Current mood:	tired
Current music:	What's So Amazing About Grace?
Entry tags:	american idol, family, menus

Duck, Duck, Goose
WEC Week was good, but very tiring! I spent the first half of Friday's session helping corral the 4-year-olds. Jacob stuck to me like glue and wasn't happy when I left when my shift was over, but he stayed with his group and had a great time playing. Billy and I picked the boys up a little early so we could beat the crowd to the cafeteria. After enjoying some pizza, we went to the coffee shop on campus and got some frozen chocolate custard. That's some great stuff!

We had made plans to spend Saturday with Jay and Allison and their 10-month-old, Grant. (He's so adorable, and he's a really good baby, too!) After encountering several traffic jams on the way to their house, we finally got there - an hour and fifteen minutes later. (It usually only takes us about 40 minutes!) I stuck Paula Deen's corn casserole in the oven and played with the boys while Allison ran out to the grocery store to pick up a few last things. Jay and Billy were busy turning pens in the garage for an order Jay had. We took a lunch break for some delicious grilled Angus burgers, French fries, and corn casserole.

After lunch the guys got back to work, and Allison and I took the boys to a nearby park. The boys played on the playground for a little while, then we walked a leisurely 1.2 miles around the pond, watching for ducks and geese to feed. We tossed some kernels of corn out to some ducks in the pond a few times, but none of them were interested. The turtles weren't interested either. Finally we found some geese that were pretty hungry. Jacob showed no fear as he held out his few kernels of corn to one of the geese. It would've taken it right out of his hand if I hadn't told him to toss it. (Geese frighten me when they get close. They're aggressive, and I've seen them chase someone before.) Before long, that goose was right in front of Jacob, grabbing at his arm with its beak. He didn't freak out like I expected - or like I know Caleb would have. I wonder if Allison got a picture of that...

When we finished our stroll around the pond, the boys decided they wanted to ride in the paddle boats. We were all going to ride in one earlier, but they wouldn't let Grant in the boat since he's a baby. (Their rules said children had to be at least 30 inches tall and 30 lbs.) I'd never been in a paddle boat before, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Of course, I had to do all the work. Caleb couldn't quite reach the pedals. I had to take a break a few times, and Jacob always scolded me for it. I guess he thought if I wasn't pedaling, we would sink or something. During one of my breaks, Caleb took pity on me and said, "You rest, Mom. I'll pedal for a while." Then he leaned down, put his hands on the pedals, and tried his hardest to get us somewhere. He wasn't able to do that for long, but it was a really sweet gesture. He mostly steered us while I provided the power. Jacob gave orders. After about half of our allotted 30 minutes, I was nearly wiped out. We ended up being out for about 20 minutes. Exhausted, we made our way back to Allison and Grant and loaded up in their van to go back to their house. (Allison took a few pictures of us in our yellow duck boat. I'll post one later.)

Before we left that afternoon, we saw four hot air balloons floating across the sky behind their neighborhood. That's the second time we've seen hot air balloons from their back yard. I wonder how often they get to see them. I'd love to go up in one. Tethered, of course.

Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Caleb's 7th birthday! I can't believe he's already that old! It doesn't seem like that long ago...

We started out the day at LIFT, our homeschool co-op. I baked a double batch of brownies for him to share with all his friends. They sang "Happy Birthday" to him while he grinned and hung his head, a little embarassed from all the attention.

After LIFT and our group lunch, we headed to the library for our weekly trip. I had thought about going to the zoo for his birthday like we had done for Jacob's last month, but the skies were threatening rain and I was still exhausted from last week, the weekend, and playing tag for nearly an hour with the two P.E. groups earlier in the day. After staying in the library for an hour, we came on home. I cooked Caleb's favorite food for his birthday supper: fried rice. We also had stir-fried veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, and baby corn) and Billy and I each had an egg roll. We ate the leftover brownies for dessert.

Caleb opened two of his birthday gifts after dinner and dessert. First was a dice game called "Toss Up", which is a lot of fun. We all played a round of it after things settled down a little. He also got a 110-piece Magnetix set (to add to his many other Magnetix and GeoMag sets). Those are so much fun! We played with them after our dice game and ended up losing track of the time. He'll open his other gifts this weekend while Billy's parents are here.

It's been nice to have a stay-home-day today. I've been able to get my kitchen cleaned up and some laundry done. I can still think of several other things I should be doing instead of blogging right now, but I needed a break. I think we'll have an easy supper tonight - BLTs. I'll cook Tuscan chicken with angel hair pasta, salad, and garlic bread tomorrow night. Mmmm... I need to start posting my weekly menus again. No time like the present.

Monday night - frozen Totino's pizzas (I had a cooking show and got to snack on a few slices of Sun-Dried Tomato and Cheese Pizza and some Chocolate Trifle. Yum!)
Tuesday night - Caleb's birthday dinner: fried rice, stir-fried veggies, egg rolls
Wednesday night - BLTs
Thursday night - Tuscan chicken with angel hair pasta, salad, garlic bread
Friday night - leftovers or sandwiches
Saturday night - out
Sunday - sandwiches (standard for Sunday nights since we don't get back in from AWANA until around 7:00.)

Idol Chatter

Last night was the first night of competition for the final 12 contestants. The girls outperformed the guys by a wide margin. My top picks: Melinda Doolittle (who had Paula in tears), Lakisha Jones, and Jordin Sparks. I still like Chris Sligh, but his rendition of "Endless Love" was not good. He was the only consistently good guy until last night. I hope he's able to stick around, though. He's too good to go home yet. (Who am I to say? I don't even vote.)

Pick to go home: Sanjaya Malakar is by far the worst in the bunch, but I doubt he'll be the one going home tonight. I'd guess either Phil Stacy or Brandon Rogers. They're both okay, but just okay. They aren't standing out much, especially when their performances are sandwiched between the much better, much bolder ladies' performances.

We'll find out soon. At least AI isn't on Thursday nights anymore and I can get back to watching Survivor instead of flipping between the two shows.