Dinner

Are you looking for a good, new recipe for dinner?  We've tried out good new ones!

Savory Bean and Spinach Soup -

Didn't look like anything much, but it was so good!  Easy to make, too, since you make it in the crockpot.  It kind of reminded us of a fancier, heartier tomato soup.  Low calorie, meatless option.
http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/quick-recipes/dinner/seven-easy-slow-cooker-recipes/?page=2

Baked Falafels with Yogurt Cucumber Sauce-

Although the falafels were very dry, it was a really tasty meal.  It has you grill the romaine, which I didn't do, and we used tortillas instead of pita, because that's what we had.  It was really easy to make.  Andrew made most of the falafels, but wouldn't eat them.  :(  Emily did, though.  :)  Meatless option, although you could make this with grilled chicken instead of or including the falafels.
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/baked-falafels-with-cucumber-yogurt-sauce/

Zucchini Lasagna-

This was a really simple recipe, and although it didn't hold up like a lasagna should, the taste was incredible.  Next time, I will use less meat, but zucchini will definitely make its way into our lasagna in the future, and the simple sauce will make a comeback as well!!!
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/zucchini-lasagna.html

New Trick

While taking pictures of Charlie, Emmie decided to get in on the action.  Her latest thing is trying to figure out what is funny and what's not.  For instance, when she did this, she said, "Funny!  Mommy, funny?"

This is Charlie's newest trick.  He does it all the time, but he does it to make me laugh, too.  He'll get this mischevious look on his face, stick out his tongue, and then smile.  He does that until I crack up.  He's such a little sweetheart.

He also gives me a kiss on the cheek every morning when I get him out of his crib.  Yes, he is adorable.

My Old Rival

When I was a kid, my mom used to go grocery shopping with her friend Gail.  Those of us who were young enough not to be in school would go with them.  Having shopped with my own kids, I can only assume the tag team approach was so that if one mom wanted to leave her screaming, begging kids in the juice aisle due to their misbehavior, the other mom would be there to either a) back them up or b)talk them out of it.  Pure speculation.

 

Sometimes we would do other fun stuff with them like strawberry picking, or then there was the time we went to their house and I was too nervous to ask to go to the bathroom, so I peed my pants and didn't get out of the van, claiming I didn't want to play.  I liked going strawberry picking better.

 

I have a lot of good memories of riding around with the Parkers.  For some reason, anytime we were in our big blue van on an outing, we would invariably look out the window and yell that Mr. Peanut was chasing us, monocle, top hat, cane, and all.  In my crazy imagination, I would literally see him running alongside the road.  We would holler to our moms that they needed to step on it, because he was gaining on us.  My imagination was so good, in fact, that I kind of freaked myself out.  Imagine that.

 

Imagine my shock to see this little number in the magazine I was reading the other day.

If you can't read it, it says "Remember:  Life is a marathon, not a sprint.  And that I always win.  But second is still up for grabs.

 

...

 

This can only mean one thing, he's calling us out.  I also notice he has lost the cane.  Was it all a rouse to seem weak? (a la Johanna Mason for you Hunger Games fans out there)

 

I tried to look up this ad online and found THIS:

 

Jeanette, Aaron, Jared, and Audrey.

The time has come.

 

Also, how freaky was Mr. Peanut in his earliest days?

Was he a man, or a woman?  Or do walking/talking peanuts have gender?  We may never know.

 



I Seeeee You

It's really hard to get a picture of Charlie doing something other than just staring blankly at the camera.  As soon as he realizes it's there, all we get are those two baby blues.

Mike was reading a book to all three kids (I know, super cute, right?) and Charlie got the stares.  He held the book up for a second to try to catch his attention.

 So Charlie craned his neck up so she could see over the book. 

He is a total crack-up.

Creative

Our Andrew has become so creative lately.  We are so proud of him. 

 Here he is with one of his inventions.  "Stwings on a lotta stuff."  What have we done without this so far?

 He's really been onto this block kick lately.  Here is a car and a garage.  I'm so happy that he's started branching out to doing more than just towers. 

 He even added some windows.  You can't really see it in these pictures, but they're there. 

He started making letters, shapes, and then a birdhouse out of his pretzels and raisins. (Emmie did it too, but all of hers looked like 2 lines. :))

 He made a town out of blocks and tools, including a gas station, signs, and a stoplight.

Me: "Um....Andrew?"

Andrew:  "No, Mom.  It IS a good idea to put blocks in my underwear."

 

....

 

Sometimes creativity can go a little far.

 

:)  I love this little guy.

Brothers

Can you tell these two are brothers?

