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Soccer…With a Whistle

March 15, 2008 by Laura Leave a Comment

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I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned this or not…

But at our house…we’re ALL about soccer!

We have about 43 soccer balls of different sizes and quality. We have soccer uniforms from other countries…in several different sizes. We play soccer daily…if not in a field, then in the living room…or in the upstairs hallway…or somewhere in between math and history…

We love soccer.

Now me? I never even saw a soccer game until I was 18 years old and went to college. Once I got there, I would watch our college team play…and it was fun.

Then…I started dating one of the soccer players.

The tall, cute, blond one.

And when the team played in the National Finals…that tall, cute blond guy I was dating scored the winning goal from like 25 yards out….an amazing shot! And people came up to me and said, “Was that your boyfriend that scored that goal?” And I would smile and proudly say, “Yeah!”

I STILL remember the excitement of that day!

(And the excitement of the day that the tall, cute, blond soccer player asked me to marry him!)

I LOVE soccer right along with the rest of the tall…and short, cute blond soccer players in my house.

Um, but I love it in a “Oh, I’ll just stand over here and watch and cheer for you…” sort of way. I’ve kicked a few soccer balls here and there…but I’m not really very athletic…and I have no doubt that my six year old would bust a move and score on me…while I would be left panting and gasping for air at about midfield. (uh, asthma, of course…)

So, during the spring and the fall…and sometimes in the winter (indoor soccer) we eat, drink and sleep soccer…between my husband’s coaching and playing…and with our three older boys all on different teams…it’s all I can do to keep up with washing uniforms and locating shin guards and filling water bottles and FEEDING PEOPLE WHO RUN ALL THE TIME AND WORK UP BIG APPETITES…

Well today…we enter a new era in which my husband experiences soccer from a different angle. One he said he would never do. But one he’s kind of a little bit excited to try.

Yes, today…Matt is picking up a whistle and a flag and putting on a brightly colored shirt and heading out to the field to referee his first soccer game.

Today he will be the one who decides when the player is “off sides” and when the ball is out of bounds…

And today…he gets to be the one who might be yelled at by a coach or a fan… (argh)

And today…he might be the one who whips out a yellow card…

So here we go…soccer in a new light.

Might be fun!

Now I’ll have me an eye on the tall, cute, blond referee…

[tags]family, fun, soccer[/tags]

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Kids in the Kitchen, pt. 5: Monkey Bread and Monkey Business

March 14, 2008 by Laura 19 Comments

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Yesterday I mentioned making monkey bread with all four of my monkeys in the kitchen. While there were times of craziness when we were putting this together – really, really we did have fun! (All of us…even me.)

Monkey Bread Tutorial 2

Yum

I wanted to share this recipe with you, as it is a healthy (uses only whole wheat flour and unprocessed sugars), yummy treat that is fun to make with your kids. It does take a bit of time to make, but you do it in stages, and the time spent is worth it!

I simply used my Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe, but instead of forming loaves as normal, we made it into this wonderful, sweet cinnamon pull apart bread for our breakfast.

How to Make Whole Wheat Monkey Bread

Kids in the Kitchen, pt. 5: Monkey Bread and Monkey Business

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Author: Laura

Ingredients

6 cups whole wheat flour, divided
1 ¾ cups warm water, divided
⅓ cup honey
1 package yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 T. melted butter

Instructions

Mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour with 1 ½ cups of warm water in a large glass bowl. Allow this to sit for about 30 minutes. This will break down the gluten and help the bread to rise better.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together ¼ cup water, yeast and honey. Allow this to sit for about 10 minutes, or until the yeast is activated and mixture becomes bubbly.
Add salt, melted butter and yeast mixture to the flour and water mixture. Gradually add the remaining three cups of flour and stir well.
As the dough becomes harder to stir, pour it out onto a clean counter and begin to knead the dough. Add a little flour if needed to keep it from sticking. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.
Place the ball of dough back into the bowl and cover it with a cloth. Allow the dough to rise for one hour, or until it has doubled in size.
Using a floured hand, pull the dough out of the bowl onto the counter. Knead for just a minute or two until the air bubbles are gone.
Melt one stick of butter.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup rapadura and 3 t. cinnamon.
Pull off small fits of dough and roll them around in your hands to form a ball.
Dip the ball of dough into the melted butter, then roll it around in the cinnamon/rapadura mixture.
Place the covered ball into a buttered bread pan or angel food cake pan.
Continue to dip bits of dough in butter and cinnamon/rapadura. Fill pan ½ full. You should be able to make two pans.
Allow the dough to rise for about 30 minutes.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Here are a few picture highlights of our Monkey Business:

Once the dough had risen and needed to be punched down…EVERYONE wanted to be a part of that. I mean – it’s permission to punch something. What little boy doesn’t want THAT?!

