i can see!

when i wake up in the morning, most mornings, first order is coffee. It should be glasses, but it isnt. so my brain wakes up a little but my eyes still see the unclearly. The edges of the world around me are fuzzy and non distinct.

i CAN see without my glasses, i can read, i can operate my phone and computer, i can get the kids breakfast, make the bed, do laundry, etc. but i become increasingly irritable as i am unable to see depth, pattern, and words clearly. often times it takes hours for me to realize what the problem is. by then i have snapped at the children, fussed and groused about nothing at all and just generally been a cranky, unkind person.

all of that can turn around in a second by doing 2 things: Recognizing my problem and taking steps to fix it.
in fixing it i can see all the good stuff....and all the not so good stuff, like the crumbs and chunks of food that need swept up from under the table, but now that i can see it i can fix it. coffee spilled on the tan counter top, i can now see it, and fix it.

so being vision impaired is great if you want a good excuse to ignore the junk that needs work, but its really no way to go through life.

going  between VBS in the mornings at one friend's church and evening VBS at another friend's church my kids have been busy, and tired. i have been helping out at the morning VBS and when i come home, i am TIRED, this week has been a whirlwind and i am so ready for a long, long sleep.

i captured these shots of Rosalie playing at the "blue playground" after i dropped the boys off at evening VBS.

Dan Zanes radio on Pandora. My kids love it, i like it, the only station that they love more is We Built This City radio, which Ken started as a joke and the whole family took to immediately.

Dan Zanes uses loads of different instruments including but not limited to Ukulele, harmonica, concertina, kazoo, of course, guitars, fiddle and penny whistle....penny whistle.
and listening to this has inspired me to pick up my penny whistle again, and keep trying, again.

what i reallly desire is to be able to fiddle but i tend to stray long term projects, like learning to properly play an instrument.

so i will stick to penny whistle.

A nugget from a fictional sailor

As spoken by the seafaring heroine Jacky Faber, of L.A Meyer's Bloody Jack series "A life of adventure is ofttimes better in the telling of, rather than in the living through."
Well said, Jacky, well said.

Back Again

We just had our last day of our first year of homeschooling. im already looking for summer units to teach. the littles, miles and rosalie will be learning about weather, dominic will be learning about the bill of rights.
so my last 2 days have been spent looking at pinterest, pinning stuff and dreaming about this afternoon when my kids are napping so i can learn to use my brand

spanking new laminator!! yes im excited about my new laminator.
im sure that lessons are going to be so much more fun with laminated pages, cards, charts, shapes and such. my kids might beg to differ.

sometimes we all need a little help. sometimes we need to be left alone for a while to work things out with personal prayer and meditation. a lot of the time what we need falls right there in the middle.

friends, dont be too proud to let other people help you through your valleys, there is no reason that you need to walk that dark walk alone. your friends might not understand exactly what you feel, but they are your friends, they love you and they want the best for you.

Rosalie's first birthday

fuzzy head

Look at the sweet little fuzzy head!!! it is like a little baby chicken...except much cuter.
Rosalie is rolling, scooting and slithering around the house to get to the toys she wants and to try to follow her brothers into the kitchen or hall. She can sit fairly well but eventually falls over, usually on to that 3 inch space of floor that Dominic has not provided with padding in the form of blankets, pillows and stuffed toys.

in other news...there is none.
the house is still on the market.
the bathroom is still in the mostly done stages, i still have some painting to do in there.
i am still working on that Gryffindor scarf that i had intended to finish for halloween.

Orange. it is a color i never gave much space in my brain. it occupies a lot of space up there now. 10 weeks ago it meant caution, it meant halloween, it meant my high school mascot color.

now it means you. it means the smile i will never again see here on earth. it means softball games that i will never attend to watch you rip off that catchers mask and hustle to get under that ball while its so far up in the sky that you can barely see it. it means never sitting on the deck while you show my daughter how to hold the glove to effectively catch a ball.

Orange means realizing that your mom will never again be the same woman she was on that saturday morning. Orange means that your big brother has no little sister to protect. Orange means that your dad has regrets every single day of the time he didnt get to spend with you.

Orange. it is a color i love....and i hate.

this is what Saturday looked like

 Cliche shot of the Milton Madison Bridge

 me and my sweet baby girl playing on the couch (she is almost 7.5 months!)

 Dominic spinning me on a piece of playground equipment that we have dubbed personal merry go rounds.

and...my guys strolling ahead of me while i try out different settings on our new Fuji X30...i really like it, it is much smaller that my gargantuan DSLR that i carried for quite a few years, i went to a lame-o coolpix when miles was born because of the smaller size and i am SO glad to have a real camera...the kind that actually takes a picture when you push the button instead of having a ridiculously long delay, thus losing the shot...especially where babies and toddlers are involved.

many thanks to Ken for researching (read; obsessing) over this camera and trading in all his older gear to get it. i see many more blog posts in my future...ones that actually contain pictures. :)

painting and stuff

this week has started off in a whirl wind. on thursday our realtor comes over to take pictures of the house so we can list it for sale.
we have been painting stuff, cleaning stuff, packing stuff....well, packing books....which took a full evening and morning....moving stuff around to make the house not look small and cramped but cozy instead.
we totally succeeded in the living room. when we were done i told Ken that it looks so nice that i dont want to move.
but move we must, part of being the pastor of a small town church is living in their community and living the life with them, not almost an hour away from the congregation.
so heres hoping that the house sells quickly and we find an equally cute house to buy near Warsaw Kentucky (or possibly Vevay Indiana)

uh...worst blogger EVER!

