nights like these…

-I realize just how much my husband does every evening to help me out

-I feel really guilty for all the complaining that he isn’t doing “enough”

-I know that my husband truly loves me and the kids and wishes he could be a work-from-home Dad

-I kick myself for saying to him that I can’t ever do enough to please him when I know I’ve put the same pressure on him so many times

-I find myself staying up later than usual, maybe so I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow

-I understand how lost I would be without my dear husband

-I am so thankful for every moment we have together

-I promise to be a better wife to my husband and better mother to my kids (Lord knows I have a long way to go!)

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The best thing since…

well, since he couldn’t open doors by himself!I thought long and hard to figure out a way to keep Bear in his room but still allow Belle to get out-she sleeps in his room quite often. Therefore, gates and turning the knob around to lock him in wouldn’t work. Then it occured to me in one of my middle-of-the-night thinking spells (when I’m fighting to stay awake while feeding Lamb so I can get her back in her bed when she’s finished)-a child-proof door knob cover!It works like a charm!!That is until Belle decided to teach him to knock on the door and he beat on it like he was trying to break it down. It buys me some sleep time in the morning and keeps him in when he protests his nap. That’s pretty good to me!Here’s a cute picture of Little Lamb from Easter just because I love, love, love it!!Nothing new to report on her. We saw an allergist on Monday and the skin tests were all negative. They want to wait to do any blood tests until she has a reaction to something else. I guess her eczema is not in the areas they expect eczema to be (hands, wrists, feet, ankles). She gets it the most on her back which is very unlike eczema. I don’t know. We’re surviving through it for now. I guess I’ll have to wait until she’s older to see if there is anything more going on.

Who’s there?

So Belle thinks “Knock, knock” jokes are the greatest. We’ve told her the few we remember from our childhood. For instance,Knock, knock (K, k)who’s there?booboo, who?don’t cry…it’ll be okMy personal favorite is this one:K, kwho’s there?bananabanana who?K, kwho’s there?bananabanana who?K, kwho’s there?bananabanana who?K, kwho’s there?orangeorange who?Orange you glad I didn’t say banana!Belle loves making up her own jokes, most of which make absolutely no sense. She has made a cute attempt at copying the banana/orange joke…she just doesn’t get the play on words.Belle’s version:K, kwho’s there?ricerice who?K, kwho’s there?ricerice who?(repeat this MANY times until you almost forget which line to say when)then, finallyK, kwho’s there?chickenchicken who?Aren’t you glad I didn’t say rice?HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!!Can you guess what we ate that night for dinner? 🙂

Sewing 101

No, I’m not teaching sewing 101, I’m living it!I’ve been talking about sewing some clothes for the kids for a while now and I finally dug up the courage to try on Friday. So, we headed to the fabric store (I had the pattern already, purchased several years ago). I let Belle pick out the fabrics (with a little guidance) and away we went. Well, it’s three days later and I’m almost finished. The pattern was not that difficult, I’m just a little slow with these things. After all this is my first solo clothing project. I’ve made a few skirts over the years with my Mom’s help, but never anything alone.There’s still a few details left like buttons and button holes-they seriously terrify me-but I’m happy with the outcome.Don’t look too long or you’ll notice all the flaws!Here’s a close-up of Bear’s pocket. I designed the letters on paper, tranferred them to the fabric, and hand stitched them.I used a very basic method to transfer them:1. Draw the design on paper with pencil2. Trace over finished letter with Sharpie3. Go over letter in pencil on back side of paper4. Position paper on fabric and rub a pencil over the designYou have to rub pretty hard-in the end you wind up scribbling all over your original design.Lessons learned:If at first you don’t succeed, read and read again!A seam ripper is a wonderful thing!Don’t give up…just rip it out and try again.Read those directions again and again, until you’ve got it right!One nice things about this pattern is the lining. I purposefully chose something that would unite the boy and girl outfits, but you can do just about anything. Also, you can make them reversible! And you don’t have to worry about your stitching showing because it’s all contained by the lining. The down size is you don’t have as much control over the length…so plan ahead!

