Author: Tricia

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Weekend Joys

It’s been a big week in many ways. I haven’t written much, but rather than recount it all, I will leave you with some high points of just the past few days:

a LONG afternoon nap

holding and listening to my 2 year old enthusiastically sing Holy, Holy, Holy during our worship service today

a surprise visit from my little brother in the middle of the day

the hugs and prayers of family and friends

a girlie outing: browsing Old Downtown McKinney and enjoying lunch with my little sis and daughter on a pretty afternoon

Getting negative biopsy results (Praise God!!) three days earlier than we’d expected to hear

a surprise date night from my husband

my daughter’s delight over the many butterflies we have seen the last couple days

lunch out with my brother and sis-in-law.

warm brownies and cold milk!!

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Huh??

Some of us in the Horne household LOVE Cream of Wheat (enriched Farina for those of you who are familiar with the other stuff) for breakfast. Especially Abigail and I. As I was putting the box away earlier, I noticed the following slogan on its side:

“So SMOOTH, So CREAMY, So GOOD to hold on to”

Does anyone else besides me think this an odd sort of statement to make in reference to Cream of Wheat?

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Thank You, Huggies!!!

Today we played with friends at a Splash Park in nearby Allen. It was a gorgeous day, and both kids and moms had a great time. All went swimmingly (heh heh) until I picked up Nicolas who had wandered off, to move him back toward our group. and noticed as I put him down that there was a rather strange odor about him. Oh, and what was that brownish stuff on my otherwise pristine sea blue tank?? Hmmm??? Any guesses, mothers (or fathers) of children who are not yet potty-trained???

Yep, that’s right. What a mess. It was everywhere, and he was disgustingly dirty, from waist to toes. So much for swimmie diapers and their powers of containment…

Having already shared many of my diaper wipes with friends, as there seemed to be a general shortage of them today, and being in a place with bathrooms that were yes, clean, but devoid of soap and paper towels, I began musing over my options. What was I to use to sanitize my toxic child? And myself? And even if I could get us both clean, and Nicolas into fresh clothes, what was I to wear? You see, I had packed extra clothes for all three children, but not for me. And my shirt REALLY needed to be changed.

Well, I left the two older kids in the care of some very dear friends and Nicolas and I made our way to the restroom, where we stayed for the better part of half an hour. Everything that might serve as a wipe or cleaning implement came out of the diaper bag and cooler: napkins, kleenex, the few remaining wipes, bread (no, just kidding!) and OH!! What little treasure did I find at the bottom of my bag but a Huggies Disposable Washcloth which I received in the mail about a year ago and have kept in my bag ever since, “just in case”. God bless Huggies. I’m going to go buy a box of these handy things. Just add water to this soft flannel-like cloth and you have yourself a foamy, soapy, absolutely wonderful bath for your dirty baby, toddler, preschooler, whatever.

My previously scandalously dirty little boy was squeaky clean when we were through. And he smelled pretty, too. Dry diaper, fresh clothes and he was a brand new kid. As for me, after a bit of freshening, I returned to the group wearing my five year old daughter’s school t-shirt. I was reminded of a comic moment in One Fine Day where Michelle Pfeiffer chose in desperation to wear her son’s dinosaur t-shirt into a company sales presentation for lack of anything else to put on at the time. Not that I look like Michelle Pfeiffer… But, ANYWAY, I digress.

The point of all this is that if you think you might ever have a need for a washing on the go, do take time to stop by your local Walmart or wherever, and stock up on some of Huggies’ handy-dandy disposable washcloths!

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Nothing Worth Crying Over

As I returned home from our grocery trip this morning, I tried to carry a few too many things in my left hand (note to my gentle readers: it would seem two gallons of milk plus a plastic bag of groceries in one hand is too much) and alas, I dropped a carton of milk, thus causing it to burst, and begin sending a little river of the precious white stuff out onto my garage floor.

To waste the milk of the dairy cow has always seemed an abomination to me, but even more so given the recent increase in the price of her milk. As I helplessly watched the $3/gallon stuff leak out of its carton it occurred to me that it might be wise to jump into action, which I did.

