And even more weird pets

I think they do actually like each other.  Crazy dogs.

More interesting homework

The Boy's next interesting homework assignment was to write a blog about his adventures with Super Mario, the Tech class mascot. We had a lot of fun pictures of contrived activities.  I wondered if anyone actually had real adventures, or if everyone created activities, like we did.  In any case, at least this homework was fun!

A Mini-vacation

Both one of  of Mr. Ranch's mother's cousins and one of his Uncles own condos at a ski resort about two hours from our house.  We are very blessed that they let us use the condo(s) occasionally.  A few weeks ago we were all able to get away for a couple nights.  Mr. Ranch and The Boy watched tv on comfy couches..

 while The Girl snuggled in bed and watched Disney Channel.

 The view and weather were lovely....

We also enjoyed being able to cook dinner and not have to go out after a day of adventures!

The Boy bakes...

A few weeks ago The Boy came home with an assignment to read Chocolate Fever, make "something chocolate" and take pictures. In hindsight, many of his friends made hot chocolate, so maybe our project was ambitious, but, hey, you can't go wrong with hot fudge chocolate sundae cake, can you?

Her you see the recipe, in the cookbook full of family recipes that my mom made for my brother and I.  The picture on the page would be my brother and I on Easter when I was probably The Girl's age.

 Like any good cook, The Boy gathered his ingredients first...

 Then he gathered his tools and put on a Union Jack apron--a Fourth of July gift from our English friend--get the irony?

 We had a conversation about how to measure flour...no packing

 Mix the dry ingredients...

add the wet...

 stir it all together

 and pour/scrape it into a pan--a heart shaped one, in honor of Valentine's day, in this case.

 Next comes the sauce

 He is very serious about this project.

 Ready to go in the oven!

 Get the toppings ready, while the oven preheats...

 Then wait patiently...

 Looks like it is done!  See how the sauce has sunk to the bottom and then bubbled back to the top?  Yum!

 Spoon it up, add ice cream, and...









eat it up!









I suppose you would like the real recipe....here it is:

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
1 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 t salt (although I usually leave it out)
3/4 C sugar
2 T cocoa
1/2 C milk
2 T oil
1 C chopped nuts (I usually leave these out, too)
1 C brown sugar
1/4 C cocoa
1 3/4 C hot water

Blend flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and 2T cocoa.  Stir in milk and oil.  Add nuts if desired.  Spread in 9x9 inch pan.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1/4 C cocoa.  Pour hot war over entire batter.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  The cake mixture will rise to the top and the sauce will settle to the bottom.  Cut into squares (or spoon out). Serve warm with ice cream.

The (Sub)Urban Ranch B and B

When we first moved to Denver we had a lot of company--I think it helped that a lot of our friends and relatives didn't mind sleeping on the floor.  Despite having a much bigger house, we no longer have a guest room (thanks, kids), so our visitor quota has (in general) slowed down over the past few years.  Although I actually blame the dog...she's ginormous...We've had a spike in visits over the last few weeks though, which is a lot of fun for all of us (and ensures that the house has a minimum level of cleanliness).
Last weekend my parents came to visit so they could watch me in the fabulous faculty production of "Once Upon a Mattress" (it really was quite fabulous, in many ways).  We had a great time--they hung out with the kids, who didn't have school on Friday, helped them with homework and projects, took us all out to eat almost every meal and stayed in a hotel so the kids could play in the pool and stay over--very fun for all of us.
This weekend Grandude arrives for a few days, the Ranch children have spring break next week and there will be skiing (snowboarding for The Boy) on the agenda.
And in one more week, the newest Ranch cousin and his parents will come to visit for a few days--the children are very excited.  They, however, will be adhering to "normal" bedtimes, because their spring break will be ending...while mine will be beginning (yay for spring break!!!).

Summer (Home)School

Yep, I'm that mom.  We do summer (home) school in the summer--sometimes disguised as something else and sometimes straight out "here's your assignment".  Here's a selection of what I've collected so far for our summer "entertainment".

Red Hot Root Words Book 1: Mastering Vocabulary with Prefixes, Suffixes and Root Words

Draze, Dianne

Spectrum Geometry, Grades 6-8

Practice, Practice: Algebra Readiness, Grades 4-8

Red Hot Root Words: Mastering Vocabulary With Prefixes, Suffixes And Root Words (Book 2) by Dianne Draze

Mad Minute: Mastering Number Facts, Grades1-8 by Paul Joseph Shoecraft and Terry James Clukey

And our new best friend, Reflex Math.  

