"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature."-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. Said Christopher Robin to Pooh” A.A. Milne
“Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” Albert Camus
It's been quiet for too long, thinks my Mommy brain. I go looking and find him reading in his bed room...
Oh, can a Mom fit so much pride in her heart! I am so grateful that he loves to read, at bed time he'll keep asking for "one more book" until I (reluctantly) cut him off.
What do you do when your parents are visiting, your son is in bed, and your baseball team is just not looking remotely alive during the Friday evening game...put an apple pie in the oven and lure your husband outside to roast you some marshmallows and make smores. That's what! Ah, comfort food and family!
(For the future: no son, we don't always wait until you are in bed to have fun, you were tired out from all the fun we already had!)
After a pretty busy and fun week it felt nice to spend some time putting dinner in the crock pot this morning with some help. He likes to say "big helper Mommy" in fact today when my hubby took out the trash he said to me "Mommy, Daddy big helper yes!"
We picked
We washed
We peeled
We tasted
We're done!
Today I'm joining in with Overwhelmed With Joy who's hosting Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style, oh how fun to share holiday recipes! It was hard to pick one holiday recipe since my family has lots of handed down Holiday traditions and recipes. So I've picked two, one family one and one that's become tradition in the last 10 years.
Double-Ginger Molasses Crisps(taken from The Family Circle Cookbook)
I started baking these cookies Christmas 1995 and it's become tradition each year since. If I don't get them mailed out to my brother and sister I start getting phone calls *grin*. My Gram and her sister both like them so much I made them this June on our visit, they say they taste like ones their Mom used to make *double grin*.
Makes about 5 dozen 2-inch cookies according to the recipe but I'd say more like 3 1/2 dozen
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup dark molasses (I've used light too) 1 egg white 1 tablespoon grated pared gresh ginger 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Directions
1)Preheat oven to 375°F 2)Beat butter in mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in brown sugar and molasses until fluffy. Add egg white, fresh ginger, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt; beat to blend. 3)Combine flour and baking soda in small bowl. Slowly add to butter mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. 4)Place sugar in a small dish. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into sugar; toss to coat. Place 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. 5)Bake in preheated moderate oven (375°F) for 7 minutes for chewy cookies or 8 minutes for crispy cookies. Remove cookies from sheets to racks to cool.
Cookie dough can be made ahead and refrigerated, covered for up to 5 days before baking. Storage tip: To keep soft cookies soft, place a slice of apple in the container to prevent them from drying out.
Category: Cookies
Extra Rich Christmas Rolls
This is a recipe that has been handed down in our famiy for generations, I think my Great-Grandmother started it. It has provided a very large part in my holiday memories we'd always make them the day before the holiday, sitting down as a family and rolling the dough into small rolls and then passing them with greasy fingers from the butter into the cinnamon sugar to the bundt pan in little assemly lines. Really fun memories and the most yummy holiday rolls everywhere...I'm suddenly drooling for Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
3 packets of dry yeast (the old fashioned slow rise NOT quick rise!) 1/2 cup warm water 2 cups milk 3/4 cup butter 3/4 cup sugar 3 eggs 2 tsp salt 7-8 cups of flour For drudging you'll also need butter (melted) and cinnamon sugar- I'm not too sure of exact amounts since we always start with about 1 stick melted and approx 2 cups cinnamon sugar but we always need to refill. I just add a couple teaspoons of cinnamon to some sugar until it looks tan and smells like cinnamon.(Mom any other tips, feel free to add them in the comments!)
Directions
1) Mix 3 packet of dry yeast with 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl
2) Scald 2 cups milk and allow to cool to lukewarm temp.
3) Melt 3/4 cup butter and add 3/4 cup sugar, 3 eggs and 2 tsp salt to the pan.
4) Add milk mixture to yeast and stir. Next add in the butter mixture and stir.
5) Stir in 7-8 cups of flour 1 cup at a time kneading until elastic and smooth.
6) Grease bowl and let rise until about double, punch down and let rise again.
7) Carefully "dump" dough out of the bowl onto a large cutting board or other clean surface and cut off dough in pieces to make about 1 - 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll all the dough like this FYI - Kids love this part! Then dip each roll into melted butter and then cinnamon sugar and place in a greased bundt pan. Fill bundt pan slightly more than half way (this recipe usually makes more than enough so we make at least one bread pan too)and then allow them to rise to the top of the pan.
Bake at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes. As I said we usually made these a day or two ahead and stored in foil at room temp until ready to use and then after the turkey's come out place in a warm oven to re-heat and serve!
Tip:While this sounds like a delicate recipe, it's actually very forgiving...if I can do it anyone can. I do recommend making the dough in the morning and letting it rise throughout the day I think we've even punched it down one more time and let it rise again because we weren't ready to roll them yet.
Category:Sweet Rolls
I feel like I've had a productive weekend, getting to church always makes it feel like we did "something" especially since we haven't been in a couple of weeks.
