Rip-Roaring

That is the word Hannah used at school to describe herself.  Which fits that girl to a T!!  Life is a roller-coaster ride for her.  I take that back, it's a series of spikes. Some times she spikes HIGH, and other times she spikes LOW.  And if I'm lucky,  they happen within moments of each other.  Hannah is quick witted, funny, and loves to entertain.  Sometimes while helping me prepare dinner I'll catch her hosting her own cooking show.  Explaining to the audience step by step the process of making home made cheese and macaroni.  Love it.

A conversation to remember:

I:  When I grow up I want to work at Sonic

J:  No you don't, they don't pay enough

I: I don't care

H:  Well, I have a job right now

J: No you don't.  You aren't baby-sitting
H: Well, I'm always open for business!!

Ha!

A prayer to remember:
It was Hannah's night to pray.  She could tell that my nerves were wearing thin.

"Please help us to remember the good things that Mom does for us.  And not the things she doesn't"



She does love to care for babies.

Gett'n Me Some Sugar

Nothing in this world is better then holding a baby to your face and kissing soft, squishy, straight from heaven cheeks!  Pure Sugar Goodness!!

My one and only sister visited from Virgina this past month.  It was a pure delight to see her and her family and especially sweet baby Maeve.  She has the sweetest disposition.  Very calm and easy going.  She was loved and adored by all.

I am happy to report that even though it felt so good to hold and kiss that wee one, I have no desire to have another one.  No amount of sugar can convince me.

I have done my part to multiply and replenish the Earth.  Each of my children bring me great joy, as well as heart ache.  Life wouldn't be an experience with the ups and downs.  As I look back on the addition of each of my children a pattern emerges.  Before they entered my life, I was content, thinking nothing could make life better.  Then that new special life entered our family.  Even though that first year, especially the first few months are so rough, I can't think of what my life would be like without them.  I can't even imagine how empty life would be if I chose to dis-regard my promptings to have my last two children.

Children are blessings.  I am grateful for the 6 that I have.  I am grateful for the lessons they teach me on a daily basis.  Especially their willingness to be so forgiving of a Mother who seems to stumble through the journey of Motherhood. 



Maeve was so willing to let me hold her so close.



She is really adorable.



How much more of this to I have to endure?



Look, she loves her Mommy!



My sister can make a good baby!!

Have you ever wanted to be a Super Hero?

The other day I was wishing that I could be a super hero.  And for so many reasons.  Let's  get the most obvious reason out of the way.  Super Heroes most always have a rock'n hot body.  Who wouldn't want to shed their relief society, wave- at- you,  flabby under arms?  I would like to have a wash board stomach that I could scrub my laundry on if my blessed washing machine stopped working.  Let's not forget the long lean legs that are strong enough to carry you up and down as many flights of stairs as is called for.  Cuz I usually leave a pile of things  at the bottom of my stairs just waiting for the moment when I don't feel too lazy to bound up the stairs.  Or sometimes I just fling things up the stairs, or down the stairs too.  No, I'm not setting a good example for my kids.  That's why I do that when they are away at school.

The other reason why I would love to be a super -hero is due to their super human ability to get things done in a day.  I want their energy, I want their ability to multi-task, I want their lightening fast speed and agility. 

I don't think I'd adopt the outfit though.  Even if I had a rock'n hot body.  My ideal, perfect, super - hero uniform would be an awesome fitting pair of jeans (with no muffin top hanging over the edges). Either a turquoise, lime green, or orange shirt(I'm am continuously drawn to these colors), tucked in.  Cuz some day I will get rid of my extra weight and I will be able to tuck my shirts in and wear a belt.  Oh how I want to wear a cool belt with my shirt tucked in.  You have no idea.

Since I can't be a super hero, I'll just have to strive to become more organized and efficient with the time allotted unto me.  It can happen.

Meanwhile, let's admire how stinking cute my daughter is dressed up as Super Baby!!!


Super baby to the Rescue!!



Ya, I'm that cute!



Hey do you have tickets to the show?
What show?
The gun show!!!



Seriously, So Cute!!

Tantalizing Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner

So much of my life is spent in the kitchen.  I LOVE to cook, create and try new things.  Sometimes the things I create are a huge hit with the family.  Sometimes, I love it and they hate it.  With 8 of us it is very rare that we all love something.

