, helped her wash her hands, got her into her bed for naptime, gave her a paci, and cleaned up the playroom without complaining or throwing any fits. Maybe we will all survive his childhood!

I write all this to say that I'm in a better place emotionally than I was a year ago. Maybe even six months ago. I think maybe I've just accepted the fact that this is how my life is going to be. I'm going to get fatigued. I'm going to feel bad. My back is going to hurt. I'm going to feel like I've failed my children and my husband. I'm not going to be able to do all the things I want to do all of the time. But who doesn't feel any or all of these things? Is there any woman out there who feels she has done everything in her life %100 perfectly? Are there any moms whose children are perfect and they do not lie awake at night thinking of all the ways they are to blame because their children are not? Are there any women who feel like there isn't a never-ending list of things to get done? Any women who feel they are able to invest in every relationship they have to the fullest? I may have cancer and my life may be full of more doctor visits than most people's, but my life is still life and everyone has one of those. I'm here and I'm doing my best. Maybe I don't have to be Mary Poppins (you know, practically perfect in every way). Maybe clinging to the edge of the Cliffs of Control is actually making me more crazy than just letting go and realizing I might just be wearing a parachute. Maybe my children will only remember the good things and Eli's brain won't turn to mush if he plays the Wii this afternoon for an hour.

My laundry and fridge-cleaning and bathroom cleaning and Spring Break packing can all be done tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few pictures I took a week or so ago when the weather was beautiful. Today it turned cold again so this is all we have to remember those wonderful, almost-spring days of last week. Maybe that's why I feel so bad today. I soooo don't like cold weather!

"Oh Dear Christian College..."

Did anybody else see Chelsey Hightower wearing an ACU sweatshirt on Dancing With The Stars last night?!!

I a little ashamed to admit that we sometimes watch the show because it's the only mostly family-friendly programming on Monday nights. Except for the costumes...sheesh! Phoebe loves it and yells, "Moe da-cing!" after every number. She's not so big on all the judging and practicing part. She also likes to do her own dancing while Eli and I cuddle on the couch.

So, does anyone know why she was wearing that sweatshirt? Brad and I are just dying to know. And we don't have long to find out because while Tye is probably an exceptional bull rider, he kind of stinks as a ballroom dancer. She won't be there for long.


In other news, we are off today for Phoebe's two-year well-check at the pediatrician's office today. Not too worried about anything, but we do have to get shots and that's never fun. Then it's off to Babies R Us because in the last two weeks, we think Phoebe has thrown away 4 sippy cups! We are down to 2, and I apparently don't do dishes enough to just have 2. I looked at Wally World yesterday, but they only had "boy" sippy cups and that just wasn't going to cut it. Eli's at school today so it seemed like a good time to go. I'll have to order some more of these, though, and that is the true tragedy in this whole throwing-our-sippy-cups-away fiasco. But first I have to get off the internet and clean my kitchen because that's what I do on Tuesdays.

Fun times around here, folks!

Unfinished Business

I'm sitting her at the breakfast bar with Eli (yes, I realize it's 9:40pm, but we had small group and he needed a snack when he got home...something about playing too much with his friends and forgot to eat!) surrounded by things that I didn't get finished this weekend. Sigh.

I think it has something to do with the fact that I might have overplanned just a teeny-tiny bit. Here's what I wanted to accomplish:

* Hang stained-glass windows over front door

* Paint mismatched frames with white spray paint (there are about 20 of them)

* Spray paint wicker chairs for the guest room

* Paint armoire in guest room white

* Paint table in guest room white

* Move the bedroom furniture around

* Finish (this includes folding and putting away) two loads of laundry

* Hang up 20 newly-painted white frames in stairwell

* Keep the house relatively clean

Here's what we actually accomplished:

* Hang stained-glass windows over front door. Decide the windows don't look 'right' there. Get into (small) argument about said windows and the fact that maybe I should have thought of that before large holes were drilled in newly painted sheetrock.

