Do you see what I see?

Kansas... Kansas...so funny. After hearing a variety of opinions of it, Thomas and I went and took pictures to try to capture the spirit of Kansas, but I don't feel that photo essays are my gift. Let's see....imagine this....as you leave the interstate and drive towards Leavenworth on a sunny July day, you wind your way down a 2 lane road through fields of corn which bring to mind "South Pacific" and the line "I'm as corny as Kansas in August..." Past Victorian houses on 10 acres of land backed by woods and mountains and over the train tracks where you've just heard the Atchison-Topeka-Santa Fe engine blow its horn as it pulled 72 cars of oil by--as counted by your enthusiastic 6 year old. You wind back and forth between Missouri and Kansas, crossing and recrossing the Platte River, until you finally drive over a blue trestle bridge and see the gate for Ft. Leavenworth on your right.

To the left, only a few blocks away is the epicenter of the First City in Kansas. It has a downtown of about 3 streets by 5 and then it begins to spread into older housing until finally, far enough off not to ruin the charm, newer housing.

There is no Starbucks here. No Barnes and Noble. But if you want some bad coffee, Christa at the bike shop will make you some while she helps you figure out where to buy supplies for your homeschool. And Bob at the Book Barn will dress up as Burl Ives and sing songs to your kids, or just compose a song using the words of a picture book your daughter bought so she can go home and sing it to Daddy.  At Old St. Joseph's, site of the old cathedral for the diocese, daily Mass swells with 30 people including the sisters from the nearby convent. No matter how many tugs she gets on her veil, Sr. Magdalene will still tell you how wonderful your children were.   And when you are out on a date with your son, you can take him to the soda fountain and order a cherry phosphate like your mom used to do with you.

On post, some sage has decided to renovate old housing instead of razing it and starting over. This means that your paint-is-still-wet-duplex-made-over-into-five-bedroom-and-office-large-family house sits on a cul-de-sac surrounded by enough big trees to support multiple swings. When you step out for a family walk each evening, paved walking trails invite you to roam towards the commissary, past the cemetery or even through a little wilderness which leads towards the prison with the field of bison in front of it.

Yes, there are the obligatory tattoo parlors in town with signs like "Prison City Tattoo" in western font, but there is also the diner with its name emblazoned in the same style.  In this converted train station you can still experience a bit of history from signs for the men's and women's waiting rooms and where the ticket counter was located.

Less than a mile from my house I have stopped my bike to watch deer nurse their fawns, and I have ridden my bike through enough grasshoppers to get a pretty good idea of what the Ingall's experienced in Plum Creek. The streets here are crawling with children--sometimes with crawling children--and they are all friends since EVERY ONE OF THEM moved in during the same week.   Now that winter has arrived, the slopes on the far side of the field known as your back yard are a popular hangout for sledders while the front yard is best for snowball fights.

The pace is confortable, even an hour away in Kansas City where they have not yet discovered that daily parking at the museum can't be paid for on the honor system. There is a very nice shopping district close by--about 45 min drive--and the parking is free except where the parking meters collect change for charity. There are still free nature centers and art museums and history galore. In many ways, it's not so much different from DC. But there are very few cars on the road, always plenty of room for a big van to park, and fewer homeless people.  

Think what you like.  We see it as the Army's best hometown.

December--Christmas

I don't feel particularly organized about Christmas or even like I have improved it much this year.  But here are some of my notes to self:

1.  Compile and beg for lists by early Nov.  Shop Thanksgiving weekend and wrap immediately.  Then Advent can really be Advent.
2.  Use the Christmas spread sheet which lists those people--like godchildren--who I don't want to forget (but did mostly).  It also lists Christmas and Jan birthdays.
3.  Allow self to buy one piece of decor.  This year I decorated an old doll house with a garland and made it a home for MY new Playmobil nativity set. All kids may play.  None may take it out of the dollhouse.  All the pieces made it back into the box for next year.  Hooray!
4.  Do these Christmas cards to make the picture taking easier.

Thanksgiving

My friend Michelle's happy post here made me deeply grateful for God's goodness, and that reminded me that I hadn't shared the pictures from our Thanksgiving.  Bill's dad rolled in from New Jersey on Wednesday and his friend Ros who lives in Topeka came to see him.  As is his custom, he arrived with a generous numebr of gifts for everyone and the living room looked like it had exploded in paper.  Joseph especially enjoyed a book Bill brought called "Rap a Tap Tap" about Bill  "Bojangles" Robinson.  He begged for it to be read to him many times for weeks.

As usual Bill took a moment to record the kids and what they are doing.  This time he had told me that he was going to record them reciting the poetry,  but I thought he was bringing the hand held recorder.  This set up gives really nice audio and the kids did pretty well with the mike.

