The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza

At the local library there was a story time called "The Little Red Makes a Pizza." For days, Kellen kept saying, "I'm going to the library to make a pizza" while I cautioned him that was the name of the book and he shouldn't expect to actually make a pizza in a library. But that's exactly what happened. There was a presentation by the California Food Literacy program.

 

One of the volunteers didn't show up, so Doug, Stacey, and Doug took charge of one of the stations.  While the kids at the other stations continued to receive educational information, we had our hands full with six kids, a couple of parents looking on, reading directions, making sure everyone had a turn at all the steps. 

Learning to knead dough.  Odin and one other absolutely would not touch the dough. 

After all those hands touched the pizza dough, I was relieved to see English muffins for each child to make their own cold veggie pizza.  Doug helped Liam who was impeded by a very hurt finger. 

At last, the story was read aloud to everyone.

At home, Daddy read Old MacDonald Drives a Tractor.

Pickleball

Every Monday, Thursday and Saturday morning, a group of locals gather at the tennis court at the Rio Linda Community Center to play pickleball, a racquet sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis. It's played with a hard racquet and a wiffle ball.

I played pickleball once or twice long ago at PE conferences at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  I knew it was a fun game and easy to learn.  I talked Doug into coming with me.  Whadaya know?  There was an old friend from my days at Westside School, Glen Dakan, "one of my dads," and former tennis and racquetball partner.  Good teacher, too.

Yup, we had fun.  We'll be coming back on a regular basis. 

Sophia and Avery

Thais and Lenin went for a run in Auburn early in the morning. I arrived early to watch Sophia and Avery.

Spinning in the office chair.  Sophia held onto her little brother, most often around the neck, so he wouldn't "fall off the ride."  Avery didn't mind at all. 

Quote of the day.  When I told Sophia how lucky she was to have so many toys, she said, "That's because we have a beautiful house."

Summer Party

Val and Chuck hosted a party tonight. Almost everyone was a retiree from the extinct Rio Linda Union School District and their spouses. View from the back yard:

L-R: Linda, Susie

Mike, Linda, Kathleen, Dennis, Carol, Kathy.

All Westside: Mike, Ade, Arlete, Terry, Susie - Linda is hidden.

All Rio Linda Elementary: Ron, Susie, Linda, Bill, Carole, _____ (so sorry to not know this person's name, this will be corrected ASAP), Mike, Linda, Mary, Ray, Arlete, Val, Kathy.

Ann, Jean (also a paparazza), Sue, Joan, Julie.

Master griller Chuck.

Bill, Val, and a rising supermoon.

Thanks, Val, for bringing so many old friends together again.  Total fun!

Strawberry jam and ...

So far, Doug and I have made 18 half-pints of strawberry jam and 9 pints of strawberry freezer jam. Doug, "I'm ready to can anything now.  I want to make Bacon Jam."  That's my boy.

Smiling like Sulley

and  Mike Wazowski (characters from the movie Monsters Inc.)

About to get in trouble:

Uh-oh, here comes Mom, and how he climbed onto the counter. 

Odin said he was washing dishes.  Unfortunately, he used half a bottle of dishwashing liquid.  I've walked into the kitchen and a small voice will say, "Will you get me down?"  He's a climber but getting down is another story.

July in E Nicolaus

Before Penn Valley:

After Penn Valley:

Father's Day

And the secret (from 8 June) revealed. Thanks to Aunt Phyl for letting Kellen freeze the hockey rink in her freezer because all the available side-by-side freezers we tried were too narrow for the cookie sheet. Dave and Phyl even had to clear a whole shelf in their freezer for this project. It takes a village.

Daddy helped by making the hockey sticks and puck (two black buttons black buttons glued together), but that was ok, because, as Kellen said with a shrug of his shoulders, "He knows everything about it anyway."

Happy Father's Day.

Weekend in Penn Valley

Sometimes known to friends and family as Mimi's B&B, Maria and Tim's house:

Across from hole #1 at Lake Wildwood Golf Course and a great place to come for a relaxing weekend.

Great food every time I turned around like Egg in a Hole, and so much more.

We walked every morning and evening, sometimes on the golf course cart paths.

In the evening there were lots of deer and wild turkeys.

 

I'm trying to keep up with the little jackrabbit going uphill. 

 

Besides finishing the sewing project I brought along with me, I also shortened 3 pair of pants and 2 dresses along with some other mending for Maria. 

 

Sadie got a bath and we watched the US Open.  Do you think Tim is focused or what? 

 

Lucky me!  Maria made me 4 pair of earrings and a bracelet.  We each came away feeling like we got the better deal in the sharing of our skills.  

Thanks so much, Maria, for another perfect getaway!

 

 

 

Strawberry jam & crushing cans

Thanks to my jam-making lesson with Merrilyn last weekend, I felt brave enough to try strawberry jam, but not alone. Doug really wanted to learn how so I enlisted his help. I discovered I can't take a bunch of pictures and make jam at the same time. Finally, as the nine finished jars were going back in to bath for processing, I grabbed the camera.  Thank you again, Merrilyn, for teaching so well that I felt able to tackle this project. 

I asked Kellen if he wanted to go into the can crushing business with me.  We could work together, split our profits depending on who did most of the work.  He thought it would be a good idea so I bought two can crushers.  The day after the crushers were installed, Kellen announced he'd crushed ALL the cans while I was busy doing something else, about 8 pounds of cans.

Fly Slapping

These are Ninja Turtle boys.  A weapon in each hand, striking poses, yelling, "Boo yah ka cha."

Kellen is Donatello, Odin is Michelangelo.

Getting ready for 4th of July.

Limbs and limbs:

 

A specific request to photograph this pose:

I bought 3 flyswatters the other day.

Pretty soon a game developed and rules were needed.

And then the biggest kid got involved and darn competitive.  The biggest rule is no hash mark can be recorded if fly is not picked up with a paper towel and discarded. 

Stacey and I just stood there and laughed.  Odin got pretty good at swatting stray cocoa krispies on the floor.