happy thanksgiving!

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
Gilbert K. Chesterton

we are thankful this year to be close enough to have robin's parents over for our noon meal. i am thankful for all the hands of help i had in the kitchen, and for a husband who lets me nap afterwards. we had a wonderful thanksgiving eve church service last night. we had so. much. food. and lots of leftovers. good times, good memories. i did forget to get the ingredients for our traditional turkey candies but karis saved the day, even though she couldn't find candy corn, mike and ikes made a more colorful turkey.

landis valley museum

another benefit of the library is a free family museum pass to some local museums. we were planning on going to another museum about an hour away, but their special festivities were cancelled due to the weather. it turned out to be for the best anyway, since it was only gray and slightly drizzly and robin got to go with us. the girls were all busy, so it was just me and the boys. fun!

they already had the visitor center decorated for christmas. the museum shop was having an open house, with carolers dressed in time period garb and free refreshments. jack saw his awana teacher, and robin met up with an old co-worker.

i love it all, but i especially liked the school house. that is, until the boys got carried away in their make believe outhouse adventure (but all that pretending did send us on a quest to find the nearest "real" bathroom).
silly boys.

sweet 16

happy birthday nick
we love you and are proud of you
now...onto driving!



we celebrated a week ago with a surprise party after church.
give boys food and a ball and they're happy.
not totally sure he was surprised.
but for sure sure that he had a great day.

today we celebrated with his favorite dinner and chocolate trifle for dessert.

flashback friday

two questions:

do you recognize the friends?

do you know in what state we were living at the time the photos were taken?
(you can answer in the comments, you don't have to send an email)

finally 4

after the panda cake fiasco of september pete insisted he was still 3 because he hadn't had his panda cake yet (remember, we only served cupcakes). apparently, in his mind at least, you don't actually turn the next year until you've had the cake you requested.

i guess we waited a little bit too long to finally make the panda cake. after we made this, sang to him, and he blew out 4 candles. we asked him how old he was now and he said, "five."

try to convince him otherwise.

(the scrape on the side of his face is where he hit a tree branch while jumping out of a tree he climbed in the backyard)

loving

we are soooo loving fall............

dinner funny

after reading proverbs 9 after dinner:

mom: "what does rebuke mean?"

jack: "....throw up?"

olivia: "no, that's re-puke"

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

another guest post

made by jack, in honor of our divided household.

World Series 2009

View more presentations from rufam.

guest blogger: jack henry

sharing his favorite lunch/snack to make.

How To Make A Quesadilla

View more presentations from rufam.

food traditions

a couple of months ago, i read molly wizenberg's book and was touched by the simplicity of documenting family favorite recipes and the stories behind them. why, we should all write books! of course, i have never been a witty writer, and have never been interested in being published (my cousin, mike, and i tried to co-write a book once, he was the author, i was the illustrator. i think we were about 10) but family history is something i wish was documented more often (my aunt gail is the family champion for the robinson side of the family--she's dug up so much interesting information on my dad's parents/grandparents).

so, since the purpose of this blog is to document our family history, i hope to share (and have an occasional guest blogger or seven) some of our favorite recipes and the story behind them. in that spirit i present to you, chicken poppyseed casserole:

this became a family favorite after i had our third child and our oldest was just 2 years and 9 months old. my lovely southern friend/mentor (we were living in pa at the time, so her southern charm was somewhat of a novelty) jeanette brought this meal to us since we were quarantined for the first 2 months of his life.

chicken poppyseed casserole
serves 4-6? i always double it the kids love it for leftovers

2 c. cooked cut up chicken (layer in 8x8 pan)
mix together:
one can cream of chicken soup (i make my own from ground navy beans and some chicken broth)
and one cup sour cream. spread on top of chicken

crush one sleeve of ritz type crackers (a great job for a kid with some frustration to get out)
and mix with one stick of melted butter.

sprinkle with poppyseeds (adds no real taste, but makes it look pretty)
bake at 350* for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
serves great with rolls and brown sugar carrots.

on today's agenda

*edited 9:37 pm* nick tested negative for strep. the doctor thinks it's swine flu, though they didn't do the bloodwork (the test is not accurate, and her daughter had it with the exact same symptoms). his fever is down some tonight and he had enough energy to take a shower! romeo has a fever too (apparently from inflammation in his pelvis), got a shot for pain and is on two different pain killers for an apparent bruised tail bone. that will teach him to run away late on a sunday night in the dark, even if it was a full moon.

6:30 wake up/work out/shower and dress

7:40 greet makenna at the door, wake up big girls

8:30 take nick's temp. he can't talk and he looks terrible (it's 103* again. in spite of fever reducing medicine)

9-12 mops (mothers of preschoolers). thankfully i'm not speaking this morning. karis, makenna and olivia go with me. karis drives (still not quite used to that....)

(cancelled nick's oral surgeon check up appt. so i can)
1:15 take nick to doctor for his continuing 103* fever, now accompanied by a throat so sore he cannot speak or get out of bed

4:00 take romeo to the vet since he hasn't walked normally since sunday night (something appears to be wrong between his back legs. he keeps his tail tucked in and won't let me touch it or look at it.) he can hardly do the stairs and doesn't get up from his spot in the sun.

juliet is worried sick.

(picture from last year, raking florida neighbor mr. jim's leaves)

5:30 feed everyone something for dinner. it was supposed to be meatloaf, but i used that ground beef for the world series taco party we had saturday night (when the yankees won!) when we had more people than i originally planned. wishing now i had quickly gone to the store to replace that meatloaf meat....

6:00-9 take haley to gymnastics, pick up her two friends cody and karis from church to take with us. drop them off.

_____ guess what time i'll get to bed tonight? and how many kids will have a heinz list (catch-up school work) from the kind of day their teacher had?

fountain of youth

one book i'm so glad i kept from our homeschooling days is anna comstock's handbook of nature study.



i read this today and found it to be so true among the various people i've met:

"it is not years which make people old;
it is ruts, and a limitation of interests.
when we no longer care about anything except our own interests, we are then old, it matters not whether our years be twenty or eighty."