 

Andrew - 5 months in November 2009  

Charlie - 5 months in July 2013

Five Reasons

It's hard for me to believe it, but our little Charlie boy is already five months old!  So, here's five reasons Charlie is the cutest, funniest, sweetest little baby.

 1.  When he eats baby cereal, he wants to look at the box the whole time.  He's starting young.  :)  He loves to eat, and gets so excited when he sees me getting it ready.  He is cute.

 2.  He loves to jump.  He will hop around in his little Johnny Jump-up until he starts to slide to one side.  He will then hop on one foot for quite awhile.  And he laughs most of the time.  :)

3.  He loves to play with toys.  He loves that little farm thingie you see on the bottom.  Mike's mom gave it to us, and he plays with it every day.  He'll play with it for awhile and then hold onto it and roll onto his back while squealing.  Adorable.

 4.  I mean, come on.  Those sweet little lips, that Barnard-like chin, the cutie little clasped hands, the baby nose, and those gorgeous almond-shaped eyes.  I mean, he's beautiful, right?  I know I'm biased, but he is just too cute. 

5.  He is happy 98% of the time.  He just sits there with this huge, wide smile with that sweet little dimple.  He loves watching his siblings, smiling and laughing at them constantly.  He is just the happiest guy.

There are at least 555 more reasons he is the best, but this is just for starters.  You gotta love that little man.

Seeing Double

We got a babysitter the other day and went on a double date with our friends Daniel and Meagan.  We had a lot of fun!  We went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant, then to Walmart to get candy, then...

....to see Monsters University!  Yay!  I've been looking forward to this for awhile, and it definitely did not disappoint!  It was sweet, visually stunning, and hilarious.  I even laughed out loud, which is unusual for me in movies.  I LOVED it.  It was Pixar at its best.  :)  Yay!  Thanks to the Fergusons for a fun night!

Happenings

*Disclaimer:  Yes, I am aware I am wearing the same shirt in all of these pictures.  No, I don't wear that shirt every day.  Yes, I own other shirts.  No, I'm not sure how I managed to wear that shirt every time we took pictures.  And yes, I will begin this post.

 

A couple weeks ago, we went on a double date with our friends Chad and Michelle.  We had a BALL.  We went to this great little Mediterranean place for dinner, then walked around downtown and took pictures of our us with a picture of our friend Nathan who is a lawyer here in town.  They have all the lawyers' pictures on the side of the building.  For some reason, we couldn't stop laughing.  Then we went to their house and played games.  It was super fun.

Emmie likes to pick out her pjs now.  She and Andy were watching some Saturday morning cartoons.

The 4th of July was fun.  We had blue pancakes with strawberries and powdered sugar for breakfast, tried to talk about our great country to the kiddos, played outside, ate hot dogs for dinner, and set off some of our own fireworks and threw little poppers.  I am grateful to be an American, and grateful for the freedoms I enjoy.

Like the freedom of expression.  Emily has that one down pat.  Yes, that's a happy meal box on her head.  Mike took Andrew on a lunch date last week.  Andy LOVED it, and talked about it the rest of the day.  It made him feel so special.  Emmie was just grateful for the new hat.

Happy first Independence Day, little/big guy.  (Anyone else amazed at how fast our little almost 5 month old is growing?!)  Charlie continues to amaze us with his sweet little personality, and his cheerful attitude.  We love him so dearly.

Ignoring the mess in the background, here we all our putting in "our contacts." 

We went to a birthday party for Mike's friend/co-worker's little girl's birthday.  They had it at the Springfield Zoo.  The kids had an absolute ball.

No pun intended.

Um, have you ever seen anything cuter than Charlie in a little bear mask???  It didn't phase him in the slightest.  He is such an awesome little baby because he just goes with the flow.  Mike and I really wish we'd tried more masks on him and taken more pictures.  My heavens he looked cute.

Em got her first haircut!  She realllllllly needed it, and Meagan cut it for us.  She did a great job, and Emmie looks so cute.

Such a little princess.

 

It's been a good few weeks!  :)

What I've Learned

I've learned a couple of things the last couple weeks or so.

1.  When making layer cakes, I've always cut the top so it was flat, then while trying to frost it, I always get so frustrated because all the little cake pieces get into the frosting, and you end up using way more than you want or need.  When making Emily's birthday cake, I had an epiphany!  Turn the cake upside down after cutting it, and frost the bottom instead.  Ding!  Come on now.  So simple.

