Memorial Day Holiday plus a snow cone stand review

So, the holiday was fantastic! We had a blast at my sister's house, eating the best bbq I've ever had in my entire life (sorry, Dad...) and watching the kids play with water balloons and water guns. Jason (finally) got the clothes line up and I got some of the basement cleaned, while Julie and Atticus were away doing other things, and I still managed to find time to make hamburger and french fry cupcakes to take to my inlaws. Seriously, best holiday EVER!

I've been to a bunch of parties lately! I don't know if it's just the fact that it's summer, or if I started enjoying parties so I started accepting invitations, but whatever the reason, I'm glad for it. It seems the Shrek party started something for me, because I've been having such a good time going to parties, that I'm thinking about throwing my own! On the day of the spring show!! There must be something really wrong with me, but I think it would be way easier to have a bbq at my house between the rehearsal and the show than to try to run around and find food to eat. I could seriously just prep everything the night before, which brings me to my new favorite thing. I LOVE trifle. I made a beautiful lemon raspberry trifle for Memorial Day, and it was so good, I've been eating it for breakfast every day since. I want to add trifle recipes to my repertoire of deliciousness....

And Finally, the snow cone stand review. Apparently this summer is forever to be known as Sno Cone summer, because my sister and I are addicted to sno cones. She started it!! (Regression complete...) Anyway, the Sno Cone stand by Rocket Park in Maplewood is the cheapest and the best (so far), and while it is mighty close to the Studio, I won't be going there for three whole months (more like 2, but really, who's counting??), so I'm trying out ones that are a little closer to home. (If you know of a good one, let me know...) Today we went to "Glaciers" in the General Grant Shopping Center. It was good, not Rocket Park good, but still good. The medium sno cones were $2.25 (if you didn't want cream...seriously why do people want cream on their sno cones?), and they had a variety of flavors. Lots and lots of flavors actually. The sour apple is neither sour nor apple-y, but still good for some reason, while the cream soda flavor is worth the trip. I was scared of the bubble gum flavor, but took a small taste of Joey's and it wasn't awful (I still wouldn't order it, personally, but it wasn't too strong and it didn't taste like toothpaste which is what I was afraid of...) and there was no line at 7 o'clock on a Wednesday night. All in all, it was pretty good, but I want to try the one with the rave reviews in the Kirkwood Farmer's Market next week. Also, while I was waiting for my sno cone (you have to spell it that way at Glacier's as well as Rocket Park, sorry), I started working on the math for buying my own. If Chrissy and I went in on a professional snow cone machine (the cheapest available), AND before we bought it we were both buying 3 snow cones twice a week at the average price of $2.25/ea, then the machine would pay for itself after just 9 weeks. I'm starting to wonder if this is an investment worth checking into.....

Mama! There's a rainbow!

Just last week I was begging the rain to stop, and this morning I found myself praying to the rain gods. Please, just a little bit of cooling, beautiful rain! And then, finally, it came. We all had to run outside and play in the rain! I haven't done that in so long, it felt beautiful! Julie, Joey, and I probably looked like crazy people running up and down the streets in the rivers created by the heavy rain! But, it was so worth it. Right after I came inside, they all came running in (tracking water EVERYWHERE) to announce the presence of a rainbow! I, of course, totally missed it, since I was changing my clothes.

Me, before the rain. Sigh.

I have no idea why it's taken me this long to find my inner child and go play in the rain again... At first, it was cold and kind of scary, but as soon as I got out in it, we had a great time! It was so cool after the heat and humidity that plagued us all day that I can't think of a better way to spend my time. I hope it rains tomorrow!

Before that, we decided to get out of this heat and go have dinner at McDonald's. Even though it's not the best food I've ever tasted in my life, we all had fun eating a 50 piece McNugget meal, and enjoying free McFlurries with the coupons we got at the Shrek party! Hurray!

The heat and lack of air conditioning has led us to do all kinds of stuff that we don't usually do, so this "experiment" is actually kind of successful, even though it's been slightly miserable. I've never looked forward to going to other people's houses, running in the rain, or going to McDonald's so much before in my life!

All of the things I've learned...

I've learned a bunch of new stuff this weekend....First off, I learned that people eat weird things. Like honeysuckle. Now, maybe this is only weird to me, as I've never done it before, but apparently, there are people that pull the stamens out of honeysuckle through the bottom, and lick the nectar that comes out with it. Interesting! I tried it, as I'm on a "try new stuff" kick (which could last anywhere from 3 hours to 3 weeks...), and it was...different. I don't know if I'd do it again, but for a new experience, it was kind of fun. I took a bunch of pictures of this, so I could document it for you, my readers, as maybe you are one of the few people that had a very sheltered upbringing, and therefore didn't eat the flowers in your backyard either.



