Where Your Treasure Is

Elf Yourself

2011-12-26T13:44:00.002-06:00

I had forgotten about the Elf Yourself website where you can put your faces in and watch yourself do hilarious dances each year at Christmastime. So I put in Justin, Elias, myself, and Mrs. B since she's as beloved as a member of the family. The video it made was hilarious - click here to watch my favorite. (I believe the link is only live until January 15, so hurry on over if you want to see it.)

However, another version of the dance wasn't as good, but the ending pose was too hilarious - I took a screen capture to save it forever!

Justin dipping me and Elias dipping Mrs. B. Couldn't get any more lifelike than that!

More Christmas Fun

2011-12-25T21:12:00.000-06:00

In addition to the birthday party for Jesus, here are some other pictures from our Christmas Day together. We went to church in the morning, and it was a really neat service. They brought all the kids on stage and read the Christmas story from the Jesus Storybook Bible, which rocks my socks off. I have never read anything out of that book without crying. Ever. If you have kids Elias' age or older, get one for them. Anyhow, here is my adorable boy in his Christmas church outfit:

Who can resist a cutie in a sweater vest? Not me.

Then the weather was really beautiful today - warm and sunny! So my boys spent quite a bit of time playing outside!

My adorable boy in front of the neighbor's display of inflatables. You should see their front yard!

Elias rode his tricycle.*

And we all played frisbee!

Then for dinner I cooked an ethnic Indian meal. In my mind, it reminds us that the angel said "I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which will be FOR ALL PEOPLE!" But really we just like Indian food.

Butter chicken, green bean & potato curry, and tomato rice. YUM!

So we really had a special and enjoyable Christmas together!!

*Note: I've had a video of Elias riding his tricycle on these adorable ramps that Justin set up for him for MONTHS, and I've just been too much of a slacker to blog about it. So, uh, look at these awesome ramps that Justin made for Elias, and see what fun Elias has riding his trike on them!!!

Christmas, Birthday-Style

2011-12-25T20:55:00.002-06:00

Every year at Christmastime we really try to make it as meaningful and as honoring to Christ as we can. So we try not to tie ourselves to traditions, but to be willing to try new things in order to make the holiday special. This year we were at home just the three of us for Christmas day, and so we tried something new that I think was REALLY fun!!! Instead of making it like a traditional Christmas, we celebrated it more like a birthday party.

Elias helped me make a pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing. (YUM!) Since it was just us, we halved the recipe and only made one layer.

The 1 candle just happened to be the only one we had in the house that would work on a cake. But hey, Jesus is God's one and only Son, not to mention He's just #1. So it works.

Then we decorated with balloons and streamers!

The balloons looked pretty awesome when the fan was spinning! On the back wall is Elias' Christmas-themed artwork, some from school and some we did at home.

We lit a candle and sang happy birthday to Jesus!

Then, instead of giving gifts to each other, we chose various missions and ministries, and we gave donations as our gifts to Jesus, since He is the Birthday Boy after all!

It was really a lot of fun, and the birthday party atmosphere really resonated with Elias. There was absolutely no confusion at all about what we were celebrating and why. Happy Birthday, Jesus!!!

Family Portraits

2011-12-11T18:37:00.001-06:00

We also got some family portraits taken, and those turned out great too! Most of you will see the first one in our Christmas card.

Elias being a ham.

My sweetheart & me

See Elias' portraits from the same session here.

3-1/2 Year Portraits

2011-12-11T18:28:00.001-06:00

Since I totally dropped the ball on getting 3-year portraits of Elias, we got some at 3.5 instead! Worked out well to get family portraits for our Christmas cards at the same time - see this post for those. :) Here's my precious buddy at 3.5! (Click to enlarge.)

We had to get at least one shot with Mrs. B - the love of his life. :)

Zoo With Nana & Granddad

2011-11-11T20:44:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned here, Justin's parents came for a visit shortly after Elias and I returned home from our trip to Atlanta. Unfortunately, I'm way worse at taking pictures when we're at home than when we're someplace new, so I don't have many pictures of Nana & Granddad's visit. One thing we did together that I got some great pics of, though, was visit the zoo!

Elias loved this dragon sculpture in the pond.

An otter saying hi to Elias, Granddad, & Nana through the glass. Elias LOVED this!

We were there in the morning and the tiger must've been hungry for his breakfast, because he was making some loud growling noises! Elias couldn't decide whether that was terrifying or awesome.

Checking out the elephant

This monkey was by far Elias' favorite part of the zoo. He was swinging wildly around his pen, and Elias thought that was hilarious!

You can't see it well because of Elias' reflection, but the monkey is right on the other side of the glass from him, walking with its arms in the air. Elias thought that was so cool!

He really liked these crowned cranes too!

Elias and Daddy went up on the observation deck, and this giraffe got really close!

Even though we don't have more pictures than this, we had such a great time with Nana & Granddad, and we're so thankful they came to visit!!!

Atlanta Trip 9: Wrapping Up

2011-10-29T14:30:00.000-05:00

Can you believe I had 9 posts worth of pictures from this week-long trip?! It was so much fun, though, and I'm so thankful for that time with my family! If you're still hanging in there in this long series, here are a few pictures that didn't fit anywhere else:

The kids' table at our Sunday afternoon cookout.

Grandpa bought Elias a ride on the train at the mall! He was beyond thrilled!!! Notice the blue tickets he's holding - he still has his souvenir train ticket!

Jessica has an app on her iPad that is an adorable version of The Monster At The End of This Book - a book we used to read when we were kids! Elias absolutely stinkin' LOVED it! He would just laugh and laugh - scream laughing! We definitely bought that one for our own iPad. This picture is Grandma showing it to them before bed one night. Many thanks to Patriot & Azlan for putting up with his craziness while reading this one!

So that was our visit! Our return home was also an adventure, since Atlanta traffic caused us to miss our morning flight. However, there was another flight 2.5 hours later that they put us on for no charge, and it was really no inconvenience to us at all to get home a little later than originally planned. So, we enjoyed a long car and train ride with my sis to get to the airport, then extra hangout time waiting for the next flight! Score! So it was a fantastic trip - all that I had hoped it would be - and I'm so thankful for how good Elias was to travel alone with! What blessings God has given me in my family!!!!!

Atlanta Trip 8: More Celebrating

2011-10-29T14:08:00.003-05:00

Patriot and Azlan's birthdays are only a couple weeks apart, so we had a family celebration for both boys, since we wouldn't be able to come back for Azlan's party. Also, Patriot and Azlan are both in karate classes, and while we were there, they passed their tests to move up to orange belt level! Way to go, boys! (We went to watch their testing, and Elias LOVED seeing all the kids doing their karate! He sat still on my lap for the entire hour just in awe of all the kicking and movements and shouting. He still walks around going "A-ya!" like the kids did. Maybe martial arts are in Elias' future too?!) So we had a lot to celebrate that day!

And when you have a lot to celebrate, where else do you go but Chuck E. Cheese's?! It had been more than 2 years since Elias went to Chuck E Cheese's (with the same crowd actually!), so it was definitely more fun for all of us this time!

Loving the helicopter flying around in this game.

Pushing buttons on Deal or No Deal.

This was a helicopter-type ride that you pedal like a bike. He wouldn't actually ride it, but he loved to just touch it and shake it! He called it the Thingmajigger from The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That.

What's really funny is that even though he loved touching the games and pushing their buttons, he refused to actually play or ride any of them. So we didn't spend one token there, which actually ends up being a lot cheaper... So if he's happy to just run around and look at things, I guess I'm ok with that!

Looking adoringly at Chuck E.

Then he finally found the thing he loved best - seeing himself on TV with the bluescreen!! He danced there until it was time to go. :)

Then we went back to the house for cake, ice cream, and presents. I for some reason didn't get any pictures of cake time... But it was yummy! Then it was present time, and in true Grandma fashion, she had brought one for Elias! She said she felt bad that the other boys were getting birthday presents, but Elias wasn't getting anything. I think that's sweet. So all three boys were simultaneously ripping into presents! Mayhem.

They were all very excited with their haul, and Elias didn't let go of his little Cars 2 Lightning McQueen and Fillmore characters for the next 48 hours! (He's holding them in the pajama photo in this post!)

Atlanta Trip 7: Birthday Insanity

2011-10-28T09:10:00.004-05:00

One of the reasons we scheduled our trip when we did was so we would be there for Patriot's 7th birthday party! It was possibly the coolest party ever! It was a video game-themed party, so they rented something called Rolling Video Games.

There was a very large number of very loud, very excited boys. I've never seen such a thing! Kinda glad my kid is only 3... I've got some time before we're doing things like this...

It was a trailer outfitted with 4 large-screen TVs, and up to 16 people could play simultaneous video games in there! So Patriot had 15 friends over, and they had some intense video game action in there!!!

Not being a gamer myself, Elias and I only peeked in to see the insanity, but it was hilarious! The boys were so excited! After the boys had turns, they let some grown-ups in to give it a try.

Birthday boy playing an intense game with Grandpa, Brother, and Daddy

Only after the truck left were the boys willing to come in and participate in the rest of the festivities: pasta, cake pops, and presents. Jessica had ordered cake pops shaped like video game controllers - how cute were these?!

Elias sure thought it was tasty! He gobbled his down and immediately said "More?!"

Patriot's birthday was actually the next day, and so we went to school to eat lunch with him on his special day.

It was Elias' first time in a school like this, and my first time since high school!

It was HILARIOUS how much Elias LOVED the school cafeteria food! For Elias, I chose something that Patriot called "stuffed crust," which in my mind would be something like a pizza calzone. When Elias was eating it, though, I saw that it was all white, so I asked Patriot what it was stuffed with. He said fish. HA! Elias LOVES fish, so he actually enjoyed it way more than he would've pizza. So there ya go.

I chuckled at how my child is probably one of the few who would be happier about fish than pizza.

Then after school, the whole family met Patriot at the bus stop, and they even took the dog decorated with some birthday balloons to celebrate his big day!

So happy birthday, Patriot! Can't believe you're seven already!

Atlanta Trip 6: Decorating Pumpkins

2011-10-27T19:10:00.003-05:00

Grandma had brought with her 3 pumpkins donated to her grandsons from a friend in Kentucky, so one afternoon we decorated them! I say "decorated" because Patriot and Azlan carved theirs, but Elias and I opted for drawing with a sharpie. When I say "Elias and I," I mean me, because he didn't care in the slightest about the pumpkins. But I drew a really cute cat on ours! So there.

This is as long as Elias lasted. You can see him already getting out of his chair to go run up and down the hill some more.

This is the really scary face that Azlan wanted to put on his pumpkin!

Then he decided he'd rather have the Red Power Ranger on his pumpkin, so Grandma printed out a picture and helped him draw the design.

Patriot using the dremmel.

Jessica is deep in concentration.

Mom used a terrifyingly large knife.

We ended up with three awesome pumpkins!

Atlanta Trip 5: Downtown

2011-10-27T10:17:00.001-05:00

One afternoon we took the MARTA train to downtown Atlanta, which of course, thrilled Elias to the depths of his soul!

Too excited to sit still!

Grinning at Grandma

We went to Centennial Park, where the Olympics were held in 1996.

Grandma with her boys

The park was beautiful, and the weather was just perfect. There were also some really great playgrounds, and the boys had a great time playing!

Azlan & Patriot "selling" Grandma some ice cream at the playground's "store."

The curly slide is always Elias' favorite!! If you look closely, you'll see his skinned left knee - he did that on the concrete just a few minutes before this photo was taken, but he shook it off and kept playing. There's fun to be had!

Then we tried to go to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, but the wait was too long, so we instead visited an only-in-Atlanta kind of place called Aunt Pittypat's Porch. (Aunt Pittypat is a character from Gone With the Wind, which takes place in Atlanta.) Good, down-home Southern food there! :)

Atlanta Trip 4: Aunt Jessica's House

2011-10-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

We were very grateful that my sister's house had enough space for us all to be able to stay there together! Good times! Elias had a few things about the house that were his favorites:

Elias' single favorite thing about Aunt Jessica's house were the decorative fake pumpkins. She had two on shelves in the living room, and those were seriously his favorite thing to play with! They were hollow and open on the bottom, so he would stack them and call them a pumpkin patch, or he liked to try to put his foot inside. (Note that he had to take his socks off to play with them... Whatever.)


Patriot & Azlan have bunk beds, and there is a trundle bed that pulls out from underneath, which Elias slept on. He thought it was fun to sleep in there with his cousins, and Aunt Jessica was sweet enough to put a homemade train quilt on his bed! He. Loved. It! So much that he actually napped in it our first day there - a combination of loving the bed and being so tuckered out from our exciting travels.

He LOVED their electric keyboard. He played the piano as much as we would let him!

...and sometimes MORE than we let him.

They have a huge backyard that is a big slope. He LOVED running up and down that hill! I'm standing on the back deck to take this photo, so that's how steep a slope it is!

I have no idea why, but he liked to lay down on the side of the hill and shout "Help! I'm stuck!" Talk about the boy who cried wolf! No way I was going to go down there each time he said that... ;)

They also have a big bathtub and lots of bath toys Elias had never seen before! Very cool! He was especially taken with one, which was a little grabber shaped like a snake head (Elias called it a dinosaur) and it had a trigger you could pull to make the mouth move. He quickly figured out how to pull the trigger to move the mouth, and then he thought it was really funny to act out one of his favorite scenes from Thomas & Friends Hero of the Rails with it. I was pretty impressed at his ability to make the mouth move and match up with the words!

Everything is more fun at Aunt Jessica's house!

Atlanta Trip 3: Family Fun

2011-10-26T20:28:00.002-05:00

On this trip, we went to the Atlanta area, where my sister and her family have lived for a couple years, but I've never made it down to visit. So we just decided to create our own fall break and go for a visit! (Unfortunately, it wasn't a real fall break, so Justin couldn't take that much time off work... He had to enjoy the visit vicariously through our nightly Skype chats.) Since all her children and grandsons were going to be at the same place at the same time, Mom didn't want to miss a minute of it, so she drove down from Kentucky to be with us. Then, Dad flew down for the last couple days of our time together. It was really a special little reunion! We did our best to make fun memories together.

We ate at the Chick-Fil-A Dwarf House in Hapeville, GA - the very first Chick-Fil-A restaurant!

We picnicked in the back of Grandma's car... A special request by Azlan.

We played at the park.

Grandma & Grandpa bought the boys matchie pajamas. Grandpa (a bass guitar player) picked them out - they have guitars on them and say "Rocking World Tour: It's gonna get loud!" We all thought that was appropriate.

Grandma took all three boys bike riding. Azlan was kind enough to let Elias borrow his old big wheel. There were only minor injuries. :) Major props to Grandma for getting Elias to wear a helmet!

Atlanta Trip 2: Country Mouse in the City

2011-10-26T20:08:00.001-05:00

This belongs as part of the traveling post I published yesterday, but the story is so good that I thought I'd rather give it its own post. Now, I'm not uninitiated when it comes to travel - I've been around the block a time or two! But it's been several years since I've flown through a large airport, and in that time I've gotten really used to small town life. So Elias and I were both just completely stunned to descend through the clouds into the Atlanta airport, which is HUGE!!! SO MANY airplanes going every direction. Honestly, I was overwhelmed; Elias was just impressed.

So then we got off the airplane and the number of people in the terminal was just unbelievable. (This was 5pm on a weekday, so peak travel time for businesspeople, I'd guess.) We followed the crowd and the signs that pointed us toward baggage claim. I didn't even realize that there were concourses and we'd have to take a TRAIN through 4 concourses just to get to the exit! Elias was, of course, thrilled that not only was there an airplane, but there was also going to be a train!

