SOCCER!!!!!!!!

Woo-hoo! Finally! A post all about my little SOCCER MONSTERS!! (and if any of you have seen the Backyardigan's "Soccer Monster" episode, you should know that I think about it every time I say "SOCCER!," said just like the soccer monsters, of course)

**Note: I tried to change the picture sizes (to make them bigger) after I uploaded the pics and now they're all pixellated...I don't feel like fixing it right now, so please excuse the blurry pics**

JOSIAH


We have just one more game left in the season. Josiah's focus this season has been on improving his defense. After all the offensive plays, he sprints his way back down the field to play "goalie" on our goal. (There are no set goalies at this age, and oftentimes the goal is left wide open...this bothers Josiah because, obviously, it makes it much easier for the other team to score, thus win, which is a problem when winning means so much...not that anyone keeps score at this age, but that's a whole 'nother frustration for him).

Mr. Goalie doin' his thing


His awareness of being defensive and stopping the other team has come a long way in the last 7 weeks and he's even getting past being sooo defensive focused that he forgets to play offense--because that WAS a problem for a couple games!

MICAH


Micah had a rough start to the season...John is their "coach" (he signed up to be assistant coach and was placed as sole and only coach...problem being that he works some Saturdays and isn't able to make it to any of the weekday make-up games) but wasn't able to come to their first game. That really threw Micah off. He said he only wanted to play if daddy was his coach. He ended up playing some that game, but his heart just wasn't in it. Oh, and I should also mention that he fell and hurt himself (as in blood was seen--much more dramatic than just falling) ON THE WAY to each of the first 4 games, which didn't help his playing spirit, either. So, all of that to say, that for the first half of the season, he wasn't very excited about soccer. That's all changed in the last 2 games and he's been playing really well! He's getting in there and going after the ball and he scored in the last 3 games and his whole attitude about being out there and playing is much improved. I'm so glad, too, because he's been wanting to play soccer for so long! I'm glad to see him really give it his all.

A post-goal cheer from Micah Man


Pre-game team Tigers cheer


Some post-goal cheering by Josiah


John has said many times that coaching soccer at this age is basically all about herding...See what he means?


Some of Josiah's between play entertainment


Micah, being his usual adorable self


Ok, these next pics are from a make-up night game, so they aren't nearly as good because it was getting dark, but there's a few I want to share. First up is Micah's little intimidation move when the teams were lined up before kick off. He looked at the boy from the other team who was standing in front of him and with all seriousness did the "I'm watching you" motion with his hand. And he looked MEAN.


Of course, then he dissolved into laughter and everyone knew not to take him seriously. It was so funny!!

This is Josiah and one of his teammates chatting while they were waiting to go back in the game. I'm posting this pic because I want you to notice how the girl is sitting...


And AS SOON AS they went back in the game, look at how Miss Emilia was sitting


I also want you to notice Emilia's new fashion statement--knit shorts over jeans. It's all the rage in these parts!


And that, my friends, concludes the great SOCCER! post and now I am off to put the coveted CHECK next to this on my ever-growing to-do list!

Just HAD to Share This

It only took 19 months and 11 days, but today FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, Emilia had a "hair style."  It's, umm...a bit messy because it was quite impromptu and I didn't have a comb or brush, but Emilia LOVED it.  She kept them in all day.  She would put both her hands up and hold them (like a pencil) in her fingers and say, "Hair!"  I think she's as excited to finally have hair as I am for her to have some hair!!

That's her looking out the window, watching for Nana...despite the fact that Nana is in Florida!  She's gone to the window everyday looking for Nana...

Josiah's Muffins

Josiah has always liked to help in the kitchen, whether we're cooking or baking, he loves to measure and create yummy things to eat. When he's not ACTUALLY in the kitchen, he plays with the toy kitchen and all of it's many accessories. He likes to watch Food Network (Paula Deen and Rachael Ray were his faves the last time I asked) and act out his own cooking show when he's playing with Play-doh. In light of all that, it should be no great surprise to any of us that on Wednesday he sat down and created his own recipe. He decided to create Apple Muffins because "we don't have a recipe for apple muffins." He made his list of all the ingredients he wanted in it and then used a different recipe to decide on amounts.

