This is one of my all time favorite songs and this rendition of it is amazing. Click the link below to listen to the tune and hear Jars of Clay perform.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tub Time!
An ongoing battle Robb has with the girls while they are in the tub is to not splash. We don't mind them playing in the tub, but the tidal wave splashing is a little much. There is no missunderstanding this rule either. They are aware of it, know it and know the consequences of breaking it.
That said, the rule is always broken. Tonight is an example. We hear them in their in the tub talking away and then we hear "splash, thud". I gently say to them "Bottoms in the tub please." Then another splash and Robb steps in "No splashing girls." From the bathroom comes Olyvia's voice "What was that?"
I believe that she didn't hear us about as much as I believe that money trees exist. In other words - I don't believe it AT ALL! There is a distance of about twenty feet between where Robb and I are sitting and where the girls are at in the bath. They definitely heard us and are playing dumb.
What is it about selective hearing? It isn't a learned behavior, I am sure of it. I am convinced that it is an ingrained behavior that each and every person is born with. My girls at the age of 5 and 3 have fine tuned it to a wonderful perfection.
That said, the rule is always broken. Tonight is an example. We hear them in their in the tub talking away and then we hear "splash, thud". I gently say to them "Bottoms in the tub please." Then another splash and Robb steps in "No splashing girls." From the bathroom comes Olyvia's voice "What was that?"
I believe that she didn't hear us about as much as I believe that money trees exist. In other words - I don't believe it AT ALL! There is a distance of about twenty feet between where Robb and I are sitting and where the girls are at in the bath. They definitely heard us and are playing dumb.
What is it about selective hearing? It isn't a learned behavior, I am sure of it. I am convinced that it is an ingrained behavior that each and every person is born with. My girls at the age of 5 and 3 have fine tuned it to a wonderful perfection.
Pumkin Patch pictures
I am a little slow I realize but I have finally downloaded the pictures of Ellie's trip to the pumpkin patch and the pictures of Olyvia's first day of school so I thought I would put a couple up here so you can see how our little ones are not quite so little.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sugar Cookies - Olyvia & Ellie Style!
My hopes were high and came crashing down as the sprinkles flew through the air and the dough became ground into the clothing of my sweet innocent children.
I think my first mistake was waiting to make the dough. I should have made it the night before so I wouldn't have to go through the bombardment of "is the dough ready?" questions while the eagerly waited to cut and sprinkle. Also, the recipe said it only had to be in the fridge for 1 hour when in reality it took a couple hours for it to reach a firm enough texture to survive rolling. So, we suffer through the wait and I call the girls to let them know that it is time to roll. As I am getting the rolling pin, Olyvia has climbed up onto the counter on her arms and has both of her arms resting in the pile of flour I have on our island. Not just hands mind you, but flour all the way up to her elbows and as I turn around I can't control what comes out of my mouth and I shriek "Olyvia - what are you doing? " She flings her arms out of the flour and the kitchen (along with her sister sitting next to her) become white. Maybe I should have spoken slower and not so high pitched to allow for a slower retraction of the arms from the flour. Oh well. I have a slight heart attach but realize it is most likely only going to get worse. I push the flour to the side making sure to leave an adequate amount on the area I put the dough and I begin rolling and cutting out our orange and white halloween sugar cookies.
They both had little ramekins for them to put their sprinkles in. They decided that the best course of action was to dump as much of every color of sprinkles that we have into their "little sprinkle bowls" and then dump their entire bowl onto the cookie sitting on the cookie sheet. My mistake was not watching them more closely. Oh well. So I would cut the cookies out, place them on the sheet and then hand the sheet over. They would then dump their "little sprinkle bowls" out onto the cookies. I would then take the cookie sheet which now looked like it had a series of sprinkle pyramids on it, give it a little shake over the kitchen sink and place it in the oven.
This procedure was repeated over and over until all the dough was cut out and cooked up. There was one point where I finally had to put a halt to them taking the dough I was still cutting cookies out of because they had grabbed ahold of the same piece and then proceeded to play tug of war with it until there was no longer any cookie dough in their hands to hold onto because it had all squished out onto their laps and into their clothing.
