The Camping Queen, A Man with a Plan, Stargazing, and the Good-bye Girl

The Camping Queen, young and sweet, only thirteen:

A Man with a Plan:

Last year I did a TON of yard work in preparation for Britta's graduation.  We were going to have an open house for her, and wanted to have most of the festivities in the yard.  It ended up raining the day of the open house, so we moved it inside... into the house that had been neglected because I had been working in the yard for two solid weeks.  By myself.  Day after day.  So this year I have not been so keen on doing yard work.  Our grass had grown to new heights, and the weeds along the rock edging were very apparent, but still I held back.  Thankfully, Bill stepped in on Saturday and made the yard look great.  The garden is yet to be planted (this week maybe?) and there is always plenty more to do, but the grass is green and cut, and the weeds in the front yard have been removed.  Just those little things make such a big difference.  I love that man (who, by the way, also changed out a shower head, replaced all the air filters in the house, and cleaned a toilet -- happy weekend, baby).

The Star-gazers:

Lexee and Hailey hung hammocks on the swing set to star-gaze.  What a great beginning-of-summer-ultra-awesome thing to do.  I, on the other hand, did not see the stars, as I went to bed before anyone else on Saturday night.

The Good-bye Girl:

Bill and Mauri dropped Britt off at the airport on Sunday.  We loved having her here to visit and were sad that she only had a couple of days to spend with us.  But she found out that she got a new job while she was here -- one more week at the bookstore, then she's on to more hours and more money... can't beat that with a stick.

Bill made sure she made it through security without incident.  We had to laugh that on her way here she was patted down and her purse was searched (her lotion thrown in the trash), and she still managed to board the plane and arrive in Denver with a box-cutter in tow.  She had forgotten it was in her purse (she uses them at work), and we were amazed that she wasn't apprehended and detained as a terrorist with a weapon like that.  Scary.  We definitely miss having her around and can't wait to see her again in July.


And what did I do?  Pretty much baked, prepared meals and did dishes.  Not much to shout about.  Early Saturday morning I made brownies and peanut butter bars for the girls camp fundraiser/carwash/bake sale.  My girls owe me some serious service around the house for having their backs on that one.  Then I made some yummy whole wheat/oatmeal cookies with oatmeal, brown sugar and strawberries on top (I stole the idea from Paradise Bakery) for breakfast.  I cleaned up the mess, only to turn around and make some banana bread with the unappealing brown bananas gracing my counter for too long.  I prepared dinner -- a BBQ with some of the girls' friends -- with angel food cupcakes for dessert (Shi helped with those, thank heavens).  And then I made crepes on Sunday for breakfast (it's just expected, you know).  Luckily, Sunday afternoon/evening was leftovers.  Easy, like it should be.

School's Out for Summer

I hope Lex won't mind me sharing some of her last-day-of-school pictures. She got together with her best buddies and had a great time celebrating... the good old-fashioned way. Hanging out. Being silly. Having fun.

Okay, this is in the middle of the street.  She swore to me no cars were in sight.  That's good.

Can you just see them mocking that school crossing sign??

Water fight on the trampoline...

Lexee does not hug her parents like that.

Is that green grass?  Finally!

A flyer's point of view.

The end of her sophomore year.  I keep telling her that she still has a lot of school ahead of her.  But I won't spoil her fun with that reminder right now.

Shilo had to stay after school with NJHS to help the middle school teachers clean and pack up their supplies (they're moving out of the high school and into the new middle school building).  When I went to pick her up, I brought her these:

a little reward to celebrate the completion of middle school 
(I know, anti-climactic... that's happened a lot around here lately).

She was excited to be finished with school, excited for the treat, and excited to be heading off camping with her friend later that day.  And she brought home this:

I love how certificates (and pictures too, for that matter) always come home wrinkled. It's the hard work behind the certificate that counts, right?  Good job, Shilo!

So last night we celebrated Britt being home, the last day of school for Lex and Shi, and Mauri's second (count them, two) 100% spelling test by going out for dinner.

Shilo will be sad to know she missed the celebration (camping, remember?), but not sad when she hears about the "incident" at the restaurant.  When we were over halfway finished with our meal, a neighboring table noticed a live cockroach (yes, you read correctly... a live cockroach) crawling around underneath their plate of nearly finished nachos.  I had the perfect seat to witness the entire episode...  when they noticed it, when they grabbed the nearest waitress, when she grabbed a napkin and grabbed the cockroach then walked it to the back (where the food comes from???), when the manager came over to apologize and offer their dinner for free... I saw it all.  I wondered if we could get our dinner free too, since I really think we were the only other table in the place that knew anything had gone on at all.  We chose to try not to think about it, finish our meal, pay our bill and quietly leave.  I don't think we'll go back.  Ever.

It can't spoil the fact that summer (for Lex and Shi) is here.  At last. 

Awesome Pizza Crust

Here is the recipe for the pizza crust that created this mess. It's not MY recipe... (okay, so maybe it's my recipe now) but I will definitely be making it much more in the future. I doubled it, which made two pizzas and enough dough for a third (still in my fridge -- dinner tonight?). And it's seriously called:

Awesome Pizza Crust

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 tsp. brown sugar

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water; let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in the salt and oil. Mix in 2-1/2 cups of the flour. Turn dough out onto a clean, well-floured surface and knead in more flour until dough is no longer sticky. (I just used my KitchenAid with the dough hook for this whole process.) Place dough in a well-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax (about 10 minutes) before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are baking on a pizza stone, cover stone with cornmeal (I didn't do this and it turned out fine -- I just used non-stick spray), then dough, then topping, and bake immediately. If you are baking in a pan, let dough rise for 15 minutes in a lightly oiled pan before topping and baking. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

Will It Ever End?

