Leprechaun Leaves

Eric and I have been drinking green smoothies for breakfast for a few weeks now. The main ingredient is spinach leaves, which Colin calls leprechaun leaves. After a couple of mornings of Eric and I having the smoothies, Colin told me that he had his own recipe that he wanted to try with the leprachaun leaves. Before I continue, I need to say that Colin is our little anti-nutrient child. It's like he can smell a nutrient a mile away and doesn't want to have anything to do with it. He wanted to try orange juice and spinach, which was amazing that he even suggested it, seeing as spinach is packed full of goodness, so we gave it a whirl. And he liked it (it's actually kind of amazing how little you can taste the spinach)! He got a little green spinach mustache, he actually enjoyed nutrients, and has asked for it whenever he catches me making my smoothie. So it wasn't too surprising this morning when he asked me to make "his recipe" when I was making my smoothie. But it did surprise me when he said he had a new ingredient to add to his--brace yourself--get ready for it----Cheese! Yuck! But he was dead set on it. It took some discussion, but I got him to go for not blending it in this time, but maybe just dipping it to see if he liked it. I blended his drink, and he got a couple different cheeses to dip, and guess what--he liked it!! He raved about how great it was, and then he brought on the nasty, nasty. He decided he was gonna break the cheese up and put it in the drink, but since the chunks wouldn't come through his straw, he microwaved it. When it was done he stirred it up, and drank it down, talking up his new creation the whole time. In many ways it was exciting to sit back and watch his little creative juices flow on the whole thing, but mostly just nasty. Those delicious leprechaun leaves.

Weekend

It's always a good day when you go to the park

It was so nice to be able to enjoy some time visiting the park this morning. I can't think of how any day with a visit to the park can be bad. The boys had a lot of fun.

Our Princess

Amber turned 7 just a little while ago. Ocassionally I fear she'll lose her kid side sooner than I'll be ready for. But almost every Saturday, she reassures me that she is still our little princess that loves to dress up and go anywhere and everywhere in her get ups. This is this past Sat.

The simple things in life

There are things that make my world brighter. These are just a few of them that I've been thinking about for some time now, and wanted to jot down. They're simple things that maybe sometimes don't get enough recognition.

Great neighbors
Just the other day, our electricity went out. I had just given Owen his nebulizer treatment and with the exception of that, we weren't in need of the electricity and would be fine until the power outage was fixed. At least that's what I thought until I realized I needed to use electricity to get our van out of the garage to take Colin to preschool. My initial thought was to just not take him to preschool that day. Then I thought I'd go see if our neighbor would be willing to give us a ride since I noticed her car wasn't parked in their garage today. Before I could even finish asking, she just handed me the keys to her Denali. Wow, amazing! I'm pretty sure nothing of the sort ever would have happened in any of our old neighborhoods. The kicker is, this wasn't an isolated incident. All of our neighbors are just as amazing. It's a real community here, not just a bunch of strangers in homes near each other.
From the moment Eric and I moved in, we knew we jackpotted an amazing community. And this has only been emphasized time after time after time.

One on one time with my little ones
It's rare that I get these moments. So when I do get them, I relish in them. I love the connection that I can make with that child, the memories we make, the attention I can give solely to them. It's so fun to learn their inner thinkings and personalities more during these times. We started Daddy/Kid time years ago when Eric was in school and it seemed the kids never really got to see him, let alone spend time with him and have just continued these because they have become so special. Recently I have thought, there's really no reason I shouldn't be able to have some one on one time with them too. I always thought that because I saw them all the time, there was no need for it. But that special one on one time is different from the regular run of the mill time together.

A good Dollar theater
We've always been fans of the dollar theater. It's always been the most affordable way to see a movie in the theaters, and a majority of the time, the only affordable way for us to see a movie. Even though we are now through those rough school years, our family is a growing broad, and the prices to see a movie at a regular theater have just become absurdly expensive. We could easily spend $50 for our little family just to get admission to the movie---or we can spend just $10 at the dollar theater for admission, popcorn and soda, for all of us! Let's see?--kind of a no brainer for us. An extra perk of the dollar theater for us is also the fact that we don't feel so bad taking our sometimes disturbing children to them, because for the most part, that's what the audience is full of--sometimes disturbing children.

