Ouch

Richard and I spent the morning at the dentist with Joseph. Last night poor little Joseph fell face first onto a big plastic bin and split the front of his gum and twisted one of his front baby teeth into a very odd position. He cried and needed lots of TLC for about a half hour, then declared himself fine. I said to him, "I am so sorry you got hurt" and he replied, "It's ok Mom, I'm fine" If you recall, I mentioned that Joseph was 100% boy, and for some reason he feels the need to prove it again and again. The dentist decided he would try to straighten it out and see how solid it still felt. So they got out the nitrous oxide which Joseph assured me smelled like pizza. And once he was nice and loopy he got several shots around his tooth. He said ouch a couple times during the shot process. The dentist started moving it back into position when pop, out it came, along with the ENTIRE root. I had no idea baby teeth were that HUGE with the root attached. So now he has a hole in his smile as well as a hole in his gum! We have been trying to take it easy this afternoon as it tends to dribble lightly from time to time. Poor little guy! His adult teeth will probably not come in for another couple of years, but I am sure Joseph will adjust to his missing tooth. I am feeling rather heartbroken about the whole thing. I am considering investing in a giant bubble to keep my little guy safe!! Tonight after dinner, at around 6:30, Joseph proclaimed he was tired and asked me to take him to bed. I did and he fell asleep almost instantly. A long day for a little guy!!

My secret obsession...

Looking back, my life has always been full of phases. I obsess over something new and can't seem to get it out of my mind for a while. Eventually I move on, but hopefully I have learned something new and have incorporated it into my life in some way(oh how I wish I could obsess over an organized house, or just a closet!!). Right now my latest obsession is freezer cooking. I don't think I will grow out of this activity, it's just too efficient and fun, but I will probably spend less time pouring over recipe books at some point. Right now, if I have a spare moment, I am reading freezer cook books and bookmarking my favorite recipes and making shopping lists and dreaming of a fully stocked freezer. I take these books with me to appointments, to the park where I can study them while the kids play, I have even been known to take a cook book along while taking a bath! I know, its crazy, but I am ok with that.

Did you know the library is a great place for cook books of every kind? I have learned there are people who cook for the entire month in just one weekend, its called OAMC-Once A Month Cooking. They prepare all the food, freeze it and then pull it out each day as needed. Isn't that cool? We used to eat out quite often. At the end of a long day I felt entitled to grab some fast food for my family. I know that is not healthy and with our budget realignment a while back cooking every night has become a necessity and a reality! I am not the most organized person and the thought of everything involved with one day of cooking a month truly scares me. So I have been taking small steps. If I am making one meal for my family, I triple the recipe and freeze two. Or some afternoons I make several meals and triple them and freeze them. Right now my freezer has about 35 meals in it. I have a list and its kinda like going to a restaurant and ordering with the variety we have in there right now. We have Caribbean Pork, Parsley Parmesan Chicken, Crab Quiche, Seafood Creole, Mariachi Chicken, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Manicoti, Spinach Feta Lasagna Rolls, Mediterranean Chicken, Christmas Quiche(don't let the name fool you, its delicious any time of year), Chicken A La King, and Italian Macaroni & Cheese and lots of homemade spagetti sauce and taco meat. This week I will be making some chicken enchilladas, pizza burgers and sloppy joe mix to freeze as well. It is reassuring to know that I have so many meals put away for the month. Its great on the budget too. When chicken goes on sale, I pour through the chicken sections of my books and buy in bulk and focus on chicken dishes. When hamburger goes on sale, that is my focus. I am learning new ways to cook and bake and honestly I am having a lot of fun with it. So far most of the meals have turned out beautifully and the family likes them!

My sister Megan and I are planning to get together in a couple of weeks. We will each plan several meals, we will make them together and then swap with each other for greater variety! I think it would be great fun to start up a cooking club with a bunch of friends where everyone could bring multiples of their favorite frozen meals and swap with everyone else.

My favorite freezer recipe books are Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer, and Fix, Freeze, Feast and the Freezer Cooking Manuel from 30 Day Gourmet. There are lots of others, but these are great for family cooking!

