rain on tulips

(just not generally for the camera! LOL)

Found this meatloaf recipe on Tambo’s site; thought I might try it tonight. It sounds like a nice variation tho (nothing like mine, but yummy-sounding none-the-less!)

That Killer Meatloaf

A couple of people have asked me for the recipe. It’s incredibly easy.

2 lb Ground Beef
1 6oz package stuffing mix, any flavor
1 cup water
2 eggs, beaten
Apx. 1/4 to 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (any flavor) - I use about 1/3 a bottle of Kraft Original Flavor

Mix all ingredients. Place in a baking pan (I use a 9×13 pan or a cookie sheet) and form into a oval “loaf” shape. Bake at 375˚ for about an hour, until center is no longer pink.

You can substitute pizza sauce, ketchup, whatever for the BBQ sauce, but I think BBQ sauce works best.

Maybe I’ll post later tonight and update on how the kids (and I) liked it!

Edited for update:

We had this for dinner tonight, and it was really simple to make, and was pretty good. (I did put a glaze over top of the whole thing, though, because, well, that’s how you do meatloaf! And, we did ‘loaf’ shape, also, as that serves better with the kids.) General consensus, though, is that everyone still likes my homemade meatloaf better. Ah well! It was fun doing something different!

The family reunion for my Grandparents and their kids and grandkids and great-grandkids has been scheduled, and I want to go! We have not made it to one of those reunions since I only had two little boys! (Translation: a long time ago!) Circumstances and distance and money have always come between us and attending.

And, this year isn’t looking good, either.

I really want to go. But its a good 15+ hour drive from us.

I really want to go. But Fuul’s deadline at work is July 1^st, and he can’t take any more discretionary time between now and then.

I really want to go. But I would have to drive with 7 kids all on my own.

I really want to go. But I would have to be without Fuul for close to a week. On the road. With kids.

I really want to go. But gas prices may kill us!

I really want to go. But they are camping for the reunion, and I’m not terribly big on camping.

I really want to go. But it starts on the kids’ last day of school. Do I pull them out early, or arrive late to the reunion??

I really want to go. But being lakeside with seven kids is a little stressful, even in just thinking about it!

I really want to go. But if I go that far, how could I not go and see Fuul’s family before they move across the country (meaning I’d have to drive all the way home later without the benefit of my parent’s ‘caravan’ offer)?

But I really want to go!!!

Somebody figure this one out for me, and tell me what I should do! I keep going back and forth on the whole thing, and I just can’t find a good compromise or choice! I really want to go! But…

Yesterday our city had an Arbor Day activity at the park near our home, planting trees and bushes in an area being relcaimed from the wild blackberry bushes. The Primary at church decided that that would be a worthwhile activity for the kids to participate in, so we all went down in our grubby shorts and old tshirts, and helped plant nearly 500 trees and bushes!

I guess the city was a little concerned that a lot of kids showing up to help would just be, well, a lot of kids showing up to help; but it wound up being a pretty productive little party. We were there nearly 2 hours, and I’d guess that probably 2/3 of the plants they had available got planted. DS and GC worked together for the first while, digging and planting. GC was rather taken with the earthworms, and walked around with a little puddle of them in one hand for a while.

DA and AE teamed up from the get-go, planting one tree after another, choosing the next location, taking turns digging and refilling the holes. JS found a friend, and the two of them kept pushing back into the ‘wilds’ to plant their trees, which they named “Billy”, “Bob”, and “Billy Bob Joe” (I think!); they were quite entertained with themselves.

GC quit helping DS about the second time he wandered off to the volunteer table (home of the free, unending supply of snack foods!), and helped several adults who were in need of an ‘assistant’! She also found a useful job that kept her busy for a while: gathering and stacking emptied buckets. Her favourite part was finding how high she could stack them and still manage to carry them any distance!

We had some nice discussions about why we would plant more trees in this area where there were obviously already a lot of trees growing, and discussions about why Arbor Day may have been started in the first place. So, in addition to doing a good service project and fulfilling some civic duty, they learned some stuff, too!

