Until Next Week...

Dear blog readers:

For your general information, I have actually been away from home the past 3 Mondays! Thanks to William's game of tag, I had scheduled posts for the first two, but am in the midst of all sort of busyness and therefore must beg your indulgence in excusing another relievingly eerily silent week-beginning.

Anyway, to tide you over until my next spurt of randomness, I hereby bestow upon you both giggles and quips. Courtesy of Pinterest, of course. :p

I feel for her. I do.

Poor little bunny, lettuce weep for you.

Everyone reads this with three different voices speaking, right?

Just like this goose. See a wet spot, think a lake. We're talking mountains out of mole hills here, people.
In the most optimistic sense possible.

Always.

So live a little.

Hello, hello! Guess what day it is? Not hump day (unfortunately), but Monday, which means I have 31 more minutes to upload a post.

The only problem is, the post I was going to share today isn't finished being written is, uh, experiencing technical difficulties loading words onto the page, and had to be postponed. Thus, I am here to tell you...to tell you...whatever pops into my head to say at 11:31 at night! (2 minutes have apparently flown by since I first began to ramble.)

So what do I care to say at such a late hour? That summer is flying by waaaay too quickly, but - provided we get to keep the fantastic weather - dad has been working hard to convince me that fall is certainly a good thing coming.

Step one in this campaign was that we finally have one of these puppies for our 1800-2700 pounds of apples we get each year:

See how you can crush and press the apples at the same time? Plus, it apparently improves the quantity by quite a bit, and also, you know, we don't have to rent one anymore and lug it back and forth. My mouth is watering for cider and my hands are itching to once again compete with Charae for the best cider-pressing team!

Step two in Father's Fabulous Fall campaign was that, quite unexpectedly, we were confronted with the fact that he can make killer apple pie. I'm talking seriously amazing. And I never knew it in all my born days!

I guess you could say that, here in the Evergreen State, fall is synonymous with apple abundance ~ thus, much as I love the warmth and the sunshine, Father's campaign has been successful, and I am looking forward with great anticipation to the coming months.

14 minutes left.

um...

Oh! I can tell you my Chick Fil A story! Back in July, when I was road tripping home from Branson with my grandparents, we happened to be going through a part of the country where there were several - you guessed it - Chick Fil As! Having never been to one, but supporting what the restaurant has stood for, we stopped there for lunch one day, with fantastic consequences.

Rolling out of the restaurant later....

Papa and I ordered a sandwich; grandma ordered a salad, and papa added a sundae to his meal. I toyed with the idea of ordering fries, too, since...I really like fries, but decided against it. Only to have cashier (who we think was a manager) ask me (upon finding it was my first time at a Chick Fil A), "Do you hate french fries?" "Um, no. I love them," was my confused answer. "Well, then," he informed me, beginning to punch a secret code of buttons on his register, "I'm going to give you a complimentary fry, because you have to try this sauce with them," (handing me a stack of sauces). "Ok - cool! Thanks!" I decided I'd gotten a pretty sweet deal. Little did I know, it was just the beginning.

"You know," he paused before ringing up our total, "you really need to try our chicken sauce, too, so I'm going to give you a complimentary chicken. No - two. One fried and one grilled. You'll love this sauce," (handing me another stack). "Wow...thank you," was all I could manage now, wondering how in the world I was going to eat all of this.

"And," he added, warming to his theme, "two cookies!"

By now, I was chuckling so hard, I could hardly manage a "thank-you."

"You know," his exuberance waning, "Chick Fil A was originally from Georgia, so I'm going to give you," (beginning to go crazy on the buttons again) "a Georgia peach milkshake as well!"

At this point, I think my eyes popped out of my head. How could he give me all this free food? How could I possibly eat it all?

Is this a normal amount of food for 3 people???

I cannot believe all this food

Took me a while to finish everything... :p

And now, my dears, it is 12:10. So I'm late anyway. Would have been on time...or at least closer to on time, except for the internet skipped out on me for a while.

So, since we're here, I might as well wish you a happy Tuesday!!

And ask if you can taste the apple pies yet.

