Happy Mother's Day!

To both of our moms (I know you read this), to our grandmother's, our great-grandmother, and all our friends who are moms,
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

It was an absolutely wonderful day for me. . . Maddie isn't feeling great and she was up last night a few times last night, so I didn't feel guilty at all for sleeping late. Will came in and woke me around 8:45 and told me that Daddy helped him make me breakfast. When I went to the living room, Maddie climbed in my lap, Ben toddled over for a hug, and Jon sat right where he was playing but he gave me his million-dollar grin. Will brought me some cards to open and read, and Allen served me warm pancakes with a kiss, then finished making my omelet. Allen sat down and ate with me and we shuffled kids through our laps in a "drive-thru" style (they just came for the bite of food, not the lovin'.) About the time the little ones were ready for a late morning nap, I drifted back to sleep -- being lulled by the cool breeze and wind-chime music coming through our windows. We had lunch, and then we all went outside to play in the yard. Several hours later, all four kids were ready for naps. While they did that, Allen played a computer game and I watched a movie and read a book. It was such a refreshing day, and I loved it. Allen was awesome at spoiling me -- thanks, babe! He was so on the ball, that he thought Mom's Day was last week and he had already given me the gift from him and the kids. Now I have an iPod, and some cool earphones that let me actually hear music (rather than whining. . .)

I almost forgot to mention that my best friend, Norla, and her husband Brad stopped in to see us all yesterday. They weren't here for very long, but it is always great to get to visit with a buddy! Norla and I were roommates about 15 years ago and she was my maid of honor at our wedding. I think the kids wore them out, but at least they were on their way to a vacation.

Quick Gyros Recipe

Allen and I love gyros, and one time we even made them. But that took a lot of effort, and sometimes it's just not worth the trouble. Last night, I made sort of a taco gyro & we loved it.

1 lb. lean ground beef
3 tbsp. Greek seasoning or more
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
salt to taste

As you are browning the beef in a skillet, add the seasonings. When beef is cooked,
taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Serve on warm flatbread with lettuce, tomato, onion, feta cheese, and tzitzi sauce.
I think the sauce tastes better when the flavors have time to mingle. This is my shortcut version, it is close to perfect & its quick. The tzatziki sauce is based on Alton Brown's recipe with a few minor changes. For the long-cooking version, his recipe is awesome.

Tzatziki Sauce:
16 ounces plain yogurt
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
Pinch kosher salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
4 drops of mint extract (or 6 mint leaves chopped finely)

Place the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl, and squeeze out whey. Place the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; discard liquid. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the above. Serve as a sauce for gyros. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.

We had these gyro/tacos for dinner last night and they were yummy & quick. The sauce took about 15 minutes to make, but needs to sit for several hours. The rest goes together in a jiffy!

Baba Ghannouj recipe

As you may know, we are Good Eats fans. There is something fascinating about learning the science and history about foods as you are learning to cook. I had recently seen an episode where Alton made baba ghannouj from eggplant, and decided to conquer this middle eastern appetizer. I grilled the eggplant as I was grilling sweet sausages that we had for dinner, so cooking the eggplant was no trouble at all. This is Alton Brown's recipe.

1 eggplant
2 cloves garlic
2 ounces fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini
1/2 bunch parsley, leaves only
Salt and pepper

Pierce some holes in the skin of the eggplant (to avoid explosion) and grill over medium-high heat turning every 7 minutes, until the skin is blackened and the body is nice and soft. Total time for grilling is about 30 minutes. If you do not have a grill you can roast your eggplant in a 375 degree F oven for about 30 minutes. Remove eggplant from the grill and let cool.

Once the eggplant is cool enough to handle, peel away the skin and discard. Place the eggplant flesh in a colander and drain for 10 minutes. In a food processor, combine garlic, lemon juice, tahini and parsley and pulse to combine. Add the eggplant flesh. Season with salt and pepper and pulse to combine. Adjust the flavor with more Tahini or lemon juice if you prefer. If it's bitter, some sugar or honey will help.

