One of the nice parts of getting married is that I was able to acquire at least a dozen or two good friends from Tony. Jack and Sami (+2 adorable kiddos) are a few of these friends that I'm so thankful became a part of my life. Since we met, they have challenged our thinking and encouraged us spiritually. They did our marriage counseling for us and there have been so many times that we've said, "Remember when... they were so right!"


Across the miles, Jack's blog keeps me thinking. I wanted to share a recent post with you. I loved the word picture that he presented. Hope you enjoy too!

Sound Machine

A little help here please! Does anyone have a sound machine they love? Kaleb's fan is about to die... and he's getting one for his birthday. :) I'd love some real reviews... I've never used a sound machine for the kids so I don't know what features I want -- er... I mean... Kaleb wants. :) Cause you know this present is for him... not me.

One more Christmas Card

Thanks Alli for passing this info along to me! When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

Tony's brother is flying into Indy today! He's home from Iraq -- we're so proud of the sacrifice he made this past year for his country. And very glad to have him home!

I will not eat them here or there. I will not eat them anywhere.

Kaleb has turned into a finicky little eater. This was not our experience with Kaiya so it has thrown us for a bit of a loop. Yesterday, when presented with green beans he threw a fit. Nevermind he liked them 5 days ago. :) So I had him tough it out. He was in such a fit that I turned him around to face the corner while I fixed the rest of our dinner just so I wouldn't have to look at him. He got quiet after a little while and when I checked on him I found this him putting the green beans into the silverware drawer.

It's a little hard to see, but there is a little pile on the ledge of the drawer.

Caught in the act! And notice he's now decided to eat the greenbeans.

Quick! Shut the drawer and maybe mom won't notice! Only... there's one little straggler hanging out of the drawer.

I'm happy to say that he ate the entire tray of green beans after this episode. Little stinker. :)

Recipe for a friend

I promised this recipe to a friend nearly two months ago. Finally... I'm getting around to it. SO I thought I would share it with everyone since I needed to type it out anyway. This tasted so yummy...

Open Faced Steak-and-Fries Sandwiches

One 1-1/2 inch thick London Broil (1.25 lbs)
2 t. herbes de Provence (or 21 seasonings from Trader Joe's - or your favorite.)
Salt & Pepper
4 T butter
1 lb. frozen french fries
1 lg. onion, thinly sliced
3 T. flour
One 14.5 oz can of beef broth
Challah Bread, toasted

1) Season the stead with 1 t. herbes de Provence, salt & pepper. In a heavy skillet, melt 2 T butter over medium-high heat. Add the steak and cook for 8 minutes on each side for a medium doneness -- longer if you like your meat med-well or well done). Transfer to a plate, reserving the skillet.

2) Bake the French fries according to package directions.

3) Return the skillet to medium heat, add 1 T butter and the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and golden, about 10 minutes; season with salt & pepper. Push the onion to one side of the skillet and melt the remaining 1 T butter on the other side. Whisk the flour into the butter and cook, whisking, for 2 minutes. Whisk the beef broth into the flour mixture, incorporating the onions, and bring to a boil, whisking frequently until the gravy has thickened. Cover and remove from the heat.

4) Thinly slice steak against the grain. Pour any juices from the plate into the gravy and stir to combine. Arrange 2 slices of toast on each plate. Mound with french fries and steak slices and smother with the gravy.

YUM! Kristina -- sorry this took me so long. :)

Unbelievable

Last night I went to Wal-Mart to get some fabric for a project I'm working on. As I was deliberating over ribbon options I was just 2 feet away from the fabric cutting area. At the counter was an Asian woman who was unfamiliar with sewing but needed fabric cut. The employee was getting the fabric ready to cut and the customer noticed that the fabric had a cut in it, so she asked if she could receive a discount on it. The employee says no. The customer asks why she can't have the discount and doesn't understand why she would have to pay full price. The employee says, "That's not how we do it here in America." WHAT?

