Mural almost done

Getting a bit done on the mural.

It is going slow. I have spent about 9 hours on it so far. I feel like I haven't gotten anything done so I took a picture of it when I got there and also when I left.

There is still a lot to do but at least I have a feeling of accomplishment after looking at these pictures. At the bottom is the original that I am going off. There will be an additional element to the right of the mural which will be the clock at the start of the It's a Small World ride.

Hoping to get this done sometime before the end of the millennium.

If you look in the upper left corner of the mural, you will see some red dots that will be flowers soon. There is one flower that is kinda smudged. The little boy who's room this is going into, made that one with his thumb! How adorable is that?

Oh Yeah, it's Soccer Time again.

Time to get up at the crack of dawn and stuff the kid's feet into those super tight shin guards and socks, then try to get the whole monstrosity into stiff leather cleats.

Chloe seems to have fun but who knows as anything that takes effort doesn't seem like fun for her. Especially since it starts before she is usually out of bed in the morning.

Jonah really puts in the effort, I worry about him keeling over from heat stroke because he plays for most of the game. Amazingly he is totally fine and gets pretty mad at me if I suggest he take a break. Seriously, a mom knows nothing more than a 9 year old boy.

Today we also went downtown and visited a ballet studio. The girls had some fun trying out some classes as well as rubbing elbows with part of the cast from the Nutcracker. We also had a chance to see a snippet of Not Afraid of the Dark. The dancers were all in black costumes except for certain parts of their costumes which were illuminated by a black light. It looks pretty good and we may go and see the full production some time. Freya was able to get out on stage for the first part of the performance. By the way, Freya doesn't like to be in the spot light at all, can't you tell??

Freya has informed me that she is a super model. Not sure where this came from but she seems to think she has it all down. Here she is striking a pose, I love the face.

We may need to get Fancy Nancy from the library today.

Mural time!

Mural time!

I'm painting a mural for a super nice family in their little boy's room. It's a painting done by Mary Blair representing It's a Small World in Disney World.

The artwork is this painting, however it will be lighter in feel as the original is very whimsical and not so color blocked and solid. I am going back on Sunday and will take a picture then. I actually wish I could go work on it sooner cause I hate to leave stuff unfinished!

We're adding some fun kids to the painting wearing mickey ears and maybe even hiding a pair in the picture somewhere....

First Day of Preschool.

Freya had her first day today. When we were waiting to go she looked at me with a huge grin and said, "I'm so 'cited today!"

She was perfect, walked right in, found her name and started coloring. She didn't even want to look away from her work for the camera. When I left, she was talking to Mrs. Dee and asking her what they would do today. I did get choked up, thankfully no tears though.

Here is a great recipe to put in those kid's lunches.

Homemade Orange Julius
1/2 can frozen OJ concentrate
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup water
dash of vanilla
Sweetener of choice either 1/4 cup sugar, 3 TBL agave or 3 TBL honey

Blend in blender until mixed. Add ice cubes as needed while blender is going until you get your desired consistency.

Raw Version
3 Oranges freshly squeezed
1 cup almond milk
dash of vanilla
3 TBL agave

Follow directions above

I save these little drinkable yogurt containers because they are small and have screw lids. You can send juice in there or smoothies. Today they all got an Orange Julius!

Yesterday, Geni and I did the Human Race. Freya took some pictures of me in my shirt before the race. It was long and hot (I think it was about 100F when we started running) but surprisingly doable. Everyone had to wear these red shirts because the race number is printed on it. When we were up on a hill and looked out ahead, the mass of people made it seem like a sea of red. It was creepy to see 13000 people in red and very difficult to find your running buddy! Austin came in 2nd for the fastest running time out of the 25 cities that participated.

After running, we had a few beers and listened to Ben Harper for a bit. Like I was telling Geni, it would have been better if every song didn't have a 5 minutes jam session at the end. Maybe if I were tokin' it up like the crowd (the smell indicated that most were), it would have been a much better concert. My favorite part of it was that the stage was right in front of the Capital Building and that Ben Harper played so many different instruments.

Raita and I watched Sicko when I got back home. It is very eye-opening. Let's hope more American's wake up and see how bad the Health Care System is here. I love the part of the movie where Michael points out that the US already has some Socialist programs (library, schools, cheap mail, etc) and those systems work beautifully. I just wonder if people are afraid of Soylent Green happening if Health Care became Free and Universal. I wish we were given the facts instead of the falsities presented by the politicians.

Friday Night Pizza!

