Ready for "Ross"...Stas that is!: October 2011

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Funny question I was asked today :-)

When I dropped Stas and Ricky off at school today, one of Stas' teachers asked if we have been cleaning at home. I laughed.

My friend comes to help me clean once a week and Stas is fascinated with all of it. The vacuum, the broom, the mop and the duster...

...oh, the duster. That is his favorite.

"Oh wait, it might be more fun to push this table over instead...again."

Do you have any idea how happy I was to get this lock on this broom closet.....PURE BLISS!! I have a few extra hours to my day now where I don't have to protect the walls, clean up brooms, dustpans, vacuum parts and protect peoples eyes and heads from flailing broom handles. The windows too. Yikes.

How do you suppose I get him to learn to pick up after himself now? I long to hear the teacher say, "have you been teaching Stas to pick up at home?" Only in my dreams. None of my kids seem to have learned that job, why should he?

Don't you clean you cabinets and oven with a broom?

:-) Love that boy!!!!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The things we'll do for orphans.

There is a little boy in an Eastern European orphanage named Andriy who has no idea how hard people are working to bring him home to his mom, dad, brother and sisters.

This is the sweet boy:

There is a mom of 8 (that would be me) who was one day minding her own business when some other mom named Renee told her she needed to take a pie in the face for the above mentioned sweet boy. Renee said she was going to do so and so naturally this mom gave into peer pressure and said "sure.....happilly....for Andriy."

Here is Renee with a little whipped cream on here face following a pieing:

Soon this started floating around:

Gretchen the red-nose clown?

Oh, I see, it is a target.

So, $1,500 later......the preparations began.

We needed to wait for the right moment.

When everyone gets excited and says they want to be the one to smear the pie in my face, how am I to feel? How would you feel? Just curious. Dan was smart enough to say, "I have nothing to gain." Wise man.

Lizzy wanted to take pictures, that ruled her out. Bobby pretty much decided he was the man for the job, and I warned him he had a lot to lose if he did it too hard, too long, too high, too low, I told him what angle to throw it.....and my dear husband told me he had about enough of me calling the shots. Suddenly he wanted a piece of the action. Niiiiiice.

So, everyone gathered around, there was a countdown....5......4.....3.... and Ricky started screaming bloody murder.

We stopped. Couldn't comfort him (glad someone loves me!!!) and needed him to go watch the Wiggles to distract him.

5.......4......3.......2......1.......

Look at Dan holding my head....thank you, Dan!!!!

Have you ever seen such joy on two people's face?!?!?!

Charlie loves pumpkin!

Ricky was okay with pie on my face....intrigued actually.

What we do to bring orphan's home :-)

NEXT UP:

Catherine

Melissa

Go here to give

What was I thinking?

Look what I have to look forward to.

Before I begin....let me tell you that I do enjoy baking and cooking. I just don't have time. I also don't like to waste money when I don't have to. So, remember that whole pie in the face thing? I couldn't see going out and buying a pie for $10 or anything like that. I found a crust in the fridge to bake, had some vanilla pudding, a can of pumpkin puree and whipped cream. PERFECT fixings for pie. Right?

Well, they mix up well to taste delicious, but I can't imagine how far it will go up my nose and across the floor. It turned to soup!!!!! Practically. Renee was kind enough to share with me to hold my nose because "you won't believe how far it will go up your nose." Thanks Renee from the bottom of my heart AND my soft palette, nasopharynx, esophagus and trachea.

Do I stand in the shower so as to help with the clean up? I suppose I just go outside. It's been rainy. Well, no harm, that should help with the clean up I guess.

Here you can see Lizzy taking the pleasure in following my lame directions for pie making. Amanda said that she took a mental note to never get this recipe from me. Wise decision Amanda. I did try to stick with the season though. Gotta give me some credit.

Aren't they the nastiest looking crusts you've ever seen. I think the dough was old. It tastes good. We ate the other soup, I mean pie.

I guess the PIEING will have to happen tonight. Oh boy....I can't wait.

What I really can't wait for is the next two up.....and then the next..... It's a good line-up.

Wish me luck...but most of all...keep DONATING to the Burlingham family (CLICK HERE) and keep giving yourself a chance to win an iPad2, Nook, Kindle and more. Better idea....keep donating to give Andriy a chance to get home to his family and FEEL the love.