Our church had a mini business meeting after the service yesterday and the people voted (unanimously, i might add) to hire yours truly as Pastor of Family Life . . . ummm . . . or Pastor of Family Living, I can't remember!

Let me clear something up right away; I'm NOT a minister / reverend. I'm not going to be marrying, burying, doing communion or anything like that. My job description is mostly made up of preparing children's programs, visiting with families and providing resources to the community. The term 'Pastor' is an affectionate one, meaning 'Shepherd'. I could do the same job with the title "Director of Family (Something)" but the term 'Director' connotes lists, programs, activities, and meetings (which is essentially what I'll be doing!) whereas 'Pastor' connotes vision, care and tending.

I mean, look at what a shepherd does:

provides nourishment - this might be literal (a meal) or figurative (a Bible study)

protects from predators - I could empower through education / be a voice for the voiceless (or maybe carry a big club around! Sweet!)

gives direction - this is mostly Jeff's role but I can support him in it

All this within 28 hours / week, folks!

Seriously, I have a real affection for the people in my little church and I want to serve the families in whatever way they need me. To my non-churchy peeps out there* , I don't know how to say this without sounding like I'm using cheesy buzz words but God has been filling me with so much joy that it's just been spilling out lately (well, not so much when Harry threw his chewed up apple in my face . . . ) and rather than waste the overflow, I'm glad to be able to channel it with this job.

Anywhoo, I'll be working my own hours this summer just to get the fall programs up and running and putting my best volunteers up first b/c I know that when I start teaching at Bedford Academy, my family's world is going to be radically changed and I want to be uber-prepared. I'll start working regularly come January and 28 hours / week will be perfect!! Still, I totally am treasuring the lazy days of being on my own schedule and only answering to my family!

 

Anyone who's been to DVBS (Daily Vacation Bible School - a summer day camp) will recognize the glue, the glitter . . .

 

and the awesomeness you can create with tinfoil!

And Bruce points out it's a great place to meet Baptist girls!

 

*To my non-churchy peeps: I really hope that this job doesn't make you all weird around me. It just means you can't moon me at my workplace anymore. And if you DO come over to our side, be sure to mention my name as I work on comission. I joke, I joke . . . well, not about the mooning part . . . would be awkward . . . :o)

Still not posting about the 2nd job (the vote is tomorrow) but I wanted to share these two videos that made me very, very happy:

 

I have created an awesome rendition of me singing 'Total Eclipse of The Heart' using Beaker's and The Swedish Chef's voices. Ask me to sing it for you sometime!

 

 

I love singing and being silly with my boys and one thing that always is a hit is singing songs they know in my best chicken impersonation. When they bring home their girlfriends, this will be how I impress them! ;o)

Let me preface this post by saying that I already have a job. Drives me bonkers when I hear other ladies respond to the "Where do you work?' question with, "Oh, I'm not working. I'm just at home with the kids." Girls, you're just not getting paid is all.

That being said, I have TWO new jobs on the horizon which is two more than what I had planned while the kids are still small. The first will be this fall at a fabulous private school; Bedford Academy

(photo from their website)

That's right, I get to wear a uniform. That involves plaid. And my first tie ever!

I am super, super psyched because I absolutely love teaching. I get a little twitchy every September and have been known to drool over school supplies and back-to-school outfits. The reason I'm taking this job is b/c it's a maternity leave and is only from Sept until December - 3 & 1/2 months. I can handle being away from my boys for that long . . . I think! The only way I snagged this position is it's a private school (could you tell?) and they hire whomever they see fit. No unions, no seniority, no hoops to jump through. When I do go looking for a teaching job in the public system, I will pass out from shock if I get a position within 5 years.

I'll have a primary class and most of the children have attended the school's preschool so they won't be so scared plus I'll have some idea of their abilities from the get-go. Another plus is that the teacher I'm filling in for is a real doll (not that I can say anything bad - she might be reading this!!) who not only has a passion for children, she has a passion for organization and order. YAY! I am neither organized nor orderly but I sure like working with those who are!

Hmmm . . . at least one of the twins is awake now. I'll post about the second job later.

I grew up with a sister and girl cousins. Then I had three boys. Then Pioneer Woman confirmed what I've suspected; boys are one step-up from cavemen.  

