SIX

Our 5th-born, Zane, turned 6 on February 16. He was so excited and counted down to his big day for about a month.

When it arrived, we celebrated him all day, with his choice of breakfast and gifts sprinkled throughout the day. His big one was a bike. It had training wheels, but within days his big brother, Aiden, had taught him to ride without them. The joy of older siblings!

We took him to Chuck E. Cheese, his choice, for lunch. I think you can tell by the smile on his face how excited he was.

Air hockey with Dex

Zane is our rule follower. He loves order and routines. And he really doesn't like it when we deviate from them. He also loves to play baseball and to read.

Another Sweet Sixteen

 Our 2nd son, Chase, turned 16 on February 4th. He wants to take a few friends to either paintball or bowling, but we haven't fully worked out the dates and details, so that will be later this month. On his actual birthday, he wanted me to make homemade biscuits & gravy for breakfast.

Only I don't do gravy. I do not have the patience for it. So he made his own. :) Hey, I did make the biscuits from scratch, though.

For lunch, he wanted to try Pho. We went to a place recommended by a friend. I kept it simple, but he wanted to really be adventurous and ordered the one with tripe. Even though I told him what that was.

Yeah -- it ended up on another plate. :) But at least he tried it.

That night, instead of cake, he requested fudge. Hard to get candles to stick into that!

We weren't able to go out to dinner on his actual birthday, so we went a few days later. He chose Yak & Yeti -- yum!!  

He ordered the Lamb Masala and Scott had Chicken Masala.

I had Shrimp Korma, and I think we all agree mine was the best! :) And of course we had lots and lots of Naan bread. I LOVE that stuff!

Chase's main gift was a new Ipod Touch. His old one wasn't working properly anymore and he couldn't add any new apps. His siblings bought him a case for it -- a Marvel one of course!

I'm really loving this age. He has his permit, but not his license for 6 more months. So we get to spend lots of time together and that's the way I like it. Soon enough, he'll be gone all the time -- with a job, and places to be.For now, I'm going to treasure the next 6 months.

September meal plan and recipes

I have been planning our meals a month in advance for awhile now and it works well for me. Then as I make my grocery list, I just add the ingredients for 2 weeks of meals. I plan to post them here so I can keep a record for future years and also so I can remember where I got the recipes.  :)

These are just dinners for now; I'll add breakfast, lunch and snacks another time.

• Grill Out Night (this was a holdover from our summer menus):Cheeseburgers with Hatch Chilies, Oven Fries, Cob Corn, Berry Cobbler
• Chinese Chicken Salad -- ours is very similar to this recipe, except we don't use walnuts; occasionally I'll put slivered almonds in mine but we have a nut allergy in the house.

We added a Chase Cooks night to our menus this month. He is making a different soup every Thursday.

• Chase-- Golden Potato Soup; we have tried many potato soup recipes over the years but this is the easiest and yummiest.

Golden Potato Soup                        Servings 12

Ingredients:

8 cups cubed potatoes                freshly ground pepper & salt

1 cup chopped celery                 1 1/2 Tablespoons flour

1 cup chopped onion                  4 cups whole or skim milk

2 cups water                         4 cups shredded cheese

2 cubes chicken bouillon             3 1/2 cups cooked bacon or 

3 cups chicken broth                                                         ham
3 teaspoons fresh basil or Italian                                     
   seasoning

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot, add potatoes, celery, onion, water, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, and fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until vegetables become tender.
2. In a separate bowl mix flour and milk until well blended. Add at soup mixture and cook until soup becomes thick.
3. Slowly stir in cheese a little bit at a time until cheese is melted then add bacon or ham and simmer for about 5 minutes.

• Chase -- Broccoli Cheese Soup -- this is from Ree.
• Chase -- Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Chase -- my grandma's Borscht Soup -- recipe coming in a later post
• Chipotle-style burritos, rice
• Crab Alfredo, Olive Garden Salad, French bread
• Homemade Pizza
• Nachos Grande
• Italian Layer Bake -- this was okay, not sure I'd add it to our keeper recipes
• Sausage Ratatouille -- I made this to celebrate the first day of Fall; it was super yummy!!
• Buffalo Chicken Tacos -- this has become a family favorite; we make it fairly often
• NEW recipe Queso Chicken Pasta
• Slow Cooker Barbecue Pork sandwiches, my favorite coleslaw recipe, homemade mac n cheese

Fall and Cub Scouts camp

This week flew by so fast! We had all the normal activities and added in high school bowling league for Chase and a field trip.  I also had the first meeting for my new book club. We read "Home Front" by Kristin Hannah.  I've read two other books by this author and liked them, so I looked forward to this one. I wasn't disappointed -- this was a good one.  It's about a marriage in which the husband and wife have been drifting apart. She is a helicopter pilot and when she is deployed, he is left behind to take care of their daughters. Their lives and perspectives change through the course of the book, following a couple of tragedies. I learned many things I'd never known about military families and how deeply they and their returning loved ones are affected by their experiences. I also cried through the last 3 chapters. Very well-written, moving book.

We also had a virus move through the house this week. Aiden came down with it first on the afternoon of the field trip. At first we though it was heat exhaustion, but then the next child came down with it. And the next. It has traveled through all the children now, so far sparing me and Scott. So for the majority of the week I had at least one of the kids on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. Thankfully it seemed to be quick-moving...a day or two at most.

We were so relieved that Aiden felt well enough to go camping with his Webelos troop this weekend. He had been fever-free since Wednesday night and said he felt fine, so he and Scott left on Friday and returned on Sunday. He had a great time, and Scott survived sleeping on an air mattress in a tent. :)

He got to try some new activities, like archery, b.b. shooting and rappelling.  

They also got to see a beautiful sunset and sunrise.

Chase had put an ear of corn in a squirrel feeder in the tree and it didn't take long for one of them to find it.

After church, I took the kids to a park for a little while.

As the week ends, I'm so thankful the sickness has passed and fall has begun.

Field trip to a farm

We attended a field trip with FACE this week, to a you-pick vegetable farm. All of us but Brenna, who chose to utilize the quiet house by getting a lot of schoolwork done. Good girl!

 The morning started cool, but the temperature rose quickly and we were pretty hot. We brought water but left it with the stroller instead of taking it on the wagon -- big mistake!


While we waited to board the wagons, the kids held a couple snakes they kept in tubs

On the wagons:

We picked corn, potatoes, cabbage, kohlrabi, leeks, onions,beets, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash and pumpkins.

All of the kids ate some corn, but Liam had 3 ears by himself!

After we picked the veggies and hauled them to our car, we were extremely hot, thirsty and hungry. We sat at some tables in the shade to eat lunch. At least Chase, Liam and I did.  The other three still somehow had energy to go back out in the hot sun and play.

On the way out, we stopped to pose for pictures with their collection of "Cars".

When we got home and set out all the vegetables, we realized we ended up with a lot more than we'd thought!

That night, Chase made a vegetable soup recipe from his favorite chef, Alton Brown.  We gave two bags full to a neighbor and two bags to a friend. Now we're working on what to do with the rest.  :)