This is a great book!

Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake

I just finished this book. Found it by chance in the new section of the library. I think I will choose it the next time I host book club. The writing is beautiful, the message so haunting and tender. I just loved it. If you are looking for a good book, try this one.

Beautifully written - an absolute treat to read because of the fine writing! This author is great with her descriptions using metaphors... "Like the fall of a theater curtain on the last act, dusk dropped onto the blue hole..."and in infusing the sarcasm of a teenager in the voice of the narrator (Momma made certain everyone in her path felf affirmed at all times, even if she had to perjure herself to do it...) It is a story of racial tension in late 70's in the south, (but dealing with a Muslim family instead of a black one.) I totally liked it. Told through the eyes of teenagers that are more accepting than their parents.

Colonial Camp with the girls

I spent 3 days at camp this week in a dress! I went as a chaperon to the school colonial camp. The kids have been studying the Revolutionary and Colonial time period and the culminating event was a camp. The kids all dressed in colonial attire, complete with bonnets and 3 cornered hats for the boys. The kids had almost everything they needed in the dress up box for their costumes!

The kids at camp rotated thru stations making corn husk dolls and candles, learning archery, silversmithing, making butter etc. It was so much fun! We ate dutch oven cooking and slept in cabins. The girls were up at the crack of dawn the first day - like 5 am! I learned that Megan and Melissa both love to know what time it is. They were going crazy with no clocks or watches.

I taught the corn husk dolls and doubled as a camp nurse. Allergies and near broken legs was all I had to deal with.

Actually wearing a long skirt is not bad. I had an apron on with pockets to hold everything. The skirt was cool in the wind. Those colonial women may have had a good idea....

Memorial Day Camp-out

We have taken the kids camping a few times for Memorial Day weekend. It seems to be a great way to start the summer attitude of "lets do fun things now that it is warm!" The weather was perfect this year! So we packed the tent and fixin's for s'mores and went to Liberty Lake County Park (less than 3 miles from home.) We even ate dinner at home so I didn't have to fuss with all that! Easy! The big motivator was a note that I found in Melissa's pocket one day while I was doing laundry. She had written to her friend Kennedy, inviting her to come with us. She described how fun it was to sleep in a tent and look at stars and make s'more and go on a morning hike. It was precious! I showed it to Mike and said - "we must make the effort to go."

So Melissa and Megan both invited friends. Katie and Andrew came for the campfire and then Mike took them home so they could sleep in their own beds. They are definitely teenagers! Katie had hurt her leg on a field trip that day so she was not in the mood for camping.
Andrew did split all the logs for the fire. He was actually quite helpful.

Love Melissa's bedhead in the morning. She cracks me up! The girls had a tent to theirselves. So much fun!

I bought Jiffy Pop and tried it over the fire. No luck! Burned popcorn smells awful! We made a batch over the camp stove instead. That worked much better.

But of course the s'mores were great!

But of course - the trip wouldn't have been nearly as fun if we didn't have the Indians 3 tents down decide to beat their drums and chant for 45 minutes at bedtime. The ranger called the Spokane County Police and the Liberty Lake Police for that one. And then, once they were done with the drums, they broke out the alcohol. Nothing like sitting around a campfire drinking and swearing and talking SO LOUD until 2:30 am. Mike and I were laying there thinking how nice it was to sleep within 30 yards of these quality people. I wouldn't invite them into my home, and all that was separating me from them was a cloth wall...I wouldn't let Mike go tell them to be quiet - somehow didn't trust his people skills at that hour. So I got up and as nicely and as motherly and sweetly as I could, I asked them to please be quiet and stop swearing. It only took them 30 more minutes to wind down and go to sleep.

CAMPING USED TO BE FUN - a family activity. Now it is just the riff raff and low lifes that come out with their tents. This will be the last year at Liberty Lake County Park regardless of tender notes that I find in pockets. Our own backyard is looking good....

Happy Birthday Diane!

Happy Birthday to my sister! How lucky we are to live down the street from you! Aunt Diane has come to the rescue for my kids and me many times. She is a great listener and supporter. We get to see each other almost every day thanks to carpools and kids stuff. Family is a great blessing and for years she was miles away in Virginia! Now we are just around the corner! We grew up sharing a room and going to high school together sharing classes like choir and home economics. It is so neat to share family memories with a sister. Now we go to book club together and share recipes and plan family reunions together. Carol gets us together for lunch every once in a while too.

