Quick Quote - September 2008

Bennett threw open the pantry doors and said...

"All right cookies. Come to papa!"

Attack of the Ginormous Zucchinis

Greg says I can only plant one zucchini plant next year instead of three. But, where's the fun in that?

I shredded at least 20 cups of zucchini in my food processor. (And I still have one zucchini in my fridge.)

Thankfully, Connie Evans gave me a great recipe for Zucchini Bread which is super yummy. Melissa posted it on her food blog. You can check it out here. Most of us love the recipe with chocolate chips the best. (I haven't tried it with cocoa yet.) I can get two loaves out of each batch and I always make sure one doesn't have chocolate chips in it for Lowden (who doesn't like chocolate).

The recipe calls for 2 cups of shredded zucchini so I put each 2 cup portion in a freezer bag for when we make it next.

I'm pretty sure we will be making zucchini bread all winter long!☺

Summer Chapter 2 - Days at the Lake

One of our favorite family activities this summer was taking the boat to the lake. It's great to be all together and enjoy some sun. All of us love it! We load the cooler with ice and drinks. Make sandwiches. Add some snacks. Then, off we go.

We love getting the noodles out to swim with and blowing water through them at each other.

The kids really enjoyed the Hulkster!

We took turns holding the safety flag.

Parker got brave and tried the knee board.

Look at him go! He was a little nervous but braved it out so well! We were all so excited for him!

And we was grinning ear to ear!

Lowden was encouraged by Parker's enthusiasm for it and got up as well!

At sunset, our favorite things is to eat our snacks, turn on some music, and just relax!

We can't wait to go again next summer!

Back to School

Yesterday was the first day of school for Lowden, Parker, and Lauren.  The summer was great (I have lots of catch-up blog posts to do on it) but it's kind of sad that it had to end.  I am happy to report that we had no major trauma this summer.  That was one of my goals this summer.  It's nice to send Parker to school this year without having to worry about him bumping his head (which he wasn't allowed to do for 6 weeks after his craniotomy last summer).  Yesterday, I saw the school nurse and let her know we survived the summer injury-free.  She was happy to hear it! ☺ I also told her she should call me sometime just to "chat" since usually when she calls it always to involve sickness or injury.  LOL.

Lowden is starting fifth grade this year.  Although he claims not to be happy about starting again, I know he secretly is.  Last summer his reading total was 11,603 pages.  He beat that total this summer by reading 14,424 pages!  He is hoping to participate in the Oregon Battle of the Books this year which his school is participating in.  He finished all but 2 of the books for the 3rd through 5th grade division list so far.  Other books he enjoyed this summer were the Hardy Boys books (1-17), the Pendragon series, the Artemis Fowl series, quite a few by author Gordon Korman, and he reread a few old favorites like Hatchet and others.  I am really happy that he has a love for reading.  Yesterday, he biked off to school far ahead the rest of us, reminding me how independent he truly is becoming. 

Parker still wanted to walk with me yesterday which made me happy.  He was excited to get a teacher this year who is as excited about sports as he is.  He was happy to have friends in his fourth grade class this year who he hasn't been together with for a few years.  Parker got more of the reading bug this summer.  He read 3,311 pages.  His favorite books were the Geronimo Stilton series, the Time Warp Trio series, and books by Gordon Korman like Swindle and Schooled.  (I think next summer I will give the kids a prize if they beat their page totals from this summer.)  Parker also claimed to not be "happy" about school starting but look at this face...do you believe it?

Quick Funny Story:  I went to pick the kids up from school yesterday and Parker's class was playing outside.  He ran up to me very concerned that a girl was "chasing him around and trying to hug him"!  I told him to "hug her and get it over with".  He was appalled that I said that.  Sometimes it's fun to be appalling to the kids!☺

Unlike the boys, Lauren was VERY happy to be starting school again.  The whole way there she told me what her favorite subjects were and how happy she was that Aly and Lily are in her second grade class this year.  Lauren's summer reading total was 2,331 pages.  Early on in the summer she was loving Junie B. Jones books still, but later in the summer her favorite switched to Katie Kazoo. She also enjoyed Clementine, Little Bear, Frog and Toad, and Amelia Bedelia books.  She still loves the color pink as you can see. 

I wasn't expecting to miss them so much by midday yesterday, especially after the less-than-civilized behavior they had displayed over the weekend.  But, I love these monkeys!  And, as crazy as they are at times, I am happy that they are mine!