The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

The boys like riding the schoolbus to and from school every day. At our bus stop, there are around 10 to 15 students that ride the bus. The bus driver this year likes to bring treats for the kids on Fridays like Tootsie Pops. Today he brought donuts for the kids on the way TO school (hello sugar!). Daniel took a maple bar, which is his favorite (mine too). When he got home at noon, he told me that he had a donut he wanted to eat (I thought he got one on the way home, but I didn't see it anywhere). So I told him to wash his hands first.

Me: "Where was your donut?"

D: "In my backpack."

Me: "Did you put it in your lunch box?"

D: "No, it's too hard to explain."

Me: "Did you wrap it in something?"

D: "No, I just put it in my backpack." (Imagine me with a frozen smile.)

Me: "What else is in your backpack?"

D: "Oh, just my folder." (Whew!)

Fortunately his backpack is fairly new, so there's nothing too ugly at the bottom yet. His backpack got a nice wipe-down today.

Tour of California at Shepherd and Minnewawa The boys and I headed out to watch the Tour of California go past. How can you NOT go see it when they are just a couple of miles away from our house? So we drove on Minnewawa as close as we could get and then parked and walked up a block to Shepherd. Front row view! Here is the front of the group. We missed getting a picture of the first 3 guys because they zipped by so fast.

The Amgen website has fantastic streaming coverage, so when they got close to Millerton, we left home to go watch it live and we only waited about 10 minutes. The whole time we were waiting, there were all the vans and video motorcycles zooming past. I think every CHP and police car in California was also having fun on the route. And then after about 5 seconds, it was over. So the boys didn't even have time to get bored. Well, Daniel said he was bored, but it may be "opposite day" today, so I don't know if he was bored or entertained. Anyway, I got to see Lance Armstrong up close (it was a blur, so I'm just telling you I saw him, really).

Taco Tuesday
Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday at the Neufeld house. We LOVE tacos! Most of the time it is ground beef tacos, but we also do chicken tacos, fish tacos, and tonight we had carnitas tacos. Yum! Here is what I did:

Yesterday we had slow-cooker pulled pork barbecue sandwiches. When you get a pork shoulder roast on sale, it is quite economical.

Put a big pork shoulder roast (or pork butt roast, great name BTW) in a slow cooker.
Quarter one onion and put in pot.
Add 5 or 6 peeled garlic cloves.
Add 1 cup beef stock (or make with boullion cube).
Season with salt/pepper.
Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred with fork and serve on your favorite bun with favorite barbecue sauce. Melts in your mouth! This goes well with coleslaw, too.

For carnitas, take remaining meat and save for the next day. Strain liquid from slow-cooker and save. The next day: Place shredded pork in a baking pan and pour 1/2 cup milk over. (I know, sounds weird). Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Stir/scrape meat off pan and pour 1/2 cup of reserved meat broth over. Every 15 minutes, repeat the scrape/pour process until meat is crispy to your liking. Season to taste and serve in tacos! Muy bien!

Valentine's Day Aren't spur-of-the-moment, last-minute plans sometimes the best? We usually don't do anything special for Valentine's Day because we can't stand the crowds or cheesy romantic meals at restaurants. So when Karen Ray called to see if we wanted to come over for dinner, it worked out great! She made yummy chicken parmesan and for dessert we had chocolate mousse with vanilla sauce and rich coffee machiattos. Then Tim got out his mandolin and Dan got out his harmonicas and they goofed off a little before it was time to head home.

