Bad News

This picture just sums up how the month of June has been for us.

It seems like we have bad news, bad luck, bad timing.

Just one thing after another.

Last week I was sitting in my car, at an intersection, talking to my mom on the phone about all our bad luck, when, BOOM!

You cannot even imagine how loud it was.

I looked back and my entire back window had exploded and blown out.

It scared me to death.

It was so loud.

I called Jeff.

More bad news.

Luckily no kids were in the car at the time.

Our insurance covered most of the cost.

(Good news)

I had to wait between 12:00 and 5:00 for the windshield company to come fix it, but I still risked a trip down to Cafe Rio for my pork salad (black beans, no pico, no guac, 2 house dressings).

And.....

We got not one, but TWO pieces of very good news yesterday.

(No, I am NOT pregnant--and I can't elaborate more than that right now.)

Last Day

It's a little late but I wanted to post these pictures of Lucy and Jake's last day of school.

Where is the picture of Josh on his last day of school, you ask?

Well, there isn't one because I was sleeping.

(He probably wouldn't have let me take his picture in his uniform anyway.)

Jeff has taken him to school every single morning on his way to work.

Thank goodness for that, because waking up at 6:15 is murder for me.

The elementary school time starts at 9:15.

Much more manageable, although I admit to more than one morning of oversleeping, feeding the kids Poptarts in the car, and letting them brush their teeth with gum.

Happy last day of school!

Now summer is already 1/3 over.  Boo!  

It goes by too fast.

Droubay Kitchen Menu

The following is posted on my fridge.

I buy way too much junk at the store and I can never think of anything to make for meals.

This is the first time I've tried this.

With an itemized list, I spent a lot less at the grocery store than I normally do.

Results pending....(can I actually go a whole week without going to the grocery store???)

Droubay Kitchen Menu

June 28^th-July 5^th

Tuesday

Cereal

Ham and cheese sandwiches

Egg salad sandwiches

Wednesday

Blueberry pancakes

Chili Mac

Sausage burritos

Thursday

Cereal

PB and Marshmallow Sandwiches

Chicken BBQ sandwiches

Friday

Breakfast Pizza

Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches

Bacon Jack Sandwiches

Saturday

Cereal

Hot dogs

Pad Thai chicken wraps

Sunday

Chocolate chip waffles

PB and Jam sandwiches

Sunday dinner at Nana’s house

Monday

Cereal

Ham and cheese sandwiches

Potato cheese soup

Tuesday

Chocolate chip waffles

Hot dogs

Pizza

*All meals to be eaten with a serving of fruit or veggies and milk.

*Snacks:  2 per day (1 between lunch and dinner and 1 before bed):

Toast

Popsicles

Fruit

Crackers

Yogurt pops

Yep, there are a lot of sandwiches.

Yep, it's quick and easy.

Yep, there are some processed foods in there.

Yep, it's summer and if they get a serving of fruit and veggies with each meal, I consider it a success.
Yep, I fully admit I am not fantastic in the kitchen.

He Survived!

He survived!  

Or should I say I survived?

6 boys shared this mess....I mean tent.

Family night.  We all drove up for dinner.

Josh showing Sam and Lucy around.

I'm so glad he's home.  

We sure missed him around our house this last week.

The night of the wilderness survival was torture for me.

I lay in my bed, tossing and turning all night, praying for his safety.

Wilderness survival is where the scouts go away from camp (a mile or so), build their own shelter and sleep in them for one night with no leaders.

He told me later that the only bad part was the giant beetles crawling everywhere.  He and his scout buddies got maybe 1 hour of sleep.  

He also gashed his finger open during woodwork class and had to visit the on-site medic.

And I only have to endure this worry (3 boys times 5-6 years of camp and/or high adventure) about 14-18 more times.  Yippee.

Rolo Cookies

 After talking it over with Jeff and stewing for a few days, I have decided to keep my blog public (for now).

It's only my first weird comment (which is the only way it can be described), and talking to other bloggers, this same weirdo, calling himself "Angel Moroni" has made his way around the blogging world leaving creepy comments, esp about the Mormon church (which he clearly knows nothing about).

I have since blocked him and I will keep blogging for the time being.  