Now, if you can get over what they look like and like the taste of baked sugar coated sugar cookies, they actually didn't taste too bad. Yum! Yum!
Did they have fun? I hope so. I had to keep reminding myself that it doesn't matter what the cookies look like and the kitchen can be cleaned up. While I was reminding myself of this however, I had not yet traveled around the other side of the island to see what the floor looked like below them. All I can say is WOW!
I think next time I will stick to something that doesn't involve decoration for at least another year.
I think my first mistake was waiting to make the dough. I should have made it the night before so I wouldn't have to go through the bombardment of "is the dough ready?" questions while the eagerly waited to cut and sprinkle. Also, the recipe said it only had to be in the fridge for 1 hour when in reality it took a couple hours for it to reach a firm enough texture to survive rolling. So, we suffer through the wait and I call the girls to let them know that it is time to roll. As I am getting the rolling pin, Olyvia has climbed up onto the counter on her arms and has both of her arms resting in the pile of flour I have on our island. Not just hands mind you, but flour all the way up to her elbows and as I turn around I can't control what comes out of my mouth and I shriek "Olyvia - what are you doing? " She flings her arms out of the flour and the kitchen (along with her sister sitting next to her) become white. Maybe I should have spoken slower and not so high pitched to allow for a slower retraction of the arms from the flour. Oh well. I have a slight heart attach but realize it is most likely only going to get worse. I push the flour to the side making sure to leave an adequate amount on the area I put the dough and I begin rolling and cutting out our orange and white halloween sugar cookies.
They both had little ramekins for them to put their sprinkles in. They decided that the best course of action was to dump as much of every color of sprinkles that we have into their "little sprinkle bowls" and then dump their entire bowl onto the cookie sitting on the cookie sheet. My mistake was not watching them more closely. Oh well. So I would cut the cookies out, place them on the sheet and then hand the sheet over. They would then dump their "little sprinkle bowls" out onto the cookies. I would then take the cookie sheet which now looked like it had a series of sprinkle pyramids on it, give it a little shake over the kitchen sink and place it in the oven.
This procedure was repeated over and over until all the dough was cut out and cooked up. There was one point where I finally had to put a halt to them taking the dough I was still cutting cookies out of because they had grabbed ahold of the same piece and then proceeded to play tug of war with it until there was no longer any cookie dough in their hands to hold onto because it had all squished out onto their laps and into their clothing.
Now, if you can get over what they look like and like the taste of baked sugar coated sugar cookies, they actually didn't taste too bad. Yum! Yum!
Did they have fun? I hope so. I had to keep reminding myself that it doesn't matter what the cookies look like and the kitchen can be cleaned up. While I was reminding myself of this however, I had not yet traveled around the other side of the island to see what the floor looked like below them. All I can say is WOW!
I think next time I will stick to something that doesn't involve decoration for at least another year.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Baking for the holidays.
I am so excited for the holidays to be just around the corner. This year we are going to do a bunch of baking. We haven't baked really since before our girls were born. When it was just Robb and I we would make Almond Roca every year and send it to friends. We loved doing it and I am looking forward to getting back into the spirit of baking. The girls and I sat down tonight and picked out all the recipies we are going to make. We decided to start tomorrow with a warm up to make sure we aren't too rusty. We are going to make some halloween sugar cookies. We bought some cookie cutters earlier today. I will have to share with you all how the baking with a 5 and 3 year old goes. It should be a wonderful experience.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Camera
I am pretty excited. One of the cameras on my top 3 list is at costco right now. The Nikon D90. It isn't my number one, but it is still pretty exciting because it is such a great deal . They don't have the flash and extra battery pack that I also want, but those could come with time. And even though it is not my number one doesn't mean that I can't still keep my number one option up there and get it eventually, right? Anway, just wanted to share. I am very excited about getting to start shooting more and more. I miss it actually. We will be out somewhere with the girls or just Robb and I and I will see a moment that I want to capture but don't have my camera yet. Soon . . . very soon.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Where is my faith in myself?
