Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC)

OK, so I really did miss Saturday today. I thought yesterday was Saturday for most of the day. Or it felt like it was anyway. Today I have been so busy getting the house and things ready for Zion's birthday party tomorrow today that I didn't even realize what day it was. Oh well. Here is my submission for SOOC Saturday. I really love this meme since ALL of my pictures are always straight out of my camera. Unless I crop one they are untouched and even cropping is rare for me. Not because I think I'm so good (so not) but because I'm just too busy.

Today's pic is of Zion and her first sight of a real honest to goodness elephant. Some of you may recall my daughter's fondness for elephants (BTW, I did finally find her elephant the other day - whew!) but I don't think she expected them to be so big. And not only is this picture straight out of the camera I took it without looking. I was holding Zion on my hip at the time which is too close for my camera to focus so I held it cockeyed and off to the side and just clicked blind.

I wish I'd managed to get the elephant in the first one but at least I got one in the second.

Go check out Slurping Life and the other submissions there. Enjoy!

Just Thought You Outta Know

The capacity of Zion's right nostril is four kernels of corn.

Shhh. These Lips Are Not For Singing.

All my kids have had their trick when it came to soothing. Gabe liked to be held and rocked and liked his paci. Zion loved to be sung to, so much in fact that I would sing as I placed her in her crib and sing as I ever so quietly backed out the door (and prayed that it would work). Gideon is a bounce and pat kind of kid for others and for me he likes to nurse but the funny thing is what he doesn't like. He HATES to be sung to. If a single note departs from my lips he screams with anger. Really, I'm not that bad. I don't know why he hates it so much. It offends him some how. Every once in a while I'll try it again just to see. I tried it tonight as I checked his diaper before his 10PM feeding. I thought hey, I'll just sing to him so he doesn't fuss while I peek so I started out "If all the raindrops..." and didn't even get to "the" when the infuriated howl burst from his mouth. OK. I get the hint. No singing. Not even a note.

Ahhhh!

Must.



Find.



The elephant!



It was not to be found at bedtime tonight. Zion reluctantly accepted a stuffed cow instead but you could see by the look on her face that this is a temporary and unacceptable solution. I've scoured and searched the house since then and cannot find that darn elephant. I hope that she'll run across it in the morning. Lord help us if we don't find it soon.

Fun On The Farm

Literally. We were actually at a place called "The Farm". And we had fun. This was an event sponsored by The ARC where my sister works. This was their Fall Festival and I absolutely cannot resist a Fall festival of any kind. Once again there isn't much to say that the pictures fail to communicate so here's my slide show (my new addiction so that I don't have to bog you down with a hundred pics in one post). I've added my favorite at the end of the post. I can't believe our luck that we got this shot.




Aren't Gideon's rosy cheeks just the bomb! Oh yeah, everyone else is looking pretty good too!

Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC)

Is it Saturday? I nearly missed it. Been busy as a bee working on some things that I cannot reveal just yet. But at least I can participate in SOOC.


Today's offering comes courtesy of the pumpkin farm that we went to last Sunday. They had a lovely old truck and some beautiful new flowers.

I've yet to have time to post about the fun time we had their but I'll get around to it. Perhaps next.

Flashback Friday

I don't have a picture to go with this one, just words. Two little girls ride imaginary horses up and down a gravel country lane lined with tall trees and salmon berry bushes. At the end is a farm with a white farm house and pastures that back in the day held cows and chickens. Back then their Grandpa would regale the younger girl with stories of horses and sing You Are My Sunshine to her over and over. Nothing much surrounded that farm, an old feed store and lots of lots of woods. Down the nearest paved road stood the chapel where the old man's daughter married the young girls father.