A few notes from Sarah: I know you may not keep tahini in your pantry, but when you are looking for it at the grocery store, search in the aisle that has hummus & couscous. When in doubt, just ask, they should have it at a medium to large to grocery. The tahini I got was in a can and the consistency is like peanut butter. Although the recipe didn't say to, I did try to get all the seeds out of the eggplant before it drained. I didn't use quite as much garlic because it tends to give me headaches, but it was still tasty. I did add a touch of honey and that seemed to make the flavor richer. I used quite a bit of dried parsley because I didn't realize that my fresh. . .well, let's just say it wasn't fresh, so I had to toss it. I cut whole wheat pita into triangles and toasted them to get them crunchy. This was a tasty way to use eggplant, and Will really liked it, too.

I demand a Raise . . .who do I talk to?

Just after I got the babies cleaned up from breakfast, I sat Will down with his daily does of cinnamon oatmeal, and decided to check in with Allen to find out how the hockey game ended last night. As we were talking I heard a lot of commotion then a lot of crying from Maddie and Ben. I told Allen I'd call him back and I went to see who was bitten. As it turns out, Will (not feeling great)abandoned his bowl of oats to lay on the couch. Ben reached the bowl and ran off with it. Maddie was crying because she wanted it. (Realize that I didn't know what was going on until the LOUD crying started) Now, I am making some inferences based on what I saw: Ben started crying when Maddie stole his "HAT"!!! So I came into the picture and Maddie is giggling as she is running across the living room away from Ben with an EMPTY bowl. I get frustrated because Will left his (empty) bowl out. As I look around and see Ben, I realize that the bowl was actually emptied on his head. . .and tummy . . .and feet. . .and this is all on my living room carpet. I took a deep breath, and like any mom should do in this situation, I calmly counted to ten, then let them all have a good yellin'. I asked Will to help me clean up the mess, so he let the dog in -- thank you, God, for my furry maid! I sprayed Ben off in the sink (You wouldn't believe how hairy his feet were! Oatmeal + Black dog hair = big fuzzy slippers). I can't seem to get the cinnamon smell out of the room, but the good thing is I like the smell of cinnamon, AND the carpet is the same color as the oatmeal. . . .that unfortunately means that I probably will be fininding crunchies in the carpet for the next 2 weeks. I went to change my clothes after carrying around oatmeal kids, and the cat was barfing all over my bedroom. I still had not had my coffee. I was worn out and called to finish my conversation with Allen. I reminded him how much I love my job & need a raise, and I found out that the Stars won the game last night in the 4th overtime. I called Jennie and found out that I missed a great weekend at Chasing Rainbows, but I am so glad it went well. Now to start planning for a class for the next time I make it to Kansas. . . but first I need a nap. Yes I say that and it's not even 10 am. I hope the rest of the day is so jolly!

Today

. . . I woke up around 8
. . . the little kids had Kix, yogurt, and bananas for breakfast
. . . Will had oatmeal, yogurt, and banana for breakfast
. . . I had coffee
. . . the little ones were climbing the walls
. . . then they took a short nap
. . . I scrapbooked while Will played games
. . . we all played outside after lunch
. . . Jon climbed in the Tonka truck
. . . Maddie pushed him to the sandbox
. . . the sandbox was muddy
. . . Ben filled buckets with wet sand
. . . Maddie thought mud was tasty
. . . Ben tasted it to see why Maddie was so happy
. . . he didn't like the taste of sand
. . . when I took away the bucket of mud Maddie got mad
. . . so she stuck a beetle in her mouth
. . . I got it out
. . . it was slobbery when it crawled away
. . . Will climbed all over the playground
. . . he loved jumping onto the slide
. . . he scolded the little ones for eating sand
. . . Maddie started shaking her finger at everyone saying "No No"
. . . we did that for awhile
. . . then I stripped the muddy kids
. . . I hosed them off
. . . then took them inside for clean clothes
. . . now the kids are all resting
. . . and I am having fun looking at all the photos.
(in the slide show below, you can click the X box to reduce the size of the music video.)

