Update on Ethan

Ethan is now 4 months old and weighs 14 pounds 10 ounces. He is all smiles, even when he's crying, you can usually talk him out of it and get him to smile. We've finally been given a good (early) sleeper . Only problems we've had: he has pretty bad acid reflux. All newborns have this to a degree; but his is particularly bad. His weight gain has not been great, partly due to this (remember, he started at 10 pounds). So, I'm off dairy and we've upped his Zantac dosage all of which is helping.

His newest trick is rolling from tummy to back. He's still not sure he's doing it because when he does he has this stunned look on his face; "How did I get here?"

Ethan also had his first taste of cereal yesterday. He liked it, opened his mouth wide each time. I remember Joel kept his mouth tightly shut. Then when I did get some in joel's mouth he would spit it out at me. Ethan gobbled it right down! Incidentally, I was going to wait another month to introduce solids. However, a new study by the APA came out saying that delaying solids until 6 months doesn't do anything in preventing food allergies. So I decided, why not? Maybe it would help with his acid reflux.

This picture is hilarious. Right when I snapped the picture a clash of thunder echoed outside. Ethan was unphased, but big brother was a tad bit worried.

I'm baaackk!

In more ways then one I'm Back.

First, I hope to have a handle on life so as to resume blogging somewhat regularly. The problem is that I am so tired at the end of the day all I can do is flop down and read or watch tv or go to bed. I stopped reading blogs of moms with 2 kids and newborn. Seriously, don't know how they can do it AND make their house cute. All I want is to not have spit up on my floor and shirt!

Second, is I'm back, as in really back from the sickly masses. Wednesday morning I awoke with a case of Knives in the Throat, aka strep throat. But alas, the Knives did not send me to the doctor. As all moms would do, I took 2 Tylenol and changed a diaper, thinking the aches, chills, fever and Knives would somehow go away by themselves. Meanwhile I did alot of sleeping while Aaron held the fort down. By Friday morning when I could no long swallow and having trouble breathing, I realized that the Knives had set up house. I called my babysitter, who thankfully was on spring break, and she came over so I could go to the doctor. I picked up meds anxiously and headed home. I'm thinking my babysitter is a saint because when I got home she offered to stay so I could take a nap! Um, yes?

So after taking vicodin, I could once again swallow with minimal pain. Yes, narcotics still didn't make me pain free. It did make Ethan pretty sleepy, however. Aaron took the 2 big boys to the zoo on Saturday while I stayed home with the baby. That was awesome. I had the whole day to myself at home. Granted I had Ethan, but like I said, we were both on vicodin.

Thanks to the Z-Pac (which is an AMAZING thing) I am now on the mend. I can swallow today without drugs. My house, however needs to be on the mend. Fortunate/unfortunately the kidlets were unaffected and continued with merrymaking while I laid in bed.

Moral of the story: If you wake up with a sudden sore throat and a fever/chills, do yourself a favor and go to the doctor right away.

Lost?

Spoiler*** Susan Don't Read!



So. Any guesses as to the remaining two Oceanic 6 members? My guesses are Jin and Sun (is that his wife's name?) What do you think about Sayid working for Ben in the future as an assasin? Crazy stuff.

I didn't start watching Lost until half way through last season, and I have to admit now I'm hooked. I caught up by watching the rest of last season on ABC.com and reading Lostpedia. Its funny because I never started watching it becasue I thought it was some action adventure version of Gilligan's Island--you never know how they get off the island. Aaron stopped watching because he thought it focused to much on the charcters and their back story. If I would have known that it is more about the characters I would have been watching it from the beginning! Aaron started watching it again too, so their must be a balance of both parts now.

The scenery of Lost is pretty distracting. All I can think is... "Why are they on Oahu?" if they would just keep walking they hit the main road, hang a left and they'd soon be at Waimea Bay. Oh, and the houses where The Others barracks is? I went to 6th grade camp there! Camp Erdman. Just down the road from Hale'iwa and Matusmoto's shave ice. Some of the inside scenes were filmed in the rec hall where my friends and I were playing indoor kickball (i know, genius) and we smashed the light out. Anyway, if you're interested (Jodi?) check out this site.

Three cheers for the writer's strike being resolved! Now I won't have to resort to watching "Carrie and Bruno Dance Wars" , "Celebrity Apprentice", or "House Hunters" while nursing the baby. He is such a SLOW eater that I have to do something. I tried reading but I just can't balance the book quite right. Anyway, new episodes of The Office are coming up April 10th!

Foreshadowing?