The best part of the story comes, though, before we get to the train. To reach the platform, we had to take an escalator down, and as we're lining up to get on it, I realize that Elias has probably never been on one before and wouldn't know what to do. There are no escalators in our small town, that's for sure! So I was explaining to him that it was stairs that moved us down, and he just needed to step on and stand still. HE. LOVED. IT. Seriously, the awe on his face was priceless. There were so many people and I was juggling a preschooler and two backpacks, so no way I could've gotten a photo. It was so great, though, that we were drawing attention from the masses around us, and people were cracking up when they realized that this child has never seen an escalator before! It was a classic case of country mouse coming to the big city!!!

We of course enjoyed the train, and then got to take another escalator back up to baggage claim, and many people were once again entertained by how much my child loved the escalator. He, in fact, asked to do it again, but that just wasn't gonna happen.

Who knew, though, that in all our exciting travels that day, the part my 3-year-old would love the most was the escalator?!!?!

The next day, we visited a mall that had escalators, so Grandma took the opportunity to snap a photo of Elias on his new obsession:

We took every opportunity we could find on our trip to ride an escalator, sometimes just over and over again. To this day, his eyes light up when he hears the word "escalator." Ah, it's the simple pleasures in life. :)

Atlanta Trip 1: Flying in the Sky!

2011-10-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

In preparing Elias for our trip to Atlanta to visit family, I told him that he and I were going to be flying on an airplane to get there, and from that moment he was SOLD. He asked me every day for two weeks before we left, "Do we fly in the sky in an airplane today???" Um, not yet, buddy. But finally, the day arrived, and of course he LOVED it! I was very thankful that one of the cheaper airlines that flies out of our area had a direct flight to Atlanta. So we drove about 1.5 hours to get to the airport, then only had a 1.5 hour flight until we were there! I am so thankful that my little buddy is such a great traveler, though, because he really made it easy on this mama. We had FUN flying together!!!

It just so happens that the Branson Airport IS a Bass Pro Shop, so there were certainly entertaining things to look at too! They had a waterfall with a water wheel, and a bridge going over the little river to a cafe. Elias' favorite part was the koi in the fish pond, though! He stared at them for a LONG time!

Admiring the fishies

Then we got on the plane and he loved absolutely every minute. So proud of my high-flier!

He of course brought along his trusty companions, Mrs. B and Buster, whose presence kept him at ease the whole time.

He was excited when the flight attendant gave him a pair of wings to wear! He wore them the whole time and wouldn't take them off until we got to Aunt Jessica's house!

Playing with trains on the tray table was a favorite activity while flying. The only problem came when we started our descent and had to put all tray tables in a locked and upright position!

Daddy had sent along his iPod Touch for entertainment purposes while traveling, and Elias was glad for that! I wasn't sure how he'd do since he had never worn headphones before, but he didn't flinch at all. I guess he'd do whatever it takes to watch a little Thomas...

Our plane was small enough that we were the only two seats on our side of the aisle, and that was great because I could put him at the window and then keep him corralled! He wasn't wild, though, and was content to just play in his seat the whole time. He loved looking out the window, especially during takeoff and landing, and it was neat for me to see it through his new eyes too! So thankful for the opportunity to do this with him and make the trip to visit family.

Pinday: Crockpot Orange Chicken

2011-10-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Alrighty, here's another Pinterest recipe that I loved and my guys didn't. I guess I don't do a good job of picking out recipes for the whole family's taste buds instead of just my own! The issue is, though, that neither of my guys like the texture of chicken cooked in the crockpot. So next time I'll try the same recipe cooked on the stovetop, and I bet they'll like it better. For those of you whose families like crockpot meals, though, I highly recommend this. The flavor was fantastic, and it was pretty simple. :) Pin here, recipe here. Below is my photo and the original recipe.

Crockpot Orange Chicken
Ingredients:
• boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks
• 1/3 cup flour
• olive oil
• 1/2 T salt
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 3 T ketchup
• 6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (thaw or throw it in the microwave for 45 seconds)
• 4 T brown sugar

In a bowl, mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, and ketchup. Pour the flour in a small bowl. Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess. Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken. The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked since it's going in the crock pot. After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot. Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3.Serve over rice and even add veggies if you want a healthier meal. Enjoy!

It's a little irritating that the recipe doesn't tell you how much chicken to use! I used 6 chicken breasts, and I thought the sauce-meat ratio was good. It would've been fine with less chicken, though, for those of you who don't want a lot of leftovers! Since I used that much chicken, I actually had some trouble browning it because the pan I used was too small. So make sure to use a large enough saute pan to brown your chicken, or do it in batches - I think it would've been better if I had been able to more thoroughly brown the chicken.

I don't think this was very much like Panda Express Orange Chicken, which is of course fabulous. However, that chicken is deep fried, which I'm sure is why it's so good! My much healthier orange chicken was just different, but also very tasty. It was definitely very orange-y and very sweet. Not a hint of spice in it.

I served it with jasmine rice lightly flavored with garlic and ginger, and a freezer bag of stir fry vegetables lightly seasoned with soy sauce. The salty vegetables were a nice contrast with the sweet chicken. Let me know if you try this!

Family Frenzy

2011-10-22T10:57:00.003-05:00

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you'll know that I haven't been posting on my blog because we've been traveling! Elias and I spent a week in Atlanta visiting my family, and as soon as we got back, Justin's parents came for a visit! So I'll have lots and lots of great pictures and stories to post soon... Stay tuned!

Pinday: Roasted Red Pepper & Basil Pesto Penne

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

So, how about another vegetarian Pinday recipe??? Alright, then. Your wish is my command. This week's recipe is Roasted Red Pepper & Basil Pesto Penne. I hesitate to share it because I loved it, but neither of my boys liked it. You use your own discretion about whether or not to try it. Read on for how to avoid making the mistakes I did, and yours might be received better. Pin here, recipe here. My photo and original recipe below.

Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Pesto Penne
Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup roasted red bell pepper (fresh or jarred)
1 cup basil leaves
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. penne pasta
¼ cup heavy cream, optional

Directions:
Place garlic and pine nuts in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Add Parmesan, red pepper, basil leaves, salt and pepper. Pulse until well combined. With the motor running, add olive oil through the feed tube and process until incorporated. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to the pot. Add the pesto to the pasta and stir to combine. Stir in heavy cream if desired for a creamier sauce. Heat until warmed through. Serve immediately.

This recipe was really simple to make, and I "healthified" it by using whole wheat penne and fat free half & half instead of the cream. My first mistake was in using all 3 cloves of garlic, because it just so happened that the head of garlic I had on hand had HUGE HONKIN' cloves. I should've probably only used one, but I went ahead and used 3 because hey, we like garlic! But geez, not that much! So if you use normal-sized cloves of garlic, then go for the 3. If you have mutant-giant cloves, consider using fewer. :) But hey, we were all set in case of any vampire attacks that week.

My second mistake was trying to substitute a different nut for the pine nuts. Because man! Pine nuts are really expensive! And our Wal-Mart only had big bags of them, so I couldn't justify that expense. So I tried to sneak in walnuts, which I know Justin doesn't like, but I hoped chopping them tiny in the food processor would make them ok for him... Alas, it didn't. I like walnuts, so I didn't mind the taste of them, but I definitely could taste them. Next time I would either try pecans, which I think wouldn't have tasted as strong, or just spring for the pine nuts.

The one GOOD substitution I made was using fat free half & half in place of the heavy cream. I only used about 2 tablespoons instead of the full 1/4 cup, and it worked perfectly to give it just a hint of creaminess.

I served this with oven-roasted vegetables, which both my boys DO like, so they got their veggies that night!

Pinday: Stuffed Eggplant Rolls

2011-10-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

It seems like all the Pinterest recipes I'm featuring on here are vegetarian, but those are the new recipes I'm trying these days! So here's another vegetarian hit: Stuffed Eggplant Rolls! The pin is here, and the recipe is here. Below is my picture and original recipe.

Stuffed Aubergine Rolls

2 aubergines, cut lengthways into 0.5cm/¼ in thick strips
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil, for brushing

For the filling

150g/5oz ricotta
150g/5oz buffalo mozzarella
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
2 spring onions, finely chopped

For the sauce

250ml/8fl oz extra virgin olive oil
450g/1lb cherry tomatoes, halved
1 garlic clove, crushed
pinch sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.
Season the aubergine slices well with salt and freshly ground black pepper and brush with oil.
Griddle for a couple of minutes on each side in a hot griddle pan, or until golden-brown grill marks are formed. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.
For the filling, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, nutmeg and spring onions together in a bowl.
Lay out all of the slices of aubergine onto a clean surface. Place about one teaspoon of filling at the bottom edge of each one.
Roll up the aubergine slices, like a cigar, around the filling, then rest them seam-side down on a plate.
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan and add the cherry tomatoes.
Simmer for 8-10 minutes until the tomatoes begin to break down.
Remove from the heat and stir in the garlic and sugar. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Spoon some of the sauce into the bottom of an ovenproof dish.
Carefully place the aubergine rolls, seam-side down onto the sauce, and spoon over the rest of the sauce.
Transfer to the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cheese begins to melt.
To serve, spoon the rolls onto plates.

The recipe came from a BBC site, where they call eggplants "aubergines!" There were also a few other British words in the recipe that I just did the best I could to interpret and do correctly. I don't know what spring onions are, but I just diced half a regular onion and sauteed it a little before mixing it with the cheese. I also left out the nutmeg because I thought that sounded weird. :) Finally, I just used prepared spaghetti sauce to top them instead of making my own with cherry tomatoes. Big time saver there!

These were delicious, although they took longer to make than I expected. I used my Pampered Chef grill pan to grill them, and that worked great, just took a long time since it only held 4 or 5 slices at a time. (I also used olive oil cooking spray instead of brushing the slices with olive oil, but I DO NOT recommend doing that... The spray ended up burning onto my grill pan and being very difficult to get off!) The grilled eggplant was very tasty, though, and I bet at some point I'll just make grilled eggplant as a vegetable side dish!

So this one was very tasty, but a bit too much effort to make all the time. A nice special treat for my eggplant-loving husband, though!

I served them with Oven Roasted Garlic Green Beans, which were delicious, but for us needed to be cooked longer than the 8 minutes the recipe calls for. Next time I'll probably do like 15 minutes, which I bet would be just right for us!

Apple Recipes

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are some of the delicious recipes I made with our hand-picked apples!

Cinnamon Apple Crisp from Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Before you dismiss this as a weird Weight Watchers recipe, Justin and I both agreed this may have been the best apple crisp we've ever had. Ever. I doubled it and made it in a 9x13 dish, and that was not too much. Absolutely delicious. I used maple-flavored agave syrup, but I think plain maple syrup would be just great if you don't have agave nectar on hand. It would've been tasty with ice cream, as suggested in the recipe, but we didn't have any on hand, and it certainly didn't need adornment.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp
Filling:
5 medium apples, peeled and diced
1.5 oz raisins (small box)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup agave nectar
Topping:

1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar (not packed)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup (half stick) butter, melted
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine apples, raisins, cinnamon, agave nectar and lemon juice in large bowl. Sprinkle with cornstarch. Toss until fruit is coated. Place fruit in an ungreased baking dish.
Mix remaining ingredients. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake about 40 minutes or until topping is goldenbrown and fruit is tender.
Serve with a scoop of low fat ice cream or fat free frozen yogurt. Enjoy!!

Crockpot Applesauce from A Year of Slow Cooking

Elias adores applesauce and eats it every day, so to me that seemed like an obvious thing to do with all our apples! I've never made applesauce before, though, so I wasn't sure what all was supposed to go in plain applesauce. This was the first crockpot applesauce recipe I looked at, and this is one of my favorite food blogs, so I thought I'd try it. I tripled it to fill up the crockpot, and I left out the brown sugar because I figured the apples are sweet enough. I thought the cinnamon-vanilla applesauce it made was absolutely delicious - to me it tastes a lot like apple pie filling! However, Elias is used to plain unsweetened applesauce and he didn't like this very much. Ah well, I hate that I have to eat this whole batch myself! I'll make another batch for him with just apples, lemon juice, and water.

Crockpot Applesauce
--4 large apples, skinned ,cored, and cut in quarters
--juice from 1 lemon
--1/2 tsp cinnamon
--1 tsp vanilla
--1 T brown sugar
--1/4 cup water

Skin, core, and cut your apples into quarters. Plop the pieces into your crockpot. Add the juice from the lemon, and the water. Pour in the vanilla, and add the cinnamon and brown sugar. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When the apples are super tender, mash with a potato masher or large fork.

Apple Pancake Rings originally discovered on Pinterest!
I expected this recipe to be harder than it was to make. It was actually quite easy, and it was really delicious! I left the peels on the apple to add a little more nutrition, and that worked just fine. I also made my own Bisquick mix from this recipe, using white whole wheat flour and Smart Balance margarine. Only two apples made this whole plateful, and we all really liked it! I didn't bother with the apple cider syrup - we just used maple syrup, which was delicious! The pumpkin pie spice really gave it a great flavor. Also, I didn't have any lemon zest to put in the batter, so I just put in a dash of lemon juice.

Apple Pancake Rings
1 Cup Bisquick Baking Mix
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
Zest of 1/2 Lemon
2 Medium Apples
pared and cored
Lemon juice and zest (for apple cider syrup)
Apple cider
Cinnamon
To make hot apple cider syrup: Add apple cider, lemon juice and zest, and cinnamon to a saucepan and bring to a boil. (Use your own comfort/judgement with how much to mix.) Reduce the liquid to a syrup consistency, by half.
Beat baking mix, egg and milk with rotary beater until smooth. Add pumpkin pie spice and lemon zest to batter and mix until incorporated. Grease and heat griddle. Core and cut apples crosswise in 1/8-inch slices. Using a toothpick dip slices into batter. Cook on hot griddle until golden brown, turning once. Serve hot with apple cider syrup.

So I'm having a lot of fun with all these apples, and we're having some really yummy stuff around here these days!

Plaster's Orchard

2011-10-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

After the pumpkin patch turned out to be a little bit of a dud on Saturday, we decided to try running by an apple orchard that's not too far from our town. I had heard some friends talk about picking apples there, but I didn't really know anything about how it worked or where it was or what it cost! But we decided to seize the moment and just go. And I'm so glad we did! It was a LOT of fun picking apples together, and we got a gigantic bucket full of apples!

What did Elias do with the first apple he picked? Eat it, of course!

Justin using the apple picker. I had never been apple picking before, and this little contraption was totally awesome!

Elias was a good picker!

We ended up with 75 apples for $10! Not too shabby. They're a mixture of Rome, Red Delicious, and Golden Delicious. And delicious is right! YUM! :)

I've been having a LOT of fun figuring out ways to use all these apples, and I'll do another post soon with all the new apple recipes I've tried!

Pinday: Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

2011-10-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

For this week's edition of Pinday, here is another healthy vegetarian recipe I found on Pinterest. We love this so much, I've made it twice since I first found it! Absolutely delicious, and so very healthy with all those veggies! It is kind of work intensive since you have to chop all those fresh veggies, but I think the freshness is what makes it so delicious! You could definitely chop them all the night before, or even roast them all the night before and have it put together ready to pop in the oven the next evening. The pin is here, and the recipe is found here. Below is my picture and the original recipe.

Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
adapted from The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman

1 poblano chile, cut into matchsticks
2 red bell peppers, cut into matchsticks
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 medium onion, halved and slivered
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
3 T heat-safe oil like grapeseed or coconut
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups homemade or store bought salsa/pico de gallo
2 ounces baby spinach leaves (about 2 big handfuls)
9-10 corn tortillas, halved (try making homemade tortillas!)
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a cheddar-Monterey Jack blend)
sour cream and thinly sliced scallions (green onions) for garnish, if desired

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a large shallow roasting pan or rimmed cookie sheet.

