Outdoor "Homework"

 In this beautiful fall weather, we've been spending our afternoons outside. Bean Dip has been using this time to practice his writing. He is working on his letters and numbers, and it's all his idea. I love this joy of learning, and I'm trying to take advantage of it without pushing him into disliking it. We have already had a few battles over doing the occasional homework his teacher has sent home. But for now, he's happy writing rows and rows across our driveway.

And it's much more fun when your mom teaches you to write signs like this:

And Baby G has been adding her share of street art as well. She gets a kick out of having her outline drawn:

I draw a huge circle around her wild hair, so she always looks like an astronaut. Meanwhile, Bean Dip's outline looks like a bear (far right) -- the result of his crazy hair.

The best (and worst) part of chalk art? Letting the rain do the clean up. Drops started falling soon after Bean Dip completed his second message to zombies: "Delicious Brains Inside." Sadly, I didn't get a picture of that one.

I only hope the zombies got a chance to read the first message before the rain washed it away.

Football Sundays

Win pretty much lives for football, so now that the season's started, Sundays are all about the game. We stay home, get ready for the upcoming week, and Win watches football. I watch some, and so do the kids, but usually we watch a movie downstairs (this week it was Thor).

Foodwise, I've decided that during football, on Sundays I'm going to make "football food," or Sunday dinner type stuff. The last two weeks I've made chili,but this week I made pulled pork, but not the way you'd think. I took my mom's recipe and The Pioneer Woman's for Spicy Pulled Pork and started cooking. It turned out delicious and was super easy.

My Spicy Pulled Pork:

1 boneless pork roast
1 can green chili enchilada sauce
1 can Rotel Original
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
cumin
salt and pepper
1 lime

All I did was put the roast in my Dutch oven, and put everything over it and stick in the oven at 300 degrees for five hours, covered. I turned it every hour, and when it was fork tender, I took the lid up and turned the heat up to 425 for 20 minutes. The top got all crispy. Then I pulled it apart, and served it with tortillas and all your usual toppings.

I think the only changes I would make is add another can of enchilada sauce (more liquid) and roast it for another hour. But the whole family was a fan.

I also made Buffalo Chicken Dip. It turned out yummy as well. I looked at a couple different recipes and ended up making it like this:

Buffalo Chicken Dip:

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 12.5 oz. can shredded chicken

Mix it all together and bake until warm. I think I should have used my mixer because I had chunks of cream cheese in mine instead of being all uniform. I should have done that before I added the chicken, but I didn't feel like making more dishes. Also, it is delicious, but it's one of those recipes I think I liked better before I knew what was in it.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

It's already that time of year. Well, maybe a little early, but at Bean Dip's school, they've already been in school nine weeks. So yesterday, we had our conference.

Win was flying so I had to take both the kids with me. It was only 15 minutes long, and Bean Dip showed Baby G his classroom. I really like his teacher, and she had only good news for me. Basically, this first conference was to discuss where he was when he started school. She said he was very well prepared, and right on track. She showed me his writing, and what numbers, letters and shapes he knows. And she said she is going to start teaching him to read soon.

Once again, I'm so happy he got a spot in this program, even though I'm not happy about the recess thing. I have no idea how he got in (I've had several moms express their jealousy that he did). I think we just got lucky.

An International Game of Uno

This past weekend, we ended up having a couple parties. I knew about the one planned for Sunday, but not the one on Saturday. Because of many, many miscommunications, I thought Win's parents were coming for a very short visit on Sunday. I didn't realize I'd read a text wrong until Katherine sent me another message on Saturday, saying they were on the road. Thank goodness for the four-hour buffer!

So it turns out I can deep clean my house in that amount of time. It turned out they were coming to us for dinner as well, so we went the simple route and got Chinese. Then Rich and Jessica, and Jessica's parents came over to see us and Ed and Katherine. It was fun, we all sat around and caught up, and the kids provided the evening's entertainment.

Rich, Ed and Gilberto, and our Chinese food

Rosangela, Katherine and the entertainment

Trying on Jessica's shoes

Bedtime stories

Because of the impromptu party on Saturday, our Sunday plans were up in the air until Sunday morning, but everyone ended up coming over for lunch. I made chili and artichoke dip, and Jessica brought salad and bread. We had a wonderful time -- more talking, eating, enjoying each other's company. Then Bean Dip brought out his most favorite game -- Uno -- and we taught Jessica and her parents to play.

It was so much fun. There was no need for translation, and Bean Dip got such a kick out of "screwing" everyone over by making them take more cards. Even Baby G "played" with her own deck of cards. She'd pick a card and show it to Jessica, saying," Look, yellow three!"