Spring brings thoughts of God’s love

I feel like the strongest evidence of God’s work around us is in nature. It both amazes me and reminds me just how small we are. I am absolutely loving Spring here with all it’s flowering trees. Here are a few pictures that I’ve taken driving around. Please understand that these are trees and bushes I see everyday on the side of the road-not all in a single garden or something. It is absolutely awesome and certainly the most beautiful time of year I’ve witnessed in some time.I’ve probably included too many pictures here, but I guess you’ll just have to deal with it! Sadly, I don’t know what most of these plants are. That’ll have to wait for another year.This is a most amazing tree with weeping branches.Another pretty tree in a friend’s yard.Ahhh…forsythia!!Belle’s favorite!A not-so-great-but-kind-of-cool picture of a dogwood. Either I’m not a good judge of the height of branches from the car or I’m shorter than I think. Probably the latter.A little better shot of the dogwood.Pink dogwoods!!!A peach orchard in full bloom. The pink horizon was breathtaking!

She’s back!!

Not that I’d mentioned it (for fear of jinxing things I suppose), but last week was a reasonably good week with Lamb. She was napping well with very little crying. She was waking in the night-mostly from habit I figure-but was getting back to sleep fairly easily. She rarely screamed her lovely scream and arched her back. I even began questioning how real it all was. Was I just making it all up???And then Cranky McFussalot returned. Lying in bed this morning wishing I was sleeping I developed two possible theories. The week before last was very rough. I was giving her the Zantac (for reflux) regularly but she was still crying. So I got kind of lazy with it. And didn’t give it to her all last week and not until this morning. Could it be that it took a week to really help (thus the good week last week) but now is bad again since I stopped?Also, during the “bad” week, I ate lots of homemade goodies. Remember these sugar cookies and brownies??? This week I’ve been eating a delicious bunny cake (another post for another day) and homemade waffles. So maybe these homemade treats with all there flour/wheat or maybe it’s eggs or whatever is bothering her.I don’t really know, of course. I’m starting the Zantac back regularly. Maybe I’ll keep the goodies coming and see if the medicine alone takes care of it. I don’t know.But I do know I seriously need some sleep WITHOUT holding a baby in my arms. My back is NOT happy with me.***I didn’t read this AT ALL for mistakes, so please forgive me!!***

Are you an instrument or an obstacle?

I’ve read and heard so much lately about a couple of topics that I feel it’s time for me to chime in. The first is bullying (or how our kids treat one another) and the second is Mommy guilt-also called the Mommy Wars.I don’t allow my daughter to sing “Nanny-nanny-boo-boo!!” to her brother or her friends. Obviously it’s not about the actual words, but about the intent of the person saying them. Her friend “G” was singing it the other day while they played chase, but Belle did not join in. I was considering changing my stance on it, thinking maybe I was being silly. But then I pictured her out on the playground, playing tag with her friends. And when they try to get her to join in the singing she can say “My mommy doesn’t like me to sing that song because it’s not nice.” Right in that moment she could be a vehicle for change in how we treat each other! No, I will not change my stance. I have always felt that teaching my children how to be “nice” people is my utmost mission-far and above any intellect I could pass on. What are you doing to end this bullying that is so prevalent among kids these days?Another issue is the pressure/guilt we put upon ourselves as parents-especially mothers. My friend recently learned that her 2-month-old baby has a mild heart defect. It will likely have very little impact on her daily life-she’ll have to take a round of antibiotics before any dental work or other such procedures, but that’s about it. While my friend realizes that it could be much worse, she is plagued with guilt of what she might have done during pregnancy to cause it. Could it be those eardrops she used (with doctor approval) to cure a bad case of swimmer’s ear? Could it be the fact that she couldn’t keep any food down for weeks? Who knows?? The fact is the baby is healthy and happy otherwise; worrying about all the “what ifs” isn’t going to change anything. How are you changing the way we, as women, blame ourselves for every possible blemish on our children? Should I be blaming myself for food I ate when I was pregnant that might have caused an allergy in Little Lamb? NO!!!!!We’ve got to let go of this guilt! Stop apologizing for using that blueberry muffin mix or that can of cream of whatever at dinner! I try to make most of my meals without processed foods, but really it’s not going to hurt now and then. Try to choose the quick-fix things wisely-like frozen vegetables-and you will find a delicious and healthy dinner much easier to accomplish. And if you find a good recipe that calls for canned something, try it during a week you won’t be using other prepared foods. And then move on…enjoy your family and stop beating yourself up!Ok, that’s it for now. Sorry to bore you with all my ranting on. I’m speaking to myself as much as anyone else.