Yesterday our son was up early so after a very early breakfast he and I played for a long time just the two of us which was so special. As we were sitting rolling the big green ball back and forth to each other a thought crossed my mind of the sibling we would not be giving him so soon. That when the doctor told me we'd have to wait 3 months before we even start to try for another it just broke my heart and how much longer does that mean I have to be so empty and longing to give my son the gift of siblings. With each giggle and push of the ball, I felt like we waited too long to have children, like we should have started earlier. My husband and I will have been together for 10 years next month and it took us almost six years to get married. Back and forth as we sat sometimes switching to the smaller purple ball or the even smaller orange ball giggling, laughing and letting it fill up the room, the entire house even. Why? What did that time teach us, we were happy and in love why did we wait? After awhile my kiddo tired of the balls and switch gears to playing with some other toys while I watched...then scared of sitting and dwelling I cleaned. Vacuumed our whole house (except our bedroom), cleaned one and a half bathrooms and mopped the floor during his nap time.
During this cleaning fit the song "Bless the broken road" came into my head and I just kept singing it : I set out on a narrow way many years ago Hoping I would find true love along the broken road But I got lost a time or two Wiped my brow and kept pushing through I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you..... It brought me back to the comfort I was feeling during the rest of this past week... ...This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you.
This morning in our Sunday school lesson our Pastor spoke of Moses and the 40 years he spent in the wilderness. Even he said something to the effect of why not just get on with it, why does God "waste" those 40 years. Only God knows when our hearts will be ready for His plan for us. It is so hard to let go of the control we want to take of our lives, the desires we have in our hearts so strongly, but God only knows just what those desires will bring and He is the only one truly in control. He is the one with the master plan of all plans. I look at Moses and think wow if he had the patience and faith to wait all those years. I think that I have the patience and faith to trust that God has more children planned for us one way or another. And all I can do for now is happily be me...a loving wife and mother and faithful servant of God.
...it's us against the flies. Ever since we picked peaches I don't think I've gone a day without seeing a fly. To be perfectly honest I usually just wait for my hubby to kill them (oh, I couldn't kill a fly - HA!) I lack the wonderful hand eye coordination that it takes to kill them on the first try. Today I launched an attack and I've killed five (I've still seen two more since) The side effects: 2 year old running around the house smacking his little hand on every forbidden surface in the house - TV, windows, - actually picking up the fly swatter and using it on the dog. Ugh!
************************************************Yesterday we went to the zoo and I thought I'd share a few photos, me? post pictures?! only every post lately! It's hard to say what our little guy's favorite was since he liked just about everything... could be the zebra, camel, or leopard - who was pacing the front of the cage with our little guy running, giggling and pacing with it. Mom and Dad were oh so grateful for double fences, we were sure it was drooling! All of us enjoyed watching the moose just gnawing away on a stick. We had the most fun watching the look of amazement on our kiddo's face at every new creature, including the Madagascar cockroaches - gross!
Having fun in the "nunnel."
A few weeks ago our kiddo finally put together that spare change can sometimes go into his piggy bank- aka BEAR. Now if he finds some spare change he runs over to me exclaims "bear!" and runs to his room to give it to bear.
Today, this got a bit interesting as he found my little change dish in our bedroom that I use on the rare occasion I have spare change left. Many times today I have found him running from my room to his all giddy saying "money, money, bear" with little fists full of change. That's all great and everything (especially since it did keep him occupied) but when I tried to tell him that this was Mommy's place to save a small amount of money he looks at me and says "No Mommy money, MY money myyyyyyyy" and proceeds to put the money into his bear.
I suppose this way at least it's getting saved.
I am touched by the kind comments you left me, thank you. While I am having a little trouble swallowing what has happened and why things have to be according to God's plan and on his time I do know that things will get better and that I am SO amazingly blessed with a terrific husband, son and friends. One of whom I spent the better part of the day with today and it was so nice just to sit and chat, cuddle her little one and let the toddlers play.
I have been thinking and praying about going on a retreat with my church this weekend that I had planned on attending. My hubby and I decided last night that I should still go. Even though I will miss my "boys" terribly, I think it will be nice to be surrounded by friends...so yes, Sophie I'll be there! If I haven't been leaving comments in my usual places I'll be back next week ready to go!
Thanks again.Lately, I have been at a loss for words but since I've shared so much I thought I would share a bit of the last 5 days or so too. My Dr's appt. last week didn't have the best news, and as of Saturday, September 16th we are no longer pregnant. I mostly have been feeling ok, but I feel like a toddler. I was reminded of a phrase that my best friend used to describe her little ones that they are ok until they're not and that's pretty much what I feel like too. I think I might have a bit more sympathy towards my son and boy has he been just extra adorable for the last few days!
So, here are pictures (as requested) of our BIG boy sitting at the dinner table with us now! No more high chair, he actually uses the plate on the table now-finally! He's eating banana bread and in the second picture he's looking for the chocolate chips- he'll actually pick them out and eat them first...ahh smart child!
