The Adventures of Mini-Mike, part 1: The Great Commission(ing)

Last weekend, we drove to Dallas to celebrate my brother-in-law’s graduation form the University of Dallas, and his commissioning into the United States Air Force.  We decided to have a little fun, so we made a “Mini-Mike” doll and dressed it in a scholar’s gown.  Here are Mini-Mike’s adventures for your viewing pleasure:

 

It was the night of Real Mike’s Commissioning into the US Air Force as a Second Lieutenant.  Real Mike looked handsome in his uniform, and we all were so proud of him! Dad (a USAF Lieutenant Colonel) Swore him in, and Mom, together with Aunti Mimi and Aunt Barbara pinned on his new rank insignia.

After the ceremony there was a little reception with snacks and cake, so we took Mini-Mike over to the bar to see what there was.  First, Mini-Mike took a ride in Ian’s shirt pocket with the silverware and napkins.  He had a great view of everything there was to eat.

Mini-Mike decided that the Chex Mix looked good, but he wanted a closer look.

Wow, what a big cake!  No, Mini-Mike, you may NOT jump on it or lick the frosting.

After the long ceremony and all that cake, Mini-Mike was tired.  He had a good sleep in the camera case with the camera, and was ready to tour Real Mike’s Alma Mater the next day.  Stay tuned for Mini-Mike’s next adventure!

Chickens

Remember back in April I said something about having animals on our land?  I was thinking maybe next summer we would get a few chickens and see how things went.

Providence has seen fit to let me find out sooner how things will go.  A friend had to move away on short notice, and I ended up with her chickens!  There were 21 hens and a rooster when I went to get them (they were young, so they all fit into one large travel dog kennel).  5 weeks later,having lost 2 (one to the neighbors’ dogs, the other to ???)  they are getting pretty big, and we have gotten up to a dozen eggs a day in the last few days.

our first egg

This is the first egg we got from our young hens.  You can see the colors in some of their feathers here as well.  We have Rhode Island Reds, Speckled Sussex, and one Golden Laced Wyandotte.  The rooster is a Speckled.

Here you can see our handsome rooster.

Peter named him Luke Skywalker

The chicken with many names

This beautiful hen has had many names.  The previous owner named her Betty.  When I brought her home she escaped from the pen 3 times the first day, so I called her Henny Houdinni.  For a while the kids called her The Queen because she was the biggest and oldest (1 year old) of all the rest of the chickens.  Lucy named her Sally Henny Penny, and I usually call her Henny.

Here are a couple of our Speckled Sussex hens.  Margaret named the one on the left Sparkles.  The one on the right looks too much like the other hens to have her own name yet.

Rhode Island Red hen

This hen has no name.  Neither do any of the 15 Rhode Island Reds.  They all look alike.  So I call them all “Chicken.”

Pretty Red

Ain’t she purty?

Right after we took this picture, the kids came in with another egg.  They lay eggs all day, not just over night, apparently.

Wordless Winds-day Winter White Wash

Tea For Today

Today: Sunday, April 19, 2009 Divine Mercy Sunday
Outside My Window: sunny! The kids are making snowmen with the wet heavy snow we got yesterday.
Today’s Goal: make bread and soup for dinner.
Today’s Plan: Dark laundry, REALLY finish putting away all clothes from our trip.
Today’s Tea: English Breakfast. This is a classic black tea.
Today’s Tidbits: We are starting in FlyLady’s Zone 4 (Master Bedroom & Bath). I stripped the bed to wash the sheets, and I am decluttering the trash that I have accumulated by my desk.

Irish Dancing Season

Last night we took our kids to an Irish Dancing recital in which our three oldest daughters participated. I went backstage with the girls to make sure they got to the right place and didn’t lose their costume parts while Ian kept the littler kids in the foyer waiting to be let into the auditorium. We had to be there an hour and 15 minutes before the show started, so the littles got a little restless. Thankfully we were allowed to go into a hallway next to the foyer where the kids could run around a bit.

We were able to sit in the third row, behind 2 taped-off rows, so we were able to get a good view of the dancers.

The show was incredible. It lasted two hours and many of the dancers did not have a break between numbers. This was the first such show our girls have ever been in, and they were pretty tired by the time the it was over.

This show was enough to make us all want to sleep for the whole weekend, but GUESS WHAT!!!! The show was just the beginning! Today we have a parade to be in (the girls, not me), and two shows afterward (one in a different town).

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! I am very glad we don’t have any shows on Sunday, but Monday at 7:45 AM begins a grueling day. The girls have 3 performances back-to-back at three elementary schools, followed by an hour-long drive to another town for another show, after which we will eat dinner out and come back home and fall into bed. I hope we make it.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! On Tuesday the girls have two more performances, to which their Grandfather will take them. They said (at the dance school) when we started there in the fall, that St. Patrick’s day and the days surrounding it were big, but we had no idea.

Rum Ball Recipe

I have been promising to post this (and other) recipe(s) for a while, so here it is. Mimi, the Chess Pie recipe is next I PROMISE!

RUM BALLS

2 boxes vanilla wafers (12 oz each), finely chopped in food processor
4 C. pecans (16 oz bag), finely chopped
4 C. powdered sugar
8 tsp. cocoa powder
6 tsp. light corn syrup
1 1/2 C. dark rum (or bourbon or brandy. I didn’t have enough of any one thing, so I mixed rum and brandy. Hence, Rumdy Balls)

Mix all ingredients in a BIG bowl. Roll into balls by hand, and then roll the balls in regular sugar or cocoa powder or additional chopped nuts. Store in airtight container. Put in airtight tins or bags to give away as gifts.