Asa got to knead the dough, and I’m not sure what Justus and Malachi are licking off their fingers there…flour? Okay you two – wash your hands…again.

Not to be outdone by the biggest brother, Justus and Elias needed to knead too.
Asa got the butter melting on the stove.

Justus smeared butter all over the bread pans.

Malachi stirred up the rapadura and cinnamon mixture.

And then EVERYONE got to pull off balls of dough and do the fun rolling and dipping and making ooey-gooey bread part.

Ah, the beautiful loaves, rising and almost ready to go into the oven.

Monkey bread!! Can’t you just smell it?!

The next morning, I rewarmed it a little and we had it with milk for breakfast. When the boys woke up smelling it, they jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.

All the way down the stairs, I was hearing monkey noises, “Ooo Ooo…Aah…Aah..” in high pitched tones and looked over to see four monkeys making their way into the kitchen. And that is how my monkey bread morning began.

(At least they didn’t start picking bugs off of each other and eating them. My monkey’s are slightly tamer than that.)

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Flowers?! For ME??!!

March 14, 2008 by Laura 6 Comments

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I can’t remember exactly…but I think the last time my husband brought me flowers was…

About three years…no…maybe when…no…hmmm…I can’t remember.

It’s just not something we do. We kinda avoid the whole commercialism of Valentines day, and well…

When and if we’re gonna spend money on a gift for each other…we kinda want to make it something worth spending money on that will be useful and not something that’s gonna, well…die in a few days.

And I’m okay with that…because while I love flowers and think they are beautiful…I’m so stinkin’ practical that if I think of the cost of flowers…I’ll start tallying up how many gallons of milk or how many dozen eggs I could have bought with the money someone spent on roses and I just get wierd.

And I know my husband loves me because he shows it to me everyday in ways that no amount of flowers could ever say. (even pink flowers)

So now that you know how often we don’t buy things around here….

Imagine my surprise and joy to see my husband peek into the kitchen one day this week when he came home for lunch with a sweet little bouquet for me.

WOW!

I think I’m still smiling. And getting over the shock. And smiling.

He said he was proud of me and just wanted to do something extra special. That’s all.

Wow.

Well…they are beautiful and of the lily family and of course he picked a pink one to go in the mix because he knows I love pink.

I will treasure them for as long as they live…and I will treasure the memory for a long time after that…

Because I know that I will probably not be greeted at lunchtime with flowers again for quite some time.

And that’s what makes this little splurge on flowers so special.

So my Frugal Friday encouragement is…if you splurge often on things like flowers, or eating out, or a new toy…the splurge loses it’s special-ness. But, if every once in a great while you splurge just a little…it will mean so much.

So, keep the special things special. You’ll appreciate it so much more.

Having said all that…who do you think had a peach cobbler waiting for him at lunch the day after the flowers? Yeah…now who’s smiling?!

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Kids in the Kitchen, Pt. 4: The Craziness of Cooking With Kids

March 13, 2008 by Laura 3 Comments

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A couple of days ago, I received this great question from Maureen:

My question is regarding young twins. My boys are almost 3 and the idea of cooking together the 3 of us sounds really overwhelming. Suggestions for twins (and active ones at that) would be great! Thanks.

First I’ll say this:

I know a lot about boys…I know a lot about three year old boys…I know a lot about active three year old boys…and I know a lot about cooking in the kitchen with active three year old boys…

But twin three year old boys?!

Wow.

Even those of us who don’t have twins know that cooking with even one little one “helping us” can be sometimes overwhelming and exhausting.

So, before I go any further with this series…let’s just pause to recognize what most of us feel most of the time:

*It’s easier to cook without the kids in the kitchen. You can get it done faster…and it also doesn’t take nearly as long…and you don’t go so slowly.

*It’s not as messy. Not NEARLY as messy.

*You can think more clearly when they’re not helping you.

*Using only your two hands seems so much easier than having all of their extra hands trying to reach over and dump in extra flour…especially when the recipe doesn’t call for flour.

