Been Too Long!

John told me today that I needed to update our blog....he said it had been too long! So, here is the only picture I have taken in weeks:

This is what Timothy has been up to. He thinks it is really fun to put anything in his basketball goal. Like his little shopping cart, you never know what you are going to find in there. He really loves to hide things. One night we were all in the playroom & John couldn't find his phone. We looked in all of Timothy's favorite hiding places but couldn't find it. I finally found it in my tennis shoe. Funny little boy!

We have been busy around here. I have been doing some appliques for friends as I prepare to actually open a couple of online shops in the next few days. I'm so excited about it! I'll post links on here when things are up & running. If you are looking for affordable appliques, let me know!

If you recall, I had 12 books that I am planning to read this year. I read Through My Eyes first. A bit too much football talk for me, but it was a good book anyway. I think John will enjoy reading it more than I did since he will appreciate all of the football stories. I also read a book that wasn't in my list of 12, Money Saving Mom's Budget. Also a very good book. I have been reading her blog for a while & share many of her values. I'm looking forward to putting some of her ideas into practice. And then I decided it was time for some fiction so I bought the first book in the Twilight Saga. I thought I would read them throughout the year as I read some non fiction books. I really underestimated these books! I ended up reading all 4 books (yes, that would be close to 2500 pages) in 11 days. Loved them! I mean, I could not put them down. I stayed up very late for 10 nights in a row. I was so tired but I HAD to know how it all ended. I went into this not knowing much about the story except that it was wildly popular. After reading the books, I had to see the movies, so John & I watched all four of them Friday-Monday nights after the kids were in bed. We both really liked the movies too! John is actually reading the end of Breaking Dawn right now since the last movie doesn't come out for several months.

One funny story about all the Twilight stuff....Timothy has a habit of referring to men as "Daddy" when we are out. I have no idea why, but when he sees men while we are out, he will look at me & point & say "Daddy". I tell him over & over that those men aren't Daddy, that Daddy is at work. Thankfully he isn't too loud & he doesn't say it to the men! The men usually look nothing like John.....they can be any age, any hair color, any height....you get the picture. Well, when I was buying one of the Twilight movies, he saw it sitting on the checkout counter while we were waiting. He pointed to Taylor Lautner & said "Daddy!". I told him that would his daddy very happy! Then today, he saw one of the dvds upstairs & pointed to Robert Pattinson & said "Daddy!".

An Update on the Boys

For some reason, my pictures never upload the way I expect them too. Oh well. Here is a picture of Joshua's room with the Super Readers painted on the wall. You may recall that I started this project while I was pregnant with Timothy! I was intending to have it complete before Timothy was born. So much for that! Anyway, I never got a completed picture on here, and, sadly, they had to be painted over to get our house ready to sell. We also had to rearrange the furniture, which meant taking down the headboard to still see the Super Readers.

This isn't a great picture of Joshua, but I can't seem to get a decent picture of him. He has really been talking a lot lately. In this picture he is saying the Pledge of Allegiance. He can say the whole thing from memory. He says it one phrase at a time & waits for you to repeat it. Many of the words aren't clear but we know what he is saying. He also "reads" some of his favorite books out loud to himself. This child remembers everything & repeats the most random things (phrases from commercials). We are still so thrilled that he is talking & getting more clear with his speech.

Timothy is doing amazing. He is quite the chatterbox. He repeats whatever he hears too. He has also started hiding. I'll turn around & can't find him anywhere. After a few minutes I will find him hiding in the corner behind a chair or something. He also likes to crawl in to small spaces...as you can see from the above picture. He still seems so small to me. I guess because he is so much smaller than Joshua was at this age. He is definitely at the age where he is torn between being a baby & a toddler. I mean, he screams like he is physically in pain if I leave the room for a second. But, if I am carrying him somewhere he will say "I walk" & try to wiggle out of my arms. I'm glad there is still some baby in there. I will miss that in a few months we he decides to be a big boy all of the time. He is also very affectionate. When I have him in the shopping cart at a store, he will reach out & say "hug"; and he started saying "wuv woo" (love you). He will repeat it if you say it, but he will also randomly say it. So sweet!

One more picture of the Super Readers.

Trying New Recipes

Has it really been almost a month since I updated?? We have been super busy. I have some pictures to upload of the boys....though neither of them are good a posing for pictures these days! Maybe I will get to that in the next day or so. A few weeks back when I posted last, I mentioned that I wanted to try one new recipe per week this year. I have done it so far! Unfortunately they don't always turn out too well! But, I thought I would update since I said I would try to share the recipes (the ones we like anyway!)

Week 1 - Crockpot Refried Beans....these were good if you are looking for homemade refried beans. I used them to make bean & cheese burritos, to which John said "where's the meat?". So, we used the leftovers to make chicken burritos. This makes a ton of beans & I think I drained too much liquid. Overall a keeper if you don't want canned refried beans & they were super easy.

Week 2 - Three Cheese Garlic Chicken....failure! I needed to use whole wheat pasta & all I had was penne. This method calls for cooking the pasta in milk instead of water (to make it creamy) but the penne wasn't done when too much milk was evaporating. I think I will try again & use a quicker cooking variety of pasta.

Week 3 - Fresh Vegetable Penne...neither of us liked this. I thought it had too much pepper & John didn't like that the sauce was pureed butternut squash.

Week 4 - Whole Wheat Mac & Cheese. I thought this was pretty good. John was working late so he didn't try it since he didn't think it would reheat well. I actually used some quick cook pasta that I had on hand (they were the only elbow pasta I had & this was last minute). I'll have to try it again with whole wheat elbow pasta.

I also tried another new recipe during week 4. I bought an ecookbook that has healthier versions of favorite recipes. John & I love the no bake cookies that are made of chocolate, peanut butter & oatmeal (along with lots of sugar & butter). The cookbook said the healthier version was almost as good as the original. Not true. Not even close. We threw them away. Too bad....I really need a healthier version!

Week 5 - Chicken Divan. This was just ok. John's exact words were "Its not bad...but its not good either." It didn't have a lot of flavor. Maybe one day I will attempt it again & add some herbs & spices.

Week 6 - Sauteed Pork Medallions. Winner!! We loved this. I also made roasted honey gold potatoes (potato inspirations brand of potatoes). So good! John said this should become one of our regulars. Yay!

I now remember why I don't often attempt new recipes! Seven new recipes & only one that we love! This weekend I plan to try bread machine cinnamon rolls. I'll let you know how it goes!