* Spray paint half of the mismatched frames. Run out of spraypaint. Send husband to get more with instructions not to buy the very cheapest kind because they give me really bad blisters on my finger and I have a bunch more spray painting to do.

* Spray paint the wicker chairs for the guest house...and most of the floor in the attic. In my defense, it's only a little "pinkish". Leave chairs in the attic because I haven't gotten the energy to move them downstairs yet.

* Pick up the playroom by myself because it's faster and easier that way.

* Spray paint the rest of the frames with better spray paint that won't leave me crippled

* Decide I'm sick of painting and that the rest of the furniture in the guest room is going to have to wait until another (hopefully less windy) Saturday.

* Freak out over an infected "bump" on Phoebe's finger that husband's doctor friend advises that husband lance with a sewing needle. Seriously?!! Spend 30 minutes convincing husband that he might not be the most qualified person to lance someone's finger AND he works for a surgical hospital that employs lots of night nurses who do this kind of thing all the time. While doing all this convincing, Phoebe "pops" the nasty thing herself and all we have to do is apply antibiotic ointment.

* Roast a chicken (yum) that Eli says he is too full to eat because he had four pancakes at 8:00am this morning.

*Pick up the toys that were strewn all over the living room while chicken was being roasted.

* Watch most of "The Guardian". (It wasn't that good and I ended up dozing off for part of it.)

* Fold one load of laundry and decide that one load is plenty. We don't wear that many clothes!

* Rearrange some of the furniture in the bedroom. Poop out and decide to move the rest later.

* Hang half the frames on stairwell wall. Husband decides he doesn't like the shade of white I've chosen and thinks we should repaint all of them to match the trim. Tell husband he is more than welcome to repaint the frames, but the color difference doesn't bother me enough to do it. Give up hanging frames for today and decide to hang the rest tomorrow. (Brad can get around to painting them whenever he so chooses, but the nails will already be there and I won't have to deal with it.)

* Make a pepperoni roll for small group.

* Bribe Eli and his friend, Corbin, to clean up the playroom with a good attitude by promising them a piece of candy when it was finished.

* Attend small group and get home at 9:30pm.

*Decide that the dishwasher can stay full for one more night, the playroom doesn't have to be picked up by me again, I can go to bed with an unswept floor, and everything else can wait until tomorrow.

Whew! What a weekend of unfinished business. Did anyone else accomplish anything exciting this weekend?

Move Over, Jerry Seinfeld!

It was "J" week at KU this week so yesterday, Eli's teachers decided to let each child tell a joke in front of the class. Eli and I looked online for a great kids joke that he could share and then we practiced and practiced it until the delivery was just perfect.



It was a hit with the Pre-K crowd! Especially the boys.

He's wearing a "Cat In The Hat" hat because it was also Dr. Suess Day at school. Of course, said hat caused a major meltdown by both son and mom when we actually arrived at KU and he refused to wear it. I let Ms. Katherine wear it instead and I went on to enjoy the rest of my day!

Happy Birthday Jordan!

Brad here.

I have hijacked Jordan's (yes, it is Jordan's blog more than the "McCall Family" blog) blog to wish my lovely, wonderful, gracious, creative, hot, (too many adjectives?) wife a happy birthday!



I love you,

Brad


Now, all you readers don't forget to read the entry last night about broccoli....yes, riveting.

"Goodness Gracious! That's Great Broccoli!"

I don't particularly care for broccoli.

My great-grandad's headstone reads: "I tried broccoli and I didn't like it," (and this was before George Bush Sr. said it) so maybe it's genetic.

I don't mind it chopped up very finely in casseroles and mac n' cheese or raw smothered in ranch dressing after all the carrots and tomatoes and celery is gone, but I would never, ever just decide that I wanted some broccoli. So it's come as some surprise that both of my children like it. And since we are trying to eat healthier around the McCall casa, I figured I better find a way to eat broccoli and like it.