Gender Stereotypes (click on link)

 

 . . . from trying not to laugh!. Bruce and I read the Easter story in a children's book this weekend. We were going over it a 2nd time and I asked him about this picture:

Me: "What is Jesus doing in the garden?"

Bruce: "Thinking about what vegtables to plant."

:o)

We are a one-income family living in a two-income world. I am incredibly greatful that we're able to swing this even if it means doing without things like a 2nd car or impulse shopping. I am also super appreciative of my sweetie, Andrew, for supporting my desire to stay home b/c he's a very low-risk kind of guy. I know he'd sleep easier if we had more money in our savings but for now, this is where we are.

This month is a bit of a 'perfect storm' with three unusual bills (like renewing our liscence plates) coming in at the same time. A financial area that is very loose with us is groceries - no budget, I just try to buy what's on sale. Looking to tighten that up, I found tons of sites that list budget meals that are also healthy. That's impt to me and I get really annoyed that the cheapest things at the grocery store are the processed, chemically things (see blueberry flavoured nuggets below!).

My plan for April is threefold:

1)Make a menu plan. I've done this before and it's so lovely not to be staring blankly at the cupboards at 5pm wondering what to throw together. Instead of doing a weekly plan, I'm making a list of 30 meals, doing a MONSTER order at Costco and then only going to the grocery store for fruit/veggies as we need them. Less waste, less 'Ach, there's nothing, lets order pizza.'

2)Get up. Because Andrew is awesome, he's been getting up with the kids and I've been sleeping in. Love him. How-ev-er, I find when I do get up, I'm entering a room full of energy and that sets me off-kilter. Getting up with them, or even before them is a gentler way to start the day and if I throw a load in the laundry while the coffee is brewing, I'm ahead of the game.  This means more time for play!

3) Make breakfast. Part of the menu plan is wholesome breakfasts, preferably ones that can be prepped the night before. Thanks to Trina for putting that bug in my ear. Again, it's a more civilized way to begin the day (and in a house full of little boys, I'm all about making things civilized!), not to mention the nutritional benifits. Today, we had cake.

 

The recipe is easy but if your family doesn't normally eat whole wheat flour, they'll probably find it too dense. Ease your way in with 1/4 ww and 3/4 white and if it's a hit, keep upping the ratio. Check out the recipe here as well as other yummy early morning meals. {plus I copied it below with my modifications}

 *Bonus - the Bill Cosby routine she mentions is:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsjr1_bill-cosby-chocolate-cake_shortfilms

Mom is Great! She Gives Us Breakfast Cake!

 

 

I offered to bring something to tomorrow's potluck after church and to a baby shower later in the afternoon. I'd made a cake for my FIL's b'day and at the grocery store tonight, I couldn't remember if that made me run out of flour if I just bought flower for the occasion. Dilema. Then, this caught my eye:

 

Muffins in a mix! How easy! No mess, bake the whole thing as two loaves and I have my obligations covered.

Of course, as a cook's priviledge, I had a taste of the batter which got on my finger and . . . ?!?!?!? The 'dried' blueberry was like . . . words escaped me. Looking a little closer, I actually read the package and saw:

 

                                                                                       Or for my American friends, blueberry 'flavor'.

 

 

Please note in the ingredient in the middle of the second row, you've got it, 'blueberry flavoured nuggets'. Mmmmmmmmmm! Now don't get me wrong! There are some really, REALLY good things that come from mixes. Artificially flavoured nuggets just ain't one of them. I added some frozen blueberries from the freezer, whipped up a streusel topping and hoped that would salvage things. Not so much. This will be something that will be snuck in the back on a disposable plate, I'm afraid.

Look at this face:

That was 2005 on our way to Cape Cod with my dear friend Sara. Fast forward to today:

 

I can't handle this!

On Wednesday night I dropped Bruce of at dance class. After the 2nd class, the teacher closes the door so that we pathetic parents can't keep distracting the kids with our kiss-blowing and waving. I told B that I'd be getting groceries whilst he was dancing and he was very unsure about the whole thing. He almost didn't go in the first few nights b/c I couldn't go in with him. When his boots and coat were off, he looked in the class, looked back at me and said, "You can go now." and ran inside. And ran out and gave me a hug. And then a smooch. Right on the lips!

