Coffee With Elly

I asked Monica to pick out some pretty clothes for Elena,  and she brought me the little cornflower blue dress I bought for her when she was little.  I thought,  "but that's a church dress!"  When she was wearing it around all afternoon, looking adorable, I was so happy I didn't kybosh it,  though! Why save all the pretty clothes for dressy occasions? Who knows what Sunday may bring?

Ezra asked me after a make-your-own-burrito dinner the other night, as he pulled a bowl of sliced olives toward himself,  "May I feast on the toppings?! Normally I would've saved them for later,  but how can I resist when asked so dramatically? 

I asked Phinehas what he would like to do. He seemed a little at loose ends. He put a finger to pursed lips in thought and said,  "fix somepin!" I set him to work to tighten a loose screw on one of my cupboard doors.  He selected his own screw driver (one of the "blue ones," a Phillips) and started to work though he stopped almost immediately when he thought he really had better run upstairs and tell his brothers he was "fix-in somepin downstairs! " They were suitable impressed, and he almost forgot his task, but I reminded him and he went back to work. And he accomplished it, too! He tightened the screw and even put away the screwdriver! My parents raised their own computer help: maybe I'm raising my own handy-man!

I don't make time for it as often as I should, but I love reading to my little ones! Phinehas picks Curious George every time, and Monica and I are reading Prince Caspian right now.

I roasted a turkey a couple of weeks ago - which as you all know is a huge, messy, time consuming job that yields LOTS of turkey, and a turkey carcass. So I found myself with turkey carcass stock and turkey and of course one must make soup, right? But the normal turkey noodle, turkey vegetable or turkey soup with rice themes weren't appealing to my appetite, so I looked around and stumbled on Mexican Chicken Soup - which I of course made with turkey instead. I LOVE it, and just made it for the second time tonight (lots of leftover turkey in the freezer, remember?!). I don't think I'll ever make traditional turkey soup again! :-) Only Phinehas doesn't like it, and even Elena snarfed it all down. Hooray for south of the border variations! I'll include a gratuitous daily life photo, just for the sake of the flipcard format. :-)

When I lived out in Benton City, WA, when I was growing up, our elderly neighbor lady was a great one for crafting.  Well, in proper homeschooler style, I asked her to teach me how to knit. But it soon became apparent that though she knew how to knit, she preferred crochet – it was prettier. Thus it came about that I learned how to crochet, and have never learned how to knit. This is an example of the vaporous nature of life, per Ecclesiastes. Anyway, every once in a while, I dust off my skills and pull out my hooks.  This time the girls actually really like them! And this time I got pictures! I got the pattern from Hookcandy.com: the Baby/Toddler Fingerless Mitts. Isn’t she lovely? I’m prejudiced, but I think they both are.