*It just takes more work to include the kids in the kitchen. It does.

Yesterday…all four of mine were helping me make monkey bread (more on that tomorrow!)…

Do you know how many hands that is?! Do the math. Four boys, one mom…I think it comes out to something like two hundred and forty seven hands. All needing the butter bowl at the same time.

I found myself at one point…as the noise level rose in the room and as the excitement level over monkey bread rose…and as more and more hands were covered with butter and cinnamon… and they kept licking their hands and then sticking them back onto the dough…and almost touching my nice shirt with their grimy hands…and the phone rang…and we needed more butter melted…and the first pan was full and we needed a second one…

AND I WAS TRYING TO TAKE A COUPLE OF NICE PICTURES FOR THE BLOG SO I COULD SHOW YOU HOW WONDERUL HAVING YOUR KIDS IN THE KITCHEN CAN BE!!!!

I was like, “WHOA GUYS!! Can you just relax and have fun with this? Instead of making it such a crazy event where we’re all getting messy and touching things we shouldn’t? Just relax and have fun, okay?!”

And they all looked at me for a second…and then got back to rolling dough in butter and cinnamon…

‘Cause I’m pretty sure they were relaxed and having fun and didn’t know what my problem was.

So, yeah.

Just because I’m writing this series on Kids in the Kitchen doesn’t mean I wouldn’t sometimes rather write a series called, “How to cope with all the quiet time you have as a mother alone in your kitchen while your kids are happily playing in the next room…”

Or…”How to get your kids to watch more TV so that they will hurry up and get out of the kitchen…”

Okay, so having said all of that…and establishing that it’s not always easy to have our kids in the kitchen helping us…I do have some tips for making it easier to have 247 small and grimy hands in the kitchen at once:

1. If possible, have ingredients and kitchen tools out and ready before you call in the troops to help.

For instance, if we’re making individual homemade pizzas…it is SO much easier to have all the pizza fixin’s out and ready to go first.

2. Instead of having all of your kids in the kitchen at once to help…let them take turns.

If we’re rolling out cookie dough and cutting it with cookie cutters….only one guy at a time gets to come in and roll and cut. This gives me special time with each one, and makes for a lot less chaos.

3. Keep it short for the short people.

If they’re little, they don’t need to be there for the whole process of watching you knead the dough for ten minutes, and then watching the dough rise…. Spend five minutes pouring and mixing…or tearing up lettuce for a salad…and call it quits. Short time segments and short jobs for the little guys.

4. Accept that it will be more difficult.

When you have your kids in there helping you, just realize that it’s going to be messier, take longer and in general be more difficult than it would be if you alone were throwing the meal together. If you plan on it being perfect and blissful every time, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

5. Laugh.

Sometimes, the beaters go a little crazy in the hands of the little people…flinging batter all the way to your neighbor’s house. Sometimes flour gets flung all over…giving mom a mustache and white hair (in more ways than one). Work to teach your kids how to cook without making big messes…but learn to laugh with them when silly things happen.

6. Keep trying.

Even though it is a little hectic (a lot hectic) at times…keep pulling your kids in there. The more you cook with them…the easier it will be…and the more they’ll be learning.

7. Remember your purpose.

What is it all about anyway? We want our kids in the kitchen with us. They need to learn the art of cooking. You are making sweet memories with them. Focus on why you’re spending this time with them in the kitchen…and know that you are doing a great thing!

Now, go get those kids and bake something delicious. And then, go soak in the tub so that you can relax… (And so that you can get the honey out of your hair…how did THAT happen?!)

[tags]kids, kitchen[/tags]

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13 Things That Just Make Me Happy

March 12, 2008 by Laura 25 Comments

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1. A quilt and a good book.

2. Seeing my kids all sleeping. (not because they’re finally all quiet or anything like that…just because it’s so sweet to watch them sleeping…)

3. Seeing my kids first thing in the morning when they wake up. (See, I like it when they’re awake too.)

4. Seeing my husband walk in the door after he’s been working hard all day.

5. Chocolate Chip Brownies

6. Chocolate Pound Cake

7. Chocolate Chip Cookies

8. Alright, alright…chocolate makes me happy, okay?!

9. Cooking and baking for people. (Which I basically do all day for this household of hungry boys….I must be a REALLY happy person.)

10. Watching my boys do something just like their Daddy…it’s so sweet.

11. Having a perfectly clean house. (Well…I guess I’d better go eat some chocolate.)

12. Hearing my boys pray.

13. Reading your encouraging comments. :)

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Busted!

