Friday, August 22, 2008

Soccer Princess

Have you ever wondered what a soccer princess would look like? You have???!!!! Well good, because I now know what one looks like. She emerged from my house yesterday afternoon to start her soccer career with her first ever soccer practice. Allow me to introduce you!




A soccer princess only wears the finest in pink soccer footwear: pink cleats. She also will only allow her legs to be graced with pink shin guards, covered by the most beautiful purple soccer socks! Aren't they gorgeous?????? Oh, and of course a princess would only play soccer with a pink and purple ball!


Now a soccer princess can not start her soccer career without making sure everyone knows she is a princess. The best way to do this is to wear a shirt that announces it to the world. Our princess choose this beautiful purple one with a pink princess hat with the word "Princess" spelled out under the hat. A princess is always subtle!



A princess also always must have appropriately fashioned hair. For soccer that would be the pony tail which this princess dawns exquisitely!


After making sure that she is properly attired for the occasion, the princess makes sure she plays with perfection, daintily kicking the ball around and trying hard to look like she knows what she is doing. She is after all a princess, she must keep up appearances.



Only when she thinks no one is looking can she let down her hair so to speak, and stick out her tongue in interesting ways, making sure no one is observing this most unroyal like behavior!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

An Explanation

For the next few weeks, posts will be very sporadic here at Nashvillians Now. With school starting up, the kids and I will be entering a new, much more hectic schedule, that will take some getting used to. I am going to have to get used to getting two kids up, ready, and out the door in time for school after a lazy summer of having nowhere to be at any particular time. Also, in order to keep running, I will have to start getting up at or before 5am, which I have found leaves me exhausted by the afternoon. It is going to take my body some time to adjust to getting 45 minutes less sleep a day! Soccer is also gearing up to start in two weeks which will add to the busyness. In addition to school and soccer mayhem, I also have to start all the ebay madness that I do twice a year, here next week. It is good money but a lot of work! Add all that together, and I don't have a ton of time to blog. So bear with me over the next few weeks, and I will be back to regular postings!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

5 Years Ago


5 year's ago today my father passed away. Prior to his death he had battled pancreatic cancer for 2.5 years. The anniversary of his death is a bittersweet time for me where I try more to focus on the blessings that have come and are yet to come. I know with absolute certainty that my father is in heaven and that he is no longer in pain but in constant worship of our Lord and I often envy him of that peace and happiness as I struggle on Earth through my own sin. That to me is a wonderful blessing and praise!
I also love to think about how faithful our heavenly father is. You see when my father was diagnosed with cancer they gave him 3-6 months to live and he lived for 2.5 years! God was also faithful to grant my father his dying wish, which was to see his first grandchild, my son HJ. HJ was born exactly 7 weeks prior to my father's death. Dealing with much of the grief surrounding his death was done for me in the context of that wonderful new blessing in my life and also through a sleep deprived haze that every new mother feels. However, the memories of my father's awe inspired face as he looked at and held this new little life is a memory I will carry with me forever. I try and hold fast to the sweetness and not the loss and pain.
I also love to think what he would think about my kids now. I know that he would be tickled and proud of HJ's love for football. He too (as most men do) loved football. He loved UT but more so he was a Redskin fan. I grin to think about the vie that would be going on between KJ and my Dad to gain HJ's attention toward their favorite teams. My Mom is trying to teach HJ about the Redskins and HJ has more interest than most (especially in Tennessee) for the Redskins. However, HJ will ultimately become a Titan's fan (which would have been okay with Dad too). My father would just be so proud to call my little sports fan his grandson!
I also get tickled thinking about my stoic and reserved father being completely wrapped around the pinky of a certain little pink and purple princess. I think he would be completely at the mercy of little CG and there would be more pictures of the two of them than we would know what to do with.
So anyway, I thought I would think about him today in happy sweet moments and try not to dwell on the sad. He would not want any of us to do any less. He hated to be the center of attention, especially sad attention!