Which brings me to another point: I think I may be sheltering my children a bit too much. I'd like to teach them that new experiences are not terribly scary, but I don't know if I'm the best person for this. In fact, I hate to try new things. I'm terribly set in my ways, whether it's the pair of jeans that I won't get rid of because I like them, or the fact that I won't go to the post office because it's scary there. So, we're going to try some new things this summer. I'm not sure, yet, what they're all going to be, but we're going to try to be more "green" for starters. We're only trying ways that will also save us money, but we're not going to run the dryer (we're putting up a line in the back yard) and we're not running the air conditioning, for as long as humanly possible. So far, I've learned another thing this weekend: hot weather sucks. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I knew this already, but ugh... We're all hot, sweaty, and miserable. We've eaten slurpies, ice cream, and stuck our heads in the freezer. I'm hoping we'll get better at this, but so far, it's been kind of miserable. It's almost ten o'clock at night, and I still feel like I'm melting. My chocolate is melting, my ice cream is melting, even my dog is melting. People live like this all of the time. I'm not sure how they do it!!

Boris...Melting.

We were able to beat the heat for a little bit this weekend by doing something I've never been very good at. We were invited to a neighbor's house for a "Shrek/McNuggets" party (which they were picked to host through houseparty.com) and we had FUN! Not only did the neighbor's have their air conditioning on (which made for a MUCH cooler afternoon), I met new people, made a cool dessert, and had a really good time hanging out with (almost) complete strangers. I'm usually so very shy, that the fact that the entire afternoon blew by while I was having a good time is kind of new for me.... Onto the dessert that I made: I almost forgot about the party, and although I was going to make some sort of super fancy Shrek themed cupcake, I ended up making a super easy green fluff. And then I added a bit of green food coloring (to give it that "Shrek" green) and "bugs" (bug shaped fruit snacks) and gummy "worms".



So, all in all, it's been a fantastic and interesting weekend. I've learned a WHOLE bunch of things that I never knew (that I can live through an entire day of St. Louis heat), that I can have fun at a party, and that people actually EAT honeysuckles.

Children say the darndest things

I re-read "Slapstick" by Kurt Vonnegut last night. The first time I read it, I was young and it was before I had all of these kids, and I focused mainly on the part about the artificial extended families. Last night, I was wrapped up in the story of being nice to children and making sure that you realize how very new these people are to the world. Let me quote:

"This person has just arrived on this planet, knows nothing about it,
has no standards by which to judge it. This person does not care
what it becomes. It is eager to become absolutely anything it is
supposed to be."

Honestly, they have no idea, they are recent transplants to this place. Their job is to explore it, figure it out, and make the most of it. It's easy to forget that when they're cracking eggs all over the floor, or fighting for what they consider equal rights. Sometimes, they remind you. Again, let me quote:

The Scene: A mini van in suburbia. A family travels from dance class to home.
The Characters: A mom, her middle child(aged 7), and her youngest son(aged 5).

Youngest Child: Mom, how long has Spongebob been on?
Mom: Oh, a while. I remember it being on when I was pretty young.
Youngest Child: Soooo....since the '45's?
Mom: NO! Since the '90's.
Middle Child: Whoa! That's a REALLY long time ago. (Aside to youngest child) Did you know that when mom was a little kid everything was in black and white on the television and Mickey Mouse was really scary looking?
Youngest Child: Back in the '45's?
Mom: NO! That was a REALLY long time before I was born. Mickey Mouse was normal and IN COLOR before I was born!
Middle Child: Soooo...when Aunt Chrissy was a kid?
End Scene

See? The point in this exercise is to demonstrate how little they actually understand about what came before them and how subjective things are. They are still little enough to think that I'm ancient and that I know everything, like when Spongebob started. It's amazing how little they actually know....

It also really helps that we've been reading the heck out of Shel Silverstein poems, and they're pretty child rights oriented. And Roald Dahl. I guess we're on a child liberation kick, and it's enlightening to remember stuff from their point of view. Every once in a while, I remember a brief snippet of being young, of trying to learn all of this stuff at once, trying to become a "real" person, and thinking that life was SOOO unfair to children. I remember having a hard time getting waited on at a food counter if my mom wasn't with me. I remember people looking past you, purposely talking over your head, acting as if you weren't important. I remember feeling as if the world were out to get me at times. I also remember all of the people in my life who treated me (and other children) with kindness and respect. I'd like to be one of the people that my children remember as a "rational" adult that respects their beliefs and ideas. I'd also like my children to pick up their dirty clothes, but I doubt that either of these things will actually pan out.

