Singing in the Rain

Our rain boots and umbrellas are certainly put to good use often enough. We had a rainy couple of days last week, and Saturday afternoon it stormed worst of all. Well - who can resist a chance to play in the rain?!

Rain rain rain = flooded front walkway. Yay for boots!

Our neighbours cut down a tree last week...

It's amazing to me how much bigger their house appears, now that the tree is gone. It's like an optical illusion. I remember the same thing happened at Hugo when we cut down large trees.

Also on Saturday, Brooks called me to show me something - and then this bit of randomness happened:-) Lucky for me, I have no pictures on those walls! These kids make me smile.

New School Year

Last week we started school officially. Kenna is in 3rd grade this year, Brooks should be entering 2nd, but is actually *almost* completed 2nd grade, so he is in a hybrid of 2nd & 3rd. Sonny & Grey are officially doing Kindergarten this year, and May is half tagging along with Kindergarten stuff, but mostly just playing and colouring:-) She will be 3 years old in a month.

School is definitely upping in intensity and time-demands, I think. 3rd grade involves a lot more book work, and more subjects too. The older two have started cursive, and are doing other extras too like typing/computer and map skills. Adding chores, piano, and well - I'm feeling like we have little time for anything else.

This season, Kenna is cheering, Brooks is playing flag football and Grey is playing soccer. This means we have 3 practices on 3 different nights - so Monday we have piano then football, Wednesday we have cheer and then Awanas, and Thursday we have soccer. The nights with doubled up "events" see us packing picnic style dinners and eating in the car, because a) I couldn't afford to do drive through so many times and b) there is literally not even enough time for a drive-thru between events!

Co-op has changed a bit this year, timing wise, and we have to pack lunches for each child, as they eat  in/with their classes this year. This is wonderful news for the kids ("this is soooo awesome"), and not so wonderful for the homeschooling mommy, who at this point has pretty much decided that the reason they don't go to school is just to avoid packing lunches.

Our co-op is run by the Moms - everyone signs up to teach the various classes throughout the year. I, like last year, am working each week with the pre-K class - I figured since 3 of my kids are in that class, I could help out there. Sonny, Grey & May are the pre-K comrades, and there are about 13 children in that age grouping this year. Brooks and Kenna are split up this year, Kenna going with the 3-5th grades, and Brooks still with K-2nd.

First day of co-op, ready to go!

First day of co-op selfie. I managed to pack 6 individual lunches, compile all needed school supplies, books & backpacks, feed everyone breakfast AND shower and do my makeup...in about an hour:-) Whew! I was sufficiently worn out before we even arrived:-)

A new signature!

The kids are definitely noticing their lack of free-time and I definitely hear the "awwwww!!" when I tell them they have to read a school book during naps/rest time, instead of their beloved Calvin & Hobbes. I'm definitely noticing my lack of free time too! Between keeping up with school and all these activities, I'm finding my days very full. Which is fine, really. The only thing that is suffering so far is my ability to watch tv. Somehow I'll live, right? :-)

As a side note, we did our required state testing in July, and both kids performed beyond what I expected - which is a good thing. Kenna really improved in her reading and comprehension scores from the previous year, and they both scored this year at "highest level" overall, which surprised me a little, but makes me glad to know that we're not as far off track as I sometimes feel we are:-)

Frozen Duets

Here we have Love Is An Open Door, Reindeer Are Better Than People, and In Summer, all expertly performed by Kenna and Brooks while we were in Ontario in July. Bad Mommy, I'm just now getting around to sorting through all the footage:-) Musical "help" by way of interesting instrumentation provided by Grey, and cousins, Mattea, Kayla & Canaan.
Brooks is getting bolder, there was a day he would have never done this in front of anyone, let alone a camera. I just can't wait for the day when he is bold enough to take the lead. Sister might have all the guts in the world, but she can't carry a tune...and he can, although he's such a follower, that she kinda drags him down, haha!

Flag Football

The day we've all been waiting for...well, Brooks has been "waiting his whole life" anyway...it's football time! We signed him up in a flag football league, because it just sounded like a safer way for a young child to grasp basics of the game. Although he can catch and throw, he really has zero clue as to the plays and other finer points of the game, so he has a lot to learn. I noticed he looked a little clueless his first game out there, but then again, I'm pretty clueless myself, so maybe I just don't know what I'm looking for:-)

The arm/sweat band has a clear plastic pocket, to hold the plays and running patterns. And he has beloved receiver gloves too:-)

The flag apparatus. They really do require quite a tug to get them out.

