9 months...

... has gone by QUICKLY. What's happened in 9 months? you ask... here's a list:

-Sprout turned 1... he also turned into the Ninja Squid (you know you love it)...
-Bean turned 4, which means Kindergarten starts this year. *sobbing*...
-We decided to look into fostering a child or 2...
-Instead we decided to adopt...
-Hubbs was invited on a missions trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to do work at an orphanage...
-Before he left, we saw a profile of a 3 year old boy at the orphanage who lost his parents in the quake or a following mudslide...
-We're adopting him!...
-Hubbs just got back from said work/missions trip and it was eye-opening, humbling, heart-wrenching (these are his words, but I knew from pictures)...
-We get to skype with him every Saturday if the orphanage has power...
-We're halfway through our adoption paperwork and it's been an emotional roller coaster already and he won't be home for 2 more years...
-I got a lock for the fridge so Ninja Squid, aka Sprout, cannot get into it and suck on the tabasco sauce anymore....

So, I really need to update this more frequently. I have actually thought of it many, many, many times, but it's always when I'm driving. We all know I can't do it while I'm driving... I wonder if there's an award out there if I did....

Things my kids say that tickle me green....

I know the saying is "tickle me pink" but I prefer green as a color... hence the title.

So, lately I've been writing down things Bean says that just make me laugh out loud, or sigh in contentment... or make my eyes bulge out of my head as I try NOT to laugh out loud... ;)

Here are a few:

July 5th of last year, the morning after the birth of Sprout. She comes in to the hospital with Hubbs and notes with interest, that the new baby is nursing. She climbs up onto the bed.
Bean: "Whacha doin' Muma?"
Me: "Well, I'm feeding Sprout. God made mummies a special milk that is just for babies."
Bean: "Huh." *pondering this new development* "Well, did He make it regular or chocolate?"
(Hubbs almost peed himself with amusement.)

Last month:
Bean: "Muma! What IS that?"
Me: "Well, I'm not quite sure..."
Bean: "It must be spider puke."
(I almost died laughing...)

Last week at the grocery:
Bean: "Muma!!! Ugh! What's that smell?"
Me: "It's the manure at the store across the street."
Bean: "What?! Muma, it's frog poop. Can't you tell?... Why are you laughing? What's funny??"
(Now, I tried not to laugh and didn't succeed well enough. I then thought of asking her why she would ask me, if it was so obviously frog poop...but I didn't.)

After herth birthday... "Muma. When we go to the fair next year for my birthday, i really want to ride the ferris wheel, so when I get to the top they can stop it and I can reach up to touch Jesus." (*crying*)

Upon seeing the ultrasound of Sprout, "Holy Mackerel!! It's a BABY!!" :)

Sprout on Mother's Day this past weekend... Waves his little hand at me and yells, "Muma! Muma!" *vehclempt* :)

Ya know, some days I tend to get caught up in what I'm doing... be it baking, cooking, laundry... and I'm exasperated or frustrated that my list of daily tasks isn't dwindling, but seems to be growing... but then one of my children will do or say something that just reminds me why I do what I do. For moments, or hours, of love and learning... of fulfillment and fun... of just being with my children and praising God for every minute I get with them.

Just yesterday, on our way to Mimi and Pipaw's house, we were jamming to "The Outsider's" by Need To Breathe... now, when I say jamming, I mean... stopped at a stoplight, headbanging, clapping our hands and waving our arms and totally rockin' out... well, I was... Bean and Sprout were shrieking with laughter in the backseat. :)

Homemade Pedialyte...

That's right! You can go and get a couple bucks worth of stuff at the store and make your own Pedialyte!! No more late night grocery runs!! No more $6 liters of electrolytes!! Yay!!

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt substitute*
1/2 tsp Salt*
2 tbsp. Sugar
1 Liter Water

Mix it all together and Chill. You can also mix in a sugar-free Kool Aid packet. Do not use a Kool Aid that needs extra sugar - sugar causes worse diarrhea. :( You can also use Crystal Lite.

By the way - This will taste quite salty to someone who does not need it. 

*Morton's makes a salt substitute called Lite... use 1 tsp instead of the salt and the substitute.

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning it all for the daaaayyyyyy....

I am slowly weeding out our chemical cleaners and finding some wonderful alternatives online. Just last week I cleaned the bathtub so the nugglets could take a bath, and I used a harsh chemical cleaner. Hubbs came up over the stairs with said nugglets and started hacking... Now we are getting rid of them. Which is good, I've been trying to do it for a time now... Here is a website that has 66 All-Natural Cleaning Solutions. YES!!!!!

http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/all-natural-cleaning-solutions-00000000011547/page6.html

Enjoy!

Yumminess Galore...

