Here we go...

It's that spooky time again! No, not Halloween, I mean the holiday rush around season! It always starts in October for us. 4 birthdays in the fam means lots of cake-and-ice-cream tummyaches. We are celebrating Halloween today AND tomorrow, more tummyaches(and lots of allergies for my poor, poor Son!)
But in the midst of all the busy-ness, I just want to send a shout-out to my dear, sweet husband. (PS...I know you read my blog, L!) He is busy busy busy, super busy right now, but he is trying so hard to keep our family time his number-one priority(I Love you!) It is not easy, sometimes downright impossible, but I guess that happens when you are the super(est) guy around, everybody needs some of your time. I am begrudgedly learning to share him(with work and school) and be an understanding wife. After all, who knows better than I how incredible he is?(maybe his creator?) Anyway, up until this afternoon, I did not think he was going to make it to our half-hour-away Halloween party and be back in time for his class, but he has miraculously worked it out so he can go with us! (I was TOTALLY understanding if he hadn't been able to make it work, being the number-one awesome wife I am, you know! Promise!) We are a pretty good team, if I do say so myself. (Please reference my mother's humility in previous post....sorry mom, I guess I didn't inherit much of it{kidding}) So look out for some super-cute pictures of the next two days of sugar-fueled fun!

Apples and my Mom

I love my mom, can I just tell you? She is such a wonderful example of selfless giving. She never ever brags, to the point of having too much humility. She has eight kids and still manages to help whenever help is needed, with much personal expense(monetary as well as energy.)

Example #1. My mom went with the kids and I to the apple/pumpkin farm a couple weeks ago for a field trip with Son's preschool class. My mom and I split a 40 pound box of apples, thinking that 20 pounds each was way plenty. Of course, by the next day I had about a dozen apples with tiny Daughter-bites out of them. She was getting into the box, taking one bite out of an apple, then putting it back and getting another one, and so forth. But I digress...

The kids and I went over to my mom's house to make sugar-free apple pie slices and bottle them. We were supposed to do her apples and mine, but she wasn't feeling up to doing all of them, so she worked and basically did all the work for mine, getting almost no "fruits" for her labor. We made a tiny bit of apple butter and I insisted she keep half of it, but other than that, nada.

Example #2. This is a dual example of both my parents. Both of our households have fireplaces as our main source of heat in the winter, so we planned a woodcutting trip together to stock up on wood. Working with more hands makes the work go much faster, and of course spending time together on the mountain is priceless. We went to get the permit for the wood, and could only get one cord(a measurement unit) of wood(we were hoping to split 3 or 4 cords.) My parents gave us ALL of the wood from the trip, since we needed it more than they did. They came and worked and drove their truck and did not get one bit of the wood. My mom and brothers J and B even came and unloaded it for us, since L is in class pretty much all day on Saturdays now.
So there you have it. I could go on and on about all the little things and big that my parents do for us, but I thought I'd just share the two most recently on my mind. These memories are huge for me. And also, I have to tell you one more thing my mom said to me as we were deep in conversation over apples. "...Just in case I never told you, I think you are very talented and beautiful." That is huge for her, if you note in my first sentence how humble my mother is. She still wanted to make sure that even if I never heard her bragging about me, that I knew exactly what she thought of me and how proud she is of me. She has managed to gracefully let me grow into an adult and take my own path without losing my relationship with her or her opinion of me. She still sees me for who I am and values who I have become. And that is incredible to me.

Grandpa Days

Monday-Thursday are Grandpa days. Grandpa has stopped by on his way home from work nearly every day since Son was born(no exaggeration.) Grandpa nearly always brings a treat for the munchkins(courtesy of Grandma, who packs them in his lunchbox.) Grandpa takes a few minutes every day to ask Son, "How was school?" and to help Daughter eat a banana(or candy, you know that's Grandpa's job.)

Grandpa is the one Son first told when he had to go into time-out in school(Yikes!)

Grandpa helps Daughter learn to take some help(difficult for her right now.)And I get a little window of time that I can start dinner so it is ready before Daddy gets home. Hooray for Grandpa!

Being a mother

Are we born with that innate nurturing instinct?

Or did God make these kids so darn cute that you can't help but love them?

Maybe a little of both....

Have a happy Mommy day!
Or as Son says, are you going to be "Super Mommy Happy" today? The answer is....YES!

