Monday, March 30, 2009

Pictures!

Finally some pictures to go with the past several posts. I love birthdays.

Here is Lydia in her new cool roller skates and pads and her new cheerleading dress up dress. I'm not sure she even knows what a cheerleader is, but she is a rock star on skates and she loves the dress regardless.

Here is my beautiful princess in her birthday dress.

Here is my sweet baby covered up in chocolate.






He sat there for like 10 minutes before he finally dug in. We had to give him a spoon first. He didn't use it to eat, but I think he was concerned that we had lost our minds giving him a chocolate cake as big as his head and didn't know it was okay to eat unless he had a utensil.


Birthday Pancakes


There will be more pictures and blogs to come soon!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Lydia's 3rd Birthday!

What a fun day yesterday! Lydia's birthday was yesterday and we had so much fun! We got up and I fixed birthday pancakes (a birthday tradition in our house), so we all had a good breakfast. While I was fixing the pancakes, I gave Toby a bath in the sink because he peed out of his diaper. It was a very fast bath. Then I started getting the kids ready. Lydia got a special birthday dress from Nannie that is pink tulle and very, very girly with a matching head band. She LOVED it and wore it to church. I can't wait to get all my pictures on here. We skipped Sunday school and took our time with birthday presents and pancakes and getting ready. We headed out to church and got there a little early, so after we dropped the kids off in the nursery we decided we wanted to buy a BBC Choir cd, but we had no cash or checks. So we took a walk down the street to the bank to the ATM. We walked all the way around and there was no hole in the wall, so we almost gave up but right across from the bank was another bank (actually another bank of the same name..I was confused) and we found the machine there. It was beautiful weather and so nice to be out and walking in it. We went back to church and bought the cd and got in a seat just in time for church. It got so warm by the end of the service I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I hate that I was more concentrated on staying awake than I was on the sermon and reflecting. As we were picking the kids up from the nursery, I saw a girl that I met at Peacecraft a couple of weeks ago and she was waiting to give me some handmade cloth napkins! I couldn't believe that she not only had remembered our conversation but had hand crafted a gift for an almost stranger. It was just so sweet of her! So now I have 16 lovely cloth napkins! I am still kind of shocked that a person I just met would do that for me. Oh, I'll just have to get some pictures on here!

After church we took the kids to McDonald's, otherwise referred to as "the garbage place", but it was Lydia's birthday and they played in the play place for 30 minutes after we ate and it was fun. The kids had so much fun just getting to climb and slide and we got to kind of just sit back and let them go. Not as much as some of the other parents there (Nathan removed a stranger's child from the top of a table before she leapt off), but really it was a pretty relaxing way to let the kids get some energy out. We headed home to take a nap with only minor complaints of wanting to stay.

At about 5:00 we headed out to a surprise birthday party for Josh at Jordan and Kim's (and Josh and Jamie's for now). We had so much fun just getting to hang out with friends! I hope we can all get together again:) And there was some awesome Pike Valley chicken salad there. This pregnant lady was very happy. The kids loved playing in the rocks and sticks with all the other little ones. We had to really keep an eye on Toby and mostly Nathan and I just had to hold him so he wouldn't eat the sticks and rocks, or climb on top of tiny babies. We just had a really good time visiting. I also got a midwife's number from Kim and I am thinking about giving her a call. She does home birth for the same price as our co-pay would be for having a baby at the hospital. Actually it might even be a little less expensive. I'm still a little wishy-washy on making that decision, but maybe I'll at least call her and see.

We are supposed to hear back from the offer we made today. I hope they will at least counter our offer. It was very low, but they said "offers encouraged!" I'll let you know what happens! Oh, and here is the house we made the offer on. Just thought you might want to see it!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Chocolate Chip Cherry Pecan Oat Bars

A new recipe (adapted a bit from a Kraft Foods recipe called Chocolate, Cranberry and Oat Bars) that I have been trying to get made since Christmas turned out way better than I imagined. But really, how can you go wrong with chocolate and cherries and oats?

