Just waiting for summer...

Very little of this post will be about today, but one note I must make...
This evening I sent the following text to my friend, Malinda:

"More of my house is 'mostly clean' than is 'mostly dirty.' I...don't remember the last time that happened..."

Yes, today was kind to me in that department. I was able to get things done. And I managed to do it without neglecting my children. I think.
Alert the authorities.
We're in the twilight zone or something...

So anyway, I just wanted to document that occurrence today...in case I ever look back and wonder if my house was ever 'mostly clean.'

The last week has been good. We're just doing our thing, waiting for school to end! James' preschool graduation is tomorrow and that's it for him! Wow! Just three more days for Bethany and she will be officially done with kindergarten.
And they will be mine for the summer.
Mwahahaha...

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves . . .

This picture was taken a few nights ago when it was just me and the two boys for dinnertime.
We ate leftovers with the back door open.
It was a freakishly cold day.
As in, within two days, we went from ninety-something to sixty-something.
Funny how sixty-something is cold to us.
Anyway, can somebody tell me when my baby boys turned into human beings? Look at them! They are practically TEENAGERS in this picture!!!!
(You must forgive me, my youngest sister is graduating highschool in a couple of days and it has me all out of whack and uber-conscious of time passing way too quickly...)

As we head into summer, I have this half-set, sort-of-determined goal to start making more of our food from scratch. I love the idea and would love to embrace it whole-heartedly. I think I am always a little afraid to fully commit to anything because it never feels like I am quite in charge of how my time is spent from day to day. So...I half-set goals! :)
I pine and pine and pine after an electric wheat grinder. Then, one day, I realized that I have a perfectly good hand-grinder sitting in my pantry completely unused after two years of ownership. I bought it as part of building home storage stuff 'just in case.' As in, I would have it 'just in case' we didn't have power and I needed to grind something.
I figure it is time it got used so I can stop pining. Or...pine less.
I have way too much wheat sitting in my pantry to justify continuously buying flour to make bread. And...especially way too much to justify buying bread already made. At least not every week. Because I get excited about self-reliance.
SO...we ground some wheat.
Yes, we.
You must know by now that that's how we roll.
(You know, child labor)

After I tested it out, Bethany went first.

And she was...excited? Or...scheming in a villainous way...?

It was lookin good!

James took a turn. He was not messing around. That kid has some power in him.

Ben took a small turn.
He wasn't especially interested.
No picture.

But I did get this picture.
Action shot.
Look at all the goodness.
That is, if you don't have a problem with gluten. :)
I actually used a recipe that was part wheat and part oats and it was pretty darn good.

The kids helped measure, pour, and mix. Their favorite part.

And it all turned out beautifully!
I will probably use this bread recipe through the summer, experimenting with different grains as well. Ooh, and I found a recipe for Ezekiel bread that looks fairly straightforward. I always thought the stuff was complicated. So, I am excited to try that as well!

Something I made today that I have been meaning to do for a while - - homemade salad dressing. I would love to get good at this so we never have to buy it from the store.
I started with Italian dressing because it sounded gooood.
I used my new Ninja blender which I LOVE thus far.

It all turned out nice and pretty! I am going to try it tomorrow...I was nervous to try it without it chilling for a good while first...I don't know, I'm weird about food temperatures...
But I was happy with how it turned out aesthetically! Haha

Some scenes from after school today...
The kids were gathered in my bedroom. Probably because it was clean with the bed made for the first time in a looong time. They love to get on the bed when it's made and throw the pillows all over.

So, that's really all there is to that! Man, are we boring lately or what? Actually, it feels pretty fantastic to be able to just sit down and narrate some highlights of the last week! It means I'm caught up! :) And it means that nothing too crazy is going on around here! I will take my fair share of crazy. But, it is lovely to have some tame times as well.
Well, you know, as tame as it gets with 3, 5, and 6-year-olds!
It's probably the calm before the storm. All the year-end festivities start happening tomorrow! In fact, I've got cookies going for some teachers' baskets right now. Got roped into it by a PTSO friend. It's best they rope me in...because I forget to do things like that on my own!
Someday I'll remember.

And anyway...time to go sort through old baby clothes. Time to get 'em out of the house before I get any crazy ideas... :)
No, no, just kidding. I don't really ever get the itch to add another little one to the bunch. But I DO get the overwhelming desire to scream at the heavens "SLOW THINGS DOWN, WILL YA???"
Sorry.
There's that out of whack, uber-conscious about time passing quickly thing again...