Christmas Fun in California

There are only 3.5 short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Add to that our company, trip to OR and graduation trip to TX....and this season is sneaking up on us.  I knew I wanted to give Rachel a gift for Christmas. I thought back to our early years and wondered if a few hours to herself would be a nice gift.  

We got back Tuesday night - I have kids coming in over the weekend.....Wednesday I asked Rachel if I could have the kids for a few hours today. We had a blast. She got some alone time done for shopping.

It's good for our younger two to have little ones around and see what it is like to have younger siblings.

We began by assembling the gingerbread train we didn't assemble on Thanksgiving.  Nolan was our master engineer for this project.

Zach and Zander were very happy to help fill frosting bags. I found the original bag in the bathroom garbage licked clean....Hmmmm....

Nathan holds the sides of a box car together

I wanted to give the train as much time to set up as possible before we began decorating it. We moved to the BIG TABLE and made Christmas ornaments. Stacia is THRILLED she will have THREE on the tree now. I feel  good that I've made great strides in remedying our oversight.

Seth made this charming star

The glue was frustrating  to work with - but we  persevered and made quite a few nice looking ornaments. 

Who can blame Joy for getting bored with all the tiny pieces? She loved bringing books to Arielle, "Good book."

Oops -  they jumped at her

 We turned to decorating sugar cookies.....a plate for both families and a plate for lunch. I decided to put the rest in the freezer to do "later."

Joy loves decorating cookies

Seth was thrilled with the results of Nerds on sugar cookies - surprise exploding cookies

Yummy 

I sent the kids outside to play (run off some frosting energy) while I cleaned up the table and got  lunch ready. I laughed as I cooked. It's been a long time since I've had a houseful of kids who needed me to fix lunch...and it was fun...honestly, I was tired. It was GOOD to remember how tired a young mom of many can feel. I commented to Arielle, "I wasn't sure this was a good gift, but I think Rachel will appreciate the time." ::snort::  And we were having a BLAST...you're like a traffic controller when you have eight kids in the house - even when two of them are more like assistants. Frankly, I don't know that I could handle a houseful of preschoolers day in and day out again without youth helpers. LOL

After lunch we finally decorated and the gingerbread train. Yeah, I have a lot of photos like this.....did I say youth "Helper"?

We enjoyed a quick visit with Rachel when she returned......the older two went to practice for tomorrow's Japanese final.  God is good. It was a fun day and we're blessed we got home in time to make it happen. I sat and stared at the Christmas tree for a bit of time - happy and tired....Yuuki seems to feel the same. She was GREAT with the kids.

I think pizza, hot tub and movies tonight. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

"Cheese" Ball - VEGAN

I LOVE cheese balls. Bre requested a cheese ball for Thanksgiving and I made her one. I made this one for Arielle and me.  We liked it. I think next time I will use the same idea but the spices I use on the "regular" one. I typically use real onions and garlic.... Found this in  Happy Herbivore Light and Lean. 

1/2 C cooked chickpeas
1/2 block extra firm tofu (about 5 oz)
5 T nutritional yeast
1 T yellow miso (used Worcestershire as I couldn't find miso)
few drops of liquid smoke
few drops agave nectar (forgot)
1 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Combine until smooth and paste-like. Spoon into a metal bowl, then use rubber spatula to scrape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours. Transfer to serving plate and garnish with smoked paprika and almond slices, if desired.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Pressure Cooker Adventure

Inspired by the Parable of the Pressure Cooker I set out to make a pot roast. 

First I had to FIND a recipe.....Janelle had mentioned 15 minutes but all the ones I found said 45 - 60 min. She has since confirmed her recipe was at 15 lbs of pressure for the longer time. Since my pot doesn't have rings or pressure gauges....I decided to go for it. 

The You Tube videos I watched showed the women poking and prodding the meat - so I did.  This is what two vegans look like when preparing a slab of meat.

Things were going along well. THEN it was time to open it and add veggies. As it was heating back up the pressure rocker (black thing) looked strange. I kept commenting on it. Michael was working in the kitchen on my computer.....and was a bit distracted or I'm SURE he'd have paid more attention to my comments...but Whamo - the black thing blew off.....see it there on the counter?