Ingredients:
1 cup dried cherries (or cranberries, or raisins... If you use cherries chop them up a bit)
1/4 cup orange juice (juice of 1 orange or store kind)
1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup white, but next time will use more
wheat)
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 bag (6 oz.) chocolate chips (Kristin! This really is enough! :)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (or other nuts)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) Combine cherries and orange juice and heat in microwave for 30 seconds, or on stove top until
warmed through. Let stand 10 min.
3) Combine flour, oats, baking powder and salt, set aside
4) Beat margarine and brown sugar with mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time
beating until well blended after each addition.
5) Gradually add in flour mixture mixing well after each addition.
6) Stir in cherry mixture, chocolate chips and pecans
7) Spread into 13 by 9 inch pan, use cooking spray or butter and flour
8)Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until center is set (mine took 27-28 min)
9) Cool completely on wire rack before cutting to serve (yeah right!)


These are too yummy straight from the oven and we are having them for breakfast today. (Hey! there are oats in there! and fruit! and nuts!) They are like a big thick chocolate chip cookie with cherries and nuts. Or maybe a little like a blondie. I will say, if you want them to be pretty when you cut them without crumbling apart, do let them cool completely. Obviously you don't have to let the whole pan cool.

PS We are making an offer on a house on Saturday! I hope it goes well!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

finally, some stress is being relieved...

Lots is going on here! We found a house with some land that we really love and are preparing to make and offer on it. As soon as we get our (bigger better) offer letter on our house from the state I believe we will be able to put an offer in on the new one. We actually really love it and hope everything works out. It's in Harrodsburg, but is very close to most everything we wanted to be close to. It's not close to church, so I'm not entirely sure if we are going to find a new one or not. (We most likely will.)

Also, I went to the obstetrician yesterday to have a baby appointment. It had been so long since I was there that they insisted that I see a DR instead of my midwife to get a "good" check-up. I was a little disappointed and a bit angry. I had missed my last appointment because of the giant ice storm and never made another appointment, mostly because I was trying to decide if this midwife was the way I wanted to go. She was friendly and I liked her well enough. She answered all my questions satisfactorily (at least the ones that I remembered to ask), but I was still considering a home birth. (I would actually love to have one, but with moving and not knowing exactly where our home will be this far into the pregnancy, I decided against it.) Back to the point--I was hoping that since I was seeing a midwife that there wouldn't be a freakout since, you know, pregnancy and birth is considered to be natural and not a medical emergency or event, however, I went to the appointment and got an outspoken nurse who was a bit surprised that I asked questions at all. The OB was a bit weird and not at all who I want to deliver my baby. Actually I would like Nathan to do it, but we'll see how that goes over at St. Joe East. Hopefully this was a one time visit with this Dr and he will be far away when I have the little one. It feels strange now to question doctors and nurses after a lifetime of taking them at their word, but it's so cool too, to know that I CAN question anyone at all. (By the way, I think the new word for cool is "sweet", but I feel like a dork saying that in any other way than I already do, so I'm sticking with cool.") Nathan and I went to the appointment together yesterday, while his sister Trina kept our kids. We had a really good time laughing at everything ridiculous together. I love my sweet husband. He makes me laugh and laughs at the same things I do, so even a trip to the OB is a very fun, funny event. We also stopped and ate at chick-fil-a, went to whole foods for our dairy products and some produce (and some yummy whole wheat organic "pop-tarts". Yeah, I know, but they are SO good and it keeps us from getting McDonald's on the way to church on Sundays. And they were on sale:) and stopped by Cato's where I got a pair of pants that actually fit at this point in my pregnancy. All in all it was a pretty good day, you know minus the weird Dr part.

I had an ultrasound yesterday as well, and it was a really fun little appointment. They had the latest technology and it worked so much more quickly and efficiently than the ones we had with the other kids. We saw all the little parts and everything looked so healthy and whole! I am so thankful for the blessing of health on our sweet new baby. We got a few pictures and saw the little one move and wiggle and show us every part. Yes, we know what the gender is! Do you want to know?

Friday, March 6, 2009

Spring!

Good morning! I think spring is here!!! Nathan says it's supposed to get cold again, but I am refusing to believe that and today it's almost 60! The sunlight is streaming in through our living room window because our blind broke last night. We had to rig up a curtain rod and the kids threw open the curtains first thing. Also, I am eating ice cream for breakfast this morning. Leftover baskin robbins reese's cup sundae from last night. Yes, I believe it's going to be a good day.