The other night I attempted a baked french toast recipe and it was a hit.  With all but two of the family.  Jaren just plain dislikes anything with egss.  So of course he was not a fan.  Brent wasn't convinced of this either.  But I loved it.  It wasn't too mushy, which I was afraid of.  I do not like soggy bread.  GAG-A-MAG city.   And everyone else loved it too.  In fact,  many had seconds. 



A close-up. 
Yes, that is cinnamon and sugar caramelized to perfection.



All the fixings in the back. 
Along with this delicious main dish, I cooked up some hashbrowns that were golden brown and crisped to perfection.  

Here's the recipe:
1 loaf of french bread cut into 1 inch cubes
8 eggs 2 cups milk wisked with a dash of salt and 1 tsp vanilla
2 Tlb butter melted
Cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on top(I have this stuff pre-made in my cupboard for cinnamon toast)


1.Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by coating it with butter.  ( we don't want anything sticking!!) 
2. Place bread cubes in prepared dish.
3. Pour over the egg mixture.  With a fork push down all the bread cubes making sure they all get that custard goodness.
4.  Cover with foil and place in fridge for 6 hrs or overnight.  It can stay in there for 36 hours before needing to be baked off. 
5. When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350, remove foil and cook for 45 minutes.
6. The last 15 minutes brush the top with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  


When I cooked this it took longer then 15 minutes to get it to look like it does in the photo.  I think I let it go for another 10 minutes.   You know your oven best.

For a quick sauce I placed a bag of de-frosted strawberries, 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tbl of strawberry jam in my food process and whirled it till smooth.  My kids LOVED this ontop of the french toast. 




 

What's on my Mind

Right at this moment, with Brent being gone, all I can think about is how much it sucks to have a husband out of town!  He was gone all last week, came home Saturday at 4pm and left again this morning at 6am while I was still in bed.  I should have gotten up with him, but what good would that have done?  I would have gotten cold and unable to fall back to sleep  I miss him already.  Having him home for such a short period of time was torturous.  It would have been better for him to stay away all together.  Okay, maybe not, but it kind of feels like that.  He'll be gone all this week, home for the weekend and then back out again Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the following week.  SERENITY NOW!!!  The days are a breeze, I do that all by myself.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.  It's the night time that is so rough.  I'm tired, run down, my nerves are shot, and my patience has worn thin.  How do you Women out there whose husbands travel handle it?

This morning as I was walking the recycling out to the garbage I was cursing Brent's name.  Even though it's not his fault.  Sure, he says it's hard on him.  But he goes to a hotel at the end of his day, no responsibility except to... ya that's right,  no one but himself.  Where in I still have to deal with normal life here.  As though vicious thoughts were scrambling through my head I realized that I needed an attitude adjustment.  This week is going to be a week from hell if I don't quickly change my heart.  Yes, it's difficult.  No, it doesn't have to be miserable.  We both are sacrificing, and for the same thing, Family.  It's not going to be any fun for my children if I am a Monster Mom and bite their heads off every time they get on my nerves.

With these thoughts going through my head it's hard to even remember that I'm going to Hawaii in 3 short weeks.  Yes, you read that correctly, Hawaii.  I should be thrilled beyond imagination, but I'm not.  That's how much darkness this whole situation is bringing to my existence. 

To begin I'm going to just start acting like I'm happy and hopefully I will fool my brain into thinking that I truly am happy.  Which I am.  I'm just not in the most ideal situation.  I think I will have to be doing a lot of praying, scripture study, stretching and yoga in the coming weeks.  In the very near future this will all come to pass,  and I will be sitting on a beach, watching the whales migrate, feeling the 80 degree sun on my pale skin, holding the love of my life's hand,  not worrying about a thing(except for my children).


Brent LOVES taking photos.



Still happy after 15 years of marriage.

She's in a Big Girl Bed!!!

Over the Christmas Holiday we switched Grace's crib for a big girl bed. My baby days are officially over. That is so sad. I know, some of you are thinking, "ya right, that's what she said after she had Beckham." Really, I'm Serious, No more babies for us.

Grace was at a point where she was clambering out of her crib. I miss hearing her yell for me in the mornings and after her naps. Now she just gets out of bed, runs down the hall(I love hearing that pitter patter of tiny feet, even if it is at 3am in the morning), I roll over, hold out my arms which she robustly jumps into. I let her stay in bed for a few minutes. I'm usually too tired or too out of it to put her right back into bed. I'll admit it, a few minutes might turn into an hour. But eventually I get too uncomfortable and put her back into bed.