Right now in my life I am in a stage of searching. Have you ever found yourself there? Looking for something but not sure what it is that you are looking for? I am not unhappy really, but I feel blank or empty like something is missing or I am not fullfilling something that I should be. I have a great husband, wonderful children. But when it comes to me, to who I am as a person I feel like something isn't there that should be. Or maybe that I am not fullfilling the person that I am supposed to be. Maybe I am holding back the real me.
What do I do with that? I can continue to search out and try to find what I think is missing or I can let it find me. I can let my life fall into place as it is ment to. Either sound like plausible options, both having equal problems. If I choose the first option I may end up neglecting the very thing I am searching for and if I choose the later of the two, I may end up missing out on it as well.
Funny really. I find myself trying to find ballance. I read a quote recently that said that we are never in ballance, that ballance is something we "swing through on our way to the other extreme." I wonder if that is true. Sure sounds true. I think in my life I have never felt fully in ballance. I was either working too much, not working enough, trying too hard or not enough. Being a working mother is a perfect example of this pendelum that seems to swing from one extreme to the other zipping past ballance every once in awhile. I can see ballance coming in my life but before I know it I am looking back at it.
In my life a lot of the decisions I make are made because I think that will be the easiest choice to make. I will do what I perceive to be the least hurtful to another or the safest. It isn't that I don't have faith in God as much as it is that I don't have faith in myself. I wonder, if just once I stepped outside the comfort zone and trusted that I can do it as much as God trusts that I can do it, what would happen.
If I walk the walk, will He provide the path. Of course He will. He already has. He is just waiting for me to get on it.
What do I do with that? I can continue to search out and try to find what I think is missing or I can let it find me. I can let my life fall into place as it is ment to. Either sound like plausible options, both having equal problems. If I choose the first option I may end up neglecting the very thing I am searching for and if I choose the later of the two, I may end up missing out on it as well.
Funny really. I find myself trying to find ballance. I read a quote recently that said that we are never in ballance, that ballance is something we "swing through on our way to the other extreme." I wonder if that is true. Sure sounds true. I think in my life I have never felt fully in ballance. I was either working too much, not working enough, trying too hard or not enough. Being a working mother is a perfect example of this pendelum that seems to swing from one extreme to the other zipping past ballance every once in awhile. I can see ballance coming in my life but before I know it I am looking back at it.
In my life a lot of the decisions I make are made because I think that will be the easiest choice to make. I will do what I perceive to be the least hurtful to another or the safest. It isn't that I don't have faith in God as much as it is that I don't have faith in myself. I wonder, if just once I stepped outside the comfort zone and trusted that I can do it as much as God trusts that I can do it, what would happen.
If I walk the walk, will He provide the path. Of course He will. He already has. He is just waiting for me to get on it.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Child Comment of the Month
Children are constantly reminding us of the most obvious things. They state things how they are without reservation.
Sunday at church we were sitting in our seats listening to a member of the congregation sing the song "I Can Only Imagine." I was explaining to Olyvia what the song was about. That the writer of the song was asking the question "what would I do if I came in the presence of God? If I saw Jesus, would I stand? fall on my nees?" I told Olyvia that the song was saying that they could only imagine what they would do. Olyvia said "But she'll be dead. If she is with Jesus, she is dead." The last part she almost was asking me. It confused her to think that someone was worrying about what they would do with their physical body when they saw Jesus because it was quite simple in her mind that if you were with Jesus you were no longer in your physical body. And if this is the case it is quite pointless to try to imagine what your physical body would do.
Sweet child, you see a truth many of us overlook.
Sunday at church we were sitting in our seats listening to a member of the congregation sing the song "I Can Only Imagine." I was explaining to Olyvia what the song was about. That the writer of the song was asking the question "what would I do if I came in the presence of God? If I saw Jesus, would I stand? fall on my nees?" I told Olyvia that the song was saying that they could only imagine what they would do. Olyvia said "But she'll be dead. If she is with Jesus, she is dead." The last part she almost was asking me. It confused her to think that someone was worrying about what they would do with their physical body when they saw Jesus because it was quite simple in her mind that if you were with Jesus you were no longer in your physical body. And if this is the case it is quite pointless to try to imagine what your physical body would do.