A few months ago, I found a recipe that I thought would be good to try. It was a Paula Deen recipe so I figured it couldn't be all that bad. Turns out, it was spectacular! The first night I made it, my children ate it completely up before they ate anything else...and this included cheese biscuits! (I did not eat all my broccoli before I consumed two cheese biscuits because life is just too short.) We've eaten it several times since then and every time, I think, "I should share this recipe with the blog world because it will change their lives." We had it again last night, but it had taken soooo long to post the cupcake post that it just wasn't happening. When Eli asked about it again today, I figured it was high time I shared this recipe.

Balsamic Broccoli (aka Absolutely Amazing Broccoli or The Only Way I'll Eat Steamed Broccoli)

1 head of broccoli, steamed*
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper

Heat vinegar over medium heat until reduced by half in a small saucepan. Add butter, brown sugar, salt, and pepper and whisk until butter is melted and it has thickened up a little. Pour over steamed broccoli. Stand back and watch your family gobble this up so fast you can't imagine how they tasted it. :)

* To steam broccoli, chop it up into "smallish" pieces. I do this mostly because I don't like biting into big pieces of broccoli. Place in a microwave-safe bowl and pour about 2 tablespoons of water over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and cut a slit in the top. Microwave 3 minutes. (If you like less crunchy broccoli, microwave 1 minute longer.) I've also used the steam-in-a-bag-broccoli and it works well, too...except the pieces are too big so I prefer to use regular broccoli.

This is a "halved" version of the original recipe. We don't like a lot of leftovers around here and we certainly don't like leftover broccoli (blech!) so I only make this much at a time. There may come a day when I have to make more, but this is enough for the four of us at dinner. I also realize that pouring all this "goop" over steamed broccoli makes it significantly less healthy, but baby-steps on the whole broccoli thing, people! :)

A Cupcake Party Poem

Twas the morn of the party
And all through the house
Everyone was busy,
Even the spouse!

The decorations were hung
All over with care.
In hopes that party guests
Soon would be there


The children were all dressed
In their birthday best
And visions of cupcakes
Consumed all the rest

You can't see it, but Phoebe's dress has a "sparkly" cupcake on the front. She also has cupcakes on her tights! I didn't get a great picture of the birthday girl...she was being pretty uncooperative.

And Ben blew balloons
With Phoebe to help
While Eli just played
With the occasional yelp!




When out on the lawn there arose
Such a clatter
It was only the party guests
There was nothing the matter!


Away to the kitchen
I flew like a flash
To check on the food
Was there enough for this bash?!


The sandwiches piled high,
The cheese in a “two”
And pink punch, of course,
Nothing else would do!


Ben arranged the cheese cubes in the number "2". Those are his long, bony fingers on the left. You can see where Phoebe gets hers.


First there was lunch
Our drinks all had hearts
We ate and we ate
But that was only the start.



“Put on your aprons
And tie them up tight
We have cupcakes to make
In colors so bright!”

Phoebe's apron, that I found at my very favorite store in the universe last spring, was the inspiration for this whole cupcake party. My mom appliqued the other cupcakes because my sewing machine was having zig-zag stitch issues.

More rapid than eagles
Those little girls flew
“More icing, more sprinkles, more M&M's, too!
We need pink and yellow and purple and blue!”




The boys, oh so big,
Didn’t decorate at all
They had Star Wars to play
And soccer and baseball!


Then it was cake-time
And what a cake to behold!
It was a giant cupcake
In colors so bold!


Her eyes how they twinkled
Her dimples how merry
Her cheeks were like roses
Her nose like a cherry


She loved all the singing,
Out the candles, she blew.
She enjoyed her cake-
All her friends did, too!






The gifts were still waiting
All lined up in a row
Some were in sacks
And some tied with a bow.

Phoebe loved all the paper
And the chapstick, too.
After each gift she opened
She politely said, “Kank Ku!”




Our friends loaded up
Their “goodies” in hand.
They all loved the party-
They said it was grand!

I yelled to them as they drove out of sight,
“Sorry about the sugar! They’ll sleep well tonight!”


This was just a good picture of Sarah, me, and my mom!:)