Aargh, matie!

Last weekend, Tim and I took our boys up to Olympia to watch Tumwater Highschool's production of The Pirates of Penzance.  Tim's sister, Joann, directed marvelously directed the first play that Beniah watched. We got there a couple hours early, which allowed Beniah to have some piano playing time.  With all of his piano interest, I am seeing lessons in our future.

I am happy to say that his "first" lesson from my mom on how to play the piano (with your fingertips, not the palm of the hand) stuck.

We then went to the school to get Elijah used to his play area and the horde of baby-ogling sitters.

We then went to our second row seats (it's good to know the director) with an excited, but slightly intimidated boy.

 

Thankfully, the cousins were in the row behind us and helped ease the discomfort of the unknown. Another bonus of having them sit behind us, was that Donny played with my hair for a good five minutes during the play. I'll take whatever playing with hair time I can get!

 

Beniah was really good during the play and was amazed at the "life threatening stunts" that the actors pulled. For instance, the pirate king sat on a person who was pretending to be a box! Beniah let out a loud, "Woah!" at that point. He was also enthralled with the stage that wrapped around the orchestra box so that the actors were a couple feet in front of us.  Beniah wanted to get as close to the action as he could. So, he stood up and put his head between the two ladies in front of us. They were good sports and even smiled at him when he started whispering about pirates and dancing policemen.

Let's Ride, Brother!

It’s not what you ride, it’s your attitude that it counts. ~ Anonymous 

 Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death. ~Hunter Thompson

 

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. ~ Alexei Sayle

 

Sorry!

     Growing up, I was always so excited to visit my aunt and uncle's place.  They used to live in this wonderful little farmhouse that had a forest on one end of the property that was haunted (at least that's what my sister and cousins said) and on the other side of the property, a barn that housed a zillion cats. Inside the house, there were stairs that were perfect for bumping down and a large play area between the two upstairs bedrooms. Best of all (in my mind at least) were the board games. My cousins owned the best board game of all time, Sorry! From the moment we got there, I would be begging my cousins to play Sorry with me. I usually got my way because I was the youngest of the bunch and the adults were probably thinking, "For the love of everything good and holy, make this kid stop whining!" 

     A couple of weeks ago, my niece and nephew came over for a visit and my mother in law brought out her Sorry game. I was in nostalgia heaven.  Beniah loved playing with his cousins (even if he didn't quite get the rules).

Life is Like a Piano

 Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach

Life is like a piano... What you get out of it depends on how you play it. ~Author Unknown

The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air. ~Kennteh Miller

Music is well said to be the speech of angels. ~Thomas Carlyle, Essays, "The Opera"

 Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. ~Confucius

 

The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic. ~Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. ~Johann Sebastian Bach

Fun With Cousins

 For the past few months, my niece and nephews have come over to play while their Mama was at work. With five children under the age of five, every sunny day is a huge blessing from God!

The boys find various items to play with outside. For instance, Donny and Beniah found some feathers that are NOT leaves.

 Evie is just her sweet self and lets me take all the photos of her that I want.

 Elijah just wants to keep up with the big boys and gets frustrated when he can't keep his balance on the uneven ground.

Today, the five kids are together again and the sun is shining. I think that the yard will be calling us after lunch.

Oh Happy Day!

The greatest day in history, Death is beaten
You have rescued me
Sing it out Jesus is alive
The empty cross, The empty grave
Life eternal You have won the day
Shout it out Jesus is alive
He's alive

Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Today, we celebrated Easter with some friends from our church.

Elijah had a blast playing with his cute little friend, Olivia (who is 4 days older and 10 pounds lighter than him).

Then came the Easter egg hunt. When Beniah first started out gathering eggs, he by passed two pink eggs and a yellow egg for a blue egg that was toward the back of the yard. His obsession with blue knows no bounds!

 Elijah even found a couple of eggs on the picnic table.

By the end of the day, we were happy, tired, and (for some of us) totally sick of getting pictures taken!

I love the fast shutter speeds!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

When I stand, in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am Yours Jesus You are mine
Endless joy, perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate Jesus is alive
He's alive
 

 Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious way
That You have saved me
Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious name

  Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away

 Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Happy Day song lyrics by Tim Hughes and Ben Cantelon

Pumpkin Bread - The Cancer Fighting Superhero!

Did you know that Pumpkin is supposedly a cancer fighting agent? According to foodandlife.com it is one of the top cancer fighting foods. So, if I happen to hand out something made with pumpkin (or a bag of frozen pumpkin), know that it is because I care about you and definitely not because I have 12 bags of cooked pumpkin in my freezer and one can eat only so much pumpkin!

 Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping.