March 12, 2008 by Laura 2 Comments

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I am thankful to tell you that all of the snow that has fallen over the past many months…the snow that I was just sure wouldn’t melt and all go away until the year 2012…is finally almost gone. Almost.

And that, of course, is a result of some very beautiful days we’ve been having around here. (Hey, when you’re used to -3 degrees…40 degrees can feel like a heat wave…)

It even got up to 60 something yesterday.

Thank you God!!!

So now, what do you think we’ve alllll wanted to do lately since the sun is shining down some warmth on us for the first time in many days?

Go outside and play of course!!

The boys have been LOVING it.

I even let them dig a hole or two and create a golf course in the yard. Four Tiger Woodses out there…hollering things like, “Triple Birdie!” and “Double Bogie!” (It’s really cute coming out of the three year old Tiger.)

But, with months of accumulated snow…and all the meltage…what do you think their shoes are like when they come in the house?

Yep. Caked on mud messes.

I spent a LOT of time yesterday sweeping up mud clods off the hard wood, scrubbing out mud smears in the rugs, and freaking out when yet another boy would come running into the house to get a drink with his muddy shoes still on his feet.

So, after all the boys were un-shoed and cleaned up and in their jammies last night and I had swept and vacuumed one more time….

We were sitting down for prayer time in the living room.

And I looked down on the rug…and there was dirt and mud again!!!

My hands went to my hips and my eyebrows rose and my voice got high pitched and I said, “WHO got MORE mud all over the rug AGAIN?!?!?”

And everyone looked at each other and at each other’s feet…

And the only one still wearing shoes for the night was…

Me.

Ah, man. You’ve gotta be kidding me.

Yep, it was me alright.

What are you gonna do…but laugh with the family…

And go get out the vacuum.

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Kids in the Kitchen, Pt. 3: The Little Guys

March 12, 2008 by Laura 3 Comments

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As my kids have grown, I have been excited about what they can do in the kitchen! My two oldest (8 and 10) can do quite a bit…even carefully using knives, the stove and the oven. Over the next few days, I’ll talk more about some of the things I’m teaching them…

But today, I’m going to talk about the little guys in the kitchen.

(And little gals too of course…I just only have guys at my house…) :)

Everytime my husband is in the kitchen when our littlest guys (3 and 6) are helping me…he is amazed at what they know. He often says, “I didn’t even know the difference between flour and sugar when I was their age…I can’t believe they know what baking soda and arrowroot powder and salt and cinnamon and buttermilk and cocoa and…”

The boys have been pulling up chairs (and often hopping right onto the countertop) to help from the time they could push a chair.

Mostly at this age…they are just learning the basics of measuring and stirring…cracking eggs…

And making extra messes…

So in some ways…it feels like more work to have them help me (more on that tomorrow!)…

But the things they are learning are so valuable…and by the time they are 8 and 10…I can turn them loose!

In the meantime…I’ll just keep talking “kitchen lingo” to the little guys…so that they learn one ingredient from another…so that they learn a teaspoon from a tablespoon…so that they know where Mama keeps the mixing bowls…so that they appreciate the hard work it takes to prepare food.

They love being included…and for me to say at dinner, “Daddy…Elias whipped the cream for the fruit salad all by himself. And Malachi washed the apples.”

Remember…don’t underestimate your kids in the kitchen! It is amazing what these little guys can learn to do!

Here’s a list of some of the things my 3 and 6 year old do for me:

1. Set the table
2. Wash fruit
3. Crush graham crackers for a crust
4. Whip cream with beaters

5. Clean out the dishwasher
6. “Paint” butter onto bread with a pastry brush.

7. Stir, pour, measure, count cups of flour, crack eggs.
8. Roll out tortillas (sort of!)

My six year old can make sandwiches and tortilla wraps…but I didn’t add it to the list…because my three year old can’t do those quite yet!

Those are a few ideas of things that work for me with my little guys in the kitchen.

Tomorrow, I’ll cover the topic of how CRAZY it can be in the kitchen with lots of little hands helping… (Not that any of you struggle with that problem or anything…because it’s really probably only my kids who make lots of messes and make cooking take forever sometimes and who allllll want the same spoon at the same time…)

Maybe you could just come back and read it…just to humor me? :)

[tags]kids, kitchen[/tags]

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Gratituesday: So Much Stuff

March 11, 2008 by Laura 5 Comments

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When people are cleaning out their stuff….and they come across toys and such that little boys would like….who do you think they often think of to give it to?

