Lydia has a new-to-her tricycle purchased by Nana and Poppy at a garage sale. She steers it pretty well if she has some gravity to help her out.
Exciting stuff, right? Before graduating to the driveway, she rode it a little bit on the back patio. During this particular practice session, one of our beloved folding camping chairs gave way under Mommy’s weight. (We really spring for the finest in patio furniture.)
Now if you don’t find that entertaining, you might as well find another blog to read. That’s the best I’ve got.
Well, maybe not the very best. How about some photos of a pink-clad young lady romping in the yard? Let’s start with her model shot.
Next, some pictures that better portray Lydia’s true personality.
God put a very smart brain behind those dark brown eyes. We are realizing more and more that language and verbal skills are Lydia’s strengths. Lydia is a relatively new fan of Dora the Explorer, and she has had the book Dora Saves Mermaid Kingdom! for a few weeks. After hearing the book read to her several times, she basically has it memorized. Sorry the volume is so uneven.
Recently we have tried do some photo shoots with Luke similar to shoots we did with Lydia. One classic set of Lydia pictures at age six months (one month younger than Luke is now) were of her on our bed. Here she is, over two years ago.
Now, here is Luke at age seven months.
Another favortie shot of Lydia was after her bath one evening when she was seven months old.
Now, Luke’s post-bath shots.
Talk about wide-eyed wonder.
Last of all, I’ll show you some mealtime shots. Lydia and Luke are wearing matching bibs. By the way, for bibs I just tie a large flour-sack towel around their necks. They don’t have velcro to get worn out and caught on other things in the washer, and if they get stained, it’s no big deal.
Okay, you twisted my arm. Here’s one more picture of my two favorite boys.
Just smooches on the neck. No big deal. Happens every day.
Ah, summer is here, and it’s time for everyone to get grilling. Everyone, that is, except us. Until yesterday, we were the only family of four in the U.S. of A. without a grill.
You see, grilling is supposed to be the man’s job, right? I know women who grill, but their husbands do it too.
My husband does not. The other day he was caught up in a conversation with two guys from work who were passionately discussing whether charcoal or gas was the better choice for grilling. One of the guys turned to Keith and asked him what kind of grill he had. Keith replied that he does not have a grill.
Don’t assume that somehow this conversation shamed Keith into getting a grill. He roots for the Mets in the middle of Cardinals country, after all. He isn’t afraid to go against the grain.
It was me. I’m tired of overheating my kitchen on 90-degree days. I’m tired of having to pass over every recipe for grilling that I see in my cooking magazines. I bought the grill.
I found it on Craig’s List. It was $80, plus a generous tip, delivered to our door. (I do have to give Keith credit for going out to meet the guy selling it, showing him the way here, and wheeling it into the backyard.)
I tried it tonight for the first time. Salmon was on the menu. I did a search on “grilled salmon” and came up with this video on YouTube. It was exactly what I needed.
First I marinated the salmon in maple syrup, soy sauce, and garlic. (Awesome photo, Hubby!)
I have to give credit to Keith for one more thing. He had talked to the grill’s previous owner about how it works and he had also read the instructions on the front of the grill (never a bad idea). He walked me through turning on the gas, lighting the ignition, and turning on the burner. Lydia and Luke were playing on a quilt under the tree with strict orders not to come on the patio while Mommy was grilling.
Here is the finished product. Notice anything that doesn’t jive with the previous picture? I’m afraid there was a sacrificial piece of fish. (Hey, it was slippery!)
This was pretty good. I didn’t get good grill marks because I didn’t put oil on the rack. There’s always next time.
I try to make it to Walmart Supercenter once a week. Sometimes this is on Saturday mornings when Keith is home to help with L&L, and sometimes I drop the kids off at Nana and Poppy’s house, go shopping, pick them back up, and head home.
Sometimes, however, we just need a few things. Sometimes it can’t wait until someone else is available to help. On those days there is Price Cutter.
