Hanging the laundry is zen

The kids are either napping or playing quietly in their rooms. This is my one hour a day I have to myself. Though normally at this time, I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to accomplish as many different tasks as possible before my hour is up. Even now, I have a list of things zooming through my head that need to be done (prep dinner, clean the floors, email screech's caseworker, find screech a dentist that takes his insurance, and on, and on, and on).
This morning I made another batch of the most fantastic blueberry muffins ever. I am pretty much convinced that this muffin recipe would make the most fantastic any type fruit muffins. I used this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/to-die-for-blueberry-muffins/detail.aspx and only made a few changes. I used frozen blueberries because I had already processed all our fresh ones, I put a splash of vanilla, and used brown sugar for the topping instead of white. AMAZING. My family has been very happy chomping on these the last two days.

Today felt like a good arts and crafts sort of day so I rummaged through our school closet and found some great things to get crafty with. I love putting out random things and letting the kids go crazy. It's fascinating watching where their minds will take them. Monster and Bean wanted to make robots so we used toilet paper rolls and some straws to make them.
I used some toilet paper rolls, dixie cups, cardboard, and glue to start the awesomeness that will eventually turn into a castle with working drawbridge. It is going to be epic.
Before this crafting went down screech's caseworker from the agency he is with came over to check in with him and me. She is happy with how he is doing and thinks that after being here a month (can you believe it has already been a month?!)his behavior will probably stay about the same. She thinks the behavior stuff we have witnessed is about as bad as it is going to get. WooHoo! Hopefully she is right. I need to contact the school he will be attending to get him enrolled. I can't believe it is already time to start thinking about school. The summer is flying.
Alright faithful readers, I have ignored my duties long enough. Hopefully I will see you tomorrow!

I wear a skirt and flip flops to mow the yard

At the moment all is quiet. Monster is outside terrorizing slugs and the sandbox, Bean is playing with his matchbox cars, sorting out race cars, and screech is using some of his game time. Ahhhh, peace. No arguing, screams of joy (though normally it's screams of, "no, Monster! Stop!"), or billions of questions. This peace won't last long....
Things are still going wonderfully in our world. Screech is still doing well here. No behaviors we can't handle and in all honesty, they are all age appropriate behaviors (getting upset at times when he doesn't like a direction, etc). I keep reminding myself the honeymoon isn't over yet but as the days past I am finding myself wondering if, by the grace of God, we got the most well behaved kid in need of therapeutic foster care. The few instances of inappropriate touch were quickly handled with safety concern (playing with books or puzzles by himself for an hour) and he is very motivated to stay off safety concern. He loves having tv/game time so he tries very hard to earn his poker chips. Kid also LOVES earning chore money. It's awesome! My chore load is decreased. It's a beautiful thing when someone else actually wants to clean all the toilets in the house :)

5 hours later...
It's like Monster has a special sensor that goes off whenever I am taking a few minutes for myself and he has to come wreck havoc on whatever I am doing *shakes head*. He is a different breed.
Anyway, I had to transplant a zucchini plant a couple days ago. One vegetable bed is packed to the extreme. It looks like a jungle.
Husband convinced my that it was for the greater good to remove one as they weren't doing as well as they could. So with a heavy heart, I dug one up. There was a sickening SNAP as I gently tried to remove it from it's home. All day yesterday I was convinced that it was a goner. It was droopy and sad but lots of water, some reassuring words, and a good night sleep seemed to do the trick. It is looking much happier and healthier today. Praise the lord! Hopefully it will stay that way :)
Notice how well the strawberries are doing. I'm excited about those. Also notice the random pumpkin that started sprouting too.
So I have learned a great deal about gardening this summer. The number one thing being don't grow all your squashy viney plants in the same bed. They take up way to much space to live happily together. And really, a family of five does not require 4-5 pumpkin plants. It's kinda overkill.
On a completely different note, I have created an outstanding bread recipe in the last week or so. We eat it up supe quick. I feel like I am making a new loaf every other day. It is so light, fluffy, and tasty.
Here is the recipe:
One cup milk
Two tablespoons butter
Two tablespoons sugar
One and a half teaspoons salt
Two cups all purpose flour
One cup whole wheat flour
Two and one fourth teaspoon yeast
Put in bread machine according to manufacturers directions. Let machine to the mixing. My bread machine takes about 30 minutes to mix and knead everything. Grease bread pan, put dough onto bread pan after the machine is done doing the dirty work. Let rise in a warm spot for an hour or so. Preheat oven to 350. After bread is done rising, brush melted butter on the top and bake for about 30 minutes.
Sweet bread perfection... Enjoy!

