Roasting Marshmallows and BONFIRES!

Sorry,no pictures today. This here blogger and her family (read especially baby) are fighting warm weather colds.Said baby has just puked all over her blogging mama. Not conducive to a lengthy post,I say.
One teeny portion of our lives these days since Lee is back is a nightly "bonfire"(tiny). Today we went grocery shopping.Guess what small fry associate fires with? Yep,marshmallows!

And my tip tonight is that going to the work of a fire pays off because Daddy and Mommy can actually sit and discuss adult topics together without being interrupted overly much. Just watch out for the fire experiments.I do let my son take my lovely candles out to light them using a flaming stick. Hopefully it will leave him with good memories of Mom when he's grown.

And now,good-night. Gotta clean the puke and join my tribe outside.
Marcella

He's Baaack!

Lee got home from a three week trip! We are overjoyed to have him home and are doing lots of talking and enjoying him. Here we are one of the first things this morning.

Ciao! Marcella

I am Superglue Mama

I'm not sure how I managed to get by for so many years without Superglue.But it has now become a depended upon fixture in my mama bag of tricks. Broke the tail off your toy tiger? No prob,my son! The toy truck you got for birthday broke already? Well,I shall permanently attach the tank to the toy truck's bed in that case. A hairbrush,a holey,wooden apple with a string attached to a green worm, and so on are on my achievement list.
I do have one Superglue failure to tell too. I tried Supergluing Wrenbird's baby footprint card into the front of her baby journal and the glue bled through the cardstock type material,messing up a lovely keepsake.(Fortunately I had copies,but it was my best copy.)
But usually my bottle of Superglue is one handy-dandy thing to have,especially for mothers in my opinion.
On other fronts,I am overwhelmed with Romaine lettuce,spinach and radishes.Luckily I have hungry -for-salad-greens friends. Swiss chard,peas,summer squash,kale all are coming close behind. I snagged two yellow? cherry tomato plants for a dollar,zucchini and nasturtiums on Saturday at the local farmers market. I am abounding in parsley,cilantro,thyme and little onions.Mint too. I wish the strawberries were abounding also but the children are keeping those well picked after.
And now I am off to research freezing spinach,and yes,a big crop of broccoli. And probably nurse a hungry baby . Hasta Luego!

A Creative God

It amazes me how much detail God put into flowers.He made scented and scentless. Petals of many sizes.Different shapes and textures from the furry dandelion to the triangular points of the tulips.Delicately painted ones to breathtakingly bright.
The same God who took care to create such beauty also created mind-bogglingly huge things.The sun with its intense heat that no man,in my knowledge,desires to go to it, the planets, the ocean deeps,oh so many things!
And God cares for us.He has the hairs on our heads counted.
He is truly an Abba Father.

May God be real to you today! Marcella

Guest Post by Jess

Q. Why do you love Wrenbird? A. ' Cause she sweet.

We play with her.We hold her and that's fun,but sometimes it's not fun because she screams and stuff. I don't like it very much when she screams. When she cries and stuff it's very boring. And this little baby in the picture is my best friend. So she usually stays in her little chair but sometimes she goes in her playpen.And sometimes we just go and play outside while Mama takes care of her. We play strawberry people and we eat all the strawberries that are ripe. The End. Jess

Drawing with My Little Boys

Some evenings are rough.One teething baby,one three year old and two energetic little boys. Think racing across living room,up the couch,hitting the wall with a satisfying thump(I imagine) and oh.the noise that accompanies this.Never mind that this is the time of day Mama's nerves are starting to wear a bit thin and she's tired,with a substantial list of to-dos before she can relax.

Well,the other night drawing seemed to calm little people down almost as well as baths! If I remember properly it took a bit of time to get into it but all in all it did go well.

I set a impatiens flower on the table but it seemed I was the only one using it. One boy pulled an old drawing of theirs off the wall and used that. And I think some of the art was pulled straight out of their heads.My blog link list has the creative Soulemama on it who has given me some great inspiration on drawing with children.And I can hardly wait to get my hands on her book that just came out. Another resource I really like is The Crafty Crowhttp://www.belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/.

Jess working on his bird.

Alex.

Finished Masterpiece!

Happy drawing and creating.May your day go well. Marcella

Prayer amidst daily life...

Prayer can be-the soaring of my soul to words and music expressing the exact thoughts of my heart to our Abba Father.

Prayer can be--a quick thought shot toward heaven.

Prayer can be-capturing words from a brother's heart and begging God to bear witness for always of that thought in your heart.

Prayer can be--profound thankfulness.

Prayer can be despairing yet full of trust.

