Out of the mouth of babes...

At the dinner table last night, J asked if we could plant trees all around our new house. I explained that our house will be in the woods, so it really already has trees around it.

"No," she said, "I mean trees right up next to the house!"

I explained that having trees too close to the house could cause problems, and suddenly she became wistful. "I like the trees!" she announced, then excused herself from the table. "I need to go draw some pictures of the trees!" She gathered together her small pad of paper and big box of crayons, and went outside.

When I returned home from the homeschooling meeting, she had her finished products on the table. One picture was very obviously the row of pine trees that line our driveway. One I think was meant to be our small maple tree, complete with a few red leaves. The last seems to be an unfinished likeness of the pumpkins on the porch railing.

Just seeing those small drawings lined up on the table brought tears to my eyes. The sentiment, the 5 year old significance behind them was enormous and felt so poignant at that moment. This is the home, the trees, the nature that J has known for her entire lifetime. I am able to see the big picture and look ahead to a new home in a beautiful location, but she is merely seeing change and uncertainty.

This moment served to reinforce to me the most obvious of observations: she is just a child! I realized today that we have already completed one semester of work in Phonics and Math after 37 days of classes. I have been pushing 2 lessons a day once we took a bazillion assessments to find an area that wasn't only review. J is doing wonderfully, and it takes her about 30 minutes to do the work. It flashed through my mind again: she is just a child! Why push her?

So, I continue to learn, and thankfully, I have this sweet, innocent child to guide me.

T

The End of an Era

We watched the last bit of "A Very Brady Christmas" last night, and now we're at a bit of a loss to know what to do with ourselves! The four of us have snuggled up on the couch to watch an episode of "The Brady Bunch" almost every evening since early Spring. We watched the last one, where Greg was graduating from High School, just a few weeks ago. Since then we have made our way through 2 Brady movies and 2 episodes of "The Brady Kids" (an animated show featuring the kids and some animals). It has been nice to sit together to watch, and then discuss each episode, and then stay together to read stories before tucking the girls into bed. Tonight J asked "what are we going to watch?" Luckily I picked up a video called "Ashpet" at the library today. It is a version of Cinderella, set in the South during the 40's...actually quite good...the fairy godmother part was an African American woman who "made spells". From here on out we can watch Olympics for another week or so, and then we'll just have to come up with some other family bonding event. Or we could just start over at Episode 1: The Brady Wedding...

Hope all are well! We need to have a meeting!

T

The Perpetual Hostess

Our final overnight guest of the summer has gone, and after washing sheets and towels, I slumped onto the couch to watch "Finding Nemo" with the girls. We have had overnight guests here 19 of the past 30 days, plus a weekend away from home. I am just plain pooped from all the cleaning, planning, grocery shopping, cooking, entertaining, just overall being NICE.

In all fairness, my mother-in-law was here since the 2nd, and she really was quite easy...took long naps along with L and went to bed early. We did have to remind her over and over again that certain physical complaints came along with being 86 years old, and weren't due to any serious illnesses. But overall, this was the easiest of the bunch.

Now I'm ready to enjoy my home with just the noise of the girls play, interjected with a few fights (wow, can girls ever scream!). I want to enjoy sloppy meals made on the spur of the moment instead of well planned and prepared ones. I'd like to walk around half the day in my pj's if I so desire.

Of course, now I need to return, without excuses, to working on my list of home repairs...next up: excavating for some brick work. We also have J's swim lessons next week with the inevitable "making a day of it" at the pool a time or two.

DH and L are home with fast food for dinner, so I need to act as if I've been productive for the past 20 minutes. My best wishes and love to N.

T

Ride the rails? H*** NO!!!

I just got a call from my brother in Austin, TX, who was scheduled to reach home via Amtrack last night. They actually got in around 4 AM today. After a 10 hour delay, the train was "terminated" in Dallas, and they got to begin a 3 and 1/2 hour bus ride at 12:30 with 2 tired kids in tow. This was supposed to be the good experience on the return trip after taking an 11 hour bus trip from St Louis to Toledo without stops for meals on the way here.

My parents are great proponents of Amtrack. They take a big train trip about once a year. This year they are going to Fairbanks, Alaska. Of course, they enjoy seeing the country and chatting with other senior citizens riding the train sans children. They also have never had to ride on a bus instead of the train for 11 hours.

We had our first experience as a family on Amtrack last Fall, when we rode from Greensburg to Philly to visit the King Tut exhibit. On the way out, we got lots of dirty looks because the girls were too loud, or kicking the seat backs, or some other kid related offense. On the way back, we were nearly 2 hours late getting in to Greensburg (past bedtime) and both the girls were running fevers...not particularly fun for any sort of travel.

There may be a day, when travelling without children, that I would like to see America. Until that time, I think I'll take to the air and arrive at my destination in a single day.

T

P.S. Or drive...how was your week, N?

Crazy Crazy Daze

Just a quick post and picture of my family that is here now. My grandmother, my mother's 2 sisters and 1 brother-in-law came for the day, and have headed home. My sister-in-law and 2 of my nephews leave in the AM, and my Dad arrives tomorrow night by train.

