Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as... as a fiddler on the roof!

May 2, 2010

Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as... as a fiddler on the roof!

After a over a month of hours of rehearsals and a ton of work, Marisa’s school put on Fiddler on the Roof this weekend! Corey and Hal came up to attend with us and it was amazing! Such a talented group of actors and musicians! It brought back many memories of when my parents played that record over and over for us. I wish you all could have come to see it. (especially my dad!) Marisa loved every second of it. The orchestra always has a ton of fun: the first night they dressed in all black, the second night they had rainbow night and the violins were red, and the 3^rd night they decked out in beach attire .Tyler and I have a favorite quote from the show (that my own dad used to quote all the time) “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.”

(Marisa and her friend, Emily, opening night of Fiddler)

Anniversary, Amazing food and Avatar!

Bob and I were able to celebrate our 17^th anniversary this weekend! Corey and Hal were kind enough to take the kids so we could enjoy a night out. We went out to lunch with Corey and Hal to the Mongolian grill called Hu Hot. I LOVE that place. Then we went to see Avatar.

Unasked for review of Avatar: I thought Avatar was incredibly brilliant and groundbreaking!! It was breathtaking and amazing and unlike anything I had ever seen. I have GOT to see it again because I am sure I missed stuff. Then Tyler said he saw it in 3D and I was like, “What?? I missed that?” If you haven’t seen it yet, it is DEFINITELTY worth seeing!

Anyway, we went out shopping, went to dinner and then Coldstone for dessert, then stayed in a Jacuzzi suite at a hotel and had Belgian waffles for breakfast. It was absolutely perfect!

(Silly Alayna –she thinks she’s all THAT and more :) )

Tennis

This week on Monday, Kayla won singles 6-0. She won her doubles match too with a tie breaker. On Thursday, she lost both matches 2-6. Marisa didn’t have any games because she was busy full-time with Fiddler.

What we call a Supreme Super Saturday

1. New dishwasher, the shed and shopping

It began in the morning when we came back from the hotel. Bob, Tyler and Hal put in the new dishwasher, (which is awesomeness at its best). I cleaned out and reorganized the shed (how did it get that dirty and unorganized when we weren’t even in it all winter?), while Corey ran to the grocery store.

(see Tylers version of “help?)

2. Chair Cushions and puddy

We moved all the deck furniture out of the shed. Then Corey and I ran all over this crazy town trying to find new chair cushions for the deck chairs. Do you have any idea how expensive deck furniture is? We only needed new cushions and there wasn’t much to choose from. We finally found something that may work, but we have to get the other part of them on the other side of town tomorrow. And we went to ACE hardware to get this cool stuff (like puddy) to fix the microwave (that Alayna ruined when she cooked it to death)

3. More gardening

Then we planted 10 tomato plants, a bell pepper, and 2 jalapeño plants. So, we all we have left is to finish planting the 2^nd half of the lettuce and spinach and we are done. We weeded all the areas too and everything seems to be growing well now that the weather is perfect.

(When Marisa is actually home, this is what she is usually doing…Homework!)

4. Finally getting to play

Alayna was in heaven outside. She decorated her playhouse, played basketball, swung on the swings, and just loved being outside! I am amazed at how well she can play by herself. She and Tyler have become best friends lately and they had fun playing outside together as well. Don’t you love it when your kids become best friends instead of mortal enemies?

(Stomping out dandelions with moms high-heeled leather boots!)

(Alayna’s decked out playhouse-welcome mat and all!)

(Alayna out swinging)

5. The science of making strawberry jam

So, this was my 1^st time trying to make strawberry jam (I made zucchini jelly last year)! Thank goodness I had Corey here who was willing to experiment with me. Here’s the run down in case anyone is interested:

*First we followed the recipe on the pectin box. It called for 4 cups of sugar per 2 cups of strawberries. It was so sugary and didn’t really dissolve well.

*So, we did the next batch with only 3 cups of sugar. It tasted better than the 4 cups, but was still quite sugary (didn’t think there was such a thing). It also didn’t set really well.

*Then we tried my friend Angelas freezer jam recipe and it was a hit (Thank you Angela!)! By cooking it, it really brings out the rich flavor of the strawberries. It’s a pretty easy recipe and doesn’t require pectin! We tried it with both small pieces of strawberries and large pieces of strawberries. We liked the small pieced better.

*Then we went back and actually cooked the previous recipes that we had made. They turned out better but still sugary. We left 2 jars uncooked so we could compare tastes.

*The result? 14 jars of jelly! Sweet yummy success!

6. The boys

The “boys” fixed the fan (that Kayla broke while trying to swing dance with it) and ran to Menards for some parts. Then when we made dinner, Bob realized we were out of propane and had to go to the store AGAIN!

7. Cleaning and biking

We cleaned up dinner and christened the new dishwasher. Then Hal ran Marisa to the final night of Fiddler while Bob, Alayna, Corey, and I went on a bike ride around the neighborhood. (Kayla was at Adventureland with her band in Des Moines all day.)

8. Finally getting to relax?

We finally headed downstairs to relax and watch “Up” (which I still consider the most adorable love story to come out in a LONG time!) while we had chocolate ice cream with fresh cut strawberries! I am really surprised I didn’t have a nightmare about strawberries last night.

The boy who dared

I read a really great book this week on the Battle of the Books list. It was called The Boy Who Dared. This was the historical fiction version of the true story of the 3 LDS teens who fought against Hitler during WWII. It is an incredible story of courage and bravery. The following is a review of the true story written by one of the boys called Three Against Hitler. I HIGHLY recommend both these books.

Three Against Hitler

Just wanted to share

For those of you who love Wordle (I believe I shared some examples Kayla made several months ago?), take a look at this really neat site:

Tagxedo