a week off

Whether it is good timing or bad timing, we had President's week off from school and spent most of it at home, sick. I've never had a cold come on so strong and last so long. Luckily Reggie was home on Monday and got the kids out, and a big thanks to Jade for taking Luke out on Friday. It is now Sunday night and Luke has a substantial fever (102). Hopefully we'll all be back to a normal routine soon.

How does this end!

Luke wanted to reserve the book "Treasure Island" from the library. While we are waiting for it to come in, I thought it would be fun to watch the Disney 1950 movie version of it. We got to the very last chapter of the movie - they've finally found the gold and you see that look in Long John Silver's eye. Is he going to turn on them again? Does he get the gold? Does he get away? We don't know because the disc is scratched and won't play the end! I guess we will have to wait for Luke to get the book and read the end so he can tell us.

Happy Harry Potter Wednesday

Breaded Pork Chops for dinner: At the Yule ball in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" Dumbledore says out loud the item he wants to eat, which in this case is pork chops and it magically appears.



We also made Cauldron Cakes for breakfast on Saturday. They were pretty darn yummy.
According to our Harry Potter cookbook: "In the wizarding world Pancakes are called Cauldron Cakes. Harry sees them for the first time on the witch's trolley on board the Hogwarts Express in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'. He generously shares with Ron, who finds his dry corned beef sandwich unappealing."

and

"The humble pancake had an exciting birth. Frantically trying to use up all their butter, milk, and cream by Lent, housewives fried stacks and stacks of the stuff."

I love this movie

I just can't get enough of it. Then I remembered the following picture. I can't get enough of it either: ( I just love that Reggie!)

Nothing like a bunch of kids to melt your heart. And I can't wait for the summer! I guess this is the calm before the fun, loud, crazy storm that is coming our way. I can't wait to have the girls home (and Lester), and to have Rocio and the kids come back for a long visit.

Happy Birthday to Reggie

Even though Reggie spent his day at work, all in all he had a good birthday. Last night he and I went to a movie together. Samantha and Luke packed him a special birthday lunch for today, consisting of a sandwich from his favorite deli. I made him his annual carrot cake. His presents were couple of DVDs and some special memorobilia from the World Series: we framed a couple of newspapers from the event along with some pictures of Reggie, Samantha and Luke together at the parade.


We are so lucky to have him. He is the best. And considering all of that, I think I will stop blogging and show him how much I love him by giving him a foot massage. That is the one thing he asks of me and the kids all year long, and we always say no. Happy Birthday Reggie!

Fried tomatoes on Harry Potter Wednesday

Samantha saw this recipe and wanted us to try it. She has always loved tomatoes.



From the book:

"The morning after a harrowing encounter with the dementor on the Hogwarts Express, Harry restores his peace and good humor with a little help from his friends - and sausages and fried tomatoes for breakfast. (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, chapter 6).

also

"Did you know that until the mid-1700s the British thought tomatoes were poisonous? When the tomato came to England in the late 1500s, it was cultivated as an unusual plant to look at. Thank goodness, someone finally figured out that we can eat them, and they began to appear in cookbooks in the 1700s."


NOW here is a Harry Potter trivia game. Did you know that the movie Sense & Sensibility (with Kate Winslet) has 4 actors who also play parts in the Harry Potter movies? The first person who can name the actors from both movies, or the characters they play in both movies will win a prize from us - lets say some of Mrs. Weasley's chocolate fudge from this cookbook. We will either mail the prize to you or give it to you the next time we see you. Good Luck!

"Who broke my window!"

Anybody remember this commercial from the late 70s/early 80s, put out by our (Mormon) church? We just found it on Youtube. Its pretty great. (And yes, that is little Carleton of "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" fame.) Pause our playlist at the bottom of the blog before you watch it.

chocolate night

Tonight we had a Relief Society (woman's group) activity all about chocolate! It was great! There was so much to learn about chocolate and so much chocolate to eat! My favorite thing about the night was the handout of quotes. My favorite one goes like this:

"A nice box of chocolates provides your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy?"

and also this:

"Chocolate is nature's way of making up for Mondays."

Thanks for all your work Angie. It was a fun night.

I tried

but Twister is not for me.
Reggie tried a little harder

but Luke still won.

farewell!

Farewell, little car! You have served our family/extended family admirably for 20 years. For the past few years your trunk wouldn't close and one of your passenger doors wouldn't open; you had rust spots all over your exterior and your trim and even bumper was starting to fall off; the carpet and visors inside were falling off and still you served, teaching more teenagers how to drive. And on your very last day, even though the rain had filled your trunk and the back floor with water, you gave your all for some last few errands around town. Now, as your seatbelts are starting to mildew and your engine will not start, it is time to put you out of your misery; time to let you go to your rest; time to say farewell. Thank you (and your original owners) for everything!

Harry Potter Wednesday

Harry's First Birthday Cake: Chocolate Layer Cake: "Harry Potter meets his first birthday cake when he turns eleven, courtesy of Hagrid." (Its supposed to look like Hagrid made it!)



and

"Cocoa beans were so precious to the ancient Aztecs that they used them as money. The Spanish explorers brought the beans back to Spain in the 1500s and from there it was only a matter of time for chocolate to catch on in the rest of Europe and for the final product to be perfected. We have the Dutch to thank for figuring out how to make chocolate and cocoa powder as we know it and the Swiss for thinking of adding milk."