We love to make our own pizza. Toss the dough in the bread machine, get a can of pizza sauce, some cheese, pepperoni and olives and the kids are in heaven. I always get them to add something like a pepper or mushroom to make sure we have some veggies in there. Today I made myself an eggplant tomato pizza as well.

This recipe will make 4 decent sized pizzas. My three kids and I can eat 2 of the pizzas with 2 left over for lunch or maybe we will save some for my husband when he gets home. OH and I may save him a beer too!

Here is the recipe I use for the crust, it is actually a focaccia bread recipe but works so well for pizza.

Bread Machine pizza crust or Focaccia bread recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups water

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 3 Tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten (optional)

• 4 cups whilte flour (I use 3 cups unbleached and 1 cup whole wheat)

• 3 Tablespoons sugar

• 2 Tablespoons instant skim milk powder

• 2 teaspoons yeast

Put ingredients in machine in order above. Set to "dough" setting.


For Pizza:
cut into 4 pieces. This will roll out to about a 12" diameter thin crust. Put this on either a pizza stone or pan with some cooking spray or corn meal. Bake at 450 F for 3 minutes. Take out of oven and put your pizza toppings on it (light sauce, at least 1 cup of cheese, your other toppings and then light cheese) then bake for 6-7 more minutes. You can put fresh basil on top for a lovely flavor.

For the Focaccia Bread:
cut the dough in half, spread into squares on baking sheets or pizza pans. Brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle on: garlic powder, onion powder, parsley flakes, basil, rosemary, feta or Parmesan cheese (or both!) and a little coarse salt. Bake in an oven preheated to 450 F for 10 - 12 minutes. Enjoy with soup, cheese or a really good olive oil with salt and pepper. This is also fabulous with home made hummus.

New Art!

Chloe brought this masterpiece home yesterday. She is becoming quite the little artist. The BFF heart with arrow coming from the blue bird is adorable! Seriously seven year old girls come up with the cutest things.

Yesterday we hung out with Eli. Freya and Eli are two little peas in a pod. They are so freakin' sweet together but have this love/hate relationship. One moment they are hugging like mad and the next moment there is sand flying in faces, spitting and the occasional poke. But when we part, they usually have made up and are BFF again!

Yesterday we met with some friends, Geni and Natalie. Now that school has started, I can get back into my weekly running/bike riding regime. We usually meet at a trail that has a playground attached and run for 3 miles or so then let the girls play.

Yesterday after watching me struggle with Suki and the jog stroller, Geni offered to put Freya in her 2 seater and push both girls together. I only had to deal with Suki after that.

Let me just say that Geni is freakishly strong. I am not able to push that thing with 2 girls in there, let alone run while pushing it. Well, maybe if Godzilla were chasing me then I could muster the strength it takes to push 70 pounds of kid meat while running for my life. I offered to push it and bailed about 20 seconds into my turn. I was only able to help on the down hill sections. God I suck.

Here are the girls posing.

Thanks for the comments, I am so glad I have readers!

Perfect Play Dough

Perfect Play Dough Recipe

This is the recipe from my children's preschool. It is awesome and I have never had a problem making it. The dough is super soft and lasts a very long time if you keep it in an airtight container.

Recipe:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup salt
2 TBL cream of tartar (to keep fresh)
1 cup water
2 TBL oil
food coloring
kool-aid packet (optional for scent, be mindful of the color of the kool-aid, it will change the color of your play dough)

Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in a pan. Add water, food coloring and oil and stir. Add Kool-aid and stir. Once mixed together, put pan over low heat and stir until a ball forms in the middle (the mixture will be sticky). This usually takes 3-4 minutes. Make sure you scrape the sides down and get in the corners when stirring so you don't end up with burnt dough.

Dump out on a counter and kneed until it has cooled down a bit.

At this point you can either add glitter and/or essential oils for added effect.
The kool-aid is not a necessity but it does make the dough smell really good. It also will effect the color of the dough so make sure you choose the appropriate color of kool-aid for the color of dough you will be making.

You can keep it in a zip-loc bag or container for many moments of enjoyment. This makes a great gift! Tie a bow around your container and gift it to playmates and mothers of new babies with toddlers. I also always made a large batch to give to the kinder-teacher on the first day of school!

Leave a comment, I wonder if people read my blogs.....

First day of School! Here's Chloe at her desk.



Yep, I dropped the big kids off at school this morning at 7:30 sharp. I am sure they were thinking, "don't let the door hit you in the ass." Freya and I have had a fun relaxing day. First we went to the store to pick up a few needed items. So nice to shop with ONE child. We came home after the shopping trip and made some cookies, hung some clothes to dry and then went for a dip in the pool. Freya is reveling in her alone time with mama. She has unexpectedly gone off and played by herself through out the day.