Thursday morning, we made Josiah's Crazy Raisin Apple Muffins! I still can't believe a 6 year old came up with a recipe! So cool! 

This is his recipe:

And these are the muffins!

Eating Habits

I have a very vivid childhood memory that my mom swears never happened. She's wrong, though, because it so DID happen and it has affected me ever since. I was scarred for life and she's just in denial!

This must be something big, right?

Right. Because when I was little I liked to eat my food one at a time, moving in a circle around my plate. I don't know why. It's just the way I wanted to eat. Until one day...

One night we were eating dinner and I was doing my usual eat around the plate thing, when my mom flipped out. (Ok, 'flipping out' MAY be an exaggeration, I just remember wondering WHY she was making such a big deal out of this). So, she may or may not have yelled, but she was definitely stern about it when she told me I couldn't eat my food like that. I HAD to eat a little bit of everything at a time. I remember sitting there having been eating one thing and her saying, "Now take a bite of something else." I may or may not have willingly complied. But I do remember being coached through that meal on how to "properly" eat my food.

Ever since then, I CAN'T eat all of one food before I eat some of something else. Even if there is something soooo good on my plate that I could easily devour the whole serving plate of it...that good ole Lutheran guilt kicks in and I HAVE to take at least one bite of something else before I completely finish the one food. Just as much as I used to have this inner desire to eat one food at a time, now I have an inner compulsion to NOT eat all of something at a time. If I even get close, I remember my mom that night at dinner...and I HAVE to take a bite of something else. Scarred, I tell ya. I'll never be the same.


Fast forward from that night to tonight at my dinner table with my kids. Here's the conversation:

Micah: JOSIAH! You've GOT to try this bread! It is sooooooo good!

Josiah: I can't. I'm eating my salad.

Micah: But you could stop and take a bite. (Duh!)

Josiah (rolls his eyes and with a bit of a snooty attitude, pitying those who clearly just don't understand): MI-cah. One thing at a time!

Mommy's Little Helper

This morning I was making applesauce and wouldn't you know I had a little helper? (All my kids love to help) Miss Emilia was my helper this morning and she was a good little helper, too! She started out helping me push the apple slicer through the apples (she skipped the peeling part). She thought that was a lot of fun and was quite possessive of the apple slicer. We'd push it through the apples, she'd pull out the core, I moved the slices to the pile and if I forgot and put the slicer out of her reach while I was getting another apple, she'd "Hmph" me and reach over and move it back by her.

When we got to the cutting up of slices, do you know what she did? Well, obviously I didn't give her a knife! I was thinking she'd either stand and watch or wander off to play, but no. She grabbed a slice, bit off a bite and put it in the pot!! I laughed out loud the first three times she did it! It was so cute and so funny and so like her to be dead set on doing something! I did manage to convince her that it might be yummier to just EAT a couple slices of apple, instead of having to take the bites out to put in the pot. She fell for it and spent the rest of the time eating apple slices and playing with the apple cores (I think she was pretending they were people or something.) What a cutie we've got.

Wow...200 Really?

Did you know my last post was my 200th post? Who knew you'd read so many snippets of my life!

I have quite a lengthy to-do list these days and somewhere on that list is a post about soccer. There's one big problem (with 2 parts) that is keeping me from being able to check that off my list. The main problem is this: I don't really have any good pictures to share with you! You're probably wondering how in the world that could be since I take over 500 pics a month...well, here's the two parts of the problem:

1 - While the boys are playing soccer I am busy chasing a 1 year old all over the soccer complex. I've SEEN parents with 1 year old kids who sit calmly in their strollers and watch the game. And sometimes I secretly envy them because...yeah, my little girl just isn't one to sit on the sidelines (not that that's bad, it's actually GOOD, but sometimes I just want to sit and watch!). She wants to be IN the game and since I won't let her go out on the field we end up walking/running/pushing the stroller (her pushing, not me because she won't sit in it, of course) all over the place. She's also really fascinated by the dog park that is connected to the soccer fields, but I won't let her go over there, either. I'm such a mean mom. With all that chasing, I don't actually get to see much of the soccer that is being played by my boys, let alone take pictures of them.

