Snow Day and Mountain Lady Meatloaf

We finally got our first snowfall of the winter! It started coming down Sunday evening and snowed all night and thru the day Monday. I think we ended up with about 4" of soft, fluffy, pretty powder. Not bad enough to cancel school, so both boys went to school while I stayed tucked home with Ella.

I bundled Eleanor up to go out once and she lasted just a little while before she said it was too cold. She outgrew her cute pink snow boots from last year, so she wore a pair of Sean's hand-me-downs. Hee hee! They were a bit big, but she did alright in them.




After school and a snack, the boys got geared up and we all went out again. It's too bad we don't have a hill to sled on or pretty woods to take a quiet walk through. They just stomped around in it a bit, made some snow angels and tried to make snowballs. It wasn't wet enough to make snow balls though, so they just chased me and threw handfuls of snow at me. Silly boys!






We came back in and changed out of wet clothes, then Sean helped me get supper in the oven. My Grandma Eleanor's Mountain Lady Meatloaf is just what our cold day needed! I made a side of Mac & Cheese and some early peas to go with it. My sister, Ann, asked me awhile ago to write down the recipe for her, so I thought I'd just share it here. Enjoy and stay warm!




Mountain Lady Meatloaf

1 1/2 lb lean hamburger meat (I use the lean sirloin so there's not much fat)
1/2 lb ground sausage (the plain kind, no spices added)
1 (10 3/4 oz) can of tomato soup
8 to 10 saltines or Ritz crackers, crushed fine
2 T pickle relish
2 eggs, well beaten
1 t crushed sage leaves
1 tsp salt (I usually omit this since the crackers are salted)
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, make sure to really work in the sausage as it likes to cling together. If it seems to dry, add a bit of catsup, if it seems too wet, add more crackers. Dump into bread loaf pan and shape into a loaf.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees. Remove and let rest 5 mins, then very gingerly pour off any fat into your empty soup can so the fat can be thrown away. Turn meatloaf onto a platter and slice. Makes about 5-6 nice big slices.

*My Grandmother noted on her recipe, "The left over meatloaf is good cold, for sandwiches. The meatloaf should have a crisp brown crust. This is a favorite recipe of my son, Dale."

I *heart* that lady!

Wordless Wednesday: School Christmas Concert

(Video of Sean "singing")

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Letter to Santa

Translation:
"Dear Santa,
I hope you can read my handwriting. I wish you a happy Christmas and I hope you aren't so busy but I was wondering if you can bring me a snowman kit, stacks of pumpkin pies, and a real robot. Thank you. I love you very much. Aidan R. M."

Oh, and he drew his own stamp & labeled it, "Me, Snowman and Santa"

Happy 8th birthday, Aidan!

Today my first born is eight years old! What an amazing boy he is!He's hard-working, clever, caring, energetic, funny, sensitive, and loving. While we may have days where Doug and I fondly look back to when his favorite activity was pushing his toy jeep around the block as fast as his chubby little 2 year old legs could move him, we also have our days where we appreciate how much he is learning and and how independent he has grown. He can frustrate us so quickly with his need to test boundaries and question authority, yet he can make us so proud when he steps in to lead his siblings in play or working on tasks.

The past eight years have flown by so fast and it is almost impossible to imagine that in eight more years he will be on the cusp of adulthood. One thing that he is excited about this birthday is that he is legally aged out of car seats. He started calculating how many years until he can ride in the front seat and how many years until he can drive. Oh my! Thoughts like that make me want to curl him up close and hang tight to age 8!

This year we celebrated his birthday with family from both sides, a rarity with all of the traveling Doug's parents do and all of the extra-curricular activities his cousins do. He chose a few friends from school to take to an indoor inflatables place, called Jumping J's. They had a blast jumping and sliding, as well as playing arcade games and "cosmic" mini-golf. What a fun group of friends! Sean and Ella had just as much fun as the big kids, Ella jumpied herself to the point of exhaustion.