Before we had to say goodbye on Friday, Bill treated us to a yummy breakfast at the Santa Fe Depot Diner


Here's a picture thought I'll share which repeatedly inspires in me a feeling of thankfulness, my Bill's home-made bike racks:

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November--Holidays

Today when James started throwing up, I realized how woefully unprepared I am for the season, Thanksgiving, Christmas or flu.  Since Bill has to make a commissary run for flu supplies anyway, I decided to make a Thanksgiving shopping list too.  But first I had to confirm the menu.  And as a tone of annoyance crept into his voice, I realized what a waste of time it is for us to discuss it.  Not only do we eat basically the same thing every year, I cook it all, so I get to pick!  I sent him to school and wrote down the menu:

Thanksgiving Day:
Breakfast
Empanadas de Calabazas, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Coffee

Lunch
Roast Beef Sandwiches and Fruit

Dinner--5pm
Turkey with Herbed Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce
Grandma Mapson's Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Parker House Rolls
Sparkling Cider, Wine and Water
Chocolate Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie

Of course, then I had to pull out 4 cookbooks and look at multiple websites to 1. discover this is the menu I already had written in my cookbook and 2. double check recipes and ingredients and make a grocery list.  Once the list was compiled, I had to dig through the kitchen to see what we actually need--my least favorite part.  Why, oh why, haven't we just come up with a master list years ago? 

Here it is, although Bill will fix the order so it's shoppable.
Deli
Roast Beef
Cheese

Produce
onion
celery
3 sweet potatoes
6 oranges
10 potatoes
bag of spinach
lettuce
tomatoes

Dry Goods
White wine vinegar
mustard
mayo
shortening
walnuts 1/2 C
1 1/2 C halved pecans
sugar
flour
dark corn syrup
dark brown sugar
yeast
baking powder
confectioner's sugar
semi sweet choc chips
mini marshmellows
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
paprika
salt
pepper
ginger
gr. cloves
thyme
sage
majoram
basil
cinnamon
vanilla
anise
pumpkin pie mix
evaporated milk
can of pumkin puree
6-8 C chicken broth
saltine crackers
canned chicken soup
ramen
7 up
apple juice
sprarkling cider
liquid tylenol
liquid motrin

Meat
Turkey over 10 lbs
bacon

Frozen Foods (if can't find fresh)
2 pkg cranberries
4 C sliced strawberries

Dairy
Milk
36 eggs
2 lb butter
pint heavy whipping cream

Alcohol
Wine
Brandy

Now I just have to get out my Christmas gift spreadsheet, send out lists, and beg for lists so that I can go shopping this weekend.

Veteran's Day with Our Favorite Vet

  Leavenworth has a huge Veteran's Day Parade every year.  This is a community of 35,000 people and Bill says he thinks they were all in the parade.  He and I and the little boys watched and the other kids marched.

No, you aren't supposed to be able to tell who is in all of these pictures.  My scouts will recognize themselves, though.  You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, and in some that will make the subject clear. 

After the parade, we happily fed ourselves at the Santa Fe Depot Diner, an old train station.

This is Maria, Charles and Anthony

This is Thomas, Bill and Joseph

Before we went to a potluck at church tonight, all of the kids begged me to take their picture with Archbishop of Military Services Timothy Broglio, who is visiting. He kindly and cheerfully took a moment to pose, and some friendly parishoners encouraged me and Bill to jump in too.  Anthony thought "it was pretty amazing to touch the garments of an archbishop."

Quotable

"Jesus is not a cookie."  -- 7 year old explaining transubstantiation to the 1 year old

"Mom, do you lay eggs or are you a mammal?"  --the 8 year old, who is now officially failing science

"This sounds like something that might start reproduction."  --the younger 10 year old to his 8 year old friend on the topic of inappropriate music.

Halloween

Joseph was an angel.

Maria made her own jellyfish costume with a clear umbrella from Target and some curling ribbon.  She loved twirling the umbrella to make the tentacles swirl.  Cecilia wanted to be a ghost, and since all we could find was a Nike brand shirt, we made her a racing ghost.  Her double zero race number says "Just bOO it! Ft. Leavenworth Trick-or-Treat Marathon 2009".  Charles chose a Darth Vader outfit which I agreed to before I remembered my "no being a bad guy or dressin in black in the dark" rules.  His birthday lightsaber completed his ensemble.  Anthony chose to be a centurian.  He made his own shield but we bought the costume.  And Thomas has been begging to learn to sew, so he and I made his knight costume together.  I think he learned some good lessons and he seemed pleased with the finished product.  James' Elmo costume was a hand-me-down: 

Flashback Friday--Fall Break

Yes, friends, some of these pictures are as old as last Tuesday, when we went to Science City.  Maria and Cecilia and their friend are showing off one of the optical illusions at the Mr. E. Hotel, and Charles led the excavations into shredded rubber at the Dinosaur Dig.