Diane is famous for following directions, being on time, and planning ahead. Needless to say, I drive her crazy by making things up, being late and doing things spur of the moment and changing my mind! How can sisters be so different? Well - she puts up with me and laughs at my jokes and forgives me for all my faults. How lucky am I? Happy Birthday to my sister and friend! Thanks for inviting us up for cake!

The Music of Disney

I love Disney! I took the girls to the Music of Disney on Friday night. Kind of a Mother's Day gift to myself. The Spokane Symphony played an evening of Disney music. It was hard not to sing along or get up and dance!
The girls and I went out to eat and then downtown for the symphony. Fun dressing up and going out! Mike was out of town or he would have come too. We had a great night!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to every wonderful Mom I know!

I had the blessing to be raised by a near-perfect MOM! I learned so much from her and the older I get, the more I realize what a wonderful mom she is. Motherhood is the hardest job in the world and she did it with a smile and lots of love. Her words and example come back to me so often when I am in the middle of my own mothering! Thank you Mom! I love you dearly!



I am also blessed to be the mom of 5 wonderful kids! This is the best job in the world! Thank you for putting up with me and letting me learn on you. By the time I've got it down, I will be out of a job! Thank you for the beautiful flowers and a day without fighting. (That's what I asked for!)
I also got a new bird feeder. I love to watch the birds!

Katie - High School Here I Come!

Katie got a letter telling her that she was selected for pre-AP classes for her freshman year. She was the only one surprized. Her Mom and Dad have known for quite some time that she is exceptional! Yea Katie! We are so proud of you!

Watch out world - here she comes!

Katie is an Amazing Soccer Player

Katie has been playing soccer for many years with Spokane Rec teams. This was her last game. She has outgrown them! Hopefully she will play in high school. She played the last few years on a boys team. It has been so good for her in so many ways. She has learned to be aggressive and tough and she has learned to get along with boys as teammates. She is really comfortable around them. Oh there is a fair amount of flirting that goes on.... but also trust and hard work. I am so proud of Katie. It is so fun to cheer for her and to hear others cheer her on too. She knows how to score!

Teammate Nick - I got to know him at the chess club we did with Andrew at Liberty Lake Elementary so we've known him a long time. He is great - and very fast.

Jorge - adopted from Argentina? He is an amazing soccer player. Can you run in mid -air? It seems he does. He can kick, score from mid-field. And he is humble about it all. It was fun to watch him play.

The team. Shaun Brown was a great coach. That girl is busy! If she is not coaching, she is playing or changing the math program at CV or starting the Liberty Lake newspaper or doing a church leadership calling. Or taking care of her own 5 kids. I admire her so much. Thanks Shaun for many great years of soccer and friendship!

The brave girls on the team...Stephanie Brown, Gabi and Katie bug!

Spirit Week at School

Spirit week at school - the best week of the year. Everyone has permission to be a little creative and crazy. Monday was sports day. Melissa talked Kennedy into being a Steelers fan for the day. And twin day wasn't even until Wednesday! Hey we can supply quite a few with Steeler's jerseys if need be. We've been collecting them....

Tuesday was crazy hair day. Megan did her own and Melissa's too. I think they turned out so cute. Katie sprayed her hair pink when she got to school and got a headache from the fumes....Melissa's hair is still a little pink. She's washed it like 4 times since then but....

Then Wednesday was mix and match, random or twin day. The girls had no problem coming up with mix and match. Such a sense of fashion...Who says you can mix plaids with prints etc?Melissa almost couldn't get the belt to stay on.

And then, my favorite day was Friday - princess day. Hey - that is everyday around here! Look at my three beautiful princesses. We had everything we needed in our dress up box. It doesn't seem that long ago that they dressed up as princesses every day!

Bringing Home the ....Turkey

Well, Mike is happy - it is hunting season again. Turkey hunting comes every spring. (Go figure - we all need turkeys at Thanksgiving....) Poor guy, for his hobby of choice he gets up at 4 am and walks the woods calling turkeys with a little wooden box like thing. He ran into a moose a few weeks ago. But, he had some good luck last week and brought home this Tom. Beautiful feathers and all. Annie being a bird dog was interested a little. "Hey what is this thing?"

So I cooked it up and we had it for dinner. Talk about bringing home the bacon...I found a recipe for caesar pitas. It is basically caesar dressing over turkey with avacados, tomatoes and lettuce in a pita. Yummy and quick.