2.  Charlie has been doing much (MUCH) better about sleeping, but he has still been up a couple times a night most nights to eat.  The other day, I woke up at 2 a.m. with a strong feeling/prompting from the Holy Ghost that I needed to go check on Charlie.  I hurried down there and....he was fine.  Perfectly fine, asleep.  I walked back (or stumbled back as it was 2 a.m.) to my room, grumbling to myself about having to be up for "nothing."  I said a silent prayer, asking why I was woken up and prompted to do something when it didn't seem to matter.  Kind of like, "Heavenly Father, why did I have to do that?"  And I felt an answer, "To see if you would."  And I realized that sometimes He does that.  Sometimes it all comes down to obedience.  So when it comes down to it, if there's something REALLY important for me to do, I will be always ready to obey.  I'm so grateful for that.

The Fair

On Emily's birthday, Andrew was having a didn't-sleep-enough-too-much-excitement-too-little-alone0with-dad-time so Mike took him to the Polk County Fair while I hung out with the birthday girl.  You're probably thinking rides, funnel cakes, the whole shebang.  Here in Bolivar, it is pig scrambles, poultry shows, etc.  :)  But on Saturday morning, they did have a bouncy house and some kid's games.  Mike and I went on a date on Friday night and went to the goat show.  (It was basically a 4-H event.)  Anyway, Andrew had a really great time.

A BOUNCY HOUSE!  Andrew's never been in one before, but it is totally up his alley.  He played by himself before, and then a nice older boy was in there and Andrew did everything he did. 

 Then they went to the swine show.  Andrew has never seen a pig in real life before, so he had a great time.

 Counting the cows.

 Playing a game.  He was really supposed to be behind the orange line.  Oh well, he got a prize anyway.  :)

 He was really impressed with the tractors.  And oh my goodness does he look like a big boy here.  WHen I saw it, my jaw dropped.  Our little guy is really growing up...

Happy boys.

Waiting for the tractor ride, holding one of his prizes (a pencil with horses on it).

 Mike said he spent the entire ride waving.  Apparently he thought he was Miss America or something.  This guy is so stinking cute.  We just love our little Andrew.

He was mostly excited about his medal.  This is what he calls his "face happiest."

And then he got to shuck corn for the first time.  I remember doing that when I was a little kid, and it was super exciting to have that job.  He was having a little trouble so I said, "Are you having a tough time?" and he said, "No, just a good time."

What a sweetheart.

Emmie's Kitty Party

Yesterday our baby girl turned two.  Times sure does fly when you're having fun, huh?  Since she pretends to be a kitty pretty much every day, we decided to throw her a kitty party.  She approved.  "Mama!  I see kitties!"

A bit of the decorations.  I realize you can't really see kitties anywhere here.  She had Hello Kitty plates and cups and I colored some pictures of Hello Kitty and taped them all over the wall.  Clockwise from top left: 2 strings of pink, blue, white and yellow balloons and those little swirly star thingies (and a cute impromptu hug picture of Mike and Andrew), Balloons and the birthday girl eating a snack, a ribbon/balloon entryway, and a "2" made of watermelon and pineapple squares.

Andrew tried the watermelon when I was cutting it and said, "Mom!  It's not bick-gusting!"  I'm glad it wasn't disgusting, buddy.

 This was the cake, which I think turned out pretty good.  It was layers of chocolate and butter yellow cake with vanilla and chocolate icing alternately.  And it was gooooood.

Emmie opening one of her presents.  Andrew cut the ribbons for her, which was nice.

 Opening another present with me, just as proof that I spent the day with her as well.  We got her some wooden puzzles.  She and Andrew are having a great time with them. :)  And I need to learn to sit up straight.  Geesh.

I love her little tongue sticking out here.  She got so excited when Mike put the cake down.  I'm pretty sure she thought that was her plate.

Happy Birthday, Dear Emily!

Emmie said she wanted to play with Sarah, so we invited the Fergusons to the party.  She gave her a little pink purse (on the coffee table) with some play jewelry in it.  Emmie felt so grown up and has been carrying it around since. 

This picture is of me opening the play food Aunt Amy gave Emmie. (Thanks, Aunt Amy!)  The kids were ALL super excited about it and spent quite a long time afterwards playing in the pretend kitchen.  And the picture cracks me up.  Every single kid crowded around. 

Em and Sarah - they were excited, just trust me.  They were busy watching a DVD from Aunt Laura (Thanks, Aunt Laura!) so were a little distracted.

 

Thanks also to Grandma and Grandpa Barnard for the whistles and other musical instruments.  We've had some family parades in the living room today.  :)

 

And thank you to all of you who have loved our little kids and make them feel so special.  As a parent, you appreciate any and all positive reinforcement your kids get.

 

And thank you to the Academy for the award.

 

I'm apparently losing my mind.

 

But what else is new.

 

Okay, I'm done now.