Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I Think, I Hope, Can I Dare Say...

that my daughter may FINALLY be potty trained????? I have been pushing hard core with the potty thing for the last couple weeks. She will go in the potty if I asked her to or if she was bored but if we were doing anything, she would just go in her pull-ups. However, the last two days, she has been telling me before she needed to go and not waiting for me to ask!!!!! She is taking the initiative. She is even taking her BM's on the potty!!!!! Even if we are doing something, she stops and tells me so she can go in the potty. I am scared to declare her trained as I am sure as soon as I do she will revert back to me having to ask and prod her to go. But whoo hoo, the end of diapers and pull ups is in site at our house!!!
The justice, I guess, in her difficulty in potty training is that HJ was a dream to potty train. In March before he turned 3 (he has a June birthday), we had his cousins over to play, who are 6 months older than him. He watched them both go in the potty and when they left, announced that he wanted to wear big boy underwear and go poopoo and peepee in the potty. There was no looking back from that moment on! It was done, he was trained, that was it! We did not even have accidents after he made up his mind to be a big boy. (Granted we had been talking about it with him and he would occasionally go for us on the potty before the cousins visited.) So I guess it is only to be expected that I would get a second child who was a little harder and reluctant to train. But boy am I so excited for the day that I don't have to worry about it anymore!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Bee-ach

I'm going to the Bee-ach
I am so exc-ited
I'm going to the Bee-ach
and I am so exc-ited!
Whoo!

Okay enough with the little conga line! But can you tell I am super duper excited!!!! Our super, sweet, awesome, amazing friends invited us to join them at their families beach house next week for a little impromptu beach week (sans condo/hotel bill!!!!!)
So everyone now:

I'm going to the Bee-ach
I am so exc-ited
I'm going to the Bee-ach
and I am so exc-ited!!!

I'm going to the Bee-ach
I am so exc-ited
I'm going to the Bee-ach
and I am so exc-ited!!!

I'm going to the Bee-ach
I am so exc-ited
fading out now........

Budget Busters Challenge

I have been tagged by Aimee over at Daisyeyes to participate in a Budget Busters Challenge meme. In it I have to list 5 things that cause you to break your budget.
Here are my 5:

1. The Whole Foods store here in Green Hills. I will go in there with a short list of things to get and come out with a cart full and am not sure how it happened. Everything is displayed so appealingly and is all organic and whole. Oh my gosh that place is amazing and has marketing down to a science! I want to buy everything, it all looks so good. Because of this, I have decided not to go there except for VERY special occasions. If I can't get it at my local Publix's than I really don't need it.

2. Target. I can't go in there and stick to my list. It is just not possible! Something else ALWAYS winds up in my buggy. I love that store!

3. Gymbucks at Gymboree. I can't resist shopping with such great coupons even if the kids don't need anything. I just can't let my coupon go to waste so I will go buy things there. That store is very addictive.

4. The YMCA. We pay $100 a month to be a member and then I go and add on a personal training class that you have to pay an additional fee to take. It is not exactly budget friendly but I do enjoy it and have seen some great results. That has to count for something right?

5. Kohls. I will go in there for one thing and come out $200 poorer than when I went in. Kohls has really improved their clothing lines and I love browsing there for myself and of course the kids. I love their 2/$10 play clothes for the kids. Kohls is also a great place to buy exercise wear as it is pretty reasonable. However, the cost goes way up when you buy more stuff than the exercise clothes you went in there to buy.

Okay, I think that is my top 5 budget busters. Can you tell I like to clothes shop???? I have a problem!

So I am going to tag:
Joy at Oy With The Poodles
Jennifer at Lemons and Lemonade
and
Dr. U at Are We There Yet???

Monday, April 21, 2008

Have I Mentioned....

that I HATE doing dishes?????? 5 more days until the new dishwasher arrives!

