A Trip in the Jeep

My good friend, Rachel, picked me up on Saturday in THE JEEP! I say it like that because being 9 months pregnant riding in a bouncy, no doors jeep, with my hair flying all over must have been a sight! Our husbands were worried I was going to go be too hot, seeing its around 100! But it turns out that was the least of our worries...
As we shopped around the sidewalk sale and got a few things done, a thunderstorm rolled in. And just our luck for the first time in months this thunderstorm brought rain. Not just normal rain, but raindrops the size of basketballs!!! We ran to the jeep like it was going to give us shelter. We jumped in water dripping down the seat belts, rain coming in my doorway sideways, then we were shocked when we pulled out of our parking spot and pools of water that had accumilated on our soft canopy DUMPED on us!!! We thought we looked silly before. Now we were giggling, drowned rats what a sight we must have been!

Cooking with a Friend

Some moms from my playgroup went to a place called Dream Dinners. It is a franchise of stores where you go and make a freezer full of dinners. I have never been but the girls said it was fun, and so far the meals are getting a ok review with the main complaint being the directions.  Seems they want you to over-cook your meat.
This outing sparked an idea between Rachel and I. We decided we could do even better! Honestly I think we did. We made a list of 8 recipes that sounded yummy and seemed like they would freeze well. I made a list of necessary ingredients, then each of us checked our pantries and crossed off spices and things we already had. Leaving us with a grocery list that took us an hour and cost only $84 each!  (keep in mind, we had some stuff so total it probably cost us $100 each family)
Sunday afternoon the hubbies played with the kids and for 6 hours we listened to music, chatted, diced, minced, sauteed and stuffed. In the end we had 16 family dinners, each!!! 

       - Cranberry Stuffed Pork Loin

       - Sausage Crepes

       - Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breast

       - Shiitake Mushroom Chicken Bowl

       - Taco Rolls

       - Chicken Bacon Wraps w/ Honey Teriyaki Glaze

       - Goat Cheese, Portobello with Pesto Pizza

       - Shrimp and Artichoke Linguine

   **I will blog the recipes as we eat them and let you know how well they froze and cooked.

My freezer is full, my feet are sore and I am more relaxed knowing that while I am busy with the arrival of the new baby that my family will eat healthy, yummy dinners...some Andy can even BBQ with no prep!  

Beautiful Lightning Storm

Andy took these last night during a beautifully scary lightning storm. These were taken about 9pm standing on our back porch.

Miss Oops!

Miss Oops is a product line for all those random women wardrobe issues, from the oh so wonderful plumber crack in those low rise jeans, nipple poking, even belly button poking for all you prego friends. They make erasers for deodorant marks, pantie liners that you don't need to wear panties with, exfoliating lip balm, but the item I bought today at the Side Walk sale Down Town was THE BOOB TUBE! It is a lace tube top that only covers the bra area, awesome if you live in this heat and don't want to double up on layers to hide that cleavage in your low cut tops.

**just a little blogging note--  Things that inside one of my posts that are bold in green are links so you can click on them to see a web site...ie Miss Oops 

Remember you can always leave comments, And if you want to see a picture larger just click on the picture and it will open larger!

Banana Pops

What a great treat after a long day of playing! The trick is you have to think way ahead. It is one of those projects you have to start in the morning or night before. And if you have small kids like mine you can't tell them about it till the chocolate and sprinkles part, other wise you'll have to deal with the annoying question "Is time for banana sprinkle treats yet?" every 5 minutes.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
       -ripe bananas
       -semisweet chocolate chips
       -canola oil (i used veggie oil)
     TOPPINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO SPRINKLE
       -shredded coconut
       -chopped nuts
       -sprinkles

1. To make a bunch of these tempting treats, cut and peel 4 firm, ripe bananas in half and insert a Popsicle stick halfway into each one. (I had some craft sticks, they worked great! Also a plastic utensil like a spoon with the handle end shoved into the banana would work great)

2. Set the pops on a waxed-paper-lined (or parchment) baking sheet and place them in the freezer for 1 hour.

3. In a small saucepan over very low heat, stir together 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of canola oil until melted. (I cut the recipe in half since it was just me and the kids, still had left over chocolate-and I was generous. I also used the microwave. Just measured out chocolate chips added oil and microwaved for about 30 sec, stir, microwave 10 sec more, stir- repeat this till smooth)