A very serious game

I'd forgotten how much fun simple games like that can be fun to play with a group of people. My mom reminded me of the time we had women refugees from Liberia visit, and we played Jenga. A great ice-breaker and also no need for language translation.

The Skull

Win's deer head finally arrived. It wasn't finished when we moved, so the guy mailed it to us. We both think it turned out nicely. It's the Euro style. I won't explain how they do it.

And it's hanging in our living room, near the turkey fan. I never thought I'd have hunting trophies hanging in my living room, but  things happen (like dead animals). I don't think I'd allow a full deer head, but a skull is OK.

It's arty!

Moms' Night Out

On Friday, I got a night out to myself. I went with the Meetup group to a painting class at Swirlz Art Studio in Clarksville. There were five or six of us. The studio was almost completely full, and mostly women.

The painting for the night was titled, "Tennessee Morning." It was a landscape, with a plowed field, mountains, and a barn in the foreground. The barn was already pre-sketched on the canvas for us, but we had to sketch in the mountains and field ourselves.

It was really a lot of fun. For $35 ($30 with military ID), everything is included. The teacher walks you through the entire painting, even telling you how much paint you need to mix a color ("one big scoop of white, one small dab of blue"). She paints the painting with you, and there is another teacher who walks around assisting people. It is very casual, and you are welcome to bring drinks and little snacks if you like. There was music playing, and everyone chattered while they painted (although it got very quiet when we started on the barn).

It was really a lot of fun. Some of my painting experience came back to me, but mostly I just did what the teacher told us to do. I am really happy with my painting, and I just have to figure out where to hang it. And I can't wait to go back.

The artist and her painting

So Happy to Have my Camera Back

It's Been Two Weeks

We've all been sick more or less the last two weeks, and still counting. But now it's just Win and I with colds. Bean Dip and G seem to be on the mend. But it's been a long two weeks. Even Beemy decided to get sick, so on Tuesday we spent the day in Nashville. The highlight of that was eating lunch at Bread Co., and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Wednesday, I took Baby G to the doctor, because she was still having a fever and a terrible cough. It is a virus, like we figured. And Thursday, she and I finally had a day at home while Bean Dip was at school. I think it was just what we needed. After we picked up Bead Dip, we played outside all afternoon. Bean Dip practiced his writing, G her dancing.

Oh yeah, we made it to BD's game on Saturday. It was kind of a bust -- he had no energy. He got hit by another kid and refused to play the second half of the game. He is looking forward to this week's game.

Still Battling

Win was the next one to come down with this stomach virus. He's on quarters. Bean Dip went to school yesterday, he was bouncing off the walls yesterday morning.

Baby G threw up last night just as I was dozing off. She was pretty upset about it, but it didn't last long. She slept through the rest of the night, in bed with me.

While hanging out with sick Baby G, I've watched Tangled and The Princess and the Frog. I love Tangled. I might watch it again today. But I didn't like The Princess and the Frog as much. The best part was the music. And the firefly. I've always thought the style of those classic Disney fairy tale movies is kind of creepy. I've never liked the psychedelic musical scenes in any of them, and I think some of the images could be really scary for little kids. The only one I really like is Aladdin.

Anyway, more laundry today.

Labor Day '11

Today, I have not kept count of how many loads of laundry I've done. However, so far I've washed two sets of sheets, two comforters, and a load of towels. I still have several loads of pillows to do, and a woobie to wash. And then on to the regular laundry.

No, I'm not fall cleaning. This is what happens results when two kids get a virus. Last night (and Friday night) were not fun, but thankfully, they are both bouncing around (mostly) like normal.

So. It's a quiet Labor Day for us.

Baby G just wandered in from taking a nap, Bunny in her mouth and dragging a light saber in each hand.

What Makes Me Happy: Yogurt

Today I went to the gym and took a yoga class with my sister-in-law. We went early and ran for about 10 minutes, then went to the class. I have not been on a treadmill since before Bean Dip was born. The last yoga class I took was way before that, and it was after work with all the teachers in the gym at the Vicenza Elementary School. The only other yoga class I'd taken was a series of classes the summer I stayed up at Truman. I loved it.

I'm glad I've been practicing with Jillian Michaels (I've been doing her Yoga Meltdown DVD). This class actually reminded me of the DVD, it was a lot of the same poses, and lots of movement through the poses. It was hard, but a good hard. I was sweating all over the place.

I don't know when I'll get to do another one, but I will. It worked out today that Win was home to watch Baby G. The gym has a daycare, but I'm just not ready to do that.

So this is something that makes me happy.

Win calls my yoga, "yogurt."

Camera Update

So I ended up sending my camera into Canon to be worked on. I'm just not ready to buy a new camera. I received the email today, confirming delivery, so now I just have to cross my fingers and wait.