Today, Ella and I are baking chocolate chip cookies and taking them to share with his class this afternoon. His Grandpa Larry called this morning to ask if he could give Aidan a ride to school on his motorcycle. What a fun start to his 8th year!

Fall Festival at School

Aidan and Sean's school celebrated their Fall Festival today (they don't "do" Halloween, but it sure looked like a Halloween party!) The kids didn't have to wear their uniforms, instead they could wear jeans and an appropriate favorite tee shirt. Ella and I arrived to attend the party right as all the classes paraded out to the playground to show off their favorite shirts to each other. The principal led them in a game of Instigator, which they all seemed to enjoy.

When we returned to the classroom, Sean's teacher warned the class that there was someone strange hiding in the room. The principal joined her to see who was inside. It was a witch! A narrator read the kids the book Humbug Witch while the witch acted out the story.


All the kids were so quiet and attentive!


Ella got very scared of the witch and burst into tears so I held her until the story ended. Now when she looks at the photos, she says, "Ella cry!"


After the story, the kids got to drink a glass of the witch's brew and eat the pumpkin cookies they made earlier.


His teacher had a couple of games planned for them to do, so Ella and I walked down to Aidan's class to see him. We showed up just in time to see him have snacks. Then it was time to pack up and go home.


When we got back to Sean's room to get him, the were playing a Hot Potato game using mini pumpkins. Sean did not like the happy laughing and music, so he was sitting alone with his hands over his ears. :( My poor baby. I sat with him to try to relax him and another mom said, "He is just so cute! When I saw him on the first day of school, I said I want to scoop him up and take him home!" (Uh, thanks for the warning, lady!) After the game ended, Sean's teacher gave him a mini-pumpkin to take home and that cheered him up.

The boys brought home lots of fun goodies and candy from the party. They are super pumped to go trick-or-treating!

Who's kids are these?

oh em gee, theses are some goofy school pics the boys took! Aidan, with his zipped-lip grin, is trying to hide his shark front tooth. (He has an adult tooth coming in faster than a baby tooth is coming out.)

And, I can honestly say, I have never seen Sean make this weird chin-jutting, eyebrows-popping face before! LOL


Good thing we only pre-purchased the $10 package!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: September

September is a always busy month in our family. Four family birthdays, the full swing of school, state fair and the last minute crunch to finish up summer projects. Kansas has notorious weather that tends to turn from 100 degree heat to 40 degree "fall" in the blink of an eye. It seems like we are constantly rush, rush, rushing to get things done before October hits.

Sean's 6th birthday started out the month. Normally, we have a nice organized gathering of as much of the family as we can and then try to include a few friends. This year, his birthday fell on Labor Day weekend and everyone had plans to be elsewhere. We had a small pre-party with Doug's parents, then on his birthday we just had a family day that included a trip to the YMCA to swim and out to Dairy Queen for ice cream cones (his favorite treat.) Sometimes keeping it simple is just as much fun as the big events.


Next up was the annual Kansas State Fair. We love going to see the exhibits and enjoy the rides. This year was even more fun as the kids were old enough to get excited about more aspects. Three of us had our art exhibited, so it was neat to track them down and see them displayed.

Aidan with his Pointillism-inspired collage (middle row, second from top)

Sean and Ella in front of his self-portrait.

I entered the dress I knit for Ella in the hand-knitted garment competition, but didn't place. I also didn't get a photo of it there because I had kids running in different directions in the Domestic Arts building.

On the evening we went to go on rides, Aidan ran into a classmate at the fair with his mom. She offered to take them around to do big kid rides while we took Sean and Ella to do little kid rides. Ella got a kick out of most of the things we tried.