I probably have not had the best attitude about being the room parent this year. I've done it a little grudgingly, with a "Do I have to?" frame of mind. This week was teacher appreciation week, and as I dutifully sent out emails, collected money from children, and organized breakfasts and lunches for Mar's teacher, I had in the back of my mind that once I was done this week, my term was over. Complete. Finished. Next year someone else can have the honor.

And, I have discovered, that I am the queen of cheese.  What can I say, I'm not creative and I do things most times out of complete desperation.  From the money I collected from families of some of the kids, here are the gifts we gave to the teacher:

Monday's theme:  Surf's Up

Tuesday's theme:  Hang Loose

(This is an expandable cooler -- if you can't tell)

Wednesday's theme:  Sandcastle Building

Thursday's theme:  Fun in the Sun

(Another mom kindly offered to take the gift this day... I think Mauri told me it was some cute little something or other with sunglasses, green tea and a Starbucks gift card -- the teacher's fave.)

Friday's theme:  Tropical Paradise

(The tag says, "Thanks to you, it's been a fruitful year!")

Like I said, cheese.  But at least it's done.  I just wanted the items to be somewhat useful,  and the teacher to feel appreciated.

Then, yesterday, as I was driving to the airport to pick up Britta -- home for a few days to attend a friend's graduation -- I got an email.  Field Day is coming up, wouldn't it be fun to have the class make tie-dye shirts?  Would I be willing to help with that?  Okay, I'll do it.  And then I'll be done.

Me? A Mess?

Tonight dinner was going to be easy.  And good.  And healthy.  And economical.  Pizza on homemade wheat dough.  I started on time, since the dough needed a good hour to rise.  Dinner would be hot and ready in time for all to enjoy before heading off to Young Women's and Activity Days.  Then this happened:

I dropped my extremely old measuring cup (the last of the set I got for my wedding) with it's missing handle (probably why I dropped it) into my mixer while it was running.  An explosion of flour, yeast, sugar, water and oil spewed out, splashing on the outlet, and blowing the breaker.  The cup is now in the garbage, I managed to salvage the dough (I hope... it's rising), I reset the breaker, and I wiped down the walls.  There was a tense moment when I thought, perhaps, that I had ruined my mixer, but happily, it still runs like a charm. Funny thing is, if I hadn't said something about the incident, no one in my family would have thought anything out of the ordinary had happened.  

I must be that messy. 

Switch, Swim, Swing; A Weekend in Review

{SWITCH}

Rain postponed the second day of Lex's regional track meet, which was scheduled for Saturday.  The meet was switched to Sunday, so we let the coach know that Lex would not be running.  He supported her decision, but let us know she was ranked 2nd or 3rd in the region.  The top 3 from the regional meet would go on to the state meet.  Such an anti-climactic end to the season, but I am proud of her efforts this year.  And, since her relay team took first place in League, she will be on The Wall Of Legends -- goal accomplished.

{SWIM}

Shilo had her final Aces swim meet on Saturday.  She hoped for a small, quick meet, but when we arrived there was hardly a place to sit, it was so crowded.  We ended up sitting by the blocks, right underneath the posted results.  It was a little busy in that area, but at least we had our nice comfortable camp chairs to relax in.  Both Bill and I took our turns napping in between Shilo's events.

Shilo improved her time in each event, and is looking forward to swimming with the Canterberry Crocs, our neighborhood team, this summer.

{SWING}

Sunday after church our little neighbor came over and Mauri pushed him in the swing for a good 20 minutes.  She was so cute with him.

Another {SWELL} weekend.  And Britta will be here for the next one - {SWEET}.

Last Package

Yesterday I took a trip to the post office to mail our very last package to Taylor.

It's his birthday package... 21 years old in less than a month.  We've put the little printout with the pictures of Christ and the Virgin Mary on every package we've sent.  Someone told us that it would help ensure his package would arrive unopened.  I don't know how necessary it's been, but he's received every package we've sent.  Good news when the postage costs more than the contents of the package.  Not really, but close.

And to make my final package trip all the better, I got a close parking spot.

The line wasn't too bad when I got there.  I was entertained by the elderly lady in front of me as she packaged a bunch of cassette tapes.  Hmmmm... do they make cassette tapes anymore?  I also found amusement in the man who apparently just got out of bed, since he was clearly wearing his pajama pants.  I thought it funny that when I initially arrived, there was not a postal worker in sight.  It was the weirdest thing... two or three people standing at the counter... a few people in line... the lights were dim... and for a good minute at least, no postal workers at all.  It felt like a scene from a movie.  Quiet.  Like something BIG is just about to happen.  Then, gradually, the postal workers appeared from the back room and business resumed as normal. 

By the time I was finished, the line had become quite lengthy.  Probably because I had the one-finger-wonder postal worker, who had to enter the address, return address, and package contents (including quantities and weight) into his computer.  With one finger.  It took forever.  But he was a pleasant man, who felt bad about covering some of my religious pictures with the customs form.  Don't worry, I assured him, I knew that some of them would get covered.  I had, after all, mailed many packages to Mexico in the past couple of years.  But this was my last.  My son would be home in September.  
I just had to share.

And just so you know, NO, I don't ever take pictures at the post office.  I just couldn't resist this time.  And I felt like a secret agent, because I didn't know if someone would yell at me for taking their picture.  I turned the flash off and pretended to be viewing pictures on my camera.  Psyche.