The name “Price Cutter” is somewhat deceptive. While they can have some good sales, and their prices on produce are pretty good, anything you buy in a box at Price Cutter is not what I call reasonably priced. That said, however, at this point I am willing to pay a price for convenience, and Price Cutter is certainly convenient. It is literally a one-minute drive from our house. It’s a small store and there is usually a close parking space.
The best thing about Price Cutter, though, is the kid-friendly shopping cart.
Luke isn’t quite big enough to sit up in the front part of the cart yet, so he rests easy in the Ergo.
Please excuse my less-than-stellar photography. Obviously I am comfortable enough with myself to take pictures in the grocery store, but not quite enough to take 20 until get the perfect shot.
This is a pretty easy outing for us. We’re never gone more than 30 minutes. We even have a favorite cashier, Heather, who knows Lydia by name. There is also a friendly man named Ron who often helps us out with our groceries. Every time, he notices my Toyota Prius. The third time he noticed it, he said, “Oh, I’ve never seen a blue one before.”
I think I could thrive in a culture where the women go to the market every morning and take a nap every afternoon. How about you?
Whew! I think I might finally be back to normal after a hectic but fun week of Vacation Bible School (VBS).
This year’s theme was Boomerang Express. The kids learned fun facts about Austalia in addition to studying the life of the disciple Peter.
My part of VBS was missions. In the past, missions has been a class that the kids rotated to. However, this year our church had VBS in the evenings instead of during the mornings. Because of this, the whole event was 30 minuntes shorter, and something had to be cut. So, instead of the kids coming to me for missions, I led a 5-minute missions interview during the worship rally.
We chose the missions speakers based on the verse Acts 1:8. It says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When Jesus was saying this to His disciples, Jerusalem was their hometown, so the first interview we did was with the director of Grand Oak Mission, a ministry that provides food and clothing for low-income families in our city.
Judea was the disciples’ region, similar to our state. So for the second interview, some teenagers in our church talked about a recent mission trip they took in Missouri. Samaria was a neighboring region in Jesus’ day, so the third interview was with some church members who helped build a church in Louisianna. The final “interview” was a video of a couple who used to be a part of our church who are now serving in Australia. This was the ends of the earth emphasis.
The kids also participated in a missions project. Each class was assigned a member of the US military currently serving overseas. The kids prayed for the soldier, in addition to bringing items and offering to send him/her a box of goodies. We started with 23 names, but ended up sending boxes to 29 soldiers because the kids were so excited about brining items. The boxes were filled with things like Christian magazines and devotionals, a New Testament, socks, beef jerky, Rice Krispie Treats, hard candy, powdered drink mix, soap, and sunblock.
This project was a ton of work, but I think it was one of the best projects we’ve done so far. I believe the reason is the personal connection the kids could feel with the soldier. Last year the kids brought personal hygeine items to help international college students get started in our country. There was a contest between the grade levels to see who could bring the most items. While the ministry was very grateful and blessed by our generosity, the kids themselves didn’t seem to understand who the items would help. This time, they had a name of a specific soldier, and often a picture to go with it. They knew where he or she is currently serving. They wrote letters. They prayed for the soldier. They were blessing a person, not trying to win a contest. Success!
I am in love with a bald-headed baby boy with very round eyes.
The question is, what color are those very round eyes? They used to be blue, but they really aren’t quite blue anymore. When he wears green, they look green, but sometimes they almost look light brown. Let’s take a closer look.
What do you think? I’m leaning toward calling them hazel.
Yesterday evening the stars lined up in such a way to produce a rare set of circumstances. First, I was fairly well-rested. Perhaps I can credit the weekend at the lake or the fact that Luke let me sleep past seven that morning. In any case, my usual evening energy crash did not occur.
Second, I had been to Walmart that day and filled the cart to the brim. Just for the record, I have not yet taken both kids to Walmart by myself. We’ve taken fun little trips to Price Cutter, a one minute drive from the house, but Walmart is a different manner. Keith’s parents so kindly keep L&L for me when I make these big shopping trips.
