Lunchtime!

I am trying to spend less time on the computer (namely, the Internet) for Lent. I have my ups and downs, but have been doing okay for the most part.
Yesterday morning the kids and I got up and got going right away. We had our breakfast and the dishes cleared and school finished in no time at all. We were nearing the end of the month ($$$) and so our fridge and cupboards were looking rather bleak. Lunch was vast approaching and I was ecstatic to find some frozen chicken breasts in the freezer downstairs. I don't why I hadn't used them earlier in the week, but I was glad to see them. We had some leftover turkey stock and onions and carrots and so I started making a most delicious chicken and rice soup. Soup was on and the kids were playing nicely so I whipped up some homemade angel biscuits and was feeling quite proud of my accomplishments. I cleaned up the kitchen and went downstairs to visit my usual Internet sites for "a few minutes". When I came up, a couple minutes before Brett arrived home for our marvelous lunch, I was not greeted with the same welcoming smell I had left in the kitchen. Instead I smelled something burning, more specifically, burned rice. I ran over to my (large) pot of soup on the stove and tried to rescue it, but it was too late. The burned rice "flavor" had permeated the entire pot.
Brett was so sweet and ate his bowl of soup, doctored up with a lot of salt and pepper jack cheese, I ate about half of my bowl (I've never had the stomach Brett has), Aidan ate almost all of his while declaring, "really, mom, it's not that bad", Emma choked down a few bites. Gianna, however did what we all wanted to do. She took one nibble of her soup, made a face that said "how could you offend me by putting that junk in front of me" and proceeded to spit it out.
Brett was feeling bad for me until he heard what had happened, then he just laughed and said, "Serves you right!" So much for compassion.
I am happy to report however that the kids were completely okay with feasting on as many biscuits they could hold smothered in honey!
P.S. Update! Before I could even hit "post" to this I had to run upstairs to check on my rice that was on the stove for our dinner tonight....yep, you guessed it...burned! Now, I'm way beyond burning things (especially rice of all things), so I think I need to take this as a not-so-subtle hint.

In My Home

A boy lives here:

And so does a girl:

Heat Wave!

The kids have been begging to play outside for several days, but it's been way too cold. So, today, at a balmy 26 degrees we are heading out...just as soon as we get back from our library errand!

The Karate Kid

I'm so glad I wasn't blogging a year and a half ago when Aidan was doing soccer because had I been I would have had to disclose the utter torment that the experience was to all of us.

He's had a year and half to mature, and has expressed a lot of interest in karate (his good friend Bryce in TX does Tae Kwan Do and Aidan loved watching him). So...we signed him up for karate

and I think it is a great fit for this very serious little 6-year-old.

The Martial Arts Academy that he will be attending does things just the right way to fit Aidan's personality. For the past two days we've gone to the Academy so he can work one on one with the head dude (with countless stripes on his very black belt...very cool!). Tomorrow he'll join the rest of the students who have his same belt color for a group session, but now that he's been there a couple of times and knows the instructors he will be a lot less nervous to just jump in. Ambiguity is something he does not handle well. He has the option of attending up to 6 sessions per week, but we'll probably just have him do a couple. I refuse to sacrifice precious family time, however, this academy is very strict and expects a lot from their students (unlike one of the ones in Brenham that put equipment on 5 year olds and let them beat up on each other...zoiks!).

Here he is...our very own "karate kid"

Do you think he'll scare anyone with his toothless grin?

The back is way cool and he was so excited that he gets to be a "white belt". "I know it's the lowest color that you can have", he says, "but that way it'll give me something to work towards! His friend in TX will be testing for his black belt in a couple of weeks, so Aidan definitely sees that as a tangible goal! Hai-YAH!

Happy Birthday Gigi!

Gianna is two!!! She had a wonderful birthday filled with much spoilage and a store-made birthday cake (sorry, Gigi). Quite a big year this is for her. She talks like crazy, is potty-trained, and we solved the mystery of those darn spots that she had last year! Yay!
She is the sweetest little gal that ever was (truly, I'm not just saying this because she's ours...really). She's snuggly and sweet and full of spice!

And how can you resist that bedhead!

