Pattern blocks...

I pulled the pattern blocks out for preschool one day...Mikenna has been having a blast making and creating...her sisters joined her one afternoon...they wanted a picture...

I haven't been taking any pics...

So, I suppose it makes it harder to blog, at least for me...

Fall is in the air, it's getting chilly and soup is on the menu!!

I suppose I could just link it...but I thought I'd add my modifications...

My kids ate it...the only issues were the zucchini, but I love zucchini, and I knew it wouldn't kill them, so, they ate it. Mikenna did fine once Michael had her close her eyes and she couldn't see the seeds (which he told her were bugs...that freaked her out.)

CrockPot Pasta Fagioli Recipe

Day 305.

Happy Halloween! If you're looking for a hearty meal to fill the belly of your little ghost or goblin before they eat their weight in chocolate, you've come to the right place. This is some good soup.

It's based upon Olive Garden's Pasta E. Fagioli which, quite frankly, I've never had, but it sounded good. So I made it. In the crockpot.

This is a crowd-pleasing soup. There's nothing weird in it, and it has a fun kick that isn't spicy as much as it is noticeable.

The Ingredients.

--1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained (I did 1 lb sausage, low fat)
--1/2 large red onion, chopped (1/2 of walla2 sweet)
--1 cup carrots, chopped
--2 celery stalks, sliced (I only had zucchini, so 1 of those)
--2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice) (used 3 c. tomatoes from my garden)
--1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (didn't rinse them...either can)
--1 can white beans, drained and rinsed (see above)
--4 cups beef broth (check label for gluten!) (with the this and the sauce, I had tomato juice, low sodium, leftover, so I did 6 cups of that, with 4 tsp of beef boullin)
--1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce (see above)
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce (didn't try this)
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time (I used TJ's brown rice fusilli) (definitly would cook the noodles beforehand and then add to the soup...otherwise it soaked up way too much of my soup...but we added ice cubes, so that was fine...)

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.

Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.

Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tobasco sauce. Stir in your meat.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.

Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.

Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it. (our parmesan had mold in it...grrr...)

...fashion...

I think Kiera has inherited my sister's keen sense of fashion :)

...dresses...

Megan showed up at preschool in the same pattern of dress that Mikenna was wearing! Had to get a pic. Tarina is the one who got me sewing again when she lived across the street from me. The little boy in the photo is her youngest (#6) except, she just had her 7th one this past Friday!

Megan is only 1 1/2 months older than Mikenna...my Mikenna is so petite!!

Soccer!!

Kaylee decided to try soccer out this year. Her best friend Maddie is on a team and her mom is a coach. So we figured why not. Here are some photos from her first game. I'm impressed that she isn't scared of the ball...Kaylee did a great job, being one of the only new ones, playing with girls that have been playing for several years already.

First day of school...

Practically a month late, sorry...

Amazingly, we all got up on time! Despite all of our late nights and lazy mornings, we somehow we managed to get to school on time, with some spare time for pictures!!

Kaylee is in Mr. Linn's class for 4th grade. Interestingly Chris and Corinne as well as Joe all had Mr. Linn! He seems to be a very competent and organized teacher. (Something that I would only hope to aspire to if I'd continued teaching :) We had an hour orientation on open house night...wow...they expect a lot from my 9 almost 10 year old!! Despite not having her best friend in her class this year, Kaylee so far seems to be enjoying herself.

Kiera, I was so sad to leave her this morning. Sometimes in the spring, we can request the next year's teacher. Kiera is so shy, especially in new situations, I wanted her to feel confident with who her new teacher would be. She asked for Mrs. Brown (because Kaylee had her), even though we knew many of her friends would be in other classes. ( I should have encouraged her to try someone new so she could be with her friends :(. She hardly knew any of the girls in her new class, and she began crying when I said I needed to go. Broke my heart :S...Thankfully, even though we never got together with her friends over the summer, they were waiting for her at recess. They found my Kiera!! I was so relieved to know these good friends still remembered my sweet Kiera!!

Kassi, I could tell she was nervous. She was brave though, because I needed to get back to Kiera, I had to just wave good bye to her while she stood in line. She came home, declared she had a great time and couldn't wait for the next day. The 2nd morning, I just had to double check and asked if she felt ok for her next day at school...ALL DAY...and she replied in a very exasperated voice, "MOM, I said I had a great day yesterday! I'll be fine today!!" She is growing too fast!! O, and she was also very excited to tell me that she and her friends chased Grayson during recess...

