January 26, 2011

  • Breakfast Fare

    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so they say.  But it is also the most difficult to get my boys to eat.  Today, I made something that was a huge hit, so I am sharing the idea here for other moms with similar breakfast challenges.

    Mommy's Gingerbread

    1/4 c butter
    1 c sugar (I use 2/3c or less)
    1 egg
    1 1/2 c flour
    1/4 t baking soda
    1/2 t cream of tartar
    1/4 t cinnamon
    1/4 t ginger
    1/8 t nutmeg
    1/2 c milk

    Preheat oven to 350.  Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir in milk.  Bake in greased and floured 13x9 pan for 18-20 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Cut into cookie cutter shapes (I did stars and gingerbread men) and decorate with raisins.  Serve with a side of homemade applesauce. Voila! A breakfast hit :)  

January 11, 2011

  • Four letter words my kids say

    When you're learning how to talk, not every word gets pronounced correctly.  The result is a smattering of vocabulary that sounds like something only fit for an 'R' movie.  For example, kids have difficulty pronouncing the letter 'r' at first.  So try out a word like 'fork', without the 'r' and you have a swearing little sailor on your hands.  The letter 'p' is also a challenge.  But if you mispronounce the 'p' in 'ship'....my my, somebody needs their mouth washed out with soap!  Pretty humiliating when your sweet child yells out one of these 'profanities' in public.

    Here are some more things we've heard lately:

    "H-E-B...that spells grocery store Mommy!  I know all my letters!"

    "Daddy's rough, but you're soft Mommy...that's why I like you best"

    "Mommy, you're so sweet, I'm gonna marry you!" (So I explained that I was already married to Daddy)
    "What?!!!  You married MY  Daddy?!!!  You're being super silly Mommy!"

    "If an alligator and a bear got in a fight, who would win?" (where does he come up with this stuff?)
    "ummm...the bear?" I guess
    "No, mommy, the alligator would win.  If an alligator and a shark got in a fight, who would win?"
    "Probably the shark" I say
    "No, mommy! The alligator would win!" (oh, silly me...I thought the shark would have a chance, what with its 1200 teeth and being twice the size of the gator.)

    "Aaaahhh!! Watch out!  The noodles are coming!  And they have teeth!"  (we hear this a lot and it always makes me laugh...since when were noodles a threat??)

    "Mommy, I don't like my Sunday school teacher."
    "Why not honey?"
    "Because she ties us all up with handcuffs"

    "Do you remember that one time when a bad guy broke into our house, mommy?"
    "Ummm...no, I don't remember that"
    "He was gonna kill Giosue and Isaac.  But I saved them, cause they are my friends.  I shooted the bad guy and died him.  I protected my friends!"

    He came up to me today and kissed my growing belly.  "I sure do love that baby", he said. 

December 27, 2010

  • Christmas


    We didn't put our packages out until Christmas Eve...with two boys our reasons are obvious!


    Caleb just started getting an allowance for chores.  This is important to teach him the value of a dollar and why we can't buy every toy we see in the store.  It also teaches him to save for things he wants.  We had him save part of his money up to buy gifts for other people (including Jackson) this Christmas.  It was a great learning opportunity for him!  He actually ended up enjoying shopping for and giving to others.  We gave him this piggy bank for Christmas and he was so excited about it!  "It's the Evil Doctor Pork Chop!" he squealed excitedly (those of you who have seen Toy Story will understand :)


    Opening his stocking (I loved his Christmas pajamas - which we bought on clearance 75% off last year!

    Caleb also requested that we buy a christmas gift for Coco too.  Here it is- a rawhide treat


    Caleb got a Fireman costume and has LOVED wearing it everywhere! 


    Jackson's stocking had a balloon, a small foam airplane and a ball (thanks to Target's $1 bin)

    The ball was his favorite and we couldn't get him to open any presents. (the ball lights up when thrown)

    Although we don't put candy in the boys stockings, Jackson has discovered a love for candy canes this season and so we had to get one for him Christmas morning :)

    We developed a tradition of taking half our breakfast to the firemen who are on call Christmas day at our local fire station.  They were so excited about the warm homemade cinnamon rolls and they were delighted to see Caleb in authentic fireman gear.  They gave him a tour of the station and let him 'drive' the fire truck.  It was one of those really great christmas memories.

    Our boys get only three gifts each for Christmas: one toy, one practical item, and one other item (usually clothing)  This year they each got a backpack with their name on it as their practical item, Caleb got the fireman outfit as his clothing item, and a red watch for his toy.  (plus a few stocking stuffers)  Jackson got a Mr Potato Head and some stocking stuffers.  We hope this keeps them from becoming overly materialistic!  Plus, with 22 aunts and uncles and a dozen cousins, they get plenty of other toys for Christmas!  Caleb's favorite gift from the grandparents this year was probably his camouflage fleece.  He has been begging for camo for Christmas.  I grew up in a home where nobody wore camo and it was just kind of a redneck thing to do.  But he LOVES it!  Now we just have to convince him that camouflage is not appropriate for church :)