She thought I was taking a still picture, hence her new and crazy two-year-old smile...oh, and she says "welcome" instead of thank you!

Creative

Remember the picture of the Kleenex box from a couple of days ago? Three sick kids and a couple of days later and we had two empty Kleenex boxes in the house. I was going to use them for a Valentine's craft (remember the Valentine's boxes from elementary school), but I decided not to.
It didn't take Aidan too long to grab ahold of the boxes and this morning they were sitting on top of his dresser just taking up extra space. This afternoon however he came down the stairs with them, put them on his feet, and started "box-skating" on the livingroom carpet. It didn't take long before Emma had one and Aidan had one and they were doing all sorts of silly tricks.
I had a sleeping Gigi on my lap otherwise I would have grabbed the camera, but you will have to believe me when I say that it was a very funny sight with lots of giggling!

Motivation

Who says bribery is a bad thing? I like to call it motivation.

"We have one hour to get this house in order or we won't get to go to the library and get new books!"

Did it work?

Why, yes it did!

Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

Truth be told, there's not a lot we know about St.Valentine except for that he existed, and was martyred on February 14th! So, how and why Hallmark has taken off with his Feast Day (which is actually not on the calendar anymore) we'll never know....but, it is a great day to remind us what life is about....love!

Here's a pic of our LOVEly children posing with their Valentine's Day surprises!

The girls each received a pony and Aidan a lego racecar and they all got a heart filled with M&Ms. Brett got some new black dress socks and some Resee's Pieces, and me? Well, let's just say that my Valentine is not a gift giver, and he (whoever "he" may be) is really sorry about that, but has resolved to the fact that no matter how hard he tries, that fact will probably never change! :-) It's alright...he loves me and that's really all that matters! Truly...after 7 1/2 years of marriage I am absolutely okay with that.

What's on our schedule for today?

-baking bread

-kids get to watch "Spirit" since they have been waiting for it to arrive for a long time

-Valentine Crafts

-art with the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart

-possibly some brownies (but only if I have the will-power to freeze most of them)

-writing some LOVEly poems and stories

-counting hearts (that counts as Math for the day, right? Even if the main student is way beyond counting?)

-Mass at the Newman Center said by our favorite Benedictine monk followed by dinner

-tucking in sweet children and enjoying a quiet Valentine's Night by myself (my Valentine has a concert to attend)

The Race Is On!

We have great neighbors. We've known this since we moved in by the warm welcome we received from every one and the help they've given us. In these cold snowy months their neighborliness (which I'm sure is a word) has really shone! Every time it has snowed our sideswalks, right up to the path that goes to our front door, has been shoveled out before Brett can even get his boots on. This morning is no different.
Thursday mornings are pretty light for Brett so he had breakfast with us, enjoyed the kids playing with their Valentine surprises and was starting to get his shoveling stuff on. Just on a whim I looked outside from our bedroom window only to see our neighbor, Skip, who is retired and lives two houses down approaching our part of the sidewalk after having cleared all the snow from his house to ours.
"Hurry up, Brett! Skip is almost to our house. You've got to get out there before he gets to us! Hurry, hurry, move, move!"
His shoes were tied and his coat almost on.
"Ah, the path to our front steps is already clear, and he's turning the corner to the side..hurry!"
Brett got out the door I think in time to clear the "apron" off of our garage.
So, now...the race is on! Next time it snows...it's ON!!!!!!!

Blessings

Me to Him: You should feel blessed that at least we have hot water so you don't have to go out in sub-zero temperatures to fill a pail before you can wash all the dishes.

Our dishwasher broke....again. This isn't a post to complain about how things are made to be broken and then replaced instead of fixed. Modern conveniences are so nice when you have them. It is easy to rely on these little machines to do our daily chores for us. I might "run a load of laundry", but that is not the same as washing clothes. My hands hardly get wet thanks to a super spin cycle and I don't bang up my knuckles srcubbing clothes on a washboard...nope, just stick 'em the machine and go about my business.
When our little chore doers break, however, it is a big wake-up call. Of course it was easy for me to tell Brett to be thankful since I was on my way upstairs getting ready to bathe three sneezing, coughing, fevering, precious little ones and didn't have to face the counterful of dirty dishes. He was the one who wanted to make that ginormous pot of soup in the first place. :-)
Off to wash my share of dishes so we have some kitchen space for the Maytag man to work tomorrow!