I'm sure the children will be super impressed and excited....Now we need to choose some books to read and/or listen to in the car--we are almost done with all the 39 Clues Books that have been written! Should be an interesting summer!

The Pets are a pain

Earlier this week we were pretty sure that Tony da Fish had done away with George the Snail.  George was spending a lot of time on the bottom of the tank, upside down, not moving and kind of hanging out of his/her shell.  Despite the absence of smell, which many of our snail expert friends claim is the best way to find a dead snail, we were pretty sure he was dead.  But...because we thought he might not be dead, we put him in a separate bowl to see if he disintegrated.






Notice how s/he is oozing out of his shell?  Icky.









Imagine our surprise when he moved!  It still appears that George might not be well (a sick snail?) but he's not dead yet!

So I gave him (her?) a piece of lettuce and some fish food...we'll see.  Today he (she?) has snotty things hanging off--either they are snail babies (?) or he has a cold....right.







In other news, I found Tigger sitting in Indy's bowl.  At first I thought he might be using the water bowl as a litter box (he has used Indy's food bowl previously, as a sign of his anger)...however, since he turned around and started drinking water, I suppose he didn't.  Weird cat...his tail is all wet...

I promise I'll be back :)

Hello...
As mentioned in my last post...it has been a bit nutty around here lately...well, no nuttier than usual!  The faculty musical is finished--it was so much fun!  In celebration, I caught a cold...so you'll have to excuse my less regular blogging for a few days.  I promise I'll be back with something exciting...soon!

Musical, Opening Night!

Hello, all!  Yet another crazy day is almost done--I started again with 4.5 exciting hours of TCAP testing (oooh, ah!), followed by a full run (without costumes and make-up) of the play, a quick dinner (Thanks to our awesome crew!) and opening night!  According to our students, we not only did great, but "actually have talent!".  Regardless, it was a lot of fun.  Possibly the funniest part of the event was when we walked out of the auditorium and in unison said, "How is it still light?".  I arrived home, wearing way too much make-up, to find that my parents have "borrowed" my children for the night....it is very quiet here!  As soon as my load of laundry is done, I think I'm headed to bed!  Remember, if you're in town, the play is happening again on Saturday at 4:00!

My weird day

Because I no longer have a cache of blogs pre-written and ready to post, tonight you get a ramble about how strange this week is.

Today, tomorrow, and Thursday we are administrating the TCAP (CSAP, standardized test, whatever you want to call it) to our 9th and 10th graders.  I arrived at school about my normal time (6:30)--found my co-proctor, got our tests, got into the room and administered tests all morning...then ate a quick lunch at my desk.  For the record, two "regular size" frozen pizzas no longer leave me enough pizza for lunch the next day...The children are officially like locusts--I had one small piece left and I was glad to have that much!..After/during lunch, I quickly checked and dealt with some email and headed to musical practice.  Yay!!  Today we practiced in costume (no make-up today though, we just refused).  I keep getting new "parts"--today we found out that one of the other ensemble members probably won't be at either performance, so I get to help push the birdcage out onto stage.  There was a very awkward moment in which my friend, H, and I stood on stage behind the main characters in a scene and tried to think of a graceful exit strategy (well, at least I tried, she said she was enjoying it). Afterwards I picked up the children, fed them grilled cheese (with avocado and tomato), took The Girl to drums, supervised homework and now am previewing Mr. Ranch's latest ski film.  The rough cut is done and this year's music is royalty free, so stay tuned for a viewing sometime soon!

Tomorrow will be similar to today, except insert "volleyball practice" instead of "drum lesson".  The Boy and I may be doing his homework at a coffeehouse though while The Girl practices.  Thursday again is similar, except the faculty is doing a performance (for real!) at 5pm and my parents are arriving to hang out with the kids on Friday (they are out of school again for some mysterious reason).  Then Saturday is another performance and then...well, we're one week closer to spring break!  I'll find something exciting to write about soon....in the meantime, local folks, let me know if you're interested in seeing a (fantastic) faculty production of "Once Upon a Mattress" on Thursday or Saturday!

Picky eater..sigh

Thanks to the time change, we at the Ranch are moving slowly this morning.  We decided to go to church at 10:30 instead of at 8:30...meaning a great deal of my day will be done when we walk out...but not a great deal of "the list" (you know that list, parents!).  So, I snuck downstairs to start on my list (dishes, laundry, grocery list...) and Mr. Ranch snuck into the shower...guess I'll write a blog post while I wait for him to give me my turn!

