Some shut eye for now...

Hopefully more tomorrow... One day I'll get all caught up.

When you organize your kitchen...

Your counters look like this:





And your pantry looks like this:




I'm very thankful for my helpers :)

The Great Outdoors...

The end of the year is approaching fast so we had to sneak in a camping trip before it gets too cold. This past weekend we headed over to Anastasia State Park. Again, forgot my camera, but the Porters brought theirs.

Rewind: Late Night Visitor...

After I'd finished baking cookies the other night, I went to the bedroom to hit the hay. Thank goodness I thought it was a bit warm that night. Normally I'd jump straight into bed, but I needed to flip on the light to find the remote for our fan. That's when I met my late night visitor... sitting on my bed. I don't know how he snuck in and found his way to my room, but there he was. I can only assume he was Roger's cousin. This LIZARD was sitting pretty on MY bed. Darren was too slow arriving to my rescue and Roger's cousin had decided to play hide and seek. I left Darren and Caleb to take care of things. It wasn't long before Caleb won the game. I have no idea how he spotted him.


The flash from the camera makes him stand out in this picture, but in the light of my bedroom he completely blends in. It's kind of funny though... out of all the places he choose to hide he choose a plant, a fake plant, but it's the closest thing to what he's used to.

Thank goodness for little observant eyes. I don't know if I could have gone to sleep if we hadn't have found him. It's one thing to have a lizard in the house, but finding him in my bed leaves me a little uneasy.


...guess I've been away from Hawaii for too long. Lizards in the house creep me out.

Rewind: Yeay for the Holidays!

(Nov 11)

The holidays are approaching and I LOVE it! I got my first taste of holiday goodness during my day at Julie's... good food, good treats, great company! Just Fabulous! I of course forgot my camera :( But you can check out the happenings here.

Rewind: Cookie Craze...

(Nov 10th)

I'm going to my friend Julie's house tomorrow and I asked if I could bring anything. She requested some cookies. Little did she know that I had cookies on the brain. I had a few cookie recipes I'd been wanting to make, so I made them, all of them. Well, there were 3 different kinds of cookies I made: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry, and Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Nut.

My new favorite cookie recipe is the White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry. These cookies are AMAZING!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon [vanilla]
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and [vanilla]. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. For best results, take them out while they are still doughy. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

( http://allrecipes.com/recipe/white-chocolate-and-cranberry-cookies/detail.aspx)


I used the same dough recipe for the Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Nut cookies, and just switched out the white chocolate and cranberries. But I have to say, these just do not measure up. They're still delicious, but they don't even compare to the White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry.


I also made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies because they are so easy I just couldn't resist.


This whole process was torture for poor Caleb. Too bad he didn't finish his dinner. If we don't finish our dinner we don't get dessert. Caleb sat there starring at all my cookies as they cooled. This is the face I had to look at the whole time I was baking:


"Pleeeease.... Pleeeeeeeease, Mom"


If I had only been making one batch I think I could have held my ground, but batch after batch the pleading persisted. I finally gave in and said he could have one cookie.


"Really, Mom!?"


...I like this face much better anyway.

Blogging Binge...

One month! ...ONE MONTH!!! It has almost been one whole month since I last posted anything on here. Well, that is way too long and I have way too much to catch up on, so get ready for my blogging binge. Hope you can keep up...

Baking cookies...

Caleb likes to help Mommy bake cookies, but he knows the rules... when Mommy opens the oven, he better stand back. To make things easier, our distinct rule is to stay off the tile, so he waits patiently at the edge of the kitchen as Mommy takes the goodies out of the oven. I must have worked him hard mixing that batter...

Rewind: Today...

(Here's a post I started before our vacation and didn't get it up before we left. It's been sitting here waiting to be published so here it is... By the way, "Today" is referring to August 18th.)

We started our morning out by hitting the beach for playgroup. It was my first trip to the beach with both boys. Needless to say, it wasn't an easy task to juggle both boys while trying to snap some pictures. But we did have fun while we were there. This was my first time going to that beach. I liked it because there were little pools of water on the shore that were perfect for the kids to play in.

