Something to sleep on....

Just before I go to bed tonight, I want to share a story I saw right as I was about to close my internet and hit the sack....



From The Star Thrower by anthropologist and writer, Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out, "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they will die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."

Who will you make a difference for today?

Just a reminder....

Song for a Fifth Child
By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton



Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Recipe Thursday - Fried Zucchini!!

Did I even spell that right?! Oh well! This is a GREAT recipe for delicious fried zucchini (again, spelling?). The batter for this actually makes wonderful onion rings too, if you aren't in the mood for green stuff.

Here's what you need!

Wet stuff:
2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp of your favorite hot sauce (or 1 tbsp if you want a little less kick)
2tsp sugar
2tsp Cajun seasoning, or seasoning salt is good too!

Mix all that together and set aside

Dry Stuff:
2cups flour
3-4tsp baking powder
2 tsp pepper
1/2tsp cayenne powder (you can leave this out if you want)
2tsp salt

Mix all together and set aside.

Fill your deep fryer with veggie oil till the stop line. If you don't have a deep fryer you need 3-4 inches of veggie oil and heat it too 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Don't use a small pot and fill it, oil expands as it heat up so use a good size pot. A deep fryer is easiest though.

Cut up 4-5 zucchini's into spears. I usually half them the fat way then cut that into quarters the long way. So you get about 8 spears out of each one.

Dip them in the wet, then the dry. At this point you can double dip back into the wet, then dry again, or you can put them in the fryer. (I find that single dipping makes more of a tempura-like batter and double dipping is a thicker batter once cooked)

Let 'em fry till they are golden brown and scoop out with a strainer or metal slotted spoon and lay onto a paper plate lined with a paper towel.

DONE! Aren't they yummy???
I like to dip with ranch dressing.

Presents Everywhere!

Wow! What a whirlwind November was! Not that December is any better, but November is always a busy month for our family. Birthdays galore!


We made it through the kids' birthdays pretty much unscathed, and it was a lot of fun (although stressful planning between work and everyone else's birthdays on top of it). We had a big family and friends get together and got both of them done at once; One great thing about them being born so close in the same month (another being I haven't had to spend a dime on new clothes for Kali). Woohoo!

They got some great gifts and everyone was so generous! Fun moves, books, new shoes and clothes (for chenda, she needed that!), and toys toys toys! My mom, uncle and Aunt made cupcakes for me that I was able to decorate, and my in-laws made some wonderful food for everyone. It was delicious! All in all a great time for everyone.


Now with Christmas coming up it's time to start thinking about presents again!

*AHH!*

Just when you think you are done Christmas sneaks up on you doesn't it? (just one of the DOWNsides of having so many birthdays right before the holidays!) By the way, Chan and I went to Toys-R-Us for their 12am "Black Friday" sale, and let me say I will NEVER do that again. Not fun. However, we were able to get this great play kitchen for Chenda for about $40 that's usually $100 and to see the look on her face will make the 2 hours of standing in the blistering cold with no coat (yah I'm the idiot who forgot my coat) worth every minute. The things we do for our children are just rediculous aren't they!?

It looks like I'm being summoned to watch the closing scene of Tinkerbell with Chenda (it's her favorite part). 'Till next time!.....

Wordless Wednesday 11/10

In honor of Baby Sister's 1st birthday coming up this weekend, here is a picture to commemorate (with more coming on her actual birthday, of course!)


Our first time making eye contact

A conversation with Chenda....

Baby sister is very sick with a high fever the last couple days. Chenda noticed that this morning when we woke up and she came to lay in bed with us for a few minutes...This short conversation cracked me up.


Chenda: *feels baby's forehead" uh-oh! Baby hop (hot)!
me: I know baby is sick so her head is hot
Chenda: ohhh. I blow on it! *blows on her head like it's a hot bowl of soup*

hahah So sweet trying to break a fever by blowing. Well, it works for food doesn't it?!?!?

Halloween and other Shenanigans!

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite times of year. I find now that I have children, it's even better! Especially this year, since Chenda is finally into it enough to do things like pick out her own costume, sit still (sort of) for face paint, and help gut the pumpkins without throwing the goop and/or eating the seeds and choking on them. This year, her costume of choice was a black and pink Kitty Cat...Which ended up driving my CRAZY by the end of the night because the pink fuzzy trim kept falling off of it! But it was still cute.


Of course, in the spirit of having 2 girls, daddy wanted to get baby sister a matching costume, and since the closest we could find was a pink and black leopard, that is what we went with.




The night before Halloween we had a family pumpkin carving session! It was a lot of fun. Chenda helped us gut them and tape on our stencils, and then Daddy and I carved them out. They actually came out really well! Halloween was spent out and about trick or treating! Chenda started out with some pretty nice face painting that was smudged into oblivion in about 10 minutes, and halfway through the evening her costume was coming apart at the seams (remind me next year to just spend the extra $10 and get the nicer costume) but she loved it, and Kali even seemed to enjoy being out in the fresh air! It was definitely a fun night and I can't wait till next year to see what their little imaginations spark them to dress up as again.

Little Kali is an official full-time walker, and she is busy busy busy! I thought the two of them would be trouble once this happened and boy was I right!! They are in to EVERYTHING! But alas, they make trouble so cutely that it's hard to be mad at them. In fact, here is a recent (short) conversation that I had with Chenda as her and baby were playing.

*Baby starts crying in other room*
Me: Chenda what are you doing?
Chenda: uhmmmmmmm....
Me: are you being nice??
Chenda: No!
.....
......well, at least she is honest right?!