Our Theme + a "Dash" of Charlie

Well, friends, I told you we sort of had a theme again. Here it is: Scooby-Doo and the Gang! No one is ever required or cajoled into participating in a group theme in our family--it's just worked out that way (and Tate doesn't have a say yet! Lucky for me!) So there was one of our brood that decided to assert his independence this year...

And none of us were surprised that it was this guy! Our independent INCREDIBLE Charlie as Dash was perfect!

There was a lot of cuteness going on between these two--Scooby and Shaggy are best friends, you know.

Right about now was when Tate had had enough of the hood! He was a good little sport.

Oh and the sassy Miss Daphne...here she is posing to figure out a mystery....hmmmm....

Dad says "YES!" It's time to get some candy!

And off they went....

And our little Dash was true to his name and boy, when there is candy involved, he can DASH!

We hope you had a wonderful Halloween!!

Cool Giveaway

I meant to post this yesterday but totally forgot. Because I forget things a lot. But there's still time. Not much time, but still time. Entries for the giveaway must be in today. I found this through adoption-friend Tiffany's blog, who found it through some blog-hopping of her own. I think this may very well be one of the coolest blog giveaways of all time. This blog is giving away a mission trip to Ethiopia. And one way to enter is to purchase one of the amazing t-shirts in her store. They are simple and to the point. Oh, and Merry Christmas, Buck. You're getting one of those t-shirts. :) Anyway, I'd love for you to check it out. Sorry, the button below isn't working and Tate is crawling all over me. Click here instead. Preferably sometime today. :) Thanks friends!

A Random Wednesday

I do have some good Wordless Wednesday pics to share but I had to jot down a few funny quotes from the kiddos before I forget them. Which will be approximately 10 seconds after I post this. So. Here goes.

So one of the projects that I did in the boys' new bedroom is a large world map on one of the walls. It is pretty cool if I do say so myself. Anyway. Max saw it and said "Whoa, cool. That is so big--it's like...life-like." To which I had to smile. Because life-like of a map would be, like, the world we live in. Right? Anyway, I thought that was cute.

Also is it bad that I just cannot bring myself to change Zoe's mind about the fact that the things we have in our closet that we hang our clothes on are called "hangers" rather than what she calls them...wait for it..."hookers". Think about it. They do have a hook on them! In the morning on occasion this has come out of her sweet little mouth: "Mom, I cannot get my pink shirt off of this hooker!" Crack. Me. Up. I will correct her. Just not today.

From Charlie: "Mom, why in the world don't they just call screwdrivers "twisters"? Twisters is soooo much easier to say than screwdriver. " Really? I didn't know screwdriver was that hard, but OK. I'm down with that. (By the way, can you tell we've had a few DIY projects going on at our house? :) )

From Tate: Tate is still a boy of few words. But the words he does say are pretty darn cute. I brought home a container of those sugar cookies from Target with orange frosting on them yesterday and oh my goodness you would have thought he hadn't eaten in days. What did he say? "Mama, mama, mama, cookie, cookie, cookie, please, please, please." Cute cute cute.

That's our life these days. Happy Wednesday, friends.

Zoe's Weekend in Pictures

It was a soccer-filled, friend-filled, pink-paint-on-the-new-bedroom-walls-filled weekend for Zoe. I am loooong overdue for a post about the big boys and so they are up next, I promise. Unfortunately with the timing of kids' games this weekend Buck and I had to "divide and conquer" so he took the boys to Max's flag football game and I got to take some uninterrupted pics at Zoe's soccer game. I am so proud of my little athlete!

She was running right in front of me in this one--so fast that my camera couldn't focus! :) Also I think it's funny that in the background there is my friend Chelsey doing a funny head-tilt, like "What the heck are they doing out there?!" She's the assistant coach, and if I were the assistant coach for 4-year-old soccer, I'd be saying the same thing.

OK, look at this triple threat. Yep, these three little ladies are taking the boys. Bring it on, boys.