Monday, August 11, 2008

This is what happens....


when you send your hubby to take your son to get his haircut. The husband gets distracted with the TV and doesn't pay attention to the fact that the hair destroyer (I mean dresser) has taken the electric shears to your son's gorgeous hair, shaving it all off! Both KJ and I hate it! HJ loves it and I really had to hold back tears when I saw him. He looks like (I can't decide which one, maybe both at different times): a redneck or a cancer patient. None of which I think he is. Luckily it is hair and it grows back quickly!

It's Already Started

It is that time of year again (already???). The time of year my hubby and son become fascinated and obsessed with a little brown ball made of pigskin and the teams and men/boys that play with it. It is Football time in Tennessee again! This past weekend marked the start of the Titan's football season with the first preseason game! Luckily, (as KJ and HJ see it) KJ had the opportunity to purchase season tickets to the Titans for this season. He of course jumped on it! Saturday night my boys went to the game and there was not a more excited little boy in Nashville to be found or a prouder Daddy (KJ just eats up how much HJ loves and adores football). I am glad they have this male bonding. It is so sweet to watch. However, it is going to be hectic in our house when UT football starts and we are making the trek to Ktown for the Saturday home games and then turning around and rushing home for the Titan's Sunday games. KJ and HJ can't wait!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Could It Be Any Nicer?



Today is such a wonderful gift from God!! It is 84 degrees out, sunny, and hardly any humidity. It is such a change from our 100 degree, high humid weather we have had for the past few weeks. One could almost say it is starting to feel like fall! It is just perfect out and we have been outside almost all day. Although, we were inside long enough for my daughter to overflow the toilet causing massive amounts of water to spill out of the toilet and into the whole bathroom and first two feet of her bedroom but that is a story for another time. I would prefer to focus on the beautiful weather and forget that ever happened, thank you very much!

*Would you like to make something out of the fact that my daughter is still in her pajamas at 10am in the morning? I didn't think so!!!!!*

Thursday, August 7, 2008

2 Weeks




Well we have had a dog now for 2 weeks! It has been a lot of work but actually a lot of fun for the most part. The kids are really bonding with her but are not too crazy about her teething tendencies. We are working with her consistently about not using her teeth on us (she never bites down but does like to put her mouth on your arm). Sometimes she remembers and sometimes not. We are also trying to be consistent about the jumping on people thing. She gets so excited she jumps. Hopefully, over time and maturity she will figure it all out. Another "fun" thing I have had to deal with is that on Wednesday, I let her out to go potty and romp in the yard before we left to go to the YMCA only to have to chase her down to get her and then find out she stunk and had rolled in dog poop! Yuck! I took her in and straight to the bath which caused us to be late to the YMCA. We are also realizing that leaving the house for a whole day requires hiring someone to come let her out and play with her 3 times a day! On Monday, while the kids and I were in Splash country and KJ at work, we hired our teenage neighbor to come 3 times to let her out and play with her. It is not as carefree a life style as 2 weeks ago. However, the kids and KJ are completely smitten and I admit she has wormed her way into my heart too!
She is still sleeping thru the night. That is a major praise. She sleeps from 10pm to 7am with no noise or accidents! She has had 3 accidents in the house (during the days), thankfully all found early and none poop! She hasn't had one in about a week so maybe she has got the whole concept of going outside and I think we are better at reading her signals. She is still a super sweet dog who just loves all of us (and anyone else she meets) and wants to play a lot.
She loves to play outside with the kids and neighbor's dog. The kids have even taught her to go down the slide. She seems to really like to do it and goes over and over again. It is pretty funny!
She also still likes to snooze on the air vents. She is super cute sleeping! These pictures are of her worn out from playing outside this morning with the kids, enjoying the cooler air.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Are we Crazy?

KJ and I have committed to go on this kayak trip in October. We are going with 10 other people who all know each other and we only know one other couple. I think it will be a lot of fun but a lot of exercise that sounds suspiciously like work. My friend Hope and her husband are the couple going that we know. She is super excited about it as is KJ, in fact she booked the trip back in February when she read an article on it in the March 2008 Southern Living (Tennessee section, page 6). She went ahead and booked a full trip for 12 and are now rounding up the 10 people to go. Her husband Geoff and I are thinking it sounds like fun but an awful lot of work! Hopefully, it will have cooled down quite a bit by October! Also, my idea of camping is in a trailer with my own bathroom, I am not even sure there will be a real bathroom. The good thing being married to a wanna be comedian is that he can make any situation funny, so I am sure it will be alright, right?