Streusel Topping Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup butter , softened 

Mix all ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

Bread Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Top with Streusel Topping 
4.  Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Photographer in the Making

For the past couple of days, I have been playing around with my new camera (much to the annoyance of my picture hating husband). Beniah has been wanting in on the action, so he has been grabbing his pretend camera and having us pose for him. Tim loves this game so much!

Say Cheese!

A couple of days ago, the kind UPS driver dropped off a package for me. In it was a beautiful new digital SLR camera. I was so excited about it that I halfway ignored my kids (notice the pajama clad Beniah? Yeah, it was 1 pm.) and I prepped my camera for use. Beniah wanted a camera like mine, so I whipped up one made out of bubble wrap, masking tape, packing peanuts, and cheesecloth.

The pictures are so clear!

The shutter is so fast!

I have a new love!

Et Tu, Brute?

“Beware the ides of March.”  - William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (Act 1 Scene 2)

I should have taken heed. Yesterday, I was greeted with this in the mail.

I have to admit that I am a little excited about my first jury summons. If selected, I will have to drive north and get a hotel room and have at least one night of uninterrupted sleep! I might even be able to catch up on some picture editing and ordering since there won't be any little voices saying, "Mama, Elijah is touching me!"  But then again, I won't be able to get goodnight hugs and kisses from my boys and hear Beniah say, "I love you, Mama!"

O! that a man might know
The end of this day's business, ere it come;
But it sufficeth that the day will end,
And then the end is known. 

- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (Act 5 Scene 1) 

The Ol' Bag Lady

This past month, my sewing machine has been putting on a lot of miles...er...stitches. So far, my favorite has been all for me! I found a messenger bag pattern online at ocd: obsessive craft disorder and decided to put my fears behind me and sew myself a new, durable, large purse. Why do I kid myself? It's just going to end up being a toy carrier. However, it will be a cute toy carrier! A word to the wise. If you have children under the age of 5 this project will take FOREVER! It took me four days of naps and evenings to cut, pin, sew, by sewing notions, take back too small sewing notion, and buy the correct sized sewing notion.  I am now done and very happy with the results.

Now that I am out of my crafting trance, I see a kitchen and a bathroom that is pleading for a good scrub down.

Pi Day!

   Happy Pi Day! This is the day that math nerds unite and celebrate the irrational number, pi. 

 

To commemorate this special day, I usually bake a pie. After much debate, I decided that not only will I celebrate the number pi, I will also give a shameless plug to my Aunt Nancy's book, More Than The Meal.  

  (Being sold for only $10. Please make your checks or money orders to Nancy Luse.)

Here is a pie recipe directly from my aunt's amazing book.

Lori's Peanut butter Pie

1 baked 9" Pie Shell
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Peanut butter
3/4 cup sifted confectionery sugar

Blend sugar and peanut butter until mealy. Sprinkle in shell.

Filling:

1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups scalded milk
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a double boiler or heavy saucepan. Stir in milk and cook, stirring until thick. Pour some of the mixture into the yolks to temper them so they don't turn to scrambled eggs. Pour into the rest of the mixture in the pan, cooking for several minutes. Add butter and vanilla. Pour into shell. Chill. 

Whipped Topping:
1/2 pint Heavy whipping cream


Whip heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  Mound over the top of the pie. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup peanuts and drizzle chocolate sauce to your liking.

Since my mother in law and I are both Chocolate Peanut butter addicts fans, I raided her cupboards and pulled out her chocolate chips and mixed them with the peanut butter on the bottom of the pie shell. I also warmed up some peanut butter to drizzle over the whipped topping and then sprinkled mini chocolate chips on the top.

Have a wonderful Pi day! May all your math equations be answered quickly and correctly (and my aunt's book sales soar)!

The Flight of the Whittakers Part 3

On Sunday morning, we decided to visit Sovereign Grace Orange County, which is another church in our denomination. Tim and I were humored when they announced that there was going to be a picnic at a local park. They also mentioned that they usually take a break in December and January because of rain.  We later found out that rain to Southern Californians meant drizzle. Us, Pacific Northwesters, just smiled at their description of rain.


The church parking lot had 2 small palm trees that were the perfect Beniah and Elijah size.

After naptime, we went over to my Grandparents place and visited for awhile.

My Grandpa prayed a blessing over Elijah.

 

Beniah enjoyed looking at Great Grandma's cockatiel.

Then it was time to say goodbye.

The next morning, we got into our rental car for the last time and drove to the airport.

We were running a bit late, but that ended up being a good thing. The only three seats that were next to each other were in row three. We were able to be in the "first class" row without paying extra for it! We also didn't have to wait very long before we boarded the plane. I have to admit that I was stressing out a bit, but it worked out wonderfully.

Elijah flirted with the row behind us. It seemed to make them more sympathetic when he burst into hysterical tears part way through the flight.

 

I am so glad that we were able to fly down and see my grandparents. It was definitely a memorable trip that I will always cherish.