And where were CC and EK while this whole muddy project was going on? Safely asleep, ensconced in the sling and stroller, respectively!

I have to say, too, that I was really impressed with the way my kids jumped right in and did their fair share of the work. Granted, it was an opportunity to ‘play in the mud’ with Mom’s permission, but still. They got a lot accomplished, and I think they did their part to let the people with the City know that its not always a bad thing to let the kids come out and help with these projects!

We struggled — & laughed! — a bunch when we tried and failed to get a clear, unencumbered picture of CC’s face during ultrasounds. Maybe we laughed too soon?

Its been a busy busy week… I have tons of pictures, but getting them all up online just isn’t happening very quickly, and somehow in the process of trying to do all of that, I just haven’t posted anything!

Highlights from the past week:

GC has a horrible cavity in another tooth; its the same one that she got the awful cavity in two years ago that had to be pulled. We got her in to an urgent care dentist, who looked at the tooth, announced that it is actually cracked, and put her on antibiotics to deal with the infection/pain. Looks like she will need it pulled in the near future. Woohoo. Right now we are waiting for the infection/abcess to run its course so they can pull it without causing more infections.

Took the kids to the park last week on early release day, and spent a lovely two hours in the sun — even got a little sunburn on my arms and face! Took lots and lots of pictures — a whole serial run of DA building a sand castle — but I don’t have them online yet. Maybe I will get there.

We found a yummy Mexican restaurant right down the street from Fuul’s office, and went to dinner saturday. When the check came at the end, it was REALLY low, and Fuul thought they had made a mistake. Then we read closer that kids’ menu items were only $1.95 each on Saturdays! Guess where we will be eating more often!?

I went to my 6 week postpartum checkup today (two weeks late — oops!) and everything is back to normal! Woohoo! Even lost another couple of pounds, so I weigh a little less than I did before I got pregnant! (Always good news!)

I’ve been feeling back to more normal this past week, as well, and am all but caught up on the laundry, got the kitchen cleaned, and actually have more energy again! Amazing how that baby recovery happens like that!

EK’s teacher asked today how many words she knows and uses, and I knew it was a lot, but I wasn’t sure how many. So I made up a list, so I can keep a running tab (I hope).

all done
apple
baby
ball
banana/mashed banana
bird
boat
book
bottle/drink
bye-bye
car
cat/kitty
cheese
close
“cock-a-doodle-doo”
“cold spaghetti”
cookie
cracker
cry/crying/sad
dad
dance
diaper
dog
doll
don’t want
down
ear
eat/food
EK (sign for her name)
explode/boom
eye
fish
flower
grandma
grandpa
hair
hat
hello/hi
“hot potato”
hug
light/lights
mom
more
mouth
music
no
nose
off
on
open
play
please
“quack”/duck
rain
shoe
sock
star
thank you
tired/sleep
up
walk
want
wet
yes
“yummy”

I think that’s all. 65 words. If she were speaking, she would be expected to have between 10 and 20 usable words. I think that’s pretty impressive! (Always pretty much a given that I’ll miss some, of course!)

Her teacher also said that next week she will help me come up with ‘name signs’ for everyone in the family, so EK can start referring to everyone by name! I can’t wait!

French Toast Casserole

Original recipe yield: 1 - 8×8 inch pan.
Prep Time:30 Minutes
Cook Time:50 Minutes
Ready In:1 Hour 20 Minutes
Servings:6

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INGREDIENTS:
5 cups bread cubes
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon margarine, softened
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

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DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly butter an 8×8 inch baking pan.
Line bottom of pan with bread cubes. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and vanilla. pour egg mixture over bread. Dot with margarine; let stand for 10 minutes.
Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.
Bake in preheated oven about 45 to 50 minutes, until top is golden.

(NOTES after trying: add more sugar, nutmeg, extra cinnamon. Less milk — center was still ‘mushy’. Whole thing tasted great, though, aside from a little consistency problem. OH: cooktime on doubled recipe in 9×13″ pan was at least 1 hour 20 minutes or so; wonder if raising the oven temp and decreasing cook time would help — like with French Pancakes, which cook 22ish minutes at 425 degrees?)