This was a VERY rich chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate glaze. I think next time I will skip the frosting and just do the glaze. Or maybe I'll skip the cake too and just eat the glaze!

It must be getting close to valentines day

because Reggie has agreed to watch ALL of my Jane Austen movies with me! We started with Pride and Prejudice are now on Sense & Sensibility and will finish with Emma. This is very out of character of him. Usually Reggie would tell a guy that did this to turn in his man card. Maybe Reggie thinks this means he's going to get some more time and attention from me. Well, whatever his motives, I LOVE HIM! He is my Mr. Darcy, Mr. Ferris and Mr. Knightly all rolled into one!

mother daughter time

Reggie and Luke went to a friend's house to play and watch the superbowl, and so Samantha and I had a great mother/daughter afternoon planned. I told her I was going to lay down for just a few minutes as soon as they left. An hour later Samantha tried to wake me up: "Mom, when do you want to start the movie?" I answered "in a few minutes". Another hour later she woke me up with "Mom, I'm going to do some seminary by myself, okay?" (Seminary is a religion class that the Mormon high school students take, and Samantha and I have been doing some of the workbook together at home.) "Okay, I'll get up in just a few minutes." I looked at the clock and felt so bad. I got up and after she did a page in the workbook we had our time together. We watched my movie pick: "High School Musical 3", made cookies, and talked and talked and talked.

This is just one example of what a patient person Samantha is. It is one of the many things I love about her.

when was multiplication invented?

Tonight we were reading in the New Testament about forgiveness. It was Luke's turn to read again. When the Savior answered the question "how many times should you forgive someone" with "70x7" Luke was shocked. We told him to do the multiplication and he said that multiplication didn't even exist back then. He thinks that Einstiein invented multiplication.

We had a good discussion about forgiveness: we should forgive others as the Savior always forgives us; but we decided not to pursue the invention of multiplication.

long distance relationships

A long distance, mother/daughter relationship is very hard when it comes to wedding planning. Thank goodness for technology. Hillary is able to email me pictures of her choices in a wedding dress, invitations, centerpieces, etc. I can't wait for April, when she comes home!

On the other hand, I imagine it would and will be even harder to have a long distance relationship with your fiance when you are wedding planning. Hillary went to Idaho this weekend so that Julia could help her with the invitations; Julia's got quite a big of connections and experiences in the wedding stuff. This meant that Hillary and Andrew were separated FOR A WHOLE WEEKEND! I could tell in her happy, giddy voice that she was back with him when I called her tonight.

So even though I can't wait for April, I know it will be hard on them, because they will be having a long-distance relationship until June.

something to remember

We have woken up to another BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY DAY. Its supposed to be about 70degrees all day. It has been like this for most of the year so far, while, from what I understand, most of the rest of the country is experiencing heavy winter storms. So when the fog comes around this summer we need to remember how lucky we were during the winter.

counting cousins

I seem to be watching alot of wedding movies these days. The other night it was "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding". It really caught my attention when the main couple was talking about their family. The man says that he has 2 cousins. The woman is very quite, and then admits in a fury that she has "26 first cousins!". This got me thinking, and counting.

My children have exactly 26 first cousins. I am happy to say that they know 25 pretty well - we need to have a few visits with the newest, Emily Hanaike, so we can get to know her better.

Here is a picture of most of the Hanaike cousins:


As for me: My mother has 6 siblings, all of whom have children. I have 30 cousins from her side.
My dad has 11 siblings. Two died in childhood. The other 9 all had children. I have . . . . yes . . . . 59 cousins on my dad's side.

This means I have 89 first cousins! Woo Hoo! Yes, 89! I wish I could say that I know them all, but out of the 59 on my Dad's side, I think I am #57. Some of my cousins are older than my Mom, and with most of them living in Utah or Idaho, I didn't really get to know them all. But I am VERY proud of my big, fat, Mormon family and my heritage.

Harry Potter Wednesday

I found this cookbook at the library and love it:





In December, for their Christmas presents to the family, Samantha and Luke made chocolate fudge and treacle fudge from this book. It was pretty yummy. There are so many other fun recipes that I want to try. Therefore, I have declared that every Wednesday for the next several months we will be having "Harry Potter Wednesday" at our house. Its cool, because each recipe has a quote from the book where the item is eaten, and then some historical information on the origin of the food.

So, tonight Luke and I made "Roast Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary":




Ron stuffs his mouth with so many roast potatoes that no one can understand a word he's saying during the great feast that kicks off the school year in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". AND When potatoes were first introduced to the people of England no one believed that they were safe to eat. A Benjamin Thompson boiled the potatoes behind closed doors, cooked them in interesting ways (like mashed) and used them to feed the poorhouse residents. Pretty soon everyone loved potatoes!


We also made "Paddington Burgers":







Harry eats hamburgers with Hagrid at Paddington Station while trying to sort out everything that's been happening in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". AND the name "hamburger" is named for the city of Hamburg in Germany.



It's been a good Harry Potter Wednesday!