Anyone watching The World Cup? I don’t normally pay much attention, but David is a fan so it’s been on our TV quite a bit lately. It’s enjoyable to watch on mute. Do the horn blowers ever take a break in unison to breathe? No…. it’s amazing how constant that horn blowing is. I don’t know what I focus on more, the horns or the soccer game? That sound plays the entire appx 90 minutes - with no hesitation! I’d almost rather listen to my 7 year old’s fairytale singing voice for 90 minutes, which becomes a form of torture after about 12 minutes. Or, how about banging pots and pans? Or, maybe the dog whining at my feet for 90 minutes? It’d be a tough call. How do people sit there at The World Cup and not pull their ears off? Maybe the key is “if you can’t beat them, join them”. Maybe that’s why everyone is blowing the dang things, because it makes the sound of hearing it easier when you are doing it yourself? Or, maybe they sell lots and lots of industrial strength ear plugs. I have no clue.. but I know I will not be complaining about a bee buzzing passed my ear anytime soon.

Did you know you can buy your very own Vuvuzela? Maybe your child’s best friend’s parents bought your child some annoying toy for their birthday and you want to return the favor? Or, maybe you just want to learn to play a cool horn?

I want to put this on record so that it doesn’t get forgotten about. We were camping over Memorial Day weekend and played Catch Phrase around the fire with all of our friends. Bailey’s up… her word is POPE JOHN PAUL. She says “it’s 3 words”. pause “The first word is the stuff that is in your orange juice”. haha PULP John Paul. hahaha!

I’m thinking about making this a regular posting category when I have something to add. My children are forever cracking me up with their silly sayings, goofy comments or tweaks on pronunciations or definitions. My memory fades so quickly… I don’t want to forget these “little” things!

Thought it would be fun to feature a couple of old pictures once a week or so. These two pictures were taken in the Spring of 2003. Bailey was a tiny baby… and just the oldest 4 kidlets are shown in both pix.

Tanner, McKenzie, Katelyn and Ashlyn on Plain Grandma’s trampoline (that is no longer there). They had so much fun with that trampoline over the years. It burned down in 2004 I believe, maybe 2005? Burned down how? No idea, but that’s how the story goes. LOL.

The 4 oldest kiddos at the zoo. I love how each of the big kids were doing something different in their own little worlds. McKenzie is just trying to keep up with the bigs. I’m not sure what Katelyn was doing but it almost looks like Tanner was dodging some sort of Matrix type punch. LOL.

…. and I’m so glad he’s “gone country”. Not sure what I was thinking but I honestly didn’t see that coming as I watched him on American Idol last year. I expect nothing but good things from him! This is his new music video. Love it!

I discovered this little gem of a recipe about 5 years ago. I’m not even sure what the original source was (I sincerely apologize to the creator!). I saved it and made it for Easter one year… seems like carrot cake is just such a traditional recipe for Spring. Is that because bunnies eat carrots and a certain special bunny visits on Easter? I’m not sure LOL. but for whatever reason, I was on a hunt for a recipe and this is what I found. I have never been big on carrot cake. After all, who wants a vegetable in their CAKE for goodness sake? But this recipe, when I omitted the nuts, turned me (and my family) into carrot cake lovers! It’s David’s favorite dessert and what he requests anytime a special dessert would be on the menu.

Bailey helped me bake it today for Father’s Day dessert.

Did you miss the link to the recipe at the top of this post? Here it is again: Best Ever Carrot Cake. Yum!

Money is tight, so big elaborate gifts aren’t in the budget this year for Father’s Day. Instead, we are celebrating David with giving him a day off from the kitchen. Yes, he’s the head chef here at The Ullom-Clark household. He cooks while I clean up his messes. Don’t mistake that for a complaint. This is something I’m very thankful for! I work until 5pm every day, and I love that cooking a meal is not something that I have to worry about each evening.

Today, he didn’t have to worry about breakfast, lunch OR dinner. Instead, he got to pick the day’s menu, and we are cooking for him. I made breakfast burritos and hashbrowns for breakfast, we skipped lunch and snacked instead. Dinner is his choice of beef stroganoff with his favorite yummy garlic breadsticks. He requested his favorite carrot cake, which is baking in the oven now — delighting all of our noses It’s a lazy day, with movies, games and relaxing — which is a gift for the entire family. Happy Sunday!

*****

The makings of a fantabulous breakfast burrito!

Bailey was my little game buddy today.

Nice to be lazy and watch movies together

Snacks and games — that was our day

We made these about 7 years ago for the first time… David and I were sitting around talking about our favorite foods and one of us remembered these yummy cheese zombies. I remember them being served in our school cafeteria at Lake Shore Elementary and also at Jason Lee Midlde School. They’d serve up the Cheese Zombies with a bowl of tomato soup. At no other time in my childhood did I like tomato soup, except alongside a Cheese Zombie. David and I went to different schools in Washington, but anytime I’ve mentioned these in passing, nobody knows what the heck I’m talking about! Yet, he did remember them also! We went on an internet search of the best zombie recipe we could find, and this is it. Tried and true, old school recipe that is exactly like we remember. It’s basically two layers of french bread dough with your favorite cheese in the middle and Viola! Cheese Zombies.

Cheese Zombies
Ingredients
1 ounce (about 2 tbsp) Baker’s Yeast
3 cups Water
2 pounds 8 ounces (about 5 cups) Flour
2 ounces (about 1/4 cup) Sugar
1 tablespoon Salt
2 ounces (1/4 cup) Shortening (Crisco)
3 pounds (6 cups) Cheddar Cheese - DONT BE SHY - this is the key ingredient here!
Cheddar cheese brick - don’t be shy!
**We use shredded cheddar or a combination of cheddar/jack cheeses.