2 - Second problem is that of the 5 scheduled games, 2 have been rained out. :( Josiah DOES NOT like that. I don't mind too much because it's nice to have a "free" Saturday, but does cut down on the picture opportunities.

Sooooo...now that I've made my excuses can I at least put a partial check by the soccer post? I mean, I kinda posted about it, right?? :)

Favorite Recipes

I don't usually share recipes on here. I get most of my recipes online, so I guess I figure if you're looking for something new to make, you'll find it, same as I do! However, today I am making exception to this because I've got two AMAZING recipes that I just can't keep to myself. I'd hate for you to go through life and never find these keepers!!

The first one is for pumpkin pancakes. We frequently have breakfast for dinner around here and I made these one night last week. I'm not kidding you when I say it was DEAD SILENCE as everyone chowed down. That NEVER happens! Seriously, my kids have NEVER been so caught up with eating that they forget to talk!! Not with cake or cookies or anything! It was just amazing to me....silence....who knew 3 kids could achieve such a magical dinner experience?? :) On to the recipe:

Pumpkin Pancakes with Yogurt

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin, canned

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, adding yogurt, milk and pumpkin puree. Mix well. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Spoon the batter onto a preheated, oiled griddle, using 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes slowly over a low-medium heat for approximately 4-6 minutes, flipping after 3 minutes.

I did make a few changes to this: I only used 1/4 c sugar and I used Dannon Lite and Fit vanilla yogurt (because it's what I had) so I left out the vanilla. Mmmmmm...I'm tellin' ya--DELICIOUS! Next time I think I'm going to add some pecans.

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I've been making all of our bread for almost a year now, and this next recipe is BY FAR the BEST, BEST, BEST basic bread recipe I have found. It's easy, it's tasty, it's got a good crust but not so hard that my kids can't bite through it. It's not crumbly, it freezes GREAT, it makes three loaves at a time so I'm not making bread every other day, it makes great sandwiches, great toast, and it's great on it's own just as a side for dinner. So perfect. If you like baking bread or just want to try it, this is a winning recipe--TRUST ME.

Christy Dalling's Wheat Bread

Ingredients:
4c warm water
1/4c honey
1/4c sugar (you can use all honey or all sugar, if you like)
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1/3c canola oil
5tsp salt
8 or more cups flour (I used 6c wheat flour, 2+ cups bread flour)

Directions:
Dissolve honey, sugar, and yeast in warm water. Let this mixture sit 3-4 minutes, until bubbles form at the top and everything is dissolved. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer (fitted with a dough hook). Add canola oil, salt, and 4c flour. Mix 2-3 minutes.

Add 4c flour, and mix until dough pulls away from the sides and is cohesive. Flour a large work surface and pour out dough. Knead with hands until dough is elastic and a large ball. Place in a large bowl that has been greased or sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with a damp towel or piece of plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 40-60 minutes.

Turn out dough and divide into 3 for large loaves, 4 for smaller loaves. Shape each section of dough into a loaf and place in a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-40 minutes or until tops are golden brown and loaves sound hollow when you tap the tops or test with a toothpick.

Allow loaves to cool 2 minutes in pan and then turn out loaves to cool completely. Wrap any loaves not being used immediately securely with plastic wrap and place in zip-top bags in the freezer.

Makes 3-4 loaves.

I use all honey in ours and not quite so much salt. I've used all different amounts and types of flour (bread, all-purpose, wheat) with this recipe and it's always fantastic.

If you want to make something especially yummy, add 1 c chopped walnuts, 1 c chopped craisins and the zest of 2 oranges to the dough. Makes GREAT ham sandwiches and I'm soooo making it at Thanksgiving for sandwiches with leftover turkey. Of course it's great as toast for breakfast, too!

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