Otis Sidekicks

I suppose it is in part our fighting spirit that makes it seem like 10 years has been a breeze:) I think our road to family, the fight behind having those around us accept adoption and our faith based approach to living has made us feel like we have something to prove, in a good way. As we hit 10 years today I looked at the inscription on my wedding ring, Sheff's has the same " Forever intertwined we grow together" We were fully cognizant that we married young (I was 22, Sheff 24). On our first date (after meeting as children and being thrown back together by our parents) we talked about faith, money, divorce and education. We actually went bowling. He thought I was a bit too New York (Had just moved back from Brooklyn after a stint there) and I wondered if he was actually handsome under the fisherman beard. I relaxed back into colors falling in love and he shaved the beard. And, um, he was handsome. Sheff joined the Catholic faith and I went running in the rain and l

We had a garage sale. It went well. For one item we were paid in pears. Lots and lots of pears. This left me in a quandary. On one hand, who doesn't enjoy pears? On the other, I have a weekends worth of housework, kids who need focused jobs to put things back in order and bins to re sort and store. What I did not feel I had oodles of was time to deal with a mess of fruit. Saturday night the four grocery bags of pears sat ominously on the counter. Before church they greeted us. Taunting my holistic mommy self to be creative, to be resourceful, to honor the tradition of barter. So we made some pears. I have a bed full of laundry to fold but bins are stacked, bags neatly label for the spring St Rose kids sale, front room vacuumed and oodles and oodles of sliced pears. To make freezer pears: Wash and slice. Compost your skins and cores. For every 2 cups of pears add aprox 2 tablespoons RealFruit Pectin and sugar and lemon juice to taste. Let sit for about 30 min stir well and st

Do you remember the book " Alexanders terrible, no good, very bad day"? A little boy wants to move to Australia after everything goes wrong. I felt for Alexander today. It's like my whole day was a hiccup off step. The highlights of absurdity included forgetting a kid at school, I made it a full three blocks before asking sweetly " So Nate how was your day? I haven't heard a peep out of you" well mom that's because he is in the office waiting for you. Yes perfection. Earlier in the day I managed to spill things, drop things and serve Daisy chocolate milk for breakfast. That was it no usual slow cooked oatmeal or creative quiche, nope just chocolate milk. Whilst rinsing the cloth diaper in the toilet I managed to spray myself with very questionable water. A highlight was how utterly unperturbed Lucy was during my mutterings. Another prime moment was after school hearing John say" why would you put your baby sister in the doll house?" sure enoug

September 2011 Back to school! It was hard to say good by to summer this year. This was my favorite summer of all time, really! The next up was likely biking in Europe with Lauren but that was a whole different feel and more than a decade ago:) This summer was wonderful because...yes edge of your seats, it was...organized. We had a rhythm, a daily routine and it worked so well for us. Sending them off yesterday was hard because we had worked together as a unit for 3 months. The only camp they went to was Bible camp where I worked to off set the cost. The night before school started we sat around a campfire and went over our summer highlights. Most everyone listed Maine, climbing on the rocks and finding crabs. A close second was the Bible Camp hosted by Nativity, Gloria Dei and Holy Spirit in St Paul. I worked in the Nursery with one of my closest friends so it was actually a fun week for me as well. Spending time with the Corniea family is also a summer highlight. For me its in

It was hot, hot, hot. But very fun. We tried fried green tomatoes (OK mostly mom enjoyed that one) then the kids had slushies to share, cheese curds, cotton candy and Sheff had a steak dinner on a stick. We also brought annoyingly healthy snacks and tons of water. Having gotten tickets from the Roseville reading program we made it in and out on the best budget yet. The only ride we did was the Giant Yellow Slide, but it was perfect. Another year down and many to go:) This photo is actually from last year but my favorite fair photo ever. Happy MN fair to everyone!