New blog

Ok, I started another blog for my healthy recipes. Most have the points figured in for weight watchers, but even if you are not following weight watchers and just want a healthy new recipe, try one! Go here.

Dinner tonight...

Well, I have decided to post recipes for what we have for dinner from time to time, if I make up a new and healthy recipe that's a hit with the fam. Here is what we had tonight:
Curry Chicken over Rice
Steamed Zucchini(from the garden)

Curry Chicken recipe:
nonstick cooking spray
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 medium onion, coarsely diced

1 lb boneless skinless chicken

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 cup chicken broth

1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

1. Cut chicken into 1" pieces, set aside. 2. Heat large skillet to medium and spray generously with cooking spray. Add curry powder and stir around a bit, then add onion. Saute onions about 5 minutes, being careful not to burn them, then add chicken. Sprinkle garlic salt over chicken, then brown all sides. Add chicken broth and cayenne pepper. Turn heat down to low and simmer 20 minutes covered. After 20 minutes, remove cover. Stir 1 Tablespoon cornstarch into 1/4 cup COLD water until dissolved, then add to skillet with chicken. Stir and simmer 2 more minutes or until sauce thickens, then serve over rice.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try this and like it! Adding only 1/8 tsp of cayenne makes it a bit less spicy and more kid friendly, 1/4 tsp for a spicier crowd!

What a difference a year makes...

We got new family pictures back today, and it is incredible how much we have all changed over the past year...here are ones we had taken in November of last year.

And this year...

I think our physical changes are immense, but they reflect an even bigger change on the inside.

Daughter started off as such a chunky baby!

We took these for her birthday in May...

It is so funny, she still is wearing the same size she did a year ago, but she has still changed so much.

Then these are the newest...

And my darling Son...

We got these pictures taken for his birthday...

But he still changed in the last two months!

I just wanted to share with you some thoughts on the last year for my family. It has been a rough one, make no mistake about it. But it has been a blessing in that we have banded together to pull each other up and keep going despite the roadblocks. I have seen such strength from L as he pulled some of my load as well as his without complaint. I have seen such compassion and caring from my kids, for each other and for me. They have spent countless hours in waiting rooms with nary a meltdown. I have learned to cherish each day we have together and not to take anything for granted. The point I wish to make tonight is to tell your families and friends that you love them often, and show it daily. Never take it for granted when you are together, so many times we get into such a routine that we think that we'll make plenty of memories tomorrow, or when we are less busy, or when we have things just right. Take pictures of messy hair, messy faces as well as the immaculately groomed. I confess, I have looked at some of my favorite pictures and thought, "if only I'd combed her hair/swept the floor/changed her clothes, this would be a good picture." Now I feel like the memory of the messy strawberry face reminds me of how she shoved whole strawberries into her mouth and let the juice run down her face with the sheer delight that only a child has. I apologize for the long post, but I wanted to convey more than just "look at how cute our pictures turned out this year!" I do have things to complain about, but most important of all is that I am so grateful to still be here and able to give my children memories of me and make memories with them. I am vowing to be the fun mom, to tell my kids I love them even when they upset me, and to prioritize time with my family over everything else I feel like I "have" to do(I guess this means I am cleaning house even less these days, oh darn!) Because no matter what happens, these special times are going to end sooner or later. They will go to school, college, get married, etc. etc. But I am their Mommy, if just for today.

Just checking...

Hello, beloved family and friends, I just wanted to put this out there for you who live in "the valley" as I have heard both the Mesa/Gilbert area and the Safford/Thatcher area referred to as(hilarious, by the way!) I just wanted to draw your attention to this blog post by my cousin M's wife A. It is pretty self explanatory, and I know people who are in both areas who I am hoping might know a place to rent/sell/buy for(slash from) them. They are such a sweet family and I wanted to see if maybe I could find someone who needs a place to live in Gilbert or has a place to sell in Safford(-ish, as A put it) Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Love, J

Game.

