Yes, My Boys are Crazy!

 One ran to the mailbox, one took the dog out . . .

Another One Gone

Len, the girls, and I drove Daniel to the Josephinum last week.  The house is emptying little by little.  Sigh.

Some images of the latest departure:

Daniel decluttered and organized his room, resulting in so much spread out STUFF that he slept on the couch for several nights.  :-)

On his second to last morning at home, Marianna and Rebecca were inspired to make him a special breakfast.  Fortunately he's such a solid sleeper they were able to putter around the kitchen without disturbing him.

Highlights:  The mini vase of crape myrtle and mint, the home-sewn napkin, and the drop scones.  I coached the girls to use a bag of scone mix (homemade), increasing the milk just a little bit (to 3/4 cup) so that the dough was too sticky to knead and cut.  They dropped it with a scoop, sprinkled with coarse sugar and baked.  That small variation saved a lot of time!

Dan had no special dinner request, but included pumpkin cheesecake in his list of possible goodbye desserts.

Pontifical College Josephinum:  a view from the entrance

 Moving In

 Dan's room is small but private.  He shares a half bath with an adjoining room; showers are down the hall.

 The view from his window

After three college drop offs, this is now an official tradition:  shopping for items left at home or that we didn't know were needed.  This has included door organizers and hardware (Lauren), pillows (David), and goggles (Daniel).  It's always something!

 

In the past Len and I have kept the college send-off to ourselves, but this time Marianna and Rebecca joined us.  We stayed overnight because the Josephinum shared morning mass and brunch with families on Sunday.  Here we are the night before at a local Italian restaurant.

 Pizza with pesto, shrimp, goat cheese, and roasted tomatoes--everyone wanted a taste!

As always, leaving a child at college is bittersweet.  We're grateful when the school is a good fit (so far we're three times fortunate), and glad to watch each one growing and maturing.  But we've missed them all.

Even though we know as parents that our children are never truly ours, it's easy to forget while they're under our roof.  We can't help but remember now . . .

Salamander Rock

My first visit to the ancient gathering place . . .

Can you see why the kids named it Salamander Rock?  It's a side view of a head--slightly open mouth, nostril near the top.

Hisss!  I don't care if you're trying to find the best angle of that stone--get away from my nest!

Our picnic

 The view from our picnic on the salamander's head

An unwelcome visitor 

 Rebecca crossed carefully through the icy water rather than make a second journey over the scary log.

I don't get it--looks plenty wide to me!  To each her own, I guess . . .

 

 Dan taught Becca to skip stones.  (She managed a few.)

Good Sports

Since David's been driving to school (since March 15th--thanks for asking), I've been reveling in my freedom from rush hour. Unfortunately, now that I'm not needed for transportation, I've attended only two lacrosse games this season. Bad mom.

Their team made it into the state tournament, so tomorrow they'll be riding a bus to the game. Four HOURS away. Yikes!

Last week, Len, the younger siblings, and I watched our boys play and their team win on a beautiful, sunny day.These aren't exciting shots except that I can recognize my son. Mostly it's hard to tell who's who under all the gear.And some action: How can you go wrong with a ball and sticks and a game that encourages hitting players with said sticks? I'm pretty sure that's David's favorite part. ;-)Daniel does spend most of his time ready to play. He's the backup goalie, but will likely be a starter next year (our current goalie is graduating). He did play one entire game (strep throat sidelined the other guy) and performed well (11 saves out of 14 shots).

Happy Birthdays

Daniel turned 15 more than a week ago, but the celebrating continues...

The day before, he went skiing with a friend (our gift over midwinter break). On his actual birthday, Dan's aunt took him out to lunch and then to a movie. The following Sunday we had a family dinner chosen by Daniel, complete with the official blowing out of candles. Today we'll enjoy a meal at Grammy and Grandpop's house to celebrate the February and March birthdays of our clan--six out of fourteen of us! Last Sunday I took Marianna and Rebecca to Aaliyah's first birthday party. They love this little girl, and are thrilled with any chance to see her and her mama. I'm glad we're still in touch, too.

Not for Girls Only

Boys like breakfast in bed, too. :-) Yes, I'm still redeeming summer reading prizes!

Please notice the manly "bouquet" of seasonal branches. I convinced Daniel to eat an egg to help him last through two hours of tae kwon do, but I'm fairly certain the slab of jam cake was his favorite dish. Other nice touches: a tiny dish to hold the sugar cubes, and a fruit salad with fresh citrus sections. Marianna even thought to bring up the Sunday comics (delivered a day early here).

Sweet Service

Daniel's springtime allergies are really troublesome, and meds don't help much with symptoms (plus some make him sleepy).