This is a picture that we have in the boys' bathroom. I bought it when Micah was a baby. Now that we have 3 boys I think it is quite appropriate!

Here is Ethan on his 2 month birthday. I tried to catch him in a smile, but my shutter speed is not quite fast enough. His eyes shut and turn into half-moons when he smiles, its the cutest thing! We call him "miracle baby" because he has turned out to be the best sleeper of all of them. Thank the LORD! I did pray for that and I am SO glad that prayer was answered! Ethan and his thumb have turned out to be best friends. I'm so glad they found each other! At his 20 week ultrasound we saw him sucking his thumb, so it was an early relationship.

Elise, do you recognize the outfit? =)

Definitions by Micah

Parrots: They fly around and make baby parrots

Skill: Something under your skin in your blood (as in skeleton)

Curiosity: Something you shouldn't do

Random News

Wow, 3 kids is alot of work. Its not an additive work relationship; its exponential!

Today was a big day. Joel wore his Lightning McQueen Big Boy Underwear for the first time. He kept them dry the whole day! I am so proud of him. He has a sticker chart and if he fills it up we get to go the Museum of Flight. He is VERY excited about that. "We go to the Airplane Museum, that will be so fun!!" is how he described it.

In other Joel news...
Aaron and the "big" boys went to a birthday party at "Chuck E. Jesus." Yes, you didn't know that the loud kid place with a giant rodent is now holy.

Joel fell face first down the stairs. Aaron came over to help him up to which Joel replied "No!!". He crawled up the stairs so that he could walk down them again by himself and without falling down. This is one tenacious little boy!! "I do it myself" is a constant refrain heard 'round the house.

Aaron is home this month on paternity leave. We are doing lots of home improvement projects including; replacing all the interior doors; replacing baseboards; new vanities and sinks in the bathrooms; and new bathroom floors. Its been so nice to have him home!

Jane Austen-philes, take note!

Starting this Sunday, Masterpiece Theatre will be airing an original version of Jane Austen's Persuasion followed by Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice (1995 version).

Set your tivo for PBS at 9 pm (8 for Jodi) on Sunday night for the next 4 months!

This couldn't have come at a better time with the writer's strike!

December wrap-up

So between trying to grab sleep here and there, nurse the baby, and letting the big kids know that yes, they do have a mother; I haven't done much.

Aaron's blessed mother has been here since the 11th. She goes home next week and that will put a halt to clean dishes and laundry until baby starts napping regularly. (and sleeping at night !) Its been such a help to have her here. Right now we are working on cleaning out Micah's room so we can make it Micah AND Joel's room. Besides me I think Joel's had the toughest adjustment. He was (lovingly) kicked out of his room and crib and now he's not the baby anymore. If you ask him if he's a big boy he will reply "No, I the baby. I the big baby". Oh well, I leave it at that for now. Eventually he won't want to be the baby, right?

Christmas was a bit more low-key. We didn't do all the fun activities that I like to do. We did make it downtown to see the gingerbread houses and ride the Christmas Carousel. That was fun. The kids loved the giant nutcrackers that are all over the city for the holidays. It was like hide and seek trying to find them all.

We also got out the Jesse tree book and ornaments. We didn't quite make it through all the readings, but surprisingly, I didn't let it bother me. We also made it to church on Christmas Eve, a service I always enjoy. Joel actually sat thought 75% of it!

A few days after Ethan was born, Aaron took the boys up to the mountains to cut down a Christmas tree. We found out from our neighbors that you can buy a permit for $10 and then you cut down any tree in the National Forest betwee 6-12 feet. They had a fun time doing that and we hope to make that a tradition. The tree wasn't as full as one you by at Home Depot since it wasn't pruned, but it made it look natural. Aaron brought it home and decorated it with the kids while Ethan and I watched. I was very impressed! I wasn't expecting a tree this year, but Aaron even put up the lights on the house too!

Overall it was nice to have an excuse not to get everything done I usually do. I actually got some Christmas cards in the mail (although it was after New Year's). I still have some more to get in the mail, so if you haven't got one yet, hopefully you will soon!

a few thoughts...

So hat's off to Heidi and Erin K. How in the world you keep up your blog with 3 kids is beyond me, as you can see from the lack of posts.





Ethan is doing much better and has now surpassed his birth weight, which is wonderful! Not that he was too little to begin with. Daphne brought up a good point: both her twins together weighed less than Ethan! So I guess it was all right if you all thought I was carrying twins! =)





I'm getting sleep in 3 hour increments. It's been so wonderful to have Aaron's mom here with me so I can sleep in with the baby in the mornings.