I believe that Thomas is playing some kind of theremin where the tree is the vertical antenna(?).  Joseph loved watching the golf balls being shot through the air and trying to swing his club at them at the mini putt putt golf course.  We all enjoyed watching him from a distance.  Fortunately, the 12 kids in our group (2 families) excitedly shoved so many golf balls into the chute leading to the pneumatic tube that it jammed, freeing our attention for other exhibits.

Gratuitous cute baby shot.  We don't see this happy face often enough.

October--Time

"We live and we die by time. And we must not commit the sin of losing our track on time."

  --Chuck Noland in Castaway

The echoes of this line have haunted me from time to time, but I could never quite remember quite what it said, just the feeling of urgency.  Many, many days, it is how I feel.  Time slips past, and I'm suddenly surprised by an hour which requires me to school people or scoot them out the door for a carpool ready to leave or start dinner so we can eat before 7.  I live in the contant state of feeling unhappily behind-hand.  So, this month I have put my spare moments (between spelling words mostly) toward how to organize my time more efficiently.

First I mapped out my daily schedule with Bill.  Here it is:

6:50--Rise/dress/make bed

7     --coffee

8     --teach Cecilia 8:45 bath J& J

9     --Teach Charles

10   --teach Maria

10:30--BREAK (start dinner)

11     --poetry/table work, T,A, M, C & C

noon or 12:30--LUNCH  (work on dinner or do chore)

1       --Naps for J&J, some days others/me--email

2      --Finish T&A, sometimes M

pre 4--Get ready for eve activities

                  Little kids awake

6ish  --cook dinner

7      --eat

8     --kids upstairs, read books, clean-up

9     --big kids to bed, grade?

10-11--bed

When I first saw it on paper, I wanted to cry.  Where is my free time?  Where is the time I thought I would find for housekeeping or checking up on the kids' chores?  What about exercise and when will I take Joseph outside so he can remember what the sun looks like?  I feel like time marches on, and a whole battalion of heavy-booted minutes do it right over me.  

Bill's solution for me it that I get up earlier, but I know myself.  My internal clock is set to sleep from 11 pm or later until the coffee grinder goes off at 6:50 am.  A shower or a stiff legged run and an exhausted feeling for the rest of the morning are just not enough to tempt me from bed.  My biggest issue has been what how to get more out of the time I have while staying withing the comfortable sleep parameters of my day.  Communication and the calendar have been my solution.

I think I've mentioned that I love the clock because our schedule is ordered to the hours of the day.  More than the clock though, I am dependent on my calendar.  It sits in my office, which is in a centrally located room of the house. 

Bill and I usually spend and frustrated Saturday morning trying to drink our coffee while we plan the menu for the week.  Then he makes a grocery list and, collecting a few stray children on the way, he goes shopping.  We've decided that our Saturday morning pow-wow needs to happen before the kids get up and we need to communicare about the menu, driving/afternoon plans, and exercise for the week.  Ironically, this is something I am completely willing to get up early to do.  We daily re-check the calendar and communicate about decisions made and changes. 

Our first week we missed the alarm, so the meeting was later than we wanted, but it was effective.  In the large boxes for each day on the side of my calendar I wrote the menu (in pencil), my workouts and when they would happen (in blue), and one major chore I would like to accomplish each day (in red).  The menu is very flexible as to which day meals actually fall on.  Chores are fairly flexible; some days I do two, some days one or fewer. But the chore is standard from week to week, ie Monday will always be laundry catch-up day.  Workouts are the least flexible, and therefore the best planned.    And we remembered that I will get up at 6 or earlier to swim, so that is coming into heavy rotation on my workout schedule.  We're only one week in, but I've had more free time--completely unexpectedly--and I think we're moving in the right direction.

The biggest change has come with the computer.  The 1pm email has become read-only and oriented towards things like soccer game cancellations.  At 1:30 I've started reading aloud to the older kids.  Most days, I'm just not online, and when I am, it's in the evening when Bill is doing homework.  Since email is my favorite medium for communicating with the friends we've moved away from, it's been hard to give it up.  (You will notice that the phone doesn't even show up on my schedule.)  However, for this season of my life, I think this is the best I can do. 

One last thought on time:  I did institute one time saving device with the kids.  Any time someone wants me to find a "lost" school book, they pay me a quarter.  The quarters go in a jar that also holds a beautifully cut, red, laminated monkey--a remnant from the boy's preschool days and a reminder that there are some things that are just a darn waste of time.  I've made about 2 bucks and I've saved oodles of time already!

Grandma

Today the kids are asking...again!...what's for dinner.  We spent the morning making tortillas so you'd think it would stick, but no. 

