Best Shake Ever!

Gotta love a green smoothie smile!  Miss Sassy still thinks smoothies are about the best treat around!

Actually, we've started feeding these smoothies to visiting kiddos.  Ummmm... without disclosing the secret ingredients.  Y'know... all the green stuff.  I felt a twinge of guilt the other day.  Until an extra kiddo declared her smoothie the, "Best Shake Ever!"

Guess the spinach didn't hurt her...

 Here's the current favorite...

Two frozen bananas

An orange

About 1" chunk of ginger, peeled and sliced

Big, big handful of spinach

A cup or so of water

Have a great day!

Vacation Shenanigans!

New Englanders are perhaps a bit more prone to cabin fever than their southern counterparts....  So our family has a tradition to combat that dull and lifeless time of year.  All day sledding parties!  We go from 10-10 and invite everyone we can think of!  Crazy gatherings with herds of kids, goofy games, and some kind of entertainment.  Like duck tape.

Soooooo... what do a bunch of crazy teens do with several roles of duck tape?  And why do we call these parties SLEDDING parties?  The kids go sledding for a few minutes, then spend the rest of the day snacking, throwing marshmellows, playing games, whipping a ping-pong ball back & forth, and gabbing!  Oh... and decorating cars with duck tape.  Or taping each other into chairs.  Or to each other.  Or to walls....

I would sooooo love to share pictures, but I don't like to post other people's kids here unless I know its ok.  We did count, though... 23 kids in one photo!  Plus a few brave adults.  And the kids kept showing up throughout the day... I just forgot to dig the camera out again.  Too busy trying to keep snacks on the table, I guess! 

The day really was a wonderful start to vacation week!  Miss Sassy spent the day at Camp Nana & Boppa.  She even had her little friend, Bus Buddy, visit with her!  The other girls each had a herd of friends over.  The herds tended to hang out together and stampeded the kitchen only when foraging for food.  Or when their clothes were wet from sledding.  Or someone had a boo boo.  Or they needed more duck tape....  Oh, yeah!  I stayed busy....  lining up the crock pots, cutting fruits and veggies, getting out more games, scraping marshmellows off the floor, throwing more clothes through the wash.  And I wouldn't change a minute of the day!  (Especially since after the last remnants of food were served, I got to escape to the loft and join the ping-pong play offs!)

Another photo of what's been keeping me busy during vacation!  The girls brought their trombones home, so we have five (yes FIVE) trombones to use as doorstops....  My husband doesn't quite understand why we need so many trombones.  Oldest two kiddos play, so that accounts for two.  I play, so make that three accounted for.  Oh... except that I LOVE to play!  And recently invested in a second trombone.  Really a sensible investment for a trombone player.  Really... one large bore, one small bore.  Completely different sounds.  Ok... he's still not getting it and thinks I have become a very expensive wife....  Oh!  And the 5th trombone is the "fleet spare" for when we are all playing together and the kids forget to bring theirs home from school.  Sensible.  REALLY.

Oh!  A couple buddies and I just started a weekly trombone jam session.  Just in case two bands, a quartet, and playing in church didn't allow enough play time!  These guys are THE BEST!  We played, talked, and laughed half the night.  Sometimes we laughed at the playing... sight reading does produce some interesting chords!  Especially when we don't look at the lables on the music and start out with the most difficult piece...

And Miss Sassy!  Miss Sassy has trouble walking in all this white stuff.  So my friend, Awesome Neighbor, and I took her downtown for a walk on plowed sidewalks.  Miss Sassy goes for walks around town with her special class at school, so she is familiar with many of the businesses.  She lights up when she enters some buildings.  Like Murrays.  Hmmmm... I think she has been sneaking out for lunches!  She seems to know the menu.  She pointed to sweet potato fries when asked what she wanted to eat.  I thought I would get to share the fries, but no such luck.  I scored ONE fry....  She cleaned up the fries, ate her half of the burger and most of our salad!  Next time, I'm ordering my OWN fries!

