Sunday, October 31, 2010

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Friday, October 29, 2010

Preschool Halloween Party

The little guy had his Halloween party and parade at the church school he attends on Thursday.  He has a few costumes to choose from but as expected, he wanted to be batman.  When he was getting dressed Thursday morning, he was determined to hold his batman laptop computer while I put his costume on.  When I tried to show him the sleeves would not go on over the laptop in his hand, he got really frustrated and tried to explain to me that it would.  He was determined to make it work.  After a while, he threw it down in frustration and it landed right on his big toe.  Now he was upset.  He has been showing this really stubborn streak lately.  (Don't know if KK's stubbornness has worn off on him or if it is a touch of Independence.)  After a few tears he finally gave up and got dressed.  When we were ready to leave, he put his mask on and I reminded him the teacher really discouraged things that covered their faces as they might fall while trick or treating through the church office.  He said I had misunderstood her and what she meant was if you weren't "big" enough to see good when you wear a mask you shouldn't wear one.  Ok, so we will take it and ask before we wear it.  Ok, KK you will see that I am right.  Guess what, the teacher thought it was great!  So much for that!









On the way home, he said, KK can I watch batman on "on demand" when I get home.  You will have to wait until Mommy gets home and talk with her about that, okay?  Well, I don't know why I can't ever watch it.  I said, sweetie, you know, Batman is not real, it is just a character and he cannot really jump from building to building and do all the things it looks like he can.  I know that KK, just the man inside of batman can do all that stuff.  His name is Bruce.  OK, so that explains why Mommy doesn't like you to watch it.

Terreckly,
Kathy

Easy chocolate tofu pie!

Well, it is the furthest thing from Nana's yummy chocolate pie with her delicious meringue on top but it is yummy and much healthier.  I was craving chocolate today as I perused the aisles in the grocery store.  As I went through the health food section, I spotted the granola pie crust that my Publix has unfortunately discontinued.  It is about the only "graham cracker type" that I have found that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup or trans fat or something artificial.  I grabbed it and the other two ingredients, came home, and whipped it up so it would be ready after dinner tonight.  I have listed the recipe below in case you want to try it. 

2 boxes of mori-nu extra firm tofu, drained
6 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted
1 granola pie crust




Melt chocolate chips in double boiler.  Put drained tofu in blender and pour chocolate in with spatula.  Blend thoroughly and pour into pie crust.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours.  Keep refrigerated.

Note - You can use another brand of tofu (extra firm) if you like.  You can also put cool whip on top and decorate with chocolate chips.  I have done this several times and everyone loves it.  I don't tolerate dairy so I leave mine plain.  It is still yummy.

Terreckly,
Kathy

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A Typical Day

I am at my daughter's home today and our 5 year old has a T-ball game at 5:30 tonight.  Since he has to be there early for warm up and batting practice, we (me, the little guy and the 5 year old) will meet Mommy and Daddy at the game.  This means, KK has her work cut out for her today which is early dismissal day at school.  Once he gets home, the two little monkeys start acting like "two little monkeys"!  They cannot keep their hands off of each other no matter whether they are playing or watching a movie.  They love to wrestle and you know how much the big guy likes to tackle! (no football uniform needed)  All I can say is the little guy is going to be one tough cookie one day and you know what they say about paybacks!! 
I got an early start this a.m. to Publix so I could prepare a big pot of my homemade vegetable soup.  Well, two pots of soup since my daughter is vegetarian and everyone else in the family likes their meat. I had to make something easy since we won't get back from the game until after 7:00 and the boys need to be in bed by 8:00.  I'm thinking an apple cake sounds really good too with this cooler weather :)
My little superhero played so hard this morning he climbed up on the couch after lunch and fell asleep.  He got a 45 minute nap in before I had to get him up to pick Max (the dog) up from the doggie parlour then on to pick up the kindergartner.  Mommy might not be real happy with that little power nap when he is still up at 9:00 tonight but it surely helped me out.   





The hardest part of the day was getting the ball player dressed including finding everything he "needs" to go in his equipment bag.  Boy, times have changed since my son and daughter played T-ball.   Well, we are off to the ball field!!   Do you hear me singing?  Take me out to the ball game.  Take me out with the crowd.  Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, I don't care if I ever get back.  Let me root, root, root for the home team.  If they don't win it's a shame.  For it's one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game.