Right before she scored her only goal of the game. I started cheering so much I didn't get any pictures of the actual goal! Oh, well--being in the moment was much better!

Later in the day, we got to have a super-duper fun playdate with this little lady, Miss A, and her mom. A was adopted from Ethiopia as well, and she and Zoe are just days apart in age. They live close by, but unfortunately (as with everyone!) we don't see them as much as we would like to. The girls had a BALL, and the moms had a great time too. It was one great day.

And yes, we made a few big steps forward with the room redecorations. Zoe now has really, really pink walls. As Buck said as he was painting it (bless his heart!) "This is freakin' PINK!" Yes, yes it is. But it looks great! And the boys' room is coming together very well. I did a big project on one of their walls and am going to hold you all in suspense until the room is all finished--just need to get a couple more things up on the walls and the curtain rod up and we should be all set. It was quite the productive AND fun weekend. Happy Monday, friends.

The Holdy Spirit and political ads

Exerpt from real conversation I had with Zoe over lunch today:

Z: "Mom, does God live in this world?"
Me: "well, that is a great question. God sits on His throne in heaven and sent His special helper the Holy Spirit to be with us, so yes, God is in this world. God is everywhere. That's why you don't have to be scared when it storms out."
Z: "I do not understand why God makes thunderstorms. They are loud and scary. Why can't He just tell them to stop?"
Me:"Well, I think He could if He wanted to. Thunderstorms have a purpose. The rain waters the trees and the grass."
Zoe: "Mom, what does the Holdy Spirit hold?"
Me: "You mean the Holy Spirit?"
Z: "No, the HOLD-y Spirit. What's he holding?"

Guess I've got a little more explaining to do on that one...

On another note, I have completely forgotten what people advertise for when there is not an election year. Can someone remind me? Now I am not going to name names in our house but suffice it to say that we are a house that is happily politically divided (we have fun little debates every once in a while--all in good fun, I promise!) and can you believe we've gotten phone calls from both Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama?! :) I actually love election time, I am just way tired of the overdone ads. Let's get on with it already.

Still no "after" pics of the boys' bedroom. It is a work in progress but they are getting antsy to sleep in their new room so the pressure is on for this weekend. We shall see. Happy Friday, friends!

Wordless Wednesday Zoe and Tate

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!

Anyone else...

I am hoping I am not the only one who feels this way...that I would be a FANTASTIC stay-at-home mom if only I had a chef, chauffeur, cleaning lady, and most especially--laundry fairy!! Yes, I think that would work quite well.

I am so far behind on the laundry that Charlie couldn't be bothered to look through the pile of clean clothes on the floor of our bedroom and grabbed the pants he wore yesterday to wear today. When I told him I would help him find some clean pants he said (no joke) "Oh it's OK, Mom, you've got enough going on." accompanied by a look that said "you're so far in over your head you can't possibly handle one more thing." Love that kid, but he's obviously telling me something. So apprarently I shouldn't be blogging but folding laundry. Off I go...

Also am anxiously awaiting some happy news our friends Kim and Erik should be getting any day about their new daughter in Ethiopia. Can't wait!! :)

The girl...

So I got a little bee in my bonnet about doing something with Zoe's hair. It is finally long enough after the GREAT HAIR DISASTER OF 2009. FINALLY! It looks super cute with her little 'fro and some clips or a hairband, which is how we usually rock it during a normal day. Since little Miss has and probably will always have a veeeeeery sensitive head, it is hard to do a full comb-out every day and even harder for me to do cornrows. So I kept it pretty simple this time, doing some cute box-braid/twists with a few little beads on the ends. The beads were actually trickier than they have been in the past, as I think Zoe's hair is getting thicker! It's amazing how her hair has changed over time, and I know that will continue. She is such a little trooper, and sat so still watching some Disney channel while I parted and rubber-banded and braided/twisted and beaded. All in all, it was about a 4-hour process, counting several breaks. I'm hoping it will last a week, then we will wash it and put the same style back in. It's very get-up and we're ready to go, which is great for me! I am excited that her hair is a little longer now and we can start doing a few more fun styles with it. Here is the finished product after about 3 days.