I was at that farm decades ago and I drove by it again today. I wish I could say that it hasn't changed since I raced make believe horses down that drive. Today nothing is the same. The drive is barricaded by the city, who knows what is at the end. The seemingly endless forest is paved providing a ginormous hardware store with parking for their customer. The feed store is long gone making way for an AM/PM of all things (a different kind of feed store I guess) and the chapel now houses a near mega-church by a different name. Sad. I'm glad that I changed but I wish the old farm didn't. I know change is inevitable but seriously, a hardware store and an AM/PM? Bummer.

Showering Bethany

I was pleased to attend my friend Bethany's honeymoon shower on Saturday. A picture says a thousand words:

Gabeism of the Day

This one is good enough for a few days really. He's been giving me some good ones lately. Some I remember and some I don't but I repeated this one in my head over and over so that I could remember it until I could write it down or post it.

So yesterday we were driving to my sister's and went under a huge overpass. Gabe says to me "Mama, every time we pass this bridge it makes me think of girls." (You can probably imagine the look of surprise on my face - thinking of girls already - ahhhhhhh!) So I say "How come?" and he says in his dreamiest voice "Because it's so beautiful." Altogether now - awwwwww.

Still, what is he doing thinking about girls so soon? And, as my sister pointed out, what kind of girl is he going to be able to get if he uses lines like "Baby, you're like the most beautiful bridge I've ever seen." Then again, he kind of reminds me of his father. Hmmm.

Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC)

Click on the button to participate in SOOC Saturday. The original poster asks that you simply comment on the photos that you visit when you participate. Here's my first offering to SOOC:

I call it "No, No, No, I Don't Wanna, No, No!"

Yet Another Time Waster

As if I needed another one. I didn't think I'd get sucked in. At first I thought I'll just play as a guest. I did that twice, maybe three times, before I realized that I wanted my own username. You'll probably feel the same. It's Typeracer. You can practice, race your friends or race random people. I think they need a setting for racing while nursing and typing one-handed. Maybe I'll e-mail them and suggest it. Holding a squirming baby my wpm averages the high 50's/low 60's. I came back after putting Gideon to bed and gave it one more shot with an empty lap and hit 74wpm. Not too bad I guess until you click on the "fastest typists" button and see that some loser with no life guy named Kyle has the record with 196.6 wpm. I think I'll challenge Kyle to a duel! A one-handed typing while nursing duel. I may just have a chance then.

Oh yeah, and gee thanks Beth for making me to visit your blog and then forcing me over to Typeracer. You should be ashamed!

A Miracle Has Happened

Honestly, I never thought I would live to see the day that Zion started out in a white shirt and kept it clean all day. I know what you're thinking, you want proof. Well, this is the best that I can do. It was taken after lunch but I assure you that it looked just as good after dinner and even after she colored before bed.

Her typical pose - once I get her to stop moving faster than my shutter can click.

And of course it lasts only a split second.

Then she decides to make a run for it and hide in the tent/house/school/haunted house/whatever the kids call it today when they take all my pillows and turn the corner between the couches into a play space.

And low and behold, I forgot, today the area is a store. Silly me. And one thing this little girl loves is a good shopping trip.

See her satisfied smile. She must have some hit a pretty good sale in there and she can't wait to get those things home and in the closet where she can tell her significant other "Oh those old things, I've had them forever."

Someone else was looking mighty fine today.

He got to try the Jumperoo for the first time today and seemed to like it a lot. We are three for three with using it for our kiddos. I really hope that he is the jumping maniac that I sense that he is. There's just something about a baby going crazy in a jumper that makes me smile.

Awww, sleeping baby. Can you think of anything sweeter? I can't. Especially him. My doesn't-appear-to-need-naps baby. Also, my kiddos have always been such light sleepers that I'm never able to get sleeping shots. Luckily today I needed him to wake up 'cause he was sleeping too late anyway so I got brave and clicked away.

