Family Traditions

I grew up with family traditions with my siblings and to this day they don't let us break them when we are together for holidays! Most all of them are pretty traditonal and I like the sense of unity and routine (surprise surprise!) they bring.

Except for the circus----pretty random! When I was small the circus was always in town on Thanksgiving weekend. It was awesome.

I want to have our little family's own traditions too.
Here's our short list:

Watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade
Attend Christmas Eve service
Make a birthday cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday

That's it --- it's so short!
I'm looking for help to think of ideas, so leave a comment and tell me your family's favorite tradition!

Shantaram

My reading kick ended with this one:  Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Wow, I'm not sure I ever read a book this long (~900 pages)!

What a story to put our lives into perspective. A reminder that third world countries today still have clean water rationed, waste filling up the streets, and no access to medicine. A reminder that love for one another has no monetary boundaries or privileges.

I almost quit the book about three times, had to skim through a few sections, but I was determined to finish.

Open your mind and try this one out.

Let's Read

I've been reading a bit lately (or trying to).

Here's the books that have made their way on (and off) my nightstand.

Any Place I Hang My Hat by Susan Isaacs

The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky by Ken Dornstein

I attempted both these books for a good 80 pages and then gave up. So, save yourself some time.

Now, I am on my 3rd book and it "feels like" a keeper, finally.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

I think we will see this one in the movies.

*update* I finished this book in 48 hours! whew. I'm embarassed to say that I don't know much about WWII and this book definetly brought some things to light -- how many men died, how horrible POWs were treated, and of course post-tramatic stress from anyone returning from war and trying to life a normal life from then on. As an adult I think that we should know these awful, inhuman stories that built our county. So enlighten yourself and you will surely find a more grateful attitude.

What's that you smell?

yumminess baking in the kitchen!

Ladies, I am have been putting the crock pot and oven to use. It's amazine how when you keep good ingredients in the house you can find something to eat.

Here's what we've been eatin:

Baked Eggplant Parmigiana

http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2009/07/recipe-for-easy-baked-eggplant.html

Crock-Pot Baked Apples

http://skinnychef.com/recipes/baked-apples/

Rosemary Bread

It tastes awesome, especially if you have a rosemary plant at your house (or a bush in my case).

• 1 packet dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp)
• 2 c. warm water
• 1 T. sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 c. flour (all purpose is fine)
• 1-2 tsp. fresh Rosemary plus more for topping ( I typically add more rosemary)
• Olive Oil, Corn meal, Melted butter and
  salt

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and sugar. (I like to buy yeast in a large package and then store it in a plastic container and keep in the freezer. It lasts forever. OR if you don’t make bread that often, just buy the yeast packets.) Add flour, salt, and 1-2 tsp Rosemary and stir until blended, do not
Knead!! Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size. (don't use metal bowl for the first rising or mixing metal cookie sheets for baking is ok)

Remove dough. It will be sticky. I like to put shortening or oil on my hands for taking out the dough and shaping it. I think it works better than flour hands. Place it in 2 rounds on a cookie sheet lightly coated in oil and sprinkled with corn meal. OR you can place it on your silicone baking mat with no oil. Cover with a towel or greased plastic wrap. Then let it rise another hour.

Brush each round with melted butter and
lightly sprinkle with
more Rosemary and salt.  Bake @ 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 for 15 minutes more.

Cool slightly, then cut into nice size bits or
rip it apart and dip in a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This bread can’t be beat! It is soooo delicious and a really easy bread recipe. If you’ve never made bread before, Rosemary Bread is a great one to start with.

Bacon Ranch Chicken‏ from the crockpotgirls:

http://crockpotgirls.com/recipes/main-dishes/chicken/bacon-ranch-chicken/

It's starting to feel like fall, happy cooking!



Pocahontas Camping

Camping if FUN! smores, outdoor cooking, brews, being one with nature, crickets chirping as you fall asleep.

I highly recommend this place. It is located near Richmond, has a good playground, electricily (hello fan!) and an awesome waterpark!

except when....
it's 92 degree, you have poison ivy, a hurrican has just come through and a 2 year old who missed her nap.
Which is why we cut our stay short and came back to the air conditioning.

I hope to come back and make this place work for us.