Yep…our family is often the first to come to mind when folks think of little boys.

We have been the blessed recipients of many wonderful toys…and even more wonderful clothes! It’s always fun to be handed a box or a bag to go through.

Recently however…I feel like I have stuff coming out of the woodwork…bulging out of the cabinets….overflowing the drawers…rising like bread dough out of the toybox(es).

And the overflow has made it’s way onto my kitchen floor for me to trip over and kick when I’m trying to cook…and onto the living room furniture when I’m trying to read Geography to the boys….and onto my computer desk when I’m trying to blog!! Now that’s where I have to draw the line!

So last weekend we started to clean out stuff…keeping only the toys and books that we truly love and play with often. (And by “we” I’m talking about the “we” who play with light sabers and legos and action figures and balls every single moment that is available.)

Thankfully, the boys kind of got excited about this project and got into “clean out mode” like Mama was!

And clean out we did! I carted box after box to our basement for our next yard sale.

After box…after box…

Shew! It felt so good!

So this Gratituesday….

I’m very thankful to have more stuff cleared out of our lives so that we can more easily keep our house clean.

I’m thankful to be so blessed that we rarely have to buy a toy or piece of clothing because others are generous enough to share with us.

And I’m very thankful to be so blessed that I actually have to teach my boys to “pick and choose” their favorite toys to keep.

We truly live a life of abundance.

What are you grateful for this Gratituesday?

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Kids in the Kitchen, Pt. 2: Don’t Underestimate Your Kids!

March 11, 2008 by Laura 8 Comments

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My friend Anne has a husband, two daughters and a cow.

(The cow is relevant information…stay tuned.)

Anne is doing an excellent job teaching her kids in the kitchen. I am constantly amazed at what they are already capapble of.

One day, they were preparing dinner for company…and Anne realized that it was time to go milk the cow. (see?)

They had everything out and ready to put a lasagna together (including ingredients for homemade lasagna noodles)…

So she looked at her then eight year old and said, “Hannah…you’ll have to finish making this lasagna. Just put it into the oven when you’re done…and then turn on the oven so that you don’t burn yourself.”

And then Anne went out to milk the cow.

And when she came back into the house…she smelled lasagna baking.

Hannah knew how to put a lasagna together (using homemade noodles), all by herself… when she was eight!

So here is my point and my tip for today:

Don’t underestimate what your kids are capable of in the kitchen!

They can learn anything you teach them to do!

Get them in there and love your time together teaching and training!

For the next several days, I’ll continue to write about what to do with the kids in your kitchen!

I’ll cover topics like:

Little guys in the kitchen
Simple things for your kids to make
Teaching your kids about healthy eating
Kids cleaning up the kitchen
Kids helping with menu planning
More!

I’d love to hear your questions and ideas about your kids in the kitchen!

Kids in the Kitchen, Pt. 1

More Kitchen Tip Tuesday…

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Silliest Guy Ever

March 10, 2008 by Laura 6 Comments

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Today, when Malachi went out to play…he grabbed a fleece John Deere hat and stuck it on. No coat. No gloves. It’s not even really cold. But, he had to have that hat.

And I had to have that picture!

This is the guy who, when he flushes the potty and it doesn’t work ’cause he doesn’t hold the flusher down long enough…says, “Oh, I think it needs a new battery.”

This is the guy who, when he finishes his turn with prayer time and gets to tag someone else, says, “I pick Mommy! ‘Cause he’s my best friend!” (Poor kid…he rarely hears female pronouns around here…)

This is the guy who adds an extra “r” to most of his words…so he says things like, “Oh, gurd job Daddy! Can you read me a burk now?”

This is the guy who stands up on a chair with his microphone in his hands and sings “Jesus Loves Me” at the top of his lungs until his neck veins are bulging out. Then he gets down and reverently says, “Okay, now let’s prayer.”

This is the guy who, when he got up from his bed at naptime today when he wasn’t supposed to, gave this reason, “Mama! We forgot to do my reading lesson!” (Uh-huh…and of course I said, “No, remember, we did it right after we finished your Algebra…”)

Yes, this is the guy who makes us all laugh a lot…

The guy who, at the end of the day says to me, “Gurd night, Mama. You’re the best guy ever!”

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