5. One at a time, remove the pops from the freezer and, holding them over the saucepan, spoon the chocolate over them. Roll each chocolate-covered banana in a topping, then return it to the freezer to harden for 1 to 2 hours before serving.(mine got hard much quicker) Serves 8. (I just spooned the chocolate then let the kids sprinkle their toppings all over)

My kids loved them! The whole time Claira kept saying, "MMMM NUMY"

The Stripper

What to do with this little girl?
Our trip the the store today could not have gone worse...now I say that knowing good and well it probably could have, but I wish it never does. At least William was a wonderful boy and just happily sat on the napkins eating his goldfish. Here is a bit of what happened. To start Claira would NOT wear her shoes, she kept throwing them till one got stuck between the seats in the van and my big belly just wasn't going to let me reach it. So she won that battle and we entered the store with no shoes. I made it to the back of the store (this is where we begin to put items in our cart) and no sooner did I step away to open the milk door and she stood up about to jump! I fought her jumping till the cereal isle and as I broke into a sweat with a screaming child in the cart, I caved again. Nothing was going to keep her in safely so I decided it was safer for us all to have her walk. At this point, William is picking out his cereal, LIFE surprise! surprise!, and I look to see what she is doing and she is NAKED!!! Dress and diaper at her feet! I couldn't help but giggle as I dressed her. Her screams of protest and William scolding her from the cart got a lot of peoples attention. And you know how you go through the store all about the same pace so these poor people had to watch us dress and undress 3 times! One time (not counted in the previous 3) she actually kept the dress on and dropped the diaper. I was half way down the isle before I realized it. She was running toward me doing the naked dance, with the dress on...I looked behind her to to my horror there was her diaper!!! AHRRRR, I had a this point lost the humor in this stripping charade and was getting extremely frustrated. As if she hadn't already been giving me a hard time, we entered the dreaded produce section. She ran strait for the grapes and crawled under the display just out of my reach. From there William and I stood and both watched in horror as she again took her dress off and ate grapes off the floor. EWWWW, seriously how much dirty could a grape get...off Walmarts floor, I pray she doesn't get some thing nasty from those 4 or so grapes she managed to shovel. Now she is once again dressed and we are checking out. Normally neither of my kids are runners so I think very little of letting them out of the cart to make room for food. As soon as I start to load she bolts, William right behind her yelling at her to come back. I asked him to return to the cart and like I said before THANK GOODNESS he was on his best behavior and did as I asked. Claira on the other hand was caught and buckled into the cart as tight as I could make it (she still managed to squirm out of the buckle) and we left the store relieved and with a completely red faced, screaming, pissed off Claira.
When we returned home, I of course brought in the groceries only to find her like this in the living room!

I no sooner got her diaper back on her, put some stuff away and I heard lots of noise coming from the bathroom. There I found...

So now I try to collect myself, get my patient mommy side back and decided to let her go in panties. This worked fine, we went to the potty after 15 minutes then again before dinner, NOTHING ...until...we were about 1/2 way through dinner and she starts squirming saying something with a mouth full of food. Darn it she peed!!! I took her, cleaned her up and now an hour later I think we found a compromise...a pull-up (found one of Wil's leftover overnights).
All I can say is THANK GOODNESS she is asleep now! I don't know how much more I could have taken of her today.

Anyone need a 1 year old?  I know where you can get one for cheap.

All By MySelf

This morning as usual before we went anywhere I asked the kids to pick up toys, put their milk cups in the sink, and make sure their friends and blankets were returned to their beds. I was delighted when Wil came into my room while I was making my bed to tell me he 'did something'. Now, this could mean something good or something bad. Today to my absolute delight it was good. Grandma Jenny check out his bed making skills!!!

While William was cleaning up, his little sister was in the bathroom making a mess! But as I soon found out it was a productive mess. She had not only brushed her teeth again but had been in there doing her hair! She twirled and all, as she came out with toothpaste on her chin, ear folded over and all 3 head bands on.

Sprinklers & Watermelon

After nap time, the kids we're great and only fought a little while picking up their toy room. The goal of the afternoon was to go swimming at the neighbors but when their toys were all picked up and they had their suits on, the neighbors Dad left! So whats a mommy to do with two kids, hearts set on going to some water...I turned on the sprinkler. It hasn't rained much lately so the lawn was feeling a bit crunchy, I figured it could use a bit of water. So off they went, giggling and screaming.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Soon it was, "Mommy, we need a SNACK!" So I brought out the 1/2 of watermelon that I had cut up earlier in the day. I think I might be a bad Mom...they ate almost the whole thing. When I say almost, I mean there are 3 triangles left! I think William who sat for at least a 1/2 hour just eating and watch Claira run around, ate most of it.