In case you were wondering. . .

. . .I do still find a little time to scrapbook. In fact, when I was in Waco, I got to go to a crop and I got a LOT done. AND since the Stanley Cup playoffs are going on, I have scrapped while Allen watches the games. If it weren't for all the time I spend watching TV, I'd have LOTS more time to play. I only post my pages when they are complete, so the ones that don't have journaling won't be posted yet.

Well now I have October photos from the last few years done. Who needs to be "caught up?" Why would I want to be "caught up?" Since I have so many young kids, I often asked how I find time to scrapbook. I pretty much answer the same way, "I make time for what I enjoy doing," but I still wish I had more time for the fin I have. I thought I share how it all comes together for me. (If you aren't a scrapbooker, you can skip the rest of this entry.)

I have found that putting together mini-kits before I go scrapbook has made it all go so much smoother. It is probably the way I can use time the best. I include my sketch, my photos, patterned papers I have in my stash that will work & any cardstock that might coordinate. Since I don't make all the decisions before I make a kit, I often return with leftovers. For example, the "Pretty" kit had cardstock in dark pink, light pink, bright blue, white (I used for mats), and light blue (the background). The kit also had 4 different ribbons that might work, and 6 patterned papers, of which I used only 2.

• Take lots of photos.
• When viewing new photos, copy the ones you want to print into a "TO PRINT" folder.
• Print your photos to the size you will need.
  For example, on the layouts above, I printed the photos of Jon ("Carefree") as 2"x3" since I knew that's the size they would be on the layout. With the "Pretty" photos, the 2 medium sized photos are each 3"x4" printed on one 4"x6".
• Combine photos from event (3 minutes or less per kit).
• Find or create a sketch of what you plan to create (5-15 minutes). I create a go-to file for inspiration, sketches, or other ideas to incorporate. When I find a great layout, I often use it multiple times -- Pretty and Playhard are the same, but they are going in different albums, so it doesn't bother me; PLUS, they both went very quickly.
• Gather papers from your stash that would work with photos (10 minutes of searching, max).
• Gather cardstocks that might be used with papers & photos (5 minutes, no decisions).
• Gather embellishments that might work (5 minutes, no decisions). Find or make a sketch (5 or 10 minutes).
• Assemble your kit.
• Add title and journaling. I rarely add my journaling when I am at a crop or at home with Will in the room. I just can't focus. Since I seem to hoard alphabets (particularly Thickers) I can eliminate several pounds from my bag by not carrying my letters to a crop.

I am definitely a photo-centered scrapbooker. I choose my photos and then all the products I use complement the photos. However, I know many people scrap differently. In fact, often when I am creating a class or samples that a product-centered, I create my page then find the photos that will fit. Have fun!

Yay!! . . . at least a few for the week

They may seem simple, but these things are big to us:
1. Ben can go down the stairs.
2. When it is"time to go bye-bye", Ben runs to the door, before he is strapped into his seat, Maddie and Jon are seated in their seats waiting to be buckled.
3. Jon can go down the stairs.
4. Maddie gives me a kiss and tells me thank you (dank doo!).
5. When Jon burps or toots, he says excuse me (deek dee hahaha).
6. I got all my pumpkin patch and halloween photos from the last 2 years scrapped (to be posted later). Now I have about 7 layouts of birthdays to work on. . .
7. Allen filled the sandbox and Will spends hours in it almost every day.
8. Ten of our twelve baby trees have buds on them.
9. We are having grilled burgers for dinner tonight.
10. Jon and Maddie say "uh-oh" when they drop something. (today it is cute. . .)
11. All four kids know they can't eat dinner without asking God's blessing and saying "Amen!"
12. The affection our kids show each other is heart-melting. There are few things in the world as sweet as two babies reaching out to give each other kisses and following those with lots of giggles.