And surprise, surprise...another pair of glasses bites the dust. One of the lenses was scratched (of course it was the lens of the side she looks through when she wears her patch).

Me: "Uh-oh, Zoe...how did the lens get scratched?"

Zoe: "Ummm, my teeth."

So yes, she apparently tried to clean her glasses using her teeth. This pair actually lasted us 5 months!! Impressive. Hope you all have a good week!

A quiet week

It has been a surprisingly quiet week for our usually busy family! We got nailed with some sickness and that is enough to make this Mama want to hide my head under the covers and quarantine my kids and never send them back to school again--if this is what the changing of the seasons brings! We are hopefully on the mend, thanks to some lovely antibiotics (and yes, I do hold out as long as I can possibly stand it, and I know some people probably think I'm crazy but I do try to wait things out--even as a health care provider I am not a huge fan of overmedicating AT ALL!). So poor Tate had been sick for about a week before the sleepless nights nearly did me in. And then unfortunately he wound up getting triple-teamed by a respiratory infection, double ear infection and pink eye. :( So poor kid was getting an oral antibiotic, ear drops and eye drops. So much for no medication--sometimes the longer you wait to treat, the worse it gets. Bad mommy! And I think Max brought home strep throat from his germ-infested classroom and gave it to Chars. I am pretty sure Max has never had strep in his life but may be a carrier to pass it around to his siblings. Poor Chars wound up with a very sore throat and then he got laryngitis on top of it. It was funny in a pathetic kind of way to hear him attempt to talk. Never thought I would pray for my child's voice to come back--you would think I would enjoy the quiet--but turns out I would take healthy and loud over sick and quiet ANY day!

We are thankful to have our good health return. We got to watch many movies--"High School Musical 3" and the new "Karate Kid" were favorites. :) And just this morning we all went and watched Max QB for his flag football team--he was 2 for 2 in pass plays! SWEET! We are very, very excited to go cheer Daddy on as he runs in the DM half marathon tomorrow morning and we are especially grateful for the absolutely gorgeous weather that will make it even more fun. We have gone to this race before decked out in our winter coats and mittens! And last but not least, Buck worked super hard yesterday on the boys' "new" bedroom and I may have some before and after pictures to show by the end of the weekend??!!! We shall see how inspired I get...but the boys are getting pretty excited and want to know when they get to sleep in their new bedroom. Fun! I hope all is well in your worlds, and am humbled and grateful for all the many blessings in mine. Much love to you all,

My Real Monday

In an effort to be real and genuine here--voice my frustrations and the fun things as well--let me share about my Monday morning.

Started out the day at the blessed hour of 4:30 AM. Poor Tate woke up with his on-again-off-again-on-again fever. Keep in mind my insomnia kept me up until midnight. Dear Lord, help me. Oh, and of course I had a migraine as well. Felt it coming last night but didn't take any medicine to prevent it...so some Ibuprofen for Tate and some migraine meds for me. Back to sleep we went. Phew!

Two hours later, Max comes in our room, a little panicked, because his alarm clock was blinking 12:00. The electricity apparently went off sometime during the night and Max was afraid he had overslept. As if!!

Buck got the kids breakfast while I jumped in the shower, then came downstairs to find Zoe had knocked over her full glass of orange juice on the floor. I get Tate out of his seat, get Zoe out of her chair and set about cleaning up the sticky mess--I forgot how far orange juice can spray! Get that mess cleaned up and look over in the living room to see why Tate is being so very quiet. He pulled a nearly-full box of baby wipes out of the box, one by one. The ENTIRE box is spread around him on the floor. After saying several "NO NO"'s to him, he starts crying. Goodness.