First sip of coffee

There is nothing quiet like that first sip of coffee in the morning. For some reason it just taste better than the rest of the sips I take throughout the day. The creamy/bitter warmth just does something for me. The sleep just seems to melt away from my eyes with that first jolt of caffeine. So it is with a heavy heart that I have decided to stop drinking caffeine (after my giant Costco bag of espresso roast is gone, that is). I had told myself I wasn't going to go back to my caffeine drinking ways after Monster was born and I did awesome the first year and then very slowley it started creeping back into my life. Now I feel all out of whack if I don't drink it in the morning and by 2pm I need a nap. No es bueno...
Pumpkin update! I know that you all were sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear about the pumpkins. I think I fixed the problem. So in my infinite wisdom, I put weed blocker under the pumpkin vines in hopes that the slugs would be out off by it and not climb all over the vines, causing mass destruction in their wake. This made it impossible for the pumpkin vine to lay down roots, causing the plant not to get enough off all the good stuff from the soil. Go Farmer Me! After removing the weed block a few days ago, the pumpkin plants are looking beautiful and no more baby pumpkins have been lost. Fingers crossed that we don't lose anymore (though I believe I just spotted a pumpkin plant sprouting over by the strawberries. So that makes our pumpkin plant total at 4. We have a freaking pumpkin patch our backyard).
All three kids are doing well. Screech is letting us see some of his issues, which is great! That means he is comfortable here and trusts that we are safe. I have been looking forward to when we could start making progress with his issues :)
I have Bean and Screech on an incentive plan that seem to enjoy. For every hour that they do well (respectful, follow directions, appropriate boundaries, etc) They earn a poker chip worth one extra minute of tv/game time. They can also earn extra chips by being extra awesome. Bean has something crazy like 34 chips!
All three boys just came tumbling down the stairs, interrupting my quiet with demands for milk and power rangers "acting" on the tv. My morning quiet time is never long enough. It seems these creatures can sense when I wake up and then get up shortly afterword, ruining my morning plans. Sneaky creatures...

It's raining, it's pouring

What the hell? Rain in July? And not a summer sprinkle rain, mind you. Full on autumn rain. The last two days, I have woken up excited, like it is Christmas morning, to go check the progress of my garden and to water it. Well, when it's raining, there is no need to go out and water. Yes, I could just go out and check their progress but it is not the same. It's passive. I enjoy getting my hands dirty first thing. (Also, it's the one time during the day I have an excuse to admire my garden without being creepy. Seriously, I check in it like 5 times a day. I have issues.)
So something funky is going down with my pumpkins. The little green pumpkin is starting to rot before the giant beautiful flower falls off :/ I spent all afternoon yesterday obsessing and researching this. It could be lack of pollination ( possible but I see bees over by them all the time but it's possible they are more interested in the clover taking over the grass), the weather, over crowding ( I did pack them close), and natural selection (my pumpkins could be killing off the weaker ones to make room for an epically awesome pumpkin). I need to investigate the problem further to pinpoint the exact problem. Yep, I just gave myself permission to stalk my garden even more. Oh snap!
Life on the home front is still going strong. About three weeks ago we became a family of five. We added an 8 year old boy to our crew. Let's call him screech. Screech was living in a home in Washington that was going to adopt him but then changed their minds when they realized kids in the system have issues. Way to f-up this kid even more, Washington family. I'm a little bitter about this situation. Too often people easily give up on kids, making their issues worse. Grrr...
Anyway, homemade waffles and fresh strawberry syrup are calling my name. I promise to come back soon. If you are lucky, I might stop by tomorrow morning. I'll bring the coffee.

More cowbell

It's 8:45 in the morning and I'm drinking my third (I think it's my third) cup of coffee. Monster is getting creative with crayons. Well he was, now he is sitting on the table naked from the waist down and drinking some old water from a cup. Bean is watching Voltron for his TV time though I really pushed for He-Man. Life is good.
I rearranged the house, yet again. I think I rearrange it every six months at least. All the toys are upstairs now. Hallelujah! So far it has worked out alright. We go upstairs to get what we want to play with and return it when we are done. I just love not having toys in every room of the house.
Ok, so I have a confession. Not an earth shattering confession. Not a juicy gossipy confession either. Since I was about 17-18 years old, I really just wanted to be a stay-at-home/wife. I didn't really want to go to school, become something important, "make something of my life". I just wanted to take care of a family. This goes against what I was taught growing up. I was taught that you go to college, have a career, get married, make babies, return to work. I guess I was always interested in doing things different as I got knocked up before I even finished the college thing...
People being naturally curious always ask what I do for a living and after I tell them I'm "just a mama" 9 out of 10 times there is an awkward pause while they are thinking of something to say. Why does it seem so outrageous that I want to be home with my kid? You should see their faces when I tell them we are going to homeschool and move to the country :0 Maybe I should just start telling people I am the vice president of a very important not-for-profit organization. That is basically the truth right?

