Mama On The Move

Ben had his last marine biology class this past week. They got to dissect a three foot shark. Lo and behold, when they got to the insides, they found six baby sharks. I know this photo is really blurry. One of the other students in the class took it with a cell phone. Here's a nice crisp view of the babies. Ben got to deliver those himself. He is one happy future marine biologist right now.

It's time for end of the year tests. At the end of the school year we take a standardized test to make sure we are on track and the kids are where they need to be academically. Usually, I give them the test at home, but this year I wanted Ben to start taking it in a group setting with a different administrator. It won't be long before he has to start taking college entrance tests and he needs the experience of taking a test somewhere besides home. The group doing the testing needed another tester so they could divide the group into junior high and high school and test them separately. I volunteered to test the junior high group and sent in my application and diploma to receive my official tester number. It's not a difficult thing to do. They tell you the exact words to say for every portion of the test. You are not allowed to leave out a word or add a word. It's like being handed a script. The main issue is that these are homeschooled kids who aren't used to having ...

Ben's scout troop placed flags on all the graves at the local cemetery. Here in Hawaii, they also place a small lei around each flag which is a beautiful thing to do. And, as is becoming increasingly common, Ben was stopped and interviewed by a local reporter about his thoughts on Memorial Day and what it means to him to have a father who is deployed. My kids are media magnets.

Katie and I were walking home from the playground today. As we started up the steps to go in the front door I looked down and gave a startled, "EW!!!" There was a headless bird sitting on our stoop. Katie stepped back outside to see what I was looking at. "Where is its head?" she whispered in horror. "I don't know," I whispered back. "Go get the camera" We all have our priorities. She brought the camera back and it hadn't moved. It was just headlessly standing there right next to us . As I got closer to take the picture, I could see its little chest moving in and out as it was breathing. The horror. The horror. We were talking in normal tones about it now, and I even reached out and pushed the pink bottle of bubbles away to see if that caused any reaction. It never moved. It just stood there on its creepy little legs - completely upright but with no head. Then it suddenly whipped its head out from under its wing (or wherever it was ke...

We have a great Banana Nut Bread recipe. The girls love to make it when we have some bananas that have gotten so brown and soft that no one will eat them. We try to get to them before the fruit flies swarm in. First you need three over-ripe bananas. Squish the heck out of them. Daintily gather together your implements of cooking. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda into 4 tablespoons of buttermilk. Take time to stop and smell the orchids. Take care not to get your hair caught in the beaters. Crack three eggs into a mixing bowl. See if you can make it look like a face. Or a body with two heads. Beat the eggs into submission and add 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of oil, the buttermilk with the soda dissolved in it, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix well. Add two cups of plain flour, the mashed bananas, and 1 cup of chopped nuts. When everything is blended well, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Pour into a well greased loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Eat it really fast before a...

Ben LOVES salsa. Boy, does that boy love salsa. He likes it spicy too. He seems to think spicy food is challenging him. Daring him, in fact. And he can not back down from a dare because then the salsa would win . He eats so much salsa that I decided we should start making our own. We could make larger batches of it as well as use organic ingredients and cut out preservatives and unnecessary fillers. We used this great recipe from the Muir Glen site: Ingredients 2 cans (14.5 oz each) Muir Glen® organic fire roasted or plain diced tomatoes, well drained 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup) 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea salt) 1 to 2 fresh jalapeño or serrano chiles, seeded, finely chopped Preparation Directions 1. In medium bowl, stir together all ingredients. 2. Serve with tortilla chips as desired. Ben made the salsa himself. He had already chopped the onion, jalapenos, cilantro, and g...

The latest from Ben: Today at Marine Biology class, we dissected a squid! I don't know where our teacher got them, it looks like she just bought them at any old store. They were a good foot long and smelled very fishy (or squidy). First we labeled the outside, then we cut them open. Did you know a squid has three hearts? Squids don't have spines since they're invertebrates, but they do have a little bone called the pen, which is shaped like a quill. We then took the pen, dipped it in the squid's ink sack and wrote our names on our papers; that was pretty cool! When we were done, our teacher told us to remove the pen and the beak and then put the rest of the squid on the counter. She then cooked them and ate them for dinner. My science class is so cool!