Sisters and sickness

(Not the most stunning picture of four stunning cousins.)

So, since we all know where my blog last left off, I thought I should update a bit. Nathan spent all day Wednesday sick: 103 fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, etc. I was SURE we were doomed. I spent part of the evening in a controlled panic over how sick we were going to be getting. Thursday morning he woke up FINE. No, I mean it. FINE. As though nothing ever happened.

Now Nathan is our fever kid. God is revisiting that delight upon me since I did it to my own parents. He gets a fever if his lips are too chapped. It's his thing and he does pathetic well. Dane had had a cold earlier in the week and I'm almost convinced that Nathan caught Dane's cold and then did it up Nathan style. But that was the end of our illness. No, I mean it. That one day was it. Not to say that we won't get swine flu or intestinal illnesses or boils or festering eye diseases this winter but for round one we won the fight.



All this to say, sister's weekend in Yakima did occur. And that my mom showered us all with delicious homemade food and pies and love and kindness. And that my dad and his son-in-laws spent hours playing music and creating a band name: Wayne and the In-laws. And that us sisters shopped and went out on Saturday night and ate and sipped drinks and laughed ourselves crazy. And talked about our general awesomeness. Because really, we hold the market on awesome sisterhood. And we spent a moment in gratuitous self love and praised our parents for giving us such stunning DNA. Because the thing is, you can only say that with your sisters without sounding like a pompous jerk.

We also talked about how it is frightening in some ways to be so blessed because you become acutely aware of how much you stand to lose. Lianna said it best when she said, "I choose to focus on the fact that when hardships happen I will have the rock of my family to get me through it."

That is why sisters and family rock. Seems like I've said this before...

One down, four to go

I think THE FLU has hit our house. You know the one I'm talking about. Nathan has run a high fever (103) today, runny nose, etc. There's no conclusive nasal swab but heck, what other illness is there this season??

I am nervous, it seems like my whole family falls into the high risk category for flu complications. There are no shot vaccines available yet so there's nothing we can do.

We'll see what tomorrow holds. Sigh. I'm supposed to head to Yakima this weekend for a sister's weekend that is not looking good.

Thanks H1N1/swine flu/dirty rat/destroyer of weekend plans. The Jones family hates you.

Oops, I did it again

Have you made these yet? Do you see how glorious they look? Did you know that they taste even better? My sister Lianna sent out a recipe yesterday that she said was perfect if you feel like mooning the Atkins diet. These are in the same category and worth every delicious carb.

I have eaten more than one. I intend to eat more today. Please, no comments if my backside is looking more ample the next time you see me.

Green bluff OR my kids are cuter than your kids

I know it's a tough pill to swallow but Greg and I hold the monopoly on the cute kid market. I'm just saying.

Pretzels

I am awaiting pictures from my marvelous girl's weekend before I do a post on that. My camera is not great and I relied on others to take the pictures this year. That post will be coming soon.

Onto the pretzels. Yesterday I made a recipe from my friend Megan Maney (hi Megan!) called Lasagna Rolls. As I was getting it ready I remembered her saying the last time I was at her house that she had some recipes she wanted to try. I think she is nesting (due in a few weeks) and I wish at 8 months pregnant I was inspired to do new things. But I digress. One of the new things she wanted to make was pretzels and I thought, hmm, good idea Megan. I think I'll try it.

I found a recipe by Alton Brown (Good Eats on the Food Network) and gave it a shot. It was amazing. Seriously. And don't be intimidated. They were quite easy and delicious. Make them. Megan, if you haven't already done it just go for it. They are good for at least an extra 3 pregnancy pounds, guaranteed.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 T sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt (my salt wasn't blessed by a rabbi and still fine)
1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp.)
22 ounces all purpose flour, about 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces butter, melted
Oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 T water
Pretzel salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar, and kosher salt into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and kneed until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 4-5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for about 50-55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line 2 half pan sheets with parchment paper and lightly brush with oil. Set aside. (I didn't do this, I just oiled some cookie sheets.)

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24 inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flap spatula. Return to the baking sheet, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, about 12-14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

YUMMY!

p.s. Do you know how to make a nice warm environment for making dough rise? My sis taught me this trick and it works great. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. As soon as it's preheated turn the oven back off. Wait until it has cooled off but still warm and allow your dough to rise there. Maybe you know this. In that case you are awesome.

A gal and her girls

(The fabulous 5: Sara, Brittany, Megan, Jenny, and Tara)

I thought I would give fair warning of my absence since last time I disappeared I got frantic emails and phone calls from concerned friends and family. It's nice to know I'm missed!

I will be poolside on a tropical beach somewhere for the next few days.

JOKES!

I will be with a group of friends from high school though, spending a few days in Coeur d'Alene and letting the warmth of our friendship keep us warm. (I can't believe I didn't delete that last phrase.)

It is sure to be a blast with days of shopping and eating followed by nights of endless talking and maybe some Velveeta/salsa cheese dip .

Daddy will be keepin' it real with the kids. I have a feeling I won't be terribly missed.