Time in the kitchen whipping up a new masterpiece (or at least attempting to)
I love to cook! It's soothing, relaxing, exciting, invigorating all in one. It's always so fun to try something new out or give a new twist to an old favorite. Although I'll admit the "testing" is not always point on, I would have to say for the most part it's enticing.
I have learned much in my years of cooking/experimenting. I am a better cook for it. I know I'm not anywhere near the chef my brother Tim is, who seems to just have an impeccable knowledge and palate for it all (I'm sure it helps that he actually trained to be a chef), but that doesn't matter to me. I know many that don't really care to cook or prefer to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible, but I am not one of those. I love that my family needs to eat everyday. It gives me the opportunity to do something that I love and feels like it takes me away to a place of less stress and bliss. Even if just temporary, it's a feeling of shear joy, and I love it.

The amazing high you get from a heart pounding, sweat drenching workout
I'll be the first to admit, sometimes it can be hard to find the time and true motivation to get that workout in. I always want to do it, and it's usually just the getting started part that I sometimes struggle with. But once I'm going, I'm GOING!! I love it. The heart starts pounding, the sweat starts dripping, I pump the music up just a little bit louder, and I'm feeling better, stronger and healthier each step further I take. That's what gets me going. I just have to remember the amazing feeling of accomplishing a great, successful workout to want to jump right back in. There are days I wish I could work out all day long, to just stay on that high, but reluctantly life (nor my body) permits that. It's an amazing feeling, and I have found that as long as I'm consistent with it, it makes a real difference in how things go. In the way I perceive things, as well as the way I react.

An amazing husband
I've always felt Eric and I have a good marriage. We are on the same page in so many important aspects of life--religious, financial, family, etc. He's always been a great father, friend, etc.
Recently my Mom gave us a book about love languages. One of my goals for this year is to read a book every month (I know pitiful to you book clubbers out there--but I just don't have the time to devote to personal reading that I used to). The love languages book was first up. At the end of the month I felt I had a better understanding of how people perceive/feel love. I followed some pointers in the book to strengthen our marriage and passed the book to Eric for him to read. Over the next few weeks, he really stepped it up. He started taking on chores of mine that I abhor, just to ease my load. He's made a true effort to communicate in my main love languages that he loves me--or so I thought. Just a night or two ago, I found the book under some magazines of mine on my nightstand. He never read it. He's just plain amazing, and obviously doesn't need a book to help him realize how to show that he really cares. Thank you Eric. I love you.

It wouldn't be breakfast without a little spilt milk, right?

Bryce really likes having milk in his cereal, I prefer he didn't. Having milk in his cereal requires me to spoon feed him, which honestly during the morning rush, I just don't typically have time to do. Occasionally on mornings we're up early, it'll work out that we can do that, but this morning was not one of those mornings. So I gave him a bowl of mixed cereal, per his preference, and a sippy cup of milk. We had apparently left the open milk jug just a little to close to him and while nobody was looking he decided he was going to put milk in his cereal. Thus the picture. (He's crying because big brother, can also try and double as big enforcer and got after him for the spill--so sad he was. All he wanted was some dang milk in his cereal.)

Our Baby is 6 months old today!

Wow the time has flown since that whirlwind of fun 6 months ago. The whirlwind has calmed, and our little boy is growing. He has brought such joy to the family. They boys adore him, Ham can't stop playing with his ear, and Mom and Dad love when he gets on his giggling fits.

As mentioned earlier, he has broken his first tooth, flipped from belly to back, mastered jumping in the jumperoo, has the tightest grip (especially when hair is involved-just ask older siblings) and is currently making his immune system stronger while fighting off some RSV.

We love you Owen, we couldn't imagine our family without you.