Neither of the kids were a picky eater when they were little--occasionally someone's lunch or dinner plate spent some time in the fridge until the next meal, but not very often.  Recently, The Girl has become a slightly picky eater.  Unlike her friend E, who is a vegetarian, except for bacon, The Girl is just being picky.  I think it is part of her grand scheme to drive me absolutely nuts.  Thankfully, we still get the Sunday paper, and almost every week there is a recipe section, with pretty pictures and attention grabbing headlines...."Go Healthy!  Smart Lunchbox Layering!";  "Rice and Easy!";  "Your Nutrition Survival Guide!" and so on... Mr. Ranch pointed out to her that by the time he and her aunt were her age, they were in charge of cooking at least one meal a week.  Inspired, she has provided me with the following grocery list:  avocados, blueberries, bananas, turkey bacon, shrimp, vanilla yogurt, cottage cheese, pecans, slivered almonds, rice, and peanut butter cheerios.  I don't think the cheerios go in a recipe.  But I don't know for sure.  There were a few other things on the list, like oatmeal, that I assured her we already have (I believe we also have a great deal of the other things on her list, or did have, before the locusts ate them).  After we try a couple recipes I'll have her report back  to all of us.  In the meantime, here is the most likely recipe to be tried by the whole family:

from: http://parade.condenast.com/264496/sarahdigregorio/easy-oven-baked-risotto-plus-3-ways-to-make-it-special/
Easy Oven-Baked Risotto
Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 diced onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Season with kosher salt. Cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 1¼ cups Arborio rice. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Pour in ½ cup dry white wine and season with salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until liquid evaporates, 3 minutes. Add 4 cups boiling chicken stock. Cover and transfer to oven. Bake 15 minutes or until rice is just tender. Stir in 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1/3 cup grated Parmesan. Taste; add more salt or lemon juice if desired. Choose a flavor (see below) and add stir-in. Ladle into dishes; add topping. Serves 4.
Stir in: Fresh herb puree
In a food processor, combine ¾ cup water, 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 cup firmly packed chopped fresh mint, 1 cup firmly packed chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, 2 Tbsp olive oil, ½ cup chopped fresh chives, and 1 tsp kosher salt. Pulse until pureed.
Top with: Cooked shrimp

Shrimp-Herb

My most controversial blog yet...and I can't even tell you what it is about

I've been thinking about writing this post for awhile, actually in more global terms but haven't felt like I have the right words to post it.  And now that I've started, I"m not sure how to say it without doing exactly the thing that annoys me. I was also originally going to write about a specific product, but Mr. Ranch said people would be angry with me, so I'll try to go back to being general.  Ha!  Follow that train of thought...Hmm. Well, let's see how this goes...maybe I'll just erase the whole thing and forget I ever tried...

Lately I've noticed a lot of people in my life have a lot of strong opinions on child-rearing. I've seen and heard fellow moms and dads be "put in their place" by other well-meaning moms and dads, both in real life and on social media. I suppose it has "always" happened, but I seem to have noticed it more lately...maybe because both my kids (usually) sleep through the night (or at least go to their rooms and don't bug me too much after 9 pm) and I am actually listening to what people say, rather than walking around in a baby induced fog.  Recently I ran across several of my Facebook friends, relatives, and acquaintances posting an article condemning a specific baby/toddler product. This is the latest in a series of very strongly worded posts, that even as a mom who doesn't currently use the product, I thought, "ooooh"...not "oh", as in "I didn't know this information"  but "oooh" as in "oh, if I currently used said product this would stress me out".

Now, I have to say that I do actually agree with almost everything said in the article.  Here's what I don't agree with...telling people, who are possibly already having angst about their child-rearing choices, that they are doing something wrong.  We give each other a hard time about what type of crib we use (or if we use a crib at all), about food choices, about daycare vs. staying home, about using bouncy seats, what kind of stroller, about diapers, about wipes, even about bottles and sippy cups...I could go on and on...We used drop-sided cribs, disposable diapers, bouncy seats, exersaucers, sippy cups  (I could go on) with both kids.  Did we know that using some of those things "long term" could cause "issues"?  Why, yes, yes we did.   I actually have zero regrets about the items we used when the kids were babies...sometimes I even miss specific things, like sippy cups, especially after a child or pet (or me) has spilled the tenth cup of something sticky all over the kitchen table or family room floor.  And cribs with sides tall enough to keep children contained (the other morning mine woke me up at 5 am to announce they were going skiing...ok...nite, nite...)