And thank you so much for all the nice comments, emails, and Facebook messages/notifications.

  I had no idea THAT many people were reading my blog.

So, I will carry on with the best cookie recipe ever (except maybe for gingersnaps--it's a toss-up).

2 1/2 C. flour

3/4 C. unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1 C. sugar

1 C. brown sugar

1 C. butter

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

48-60 Rolos

Sugar

I asked Jake to unwrap all the Rolos.

Here's what I got.  :)

Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda.  Set aside.
Beat sugars and butter until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat.
Add dry ingredients.  Mix well.
Shape dough into a flat ball, press a Rolo in center and wrap dough around.  (Hint:  I like to use as little dough as possible.  The caramel to dough ratio is higher--a personal preference.)
Roll cookie in sugar.
Bake 350* for 8-10 minutes until tops of cookies start to crack.

Make sure you let the kids help, especially if you double the recipe like I did.

It's a bit time consuming, but so worth it.

I made these for the first time for Father's Day and they were a hit.

Guess Who?

Guess who is hidden behind this giant, forty pound backpack?

My tiny, handsome, boy scout all packed and ready to go to scout camp tomorrow.

The poor boy takes after the Holland side of the family. 

We all stayed very small and developed much later than normal (like 16 or 17 years old).

I'm so glad that he likes himself and is comfortable with his size.  His BIG personality more than makes up for it.

Of course, I am beside myself with worry.

This is his first scout camp.  He should have gone last year but it happened to be the week that Jeff and I were in London for our anniversary.

He's very excited and not nervous a bit.

Jeff told me I absolutely could not ask the scout master to please send me a text every night to report that my boy is alive.

Some of the merit badges the boys are working on are SCUBA, white-water rafting, and shotgun.

All I can say is AHHHHHHHH!

Pizza Anyone?

My brother (owner of several Subway Sandwich stores) just opened his first Papa John's Pizza in Tooele.

We drove out for the grand opening because we are just supportive like that--or it was for the free pizza.

Okay, maybe a little of both.

Dave in action.  He was so embarrassed that I was taking a million pictures.  Haha--I guess you never outgrow teasing your little brother.  I am so the annoying older sister.

Waiting in the lobby for our pizza

(Papa John's seriously is waaay better than Domino's or Little Caesars or Pizza Hut--I'm not just being biased.)

Jeff's grandparents live in Tooele so we brought the pizza over to their house and had a nice little visit.

Jeff's grandma (Oma) started to spread the nice tablecloth on the formal dining room table, because that's just how she is, and I had to stop her and insist that my kids all sit on the porch and eat.  

My kids are NOT eating pizza and drinking root beer on a nice tablecloth, over a nice table, over pale-pink CARPET!!!!!

Oh, the stress!

I guess it's a good thing that it's an hour and fifteen minute drive out to Tooele for free pizza, otherwise I might smell like Papa John's garlic butter all.the.time.

Ultimate S'mores!

Have you ever tried Ultimate S'mores?

You haven't?

Well, you should.

A couple weeks ago we had a big dinner party at our house with Jeff's entire family.

For dessert, we had S'mores.

Instead of just regular ol' Hershey bars we tried Kit Kats,

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups,

and Caramellos.

The PB cups were the favorites.

Happy roasting!!!

P.S.  I need to have another Ultimate S'mores party ASAP!

I have had 31 1/2 candy bars left and they are all sitting in my fridge almost gone and I can't stop eating them!

Help!

And Hello?  I am forgetting my big neurotic moment in this one.  

Fire Pit!  

I camped my little self right down there (even at the cost of being anti-social) to make sure none of the 17 grandkids accidentally got burned.  Then I brought out the hose the exact MINUTE we were done.  

Lucy Goosey is 7!

What more can I say but that I am devastated that my baby girl is growing up?

I went in her room the night of her birthday after she had fallen asleep and cried my eyes out.

My mom described her perfectly the other day.

She said "Lucy is the happiest bundle of life I've ever seen!"

And that's the truth.

This girl is NEVER unhappy.

She is full of life and enthusiasm and optimism.

It's a gift and I hope it stays with her forever.

I love her so much it hurts.

Happy birthday Lucy Goosey

Lulu Belles

Blueberry

Loulie goulie

Missy Shoshaunna

and all the other nicknames she has incurred over the years.