My Stubborn Son
Last night I made soup for dinner. It was good soup if I do say so myself, as did Tim and Michael. Daniel is our picky eater and wasn't interested in the soup. He is probably better described as a stubborn eater rather than a picky eater. It's all in the motivation. We usually have to hold off giving him a 2nd serving of things like bread or pilaf or corn (his favorites) until he finishes the "real" food first. So last night he wanted another biscuit with honey and we told him to eat more soup first. Actually, we have to tell him in more specific terms, like "eat 5 more bites first." And he usually tries to bargain his way down: "how about 4 more bites?" So we play this game just about every day ("if you don't eat 5 bites, then it's going to be 6"). He knows that if he doesn't eat his dinner, we will save it and heat it up for him when he wants a snack later. He even acts like a martyr when he finally eats his dinner (at 8:00): "Fine, I'll EAT it... (sigh)." So back to the soup. Last night, he had about half his soup left. By half of it left, I mean like 5 green beans and 2 bites of ham. We don't give him very much because we know what he does. And we also don't force our kids to lick their plates clean. But we do make them eat enough to get nourishment. Have you seen our skinny kids? They COULD use a little meat on their bones. But I digress. So Daniel really doesn't want to eat any more soup. I know he is not full; I know he is not sick; I know he is being stubborn. So we clean up dinner and leave him sitting at the table. He knows he can quickly gobble up a handful of bites and be done with it, but he doesn't. After an hour (!!) I heat up his soup again and he takes 2 bites of ham. He still doesn't want to finish it. So Michael starts practicing his guitar and I pick up a book to read. Daniel just sits at the table.
Me: "Daniel, all you have to do is eat those green beans and you can be excused."
Daniel: "How about just one green bean?"
Me: "No, all the green beans, and if you can eat more than one bean in a bite, it will be just 4 bites."
Daniel: "But there is a tomato in my bowl."
Me: "You don't have to eat the tomato."
Daniel: "How about one bite?"
Me: "If you can eat all the green beans in one bite, then that's fine."
Daniel: "Oh, all right."
So after TWO hours, he finished his soup. We even had fresh brownies waiting for him, but that wasn't a good enough motivation. How can this kid be so stubborn that he would choose to sit at the table for 2 hours rather than just go "gulp, gulp, gulp" and be excused??

Dental Implants
Yesterday I had my 2nd implant "installed." Or do you say "implanted?" It was a lot easier than 3 months ago when I had my tooth surgically extracted with a bone graft. They have to wait 3 months for the bone graft to turn into real bone and then they can do the implant. So, like I said, this is easier; my cheek is swollen (picture a cartoon monkey) but at least all my teeth don't hurt like before. I can chew pretty normal on the opposite side. Yesterday, for some reason, I was not as doped up when I came home and my mouth did not stay numb all day as before. This alertness was nice, but had to be sacrificed for the Tylenol/Codeine pain relief. Today, ibuprofen is the drug of choice, but I think I'm secretly looking forward to tonight's codeine-induced sleep.

In my previous post, I mentioned my aversion to needles. Here's my IV story from yesterday: I get to the surgeon's office a few minutes early and try to stay calm while waiting. I have complete confidence in the surgeon and trust him totally. The assistant calls me in to the room and starts checking my blood pressure and heart rate. Calm, stay calm. Then she gives me the release form to sign, which says that I'm going to have my #6 tooth extracted, a bone graft, and a dental implant while under IV sedation. I correct her and say that obviously I have already had my #6 tooth extracted and also a bone graft. I'm trying not to get nervous. She leaves for a few minutes and then comes back with a corrected form. I sign the form. Then I'm waiting and waiting and trying to stay calm. Finally the dr. comes in and gets my arm ready for the IV. I do really good when I don't watch and ignore the "pinch" of the needle. (They always say "small pinch" right before they stick you; why is that?) Because I was trying to ignore the whole needle thing, I forgot to remind him that my right arm always has trouble with the veins (I have agonizingly learned this during the past 10 years). So after 3 or 4 "small pinches," I'm trying not to pass out and manage to mumble "you did my left arm last time." He feels really terrible about this and says that most people would be screaming at him by then. So I try to look away as he moves to my left arm (which took about half a second for the IV) and I see the blood on my right arm and the assistant getting a needle ready. And that is the last I remember.

Now during my needle-distraction, I asked lots of questions while the dr.'s hands were busy. I found out that about 90% of wisdom teeth extractions are done under IV sedation and about 50% of dental implants are done under IV sedation. The reason most people don't do the IV sedation is because they either have a severe aversion or they physically can't be sedated. At my appointment 3 months ago, the dr. tried to distract me with questions about the election. Did I think there were going to be any surprises? Did I vote? etc. I asked him if he liked his job. And he gave me the best answer. He stopped and said "I love my job. If I had the choice to do it again, I would absolutely do the same thing." Whew! What a relief. And then I was asleep.

I can't wait to see my x-rays next month. The implants show up bright white on x-rays and it's interesting to see how deep they really go. I'll try to bring my camera and see if I can get a picture. Almost makes me feel like the Terminator or something. Cool!