I whip my head around to see if my ears were working right. I locked eyes with the customer and shook my head. I am in complete shock wondering how it is possible that this employee said something so insulting to the customer. The customer asked her why she would say that and the employee responded, "Well, that might be how they do things in other countries, but we don't here." WHAT? Did she just insult her all over again? The customer told her that she can't say things like that and that it really upset her. The employee says she didn't mean anything by it. WHAT? And then... wait for it... Instead of apologizing, she says: "It's in the Lord's hands now." WHAT???

The customer stomps off and the employee turns to me and gives me the look that says -- That lady was crazy. I couldn't handle it. I told her that her comment was completely inappropriate, offensive and uncalled for. I said a few other things as well. But this woman just didn't get it. She was trying to convince me that it was the appropriate answer to the customer's question. I cut her off and said that I didn't care how she meant it she should have acknowledged the way it made the customer feel. At least one other customer witnessed the interaction and we all had our chins on the floor.

As soon as my fabric was cut I found a manager and explained what I had seen. The manager was mortified and disgusted and assured me that she would be addressing it within the next 5 minutes. I was glad that the employee would be reprimanded... but I felt bad that I hadn't spoken up and supported the customer while she was still at the counter. I really beat myself up about it for awhile last evening. She probably felt alone in the experience and I could have come to her defense. I had really planned on doing it -- I was just so shocked and it happened so fast that I didn't react in time. And there was never a great time to insert myself in the conversation. I know she knew how I felt because of the non-verbal communication we shared. But still... hindsight --I would have marched over to that counter and spoken up right away.

Unbelievable.

Fall Colors...

Taken on a recent trip to the park...

God's provision, part 2

A couple posts ago (here), I was talking about seeing God's provision in tangible ways. I'm noticing now that I am more aware of these blessings, it really solidifies the belief that God plays an active role in our lives. I was just bemoaning the fact that I have nothing to wear. Or rather -- not much that fits right and is in style. You see... that's what happens when you have a two babies close together. By the time you lose your baby weight from the first baby, you are pregnant again. And then by the time you lose your baby weight from the second baby, your clothes look like they came out of the dark ages. So... I'm not complaining here -- because trust me -- I'm all for the baby weight loss. :)

But back to God's provision... so I announced to Tony that I would be going shopping and updating my wardrobe with my not yet spent birthday money. The kids and I went out today for a storytime at the mall. I decided not to shop at the mall and to make my $$ stretch a little further, to go to Plato's closet and Old Navy. I didn't buy anything at Plato's and then the kids were spent before we had the chance to get to Old Navy. I was bummed about that and having those reminiscent thoughts of life before my children when I could go shopping whenever I wanted. Now I'm on the computer and head over here and find out that Old Navy/Gap/Banana Republic are having 30 percent off entire purchase all weekend!!!

A couple months ago, I may not have seen something this small as being God's provision. But not now. That's why it was pouring down rain and I didn't feel like dragging the kids into another store today. That's why they were wigged out and ready for their naps an hour early. God had this coupon waiting for me. Now my birthday money should be able to stretch even farther. I love that. Now go get the coupon for yourselves! :)

First Steps... well... sort of...

We practiced with Kaleb the other night. He is starting to show more interest. I'm really surprised (and thankful) that this didn't come sooner. He really likes trying to walk to Kaiya. And if she is really picking her nose in the video -- her dad taught her that.

Speaking of which... we've had a bit of a problem with spitting -- or rather attempted spitting (nothing really comes out) -- lately. She has seen Tony do it a few times and thinks it is appropriate whenever - wherever. Yesterday morning after seeing her casually spit while playing Mr. Potato Head, I sent her to Tony to discuss appropriate times to spit. She came back in the room and told me. "Only spit in da sink when brush your teeth, or in da toilet, or outside. Not inside. Not ever." Hmmm... I would have preferred something along the lines of -- Girls don't spit unless brushing their teeth. EVER. With the exception of when a bug flies in your mouth... Next time I'll do the spit talk myself. :)

Here's the video:

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Today I made pumpkin pie playdough. For the recipe and tons of other great craft ideas to do with kids check out this blog: Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. (Scroll down a bit to find the playdough recipe.) She cranks out a craft idea nearly every day. I'm so thankful... because my creative skills are lacking. I can take an idea and run with it -- I just need someone to give me the idea first. :) I only made half the recipe, but it made plenty -- probably the equivalent of 6-8 playdough containers worth. It smells heavenly and we had a lot of fun with it.

