White Chili Nachos

Gotta love any recipe that is mostly opening cans and turning on the crockpot.

 1 lb ground turkey
  1 chopped onion
1 package dry taco seasoning
2 cans white beans drained and rinsed
1 can corn (avoid the super sweet)
1 large can petite diced tomatoes
1 can chopped green chilies
chicken broth till it looks right (sorry this is not a better measure- I struggle with cooking measurements)

brown the ground turkey and onions together.  Add the taco seasoning and a little butter and water. (I know- measure!!)  Put the meat and onion mixture in the crockpot and add other ingredients.  Vary chicken broth based on desired outcome.  More for a true soup, less to serve over nacho chips.  salt to taste.  Allow to cook on low for several hours to break down beans a little and blend the tastes.  Serve with cheese and sour cream.

The Games we Play

 

I was floored at the number of runners.

Jack is 26.  He does not get grabbing flags.  He does get tackle!

 

Teams make campsites in the field.  Brian laughed at me for saying I “worry each girl across the line”  But it’s true.

I have to become a better photographer.  Brianna is in the blue and white.

Little Things

Last week was rough.  No ifs, ands or buts.  Without going into details, it literally brought me to my knees and there were plenty of tears, and not enough sleep. But..... Saturday, Brianna bettered her time by almost a minute in the 3k.  Brianna is not uber competitive and she has finished several races spitting venom at me.  But she has kept at it and this weekend, when she rounded the final curve and headed into the home stretch she caught the bug.  She was politely holding back to not run over the racer in front of her.  I began to scream "PASS HER!" and another mom started running down the rope yelling for Brianna to "sprint now!" The light bulb finally popped.  She shot around her and began to pull really hard.  She passed that girl and another before speeding across the finish line.  For the first time, she came out of the chute with a small smile on her face.  Before she even got to me, I was on the phone with Brian screaming WHOO AHH!!  She is not setting any records or even finishing in the top 20, but in races with 100 runners or so, she is creeping up that top half and finally leaving it all on the course.  But, as Brian reminded me on the phone, "I'm not at all competitive."

And then there is Lucy.  That child has obviously given up sleep and is "finished" with everyone but me and daddy.  Her newest word is "STOP."  I have had alot of hair pulled out this week.  She also had a shining moment.  About the time I thought we could take no more, Brian sat her in a chair at our table at the Lodge.  She had made eating very difficult for both of us.  She picked up a fork with red velvet cake icing on it.  She held it in her hand and licked off the icing.  She did not notice the silence that settled around us as she carefully handed the fork back to Brian and watched him put more cake on the fork.  She lifted the fork again and gently, even though it took two tries, put it in her mouth and handed the fork back.  Sometimes it is the little things that keep us going.

Ziploc Bags

Today,I am cleaning out the closet we call "The Store."  The store is actually a small closet off our bedroom that most people would use as a linen closet.  I use it as the location for extra soap, toothpaste, razors etc.  One could ask why we need such a place.  Why not just run to the store and buy a new tube of toothpaste when you run out? But that would require a different blog and perhaps some psychological analysis.  For the moment,just let me babble on about my discoveries.  First off, we obviously never use body wash.  I found huge bottles of it that are so old they are separating into waters and oils.  Don't think we don't get clean (Okay, one of my children is questionable,but that may also require counseling to answer.)  We do have an abundance of soap, ranging from Brian's Lever 2000 to stacks of wonderful home made soaps from Aunt Lana.  These smell wonderful and I must worry about running out,because I actually discovered a secret stash.  I know,more counseling.  I also discovered that I must buy men's razors every time I buy women's.  This would seem to make sense accept,in this house there is one male who shaves sporadically and 3 females whom shave regularly.  It also seems the females do not mind the smell of Gillette, but the male does mind the smell of raspberries.  If you are a male under 6 years old, it seems it is fine to use blueberry or strawberry scented products as long as Mater or Buzz Lightyear is pictured on the bottle.  An outsider looking in, would also assume we have a love of hydrogen peroxide- true, and some obsession with travel sized mouthwashes- not sure, we never use them at home and based on how few are open, obviously not when we travel either. Perhaps the most interesting discovery are the extreme number of quart sized, TSA approved, ziploc bags.  As a public rule follower (behind closed doors I have a terrible attitude), I dutifully pack for every trip in assorted bags.  I buy travel sized items because I always forget what's in the reusable ones.  Don't ask how many times I have conditioned my hair with lotion and washed my hands with conditioner. I am really anal about trip planning.  Okay, ocd doesn't even touch it.  I spend hours assembling each bag and kit and making sure we know where everything is.  But I obviously do not have the same out of control feelings about unpacking.  I found 15 travel toothpastes and even baby shampoo from Russia trips.  All packed in ziploc bags with things like unopened visine (airplanes are drying) and tide spot remover (please, most of you have seem my kids, I obviously never use this.)  But today is a new day. Out with the old and in with the..... large ziploc bags brought in to hold all the travel sized toothpaste.

Homeschool review

For the last two school years, I received an amazing gift.  I had the blessing of spending all day educating and training my oldest child.  I got to watch her think and process and discover and yes, sometimes, labor.  It was not a venture we entered into lightly and we knew from start to finish it was a two year term.  According to the book Love in a Time of Homeschooling, there is at least an anecdotal found trend in "sabbatical homeschooling."  According to her research there appears to be a growing movement of parents removing their children from more traditional school settings for only a year or two.  Most commonly in the 4th- 6th grades.  This is after kids have learned to read and work independently and before higher math classes begin.  The reasons are numerous and varied including things like filling gaps left by a bad teacher or  slower development, or getting out of bully situations.  More common was a desire to help kids rediscover a love of learning and get to do things that have been largely pushed out of the public school curriculum.  Read real books for hours at a time.  Travel. Complete huge hands on projects that reach across subject areas.  Pursue a personal passion..... or find one.  Public schools or so hounded by tests, they have little time to allow kids to think or create.  After school activities have become so demanding, that even working in a day trip to a state park or historic site can seem like a daunting task.  Anyways.....

So began our journey.  It was a a wonderful trip.  We averaged one Newberry winning book a week.  Brianna found a love of reading.  We went to space camp.  We wandered through great art exhibits at the Frist.  We watched old documentaries and sobbed through World War II novels.  Brianna made posters and built models.  We danced Native American dances, and created brilliant art pieces inspired by masters with no 45 minute time limit.  And we cried and stressed and lamented for hours, HOURS!!!, over fractions and decimals.  One of my favorite moments was one day during a social studies lesson.  I knew before hand that Brianna was an extreme kinesthetic learner, but this particular morning, we were working on identifying land formations using the globe.  "Come feel the mountain ranges, Mama.  Isn't it neat how you can slide your hand across and feel the differences?"  I just loved watching her think.

Homeschooling was the hardest job I have ever had, and I can only imagine how much harder educating several children at once would be.  Brianna came out of our experience better educated and a better thinker than she started.  She still doesn't love school, but she does enjoy knowledge.  Brian says I spent two years worrying she would have a big "H" branded on her, and he is probably right.  Now that its over, I see it is not an H that got branded on her, but a huge piece of me that walked out the door to middle school.  Hopefully it won't ruin her.