Catching Up
Michael: Michael recently ran for student body office for the position of Safety Commissioner. I still don't have a good idea of what this all entailed, but since there were 5 students running for the position, I knew there was a good chance that a defeat wouldn't bother him too much. It was a great experience for him; making posters, writing a speech, and then giving a speech to his school. The girl that won is such a neat girl, so Michael was happy for her. Michael also turned 10 last month and had a Wii birthday party. He had some friends over to play video games and our house has never emitted that level of volume before (I even asked our neighbor about it). I had no idea 5 boys could make that much noise. We gave Michael a guitar for his birthday and he is already learning so much. The guitar comes much easier for him than piano does. Can you guess who he takes after?

Daniel: Daniel is new territory for a 6 year old. He is so funny and frustrating; such a constant contradiction. He wants to be so independent because that is what they teach in kindergarten, but he doesn't understand that he has to obey when he gets home. "I'm gonna get some marshmallows." (His favorite food.) "No, Daniel, it's almost dinnertime." "Well, I'm just going to have a few." "No, Daniel, you need to obey." "But it's just a few... waaaaaaaa." Sigh... And then he can be so funny. This morning we were lounging around in our jammies (no school today) and he said "MOM, why do you still have your jammies on?!" "Well, Daniel, YOU still have YOUR jammies on..." and then he just laughed and laughed at that. Saturday, Tim and I went to the $3 movie theater and Daniel asked why they were going to Nana's house. So I teasingly told him that we wanted to go have fun without him. Any other day, he would have laughed and joked right back, but yesterday he started to cry. Sigh... Like I said, constant contradiction. And it doesn't help that he is so cute without his two front teeth; try not to laugh at a 6 year old when he is trying to be serious. Today he wanted to wear shorts so bad, and when he asked if he could wear short pants, I told him sure. Fifty two degrees is plenty warm for shorts!

Tim: You can catch updates on Tim's blog, but the most recent family news is his truck. It has a hole in the radiator. And while his truck is not exactly family, it does put a strain on our hectic life with one car. If it was nice and sunny, this predicament would not be an issue, but who wants to ride a motorcycle in the rain?

Tracy: After Thursday, I will have implants. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun... I already have one implant and the next one this week will make it two. My #6 tooth (or lack of) will be getting a nice titanium post pounded into my upper jaw. Three months ago, I had that #6 tooth surgically removed and a bone graft put in. But the worst is over and hopefully this will be nothing more than an inconvenience. I actually heal pretty fast and my tolerance for pain is surprisingly (shockingly) high. Except that I don't handle needles very well. Did you know that in high school I actually half-way fainted in Biology when we had to do blood typing? I had to dive for the girls' restroom to heave. And I had to drive an old truck to my tiny country high school? And I just don't dance or do well in sports? And I would prefer jeans or sweats to fashion? Hmm, who does that sound like? Yes, Cindy, I am in fact a Bella! Go to Cindy's blog to see who she is. By the way, if you are considering the vampire movie, just say no! They should have paid ME to sit through that. Stick with the books.

International Food

Prior to a couple of years ago, I had never really ventured into the Indian food arena. Our previous pastor traveled to India and came back with stories about food and eating with your hands. The recipes didn't seem to appeal to me. The most I had ventured out was traditional Thai and, later, fusion Thai and was intrigued by the counter-balance of flavor: the sweet vs. sour, spicy vs. cool, texture differences in the same dish. Then, after our current pastor suggested Indian food for a staff meal, I was on a quest to try out these recipes. I made a dish for our family, but the boys did not like the spicy and complex taste. There were so many new and exciting recipes to try: butter chicken, chicken korma, curry a million different ways!

I volunteered to make a dish once a month for InterVarsity's International Student Fellowship, a group of international college students that meets every Friday night. The guidelines for making the meal suggested that spicy dishes that could be served over rice were popular. Cool! Automatic guinea pigs for my cooking! After trying several recipes from my favorite cooking site, allrecipes.com, I moved to uncharted territory. I quizzed my Indian friends and bounced ideas off them. They gave me suggestions and instructions. After a few tries, the best dishes that turned out were the ones that balanced the texture, the spiciness, and the flavors. Here is the recipe I made yesterday for the World Welcome Party:

Crockpot Coconut Chicken Curry

4-5 lbs chicken
2 onions, coarsely chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
whole bulb (head) of garlic, finely chopped
2 cans (28 oz each) crushed or diced tomatoes
1 lb carrots, chopped or sliced
1 lb red potatoes, cubed
2 cans coconut milk
Bag of frozen peas
Fry Gosht spices (or use garam masala, turmeric, curry, chili powder, etc.)
Salt to taste

In large crockpot, place chicken, onions, ginger, garlic, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and spices. Cook on low for 8 hours. Stir in coconut milk. If sauce is too thin, uncover and switch to high (I had to transfer to a stockpot to cook it down). When consistency is good, add the frozen peas (do not add sooner or peas will be mush). Serve over rice. You can also make this on the stove top.

