Junior Park Ranger McBrayer

While the AR McBrayers were here, we took a side trip out to Mesa Verde, one of our favorite places to visit. The entrance is only about 35 min from here and they have just finished their brand new visitor's center at the entrance to the park which as it turns out, is quite stunning! ( I wish I had pictures to show you).

Not sure how many of you know but all National Parks (and most if not all State Parks) have a Junior Ranger program that is designed for kids from 4 years old to 12. It's a program that encourages kids to protect their parks and learn a bit more about each park during their visits. If you fulfill all of the requirements by the end of your visit, you can take the oath to become a Jr. Ranger and are awarded a medal to show off!.

 Here are my little Jr. Rangers working hard on their booklets inside of the archaeological museum.

They took this project very seriously. Greenpea is hard at work. 

The kids were so engaged that I ran with it and had them complete almost the entire booklet before I realized they only needed to select a few activities. There are different activities depending on the age groups you have too.

Here they are making cornmeal that they even bothered to taste! (I imagine it tasted just like sand since there wasn't actually corn in there and eroded rocks turn into just that!)

"Raise your right hand…or your left, or maybe just any ol hand and repeat after me."

Right from left. Something it looks like we all need to work on...

I am always amazed at just how thoroughly these rangers double check the kids work and correct them as they go along. They don't give these badges to just anyone, you know.

I am proud to announce that we left Mesa Verde with 4 Junior Rangers that day!

I'm makin' pies

First you have to play this just to get in the mood…



I don't usually make an abundance of pies during the holidays and 4 is about my limit. In the last week though there just seems to be some many excuses for pie that I've made 7 pies and I have 4 more to make this week! I'm getting good at the home made crust. And since a friend requested the recipe and how to, here we go.

This recipe came from one of Justin's high school friends and I've been using it for over 10 years!

Josh's Homemade Pie Crust

(makes double crust)

2 cups flour

dash of salt

1 Tbsp sugar (omit if you are making quiche or anything savory)

2/3 cup + 2 Tbsp butter or shortening or butter (you should really use butter)

4-6 Tbsp ice water (8 Tbsp if you live in the dry West)

Cut the butter or margarine into the flour until it's roughly pea sized crumbles. (I'm a butter kind of girl. I never use shortening for this and never margarine. It's worth the splurge. You are eating pie for crying out loud, it's not worth trying to keep the lbs off! You will cry yourself to sleep thinking on how good it could have been if you'd only used butter. Just trying to save you the drama of disappointment here.)

Fill up a glass with water and some ice cubes. Dip out the water and add to the dry mixture. Toss it until everything is sort of wet and looks like it will stick together. 

The trick is to not over work the dough. All of those crumbs of butter will melt away in the oven and create little air pockets in the crust to make a delicious flakey goodness. 

Work the dough just enough to get it to stick together while you roll it out. A peel is really helpful if you have one, other wise you have to use more flour. Roll it out and then drape it over your rolling pin and transfer to your pie plate. 

Trim the left over so that the dough hangs about 1/2" over the edges. Roll the draping edges under to rest on the edge of the pie plate. Using your thumb and forefinger on your right hand and your forefinger on your left, push your left finger up against your right all the way around to create a zigzag design. If you look closely, it will have a marbled look to it with the pockets of butter in there!

I learned a long time ago that your pie can be elevated from just yum to spectacular with a homemade crust and decorations for the top. Use the left over dough to cut out shapes to place on top of the pie when it's done. They can be baked on a cookie sheet until lightly brown and crispy and then used on top after the pie is finished baking (unless you are using a lot of them for a fruit pie, in which case you can bake them with like a top crust.

Brush the pie crust and the decorations with a little 1/2 & 1/2 and dust with sugar before you put it in the oven.

Bake for 15 min @450 and then 15 min at 350 if you are planning to use it for a cream pie or something that doesn't get baked after filling. Otherwise, just fill it and bake it with your pie. Cover the edges before they get too brown if your filling isn't done when your crust looks finished.

Have fun!

An Entrepreneur in the Making

Museum Curator

We hosted a dessert night this week for the students on Valentine's Day. Aeneas, dressed to the hilt with rubber gardening gloves and a bow tie, asked me over and over again when the party was going to begin. "It starts at 8," I say. "Yeah, but when will there be a lot of people here?" "What do you mean? Why does it matter? Wait a minute, what have you got planned?!?" "Well, I want to make some money." "WHAT? Make some money? Doing what?" "Selling admission to my museum. It's a phone museum."

 Kate, a willing and very enthusiastic participant!