Before I forget

Part of the reason for this blog is to give me something to work from when I actually get a chance to update the kids' "baby" books. So, for the record:

We take part in a tradition with Brett's great friend from high school and his family every Christmastime. It's called C&CC. It has nothing to do with the Catholic Church and it has nothing to do with Conservation Camps. It is simply Christmas Chili and Chocolate Cake (yes, I know a "C" is missing and I've never been able to understand how the acronym is actually formed, but that's not important here). This tradition has been going on for about 11 years now. The group changes slightly from year to year, and we haven't been able to attend the past couple of years since we were so far away. This year we brought the kids since we started the meal earlier in the day. They've attended this elite evening once before, but I'm not sure if they remembered it or not. Before we arrived, I reminded our children that we were having chili tonight, we were guests in someone's house, and we were going to be polite and eat whatever it is that is put in front of us or we will go hungry (so mean I know...same rule applies here). Apparently Aidan was in the kitchen with our hostess and was asked if he liked chili. He paused, looked pensive and stated, "Well, mommy said that we were going to eat whatever was put in front of us because we were guests and we weren't going to be rude, buuuuut....since you asked...no, I do not care for chili!"

Can I help it?

So technically this family has turned off the tv for lent. That was supposed to include the children. But, I'm sure I'm dispensed from my lenten sacrifice if when I wake up the temperature (not including wind chill) reads -20 degrees F, if school takes all of 20 minutes because the pupils can hardly do anything without grabbing a kleenex or coughing, and if the only thing that distracts the almost-two-year old from her inevitable ear infection is sitting on the couch and staring! :-) Surely, I can offer up something else for the day....right? I won't mention the handful of M&Ms I impulsely grabbed before heading down to the basement (brrrrrrrrr) to "work" on the computer. Doh!

*On a side note: If any one was wondering what happens when you use your front, non-heated, entry way to store certain beverages of choice that you don't want taking up room in your refrigerator (i.e. pop/soda/coke/whatever, beer), let ye be warned...remember that can of sizzling fun that you stuck in your freezer to cool off just a tad bit faster, but then you forgot about it? That's right....what I thought was just "shoe yuck" that hadn't melted was in fact Diet Coke (I do not endorse this junk, just live with a lovely man who happens to like it..ick) that had exploded. Lucky for me I'm not expecting the temperature to rise much in the next couple of days so I have awhile before I have to deal with the frozen sticky mess.

How we are...

This picture pretty much sums up how we've been lately. I was going to include the line-up of all the meds these children are on in addition to the list that I have to keep in order to keep track of who took what, how much, and when so I know who can have what else, how much, and when. Fun, fun, fun!

"Mine, all mine!"

Gigi is almost two. With that comes the lovely stage of possessiveness. You know that time of her life when she deems everything as her own. Sometimes it's when she's playing cars with Aidan and takes an armful while stating, "Mine!".
She also has a very endearing side to this possessiveness too which cannot go unmentioned, and in fact almost excuses her for the times she's not so sweet. All of us are "hers". She'll talk to me about "my Emma, my Aidan, my Daddy". My favorite is when we are curled up in bed and she just isn't feeling close enough and asks, "My touch my mommy?" which means she wants to scoot a little closer and drape her little, chubby, almost-two-year-old arm around me. Uh...yeah, you can touch your mommy...any day...any time.

Yum....chocolate!

Lately, I've been buying insane amounts of chocolate! With all the St.Valentine's Day displays out and all of the "great" sales on the stuff how could I resist? I tell myself that I'm celbrating that day devoted to l-o-v-e a little early, and the fact that Lent starts so early this year has been quite an inspiration for me to eat all the chocolate while I can (that's what we're supposed to do, right? hoard all of the stuff we're "giving up"...just kidding!) :-) I figure I'll be deprived of the stuff for 40+ days so I might as well eat all I can now.
Really, truly I am impressed at the amount of the stuff that I can consume without feeling a bit guilty. It's so good...I'm not addicted, no way....I just have....to....have.....chocolate.......NOW!!!!!!!