Seriously Committed

What I am sure you are asking am I now seriously committed to, other than KJ? Well let me tell you I have committed to be in the Music City Du Run Run! WhooHoo! Now you are probably asking what a Du Run Run is and I will tell you. It is a race where you run 2 miles, bike 10 miles, and then run 2 miles again. It is on Father's Day.
I figured that I was ready to commit to being able to run 4 miles by Father's Day and bike 10 which is for me a lot easier than running. So I am now officially in training for my big day! The reason I committed to do this particular race is that it is all on level ground. As I know I have mentioned once or 10 times before, I am LAZY and the idea or running and biking hills doesn't do it for me. However, this race seemed like a good race to start with being that the whole thing is on level ground. Anyway, I would love some company if anybody is up for the challenge!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Like Father, Like Son



Everyone has always thought that my son looked like me. Granted he does, as it is hard to deny we share the same eyes and hair color. However, this is the first picture I have ever seen of HJ where I thought he looked like his father. When I saw it, I immediately thought of a picture that is in my in-laws house of KJ age 16. Thankfully, my father-in-law loaned it to me so I could scan it in. Just look at that brow evident on both boys and that similar expression. Be still my heart!
There is another one of KJ that even more resembles this picture of HJ but it is in a huge picture collage which would be a little trickier to remove. However, next time I am there I may just snatch it anyway.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

A Moment of Silence

I would like to have a moment of silence for the passing of my dishwasher yesterday. .............................................................

Okay, now I feel better. Well not really because I have a major problem now. It is called being lazy. You see when your dishwasher no longer works, a funny thing happens: dishes from 4 people pile up everywhere and there is no place to put them in that they come out clean a little while later. They just sit around taunting me and begging me to wash them. But what they don't understand is that I DON'T WANT TO WASH THEM because I AM LAZY! And so I sit writing this blog while I should be in the kitchen getting caught up on all the dishes that need washing (by hand, yuck!)

I have threatened bodily harm to my husband if a new dishwasher is not purchased tonight for installation tomorrow. I hope he knows I am serious.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Happy



Having moved into our house during the winter, we were not really sure what the landscaping would look like once it started blooming and coming back to life in the spring. We knew we would not have any flowers as the deer would just eat them so the previous owners had told us not to bother with them. However, this week, my breath has been taken away at the beauty of the dogwood that has started blooming in the front landscaping. It is one of the prettiest colors I have ever seen. It makes me happy every time I look at it. I decided to share some pictures of its beauty and hope it makes you as happy as it makes me. It is just gorgeous!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Prayer Leave

I am writing with such a heavy heart right now. Over the last week, there have been some big family issues to arise. With my heart so heavy and burdened right now, I find it hard to think of much else but prayer. I feel God calling me to it right now. I am going to take a hopefully short leave from my blog to devote the time I usually blog to more prayer. I know that God can make all things work to his glory and I cling to that promise. If you would like to pray with me for my family, please pray for:

healing
wisdom
understanding
even tempers
guidance
forgiveness

The good news that through all this ugliness, I have felt God's guidance in a way I never have before. That is really neat. I have felt him holding my tongue and temper at bay, with the exception of one incidence (I am a hot head) and he gives me the words to say when needed, it is truly a miracle and so amazing to have the words to say when I have no idea, they just appear and flow off my tongue with nothing on my part. He is awesome! I know God is in control of this ugly situation and I will try and turn my trust over to him and rely on him in all things. I will pray that he helps me respond to the situation and person in a godly manner.

Psalm 69: 5-6
O God, it is You who knows my folly, and my wrongs are not hidden from You. May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts; may those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel.

Oh, and for those of you so concerned, green smoothies will still be served daily at our house. Feel free to stop on by and have one!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Green Smoothies