The other part of it was in the pot somewhere....

He found it! 

When dinner requires a socket and wrench to prepare - you know you're in for a special treat. ::snort::

The veggies were a bit over done and the meat didn't quite get as done as they like...but I'll try again later. 

So.....my additions to Janelle's parable....when you totally blow your top.....our Father digs around for your blown pieces and loving puts them back together with heavenly tools. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

First Days Back Are BEARS

Everyone knows FIRST DAYS back can be bears!  We raced  back in time for me to attend PWOC's packing party. We weren't sure the kids would be back for their Christmas party.  I woke up EARLY even for me - TX TIME...and decided maybe I'd just go to PWOC, say hi, drop off the gifts and come home to continue the settling in that needs to happen after a trip.  The younger two woke up and KNEW it was PWOC day.  Off we went.  When it's all said and done, I was glad I stayed as well. I've been traveling pretty much since Thanksgiving and it was nice to connect with some in person. 

Two major happenings will make this PWOC day stand out in my mind for years to come. Zander (known as Alex to all but Mom and Krista) got into a physical altercation over football. This led to our realization we need to download some touch football rules and help him learn the game - just isn't something we've done in our homeschool....and it also led to a discussion on what is socially appropriate now that he is growing older....when pushed, one shouldn't pick up the other player and move him to a new location. This is humiliating. It wasn't really Zander's goal and he could have just as easy moved himself! It also led to him being hit - and to him pushing the other boy.....so...both moms have talked...boys have apologized we're all good.... We hadn't realized with his growing size there are new areas of appropriateness we need teach him. All's well....we just have to REMEMBER that this one needs us to anticipate and train what others of our children have instinctively known. 

The other major happening was prompted by Janelle's devotional, "The Parable of the Pressure Cooker." This was an excellent devotional and I'll not do it justice...the verses spoke peace and challenge. We sometimes get in situations where we look shiny on the outside but burned on the inside. God has to scrub us. His hands are intimately involved with our mess. He has to use a variety of methods to get the stink and gunk off us. It was a great devo. 

During the course of the talk Janelle mentioned she can do soups in 7 minutes and a roast in 15 min. An idea was planted. I use mine mostly for artichokes.

Our outreach this year is to Courage House - which is a house for girls rescued from sex trafficking. April is doing a great job  sharing very practical ways we can bless the house and the girls it houses (mostly the girls you know?).  This month we had leaves with items on it to purchase which would allow us to create baskets for the girls for Christmas.  Today we had fun assembling the boxes...and then they were wrapped in tulle and ribbon.  I indulged myself and snapped a few shots...two new friends....Rachel and Cheryl. 

And Valerie....

I checked in at home after PWOC. Michael was working on my computer - which seems to be working now. The kids and I hit the commissary and filled the van up with gas - wowzer! 

While at the commissary I decided a pressure cooker pot roast would be about right for the day - dinner in 15 min. THAT will deserve a separate post.

I had mentioned to Stacia I thought it would be fun to have Rachel's kids over to make ornaments and decorate cookies. She seemed to think that meant she should make an ornament NOW, TODAY, this very AFTERNOON. We had the pieces to make ONE of these so I let her give it a shot. It turned out to be good I did as we discovered we need glue before Friday....modge podge did work.  It has been in my mind to let Stacia make some ornaments. We realized when we unpacked Christmas stuff the older kids have all made some for the tree - but Stacia hasn't. They made them in Sunday School....and her Sunday School classes haven't. So - though I am NOT crafty - we went with it. 

 I  used the toaster oven to make some yummy squash for Arielle and me; while the pressure cooker worked wonders on the hunk of meat. I need to find a chart to convert standard oven times to convection. 

Dinner FINALLY was served and consumed. We had an abbreviated family circle and Arielle took a whack at Michael's hair. It turned out well.  Love his expression here....I thought I had managed to leave myself out of the shot. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Final Travel Day

The last travel day of this leave time.......

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

0422 finds us on I10 W.