And advise you to tell the cashier if it's your first time at Chick Fil A.

And bid you good night.

New York, New York! Part I: You Just Don't Want to Know

So when I said "regular programming," I, naturally, meant "begin to ease into the good habit of posting once a week, which shall, in a few weeks time, possibly return to a consistent posting on Mondays." You all know how to read between the lines, right?

Good. Now that I have that off my chest...

Spring break (alluded to in aforementioned previous post) was begun with an adventure, the telling of which you shall all hereby be subjected to, complete with pictures. Friday morning, early (and I mean early early. As in, we didn't really go to bed, just took a quick 2-hour nap sometime in the predawn hours) my friend Kate and I collected a few random belongings and hopped on a plane bound for unknown lands.

Sleep deprivation had surprisingly no affect on us, and we remained calm and sane for our entire sunrise flight.

However, all semblance of cool collected-ness vanished like chocolate chip cookies when, after landing, making it to our room, and hastily changing, we found ourselves sitting in the way-back seats of a theater, preparing to take in the delights of Broadway's (as in the Broadway. On Broadway. The real Broadway. The street. In New York City) - as I was saying, Broadway's Cinderella. Sure, we looked like drowned rats because it had suddenly started pouring when we left our room and I had forgotten to grab my umbrella from our stash of random items. Sure, we were shivering with cold because someone kept opening a door to the fire escape (oh the adventures of economical ticket purchasing!). Sure, we were starving from not having eaten for the past 8 of our travelling hours - but none of that mattered. We had finally arrived at the place of our dreams: New York City!!

 

Our first view of Broadway at night!

wet & happy

                                                                      Our view from the way-back was still great!

As the curtains opened, Kate and I felt our excitement bubbling over. Let the adventures begin! Two magical hours later, as the final strains of music faded from the dazzling performance, our shivering, growling stomachs demanded attention before returning 'home,' and thus we found ourselves crowding into a tiny, delicious little shop called "Pie Face" for some piping hot supper!

I had mini 'Thai Chicken' & 'Bacon and Egg' pies!

A dash through the rain, a couple stops on the subway, and we emerged from the deep underground desirous of two things: hot showers and bed. It was 11:30 when we dashed up the stairs to our room. Somehow, though, it was 12:30 when we finally entered our room. You see, we had this wee problem with the door...

But you don't want to hear about our trials, right? About knocking, and ringing, and calling our host on her cell phone (she was unavailable), and (trying) calling our parents back at home, and the discussion of whether we should call a cab to take us to a hotel or sleep in the stairwell, and the tears of frustration that are inevitable when one is exhausted and cold and wet and locked out of the only place resembling home...or about when we finally discovered the lock just worked a little differently and we'd been raising a ruckus on the stairs for absolutely no reason at all. You just don't even want to know, right? Didn't think so.

There were two very tired, slightly subdued, reluctantly apprehensive girls sleeping in NYC that night. However, as the sun rises, so does hope, and when the light of day and gleam of blue sky blazed through our window the following morning, we found ourselves ready for whatever this city could throw at us!



We planned our route, guzzled our breakfast (that is to say, we bought juice and drank it) and were on our way to visit another part of Broadway (read: shopping)! Somehow, it took nearly an hour longer than we intended. You see, we had this wee problem with the subway...

But you don't want to hear about our separation, right? About my failure to realize until (apparently) the last minute that we were at our stop, and hopping up saying "this is us," only to hear a tragic "SARAH!!" and turn to see the door closing between my friend and I, as her frantic, grinning face slid away into the darkness. About me, doubled over, absolutely convulsing with silent laughter on a lonely subway stop, straining every nerve to not break into out-loud, maniacal peals, thinking, "I've done it, now. I've lost Kate in New York City," and seeing over and over again in my mind's eye her expression as she and the subway deserted me. About the well-known fact that cell phones don't work below ground, and all I could do was pray she would get off and wait for me at the next stop (since I was route planner, she had no idea where we were going, and no map with which to try and figure it out). You just don't even want to know, right? Didn't think so.