Gabe woke up with the major sniffles today complete with that totally adorable stuffed up nose voice (am I the only one that secretly loves that voice?). So I had him stay with me at my Bible study instead of going to the nursery where he would get all the toys germy even if other kids didn't show up today. He played quietly on his DS until he saw the colored pencils. My budding artist then took a spot in the chair next to me and began to color an extra copy of a map of the territories of the twelve tribes of Israel. And bent over his map he stayed the entire meeting. At one point I felt a little bad as we discussed Rahab's occupation and wondered whether or not that was suitable for his little ears (occupation in name only, not details of course). Naturally he won't know what it is but that alone may lead him to ask questions. At that point I never came to a conclusion as to whether or not he should be there. At the end of our time we closed in prayer as always. One by one we took our turn until the final "amen" was spoken and we lifted our heads. At that point Gabe piped up and said he wanted to pray too. Smiles, heads lowered and hands folded again and his small voice starting "Heavenly Father..." and what he said doesn't really matter. The rest of his prayers I fought tears of joy and overwhelming love for this little guy so willing to bear his heart to one and all and who understands at such an early age that he can bring anything before his Father. It was then that I realized having him there to witness our discussion and prayers was a good thing and that separating the ages too much is detrimental to our children. One of the best ways for children to become the adults we want them to become is to have them around and observing the kind of adults that we want them to become.

Cool Contest

I love a giveaway (even though I have yet to win one) and have stumbled upon a pretty neat one today. Go here to check it out. Now if I do happen to win this one I'll have to figure out which kid (or me) gets it. I have been wanting to make one for Gabe for a while now and want to make one for me too. I stole Gabe's art gallery space to make our big one-year-count-down-till-Daddy-comes-home calendar and promised him a new space and have yet to deliver. The one that I want needs to fit in a pretty specifically sized space since I'm turning one of my shelving units that has a drop down door into a secretary for me. I have been planning on lining the inner walls of the space (currently housing my nice dishes and wine glasses) with cork board but first I wanted to find a pretty fabric to go over the cork board. Anyway, I digress. Go check out the contest. :)

Vote For Kerri!

I just got word today that my friend Kerri of Acclaimed Photography has been nominated in the category of Best Photographer in the King 5's annual "Best of Western Washington" contest - wow! Way to go, Kerri! I wish you would take a moment to go here - http://best.king5.com/acclaimed-photography/biz/127256 to check out her pictures and it would be even more awesome if you would vote for her!

I got so excited a moment ago when looking at her pictures because my niece is the beautiful ballerina and the picture captioned "Seated Woman" is my sister. How cool! I know that Kerri has captured at least one award with that picture and I'm so proud it's of my sister. Then as the pictures kept scrolling by my breath caught - it was ME! Oh my and how neat all at once. A little while back Gideon and I played model for Kerri and this was one of the ones that she took. My only regret is that it was before I got my hair cut and lost weight. Oh well, it's still a fabulous picture. Maybe we can play model again someday.

p.s. I noticed that some of the pictures in Kerri's collection don't have the best resolution, but I've seen them in other settings and they're perfect so I place blame on whoever is building/maintaining the King 5 website.

Call Him Chomper

Not really. Not yet anyway. Gideon has his first tooth! We think he's been working on it for a while now. That means all three of my kiddos got their first tooth at 5 months old. I think it's the only thing that all three of them will ever share in common (besides their parentage). He did seem to sleep better last night. Well, he was still waking often but he was willing to eat and go back to sleep as opposed to staying up fussy and fidgety in his bed. Whew, finally that mean, nasty, sharp tooth is through and he can have some relief. Until the next one that is. And the one after that, and the one after that... ugh, I have to stop thinking about that now.

Totally Gabe

Yesterday Gabe's curiosity took him to a whole new place:

"Mama, if a bee climbed in my nose would he think my snot was honey?"