OK, so I have taken the first step, I have admitted I have obsessive issues. I will probably seek professional help...but not till the freezer is packed full of dinners! If you don't think I am absolutely crazy, come join me sometime, we can fill your freezer too!

What a day!

Jake has been playing on the church basketball league again this year. It has been fun to go watch them play. You would think there would be less competition since it is a church league, but they boys play hard and take it pretty seriously. Well today was the championship tournament. Our team only lost one game all season, where we forfeited because most of our team was at a scouting event or something. So Jake played at 11am, it was close and could have gone either way, but in the end our team won! Jake scored 9 points and got 3 of 4 free throw shots.

Since they won, they got to play one more game for the big championship. It was pretty one sided and we won by a landslide, but the boys from both teams played hard. This is the second year of organized basketball for the young men and this is the second time our team won first place. Go Glencoe Ward!! So Jake is hosting a viewing of the movie "Church Ball" right now. Popcorn, soda and cookies! Fun stuff. I am very impressed with the boys on our team. Many are seniors and they are such great guys. They are encouraging to the younger team members and I really enjoy watching how they all interact with one another. Our first game started with the youngest member of the team sinking a 3 pointer!

In between games we did the grocery shopping, dropped Annalina at a Birthday party, took Adrienne and her friend to the movie theater...well, it was a pretty non-stop kinda day, so I am enjoying relaxing for a bit!

This evening we had the pleasure of having the missionaries over for dinner. We used to have them every few weeks, but its been a while since they have been over. We grilled hamburgers and salmon burgers and when dinner was over they played a fun game of Mexican Train with us. One is from Tonga and the other from Ohio. Richard showed them google earth and they showed us where they are from. What a fun couple of guys! The kids absolutely adore the missionaries and I am always amazed at the wonderful spirit they bring into our home. We will have them back at the end of May, but if I get a choice, it will be sooner!

Happy Birthday to you....Joseph!!

My baby turned four today! And when Megan called to wish him a happy birthday, after Nathan sang to him, she asked him how old he was and he replied four and a half!! So ready to be grown up and yet I am not sure how ready I am for that. It is hard to believe it was four years ago that we first met this sweet little spirit! He had preschool today and got to take Oreos to share with his classmates. He was carrying the bag inside and tripped and skinned his knee pretty bad. Not a good start to such a special day, but he got a colorful bandaid and was soon just fine. After school I splurged and got him a kids meal with a chocolate shake AND a sprite, since that is an unfulfilled dream of his to have both. He did not touch the Sprite. ::sigh:: Tonight I had a pack meeting to go to and Annalina had softball practice and Jake had a track meet, so little celebrating took place. But I saw this coming so we celebrated over the weekend.

Last week I got a cool coupon good for a free build-a-bear critter so Richard and I took him there Saturday afternoon. He choose a cute camouflaged bear whom he promptly named Fred. How cute is that? He picked out a purple heart to support autism research and he had a great time stepping on the pedal to fill the bear with fluff and brushing him under the air bath. He even helped in making the birth certificate! We took him to do this for the first time last year when he turned 3. He made a monkey whom he named Joey. He did not know what to expect and was in awe the entire time. When we got to checkout, he told the cashier she could keep it, he didn't want it! It was too funny! This time he understood how most of it worked and was even happy to take the bear home with him!

On Sunday I took the kids to Stake Conference since Richard was working most of the weekend on a huge project or two. We baked a cake and opened gifts. He got a really cool flight jacket from Grandma and Grandpa, an astronaut bear that he loves, a wooden helicopter, and then the doorbell rang and he went to answer it and found a bike!! A friend had given it to us last month thinking he could use it, so we put it aside to help stretch our birthday gift budget! He had a great birthday, both today and over the weekend!