Thus it came about that our shopping time on Broadway totaled about 20 minutes, during which time we snagged a hugely over-rated hot dog from a stand (talk about puny) and enjoyed some fab people-watching. After confirming our route with a subway-office-worker-person, we hopped on a train bound for Battery Park for our 2pm Statue-of-Liberty departure! Somehow, we didn't make it on time. You see, we had this wee problem with weekend train schedules...

But you don't want to hear about our spontaneous visit to Staten Island, do you? About that moment when the next station was announced as "DeKalb" and everyone else suddenly bolted off the subway, leaving us to blink at the map (trying to find this fabled "DeKalb") and chant, "that lady said this was the right train." You don't want to hear about our arrival - which we discovered to be quite a bit out of our way - at 1:45 on Staten Island, only to learn from a helpful local that "the trains run different routes from the map on weekends," or about our indecision on how to get where we wanted to go if we couldn't trust posted train routes, about the kind older gentleman who took us under his wing until we arrived - 30 minutes late - at our destination. As a whole, you just don't even want to know, right? Didn't think so.

Thus flew the first 20 hours of our time in the Big Apple. Tune in next week for Part II: Statues, Sunburns, and Central Park. (Tell me that doesn't sound enthralling.)

Watch-It Wednesday: Let It Go!

You don't have to have watched the wonderful new "Frozen" (although, seriously, if you haven't - do it) to appreciate the dazzling qualities of the soundtrack. This specific single has absolutely exploded in the musical world.

...And the not-so-musical-but-equally-adorable world.

Just let it go this Wednesday. :)

The Things They Say

Some of the biggest smiles in my life are Littles. My own three youngest siblings, the students who march through my door each week, and the cute kiddos I see at church and babysit ~ these are the ones that keep life hopping and happy. Besides the fun of teaching and playing with them, their constant stream of silliness (intentional, and otherwise) keeps me chuckling, no matter what the day has held. If you don't personally know the truth of this, here are some conversations that have taken place around here, lately...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Zach: "I was just breathing through my ear!"

*Various Siblings*: "That's impossible."

Zach: "No, really! Air was coming in and going out!"

Gracie: "You have an eardrum there, you can't breath through it!"
 

Methinks it's time for a discussion on air flow & anatomy.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Meg: "If actions speak louder than words, then they also speak louder than words in 'Whack'! Shouldn't that be true??"
 

Thanks, Meg! Now I have a logical defense when I find myself tongue-tied & have to just point at someone.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Me: (Placing supper on the table) "Ok you guys, time to eat!"

Little #1: "But...but...but...where's my fork?!?"

Me: "You don't have one yet. Run and get it!"

Little #2: "I have to go get my fork, too!"

Me: "Yep! Go for it!"

Little #3: (while sliding his fork back & forth across the table, yet in dead earnest) "I need a fork, too!"
 

Ahh, peer pressure, how young you start.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

You know that part in The Pacifier when Murney has to play Mother Superior for The Sound of Music skit? We were suffering through watching it w/the younger kids, when Zach suddenly blurted out, "Wow! I never knew Mother Superiors had such hairy legs!"
 

...which causes me to stop and consider: Do Mother Superiors shave their legs?

Oh the things I would never wonder if it wasn't for Zachary.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Me: "Meg, put this away."

Meg: "Ewww!"

Me: "Big whoop. It's just clean underwear."

Zachary: "And if your a girl, you wear it every day!"
 

"If you're a girl"?? I don't even want to ask.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Then there's the list of instructions I had to give Maddy, all in one afternoon of knitting.

Please tell me, are these instructions rocket science? 'Cause she seemed to think they were...

 

"Maddy, you may not put your knitting needle in your nose!"

"Maddy, don't scratch your face with your knitting needle!"

"Maddy, get your knitting needle out of the chip bag!"
 

Note to self: knitting needles are complicated tools of {apparently} ambiguous purpose. So much for the explained-by-the-name theory.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

What would we do without Littles?



This Week's Forecast: Beware!!!