It is a little softer than playdough, and even though I cut the recipe in half I found myself kneading in an extra cup of flour to take some of the stickiness away. And I couldn't tell that the food coloring made any difference in the color of the dough. It was pumpkin pie looking without the coloring. We used cookie cutters and had a lot of fun with my cookie press too. The clean up was super simple and I stored it away for tomorrow!

Christmas Card Giveaway

Lots and lots of giveaways going on in blogging world lately! And because I have yet to do any holiday shopping... I am all about the giveaways. Skip To My Lou has a fantastic giveaway going on -- free Christmas cards and picture stamps! The best part is that there will be five winners. Makes the odds even better. If you don't know what your Christmas card is going to look like yet, hop on over to her site and get yourself entered!

Free Stuff!

I'm telling you... watching Oprah pays off every now and then. :) I DVR'd yesterdays show and it was about de-cluttering. One of the tips was to take digital photos of your children's artwork and then create a photobook with them on Snapfish.com. So... Snapfish is giving away free photobooks until 11:59 p.m. Friday. The coupon has to be linked to your account by then, but you actually have until Sunday to order your book. Gives you some extra time to work on it. These make a great gift for anyone... and you don't just have to get one for artwork. You can just make yours a scrapbook. Thought I would pass the link for the coupon on to you.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081029_tows_messyhouse/7

This link gets you to Oprah's site and you link over from there. Enjoy! I'm off to work on my photo book!

How to survive a trip ANYWHERE with two toddlers

I was having a nightmare experience in Target on Monday - including fake-out trips to the bathroom, horrible diaper rash, shopping cart acrobatics, etc. The sweet cashier took pity on me and gave Kaiya an unloaded giftcard they have for the holiday season. Check this thing out:

http://www.target.com/image/B001G6V45W?defaultDisplayTab=Videos&defaultDisplayId=rich_content_0&ref=br_video_Quick_Info&showMiniDetailLinks=true&suppressLinkToDetailPage=&suppressLinkToMiniDetail=false

Yeah -- I'm gonna have to go back and get one for Kaleb, because it is now causing fights in our house. Seriously... go get yourself a couple.

Funny how quickly we can go from happy time...

...to not-so-happy time. All in just a matter of seconds.

Tip Junkie Giveaway!

To help promote & feature some of the amazing women who have joined the Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon, Tip Junkie has set up the 12 Days of Christmas, um I mean Junkie! It will start tomorrow, Tuesday November 11th. It will run similar to the 20 Days of Giveaways back in August; where each giveaway will last only 24 hours and a winner will be picked each morning. However, this time there will be two winners each day.

Go over to her blog and check it out. There is some really fun stuff going on over there!

The yummiest Beef Stew

This stuff is yummy. And stew meat is relatively inexpensive. So it's a win-win dinner -- especially since it is getting colder out. From Paula Deen to me to you. I only made minor modifications... so props have to go mainly to her. But I'll take a few for passing it along.

1 pkg. stew meat (approx 1.5 lbs)
1 t. sugar
1 garlic clove
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 onion
1/2 t. paprika
2 c. water
2 bay leaves
A few carrots, potatoes & celery

Brown stew meat in large stock pot, with olive oil, salt & pepper (however much you want to use to season the meat). When meat has just browned, add all remaining ingredients except vegetables. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Parboil carrots, celery & potatoes. After meat has simmered for 1 1/2 hours, add vegetables and cook 30 more minutes or until vegetables are cooked through. Add a thickening of cornstarch and water when stew is at a rolling boil. (I usually use a cup of water to mix the cornstarch in.) Add more salt and pepper to taste.

I like to serve these on the side w/ the stew (and these are all Paula Deen):

Sour Cream Muffins

2 c. self-rising flour
2 sticks butter (melted)
1/2 pint sour cream

Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients and spoon into muffin tin. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. I've done these in a mini-muffin tin as well... just reduce the baking time to 15 minutes.