Baking for Christmas

Starting in September, we have made some cookies to give as gifts for Christmas.

First, we made Gingersnaps from Faith & Family magazine’s November/December 2007 issue. We did not burn them this time.

We made Gingerbread Men (and Women, and Snowmen and Stars) from a recipe I found years ago in one of those “Holiday Baking” mini-magazines you find at the grocery store checkout.

We also made Springerle, lemon-anise flavored HARD cookies for dunking in coffee, tea or cocoa. I think I used the recipe in Joy of Cooking. My mom especially likes these, so I make them primarily for her, and also giv ehtem to other coffee-drinkers in the family.

Next, we will be making Pine Bark, also from the F & F Nov./Dec. ’07 issue, and bourbon balls (or rum balls, depending on what I find in the seldom-visited liquor cabinet), from a family recipe.

On Christmas Eve we’ll make Christmas Eve Mice, from the F & F issue cited above. The recipe pages in this particular issue are destined to be well-worn soon. I was hoping this year’s November/December issue would have more good cookie recipes, but it just has ideas for dressing up store-bought refrigerator cookie dough, which is fine if you are in a hurry and don’t mind the too-sweet taste or hazardous ingredients. But since we usually make our cookies in September & October and freeze them, we want them to be worth the wait until Christmas! We’ll stick with from-scratch for now.

Summer and Fall, 2008

Every year flies by faster than the last. I started noticing this phenomenon when I was in college, and it is no less true now that I am married and have children. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to do all the things I want to do, to send that thank you note as soon as someone does something thoughtful for me, to keep that little curl from baby’s first haircut in her baby book. “Baby” is now almost 10 years old and her baby book, although admittedly more complete than those of her 6 younger siblings, is nothing to brag about.

This summer (starting with the spring, really) I took lots of pictures and even downloaded most of them onto my computer, with the idea that I would post them here on my blog to share with the world, or at least with that part of the world that might be interested in the happenings at our little house on the prairie.

Here are some of the things that happened during the warmer months this year. Pictures will have to come later, as something on my computer won’t let me do anything with the pictures I have downloaded, and won’t let me download any pictures that are on my camera:

We painted the house yellow. By “we” I mean my husband. By “yellow” I mean “Fairy Lily” Colorplace paint from Walmart.

We cleaned out the back room so the kids would have a place to play. Again, by “we” I mean my husband. I went through some boxes and threw a lot away and found new homes for some things, but he has a keen, organizing mind and I stand in awe that he could go into the already full room with boxes and boxes of “stuff” and a couple of hours later come to me and say, “Come see,” and I behold a clean (vacuumed, even!) floor, walls lined with shelves and a sewing table by the window with my sewing machine set up and ready for Christmas sewing projects! Ian, you amaze me!

Annie (5) and Lucy (9) learned to ride bikes on a dirt road with no training wheels.

Margaret (8) can ride a big bike and made her First Holy Communion in May.

Ian & I took Maria (10 months old at the time) to New Jersey for the Catholic Marketing Network conference. We spent a day in New York City and a night in Boston with my sister, who is a Daughter of Saint Paul. It was a fun vacation. The rest of the kids stayed with Ian’s parents here in Colorado. They had a great time with their grandparents, and we are eternally grateful to said grandparents for their generosity.

At some point I took a big box of peaches and made pie fillings to put in the freezer for some special winter or spring party. Yum. I was going to do the same with apples with my Mother-In-Law, but the apple crops in Colorado were ruined this year. Oh well, maybe next year.

I am sure we did more, but my poor brain can’t think of anything else at the moment. I’ll post more when I remember and when I can get at those pictures!

Gifts from the Heart

I read today a good post on simplifying gift-giving for Christmas at Starry Sky Ranch. I wrote a lengthy comment there, and decided to make it my first blog post in a long while.

Great post, Kim!

I have been thinking about this for several years now, too. It is not always easy to find the time to make hand-made gifts for going-on-eight children, plus In-Laws, cousins, etc., nor is it possible to find the money to buy natural toys and gifts for so many. But it is worth the effort. The kids help me make special cookies to send to their cousins in another state, I sew one more Christmas stocking each year for the youngest child (some day I may be caught up), and make cloth or painted wood ornaments for the extended family who would appreciate such things.

St. Nicholas brings much-needed socks, slippers or tights on Dec. 6, any presents from out-of-town family are opened on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, and presents from each other are opened on Epiphany. Thankfully, the rest of the family understands that we don’t want the flashiest new toy on the market, so we get warm clothes, simple toys and holy cards, nice thank-you note cards to use, or even gift cards for groceries or a restaurant, for the most part.

We don’t get everything we want or need. We don’t give everything family and friends want or need. We do what we can to give comfort and joy, and try to let God do the rest.

So far it has made for joyous family memories as we gather on St. Lucy’s day to share hot cocoa and a honey cake, or Christmas Eve to eat a traditional Mexican dinner before Tata reads “‘Twas the night before Christmas….” and sing “Joy to the World” at Christmas morning Mass. Loving each other is the best gift we can give, whether it shows itself in the form of a hand-sewn Raggedy Ann doll or a Christmas stocking with an orange and a walnut in the toe, or a smile and a “Merry Christmas!”

May God bless you this Advent as we all prepare our hearts for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. May the gifts we give each other bear fruit in eternal life.

Maybe we WON'T plant trees today…

Yesterday was sunny and about 80 degrees outside. But NOT TODAY!!

So… How about a game of Cooties…bread making…
and hanging shelves?

We might light a fire in the fireplace later. Have a hot cup of tea with fresh-from-the-oven bread… I like snow days.