Hehehehe - wouldn't it be great if it were true? :)

For Jenny

Dear Jenny,

You have no idea what all I've learned in the course of trying to get a single picture for you...

1. I've learned that I really, really don't like the quality of my laptop camera.

2. I've confirmed that self-portraits are soo not cool, and that I'm better behind a lens than in front.

3. I learned that I have a very pointy nose. Yes, I'd gone 21 years of life without realizing it! :p

And all for you. All 'cause you asked. Here it is ~ appreciate it, for it will not happen again! :)

(notice I chose the nose-cropped-out photo :)

Your now-cross-eyed friend,
Sarah

Watch-It Wednesday: Yo!

Hello wonderful people! Have you realized just how many "Watch-It Wednesday"s I have in a row here? Yeah, well, I have too...suffice to say, it's been a crazy summer. The fair, family vacation, Les Miserables in San Fransisco, Family Camp...the list goes on - busy, busy summer, these last two months have been. Finally, however, we are settling down to normal life again next week, and I can safely promise you that there will begin to be at least one post between each of the videos to break up the monotony on this blog. :)

In the meantime...here's a funny commercial that Daddy was quoting to us the other day... Enjoy!

 

Yo, friends! Have a great Wednesday!! :)

 

Watch-It Wednesday: Bored Driver

It's vacation week at the Coder household. First part of the week has been a "staycation" - we've gone hiking, to the beach, played games, watched movies, read books...but those pix and stories will come later. Tomorrow is preparation day. We'll be cleaning, shopping, and packing for a nice long drive down to California, split into two days. By Saturday night we just might be...

...bored drivers. :p Happy Wednesday!

 

30 Day Book Challenge! Day 28: Titles

Day 28: What is your favorite book title?

Oh dear, there is an everlasting list of well-titled books. However, I will share one title that I just laugh at every time I think of:

Photo Credit

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - isn't that just one of the most wonderfully-hilarious titles you ever heard of? Sadly, I can give no personal insight into the book, as it is on my "to-read" list, instead of the "have-read" one, but here is Amazon's synopsis for you:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ahhh, yes, I can't wait to read this book! Have you read it? What do you consider the best title a book's ever seen?
 

30 Day Book Challenge! Day 21: Never Grow Up

"No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty - except, of course, books of information. The only imaginative works we ought to grow out of are those which it would have been better not to have read at all." - C.S. Lewis On Stories: and Other Essays on Literature

Day 21: What is your favorite book from your childhood?

Confusing!!! Aren't I still a child? All my life, whenever I referred to "when I was younger" or "when I was little" I was greeted by grown-ups' smirks and chuckles. Then, suddenly, I'm being asked by my Little Friends to tell stories about "when you were a kid" and being asked question about my childhood - exactly when did the switch occur, please?

Anyway, I completely agree with C.S. Lewis in regards to "children's" books - and I was very blessed growing up to enjoy mostly good books which I have not yet outgrown and never plan to! That said, my first few answers would have been The Chronicles of Narnia and the Elsie Dinsmore series, but I've already mentioned those, so I shall instead answer:

Photo Credit

Derwood Inc. is hilarious story told in the first person by an oldest sister about the adventures she shares with her brother, Jack. The Derwoods are a family of 8 in which, to quote Penny, "It takes some figuring to work out just who is who." Penny and Jack are the oldest two, and barely knew their mother, who died shortly after Jack's birth. Later, their dad re-married a widow - with a daughter from her previous marriage - and then their parents had three more children together. Dubbed "Derwood Inc." by the dad, this is just a plain ol' sweet story about the lives, struggles, and love of a big Christian family. Join the side-splitting drama of hearing Jack's Fifty-Ton-Mile-Long-Giant-Killer-Octopus stories, serving unsweetened cherry pie at the Ladies' Auxiliary Luncheon, and being "caught" stealing some sweet old lady's silver! Oh yeah, and there's a big mystery as Penny - who dreams of being the next "Amy Belle" of her favorite detective series - and Jack accidentally stumble upon and break up a gang sending information to Russia...but see what I mean? Even the mystery is funny! This is just about the only book that, without fail, no matter how many times I've read it, I can't help laughing out loud when reading again. Jack is hilarious, and honestly, I think I liked it greatly because it reminded me of my relationship as the oldest sister with my bro, Ben. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jack, how did you get out of there?" I tried not to let on how scared I had been. "What took you so long?"