This routine has gone on until this past week. Grace finally slept through the night when she didn't get her daily nap. **SIGH** Now I'm really out of the baby stage. Although Grace is my ONLY child to take naps past the age of 2, I'm sad that those are coming to an end too.

The first few days she asked to go down for a nap.  Is that crazy?  She had no problems staying in bed for naps.  It was the night time we struggled with.  


Happily tucked in her big girl bed!




OMGosh!!  Just look at that super happy face!




Could she be any cuter?



Priceless.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly!

I think I'll start off with the Ugly. 

After Christmas I went to pick my girls up from my Brother's house.  He lives here in Spanish and not too far from our home.  It was right after that snow storm and the roads were SUPER icy.  I decided to take a different route... First mistake.  The turn came too quickly, I was going to quickly, and I hit my breaks... Second mistake.  I FREAKED out since I started to slide... Third mistake.  I slammed on my breaks and yanked my wheel the other direction...  Fourth and Fifth mistakes.  I was horrified as I watched myself slide off the road and into a LIGHT POST!!!  All the while 2 guys watched from the safety of the stop sign.  Thankfully the offered to help pull me out.  Another lady stopped and helped to push me out.  I was shaking for the rest of the day.  I had to call Brent and tell him the bad news.  Luckily, the damage was minimal.  Not my finest driving moment. 

I'm still not done with the Ugly:

Monday I went out grocery shopping.  I was so excited to fill my bare cupboards with food and stock up on fruits and veggies.  No I don't have any resolutions to eat healthier.   You can't have a new resolution like that when you are resolved every Monday of every week to do that.  I digress.  It's been quite cold here so I changed my routine when I got to the 'burb.  Instead of putting Grace in last, after putting the grocery in the back, I put her in first.  My mind started to wander and I hopped in and started to back up.  I felt like there was a lot of commotion going on and some kind of honking and a clunking sound.  "Sheesh, what now." I thought to myself.  As I looked in my rear view mirror I see my grocery cart full of all my new groceries taking a trip  unaccompanied down the middle of the road.  I hop out and this man is looking at me with this LOOK.  You know the kind I'm talking about, "WOMAN!!  What are you thinking?"  He asked me if I had forgotten something.  Complete embarrassment engulfed every fiber of my being.  What WAS I thinking.  Obviously not about putting my groceries in the 'burb.  The only thing injured in this incident was my ego.

Onto the Bad:

Yesterday I stepped up onto one of my bar stools to grab a lid from off my pot shelf that hangs over my island.  I am pretty skilled in doing this and take pride in the fact that I can lift myself onto said stool without assistance.  I can do it with the pure muscle found in my monster thighs.  As I came back down from the stool I heard a very loud RIPPING noise.  To my disgrace I ripped my pants.  Not in the rear, mind you.  Across the back of my lower butt, and upper upper hamstring.  What?  I have two pairs of pants that I can comfortably fit into.  I am now down to one pair of pants thanks this sad casualty.  I have found a few extra pounds over this past year.  I am not happy about that.  I refused to buy bigger pants.  Being reminded every time I put on the tighter ones that I need to do something about my lifestyle. It was working.  I stopped gaining and re-focused.   My poor pants couldn't take the pressure anymore and gave out on me.  They were a good pair of pants too.  You will be remembered.

Onto the Good:

On the same day that my pants ripped I did something I thought I would never do.  That is until I've lost several pounds.  With the help of visualization and determination I actually and truly did 3 man push-ups.  On my toes, all the way down with my nose touching the floor and all the way back up again.  You have no idea how accomplished that makes me feel.  I had a perma-grin on.  That is until Melissa asked me do some insane lung set!  It was awesomely good!

Last year was one that wont go down in the books as super memorable.  I did manage to find a lot more balance and unfortunately, as I mentioned before, weight.  One thing that I did gain that is life changing is the realization that my weight has nothing to do with my happiness.  What does, is how I choose to live my life and fostering a relationship with my Savior and loved one i.e. children and husband.  That is my focus for this coming year.  Becoming connected to the vine.  Feeling comfortable in my skin, being grateful for my body, and doing more active things.  It's going to be a great 2011.  As long as I don't slide into any more light poles or back into full grocery carts!