I'll admit that I'm not innocent, I know that I am guilty of judging other parents.  Mr. Ranch and I joke about how before we had kids we once attended a PG-13 movie where some young (maybe 6 or 7 year old) children attended. We were appalled that anyone would take a child younger than 13 to a PG-13 movie...well, guess what?  The Boy, who is currently nine, went to see his first PG-13 movie at about age 6.  It was Harry Potter, the little turkey had already read the book, so, yeah, we were those people.  I once said to a co-teacher at the pre-school--"I can't believe that mom left her 3 year old and the baby here an extra hour so she could go to the grocery store alone."  Fast forward...did I ever leave my kid(s) at daycare an extra hour so I could go to the store alone?  Uh,huh....Did I feel a little bad?  Sometimes...but I feel worse about judging those other parents all those years ago.

We all make choices as parents and some are great and some are, well, not so great (buying the boy a Nerf gun? Not such a great choice...). There are many convenient choices that we make as parents that aren't perfect, but we are not perfect beings.  And, on top of that, we aren't expected to be.   God calls us, as imperfect people, to love each other, to support each other and to try our very best to make our corner of the world a better place. He calls us not to judge, but to support.  Yes, sometimes that means we need to "call" each other on stuff...but not on what we choose to use as baby products.

So here's my advice--  Do what you need to as a parent, to keep your sanity and have that extra "umph" that you need to raise your kids the very best you can.  If you need to let your three year old watch an episode of Veggie Tales while you "rest" on the couch, do it....if you believe children shouldn't see tv until they are thirty?  Well, good luck with that once they go to school, but go for it.  Use disposable diapers if they are convenient, or useful, or what you need to do to save your sanity.  Let your kids use a sippy cup so your carpet (and your dog) don't always smell like spoiled milk...Or don't use them...do what is right for you and your family!

 My bottom line? Please (please, please) stop presenting information to "me" that you think will educate me--or at least, stop telling me that your way is the best way, the only way...show me the articles--tell me it is new, or interesting information...but understand that most parents read and research the choices that we make for our kids. We really do know most of the time that the choices we're making might not be the most highly recommended by the experts...but it is the best possible choice we can make in that moment. Instead,  tell someone else that they are doing something well--that their child behaved great in church, that they are so polite, that you love spending time with them and their kids. Please try really hard to not tell other parents what they are doing wrong...there are enough negative influences on and comments towards parents today.

To end, I challenge you (and myself) to find something positive that another parent is doing, and without being condescending, compliment them today.  To stop judging others and to really start showing God's love.

 Thanks for listening...now all of you who know me personally will probably post mean things on my Facebook wall...but I can live with it.  Pass the sippy cup, please...

Waiting for Spring...

We had a couple of lovely days during the past couple of weeks...making me dream of my garden.  Unfortunately, there is a 50% chance of  frost through May 22 this year.  Hmm.  That means that I can plant some things inside between March 29 and April 12 (6-8 weeks before then) and move them outside in May.  Still almost a month away.  Gee...What shall I do until then?  We've tried planting around Mother's Day, but usually end up covering plants with sand buckets and kitty litter pails when that "last snow/frost" happens. To make myself happy, I created a garden planting map and created a list of what we hope to plant--Here's the first draft:
Planted in previous years, hopefully will come back produce again this year:  cilantro, rosemary, chives, scallions, garlic, asparagus.
The fruit trees (peach, apple, cherry) will be on year two and supposedly we won't have fruit until year four. There is also a blueberry bush and a blackberry bush, but neither looked good last year, so we'll see if they even sprout.
New plants--in pots--some of the tomatoes, potatoes, some of the peppers , and flowers of course.
  In the garden-peas, green beans, onions, lettuce and spinach (those can go in earlier), carrots (also can go in earlier), corn, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, green peppers, tomatoes, maybe zucchini, maybe butternut squash.  Looks like it will be another ambitious year.  We're hoping to have better luck with the corn-- last year's was chewy.  We'll going to pay better attention to the growing schedule and hope that things go better.  I'm also going to add parsley, oregano, and basil to the outside herb garden...which means I'll have some rock removal and soil enrichment...that should keep me busy, once it starts warming up a little and we are just waiting for last minute snowstorms and frosts.  Until then I'll keep myself happy by buying plant pellets and seed packets...spring is coming eventually, right?!

February's book report....

The first week of February I went a literacy conference and gathered a list of young adult (and a few adult fiction and professional) books to read.  So, as I continued my Elizabeth Peters progression, I threw in a little variety.

