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Friday, November 11, 2016

14 Year Old in The House

Today is my son's birthday.  He's turning 14.  I can't believe it.  Everyone says it.  Everyone says they grow up in a blink of an eye and it's true.  This pictures explains what it was like for me.  One second the picture on the right, playing with light sabers and Buzz Lightyear, the next the picture on the left, growing into a young man.


He started 8th grade this year.

This past year I have had to purchase him three different sizes of shoes.  I had to buy new jeans every couple of months because they got too short and now we shop in the men's department.  It is strange.  I was not prepared.  He suddenly was taller than me and his fingers were longer than mine (not that that was such an accomplishment - my fingers are like Vienna Sausages).


He and his sister had always been 1/2 inch apart in height until this past year.  This year, this happened:



Last October he went to Falls Creek for a short fall break camp.  It was a dip-your-toe kind of thing for me.  First time away at a camp without either parent.  I survived.  Then came this summer when he wanted to go for a whole week to Falls Creek.  I did this every summer when I was in the youth group.  He would be fine.  I know this in my head.  I do.  However, I still went down for the day.  :)



He is growing in a fine young man.  He is learning new things like riding a motorcycle with a clutch and change his tire.

broken brake lever


The officer bought his uncle's old truck.  Eventually this will be the boy's truck.  There is a lot of work that needs to be done on it, but they are working on it together.  It's been a fun project for them.  They just got the motor back from the shop, and now they have to put it back together.  Fingers crossed. 





Although he's grown a foot, almost literally, he's not too big to get a hug from Grandma Margaret or learn chess from Papa.  I hope he never gets to big for either of those.



 Happy 14th Birthday son.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Getting to Know Them 2.0

I got on my blog to write a post about my son turning 14 tomorrow.  14!  I saw this post and I thought I would do round two since it's been a year.  You can find the original post here.



 September 2016

Answers in pink belong to daughter and answers in blue belong to son.  

1.  At what age is a person an adult? Why do you think so? 

18 years old - because you say it
18 years old because that's what I heard 

2.  If could change one rule that your family has, what would you change?

playing out in the dark by myself
bedtime 

3.  What is something that makes your family special?
 
we all love puppies
we are all different 

4.  Of all the things you are learning, what do you 
think will be the most useful when you are an adult? 

learning more things about dogs so I can help them 
things I'm learning in church 

5.  Are you a good friend? Why do you think so? 

yes, because I tell my friends about God
yes, and no because I like to watch out for my friends, but I also like to "jack with them" 

6.  How would the world be different if animals could talk? 

they could tell you how they are feeling
it would be a lot less animals - BANG! 

7.  Would you cheat on a test if you knew you would not get caught? Why or why not?

what kind of test
no, because "cheating is wrong" 

8.  If you could grow up to be famous, what would you want to be famous for? 

being a dog whisperer 
doing wild stunts 

9.  If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do? 

prank my brother
prank my family 

10.  What is the best gift you have ever given? Why was it so special?

Saige, my American Girl Doll
my truck 

11.  What is the hardest thing about being a kid?

rules
adults

12.  If you were a teacher and the kids in your class would not listen to you, what would you do?

detention 
I'd drill sargeant them:  10 pushups each

13.  Where is your favorite place in the world? 

go see Ma and Pa again, ride my dirt bike and eat some of Ma's biscuits
home

14.  If you could give one gift to every single child in the world, what gift would you give?

a Bible
a Lego set

15.  If you could travel back in time three years and visit your younger self, what advice would you give yourself?

don't tattle on your brother so much
start studying for your truck now

16.  What five words do you think most describe you?

awesome, truthful, pet-loving, loves God, daring
daring, awesome, cool, amazing, and ignorant

17.  If you could invent something that would make life easier for people, what would you invent?

super speed
teleporter

18.  When was a time that you felt lucky?

when I got my dog
when I was alone on a dodgeball court with a bunch of college kids and I lasted as long as I did


19.  What do you think would be the hardest thing about being blind?

you wouldn't be able to do some sports
everything

20.  If you could make one rule that everyone in the world had to follow, what rule would you make? Why?

just be nice
no war 

I was surprised some of the answers were the same - verbatim.  Not surprised my girl's love for dogs still shines though.  I giggled when my girl said, "What kind of test?" and sighed when my son said his favorite place is home.  What more can a mom ask for right now from a one day from being 14 year old boy.  Love them both!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps

I made chicken cashew lettuce wraps for dinner last night.  Well actually, I made chicken cashew and served it over rice.  I found the original recipe at shewearsmanyhat.com.  You can find the recipe here.  I've made chicken lettuce wraps several times, but it wasn't as tasty as this recipe.  Plus, I really like cashews.  Overall, the recipe is very easy to make.  The hardest part is cutting up the chicken into little pieces.  However, since I'm "rockin' my 40s" this isn't a problem for me anymore.  I still use a fork and a knife so I don't have to actually touch the chicken, but I didn't have to wear latex gloves this time so that's progress.  Baby steps friends.  Since I often make Korean Beef Bowl, I usually have all these ingredients on hand.  



Here's the recipe:

Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

For sauce:
2 T. of soy sauce
1 T. of rice vinegar
1 T. of brown sugar
1/4 t. of ground red pepper
1/4 t. of ground ginger
1 t. of sesame seed oil

For Cashew Chicken:
2 chicken breasts diced
8 leaves of iceburg lettuce
3 T. of canola oil
1 c. of diced onion
2 garlic cloves, mined
1 t. of soy sauce
1/4 c. of cashews
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

For sauce
1.  Mix all stir fry sauce ingredients together.  Make sure the brown sugar has dissolve and set aside. 

For Cashew Chicken
1.  Heat 2 T. canola oil in pan over medium heat.  Add diced chicken and brown.  Remove chicken from oil and dump juices.  Add 1 T. of canola oil and heat.  Add onions, garlic and 1 t. of soy sauce to pan and brown.  When onions and garlic are brown and tender, add sauce, browned chicken and cashews.  Saute mixture for a few minutes and remove from heat. 
2.  Spoon chicken mixture into individual lettuce leaves or serve over rice.






We doubled this recipe for our family.  We always like left overs.  I think you could make this early if you need to but do not add the cashews.  When you reheat it, add the cashew, that way they stay crunchy.  You can always modify if you'd like by adding water chesnuts, mushrooms, or other veggies.  

Two things:

1) Yes, I am totally ignoring that I haven't blogged in over a year and a half and just picking up where I left off.  :)  
 2) After this awesome meal, one of my favorite dishes was shattered.  :(



Sad day.  I guess I'll have to go get more!  Yay!