One of my sisters suggested taking a spoonful of LOCAL honey year-round as a way of desensitizing the body to our area's pollens; she's found relief for her allergies this way. While that's just anecdotal evidence, it sounds logical and well worth a try.

Finding local honey was the trick. I wasn't willing to drive around to random farmers' markets (and some purveyors come from hours away anyway), so I searched on the internet. It was difficult to figure out which phrases would yield usable results, but I finally ran across an apiary's phone number.

My first call (months ago) went unanswered, but last week's "last try" worked. I was called back by a man who knew exactly what I was talking about, allergy-wise, and who even had some advice for me (like don't heat the honey, as in tea). His honey is collected just a few towns away, and from blooms the bees harvest from March through mid-July, so it should include trees, grasses, etc.!

The icing on the cake? He dropped the first two jars at my house with an envelope for me to mail his payment. Who knew anyone still does business this way?

We've got a long wait for the results, but in the meantime Daniel is enjoying his "medicine".

BTW, my sister sent me a link to local harvest.org, which helps locate local farms and farmers' markets. I got my "call back" before finishing my search there, but it seems to be a useful site.

Not QUITE Too Proud for Words

Because, after all, here come the words now:

Last night was awards night. MANY students were honored for their academic, sports, and character achievements. One student was honored for receiving a perfect score on his National Latin Exam: Daniel!

To put it in perspective: 137,000 students worldwide took one of the NLE's, and just 917 (less than 1%) received perfect scores. And Daniel's first year of Latin study was at home--a little with me, then summer cramming with Lauren and David. I know he worked hard to do so well this year. That may be what makes me most proud--that perseverance and effort.

I'm a little embarrassed to post this, because it feels like bragging, but I also want to share his happy news. It's not like I'm taking credit, after all...

Small Successes: the Pictorial Edition

"It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that."

Another week, and another scramble to find three successes worth recording. Of course, I could count feeding and clothing the family (it IS vital work), but I prefer writing about things that don't happen every day.

1. In that spirit, I'll mention someone else's success first. On Mothers' Day, Len's parents hosted 14 people for lunch at a renowned French restaurant. We enjoyed a delicious meal, and Daniel tried escargots for the first time. They were so tasty that his brothers both mooched samples for themselves.
2. We wondered if this day would ever arrive, but the puzzle is DONE! Since we finished it on Sunday, I was given the honor of placing the last piece. It's big, it's beautiful, it's inspiring, and (did I mention?) it's done. If you're interested in using it next year, let me know. It would make a great Lenten project, especially if you've got a flat surface to spare and no cardboard-chewing dogs at home.
3. Remember the three-tiered hazelnut cake with French buttercream I made recently? Well, it's not always simple elegance here at Barbara's Bakery. Yesterday was Marianna's birthday (9!), and since it's not her "party year", she just invited some neighbors over to share cake and ice cream after dinner. (To make sure no one feels pressured to bring a gift, we don't even call folks until cake-day.)

She decided she wanted a tent cake (Who knows why?), and we found a picture online. I finally got around to baking it after lunch. After arriving home from lacrosse at 6:00 p.m., I proceeded to make dinner and assemble and decorate the cake. It's not the prettiest one I've ever made, and it wasn't ready until 7:30, but the birthday girl was pleased nonetheless. It was on display for barely a minute before cutting and so did not undergo much scrutiny. In fact, the most common reaction was, "Junior Mint ice cream!!"In case you're interested, the top is a square cake cut into four triangles. They're held together with drinking straws, which can also hold up wedding cakes.
Find more encourangement at Faith and Family Live.

Who's Not Materialistic Now?

Did I really say we don't buy much stuff?

In our defense, let me note that

1. I've wanted a ping pong table since our first Saranac Lake visit two summers ago,
2. Daniel asked for one for his birthday, and
3. Len found it on Craig's List.

Are you buying any of this? (groan...)

Confirmation

On Saturday Daniel was confirmed by the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, archbishop of the military. Mass was lovely, and the singing of the litany of the saints during the anointing was especially moving.

We invited family and friends over to celebrate. I thought it was a low-key menu (picked by Dan), but it takes a long time to cook 40 hamburgers--just ask Len!

But Len's biggest role in this sacrament is the preparation. He's handled 7th and 8th grade religious education for all our teens so far. Of course this saves me time, but the biggest benefit is the children's exposure to my husband's thoughtfullness and godliness. He may or may not be smarter than me (why speculate?), but he certainly THINKS more (often and deeply) than I do!

White chocolate rasperry cake on Saturday--yum! And now back to Lent...

Worth 1,000 Words

So I won't add many of my own.

Starting at Trinity in 8th grade (rather than 7th) could have been tough for Daniel. Fortunately, there are several new boys in his small class. Another thing that has really aided the transition is the soccer team.