Place poblanos, red bell peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, and corn kernels onto cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and minced garlic over top. Add a generous pinch or two of salt and black pepper, then use your hands to mix everything together. After everything is coated well, spread the vegetables evenly in the pan. Roast for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and begin to brown in spots. Stir or shake the pan every 10 minutes for even roasting. Remove pan from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Prepare an 8x8x2 or 9x9x2-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. In a small bowl, stir the cilantro into the salsa. Spread 1/4 cup of salsa into the bottom of the baking pan. Add a layer of tortilla pieces, to completely cover the salsa. Top with 1/3 of the vegetables, a handful of spinach, and 1/3 of the cheese. Make a second layer of tortilla, salsa, vegetables, spinach, and cheese. Top with with a layer of tortillas, salsa, vegetables, and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with sour cream and a sprinkle of sliced scallions.

Serves 4-5

I leave out the poblano chile, but maybe throw in a little of another kind if I have it on hand. I also use frozen corn and olive oil. I also leave out the cilantro because I don't like it, and I didn't bother serving it with anything on top - it is stunning as is! As you can see from my photo, though, this recipe fills up a 9x13 casserole dish... I don't know how the original chef got it all to fit in a square dish, but no way would I be able to! And I'd say it serves 6-8, depending on how big your eaters are. But this is so scrumptious that I'm glad it makes a LOT... I love having the leftovers again the next day!

Utecht Farms Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-03T22:43:00.001-05:00

We had another dose of big fall fun this weekend! Our first stop was the Pumpkin Patch at Utecht Farms, which was just a few minutes from our house, so very convenient! Justin had seen in the paper that it was opening with free admission and games for the kids. So we thought we'd check it out! There wasn't a whole lot to it, but what can you expect for free?!

There were some cute little riding toys that Elias liked.

This was definitely too small for him, but he really wanted to give it a try!

This was more his size. My little man loves him some tractors!

We got an adorable family photo.

And we bought a pumpkin! Elias is so proud of his pumpkin! He still walks around saying "Look at my big, orange pumpkin!!!"

We got it for only 75 cents off the "imperfect" table, but it looks just about perfect to me! Score! Elias is very proud of being strong enough to lift it. My tough guy!

We also visited Plaster's Orchard and did some apple picking, so stay tuned to hear all about that!

Pinday: Stop What You're Doing And Make This!

2011-09-27T14:47:00.000-05:00

Oh my stars in heaven above. I had other recipes I was going to feature for this week's Pinday, but as soon as I tried this one, it jumped to the front of the line! Let me preface this by saying that I have a serious sweet tooth, especially for rich, chewy things, and cookie dough may be my all-time biggest weakness. However, because of my personal struggles with food and weight, cookie dough is just never a good choice for me. Ever. But then this week I saw a friend pin this recipe with the caption "Tastes like cookie dough, but it's HEALTHY???" I just had to click, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

Back in my South Beach Diet days, I sometimes would make black bean brownies, which would fool lots of people who would never have guessed they were made with beans instead of flour. So I cracked up to find a cookie dough recipe made with beans!!! Ha! Why had I never thought of this before?!!?!

Now the original pin linked to one recipe, but then in that recipe, she also linked to an even healthier version that wasn't quite as good. I thought I'd try the healthier one first, though, because if I liked it, then I wouldn't know what I was missing with the less-healthy one. And it was AWESOME! The first one uses peanut butter, where the second one uses applesauce, so the second is much lower fat. So here's the lower-fat recipe and my photo:

Blondie Batter Dip
1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained) (250g)
heaping 1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup applesauce
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 3T nondairy milk (or more or less, as needed… start out with less)
Sweetener (see note below, for amount)
1/3 cup chocolate chips
Optional: I add 1/4 cup flaxmeal for omega 3s and a fun texture
Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a blender or food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.
Sweetener Notes: I used 2/3 cup brown sugar when I made this for the party (*but I also used the higher-fat version). I’ve also used stevia before. And liquid sweeteners (agave, maple, etc.) are fine as well.

In my recipe, I used regular skim milk, splenda for sweetener (I used 1/4 cup, but it was too much.), and I didn't have chocolate chips, so I chopped up some truffle candy I had on hand. I did add the flaxmeal, too. It was absolutely delicious, and Justin tried it and thought it was excellent too. I was surprised to discover that I couldn't eat the whole thing in one sitting - half was plenty, and the rest kept just fine in the fridge.

One thing I will do differently next time (besides having real chocolate chips!) is I'll use my stick blender to blend it well. It was too thick for my Magic Bullet to process well, so I had too many whole chickpeas left in there.

I was curious about how this recipe would follow the guidelines of certain diets. As long as you use a calorie-free sweetener and 60% dark cocoa chocolate chips, it would be South Beach Diet friendly for phase 2, and half of the recipe would be 8 Weight Watchers Plus Points. I think that's definitely ok for an occasional treat!!!!! So maybe I don't have to say goodbye to cookie dough forever after all!

Fieth Family Farm

2011-09-26T19:18:00.000-05:00

This weekend we visited Fieth Family Farm, just a few miles down the highway. We were wanting to visit some kind of autumn-activity place like a pumpkin patch or something, and we found this was the closest place. This was their opening weekend, and we were very surprised to be the only people there for the whole 2 hours we spent there on Saturday morning! Well, at least we didn't have to wait in any lines!

We got there just after they opened, so they were still getting everything set up. We explored the tent with displays of pumpkins and gourds, and a straw horse that Elias refused to sit on!

It's really hard to balance the color inside a yellow and red tent!

Then outside the tent they had a little tunnel made of corn stalks that Elias had a great time running through over and over again!

Then we explored a small maze of hay bales.

Which way???

Then we checked out the pigs!

Elias wasn't very impressed.

Apparently there were also supposed to be calves in the petting zoo, but they were on the wrong side of the farm and hadn't been brought over for the display yet. Ah well.

Then the farmer drove in the tractor for the hayride, and Elias was VERY excited to get on it! We were even accompanied on our ride by the farm dog, Duke, which Elias thought was great.

In my mind, I hadn't intended on us trying to do the corn maze with Elias, but apparently that's what the hayride was for - to take you to the entrance of the maze. So he dropped us off there, and so... uh... I guess we'll do the maze! Thankfully the lady in the tent had mentioned that you should take all right turns in the maze, so we didn't have much trouble finding our way out. It was a LONG maze, though, so Elias pooped out, but Justin and I took turns carrying him piggyback, and we got there.

What an adventure! It was the first corn maze for any of us, and I guess that's one thing I can cross of my list of things I've never done!

After enjoying the hayride back, again with Duke, we pulled out our snacks and enjoyed relaxing in the shade of some trees. As we were sitting there, we saw a couple pickup trucks pull up and empty big tubs of corn into some bins. We had no idea what they were doing, so we went to check it out, and it turns out that they have cornboxes for kids to play in - like a sandbox, but filled with corn! Elias LOOOOOOVED this!

The only way we could get Elias out of the cornbox was by telling him it was time to ride the train! We thought it was nice of them to fire up the train ride just for us! So that took them on a nice tour of the backwoods of the farm, while I enjoyed chatting with the farmer.

Finally, Elias enjoyed one more romp in the cornbox before we called it a day. Fun fall farm adventures in rural Missouri!

Stylin'

2011-09-23T13:43:00.000-05:00

Elias got this adorable outfit as a gift from his Nana quite a while ago, and it was too big then. But I just pulled it out yesterday to see if it fits now, and it does! How adorable is this kid? He's got "Future Basketball Star" written all over him! ;) Thank you, Nana!!!

When trying to get a nice picture of Elias, I have to take about 10 and hope that a good one comes out. When I don't have a single one that's good, I just post them all and hope that everyone gets the idea. :)

At one point in our photo shoot, he decided to suddenly sprint toward the camera. I have no idea why, but he looks like he's got some good basketball moves!

Had to take one without the jacket too, since the undershirt is so cute. Elias was excited about the basketball player on his shirt!

Polk County Picnic

2011-09-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, the annual county-wide picnic was held in our town square, and the newspaper said there were plenty of fun things for kiddos, so we decided to stop by. The first thing we did was tour the local artisans craft fair, which was neat. There was a lady spinning yarn from llama wool, which I thought was awesome, but Elias absolutely panicked when she offered to give him a little bit of it. Ok, no llama wool for this guy - got it. Soooo, we moved on.

At the picnic, there were more booths of local businesses, and LOTS of people selling food. There was one booth selling homemade pork rinds of various flavors. Ew. Justin and Elias sampled their fare, though, and E absolutely chowed down on the cinnamon sugar pork rind. Mommy will pass - Gag. Ugh, let's move on again.

Then Elias rode the free train - Woo hoo!!! He really enjoyed it!

Enjoying the last bite of his pork rind while boarding the train. Life doesn't get much better than that.

Then he also took a romp in the free bounce house.

So we enjoyed taking advantage of our small community and enjoying the fun things they do!

Pinday: Ham & Pineapple Fried Rice

2011-09-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

This week's Pinday recipe was quick, easy, and delicious! It stood out to me because Elias loves both ham and pineapple, so I thought this would be a great one for him... But we all loved it! I unfortunately didn't have enough ham when I was making it (DUH!), so I just sauteed some bite-sized pieces of chicken breasts, and those were delicious too. Can't wait to try it again with HAM. (Rolling eyes.) The only other thing I did differently from the recipe below was that I used minute brown rice instead of white.

Pin here, original recipe here.

This is my Chicken & Pineapple Rice. Still tasty!

Ham & Pineapple Fried Rice

2 cups white rice
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
vegetable oil
2 cups diced ham
2 Tbs. soy sauce, plus extra to taste
20 oz can pineapple tidbits, drained and reserve juice
2 eggs, beaten
1-2 cups frozen peas and carrots
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the rice according to the package directions.
Cook the onion and garlic in oil in a large skillet till soft. Add the ham, 2 Tbs. soy sauce, 1 Tbs. pineapple juice. Cook for several minutes till the ham is hot. Pour the eggs into the skillet and cook, stirring frequently. Add the peas and carrots and heat through. Stir in the drained pineapple. Add the cooked rice, stirring to combine. Add soy sauce, pineapple juice, salt and pepper to taste. I added about 2 Tbs. each of soy sauce and pineapple juice.

Rollin' on the Trike

2011-09-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

We had a brief week of really great weather between the HOT of summer and the COLD of fall. (It's supposed to warm up again next week, but this week it's been dang cold and I'm a huge weather whiner.) During that brief idyllic time, though, we played outside as much as we could to take advantage of it! One thing Elias has really gotten into recently is actually riding his tricycle instead of just pushing the buttons the way he has always done. Justin will often take him out and go rollin' with him. He does great with the pedals, but as you'll see, he's still getting the hang of steering...

It's long, but I kept the very end because you can see where I tell him to turn right, and instead of physically turning the wheel, he pushes the right turn signal. Ha!

Spanish Colors - ¡Aquí!

2011-09-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Elias has a subscription to Highlights High Five magazine, which he absolutely loves. (Thanks, Nana!) Each month, there is a story that features some Spanish phrases, and last month's used Spanish colors. It was about a girl named Isabel picking out colorful clothes to wear to school. By reading this over and over, Elias learned several Spanish colors, and he really likes using them around the house. So I started playing a game with him where I ask him in Spanish, "Where is the blue one?" and he'll point to it and say, "¡Aquí!" which means "Here!" He thinks it is so much fun, and I'm glad he loves learning languages - he'll need that skill! :)

Disclaimer: I haven't had a Spanish class since 6th grade, so I'm sure my grammar and pronunciation aren't good. I also know I'm wonky with the genders, but I just used the genders that are in Isabel's story. I figure he's learning something even if it's not exactly right!

HI, KITTY!!!!!

2011-09-17T18:51:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, Elias is REALLY HAPPY to see his kitty, Mrs. B, when he gets home from school. He's only been apart from her for 3 hours, but it must feel like a lifetime considering how extreme his joy is at their reunion! He spend the entire rest of the day holding her, and occasionally shouting "HI, KITTY!!!!" accompanied with a huge cuddle. Here he is diving onto the couch to cuddle her and say hi yet again. :) (The white paw scrunched under his face belongs to her. He's also happy to see his Pound Puppy, Buster, but Mrs. B always comes first.)

Reunited and it feels so good...

Starting "School"

2011-09-17T18:45:00.001-05:00

I was going through pictures to see if I had any that hadn't been posted on my blog yet, and I realized that although I put it on Twitter & Facebook, I didn't put Elias' first-day-of-school photo on here! How's this for an adorable big boy?!!?!

Look at me with my big kid backpack!

Dropping him off on the first day

He's been at school for two weeks now, which means he's been 4 times. It seems to be going well! He never fusses to be dropped off, although he usually is very glad to see me (and his favorite stuffed cat!) at the end of the day! His teacher has confirmed that he does have trouble following directions or staying on the right task, but we knew that would be the case, and it's part of why we have him in school! He really seems to enjoy it, though, and he is definitely learning things... All the time we hear him talk about things that they must be doing at school because we have no idea where it came from! Proud of this fella.

Pinday: Rachel Ray's Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

2011-09-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

This week's Pinday post will be very simple, because it was a very simple recipe that turned out DELICIOUS!!! The pin on Pinterest is here, and the recipe is here. I'm always looking for good fish recipes, because both my boys love fish, and I love the IDEA of fish, but haven't been able to eat it since I was pregnant with Elias. (The texture makes me gag.) I discovered last summer at a restaurant that I enjoyed fish on a salad, but that's still a pretty limited way to eat it. So I saw this recipe for Rachel Ray's Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia and thought it showed promise for allowing me to finally be able to eat fish OFF a salad. I followed the recipe exactly (except I forgot the lemon wedges to serve with it), and it turned out great! Victory! Here's my photo and the recipe:

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia
4 Servings, Prep 10 min, Cook 10 min
10 10 20
Ingredients
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 tilapia fillets (about 1 pound total)
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400°. In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in the cheese mixture. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve the fish with the lemon wedges.

I served it with this baked tomato recipe, and brown rice with chicken bouillion and peas.

Pinday: Tomato Paella Recipe

2011-09-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, for this week's episode of Pinday, I'm posting a Pinterest recipe that didn't quite work. It did end up being delicious, but it didn't happen the way the recipe said. Before we go there, here's the link from Pinterest, and here's the recipe and image from the original blog:

Tomato Paella
1. Preheat oven to 450. Warm 3 cups of water or broth in a saucepan. Slice 1 pound of tomatoes into wedges and toss with plenty of salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
2. In a cast iron skillet, sauté one sliced onion and a tablespoon of minced garlic in some olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste, a pinch of saffron threads, and 1-2 teaspoons of smoked paprika. Add 2 cups short grain rice (I use arborio) and stir for a minute or two until shiny. Add 1/2 cup white wine until it is absorbed, then add the water or broth, and stir.
3. Arrange the tomatoes on top and drizzle with the juices from the bowl. Put the pan in the oven and let roast for about 15 minutes. Check to see that the rice is tender and dry; if not, let it roast for another 5-10 minutes, or until done, adding a small amount of water, broth, or wine if needed. When done, turn off the oven and let sit for 10 minutes or so.
4. On the stovetop, cook the paella over high for a few minutes to develop a tasty crust. Sprinkle with basil and/or parsley, if desired. Enjoy!

Way yum, right? We're eating a lot more vegetarian these days, and so I'm always looking for new meatless recipes. Plus, this used saffron, which Justin brought some of back from Turkey because it's WAY cheaper there. So I jumped all over this when I found it on Pinterest!

Alas, it once again confirms the conclusion I've come to before in my cooking life: I CAN'T COOK RICE. I am a master at minute rice, but any "real" rice recipe I've EVER tried NEVER works. The rice just doesn't cook. I can't tell you how many recipes I've fed my poor guys with crunchy rice, which is edible, but doesn't leave your tummy feeling all that great later.