Evening of Firsts!

Tonight at dinner poor little Claira bit her tounge for the first time, oh the tears! Then just a few minutes ago the bladder stomping baby started hiccuping, this is the first time. Well its the first time I have felt it...but after 1/2 an hour she can STOP! She can't hold her breath, being she doesn't breath air. And having her drink water will do no good seeing as she lives in a sac of water...so what to do with a hiccuping embryo especially when you want to sleep?

Snakes, Parties & More!

The heat is starting to slow down the kids finally, well at least it brings them in to cool off and get some ice water every once and awhile. Yes that is sweat!

The heat has also brought other creatures lurking on my door step in search of water or a way to cool off. This little snake looked like a very young rattle snake. As we, Andy, got close to it, it began to rattle its tail!

The kids and I went to a birthday party Saturday evening and oh the fun! There was dress up...



Pizza, Cheeto Puffs, Cake & Chocolate Ice Cream. There was so many treats William didn't even yell at the birthday girl who kept stealing Cheetos right off his plate (she's the little blond who I think ate about a bag all by herself)

Last there was the after party CRAZY children

Looks like Mommy might take a few too many pictures...that is the camera case she is pretending to be her camera. Today I found her with a toy cell phone asking William to 'cheese!'

Summer activities coming to an end...

Though it is still getting warmer everyday, and pre-school doesn't start for another 6 weeks the public summer activities are sadly coming to an end. Last week was the last day of the Summer Reading Program, 'Catch the Reading Bug'.  The picture is of them singing a song with little rubber spiders on their heads.

For every 9 books they had read to them they got a prize! Usually a coupon for free fries at McDonalds. At the end of the program they got a goody bag filled with candy, a book mark, some plastic and eraser bugs and an award.

Today was the last day of Sea Stars at the National Sea Shore, a free summer program put on by the park rangers. The lesson for today was Bugs! William loved it, they read a story, looked at models of insects and acracnids.  Then held a molting of a Pink Toed Teranchila, and looked at some rubber bugs to decided if they were insects or not (antenna, 6 legs & 3 body segments).

Once they were pretty sure they understood what an insect was they headed outside with their magnifying glasses in hand to see what they could find.


The majority of what they found included ants, pill bugs (rolly pollys), a few bees and flies. I think the kids liked the rolly pollys the best. William kept telling everyone, "LOOK, if you poke him it turns into a ball! Lucky bug, How does it do that?"
After exploring outside we went back into the nice air conditioned classroom and made these cute little bug hats! We now all have glitter stuck in our hair, clothes, and on our faces but the kids had so much fun!

Tomorrow is the last day of Williams swimming lessons and WOW has he learned so much. On Monday they went out into the deep end, which to little Wil is the whole pool so it was no big deal. What was a big deal, though he didn't even notice nor see the big deal when I pointed it out to him, was that out of the 5 kids in his class (all about twice his size and 2+ years older) he was the ONLY one who didn't have to wear a flotation belt! Needless to say our little 3 year old boy can swim! In fact he loves to jump off the diving board and try to do tricks like our 18 yr old neighbor and his crazy Daddy. Luckily he thinks its funny when he 'face splats!', but always needs me to 'un-pop' his eyes from his goggles. 

Claira too has become quite the little fish. She loves to kick around the pool saying "kick, kick, kick". In fact, today after jumping in and begging to play 'boat' (you know the song...Motor boat, Motor boat, go so slow. Motor boat, Motor boat, go so Fast. Motor boat, Motor boat, STEP ON THE GAS! at which point you are now dizzy and spinning in the water as fast as you can) she started to ask, "throw". I feel like horrible mommy tossing my baby up in the air and letting her splash back down, but she giggles the whole time coming up sputtering "again".

Confused Claira

Poor little girl, she is so confused.  

She lifts up my shirt, pushes my belly button and says "Baby Abby?"...I reply "yes" she then lifts up her shirt and exclaims with finger in her belly button, "MY BABY ABBY!"

Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

I know weird to post two recipes in a row but I have a new thing I have been doing. I get an e-mail or two from different family/mommy sites that give recipe ideas. I usually read through them and think, yummy or gross then that is the end of it. But my new thing is to try at least one per e-mail. Thus the muffins and then this Lo Mein dinner. I personally love the all in one meals, you know protein, starch and veggie all in one dish. So here is our dinner tonight...it was a big hit Wil had 3 helpings, Claira only one but ate several pieces of broccoli before it was cooked, Andy had seconds, as did I, so no left overs in our house tonight.
I think I am the typical Mom who tries her best to follow directions, but with two kids on the brink of meltdown as I throw dinner together, and my belly baby is also screaming for food, I do my best measuring exactly and making sure I have exactly what it asks for but hey I am a mother of 2 1/2 kids! Ok so here are my few changes, everything was about. I had one frozen steak (no idea what cut, it was originally a 3 pack and its friends that we BBQ a few weeks ago we're delicious!), I had two crowns of fresh broccoli in the frig so I have no idea if that equaled 3 cups or not but it looked good. I had 3/4 of an onion so that worked for me, only dried ground ginger and 3 large cloves of garlic. I used granulated beef broth mixed with water for the broth, and regular soy sauce. As for the noodles 8 oz didn't seem like enough for my family so I used maybe 12 oz. With all that mommy adjusting it still turned out WONDERFUL! William asked while eating his second helping, "Mommy, can we have this another time?"

BEEF AND BROCCOLI LO MEIN

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
8 ounces thin spaghetti, broken in half
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups chopped broccoli
1 1/2 cups sliced onion
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
12 ounces sirloin tips, cut crosswise into thin strips
3 tablespoons beef broth
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1. Stir the spaghetti into a pot of lightly salted boiling water and cook it according to the package directions. Drain the noodles well, then return them to the pot and toss them with the sesame oil.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and onion and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and continue stirring while the mixture cooks for another 30 seconds. Add the sirloin and cook it, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until it is no longer pink.

3. In a small bowl, mix the broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, and oyster sauce. Add the soy sauce mixture and the pasta to the skillet and continue cooking, stirring often, for 1 to 2 minutes or until everything is heated through. Serve the lo mein hot. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Blueberry Buckle Muffins

The kids and I made these muffins on Saturday, WOW they are the best homemade muffins I ever made. The kids really enjoyed mixing the crumb topping with their hands. The only thing I changed in the recipe was in the topping...I cut back the flour to about a 1/3 cup and added about 1/4 cup oats.  They are like a blueberry coffee cake.

Batter

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups blueberries, stemmed and rinsed

Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, room temperature

Step 1
Heat the oven to 350° and line a 12-cup muffin tin with bake cups. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, then the milk and vanilla extract.

Step 2
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium-size mixing bowl. Pour the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and stir well, being careful not to overmix the batter. Use a spatula to fold in the berries. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup about three-quarters full.

Step 3
To make the crumb topping, stir together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Then sprinkle the topping over each muffin.

Step 4
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are lightly brown and a knife inserted in the middle of one comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 to 30 minutes before serving--if you can wait. Makes 12.

Baby Check-Up

Well our little LADY is growing great. She is a little big for her age about 4 1/2 lbs and Dr expects her to be just about 8 lbs when she is born.  Not quite as big as Wil (8lbs 14oz) and Claira (8lbs 10oz) but still healthy. Her heart rate is just over 100 and moving like crazy. I have gained another 9lbs since my last visit, 5 weeks ago. Frustrating since that makes 23lbs in about 3 months!!! But I am doing nothing different, not even gorge eating like I have been known to do with past pregnancies. All I can do is shrug my shoulders and think positive.  I know I can work it off later and the most important thing right now is listen to my body and grow a healthy baby. For now I can be happy knowing I am doing my best as a mommy, she is growing right on track and looks to be extremely healthy. We start going every two weeks now so I'll keep you posted if we get any more exciting news. This ultrasound is a picture of her head side profile. You can also see her hand just above her mouth. The new machine has great clarity, it is amazing the detail you can see. She has the chubbiest cheeks!

As We Grow-Up...

My Aunt sent this to me today and I found what it said to be so true...
As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that
wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You
will have your heart broken probably more than once and
it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so
remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight
with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things
an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast,
and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too
many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never
been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset
is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be
afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never
begin.

Home from Texas!