So far we have cooked "mountain pies" in the outside stove, made homemade ice cream, and Lauren managed to flood the bathroom and consequently the new carpet downstairs.

We are all having fun, not sleeping much, and enjoying each others' company!

T

Shoo Fly Pie

My brother's train is at least an hour late coming in to Connellsville (a small town in PA to which I've never intentionally been). Luckily he called just minutes before I pulled out of the garage to go pick them up. So, J & I have had some time, while the house is quiet and everyone else sleeps, to play "Go Fish" and "Crazy Eights" and eat a leisurely breakfast.

I managed, in the midst of chaos on Friday, to bake a couple of Shoo Fly Pies. This may not be everyone's dream confection, but they are quite tasty and simple to bake. For some reason they have morphed from dessert to breakfast food in our family. A slice is quite satisfying with a cup of coffee. Since they are very definitely a Mennonite food, I offered a slice to J.

J: "No way!"

T: "It's really quite yummy. Come on, when else would I offer you pie for breakfast?"

J: "Uh uh, I want a pancake."

T: "You have Mennonite blood in you, you should try some Shoo Fly Pie!"

J: "Is that the REAL name? They should give it another name, that's not a very tasty name."

T: " Do you want a bite of mine?"

J: "No thanks."

So, I've got an unwilling child of Mennonite heritage on my hands. One day I'm going to make her try a bite! Until then, I'll just enjoy the swarms of Mennonite people hanging out at our home on the hill.

T

What a Great Bunch of Folks!

Once again we greatly enjoyed the company of the Elaines et al!

Good food, good company...what more could one ask for?

Even the little ones found plenty to do!

We all passed around Baby B.

Just wish I got some pictures of the men playing!

Until next time,

T

A Respite from the Chaos

This dove built her nest on my grandparents' wall hanging...you can see one chick's head!

We have returned from Central PA...rolled up our hill at about 1 AM this morning and carried the sleeping children to their waiting beds. It was a crazy visit. I stayed behind in houses that were not L-proofed, trying to control 2 wild children while Daddy slipped away to doze in mindless conferences most of each day. L broke a different nick-knack in each home we stayed.

I actually did not have as much time alone as I had anticipated. My sister-in-law took half a day off to visit on Thursday. She took us to see the idyllic Camphill Village where she works. We watched the free range chickens and one big turkey, laughed at the antics of the piglets, and admired the woven goods made of recycled jeans and homespun wool from the village's sheep.



One of my dear college friends drove the girls and I to the Hands on House in Lancaster, where my girls and her boys loaded coal on trucks, picked corn to feed the pigs, ran a grocery store, sang on stage and built "thing-a-ma-giggles" in a factory.



My parents and we took dinner to my Grandparents, both in their 90's. J entertained us with a violin concert. My Grandma recited some of the many poems and stories she memorized many years ago. My Grandfather showed us his latest carvings.



We enjoyed singing along to the musical, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Reading, and played in the crabapple petals afterward.



We drove home in the dark to piles of laundry and a marathon 3 hour violin recital this afternoon. At last, in a church pew, I was able to relax while the children played incredible music and L napped in the van with Daddy.

So now I feel deflated. Thankfully husband has a couple more days off from work, perhaps I can get caught up with life again. An Elaines meeting would benefit...(here, some night this week?)

T

Taco Night

I was lucky enough to marry into a family with some solid traditions different from my own. My husband's parents were missionaries to Hispanic populations in many states, but originally in South Texas/Mexico. They adopted several Mexican foods, and "Mennonite-ized" them, including tacos and our yearly Christmas tamales. We received a "tortilla-dora" (tortilla press) as an engagement gift from my parents-in-law, and as much as I enjoyed eating them with the in-laws, I thought it would clearly gather dust in my cabinet.

Now, 17 years later, we are using our second tortilla-dora as we used the first one to death, and taco night is a weekly tradition. I learned to make fresh corn tortillas at the side of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

I start with Masa Harina, very finely ground corn flour, and boiling water, to make the Masa (tortilla dough). This is rolled into balls, then pressed between the two iron plates of the tortilla-dora.

The pressed tortilla is placed on a very hot, flat iron pan, and cooked on 3 sides.

The finished tortillas rest in a towel lined basket or bowl to steam.

My husband ate tortillas twice a week during his Jr High and High School years, as his mother found it a good way to get vegetables into him. It was a momentous milestone the day each of the girls ate their first taco! We eat the tortillas with a sweet/sour ground meat (this is the Mennonite influence), cheese, lettuce, onions and tomatoes. During the winter months we rely on canned tomatoes so as to avoid the anemic, firm grocery store variety. The finished product is topped off with salsa (homemade as supplies last) and devoured with relish.

J has recently started helping to press the tortillas, so I find myself passing this tradition on to the next generation so that Taco Night can remain an important fixture in the Martin family for years and years (and years) to come.

T