He has also started singing really well now and knows a lot of the words to Jesus loves me, Tinkle Stars (as he calls it) and a few others. It's really cute how he sings like every other word or so. He does the same thing with the alphabet song which is a favorite of late. Very entertaining for Mom and Dad especially when he throws some dance moves in there, oh melt my little heart and helping it heal.
I was tagged by The FlipFlop Mamma for this fun meme. Here are the words I got:
1. Bed: warm 2. Rain: book 3. Monkey: banana trees 4. Brunette: my sister 5. Strawberry: juicy
The words for the next contestants are: 1. rock 2. bicycle 3. green 4. tomato 5. smile
And catching on wacky bookish meme that I was tagged for by Lori at Glass Half Full from about a week ago. Here are the instructions: Grab the book closest to you Open to page 123 Scroll down to the 5th sentence Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog Name of the book and the author Tag 3 people
Here we go, I think the nearest book to me is on the island in the kitchen...
"Do they get rewashed, sterilized and reused? What about the juice containers that are made from multiple materials- paper, plastic, aluminum? Have you found anyplace where you can recycle them?
From the book "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Appelhof. She's talking about trying to achieve a zero waste society, and yes I really do want to have worms eat my garbage (mostly kitchen waste) and turn it into awesome compost!
I'm changing this up a little bit. I'm tagging 3 people (only if you really want too, of course) but you get to pick which one of these you'd like to do, so let me know and I tag:
Mary at Owlhaven
Stephanie from Adventures in the 100 acre wood
Ashlee from New Mama's Nest
Just when I thought life was getting too boring around here to blog about I accidentally taught my son a new word. Warning: this does have to with bodily functions so if you don't read any further I won't mind.
We've been calling gas "toots" in our house (sure beats some other names for it) and it's what we came up with. Anyway, the other morning he seemed to have a lot of it so I said "Wow, you sure do have a lot of gas today, say excuse me." He says "cuse me Mommy" followed by "Lala gas, Lala gas." (Helpful information here: he can't say his name so he pronounces it like "Lala" - no idea why.) Now whenever he toots he says this clear as day, wonderfully pronuciated in an - I hope it never happens in church kind of a way - over and over until finally he'll comply and say "cuse me."
Possibly the funniest and most utterly embarassing part of all this is that he doesn't just apply this to himself. Let's say our dog Molly toots, then he'll say "Molly gas, Molly gas...." yeah good one Mom!
"The hero is commonly the simplest and obscurest of all men." Henry David Thoreau
In a town like NY you have alot of neighbors, people and their pets live in tiny boxes above, below and around you. Your neighbors also include taxi's whizzing around the city streets, the awesome french pastry shop you wished you could afford more of on a student budget, Vinnie the guy that sits out side and gets your Dad out of a parking ticket when everyone else got one,(I wonder if he's still there), a few trees on each block to keep you in tune with nature, the sidewalks, the pigeons, the buildings. They all become your neighbors in a sense when you live in such a place with metal and steel and brick and concrete all around it just becomes a part of you and you it. Even when you leave it and move to the other side of the country, it is still there, buried but that first crisp smell of fall air will always bring it right back.
I lived in SoHo, NY for 2 years (before it became all trendy if you know it now!) in a small apartment right around the corner from the Fire Station on Lafayette St. between Spring St. and Prince St. These fire fighters were always so kind to my roomate and I whenever we'd walk by. Sometimes they'd be getting back at 4am when we were out dancing or out for some fresh midday air in the afternoon. We'd sometimes stand and chat, day or night but mostly they were just friendly faces at the end of a long hard day. We never introduced ourselves, never knew names only that we were neighbors.
On 9/11/01 after I finally got in touch with a friend who worked in the WTC and got in touch with some of her family (since I was calling from out of the area occasionally I could get through, even though none of them could). Really another story, anyway, after that first hour or so my next thought was to those firemen I never really knew but who I knew had to be there. So today I'd like to remember the fallen hero's of Squad 18 and Ladder 20, it is with sincere gratitude and regret that I have now learned their names....my prayers are with your families and loved ones as well as all the others who lost so much on that tragic morning:
Squad 18: Lt. William McGinn, FF Eric Allen, FF Andrew Fredericks, FF David Halderman, FF Timothy Haskell, FF Manuel Mojica, FF Lawrence Virgilio
Ladder 20: Lt John Fischer, FF John Burnside, FF James Gray, FF Sean Hanley, FF David LaForge, FF Robert Linnane, FF Robert McMahon
I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER 9-11-01
Proof that my week really was productive even though my house is a major mess. I think I'm still going to wish we did more peaches, my son and I LOVE them! Plus I share with our parents- if you were wondering why a family of 3 needs THAT many frozen and canned treats! I'll still do at least one more batch of tomatoes but other than that I think I'm about done!