The recipe makes 12 large muffins... I usually halve it for us.

Mornings are Rough

I just took this picture for the fun of it but then when I uploaded it onto my computer, Tony and I were looking at it and had to laugh... O's all over the floor, one sock on... It was early. :)

In honor of construction beginning today on our office space, I'm posting a few pictures that I took of the building. We are pretty excited!!!

Our suite is the one that is center of the picture. Just left of the minivan is our door.

We are kind of positioned in the middle of the building and there are two sides that stretch out. Here is one side...

And the other...

It's been a journey to get to this point, so we can't think of a better way to start 2009!

Kaiya's first Dum-Dum

Thursday was a monumentous day in the life of Kaiya Hyser. She had her first sucker! I had to get my car inspected for the state of NC and so the kids and I went to the service center to have that done. And then of course... I have to have $150 in repairs done to pass the dang inspection.

Back to the sucker... We are sitting in the waiting area and there is a basket of dum-dums sitting on the table. I see Kaiya's eyes connect with the basket. She looks at me next and starts talking about how much fun she had on Halloween. I know she is getting up her courage to ask me if she can have some candy. After talking about trick-or-treating she starts to say something, but then looks down at the floor and I said -- "Kaiya, did you want to ask me something?" Kaiya says, "No nothing." About 30 seconds go by and she says, "Mama, can I have dat candy?" I told her that if she was a good girl while we waited for the car to be finished, that she could have one sucker.

Fast forward 2 hours later... fortunately the service center had an enclosed kids room that we holed up in while they worked on the car. I am thinking that she has probably forgotten about the dum-dums. Yeah right. :) We start to leave and she brings it to my attention. We go to the basket and she is overwhelmed with the number of options she has. So many flavors to choose from. Then again... she really has no idea what a flavor is. So I suggest strawberry and she takes it. The sweet little girl didn't really know what to do with the sucker. So I told her just to put it in her mouth, lick it, and don't bite it.

After working on the sucker for about 5 minutes, she pulled it out of her mouth and says, "Nope - no strawberry yet!" And went back to licking it. I had to explain that it just tastes like strawberries, and there aren't any inside. She also had a moment of freaking out when she realized that it was getting smaller. She had her heart set on showing it to daddy when she got home. So she had to stop licking it when it got really small so that she could show Tony when she got home.

Before anyone thinks we're crazy for not giving Kaiya a sucker until she is 2 1/2... the benefits far outweigh the depravation. :) She has only been sick (including colds), twice in her life! Definitely worth it.

Proudly writing this post on my new laptop. Tony no longer has to play nice and share his with me anymore. I stood in line at Wal-Mart for 1 hour 20 minutes this morning and walked away with 1 of 30 that Wal-Mart had. And I didn't have to punch anyone (or get punched by anyone) to get it. :) $298! It was a great deal. Be looking for these specials by the way -- Wal-Mart did it last year too and I got a printer for $25. Every Saturday leading up to Christmas they have in-store specials. Last year they were kind of secret about it and didn't even release what the specials were until Friday -- but this year it seems more publicized. Maybe because more people realize they are broke this year. (I'm convinced that a lot of people have been broke for a number of years... but were in denial about it and kept spending. But that's a whole nother (Bethany -- is nother a word? Maybe it's other.) post that probably won't ever get posted...) Anyway...

Okay... now time for the truth. The laptop is actually for the office. But... since we aren't open for another month or so I'm claiming it as mine until then. Or until the IRS asks who it belongs to. Then I will tell the truth. :)

I'm reading a book right now called God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew. It is a biography of sorts detailing the journey of Brother Andrew, who was involved in smuggling Bibles into communist countries. I came across this book at a yard sale for 25 cents. It was a God thing. When I picked up the book after a quick glance I actually mistook it for another book I had wanted to read a few years ago. I didn't examine it closely and later when I got home I realized it wasn't exactly what I thought it was. So glad that I decided to go ahead and read it. The major theme for me personally is God's provision.