Third, Vacation Bible School is next week. This year our church is trying something different and having VBS in the evenings instead of the mornings. Since many kids in the community attend day camps and summer programs during the day, our hope is that more children will be able to attend and learn about God’s love for them. So, I will be at home during the day with Lydia and Luke, and Keith will come home from work and take over kid duty in the evenings. Needless to say, this will be more hectic than usual our typically slow-paced family.
Nesting instincts are setting in. Squirrels store up nuts for the winter. I store up baby food for one crazy week in June. I had the oven full of squash and sweet potatoes and pots full of broccoli, peas, beans, and prunes. My Cuisinart food processor was put to the test.
This weekend we spent some quality time with Nana and Poppy at their lake cabin. Nana taught Lydia a time-honored Tyndall tradition: noodle making. Noodles are a must for Thanksgiving, served on top of mashed potatoes. However, they are appropriate anytime. A fishing weekend in June? Bring on the noodles!
The ingredients are quite simple. Eggs and flour are the only truly necessary ingredients, but some milk, salt, and baking soda don’t hurt either.
First, Lydia and Nana whisked the eggs and added the other ingredients.
Next it was time to work the dough.
Rolling pins are fun. Once Nana got her dough very flat, she rolled it up. She made four of these rolls.
Next, Nana cut some very thin strips. Lydia played along.
Now for the fun part. Nana unrolled the noodles one at a time and handed them to Lydia, whose job was to place them on a paper towel-lined baking sheet.
Nana told her, “Throw it on there.” Lydia took her quite literally.
After a while, Lydia took two noodles at once and said they were “dancing noodles.”
Such joy!
The noodles were cooked in chicken broth for at least 30 minutes and placed atop mashed potatoes. Yum!
I have recently developed a method of making homemade chicken fingers. I’ve combined ideas from a few different places.
I bought a large tray of chicken breasts while they were on sale and cut them into chicken-finger-sized pieces. (How’s that for precise?)
First they are dipped in a mixture of beaten eggs and sweet potato puree. The sweet potato puree is supposed to be a “sneaky” way to get more nutrition into the chicken fingers. It’s really a moot point, because everyone here will eat sweet potatoes anyway, but since I have it in the fridge for Lukie, I use it. Please ignore the green specks in the bowl with the egg and sweet potato puree. I meant to put them on the plate. (Frazzled Mommy brain at work.)
Next, they are dipped in a mixture of bread crumbs, flax seed meal, and dried oregeno. I have also used parmesan in this mixture. Once I tried a recipe that included wheat germ, but it made the coating too dense.
I made the bread crumbs in my food processor out of honey wheat bread, which I made the day before in the breadmaker. (My new bread-making hobby will have to be a different post.)
The key to keeping everything fairly neat while doing this is to use one hand for dipping the chicken in the egg, and the other hand for dipping it in the bread crumbs.
Voila! Coated chicken fingers.
I sprayed them with cooking spray to try and get the coating crispy in the oven. I’m afraid, however, that oven-cooked chicken fingers simply will never have the tasty coating that fried chicken fingers will.
From here they go in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink. Or (and this is my favorite part) you can put them in the freeer, raw, on the baking sheet. When they are frozen solid, put them in a zip-top bag. When you don’t have time to cook one evening, put them frozen in a 400 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
This seems like a pretty good way to have some quick meals in the freezer. Be sure to label the bag “raw.” With the coating on, they kind of look like something that just needs warmed up, but they need to be fully cooked.
I would like to do more make-ahead meals, since the four o’clock hour is often so challenging. Of course, the problem with make-ahead meals is that you have to find the time to make them ahead. Naptime is out of the question. After Lydia’s bedtime I have no energy and want to do forty other things. Weekends are my time to run errands all by myself and spend time at church and with family. Wow, that got whiny in a hurry. Sorry about that.
So, does anyone else have other ideas for chicken finger breading or a way to make oven-baked breaded chicken more crispy? Or maybe someone out there has found the key to living a perfectly balanced, healthy life free from whining? All suggestions are accepted.