I almost didn't go. What if he had to pee? What if he came to look for me? What if {ouch} he didn't need me???

I went.

He was fine.

So then today, the three boys were already sitting at the table when I got the Cheerios (well, 'Oatie-Ohs') out so I thought there was no need for Jack and Harry to go into their highchairs so they had their first real meal all together.

 

And then there was dancing.

 

 

 

                                                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few hours later, I was checking my email and it was eerily quiet. That's rarely good. I went to the kitchen to see this:

 

Here was my 'baby' getting a snack for himself

 and his 'brov-vers'.

 

And to those who waited,

good things came.

Sigh.

Where's that baby again?

Want to impress your sweetie? Bake with the kiddos? Celebrate another snowday? An excuse to have yummy, yummy pie is never hard to find. If you want just the straight-up recipe it's here. Oh and note that the crust (aka pate brisee) is a separate link on the page). If you want to see my step-by-step process, and cute kid pics (and who wouldn't??), follow along . . .

Pate Brisee

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined.

Simplicity

I love that you can do so much with so few ingredients! I also love that I found exactly the 2 T of hard butter my stick was short in the nether region of the fridge. I've never made dough in the food processor. I also have a love/hate relationship with pastry crust as it can go so horribly wrong; a heavy crust just sucks. So why not just use a frozen, premade crust? Because if homemade crust goes well, ahhhhhh, it melts in your mouth and is the most wonderous thing. It's delicious and not just a conduit for filling. Frozen premade never has that potential so let's take a chance with this, shall we?

• Add butter, and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds.

 

Dough1

Why not use marg for crust? Why do you have to 'cut' butter in and not blend? Why don't you just melt the butter for easier mixing? EXCELLENT questions! Here's why:

If blue = dry ingredients and yellow = butter, you'll see in the top pic that if you mix them you get green = new creation. This is what you do when you cream butter to make cookies and marg is fine. With the bottom pic, you see that cutting in the butter with a blender or by hand with two knives (never with your hands themselves, they're too warm) keeps the butter separate, just broken up. When it heats in the oven, the solid butter melts, leaving behind air pockets which means a flaky crust. A hard crust means that it's been over-mixed. Make sense?

• With the machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream until mixture just comes together.

 

 

I'm stressing on this step. 6-8 T of ice cold water? Well, is it 6, 7 or 8? Comes together? Like in the Beatle's song? And what do you mean by just comes together?? In my head, the dough police were saying, "Waaaaaaait for it, waaaaaaaaaait for it, NOW NOW NOW!". {breathing in a paper bag} If I were to ask my mother who is the queen of crust, she would mysteriously say, "Well, dear, you just know."  and as usual be right. I went with 8T figuring I could always add a bit of flour later and there really was a moment when it all of a sudden went clumpy.

• Divide dough in half; shape each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour (or up to 2 days).

Take this time to console your sad, sad toddlers who do NOT like the sound of the food processor. BTW, my usual sous chef was on holiday at his grandparents.

Harry perked up with a taste of dough but sensitive Jack wasn't assuaged until he got his paws on the dregs of the ice water.

All better.

 

 

A gold star to who can pick out Bruce at his first night of dance class!

 

 

He had no clue he was the only boy, had tons of fun and even though his skipping, pony trot and chante (sp?) all looked quite similar, he didn't just run around or leave the class crying as did some little cuties.

As for me, to my suprise, I became one of THOSE MUMS. Adhereing to my motto of A.B.A.B. (always bring a book), I brought my latest, Napolean's Buttons which is all about how 17 molocules shaped history (and to my suprise, I'm really enjoying it and might have liked Chemistry in High School if my teacher wasn't such an ass. He made me cry in class).

 

I don't know why I bothered. I couldn't stop jostling with the other parents for my turn at the door (parents not allowed inside) to peek inside to see what FAScinating thing they were doing next. I'd sit back down and make myself read but re-read the same paragraph over and over without taking anything in. Well, except this fact about pepper:

 

and then I'd hop back up and elbow someone out of the way. I told this to my friend who used to work at the community centre and she laughed and said that this class was the worst for peeky parents and that in warmer weather, some stake out the floor-level window outside. I'll have to bring my parka next time!