I love to try new foods, new recipes, new restaurants. Hubbs isn't as willing as I am, but he is fond of me, therefore fond of new food. ;) We set out Saturday with Bean and Sprout to make the trek to Trader Joe's. Now, the nearest TJ's is 1hr 45min away in Mass. Soooo worth it though. I make the haul once a month with nugglets in tow, but this was his first journey. He LOVED it! He found cheeses and ciabatta rolls and guacamole.... He found all natural/organic heaven. Which is great for me!! I didn't even have to "sell" it to him. Anyway, he came home (well, we ALL came home) with a new-found energy for "not-the-norm" recipes for us to make for dinners. I'm stoked! So far, we have tried Emeril's Portobello Mushroom-Bleu Cheese Burgers... scrumptastic!! It was like eating a meat pattie... but better!!! We didn't have bleu cheese, so we used feta and it was still amazing.  Recipe can be found here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/portobello-mushroom-blue-cheese-burgers-with-lemon-aioli-and-bitter-greens-recipe/index.html

I apologize. I still haven't figured out how to make the links in blue...???

So, last night we tried bestie's blogged Israeli Couscous with Swiss Chard and Feta... Wow. It was great! I was a bit skeptical at first, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Even the nugglets mowed on the couscous...that's inspiring... her recipe is here:

http://godadoptedyou.blogspot.com/2010/04/swiss-chard-who-knew.html

Tonight we kept it simple... Black Bean Cheese Quesadillas.... still yummy! :)

Enjoy!!!

ps- I recognize that the pics lack a little something.... I never did say I was a photographer...

Airplanes, Puke, Pedialyte... Oh My!!

*phew*

What a week. It started on

Day One... Monday... 4 a.m.... Hubbs left for a business trip to Ft. Lauderdale. He quietly snuffled on both nugglets before he left, but of course, Bean woke up crying, thinking Daddy didn't give her the 5 snuffles he promised. After much Muma snuffling and Sprout's gooey kisses, she was ok (if you don't know what snuffling is, it's our version of snuggling... with little snuffle noises that produce mass amounts of giggles... usually... sometimes not).  There were a few melt-downs, but we prevailed.

Day Two... Tuesday... Sprout wakes up cranky and proceeds to puke his entire breakfast onto my living room carpet... greeeeaaaat... after 3 upchucks and refusal to eat, we embark on a journey to get pedialyte. I say journey because if you've ever tried to "just go to the store" with 2 nugglets, you know that that alone makes it a journey. Because of said puking, Bean had to miss dance lessons which promptly induced more melt-downs... BUT, I more than made up for it by making granola bars with chocolate chips... she stopped crying. Take that melt-down!! Muma wins! Muma wins! *enthusiastically dancing* Both nuggs finally went to bed after a puke session from Sprout, which means I got to do my exercising at 9:30 at night... go me.

Day Three...Wednesday... Up and at 'em at 6 am... not ok, but up and at 'em nonetheless... *sigh* Sprout kept down cheerios and Pedialyte, was in a cheery mood, so we decided to finally bathe our dirty selves and surprise Mimi with a visit at work. A fun visit, and "Meemster" was surprised. Yay! We met all the lovelies she works with, who "oohed" and "ahhed" over my nugglets. Which, by the way, maybe it's just me being a weirdo, but I immensely dislike people I don't know touchin' my nuggs. Hands off, Peeps!! They're mine, you no touchy! Back to the day at hand... we arrived home safely and had no melt-downs OR puke. Success is mine!!!

Day Four... Thursday... Hubbs comes home today. Whoop whoop! *happy dance*  Sprout woke up cranky today, which may be due to the fact that he was up all night... and up at 6:30! Ugh. Needless to say, he was asleep during our morning snuffle at 8:15.  Blessed me with time to shower... I even got to use lotion!! Yay! My skin rejoiced!!  We decided to surprise Hubbs and meet him at the airport when he flew in. We arrived at the airport with a few minutes to spare and proceeded to watch a little girl consume an orange soda. Now, I say this because she was little. As in, tried to talk to Bean, who didn't speak because we teach them not to talk to strangers unless Muma and Daddy say it's ok. I gave the go ahead and they promptly started gabbing. The aforementioned little girl divulged that it was her birthday tomorrow and she was turning 4... that's right drinking soda at 4. Did I mention it was Sunkist Orange Soda?? If any of you know me, you know that itis my vice... that and Slim Jims... I know, I know... I'm ashamed... Anywho, Sunkist is the only orange soda made that has added caffeine, and this 3-almost-4 year old little girl was swigging it it down. All I could think about was her stomach lining and tooth decay in 15 years... Uh, so yea... Hubbs came out, very surprised and nauseous... *sigh* I just can't win! 

We got home after a trip for Black beans and ginger ale (not to be eaten together... ewww!) and the family, sans me, all napped on and off for 2 1/2 hrs. Lucky ducks. I rocked both nuggs and got peed on in the process. I'm awesome. ;)


My only sane thought this week was: God doesn't give you more than you can handle. I repeated this to myself over and over...

So, that was my week in a very long-winded montage. Thanks for reading. and maybe laughing... at the peed on part. :)

The Button Down Dress...

Yet again inspired by the bestie, I set out and made my daughter, from here on out referred to as Bean, a dress made from one of my button down shirts. Success! Not only does she love it, but blue happens to be her fave color. Double whammy for me! (the good double whammy...)