"Albondigas," I sighed.
"What is it?" asked Charles and "Do I like it?" asked Cecilia.
"It's Mexican meatball soup and yes, you like it.  It's your favorite." That's my standard answer to "do I like it" but today I could see they were on to me.  I put on my how-can-you-not believe-me voice. "Of course you'll like it.  It's Grandma's recipe."
Big eyes and sighs of "oooohhhhhh" followed by "What else does Grandma make?  Does she have a recipe for beef? When can we have it?"

It just so happens that most of our meals this week are from my mom, and I had to laugh when I just now realized that almost all of our favoritest meals are from her: spaghetti sauce, tostadas, albondigas, chorizzo, beef over rice, taquitos, up eggs....

My kids will never think I am a great cook.  It will always be Grandma who gets the credit, which is as it should be. 

Is it time for dinner yet? 

Flashback Friday--Are you ready?

It's almost Halloween!

Goings On--Our Weekend

Saturday:  Since Bill had a 3 day weekend last weekend, we decided to take the kids to Manhattan (the Little Apple), KS to our favorite zoo.  It was smaller than I remembered, but that was a good thing since it was 20 degrees without accounting for the wind chill.  When we lived here 10 years ago, Bill and I donated a brick for the new Monkey House.  It says "Dear Mary, I yearn for you tragically" which is from Catch 22.  Not really sure why we picked that quote but we did take a minute to find the brick.

The kids loved the flamingos and were game to see the other animals for a while, but it was a push to get them to walk  in the enclosure with the emus and wallabies.  One benefit of a small zoo is that you are very close to everything and can really get a feel for how big different animals are.  The pacing snow leopards were even a little frightening.  The baby hid just below the glass and then pounced at Charles. The shivering kids begged to go after an hour and a half, so like good parents, we took them out to Target to warm up and shop for toys with Charles birthday money.  By the best of coincidences, the doctor I used to work for and his wife recognized us there, and we had a good chat while the kids waited fairly patiently.  The Youngs last saw us when the twins were a few months old, and Dr. Young joked that they've had to buy a bigger fridge to hold our family pictures!

Even though the day was cold, we had Baskin Robbins before we drove home. It was what Charles really wanted for his birthday but we couldn't make it happen that day.

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Sunday after Mass found me and 5 big kids at a "farm".  I'm not a huge fan of "agritainment", but Cecilia's Daisy troop participated in a science day and we all had fun checking out the rides and activities.  Everyone enjoyed trying to milk a cow:

And the pedal powered go-carts were a lot of fun. I warmed myself up by giving pushes to people who had trouble getting started.  Thankfully, it was less cold and windy than the day before.

Sunday afternoon:

This is a day I've been looking forward to for a long time.  Back when we lived in Hawaii we became very interested in the holy priest Bl. Damien of Moloka'i.  Bill and I were both able to visit Kalaupapa to see where he lived, worked and died among the people with leprosy.  And a priest who sometimes subbed at our chapel often included in his homily the story a women he knew well who credited Fr. Damien's intercession for her miraculous cure from an aggressive cancer.  On Oct. 11,  Pope Benedict XVI canonized Fr. Damien (Joseph) de Veuster, after whom our Joseph Damien is named.

To celebrate we wanted to first do something in the spirit of Fr. Damien, so we made origami leis as spirtual bouquets and we prayed for sick family and friends.  I plan to mail the leis this week. 

The menu for our little feast included Grilled Kahlua Chicken, Hawaiian Sweet Potatoes (Hawaiian flavor, not color which is purple!), coconut rice with pineapple, and for dessert Mango sorbet with chopped Macadamia nuts and Belgian chocolate on the side.  Our centerpiece featured holy cards of Fr. Damien which were a gift from my friend Jenn. 

I've already heard of more good ideas, so I'm excited to expand our celebration on Fr. Damien's feast day, May 10.  

ETA:  Here is a look at the peninsula of Kalaupapa on Molokai and the cliffs behind it which kept the people with leprosy from leaving:

Charles' Golden Birthday

For his special birthday dinner Charles chose:  Hotdogs

For Halloween this year Charles wants to be:  Darth Vader

For his birthday, Charles received a light saber that changes from green to red, a clone nerf dart gun, a Webkins lion, a camo Timex watch and money with which he bought himself a Webkins hippo and refills for his dart gun.

Charles favorite color is:  green

Charles still loves his fuzzy blanket that Grandma made him when he was a baby and sleeps with it every night.  He wanted to take it camping with him on his cub scout camp-out a few weeks ago.

Charles is an aggressive soccer player and keeps up with the kids on his team even though he is the youngest player.  The assistant soccer coach calls Charles "Charlie"!

Charles is excited to make his First Holy Communion next summer.

Charles turned 7 on October 7th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLES!