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!

Going Shopping!

Timothy got a shopping cart for Christmas & he LOVES it!! He pushes it all over the house. He will push it over to something, open a drawer, take out something (usually random....like a phone charger), toss it in his cart & keep going. So funny to watch. If we are missing something, his shopping cart is the first place to check. Check out this face:

Books for 2012

So, here are the books I plan to read this year:

1. Through My Eyes

2. Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in the Public School

3. The Challenging Child: Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five "Difficult" Types of Children

4. Shepherding a Child's Heart

5. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

6. Adopted For Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches

7. Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism

8. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

9-12. The Twilight series. I mean, I have to balance it out :) Besides, I want to know what all of the hype is about.

If I get through all of those, I would also really like to read these:

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

Same Lake, Different Boat: Coming Alongside People Touched by Disability

Believing God

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ - I have actually read this one a couple of times already, but so good to read again!

I also plan to work through the ebook One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler.

Goals for 2012

I thought maybe if I actually post my goals out here then I would be more likely to follow through. We'll see :)

1. Exercise 3 times per week (moving to 5 times in a few months)....not done well at this so far! However I just tried on several pairs of pre-baby pants (donating a bunch of stuff this week) & boy did that motivate me! I was on the elliptical right after that....too bad Timothy woke up from his nap 15 minutes later.

2. Eat more fruits & veggies. We do ok on fruits but none of us are big veggie fans. I just ordered a juicer so hopefully that will help some.

3. Read at least 12 books this year. Since having kids I really haven't spent much time reading (except to them). I have really missed it!

4. Do more outdoor activities with the boys. I have Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Outside and Connect with Your Kids.

5. Try at least one new recipe each week. I will try to remember to post here. I realized I had all of these recipes saved but I never look at them.

6. Open an Etsy shop (finally).

We shall see how it goes!!

New Year, New Hair

Timothy has always had a lot of hair! I have loved it & especially loved the little curl on the back. John has been wanting his hair cut for months now. I have trimmed it a time or two. However, around Christmas I got a lot of comments about what a beautiful little girl I had :( So, when I realized it was long enough for a ponytail, I had to give in & cut it off.

One last picture before his first real hair cut:

Here is one from Christmas Eve....so cute with all of that hair:

And, here is the after....he looks so much older now:

He was not pleased with the process. I did it myself, since I have been doing Joshua's for a couple of years now. He is still cute, just doesn't look like a baby anymore.