After having been on 8 airplanes in the last month and spent a total of three weeks away from home.  I am happy to say we're home for good! Actually, I would have liked to do one last beach trip but with the baby's arrival about 50 days from now, I think our chores list at home better start to take a place higher on our priority list. 
Back to being home, the trip home was perfect; no delays & good kids. The house was just as we left it, with just a bit extra cat hair. Cleo was happy at first to see us but that quickly wore off as the kids chased her around trying to give her a hug. Mr. Tim did a great job taking care of the fish, they all survived and Andy went strait to work cleaning their filthy water and getting all the algae out. The kids were so excited to play with all their toys. As I expected Claira went strait for her dolls, then there was lots of block building. William even joined in the block building and made a 'dragon'. I on the other hand could only see Monday looming in the near hours and got strait to work. I watered the dieing/dead garden, unpacked the kids and myself (all clean clothes YEAH), went through all the mail. Amazingly enough William got 4 things in the mail he was so excited!, I also got some items I ordered before I left and so I tried on my new nursing PJ's and new bra and they fit perfect! (for all you nursing/prego friends I got them on a great sale through Baby Center) By the time I got all that done pizza was here and it was time to get the kids off to bed. As you can imagine I was whooped, so I was asleep by 9!
We did get sad new from the neighbors that the very nice man who lives up on the corner (some of you know him, the one with two dogs a crazy puppy and Coco the little black dog). He had a heart attack, not his first, and died some times this last week. We will miss waving to him every morning on our way out for the day while he returns from one of his many dog walks to the park. My thoughts and prayers are with his young wife and those sweet doggies.
Like I expected the kids were at my bed before the sun today, Wil had to pee at 1:15am (why he can't do this alone I don't know. He says nothing, just taps me on the arm, I actually think he is still sleeping). I was blessed with his arrival again at 5:40am saying he was all done can he get up. HECK NO!!! So he got his pillow, blanket, and Ruffy curled up on my floor and hummed until 6 when Claira called. I made lunch for Andy though I am sure it will only make it till 9ish since he didn't have breakfast, got Claira dressed and feed and have tried really hard to keep a positive mood with bossy William. Speaking of William I gotta go get him dressed and gather up all his swimming stuff, he as lessons in about an hour! Then off to the grocery store, naps & the baby doctor. Oh and clean up this pigsty! How does it get messy so fast? It sure is great to be home!

4th of July 2008

We spent the day at Lake Buchanan. We fished, tubed, skied, kayaked, ate lots of food, and just enjoyed family and the relaxing atmosphere. About lunch time even Great Grandpa & Grandma O'Connor made it out to the lake, thanks to Uncle Alan who was visiting from California. Here are some pictures of our two days at the lake.

Wil with Great-Grandpa O'Connor

Daddy and William tubing!

Daddy got up on one ski, and look at that spray!

Auntie Lynn taking the kids Kayaking

mmmm...yummy, his first beer (IBC root beer)

I forgot to say that while riding on the boat Claira peed on her Grandma Jenny's lap, and Grandma was not in her bathing-suit!  She had to jump in the lake to rinse off fully clothed, wish I could have seen that. 

Nothing like a nap in the Hammock after a long morning at the lake.

On our way home from the lake William fell asleep, and he just kept on sleeping! So while I waited to see if he was out for the night or if it was just a long nap Andy, Claira, Grandpa & Grandma walked down to the Independence Day Festival at the Gulf Course. Looks like a fun time! Bounce houses, slides, firetrucks and Claira even remembered to bring home an extra fire badge, flag and glow stick for her brother.

Claira jumping herself a good time

William did finally wake up, just about the time Claira was going to bed.  Lucky him he stay up and had a picnic dinner on the new patio along with a wonderful firework show. 

The fireworks were being set off just one green over from us.  It was a perfect end to a great day! 

Trip to Grandma & Grandpa's in Austin Thus Far

We have been here now for 3 days, and it has been a great time. As soon as we arrived the kids found bikes in the garage. Wil was so excited about that 'big boy' bike. To our shock and amazement he jumped on and with no hesitation he pedaled away. When it was time to come in he said, "I want Santa to bring me one just like that but with NO training wheels. I only want 2 wheels"

Claira jumped on her little trike and she peddled about 4 feet! I think when we return home we will get the trike out of the attic and see how she does with a bit more practice.

A trip to San Gabriel River
We went exploring today and found a stream that my in-laws say is a raging river in the spring but now it is a calm trickle and in some places puddles. There were tiny fish and we even saw a snake swimming! It was an extra special outing because Merlin got to come too. (for those of you who didn't know, Merlin is their dog who lived with us for almost 3 years while they were living in Korea. Oh how the kids miss him.)


Neighborhood Pool
How wonderful would it be to have a pool like this in Trentwood! I couldn't believe Wil, who is a bit scared of heights and so cautions, did this over and over and over...here is a great shot of him with Daddy and Grandpa.
1...2...3...GO!!!!