Get that mess cleaned up, get the boys ready to go out the door to the bus stop. Max is ready before Charlie (during this time I had a tough-love conversation with Chars about putting his shoes back where they should be, then he wouldn't have to stress out about what shoes he was going to wear--if all of them are where they are supposed to be, you can pick whatever shoes you want! Good grief!). In the chaos of Charlie picking shoes, Max starts to head up the street to the bus stop without Charlie. I'm standing on the driveway with Z and T watching Charlie SCREAM at Max to stop, and Max pretends like he can't hear him--and actually starts running up to the bus stop at this point. Charlie is standing down on the end of the driveway, now in tears. I get tears in my eyes too. Seriously, this is how I'm going to send my children off to school today?

So I get shoes on all of us, and we give Charlie big loves, and walk with him to the bus stop, trying to get him to stop crying. I get up to the bus stop, have a heart-to-heart with Max about being the older brother, being the example, being the leader, and how sad Charlie was about Max running off without him. Well, wouldn't you know, Max starts crying! For crying out loud, seriously! So I have two sad boys, one very frustrated mama, and it is not even 8:30 in the morning. All I could think was, we have nowhere to go but up from here.

So while the vast majority of the time, I am very, very thankful that we have kind, patient, loving children...we have our moments. And while I try to keep things in perspective, the little trying moments such as this morning can get me down. So thank you for allowing me to be real, for letting me share the fun happy times, but also portray the reality of our busy life trying to raise good kids. Tomorrow is a new day! :)

Embrace the Camera

So I found this fun blog, and decided to jump in and join the fun by "Embracing the Camera." All the other blogs I read out there are pretty much like mine...all pictures of the kids (which is the BEST!) but no pictures of the moms. Just like my photo albums at home! So here is a look at what a random Thursday afternoon might look like at my house:

My first attempt at a self-portrait with me and the girl:

OK this one's a little better. Yes, we play A LOT (and I mean A LOT) of dress-up around here. Yes, we have a red stage in our basement and our daughter has a pink electric guitar. Tate is already a pretty talented drummer. I mean the kid has rhythm. But he was napping while this photo shoot/concert was happening.

So there you go, embrace the camera. Go here and join in every Thursday! And I just looked and their sweet family received a referral for a little girl from Ethiopia. Love it!

Almost Wordless Wednesday Zoe Style

I.love.this.kid.

Another funny...one of my favorite people informed me yesterday that my new favorite shoes are actually slippers. Hehe...oh, well...no wonder they are so comfy!! Happy Wednesday!

More Randomness..and a recipe

Happy Tuesday! I thoroughly enjoy my Tuesdays these days because I get to spend Tuesday morning with Beth Moore...and about 200 other women...via video...but still!! It is completely transformative, and boy, do I leave convicted but refreshed. Wow. Revelation is an amazing book of the Bible. We are digging in, and learning so much about our God, and about Scripture, and about ourselves. What a morning!

I picked up Zoe from preschool and she was "soooo hungry, Mom" and I was really in the mood to pick up some fast food, but I refrained. Last week was hard with Buck being gone and lots of busyness going on that we slacked on the "no fast food during the week" rule we are trying to enforce. So anyway, I got busy making this for lunch:

Although it certainly did not look this pretty. No whipped cream or chocolate drizzle, but man was it yummy. Zoe was practically licking her plate--those of you who know her know that has been known to happen at our dinner table. :) My kids LOVE breakfast and I don't do breakfast for dinner nearly enough. Breakfast for lunch? Another quick and tasty option--that I know my kids will eat!

Here's how to do it:

Caramelized French Toast

4 Tbsp. butter/margarine

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

8 slices thick bread (I just use our whole wheat sandwich bread)

For sauce:

2 more Tbsp. butter/margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl. Stir in cinnamon. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a pan or skillet over medium heat. Dip bread 1 slice at a time into egg mixture and fry until light brown and egg is cooked on both sides. Melt 2 more Tbsp. butter as needed to keep frying all the bread (I used butter-flavor cooking spray as well to keep the pan from sticking if you don't want to use all the butter). After all the bread has been cooked, melt 2 Tbsp. butter for the sauce in the same pan. Add brown sugar and water and stir to mix. Let simmer for 2 minutes until slightly thickened. Take cooked bread and dip it back in the sauce, coating on both sides. Serve with sprinkled powder sugar on top. The sauce is like a homemade syrup and the powdered sugar makes a sweet, slightly crunchy glaze. Yum!

