Friday on a Monday

When we were living in California some good friends of ours adopted a dog from the Marin Humane Society. Their daughter named her Friday, which I thought was a really cool name. As soon as I met her I knew she was the perfect dog. I couldn't get enough of her. When her puppy mischief proved to be very costly (she chewed up their automatic pool cover!) they had to find other living arrangements.

I was more than happy to take her! It took Theo some getting used to, but he came around quickly. She really is a good dog! I guess it helped that we didn't really have anything expensive for her to chew up. Although she liked to go for the more sentimental things, like Theo's Mickey Mouse ears that had his name embroidered on it that he got from Disney World when he was a kid. And a pair of genuine baby Indian moccasins that I bought when I found out I was pregnant with #2.

But all in all she has proven herself a real keeper. She's been my protection when Theo is gone, my running companion, bed-cuddler with the kids and a member of the family.

I love my Friday!

Introducing Sparkles

At 12:30 A.M. Thursday night this little booger decided to make my engine her new home. Our dog, Friday, was barking like crazy at the window beside the driveway. Thinking it was Dakota, my cat, I let her in, but could hear the meowing pleas of another animal. I woke up Theo and together we spent the next hour and a half trying to coax this kitten out so we could grab her.

We would scare her out of my car just to have her run under Theo's car and jump up into his engine. Over and over we did this. I'm sure we were a sight!

Theo wanted to give up several times, but I was too afraid of turning my car on in the morning and something really bad happening and then we would be planning a Kitty funeral! Finally I forgot about my own skin and crawled under my car, reached up and grabbed her.

It is still not set in stone as to whether she will become an Ikner. Ever since I introduced her to the kids it has gone from glee-screeching squeals to tearful protests as to who held her the longest. I am really close to sending her to the LDS pound!

What? You've never heard of the LDS pound? It's the place my mom told me she took the new little kittens our Mama cat just weened. You know, so some nice Mormon family could adopt them? Or maybe it was just her way of consoling her young daughter who after finding out the kittens were gone when she came home from school, sobbed all night listening to THIS SONG over and over and over again.

Yeah, probably that.

Hopefully Sparkles will make it, or I just may be getting that song on itunes so my girls can start their grieving process.

Happy B-day PawPaw!

My Dad had his big #72 on Monday. Here is the cake I made for him to celebrate our rich Creek Indian heritage.

I found out that Puca (pronounced Boo-jah) is Grandpa in Creek. I thought that was super cool and a little nugget of wisdom for you. Who knows, you may make it on to Jeopardy one day and the question/answer will be "The Creek Indian term for Grandpa" and then you will know. So you're welcome in advance...

For my Dad's birthday present he got a new knee! Congrats! He is still in the hospital making a quick recovery. And I'm sure the Oatmeal Raisin cookies I made for him today are really going to help with that recovery process.

Spanish Lessons

Dora: "Abajo!"
Hannah: "Wah-ho!"
Dora: "Again, Abajo!"
Hannah: "Wah-bo!"
Dora: "LOUDER! ABAJO!"
Hannah: "WAH-PO!!"

Me: "Hannah, what does that mean?"
Hannah: "I don't know."

Fail Dora, Fail...

A Poem by Emma

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I love you Mommy
and you're a great cook!

Thank you baby! Love you too!

In a Jam

This Spring Break week started out with the whole family going strawberry picking. I ended up with about 12 cups worth of strawberries and I knew just what I wanted to do with them.

I have only made jam once before and it was under the strict supervision of a good friend of mine who was a pro at canning. Even though that lesson was several years ago I still had some confidence that I could do it.

Things were going really well, I was boiling my jars and lids, washed, cut and smashed my strawberries. Then that's when things got a little hairy. Apparently the pot that I was cooking the strawberries in wasn't big enough for the 10 cups of sugar that was added. That is what you see all over the side of the pot. Even though I think it made for a cool picture, that sticky strawberry substance was ALL OVER my stove top.

I cut the heat and just went with what I had to fill my jars. In the taste category the jam is re-heally good! But in the texture department it's a little runny. I know it could have cooked a little longer so the fruit pectin could have had a better chance of jelly-ing it up.

What can I say, I'm Mormon, not Amish...

But it worked out for us for the better this morning. I made pancakes and we used some of the jelly as strawberry syrup, and then added a little whipped cream on top. I can't be disappointed by that!

I Think I'm Pretty Darn Funny

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