Let me back up. If you ever need to give your kids something to do, go get an old phone and give them some pliers and a selection of screwdrivers. I traded out our old fashioned corded phone for a cordless and instead of saving it for later, we gave it to the kids and they have spent 4 solid days taking every screw (which Aeneas refers to as the glue that holds it together) out of it. They even woke up early a couple of mornings to get some "work" done on it before school.

Display cases

Colin, Another willing participant!

"Show me your museum." I'm thinking to myself. So that is where all my leftover containers have gone. They are display cases for a disassembled phone! I should have guessed! "So what are you going to charge?" "How about $2.50?" "$2.50?!? College students are poor. How about a donation and they can put whatever they have in there?" "OK." "Mom, can you go knock on doors to let people know so I can have a line of people outside waiting for the tour?" Uh, no, I thought. "I'll help you go around and ask people to come in." "OK."

We set out a dish of coins for the unprepared college students to use for admission. I never got a count but I am sure it was 3-4 dollars by the end of the night.

(insert your holiday here) Day

I actually hate Valentine's Day. There, I said it. And it's not because of some thwarted love in my past or the fact that my husband never remembers it anyway. It's another one of those holidays that pressures us to buy things. And it honestly just sets men (and women) up for failure. 

Let's see. You need to remember Valentine's Day and Anniversaries and make them as romantic as possible. And then there's Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents Day. And on top of that there are birthdays. And then the birthdays that are monumental like 18, 21, 40, 50, 60 and so on. These are no ordinary birthdays. They have to be somewhat differentiated from all the others that you may have forgotten. And not just by remembering them. 

Any normal person is going to blow it at least once, and more likely several times out of the year. I think it's society's way of holding our hands through making sure we are grateful for the people in our lives that mean so much. When in reality we shouldn't need a stupid holiday to remind us. Just make the phone call when you think of it. Send an unexpected letter at any time of the year "just because." Pick up the phone when your mother calls even if you talked to her the day before and have nothing new to say or if you don't have a lot of time. And for Pete's sake, ask them about their lives every once in a while. Moments like these are my Valentine's cards. These are my birthday celebrations. These are my thanks yous and my "you mean a lot to me," moments.

I have a friend, Missi, with whom I have been friends with since we were 12 years old. Our lives are so different, They pretty much split in college as we sought to find out who we were despite going to the same school. We graduated and moved away and as the years have gone by, we have managed to stay in touch off and on. One time we were on the phone she was very frank and said that she rarely had time to talk and a good timing to catching up just doesn't exist with the business of life: marriage and kids an work. She said she was beginning a new approach. In any quiet moment I came to mind, she would call. Maybe she would have 5 min in the car on the way to work. Maybe an hour on a road trip. The point was to make it happen when and how it could and not wait for the ideal time. It just doesn't exist. Sometimes we talk several times a month. And sometimes only every few, Sometimes we talk for over an hour and sometimes no more than 5 min. But the connection is made. I am important to her and she to me.

OK. So back to the holiday at hand after a totally unexpected and unplanned soap box. 

Even with all of that, I do remember decorating those little shoe boxes with relish. And placing the letter slot just so. The whole process of handing out your Valentine's was magical. I don't know why. There was just something cool about pretending to be a mailman (of love and friendship, I guess) and slipping the little letters that were painstakingly addressed and signed into their correct slot. And then to go back to your own box to see the surprise of "mail" in your own mailbox. So I buy into the crazy Valentine chaos for the boys' sake each year despite the personal grudge I hold against the holiday. As far as I can tell, it's a crafty outlet for me. And for me as a graphic artist, sometimes my craft comes in the form of 2-dimensional design. 

I searched for printable Valentine's cards online (because I didn't want to drive all the way out to Wal-Mart to pick some up) and found a lot of ones I thought were really cute. But after giving it some thought, my boys don't "give a hoot" for anything. And anything mushy just isn't their style. Star Wars, Harry Potter and LOTR is what's really on their minds and in an effort to be a cool mom, I decided to go for something they would actually be proud to hand out. So I have spent my lazy, snowy afternoon "making Valentine's (and writing this blog). Here is what I came up with. I hope it creates a chuckle if nothing else. Maybe I am just trying to cover up my loath of Valentine's, or maybe I have too much time on my hands...You decide. Happy Valentine's Day! I mean it! REALLY!!!

Does anyone have a fun breakfast idea or snack idea for the big day? Because if I'm doing this, I'm gonna go all the way!

Scientastic!

