Tortellini salad

This recipe is from my friend Roxanne Kennedy. I just made it to take to a music teachers association board meeting tomorrow. It's so yummy, I just had to share the recipe. I hope she doesn't mind.

7oz Box tortellini (9 oz fresh)
1 lb. fresh mushrooms, quartered
2- 14 oz cans artichoke hearts, quartered
Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 can med olives
1- 16 oz bottle Newmans or Bernsteins reduced fat Italian dressing

Cook tortellinis. Rinse with cold water. Add to all ingredients. Pour ½ bottle of dressing on top and refrigerate. (overnight is best, but it doesn’t matter) Pour remaining dressing on before serving.

Learning to walk

Jessica is learning to take her first steps. These videos are from last Sunday (June 14th). This week she learned to stand up unassisted. What is it about watching a baby learn to walk? It's magical! She stands up and then claps for herself. She is such a little ham. Kate is her most dedicated "learn to walk assistant".

Tonight while we were saying family prayers Jessica folded her cute little chubby arms just for a second. Then during the prayer she stood up and toddled about 5 steps away from us. I confess, I peaked.

Friends

Even grown-ups need friends.

Some of my friends & I took our kids on a little day hike today. Because they came, I felt loved. (I may or may not have had anything to do with their reasons for coming, but regardless, I felt loved). It rained on us & we enjoyed it.

Jessica forgot to smile.

This is the kind of childhood I want for my children.

Cousins

Second best to your very own siblings.

My nieces have been visiting this week. I have absolutely enjoyed them

(except from the hours of 9:00 pm to midnight).

They're kind, fun, and funny.

They are welcome here ANY TIME.

Late night calls to poison control

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you gave a four year old Excederine instead of children's Tylenol in the middle of the night? Wonder no more. NO SLEEP. Too much caffiene. Kate enjoyed watching movies from 1:30 to 4:30 am this morning. The people at poison control are really nice. While I was talking to Cyndi and poison control she yawned and said, "I need some caffiene." I replied, that's what I just gave my daughter.

Now here's a tender mercy; my girls and their two visiting cousins let me sleep until 9:00 this morning. Even my little Jessica. God truly knows me and my limits.

Do you believe in fairies? If you believe, clap your hands.

I always thought these were butterflies. I was wrong. They're fairies, and fairies are real.

This is a snow fairy, not a moth.

Super Mom, or NOT!

I was super-lamo mom last summer. I blame it on having a new baby. At the end of the summer I concluded that the lack of fun created behavior problems. Learning from experience, I decided not to be lamo-mom this summer. I've declared that Monday is art day, Wednesday is field trip day, and Friday is friends over/swim day. (Tuesday and Thursday are piano lesson days). I'm also quite the task master. More about that another day.

On Monday, we started an art project. Although the end product turned out great, I quickly became enemy #1, for providing instructions. (NOT super mom!) Okay, the kids were entertained happily for a couple of hours.

Monday night we went to the circus for the first time. The kids really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed watching them enjoy it. I smiled as Kate enthusiastically clapped her heart out and asked me to take pictures. Jessica watched attentively, loved it, and boogied to the music. Amber got to sit and giggle with her friend, Natalie. I felt a surge of gratitude for the privilege of being the mom.

The entire event, however was almost a complete failure, because we didn't do this, but our kids' friends did. (NOT super mom!) Failure also loomed overhead when the girls thought they might not be allowed to have cotton candy. (Did you know that cotton candy left on the counter over-night becomes a smattering of colored sugar lumps?) After all the anticipation, the texture was a little too much for Kate to handle in her mouth.

Today, Grandma watched the girls while I taught piano lessons. I, again became enemy #1 by asking Amber to try on her new dress, so Grandma could help me pin it, so I can take it in. (My 7 1/2 year old Amber is still wearing her size 2 capris (now shorts), so I'm trying to learn to modify her clothes to fit. You'd laugh if you knew how many of her pants are retrofitted with safety pins.

After Amber's gymnastics class, Kate wanted to use her own money to buy herself a snow cone (she offered to buy me one too). Of course, I was enemy #1 again when I asked Amber if she'd like to use her own money buy herself one too! (Super Mom's buy everything for their kids). We enjoyed our snow cones at the park (it was too cold), then rode our bikes over to the playground (it was too hot). AND I brought the WRONG bike for Amber! (NOT Supermom!). THEN, I only let them stay at the park for an hour and a half! I'm such a mean mom!

I don't know if there will be a Wednesday field trip tomorrow. Instead I think I'll dust, vacuum, pay bills, sort the mountain of papers, mow the lawn, Round-up the weeds, and spray for ants, while my children spend the day playing in separate rooms.

My Little Fish

We spent last week at Green Canyon taking swimming lessons. My dad calls it Grunge Canyon. It's been owned by the same family since the depression. I don't think they've ever done any upgrading. Trying to keep my crawling Jessica off the floor was a full time job.

Because it's 30 miles from anything, the kids have two lessons a day with an hour break in between. It wiped us all out. We spent the mornings at the pool and the afternoons trying to recouperate.

I survived because I made a new friend, Stacey Luke, to pass the time with. Our kids spent their break hour sharing their toys and snacks with Stacey's daughter Kamri.

Jessica did quite well, but expressions like this weren't uncommon.
The one day it didn't rain, Jessica & I enjoyed being outside. She looked more like this. We also passed the time taking long walks with Stacey.

Amber loved her past two years of swimming lessons there. This year, her teacher challenged her. She was scared and hated it. My mommy heart wanted to rescue her, by having them move her down a level, but I decided against it. I reminded Amber that the primary motto says, "I can pray anytime, anywhere," and assured her she could even pray in a swimming pool. The next day, between classes she told me, "Mom, when I was scared, I prayed and IT WORKED!" Both Amber and Kate passed their levels and were so very pleased with themselves. Sometimes hard is good.