I grabbed a glass pitcher from the kitchen and turning the milk carton right side up so that the milk could properly leak from the crack at its base into my pitcher (I am trying not to concern myself with the fact that the bottom of the milk carton is probably not the most sanitary end for the milk to pour out from!), I promptly filled it to the top. I fetched a second pitcher and filled it again, halfway.

Thus I ended up saving, not all, but most of the lovely milk, some of which we enjoyed with our lunch. And to look upon the bright side of this little domestic fiasco, I must say that having a large glass pitcher of fresh milk in my refrigerator is rather romantic. I feel almost as if we lived in a different time, before the advent of the plastic carton, and I can almost imagine that we milked our own cow before dawn this morning or that perhaps our faithful dairy man delivered our supply of milk to our door earlier today so that we might enjoy it.

Can you tell I am in the middle of not one, but two pieces of 19th century children’s literature??

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A Very Little LawnMower

Ok, so it’s not a school morning and we are being delightfully lazy around here. In fact we are still in our jammies! But young Jonathan, having loafed around long enough, has decided there is work to be done. He is currently outside in his Spider Man jammies, armed with his little blue-handled child’s scissors, and is cutting the lawn! He informed me that since the grass is getting a bit tall, he would cut it with his scissors! Helpful little boy!

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First Day of School

This past Monday morning Jay and I had an experience that is poignant in the lives of most parents: our oldest started Kindergarden! The entire family accompanied Abigail down to school to attend opening chapel with all the other students, and their moms, dads, brothers, and sisters. After walking Abigail to her new class, we said goodbye. Abigail was very happy to settle down into her seat and begin work with her seven other classmates.

And being a proud Mom, I have to tell you just what a super job she did in the morning getting ready for her big day. In honor of starting Kindergarden, we presented Abigail with a very sweet and girlie Hello Kitty clock that has both an alarm and a radio. We taught her how to use it and so, when her alarm rang at 6:15 she turned it off, switched to her classical station, made her bed and got dressed, all by herself. This from the little girl who is most definitely NOT a morning person.

Given school is a bit of a drive from where we live, we are going to be keeping a rather early morning schedule, but everything went well on our first day. We actually arrived at school 20 minutes before start time so it did not feel at all frantic.

When we picked her up after school, Abigail reported happily, “I love it there!” She seems to have had a fantastic day and is looking forward to her big year of Kindergarden. Here is a picture of Abigail on her first day of school, with her new teacher, aptly named Mrs. Newsome! And here are some more photos of our day.
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We are all very excited about the start of Abigail’s scholastic journey and pray she will have a wonderful experience this first year.

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Weekend Joys

By way of disclaimor, I am stealing a theme from Leslie here!!

Some of my weekend joys were:

a dinner and a movie date night with my husband
dancing with my children
Starbucks!! a grande, nonfat, half caf vanilla latte with whipped! (no joke)
shopping for a school backpack with Abigail
hearing Jonathan read over 25 new words
Cleaning out a closet!
Cooking supper with all three kids
listening to Nicolas sing “Crinkle, Crinkle Ittle Tar”
a yummy cannoli for dessert
worshipping today with 9 other family members
ending the day listening to Jay serenade me on a yellow plastic saxophone (he’s quite good!)

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Great New Recipe

We had some family over to eat this past Tuesday evening. Though we were still in a rather unsettled state due to unpacking and laundry from our vacation, I felt compelled to try out a new recipe for our company, and so I hunted through my various cookbooks for something enticing. I hit upon what I was looking for in Our Best Five-Star Recipes From Southern Living that my sis-in-law gave me a few years ago (thanks, Jennifer!). Everyone (including me!) loved the end result so much and it was so different from anything I’ve prepared in the past, that I wanted to share it with you. Maybe someone else will be able to enjoy it too before this wonderful grilling weather is gone. Ok, here’s the recipe:

Chicken Bundles
6 whole chicken breasts, skinned and boned
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
10 green onions, sliced

