We had green pancakes for breakfast with green milk. Flynn got off to preschool and was excited to be there. I confirmed with our home teacher’s family that they were coming to dinner. I also tried to invite some more guests since we had a lot of food to eat. I got our traditional corned beef going in the crock pot. I picked up Flynn from preschool and we came home for a quick lunch before I had to go to the dentist for a crown replacement. The kids got to play at Mandy’s house while I had my mouth taken apart. About 20 minutes before I was done with a really long dentist appointment I get this text:

“Flynn threw up three times. I know you can’t leave, so don’t worry. He doesn’t have a fever. He’s laying on the sofa with water and I’m making top ramen.”

Great.

Poor boy. When I got to Mandy’s he was laying on a towel on the couch in some spare pants from Logan and looking really pale. Mandy had taken his soiled clothes and car seat cover and tossed them in the wash (Poor Mandy!). He threw up again a few minutes after I arrived and then fell asleep.

Well, I didn’t want to wake him to bring him home, especially without his clothes and car seat cover. And I couldn’t have people over for dinner with sickness in the house. So, there went the rest of my St Patrick’s Day.

Sorry to anyone who was invited for an Irish dinner. We’ll catch you next week.

Flynn had preschool this morning at Nash’s house. They learned about the brontosaurus (apatosaurus) and got to make papier mache dinosaur eggs. Pretty cool.

I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. I sure do miss our favorite dentist, Dr Amelang, but with the new dental insurance Clint’s company is providing we don’t get to go to him anymore. So, I had a cleaning which really really hurt (it never hurt over the past 10 years at Amelang’s) a special irrigation to help my gums heal (and they squirted it in my eye) and the bad news that I have to have a crown replaced asap. I called my favorite dentist on my way home to see what it would cost to have him do the work instead, but it’ll be about $200 more. Phoey. I just wish I could go back to Dr Amelang.

Because my mouth hurt, I made some nice soft and tasty food for dinner. Sweet N Sour Meatballs over rice. Penny gobbled it up. Flynn mostly stuck to the meatballs.

It’s Grammie’s birthday today. We weren’t able to do a webcam chat with her, but we’ll try for tomorrow. Hope your day was great.

• 1 1/2 c rice
• 3 c water
• 12 frozen meatballs (or make your own)
• 1/2 package frozen peppers & onions
• 1 can pineapple chunks, juice reserved
• 2/3 c sugar
• 2 t chicken bouillon
• 1/4 c (4 T) cornstarch
• 2 1/2 c pineapple juice (add water to drained pineapple to make enough)
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 1/4 c vinegar

Add rice and water to rice cooker. In steamer basket (mine fits over the rice and steams at the same time) add meatballs and peppers & onions. Cook.

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, bouillon and cornstarch. Mix well, then stir in pineapple juice, soy sauce and vinegar. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. This makes a lot of sauce, so save half of it in a separate container for another meal. It freezes well.

When meatballs are heated through add them with peppers & onions and pineapple chunks to the sweet n sour sauce. Serve over hot rice.

Yup I’m still a math nerd, and probably always will be.

We invited a bunch of people at church to come over for some pie this evening in honor of the day. It was such fun! We had a lot of people turn out, and with very little notice. Just invited people at church. Maybe we should have all our parties be spur-of-the-moment things. We figured we had 50 people come and 6 pies plus 2 rice krispy treat pies Clint made. It was a hit, though we had too much pie left over when it was all done.

It is also this guy’s birthday today. We were trying to decided if it was sheer coincidence that Einstein was born on Pi Day, or if somewhere along the way it got fudged around. Like, maybe that’s why February only has 28 days and March has 31 because they wanted Einstein’s birthday to be on 3-14. Hmmm…. It’s a pretty cool day to be born on anyways.

We also got to have Clint back tonight. It’s good to have us all together again.

Nikki invited us to meet her down there since she has some tickets that expire on Monday. We got there right as the park opened, parking in the free parking, so we had 5 hours of fun with minimal lines and crowds. It was pretty good for a Friday, I think. Nikki and the girls met us down there at around 11 and the whole time we were waiting for them Flynn kept asking “Where’s Nikki?” Or maybe he was saying “Where’s Mickey?” I’m not sure.