1.  As mentioned earlier, our family watched A Little Princess (the movie), which inspired me to read A Little Princess (Frances Burnett) the book.  It was entertaining and fun to re-read.  And fast. I think it took less than two hours.
2.  The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog (Elizabeth Peters)
3.  -The Choice (Suzanne Woods Fisher)--I bought this book for free from Amazon.  It is about an Amish family and was a typical book about an Amish family.  I enjoyed reading it while my family was skiing.  Nothing too deep or thought provoking, but entertaining.
4.Paradise Valley (Dale Cramer)--another free book about an Amish family.  This one was book 1 (of 3), actually interesting enough that I purchased books two and three and did research to figure out what was true.  Apparently in the early 1920's there were several court cases regarding compulsory education for Amish children.  After losing, several families actually moved to Mexico for a few years and started an Amish community there.  While this series is fiction, the author's dad was born to one of the real Amish families living in Mexico who returned to the US.
5.  The Captive Heart (Dale Cramer)--book 2...see above
6.  Though Mountains May Fall (Dale Cramer)-book 3
7. The Boy on the Porch (Sharon Creech)--another impulse from the library, about a couple who end up being foster parents and in typical Sharon Creech style it "just ends"...good book, short
8.  Laura Ingalls Wilder Country (William Anderson)  Mr. Anderson presented at the Literacy conference, I thought I'd read his book and see how it was.  I've visited or read about most of the sites.  It was a quick, short, non-fiction read.
9.  Levi's Will (Dale Cramer)--this one is kind of a sequel to the first three--taking place about 20 years afterward.  I was too cheap to buy it from Amazon, so I had to wait to get it from the library.  I wanted to know "what happened to everyone"...while I didn't answer all my questions, it was entertaining.
10.  Fallout (Todd Strasser)--this was suggested at the literacy conference as a great piece of historical fiction...The premise is what would happen if the atomic bombs had been dropped on the .US in the 1960's and the main family were the only ones in the neighborhood with a shelter.  I kept hoping it would "get better", but since the historical premise was something that most definitely didn't happen, I had a hard time suspending my disbelief, so to speak ,and enjoying the book.
11.  The Hippopotamus Pool (Elizabeth Peters)  I just can't go wrong with these...can't go wrong...

We also listened to books 1 and 2 of the second 39 Clues Series--Cahills vs. Vespers.  Still entertaining..

That's all for now...stay tuned for something more interesting than my book reports!

January 2014 Reading Log...this should be interesting....

So the next couple blog entries will be pretty boring if you aren't interested in what I'm reading...but hey, if you want to know what I'm reading, boy are you in luck!

I had a run of reading Elizabeth Peters books.  She wrote a lovely series about Amelia Peabody and her family. Every couple years I re-read the whole series because I'm a dork.  The books have mystery, clean romance, cats, naughty children, archaeology...good "bubble gum" reading, with a twist of actual history thrown in so I feel like I'm learning something.  We meet Amelia in the 1880's and follow her and her family through the early 1920's and then pick them back up a few generations later. In case you don't know Mrs. Peter's work, she wrote under three names.  As Elizabeth Peters she wrote a lot of historical fiction.  She also wrote suspense as Barabara Michaels and non-fiction Egyptology as herself, Barbara Mertz.

1.  Curse of the Pharohs (Elizabeth Peters)
2.  The Mummy Case (Elizabeth Peters)
3.  Lion in the Valley (Elizabeth Peters)
4.  The Chronicles of Downton Abbey (Jessica Fellowes and Matthew Sturgis)--If I'd purchased this book, it would have been an impulse buy.  It was near the check-out station at the library and looked interesting.  It actually had a great deal of text--discussing the history of the real family who lived at Highclere Castle (Lord Carnavan, who sponsored Egyptian expeditions, including Howard Carter's that resulted in finding King Tut...)  There were some descriptions of how the show is filmed, etc.
5.  The Deeds of the Disturber (Elizabeth Peters)
6.The Last Camel Died at Noon (Elizabeth Peters)--this is actually my favorite Elizabeth Peters book--if you've ever read The Moonstone or King Solomon's Mines you might really love this one, too.  I don't think you have to read books 1-5 to enjoy it...the first time I read the Amelia series I actually just read them as I found them, out of order, and later re-read them in order to make some things "make sense".

We did continue listening to the 39 Clues books in the car as well--I believe we listened to books 10 and 11, whatever they are called, in January, finishing the first series--it is still entertaining me as well as The Boy and The Girl, so, yay!  And I watched a lot of Downton Abbey after buying the season on Amazon, so that interfered with my reading.

Stay tuned for February's report!