Cute Just Got Out-Cuted

While I was flipping through a Family Fun magazine Saturday morning I came across this title on an ad from Burger King attempting to woo me into driving 25 minutes to town to try their new Burger Shots. The picture has a very cute little Daschund puppy sitting in a garden pot looking up at you with begging eyes. You know those pick me up and take me home eyes. The eyes that I can't resist. Well I think I can "out cute" that sweet little puppy but I'll let you be the judge.

Abby, wearing her "Dr. Hinton" glasses.

Yeah I know...I can't resist her either!

Mamma Bree

Bree has really gotten into being a mamma to her baby dolls. Last week we had such nice weather that we played outside a lot. At one point in the day Bree was the only one outside so I decided to snap a few photos of her while she didn't know that's what I was doing. It was such a sweet moment and I love that I captured a moment in time of her just being her.
Matt and I have always sung the song You are my sunshine to the girls. It was quite fitting during our adoption journey and it always soothed them and calmed their cries. After the adoption was final we changed the last verse to say: You have been my sunshine today. Well that verse has become part of our special family tradition. We now enjoy singing the song to one another by adding the persons name in instead of the word sunshine. I share all of this with you because as I was clicking away with my camera Bree was singing this:

You are my baby

My only baby

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You'll never know baby

How much I love you

You have been

My baby today.

She is so stinkin' cute! AND I'm the luckiest mommy in the whole wide world.

Does anyone else's house look like this at the end of the day?

This is pretty bad, but not far from typical. I could have done a slide show of the rest of the house, with close-ups of the floor and unfolded laundry on the kitchen table, but that would be depressing. For me, at least. For you, it would probably be quite edifying.

It's embarrassing. Truly embarrassing. Which is why I feel the urge to post it on my blog for all the world to see. Because I make sense like that.

Catholics go to confession.
Bloggers go to Google.

Anyway. Sigh. It is one of the most discouraging things in my life - the fact that I no longer have a nice, tidy, and clean smelling home. I try. I try hard. I can get it clean but it only stays clean about fifteen minutes. I’m concerned that I’ve become Domestically Impaired. My works are like filthy rags.

I would love to say it is the kids' fault. And it is true, they are amazingly, impressively unclean.
But, the truth is, I am just as messy because I’m no longer capable of completing a task from start to finish.

The problem is that it bothers me. When my house is like this my chest gets tight and my eyes squint and Mommy gets Grouchy.

It happens...a lot lately.

Maybe if I keep this up Matt will order me to hire a housekeeper every other week or maybe even every week. I think she should come every Friday and like Jesus, she’d wash away all my sin.

See how I can work a biblical analogy into that? I am So. Holy.

G'night

A Trip To The Firestation

Our local MOPS group (Mothers Of Preschoolers) took a field trip to the fire station. It was spring break for school age children so the group usually goes on field trips so the older kids can join in. I sort of kept it a surprise for the girls and they were so excited when I finally told them we were going to a real fire station. The kids had a blast meeting our firemen, touring the station and getting to sit in the big firetruck.

In Memory

Last Tuesday I received a phone call that our family doctor, Daniel Earl, went home to the Lord. It has been difficult to deal with his passing since last month I nearly lost my dad to a heart attack (of which Dr Earl died of).
Dr Earl was more than a great doctor and friend to us, he was part of us, caring for us as if we were his own family. His passion for Christ was always evident in everything he did. When my kids went in for checkups it was more like a play date because he would get down on the floor and goof around with them. Needless to say the kids adored him! Dr Earl also helped me through my journey of infertility and always guided me back to my Lord and Savior for hope when I felt there was no hope. That's just how he lived his life; full of faith.
May I imitate his faith in life: pedalling and finishing well. He will be sorely missed!
Please pray for his wife and three children.

Stupid Stupid Wind

The wind just blew like crazy today. Did you know that wind makes children hyper? Yep, I saw it first hand when I worked at Dexter and now with my own children. I can't explain it but it does. My guess is it's because they have been cooped up in the house all day. Which is why I didn't know about the dirty little trick the wind played on my chinobilly greenhouse until around 7:30 this evening. My poor baby plants got tumbled all over our yard and now I don't really know what is what. Thank goodness my little greenhouse had a nice tight lid on it. I've tried to salvage as much as I can but I pretty much just replanted seeds into the jumbled pots. Stupid, stupid wind.

Spring

The grass is turning green.

Little yellow daffodils are shouting good morning.

Bees are buzzing around the apricot tree.

Hello warmer days

Welcome back spring! I've missed you...