12 slices bacon
Vegetable Cooking Spray
Hot Cooked Rice

(I’m going to slightly paraphrase the directions for my own purposes!)
Pound chicken to 1/4″ thickness and place in a large shallow baking dish. Combine molasses and next 6 ingredients; stir well. Pour over chicken; cover and marinate in fridge 8 hours, turning chicken occasionally.
Melt butter in large skillet; add mushrooms and next 3 ingredients. Cook over med-high heat until liquid evaporates and veggies are tender, stirring often.
Remove chicken from baking dish, reserving marinade. Pour marinade into a small saucepan, bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside. For each chicken bundle, place 2 slices bacon in a crisscross pattern on a flat surface. Place 1 chicken breast in center of bacon. Top with 3 tablespoons mushroom mixture. Fold sides and ends of chicken over mushroom mixture to make a square-shaped pouch. Pull bacon around chicken, and tie ends of bacon together; secure with wooden picks.
Coat grill with cooking spray. Place chicken bundles on grill, tied side up; grill, covered with grill lid, over low coals 30 to 45 minutes or until done, turning and basting with reserved marinade every 15 minutes. Remove wooden picks. Serve over hot cooked rice, if desired. Yield: 6 servings.

Tricia’s Notes:
IMHO, this recipe is too salty, and I say this having used low sodium soy sauce. Next time I make it, I would plan to still use the liter soy sauce, and also cut the amount of soy in the marinade, maybe as much as half. It’s just not needed given the great amount of flavor, and the additional saltiness the bacon adds. If you need to make up some of the liquid from leaving out the soy, throw in some wine for good measure!

Instead of green onions, I used garlic chives from my garden which worked well too. However, they might not be quite as strong tasting as the onions the recipe called for.

I added some white wine into my mushroom mixture while sauteeing. Just for fun!

Regarding the assembling of the bundles: I found that using a toothpick or two to secure the chicken BEFORE I tied the bacon around the sides was actually helpful. There were a couple more toothpicks in my bundles, but they stayed together beautifully.

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A Delightful Breath of Fresh Air…

…has blown into our neighborhood. Has anyone else been awestruck by this amazingly mild weather we seem to be enjoying? This evening, the sky was a deep shade of blue with bursts of white fluffy clouds everywhere, and if you stepped outside to admire this canopy of beauty, you might have been a little surprised to feel a cool breeze!! What? In August? Yes indeed, and how lovely it was. The children and I chose to eat our supper of chicken tacos out on the patio while listening to birds and watching planes as the sun slowly set. We all had a wonderful time until finally (I am not joking) we got too cold to stay outside in our summer shirts and shorts. It was, after all, only 75 degrees! Brrrrrr!!

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Vacation

We have just returned from a week’s stay at the beach on Dauphin Island, AL. Grammy and Grandy Horne were brave enough to join us for our Island Adventure, and we all stayed in a great house on the Mississippi Sound, complete with our own private beach and pier.

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Some of the week’s highlights included:

— Beautiful weather for which we were most thankful. We enjoyed lots of time outside every day, loved the ocean breezes, and even got to witness a couple of great thunderstorms Island Style!

— Frolicking on floaties with Abigail and Nicolas (Jonathan preferred the sand to the water). Grammy was quite an enthusiastic participant in the water activities, and she did a fantastic job of keeping up with the children’s antics. We think she had a lot of fun too!

— Eating fresh Gulf Seafood. YUM, YUM, YUM!!!

— Fishing! The men in our party used both poles and nets to land several creatures, many of which were thrown back or sadly, lost. (Ask Jay to tell you his “Fish Story”!) Grandy Horne, it turns out, can throw a mean cast net, and he caught enough mullet in said net to provide us a feast of fish which we all enjoyed eating. (It should be noted that Baby Nicolas was quite a fan of the tasty fish!)

— (More fishing!!) Abigail and Jonathan also spent a great deal of time with their Dad and Grandfather out on the pier. Abigail caught her very first fish all by herself, and Jonathan helped to reel in a sting ray. Jonathan also became quite the expert caster in his own right, and would do an exuberant “I did it” dance after each successful cast. That was fun to watch!

— The blessing of relaxation (well, the sort of relaxation which parents and grandparents of very young children enjoy!). Lounging around in jammies till late in the morning, eating pancakes all together twice in one week, reading, visiting, snacking ALL DAY, resting on the beach, sleeping very soundly at night.

We are most grateful we were able to have such an enjoyable week on Dauphin Island and hope you will have fun seeing some of our pictures from our time there.