Sweet child, you see a truth many of us overlook.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Garlic Leek Double Baked Potatoes
This evening I threw together some potatoes and thought I would share the recipe with all of you so you could give them a try - they were delicious. (This recipe serves 10)
5 large baker potatoes
1 T coarse ground salt
1 medium leek, cleaned and diced
1 1/2 T Smart Ballance
2 lg cloves garlic (~3t) crushed
1 cup Tofutti sour cream
2 T Tofutti cream cheese
3/4 c Silk
1/4 t white pepper
1/4 t celery salt
4 oz organic white cheddar, shredded
Preheat over to 400*. Wash potatoes, prick with fork and rub with salt. Place in preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes or until knife easily stabs through middle of potato. Once potatoes are done, remove and place on cutting board. Decrease oven temperature to 350*. Slice all potatoes in half lengthwise and let sit. While potatoes are cooling, prepare the leeks. Cut off the green ends of the leek and the root end, slice in half, wash and then dice. Place into a large mixing bowl. Peel 2 large cloves of garlic and run over a zester into the large bowl. If you do not have a zester, a garlic press will work as well. With a large spoon scoop out the meat of the potatoes into the bowls, leaving the skins in tack. Mash up the potatoes with the garlic and leek. Once all large chunks are broken up, add the remaining ingredients through the celery salt. If you prefer a wetter consistency, feel free to add an additional splash of milk or two. Lastly, add 3/4 of the shredded cheddar to the mixing bowl and combine. Divide the potato mixture filling up each of the shells. Place the shells into a large glass baking dish. Take the remaining cheddar and sprinkle over the top of the potatoes. Bake for 20 minutes in the oven until cheddar is melted. Serve with pepper steak, green beans with onions and garlic, and green salad.
Enjoy.
5 large baker potatoes
1 T coarse ground salt
1 medium leek, cleaned and diced
1 1/2 T Smart Ballance
2 lg cloves garlic (~3t) crushed
1 cup Tofutti sour cream
2 T Tofutti cream cheese
3/4 c Silk
1/4 t white pepper
1/4 t celery salt
4 oz organic white cheddar, shredded
Preheat over to 400*. Wash potatoes, prick with fork and rub with salt. Place in preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes or until knife easily stabs through middle of potato. Once potatoes are done, remove and place on cutting board. Decrease oven temperature to 350*. Slice all potatoes in half lengthwise and let sit. While potatoes are cooling, prepare the leeks. Cut off the green ends of the leek and the root end, slice in half, wash and then dice. Place into a large mixing bowl. Peel 2 large cloves of garlic and run over a zester into the large bowl. If you do not have a zester, a garlic press will work as well. With a large spoon scoop out the meat of the potatoes into the bowls, leaving the skins in tack. Mash up the potatoes with the garlic and leek. Once all large chunks are broken up, add the remaining ingredients through the celery salt. If you prefer a wetter consistency, feel free to add an additional splash of milk or two. Lastly, add 3/4 of the shredded cheddar to the mixing bowl and combine. Divide the potato mixture filling up each of the shells. Place the shells into a large glass baking dish. Take the remaining cheddar and sprinkle over the top of the potatoes. Bake for 20 minutes in the oven until cheddar is melted. Serve with pepper steak, green beans with onions and garlic, and green salad.
Enjoy.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Our bed.
When we moved into our new place just about a year ago (that I can barely believe) we realized that we would only be able to have a queen size bed in our bedroom. Having a queen size bed in there leaves us less than a foot on Robb's side of the bed between the bed and the wall and leaves my side of the bed butting right up against the side of the closet. Close quarters for sure. We made this work better by building a headboard against the wall to allow for more room at the foot of the bed - we know have almost a full foot of space at the end of the bed. I must give Robb hte credit for building the headboard because other than telling him what I wanted it to look like and that it was 100% wonderful when he was done, I had no part in teh construction of it. However, I did paint it.