Prayer can be a question,asked in wonder,pain.

Prayer Is a direct line Home. The Ultimate Parent is at the other end.

What is prayer to you?
Marcella

The Art Table(and yogurt cup recycling)...

Art isn't confined to the art table in our house.But it's very nice to have the supplies together in one place at least.It's the springboard ,if you will,for many projects.The only things I don't have here are the paint collection(surrounded by carpet,the table is) and paintbrushes and our collections of "recycle stuff" also known as trash in many households such as cereal boxes , oatmeal cans, an old stuffed animal to reuse the stuffing from-you get the picture. Closets have some strange contents around here.But can anyone relate to the frustration of wanting to do a craft and finding that one has at least one item missing from just about every project in the book?

Anyway,I buy packs of copy paper for our paper supply and keep a wide plastic bin under the table for all those finished pieces the children so often want to save.It works fabulously.

Recently I was at a yard sale where the seller told us we could fill a bag for a dollar from a box of assorted McD toys(I know,I detest them too,my sons have an attraction) and other little things.In the box were packs and packs of brand new Staples 2 hb pencils.Check off pencils as a want for art table

Prismacolor pencils. I picked up some Verithins when Michaels had a 50 percent off coupon I believe.Recently I used a 40 percent off coupon on one of their regular Prismacolors which they sell individually or by the tin. These pencils are super expensive but oh,so worth it!

We were given and found a lot of markers of all types which I organized into tall yogurt containers which I painted with acrylic paints.You can get little bottles of acrylic paint at Wal-Mart for around50 cents. Black covers the lettering on the cups really well and looks rather elegant but other colors are fine too.Maybe don't cover as well.So these containers hold lots of art supplies in an easily "seeable" and accessable fashion.

Crayons-we don't have a fancy storage system for these.Just a crayon box for these.The Crayola Twistables I believe are absolutely wonderful in the non-breaking department as long as your little one doesn't twist the tip out too far.

Popsicle or craft sticks and Tacky glue plus boys equals lots of fun!

Scotch tape-keep plenty around.It's usually worth it to invest in fairly good quality as it tears off much easier so they don't end up with a wasted strip of twisted tape that wouldn't come off the roll easily as the cheapo ones tend to do. Badly written,I know.

And for 50 cents I found something I really wanted to play with myself too.Staedtler watercolor pencils. The watercolors pencils I've seen advertised are usually pricey so I was delighted to find an almost full tin of these in a box at a yard sale recently. Now that I've tried them I can see how they would be worth shelling some pennies out for!

Well,I could probably rattle on but I have hungry small people waiting for a pot of oatmeal.

Until later,Marcella

Strawberries

Berries are some of my very favorite foods.Raspberries being at the very top of the berry list but strawberries coming close behind.The richness of their colors,the juice,the flavor.I enjoy all the aspects of these little fruits. Strawberry recipes saved here and there,just waiting for the season to start.And now, at last the strawberries are blushing and with a few more days of sunshine we can be adding freshly picked berries to our oatmeal in the morning.Wow! Wasn't God good to add so much lovely detail to our lives?

This cake has a rather messed up strawberry,pomegranete frosting.I know,odd mixture. I think the frosting would have to be made with only the strawberry juice perhaps? Maybe skip the fruit addition? I'll have to keep experimenting.

So eat strawberries while they're in season. They're yummy,good for you(rich in iron I believe) and the season is all too short!

Marcella

Mother's Day Joy

Wooden flowers,Bath and Body Works hand soaps from our friend C , being served(served!) cake and cookies and lemonade-they were great gifts. And best of all-here below are 4 small humans that bestow on on me the title of Mommy.Rejoice with me! (And yes,I know I am late in reporting on Mother's Day. It just worked out that way!)

"WrenBird"

"Jess"

" Alex"

"Chelsea"

Well, I hosted our fellowship's ladies meeting last night and did late night visiting with my cousin before she (and the Canon) took off. So this is it for today. Enjoy being Mama,all you mamas out there! Marcella

Efficiency Rate on Mondays

Efficiency on Monday??? Not so good.