I was tagged for a few meme's awhile ago that I thought I've finally catch up on... The FlipFlop Mamma tagged me for this one last month (I know I've really lagged!)
4 Things Meme
4 Jobs I have had in my life. 1. Worked in the NYU gym's Proshop through college 2. Veterinary Assistant 3. Chiropractic Assistant when I was pregnant and boy did I love the free adjustments! 4. Temp. Receptionist at the State Tax Commission - also when I was prego- oh so boring!
4 Movies that I could watch over and over (in no particular order) 1. The Princess Bride (it's been awhile but when I first saw it I actually did watch it twice in one day.) 2. Irving Berlin's White Christmas - (Even though watching it once a year now makes my hubby cringe, I seriously LOVE it!) 3. The Sound of Music (the Movie Musical...I love them!) 4. Comedy, action I love too...Men in Black, Last of the Mohicans, Rush hour, (I don't know how to follow directions)
4 places I have lived 1. Suburbs of NYC (born & raised) 2. NY, NY 3. Santa Barbara, CA (met hubby) 4. San Diego, CA (married hubby)
4 things I like to do 1. Hang out with my family 2. Watch movies 3. Travel 4. Hike
4 places I have been on vacation 1. Quechee, VT (almost every winter I can remember as a kid) 2. London, England (and other surrounding towns with my Chamber Choir in HS) 3. Catalina Island, CA 4. Negril, Jamaica (Honeymoon)
4 websites I visit daily 1&2. MSN & Google - pretty much for information 3. Not so much daily but the Yankee website to keep up on the "home team" 4. All of my blogroll when I'm not stuck in the kitchen!
4 of my favorite foods 1. Sushi 2. Thai 3. Chinese 4. Vietnamese fresh spring rolls....gee can you tell what I've been craving lately, I do LOVE ethnic foods but my favorite is usually Italian - Not so this pregnancy!
4 places I would like to be right now 1. On a remote island with my family and all the fixin's of a wonderful scuba adventure(oops I'm pregnant), virgin margaritas, and swimming pools and beaches sounds good... 2. Able to sleep more than a couple of hours without having to pee 3. back to # one 4. back to # two
...just to say that I love how my kiddo will just name things. My sister gave him this book called Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 which he calls the "Apple Tree Book" and he calls tissues "nose paper".
On another subject I realized this morning that he knows how to turn on the computer when I heard it booting up from the other room, oops!
I have been following along with some journeys through 30 Days of Nothing at Intent. How powerful it is.
While we are not actively participating and posting about it we have been having lots of REALLY great conversations about what we can do to streamline our budget and what we can do that will actually make a difference in the world. How can we really help others around the world and/or here at home? How much is enough? Will it ever be enough? Why would God let a child be born just to let it starve months later? Maybe so those of us who have the means can help out? How can we raise our children mindfully so that they have a great childhood but also a keen sense of awareness of the world and others in different circumstances? These are just some of the topics we've discussed so far.
Along the same lines, last night I watched a show on PBS that I've never seen before called Wide Angle the topic of which was Back to School. It followed 7 children in different countries, their first visit was in 2003 and now they were "checking up" on them earlier in 2006.
An estimated 110 million children -- 60 percent of them girls -- between the ages of six and 11 will not see the inside of a classroom this year. Another 150 million are likely to drop out before completing primary school.
This show was very touching and I don't know what I was expecting but it really shocked me. Five of the children lived in very poor situations. A girl from Romania who was a success story had to commute 45 minutes on public transportation at age 7 to get to school since both parents worked and couldn't afford day care. Much has changed in Romania since it is no longer under communist rule and their schooling has gone through many changes.
One from Benin is the only girl from her family who is permitted to go to school and pressure for her to stay home is greater now that her father has past away. Her Mother really had to scrape just to afford her school supplies and chalk.
A boy from Brazil lives in a "shanty town" but against the odds is at the top of his class so his mother has great hopes for him to get out of their crime ridden neighborhood. A girl from Afghanistan is in 6th grade which is a great accomplishment since 74% of girls drop out by 5th grade in her country. She only goes to school in the afternoon because of a shortage of teachers and she is the oldest girl living at home so her mornings are filled with chores and helping with younger siblings which doesn’t leave much time for studying. A boy in Kenya deals with the death of his Mother and drops out of school for a few weeks when he is talked into coming back to his class of 92 students. In Kenya if a parent gets sick and dies everyone assumes it's AIDS so even this boy’s friends shunned him.
It really just tugs on my heartstrings the work that these children have to do just to get an education. It is so important for these kids to learn. One of the girls learned in school (I think the one from Afghanistan) about cleanliness and personal hygiene, they then showed her with younger siblings washing their hands. How important is just that little piece of knowledge on her whole family. She also was shown teaching a bunch of other kids the English alphabet.