And finally, my latest bargain find and possibly my new favorite pair of shoes:

I am not kidding you they were $6 on clearance at Target. I LOVE that place. And I just noticed my flip-flop tan line on my feet is fading...bummer. Have a great day,

A Random Monday

What a great weekend we had! We enjoyed having Mr. Will and Miss Morgan over for a long-overdue visit. The big boys loved watching Drake clobber Marist (yep, that is actually a college) in Bulldog football, and Iowans were happy all over the place with a winning football weekend--not that I even pay attention, but my obsessed-with-football-8-year-old keeps me well-informed. We had perfect, if a little chilly, weather for Max's flag-football game and Zoe's soccer game--the big girl scored 2 goals! It was awesome!! She is getting a little more aggressive (in a good way!) on the field and learning to hold her own--something she has already mastered at home! :)

On another note: want to make your kids LOVE you?? Buy some Halloween Oreo cookies. Except that I just found 10 of the chocolate cookie parts in the basement wastebasket with the orange cream part all licked out. :)

Spent a couple of hours yesterday cooking for our cooking co-op. YUM!! What did I make this time? I made Chicken & Chips (yummy easy chicken enchilada-like recipe), Meatball Sub Casserole (Max's new favorite!) and Creamy Chicken & Pasta(thanks, Heidi!). Can't wait to see what I get from my friends. Oh, how I love cooking co-op! I will post the recipes sometime. For now, my house smells like a restaurant. :) At least that's what Max told me this morning.

We also got to visit Baby Hallie again last night. What a precious baby! Each of the kids took turns holding her--yes, even Tate. I was pleasantly surprised at how gentle he was--until he tried to stick his fingers in her mouth. And when he gave her an open-mouth kiss on her chin. Oh, well--maybe we can tell that story at their wedding! :) One can hope!

Oh, I finished an amazing book. Seriously. "The Help" is one of those rare books that make you stay up until 3 AM reading until the book falls out of your hands and jerks you awake. It's that good. I am a little behind the times here--I think most people were reading it about a year ago. But it is definitely, definitely worth that 3-month wait from the library. Read it.

In an effort to simplify (a small effort I know), I pulled Zoe out of her cheerleading clinic. It is on Monday nights and it has been hard to drag her there to go. I don't ever want to make her do something she doesn't want to do. So I talked to the director and she said she had seen the same thing from Zoe during the class. So we both decided it was best to let it go for now. I really think it's more about us being too busy and go, go, go--rushing to get dinner done, rushing to get there--than it is about her not enjoying it. I love simplifying though! It will make our Monday nights a little more low-key.

I do believe that Max is going to be an evangelist (again, in a good way!). Last week at Awana, the story/message for the kids was talking to others about Jesus. One of the leaders told a great story sharing about Jesus with her non-Christian classmates in nursing school. She told the kids that they should talk about our God with all of our friends, so that our friends can know Jesus too. Well, wouldn't you know, the very next day, Max got on the bus for school and started talking to his good friend M, who is also our neighbor and whose family is Muslim. From all that Max shared with me and Buck, it sounds like the 2 of them had a really in-depth conversation about Jesus and about Islam. Wow!! I probably haven't done that ever in my life, and here my 8-year-old does it the very next day. Mrs. Peterson at Awana also stressed the importance of respecting our friends' beliefs while still sharing the truth of God's love...and Max did it perfectly. Taught me a little lesson as well--I shouldn't hate the school bus so much. God's work can be done ANYWHERE.

Happy 1st anniversary to our dear friends Tim and Melissa!! Love you guys!!

So there you go...a very random Monday. I have told you more than you could ever possibly want to know about my little corner of the world. I hope you have a beautiful week--we are living it up in the sunshine for as long as we possibly can. Love to you all,