Anyway, getting back to my point. We have a queen size bed in our room. Even with just Robb and I sleeping on it can get a little crowded. If you then add one or both of our children it is even more crowded. Ellie is a regular, coming in around 2 or 3 in the morning to join us. I think she gets up to go to the bathroom and decides she would rather come and share a bed with us then with her sister. So we make her sleep with her head at the bottom and her feet coming up between Robb and I. So we are now packed like sardines on the bed with barely any wiggle room at all and there is definitely no way that we are going to get our legs spread out in any way.
Now we could survive with this only then there are times early in the morning when Olyvia wants to come and join us as well. The question of where to put her comes up and it is merely a matter of where she can squish her little body into. Why do I bring this all up? Well, last night we had a house guest. Olyvia went to sleep over at Grandma and Papa's house and in exchange we ended up with Button. I think Ellie had something to do with this. We discovered that Button figures if Ellie can sleep on the bed with us so can she. Given my explanation of the postage stamp size we are all sleeping on, where do you think that she fit? On me, that's where. So I know have a 6" wide space spanning the length of the bed for which to fit my entire body.
I had a wonderful night sleep.
Anyway, getting back to my point. We have a queen size bed in our room. Even with just Robb and I sleeping on it can get a little crowded. If you then add one or both of our children it is even more crowded. Ellie is a regular, coming in around 2 or 3 in the morning to join us. I think she gets up to go to the bathroom and decides she would rather come and share a bed with us then with her sister. So we make her sleep with her head at the bottom and her feet coming up between Robb and I. So we are now packed like sardines on the bed with barely any wiggle room at all and there is definitely no way that we are going to get our legs spread out in any way.
Now we could survive with this only then there are times early in the morning when Olyvia wants to come and join us as well. The question of where to put her comes up and it is merely a matter of where she can squish her little body into. Why do I bring this all up? Well, last night we had a house guest. Olyvia went to sleep over at Grandma and Papa's house and in exchange we ended up with Button. I think Ellie had something to do with this. We discovered that Button figures if Ellie can sleep on the bed with us so can she. Given my explanation of the postage stamp size we are all sleeping on, where do you think that she fit? On me, that's where. So I know have a 6" wide space spanning the length of the bed for which to fit my entire body.
I had a wonderful night sleep.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
What would you do for your child?
If we consider what we would do for our child, what does that make us realize about what God would do for us?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2qrrUFuxgk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2qrrUFuxgk
Monday, October 13, 2008
Girls' Weekend
Just got home from my annual girls' weekend. What a blast to connect with friends I rarely see and to spend some time discovering a little bit more about who I am. I definitely learned more about myself this weekend and I look forward to putting what I have learned into practice. These weekends are a reminder to cherish the friendships that we have, to take care of them, nurture them and honor them. I so look forward to each year and this year was no different.
We came from all over to meet up in Leavenworth at their annual Oktoberfest, something none of us had ever gone to. The festival was fun, but what was more fun was just spending time with my friends.
One of the things I discovered is that putt-putt golf / mini golf is in no way a reflection of skill. I would go from one hole where I would shank the ball out of bounds, to the next hole where I would take the ball home in one stroke. No skill I am telling you. Maybe for others, but for me it was a matter of luck and whether or not the putt putt angels were with me.
I would highly encourage anyone who might be considering starting up a girls' weekend with their girlfriends to do it. It takes a little work, a little time, but it is well worth the effort.
We came from all over to meet up in Leavenworth at their annual Oktoberfest, something none of us had ever gone to. The festival was fun, but what was more fun was just spending time with my friends.
One of the things I discovered is that putt-putt golf / mini golf is in no way a reflection of skill. I would go from one hole where I would shank the ball out of bounds, to the next hole where I would take the ball home in one stroke. No skill I am telling you. Maybe for others, but for me it was a matter of luck and whether or not the putt putt angels were with me.
