Sick Day Muffins

We're sick around here.  It's Paul's fault, really.
No, not really.
But Paul was the first one to have sinus stuffiness.  Then Nathan got sick Friday afternoon, and has pretty much not moved off the couch since then.  Fever of 103.  Jacob came down with it on Sunday (we stayed home from church - for once they were sick on a day convenient for me to skip!).  I'm trying to get sick, but I am hitting the Zicam pretty hard.  I can't get a cold this week!  (Our worship night is this Sunday.)
Nathan has me concerned.... The high fever, complete lack of appetite, and the just laying around all the time.  I can't get him interested in doing anything, and then he acts like he can't concentrate if I do get him to try to attempt something.  I keep going back and forth whether to take him to the doctor.  First off, it's $20 just to walk in the door.  We don't really have that right now.  And if it's just a virus (which I'm pretty sure it is since we've all got it in some form), the doctor will send us back home with a "just keep an eye on him."  So $20 wasted.  Plus, there's the chance that we'll pick up some other vile disease while we're there - which has happened before, more than once.
I was really hoping that today is the turnaround day.  So I thought I'd tempt them with something tasty to eat.  It worked, sort of.
These muffins were a variation of a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook recipe.  The first time I made them like this (last week), Paul ate 5, Nathan ate 3, and Jacob ate 2.  Then the boys both wanted another for their mid-morning snack.
So I tried them again.

3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 c(ish) oatmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp(ish) cinnamon
1 beaten egg
3/4 c milk
1/4 c oil

Mix dry ingredients.  Stir together egg, milk, oil and pour into dry ingredients.  (May need to add more water or milk to get it to right consistency - not as thin as cake batter, but not so thick it clumps up in the whisk.)
Divide among 12 muffin cups.
Top with streusel:

1/4 c (half stick) butter
1/3 c flour
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp(ish) cinnamon

Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon.  Cut butter in using a pastry knife.  Sprinkle by the tablespoon full over the unbaked muffins.

Bake at 350 for 14-15 minutes.
*(ish) means I didn't actually measure it.  Just a guesstimate.

Nathan actually asked for one.  He ate the streusel top off of it, and left the bottom half.  Jacob ate one for breakfast, then wanted another for lunch.  When they're sick, I'm like whatever.  As long as they'll actually eat - it may not have lots of nutrition, but it has calories, which is energy to fight illness..... right?  Nathan's pretty much just ate Cheetos and cookies for the last 4 days.  I'm just happy he'll eat that much.
So we'll see if today is the turnaround day.  Nathan voluntarily went to take a nap at 11.  But so far, no fever.......

And here it is!

As promised…. An update!

Paul is off to work, and all 3 kids are watching a movie.  I’m not so sure about how I feel about Zadie watching TV, but she’s happy, which is a change from the last hour.  She’s not watching much, but is sitting on the couch with the boys, facing the TV while playing with her toys.

As I said, she’s become a little high-maintenance lately.  I don’t mind it mostly, but when I’m trying to get stuff done (like supper), it’s a little exasperating.  Especially since I know she doesn’t need anything (food or diaper), but she’s just bored.  But boy, can she scream!  She’s been so laid back since birth, this is a new thing.

The boys are getting so big.  I think they both went through a growth spurt at the end of summer.  Sometimes when they walk into our room in the middle of the night I second-guess which one it is.  It seems like Nathan should still be Jacob’s size, and Jacob should be a lot smaller than he is.

However, they are also getting some BIG attitudes.  The arguing between the two of them has reached epic proportions – about EVERY.  LITTLE.  THING.  And I’m not sure how to deal with it.  I don’t feel like wading in and beating them is the thing to do (although that’s what I really feel like doing when it’s the eightieth argument I’ve broken up before 9 AM), but they just don’t listen when I tell them to stop.  Nathan will keep it up under his breath, which he thinks I can’t hear, then Jacob will start yelling at him or wailing.  Who do I spank?  Both of them just for principle’s sake?   So there’s been a lot of yelling. 