And a bit of sewing!  Any guesses?  Yup... a baby quilt!  Oldest kiddo helped choose the pattern and fabrics.  She loves bright colors and chose a multi-sized star pattern... white for the stars and mostly bright yellows, greens & oranges for the background.  Honestly, I wasn't sold on the colors... but as the first blocks took shape, I LOVE IT!!!!  This promises to be a fun quilt!

Well... there's still a bit of vacation left!  And we have new white stuff still falling!  Time to go play in it!  Have a happy day! 

Baby Bump Update

Grandbaby bump is about 21 weeks along now.  Miss Sassy is still keeping tabs on niece/nephew's progress.  Only caveat is trying to explain to Miss Sassy that she can not pull up all shirts to admire her friends' tummies.... 

Oldest kiddo is feeling mostly well except for frequent tired spells.  She has an active kiddo in there.  Lots of sommersaulting and carousing.  I'm guessing tired will be a frequent companion after "Hi Baby" is born, as well....  Otherwise, her spirits are good.  She has a little more space with her new room.  Her senior year, she'll be easing up on her previously hectic and difficult schedule.  No first block classes and the chance to study some optional courses that interest her instead of AP, really tough stuff.  She's a little overwhelmed planning for the future.  I think that is often true for later highschool kiddos, but exceptionally so for this sweet, gentle girl who will have a baby in tow as she figures out the rest of her life.

And me?  I seem to alternate between worrying like crazy about her (their) future and looking forward to meeting my Super G'andkid...

Clean?

We were totally snowed in today... close to two feet of the white stuff!  The morning was relaxed.  Very relaxed!  My dad called at 8:30 and woke us ALL up.  Even Miss Sassy, the very early riser.  Even youngest-always-ready-to-go-child.  Even me!  On a weekend with no kids at home, I generally can't manage to squeeze my eyes shut past 7:00.

Then, after sleeping half the day away, the girls and I managed to accomplish nothing noteworthy all morning.  It was lovely.  But by noon I was tired of all that relaxing.  Blah!  Time to do something. 

Hubby has been working on oldest kiddo's new room.  Oldest and youngest have been sharing a room.  Maybe I should add that they comfortably shared a room with no screaching, hair pulling or any of that rotten sibling stuff.  Really!  They are well-matched.  But... incoming!  One baby.  That could tip the scale....

Anyhow, other than piles of tools, sawdust, and pieces of linoleum, the room looked pretty finished to me.  By the way, I have no idea how to spell linoleum.  I hope it is spelled correctly.  Or that you do not know how to spell it either.  I digress...  I don't know how to spell digress either.  We decided to move oldest kiddo into the new room! 

A couple of hours later, all the tools and sawdust were banished and kiddo's furniture was moved into the room.  There was the trail of mess that accompanies any big move.  Miss Silly had spent the two hours alternating between giggling at us and scattering all of her toys.  And... ummmm... housecleaning is not my favorite chore any day of the week, so I often clean tomorrow.  I was several tomorrows behind.

Soooooo... I had the brilliant and impulsive idea to invite my parents over for supper.  In two hours.  With the house a mess and dinner not even begun.  Sigh.  Since there was NO chance of cleaning up the living room and all the various messes on my to-do list, I focused on making the meal that I had promised.

My parents arrived with dinner close to ready.  They admired oldest kiddo's new room.  We hugged.  We talked.  And my mom said, "oh!  Your house is so cozy and clean.   It's all picked up.  Your counters are all cleared off.  The dishes are done." 

Huh??? 

My mom actually LIKES to clean.  She shines the bottoms of her pots and pans.  She washes windows twice a year even if they don't have any spots on them.  She vaccuums ummm... more often than I do.  Beds are washed every seven days without fail.  She dusts before fingers can leave trails.  She thinks my house is CLEAN??? 

I guess it's all a matter of perspective.  When I looked around again, I saw kids playing, rocking chairs and quilts, a braided rug, a mostly-cleared-off table, a couple of projects mid-progress by the sewing machine.  The rug was recently vaccuumed.  The few things on the table were oldest child's cross stitch, youngest child's homework and a book.  Not immaculate.  But tidy.  And very cozy.

Perspective.  Our house is cozy.  Maybe I'll clean tomorrow.