Here is the lunch I made today. I have been wanting to do these hot dog octopuses for ever. I finally got around to it and decided to make Muffin Tin Monday's lunch with a sea theme. Muffin Tin Mondays



From left to right: veggie stick trees, hummus beach, goldfish (couldn't pass up), hot dog octopuses with olive eyes, olive life preservers and finally a raft cut from a hot dog bun with pretzel stick oars. Had I planned for this I would have made some blueberry juice knox blox as water.

I put the same things in the big kid's lunches as well. Once the other 4th grade boys see my son's hot dog octopuses, it pretty much guarantees he will get his ass kicked on the first day of school.

Look, no kicked ass. He's the one with the grumpy face and red folder:

Freya is a fish. A slippery naked fish.

She can swim very well, and I am talking freestyle, no doggy paddling in our pool. Now she has taught herself to dive to the bottom of the pool to retrieve objects. I am pretty shocked that she is capable of doing this since her siblings didn't even want to get their faces wet until maybe age 5. Oh and to the comment, yes, she is the youngest. Freya turned 3 June 16th!

Today is the last day of summer vacation. I am ecstatic. Why our school district decided to start school on a Tuesday is beyond me. There must be some higher power watching us Round Rockers trying to hold it together for one more day. And all the Austin Mamas who are all ready in first-day-of-school bliss, you can go suck it.

The Hair.

My wonderful husband seems to think he can pull this look off. Granted many people give him compliments and honestly, I like the look. However, imagine yourself on the bottom... This thing is all in your face suffocating you, making you inhale stray wisps of hair. And the pieces of this hairy mass that are not in your mouth or up your nose are ever so slightly brushing your face and tickling. It's enough to ruin what few intimate moments parents of 3 children may have.

To make matters worse I find his long dead hair in obvious and random places. They turn up in the shower drain, the floor when sweeping and tightly wound around the roll of the vacuum. There are usually long pieces floating in the pool, I find them in the yard when pulling weeds and every where in between. Some days the lint trap of the dryer is coated in a black hairy wad of nastiness. The worst place to find a long strand of hair is in that stir fry that tasted so good until you slowly pull a thick black piece from your mouth.

I finally drug him in yesterday. He put up a good fight, I actually had to drive him in because there is no way he would have done it on his own.

The hair was donated to locks of love and even his penny-pinching self can't complain because Great Clips gives you the cut for free if you donate your hair.

Don't be sad to see it go as the thing will be back atop Raita's head in 1-2 years.

So, I am making this for my step aunt? I am so not happy with the panda. I still have to finish the bamboo but even when I get done with that, the panda just sucks. My 7 year old told me it looks like a cartoon and would be good in a kids room. She may be right but that isn't the look I was going for. After looking at some more pictures of pandas, their fur seems to be almost yellow. Maybe that will help, I don't know. I hope I can pull it together and make it look good.

On the bottom of the painting I wrote "Bear Cat" in Chinese. I guess that in China this is how they refer to a panda. They do kinda look like cat bears.

You can sponsor a panda here.

Suki is our puppy but she's getting so big. Jonah just taught her how to play dead. We point our finger at her and yell "bang!" She reluctantly lays down on her side and stays very still.

Here she is as a super cute puppy.

It's kind of hard to tell from the picture but she was bit by something a couple of weeks ago. The first picture was taken the day before, the second picture is the following day. You can tell that her nose if swollen as well as her jowls and it even spread up to her eyes and ears. We took her into the vet because it just kept getting worse. They gave her a cortisone shot and it went down right away.
No one knew what had bit her. We had many suggestions that it could have been a wasp, fire ant or a scorpion. I wasn't sure any of those things could have done it because her face was so huge. Well, the following week, I went to go outside and found a baby rattle snake at my back door. I am pretty sure this is what bit Suki.
She is fine now and hopefully she has learned a lesson from it all!

Freya and I attend many play dates. We usually have a craft of some sort to do. Here we are painting an egg crate and transforming it into a caterpillar.

We spent the play date reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar

while eating many of the items the caterpillar ate!

To make an eggshell caterpillar:

Cut off the top of the egg crate. You can use this for your paint pallet. Then cut the egg crate into half lengthwise.

Have your child paint the caterpillar.

Once dry, hot-glue some googely eyes on the front. Then poke two holes in the top of the "head" and put a pipe cleaner onto each hole so each end sicks out of the top. You can then shape the pipe cleaners to make them look like antennae.