A day in the life of....

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be someone else? Today, I slept, read, wrote, and baked. My children cooked, cleaned, and did homework. They were good people ALL day long, and I had a beautiful day! It was exactly like being someone else! I've never had a day that went as smoothly as today. It might be because we stayed home almost ALL day long, which is turning into a rarity this month, but it could also be because everybody slept enough last night for the first time in....ever.



So, that's Joey up there helping to make an apricot jam snack cake. Which we ate, and then immediately all went "meh..." about. I think it could have been much, much better if it had been any other cake. It sounded good in the book, but it's too gingerbread-y for spring. We should have made the lemon cake, or lemon squares, or....

Immediately after those pictures were taken, Joey decided that a bowl of sour cream was the best lunch, and after he poured it, I told him he had to eat it. Then he DID! It was terribly hard to watch, but for some reason it was also incredibly fascinating at the same time. I got myself a plate of nachos and helped out a little, but mostly just watched him eating his condiment as a meal. Sometimes, I wonder if he's going to turn out alright....

I need some ideas on what to do with the kids, but particularly Joey, during the summer. I don't want to sign them up for a bunch of expensive stuff, but we do need some activities to keep us slightly less busy than the fall, but still busy. I climb the walls when I'm at home with just the children all day, and they climb out of the windows or onto the roof because they're so bored (and tired of me...) that they can't help themselves. I was thinking of free things, so if you've got any ideas, feel free to post them in the comments. I'm going to try to get some of my projects completed this summer, even though this plan has been in action for over a year now. I'm currently working on: curtains for the kitchen, a blanket for my mom, a counted cross stitch tote bag for Julie, a blanket for Mandy (I'm pretty sure that I've been making this for 3 years now), and kitchen towels. Whew...I feel tired just typing that all out! I wish that I could start something and just finish it, but it hasn't happened yet. I just keep starting new things, and coming up with new ideas, but never getting anywhere.

Speaking of which, I finally got my plants into the ground. I realize that it's almost June, but it's just been so very rainy this year. I don't think I care for the new monsoon season that's been added to the Saint Louis calendar of weather. I don't remember EVER having so much rain in my life. It could just be that I don't remember it, as I don't remember anything that I consider "unpleasant", but I'm not sure. It seems awfully wet this year....

Well, anyway, we're off to one of the last jazz classes of the dance season! The spring show is fast approaching...watch this spot for pictures!

School's Almost Out! Whatever Shall We Do?!

So, Joey's on the roof, Julie's in a reasonably good mood, and Atticus is just plain busy. It must be spring! School lets out for the summer in less than two weeks, and I'm not ready! Plus, the weather's kind of messing with my head, because I'm used to St. Louis spring (none at all), as opposed to this weird cool weather/too much rain combo we've been having.

As usual, there are a million things on my to-do list. They've all been pushed aside for the magic that is spring. This is always a busy time for us because of the spring show (the last big hurrah of the dance season), as well as field trips, spring cleaning, playing outside, and finishing up all of those last minute assignments that everyone "forgot" to do. This week we went to a choir recital, the zoo, and the boy scout crossover, and it's only Wednesday morning! A good time was had by all (with the possible exception of Julie...), though we were very hungry the whole time, because no one was sure when a good time to have dinner was. (Also, we were reading, reading, reading the whole time, as Atticus needs 35 more books to complete his reading logs before the end of school...)

My brother let me borrow a camera for a few days, and then I was forced to go out and buy my own, as using a camera that doesn't belong to you is about as fun as walking a hyper Saint Bernard through a china shop. I was terrified the entire time that I would accidentally drop it, erase all of the pictures, let Joey touch it, or look at it funny. Taking pictures is so much fun, I don't know why it took me so long to realize it. I love it so much that in two days, my entire family already hates me and wishes that I would go away.

The other thing that is interesting (for me) this week, is that I am wrong and everyone else in the entire world was right about one little thing. I love all kinds of bands that I didn't know about! It's a fascinating world out there, and for some reason, I've been resisting this for years! (Almost 30 of them...) Thanks to a random post on Facebook by one of my sister's friends, I've suddenly discovered that new music is not the devil, and that there are bands out there that are worth listening to. I won't tell you which ones, though, because as far as admitting I'm wrong goes, I can only go so far...

Anyway, that's all I've got on my mind right now, but I've been feeling terribly creative lately (and kind of oddly upbeat), so I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled life right about now, but I'll probably be back sooner or later to let you know more about the random happenings in our lives. (And to post pictures, because, WOW! this is fun!)