{Some wondered WHY we were on the road at 0422 instead of 0500 as planned. It has to do with time zones and hotel clocks. One party knocked on the other party's door at 0407 and said, "Are you ready?"  Personally, I think 7 minutes was gracious.  The other party remarked they'd planned to get up in 23 minutes but would get up now. Wherein the first party remarked it was 0507 and the other party not so graciously replied clocks in this room said 0407. HOWEVER - 15 minutes later all were in the van and heading down the road.....laughing, by the way. Life is much smoother since learned to choose joy.}

De'Etta

December 17 via mobile

We are in CA!

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

Breakfast beside the Gen Patton museum...which is not open this early in the a.m. 

{The mentioning of General Patton led to Stacia commenting, "Wasn't Gpa G a General in World War 2?"  Um, no baby, that would be Chief Warrant Officer in the Marines.}

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

Almost left Alex in Chiriaco Summit...

{STACIA was the one who noted he was missing - and she has been happy to remind him he would be stuck in the desert if it weren't for her.}

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

Surely that church's sign did not say Pop Top Pentecostal Church? Puzzled in CA.

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

Dog house in the pickup in front of us just flew out. We swerved, he kept driving. Bet he's surprised when he gets to his destination.

{We tried to stop him. We honked, waved...he sped up and exited. Honestly, I suspect he knew it flew out. It was BIG. We did not see a dog in it. Obviously, it wasn't tied in and if you go fast enough....}

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

Longest roller coaster in America - hwy 395.

{Our goal was to avoid LA traffic - we did.}

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

Walked into the men's bathroom in Patterson, CA....walked right back out.

{Thanks to helpful Facebook friends I remembered it doesn't matter which restroom one uses in CA.}

De'Etta 

December 17 via mobile

Back in the land of slug bugs....the kids can quit playing semi trucks.

{Semi-trucks - like slug bug on steroids!}

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Travel Day 3 - Heading HOME (CA is HOME now????)

In keeping with our travel practice; I'll simply post Facebook updates with a few photos for the day.  We saw the moon set, the sun rise, the sun set and the moon rise again during today's travel. We left 15.5 hours ago but I think it was 14 hours of travel....then checking in, finding dinner, gassing up so we can do it all again tomorrow morning.

De'Etta 

15 hours ago via mobile

0454 and we are on our way.

De'Etta 

11 hours ago via mobile

Watching the moon go down and the sun rise on a vast empty west. TX desert - priceless!

De'Etta

11 hours ago via mobile

4 hours under our belt. Breakfast and gas at Van Horn, TX while Michael takes a cat nap.

De'Etta 

10 hours ago via mobile

Steel cut oats, oatmeal bar...Wendy's is a breakfast hit.. on the road again.

The great thing about leaving really early is the kids sleep the first four hours of the trip. It works well. Michael is a wise man - though we like to groan when he tells us to meet in the lobby at 0445 just for the fun of it all.  After breakfast we had to get more creative at entertaining ourselves.

Tracy suggested we google riddles and jokes - and I did just that. We spent a couple of hours on riddles....

De'Etta 

9 hours ago via mobile

Waving at Pam Angell in my mind as we zip through El Paso on I 10.

De'Etta 

8 hours ago via mobile

Despicable me 2 - good for 150 miles. Thanks Jamin  and Jared 

Huddled around the laptop

De'Etta 

4 hours ago via mobile

Lunch and gas stop- check. Hotel reservation - check. Location of monster splitter and ear buds - check. Activity control via Very Merry Larry - check. 172 miles to Phoenix can we do it before the movie concludes?

De'Etta 

2 hours ago via mobile

Mr. Motorcycle man you are NOT a carpool. Rush hour.

{I have  been told that motorcyles are allowed in the HOV lane in some states...must be allowed in AZ?}

Arielle travels well 

Studly Sunset

De'Etta 

2 hours ago via mobile

Its a bad sign when the HOV lane is stopped.

De'Etta 

2 hours ago via mobile

Oh my...emphatic flying of birds ...this is very interesting. Beverly Hillbillies attributed that to a CA howdie but we are miles from CA. — feeling meh.

I waved at the Phoenix Airport and said a prayer for my well-traveled friend Victoria as I we crawled past it. ::snort::

Michael has had mercy on us and we will leave later tomorrow:  0500 in the lobby.  We're taking showers and climbing into bed. Traveling makes you TIRED. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...