P.S.  Shhhh.   Hope Mommy doesn't read my blog and see those cleats on the couch!

Terreckly,
Kathy

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Easy to Make Tin Can Lanterns

The little guys and I made these cute lanterns to decorate their front porch for Halloween.  They were really easy to make and the boys were very proud of themselves when we were finished.  If you would like to make some, the instructions are as follows:

Can of various sizes (used aluminum or tin cans washed and with the wrapper removed)
large nail
hammer
soft towel
strong wire
wire cutters or pliers
orange spray paint
votive candles (white or orange)







Wash and soak cans a few minutes to remove paper wrapper.  Dry and fill about 1 inch from top with water.  Freeze.  While frozen, take out one can at a time to design.  Lay can on side on the soft towel and use hammer and nail to tap out face.  Don't forget to tap holes on each side for wire.  When all cans are designed, put on newspaper outside and spray paint inside and out.  When dry, put wire in each side and secure by twisting.  Place a votive candle in bottom and light.  You can hang these or set them around.  Important Note:  You will notice in my pictures that we painted the cans before tapping holes in them.  This was a mistake as I had to touch up the paint after we tapped the faces on them.  If you follow my instructions above it is less work.  Have fun!

Terreckly,
Kathy

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Just another day on another farm.....

Seems like all we do lately is bounce from farm to farm with the little guys.  We had the three year old overnight this past Friday night so before he went home on Sat. afternoon we squeezed in one more farm.  This one is a true down home farm like in "Old McDonald Had A Farm Eee Eye Eee Eye Oh".  Actually it is called Uncle Donald's Farm and just when you get inside the fence, you know you are on a real farm.  Phewww Wheeee!!!  Not thinking, I wore flip flops and my feet were filthy when we got home.  We got a bag of corn and fed everything we were allowed to feed.  We saw Billy Goats, Cows, Rabbits,Turtles, Emu, Deer, Pigs, Horses, Otters, Racoons, Panthers, all kinds of chickens, ducks, ostrich, cranes, turkey (which bit the little guy on the finger). Ouch KK, I need some "magic cream" on my finger right now!  Magic cream is actually a name I began calling antibiotic ointment several years ago when the big guy had a boo boo.  He wouldn't allow anything to be put on it so I told him that I had some magic cream that makes it disappear in a couple of days and guaranteed not to sting or hurt.  Well, he agreed and after great results, he was a believer.  Every time anything happens to either of them they believe that magic cream will cure it!  A while back, the little guy had a sore throat and when we mentioned we may need to see the Doctor, he said can you just put some magic cream on it please.  Before he was potty trained, he would get a little diaper rash and stick his bottom in the air and ask for magic cream. 
















He got to milk a goat and then feed a bottle of the milk to the baby goats.  We went on a hay ride and fed hay to the cows in the pasture.  We played in a hay maze.  We saw rats and snakes in the barn.  We saw a huge pig that looked just like Charlotte in Charlotte's Web.  He saw eggs that the hens had layed. And they had plastic owls in several locations.  Remember on a previous blog, I posted a picture of my owl that was recommended by the pest control service to keep snakes away?  Well, that is exactly why they had them! Once again, other than the turkey bite, we had a wonderful day on the farm.

Terreckly,
Kathy

"America's Most Sacred Acre"






If you have visited St. Augustine, FL.,  you  most likely saw the tall cross downtown on the inter coastal waterway.  From a distance, it looks like just another church steeple but if you park and walk through the beautiful grounds to get beside it, you realize just how massive it really is.  It is part of the shrine of Lady of La Leche.  It is the largest cross in the world standing 208 feet above the marshes of the Matanzas River.  It is illuminated by spotlight and visible to ships day and night.  It was erected in 1966 to mark the 400th anniversary of the approximate site where the cross of Christianity was first permanently planted in what is now the U.S.  If you stroll through the peaceful paths of the burial grounds you will see a beautiful little chapel that was built in the 1700's.  It was built with coquina stone which is a natural rock formed by the concretion of sea shells.  The chapel was rebuilt in 1875 and restored again in 1914 to repair hurricane damage.  It seats about 30 people and is open daily to visitors.  As I meandered through the cemetery and read ancient tombstones, I could hardly fathom the history there and what the lives of those  buried on those grounds must have been like.  This site has been called "America's most sacred acre".

Terrectly,
Kathy