And to think these pictures were taken almost a month ago (yep I'm that far behind in sorting through my photos)...only 16 days after the infamous snow-woman beheading incident of '09.

Crazy isn't it?

In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. ~Mark Twain

I think Mark Twain must have been speaking of Arizona.

Quote of the day

I saw this quote in a magazine I was browsing through this morning.
"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning the devil says, "OH CRAP, SHE'S UP"!

Love it!

Wordless Wednesday

Bree and I were talking in the kitchen the other night while I was making dinner. My Bible was open on the counter as I had been doing a quick Bible study earlier in the day. Our conversation went something like this.

Bree: Mamma is this your Bible?

Me: Yep

Bree: Wow, are you reading about Jesus?

Me: I was learning all about how much He loves us and wants us to live in a way that pleases Him.

Bree: Oh

Me: What are you learning about Jesus?

Bree: Stories

Me: Tell me a story

Bree: One day God turned on the lights...(a very long pause)...then Mommy went to Wal-mart.

Me: speechless

My husband is a genius!

On Sunday we planted and planted and planted some more. Which led to a little tiny dilemma. Where the heck are we going to put all these pots of veggie goodness until the earth decides to warm enough to put them in the ground? We began discussing some sort of makeshift greenhouse that would allow the plants to be outside but still get warm enough to sprout. The problem was our perpetual money shortage and the absence of an extra window with hinges. Don’t you just hate money or should I say the lack of it?



Then it came to my genius of a man. Why not use some of my Rubbermaid storage containers as makeshift greenhouses then bring the wee little plants inside at night.

Exhibit A

I KNOW! He’s freaking brilliant!

Exhibit B

Look at those babies enjoying their sauna!

(Maybe we can find one large enough for a chinobilly sauna and invite all our friends over to bake in the sun too! )

Exhibit C

See we even used a leftover piece of lumber to allow for some air circulation.

Now I can add this statement to my ever growing and entirely true list of you might be a chinobilly ifs:
If you start your garden in Rubbermaid storage containers, you might be a chinobilly.

Let the Children Plant!

Man, do we have big plans for our garden. I’ve already mapped out the new vegetables I’m going to plant, problem is, short of selecting all the things I want to plant, I haven’t done one thing to prepare. Yep. You heard me. The chinobillies had quite a bit going on lately, with more expected over the next month or so, and then there’s the matter of where the money is going to come from, too bad money trees don’t grow in our climate zone, and oh, I guess my two children, husband, and laundry might have something to do with life being a little on the busy side.

But that’s it—no more waiting. If I have to trudge outside in my galoshes and till my soil in a raging thunderstorm, I don’t care; I’m starting on my garden. Wait. I don’t have galoshes. The weatherman is predicting temperatures to be in the upper 60’s with no chance of rain. And I won’t run a tiller unless my life depended on it so never mind.

We’ll just stick to this method for now.

Let the children pick out seeds.

But I don't like tomatoes...said in a very whiney voice


Seeds? What are seeds? Why are we planting them? Why do they need to grow? Why are we going to eat them? Why~ Why~ WHY?

Let the children prepare the soil.

Let the children poke holes in the dirt.

Let the children plant the seeds.

Let the children water.

Let the children rejoice.

Before too long this garden I’ve been dreaming about (losing sleep over) will be a disorganized mess of tomato plants and peas and jalapenos, and I’m okay with that. Because it gives the kids a reason to handle the soil, to dig, to water, to fertilize…to watch and wait as the plants grow larger…and, eventually, prayerfully, to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Keepin' It Real

Back in January Matt and I purchased these really neat cubical storage units available at Lowes for the kids room (you can also get them at Target). We bought a 9 cube unit, a 6 cube unit, a book shelf , and these fabric drawers. It wasn't cheap and of course they were on sale the week before we bought them but boy has it been a great investment! I love them, the kids love them, and yes there is peace on earth! First of all the bright colored drawers go well with the room, there is plenty of space for everything, and the kids like to put their toys in the cubbies. You say yeah right, her kids pick up. Darn right I get the kids to pick up and they are great little helpers as well as mess makers.

Here is a before photo. *gasp* Hey I'm just keepin' it real...

About twice a week I let the kids do what I call "free play". Generally in the mornings when I am trying to get the toilets scrubbed or the floors done or eat bon-bons on the couch while watcing Days of Our Lives I let them run amuck and play with whatever their little hearts desire. They usually desire to simply make a mess. When I am done with my part of the chores then I go in and assess the damage. As you can see from the picture above the girls are usually pretty proud of their mess and the shocked look on mommy’s face that so much mess can be made in a matter of an hour.