Any minute he will yell out “Adrian!!!”

My two-year-old son has taken to speaking and grunting in a very deep voice. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. I sort of expect Sylvester Stallone to come around the corner saying he’s been coaching my son in Rocky-speak. Thankfully he hasn’t taught him too many moves yet!

Just so silly

We splurged and had steaks cooked out on the grill last night. Bear is not much of a meat eater so we gave him a little-so as not to waste much on him! Anyway, I gave him some ketchup for dipping and encouraged him to try it. He replied, “No, kankoo” and proceeded to dip his strawberries in the ketchup! In the words of my daughter “He eats grossly!!”This morning I had a load of clothes in the dryer that were making a terrible sound. I told my mom it sounded like there were shoes in the dryer. I looked inside to shift things around and see if I spotted anything suspicious. I didn’t see anything and restarted the dryer. The noise was so terrible I feared the dryer was about to quit. Some time passed and the noise stopped so I didn’t think much more of it. I just opened the dryer to empty it and while I didn’t find any shoes, I found rocks! Apparently my son had stashed some in his pockets.He woke up this morning at 5am crying from his bed-he usually just comes right out of his room now so I knew something was wrong. I rushed upstairs, opened the door and he said-still crying-“I’m duck!” (I’m stuck!) His little knee was wedged between the matress and the wall!Belle is in love with High School Musical. She hasn’t actually seen the movie but she’s heard little clips of the songs on Disney’s website. She dances and sings to them day and night. One of these days we’ll rent the movie just so she can learn some of the dance moves.Bear’s favorite trick to make me crazy is to get on the stool in their bathroom, squirt out tons of soap on his hands and squish it between his fingers. So much fun! I’ve cleaned soap from the sink, counters, walls, stool, just about any surface in the bathroom!

In the kitchen, part deux

Here are the recipes and pictures as promised!

The Chuck Roast BBQ, day two

Enchiladas

½ pound ground beef
1 small can tomato sauce
½ can enchilada sauce
1 dozen corn tortillas
3 cups (ish) grated cheddar cheese

Optional:
Sour cream and black olives

Brown the beef in a skillet. You could add some chopped onion here if you like it. Cook it until it is no longer pink and crumble it with your spoon. Stir tomato sauce and enchilada sauce into meat. Grease a 13 x 9 dish with nonstick spray. Fill each tortilla with cheese, roll, and place seam side down in dish. Pour meat mixture over tortillas. Cover and bake for 20 minutes at 350. Top with a little more cheese and bake about 5 more minutes. Serve topped with sour cream and/or olives if desired.

Mom’s Sugar Cookies

1 c shortening
1c sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 ½ tsp vanilla
2 ½ c flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Cream shortening and sugar together in mixer. Add beaten eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to first mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap (shape as disk) and chill in fridge. Roll out dough onto floured surface* and cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

*Sometimes I use powdered sugar instead of flour

Buttercream Frosting

2/3 c (10 2/3 Tbs) butter softened
6 c powdered sugar, sifted**
6 Tbs cream
3 tsp vanilla

Blend the butter and sugar in mixer. **You really should sift the sugar for this one. I really hate sifting, but there isn’t enough mixing in this recipe to break up powdered sugar lumps. Stir in cream and vanilla. Add more cream to reach desired consistency. Separate as needed for coloring. This makes just enough to frost a 2 layer 9” cake with no decorating. When in doubt, double the recipe. This stuff is amazing!! It would keep just fine for a couple of weeks in the fridge-just let it come to room temp before using.