I will try and get some more pictures up this week. Ethan is getting cuter by the day! He is even trying to smile at me!

We're Home!

Just wanted to let you all know that we got home Wednesday from the hospital. Ethan is doing much better. Thank you all for your prayers!

He hasn't gained any weight yet after losing some from being on glucose only. He's been eating well so I'm not too worried about that, but the doctor wants to see him again to make sure he is gaining weight.

Last night Joel woke up with some tummy troubles. Now we are sanitizing everything!!

Baby is Here!

We are so happy to have baby Ethan with us!

His name is Ethan Richard. Ethan means "firm or strong". In the Bible, Ethan the Ezrahite wrote Psalm 89. The Ezrahites were known for being wise men.

Psalm 89:1 I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

The middle name, Richard, is named after my grandfather and brother.

10.1 lbs

22 inches long

12/2/07 10:43 am

So Micah was sort of right. If you remember, Micah asked God when the baby was coming and God told him (repeatedly) that the baby was coming Saturday. Well, he started to come on Saturday night. I started contractions Saturday night, but when I went to bed they went away. (Aaron meanwhile had started praying the baby waited until after the Big 12 Football Championship game!)

On Sunday I woke up about 4 am with contractions, then slept on and off until about 7am. I called the midwife at 8am when they were about 3-5 minutes apart. We headed off to the hospital about 9:00 and shortly thereafter the midwife broke my water. Ethan was born at 10:45 am. It was very fast, which was an answer to prayer.

However, since he was born so quickly, that didn't give him much time to squeeze out the fluid from his lungs when he was born. He had to be taken to NICU Sunday night because his breathing rate was so fast. I came home today (Monday) but Ethan has to stay in the NICU. We're hoping we can bring him home Tuesday. I haven't been able to feed him since Sunday night because they are afraid that he might aspirate the food into his lungs. Fortunately I was able to feed him before we left today because his breathing has improved.

We aren't worried about him; the doctor said that the fluid would just be absorbed into his body and we just have to wait 1-2 days. It's just very hard to leave the hospital without your baby!

Please pray that his breathing would continue to improve and we can bring him home tomorrow!

First Snow

The calendar flipped to December and look what we saw when we woke up!

This morning it was just a light dusting. This afternoon it started snowing again and now its been snowing hard for a few hours. Fortunately its not too cold so the roads are not icy. However that will change by tonight, I'm sure. Makes me VERY thankful we decided to get the Sequoia with 4WD. Especially with the possibility of making a 1am trip to the hospital any day now.

Humble Faith

So the morning began with a bang, so to speak. (see post below about vortex.) But by the middle of the day I was humbled by my 4 almost 5 year old.

We have been praying with Micah that God would heal his eyes (he has strabismus, a form of lazy eye) and that God would heal his milk allergy. Today at the grocery store he looked worried and in thought. I asked him what he was thinking about. He said, "Mama, when God heals my milk allergy, can I eat things with milk in them?" (emphasis mine) Not if, but when. To him it is a reality, not wishful thinking, that God will heal him. My son can teach me a thing or two about faith.

***************
Yesterday Micah asked me what day the baby was coming. I told him only God knows, so he should pray and ask him. He did, then I asked him what God said. Micah said God told him the baby was coming on Saturday. Now, I didn't ask him to specify WHICH Saturday.

The Vortex

We have reached a vortex in our house here because of 3 things:

1. New baby coming
2. Birthday
3. Christmas

... all happening within a 30 day period. Not good. Not that I had any planning in the matter. God knew what he was doing when he set #1 and 2 in motion for our family, but I'm still getting a headache. I'm enjoying a moment of silence while they watch Curious George upstairs. Away from me.

ahhhhh
its beautiful.

Indoor Camp-Out

On Saturday night, Micah, Joel and Daddy had their own indoor campout. We made soy hot chocolate and Dad pitched the tent in the living room.

It was quite a big tent for the 3 of them! They read a chapter from Prince Caspian and Aaron told stories to the kids. Right now he is making up stories at bedtime from "The Forest of Aberkazan". Which strangely sounds like "Lord of the Rings". Micah gets really into it.

Even with camping inside they got cold! Thank goodnes for electric blankets!

Update on baby

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so thankful that soon we will have a new baby!

Due date is a week from tommorow. Too bad babies don't come with a set time and timer like a turkey. For all the trouble of a c-section, that would be nice to be able to plan. I was having a lot of contractions on Monday night and they were regular. But, they went away. My midwife says that 3rd pregnancies tend to have more "false labor".