Summer Job Charts

I created a Summer job chart for my kids.  I absolutely believe in teaching my kids how to work.  I refuse to do all the housework myself.  We have a big family and we all pitch in.

Sometimes it can get ugly trying to get my kids (Josh--oh that boy!  I do love him, but he struggles the most) to help me out.  If there is a clear plan, with guidelines, timelines and rewards, then the kids work a lot more cheerfully with less yelling from mom.

The details

Monday-Thursday Jobs:

Each child has to do his/her room and bed, practice piano and read 30 minutes.  In addition to that, they each have 3 more jobs. 

Josh:  1-Clear dishes and wipe off counter

2-Vacuum the family room

3-Take out garbages

Jake:   1-Empty the dishwasher

2-Pick up family room

3-Wipe down the counters, sinks, faucets, and toilet seat of the kids' bathroom

Lucy:  1-Empty the silverware and vacuum the kitchen

2-Pick up office and living room

3-Wipe down counter, sink, faucet and toilet seat in guest bathroom

Sam:  1-Make bed

2-Pick up toys

3-Put shoes away in mudroom

Sam loves to be involved so I tried to think of simple jobs that he could do.

IF they get all their jobs done by noon Monday-Thursday then we have "Fun Friday".  They get the day off.  No jobs and they can participate in an activity that we choose:  A movie, out to lunch, Jump On It, etc.

If they miss a day (or miss the noon deadline), then they have to make up their jobs on Friday.  If they can do it before noon, then they can still participate in the activity.

(I picked the noon time because of various activities, swim, dance, etc. that the kids have on some mornings--I wanted to make sure that each child has plenty of time to get it all done.)

On Saturday the kids don't have to do piano or reading.  They do their other 4 jobs PLUS they rotate through 2 deep cleaning jobs. 

 This week Josh had to 1-dust downstairs 

2-mop the kitchen floor.

Jake had to 1-dust upstairs 

2-vacuum upstairs.

Lucy had to 1-vacuum the living room and stairs 

2-clean the mirrors and inside the toilets.

Next week they will rotate these 2 jobs.

This is what the charts look like after one week.

If they fill their charts up completely for 4 weeks then they get a bonus:  Either $20.00 or a "free day."

The free day was Josh's idea.  It consists of no jobs PLUS being able to play as much video games as they want for an entire day.

Right now I limit video games.  Equal time playing for equal time reading books, only up to one hour per day.

If there is any big sassing or if they don't do their jobs, no video games for the day.

The first week has gone really well.

I don't nag, or remind.  The rules are clear.

Hopefully this will continue through the summer. 

Tumbleweed Town

We live in a very windy part of the state.

It's not windy all the time.  In fact, it's not windy MOST of the time, but whenever a storm comes or cold front is moving in, WATCH OUT!  We have gail-force winds for about 4 hours.

About a month after we first moved in, we experienced our first wind storm and this is what happened in the space of about 2 HOURS!

These dang tumbleweeds blew in our backyard from the neighboring empty lots, swirled and swirled around and then stuck themselves right up against our house.

This was the view from inside the house.

We were scolded by our landscaper for letting the tumbleweeds gather like this.  He thought that we had neglected them for weeks and weeks and said they were a fire hazard.  He about fell over dead when I told him this happened the day before in the space of a couple hours.

And here's what happens if your swing set isn't heavily bolted down.  :(

Now that the empty lots have filled in around us, we don't get the tumbleweeds as bad but it's still a major clean-up project every spring. 

All these (and the umbrella) were cleaned out of ONE window well.

What do we do with all the tumbleweeds? 

They go right over the fence and Lehi City comes along and picks them up.

While the boys were cleaning up tumbleweeds, Lucy and I were busy planting flowers.

I let her do a lot of them all herself this year.

After a two or three weekends of cleaning up, weeding, hauling and spreading 3 loads of mulch, and planting, here is the finished product.

We finally, finally planted a very small vegetable garden this year.  I'm so excited for tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peas, carrots, and green peppers.  Josh and Jake are mostly excited about the Habanero peppers.   (That is....if we don't kill everything from our lack of planting experience)

The flowers:

Until the next wind storm....