Throughout his ministry, Brother Andrew had countless times that he needed something or needed something to happen and God provided exactly what he needed. It has reminded me of my lack of faith, when at times I try to manipulate things so that my needs/wants are met. Like justifying spending money on something that is just outside of my budget. Instead of trusting that God will give me what I need for what I can afford -- and that He will even go above and beyond my needs and bless me with something that I want instead of just meeting my needs.

Reading Brother Andrew's story has made me more aware of God's provision in my life. Even little things like that awesome parking spot that I got at the library yesterday and the grocery store today. And the bigger things too. On Sunday I had a plan for dinner. I preheated the oven and started getting my ingredients together. Then I realized that I forgot to purchase one of the key ingredients to the meal. And I really didn't have a good plan B. And then my oven started smoking. I had drips from the previous night that were burning. So now making anything in my oven is out. I had a few coupons for local restaurants so I started going through them. They were all for dine-in only or closed on Sunday. So with a hungry family I set out the Harris Teeter to find dinner at the grocery store. My plan was a rotisserie chicken. But they were all out and not going to have any for another 30 minutes. The only other things they had in the hot case was pork (we don't eat that) and fried chicken (we rarely eat that). So I begin wandering the grocery store for another idea. I ended up back at the case, putting the fried chicken in my cart. We were hungry. In the mean time I had found grapes for 79 cents a pound (WOW!) and a cantaloupe for 99 cents! I went through the line at the register and my total seemed higher than I had done in my head. I chalked it up to my hunger. :) Got the kids buckled in the car and then decided to look at my receipt. Ugh. They charged me $2 extra than the chicken should have been. So I grumble to myself about the chicken that I didn't even want in the first place and unbuckle the kids and go back inside to get my $2 back. The customer service person smiled and handed me $7.57 back in cash. I asked why I didn't just get the $2 back and she said that whenever the item doesn't ring up correctly and you bring it back to be adjusted, it is free.

So that was why my oven was smoking. That was why I was missing the ingredient. That was why there were no rotisserie chickens. That was why I opted for fried chicken. That was why I didn't check the price before leaving the store. God wanted to bless us with a free dinner.

We ate our greasy fried chicken and thanked Him.

Potty Training Milestone

Sunday Tony had a flag football game at the church. The kids and I went and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. Here's Miss Thing... notice Tony above her ear in the white... in total flag football stance.

A little after half-time I heard the words that I was hoping I wouldn't hear until we got back home: "Mama - I have to go potty!" I quickly take inventory of the fields. Our only option was a port-a-potty. When we climbed in -- all three of us (poor Kaleb has no choice) -- it was seriously 20 degree hotter inside that thing. And then it was a miniature version so I had to hunch over or hit my head on the top. Anyway... I lift Kaiya up and she yells -- I'm gonna fall in!!! I assure her that I won't let that happen. We had success -- although was a little confused about not being able to flush.

Busy at Play

Caught ya!

There are two reasons for this post. One is to introduce you to a fantastic blog that was shared with me by my friend Alli and the second is to pass along a nice bit of info that will put some money in your pocket.

Alli e-mailed me the other day and told me that I would love her neighbor's blog. The site is full of good money saving information. http://www.faithfulprovisions.com/ It includes all sorts of practical ways to save money. And gives you a heads up on good deals at your grocery stores and other places. I've really enjoyed the tips and savings. I've benefited from it in several ways so far. It gave me a heads up on a triple coupon promotion my grocery store is doing next weekend. Knowing that 5 days before my store actually announces it allowed me to purchase an extra Sunday paper and get double the coupons. And here is the second way:

Apparently Carter's (children's clothing) had an oops with labels from their Fall 2007 line of clothes. The great part is that although it isn't an official recall, they will give you a refund for the full retail price. You can call them, they will put your info into the computer and they will send you prepaid packaging to send the clothes back. Once they get the clothes you will get a check in the mail 2 weeks later. Click here to get details about how to determine whether your clothes are from Fall 07 and the phone number to call. Or click here for the official Carter's website page on this problem.

