Monday, March 17, 2008

Why we shouldn't watch food network

I love to watch Food Network. I get great ideas and just love to hear other people's ideas for meals and cooking. But we should really stay away from that channel on the weekends!



They do those back to back specials on a certain food and pretty soon I am convinced that I need that food. Even if you don't like that food, you will want it by the time you are done watching!Jilienne, remember when we watched that one weekend all about donuts? Pretty soon we were on our way to Krispy Kreme!


Well. I made the mistake of turning to that channel yesterday afternoon. They were having a recipe challenge ALL. ABOUT. CAKE!!! I love cake! It is a weakness! It didn't take long for our mouths to start watering. David and I just looked at each other and next thing we knew we were in the kitchen making an amazing chocolate cake (from scratch) with homemade fudgy icing! All I can say is...YUM!

David was in charge of the icing...please note his artistic design on the plate. He was very proud!


And the kids? Well, let's just say they don't mind when we watch that channel. Turns out they rather enjoyed themselves!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

When Daddy comes home!

Those of you that read my blog (all five of you!) know that David has been spending a LOT of time out to sea over the past few months. We were very excited when he got to come home for a few days this week!

Anytime Daddy is home, waking him up in the morning is top priority to the kids. Ian would much rather roar and attack as he wakes Daddy up. Isabelle on the other hand has a much sweeter approach!

This is the picture that I got of her laying on Daddy's chest. Notice the plastered-on grin. It reminds me of the one that gets stuck to your face when you have been taking wedding photos for an hour and you still want to give it your best. You could not wipe this grin off of her face. She rested on his chest for nearly 20 minutes. Just. Smiling. She is Daddy's girl, through and through.

I am thankful for the relationship that they share and I pray it will continue as she grows.

The other day we were having a conversation about how someday some man would make her feel like a princess and love her more than anything else on this earth. He would love her so much and she would love him so much that she would marry him. It didn't take her long to share with us that her intentions were to marry Daddy.

Needless to say, Daddy is wrapped around this little girl's finger!!!

After the cuddling was done, it was time to be goofy. If you want to be goofy, Ian is your guy, but Isabelle is sure not going to miss out on the fun! Poor Daddy got trampled in this game...good thing he loves them!

Game Night

Ian's school hosted a game night last weekend. The kids enjoyed having some time out with their best friends!
Ian the golf pro:
And his attempt at hula hooping!
The night wasn't complete without a little bit of face paint. (It is supposed to be a lizard...for those of you that may have been a bit confused!)
And Isabelle wasn't going to be left out of the fun!
And Jayden...the robot. I know...it is a very artistic interpretation of a robot. We just went with it. The student council put on the event and manned the tables. You can't really tell a fifth grader that they didn't paint a robot very well! There was a smile on the kids' faces...that is all that mattered!



Making the bed

This past weekend I sent Ian in to make his bed. When I walked past his room, this is what I saw:

This boy is taking a serious liking to reading!


Thursday, March 6, 2008

Fashion Show

I have recently had a little extra sewing time. I got all caught up on my bag orders and decided to take advantage of some of the time by making some spring and summer outfits for Isabelle.

For those of you that don't know Isabelle, she is a princess in every way! She LOVES to wear dresses! Lucky for me, they are easier/quicker to make than the shorts, but I did do one shorts outfit for her too. I still have some more fabric to work with, so I am sure there will be more pics to come!

Presenting Isabelle:






Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Tomorrow could be a challenge...

My kids' bedtime prayers are very repetitive. By that I mean, they pray the same prayer every night. On occasion they throw something new into the mix (like tonight's skinned knee prayer), but it is still the same basic prayer. As I finished tucking Isabelle into bed tonight I started wondering what tomorrow might bring. Her prayer went like this:
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for this day and help me sleep good and help my knee get better soon and help me be good and keep Daddy safe at work and help me be good and keep Daddy safe and help us have a good day tomorrow and help me be good and keep Daddy safe at work and help me be good.
We LOVE YOU JESUS! Amen!

Something tells me I need to pray for an extra measure of patience for my day tomorrow! And for David to be really safe at work!

Praise God for never giving us more than we can handle!!!

Four Quarters Richer!

Remember this? Well...it has happened again! Ian lost his second tooth!

It wasn't a shock. It has been loose ever since we got back from our Christmas vacation. He has wiggled it and wiggled it. I decided to share with him my favorite technique for pulling a tooth. You know, the whole tie a string around the tooth and the other end around a doorknob and slam the door technique. You know you tried it when you were a kid...or at least thought about it! I shared this with a chuckle because Ian is NOT the one you would expect to do this. He would not choose to inflict pain on himself. He lost his first tooth while eating. He wasn't trying to lose it...it just happened. So, imagine my shock when his response was, "Okay, let's try it!" I just stared at him. Was he serious?

He was!!! He ran and got some dental floss and we proceeded to tie up his tooth. The he started to question.

"Does it hurt?" he wanted to know.
"Maybe for just a second and then it is all over with." I answered.

I thought for sure he was going to back out after thinking about the discomfort that this might bring. But he didn't we tied up the tooth, tied the other end to the door and he closed his eyes as I prepared to shut the door. "One, two, THREE!" I said, and slammed the door.


Let me just say, I don't think that dental floss is the appropriate tooth pulling string. It slid right off of his tooth. We tried a couple more times with no success!

After the third try, he grabbed ahold of it with his own little fingers and just started pulling. I was amazed! He made a coupld sounds of discomfort, but never stopped pulling! Finally, he popped that little sucker out! He was pretty proud. I think I was even more proud of him than he was of himself.

It isn't that I want my son to inflict pain upon himself on a regular basis. But, I do think there is something to be said about dealing with a little pain to get to a goal. He did just that! And then promptly shared his goal with me...the tooth fairy, of course!


The tooth fairy. That is such a tricky topic, isn't it? He got $2 for his first tooth. My mom gave him the idea that he would get more because it was his first tooth and maybe even some extra because Daddy was gone. (I am still not really sure what that had to do with it, but it made sense in Ian's little brain!) Well, no big surprise, Daddy was gone for this one too! So, was this going to cost me more again?

I asked him how much he thought he was going to get and was so sweetly surprised with his response. He told me, "Maybe this time I will get a quarter!" (Truthfully, he was EXCITED about a quarter!) " A coin would be good!" he told me.

Something in me was not satisfied with a single quarter. So he got four. Four quarters. And as I write, I can hear him plunking the quarters into his bank. It may not buy him his next lego set, but he sure earned it!

As I finish this post I am wondering. Is it crazy that I think this is such a big deal? At what point is it no big thing that he has lost a tooth. I suppose it will be sort of like when he got his first teeth when he was nine months old (which are the first ones that he has lost.) I can tell you the first several teeth that came into his mouth, but then I lose track. I suppose it will be somewhat the same way when I look at his mouth 6 years from now. I won't remember exactly what order they came out. I am glad we are excited about it now, but I can' help but think about what we will get excited about in the years to come.

OH, the adventures of parenthood! I LOVE IT!