I've never used arborio rice, so I thought that might be one that would cook properly according to directions. No, it didn't. If you look in step 3 of the recipe, you'll see the rice is supposed to be "tender and dry" after roasting in the oven for 15 minutes. NOT! I don't think it had soaked up ANY of the liquid at all! It was crunchy rice soup. So at that point, I just put a lid on it and simmered it on the stovetop at medium for about 8 minutes. That DID cook it, and it ended up being delicious, but it's always a bummer to ONCE AGAIN not have a recipe work. Here's what mine looked like:

So it may have been my fault for using a stainless skillet instead of a cast iron one - but I don't HAVE a cast iron skillet, and they're both oven safe! Sheesh. (I didn't take the time for a pretty foodie pic since I was already running behind due to the unforeseen recipe alterations!)

It was very tasty, though, and I probably will make it again. Next time I imagine I'll just do it all on the stovetop. My step 3 will be: "Arrange the tomatoes on top and drizzle with the juices from the bowl. Turn heat to high until mixture is boiling. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer on medium low for 20 minutes." I'll just cut out step 4, which I didn't do this time either. The saffron and white wine gave it fantastic flavor, although if you're not into cooking with wine, I'm sure you could substitute with broth and still get a very tasty dish.

So there's my dubious Pinterest story for the week. Happy Pinday!

Labor Day Adventures at Lake Pomme de Terre

2011-09-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

Since Justin had the day off from work today, and since the weather was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, we decided to take an adventure to Lake Pomme de Terre, about 30 minutes from home. Although we've lived here for 3 years, we've never visited this recreational area, and we've been missing out! It's beautiful with lots of picnic areas, hiking trails, playgrounds, and even a nice sandy beach! We made the beach our first stop.

It was a little too chilly for all-out swimming, but we did wade in the water and Elias had a great time throwing rocks and sand.

Justin also spotted a bald eagle flying over us, which was awesome because we didn't know to expect bald eagles there.

Then we hiked a 1/2-mile trail to Indian Point Lookout, which was gorgeous.

I was too nervous about Elias being near the open cliffs that drop down to the rocks below to enjoy myself too much, but I'm just an overprotective worrier.

In this picture, Elias is throwing a walnut off the cliff into the water. He LOVES seeing things splash!

We did see another bald eagle flying here too, so that was neato.

Then we found a picnic shelter with a beautiful view and ate our packed lunch overlooking the lake. There was also a playground next to the shelter, so we hit that up for a while after lunch.

Finally, we drove by the marina on our way out of the park, and discovered that they have a floating ice cream shop out on the dock! Can't pass that up! So we stopped for a little more sunshine, lake view, and a tasty treat!

You'll notice that Justin & I are smiling at the camera, but Elias is not to be distracted from his ice cream. If I can say one thing about this kid, he's got focus!

It was such a neat time, and I'm so thankful Justin had the idea to take us there today! If the weather holds, we just might go back again this fall!

Pinday: Ziploc Painting with Elias

2011-08-30T18:24:00.000-05:00

My friend Angie has begun a weekly meme called Pinday, where we write about inspirations we have found on Pinterest. Seeing as Pinterest is like the best thing ever, I thought it might be neato to post about things I've found on there and since tried. Not only will this be a great way to share new ideas and recipes, but maybe it'll convince my doubting sister how awesome Pinterest is. This week's will be a fun activity I did with Elias, found on Pinterest here.

It is so simple it's ridiculous. Just put a small amount of paint in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. (I used about 1/4 cup of blue finger paint.) Lay it flat and spread out the paint so that a thin layer covers the whole bag, and then zip closed with as little air inside as possible. Done. Let kid play as desired.

Elias loved drawing with his fingers, and also drawing with cotton swabs, which he'd never really played with before. I think his favorite thing, though, was making hand prints in the paint. We also used the cotton swab to write his name, which you'll hear him spelling in the video below, and you could also use it to practice shapes too. We loved this, and I'll definitely do it again!

One of my favorite things about it was that there was no mess to clean up! This is not usually the case with paint. And it's reusable, which is also not usually the case with paint. Win!

You'll note at the end that he picked it up and looked through it - made me wonder if some kind of stained-glass thingy might be possible with this technique... I don't think Elias is ready for that yet. I'll file that away in my "maybe someday" list.

So if any of my blog readers are Pinterest users (and I know there are some!), then consider doing your own Pinday post and linking up on Angie's blog! The more the merrier! It doesn't have to be something you've actually done from a Pinday inspiration... Even just an idea that you like or want to do someday. Her linky will be open til the end of the week, so blog about something awesome you found on Pinterest. Every Tuesday - be there!

Parenting a Fallen Soul

2011-08-28T13:29:00.001-05:00

As Elias grows, I always say that he gets more fun to parent because he's learning how to express himself and communicate better, his level of understanding is always increasing, and his personality blossoms as he begins to discover his likes and dislikes. However, something I've really been grappling with this week is that as his personality strengths blossom, we also begin to see his weaknesses and flaws. Now, before any doting grandparents protest, I have a wonderful, brilliant, beautiful child who I'm very proud of. BUT he is still a human, and he DOES have flaws. Some of them are inborn in his personality, and others were made by the environment he has grown up in. Most are a combination of both.

What has had me really worrying about them right now, though, is next week he starts "school," a Mother's Day Out program at a local church that he'll go to for 3 hours two days a week. Being an only child who has always been at home with Mommy, he doesn't have much exposure to other kids, or even adults for that matter, and he desperately needs the social instruction that a school environment will give him. However, I'm concerned about how he'll do, and I'm just afraid it's going to be a difficult adjustment for his teachers and classmates to teach him the appropriate ways to behave in the classroom setting. Elias isn't a difficult or disruptive child, but he just wants to do his own thing - play by himself his own way. So we'll just have to see how long it takes for him to get that he's supposed to listen to the teachers, do what they say, and treat his classmates with respect. I can tell him all day long that he needs to do those things, but it won't mean anything to him until he's put in the situation to actually put those principles into practice.

So worrying about how he's going to do in the classroom has brought to my attention a lot of his selfish and disobedient tendencies that Justin and I have learned how to cope with at home, but his teachers may not be ready for. I've been fretting about what we could've or should've done differently to raise him better or teach him better, to work harder to get him used to playing with other kids, to teach him about respecting other people. But the fact remains that he is who he is now, and nothing I do in the next week is going to change how his first day at school goes. So fretting is clearly not the answer here. But I believe there is also a deeper issue here, and that's what I'm really trying to grapple with now.

The truth is that my son is a human soul, born sinful and fallen just like the rest of mankind. Without the redeeming power of Christ and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, he WILL be selfish, disobedient, and sinful. Justin & I can (and will) teach him about the proper way to behave as a functional member of society, but even more important than manipulating his behavior is discipling his heart, teaching him about sin and his need for a Savior, and introducing him to the marvelous hope of God's grace. Before he was born, we read the book Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp (read my first review here), and I'm working on reading it again - although it was instructive the first time I read it, I can actually put it into practice now.

I recognize that only God can save, can actually change Elias' sinful nature and instead give him the mind of Christ, can actually cause Elias to WANT to be good, kind, respectful, and generous. On the other hand, it is Justin's and my responsibility as his parents to teach him what is right, to train him in the way he should go, to teach him the truth of the Gospel, and to model for him the Christian life.

Honestly, I'm pretty overwhelmed at the thought. I often still struggle with my own selfishness, so how on earth am I going to teach Elias that he shouldn't be selfish? Truly, I don't have much of an answer to that besides lots of prayer and relying on God's grace. The gravity of the responsibility of being a mother has just become heavily real to me this week, and I'm just sharing about it here. Motherhood is becoming much less about teaching him basic survival and instead teaching him eternal truths. That's a big deal, and I just want to do it well.

Piggyback Rides

2011-08-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that Justin is the best dad ever. Justin roughhouses more than I do, and Justin is stronger to be able to lift and carry Elias in a way that I barely can anymore! Elias loves taking piggyback rides, and Daddy is especially fun.

They like to stand in front of the mirror and look at themselves with E on Daddy's back - you can tell from their faces that they enjoy doing this!

They always say "That's such a nice picture!" when looking at themselves, so I availed myself of the opportunity to snap one!

Sinister Fudgesicle Face

2011-08-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

Elias ate his first Fudgesicle off a stick last week, so I thought the photo opp was pretty good anyways.

But then his fudgy "goatee" made him look so sinister I couldn't help but laugh! Ha!

Little Quack

2011-08-09T14:32:00.000-05:00

While we're talking about books Elias loves to read, we have in the past couple months discovered the Little Quack series by Lauren Thompson. We heard the first book in the series at a library storytime, and Elias talked about it for weeks afterward. So we borrowed the book from the library and discovered there were several others in the series. It seems that there are two that really stand out as Elias' favorites, though: Little Quack's Bedtime and Little Quack's New Friend. What's really funny, though, is that he seems to have developed a rule about who can read which book to him. Apparently ONLY Mommy can read Little Quack's Bedtime and ONLY Daddy can read Little Quack's New Friend.

Mommy's book

Daddy's book

If either of us tries to read the other book, he'll definitely point out that something is amiss, often grabbing the book out of our hands and running it over to the proper reader. This is definitely not the first time I've wondered where he comes up with this stuff!!!

Toddler Bible

2011-08-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Elias has a Toddler Bible that he absolutely loves to read! Well, he loves to read certain stories - namely Adam & Eve and Baby Jesus. He reads them so much he has them completely memorized! I had forgotten all about this video I took several months ago until I saw him reading his Bible today. (Side note: We really love this Bible - it's just perfect for preschoolers! It also came with a DVD of the Bible stories that Elias enjoys too.)

He's even better at it now than he was then, and he also has the story of Noah down too. But this is still pretty good stuff! We're so thankful to have a child who loves reading and knowing God's Word!

Finger Painting

2011-08-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

With the weather being so hot, we can't do much playing outside, so I'm having to get creative with figuring out things to do with Elias! I'm not creative at all in that department, and generally I avoid anything that might make a mess. But desperate times call for desperate measures. One day last week we pulled out the finger paints, and it was actually a REALLY good time!

Elias isn't artistic enough yet to actually try to create something with the paint, so he was just smearing and glopping it randomly on the paper. He thought it was HILARIOUS, though, when I would say "GLOP!" as he put it on the paper.

It's the simple things, ya know? (Side note: I didn't realize Justin was filming here - I thought he was taking still photos. I was trying to mix and red & blue to make purple...)

We still have those paintings proudly on display, though, and Elias still enjoys looking at them.

It was his idea to draw the Bob & Larry - he still gets a big kick out of having them on our door! :)

Playing in the Sprinkler

2011-08-05T20:31:00.000-05:00

I posted a picture here of Elias playing in Nana & Granddad's sprinkler when we visited them in Kentucky last month. Nana had actually bought a play sprinkler specifically for that purpose, but it had a difficult connector and we couldn't get it hooked to their hose. So their lawn sprinkler filled in and did just fine. However, since it wouldn't work at their house, they sent the play sprinkler home with us, and thankfully, we COULD get it to work on our hose! So now we have a fun sprinkler to play in at our house, and that's awesome with the weather being so hot! We're getting a lot of use out of it, so for that we're thankful it didn't work at Nana & Granddad's! :) Here's video of Elias' first time playing in it:

Thank you, Nana!

Kentucky Vacation, Part 4: Undocumented Fun

2011-08-04T09:00:00.003-05:00

We also had two other special elements to our trip that I have almost zero photo documentation of... because I am a photographic loser. We spent two days in Georgetown at my parents' house because my sister and her family were also visiting, and it had been several months since we had seen them. We actually spent the Fourth there. We grilled out burgers, made homemade ice cream, and even lit our own sparklers! Here are my two nephews with sparklers - I stole the photos off my sister's Twitter feed!

It was a lot of fun seeing Elias play with his cousins - he's finally starting to catch up to their play level even though they're a few years older than he is. So I can't wait to see the way their relationship can develop through the years!

Then Justin and I also took a little getaway while we had some free babysitters! We left Elias with Nana & Granddad and took a night at a bed & breakfast in Paducah. We saw a movie (Larry Crowne), went out to eat at several really neat places, and had a great time just the two of us! I have absolutely no pictures of that, but we enjoyed ourselves, and Elias did really great with Justin's parents. So that was a blessing. Great times with great family! :)

Kentucky Vacation, Part 3: Family Fun

2011-08-03T09:00:00.003-05:00

I may have mentioned it before, but the older Elias gets, the more fun he has when we go to visit family. He remembers them and is glad to see them! So he had a great time playing with Nana & Granddad.

Driving "Terence the Tractor" (a Thomas character) with Granddad

Drawing a stick man with Granddad

Nice hugs for Nana

Nana had the most adorable little hooded towel that Elias used after his bath... What a cutie!

Then for July 4th, Justin took Elias to the gravesite of Matthew Lyon, a local Revolutionary War hero.

You can read Justin's blog about it here.

Kentucky Vacation, Part 2: Water Fun

2011-08-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

The weather was so hot that we spent as much time in various water play as we could. One day we went to the nearby recreational beach at Kentucky Lake, and this was Elias' first real beach experience! He wasn't too sure about the water until we inflated this little car float that Nana had, and then he wanted to stay forever!

Nana & Granddad also had an inflatable pool that we put in the shade of the carport, and we all enjoyed that!

He really dug this little toy water gun he got in a Burger King kid's meal...

... even when he shot himself in the face with it!

Nana hooked up the sprinkler, and that was the first time Elias had played in one of those too. Such big fun for the buddy! At first he wasn't too sure about getting sprayed in the face, but he got over it. :)

Kentucky Vacation, Part 1: Lake Fun

2011-08-01T23:20:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of July, we took another trip to Kentucky, just to spend time with family and have some summer fun. We spent the bulk of our time at Justin's parents' house on the lake, enjoying the water and the peace.

Elias LOVED the wave runner!! He wanted to go "Faster, faster!" He even bonked his head once on a rough bump, but he cried more over Daddy wanting to go home than the pain from his goose egg!

We also went out on the boat (more my speed!), which was fun for the whole family!

Helping Daddy drive

Such fun!

Serving God By Being Me

2011-07-23T09:21:00.002-05:00

I wrote this encouragement/testimony post on the Muddy Mamas blog today, and I think it's such a great story! So please click over and read it! Serving God By Being Me

Playing with Esther

2011-07-19T21:08:00.000-05:00

Justin has a colleague at work who moved here from China and actually began work at SBU the same semester Justin did. He and his wife are wonderful people, and they have the most adorable little girl, who is exactly a year younger than Elias. At the beginning of the summer, they had us over for a cookout, and it was neat to see Esther and Elias playing together. They speak Chinese at home, so Esther doesn't know much English, but she is the most charming girl, and we all played just fine together! So here are a few pictures they sent me - I forgot my camera!

Baochuan pulling Esther and Elias in a wagon he made himself!

If you click to enlarge this one, you'll see Esther's beautiful smile! She is such a doll!

Adventures with Daddy

2011-07-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

Justin is quite possibly the best daddy on earth. He and Elias have such great times together, and Justin is so creative coming up with fun things to do! Elias' daily motto has now become "Let's go on an adventure!" because he's so used to doing fun things with Justin! Sometimes our adventures are just simple things like going out to eat, going to the park, or going out to do some shopping. But other times, we do more special things.

In June there was a Pie Festival held in Bolivar's town square, and Justin took Elias to sample some pie and hear the music. Elias didn't care for the pie, and the bluegrass band had stopped playing by the time they got there, but Elias still had fun! He loves just being out and seeing people, and they still had some music playing over the loudspeakers that apparently Elias just thought was too good not to dance!

The way Justin tells it, people just thought Elias was hilarious out there grooving in the middle of the street by himself. I think he's pretty funny too.

Then the next weekend our county had its county fair, so Justin took Elias out to that too. They had fun food, and inflatables, which Elias of course loved.

Then it wouldn't be Southwest Missouri if they didn't also have a pig show!