Coach Sean going over the plays in a pre-game pep talk

Hey Ma, look at my teeth marks! Grey and I chased the very-limited shade around the field, on this 90+degree day.

Cheer team, taking a break!

Brooks got the ball a few times in running plays, but got his flag pulled. And he chased down a kid and pulled a flag, once. He is playing with 2nd to 4th graders, so he is among the youngest on the team/in this division.

At 1:58 it starts with Kenna's first cheers of the season. She is on the front row, 3rd from the Left (close to the camera side)

Ethical Medical Research - ALS Challenge

The ice bucket challenge has been going around social media like wildfire. I've seen people refusing to do it for one reason or another, which is fine. It's a fad, it's ridiculous, it's narcissistic etc. all of that is true, and I get that. But it's also fun, and perhaps sparked life into something that people, on the whole, may have forgotten. It can be fun to do something for someone else. Even when it's pointless, I guess.

Anyway, I've notice a lot of people refusing to take part because ALS research is done using embryonic stem cells. And many people don't want to support that kind of research. What I think would be nice, is if those people were a little more knowledgeable, and a little more vocal about the options out there. Take the John Paul II Medical Research Institute, for example. A donation there goes a long way to helping find cures - without the questionable ethics that usually accompanies typical medical research.

Our donation will be going to jp2mri.org, but not specifically earmarked for ALS, so that they can use the donation where ever they see the greatest need (and as ALS is a rare disease, and thanks to buckets of ice everywhere, now extremely well funded, it is probably not the greatest need in the research world).

Anyways, regardless on where you stand on the issue, and whether or not you choose to take part, it would be nice if places like jp2mri.org were more well-known. It might also be nice to try doing something for someone, in secret, instead of on video, and seeing how much more rewarding that is. Then you can post about how great it felt. Haha. Welcome to the new world people.
 
So here is Brian's...it's been more than 24hrs, but hey - I'll get around to it. There hasn't been a convenient time in the past few days to re-do my hair. How utterly selfish sounding, but true. I'll do mine soon, promise:-)

The King's Own

Brian invented this name, and wanted a crest/logo, and a friend of his who is good at digital art designed this for him:

He did this a few years ago, and for something else entirely, but it's a good name, and cool crest. Enter, Spartans. The group of men (from church) who are training to run the Spartan races. They call themselves The King's Own.

The King's Own spartan racers did the Virginia Super last Saturday. It is 10miles and 20 (I think) obstacles. It takes place at Wintergreen Ski Resort in the mountains of Virginia. It is the most difficult Super of all of them held in the USA. People travel across country to conquer it, because it is the most difficult. It just happens to be the closest Super to us, at only 3.5 hrs away.

Let me just say, there is very good reason people ski down hills and take lifts up them. The King's Own struggled in the race conditions, and finished in 6hrs and 5mins. For 10miles and 20 obstacles that is pretty slow, but taking into account the conditions of the race, and the size of their group (11 people - all sticking together), and the overall standings, they...made it. Not in any record time, but they DID IT!! Thousands of people dropped out due to difficulty, and all 11 of them did it. They finished 286 out of about 400 teams (individuals count differently). Their team was also much much larger (about twice the size) than most other teams.

Here are a few pictures of the event, taken on Nate's waterproof camera. Obviously you don't get some cooler shots of them doing the obstacles, since you can't really be taking pictures as you are climbing through barbed wire (this year was reportedly the hardest barbed wire obstacle they've ever had)

The King's Own - buddies, and suckers for punishment. This is before the race, because they are very clean:-)

Due to mud, elevation and other factors, this was more of a "hike" than a "run"

They workout together Wed nights after church, and early Sat mornings to get in shape, with the end goal of being in good enough shape to conquer these races. The half marathon (Spartan Beast) is in October.

In January, Brian could barely run a mile, and now he can run 10 no problem. On flat ground, that is. Mountain running at Wintergreen was a little more than they had trained for. Hey, we're at the ocean - there are no hills here at all!

Brian was bib #585

Awww, it's Brian and one of his best buddies - and they're holding hands. Now THAT is brotherly love:-) Really, Brian just needed a hand up as his shoes were not "grippy" enough for this type of terrain.

I think this was the "all done" after pic.

Log "toss" -  was probably more like Log flip-drag-carry?

They had to fill the buckets with little rocks, and the carry them

It was a very very foggy day, and the fog rarely lifted all day long. The blessing in that is that it wasn't too hot

Brian and Nate. They literally conquered a mountain together!

That is the finish line! All you have to do is run through fire and over hot coals and you're done. While maybe very Spartanly, this sounds pretty cray cray to me!