In celebration of Martin Luther King, we decided to stay home and work on some science experiments. Patrick got a few kits from family this Christmas and since kids are naturally inquisitive, it's easy to wow them with these kinds of activities

I am totally intimidated with science so I was relieved the kits he had pretty much all of the supplies included and were ready to go. I mean I can do rubber bands and paperclips but you lose me when you start talking about kitchen chemicals and such!

After we were finished experimenting, we decided to make videos of them explaining back what they learned for your enjoyment. (Really, my mom is the only one I expect to actually watch these).

The missed countdown. This was actually take 2! We are all beginners at this.

Here's a little out take for you. We are still learning to be on camera!

This is my first attempt at video editing. Its apparent I will not be making millions at this but a valiant try I think.

Back to the land of Sprawling Oak Trees and the South Georgia Salt Marsh

For New Years we headed back to my roots on the South GA coast. There is nothing like the feel of the humidity on your face and the smell of the marsh. I drink it in with relish every time I'm back. It was warm enough for the gnats to be out which I don't care for however still cold enough most days for a roaring fire in one of Dad's 3 fireplaces.

You didn't know I was married to a squirrel. Climbing trees is one of the first things we do when we arrive on the coast!

Wild Holly is at its peak right in time for the holidays and the wild turkey are everywhere. Found even on the salt marsh if you look hard enough ;)

Deda teaching Aeneas to throw a 13' cast net was priceless...and very WET! We ate lots of seafood and went through the motions of fishing on the dock. We pretty much suck but it was still fun to pretend.

And a Georgia is a place where it's not uncommon to serve $100 bottle of champagne with none other than BBQ. Why of course is what I say!!! We spent some time with some our favorite people, and made an afternoon run to the sand and surf of Jekyll Island!

There is something special about seeing my kids at the beach with nothing but their own imaginations a few broken shells and an endless supply of sand. They LOVE it and no matter how long we stay we have to peel them away!

McBrayer Family Chaos...I mean Christmas!

Nina and Big Daddy don't have enough lap to go around!

To start, I have to say that there are very few families that can "do" what we did this Christmas to the extent that we did it and all come out claiming fun or at least claiming to be alive at the very least! Here it is by the numbers:

1 house
7 BR, 5.5 BA (1 tub!)
1 scamper
15 kids from age 8 down to 8 weeks old
12 adult kids with spouses
2 very gracious and loving grandparents
1 set of bunk beds that slept 4 at a time
4 sleeping bags
5 pack and plays
1 Live Nativity
1 Santa visit
2 Christmas videos set on a loop
7 rib, 20-something lb rib roast
1 bazillion diapers
1 trillion sippy cups
lots of whiskey

A heaping bucketful of patience and a truly remarkable Christmas celebration.

The kitchen pretty much stayed open 24/7. We ate in shifts, entertained, gave baths, food, and discipline to droves of children at a time to kids that were rarely our own. We disabled squabbles  attended dance shows, rode four-wheelers, hunted deer and ducks, played cards, ate popcorn, pushed swings, hiked through the woods, built forts, got our feet wet, took lots of ibuprofen and truly thanked God for a family that not only gets along but all signed up to spend our Christmas holiday all under one roof! Whew! How lucky we are!

I think there were enough ipads floating around to keep the kids entertained  on the rainy days!

A eating party. Eat where and when you can.

Santa came to visit with a special gift for each kid!

What's the weight limit on this swing set? I think we had it maxed out!

The getaway. After a card game and drink you were required to tap someone else in need in. NO KIDS ALLOWED in the Scamper!

Getting dressed to go outside was interesting to say the least.

Hike on Jasper 1

Hike on Jasper 2

Hookey from Church!

We played hookey from church this week and took a family ski day. It was glorious weather! I can't tell you how often the word glorious comes out of our mouths in reference to the word day. I will hear the kids saying sometimes. The weather recently, as I've heard from many of you, has just been epic. Despite it being spring skiing conditions where it was slushy and soft in places,we still managed to work on our jumps and moguls. Justin came home and waxed our skis to help with that sticky snow a bit in the upcoming weeks. Here is some footage from our day.

Engineer Mountain

It is bright outside without your goggles!

The boys on the way up to the top.

The photographers token picture!

Aeneas takes a sliding landing!

Aeneas takes a faceplant and survives!

Patrick take a tumble.

Family Fun!

West Needles

Patrick is way better than us at moguls but can't seem to pull it off under the pressure of the camera. 

Short skis make this look so easy. Now they are getting it.

Taking a break next to the fireplace at the base.

A little rascal made it into our picture.

Patrick starts to figure out the balance.

Another jump by Patrick with a little ego boost from the spectators.

"My parents made me do 6 runs of jumps and moguls today and I'm pooped."

The hike back the car is the hardest part of the day.