It's That Time of Year Again

This morning, I put my two eldest children on the big yellow school bus and sent them off to first grade (Ben) and Kindergarten (Rebekah).

For me, it was much harder putting my daughter on the bus to go to Kindergarten than it was to send Ben last year. Not sure why. Maybe because for the last few days, as I have been trying to prepare her for K, she kept saying to me, in her sweet little voice, "Please tell God I am a little nervous that kids will be mean to me and make fun of me." She took her favorite pink kitty with her today, just because.

From the Mouth of Babes...

Sometimes the thing my kids say just blows me away.

We were driving home the other day, and everyone was quiet. All of a sudden, I heard a little voice from the backseat (Rebekah, 5yr) say, " I can't wait to get to Heaven to see what Jesus looks like. "

That's What Big Brothers Are For

I had just put Josh and Rachel down for the night when a BIG storm blew through. Josh
started crying because of the thunder and the fact that he was alone in his room.
Rachel started wailing; Rachel doesn't often cry, so when she does, I respond.
I, however, was in the middle of getting myself ready for bed. I thought that Josh could go into Rachel's room (just next to the bathroom) and comfort Rachel while I got ready for bed, then I would join them. As I hurried to brush my teeth, wash my face, floss, take out my contacts, and get into my pj's, I asked Josh to sing to Rachel to comfort her.
The calming song he chose? Spectacular, spectacular, spectacular SPIDERMAN!!

Our Dinner

Ever have one of those days where NOTHING goes right, including dinner? Yah, I have those very often too. Well, tonight's dinner was not one of those nights. Everything came together just so...
It's been so hot here, I haven't wanted to cook. No one's wanted to eat. But this morning, I threw some chicken breasts into the crock pot with some BBQ sauce (my favorite is Wegman's store brand, Kansas City).
Then I got one cucumber and a half-dozen grape tomatoes from the garden, cut them up and threw those in a bowl with a little Kosher salt. (I love the big fat chunks of salt!)
I went to Sam's Club today and have discovered that they have great fruit at great prices! I bought blueberries, strawberries, red raspberries, bananas, and grapes.
I made a smoothie with plain yogurt, skim milk, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, and a little flax seed. For the kids, I added a packet of Carnation instant breakfast, chocolate. (I want my kids to get the extra nutrients and all, so I thought I'd try Carnation. Any thought from any of you?)
MMMMMM...just the right thing for a hot summer night!

FYI...because of Rachel's Spina Bifida, she is on a Latex allergy prevention. That means, she doesn't react to Latex, but the more she's exposed to it, she could develop an allergy to it. SO, we avoid all thing latex and latex-related. Did you know that there are a few foods related to Latex? Bananas, kiwi, and water chestnuts (? not sure? see how often we eat water chestnuts?) have some proteins that are like Latex. So, we avoid those foods for her too.

If I were making a smoothie for myself I would throw in a frozen banana. I like to take that last banana no one will eat because it is too ripe, and throw it in a bag in the freezer for when I need it.

**Do you also notice I do a lot of "throwing food" around here?
Anyway, Bon Apetit!

Forbidden Fruit Is Always Sweeter...

I moved my furniture around again...I know, no big surprize there. And in doing so, I moved a chair into the living room that *didn't* quite match. I did not have a slipcover, so I tucked some sheets into it to cover the mis-match. We have PLENTY of chairs around our house to sit in. Big chairs, little chairs, comfortable ones, beautiful ones... I asked ;) the family NOT to sit in this chair. It is too much of a pain to tuck the sheets in again and get it straightened out. Of course...guess which chair EVERYONE wants to sit in???

The Facts of LIfe

Josh and I had a "discussion" this morning that went something like this:

Josh (looking at an ABC book): Look, it's a chicken (for "H").

Me: No, that's a "Hen"

Josh: What's a "Hen"?

Me: It's a momma chicken.

Josh: What's a daddy chicken?

Me: A daddy chicken is a rooster. Cock-a-doodle-do. And a baby chicken is called a chick.

Josh (after pondering a minute): Then what's an uncle chicken called?

;)

The Smartest Thing I've Ever Done

Eight years ago, I did the best thing I have ever done: I married John. We had only known each other less than a year, and I am sure that people thought, "What are you doing?"...but I just knew!

Not only do I love John, but I really, really like him. He is my best friend, and some days my only friend. But he is the balance that I need. Marrying him was the smartest thing I ever did!