Visiting

There is one thing that I had never before experienced before we moved to Nashville. That would be the wonderful, relaxing, fun time you can have when you go back into town for a visit. We get taken to favorite restaurants (P.F. Changs!) and I get to have a completely stress-free time. You guys that live near your parents don't get to experience what it is like to visit and stay with your Mom. I never have to pack much because she has all mine and the kids favorite toiletries there waiting for me. She has her house kid friendly with all their favorite toys out and waiting to be played with. The fridge and counters are stocked with our favorite foods. She always even remembers to have my Diet Dr. Peppers for me in the plastic containers because I don't like the taste of it out of a can (I know I am weird). When KJ joins me his drink favorites are there waiting for him too. Do you want to know the best part is though? She sends me (or us, if KJ is with me) out without the kids to be by myself (ourselves) shopping or hanging out! Do you have any idea what a treat that is for me now that we live away from our free (ie: grandparents) babysitters. It feels like heaven to go out and spend all the time I want browsing around stores and bookstores. Then when I come back the kids are in bed and Mom and I get to sit around talking or reading. It is so relaxing and stress free. Then when it is time to leave she sends me off, with her house in kid created disarray, saying that she will take care of it all when we leave and not to worry a bit about it. I love it and am so grateful for Moms and in-laws that make visits pleasurable! Coming home is almost like a trip to a spa for me: no cleaning, cooking, meal planning, or bed time duties! I just love being able to relax and be pampered and taken care of!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Lemon Cookies


This summer I have been on a quest to recreate the lemon cookies that Ham & Goody's makes. They are so good! Well I think I have come as close as I possibly could. These things are wickedly, sinfully, delicious! I highly recommend them if you love the Ham & Goody's cookies! Oh my, I could seriously eat every single one of these, they are that good.

Iced Lemon Thins

3 cups unsifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup reconstituted lemon juice

Sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in large bowl. Beat butter and sugar together. Gradually add dry ingredients and lemon juice to the sugar mix. Chill dough 1hour. On floured surface roll dough out to 1/8 inch thickness and cut cookies out. Place on ungreased sheet and bake at 400, 7-9 minutes. OR after 1 hour of dough chilling, take dough out and make a log out of it (think store bought refrigerated cookie dough log). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 2 hours, then just slice 1/8 inch wide slices and cook as above.

Once completely cooled glaze cookies with this:

1 1/4 cups confectioner sugar
2 TBLS lemon juice

mix together and ice cookies

*the recipe makes a lot more cookies than what I took a picture of!*

Curiosity

Okay I have a request from all 5 of you who read my blog (and any other random people that stumble upon it :) I am curious as to what every body's most used small kitchen appliance is? I know this is completely random and weird but then so am I. You see I have been baking a ton more than I ever have before in my vow to cut grocery costs and eliminate most processed foods from our diet. Because of that, I have been using some of my small kitchen appliances more than ever and was just thinking "I wonder what everyone else uses routinely?" I know, I know, I am weird. So anyway, if you would like to humor me today, comment below and appease my curiosity.

I will start:
I use my griddle almost every other day for pancakes or french toast. I had hardly touched it in 10 years, until a couple months ago and now I use it all the time.

I use my bread machine a couple times a week. I don't actually bake in it because I don't like the way the bread comes out in it but it is awesome for mixing up dough and letting it rise. I then transfer it to a different baking pan. I will have to do a blog on some of the amazing bread recipes I am making. I won't be buying bread much ever again, unless I am in a pinch. It is really good and easy to do!

I also use my blender almost everyday for those awesome green smoothies the kids and I drink. I will also occasionally mix up fruit slushies for the kids in the morning.

Those are my top three. A close 4th would be my Kitchen Aid mixer. I probably pull it out at least once a week.

So what about you?