I have to clean clean clean today for the party on Sunday. Yuck. And I have to do it without the help of videos because the kids attitudes are going downhill since we started renting more videos from the library. They are just watching too much stuff and it's affecting their behavior. All the videos are age appropriate, but just watching more makes them crazy!

Someone encourage me! I'm getting unmotivated to clean already!

In sad sad news, Nathan put Dakota down on Tuesday. She was laboring to breathe and just really really sick and hurt. We are so sad that it had to end that way. If only she could have made it a few more months we would have let her run free on our new farm and she could have died happily in the woods in a tangle with a bear..... We will miss her. I keep checking out the kitchen and bathroom windows for her, but she's not there.

More upbeat now! Last night my mom took Isaiah and Lydia for a few hours. (And cousin Ella went too.) We just chilled with Toby and then went out for ice cream. I obviously couldn't finish mine :) The kids came back with a slew of stuff from wal-mart. Isaiah got Spidermanned out with a hat, shoes, a t-shirt, and umbrella. Yes, an umbrella. Lydia chose a pretty dress, canvas shoes, and an Easter hat and purse. They are wearing most of what they got last night. Oh and Mom brought Toby a light up spiderman jacket. They also got to eat at McDonald's with Pop and Nannie and cousin Ella and get ice cream. It was a big night for them.

Also, we ordered our seeds for the garden. We placed an order with Heirloom Acres and Seed Savers. We went a little overboard in my opinion, but Nathan says we are going to become awesome gardeners and have a ton of food. Then we will save all our heirloom seeds and re-plant next year, and never have to order seeds again. We also ordered pretty flowers for me even though I am notorious for killing everything except mums. We got zinnias, verbena, and 3 kinds of sunflowers. I just couldn't resist these. We are going to have a garden just for sunflowers, and I plan to have a vase of flowers on my table until November. Super excited about the zinnias too.

Alright. I have procrastinated long enough. Must. Go. Clean.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday Toby!!!!

It's Toby's 1st birthday! My sweet, sweet baby is a big boy now! We had birthday pancakes this morning as is tradition at our house and Toby dug in. He's still sitting in his high chair. He must be full and really happy because he's not trying to climb out.

We've been very busy looking for a new house and some land, taking (just had to go get Toby because he started climbing out of high chair) care of our old hurt dog and trying to decide what we are going to do about her, planning Toby's birthday party for March 7 and Lydia's for probably the 21st and we need to plan a yard sale for sometime in April. Also, I'm pregnant. Secret's out. Actually, I'm due July 6th so I'm about halfway through my pregnancy. I still haven't told my aunt, grandparents, great aunts, Nathan's parents, or grandmother. We are just trying to keep it quiet for as long as possible to avoid the negative feedback for as long as possible, and so far, no one has guessed. (Most of the negative feedback would be that I need to wait longer in between having children and why oh why would I want this many kids in the first place, although I know they love my kids and me) I'm just starting to expand and it will be another month or two before it would become undeniable (not that I would deny it :) but we are probably going to have to spill the beans soon. I'm really excited and hope it's a girl. Nathan keeps calling the baby "them" like there's 2 or 3 in there. He's determined that we will have a set of multiples even though it doesn't run in our families. I just told Isaiah today, so now I have to tell my family or he will.

Also, Nathan had a brief virus this week or something, and I have been feeling increasingly tired, so while I wouldn't say I'm stressed, I certainly have a lot to deal with right now. I think that once we've told the family and figured out how best to take care of Dakota (Nathan's dog of 16 going on 17 years) that the pressure will have decreased in a major way. I feel a little better now that I have spilled to my blogger friends. By the way, if you live where I live, don't spread the news around until I have told my whole family. They would be pissed to hear it from someone else:)

Busy, busy times here, but basically took last night off and just laid on the couch for hours and then went to bed at about 9:00. I do feel much more rested today. Alright, I must go clean something, but to tell you the truth I will probably just read a book. If you know of any good Christian fiction books to read let me know. I love, love fiction and am finishing a 9 book series today or tomorrow. I have no idea what to check out next and tomorrow is library day! Input please!

Pictures of the birthday boy to come later!