Cindy Hunt has tagged me to play this game. Here are the rules...
1: Each player starts with 8 random habits/facts about themselves. 2: People who are tagged need to write a post on their blog about their eight things and post these rules. 3: At the end of the post you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.
I am a total rookie at this stuff, but here goes...hmm, 8 random/wierd facts about me...L helped me because of course, I do not think anything about me is wierd, he was kind enough to point out a few things! ;)

1.I love to cook, but I am not a great talent at keeping the house clean, I find it very difficult.
2. I like to crumble crackers or cornbread on top of soup.
3.I am VERY easily grossed out. I cannot bring myself to even say a word that I think is gross. I have to look the other way if there is roadkill, L has to lie to me and say it is just a piece of wood or something so I don't get too grossed out. I know he is lying, but I choose to believe it!
4.I am a huge perfectionist. I have to have things perfect, or I can't do them at all. Maybe that is why I have trouble with keeping the house clean. I don't have time or energy to have it as perfectly clean as I would like it, so I just can't do it!
5.I hate shopping. Even if it is for something I need, I can't bring myself to buy it unless L talks me into it. I like looking, but hate buying. I know a lot of people who wish they had this problem!
6. I love music, but I don't love listening to the radio, because I don't believe that a lot of what they play qualifies as music. I love all genres of music, but I am picky about individual songs.
7.I hate driving. I will avoid it every chance I get.
8.I love spending time with my giant extended family, I can't get enough of it! Every year we see them during the busy holidays, and every year I vow not to have the holidays be the only time I see them! Maybe this year...

Ok, now, you all know I am a rule breaker...I am not(gasp!) going to name 8 people I'm tagging...I am tagging YOU! Yes, you, reading this right now, if you have not done this, consider yourself tagged. Love you! haha

Ice Cream Truck

The other night L and I were working on a outdoor project together, so the kids hung out in the back of the Rodeo and played "Ice Cream Truck." Every so often L or I would take an ice cream break and buy pretend ice cream from the kids. Son was so hilarious as the little businessman...Vanilla was $1 but the fancier the flavor, the prices went up! Strawberry was $4!

And man, you had to make sure he remembered to count out your change, too! He almost kept my whole pretend $20 bill! Sheesh!

They also had cookies and cream flavor until...SOMEONE ate all the cookies!
My kids had a blast, but they must have been too sweet, because despite our best efforts with bug spray, they got lots of mosquito bites! I felt really bad, but we were working on the door, there really was nothing more we could do. I had to explain to Son's preschool teacher when I dropped him off the next day that it was not chicken pox!

I Love This Man!

Here are some of L's greatest hits photographically. I just had to share.

You gotta love a man who isn't afraid to play superheroes when it is asked of him.

At the A. Picnic. He did this for me! Romantic, huh? A man who will totally humiliate himself to please his wife.

He takes the hits for his family, sometimes literally(with a baseball, no less{no, is wasn't me!})

I love him despite, or maybe because of some of the things you see here. But mostly, I love him because he gave me this:

And this:

He is so funny, sweet, kind, tough, tender, strong, intelligent...I could go on and on(I am already, aren't I?) He is the yang to my yin, the perfect complement of strengths to my weaknesses, and vice versa. To the perfect man for me...I love you, babe.

A. Picnic

We have a family tradition we had neglected for a few years of attending my Dad's company picnic en masse, where our competitive spirit has always reared its ugly head. Last Saturday, though, let me tell you, I almost felt bad for doing so well. Almost...

The kids had everyone-wins games, which were lots of fun for them.

They had a big blow up jumping castle, giant slide, and Son's favorite: Slip 'n Slide! I didn't know they had inflatable Slip 'n Slides nowadays...sure beats sliding over the rough ground back in the olden days!
They had one game each for the men and women, then an egg toss for a team. L won the guys' game, I won the women's, and we won the egg toss! Feel bad for the other guys yet?
The prizes for winning the games used to be cash. Lots of cash. In recent years, they started giving away prizes instead. But hey, it's all about the fun, RIGHT?!? So we, being the gracious winners that we are, offered to share the spoils with our less cutthroat family members. Feel better? It really is about satisfying the competitive spirit for us, the win is the best part. The prizes are just secondary. Did I just admit that???
Well, regardless of the motivation, we had tons of fun and so did the kids. I hope everyone else had fun, too, even though we CRUSHED THEM!!! (Oops, it slipped out again!!)

A girl after my own heart

I had always hoped that my children would inherit my love of music. And so far, they have. But it seems one of them is really taking to it like a duck to water:

You can see her tiny fingers spread out over the keys...that's my girl!

She climbs onto my lap anytime she is awake when I am playing !

She has to get her hands right in with mine...I let her as long as she still lets me play a bit!

When I pass by the piano while doing chores, she pats the bench and smiles up at me! I can read her little expression saying, "You know you want to take a break and play music with me, Mommy!" So tempting...