Then we came home and got ready for the baby shower we were having that night for Melissa and baby Clyde.

After the beach, Caleb bathed and then lounged around in his underwear (of course... I mean, this is Caleb we're talking about). Time escaped me, as always, so I asked Darren to put some clothes on Caleb as the doorbell started to ring since I was trying to finish getting thing together. Here's Caleb's outfit Daddy chose for him:


"Who wears short shorts?" ...Caleb wears short shorts! Darren had grabbed clothes from the these-are-to-small-and-need-to-be-packed-away pile. I explained this to Darren, but his reply was, "He looks fine." So that's what Caleb wore. This is Caleb's why-did-I-let-Daddy-dress-me face:

Feeling better...

Thank you to everyone for expressing their concern for Caleb. We're going to have some blood work done next month to confirm his allergy to fire ants, and we now carry a set of Epipens with us everywhere we go.

Although there's still a small trace of the actual ant bites, I'd say he feels 100 percent better now. He even did so well at his game on Saturday. Oh yeah, I haven't even mentioned on here that he's in a soccer league now. We signed Caleb up for the community soccer league even though he's a little young. He's the youngest in the league by a whole year. They even called me offering to refund my registration if I wanted to pull him out, but I said no thank you. Yes, it's clear that he's the youngest, not just because he's shorter than everyone else (by at least a whole head), but by his lack of attention. He's easily distracted, and he easily distracts the rest of his team. I have to say though, I absolutely LOVE his coach. He always makes things fun for the kids, and does not loose patience easily. So now when I say Caleb did so well at his game on Saturday, I don't mean he scored a bunch of goals and played great defense, etc. He played so well because he actually played. He always does really good at practice, but when game time comes around... I don't know what gets into him. This was his first game that he didn't try to go play on the playground, wasn't searching for sticks, and didn't come run to me every five seconds for a drink. I was so proud of him and I'm happy he's getting the hang of things.



We also had playgroup last Friday. We decorated cookies and ate pumpkin bread. Somehow I managed not to take a single picture of Caleb or Marcus, whoops. But feel free to check out the pictures of everyone else :)

Life lesson of the day...

We were out working in the yard. Mom had her shovel and rake, Caleb had his shovel and rake. I love when Caleb wants to help out. It always brings the biggest smile to my face to watch him be like Mommy and Daddy. And so we worked. Little did Caleb know that his desired work area happened to be located on top the dwelling of many busy little ants... fire ants.

At first I didn't understand what was happening. I saw Caleb bending down touching his feet saying "No! No! No! ... Ow!" When I saw all the ants crawling in between his toes (why did I let him wear his slippers [i.e. flip flops] to work in the yard), I picked him up and brushed him off. We came inside to put on some socks and shoes, but Caleb decided he'd had enough of the outdoors and wanted to stay inside to enjoy a movie. I went to get him a drink so he could get settled and I could continue with my work. As I turned to hand him his juice I noticed his face looked bright red as if he'd been screaming and throwing the tantrums of all tantrums, but I had been right there the whole time and hadn't heard a peep out of him until now. I heard the distressed whimpers as he scratched at his neck furiously. It took me a couple of seconds before I put everything together. I slipped his shirt off. Hives up and down his back. I stripped his pants off. Hives up and down his legs. My poor baby. I called Darren who advised me to call the pediatrician. As I did so I gave Caleb a bit of Children's Benadryl and ran him a cool bath. When Caleb saw the medicine he firmly insisted against it. Firmly. I kept telling him that it will make him feel better. It wasn't long before he got to the point where he could no longer bear the pain, and snatched the medicine from my hand, desperate for relief. We proceeded to the bath as I talked with our pediatrician's office. I told Caleb to poor water wherever it felt itchy. My poor baby. Bright red. Large white bumps everywhere. Swollen face. The doctor said we should bring him in to get checked out. I wasn't really worried until then. I thought they'd tell me to just keep doing what I was doing and the hives should go away, but I was supposed to bring him in.