A little about Joseph. If I had to choose one word to describe him, well, I don't think I could. But sweet comes to mind. And curious. And strong-willed. I have a history of large babies and since Joseph was due on the 20th, along with my encouragement my Dr decided we would induce a little early. So we went in on the 12th of April to meet our little guy. Remember the part about strong-willed? Well Joseph was NOT ready to leave his warm comfy home in the womb and after about 24 hours of trying, home I went. I slept the entire next day. When Jake came home from school he looked at me and said "why are you here and where is the baby?" He was not pleased that our promise of baby brother's arrival was broken. We hadn't even considered this could happen so we didn't think to prepare the kiddos for it!!! So Jake stayed mad for a while and I stayed pregnant. My due date came and went and on the 22nd we again went in to have this baby, one way or another. Luckily the natural way won out. I tried to have an epidural and after enduring about 45 minutes of getting it in, it came disconnected somewhere along the way and never took effect. The anesthesiologist had run off to do another and never made it back. Luckily Joseph came pretty quickly after that. He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and was so perfect and cute! He lost about a pound that first week and remained small for a while. After the first month, he was a high maintenance baby and was not happy with the world. It was exhausting! But once he learned to crawl and could get around he was a delightful child! He just wanted to interact with this world we live in, not just watch from the swing or car seat! He walked at about 10 months and has continued to make leaps and bounds in his development! He is happy mostly, he is kind to others and his curiosity pushes him into activities like drawing on the walls again and again, taking things apart, breaking things...well he is pure 100% boy, except that his favorite color is pink. I love my little guy and cannot imagine my life without him!

Happy Earth Day to you all as well. Yes, Joseph was born on Earth Day, a fact that Jake made us aware of the day Joseph was born or I might not have realized it! For our pack meeting we planted trees in the churches large sports field. It was hot earlier in the week, in the 80's, but today the wind started blowing and though I think it stayed in the 60's, it was a cold day! After school I went and stood in the wind for a bone chilling hour hoping to get to see Jake run the 3K, but had to leave for the pack meeting before the race took place. I rushed back in time to give Jake a ride home. Well, I tried to be there, and I actually was there, just not at the right time! But I am ok with it and so is Jake.

Super Jake...And Why I Will Never Have the Title of Mother of the Year

Yesterday was a busy day. There was preschool, scouts and t-ball practice for Annalina. It was also track meet day for Jake. He informed me he was only running the 3000(that is like 7 laps). Oh yes, and he informed me he was running the varsity race for the first time this season! How cool is that? So we took Annalina to her practice and then stopped by to watch Jake run, only the meet was over and he wasn't there! Bummer, I really love watching that boy run. So we get home and he's not here either. Richard goes off to find him while I get the kids ready for bed. Minutes later they get home and guess what?? My freshman son not only ran the Varsity 3000 race, he came in FIRST place! And I missed it!!! I cannot believe I missed his first huge win! So congratulations to my super fast running son, who so generously forgives me for not being there to cheer him on and celebrate! Another victory for Jake when the Blazers won big last night securing the home court advantage in the NBA playoffs. We don't have cable, so he listens to the game on the radio, which is actually a step up from how he used to watch on the internet where they show a court with X's for the players and the score only gets updated every 90 seconds or so!

A side note...earlier in the week I had a bad day and could not sleep with all sorts of crazy things going through my head. I was up until about 3am fretting. At 7 it was time to get the little ones up. While fixing sack lunches I was telling Annalina how tired I was. She asked why and I told her I was up really really late. Her reply was "Did daddy kissing you keep you awake?" It was so cute! Sadly, I can honestly say that was not the case!

In Honor of Suzi

The June before last my husband and I spent a long weekend in Boise Idaho at the Anniversary Inn. We stayed in a beautiful South Pacific themed room. The bed was in a grass covered hut. The jacuzzi tub was surrounded by rocks and boulders and the shower was a beautiful waterfall. Every inch of wall and ceiling were painted. The ceiling to look like the sky, one wall to look like a jungle scene with a waterfall and another wall to look like the ocean rolling onto a peaceful beautiful beach. When we walked into the room, satellite radio was playing soothing music, sparkling cider was chilling on ice and we had two champagne flutes filled with chocolate kisses. In the morning we were served fresh fruit and omelets, pastries and juice in our room. How romantic eh?
I don't know if you have ever heard of the Anniversary Inn. There are four of them. The Boise location has over 30 rooms and in the afternoon before check in, they leave all the doors to the vacant rooms open so you can see them all. They range from Romeo and Juliet themed to Jungle themed to Egyptian tomb themed. I had so much fun going from room to room the second day we were there! It was a much needed get away for Richard and I. We realized that we had never been away alone together, except for our one night honeymoon we took a month after we were married! So check out their website for virtual tours if you'd like. Such fun! I truly want to decorate all the rooms in my house into themed rooms.
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/boise.php