December 24, 2010

  • 25 weeks

    I'm trying to be better about taking pics this pregnancy!  This is my 25 week picture.  Not really a 'cute' baby belly yet...just looks like I'm getting fat!  Because of traveling, visiting with family and staying up late (and forgetting to take my anti-nauseau pills!) I actually have lost weight over the past two weeks of Christmas. This brings my total weight gain to 8 pounds.  (a little behind the national average of 16-22 pounds!) I think most of the weight I've gained has gone to my top half... an embarrassing and annoying reality of pregnancy for me.  I once read Maria Von Trapp's autobiography (of the Sound of Music).  Apparently pregnancy was a somewhat shameful condition in which women didn't really go out in public.  So she had a set of three things made that would make her chest look progressively bigger.  She would wear number one in her first trimester, number two in her second and so forth.  In this manner, her chest would look the same size as the belly and nobody would guess she was with child.  (!!)   I guess that explains a lot about why nobody seems to realize I'm pregnant...my top half is keeping pace with my middle and I just look really huge all over.  I went up 7 cup sizes in my first pregnancy and was mortified by the changes my body went through.  But I guess my body feels the need to do that in every pregnancy!  Hoping for a cute baby belly soon...I'd really prefer people to know I'm pregnant, not just think I'm fat, like Maria Von Trapp was hoping.

December 15, 2010

  • SNOW!!!

    They had a manmade snow pile at a nearby park, so we took the boys out for balloons, train rides and fun in the snow. (it was 76 degrees!)


    The snowball that Caleb cleaned off and took home...it was half the size by the time we made it home, but it is sitting happily in our freezer as I write :)


    Jackson enjoyed just filling up a cup with snow

    An itty bitty snowman


    Jackson trying to feed snow to Daddy

    Some kid in orange ruined the only 'family' picture we got there. But we had a marvelous time!  Caleb has been pretending that it's snowing outside since July.  He would take his hat, mitten, and snowboots and play outside.  He claimed to have built snowman and thrown snowballs in our 110 degree summer.  I'm glad we could finally indulge his passionate imagination with a trip to see a bit of real snow!

  • Four boys, four days

    I watched my sister's two boys for the weekend.  Four boys, ages 4, 3 1/2, 3, and 18 months. Despite the sometimes chaotic environment, it was actually quite fun and not too terribly much different from watching only my 2.  (a real encouragement since we're about to have 3!)  We really enjoyed the feeling of having a full quiver.  (Though I must say I got some rather odd stares when I took them out on my own) They are impossibly close in age...the first two are 10 months apart, the second two are 8 months and the last two are 18 months apart (the only feasible age span of the bunch!)  We celebrated Isaac's 3rd birthday and had fun smearing icing all over our faces :)

     
    Two blonds and two brunettes!  Here they are watching Toy Story in their PJs on Saturday

  • Mr Potato Head

    We found the mustache for Mr Potato Head buried in a pile of blocks today.  We haven't seen it in months and we seldom used it even then.  Caleb was asking where it goes on his face, so I took this opportunity to explain to him how guys grow hair on their face, which we call beards and mustaches, and if they don't want to have a beard or mustache that they have to shave everyday.  Like Daddy does, Daddy shaves every day, I told him. And then I went a step further to explain that when Caleb gets big like Daddy, he will also have to shave.  I finished with a smile.  He stared at me wide eyed.  "WHAT!!! What are you TALKING about???!!!  I'm not gonna have hair on my face!"

December 7, 2010

  • Just when you think you've seen it all...

    Caleb and I were busily building a train track together near the Christmas tree.  I suddenly became aware of him crunching on something.  Without looking up, I asked "What are you eating Caleb? Is that a candy cane?"  "No; a christmas light broke, so I'm eating it"

December 2, 2010

December 1, 2010

  • Bad hair day

    As moms, we all have our bad days.  You know the ones; everything that can go wrong does go wrong.  Before I had kids, I thought a bad day was bad hair or a zit on the end of my nose.  Now everyday is pretty much a bad hair and I'm lucky if I have time to check my face in the mirror before I leave the house.  Now I worry about getting everyone dressed, happy and in their carseats on time (a process we normally start the night before)  Being pregnant only complicates the issue because I have absolutely no short term memory.  I can have a complete conversation with someone and walk away not knowing what we talked about, what was decided, or even who was present for the conversation.  Today I was going to vacuum out my car and couldn't remember which end of the extension cord I needed to carry inside and plug in.  I stared blankly at each for a moment, trying to remember what the outlet would look like and reasoning which end would fit in better.  The other day we were running late to a friend's house and Jackson was whining his little heart out and wringing his hands...I was verging on the brink of a mental breakdown.  I finally got them in the car, zoomed out of the driveway and around the corner.  "Mooommmy!!!"  Caleb squealed from the backseat "You didn't buckle me in!!" He said, as he tumbled across the back of the car.  Fine,  I thought.  I pulled into a neighbor's driveway and crawled in the back to buckle him in.  (I seriously never knew I had a temper until I had kids!)  Blood pressure rising, I declared loudly, and to noone in particular,that if anything else went wrong today, I was going to absolutely lose it.  I put the car in reverse...and the rearview mirror fell off the windshield. I stared at it for a moment and then grinned sheepishly.  I spent the rest of the drive with the rear view mirror in my lap, occasionally holding it up to peer behind me.  I smiled every time I did, grateful that God has given me these opportunities to laugh in the midst of chaos.  Thankful also that he gives me crazy days like these to show me what a selfish sinful creature I really am.  He's working on me, bit by bit.