Official End of Soccer Season

Well, even though soccer games ended weeks ago, yesterday we celebrated the 'official' end of the soccer season with a BBQ at one of Sally's teammate's homes. Coach Cody gave every player a special soccer trophy and Sally was quite proud.

Today we headed to the Renaissance Festival with our friends Jeff & Laura from church. We all had a great times and the kids just love hanging out with Jeff & Laura. And man, did they sleep well when we got home in the afternoon! Left just in time before the rain started. And managed to spend a whole day there without buying anything new. Hooray!

I really do make AMAZING fried rice

Not to brag, but I make the best fried rice I've personally ever tasted. (And I have tasted a LOT of fried rice!) I messed around with a few different recipes and finally (today) got around to creating & writing down my own.

Reminds me a lot of the fried rice the Tea Garden in Metairie, LA used to serve. Not sure if that place re-opened or not after Katrina.

Here's the recipe ---- enjoy!

Amy’s Fried Rice - By Amy Scott Grant

• ¼ c sesame oil, divided
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten w/pinch of salt
• 1 lb. ground pork (or ground beef or diced chicken or diced pork)
• ½ c. shrimp (raw, peeled, deveined and roughly chopped) - optional
• ½ c yellow onion, chopped fine
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 3 T prepared thai fish sauce, divided
• 3 T soy sauce, divided
• 1 tiny dash of srirachi or other hot sauce
• 4 green onions, sliced thin (green and white parts)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 T grated fresh ginger (or 1 t powdered ginger)
• 4 c cooked white rice
• 1 c frozen peas, drained and defrosted to room temp

Heat 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil the wok over medium-high heat. Add the eggs and swirl the wok around to coat it with egg. Once the egg has set, remove it from the wok and chop it up or cut it into thin slices.

Add 1 T of sesame oil to the wok along with the meat, the shrimp and the chopped yellow onion. Stir-fry just until the meat is cooked through and the shrimp are pink, then add the carrots, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and the dash of srirachi/hot sauce and stir-fry for another minute-ish.

Add the green onions, garlic, ginger and stir fry for another minute. Add the remaining soy sauce, the remaining sesame oil, the remaining fish sauce and all the rice and stir to completely coat and heat through. Add the peas, the reserved cooked egg and flavor with additional soy sauce and/or fish sauce to taste. Best if served immediately. Feeds about 6-8 people as a side dish, or about 4-6 as a main dish. All measurements are approximate.

NOTE: if you choose to add fresh or canned pineapple to this recipe, be sure to DRAIN it very well and sweat the pineapple in a separate pan BEFORE adding it to the wok, otherwise it will release a lot of water and make your rice MUSHY. Ewwww. And with the pineapple, I recommend adding prepared Teriyaki sauce in place of the soy sauce (it has soy sauce in it).

Sydney and the Snake Man

The Snake Man made an appearance at Sydney's school today. Apparently it's an annual occurrence and some of the teachers prefer to hide while he's there...

Sally was none-too-pleased but Sydney had a great time. Here's a pic of Syd wearing a python named "ET" (note the pattern on his skin):

Sally's Rememories

We were in the car driving, and I remarked to Sally what a wonderful memory she has.

"Yes, I have a great rememory" she tells me. She continued, "It's like I have a crystal ball in my head, and all these things -- pictures, words and stuff -- are floating around it and all I have to do is look at the crystal ball and I can know stuff.

"You have a crystal ball too, Mom, but yours just doesn't work as good."

A-ha! That explains a lot! Now if I could just find a crystal ball repair service....

How to Send Cookies to Soldiers

Gigi's son Brett has been sent overseas to join the troops there, and we recently got an email from Sue with the address to send him letters, care packages, etc.

Sue found some excellent info about how to bake/pack/ship cookies to send overseas, and it looks so helpful, I thought I would include it here.

Also -- if you want to send something to Brett, email me and I will give you his specific address. Many thanks!

The part in italics was written by Sue, the rest is from The Cookie Lady (I'm honestly not sure whether the last line is a joke, or not).

If you feel motivated to bake, below are tips from The Cookie Lady, who has sent 1.6 million cookies to service personnel in the Middle East. She has “crumbs” who help with the baking. (Brett’s personal favorite is choco chip.) During summer, M&Ms should be used instead of chips – and avoid sending other choco products, as they won’t survive the 115 degree daytime temps.

Baking:

I use the recipes off the packages of chocolate chips and oats. If you do not have time to bake from scratch, "extra moist" or cake mix that contains pudding makes a very good cookie. The basic recipe is 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 2 large eggs per box. You can be creative by adding Rice Krispies, raisins, white chocolate chips, M&M's, etc. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes (but underbake at least one minute).
If you send peanut butter cookies or any cookies that contain nuts, please label each bag "contains nuts."

Underbake the cookies about one minute to preserve the freshness.

In humid environments, add 1/2-1 tsp. of baking powder per batch.

Chocolate chip (substitute with M&M's May-October), oatmeal-raisin, peanut butter and snickerdoodles are the most popular cookies.

Freeze the cookies until you are ready to ship them.

Avoid sending moist breads (such as banana bread) during humid summer months--they mold quickly.

Packing:

I use regular fold-top sandwich bags, no zip-locks. Put 6 cookies front to back in the bags and twist-tie them. It will look something like a "tube." (see photo). Be generous with your packing material which can be Styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, plastic grocery bags, or shredded paper. Nest the cookies in the packing material. With careful packing, you can get 5 dozen cookies, individual packets of drink mix, i.e., cocoa, tea bags, Kool-Aid, etc., hard candy and your letter in each box.
Any toiletries should be packed in separate boxes from the cookies.