Enjoying a quiet moment

Bean left Thursday for his first ever east coast vacation. He hasn't wanted to talk to me yet so apparently he is having fun. Monster spend last night at Nana's house so husband and I enjoyed a night out on the town. Probably the last we will have for a while as we will (hopefully) get a placement soon. It's amazing how little time one spends with their significant other. Work, kids, life, always make it hard to connect with husband and it is always nice when all that can go away for just a few hours and all my attention can focus on him.

It is hard to believe that we have been together almost 10.5 years. The craziest part is I still am head over heels in love with the guy. I actually think I love him more now than I did a few years ago. Well, maybe not more but it has changed. Our love is not new and exciting anymore. It is like that old quilt you have that your great great great grandmother hand made. Its worn in places but still beautiful and so damn comfortable. You know every piece of fabric, every design on it. It's the blanket you sleep with every night, the blanket you go to when you need a little extra comfort. Ok, so this is not the most glamorous comparison but...it fits.

Our love has evolved and changed as we have evolved as changed as individuals and a family. That is the key to a successful partnership (I think at least). The ability to adapt/evolve/change/grow with your partner. It hasn't been easy. Every relationship goes through growing pains. There were plenty of times that I wasn't sure we would pull through but we did. That is pretty amazing when you think about. Husband was 17 and I was 15 when we started dating. You changed a hell of a lot when you are that age. Yet, somehow, we managed to make it through the teenage years, the college years, and now these years together. And you know what? Every year gets better....

Summer is approaching

Holy crap! There has been sun the last few days and I think my body is about ready to explode from vitamin D. The boys and I have been spending almost every available second enjoying the outdoors. These weather is making my crave a whole lotta land out in the country. I CANNOT wait until we can move out of suburbia and enjoy our own slice of acreage heaven. (Just another year, just another year, just another year, Dear God, just another year PLEASE!). All in all though, it will be a little bittersweet moving out of this neighborhood. We have make some great friends and I love that there are kids for my kids to play with. But darn it, I want goats, and chickens, and a huge garden and I want my boys to have room to roam and get messy. OH! I want a mini-pony and a piggie too :)

Before the boys come charging down the stairs ( I can hear them waking up now), I should give a quick update. Monster has weaned himself :( and! he no longer sleeps in the crib. I have taken it down and am preparing myself to post it on craigslist. They grow up so darn fast. Luckily, I have surrounded myself with fertile lady friends and I have an abundance of babies to pick from when I need a little baby time (this sounds slightly creepy. Sorry!).

Bean is still a giant. He is like those really big dogs that thinks they are lap dog size. He jumps around on you, thinking he weights A LOT less than he does. I have the bruises to prove it. His love of dinosaurs is starting to wean. He is into power rangers, super heros, etc. Normal boy stuff. He has this invisible friend named, Loker. He never plays with Loker (at least they never play when I am around) but has these great stories about what he and Loker do together. Its truly fascinating. Loker is the same color as Bean but his momma and daddy are brown. Loker is sometimes 5, sometimes 13.

This weekend, we had our first foster kid after a 4 year break. and a teenager at that. 13 year old boy. We survived! They eat a lot. A LOT. 13 is a strange age. 13 year olds are still kids but wanting, yearning to be treated like older teenagers. Not sure I am ready for all that drama. He did a great job and I think he really liked sword fighting with the boys, especially Brandon. Kids really like husband. Its one of my favorite qualities about husband.

This week, Bean leaves for a week long vacation on the east coast with Aunt Susie. He is very excited and has been counting down the days for a while now. I remember when I was younger and got to vacation at Aunt Susie's house. I can't believe that it is already Bean's turn to do this. She always planned the best activities. My whole family is truly blessed to have an Aunt Susie in our lives. Really, every family would benefit from having an Aunt Susie.