Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Daddy Day!

Due to my current invalid state, Justin didn't enjoy a nice, relaxing, work-free Father's Day today, but he certainly deserves it. We may have to have a make-up Father's Day a little later in the summer! I didn't even manage to get a picture of my sweet husband with his kids today, as I was a bit too loopy on pain killers this morning & he's now gone to the airport. I do have some super cute pictures of them helping him put together some shelves for our garage a couple of weeks ago, so I'll share those.
Sweetheart, you are such an awesome Daddy to Jake & Mallory!
You show them daily how they are to live their lives as Christian servants, through love & kindness.
You're patient & funny & full of surprises.
I feel so blessed to get to witness you growing as a father. We love you so much!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Jake's Jabberings/ Mal's Musings

Since the kids are starting to talk a lot more, I want to periodically record some of their funny comments before I forget them, using the above titles for the posts. For today, many of their sayings are the same, so I'll combine the posts for each kid into one.

One of the phrases we hear most is "Where's ___?" or "Where'd ___ go?" The subject may be a person, such as Daddy or a grandparent, or could be a toy that they can't find. Mal was running around the other day saying, "Where's sheepy?" over & over again, as she searched for the sheep that goes with their Little People barn. Another variation I hear a lot is "Where is he/she/it?"
Speaking of "sheepy," Mal likes to add an "ee" sound to the end of lots of words. The color pink is "pinky," her brother is "Jakey," you get the idea.

Yesterday, Mimi was cleaning Mal up after snack time when Mal found a crumb on her shirt & exclaimed, "What in the world?!"

Miss Priss is also obsessed lately with saying that something or someone is "sweet." When we talk about babies, she says, "Oh, sweet!" Curious George is a recent favorite of hers, & she refers to him as "Sweet George." She also likes to inform me when she's being sweet, just in case I didn't notice.
We've been working on manners for a while but had only mastered "please," "thank you" & sometimes "excuse me." After spending a week with my sister-in-law & 2 1/2 year old niece, I've copied her tactic & started having the kids say, "May I have some/a ___ please?" when they're asking for food items. I have to prompt them a couple words at a time, but it cuts down on incessant whining with me not really knowing what they want. It's also stinkin' cute to hear them say it. Thanks Rach!Jake has become rather demanding now that he's able to tell me what he wants. He'll pull me toward the TV, which he calls "tee" & request either "Sess" (Sesame Street) or "Tuh-Tuh-Tales" (Veggie Tales). When I repeat his request back to him to confirm it, he nods & says, "Otay" & then settles down to watch.
We do a lot of pretend sleeping around our house. The kids will lay down on the floor, close their eyes & begin to snore loudly. I then hear, "I seepin'" or "Jake/Mal seepin'."
Jake loves to tell you the names of all the people that he loves. He'll go through his parents, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins & then of course his friends from Sesame Street. Sometimes Elmo even comes before Mommy & Daddy. I'm not sure what that says about us! He can also say "I love you," which comes out as "Yuv Yo."
One of my favorite times to hear the kids talking is when they're singing. Those sweet little voices garble many of the words to their favorite songs, but then you'll hear several words come through that are correct, & it just melts my heart. Some that they're getting good at are the Alphabet (even though every other letter may be G), Twinkle Twinkle, Little Bitty Fishy and Apples & Bananas.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

On The Mend

I am now home from surgery & resting with my feet propped up on the couch. I do have some sweet pics already of my moon boots, but haven't loaded them yet. So many of you were sweet to comment, text, email & call, so I wanted to give an update. Thank you so much for your loving support & especially your prayers. The surgery went smoothly, taking a little less time than they'd predicted, & I have no pain right now since I'm still numb below my knees. My appetite even returned quickly! If you know me very well, you know that having to go without food or water all day was quite possibly the worst part of this for me. :)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Master Bedroom Redo: Complete!

My two-week absence from blogging was due to one week of vacation & an additional week of crazy busyness getting ready for vacation & my upcoming surgery. It's good to be back! I'm sure my blog will be more updated than ever these next few weeks as I'm spending lots of time with my feet propped up. For those who don't know, I'm having a bunionectomy (yes, that's the official name) on both feet tomorrow afternoon. I would appreciate your prayers that the surgery goes smoothly & that my recovery is as quick as possible.

Okay, back to the point! I failed to ever post phase 3 of our master bedroom project, which was adding the couch & the piece on which our TV sits. Painting was our last step, & that happened last week while we were on vacation. It was so nice not to have to worry about having paint & ladders everywhere while the kids were home!

Just to refresh your memory, here are the before shots of our room:

And here's the new look:


The color we chose is called Sparrow & is gray but does have some blue undertones, which is exactly what I was going for. After spending a few days with it, I can definitely say that I love it! Now I can just have fun finding some wall hangings to tie everything together. We also had our bathroom done in the same color:



The other area to get a splash of color this past week was our downstairs powder room. Yes, I know I have lots of red things in my house, but it's just my happy color! This shade is Stadium Red, which we used in the old house for our dining room & kitchen back splash. Our painter, who is a friend of ours, told me (with a smile) that I was not allowed to have another red room, as it's always a hard color to get right. High maintenance? Not me!
I have lots of vacation pictures to post soon, so stay tuned!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Yummy to My Tummy: Beef Enchiladas

We eat a lot of Mexican food around here, & these enchiladas have been a staple in my repertoire since before J & I were even married. It's almost embarrassing to admit how easy they are when people ask for the recipe, but I'll share this little gem, which is actually from the back of the Old El Paso enchilada sauce can. Ole!

Beef Enchiladas

2 cans red enchilada sauce
1 lb ground beef
about 2 C Mexican style shredded cheese
8 flour tortillas

Brown beef & drain. Combine beef with 1 cup of cheese & 3/4 C of enchilada sauce. Spoon beef mixture into the middle of each tortilla, roll & place seam down in greased baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas, then top with cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately. They'll keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days & are best reheated in the oven. Do not freeze.