I’ve started a chore chart with the boys.  They are old enough to start pulling some weight around here.  Their chores are to daily pick up their toys, clothes, shoes, etc.  Nathan unloads the silverware from the dishwasher and takes out the scraps to dump on the garden as compost.  He also helps with the trash on trash night.  Jacob feeds the pets and takes the recycling from the kitchen to the back porch when I have empty cans or milk jugs in the kitchen.  I love the fact that they are still motivated by getting stickers - it makes convincing them so easy!  They’ll get stickers until they own their jobs and start doing them as a course of habit.

I struggle with balance between serving my family and expecting them to do things how I want them done.  They boys know where their coats go.  Is the floor beneath the hook close enough or should they be hanging them up?  (They would have to move aside the bottom of Paul’s jackets to hang them on the lower hook.)  Should I let Paul hang his coat on my hook, or make him hang it on a hanger, since he only wears it every other week?  I have sock clips to keep socks matched in the wash – should I make them clip them together, or do it myself since I’m the one who benefits from it?

As for individual updates on the children:

Nathan has been doing school for 23 lesson days.  His math is supposed to be done 3 days a week, and repeat the lesson on the off days, but most of the concepts he either already knows or easily grasps.  For example, one of the lessons was counting to 5, and he can already count to 20.  He’s working on acting out story problems (Three teddy bears got on the bus, then one got off.  How many are left?), and graphing, which seems advanced for a 5-year-old, but he’s getting it, so…  But at this rate, we’ll be finishing the K math by March.  I think we may just move right on to 1 Math, and do it on through the summer.  He just seems to have a good head for math, and it makes sense to him.  Definitely does not get that from me.  Phonics seems maddeningly slow for me.  I don't know how much I should push him.  He knows all of his letters and their sounds, but putting them together either truly doesn't click or he just doesn't see the point. But I don't want to rush on, because I want him to know and understand very well. We have seen a rapid improvement in his violin with daily lessons.  He knows “Twinkle Little Star” theme, and 5 variations of it, “Old MacDonald”, a song we call “Walking Fingers” but is actually a simplified fiddle tune, “Boil the Cabbage Down”, and is learning “Joy to the World.”  He plays pretty good by ear; Old MacDonald he learned in pretty much one day.  Again, doesn’t get that from me.  He started in Sparks at our church’s AWANA program.  He was actually still 4 when it started in September, but he was in Kindergarten, and he moved up with a bunch of buddies that had been in Cubbies with him last year, so he was in good company.

Jacob started in AWANA Cubbies this year, sort of.  With a late October birthday, I don’t think he’ll be ready for Sparks yet the fall that he turns 5, even though we will probably start Kindergarten with him around that time.  So we call him a “Junior Cubbie.”  He wears Nathan’s old vest and memorizes the verses, but I’m too cheap to buy him the $10 book if he’s going to be in there for 3 years.  (Next year they are changing the whole program, so he wouldn’t be able to reuse the book when he’s older.)  Jacob wants to do school with us every morning.  So his school consists of cutting paper, coloring, writing on the dry-erase letter books, or playing with whatever math manipulatives Nathan uses for his lesson.  He kind of does his own thing; he’ll wander outside on his own (I’m a great mother).  Jacob is fearless.  Not in a macho, I’ve-got-something-to-prove way (read: short man syndrome), but more in a “Yeah, this looks fun.  I think I’ll do this.”  This week he jumped off the tailgate of the truck onto a log, which rolled beneath him.  Stuff like that happens daily.  He's still a snuggler, and likes to snuggle up against you when we read or watch TV.  He tries to end up in our bed whenever he wakes up at night.  (I don't want to admit how often he actually succeeds.)  He turns three later this month, and is pretty excited about it.