I called today -- although I had to hold 15 minutes or so -- it was super easy. I also found out that if you have an outfit and only the shirt has the tag and not the pants, if you send both you will get the full amount back. If you send only the shirt you will get only 1/2 of the amount.

***Forgot to mention -- The representative did ask me if my child had broken out in a rash. I told her no, he hadn't yet. She said that was great and to go ahead and send the clothes back. So -- just to be clear -- I'm not encouraging scamming Carters! :) Thanks for bringing this point up Tara!

This is awesome you guys -- so definitely take the 30 minutes or so to go through your kid's clothes and make the phone call.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE saving money?

Halloween

Here are pictures of the kids on Halloween. Kaiya was a monkey and Kaleb was Nemo. We went trick-or-treating and then went to church.

Don't they look thrilled in this picture? I just laughed when I saw it on the computer.

Now we're having fun!

This is at the church playing games. She's a cheater. :)

She's pretty excited about the candy. She was allowed to pick out two things to eat that night and two things for Saturday. And the rest of it disappeared. It was funny -- M&M's are the only candy she is familiar with because of potty training. So I was surprised that those are what she picked for all 4 pieces of candy she got to eat.

And this is her at 9:45 p.m. Halloween night. Half naked, wearing dress-up shoes and a hat, hiding behind the glider so she doesn't have to go to sleep. Can you imagine what she would be like if we let her eat more than 2 pieces of candy? :)

Little Nemo Dance

In search of a good fondue recipe...

In keeping with family tradition that we started a couple years ago, we are having a fondue dinner during the holidays. Since we've only been at this a few years, we really haven't mastered fondue. I would LOVE if any of you have a good recipe to share. And I'll make a deal with you -- if I get more than one recipe e-mailed to me, I'll do a fondue post and share all the recipes I get. Any course of the meal would be great we do it all. Send recipe to: rachel_lucinda@yahoo.com

The pumpkin hunt

The church down the road from us has had a pumpkin patch all month. I called earlier this month to find out how much the pumpkins were going to be sold for so that I could determine whether it was worth loading up in the wagon and getting our pumpkin there. The church secretary said around $6. And I'm thinking that's not too bad considering Wal-Mart's are $5 and at least the profits go to missions if I get it from the church. Well... we went Wednesday night and the pumpkins weren't exactly $6. An average size pumpkin was selling for $10.

So... facing a dilemma -- I have hyped this up to Kaiya. Should we go ahead and spend $8 (all the cash I brought) on a smaller pumpkin or just can the whole idea and get one at the grocery store instead? And then... how bad is that to not want to spend a little extra for missions.

We show Kaiya the size of pumpkin she can get and turn her loose in the picked-over pumpkin patch. While she is running around I mumble the price of Wal-Mart pumpkins to Tony. He's like -- Serious? We make eye contact and both know that we are getting the heck out of the pumpkin patch. Fortunately about this time Kaiya spotted the section with the baby pumpkins. She fell in love with the baby pumpkins so we just got one of those for $1.50 and went home.


The next day we went to Wal-Mart and they were sold out of pumpkins. Luckily I was able to get a special secret assignment at my local grocery store in which they reimburse me for my purchases... and Kaiya found her pumpkin there. So -- our pumpkin was free this year -- glad we passed on the church pumpkin cause free fits much better in our budget.

Do you ever picture something in your mind a certain way and then it goes nothing like that? I have these visions of wonderful memory making with Kaiya sometimes and it ends up being nothing like I thought it would be. And so it was with the pumpkin carving this year. She woke up from her nap in the crabbiest mood EVER. Every syllable was said with a whine. She refused to touch the pumpkin innards. And in this picture below she is totally faking it. Trust me. She was not as happy as she looks.

After persuading her to grab a handful, she reaches two fingers into the pumpkin while moaning and whining and comes out with this:

Kaleb was content to eat apples. While Kaiya whined about wanting to eat apples I scooped out the pumpkin. It was about now that I realized that I was the only one wanting to participate in pumpkin fun this year. Why ruin the experience with whining. I decided to wait until the peace and quiet and make a memory all by myself.

Kaiya liked it. I had fun doing it. Without her help. :)