We had an unfortunately incident involving the giant yellow slide this year. Doug and Aidan planned on riding it, but when we got there Sean and Ella also insisted they wanted to ride it. I tried talking Sean out of it, as he really didn't like it in the past, but he was determined to go. Um, yeah, not a good idea. Poor thing barely weighs 38 pounds and since Doug had to hold Ella on his lap, Sean had to ride solo next to them. He almost got air on the the first drop, so he freaked out and tried to turn over to his tummy to hold on to the burlap sack. His face smacked down on the slide rail and left a doozy of a bruise for days. He was in tears by the time he got to the bottom and says he will not do that again! Eeks. He didn't even want to walk near it the rest of the time we were there.

After we had our fill of the Fair, we made a quick trip up to visit my family for a weekend. We wrapped up the month by finally putting together the yard sale I had wanted to do all summer. I talked about it for months and slowly sorted what I wanted to purge out of the house. Aidan wanted to set up a lemonade stand for the sale and Doug was happy to fulfill that wish by building a magnificent lemonade stand out of leftover lumber from the bathroom renovation. He put a lot of work into it and Aidan really loves it. He had it open for business the day of the sale and then asked to set it up the next day too. We were so touched by the generosity of people who stopped to buy a drink and treat from him. He's hoping to get a couple more days of business before it gets too cold. I guess we will store it in the garage after that so he can use it again in the spring.




In addition to the fun stuff we did this month, I finally faced up to some dental problems I'd been neglecting. I had to get a root canal done at the end of the month and will need to go in for a crown and some fillings soon. Pregnancy was really hard on my teeth each time, but this time it was the worst. Actually, it's probably because I had areas that really needed a crown in the past but didn't get it. Instead those areas got worse and now it is no longer optional. I'll be so glad when it's all done, but just dread the time getting it fixed. Eye on the prize, right?

Well, that catches up most of our summer! I have a blog's worth of knitting projects to share and one with the bathroom renovations.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: August

Phew, August was a super crazy month!

We kicked it off with lots of fun celebrating Eleanor's 2nd birthday. It was so fun to see her really enjoy everything about birthdays. We went out to lunch that day and got ice cream cones, then had Doug's parents over in the evening for dinner, cupcakes and gifts.


A few days later, we went to spend the weekend with my family where we celebrated her birthday again with them, as well as my nephew's birthday. We went to a great new water park near them and had a fun time together.





We had several weeks of mad-rush-before-school-starts activities. Our bathroom reno was in full force, so we had workmen at the house most days. My mom came out for a week while I caught up on appointments for myself.

Right before school started, we took Sean to see the pediatric cardiologist for a check up on his heart defect. It was a mostly good news appointment. While we didn't hear what we hoped for (that his heart is completely healed), we did hear that there has been a little improvement. He has an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) that used to have an Atrial Septal Aneurysm on it. That's right, I said used to have... it's GONE! So yay for that news! The ASD has not changed in size or in how it is affecting his heart performance. We don't have to bring him in for another heart check up for FIVE years! Woot!

What makes this all especially good news is that it combined with the fact that this time Sean was very very very unhappy to go through the testing. I had to hold him down to get the leads attached to him and the only way we could get him to lay still for the echocardiogram was to have him lay on top on me, while I held him and comforted him. I don't know why he was so against it this time, he was always compliant in the past. I seriously hope he outgrows it before the next check up because by age 11 he will be way too strong for me to hold. He put up such a fight getting the leads on that I didn't have the heart to fight him to get them off right away. He kept the "buttons" on until the next day when Doug and I held him down long enough to rub off the adhesive with some baby oil before giving him a bath. Poor little man!

There wasn't a whole lot of time left to enjoy lazy days at home. The boys had to make the most of their time together, with each other and with their little sister.

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Before we knew it, it was time for the first day of school. Oh my goodness, my throat was tight watching my two boys walk into school that day! I want to pull them close and stop time, yet at the same instant wanted to applaud them as they bravely walked in with their heads held high. All my worries about Sean eased when the principal greeted him at the school door with, "Hi there! How are you today?" and my Seanie replied, "Happy!"



It doesn't get better than that.