Serious series

Although I am sure there are 18 other things I should be doing, I need to tell you about my latest favorite book. That of course reminded me that we, McClearys, love our book series. SOOO, I thought since I was telling you about one of them, I would tell you about my favorites. I am sure Matthew would argue that I should include The 39 Clues Series and Percy and the Olympiad, but since I haven't read those personally, I can only give you Matthew's recommendation - 2 thumbs up - WAY up, 2nd and 3rd greatest series after Harry Potter (so says Matthew).

Please feel free to tell me your favorite book or series in the comments section or in an email. Keeping 4 kids in books is a full time job!
This is the 3rd in the series about Mrs. Dowdel. (First and second....A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way from Chicago.) We actually started reading this series when I got confused and was looking for other books by the author of Soup.....for the record that is Robert Newton Peck (Matthew would also recommend that series, but again, I haven't read it). I LOVE this series of books, but the last one does talk about a little girl not believing in you know who....so I can't recommend it to Carolyn yet....but she would love it too. Matthew commented, "I can't wait for the next in the series". Unfortunately for us Mrs. Dowdel is older that dirt, so although there may be another book, there probably won't be a bunch. Great book for the season, but read the others first - they are quick reads, won't take long.

Henry and Mudge.....our first favorite! Love H and M and practically cried when I realized that we had read every last one that had been written. Plus the author started writing about Henry's cousin, so she may not be doing too many more about Henry. (Although books about cousin Annie are good too.) There are Puppy Mudge books for the newer reader, we love them all.

I loved this series as much as Matthew. Even with the magic stuff....Harry is just good. The stories are well written. Sad to finish book 7. Love the movies too, and I don't say that very much.

Not my favorite, but I have read some, so I can include this series on the list. Plus, if you are trying to get a little girl to read - here is your answer. Carolyn was crazy-go-gahgah about this series this summer. Of course since I don't have to try to get Carolyn to read, I would have preferred other choices. But they made her happy, so who could ask for more.

Piggy and Gerald. this one is for Joel. We actually never knew of P & G before Joel was learning to read. They are cute and funny and are great for a new reader. Since they are so funny, Joel wanted to read them again and again, and finally he could read the whole book, just from having seen/heard the words so much. That has to be a good thing. Plus it makes you smile - another good thing.

My kids are huge fans of this series of science books. They always want me to read to them from these books. I think they really teach the kids great information and do it in a very interesting way. We have a set of these books that are Aunt Debbie's. We will return them when she has Grandchildren. They are THAT good. (We are trying to take excellent care of them.)

That's all for now....I am glad when I am old and gray, I can remember our happy moments reading our favorite series! Now I am going to bed, because none of those 18 things I should be doing sound better than going to bed. (Plus I was up at 5 when Ken left for KC and never did get back to sleep. Wish I hadn't finished A Season of Gifts....it was so much fun.)

My recipe in Thanks

I have received a tremendous amount of great ideas and recipes in my plea for help. I will be posting them in a few days, but don't have time to get it together today. (I am too busy getting organized around the house.) But I would like to repay my lovely friends with a great recipe - especially for this time of year. My sister gave me this recipe years ago and I LOVE it. It is great on a brick of cream cheese, served with crackers or served with pork roast. To be honest, I could eat it with just about everything and it is pretty healthy.

Cranberry Relish

1 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries (washed and picked through)

1 bunch of cilantro (don't go crazy if you have the bunch that I bought today - it is enough for a few batches)

1 bunch of green onions

1 pepper (whatever you have - I used red, but you could use jalapeno, but that wouldn't work for my kiddos)

lime or lemon juice

sugar (maybe 3/4 a cup, but don't put it in all at once) if you don't use sugar, you won't like this recipe - too bitter

I used my little food grinder, but just get it chopped up and mixed together anyway you like!

I ate my relish for a late morning snack immediately upon return from the grocery store with the ingredients. You might want to make it and let it sit for awhile to let the flavors blend, but I couldn't wait. (I was hungry and haven't had this relish in 10 months!)