I would highly encourage anyone who might be considering starting up a girls' weekend with their girlfriends to do it. It takes a little work, a little time, but it is well worth the effort.
Update on my nose.
My nose is doing better, but still scabbed. I can't figure out why it is taking so long. I just don't want it to scar so I have been babying it to an extreme. Between large doses of lotion and making sure not to scrub it when washing my face, it is getting ridiculous. I think another week is all I will need for it to completely go away. I am slightly tired of people asking me what happened to my nose. I have to keep repeating the same story over and over. I am almost ready to start making something up because anything has to be better than, I am not really sure or I don't know. This last weekend someone actually asked me if I knew there was something on my nose. I mean really!
Monday, October 6, 2008
My nose.
Whatever it is that has taken over my nose can now leave. I don't know what it is or why it decided that it needed to afflict me with this pain but I am done with it. There are some positives. My nose is no longer large, swollen and red. It is however, dried out, scabby and itchy. Not just a normal itch here and there but an excruciating, want to jump in ice water, hot itchy. When I then itch it, my skin burns. Lovely I know. Not only this, but the itching has progressed from just around my nose to my right eye and temple. It feels like I have little bitty things crawling on me constantly.
Have you ever talked to someone who is continually itching themselves? Disgusting, right? Well give them a break. Sometimes it is uncontrolable. Lately I have had to continuously appologize for itching my nose all the time. I can't help it and I fell horribly rude as my hand seems to be permanently affixed to my face. Again, I say Yuck!
It is hard to concentrate on anything because of this. I finally broke down and decided to call the doctor. I left a message for the nurse and haven't heard back. Typical I suppose. I called my dermotologist who was happy to help, and could see me tomorrow anytime. The only problem with that is she is in Sequim and is in surgeries on my day off. Again, a lovely situation I am in. I have decided to wait it out. Maybe I will hear from the nurse at my primary care's office and she will be able to get me in to see my doctor tomorrow afternoon or on my lunch. Otherwise, I am just going ot have to wait it out and hopefully by next week it will be gone. I am not sure what shape I will be in if I have to live with this another whole week, but at the rate it has been going I am sure it will have progressed to something much more interesting if it is still around.
Have you ever talked to someone who is continually itching themselves? Disgusting, right? Well give them a break. Sometimes it is uncontrolable. Lately I have had to continuously appologize for itching my nose all the time. I can't help it and I fell horribly rude as my hand seems to be permanently affixed to my face. Again, I say Yuck!
It is hard to concentrate on anything because of this. I finally broke down and decided to call the doctor. I left a message for the nurse and haven't heard back. Typical I suppose. I called my dermotologist who was happy to help, and could see me tomorrow anytime. The only problem with that is she is in Sequim and is in surgeries on my day off. Again, a lovely situation I am in. I have decided to wait it out. Maybe I will hear from the nurse at my primary care's office and she will be able to get me in to see my doctor tomorrow afternoon or on my lunch. Otherwise, I am just going ot have to wait it out and hopefully by next week it will be gone. I am not sure what shape I will be in if I have to live with this another whole week, but at the rate it has been going I am sure it will have progressed to something much more interesting if it is still around.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Great Night.
What a great night. It all started out a little tough. As soon as I got home realizing that Ellie was down for a nap at 5pm. Not a good thing. So I went in to try and get her up so that she didn't sleep until 9 and then decide to get up. Especially since Robb and I had rented a movie and were really looking forward to watching it just the two of us. It took an hour to get her out of her sleep mood and into happy Ellie mood. This was just in time for dinner to be going on the table so we were all able to enjoy a wonderful dinner the four of us. After dinner it was a great time in the tub - the three girls.
We just finished up story time, prayers and songs and they are both in bed quiet. Wether or not they are sleeping I am unsure; it is highly unlikely. But I am ok with that. They are staying in their rooms and being quiet. Can't ask for much more than that.
We just finished up story time, prayers and songs and they are both in bed quiet. Wether or not they are sleeping I am unsure; it is highly unlikely. But I am ok with that. They are staying in their rooms and being quiet. Can't ask for much more than that.
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