Anyway, I don't know if I have a point or if I'm just going to ramble all night but I am just still in awe about the drive of these kids as I think about even my own schooling - complaining about teachers, bus rides and English class. How lucky I am to have received so much education and how lucky that I only had a 20 min bus ride and only 20 or so kids in my classes and not such a worry about disease or political unrest. By goodness I'm so grateful it's amazing. But I'm also so amazed by all the others around the world and full of wonder with what I can do to help them.
I'd like to put a button on my sidebar that links to this website but do I have to get their permission or does any one know how I can do that? Thanks for helping my semi new to the rules and ways of blogging self!
Ok, not quite millions but we went and picked peaches yesterday afternoon an now I have two bushels sitting in my laundry room waiting to be canned. I also have about 1/2 bushel of tomatoes ready to go as well and more to be picked, on top of zucchini needing to be frozen and probably some beets too. I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in canning this week...but at least for now I'm motivated to change the laundry since it smells so yummy and juicy in there!
Being silly helping Mommy outside. I think by the end of this post it'll be obvious who's the silly one here.
After using me as a human binky for 22 months now he thinks it's great!
Ready to go! Here's cuddle bug sporting fall’s hot new look. His bright orange diaper is fall’s hottest shade and it's a Heidi original. The hat, courtesy of Dad, is big and baggy, you'll see this on the runways all season folks! The bag, well any bag will do this Fall just grab whatever you find and it'll all go together great!
Adios amigos!Arrivederci!Au revior mes amis!Auf Wiedersehen!Ciao! **********************Hasta la vista BABY!*********************
Playing again with O Mama Mia and Show me yours and I'll show you mine.
Show Me Your Green Thumb. Soil, water, sunshine, love… that’s what this week’s theme is made of. Outdoors or in, whether it blooms and grows beneath your watchful eye and nurturing touch…. or just plain exists at the bare threshold of greenness…. Show Me!!
I love to garden! This spring we had as much lettuce and spinach as we wanted. Next year I think I'll plant more broccoli which turned out good this year. I harvested and cured about 15 cloves of garlic in July, I think I'll do more for next year too.
Here's what is left of the garden: 5 tomato plants, some beets, carrots and one lettuce that's gone to seed.I've already canned two batches of tomatoes but with a two year old around a batch is only about 7 or 8 cans so I'll be doing more this month too.
I also planted cucumbers, zucchinni, and eggplant (which don't seem to want to give me any fruit) mixed in with my flower/shrub beds since our yard is fairly small - less than a quarter of an acre for our entire lot. We've had far more zucchinni than we can eat or give away so they get frozen for use in stews or stir fry or shredded then frozen for zucchinni bread.
Then there are pumpkin plants that have taken over the entire side of our house with the exception of a couple more tomato plants that are over there too. We have about 5 large ones and a bunch of little ones from 3 plants. So if you think your yard is to small to enjoy sweet, juicy, crunchy bounties from beautiful green vines or deep roots, you just have to be creative ... or else just do what I did and stick them anywhere and see what happens!
My brother had the honor of serving with Spc. Segun Frederick Akintade in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Akintade served in the Army National Guard to help pay for college and when his unit (2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, based in Utica, NY) was called to go to Iraq he went willingly. He was killed on October 28, 2004 by a roadside bomb and small arms fire in Abd Allah, Iraq at 34 years old.
He moved to Brooklyn, New York from Lagos, Nigeria where he sent money home to his Mother. He had plans to marry his girlfriend in NY upon his return from Iraq. Spc. Akintade also had plans to become a US citizen since he felt our country had been so good to him.
Spc. Segun Frederick Akintade, I am personally grateful to you for your service and I pray for your family and friends that they find a peace and grace that only God can provide. I'm deeply saddened that you paid the ultimate sacrifice for me and everyone else in America and I truly appreciate all that you've done so that we can go on with our lives here at home. May God bless you and your family.
If you'd like to honor a fallen hero click HERE to visit Some Gave All where they are Remembering The Fallen By Name.
Ok, so I have much more confidence in my parenting skills today. We took a drive up into the mountains and had a picnic and soaked up a little nature. Ah, refreshed! Before kiddo (and before $3/gal gas) my husband and I used to love to go for drives and just talk to each other so it was nice to do that again with the kiddo, who snacked and slept.
I wanted to document the following silly thing that our 2 year old does (can't believe I can actually say that now!). During a meal if there is mention or sight of another food that is more enticing than what we are currently eating he'll hand over plate/bowl/fork saying "no, no, no" until we take them away or ask him to finish eating x,y,z if he hadn't eaten much yet. Occasionally he'll actually grab out whatever food is in his mouth and put it back on the plate as well. (Gross!) My husband say’s it’s like he’s decides to “abandon ship.”
Today, we stopped for ice cream and while we were lazily enjoying our treats we asked him if he wanted to go to the park and as fast as he could he held out the ice cream cone to Daddy and said "no, no" and then "yup, park". Trust me when I tell you that he is definitely our kid when it comes to ice cream - any mention of it is joyfully responded to by the ice cream sign and the words "num, nummy, num." It's sort of nice to know that being outside at the park on the swings is more fun than that!