Don't Lick Your Screen

You may want to when you read my post but it's really not a good idea. I read a recipe for "Potachos" on an e-newsletter that I get from Kraft Foods. I like their website because their recipes are simple and usually only require foods that I have on hand. In this case I made a couple of changes. Instead of regular Kettle Chips I used Ranch flavored wavy potato chips. I piled on the cheddar cheese, nuked it, sprinkled on bacon bits (omitted green onions, didn't have 'em, and tomatoes, don't like 'em) and added a dollop of sour cream. The resulting American version of nachos tasted like deep fried baked potatoes with all the fixin's. Fabulous!

Then I was perusing a kid's cookbook that my sis passed on to us and was inspired by a recipe for chicken noodle soup. A little later I was blog-surfing and found another recipe for chicken noodle soup. So I do what I do and I took what sounded good from both and made up my own. I'll share it with you, pretty basic and easy.

Boil about 4-5 cups of water. See, I told you it was easy. Add about 4 teaspoons of bouillon (or 4 cubes). Chop up a few stalks of celery, a couple handfuls of baby carrots and what's left of an onion that needs to be used up before it melts in the drawer (oh wait, maybe that's just me that has that in the fridge) and add that to the liquid. Add a scoop of minced garlic (since Rob left and I don't cook so much I've taken to keeping a jar of garlic in the fridge instead of fresh, I'll go back later). Whether your scoop resembles a teaspoon or tablespoon is completely up to your personal preference (or your spouses if you ever want to be kissed again - mine is thousands of miles away so guess which I picked). I also added about a half teaspoon of white pepper. You could do black but use less then. Set the pot to simmer and add your favorite pasta (or rice I suppose) and let it go another 15 minutes or so. About 1 -2 minutes before it's done add chicken in the form of your choice and about a tablespoon of roux (butter and flour mashed together) to thicken. I chopped up a chicken breast and cooked it real quick but just about anything will work. The results were super yummy.

I thought that some biscuits would go nicely with the soup so I grabbed the can of biscuits out of the fridge. I don't normally do canned biscuits for actual biscuits and I think these ones knew that because they started whispering sweet nothings in my ear (not really in case you're starting to worry about my sanity) so they became dessert instead. One of my bread pan's bottom got lined with chopped walnuts, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Then I cut up the biscuits and put down a layer and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar. I repeated that step until the biscuits were gone and then then baked at 350 for about 25 minutes. Gabe, Zion and I have already finished off half the loaf - oh so good! I think I'll need to throw in another work out this week!

Five Months Old

Don't know how much he weighs or how long he is but there are a few things that I do know.

His favorite toys are his feet. Diaper changings are the perfect time to check for toe-jam.

His favorite hang out is his big brother's chair. Merely tolerates his own bouncy seat and swing but looooooves this chair!

He absolutely hates being on his tummy but loves to practice sitting up.

His favorite food is Mama's milk but I'm not showing a picture of that. ;)

He's still a pretty happy fella. Seems to value a regular bedtime (he's our first baby that doesn't get happier the later it gets) but is still waking a lot at night. He really likes to eat.

And the best thing about him - I could just about go swimming in those baby blues of his. I wanna just dive right in to those aqua pools and not come out. Though I suppose Gabe and Zion would miss me. Eventually.

Darn It!

Yesterday I noticed that I was up around 198 posts on this here blog. Yeah, really! So I was thinking I would post a really cool 200th post. Well, I guess I got a little overzealous with the blogging yesterday and somehow, well, I missed it. This is post two hundred and ONE! Ugh! How did that happen? *sigh*

Well, I don't think there is a traditional post for 200 (though on 100 you are supposed to post 100 things about you but I didn't know that then and I really don't think anyone wants to know 200 things about me so we'll just have to leave that one be) but I do think you are supposed to buy me something. So maybe I will post 200 things that I like and you can just choose from the list. Here goes:

1) cookies
2) puppies
3) shiny things
4) books
5) clothes
6) craft supplies
7) sparkly things (yes, this is different from shiny things)

really goin' strong here

8) music
9) a clean house (I know you aren't going to buy me a clean house but you could send a service over, that'd be nice)
10) shoes (size 8 1/2)

yoohoo! I made it to ten!

