Hey, I Didn't Kill Them!

Ok, when your thumb is as black as mine is, you revel in any botanical accomplishments you can get! These lovely irises were overflow bulbs that my mother-in-law gave me. She basically gave them to me instead of throwing them away. Yeah, there you go, your getting the idea.... I usually kill everything I try to grow, so I laughed when she gave them to me. She gave me pretty simple instructions on how to plant and take care of these guys and Kaleigh (who does have a green thumb) helped me plant them. That may be why they are living. It took a good 6-8 months before we got any irises which I imagine is a little longer than normal, but hey they are coming out in force now! I have one planter that runs along the fence in the backyard and that is my so called "garden". I have planted all sorts of flowers and things and usually they don't last very long. I have discovered that I do ok with small roses and petunias and some allysum. So that is what is in my planter. There is also TONS of crabgrass that we can't get rid of! It grows all in between and throughout the rest of the plants and flowers and every once in a while we go out there and try to pull some of it out. It looks nice for about a month and then it all comes back. One day we will clear all of it out and then spray the entire planter with Round Up or something and then start fresh with new soil etc... But for now the pretty flowers and the ugly grass stays.

Good Old Playing in the Dirt!

Well, after the rain, and yes it has rained quite a bit down here, the kids were a little stir crazy and decided to play outside for a bit. Yay! They decided to play on the dirt hill in the backyard. We don't have the money yet to landscape so it remains our "dirt hill". They do have an awful lot of fun out there, and because it was still damp, there were no bugs to speak of under rocks and concrete and such. So you see Kaleigh balancing on a piece of pipe they unearthed. The area was full of orchards at one time and we have discovered that our backyard had large concrete watering pipes underground. It was rather interesting to see them when they tore up the backyard for the patio area. The next photo is Kaleigh and Cole striking a pose (gee are these MY kids?) and the last is Cole doing his Spiderman impression. Not really though, Cole is definitely NOT a superhero fan. In any case I took these because I was actually taking photos of my lovely Irises...next post!

Per Request
Ok so you can't see me. I really was tied up with rope just outside of the photo. Hehe, not.

Tummy sicky icky
Ok, here is another update on our wellness in this family. Ok, late January Cole had the sniffle, then around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Kaleigh came down with it and she had a fever for a couple of days, then I got it once she headed back to school, by Valentine's Day I was dragging and my head was so full and stuffy, I was blowing my nose every 3 minutes! Then I kind of thought we were done, but then Cole started coughing and that sometimes leads to his recurring bronchyalitis. Not good. Then on Thursday, my stomache started feeling yucky and hasn't been right since. It is Saturday and I am doing ok, but not really hungry. Everytime I eat something it wants out...quickly, but thankfully no throwing up has occurred...yet. I know, TMI but I stopped short of the worst so.... So for those of you who pray...please pray that my family will get back to where they need to be. Carl worked the last two weekends and hopefully bypassed any sicky germs that were floating around. I am hoping that it is just me with the weird icky tummy bug. Sigh....this has not been a good health year!

My Class this year....
So this is my class this year. They are all good kids, some are better than others but all around they are a good class. This day everyone was there and we don't always have that so I decided we needed a group photo. This month was really short on photos so we needed at least on good one. Most of the kids are middle 4's some are 5 and still others just turned 4 at the beginning of the school year. So they are very diverse in ages. Some will not return next year and some may end up going to Pre-K which is a bonus year to help prepare them for Kindergarten. I would say out of those that are returning to our school 4 will probably go to Pre-K and 4 will go on to Kindergarten. The twin boys that only come once a week will be going to a different school next year so there you go. See if you can find the twins and then see if you can tell which ones are the youngest. So that is it for now.

Pineapple Beets

Ok, for those of you who like pineapple and or beets, here is a yummy recipe.
Needed for said recipe:

1 16oz can regular beets (I used sliced) , drained
1 8oz can pineapple tidbits or chunks , not drained
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp corn starch (use more if needed to thicken)
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Ok, mix brown sugar, corn starch, and salt, pour into saucepan. Add 8 0z can pineapple with juice and bring to a boil. Then add drained beets, butter and lemon juice. Stir and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. The beets and pineapple should now be in a nice thick glaze, if it hasn't thickened add another 1/2 tbsp cornstarch. The original recipe called for 1 Tbsp of cornstarch but I knocked that down a bit because I felt it made the glaze a little starchy. But then what do I know. Anyway, there you have it! Enjoy!
Sorry, I don't have a photo, next time I will take one. : )