A few notes: in this recipe, it worked good to coarsely chop the onion and finely chop the ginger and garlic. Minced garlic would be okay, but the "balance" of chopped ginger and garlic worked better. You could also puree the onion and canned tomatoes in a blender. I've done this when I serve to my boys, but otherwise the larger size onion pieces add a nice "bite." My Indian friends told me about this Fry Gosht spice mix you can get in the store; add more or less to taste (I thought it was a mild-to-medium spiciness, but that is highly subjective.) I have also successfully thickened a dish like this with instant potato flakes; add 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency. You can make a different dish by omitting the coconut milk and adding 1/2 cup of butter instead.

The tooth finally came out!

Here is what it looked like when only one tooth was missing.
This is still before that tooth could be pushed almost horizontal with his tongue.

And here is what it looks like after the tooth came out.

Daniel is saying "5" with each hand because he has lost his 5th tooth!

Compared to Michael, he is virtually a whole year earlier than Michael in losing those 2 front teeth.

Clarification

Just a clarification on the previous post that I do NOT play the Wii Fit with a fritter in one hand and the Wiimote in the other! But, thanks John, that is a mighty fine idea! I've got some stashed away in the freezer and I hear that you can reheat them but they aren't quite as good as fresh. (The fritters, not the Wiimote!) I'll keep you posted.

Recovery
I think I've recovered from the fritters. I lost count after eating about "four" and decided that I didn't need to eat anything for a few days. Well, at least not for dinner anyway. Our family has been having fun on the Wii Fit. It is so stinking hilarious! Blocking soccer balls with your head while avoiding the cleats being thrown at you is really fun. And the tightrope walking is fun, too! I have become a Yoga Master and I've only done two days of it. Jogging is the easiest form of exercise as well; you just shake the wii-mote and it thinks you're running! The boys found out that if you run faster than your guide, your mii will fall down. Funny! Tim likes the ski jump but I can't seem to get very much distance. I'm sure in 10 years The Simpsons will be mocking this fine gem of electronic gaming, but for now it's brought our family closer!

Happy New Year!

I made New Year's Cookies (Raisin Fritters) for the first time today. Mmmm. Just like the MCC Sale! I found out that there are as many different recipes for these as there are Mennonite women. The one I chose was a good one, and I didn't even have to call Grandma Betty for advice. Here's the one I used, but make sure you have lots of neighbors, friends and family close by!

2 packages yeast
1 C. warm water
3 tsp. sugar
2 C. milk
1/2 C. butter
2 tsp. salt
6 eggs
2 C. raisins
8 C. flour
Oil for frying
Sugar for rolling

And here's a translated poem about it:

Portzelky

I saw your chimney smoking,
I knew what you were making,
You were baking New Year's cookies.
Give me one, I stand still.
Give me two, I start walking.
Give me three, four, five at once,
Then I wish you the Kingdom of Heaven.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was pretty relaxing. The boys didn't get up early (considering they were up past midnight the night before). I warned them that I got them new pajamas that they had to wear. Michael was eager to and loved his pajamas. Daniel was very reluctant and only wore them because I told him he had to long in advance. Of course the next day he wanted to wear his "soft" jammies again. After opening presents, we went to Reedley in the afternoon. We always have green pancakes made by "Grandpa" for Christmas, and this year was no exception. We had so much food! Green crepes with fruit and whipped cream, baked omelet, cinnamon rolls, jello salad, green salad, fruit salad, and pie for dessert. Good thing I got a Wii Fit for Christmas!

Disneyland

We were at Disneyland before Christmas and had lots of fun. On the way down, we had to stop at Ikea to get some more shelves to complete our office. Plus it was dinner time so we had to get some meatballs while we were there. We stayed at Desert Palm and Suites this time. We had trouble finding any hotels with vacancy even back in November, so I called Ares Travel since they are recommended by Mouse Savers. They got us some great rates and were easy to work with since we needed four rooms. Daniel's "new" rides were Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and Mulholland Madness. Michael's "new" rides were California Screamin and Matterhorn. Day 1 was raining. Like raining all morning. We braved the storm with ponchos brought from home. The parks were really empty and even when the rain stopped in the afternoon, people stayed away. Day 2 was beautiful weather and crowded parks. Day 3 was forecast to be stormy, but it never rained and the parks were empty. Tim and Michael rode Space Mountain four times in an hour. We drove home on Christmas Eve and it took us six hours to get home. It was bumper to bumper all the way from Anaheim to the Grapevine. Then it rained on the Grapevine. It's a good thing we got a dual screen DVD player for the car! The boys watched three movies on the way home.