Zadie is nearly 6 months old.  She may be bigger than the boys were at this age.  They tended to be 90th percentile for height/75th for weight.  She's 100/90.  She was nearly 17 pounds at her checkup last month.  She's sitting up really good now on her own, where I don't have to put pillows around her.  I think she wants to crawl, but can't quite figure it out.  She rolls over onto her belly really well, but has yet to figure out how to roll from her belly to her back.  She's trying to change up her sleep pattern by giving up her morning naps.  So I know that's part of the problem with her attitude and needing attention.  We've had some big scream-fests at night.  She knows she's getting sleepy, and so will fight it.  After so long, I just get tired of the nurse-yank away-nurse-yank away.  I'll try rocking her, and if she doesn't relax, I just put her to bed.  Sometimes she'll scream and scream, other times (like tonight) she gives an obligatory squawk or two, but that's all I hear the rest of the night.  She started cereal this week.  The first time, she did pretty well, with not much tongue-thrusting and spitting out.  The last two times, she has attacked it with gusto, leaning forward and practically putting her face in the bowl.  I'm going to try green beans tomorrow, and see what she thinks of that.  Paul calls her a "show stopper."  Everywhere we go, people comment on how pretty she is.  I think it's the dark skin and the big blue eyes.  She is a beautiful girl.  (But of course, as her mother, I would never think otherwise!)

We had our first freeze this past weekend.  We were still getting watermelons and canteloupe - in October!  I didn't even try to save anything.  I was done with gardening.  With a capital D.  And it finished off the garden, big time.  Yet my roses by the deck were fine.  I don't get it.  I was happy with how the garden did, considering the type of summer we had.  Thrilled actually.  My tomatoes were a big waste of time and water, though.  I don't know if it was the year or the breed, but the most I got in one picking was a half a bucket.  Not even enough to put up.  My mom combined them with hers and got some sauce and salsa put up that she gave to me, so I do have something on the shelves at least.  The canteloupe were amazing - I think we were on our 5th or 6th round of pickings, and they had finally backed off to a normal size (as opposed to the first couple rounds of basketball-sized melons).  I even had a cucumber plant that held on.  It almost died in August, but then the tiny little bit that was still alive when it cooled down in September, started producing again.  I had about 12 bean plants that came up for my fall crop, and they were thisclose to being ready when it froze.  I told Paul next year, no matter what, I'm heeding my grandpa's advice of putting the fall garden in "the 25th of July, wet or dry."

Well, that's it for tonight.  I'm going to be responsible and go to bed, because, after all, being caught up on housework and laundry is way overrated.
:)

Still Alive.....

We're still here.
School has started full-swing.  We've been "in session for a month now, and it's going pretty good.  But it's another hour out of my day.  (And yes, it only takes about an hour when you charge through it start to finish with no play time or breaks.  With a boy, it seems to work better that way.)  Also the little miss is becoming very demanding.  I think she's finally realized there's more world beyond just her little area that she happens to be in, and she wants to see it.  RIGHT NOW.  In Mommy's arms, of course.  It's not enough to just move her to the room I'm in - she wants to see what the world looks like from the altitude of 6 feet tall.  And I've been trying hard to avoid the siren call of the internet to lure me away from engaging with my family and being productive around the house.
I'm breaking my own media Sabbath, but I got online to do some "training" for a worship night we're doing at church in two weeks.  I'm trying to decide what theme and flow I want to establish, and what the main goal of the night is.  I think there needs to be something a little more substantial than "having fun," although that was originally the main motivation for getting together.  I want it to be a powerful night of worship, but not only do "power songs" - balance out with some quiet songs of meditation.  Decisions, decisions.....
Anyhow.  I need to get to bed, but I will try to make it a point to post an update in the next two nights while Paul is working.  And add pictures. :)

Overheard:

"Whoa, something stinks.  Did you toot?"
"Yeah."
"Wow.  That is really stinky."
[seriously distressed voice] "I don't know why I keep smelling like Pa-pa!"

Overheard: (Why, thank you.)

I'm glad my husband's not here.  Because then he'd expect us to have all this yummy food at our birthday parties.

One of my friends, the mom of Nathan's best buddy, came with her boys to Nathan's 5th birthday party.  We had a pretty simple fare, I thought.  Hamburgers and hot dogs, and different salads.  I made pasta salad, and my family brought several others.  It's not my fault my family loves flavorful food. :)

Culinary Self-Flagellation

I consider myself a decent cook.  While my cooking wouldn't necessarily be called gourmet, I think most of what I eat is enjoyable.
However, I will admit:  I do make some pretty amazing sugar cookies.  And some dang good cinnamon rolls.  And a pretty good pies, too, now that I think about it.