We went on It’s a Small World finally! It seems like every time we’ve gone to Disneyland in the past 6 years it has been closed. Penny absolutely loved it! Flynn liked it too, but Penny kept oohing and aahing over it. It was so fun to hear her.

Then we headed over to DCA to meet up with our friends. Our cousins Cheyann and Maddie also met us there for an hour or so. So we had three little kids loving playing together in Bug’s Life Land. We also went on the Monster’s Inc ride. Twice.  It was a really fun way to spend our morning.

Flynn was so tired the whole walk back to the car and I was really stressed that we wouldn’t make it out in time. I’d beg Flynn to hurry and he’d say his feet hurt or his knees hurt. So I’d offer to carry him on my back. He’d hop up and we would run until he was complaining that he was slipping off. So I’d put him down and tell him that we should race to a certain point. He’s big on races. He would start off and then collapse on the ground after about five steps. It was exhausting. We got out of our parking place with only about 2 minutes to spare so we didn’t have to pay for parking. We spent the money on a milkshake at Carl’s instead.

We were home for all of 15 minutes when the scouts started arriving for our weekly meeting. We did some work on our Readyman Badge. And for some reason, even though our meeting is from 4:30 until 5:30, I had 4 boys who didn’t get picked up until after 6.

Which meant that I didn’t get dinner for my family on the table until close to 7. My poor kids were hungry and tired from a busy day. Good thing they fell asleep quickly. I’m tired too.

He said it was a perfect way to spend a weekday and wishes he could do it more often… and still get the Real Saturday. He had a dentist appt, played with the kids, mowed the lawn, played frisbee with Flynn while Penny and I napped, helped Flynn ride his bike like the “big boys” next door, go to Costco, and have a Polish Dog for dinner. Sounds good, eh?

Flynn’s day was really busy today. First he had preschool at Carrie’s house. He got to make some fossils out of dough and after they were baked, he got to paint the fossils. Then we went to do Penny’s pictures, and he was a good help. Charlotte called to invite him to come play this afternoon, so he did, and I got some quiet time to work on Preschool research while Penny slept. (It was perfect. Thanks Jessica!) He wasn’t interested in helping with dinner, which was a delicious risotto, but he liked the end result. Then we had to head over to our condo to meet with a contractor about fixing the bathroom.

About a month ago our tenants called to ask if they could replace the soggy drywall in the master bathroom. They’re really good about fixing things that they need. Well, an hour later the tenant called again to say there was a ton of mold inside the wall. So! That lead to a big deal with the Homeowners Association and we’ve finally got the mold all removed this week. Now it’s time to do the repair work. We just have to figure out if we pay for it or the HOA.

For Flynn’s Preschool it’s getting to be time to order for the next few months. From the feedback from the other moms, we’re looking for something a little different, but about the same price. As I’ve been researching, Clint asked why I don’t just make my own curriculum. After all, I DO have a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. Yes, you all need to call me “Master” now that you know. So I started collecting ideas and planning a couple of nights ago, and I think I’ll do it. I will make up all the supplies and see how much it costs me. I’m sure it will be less than what we currently pay. Our theme for April is Gardens. Perfect for the spring.

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 3/4 cup white wine or apple juice
• optional stir-ins: small can mushrooms; chopped asparagus, broccoli, green beans; etc.
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a 3 quart, microwave safe casserole dish combine butter, garlic and onion. Place dish in microwave and cook on high for 3 minutes.
2. Place vegetable broth in a microwave safe dish. Heat on microwave until the broth is hot but not boiling (approximately 2 minutes).
3. Stir the rice and broth into the casserole dish with the onion, butter and garlic mixture. Cover the dish tightly and cook on high for 6 minutes.
4. Stir wine or juice into the rice. Cook on high for 10 minutes more. Add any stir-ins half way through this cooking. Most of the liquid should boil off when done. Stir the cheese into the rice and serve.