According to Justin, Elias was too afraid to pet the pigs, but he enjoyed the show, and he really liked it when there was a pig named Bash, which is the name of one of the trains on Thomas & Friends. Ah well, whatever works.

But I'm so very thankful that my son has such a fun dad that comes up with such fun things to do with him!

Neighborly Fun

2011-07-17T15:00:00.002-05:00

Our neighbors across the street are friends from church who have a son about a year younger than Elias. One day we had a couple other friends over from church, and our neighbors were out riding on their golf cart. So when they saw our group playing outside, they came over and offered to take the boys on a ride... And even their yellow lab went running along behind them! Elias loved it, and he loves watching the video below. Fun memories with friends and neighbors!

Elias and his friend Cougar petting Riley-doggie while Mr. T Jay and Bo observe.

Big Boy Swing!

2011-07-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that Elias is a rather large child. ;) So for a very long time, we've been trying to convince him to swing in the big boy swings instead of the baby swings. It's difficult to get him in and out of those baby swings! But he's been very resistant to the idea... until we were at the park with some friends a couple weeks ago. He saw his friend Abby swinging on the big swings, and he just up and decided he wanted to swing with her! So he just jumped on and hasn't looked back!

I'm proud of my big boy, but I'm a little nervous about how he was so easily swayed by a pretty girlfriend! ;)

Evening at the Park

2011-07-16T13:59:00.001-05:00

One evening in June before it got TOO hot, we spent an evening at the park. We took some old bread to feed the ducks and geese. Elias wasn't too sure about that, but it was interesting and educational nonetheless.

We saw a huge family of geese with about 15 goslings!

Then we played on the swings, and Elias always loves it when Daddy pushes him!

Silly boys!

This was an interesting trip to the park because we ran into a couple there who had apparently brought their 3 pet parrots with them. One of them was a blue macaw that looked just like a parrot that's in one of Elias' favorite Thomas movies. (See image at right.) So we went over to say hi, and the people actually let their cockatoo sit on our shoulders! This terrified Elias, but he still talks about it to this day "The cockatoo said 'Pretty bird!'" I didn't get any pictures because I either had a bird on my shoulder or a terrified toddler in my arms the whole time. But it was still an experience we'll remember!

First Georgetown Visit

2011-07-16T13:06:00.001-05:00

At the beginning of June, Justin spent a week in Ankara, Turkey to scope out job possibilities for us to potentially move there. You can read his write-up of his trip here. While he was gone, Elias and I spent that time in Kentucky with my parents. They had just moved back to Kentucky from Cincinnati, so this was the first time we had been to their new house! We had such a great time with them, and I was so thankful for their help caring for Elias since I was still recovering from mono at the time. Here are a few pictures:

We made this trip right after Elias' birthday party, and this was a Thomas book he got from his Aunt Jessica and family. It has buttons to push and then a sound plays and a little picture shows up on a digital screen. He spent HOURS with this in the car!

Grandma & Grandpa's new house is on a lake, so we enjoyed the peaceful and beautiful setting!

Grandma, in her desire to be the World's Coolest Grandma, had saved this huge box from moving for her grandkids to play in, and Elias did in fact love it! He still talks about the Ginormous Huge Monster Box!

One day we all went to the car wash together and gave Grandma's car a bath.

I was skeptical that Elias would actually be interested in washing the car - I expected him to be running out in the street. I was wrong, though! He loved helping!

Fun, new experiences with Grandma & Grandpa!

It was such a blessing for Elias to be able to spend that time getting to know his Grandma and Grandpa, and them to know him! Grandma and Grandpa were so generous with us - they even made an extra trip to drive us all the way home again so I wouldn't have to do all that driving myself. SO THANKFUL for my family! Love you guys!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-18T22:50:00.002-05:00

Here's another great shot that Nana snapped when they were here, and I thought it was incredibly appropriate to wish my husband a happy Father's Day!!!

I am so thankful for the daddy that Justin is. Elias is so blessed to have him, and I am thankful for his help and example in raising Elias to be a godly man!

I am also exceptionally thankful for my own dad, and I'd like to wish him a happy Father's Day too! I was sorting through an old tub of childhood mementos that Mom gave me recently, and I found a few old drawings that maybe say it all...

Well, actually, this one doesn't say anything besides that you're my dad... (And that life in your house is so magical that we don't melt from the heat of a giant sun, tiny rainbows sprout from nowhere, and grass grows from the sky!!!) Let's try another.

Hm. Well, I guess I appreciated you're a good provider? Although my wording makes it sound like Mom was paying you to work around the house... Let's look at one more.

Well, all this one says is that I really appreciated your rockin' mustache!!! (Note: This is an exceptionally good rendering of what my dad looked like as I was growing up! The rest of the family I didn't do so well with, and my poor sister definitely did NOT have scoliosis!)

Regardless of what I could find in my old artwork, I have always appreciated and still do appreciate my dad! I'm so thankful for you!!!! Happy Father's Day to both the special dads in my life!!

Summer Fun at the Park

2011-06-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law snapped this photo of us on the swings when we went to the park one day while they were here. But I thought it was so adorable, it deserved its own post! Sweet family times.

Family Fun for Birthday Week

2011-06-17T19:54:00.000-05:00

We were blessed to have several family members come into town for Elias' birthday party! Justin's parents came in a few days before the party, so we were able to spend some really great time with them. Then my mom came in for the party and stayed a few days after. We were all so pleased at how well Elias did with them - he's definitely remembering them between visits, and we have fun together!

Cheesing with Granddad

Nana sneaking a hug and kiss!

Rascal stealing Granddad's hat

Playing footsie with Granddad

Elias and Granddad made up a new game where you try to throw the ball into the little hole on the goal's base. Hey, whatever makes him laugh, right?

Nana & Granddad got him a GeoTrax train set for his birthday - LOVE at first sight!

He LOVES this train set, and he'll play with it for hours at a time!

He has fun getting creative with it, too. He likes the tunnel the train goes through, and also the crane! He says the crane is Old Wheezy from Thomas, who sometimes goes crazy. So here he is playing Crazy Crane with Grandma!

Grandma also brought him a musical birthday card that we had a lot of fun dancing to!

The song is the "Hot Diggity Dog" song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Check out his moves!

We're so thankful to have such a loving and generous family that we have such fun with!

Dark Before the Morning

2011-06-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

I've heard this song many times on the radio before, but it really ministered to me today. I believe with all my heart that no matter what my circumstances, in Christ I always have a reason to sing. If they're tough right now, it's just the darkness right before morning comes.

Before the Morning - Josh Wilson

Do you wonder why you have to
feel the things that hurt you?
If there's a God who loves you,
where is He now?

Maybe, there are things you can't see
and all those things are happening
to bring a better ending.
Some day, some how, you'll see, you'll see.

Chorus:
Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing?
'Cause the pain that you've been feeling,
It can't compare to the joy that's coming.

So hold on, you've got to wait for the light.
Press on and just fight the good fight.
'Cause the pain that you've been feeling,
it's just the dark before the morning.

My friend, you know how this all ends,
and you know where you're going.
You just don't know how you get there,
so say a prayer.
And hold on, 'cause there's good for those who love God.
Life is not a snapshot; it might take a little time,
but you'll see the bigger picture.

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing?
'Cause the pain that you've been feeling,
It can't compare to the joy that's coming.

So hold on, you've got to wait for the light.
Press on and just fight the good fight.
'Cause the pain that you've been feeling,
it's just the dark before the morning.
Yeah, yeah,
Before the morning,
yeah, yeah.

Once you feel the weight of glory,
all your pain will fade to memory.
Once you feel the weight of glory,
all your pain will fade to memory,
memory, memory, yeah...

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing?
'Cause the pain that you've been feeling,
It can't compare to the joy that's coming.

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing?
'Cause the pain that you've been feeling,
It can't compare to the joy that's coming.

Come on, you've got to wait for the light.
Press on and just fight the good fight.
'Cause the pain that you've been feeling,
it's just the hurt before the healing.
Oh, the pain that you've been feeling,
it's just the dark before the morning,
before the morning, yeah, yeah,
before the morning.

Birthday Party

2011-06-12T20:31:00.004-05:00

Elias' third birthday was on May 21, and we held his birthday the following Saturday at the Railroad Historical Museum in Springfield. We had never heard of this place, but a friend of Justin's at school had mentioned it to him as a neat place that offers free admission and is also available for private parties! So we booked it without having ever even seen it... I mean, how can you go wrong with a train museum as a location for a Thomas party?!?!?! And boy, it sure didn't disappoint! We didn't even realize it, but the museum actually IS an old steam train that has been restored, and you can explore all 4 cars. We kept it very simple, just come-and-go with cake, and the kids could explore the train. Since it would be fun and free, we just sent mass invitations to everybody, and we ended up with more than 40 people coming to his party! It was SO MUCH FUN, though, and I'm so glad it was such a special day for Elias. For most of the photos below, you can click to enlarge and see them better.

This was his e-invitation... Cute and appropriate!

Elias and Daddy in front of the big steam engine. Elias called it Gordon, like the big express engine on Thomas. You could pull that rope to make the bell ring on top of the engine... That was a big hit with the kids!

The 4 cars of the train, from left: engine, museum car, "dining" car, caboose.

The volunteers who ran the museum were so precious! They gave Elias that framed photo of the engine back in its working days, and they signed the back wishing him a happy birthday!

The museum had several working models, which the kids loved!

Elias' favorite was this working model of the old steam engine! He could've watched those wheels turn all day!

Inside the "dining" car. It had the kind of seats where you could flip the back to face either direction, or flip it up to make a table. That was PERFECT for our party!

Elias was thrilled over his Thomas cake, with the Thomas and #3 candles!

I'm glad we opted for the half sheet - I ordered it before I knew how many guests were coming!

Daddy helping Elias blow out his candles.

Elias ate about 2 bites of cake before he was done. I had forgotten we learned last year that he doesn't really like cake... Next year we'll do just ice cream!

He sure did love playing with the Thomas balloons we used for decoration, though! He is, in fact, still playing with them 2 weeks later - there are still about 5 that haven't popped...

My sweet 3-year-old! Note the adorable personalized train shirt from For Your Little Monkey on Etsy. She's the same one who made his personalized birthday shirt last year!

The train museum is part of a larger park with playgrounds, tennis courts, water park, you name it. So after the party, Elias and Daddy made a little stop at the playground to ride the triceratops!

The Past Month

2011-06-09T18:23:00.000-05:00

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you've seen that I've been majorly down for the past month (well, actually more like 5 weeks) with a bad case of mono. I was so exhausted that my entire life was pretty much put on hold! But I'm starting to feel a bit more like myself, and I have some major catching up to do, including on here! So I hope to catch the blog up soon on all these things that have happened in the past month:

- Elias turned 3 & had an awesome birthday party!
- Justin took a trip to Turkey
- Elias and I spent the week Justin was gone with my parents in Kentucky
- Umm, probably a whole lot more that I can't even remember because I was in such a fog! I'll post whatever pics & videos I've got, so stay tuned! ;)

Three Years Old!

2011-05-23T21:52:00.001-05:00

My little buddy turned THREE on Saturday! So proud of my so big boy - he's turning into a little man right before our eyes! We're having more of a birthMONTH celebration since his birthday party is next weekend. So the day itself was kind of anticlimactic. We actually began celebrating early in the month when we saw his name come up on the PBS Kids Club birthday list for the month of May! (His is the third one down - click to enlarge.)

That was pretty cool seeing his name on the TV - they put up the list every Tuesday and Thursday for the whole month, so we still have a few more chances to glimpse it before birthMONTH is over.

He didn't actually open any presents on his birthday - we like to spread them out so he can appreciate and enjoy each one rather than getting them all at once. He did open a few cards, and he received one from my Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary that he just LOVED! He always likes cards that play music or make noise, and this one fit the bill! He's never seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but he knows the characters. He just sat and listened to this over and over again for hours!

So thanks to Jim & Mary for knocking it out of the park with the card! :)

For something special to do on his big day, we blew up our little inflatable pool and went out "swimming" twice that day. He loved splashing and playing in the water!

Doesn't he just look so BIG??

And speaking of big, we had his 3-year checkup today, and he's still ginormous.

Height: 41.5" (99%)

Weight: 43 lb. (99%)

We've had friends warn us with things like "If your twos weren't very bad, your threes will be!" and "When he turns 3, it'll be like a switch flips and he completely changes!" And it may be looking like they're right! Not really - he's still my precious buddy - but he's thrown a few MASSIVE tantrums the past couple days, including at the doctor's office today. Seriously, all they wanted to do was measure his height, and he FLIPPED OUT. It took 4 adults to restrain him. Lord have mercy.

So anyways, we've embarked on the journey of having a preschooler in the house - new phase, new adventures, new developments! Bring it on!

Elias' Best Day Ever

2011-05-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago, Elias apparently had his best day EVER. We didn't know it was going to be so special to him, but he's STILL talking about it. So I thought I'd record the day to remember it forever, since apparently HE will.

It was the day of the City Wide Garage Sale in Bolivar, so Justin got up early to hit the sales and see what he could find. (Justin is a way better garage-saler than I am... He must have some kind of radar to know where the best stuff is for the lowest price!) Elias and I ate breakfast together while Daddy was out. Saturdays are already great days for Elias, because that's the only day Thomas comes on TV, so we get to see new episodes. Then Daddy came home with some new toys & clothes for the little man, and Elias was just over the moon over two toys that cost us 25 cents each! There was a little toy James (the red engine on Thomas) and an inflatable beach ball. Those two things don't go together, but since Elias got them together, he associates them in his mind and tries to play with them together. So James often will drive on the ball. Whatever, dude! Here is a video of Elias playing with James on the first day he got him.

Seriously, he did this for like 30 minutes at a time. I'm dizzy just watching him!

Then after lunch, Justin had seen in the paper that there was going to be a dog show in town to benefit the local Humane Society, so he took Elias. And since Elias loved his new toys so much, yard sale James went with them to the show. I didn't go, so I can't tell you much about it. But apparently at one point they pulled a kid out of the audience to compete against one of the dogs to see who could do a trick faster. They told the kid to pretend he was a dog, and they said he was a dachshund mixed with a yorkie, which would make him a "dorkie." Har har. I think that's funny, but there's no way Elias would get it. However, that must've made an impression on him, because to this day Elias still talks about Dorkie the Doggie! LOL!

(One day last week, Elias grabbed yard sale James and ran to the door asking to get in the car and go see Dorkie the Doggie! It was a shame to have to try to explain to him that Dorkie the Doggie was just a one-time show, so we won't be able to go see him again. The child cried.)

So then to top off a perfect day, Elias had his first experience with the Ice Cream Truck. We've watched them go by many times before, but we had never bought anything from them until this day. So when we heard Mr. Jack's music approaching, we ran out and got some ice cream that E and Daddy split after dinner. He was in heaven, and although the weather hasn't been nice enough for Mr. Jack to be out much since then, Elias still talks about getting ice cream from his truck!

So we didn't plan ahead for this day to be so special to Elias, but it turned out to be his Best. Day. Ever! Justin can fill in any blanks in the details, since most of the stuff was with him. :)

Birthday Anticipation

2011-05-10T16:12:00.000-05:00

Plans for Elias' 3rd birthday party are in full swing around here! I cannot BELIEVE my baby is going to be THREE in less than 2 weeks! He, however, seems to have a full handle on the situation:

You may note that Elias is making goofy faces as he's talking. One of his favorite things on earth to do is get on the "iPad & say hi to Elias John!" He loves seeing himself smile like a goof on the iPad. Ah well, easy entertainment!

Branson Getaway

2011-05-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

Easter weekend we took a little family getaway to Branson, and we had a fun time! The weather didn't cooperate very well, with storms and rain pretty much the whole time we were there, but we managed to have a good time anyway. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but I'll show you what I got!

We arrived there on Friday afternoon, and we knew that was going to be our only good weather day, so we went to Branson Landing, which is an outdoor mall right on the lake. We enjoyed walking by the water, and Elias loved watching the geese and playing in the fountains.