So let me change the subject.
Monday, I joined my Mom and brother on the carb-free train.  What I'm doing is not as strictly the Atkins (I eat vegetables, minus corn, carrots, peas, and potatoes), but it's still pretty strict.  When you get the munchies, there's not a whole lot that's munch-able, at least not in our house.  Seriously, Tuesday, my teeth were aching for something crunchy.  I'm not being totally fanatical about it - I had 3 Fritos to try to satisfy that need for crunchiness, and I had a bite of Paul's grilled pizza on Monday.
The reason I decided to try out this diet is because I've been feeling very bloated and fat. As we all know, after you have a baby, there's a certain amount of belly fat you can't do anything about.  But it was just a blah feeling all the time.  My mom said it would help with that, and it has helped.  And even though it's only my 4th day, my belly does feel (and maybe look?) less bloated.

Back to the original subject:
Once a month, Paul likes me to make treats for him to take to his shift at work.
Well, I promised them cinnamon rolls before I decided to do this diet.  This is where the subjects come together:  If there is one food/flavor I love, love, love, it is cinnamon.  You can't go wrong with cinnamon.  I even put in on ice cream occasionally.  But white bread, not to mention sugar, would definitely be a no-no on a carb-free diet.

He takes four 9x13s (1 dozen each) to work (I made two plain, one apple, and one chocolate chip).  Anything in the two rounds is the "ugly ends" from the dough roll, which I keep for our family.  But they turned out just as beautiful and fluffy as the others!  And this pic is even before I added the frosting!

Seriously.  It was total self-torture to make these.  And they were the most perfect batch I've ever made - go figure!  And I made apple cinnamon rolls, which I love.
I did sample one taste each of the apple and the chocolate when the boys were eating them last night.  And they are as definitely as good as they look!  It was hard to stop at one bite!  So, it's a total lesson in self-control for me to ignore the pan of cinnamon rolls on the counter.
Ah, the things we do for the ones we love. :)

Recycling

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with recycling.  I love (okay, like) that I'm not adding to the massive amounts of trash in the landfill, but I hate that it stacks up before I finally get it taken to the recycling center.
I think that I really started trying harder to recycle after Nathan was born.  I got to thinking about how many diapers I threw in the trash.  Then I got to thinking about how many babies were in our town, and how many diapers were being put in the landfill every week by all those babies combined.  And the thought of all that poop in a pile just kind of grossed me out.  Even though I had already decided to do cloth diapers for finance's sake, that thought just reinforced my decision.
But diapers are not hard to decompose, I would think.  I got to thinking about the amount of plastics and glass everyone throws away - that stuff isn't decomposing for a long time.
The boys have a movie called Mighty Machines (basically a bunch of videos of different machinery doing jobs).  They have one of a trash truck doing it's route and it shows the landfill.  I've never been to our county's, so I was surprised at how huge it was.  And gross.
So I started trying to recycle.  I only do things that our local recycling center takes (#1 and #2 plastics, soup cans, pop cans, glass, paper, and cardboard).  Once we take those things out, a week's worth of trash is only 2 bags, and that includes diapers.  (If I was religious about recycling junk mail, it would probably be less than that.)
But I hate how it stacks up!  My storage totes take up too much room to keep on the back porch, so we keep them in the shop.  (I wouldn't need the storage totes if I took it to the recycling center every week - but, let's be real, that is never going to happen until I'm an old lady and have nothing better to do.)  I keep a basket by the back door to take the stuff out to the shop when it's full.  But because I (or someone else in this house whose household duties include the garbage, which in my book includes recycling by extension) am too lazy to take the basket out to the shop every week, there is always a precariously balanced pile of soup cans, milk jugs, alfredo jars, and shampoo bottles on the shelves by the back door.  I hate that. .
But I do like the thought that by doing this little bit, it's keeping some of the non-biodegradables out of the landfill.
And if everyone did that little bit, which isn't hard, just slightly inconvenient, it would make the world a more beautiful place.