11) brownies (fudgy ones, not cakey ones otherwise you might as well just have cake - duh!)
12) cards (you know, blank ones so I don't have to go to the store when something comes up)
13) naptime
14) orange (you can't buy me a color but just in case you need to know what my favorite color is for the thing you are buying me)
15) kitchen gadgets
16) stamps (OK, I don't really love stamps but the cost of a stamp keeps going up and I need something to mail the cards with)
17) babysitters (oh, how I love babysitters! Please send me one!)

Can't wait til the babysitter comes.

18) sushi (Doesn't mail real well though)
19) Brown (It goes really well with orange)
20) a pony (One that doesn't bite)
21) snow on days when I don't have to go anywhere
22) sun on days when I do have to go somewhere
23) brand new crayons
24) something on which to color
25) a 50mm 1.4f lens for my camera (which is a Nikon D70s so you can be sure to get the right one)

1/8th of the way there

26) a nice MLT, a mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe, they're so perky... (that's a line from Princess Bride in case you are really confused right now)
27) horses
28) horseback riding
29) movies about horses
30) pictures of horses
31) the smell of horses (they should make perfume or lotion or at least a candle)

OK, I think I pretty much exhausted that one

32) uh oh, Gideon's awake from his nap. I gotta go (where is that babysitter!) I guess this will have to do for now but I think I've given you some really good ideas. I'll start checking the mailbox tomorrow. Thanks! You're so generous!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 29, 2008...
Outside My Window... is a large green tree. I've just noticed that some of the leaves are turning yellow and I'm suddenly in love with the thought that soon there will be a big pile of leaves on the ground for the kids to jump into.
I am thinking... that I'm relieved a big decision has been made and is over with and that a new session of classes are starting at the Y and hoping that this time the kids will have classes at the same time which will buy us some free time.
I am thankful for... everything. Too broad? OK, I'm thankful that I wasn't wearing socks when I stepped in dog pee this morning. I'm thankful that my family has a lot of people that love us and help to take care of us while Rob is away. I'm thankful for the gorgeous weather we've been having and that Zion is taking a good nap today (even though it means I'm letting her sleep through her swim class). I'm thankful that when I called Rob today he was actually free to talk.
From the kitchen... leftovers. Sad isn't it? But at least they will be good leftovers from one of my favorite restaurants (The Rock Woodfired Pizza).
I am wearing... black workout pants and a brown tank top. Both have been decorated with spit up that has since dried. I bought a new watch today (I have a horrible time with watches, they always break or fall apart) but haven't put it on yet. No jewelry, not even my wedding band since it's a workout at the Y day.
I am creating... this blog. ;) I have a trio of "Daddy dolls" in the works as well as a cross stitch.
I am going... to Bible study later. I should be driving us to the Y for Z's class but, as I said, she's sleeping and for fun things like this I have a pretty strict "let sleeping kids lie" policy. Right now she needs a nap more than she needs to splash around in the water.
I am reading... "Growing Kids God's Way" by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo, homework for my Bible study tonight. I should also be catching up with my homework for my study on Thursday by reading Joshua chapters 1 and 2.
I am hoping... that my knees won't grumble at me too badly for the workout that I gave them today. I think I'm outta luck there though.
I am hearing... Gideon babbling and squealing, the dog drinking water and his nails clicking on the floor, the movie that Gabe is watching.
Around the house... the gift bags from Gideon's "welcome baby shower" that the ladies at my church had for us yesterday, washing the new sheets I bought today, a few dishes in the sink and a few things to tidy - oh yes, and my kiddos.
One of my favorite things... sleep. Which I have not been getting lately.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Classes at the Y on Wednesday, Bible studies, AWANAs for Gabe, meeting up with an old friend.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

the best way to watch TV, a flowered hat and no pants.