Directions
1. Combine 1 ounce of baker’s yeast with 3 cups of warm water.
2. Place flour, sugar, salt and vegetable shortening in a mixing bowl. (Add a “scant” of garlic in the mixture to hold edges of dough to pan.
3. Add yeast and water to the mixing bowl. Beat for about 10 minutes or until the dough is of one consistency.
4. Weigh dough into 2 pound, 2 ounce hunks and let rise until the hunk about doubles in size. We guesstimate…. basically — just split it in half!
5. Roll one hunk evenly into a bun pan. <~ That’s what the official recipe says — we use a jelly roll pan or a cookie sheet with 1″ or taller edges.)
6. Top with 8 slices of Cheddar cheese cut long way from the brick. (Place cheese no less than 1/4-inch from edge.)
7. Roll out another hunk of dough to almost the size of the bun pan. Place this over the cheese and press down the edges. Let rise.
8. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let sit and cool. Brush top of sheet with melted butter or margarine. Cut sheet 6 by 4 inches.

Makes 24 Servings that I promise will take you right back to the old school days

It’s a running joke in my family that plants come to our home to die. It’s actually pretty true. Most plants that we bring in, do eventually die. My thumb is more black than green, what can I say? It’s not for lack of effort… I keep buying the occassional plant, pot of flowers, etc. etc. because I do really love them! I water them and talk to them and have even tried fertilizing them. What’s the deal? David got a small bite from the gardening bug and planted a few things in our yard earlier in the Spring. We have huge lettuce plants growing into lettuce bushes is what I’d call them. They are HUGE. I need to get a picture. We had cucumbers but they are gone. We have a pepper and tomato topsy turvy growing. These little guys have been growing for a couple of months now, and I’m beginning to get impatient. I want some ‘maters!

We do have a tiny flower bud on the pepper plant. I’m thinking that would have to be a good sign?

The tomato plant looks like it has a long way to go still. I love tomatoes… and this thing had better work! At some point both should look a little something like this:

Did you know you can read the new Stephenie Meyer Eclipse novella…. The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner for free online through July 5th? You can here. Pretty cool! I almost bought it the other day — glad I didn’t!

Tonight was our Home Owners Association’s Ice Cream Social… the girls talked us into heading down to the neighborhood park to take part in it. We went about 20 minutes before it was over, and they were out of ice cream. Awh, bummer… so the kids played for a little bit and then we decided we’d make our own sundaes instead. I baked a batch of brownies to go with them on request from the hubs. Tanner and I enjoyed some brownie batter instead.

So our evening went something like this:

The popsicles available at the “Ice Cream Social”

None for us, but we got a few minutes of play time in anyway

Came home and made our own ice cream sundaes after dinner

Giggly girls

This is what we affectionately call “the stink eye” here

All that followed up by some Pretty Little Liars for me and the 2 little ladies

And some Transformers Chess for my boys

David won this game, but I suspect that he won’t always have an easy time of winning.

What an easy, enjoyable night –

And not to forget my Ashlyn… who was with her grandparents… she hasn’t seen her daddy in several weeks, so she’s very excited to spend some time with him this weekend. Miss you Ashlyn!

Another school year behind us. So crazy. We have an 18 year old that is finished with school, unless she decides to go to college. We have a 15 year old headed into his Sophomore year of high school, a 13 year old headed into her Freshman year of high school. Then, we have two left in elementary school: our 10 year old entering 5th grade and our 7 year old baby, who is going into 2nd grade. And me? I am left with a lump in my throat. Time is passing too quickly.

We won’t get the older two kids’ report cards for a little while, though I have an idea of their grades already. McKenzie and Bailey brought theirs home today. Both are doing very well, and just for the fact that they even brought their cards home, says that they had no lost library books at the end of the school year. This is no small feat for my kids. I’m serious! LOL.

Bailey at the beginning of the school year:

Bailey at the end of the school year:

She has grown SO much this school year.

McKenzie at the beginning of the school year:

McKenzie at the end of the school year:

The page the yearbook is flipped open to is the first page in the book. She’s pictured with her group of friends, the one in yellow

As we start our break, I have all different kinds of thoughts running through my head. It seems like with the change of season, I always have these big ideas of what I need or want to do with the kids. What we should do with our Summer. What type of system we should come up with for fair computer turns. What types of rewards I can give the kids for keeping up with their responsibilities and being kind to each other. What new games I can teach them and make a daily routine out of. The list goes on….I tend to make a plan for a plan for a plan and then end up with nothing accomplished. I think this summer, I’m not going to plan anything new and exciting. Take things as they come. Enjoy the season. Enjoy our time off, our late evenings and late mornings. Encourage reading. Make time for quiet moments and some wild and crazy ones. Just be on Summer Break. Not everything needs a system. I don’t need 20 new ideas or systems to implement. I can stick with what I know… because what I know does seem to work. I’m excited! Bring on Summer — whatever it may bring

When you have a super lean grocery budget, BFD is a nice inexpensive option for dinner. Good thing for the kids, it’s one of their favorite things to eat! We had pancakes, eggs, and potatoes for dinner. Yum.

And a few leftover for breakfast tomorrow.

And a few links for dinners on a tight budget!

Gretchen Cooks
All Recipes
5 Dollar Dinners
Hillbilly Housewife