yes, i see that it has been over 6 months since my last blog post. what has happened, you ask?
well, lets see...
I had a baby, that is something, my sweet little sweet pea, Rosalie.
I lost an amazing friend to an undiagnosable illness.
I visited Marci.
I had multiple visits from my parents.
I sent dominic off to 4th grade.
I started trying to potty train Miles.
I replaced my old flippy phone with an inexpensive prepaid touch screen phone.
I baked a couple of quiches.
I discovered the amazingness of Trader Joes decaf.
I replaced my laptop with a used MacBook.
I read The Fault in our Stars, The Book Thief, The Good Earth, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of azkaban, the deathly hallows, my antonia, snowflower and the secret fan, and at least 20 more that i cant remember right now.

stuff like that...all stuff that i wont recount just now. anyway, this is my official reintroduction to blogging.

so welcome me back.

and we're back...in school that is

after a week, yes...a week off of school due to the weather, Dominic went back to school. the last few days of this cabin fever vacation consisted of me pretty much allowing the boys to do whatever they wanted. drag all the blankets into the living room and make a wrestling mat, SURE, wander around the house with a box of wheat thins and a cup of milk and call it lunch, OK, watch 57 episodes of old garfield cartoons on Netflix, GO FOR IT,  dump the toybox and use it as a boat, stuff pillows into your shirt and allow little brother to ride on your back (until you bump your nose on the wood floor, then, game over) ride tricycles and the bouncy yellow inflatable elephant up and down the hall, PLEASE DONT BREAK ANYTHING.

um, its seems really quiet around here today.  im told that thursday's high temp will be 39, i may just venture out this week.

little bit of this, little bit of that

heres something i discovered (or re discovered) this week: i get a whole lot more done around the house if im showered and dressed (surprise, surprise). apparently pajamas = lazy and unproductive and since i have a finite amount of energy these days anyway, i dont want to waste it being lazy.

hmm, what else? oh, if my baby girl is born ON her due date then i have 87 more days left until i get to meet her, but...my kids have never as of yet made it to their due dates Dominic was considered 3 weeks early and Miles was almost 2 weeks early.

i just discovered that whipped cream with those little round sprinkles on top is an amazing snack in itself, but i still ate the cupcakes that it was piled upon.

Miles is in is big boy bed and handled it like a champ, he fell out of bed the first night, onto his baby mattress which we placed on the floor next to his bed for just such a mishap, but after that he crawled right back in and went back to sleep. he has rolled partially out on 2 more occasions but ends up in a standing position looking confused he loves sharing a room and bunk beds with Big Brother.

 Miles also had his second birthday which included decorating our own cupcakes from the awesome array of candies and sprinkles that Grandma Rocky brought. Miles PILED on the sprinkles...as in half a jar, most of which  ended up on the floor.

 Dominic, ever the patient big brother, helped Miles with his gifts, holding up the box of his new tee ball set so that Miles could rip off the paper.

Christmas Hi Lights

 Dominic has his school Christmas program, Christmas around the world

 We didnt really have a readily available costume to represent ireland, england or germany so Dominic wore his chapel uniform.

 Fisher Price makes Grandpa proof packaging the norm

 Miles playing with the peg person nativity

Dominic helped me with the lights for the tree.

The boys and i visited my mom and dad and my grandma for Christmas, it was a long drive but i know that after the baby is born it is going to be a long time before i am willing to make that 9 hour drive without another adult present for assistance with kid-wrangling. we mostly spent the week holed up inside due to the cold, cold weather. i guess i am just not use to -4 degrees anymore. living further south has spoiled me slightly.

guess what blog! im pregnant and its a girl!

 the boys at babies r us with us registering for purple sparkly stuff

 the boys on their new bunk bed. when baby sister gets here they will be sharing a room.

and finally, baby sister. i will spare you the diaper shot, she is a she, believe me.

whats new?

look at that happy face!! (dont look at the drool)

i think he is happy its spring. we get to go outside, play on the swings, take walks, all the fun stuff.

i know i am happy its spring.

bedtime stories

Before this week Miles would sit for approximately 5 seconds in your lap for a bedtime story.
so you had to read really fast
so it would go something like this
"inthegreatgreenroomtherewasatelephoneandaredballoonaandapictureofthecowjumpingoverthemoon,"

"no, no hey buddy,dont eat it"

"andtherewere3littlebearssitting..."

"ok, hug brother, its time for bed"

but this week he can get through daddy's abridged version of curious george's ABCs
maybe next week we can try reading good night moon again, this time with a pause between lines.

easy, healthy chicken soup

have you read this?

it is a pretty good book to peruse looking for healthy meals that kids like.

i really havent made any of the recipes from the book but the concept is something that i have used often recently

short story? you puree veggies and sneak them into the family meals.

the best result i have had is with homemade chicken noodle soup adding carrot and cauliflower puree, it makes it an orangy broth, but my kids love it. the worst result is with boxed macaroni and cheese (mom...this macaroni and cheese looks really...gold colored)

i make it in the crock pot so its super easy, the most time consuming part is the 2 minutes it takes to puree the veggies.

2 cups of chicken broth

1tbsp minged garlic

1 tbsp parsley

2 chicken breasts (cubed if desired)

1 cup cooked carrots (i use frozen)

1/2 cup cooked cauliflower

water

1 cup frozen peas and carrots

1 1/2 cups (about) cooked egg noodles

in your crock pot combine broth, chicken, garlic and parsley, turn it on low.

puree the carrots and cauliflower as smooth as you can add water as necessary.

add purees to the crock pot mixture cook on low until the chicke is falling apart, about 6 hours.

about a half hour before you want to eat cook your peas and carrots and add them along with the cooked noodles to the crock pot.

season with salt and pepper in individual servings

so simple, so delish. i normally serve this with yeast rolls .

 also, the left overs are divine.

and as a note to Cousin Leesa, you could make this gluten free by using rice instead of noodles.