My little Mikenna...both of us, all day long...very odd...as if I were back to just one child! Luckily she has a fun preschool group and she seems to be fine to go off on her own!! Except when we carpool. I've had to leave her crying a few times, but my friend insures me that Mikenna settles right down once I'm gone. Allison and I have also tried switching so Tanner and Mikenna can play and that seems to work well. Hopefully I'll have pictures of Mikenna's group soon.

Families are Forever

My dad's sister, my Aunt Monisa, joined the church about a year ago. This weekend she went through the temple and then was sealed to my grandparents. My grandmother, despite her declining health was able to attend. It was wonderful to be in the temple with so many of my cousins & aunts & uncles and especially my grandmother. Families are Forever!

Wicked!!

Michael and I got to see Wicked at the last minute, because my cousin Alicia won the Wicked "lottery" and was able to get front row seats for $25/ticket. We took their ee row seats while Ada & Alicia sat at the front. Great show for a great price!! Thanks for sharing!!

Ohanapecosh

What a crazy, wet weekend!! Which, we already knew of the possibility of rain from projected forecasts, but had truly hoped for a sunny, warm weekend. We packed accordingly...Mike did a super job of taking advantage of every available bit of space on Ted's trailer. We brought along a box of garbage bags...and off we went!!

So, unfortunately it did rain...A LOT!! We arrived late Friday evening. Grandma Gale prepared a yummy, warm spaghetti dinner while we adults ran around quickly setting up tents & tarps and the kiddos just ran around. It barely drizzled that night, but by 4 am the raindrops were echoing off of the tarps which acted as an amplifier of sorts. Luckily the girls were able to sleep through nature's "symphony", until about 7:30...Mikenna was the first to be roused, "WHAT IS THAT NOISE MOM?" and soon after Kiera, "WHEN IS IT GOING TO STOP!!"
Well, it rained most of the morning. After a hot breakfast of french toast (my mom makes the BEST french toast!!) we headed up to the visitors center...so nice and warm in there...where we saw the new rain forecast to be 100% rain over our entire stay. Just as we arrived, the Junior Ranger program was getting started. We were glad to hear the ranger explain how he would stretch his presentation from 30 min. to an hour because of the weather. He shared some fun tidbits of info. For example, Allison and I learned the 10 different names they have for the 5 different types of Alaska Salmon. Using your fingers on your hand as an aide: thumb--Chum & Dog; pointer--Socket & Red; middle--King & Chinook ; ring--Coho & Silver; pinky-- Pink & Hump; We also had a fun chuckle over the little lady who had to go to the bathroom & the dried out beaver glands...the ranger had gobs of animal pelts that the kids got to "pet" afterwards.
After our warm hour at the visitors center, we headed back to camp; Grandma Gale and Kaylee left a bit earlier and had a long nap in the tent. Kaylee was running a fever & Grandma had a BAD night. Mikenna joined them in the tent, she wasn't too fond of the rain...she just played quietly-coloring, looking at books, etc. The rest of the kiddos just biked, stomped though the mud & water. We adults huddled around the fire, drying out wet clothes and gabbing. By the time Ted & Stacy arrived with their family, the rain had let up some. We celebrated Adam's b-day with a pinata...then down to the river went the dads and kids; the rest of us, again, gathered around the fire.
The "babies" enjoyed finding a dry spot to move their beach toys too...why do they love dirt so much? After a few hours by the river, the kiddos had fun on their spying adventures down by the smaller stream near our camp. They also rode around on their bikes creating a lovely mud spatter all over their backs. The rain stayed away until late evening. By then we were ready for bed, and once again enjoyed the distinct plip plop of raindrops on our tarp...we were still warm...but felt a bit more chilled this night...everything felt damp & we were running out of dry/clean socks & clothes.
After a hearty BIG breakfast Sunday morning (FYI turkey bacon doesn't produce enough grease to make hash browns :( we determined that we had done our best to put up with the rain, but we were through "toughing" it out. We quickly took down camp, amidst the downpour...and relocated our refugee camp to my parents' backyard!
A definite camping trip to be remembered. One I will gladly do again but WITHOUT the rain!!