(’NOTHER NOTE: I’ve had this before with ham or sausage cooked in; I didn’t find a recipe for it, though, so I’m not sure how you do that one. May have to keep looking! We did serve this last night with sausage links on the side, though; yum!)

Found the classic Muppet’s Mahna Mahna video online… EK & I have watched it several times already!

Enjoy!!

via Jaquandor

It was quite the fun Easter around here this year… the Easter Bunny forgot to leave eggs for hunting, but he did leave some egg dye so we can decorate our own!

The great gift (besides a Clue! game) were journals/diaries for everyone in the family! Now we just need to figure out how to implement at least weekly journal writing around here!

The kids have run around on a sugar-induced high all afternoon, even though it didn’t look like their baskets held that much candy… live and learn, huh? heh!

I asked a lady at church to take a couple of pictures of our whole family before we left church, so Fuul and I could be in one, as well! Hope you enjoyed your Easter as much as we did around here!

…and utterly throw off the rest of your day.

Its simple, really.

First, drive to the next county to go to WalMart — heaven forbid your county allows one to be built anywhere within its borders! — in the rain — just in time for the holiday weekend! — during rush hour traffic — because you weren’t watching the clock very well, or realizing that this was the last work day before a holiday weekend.

Just as you get out of your truck to go into the store, realize that you have left your diaper bag — wallet included! — sitting on the living room floor at home.

(Then, out of frustration, grab your wallet, run to Target — because its close — and subsequently forget all the essentials you were going to the store for in the first place except for the peanut butter. Blah!)

I’ve been thinking lately that CC’s nickname (so far) is a little plain, after 6 others before him! I know that nicknames tend to evolve, and new ones get attached, but so far he is just “Little Boy”.

What did my other tulips answer to??

DA was Bender or Bender Boy.

JS was Bub or Bubbers.

AE was Pookie or Pookie Lou .

DS was Sunshine or Sunshine Boy .

GC was ‘Tato Bug or ‘Tato. (When she was about 3, she started objecting strongly to both… complaining that she absolutely was NOT a bug, NOR a potato!)

EK was/is Pixie or, more often, Pixel. (She *was* the tiny one of my kids, and with her little pointy chin, she just looked like a pixie!)

And now, CC is just Little Boy. As he grows and gets a litte more personality, I’m certain more names will attach themselves to him — because kids acquire nicknames; they are never assigned! — but for the time being, he is 100% my Little Boy!

I have spent a good amount of time yesterday and today trying to fix our taxes, and Fuul spent a good two hours this morning, and for some reason we still owe taxes in the state of our previous residence. Granted, we lived there half the year, and sold a home there, but…

Our current state of residence does not have an income tax. As a result, since we can’t claim tax payment in our current state, our previous state of residence seems to be charging us taxes on all income earned last year, rather than just the income earned while we lived there. It is a nightmare, and nowhere on our tax software is there any way to fix it. And if we want to talk to someone, its going to cost us another $30.

Had we thought about it, we should have gone to someone this year to file the taxes, rather than trying to do it ourselves. (What with an interstate move and a home sale, I should have known it wasn’t going to just work).

*sigh*

Maybe I’ll get back to ‘real life’ as soon as we get this latest nightmare cleared up!

*blech!*

I don’t know if I posted this in the last couple of weeks, but EK has finally started pulling herself up to a stand along furniture and stuff… its a lot of fun! One more step toward walking! (Our goal is for her to be walking independently by her 2nd birthday… but sooner would absolutely be better!)

Off to figure out what kind of walking push-toy she would do well with!

When we give CC a bath — and before his hair goes ‘poof’ and pokes straight out — it goes through this really cute cute cute ‘curly’ stage! (It doesn’t capture in the camera really well, but you can kind of get the idea!)

EK was the only other of our kids to have real curly hair while it was wet, and she now has pretty curly hair — so I have hope to have a curly-top at last!

(Fuul’s Dad’s hair is REALLY curly, and my father had pretty curly hair as well, so we know the genetics are in there somewhere….)