Anyway, our reason for going to Boise Id, was not to spend the weekend at the Anniversary Inn....well, ok that not entirely true. Richard's reason for being there was not to spend the weekend there, but to pick up a motorcycle he found on Craig's List. He had been looking for a new bike for a while and found the perfect bike for him in Boise. I probably agreed to the whole thing solely for the purpose of getting to finally stay at the Anniversary Inn. So on the way into Boise we stopped, he rode and then bought a Suzuki VStrom 1000. I think that's all the correct letters and numbers to describe it. We then headed to the Inn where he took me for a quick, very short ride on the bike. I was a bit nervous which probably made Richard a bit nervous. After a glorious weekend of relaxation, including a nice drive to find the Boise Temple, a fabulous sushi dinner and Caffeine Free Dr Pepper hunt(we brought home a 6 month supply!!), Richard rode Suzi home while I followed behind in the minivan full of Dr Pepper.

He loves this motorcycle and has ridden it every chance he got, which in Oregon means late Spring, Summer and early Autumn. I'll admit, its a nice looking bike and I was happy that he was so happy with it. If you keep up with my blog, you know I lost most of my income late last year and Richard's has been cut as well. We have been rebudgeting and learning how to live off of less. We have been selling all of our excess possessions and even sold our beloved four poster canopy bed frame. We have been able to build a bit of an emergency fund this way. Well, Richard decided that for the time being, he could do without a motorcycle and he made the decision, with no pressure from me, I promise, to sell his beloved bike. A sad sad day for Richard. And yet, I am so proud of him for sacrificing something that means so much to him for the good of our family. I know it was hard for him to watch it go!

So this blog post is in honor of the motorcycle that safely carried my husband back and forth to work and everywhere else he went with it. And it is also in honor of my sweet visionary husband who recognizes that sacrifices like this today will help secure all of our tomorrows! Thanks sweetie!

Career path of a 3 year old

As well as being a Jeterinarian as Joseph has planned for now, I see a great future in photography for him. Yesterday Joseph was playing trains in the front room, a favorite pastime of his. I was working in the kitchen and was glad he was busy and having fun. Then it got quiet, very quiet, too quiet. But in my joyous state of getting something done uninterrupted, I did not recognize that silence for what it was. You would think I would know better, just last week it got too quiet and I walked in on Joseph finger and toe painting the hardwood floor in the dining area with an entire bottle of Elmer's glue. Perfect sweet precious little footprints leading away from the mess... to the carpet. I know these times are fleeting and someday I will miss the little hand prints everywhere, but probably not the ones made with glue!! Back to my current story...

A few minutes later I realized I was not hearing the whirring sounds of trains going around the tracks. I was hearing nothing at all. Just then Joseph came flying around the corner to tell me, "Mom, I took pictures, I took ALL the pictures". Sure enough, he had dug my small digital camera out of my purse and had figured out how to turn it on and how to make it work. Below is some of his work, see the progression? Eventually he figured out how to get his fingers out of the shots and started taking photos of his toys and things that interested him. I think he may have a future in this! Just not with MY camera!!!

A close up of a pillow on the sofa.
Quite a few close ups of his fingers, but he did finally get it....

One of his favorite things to pay with!

Yes, a box of cereal on its side...on the carpet. How grateful we are that we cannot see the whole picture!!The skylight, interesting exposure....kinda pretty!

Our neighborhood!!

Ooops, the dogs didn't eat their breakfast yet!!