Saturday morning the rain had begun, so we tried to think up something fun to do indoors. We decided to try wandering a little mall, and the mall turned out to be pathetic, but the fun part was that they had live entertainment all day there! So even though it was only 9:30 in the morning, there was a lady on stage singing and tables and chairs so we could sit and watch. Elias really got into this, and for one of her songs, he got up and started dancing! I didn't the camera out fast enough to catch his real dancing, but here he is running around with Daddy to the music.

*Note: The singer LOVED that Elias enjoyed her music so much, and she said that Justin must be a great daddy to be willing to dance with his son. Then she asked us a trivia question about the song she had been singing, and Justin knew the answer. So then she said to me, "He'll dance with his son, and he's smart too! You've got yourself a keeper!" Yes, yes I do. :)

Then Justin went to a John Denver Tribute Show while Elias and I did some shopping. Then in the afternoon, we had planned our one big splurge for the trip - we went to see Noah: The Musical. This is a really neat stage show of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, and it was really cool because they used live and animatronic animals in the show. We thought Elias would enjoy that, and he did. I did too! :) The show was 2.5 hours long, so we didn't make it til the end, but we really enjoyed what we saw! Here are Justin and Elias outside the theater.

So then Sunday we visited one of the biggest churches in Southwest Missouri - we'd been wanting to try it ever since we moved here, and of course it was great. I already talked about that some here.

So anyway, we had a nice little family trip! It's getting more and more fun to travel with Elias the older he gets!

Book Review: One Thousand Gifts

2011-04-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

Ann Voskamp is a blogger, Canadian farmer's wife, and mother of 6, and one of the most anointed Christan writers I've ever read. This is her first book, but it is one of the most honest, bold, and life-changing explorations in the the journey of a Christian life that I have ever read.

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp, 2010

It would be absolutely impossible to summarize this book well, or even list favorite quotes, because the entire thing was riveting, touching, convicting, and life-changing. Just read it, ok?

If I HAVE to give you more than that, though, I'll just say that the basic premise of the book is an exploration of the word eucharisteo, which is the Greek word for "gave thanks" used in Matthew 26:26 (and other places) - "Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it..." What does that word mean, and what does it mean for our lives today? Our hard, messy, confusing, and unexplainable lives today. The title of the book comes from a challenge a friend gave to the author to write down a thousand ways God showed His love to her, and in recording those blessings, gifts large and small, she learned that this very act may be the secret to contentment, joy, peace in a life that we don't always understand. Gratitude. For all things. Because ALL things God gives are an extension of His grace.

Wow, this is such a deep thing, and difficult to shift to that way of thinking. It took me a few months to finish this book because I'd get distracted by circumstances. I didn't FEEL like viewing all things as a gift. But I believe there's grace even in that - this is a journey, not a one-time choice. It's about every day, making a choice to give thanks, accept God's gifts as expressions of His unending love. So I'm keeping my own gratitude journal... I don't write in it every day, but I am definitely already seeing the difference the choice to give thanks can make in my attitude, my intimacy with God, the way I feel about life.

So I really encourage you to read it. It will change you if you let it. Here's the author's video introduction to the book:

Easter

2011-04-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

Just had to post these pics of my handsome boy in his Easter clothes on the way to church!

You may note that this is the same sweater vest he wore for Easter last year! He fills it out much better now! I didn't intend to reuse it, but I wasn't planning on cold & rainy weather when I bought his adorable shorts set for this year. Soooo, that will have to wait until it's warmer!

You'll also note the hotel room in the background. Since Justin was off school Friday, we jetted down to Branson for the weekend and had a good time in spite of the rain & storms! I didn't take many pics, but I'll probably do a separate post, so stay tuned for that. I will take this moment to say, though, that my big boy did not have one single accident the entire time we were gone, but used the potty every time! Very proud of that big guy!!!

Since we were on the road this morning, we decided to visit the local megachurch that's about an hour from our house, but on the way from Branson to here. We hadn't made the trip before, so it was the perfect time to visit. It was a very well-done operation, although a bit showy for my tastes. However, the message was sound, the worship was sincere, and the visual media was mind-blowing. Can't ask for more than that! Elias, though, was in heaven! They had a full McDonald's style play gym with a ball pit, and for Easter they brought in a truckload of live baby chicks that the kids were able to pet! Ha! Then they sent him home with a HUGE bag of candy-filled eggs - not sure if they gave one to everybody or just visitors. Anyway, I'm very glad we were able to visit while we're still in the area, and Easter was probably the best time to do it!

Spring Break, Part 4 - Cincinnati

2011-04-21T21:40:00.000-05:00

Elias and I also spent a couple days in Cincinnati with my family, and I barely took any photos while we were there... I guess we were just having too much fun! We did visit a place called EnterTRAINment Junction, which is a huge hands-on train-themed center for families. Whoa! Elias' dream! There was a HUGE walk-through model train setup that, once again, Elias enjoyed watching the trains go around, and especially over bridges and through tunnels. They also had a large play center for the little kids, and we spent quite a while in there. They had a big play train the kids could climb in, and Elias loved being able to get so close to it.

Really close to it!

They also had a little kid-controlled Thomas display like the one in Paducah, but Elias had a hard time with the concept that you had to press and HOLD the button to keep Thomas moving. He just wanted to push it once and have Thomas keep going. I still had to literally drag him away from this, kicking and screaming, to go eat lunch.

Other than that, I don't have many other mementos of our visit. My sister and her family also came in from Atlanta, so it was neat for Elias to be able to play with his cousins. They weren't exceptionally cooperative, though, when we told them to all sit on the bench and smile for a picture when we were waiting for a table at dinnertime.

Ah well, at least they are all sitting together!

There was a HILARIOUS moment when we were all in the car together. The only way we could all fit was to put the two littlest boys in the far back in their boosters - an adult couldn't fit back there. So Elias and Azlan were back there together, which went fine. Azlan was playing a game on his mom's iPhone - I don't know what he was playing, but Elias thought it was HILARIOUS!!! I had to capture the moment as best I could from the front seat:

I apologized to my sister because Elias was all up in her son's space, and she said it was probably a good lesson for Azlan to be on the receiving end, since he does the same thing to Patriot all the time. Ha! Glad to be of service.

So we had great times with both sides of our family this Spring Break, and we continue to be so thankful for them!

Spring Break, Part 3 - Enjoying Kentucky

2011-04-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

We explored some while we were in Kentucky, and had some fun adventures! There's a really great public playground in the small town where Nana & Granddad live. (Remember a previous visit here.) The notable thing about this trip was that Elias did the big kid slide. All. By. Himself. Daddy's the one who encouraged him to do it, and Mommy didn't know whether to be proud or have a panic attack. Proud won, but only by a hair. This can't be my BABY doing big things like this?!

The other big thing we did in Western Kentucky was visit the Paducah Railroad Museum. We figured our little train-fanatic would find something he loved there! And he did. They had a really nice working model train display that we watched for a long time.

Elias loved to watch the trains go through tunnels and come out the other end! THEN we discovered a little model of Thomas!!!

It was a brand new display that we actually had to wait for them to hook up, but then it had a little switch that Elias could control Thomas' movement. Oh yeah. He could've stood there all day!

You'll note that Elias is walking around the train museum with his little toy Thomas - it was the only way to keep him from grabbing all the other things he couldn't touch!

Spring Break, Part 2 - Nana & Granddad's House

2011-04-21T13:12:00.000-05:00

Our first stop for Spring Break was Nana & Granddad's house in Western Kentucky. We always have fun playing at their lakeside house! The weather was PERFECT for us while we were there, so we spent a lot of time outside. Apparently Elias' new favorite thing to do is collect gumballs and throw them in the water. (Gumballs are the spiky seed pods that come from the Sweetgum tree. See picture at right. I didn't know about them until this trip!) There was no lack of gumballs in the backyard, and we would carry around a big bucket to collect our gumballs, and then go down to throw them in the water. Big times!

Riding on Granddad's four wheeler was another of this visit's high points. Here's a video of Elias riding first with Daddy, then with Granddad.

Note the difference in speed between the drivers! Ha! Granddad goes more my speed. :) And it looks like Elias is very serious, but really he's having fun - he's just concentrating!

Both sides of our family really enjoy fishing, and so we're looking forward to the day when Elias will be able to fish with us. Justin tried pulling out Granddad's cane poles and teaching Elias how to fish, but he didn't get the concept. At least he had fun with the pole!

I'm so terrible at taking pictures of Elias with the people we love, but Elias did great with his grandparents this trip. I was pleased that he remembered them and enjoyed spending time with them. Justin snapped a quick picture of Elias pausing to give Nana a hug as he ran by.

Thanks for the fun, Nana & Granddad!

Spring Break, Part 1 - In the Car

2011-04-20T21:53:00.000-05:00

Spring Break was a month ago, and honestly I just forgot to get the pics and videos posted! I got distracted with potty training, and pretty much everything else went out the window! But this week Justin asked me if I ever got the pics up... Oops! So here they are, better late than never! :)

To start us off, I'm posting a picture of Elias in the car:

This picture is significant for 2 reasons. First of all, we moved Elias to a big-boy booster seat! He's well within the weight/height range for them, but the recommendation is not to transition them until they're 4. Although Elias is not yet 3, and he hadn't outgrown the height/weight specs for his car seat, he had outgrown it by the definition of his shoulders being higher than the top setting for the shoulder straps. Soooo, since he's so big, and so good in the car, and so HEAVY to be lifting in & out of the car seat, and since we were going on a long car trip for Spring Break, we decided to give it a try. And it was marvelous! He does so well in it! He's obviously more comfortable, and it's so much easier for him to just climb in & out himself! It's also convenient that I can just keep a bin of toys next to him that he can just reach in and entertain himself. Score! So, I'm really glad we plunged in and made the switch.

The second thing that is great about this picture is the way he's sitting. See how he's sitting cross-legged with one foot on top, instead of the traditional cross-legged posture where both feet are under the knees? This is absolutely hilarious because Justin has always sat like this, and still does. As long as I've known him, people have commented about the strange way he sits with one foot on top like that. So when we saw Elias sitting like this, we absolutely cracked up!!! Elias is definitely his father's son!!!

Best Walgreens Trip Ever!

2011-04-19T11:35:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've shared a good Walgreens trip on here, and this week was incredible! So I'll post it on here... It's not too late for you to go snag some of these deals yourself this week!

Total value of things I purchased: $48.41
What I paid out of pocket after discounts, sales, & coupons: $11.72

But then I received back $10 in Register Rewards, plus 2 free Redbox movie codes worth $2. So that means I got $12 back - all that I spent plus some! Very good week, especially since it was all things we'll definitely use. Score!

I'm using the site Hip2Save for all my Walgreens planning now, so head here for her tips on what to get at Walgreens this week and how!

Book Review: Ravenous

2011-04-15T12:15:00.003-05:00

I downloaded the Kindle version of this book because they were briefly giving it away free - sorry that deal isn't still available! However, I read it and it turned out to be great!

Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey from Obsession to Freedom by Dayna Macy

It is exactly what the subtitle describes it to be... She's a food addict that is trying to find a solution for her food issues. Most of her exploration is learning about where food comes from and how it's made, but also dealing with issues from her past and what drives her to overeat. I really enjoyed her journey, and it was also very interesting to me to read about someone who comes from such a different culture from me. She's from California and non-religious, so her life experience and even what she thinks about and wants are VERY different from mine. However, we shared a lot of common thread when it comes to WHY we eat, and many of her lessons were very applicable for me. Great "food" for thought... Pun intended. ;)

Not to give away too much of her journey, but my favorite quotes come from the end when she's recapping what she learned. I've marked in purple the parts that I connected with the most.

I see that my body, with its generous curves and flesh, is not perfect. But it is still beautiful and I am grateful to it. With it, I gave birth to our children and hold my husband in my arms. With it, I cook the food that nourishes us, do yoga, sing, and write these words.

Weight can be gained or lost. Our judgments about our bodies are much harder to lose. I see that my body is strong. It lets me do things both beautiful and practical. I am grateful to have found a practice that is helping me find balance and lose weight. But the scale is a witness to my journey, not the measure of my worth. It is with gratitude and humility that I am learning to take care of my body, because it is the embodiment of my spirit and the vehicle with which I make my way through this complicated, magnificent world...

I did all this to free myself, to wake up, because the world needs whatever I can give back to it. Because this is not a dress rehearsal and there is no time to waste. And if I still need to be reminded of some of these things, if I am still a work in progress, it's because I'm a life in progress.

Our Potty Process

2011-04-14T14:09:00.001-05:00

To give our Potty Process a bit of a lighter tone than yesterday's post, I thought I'd post some pics and record how it all went down! We began with the intention of using Potty Scotty and the One Day Training concept. So on the morning of our big day, Elias received a wrapped present, which he opened and found his new friend Scotty. I wasn't sure whether he'd like Scotty or not, since he's never had a human-like doll before, and I thought he could be a little creepy. Thankfully, Elias LOVED Scotty and took to him right away. Notice in the pic that Elias is fingering his hair - he loves to play with hair, so I think Scotty's pretty blond hair is why E took to him so well.

What's interesting is that right away Elias started calling him "Baby Scotty," so it was pretty easy to take that and run with it, since the first part of our day was teaching Scotty how to be a big boy and use the potty. (For those who don't click the links to read about him, Scotty is an anatomically correct doll who can actually wet, so he demonstrates to little boys exactly how to go to the potty.) So Scotty put on his big boy underwear and learned how to go to the potty, and then Elias got his big boy underwear and started learning how to go to the potty. This didn't happen as quickly as I had expected it to, but we've already talked enough about that. We had a little chart on the wall for both Scotty and Elias, and we put stickers on them for each achievement. This is what they looked like at the end of the second day. (We stopped putting stickers on Scotty's after the first day.) Elias really liked that I put their pictures on the charts to know whose was whose!

Elias did a great job of just being willing to hang out and play in his big boy underwear! We had the whole living room waterproofed because we knew there would be a lot of accidents at first!

I had also bought a lot of underwear because we expected to go through a lot of those at first too! We just kept them in a stack on the bathroom counter so we could easily access dry ones whenever we needed to! You'll notice below that Scotty is also in his big boy underwear, and he had a few extra pair in case of accidents too. (I put Thomas stickers on Scotty's undies so that they would match Elias' Thomas undies. Elias didn't care as much as I expected he would that Thomas was on his underwear. But they sure are cute anyway!)

Elias also enjoyed putting stickers on Scotty's belly instead of Scotty's chart. Whatever you're happy about, bud! Through the learning process, we discovered a few things that Elias needs in order to be able to use the potty. First, we learned that he ~~likes~~ demands to be left alone in the bathroom instead of us sitting with him. So we would just leave him in there with a stack of books he could look at, and he'd go sometimes. However, most of the time he still just seemed too stressed out to be able/willing to go, so I tried to think of something that would help him relax enough to let it go. So I pulled out our portable DVD player and put in the Big Kid Central Potty Training Video that Huggies Pull-Ups gives for free*, and I let him watch it when he's on the potty.

He LOVES watching the little songs and activities, and almost every time it will let him relax enough to go. So that's where we are at the moment! He's doing GREAT with going on the potty, and he's actually learning a lot by watching the Potty DVD over and over again. So we're making good progress on becoming a BIG BOY!

*Click here to order your Pull-Ups Potty DVD. It takes several weeks to arrive, so go ahead and order it even if you're not starting potty training yet!

An Open Apology to My Son

2011-04-13T23:05:00.000-05:00

My Precious Boy,

We have had a difficult past few days because we've been working on potty training, and it hasn't been going well. You're not old enough to understand what's been happening or why I need to apologize to you, so I'm recording my heart here for you. I want you to know that I haven't acted rightly toward you in this process, and I'm sorry. I came into this with expectations and a plan of how it would go, and I grew deeply stressed and frustrated when it didn't work that way. I was impatient with you when you didn't respond the way the books said you would. I didn't focus on how much I love you and how important you are to me, and I forgot that the precious relationship we have is so much more important than any behavior I want you to learn!!