Sick...cont.
Ok, so now it is my turn. I made it through Valentine's Day, but I wasn't 100% that is for sure! I went to work, went to the kids Valentine's Parties, and then I brought the kids home and I tried to crash, but Cole had a project that needed doing and Kaleigh needed help with her homework so resting would have to wait. Then I made the kids their dinner (something simple, thank goodness), and then started Carl and my Valentine's dinner. Every year we go out on our anniversary and every Valentine's Day I make our usual. Salmon patties, pineapple beets and some sort of starch. Noodles, rice and last night was a baked potato. Nothing really fancy. I am surprised I made it through making dinner at all! But I did, so even though there was no fancy dessert(I wasn't going to attempt that) I did get some nice chocolates from the kids in my class, so Carl got to share those with me. All in all, not the most romantic Valentine' s Day, but I made it through and that is all I can ask. Today, it would not have been possible for me to work, I truly feel miserable. Head feels like it is ready to explode, tired (even though after the kids took off in the carpool I slept till 10:30), and somewhat achey too. At least so far it is still in my head and there is a bit of a cough too.
Ah....the joys of February!

Sick!
Well, we made it through the holidays and even the new year (barely) without any sickies in our house. Well, that has all changed. Kaleigh was the first, she came down with a slight cold on Martin Luther King Day, no big deal, it was the weekend and it was relatively short lived. Then Cole got sick at the beginning of February, also a sniffle with a bit of a cough, missed one day of school. Did ok. Then Kaleigh again, last Wednesday, came down with another case of the sniffles. No fever, but she looked a little tired. So we made it through the end of the week, figuring she would most likely get over it by the end of the weekend especially since Monday was a holiday. Well, Sunday she came down with a fever and was quiet all day, then Monday she was better until about 5pm when the fever came back. She felt ok though. Even so, we stayed home yesterday and she had no fever at all the entire day so this morning she went back to school. So this morning, I was feeling a bit yucky, so once I took the kids to school and watched Cole in chapel do his Valentine poem, I came home took some airborne and went back to bed. I also took Tylenol, thinking I might have a fever. Now your probably asking, "why not take your temp to know for sure?" Well, that is easier said than done in our house. Yesterday Kaleigh broke our old thermometer (the one that works the best) and we now have a new mercury free one, and ear one and a digital one. When I took my temp this morning, one said 97.1, one said 99.7 and the last one said 100. So who knows what my temp was! So I ordered from ebay another of the old fashioned thermometers. I seriously doubt that it will break so I am not too worried about the mercury and stuff. Kaleigh broke our old one but not while it was in her mouth, it just slipped out of her mouth onto the floor, no mercury got on her and she didn't cut her feet on the glass, so all is fine. I am hoping that I am not going to be sick for Valentine's Day, but if I am I will do my best to medicine up and make it through the day! Pray that if I get sick that it waits till Friday!!

Wow, has it been 15 years already?
Well, Carl and I celebrated 15 years of marraige yesterday. It was a work day for both of us and we decided to have the kids go to Grandma and Grandpa's and go and have a really nice dinner. For the last couple of years we have been going to Ruth's Chris for our anniversary and we decided to do the same this year. The food is phenomenal and even though it is pretty expensive (about $150.00) with salad, meat, 3 sides and dessert and drinks, it is soooo worth it! The steak (filet) melts in your mouth with a buttery garlic seasoning, and the sides are great too! We chose the Sweet potato casserole, asparagus with hollandaise, and shoestring fries. Caeser salad came first and after the main course I had creme brulee and Carl has berries with cream. They also make a mean white peach bellini and Carl enjoyed some Guiness. We always try to get there early, about 5:30 and that way we are home as the kids are going to bed.
We only do this type of dinner once a year and it is so worth the time and money!
For those who only eat vegetarian they do have a roasted Portabello mushroom and of course the sides have a lot of choices too! Yuuuuuummmmmmmyyyyy!

Wow! $60.00 on Ebay!

Sorry for the tiny photo but it was all I could do to get a photo at all!

So, my sister might be the only one who recognizes this book, but it was one of my favorites as a kid and I just rediscovered it during my monthly review of the teacher's scholastic book orders!

Old book, new illustrations. Not as good as the original and apparently ebayers think the same way! I went online just out of curiosity to see if there were any other die hard Squeegiers! And low and behold there it is! Listed at $50. to $60.00 a pop! Wow! So guess what Carl says? "You still have it?" Hehe. I said, "Of course, but again, it was my favorite book, I will not sell it on ebay!" In any case it is a cute book and I have never gotten rid of mine and I don't intend to!

Don't know if I can read it to my class because in one part the Squeegy bug meets a Bee with a "gun" in his tail! We aren't really supposed to talk about guns at school, but I might be able to get away with saying "bang" instead. So the Squeegy Bug wants a Bang in his tail....hmmmm maybe not. Hehe. Oh well, I may have to come up with something else if I read it to my class! Its main lesson though is to be yourself and be helpful not harmful! I loved it then and I love it still!!