The doctor's office is only 15 minutes away (thankgoodness), but his appointment wasn't for another 30 minutes. I decided to pack up and head to the doctor's right away in case things got worse. I'd rather be at the doctor's than at home if something were to happen, plus the hospital is only 5 minutes away from the doctor's (just in case it got to that point). So the doctor's is 15 minutes away, I think I got there in 10. I was a little anxious. Especially because Caleb kept coughing on the drive over. I kept asking him if he was okay and he kept telling me yes, but I was concerned that he was having a hard time breathing from all the swelling. We met Darren at the doctor's. At that time he was looking a little better. The red had started to fade. The bumps were starting to smooth out. He was still pretty swollen, but overall you could tell his condition was improving. Between the waiting room and having the nurse check him out, by the time the doctor came in he was looking much better. He still looked bad, but compared to what it first was, he looked much better.

Everything turned out fine. The doctor did prescribe us some medicine to use in addition to the Children's Benadryl, and we did schedule an appointment with the allergist. But Caleb is feeling much better. I always know he's in a good mood when he jumps on the couch and sings "Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."

Now I know. As much as I love the convenience of slippers, we'll have to start wearing socks and shoes more often. Especially when there could be situations where we could accidentally stumble across an ant hill. The doctor said his symptoms could get worse with each allergic reaction. I'm anxious to get to the allergist to find out more of what happened and how to prepare for future incidents.

Math lesson of the day...

THIS:

PLUS


THIS:

EQUALS



...if your name is Caleb.

Splish splash...

Summer is no more, but our beautiful Florida days are still around. We hit the pool up last Friday for playgroup.

Why is everyone upside down???

'Why are you upside down?' Marcus asks.



'Oh wait, I'm the one who's upside down...'

National Sewing Month...

September was declared National Sewing Month by President Reagan back in 1982. There are 3 more hours left before this month is through and the total number of sewing projects I have completed is..... ZERO! How sad :( I have, however, had a few things happen this month that are sewing related:

-Last week I attended a Sewing Soiree at Martha Stewart's house. This gal is AMAZING! She cooks, she crafts, she sews, she gardens... name it she does it. (But really, I'd like to see Martha do all that while raising 5 kids!)

-This past weekend I decided I couldn't live any longer without a walking foot so I lugged both my boys and my sewing machine over to Jo-Ann's to find a foot that fits.

-I did spend some time sewing this month, but have yet to complete a single item to show off. Here's a sample of what I've been working on:




Can't wait to finish my projects so I can post some more pictures!

Curious what my peach jar and packaging tape have to do with sewing? I'll explain later.

I promise it's not me...

#1.) I promise this is not how I tuck my kids in at night:


Marcus likes to roll himself up into his blankets lately, and sometimes that's how he falls asleep. I do of course (after taking a picture) tuck him in properly.

I'm starting to wonder why I even lay a blanket on the floor for him to lay on. He never lays on it anymore. He's always making a little cocoon.

And the butterfly emerges...

One day this week, I set him on his blanket, walked into the kitchen to do something and then the next thing I hear are these little muffled whimpers. I looked back at him and he was so tightly rolled into his blanket and all he had were his little feet sticking out. I just couldn't believe the way he rolled himself into this neat and precise little Marcus burrito. I wish I could have grabbed the camera, but I was a little worried about his air supply so I quickly unwrapped him. He is quite the expert roller now. I've been waiting for him to learn a new trick, but I guess he's content with rolling for now.

But now you know, if you are ever wondering where Marcus is, just look under the blanket.


On another note... We're sitting in sacrament at church today and I reach down to the diaper bag to grab a baby wipe since Marcus decided it might be fun to spit up all over Daddy's tie, and I see a little something extra in my bag...

#2.) I promise this is not how I pack for church:



P.S. I still have so much catching up to do. Soon.