Then mommy announce it's time to clean up. In order to make it fun we set the timer and challenge ourselves to tidy up as fast as we can. It’s great incentive for them. We also sing a song we learned from the kids show Little Bill. I won't bore you with the details. But ~ in a matter of 5 minutes or less (they are getting really good) the room looks like this again!

And everything is right with the world again.

Jesus has a little lamb

Abby was helping me fold laundry yesterday. Her job was to put the kitchen dishcloths and towels away in the proper drawer in the kitchen. She got a bit distracted with one of my flour-sack towels. She ran into the living room where Matt was working on something and said “Look Daddy, I look like Jesus”. He looked down from his ladder to find the white towel draped around her head. He laughed and told her to go show her Mommy. So she ran over to me and told me the same thing as Matt was yelling to go get the camera. By this time Bree wanted to join in the fun so she grabbed a flour-sack towel too. I am always more than happy to snap off some pictures of my cuties so here they are.

After I took the photos. Bree and Abby start singing a song:

Jesus has a little lamb
Little lamb
Little lamb
Jesus has a little lamb
Her fleece is white as snow.

They told us they learned the song in Sunday school. God has certainly blessed us with two precious angels. My goodness how they make us so happy! Thank you Lord for our sweet little lambs.

Here's to family

Over the weekend were got to visit with my Uncle David and Aunt Helen who are visiting from snowy Colorado. It was such a blessing to have family over for lunch. I love being with my family and of course eating. I really love eating. I know you all really like pictures…so do I…but Aunt Helen does NOT. Nope, no way! So even though I got to snap some super cute pictures of them with the kids I have promised not to post them to the blog. It’s killing me...just killing me! However, she is a computer genius and she threatened to do very, very, VERY bad things to my computer, my dear old computer, my window to the outside world, if I shared the goods. So maybe a recipe will appease my blog audience of 3 or 4. It’s a favorite of mine and it’s a breeze to make. Oh did I mention it is just about my all time favorite dessert? Next to peach pie anyway. Just ask my friend Sooze.

Enjoy and goodbye.

Gardening? Perhaps...

Okay, the temperatures here in hick-ville are not on my side on this debate so it might be a little premature to start thinking about my garden. But I can’t help it; the bug has officially entered my bloodstream. Suddenly, I lie awake at night, twiddling my hair and trying to wake up my sweety-peachy by placing my frozen hiney on his backside, all I can think about is which tomato varieties I’m going to plant, where should the garden be placed, and how many square feet can I convince Matt to let me have. And where are the garden hoses we bought last year? Oh yeah Oli ate them. Babe? Will you get me a load of dirt from Marks yard? I’ll be your best friend. This year I’m growing a lot of carrots. I could use some dump cake right now. Should I get up? It’s cold and the wind is blowing. Matt is snoring. What was that noise? I’m steering clear of okra this year…

This was my mind at 3:21 this morning.

This is precisely the time of year I force myself to start thinking about my garden, because I’ve watched my most amazing mother-in-law tend her garden for the last 3 years here in the hills of nowhere. But then I wait too long, and by the first week of May I still haven’t planted my tomatoes. As a result, I wind up watching my in-laws reap the fresh goodness of the land (thank goodness they share).

And usually I thank myself for my chronic procrastination. Because I know while it can be an exciting experience, it’s also a huge responsibility. There’s daily, unrelenting work to keep the weeds and varmints...AKA Oli knocked back, pest control...AKA Oli, watering (which, in July and August, has to begin early in the morning), and of course—harvesting the fruits of your labor (the ones Oli or the twins didn’t get) so they don’t wither and waste on the plants.

Wait a minute…WHY do I want a garden so much?

Oh, yeah. I remember: it’s because I have fond memories of tending garden next to my mom as a child. Growing up in the country proved to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, next to marriage and motherhood and the fun I have writing for my blog every day (erh, every once in a while).

In addition to continuing to chronicle the progress in raising two wild and crazy chinobillies and our adventures in life, I might be starting a Gardening journal shortly (might is the operative word here. Sometimes I forget five minutes into the future). This is not for you experienced vegetable gardeners or farmers (though you might get a kick out of watching a rookie at work), but for those of you who have a fire in your belly to grow a tomato or a squash or two…but don’t know where to start…neither do I. I have dreams of building simple (very simple) raised vegetable beds, playing in the warm soil, experiencing life through the eyes of my kids and maybe even reaping the rewards. We might even start a compost heap or two, just for kicks. HA! At least the kids are on board!

Now, where did that dear husband of mine go? Oh honey...
Love,
Jenn the Crazy Gardening Dreamer