Daniel's Winter Holiday Program

Tonight was the Liberty school program. It's a holiday program that happens in winter but you can't call it a Christmas program. The classes sang songs about Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, because I think if they wanted to sing about one religious holiday, they had to sing about all of them. Daniel sang great and did great motions. We invited the grandparents to join us and then have dinner at our house afterwards. One set showed up, but not the other. After the four-minute kindergarten presentation, we went outside to collect our son and lost track of the grandparents. We figured we would meet up at our house. So we called the other set on our way home and found out that they completely forgot about it, but might stop by anyway. After arriving at home, I finished up the last minute dinner stuff and waited for the grandparents. And waited. And hoped they didn't get into a car crash. And hoped they didn't misunderstand "come over for dinner" for something else. And called all THREE of their cell phones (which were all turned off). And then finally decided to start feeding the family amidst Michael's cries of disappointment. What was that parable about the feast without any guests? Knock knock. One set of grandparents arrives. Ding dong. The other set of grandparents arrives. All is well and tummies are full. Daniel was so proud and excited for his program. Finally it's his turn to be a star!

Neufelds-Dancing With The Stars

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Anniversary and Merry Thanks-giving

This week, six years ago, we moved into our house. It was so nice to be back in a house after living in an apartment for a year waiting for it to be built. The first morning in our house, I sat at the dining room table and soaked up the bright sun pouring in through the east window. The cramped apartment had one window and we ended up with houseplant casualties. What was supposed to be four months in a tiny place with three people and a dog turned into 12 months and four people and a dog. Thanksgiving week six years ago, we got the keys and started painting. Michael brought along his box of Legos to play with while we painted and Daniel was a month old so he slept. This is a favorite picture of our house because it is so "springy" looking. When things turn brown about this time of year, I like looking at the green plants and the sunshine.

Christmas creep!?! Yesterday I heard Christmas music playing on the radio station (isn't that supposed to start on Thanksgiving Day?). And there were no less than three houses on our block already decorated for Christmas! Today I went to Costco and Michael's and the parking lots were full. Regardless of what the news is saying about people hanging onto their wallets, I have not seen the evidence yet. Maybe it's the $1.75 per gallon gas. It's not even Thanksgiving (and even I like to have most of my Christmas shopping done by then). But I must admit, I started listening to Christmas music back in October. I got Sara Groves' new Christmas CD for my birthday, so I had to crack it open and give it a spin. It's a fun new album with new tunes on old Christmas favorites. She has a few originals as well, like "Toy Packaging," about the frustrations of trying to get a new toy out of it's packaging, and "To Be With You," reminiscing about family holidays. So... in the meantime, I'll get ready for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner and wait 3 more days to start decorating for Christmas.

Batman and Sonic the Hedgehog

Michael's Jack-o-lantern

Daniel's Jack-o-lantern

October Highlights...


Michael got to play soccer in the rain and he thought it was pretty cool. This was the week that we brought the snacks, so we also got to roll along the ice chest with our chairs, jackets, and umbrellas.

Tracy's Birthday

For my birthday I thought it would be fun to get all the free restaurant food I could. I had already received a voucher for a free oatmeal at Starbucks, and I had a gift card that I used for a skinny caramel latte. Yum. I chose the dried fruit and brown sugar toppings. Then on my way out, I grabbed a bag of grounds for our compost bin.

Next, for lunch, I headed to Rubio's. You have to sign up online and then you get a free meal for your birthday. I chose the grilled mahi mahi burrito since I wouldn't normally order something like that. It was delish, but the fish was a teeny bit overcooked. I think I might like it better with a fried version instead of the grilled, but I knew what was coming up next for dinner...

After signing up online, Red Robin gave me a free burger basket. I got my favorite Whisky River Barbecue Burger, or whatever they call it. Michael was at soccer practice, so I saved half of it for him to eat when he was done and he gobbled it up.

And last, but not least, Cold Stone Creamery gave me a "like-it" size ice cream with one mix in. Cake batter ice cream with Twix bar mixed in. Mmmmm.