A brief rest on the mountain

Log carry

Because the race took so long, they were ravenously hungry when they finally got done (at 7:20ish pm - water stations during race, but no food), and they about ate Five Guys right out of business I'm sure, on their way home.

The guys, though they will tell you that it was one of the hardest things they've ever done, are encouraged for the Spartan Beast, (half marathon), because it will be easier than what they just did (by all accounts and reports from others) - though the race is longer, it is not more difficult, so they feel glad to have the worst behind them. No one was injured (perhaps by some miracle), and they all actually reported minimal soreness etc, which was a huuuuge improvement over the Spartan Sprint last March. So this means that their training has been effective.

I don't know about all the wives (though I am pretty sure we are all on the same page), but I think it is so nice to have such a good group of guys - not all of whom were friends when they started this adventure. It's been nice to see friendships form, amidst plenty of crazy male bonding I'll never understand. Lots of crazy weird stuff that girls can't understand but is important for men:-) Gooooo Spartans!

Poured fondant - Recipe

I tried something new! I've heard about it, and now was the perfect time to give it a try. See, making a fondant cake is time consuming, and completely destroys your kitchen...I've not been able to figure out a neat and tidy solution. It's just messy. For my cookies and cupcakes business, I don't do cakes - because they are much much much too time intensive, and would take so much time out of my family that I couldn't charge enough to be worth it. I do like making cakes, and trying things, but I'll keep that to personal occasions, not for hire.

Well, a friend placed an order, she is also a caterer, and has given/will give me business, so it is within my best interests to keep her happy. And she wanted themed cookies and a cake. The theme was whales, and so I knew I could maybe try this new technique (saving me time!), and it WORKED. Yay!

This type of fondant will not work in all cakes or situations (comparing poured fondant to rolled fondant), but if you're into cakes, you'll see that this can have it's place.

I poured the fondant over the nicely crumb coated cake (be as even and smooth as you can about it)

It's up on a cooling rack, so the excess can drip away.

I've only done this ONCE, so I am by no means an expert, but I'll share what I've learned this first time around. Any other significant discoveries in the future, and I will update the post.

POURED FONDANT RECIPE


9 C icing sugar, sifted*
1/2 C corn syrup, warmed (the clear kind is preferred, if you want whiter fondant)
4oz white chocolate, melted
2 t vanilla OR almond extract
1/2 - 1 C warm water

*(that is 1 2lb bag plus 1C) - icing sugar is also called confectioners sugar. THIS MUST BE SIFTED. I did not sift it, as I usually don't sift things (quite often it is an unnecessary step), but this time, it's important. I didn't sift it, and I had tiny "balls" of icing sugar that did not get mixed smooth. 

Mix all ingredients with only 1/2 C of water on low in mixer until well blended. Up the speed a little, and add more water, just a little at a time, until you reach a thick, yet very pourable consistency. Too much water will give you a sheer-er application. Too sticky and it won't run down the sides of the cake.

Pour this right away on a cake that has been crumb coated, (be even and smooth about it, imperfections will show through - So use the paper towel method to rub out any ridges etc) - after cake is crumb coated, place in freezer for about 20 mins or fridge for maybe 40 - you want it cold when you pour the fondant.

I covered a 12" round, two layers high. It could have covered a third layer too,by the amount of excess, I'd say.

Pour the fondant over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides. There is almost no need for touching it at all, it will pour and smooth itself out, if you do need to touch it with an off set spatula to help it "move" over the edge, do it quickly before it begins to set.

Make sure your cake is on a cake board BEFORE you pour the fondant. Have the cake on a cooling rack, to allow excess to fall away.

After about 30 mins, the excess will have all dripped off. You can take a knife, scrape it from the table (super easy), and wipe the table as normal. Anyone who has rolled fondant knows there is nothing normal about the way you need to wash your table after the fact. So the clean up here is AWESOME. If you laid wax paper down prior to pouring, it would be even easier to clean up!

 The cake gets dry to the touch within an hour, it never gets totally hard though. So for decorations, I would suggest buttercream (flowers, words, etc). I used a fondant whale I made, and he is heavy, so he sunk in a bit

 I am not sure if it was me, or if I wiggled the cake too much getting it onto the display platter, but I got "cracks" - they aren't actually cracked, but they look kinda like that, even though the surface is smooth and unbroken. Because this is a "water" looking cake, I thought it kinda went with the theme, so I decided not to worry about it. Next time I will either move it sooner to display platter, or later. Not sure which yet:-) (while still more "wet" or while completely "dry", I'll need to research it)

These are the "cracks" - even though the surface is perfectly smooth. The whale is heavy, so you can see how he settled in.