We did have some fun:
-Wigwam using her potty in the back of the truck.
-Wigwam going down the big slide at the waterpark, making that other toddler look like a sissy! ha
-New way to cook eggs-slice a green pepper ring and crack the egg into the center
-Sixletts for Noah
-Marshmellows for all
-Wigwam taking a shower with me and yelling "mommy, nakid nuddie"
-Maymont park visitng the animals
-Moe's for dinner

And some not fun:
-Wigwam refusing to nap in the tent
-Wigwam melting down at the waterpark due to no nap
-Wigwam melting down at the campsite
-Wigwam melting down because I ate a bite of the ice cream we were sharing
-Me melting down because Wigwam is melting down
-Noah melting down because it's 95 degrees and he is packing the truck as soon as possible

Maybe we'll try the back yard next time.

Irene

Hurrican Irene made landfall at Cape Lookout, NC on Saturday, August 27th 2011 as a Category 1.
We live about 1 hour east of there and decided to ride it out.

Here's how it went down:
Friday.
Our work shut down at noon to send everyone home to prepare. We strapped down the grill, brought patio furniture and toys in the garage, filled the tub with water (after being bleached of course), bought 4 packs of ice. It started to rain around noon and we lost power at 11:30pm. Wigwam slept in our room because we were nervous about a leaning tree in our front yard.

Saturday.
Between Noah and I we stayed up most of the night listening to the running radio for updates on tornados that were nearby. At times the wind was so strong and the rain never let up. All you can do is pray for safety.

Wigwam got up at 4am and was wide awake. The rest of the day was full of rain, listening to the radio and trying to keep a 2 year old busy while inside. And trying to explain to her that we could not watch Mickey Mouse, open the refrigerator or make smoothies. The day lasted FOREVER. The eye passed around 10am, a calm relief for an hour, then the wind and rain were worse as the final bans moved through. By 8pm or so the rain had let up mostly and the major part of the storm had moved through. We opened windows for a breeze, which was fairly cool.

Sunday.
We awake to no rain, yea! We decided to start the morning off with breakfast on the grill: whole pound of bacon, biscuits and chocolate chip cookies (why not?). It was wonderful.

Next, to begin the cleanup and minature melt down from all parties. We started with the refrigerator and freezer, most of which was lost. What a mess (think liquid ice cream spilling down 4 shelves). Then to head outside and begin on the yard. Noah started on the roof and then moved to the chain saw. We had about a 6" layer of debris over the entire yard. We raked and raked and when I quit, Noah raked some more. It was 92 degrees. We melted. And raked some more. We have the blisters to prove it.

We were overwhelmed. I do not claim to be Survivor-Woman, nor do I want to be.

We were probably 50% done with the yard debris we decided to quit. I pulled out Wigwam's pool and gave her a bath in it while she played with the bubbles.
We chatted with neighbors and even had some friends over to grill out....well, what else do you do when you have 20 hamburger patties, 7 chicken breast, 15 hotdogs and a steak thawed out?

We were blessed with a warm shower that evening, I guess the hot water tank was full when the power had gone out. Unfortunatley, we started sweating again about 30 min afterwards in our 86 degree house.

I put a sweaty Wigwam to bed in her diaper.
I laid on the guest bed in front of the window and drifted off to sleep until.....
that wonderful sounds was heard. you know the one "dum duuum" and the power was ON at 11pm! Noah came to get me and we shut all the windows and stood on top of the vents ---ahhhh, so cold!
Then the little voice in my head said "please don't go away, please don't tease us".
I started the diswasher and turned on the fan above our bed.

Good night (and don't you dare turn on that alarm clock, I don't care what my work says).

In hindsight I will leave next time this ever threatens to happen, or at least own a generator. I really do feel blessed that we fared to well. I passed many houses trees on their roofs on my way into work this morning. I crossed over power lines in the road and reminded myself that others still do not have power. I took Wigwam to school and was reminded of how blessed we are to afford insurance. I will have aching muscles for a week while we cleanup, but I have a home to shower and sleep in at the end of the day.

Bluegrass Cousins

Trip to the Bluegrass State Conquered!

Twice a year we get all the kiddos together and boy is it wild! Eight kids 4 & under is a seriously busy non-stop party. Once again this was a "we did it" trip, Wigwam and I flew with a layover, delayed flight and canceled flight.

Grandpops playing in the pool

 

The oldest playing dress up with the younger ones!

My niece. Birthday Buddy, is she not adorable??! I could eat her up.

Baby Michael III, cutie pie! Entertained by his wild cousins.

It's good to be 4!

Red Rover, Red Rover. And who is the only 2 year playing this game? Wigwam. It's the running joke in our family that thinks she's 4 along with the others. But it's not a joke, she does think she's 4.

Grandpops! (and Susie)

See, this is what most 2 year olds do...play, but not too far from mom.

To sum up the fun: Wigwam slept for 13 hours when we got home and then took a 2 hour nap. Whew!