Enjoy!

Beautiful Blankets to Bundle Babies

I hope to someday have a picture of the sweet recipients with their quilts. Neither baby has been born, so say a prayer for safe pregnancy and healthy delivery and wonderful life.

After being away - Love Hope and Trust Sunday returns

I love that tomorrow will be the day I post pictures of the two baby quilts I made! One still needs about 1/3 of the binding hand-sewn onto the back. I should be able to do that tonight after bedtime. I would have finished it last night but I had a special request from our niece, the bride to be, for a couple of pictures of her with Anna (the flower-girl-to-be) and Carolyn (the Jr.-bridemaid-to-be). Here is one I found.

I think this picture looks just like Anna, but it is from 2003, when Nicci came to help us with our 2 small children while we moved into our home in Newburgh. I laugh when I remember myself, thinking that I couldn't get moved in without help and 2 whole children to care for! Of course during our latest move we had 2 sets of grandparents come to help us......so maybe I was right back then, I can't do it alone!
I hope to finish my storage room this week. I did take a few days off, but I had already surpased my original goal of 20 boxes. A few boxes (ok - maybe 10) remain, but there is huge floor space available in the storage room. I am especially excited by all the things that are no longer in my house! I have plans for more to vacate the premises shortly.
I trust that God will help me and my kiddos as we are alone more frequently with Ken's new territory including all his old territory AND KC, St. Louis and a small part of southern Indiana. (Say a prayer for peace for me! I am a big believer in prayer getting us through!) Pray for Ken too as he faces his new work challenges.

Good news and progress

The best news of the day is that our basement (which had a bit of dampness a couple weeks ago after days and days or rain) probably needs only a minor repair. The guy who came out recommended we get long extensions to our drain spouts and to fill a small crack in the side of the foundation where 2 pieces come together. This guy could have made a lot of money selling us a big repair and instead just gave us good recommendations for a self fix. I love honest businessmen!

Other good news is that there is a lot more floor to be had in the storage room. I have taken out large garbage bags of trash and many boxes of "stuff" to be given away. I am working on 3 boxes that were never unpacked from the move!!!! eichs It is hard to realize that we have way too much CRUD in our world. Glad I am not terminally ill, trying to finish this as my last project - because this would kill me!

Bad news - I have been joined by Anna, who rested just enough on our walk to not need a nap today - RATS. I guess we will make a run to Home Depot.

Justice was served

Yesterday I tried to come up with the right metaphor for the weather and our absolute NEED to go to the park to enjoy it. At first I thought: "It would be criminal not to go to the park"....nope "It would be a sin not to enjoy the day at the park"..... nope ...... finally I decided "It would be a travesty of justice, not to enjoy our 70 degree weather with a trip to the park."

We went to what we call "Big Kid park". It is wonderful because it is close enough to walk (even Anna most of the way) and it has fun things that other parks lack that allow it to attract both young and old children. This park demontrates, "not all parks are created equal"!

This thing is the best, it is like a huge mushroom - like an inverted merry-go-round. (see the huge rock wall behind it - that even attracts adults (me).

Anna wanted to wear her helmet, although she didn't ride a bike. Probably a good thing, now that she wants to climb everything and go everywhere. (the helmet's services were not required on this trip - whew)

Note "the purse".

Keep on keeping on

Today's fun find....I am not much of a knick-knack gal, but I love these little booties, that Ken's Aunt Arlys K. had made after each child's birth.I got quite discouraged by Saturday evening. The storage room didn't look any better and the basement (staging area) looked like a tornado. The main reason the storage room looked the same is because I was working through the totes that already looked nice in the shelves, but were a mess within!

I continued to work through boxes on Sunday and today. I am starting to see more floor space in the storage room. It is funny how things depend on your perspective. When I mentioned to Carolyn that I was going to work in the basement for a bit, she asked if she could help. When I said she could, she replied, "that's fantastic, I can't wait" (or something of that nature). Of course she really isn't much help with this kind of thing because my kids don't like to ever part with something once it is in their life. That said, progress has been made.