He looked embarrassed. "I - uh - got locked in a closet."

"They locked you in a closet?"

"N-no. I-I locked myself in there by accident." He was gathering up our shoe-shine stuff, trying to act calm.

"You've been in that store two hours. Do you mean you spent two hours in a closet?"

"Course not. I'm not that foolish. I only spent an hour and forty-five minutes in the closet. The first five minutes and the last ten minutes I was as free as a bird."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No, Penny. They're shipping their mattresses to Alaska. Do you know what is up there?"

"What?"

"Russia."

"Really? Russia's up in Alaska? Doesn't that mean we own it?"

"No! If I knew as little about geography as you, I shouldn't let myself be seen in public, Penny Derwood."

"You could only do that if you were invisible. And you're the one who said Russia is in Alaska, not me. What did you mean by it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and the one I quote all the time...

"Freddy!" I screamed. I ran in and snatched him back, but it was too late.

Jack and the girls heard me scream, and they came to see what was wrong. The tall bookcase wavered from the push it received. The topmost books plopped gracefully to the floor, and then the whole thing fell forward with a crash. Right across the bed.

"Oh no," Jack groaned.

As if in agreement, the bed suddenly broke.

...From downstairs, we heard the front door open. "Kids? Anybody home?"

It never fails. Things can go well for two solid hours, and the one minute when everything falls apart is the same minute that Mom and Dad walk through the door.

..."My hands have that itchy feeling that tells me I'm going to be holding a snow shovel soon," Jack said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think this book deserves the #1 Book to Make You Smile and Laugh award!
 

Don't Laugh

I've always been told I have a terrible poker face. In fact, my face resembles more a large-print book, lying open for anyone to read, than the controlled, calculated expressions of...say, Lady Deadlock. Sometimes this is good, sometimes this is bad. But apparently, the Littles have banded together to give me some practice in keeping a straight face.

From prayers….

 (Madeline): Dear Lord, thank you for the food, and have a nice day. And please help the flowers to grow and us to grow and…AMEN!

To supper topics…

"In ten years,” Zachary gasped, “I'll be seventeen!"

"In ten years” James countered, “I'll twenty!"

"In a billion years," Meggy chimed in matter-of-factly, "I'll be a-billion-and-six!"


To clean-up conversations…

"Zeke, we need to get the table cleaned off! Is any of this stuff yours?" Zach screetched to a halt mid-gallop as he whizzed through the room, passing piles of school books on the kitchen table. Spinning around, he continued to shuffle from one foot to the other as he looked at me, and registered the question. "Uh...Sarah, can we... um... No! Actually, uh..."

He was still dancing.

"Can I go to the bathroom first? I really can't talk right now!!"

To school discussions…


Photo Credit :)



"Chickens," I began, as the Littles and I settled down for math class (Note: I really am not sure why or when I began calling Team K5 "chickens". It is not, in any way, related to their looks, supply of bravery, or the noise they make when they're happy. It's just...what I call them). "Chickens, why do we study math?"

Many were the reasons listed by my wee students, but by far the favorite was Madeline's matter-of-fact  reply:

"Well, it's just 'cause, in case we need to know math. Like, 'what's nine plus nine?' I know that. It's..." she paused for a minute, pursing her lips "... it's seventeen!"

My poker face has a long way to go. How's yours?

Aching Sides....

Our family loves Brian Regan. Tonight, Benj discovered some of his new routines, and Mom, Dad, he, and I sat here in tears for nearly an hour. My two favorites? "Big Families" and "My Kids".



There now, I just gave you nearly fifteen minutes of an abs workout (don't tell me your sides aren't aching)! You're welcome. :D

What is This?

Two Families.

Three Hours.

Nineteen Kids.

No Parents.

How could they possibly fill the time?

Check in Wednesday to find out!