Okay I am going to share something with you that many of you may find pretty gross, but it is working for the kids and I. For the past week and a half, I have been making the kids and I a green smoothie everyday. Now you may at this point be asking yourself what the heck a green smoothie is and lucky for you (or unlucky as my hubby would say, he won't touch the stuff) I am going to tell you.
To make my version of a green smoothie, I take my handy dandy blender and put about a cup of frozen mixed fruit in the blender, then I add enough water to cover the fruit. Then I fill the blender all the way to the top until it can barely close with raw baby spinach leaves and kale. Then blend the heck out of all of it. Once it is blended up and you have room, I add a whole banana in and a little sugar and blend it up some more. It is important not to leave out the banana as it gives it a better more palatable texture. Then you are done and I promise it tastes pretty darn good! Good enough that my kids will drink about 10 oz each day of it. HJ will even still drink it even though he has watched me make one and seen just how many veggies go into it (I don't recommend letting your kids watch you make one until they have gotten used to drinking one.) Both my kids drink about 10 oz a day and I drink about 16 oz a day. It gives us an easy way to get a lot more leafy green veggies down! However, we all prefer drinking ours with a straw as it is pretty thick. It is also VERY green! (The picture above was taken of what is left of the smoothie I made for CG and I at lunch, the leftovers are for HJ to drink tonight with dinner as he is in school during lunch.)

If you are interested in watching a video of someone making a green smoothie you can do that here.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Spring Morning


This early morning was absolutely gorgeous. It had just rained and all was freshly green. All was quiet and still, well except for me. I was breathing hard and hardly still!
As I was 75% into my run/walk, I was really whining and complaining to God about how much I just don't like running and how hard it was, begging for mercy. I had my head down and was just trying to get through a particular running segment, when I looked up and saw them. There was a herd of 10 beautiful deer directly ahead of me standing on the road. My breath was swept away at the beauty of the day and these beautiful beasts together! God, inspite of my whining, chose to bless me with this awe inspiring sight. It truly felt like a kiss or word of encouragement just for me this morning. It brought tears to my eyes at the sweetness of his grace and mercy! It was exactly what I needed to keep going.

....and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful again

and you should feel the sun in the spring
comin out after a rain
suddenly all is green
sunshine on everything
i can feel it now, i feel you now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful

and you should hear the angels sing
all gathered round their king
more beautiful than you could dream
i've been quietly listening
you can hear 'em now, i hear em now

and how could such a king
shine his light on me
and make everything beautiful
and i wanna shine
i wanna be light
i wanna tell you it'll be alright
and i wanna shine and i wanna fly
just to tell you now
it'll be alright, it'll be alright
it'll be alright

cus i got nothing of my own to give to you
but this light that shines on me shines on you
and makes everything beautiful again.....

from the song Stars by David Crowder


*picture of the deer downloaded from the internet, unfortunately I didn't have a camera this morning*

Tomato Soup


I have been so excited to try the sherried tomato soup that The Pioneer Woman posted recently on her cooking site. It sounded so good and I LOVE tomato soup! However, no one else in my house shares my love and I could not make this huge pot for just myself.
Well this past weekend, my Mom came down to our part of Tennessee to watch HJ's first soccer game. It was a cold, rainy day and just perfect for tomato soup. Luckily my Mom loves tomato soup too! After the game, we all trouped home and I made this wonderful soup and would encourage any of you to do the same. It is soooooo good! I even made some healthy changes to it.
First I cut the butter by half. Then I decided on no onions in the soup. This wasn't really for health reasons but more because I don't just love onions. Then, because the kids would not be eating the soup, I substituted Splenda for the sugar. Lastly, instead of heavy cream in the soup, I used low fat milk. Oh, and of course I used my favorite Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes because it doesn't get any better than those tomatoes! It all made for one incredibly, delicious, satisfying soup! (In case you are afraid of the cooking sherry, I promise it doesn't taste like any alcohol is in the soup, it just gives it a rich, sweet flavor!) You won't regret making this soup!

Here is the full version of the recipe (does not include the changes I made above):

Sherried Tomato Soup
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 46-ounce bottle or can tomato juice
2 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 to 3 tablespoons chicken base
3 to 6 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
Black Pepper
1 cup cooking sherry
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
chopped fresh parsley
chopped fresh basil
Saute diced onions in butter until transluscent. Add canned tomatoes. Add tomato juice, sugar, pinch of salt, and black pepper and stir. Bring to a near boil, then turn off heat. Add in sherry and cream and stir. Add in parsley and basil to taste, adjust other seasoning, and serve with yummy, crusty bread on a cold, blustery, dreary, depressing, rainy, snowy day. Then close your eyes. And give thanks for soups like this.