Include notes to the soldiers thanking them for their service to the country. Ask them for names and addresses of other soldiers, especially those who get little/no mail.

Due to the large number of boxes we send and the increase in postage, for individual requests we are using the new Flat Rate Box #1 which measures 12x12x5 1/2. Effective January 18, 2009,shipping costs for the Large Flat Rate boxes for Military are $11.95. The Small Flat Rate boxes are $10.35. These "Priority Mail" boxes, the customs forms (I use 2976-A) and pre-printed return address labels come in units of 25 and are available at no charge. Simply go to the USPS website or call 1-800-222-1811. These supplies will be delivered to you at no charge. For only a few boxes and customs forms, visit your local Post Office.

Once the box is full, shake it to ensure that nothing is moving. Add more packing if necessary, especially in the corners.

Make sure that all boxes are securely taped. Seal all edges of the box.

Shipping:


You must have the name and address of a specific soldier.

A customs form is required. On form 2976-A there is a space asking what you want to happen to the box if your soldier is not available. I check "abandon." Also write in, "Do not return." Your postal employees will assist you in filling out the form if necessary. I suggest you have your box ready for shipment before you get to the Post Office. It is not necessary to leave the box unsealed for inspection by the postal employees.

Some restrictions: No alcohol, no pornographic or suggestive materials, no pork, no bulk shipments of religious material. If in doubt, check with your Post Office.

If the cookies are too hard by the time of arrival overseas, the soldiers can use them as weapons.


UPDATE ON THIS STORY FROM GIGI:

One caution -- folks in general should NOT send homemade treats to
soldiers they don't know. Soldiers have been instructed to throw away
homemade items from strangers. For their own safety, I guess. It helps
prevent food-related allergic reactions, illness from unsanitary
preparations, and outright tampering with the food. Store-bought goodies
only -- and NO choco at this time of year. The Girl Scout cookies will
remain in the freezer until winter!

My Care Kit arrived on my doorstep yesterday. Six boxes: 2 med, 2
medium-document shape (like a shirt box) and 2 large boxes, special
packing tape, mailing labels and customs forms. Very nice for the P.O.
to do that for our service personnel.

Today's Funny from Sydney

"Mom, I can't find my pants," says Sydney just a few moments ago.

"Well, where did you last see them?" asks Mommmy.

"Over my panties" says Syd.

OK, well that explains it then! lol

Sally's Rapidly Growing Brain

Grammy bought Sally a new video learning game -- we love the SchoolZone brand, and Sally played with the preschool one for hours. Now she's a pro at mousing and clicking.

But when Grammy gave her the Kindergarten version, NOBODY expected her to master the entire game in a single one-hour sitting!

Hmmmm, now daddy and I are thinking she needs the 1st grade version. Let her challenge herself a little, hey?

I suppose all that money we've spent on private Montessori preschool for 2+ years has certainly paid off!

Of course, now it's got me all worried that she's not going to be challenged at this school for kindergarten.

We've read the curriculum -- they're supposed to be able to rote count 1-10 by end of 1st semester. Please, Sally can do more than rote-count -- she can ACTUALLY count. And not just to 10, but to 60! Unassisted!

And she's learning to read words on her own. She can read quite a bit of signs, etc. around town and she's starting to use my iPhone. Andy added an application for me called "Grocery IQ." It's an easy way to keep your grocery list organized on your phone, and then while in the grocery you can check off items as you add them to your basket (no need to dig around for a pen anymore, with no hard surface to write on!) and you can save your lists, your faves, etc. Very cool app.

At any rate, Sally was helping me decide what all we needed, and SHE was typing the words into my iPhone. Not too shabby. I was impressed that she knew that "corn" started with "c" and not "k"

AND the only down side to that is that 9 times out of 10 she can figure out what Mommy & Daddy are spelling, so we've switched to Pig Latin for the time being.

"Will we have time for the ark-Pay oday-Tay?"

"Maybe, let's see if we can get em-Thay to ap-Nay first"

Rhyming is Sally's new favorite sport. That kid can rhyme anything -- sometimes she goes for the Dr. Seuss effect, making up words and sounds -- and other times, she makes up a perfect song, using real words and make-sense lyrics that blow us away.

Mostly, she's just a joy to be around. So bright, so loving, so enthusiastic. And so in love with song, dance and language.

And Miss Syd, well what can I say about her? She is learning songs, remembering lyrics, and cracking us up on a daily basis. I still crack up when she says "What the HECK???!"

ok, gotta get back to the kids now. Sally had another b-day party yesterday and has 2 more on Saturday. I might need to start buying birthday gifts from Sam's !

Grammy's here visiting

A new month already? It's June 1 and Grammy is here visiting. The girls have not given her a moment of rest -- cries of "Grammy, watch me!" and "gammie, gammie, where ahh you?" abound throughout the house.

Yesterday was very busy -- Sally had 2 b-day parties to go to (told you we are amidst birthday season)! and then we had a dinner circle party to go to with some folks from church last night. It was a blast and we had a great time.

I must admit, as a parent I am not entirely fond of summers...too much free time on Miss Sally's hands! But I also know I will miss having her around as much next year (this fall) as she will be in all-day kindergarten.

Now what to do to keep ourselves occupied until camp starts???