Friday, September 5, 2008

Where The Wild Things Are...

Do you remember this book? I love it. It's one of my favorites. The little boy gets in trouble and gets sent to his room. He, like most children, decides to run away. He uses his imagination to transport him to "Where the Wild Things Are". My guess is that in his mom's wailing attempts to impress upon him the seriousness of what he did, she might have used the term, "wild thing". He is off on his adventures until the smell of food brings him back. His mom has made him dinner and he heads home. See how important family meals are?
I found this idea on "skip to my lou". {Sorry I can't recall if it's blogger or typepad} She had her little ones create their own monsters then she sewed them into pillows. How adorable!!!

I had to be just a tad more creative and use a sheet that we didn't need. Then in place of fabric paints we used watered down acrylic paints. It isn't the softest pillow {quite scratch actually} but the kids LOVE them. They like the idea of taking their monsters to bed instead of being scared by monsters. The older three also got a sewing lesson out of it. Yes, Troy made a pillow. However he disappeared when my camera came out. His pillow was a grousome football player.
My two youngest enjoyed this craft the most. I remember in kindergarten loving to paint, but we only got to paint once. Everyday I wondered if today would be the day we got to paint again. It never came. It's amazing how quiet the house was for such a sustainable amount of time with paint brushes in these guys hands.

I need to get Troy into this blog somehow.
Landon just crashed on him the other day. How adorable is this? The beginning and the end. My oldest and the youngest.
Isn't this plant the cutest little thing? It came with a pink and white striped bag {everything here in Costa Rica comes in this bag}. I bought it at the farmers market and carried it all the way home. If I blurred my vision and pretended the humidity away, I felt like I was in a Venician city carrying home my treasures from the local market.
I bought this plant to remind me of my treasures, my friends. I was so happy walking home imagining how I would nurture it and watch my "friendship" plant grow. Oh, I had such great plans.

Then I went in to take a quick shower, came out and found my plant stripped of almost all it's glory! Who would do such a thing? Who would be such a monster?

It was Paige and Aiden. They were having fun making snow with the delicate petals. Let's just say I didn't handle the situation so well. I have a friend who is having a tough time right now. I specifically thought of her as I bought it. Now it has been destroyed and mangled and I wasn't there to protect {her} it. I really didn't get mommy points on how I handled this one.

Now I am happy to say that with a little LOVE and care, my friendship plant is even better than before. She has more blooms, more leaves and is a bright green. She has weathered the "storm" of an 8 and 4 year old and is stronger because of it.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Cowabunga!!!

I have to post another "back to school" recipe. This is so EASY, really. The original name was "creepy crawlers" but I've decided it was named incorrectly. Besides, most of my friends wouldn't even try it with a name like that. Then I do have a few friends that would try it because of it's name. So, I guess you can choose your "title". The best way to describe this dish is a thick crepe. It literally climbs up out of the 13x9 pan. The kids will like to watch it grow in the oven. It looks more like high ocean waves to me. {that's why it deserved a proper name}
We spread butter and syrup or powdered sugar on it. You can spread cream cheese and top with fruit if you'd like. Yummy!
Creepy Crawlers breakfast

This is a fun recipe for the kids. It actually crawls up the side of the pan.
The kids will sit in front of my oven for the entire 20 minutes just to watch it crawl!



6 eggs

1 C. flour

1 C. milk

1/2 tsp. salt



Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in a 9x13 pan. Pour batter over butter. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Serve with strawberries and cool whip or syrup.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

My First Women's Meeting...

As you know I've been trying to attend the area's bi-lingual women's group meeting for 4 months now. I finally did it. Every month something came up, Wes couldn't watch the kids, I didn't remember until the afternoon of the meeting day and then they were off for 2 months. Last week, I made it. It was just what the Dr. ordered. I sat at a table with 30 or so other women, mostly gringos mixed with tico's. Most of the women were business women sprinkled with a few of us stay at home moms. It was glorious. They had a couple who wrote a Costa Rican travel guide speak to us. {Great book I'd highly recommend. Talks more about the quaint hotels, eco lodges and Bed and Breakfasts instead of the huge corporate hotels.} Sleeping with Tucans.
I was able to meet so many influencial women that have done great things for this community. Procuring 2 logo jobs was also a nice feature. Another added bonus. I'm designing the logo for the "Central Pacific Women's Group". It doesn't get much better than this!
On top of that experience I got to tag along with Rusti to a baby shower. It seems like friends are flocking into my Costa Rican world. This has made all the difference for me. I have yet to make the life long friends that I have at home in the states, but I really can't complain.
Something I learned, at Costa Rican baby showers they toast the baby on the way using egg nog. The egg nog has extra additives that you wouldn't expect at a baby shower. Hummmm.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Exploding Box...

I thought this was an interesting subject for a post. Don't worry we didn't have a box explode as far as I know. The kids are at home with my sweetie and who knows what's happening there.

I just wanted to share with you the coolest thing my friend Nikk made. The exploding box. Check it out here . It's a great "inexpensive" Christmas gift. You can purchase directions here Now isn't that the most adorable thing you've seen in awhile.

I have to tell you a little about my friend Nikkole. I went to high school with her. She was the one with the car we would all hitch a ride to lunch. {We had an open campus back in the olden days} Later, I stayed with her for a little while in San Diego and learned there were more independent options for me. {Sorry Nikk that I wasn't a better room mate for the 2 weeks I stayed with you} I've always felt bad about that.

I took my first road trip with her and thought about jumping out the window if I heard one more country song. I survived however and now force that music on my munchkins. That road trip changed my young life in so many ways.
I remember her fingernails were always beautifully painted. They {her fingers} were of course her tools she used to create art and an ARTIST she was. I can see even now how carefully she would use a pen to address a letter just PERFECTLY. It's been great to see her still able to continue to develop her artistic talent as she mothers and wifes. {You know what I meant, right?} So check out here stuff. It's awesome.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Do Hard Things...


This is my theme for the year. Maybe the following year also. I got this idea from Christy at www.everythingispink.com She started picking a theme word for her year to help her better herself. I think last year was "stretch". I've picked "Do Hard Things". And yes I realize it's 3 words not 1! It's my way of doing things my own way.
So I stole the "term" from a book I'm currently reading entitled "Do Hard Things". It's written by twin teenage boys who have started what they call a "rebellution" against low expectations towards teenagers. It's a little dry but a great book. {I'm a sucker for self-help books thought} I should have put that down on my previous questionaire}
Already this book has helped me with my pre-teen son. I've raised the bar in what I expect from him and in turn have gotten so much more back. Then he feels much more pride because he's accomplished something "hard". Now my respect for him has risen, see the pattern?!?!? Nice.
Yesterday at church he did something hard. He sang a song in sacrament meeting with his dad. They harmonized the last verse and it was great! He sure fought me on it though. Funny thing is it was one of his best Sundays. He smiled all day.
I did something hard too. I spoke in church. Well, I bore my testimony. I wrote out what I wanted to say and my sweetie translated it to Spanish for me. Then I praticed reading it tirelessly! {Well from late Saturday night until about midnight.} That part of me that loves to procrastinate stepped in. Anyway, I spoke {read} Spanish from the pulpit yesterday. I did a hard thing! I can't tell you how many times I've gone to back away from something difficult these past few months and then the words "Do Hard Things" came to mind. These words have given me power to do what I might not have done otherwise. Woooo whoooo!!!

I'm counting down to U.S arrival time. See many of you soon!