After four increasingly miserable days, I came to the point of despair. I hated how frustrated I was and how unhappy our home was, and I decided that I'd rather have you still in diapers in a happy and loving home than potty-trained in misery. Coming to that realization completely changed how I felt about the potty-training process, and it reminded me of what was important. Love is the most important thing to me, and I decided it's ok if you don't get this right now. So I decided to give it one more day of training, but instead of focusing on the results, I was just going to focus on love, gentleness, patience, grace, and support.

What really broke my heart, though, is that you completely turned around, too, when I started treating you like the mother you know, the mother I should've been all along. After I let go of my stress and frustration, you didn't have one single accident today - you went on the potty EVERY TIME. I realized that the frustration that was growing over you not responding the way I wanted you to was the very thing that was keeping you from doing it in the first place! You were so afraid of my stress and frustration that you weren't free to try learning something new. When I let go of my unreasonable expectations and just lavished you with grace, you flourished and learned. I'm so ashamed of myself for putting that pressure on you, and I'm so sorry.

The thing is, though, that I recognize this perfectionistic trait in myself - I've seen it before, and if I'm honest I can't promise that I'll always do better. I can certainly promise that I'm learning and trying to overcome when I recognize myself behaving unreasonably because of unmet expectations. I do believe that God is so loving and faithful that He will continue working in me to rid me of these ungodly characteristics, but it may be a lifetime before I can always be the loving, kind, gentle, and patient mother you deserve. I want to always represent the character of God to you, yet I am still just a human and I will make mistakes.

The thing I really want to emphasize to you now, though, is that God is not like me! God is ALWAYS patient, ALWAYS loving, ALWAYS compassionate, ALWAYS kind, ALWAYS forgiving. He does not EVER look on His children with disappointment or frustration; He never grows impatient when we are slow to learn our lessons. Although He is the only Perfect One, He loves us completely even with our imperfections. So although I will let you down, Elias, He never will. Please look to Him for all the truth, all the identity, all the knowledge and strength you need. If I ever act or speak anything other than what the Word of God says, I am the one who is wrong, never Him.

I love you so much, my sweet son, but God will always love you more. Please fix your eyes on Him, not on me.
With love and kisses,
Mommy

Alpha Pig ABC's

2011-04-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

Elias loves the show Super Why on PBSKids. We watch it almost every morning. One of the characters is Alpha Pig, and often he'll sing his own version of the ABC song while hammering out the letters. (To see Alpha Pig singing it, watch the first 40 seconds of this video.) One day when Elias was playing with his toy tool set, he pulled out his hammer and started hammering and singing the same way Alpha Pig does! How cute is that?! You can't hear it well in the video because he's hammering so loudly, but he does sing the whole song!

Bake and Eat!

2011-04-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

I love cooking and baking, and so I've always thought it would be fun to have a child who wanted to be in the kitchen with me. I've tried before to get Elias interested in baking something with me, but he's never cared... Until today! I told him I was going to make some banana bread for him and he was definitely interested in that! So I pulled in a kitchen chair and he stood on it and watched closely as I measured everything, poured it in, and mixed it all together! He wasn't ready to participate yet, but just his watching intently filled this mama's heart with joy! He kept saying "Bake and eat!!" So he definitely got the concept that we were making something for him to eat later! There was one part he was excited about participating in...

...the licking of the spoon and bowl! ;)

Born to Sing

2011-03-12T18:26:00.000-06:00

Given how much Justin and I both like music, it's no surprise that a lot of singing goes on at our house. Elias has always loved music and singing, and now he's finally able to sing along with us! Just in the past couple of months, he has REALLY started actively participating in songs we sing together with words and motions, and he even does a great job of staying in tune! Proud of this little guy. So for your viewing entertainment, here he is doing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider":

And "If You're Happy and You Know It":

This is a long one, but I had to include all the verses because the "Say Amen" and "Do all three" verses are our favorites! You'll also note that at the end of this one, he gives himself a round of applause. What a ham!

We have just this week discovered how much fun the Hokey Pokey is! I didn't have the camera out the first time we did it, but Elias was HILARIOUS! I'll definitely try to repeat the experience to catch it for my viewing audience. :)

Stringing Beads

2011-03-11T14:11:00.001-06:00

Elias needs a little help in developing his fine motor skills, so one recommended activity is to get a shoestring and some large beads, and teach him how to string the beads onto the string. He LOVES it!! If you watch to the end, you'll see him get up to run a victory lap around the room to celebrate that he got all the beads on the string! :)

Forgive me that the video is low quality and unedited - I just uploaded it straight from my phone!

The Narrow Way of Suffering

2011-03-07T23:40:00.000-06:00

The past couple weeks, it seems like I'm seeing tragedy every way I turn - unexpected illness and death, natural disasters, economic/financial hardship, loss, abuse... The list goes on and on, and the weight of sorrow in this world seems unbearable. I feel blessed that our family has been spared, and yet at the same time I feel helpless - what can I do? Did God spare and bless me so I can help others? How?? I don't know the answer to that question, but at the heart of my deep desire to DO SOMETHING lies an even greater question: Why did God allow this and why doesn't HE do something???

Last year I did a Bible study called "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?" by Angela Thomas, which really changed my perspective on suffering. I have always known and believed the truth in Scripture that God can and will bring good out of any circumstance for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). And yet when tragedy strikes me personally, I wonder why. Did I do something to deserve it? Am I being punished? Did I fail in some way or neglect something I should've done? Or did God bring this as a test? Is this designed to refine some flaw out of me? Am I supposed to be learning something here? Questions swirl, and sometimes an answer just can't be found. Sometimes an answer comes many years down the road, but I believe we won't know fully until we see God face to face.

So what do we do with the WHY? What Thomas suggests in the study is just that we are fallen people who live in a fallen world, and hard things just happen. That's the way of the world we live in. Sometimes bad things are punishments. Sometimes they are tests. And sometimes they just happen. And God is present in each one, bringing good of them all. When my life is hard, I don't have to feel ashamed or outraged. This is just what it means to be human. People get hurt. People die. Circumstances change in the blink of an eye. All of life is just a vapor that passes and is gone (James 4:14). Rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). I don't know why God designed it that way, but that is just how it is and He can be trusted with that.

So when hardships come, I'm learning that "Why?" isn't really an important question to ask, and I think it often distracts us from being able to see (or even WANT to see) God's loving grace at work in every circumstance. The truth is that He is there, working for our good and His glory, even in that tragedy that we can hardly bear. He knows what the end will be, even though we don't, and He is working so that the outcome will be better than any other road we would've chosen.

Something that really jumped out at me today, though (as I'm reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts), is that very many of the people who have deeply impacted my faith recently and helped me down the road in my own journey to the heart of God have been very deeply scarred by tragedy, and most of them very early in life.

Their childhoods are filled with loss, abuse, abandonment, horrors that many of us cannot even imagine. And yet look at the faith they've been given, the intimate connection with the heart of God, the powerful ministries that draw so many more to Him!

And then it hit me like a lightning strike. Perhaps their deep, deep suffering is WHY they have such a connection with the heart of God. Perhaps their battle-scarred hearts are held in a unique way by the One with the nail-scarred hands, in a way that those of us whose lives have been less tragic can't really understand.

I can clearly see that in my own life, my childhood was full of love and joy - certainly not perfect by any means, but in no way traumatic. The past ten years that I've been an independent adult, though, I've started to experience real suffering (still no tragedy, but hard things like broken relationships, failures, devastating disappointments, and crippling depression), and this is when my own understanding of God has truly been formed. It's not until the past year or two, when I have literally walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psalm 23:4), that I have truly learned what it means that God is with me even there. He used that suffering to reveal Himself to me in a beautiful and intimate way that I am convinced could not have happened if I had never gone through the valley.

And so I'm coming to wonder if maybe suffering is the path through which God draws us to Himself - and it just can't happen any other way. So it's not that people who suffer tragedy are somehow loved less and that being spared from tragedy shows a greater love and blessing... because what greater love and blessing is there than an intimate love relationship with Christ?? God uniquely chooses His beloved children to walk closer with Him by sharing in the sufferings of Christ (Col. 1:24). Maybe true intimacy with God and the deepest knowledge of His ways and most sincere love for Him is only for the few who walk the narrow road of truly carrying their bloody, death-bringing cross and following Jesus (Matt. 16:24).

So when tragedy strikes, I don't want to just DO SOMETHING to try to figure out how to stop the pain. The goal of the Christian life isn't just to avoid all pain, but to know and love God more and more. So in the middle of suffering, I need to embrace God's divine sovereignty and look for Him there in it. He is there, working, refining, weeping with us, holding us tenderly in His arms of compassion, and blessing us with the ability to know Him with a greater depth than we ever imagined before.

Twitter, Funny Invaders, & Muddy Mamas

2011-03-06T14:10:00.001-06:00

I read an article recently saying that blogging is slowly dying with the rise of "microblogging" sites like Facebook and Twitter. And that is certainly proving true in my life! I'm definitely not intending to kill my blog, but it is dying slowly of starvation just because I don't take the time to keep it up. I am, however, putting small updates out multiple times a day on Twitter/Facebook, so for any of you that may be interested in keeping up with what we're up to, please feel free to follow me there! Twitter or Facebook. (I'm pretty sure you don't need to be a member of these sites to be able to see my updates. The same updates go to both sites, so you only need to follow one!)

As an example of my neglect, here's a video that I've had for MONTHS that I just haven't gotten around to posting on here. (If you follow me on Twitter, you saw me first post about this in January!) For Christmas I got a smartphone with a touchscreen, and I downloaded a game for Elias called Funny Invaders. There's a little spaceship dropping things over a bunny, and you have to hit the right button to make the item disappear or it will bonk the bunny in the head. Elias absolutely loves this game, although sadly enough for the bunny, he likes it best when the bunny gets bonked. It makes a funny buzzing noise and vibrates the phone, and Elias thinks this is HILARIOUS! So here's a video of one of the first times Elias played the game:

And finally, many of you have already seen this on Facebook, but I've started a blog with 5 other Christian women called Muddy Mamas. We're going to be just sharing ideas and experiences relating to keeping our homes, parenting, marriage, and anything else we can think of related to living lives of faith. So please follow our blog, and you can like us on Facebook to get updates there too! I'll be writing on that blog a whole lot more than I'll be writing on this one!

Blizzard

2011-02-16T19:01:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of February, we had an official blizzard that dumped 18+ inches of snow on us! I've never in my life seen that much snow. (See Justin's blog coverage of the event here and here.) Elias was fairly oblivious to most of it, although we all got pretty tired of being stuck in the house after a few days! We did try to go out and play in the snow on the fourth day after it fell, but Elias didn't like it so much. The snow was too powdery to build a snowman, which disappointed him gravely. Then he couldn't throw snowballs either, so when he threw it in the air, the wind just blew all that powdery snow back into his face! Combine that with the fact that it was too deep for him to walk in, and it just wasn't much fun.

In this video, you can see the progression. Fun the first few minutes, then he discovered he couldn't walk because he kept falling down and landing on his face. So at the end you'll hear him start to cry and say "In the snow, please!" I think he meant, "Out of the snow, please!"

It turns out that Elias would rather be standing NEXT TO the snow and just playing in it with his hands rather than standing IN the snow. Lesson learned. All future snow romps have been on the shoveled driveway and were great successes!

First Snow

2011-02-11T15:35:00.001-06:00

This winter has been absolutely insane when it comes to snow and weather! We are truly blessed, however, that God has kept us safe and warm, and provided us with some sweet family time together when the weather outside is frightful! Our first big snow hit mid-January, and it was accompanied by sub-zero temperatures. Sooo, I waited to take Elias out in it until like the 4th day after it hit, when the sun came back out and it was warm enough to stand being out there! (Note: Remember this is the girl who was comfortable living in the West African DESERT for 2 years - I'm not a big fan of cold.) Elias REALLY enjoyed playing in the snow, though, and Daddy had fun throwing snowballs with him!

It may look here like Elias and Daddy are building a snowman together. But what is really happening is Daddy is building a snowman and Elias is crushing it as soon as Daddy gets anything built. Ah well. The point is to have fun together, and that was definitely achieved!

Kitty Cat Love

2011-02-09T20:43:00.000-06:00

After Christmas, I wrote about the toy cat named Mrs. B that Elias received as a gift and loved so much. Well, seriously, his affection deepens every day! We continue to be amazed at how much he love, love, loves this cat! I said in that previous post that we weren't going to let him sleep with her. Well, at that point, he really didn't mind telling her goodnight and leaving her behind. However, it began to cause him serious emotional distress to let her go at night, so we decided that battle wasn't worth fighting. So he sleeps with his kitty, both at naptime and at night. You can see her cuddled in his arm in this picture:

In fact, he's pretty much inseparable from her all the time. She goes with us to the store, to the library, everywhere. We don't let him take her into church because we know the other kids in childcare might want to touch her, and that would pretty much be the end of the world. Not going to subject a poor volunteer worker to that!!!

He's really getting into imaginative play these days, and so he "speaks" for her often. He meows pretty much nonstop, and sometimes he translates (or wants us to translate) what he thinks she's saying. Tonight we were playing with his plastic bowling pins, and he set her up so she could watch him bowl. Then, when he got a strike, he would say in a high-pitched voice "Meow! Good bowling, Elias!" HA HA HA!

He'll also have her participate in dancing or jumping or whatever activity is going on. At the library this week, she came in with us, and she participated by clapping and dancing at appropriate times during the songs. Then today we were watching Diego, and he had Mrs. B jump along with Baby Jaguar.

So he grows deeper and deeper in love with his kitty every day - Justin and I just crack up at the stuff he comes up with! I think we'll definitely have to invest in a backup kitty, though, in case anything ever happens to the love of his life!

Book Review: Blue Like Jazz

2011-01-31T08:54:00.002-06:00

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality - Donald Miller, 2003

This book came out quite a while ago, and I remember friends reading it and enjoying it way back then, but for some reason I never read it. Then over our Christmas travels, Justin got it on CD and we listened to it in the car. We both really enjoyed it, and it impacted us a lot. (You can read his review here.) I wanted to read it again in print before reviewing it, though, because I'm more of a visual learner.

It's a collection of essays that aren't necessarily related to the others, so there isn't really a cohesive theme to the book. It's basically just Don Miller's spiritual journey told in bits and pieces. But I really enjoyed his perspective, especially living most of his Christian life outside the Bible Belt. I really identified, though, with a lot of what he knows and believes about God and relating to Him. In that way, I'm actually really glad I never read this book before now - I feel that after all I learned last year, I am uniquely ready to understand these things now more than I ever have been before.

Since there isn't a plot or theme, though, I can't really give any kind of summary. So instead I'm just going to give a collection of my favorite quotes. I highly recommend this book, though, and I'm thankful God led Justin to get it for us to listen to in the car!

"Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way." - Introduction

"I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God." - Chapter 2

"I can't explain how freeing that was, to realize that if I met Jesus, He would like me. I never felt like that about some of the Christians on the radio. I always thought if I met those people they would yell at me. But it wasn't like that with Jesus. There were people He loved and people He got really mad at, and I kept identifying with the people He loved, which was really good, because they were all the broken people, you know, the kind of people who are tired of life and want to be done with it, or they are desperate people, people who are outcasts or pagans. There were others, regular people, but He didn't play favorites at all, which is miraculous in itself." - Chapter 4

"I will love God because He first loved me. I will obey God because I love God. But if I cannot accept God's love, I cannot love Him in return, and I cannot obey Him. Self-discipline will never make us feel righteous or clean; accepting God's love will. The ability to accept God's unconditional grace and ferocious love is all the fuel we need to obey Him in return. Accepting God's kindness and free love is something the devil does not want us to do. If we hear, in our inner ear, a voice saying we are failures, we are losers, we will never amount to anything, this is the voice of Satan trying to convince the bride that the groom does not love her. This is not the voice of God. God woos us with kindness, He changes our character with the passion of His love." - Chapter 7

"If I live what I believe, then I don't believe very many noble things. My life testifies that the first thing I believe is that I am the most important person in the world. My life testifies to this because I care more about my food and shelter and happiness than about anybody else." - Chapter 10

Quoting his friend Paul on marriage: "One of the ways God shows me He loves me is through Danielle [his wife], and one of the ways God shows Danielle He loves her is through me. And because she loves me, and teaches me that I am lovable, I can better interact with God... I mean that to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is; a Being that is love. We learn that we are lovable or unlovable from other people. That is why God tells us so many times to love each other." - Chapter 13

"Living in community made me realize one of my faults: I was addicted to myself. All I thought about was myself. The only thing I really cared about was myself. I had very little concept of love, altruism, or sacrifice. I discovered that my mind is like a radio that picks up only one station, the one that plays me: K-DON, all Don, all the time. I did not understand the exchange that takes place in meaningful dialogue, when two people sit down and tune their radios, if only for a moment, to the other person's station." - Chapter 15

So this is just a few of the really great thoughts and ideas I found in this book. A lot of it was really challenging, yet affirming. I definitely agree with his thoughts that being a Christian is about embracing Jesus, not embracing Christianity. And so that is a challenge to me, to sift through my life and analyze what I do and think - am I representing Jesus or representing religion? Great food for thought.

New Christmas Traditions

2011-01-17T19:03:00.001-06:00

Ever since we got married, and especially since Elias was born, we've been trying to figure out exactly what our own family traditions are going to be for holidays. We're really trying to put a lot of thought into what holidays mean to us and how we want to celebrate. So this year for Christmas we started a couple new things, and I thought I'd post them on here. I found both of these ideas on Ann Voskamp's blog: A Holy Experience.

Advent Tree

Ann calls it a Jesse Tree, but I prefer Advent since that's what we're celebrating. What we did was put up our Christmas tree the day before Advent (the 28 days before Christmas) started, leaving the front empty; I put up all our ornaments on the sides and back. Then, using Ann's book and ornaments, we did a little story/devotional each day and put an ornament on the tree representing each story. The stories walked us through the Bible from creation to Christ.

This was our tree with all of the ornaments on it after Christmas. This whole idea was really, really special, and I think we'll plan to do this every year. It was just so neat to keep our focus daily on God's great story of love and redemption, meditating on what that little baby in the hay means to us all.

This particular book's devotionals were pretty deep, and Elias didn't have the patience or understanding to listen to them. He did pick up some of it, though, and he had fun putting the new ornaments on the tree every day! So I don't know if we'll try a different series next year or try this one again to see if he's old enough to get it then. If anybody has any recommendations, let me know!

Gifts
Inspired by this post on Ann's blog, we decided not to give gifts to each other for Christmas, but only to give gifts to Jesus, Whose birthday we're celebrating. This year we did that in the form of Angel Trees, Adopt-a-Grandparent gifts, and donating food and toys to Share Your Christmas at church. In future years when Elias is older and more able to participate, I think it would be really neat to follow Ann's suggestion and actually pick gifts out of a catalog for such ministries as Compassion International or Gospel for Asia. But this is just another thing that helps keep our focus on Christ and not on the commercial aspects of the American traditions.

In thinking about these things and really focusing on what the holiday means to us, Justin and I both agreed that this was the most we've enjoyed Christmas together since we've been married. It is such a joy to really bring purpose and meaning in what we do!

Book Review: The DNA of Relationships

2011-01-13T20:33:00.000-06:00

The DNA of Relationships by Dr. Gary Smalley, 2004

This is the first book I finished this year in my pursuit of nonfiction, and if you don't read any further than this, please hear me say that EVERYONE ON EARTH SHOULD READ THIS BOOK! If you're married, you should buy it and read it more than once. Old and young, men and women. There isn't anybody that would not benefit from the principles in this book.

I have to confess that when I first started reading, the first chapter sounded like such an infomercial: "Implementing the principles in this book will completely revolutionize every relationship in your life!" Yeah, right. But for real, you guys. I think it actually has the potential to deliver what it promises!

I'm not going to try to tell you everything, but the basic premise is just understanding how communication works in your relationships and learning to recognize what is happening when communication breaks down so that you can change your patterns. The most important concept for this is learning to understand yourself, which was really big for me. Each of us has some core fears that cause us to act and react in unpredictable ways, so when I came to understand what my deepest fears are (rejection and invalidation), I can now understand why I react so negatively to innocent things that shouldn't be a big deal. And then the next big part of understanding myself is recognizing that I am the only one that controls my actions and reactions. No one else can MAKE me angry or upset. I choose how I react to things that push my buttons.

Moving on from there, you can look at the people you have close relationships with and identify what their core fears are based on the way they behave. Then you can work to make your relationship as safe as possible by respecting their fears and treating them with kindness and understanding.

There is so much more to it than that, but you're just going to have to read the book for yourself! But seriously, this has really affected the way I handle myself, and I hope to get better at it with practice! Please let me know if you read this - I wonder if it will help others as much as it helped me!

Reading My Vegetables

2011-01-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

I love to read. I always have. I think this is a very good thing, and I see that Justin's and my love of reading is rubbing off on Elias, which is also a very good thing. However, I have a weakness in my appetite for reading, and that is that I love to read fiction and I'm just not so good at getting through nonfiction. I recognize that there is value in nonfiction, but I just don't have the discipline to make myself read it. I'll start a book and get through a couple chapters, but then just stall and not read another page even if the first few chapters were really good! I'll just pick up a fiction book and read my merry way along, leaving the bookmark in the middle of the nonfiction book. You may even remember that last year one of my resolutions involved reading more nonfiction. Yeah, that didn't happen. But all year long I recognized it as something I wanted to do. I just didn't have a plan.

So a few weeks ago I was talking with my friend Ashley about this subject, and she has encountered the same flaw in her reading life. So she suggested a plan that I really like! So per her suggestion, I'm requiring myself to read a chapter of nonfiction a day before I'm allowed to read any fiction. You may recall that I'm not making any resolutions this year, but it just happened that I started doing this on January 1. Pure coincidence, I assure you. But it's working very well so far! Some days I don't get my chapter read, and so I don't read any fiction at all. Other days I bang out my chapter before lunch and I'm good to go the rest of the day.

When I told Justin about my plan, he said it sounded like somebody making their kid eat their vegetables before they're allowed to have any dessert. And I think that's an excellent metaphor! My sweet tooth would love to eat nothing but ice cream all the time, but I recognize that my nutrition would be incomplete without vegetables and other healthy foods, so I make myself eat those. Then if I'm still hungry, I can have some dessert. What I often find, though, is that the healthy foods satisfy me and I no longer need dessert... And ya know, it may be that the same thing is happening with reading! Already I'm not "craving" as much fiction, and I'm content to just sit down and read whatever nonfiction book I'm working on. I actually borrowed a Karen Kingsbury (my favorite Christian author - seriously, you should read ALL her books!) book from the library over a week ago, and I haven't even started it yet! What the heck?! I'm going to have to make myself read it before it's due! Ha! Who would've ever thought that would be the case?! Not me, that's for sure.

So anyways, I'm going to be reading a lot more nonfiction this year, and if they're good ones, I'll be writing reviews on my blog. In fact, I already finished one that was completely awesome, so keep your eyes open for that in the next few days. Good stuff here, folks.

Christmas, Part 7: Fun with Cousins

2011-01-12T14:30:00.000-06:00

When we visited my parents in Ohio, my sister and her family also came up from Atlanta, and we all stayed there together. So Elias got to have fun playing with his cousins, Patriot (6) and Azlan (4)! He's not quite on their level of play, but he enjoyed watching them for sure! One of the things he most enjoyed watching us all do together was play Wii Bowling. He just thought that was HILARIOUS! So here's a video of that:

Whenever the ball would hit the pins, he'd jump up and down and yell "Ta daaa!" Such excitement!

Another day we went to a local mall to play, and they had a little train ride set up right next to the play area! (Talk about strategic placement!) So we certainly couldn't pass up the chance for the boys to ride a train together.

Christmas, Part 6: Fiesta de Navidad

2011-01-09T21:33:00.000-06:00

On Christmas Day, we traveled from Western KY to Cincinnati to visit my family. Since all of us had multiple Christmas celebrations, and the one at the Strimple house was the last one for us all, we decided to do a Fiesta instead of having a traditional Christmas dinner. So we made fajitas and nachos and homemade guacamole! Ole! Mom and Dad even surprised us by showing up with decorations that were borrowed from their church! In addition to wall hangings and a string of lights shaped like pinatas(!), they had two sombreros, and Elias thought those were great!! He wore one for about a full hour!

Feliz Navidad!

Christmas, Part 5: Mrs. B

2011-01-05T13:51:00.000-06:00

We have a wonderful and generous family that gave such wonderful gifts to Elias this year! However, for the first time, there was definitely one gift that stood out far above the rest to him...

A small beanie cat given to him by his Aunt Nicole and Uncle David. Seriously, home run here, folks. Elias has recently seemed to be very fond of cats, and he didn't have any cat toys. So when Aunt Nicole asked what to get him, I suggested a stuffed cat. So they got him this one, and he fell in LOVE. Immediately. As soon as he opened up the present, he just lay on the couch and cuddled her.

Seriously, he didn't move for at least 15 minutes. Just kicking his legs and cuddling his kitty.

So we asked him what her name was, and he immediately said, "Mrs. B." This is hilarious because it's the name of the cat in one of his favorite songs by Steve Songs: "And the Dog Says." The name is only mentioned in passing, and we've never talked about it. I didn't even know he remembered what the cat's name in that song was! But now she has a namesake.

So she has been pretty much a constant companion ever since. We don't let him sleep with her, but she does come with us to the store or wherever. He carries her around and sometimes incorporates her into playing with his other toys. She rides on Thomas or watches movies with him. At Nana's house, there is a toy shopping cart, and he put her in the front and pushed her around like she was his baby! How hilarious is this?!

Full disclosure: He laid her in the seat, and I sat her up so her hind legs were sticking through the holes - I thought it was hilarious!

But I've never seen Elias attach to a toy like this. Some days he seems more attached to her than others. Yesterday was definitely a Mrs. B day - she barely ever left his side. And he in fact cried when he had to tell her goodnight and go to bed. Parting is such sweet sorrow!

Note: I'm going on about how much Elias loves this cat, but I hope the rest of you who got him gifts don't think that diminishes how much he enjoys the rest of your gifts! We love and play with them ALL! Thanks to all of our generous family!

Christmas, Part 4: Lights at Patti's

2011-01-05T13:24:00.000-06:00

There is a famous restaurant in Grand Rivers, KY called Patti's. We love to eat there, but over the holidays it is impossible to get in without waiting for hours. So we just went in the evening and checked out their really huge Festival of Lights display. There were some really cool things there - some I'd never seen before! You know it's going to be a treat for Elias when a train is one of the first things we see...

Our sweet family photo at the "North Pole."

Lights as far as the eye can see!

They had a couple of these impressive red-wrapped trees. Nana and I were amazed at how far out they were able to get out on the branches! Elias thought it looked like an octopus... I can see it!

This tree was so cool - I had never seen lights like this before! They were long strings of lights where the light ran down the string - it looked like icicles dripping off the tree!

I took a video of it, but you may not be able to see what's going on. I can see it because I know what it looked like! Pretty cool stuff.

This was definitely a fun outing for us, though, and worth the cold!

Christmas, Part 3: Nana & Granddad's House

2011-01-04T15:12:00.000-06:00

Our first stop was Nana & Granddad's house in Western Kentucky. We always have fun visiting their house, and this time was no exception! Here are some of the things we got into.

Since we discovered a love for coloring on plain notebook paper in the car, Granddad gave him a pencil and a pad of paper, and Elias sat as his desk and colored! How cute is this?? Notice this Dr. John S Tapp nameplate... Looks good in front of our Dr. Elias John Tapp, doesn't it?! ;)

Nana & Granddad have a whirlpool bathtub at their house, so Justin had the idea that Elias might like taking his bath in it. In fact, He. Loved. It. Major fun times here!!

Also, Granddad has gotten a new four-wheeler since we visited last, so Granddad took Elias out on it, and that was big fun!

In the video, you can see that Granddad starts out slow on the driveway, and then takes him off-road a little. I left in the end of the clip, because you can hear Mommy's nervous laugh when Granddad takes him through a big dip. I'm such a weenie when it comes to mothering a boy!! Then it was Daddy's turn to take Elias! They had big fun!

Then one day we went into the city of Paducah just to explore a bit. We ate lunch at a neat seafood place called Whaler's Catch, then explored downtown a bit. They have a railroad museum, which we didn't go in, but we did enjoy the real train they have outside!

Honestly, I had no idea trains were this big in real life! Elias still talks about the train in Paducah. A dream come true for that little guy!

Christmas, Part 2: Fun in the Car

2011-01-04T14:51:00.000-06:00

This year for Christmas, we took our usual family tour to Kentucky and Ohio, which was about 1,600 miles round trip. Sheesh. However, we have a fantastic family (on both sides!) that I would drive much farther to be able to see, PLUS we have an amazing child who does GREAT in the car. He never sleeps in the car, but he's generally content to just play and listen to music. Yes, we recognize how blessed we are to have such a great traveler.

When we crossed the bridges into Kentucky, I told Elias "Look! We just entered Kentucky!" and for the next 15 minutes he shouted "KENTUCKY!!!!!" Well, glad you're happy, kid. So then I pulled out the camera to record it, and I had to coax him to say it again. Creep. Anyway, here that is, plus some in-car silliness for your entertainment:

I must say that the coloring was a stroke of genius on my part. He has the little Tadoodles crayons - a cat, a bunny, and a bird - and he actually plays with them like dolls. He's rarely ever colored with them before. But he was getting a little squirmy, so I just pulled out a notebook and gave him his Tadoodles, and seriously, he colored for an hour. He covered pretty much every page in my notebook, but that's a small price to pay for an easy hour in the car!!

Note - Huh, how 'bout that? I went to the Crayola page to find the Tadoodles crayons so I could link to the product above. And they say the red crayon is a fox, not a cat. Umm, not in our house. The cat is Elias' favorite one!

Christmas, Part 1: Neighbor

2011-01-03T14:42:00.000-06:00

I have to begin the tale of our Christmas adventures this year with our backyard neighbor. They are legendary in our neighborhood for going absolutely crazy with their Christmas decorations. Think Clark Griswold in his 80s, and that's Mr. Dalton. But their decorations really helped us get in the Christmas spirit, and Elias LOVED them! They began putting up their back yard decorations on NOVEMBER 8TH, so we were able to enjoy them for a long time too. This was the view from our rear windows (Click to enlarge.):

And they had their full front yard decorations finished by the Monday after Thanksgiving (Click to enlarge.):

Absolutely absurd. The above picture is without the lights on, so you may not get the full effect, but I think you can see better the sheer volume of decorations. I believe I count 14 inflatables in this picture... Add the 6 from the back yard, and that makes an even 20. Sheesh. Elias' hands-down favorite was the Santa in the helicopter on the far right of the picture. He would ask EVERY DAY to go see Santa in the helicopter. We went 2 or 3 times a week to go look at the display. There was actually a little more - a plastic nativity set, another spiral tree, and I think a Santa - on the other side of the driveway on the right, but I couldn't fit it into the picture.

So although I wouldn't want to decorate my own house like this, it was really fun having it in our backyard to just open up the blinds and enjoy! Elias still runs to the window and looks for the snowmen and lights. Sorry, bud. Not till next year!