Rubber Chickens and Rhubarb

 "WHO PUT THE RUBBER CHICKEN UNDER MY PILLOW????!!!!"  

This was yelled through the house by Monkey last night as children were starting to get into bed, teeth brushed and all that.  Smarty had already put himself to bed since he was scheduled to work first thing this morning.  There was such a hullabaloo that ensued after this exclamation, Girlie had found the chicken under her blankets and didn't know who had put it there, so she put it in Monkey's bed under her pillow. Who put it in Girlie's bed?  Sergeant swears it wasn't him.  I know it wasn't me, Hubby was chuckling to himself over all the noise and chaos, and Smarty was not responding and in his bed. 

I had my suspicions.

This morning Monkey was up after Smarty was up but before he left for work.  I was sitting and drinking my coffee, making conversation with the two of them and Monkey was recounting the evening noise.  Smarty was grinning.  He was the culprit! 

Later this afternoon he told me he put the chicken under Sergeant's pillow as a surprise for bedtime tonight.  One of the girls has since moved the chicken from Sergeant's bed and out it under Smarty's pillow.  This could be a loud bedtime, and I hope this trend doesn't go on for too many nights!

We pulled the rhubarb from the yard!  The plant was massive, we baked with about 20 cups already since we moved in, just a couple of stalks at a time, but we got another 18 cups from the harvest. 16 of those cups were washed, chopped, and into the freezer but I made a cake from a new recipe with the other 2 cups, and it was DELICIOUS.

It really didn't last very long, and it was super moist, and just.  Yum.

It's been a little tricky with baking, partly for learning the oven and its idiosyncrasies, partly because my cookbooks are in storage in Alberta :(  I have my box of recipe cards but so many of my favourites are scattered throughout a few different cookbooks.  So I have been using the internet and finding "Well, this looks close" recipes.  So far so good, mostly.  It's an opportunity for finding new favourite recipes I guess. And I do like trying new recipes.

Tomorrow is the start of a new school year for these Littles.  All but 1 are starting another school year, the oldest is scheduled to work.  I can't believe Smarty is done high school already.  So many times this week I have been asked by people when they discover how old my children are "Did you have them when you were 12??"  Blessed with good genes and lots of laughter to keep me young I guess :D

 The beginning of a new year at new schools.  Crazy.  I remember starting in brand new schools a few times.  I can't wait to hear how they do, what they think, the chances they'll have to grow and stretch themselves.