Trinity offers one sport per gender per season, so most of his classmates are playing with him. He's spending good time with his classmates and some great men who are his teachers AND coaches.

Biggest help for the first days of school: Soccer practice for a whole week BEFORE school started.

Missing Them

Everyone wants to know how I'm doing with Lauren away (pretty well--it helps that she is so happy), but she is not the only one "missing" this year. Daniel is at Trinity School at Meadow View, away from our homeschool for the first time, and that's more noticeable most days. He used to be home for hours and hours every day, while we saw less and less of Lauren as she transitioned through high school and off to college.

Example: Last week I went shopping while Len taught (yes, I know he's wonderful!). There I was at the grocery store when I spied them--poppy seed bagels! The store NEVER has them. There isn't even a label for them, but they are Daniel's favorite kind. I stocked up, gloating, and thought to myself, "Dan will be so excited! Wait until I show him! He can have one for lunch! ...Oh, no he can't...he's at SCHOOL..." It didn't quite make me sad, but it made me realize what a big change this is and that I haven't fully adapted yet.

By the way, Daniel's very happy at Trinity. Middle school soccer practice started a week before school, which helped with joining an established class. Some courses are easy and others less so, but he enjoys both the students and faculty.

Dinner and a Math Challenge

Well, the February meals are under way. Last night Daniel served BLT hot dogs, baked beans, winter fruit salad, and tossed salad, followed by homemade vanilla ice cream with bittersweet chocolate shavings. I did persuade him to buy the hot dog buns--the cook book had a recipe for homemade.

The hot dogs were simple but good. Hot dogs (we splurged on Nathan's) were each wrapped in a slice of bacon and then baked at 375* for 45 minutes. I didn't believe they would take so long, but they really did need the full time. They were served with diced tomato, shredded lettuce, and mayo (as well as the usual condiments), but I think they were better without.

We make ice cream by cooking the custardy base a day ahead so the eggs are safe (former dietitian bacteria phobe!) and everything has time to chill. On Friday this gave me a chance to give Daniel a different sort of math assignment--recipe manipulation. It went something like this:

The recipe calls for 1 2/3 cups of milk. The texture of ice cream is strongly affected by appropriate fat content, so we need to use the whole milk the recipe is assuming. However, we don't keep whole milk in the house. So figure out how much low fat milk and half-and-half we need to use to "make" whole milk. Make the calculations, but also explain how you would measure it in real life.

Given:
1 cup low fat milk= 2.5 g fat
1 cup whole milk= 8 g fat
1 cup half-and-half= 24 g fat

If you're interested in giving this a try, the answer is in the comments, along with the follow up question that I gave to Daniel.

By the way, the ice cream was delicious! We usually us The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, given to us by those wonderful Nelsons.

Dinners with my Boys

Now that the homeschoolers are planning their February meals, I think it's time to share some photos from our November cooking!

Daniel loves apple pie (like his Dad) and crisp. Our favorite version is to make the filling for a 9 or 10 inch pie and stuff it into a 9" square glass pan. Then we top it with the topping from another crisp recipe. Bake until the apples are tender and the topping is brown. Great with ice cream, of course.

We've had homemade pizza on and off for years, and I've finally tweaked the recipe to the point that the kids like it just (or is it almost?) as much as delivery. My problem was that the crust was always too thick. We now roll it out as thin as we can, and place on three (I used to make just two with the same amount of dough!) perforated pizza pans. An advantage of this is that we can assemble the pizzas and then keep them in the fridge until it's time to bake them (in the pan) at 500 degrees on the baking stone.

ANYWAY, Daniel chose three different toppings. Shown here is the most unusual--a BBQ pizza. On a thin layer of Famous Dave's rich and sassy BBQ sauce, he distributed shredded meat (we now can't remember whether it was beef or pork), then sprinkled on grated cheddar cheese. Yum! He also made a cheese pizza and one topped with pepperoni and lots of Italian sausage.

Joe's meal sounds simple: soup, salad, and bread. He worked hard, though, making tomato soup from scratch, a composed chef's salad, and Irish soda bread. The most fun part of making the soup was pureeing it, because we have (thanks, Mom and Dad!) an immersion blender. This is a blender on a stick that goes into the soup pot so we didn't have to move the soup in batches. It's nickname is the "zh-zh", because that's what it sounds like (the "ge" sound in "beige").

We usually serve chef's salad as a make-your-own item from ingredients scattered around the table. Joe's presentation was beautiful and easier to serve.

Take note of the basket of homemade (with WHITE BREAD) croutons--no leftovers, let me assure you!

Dessert was banana pops coated with chocolate. They were supposed to be rolled in toffee chips or peanuts. We substituted chopped pistachios, which I wouldn't do again. They were salted and didn't stay very crunchy. Simple banana and chocolate would have been tastier.