Insane

Have you read on my sister's blog about her husband picking individual items out of a swept up pile of dust rather than sweeping up the whole pile? Or his reply? This is a mean question since their blog is private but still, you are missing out. It's humor at its finest.

I have to say though, when it comes to spouses doing insane things, I was the winner today. I woke up not feeling well. I did not articulate this and shuffled around, growing ever angrier that Greg was not a mind reader. The role of a martyr is much more satisfying than actual assistance. Then I felt that his shower was too long and probably too hot. Then I became more frustrated that not only did he not truly understand my plight but he had the further audacity to make himself coffee AND get ready for work. You know, without rocking me like a baby and spoon feeding me broth first.

Then when he came upstairs I wondered outloud (okay, fine, wailed) as to why he hadn't noticed my suffering and offered to dress kids, feed them, and get ready for work so that we could eat and have heat. When he gave me the "are you crazy look" and said, "Okay, fine, I can get Dane dressed", I collapsed in a weeping heap on the bed, declaring that the offer didn't count if it wasn't said with a loving, sincere, and compassionate heart. Soon after the man tore out of the driveway, probably thinking that the warm embrace of his boss was 3 times better than his lunatic wife.

We talked over lunch. He graciously, and sincerely, asked, "How are you feeling?" I said, "Fine, please come home after work. Don't leave me for a kinder, less bizarre woman. I promise that I will not be insane." He just laughed. LAUGHED. That my friend is a good man. It would have been fair if he said, "Fine, I"ll come home but I'm having Valium delivered and I'd like 3 of the on board before I walk through the door."

Please tell me that sometimes you are also insane.

Dane bedazzled in ostentatious orange

Dane got decked out in a real cast yesterday. The x-ray showed everything healing nicely but when they took the old splint off Dane immediately got jumpy about his arm and started saying, "Owie, owie, owie." The doc said that was a sure sign that his arm isn't ready so he will be in this cast for two more weeks. Nathan picked out the color and I think it's great. We have all signed it and Dane, once again, is unphased by all of it. The kid is amazing. I'd like to say, on the record, that if Aubrey ever breaks a bone she will not be so zen. We will hear about it all day, everyday, until the day she dies. But that's a story for another day of course.

"So You Think You Can Dance" calls. Priorities, priorities.

A kid and a dad

(Greg playing chess with Dane.)

These are some things Greg did with the kids this weekend.

He played "Snake" with them. This is a bit like Calvinball, if you are familiar with that. The rules always change. However, the general idea is that these large play tubes we have are snakes. They eat the children despite their desperate attempts with Greg to shoot them with the Nerf dart gun. Once the kids are eaten they are regurgited, lifeless, onto the floor. They are only revived by "Snake Oil Potion" which is a drink including, but not limited to, milk, Hershey's syrup, caramel syrup, and even marachino cherry juice. The child returns to life and you play again.

He read an entire Ironman comic book out loud. Frankly, that tops my list of awful things to do, followed closely by cleaning up cat puke. I mean, I have no idea how to narrate "KAPOW" and "Oh, Ironman, save me!" effectively. A feather in the daddy hat for sure.

He sang them to sleep every night with a 20 minute guitar concert. Favorites are "You Are My Sunshine", "Swing Low", "People Get Ready", and a general blues riff. I have heard Nathan say more than once, "MORE BLUES DADDY!"

We (I do show up every now and then) spelled a bunch of words for Aubrey to sound out. She likes us to spell simple words out loud, she writes them down, and then sounds them out. After many serious words Greg threatened to give her the letters s-e-x. He taunted me by giving her the "s" and "e" but ended with "t". Wouldn't that have been a fun word to show off at preschool.

He allowed Dane to poke him over and over again in the eye region at lunch while Dane squealed with delight and said, "EYE! MORE! EYE! MORE!!!" He did it just because Dane has a great laugh.

He drove Nathan around like a crazy person in the kids' car cart at Home Depot, even running them into a display when "Nathan" drove the car too close. He smiled sheepishly to the sales person in the aisle and then too right back off, swerving madly to the sound of Nathan's howling laughter.

Kids need a great dad, there is no doubt about that.

A horror story

Once upon a time Sara's husband got up in the morning, hooked his work computer up to their wireless internet, and managed to reset a bunch of things. (No, I don't know what.) Fixing it would be quick but it would require moving our computer downstairs to where the modem and router are located. "I'll do it after work honey, honest."

DAYS AND DAYS AND DAYS later Sara remained internetless. She grew frustrated that she didn't know how to fix it herself and more and more isolated from the greater world. She slipped into the deep vacuum that is life without the world wide web. People forgot who she was. She spent her evenings wandering the house, searching for something to fill the vacant time. The isolation and despair were immeasurable.

Then, one fine Saturday morning her husband got up, spent a few minutes fiddling around downstairs, and TADA, the internet was restored. All that suffering had such a simple fix, like a splinter, festering for days, when pulling it out took but a moment. Still, forgiveness and harmony are restored once again in the Jones' household because SARA HAS HER INTERNET BACK. Oh, the sweet relief.

The end.