Aug202010

Our First Day of School & Other Surprises

We started school this week.

Okay – pick yourselves up now.

For those of you who know me well – you know that I don’t like to start school until at least after Labor Day.  I want a really long – very s t r e t c h e d out summer.

Stuff

Yet – here we are starting school in the middle of August – before even the public schools have started.

What’s up with that?

Well…usually I’m up to my eyebrows in veggies to can and freeze right now, but this year the garden is really behind.

And…for years we didn’t have air conditioning and it was just too hot to even think – let alone do math.

But…mostly we started early because we have something really exciting planned.

I mean really exciting!

Are you ready for this?

In September, we’re going on a massive 10 day trip out west – with all five kids – and we’ll be camping.

That’s right – all seven of us for 10 days – camping.

But not in this RV – no, that would be too easy. It has a kitchen and an indoor bathroom.

No, that’s not us. We’ll be the ones driving a 15 year old suburban pulling a 35 year old pop-up camper.

Think Brady Bunch.

We’ll see the Tetons, Yellowstone and the Black Hills while enjoying the comfort and lack of indoor plumbing of a 35 year old Starcraft pop-up. It sleeps eight, is very clean and most importantly – it’s free.

Vintage Coleman Pop-Up

Did you notice that I called this a “trip” not a vacation? A vacation happens when you stay in hotels and eat in restaurants and don’t have children with you.

No – this is most definitely a trip – an epic adventure that will go down in the annuls of family history.

It will be a major memory making event and the excitement is building!

But for now, we have an entire week of school under our belts. Then in a few weeks – when everyone else is doing math problems and diagramming sentences – we’ll be hiking in the Tetons and watching Old Faithful.

Just one more reason to love home schooling!

RV picture courtesy of Michael Gil.

Aug182010

Sweet Corn!

Sweet corn – fresh from the garden!

This is one of my favorite days of the summer. We’ve been watching the patch carefully for weeks – and today was the day!

The kids and I picked 2 buckets of corn just before supper.

Corn

Then we had a feast.

It was a corn eating frenzy with butter dripping down our chins and elbows.

There was no limit on how many ears we could eat and the pile of empty cobs in the middle of the table kept growing.

When we had all eaten our fill…

Knife…we started the messy task of cutting the corn from the cobs and filing bags for the freezer.

It brought back some fun memories of cutting corn with my siblings when I was little. The jokes and laughter would fly as fast as the corn kernels!

The bags of corn are now in the freezer, the kitchen is cleaned and the corn juice is wiped off the floors and walls.

I just hope that long after the corn is eaten, my kids will smile at the memory we made tonight!

Aug162010

Blue Ribbons, Free Food and a Flaming Monkey

The one reason my kids go through the blood, sweat and tears to produce 4H projects can be summed up in four words – The Iowa State Fair.

Their goal is to get at least one project to advance to the State Fair so that Daddy has to take them. It worked again this year!

The first stop is always the 4H building – always. “Go directly to the 4H building, do not pass go, do not collect $200.” These are men on a mission – just follow the red shirt.

Once there -  we begin our treasure hunt to find our 6 projects in the midst of the thousands there.

We only found five of the six – but those five did well – 3 blues and 2 reds.

The missing project was Matt’s editing work on the grandkid’s video for my parent’s Golden Anniversary. One 4H staffer said they were playing the videos this year on TV screens for fair goers to see. Oh my – they will get an eyeful watching that video!  Some of his cousins might be just a little embarrassed…

Once we leave the 4H building – we’re on the livestock barns to see the biggest boar, the biggest bull and the avenue of breeds.  We pass a one-man band in route to the butter cow.

My favorite part of the fair – the free food samples! We ate quite a variety this year – brats, meatballs, cookies, popcorn, salsas, a wide assortment of dips, and even a whole hard-boiled egg at the egg producers booth.  If there’s free food – my kids will find it!

Speaking of food…we hiked up the hill to eat our sack lunch while watching the amazing Sinbad diving show. It was a seriously funny show featuring pirates and a cool monkey searching for the golden pineapple. Aarrgghh….my kids loved it!

Really loved it.

They loved it so much that as soon as Sinbad announced that at the 6:00 show they would light “Cool Monkey” up in flames – they started lobbying to stay.

Even though they were exhausted from hiking from one end of the fair grounds to the other, wiped out from heat and humidity, nursing blisters and out of water, they still wanted to stay.

And who could blame them?! A flaming monkey is a pretty incredible way to end a great day at the State Fair!

Aug132010

Staying Cool with Fruit Slushies

It’s hot. Really hot.

And humid.

So hot and humid that an extensive heat advisory is old news.

waters

So hot and humid that your glasses fog up when you walk out of the house.

So hot and humid that you fight over who gets to wash the dishes so you don’t have to go out and spread mulch in the garden.

dump

So hot that you just dump the water gun on yourself, rather than wait for a sibling to hit you with a spray of water.

Slushe

It’s so hot that it’s time for Fruit Slushies.

Back in the days when we lived in the hovel with no AC – we would try to “celebrate the heat” with special cool treats in the afternoon.

These Fruit Slushies were always a favorite!

We’ve discovered that they are still a treat – even with the air on!

The recipe couldn’t be more simple – or more versatile.

Fruit Slushies

Blend together in a blender:   (I blend these in batches because my blender isn’t big enough for everything at once.)

1 can fruit cocktail
1 can apricots
1 can peaches
1 can pears
4 medium bananas
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 can frozen lemonade concentrate

Pour into a plastic container and freeze. ( I use an ice cream bucket.)

To serve – let the fruit mixture sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Using an ice cream scoop, place scoops of the mixture into a glass and fill it with lemon-lime pop. (We’ve used 7 Up, Sprite, and even store brand – it’s all good!)

I have substituted almost any canned fruit in this recipe and it’s always worked. It doesn’t matter what size cans you use – whatever is in the pantry or on sale will work. Make sure you use the juice and the fruit -just dump it all in!

It’s an inexpensive and fun way to celebrate the  last days of summer.

Stay cool!

I’ve linked this post up with Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam,  Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff, and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace.

Aug112010

20 Years Today!

wedding photo

Twenty years ago today my dad walked me down the aisle into Jan’s arms.

I, Melinda, take you Jan…”

That was the moment I had dreamed about for years. Jan was the man I had hoped for, prayed for and waited for.

To have and to hold from this day forward…”

We were young and in love – with our future together all figured out.

Now, 20 years later, I look back and smile.

“For better or worse…”

We’ve been through lay-offs, unemployment, moves, new jobs, illness, depression, droughts, floods, and a 10 year (and counting) house renovation.

We’ve survived 5 pregnancies, labors, and deliveries followed by 17 years of parenting.

We saw dreams come true, miracles happen, and God’s hand of blessing.

We’ve had less “richer” than “poorer“,  but also less “sickness” than “health“.

We’ve laughed together, cried together, and sat quietly together when no words were necessary.

“To love, honor and to cherish from this day forward…”

His hand is the one I reach for, the shoulder I cry on, the smile I melt over.

He is my best friend.

…until death do us part.

Commitment.