Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees

Every day is full of moments – little snapshots of life.

Most are mundane, a few are unique, and some are blog worthy.

Here are a few of my most blog worthy moments recently -

1. A Monster Moment - This is the summer that Angel Girl is going to learn to bake independently. She just needs the practice doing the same thing several times to gain confidence – and my trust. We started with bread.

She made her second batch last week but she was in a hurry. I thought she had finished making out the buns very quickly and she hadn’t used very many baking sheets. When I checked them before they were baked I could see why – they were huge! Some of the buns measured 5 inches across.

Monster buns! Yes, her brothers teased her, and yes they loved them!  Can’t wait for batch number 3!

2. Proud Momma Moment: We went to a friend’s house this week to pick pie cherries. She has a little 3 year old with Down’s syndrome. As we were finishing up I heard someone singing our special swinging song and went to investigate.

There was Matt under the tree with the swing in it. He had, of his accord,  gently put their girl in the swing and was pushing her – singing “Swing, swing way up high, swing so high you touch the sky…”

Their little girl was just grinning from ear to ear.

I didn’t realize he even remembered the song.

3. Not So Proud Parenting Moment: At my niece’s wedding, she had the youngest cousins, including my Buddy, act as gift pages. Just before the wedding started they were escorted in and sat with my youngest sister and her husband in the front row. Jan and I were directly behind them.

Buddy had just been seated for a few moments when he suddenly jumped up and dashed back down the center aisle of the church. I was still processing the fact that he ran out of the church when he came running back in – holding a cold bottle of water.

He ran right down the aisle, just as the groom was escorting my parents down. He managed to dodge around  them just as the photographer snapped their picture.

Then he settled back in his seat, opened his water and prepared to enjoy the show! I was very embarrassed until I realized he was sitting with my youngest sister – everyone would just think he was hers!

4. Old Lady Moment: I wore a new (to me) pair of shoes to that same wedding. By the time we got to the reception I had some very nice blisters forming.  Since I knew I would be standing and cutting cake for some time – I had my darling husband take my dress shoes to the van and bring in my tennis shoes.

Yes, I put my tennis shoes on for the rest of the evening.  If any one noticed – they were too polite to say anything!

I’m sure they were all jealous of my comfort!

How about you? What were your memorable moments this week?

Care to share them?

As a mom of five, I know very well the need we moms have to be alone.

We love our children,  but to be continually needed by someone and always on call is tiring.

Sometimes we’re looking to get away for a few minutes, to sit in silence, to rest our minds.

Sound impossible? If you have young children – it is. They are hard wired to need you. They want to be with you – all the time.

You don’t dare close the door when you go to the bathroom because it’s just asking for a catastrophe to happen!

But – if you have older children – it’s actually easier than you think.

After years of trial and error, I have discovered 10 foolproof statements that are sure to get you some privacy.

All you need to do is announce any one of these and the room will clear instantly as your older children will disappear like leaves in the wind.

1. “I’m looking for someone to wash dishes”

2. “The bathroom needs to be cleaned”

3. “I’m heading out to the garden to weed”

4. “I’m heading out to the garden to pick green beans, or tomatoes, or peppers, or anything”

5. “There’s laundry waiting to hung on the clothes line”

6. “There’s laundry to be folded”

7. “I think we should start cleaning the basement after lunch”

8. “The garbage needs to be taken out”

9.  “I need help canning tomatoes (or apples or green beans)”

10. “Dad said we were butchering chickens this afternoon”

Try one and see for yourself!

This morning as I whipped up some apple, pear, banana fruit smoothies for my children and watched them guzzle them down, I got to thinking.

Now I realize that thinking that early in the morning can often be dangerous, as my brain is not fully activated yet. But my idea seemed like such a good one- are you ready? I could hide other fruits and vegetables in their smoothies!

It was brilliant!

Just think about the vegetables that could be blended right in!  Even my pickiest eater wouldn’t be able to pick them back out again!

Think about the nutrients my kids would unknowingly consume! Frozen peas, carrots, green beans, celery… no, wait…those are too normal. What about broccoli or kohlrabi or Brussels sprouts?  I know- tomatoes!

Some mothers seem to get away with it on a regular basis.

My sister-in-law Julie cooks up a vegetable medley that she hides in almost everything. Her meatballs are so packed with vitamins they should have a warning label. “Beware: These meatballs are extremely healthy and will make you as strong as Popeye.”

My friend Cinnamon concocts a smoothie for her children that includes spinach! Yes, spinach. And they drink it?! As if any of my kids would voluntarily drink something green.

Ahh yes- that brings us to the heart of the matter. When tricking kids into eating something healthy it must be well-hidden.

How could I possibly disguise the color and smell of say, spinach. It tends to be quite green no matter what you do with it.

Believe me I know. My Mom was always trying to hide things from us. Didn’t always work though. Her most famous cooking story remains “The Legend of the Green Fish Loaf.”

She had discovered a recipe for a fish loaf using canned salmon and spinach. She decided that she would just throw the spinach in the blender with the other ingredients and hide it. We would never know it was there!

She learned that spinach cannot be disguised. It turned the entire salmon loaf green.

We rushed to the table in anticipation of supper and there IT sat.  All green and bubbly with cheese on top. I wish we would have taken pictures of our faces as we sat around the table looking at IT.

IT went over like the proverbial lead balloon. Poor Mom has never been able to forget it. (Being the good children that we are, we keep reminding her.)

No, I realize now that such thinking is quite dangerous. There is an art to subterfuge as a mother, and I definitely have a lot to learn about it!

Hey, I still have a kid who can pick out ground up onions in a meatball.  Maybe I should send him to Aunt Julie’s for awhile….