We're All a Little Quirky

A friend recently posted this picture of a rather amusing shirt on her blog:

While my obsession with white whole wheat flour is a bit eccentric, my kids definitely have their quirks too. 

Like wearing a winter coat whilst riding a bike barefoot and in shorts.

Reading and doing subconscious yoga at the same time.

Wearing squishmallows as hats.

Writing scores of sequential numbers for fun.  On this particular number-writing occasion, the following conversation ensued:

Todd: "Do you like what I'm drawing?"

Me: "I like it because I know you love math, and I'm happy that you're doing something you love."

Todd: "Yeah.  Maybe you should send a picture to my teacher."

So I did!  And she responded with a photo from two weeks before the shutdown . . . 

. . . in which two of Todd's classmates are embracing his unique style of numeric art.  I guess you have to be a little quirky to be a trendsetter.

Exciting Stuff

Our family hasn't suffered any major deprivations during this pandemic, but there are a few creature comforts that I've missed as certain store shelves remained empty week after week.  Recently though, I've been thrilled to finally get my hands on . . .

. . . mail-order yeast . . . 

. . . white whole wheat flour (I found some at Target, of all places) . . .

. . . and Charmin!  Lots and lots of Charmin!

Joy says adults get excited about weird stuff.

Candy for Every Occasion

You gotta admit . . .

. . . this is a pretty ingenious marketing campaign.

Also, I think my family needs a case of that pink bag.

The Doodle Game

Todd asked to play with me this afternoon, and I suggested we play the Doodle Game.  Soon our "Artist in Residence" (Joy) joined in, and the other kids quickly followed.

The way the Doodle Game works is that everyone draws a random squiggle on a piece of paper . . .

. . . then we each pass our paper to the person next to us, so they can complete the drawing using a different color.

In this case, Joy turned Todd's pink squiggle into an alien dinosaur chef.

Before long, we had quite a collection of drawings on our dining table.  We showed our favorites to Daddy when he got home . . .

. . . then I hung them on the wall, because I have a thing for homemade art.  And be honest--you wish you had an alien dinosaur chef on your wall too.

A June Shower

The kids were out front scooting this afternoon when it suddenly started pouring rain. 

They kept right on scooting for a few more minutes . . .

. . . then took shelter on the porch to admire a rainbow . . .

. . . and get a drink.

Then we all went inside and ate some strawberries dipped in sugar.  Yum!

Rhubarb Cobbler

When we moved into our house last summer, I was pleased to discover . . .

. . . a vigorous rhubarb plant growing next to our screened porch.  My dad loves rhubarb pie, but I had never actually cooked with rhubarb before.  I didn't even know what it tasted like on its own.

I asked a friend from church for her favorite rhubarb recipes, then I harvested some stalks this afternoon and started chopping.  They smelled like pie crust dough with a hint of nutmeg, but when I tasted a piece, it was eating a sour-apple-flavored grape.  I know--weird.

But the tangy rhubarb cobbler turned out delicious!  We like it even better than apple crisp . . .

. . . and most of us had seconds.  Next on the rhubarb experiment list: a rhubarb jam recipe that calls for a packet of strawberry Jello.  O_o

Brownies and Rockets

Here's a mishmash of photos from the last few days:

The kids decided to make giant peanut butter cookies, which are every bit as yummy as they sound.  

Since they have so much free time around the house these days, the kids keep rediscovering forgotten toys and games.  This weekend, it was the stomp rockets.

Some of the kids stomp harder than others.

Joy recently offered to make pancakes for lunch, and she got kind of creative with the pancake shapes.  Why make boring circle pancakes when you can make snakes and butterflies?  Because snakes are hard to flip; that's why.

Anna's best friend at school had a birthday this weekend, so Anna took her a card, a balloon, and some brownies.  When we arrived at the friend's front door, we discovered that she had moved!  We knew her family was thinking of moving, but we didn't think they would pull up stakes in the middle of a pandemic.  Fortunately, they just moved to the next town over, so we got their new address and made the birthday brownies a housewarming gift too.

Anna is growing out of her old Sunday dresses, so I bought her a new one today when I ventured to Target for the first time in months.  The lack of social distancing there was kind of unnerving, but the dress is cute and Anna wore it the whole rest of the day.