Yesterday afternoon at the fair my son played in this sort of sandbox that they had set up but instead of using sand they used grain, dried pinto beans, and corn. They had tons of small tractors in there for the kids to play with but my son kept taking others' toys away.
Patiently, my husband and I kept teaching and showing him how to share while talking to another Mom. In response, this Mom said about sharing: "It's a life lesson, one that I'm still learning."
I've been thinking about this off and on for a day now and realizing not only is she SO right but how the heck can I expect to teach my son something that I'm not very good at. I gripe if my husband wants a bite of my ice cream or pretty much anything that I'm eating. A couple of hours ago I thought of a bunch of ways that I needed to share more- now I don't remember but I think I can make my point anyway.
Seriously, it's not only the sharing thing because he's still young it's everything else. I am so not a perfect example of probably anything I'm going to be teaching our son over the years so how am I going to do it? How can God expect ME to mold and shape my son when I am so imperfect? I'm sure that this must be one of life's parenting lessons in that I get to relearn all of these lessons in hopes that they might actually stick! I guess that's also why I need God to help me because I have absolutely no clue on my own!!!!!!!
A $30 food bill at the county fair.
A 30 minute visit petting and feeding countless animals.
Mommy and Daddy purchase $2 toy trumpet since their son was a trooper behaving so well at the fair on a day with no nap.
2 year old figures out how to actually blow the trumpet in the car on the way home while 1 and a half parents are plugging their ears (Daddy has to drive with one hand:), all are giggling emphatically---PRICELESS
First of all I wanted to thank Mary at Owlhaven who gave me her VIP (Very Interesting Person) award for my comment on this post about college memories. It was fun and there are lots of other interesting comments there as well so go check it out! Mary's blog was one of the first blogs I'd ever read and I love it! She's a great writer and her posts are humorous, educational, insightful and refreshingly real so check her out if you don't know her already...go on, I'll be here when you get back!!
Secondly I wanted to join the fun over at O Mama Mia a few days late for Show me yours & I'll show you mine Show Me Your (Inner) Domestic Goddess. Are you in suburban bliss? Do you get lost in your kitchen, flouring the hours away, baking? Do you love your home? Or maybe you’re in suburban turmoil & you live amongst desperate housewives? Show Me!! Let me hear all about it!
I think I'll start by saying that I think I'm more of a nerd than a "domestic goddess." I'll have to put on some high heels one night while I bake cookies and see if that brings less nerdiness! I find that the house cleaning part of being a SAHM is not my favorite, I mean I do it but I sometimes let the dishes go until the next meal and I sweep only when I notice the dogs hair against the floorboards. Terrible, I know but I do spend a lot of time with my Son that I know I'll never get back so that justifies it to me!
Back to the point, I love, love, LOVE to bake. My Mom and my Gram are both awesome bakers so I've managed to pick up some pointers along the way. Both my son's birthday cakes so far have been made by me from scratch. No box mixes here, last year's was a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and this was a yellow cake with a creamy frosting. I won't even pretend that they came out looking professional, they look homemade but it's something that's important to me to do for my son.
One side dish to Tuesday night's dinner was stuffed zucchini - from the garden and everything from scratch (sautéed onion and garlic, seasonings, celery, breadcrumbs and chicken broth). When it's almost done baking then I melt cheese over the top. So goddess/nerd well, what's in a name after all?!
It's not surprising that blogger won't upload my pics currently so I'll update this to include some pics after I go do the dishes! Uggghhhh blogger!
Dishes are done and blogger's now partially awake you can look at this post to see this years cake if you missed it since blogger only let me upload the one pic....
Before I went to bed last night I grabbed a handful of almonds out of the freezer and was munching while getting out my vitamins and chatting with my hubs. The last two almonds were really hard to chew and then after a second I realized that those were indeed the vitamins that I was chomping on....yum!
Gave us a good laugh anyway!
We had my son's birthday party this weekend so, I'm attaching a bunch of pictures for family that couldn't be here! He's two this week (hubby's afraid of internet predators etc so we are still not doing kid names or birthdays on here!)!!
Had to have bubbles!
Elmo was the ever present theme
Kisses from Grandma
In a sugar zone!
Present time was crazy! I felt like I was encouraging ADD by making him put down the last one and open the next. We made the streamers in my Niece's hand by tying ribbons to a piece of elastic - easy and it was the party favor too. My kiddo likes to wave them around while he dances to music.
Thanks for a great party Elmo!
I seriously missed doing Wordless Wednesday today now that I've looked at all of yours. I think I'll post some pics tomorrow - I'd have to get up now and get the card out of the camera and well I'm just too tired. I took a 2 1/2 hour nap today and I'll probably still be in bed by 10. I don't remember being this wiped out with my last pregnancy but at least my wonderful hubs is home to get our son up from his nap so I can sleep longer!!!