But we do get a few things done. At least sometimes. We had lots of radishes around that I was at a loss to know what to do with. Well, I remembered seeing something about Supercook online somewhere.http://www.supercook.com to the rescue!!! So today I took the cream cheese I picked up at the store over the weekend and mixed it with finely chopped radishes.Then I thought to make it even better and add minced garlic. This was not Supercook's idea,I don't believe. But tweak recipes,I do. It was good too.
Tonight,I gave the white,whole wheat flour its test run. It debuted in a double batch of pizza dough.It was lovely though maybe a bit "mushier" than I'm used to. I stuck some in the fridge for pizza tomorrow and used the other half to make an easy focaccia recipe I tore out of the back of Parents magazine.It came out good except I somehow missed the part about the shredded Parmesan so we had a rather powdery concoction. A bit embarrassing. Not that I would have used shredded P cheese anyway....
In case you're wondering why I get Parents magazine I found out about a free offer through http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ magazine.I do snag some good ideas from the magazine.I should bring them here for show and tell.
Well,there were a few more achievements to the day and a couple visitors and a nap that happened today but nothing momentous.So,in the interest of having a productive Tuesday I will sign off.
Marcella

In Memory of a Wonderful Mom

These pansies on my front porch remind me so much of Lee's Mom. She had 12 children and was a very giving person in many ways. One day she sheepishly showed me some pansies she'd bought. It was unusual for her to buy flowers. But I was not very surprised either.She was getting up in years and I figured if she wanted pansies,then she should have them. But she was sheepish about splurging. I can still remember how those pansies flourished and how she and I shared a co-conspirators delight in them. Now she has long since passed on.I have long since moved far far away. But the memories of her live on in my heart and are especially vivid when I look at these pansies on my front porch.

The two grandaughters Lee's mama never saw.But I tend to suspect she picked them out special in heaven for us. And Mom,if you're reading this,you're special too! Happy Mother's Day!

Until Later,Marcella

Baking in Tin Cans

Bread baking has intrigued me for a long time.As a young girl I got my hands on a cookbook of bread recipes.How I delighted making things like fresh bread sticks and loaves of bread. Potato rolls and zucchini bread were also on the menu. My,I was into the zucchini bread for a while...I even remember the name-Sherry's Zucchini Bread,I believe. Even before I owned my own home I hated to see food go to waste and so I would rescue the poor unwanted zucchini!

Time has passed. I no longer have hours of free time on my hands.Lee likes making bread for the household-of the no-knead variety. I am very grateful for this bread,created lovingly by my sweetie,with interesting touches,such as pumpkin seeds. But sometimes I wouldn't mind playing around with gourmet breads and interesting shapes. Well,having my cousin here has helped get a few extra projects done.So here's carrot-coconut bread baked in tin cans.The interesting shape part happened.Now I'd like to mess with a carrot ginger and chocolate chip bread. I'm not sure if any recipe exists for this.Probably. If not I'll have to create one. That would increase the fun I'm sure.
And if that flops maybe I should pull that sourdough bread cookbook off the shelf and start dabbling in that.That's another baking skill I wouldn't mind aquiring.
And now I should head to bed so I can rise at a decent hour and harvest spinach for the quiche my cousin is planning to make for the fellowship supper tomorrow night.It's so nice all I have to do is pick and clean the spinach! I could get used to this live-in help buisness!
Hasta Luego! Marcella

Trees and Ducklings

This little,bitty tree here was gifted to me recently and has a world of significance to my heart.It represents a whole other lifestyle of living as an expatriate in faroff,sunny(and rainy) places.It's a represents a piece of the story of my life so far.Grow on little tree! Let's see where the new "puzzle" pieces go together.

Last fall you saw a picture of a lit dam in this same park.We are creating memories here at this little park.We came the night WrenBird was on her way.And on Chelsea's third birthday. And other,less momentous days. And now we welcome spring here.And ducklings too,with lots of tiny pieces of bread,torn carefully by Jesse. Jesse is slowly growing a bit more out of my arms.He ventures to stay alone feeding ducks even when we are across the big lawn,grabbing a camera and tending his little siblings.He's steadying,is my firstborn.There are new sides emerging.I must breathe deeply,savoring this good time.He still doesn't entirely want to venture completely away from my care yet.But,I must have the faith to let him explore a bit just as Mama Duck lets her ducklings out enough to taste the bread my little son brings them. She still gets to tuck them under her wings at night.As do I. aMEN.
So lovely..........

My cousin is visiting-there should be high quality photos appearing here soon,thanks to the Canon! Hers,not mine.:)

Marcella

Garden Harvest

Radishes,spinach,onions,cilantro and basil are on the menu from the garden now. As is cold mint tea from the yard. So refreshing to have more variety in the menu and healthier too.
This is a late night post but hopefully my life will be back in a bit of a more usual routine in the next few days! So there should be more regularity in blog posts too.(Well,part of the reason for not posting was not having pictures downloaded!) But,I was also very well occupied! Numerous visitors,yard sales, gardening,mountains of laundry-it all just runs together into a list too big to mention. So I won't try to detail.I'll try to focus on calm and peacefulness!
Hasta manana!,Lord willing.
Marcella