In the last two days I've cleaned out two hall closets and made a pile to bring to my MIL's garage sale next weekend. I went through a lot of stuff and got ahead on vacuuming, mopping and bathroom cleaning.
Wondering why I'm doing all this? We are getting ready to put our house on the market and I want to make it easy to "put stuff away" when we have a showing. We are going to buy something with more land probably in a neighboring town. This will mean a longer commute for my hubby but we both have wanted more land since we moved to Idaho and we don't know what we've been waiting for. Both of us want to be able to have horses, chickens, fruit trees, (much) larger gardens and just not to be looking out our kitchen window into the neighbor’s window 15 feet away. We probably wouldn't do all that stuff right away but just to have the option to grow enough peaches to can instead of having to buy them first sounds amazing. I love to garden if you haven't guessed.
If you’re still with me, here's where you'll really think I'm crazy! We moved to Idaho when I was 8 weeks pregnant with our son, and then when he was 13 months old we moved into our current house and rented out the other. I guess we are going to make a habit out of this moving while pregnant thing...hopefully one last time for the moving thing but not necessarily the pregnant part I hope!
Thanks for all of your comments on volunteering, I really, really want to do it somewhere but I'm seriously not sure if I actually have the time right now. Eventually the nursing home or something like that sounds doable (is that really a word?) ah, off to bed for me!
Thanks to you all for sharing some fun cravings, in the last two weeks I can't stop eating those little green canned chilies (mild), so yummy in quesadillas and scrambled eggs!
Well my next question is do any of you volunteer anywhere with your kids? I have been trying to find a way to volunteer maybe once a month or so but it needs to be somewhere kid friendly since I'd probably go during a weekday or we could all go together on a weekend. I've called a local food bank and they need help in the warehouse where there is heavy machinery (forklifts) anyway, not really an option with a toddler on my back or running around. I think it's important for us to do something for others every once in awhile and I think it will be good for our kids to see that example. Any ideas?
I might be kind of sporadic in my posting this week and visiting of all of your blogs. I seriously have a large list of projects to finish and things to clean this week. I've got to do this stuff while I feel like it so that's what I'll be doing.
I do have some random questions that I'm going to ask this week, just for fun. The first one is what did you crave when you were pregnant?
I really didn't have any weird cravings when I was pregnant with my son. The only thing my stomach would let me eat for breakfast was eggs and toast, and once I wanted canned peas though not for breakfast. We won't mention ice cream since I love it pregnant or not I don't think it's too special a craving. Tell me what yours were/are will ya???
I think it's safe to say that most of the people I know and love have been informed already so now I can tell all of you also. We're pregnant with our second and terribly excited! I think that is why today I feel like deleting yesterday's post and yesterday I just wanted to complain. I can't make up my mind about anything and I need a nap daily!
We seriously can't keep a secret (especially one like this) so we tell everyone right away. I'm due April 13th and so am 5 weeks along now! So If you see anything strange going on over here you'll know why!
I've been to the grocery store four times since Sunday. Yup, you read that right, four (4) times!!!!!! I've had some issues.
I do shop at two different stores, usually one week at one and then the next week at the other. I do this since one store is cheaper for staples but we like to buy organic items so we go to another store for those. I didn't actually make it to either last week and we needed stuff from both so, I thought no biggie I went to each on different days.
Well the following items from store #1 were defective: * a package of snack items were open slightly * the chicken I opened to use last night for dinner smelled like rotten eggs even though the expiration date is next Monday! (This is the second batch of bad chicken we've experienced since May from 2 different places -yuk)
From store #2: * the seal on my sons toothpaste was broken * the plastic lid on a soy milk container had broken off
What are the odds. Not only did I go shopping twice (my own lack of planning) but I had to return stuff twice and well the chicken we just took a loss on because it almost made me puke!
I'm sorry to vent but I do feel surprisingly better. BTW thanks for all the suggestions about my son's terrible two's. I really am heading to the library and/or bookstore this weekend!
I was tagged for this one by Xav's Mama at New Mama's Nest and since I really love living somewhere that has seasons again I do enjoy them all.
1] Your favorite seasons, in order: SpringFallSummerWinter
2] Your favorite smells for each season: Spring: lilacsFall: the cool crisp air, dry leaf pilesSummer: hot dry air, roses, Winter: apple cinnamon candles, Christmas tree,
3] Your favorite foods for each season: Spring: Berries, spinach, peasFall: pumpkin and apple pies, mulled apple ciderSummer: anything grilled:meat, fish, veggiesWinter: Beef stew, extra rich Christmas rolls,
4] What are your favorite colors for each season: Spring: green for all the new buds and growthFall: orange leaves and pumpkinsSummer: red juicy tomatoesWinter: blue hues reflecting in the snow and icicles
5] Your favorite activities for each season: Spring: getting back out to the park or for a hike, the first plantings in the gardenFall: the late harvest, anything that keeps me outdoorsSummer: gardening, harvesting, swimming, Winter:reading, cuddling, watching movies, long talks with friends
People I tag The Flip Flop Mamma and O Mama Mia but only if you want to.
...to sudoku that is. (Along with blogging and keeping up with all of your lives!)
When we went to CA a few weeks ago my Gram and my Aunt got me addicted to it. It is actually fun and very challenging. I still haven't been able to complete the ones from the newspaper but I bought a book that has easier ones in it. Anyway, any of you all love it, hate it, never tried it?
Here's a link if you want to try oneI decided to join in with Jess over at O Mama Mia and share a picture of my son nursing and a story to go with it. I am sad that our nursing experience is over but I am so glad that we will always have that experience together!
These pictures are from a trip we took to Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia last May when my kiddo was 9 months old. In our three day visit across the border I noticed a huge difference in the comfort level of the public and breast feeding. We went to a street fair where there was a tent set up for Moms and baby's to nurse, BTW the tent had no sides on it so it was just for comforts sake, I could still see everything that was going on around me...totally cool.
We saw this sticker on restaurant windows which I thought was so awesome! The glare from the flash makes it hard to read but it says, "Breastfeeding Friendly" at the top and "anytime. anywhere." at the bottom.
For many reasons we felt at home in B.C. and loved our stay there, the fact that breastfeeding was really no big deal, just feeding your kid, really helped.
The weekend we were there it was gorgeous, so gorgeous in fact that I had to buy shorts to wear when we went to the famous Butchart Gardens, I packed for spring in the NW, nice weather but overcast and rain right! We enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful ocean breeze and this is making me want to go back! My son nursed on the bus ride to the beautiful gardens so he was quite content for some time once we arrived. Of course when he needed to nurse there was not a bench open that wasn’t in the blazing sun, so I stood under a tree by a beautiful pond and nursed. You can see my son is half way undressed because we were all sweaty I love that my husband thought we were sweet under the tree and snapped away.
That's one of our nursing experiences want to share yours, please do and note it in the comments and visit Jess to read more stories.
Last Wednesday I spent the majority of the day cleaning out the closet in our master and catching up on the laundry. For me these are VERY big deals seeing as how our clean laundry usually spends a good deal of its life in baskets or on a couch. The closet is um, well, yeah it’s my dark, dirty little secret. Whenever we are having people over (I can't believe that I'm admitting it LOL) anything that is hanging out in piles elsewhere - bills on the island, random papers, clothes to be mended, items to be returned, you get the picture...stuff that doesn't have a "home" gets thrown in there and is off limits to even the best of friends.
I actually cleaned out my closet bills, clothes and all. I have two bags to donate full of anything smaller than a size 10 because if it hasn't fit me in the last three years, it probably won't in the next three.
After cleaning out the closet, putting the rest of the laundry away didn't seem as daunting so for the first time in, ehem, well a long time the laundry baskets only hold dirty clothes. I am also going to do one load of laundry a day so it doesn't pile up and then on days that I have to do diapers, (we use cloth) bedding, towels, etc. I'm sure I'll get to do two loads but it seems more manageable this way. I've done it for four days in a row now and I'm telling you just so you’ll hold me accountable, hopefully I haven't bored you to pieces.
I do have a question for anyone still with me: What do you do with your mail when it comes in and what do you do with bills after they have been paid? We have a file but I have a hard time getting stuff into it, any advice? I come from a long line of hoarders, pilers and stuff keepers and I need to know what normal people do with this stuff!
Thank you for your encouragement and prayers. Praise God, hubby did get a job offer this afternoon! He'll be going back to work on September 1st at the latest!
I'm always so amazed at how God works and while I don't understand things, I know that he is in command which is a GREAT comfort!
We've had a busy day and a half which I will catch you all up on later. I’m sure you are truly biting your nails with anticipation! LOL!
Seriously though my husband was laid off from his job a few weeks ago which somehow I've avoided blogging about but tonight, it just felt right. He's been called in for a second interview tomorrow (8/4) and we'd love prayers for him and all of us that he finds a job SOON! He did receive an OK severance package which we are VERY grateful for, but my friends, my hubby needs a job.
I do enjoy him being around here a ton, we like to say that we never get sick of each other and we truly do love spending time together. Lately, I have read about how many of you love Monday's and suddenly I find myself really wanting a Monday to get things back to some semblance of normal. Plus a paycheck is always nice so that I can continue to be a very grateful SAHM!
Thanks!
I think this was the ONE time I had to wake him up from a nap and even snapping a dozen pictures didn't do it!
My hubby plays the piano and recently learned how to play Hit the road Jack. It was stuck in my head last night while I was making dinner so I was singing it while our son played. At one point I stopped singing after "and don't ya come back" to focus on food prep for a second when our little sponge took it from there, "no more, no more, no more."
On another note, I seriously can't believe that our son will turn 2 this month. It sure has flown by!