I love my midwife practice. I see a group of about 3-4 midwives that work in a office with a group of OB doctors at the hospital. They are all Certified Nurse Midwives, meaning they have taken extra training in Midwifery. If you face any kind of complication they can consult with the MDs in the office. I have been so very fortunate to not have any kind of problem. I am VERY thankful for this. I will have the baby at the hospital. This makes me much more secure than a birthing center just for the fact of the baby's health. When Micah was born his lungs had to be suctioned quite a bit.

The difference with having a midwife is she is with you the entire time you are at the hospital. She reads and follows your birth plan, and is with you the whole time as a buffer with the hospital staff. The midwife that delivered Joel (her name is Deb) is very encouraging. I saw her on Tuesday and she was just so positive saying I'd have a quick, easy delivery with no problems. You just go away feeling great. She told me to not have the baby over Thanksgiving because she'd be out of town and she wanted to deliver the baby again! She's delivered something like 4000 babies in her career. When it was time to push Joel out, she told Aaron that baby would be born in 15 minutes. We looked at the camera and I think it was 14:58.

So now we are praying that Deb can deliver this baby too. Thinking about having the baby without my mom to see it brings back lots of sad feelings. Having Deb there would be nice since I am already familiar with her in the delivery room.

Have a great day of thanks!

Non Dairy Pumpkin Pie

From Whole Foods:

Pumpkin Pie

1 unbaked pie crust (9 inch)
2 cups cooked pumpkin (about 1 can)
2 eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup, honey or rice syrup
pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 package silken tofu

Preheat oven to 425 F. Blend all filling ingredients in a blender. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake an additional 45 minute or until set.

I have also seen recipes where you make this vegan by deleting the eggs and adding more tofu.

We have made this for a few years now and I honestly cannot tell the difference. We have had both: traditional made with milk and the tofu version. I have tasted both and you can't tell.

It has about 100 calories less per slice than traditional pie and about 7 g less fat.

249 calories, 9 g fat, 6 g protein (doesn't list the fiber)

Keep the guesses coming below for baby! I can't wait to see who is right!

The Contest

Today marks 38 weeks. And every time I call anyone I get "oh I thought you were going to tell me you were in labor!" No, I don't think I would be calling you with such a cheerful demeanor if that was the case. So, if I call you please don't make that comment. Why? Because my babies have a habit of being late.

So... in the spirit of filling time before baby... because everyone knows I have absolutely nothing to do except wait for baby.. . (except find the carseat, bouncy seat, the swing, pack bags for the kids and for myself, register at the hospital and oh, yah there's Thanksgiving too!).....I'm decided to have a little contest.

Leave a comment if you want to play along with the following information:
1. Your guess as to the birthdate.
2. Your guess as to the sex.
3. Tie breaker: time of day baby is born.

Some of you may or may not know this info that could help you out:
My official due date is nov 30
Both my boys were about a week late.

Micah's 5th birthday party

This past weekend we had Micah's birthday party at the Children's Museum. He calls it "my favorite museum". Micah's real birthday isn't until early December, but I wanted to have his party early before baby comes. He had been talking about having his birthday party here for about a year. He was so very excited to have all his friends with him to play at his favorite place.



We then had lunch in the jungle party room. The chairs were all animals.



Erin made the cake. What a great job she did! It was wonderful to have such a great cake for Micah--that was dairy free! THANK YOU!

Micah's favorite spot; the Mexican restaraunt. "Welcome to Taco Time, can I take your order?"

37 weeks!

37 weeks, 4 weeks to go. Both boys were about a week late.

White board tip

I have lots of pictures to post from Micah's birthday party which I will try to get up today. I've been busy cleaning out Joel's old clothes and getting out baby clothes. Makes it seem more real! I'm getting excited for baby!


In the meantime I wanted to share a tip I learned yesterday.

If you have a white board and little people in your house this will happen to you eventually. Permanent marker on it. All you have to do to get it off is take a dry erase marker and trace over the permanent marks on the white board. Let it sit for awhile. Then erase it. Magically the marks will come off!

What would I do with out the web for information??

Halloween 2007

This year we had two cowboys. I tried to get them to be Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. Micah had decided early on that he wanted to be a cowboy. Like last year. And the year before that. He has a costume and its a cowboy. End of discussion. Last year he had a cowboy birthday party where he wore his cowboy costume. Now he thinks every year for his birthday he has to wear his cowboy costume. Wow, talk about a boy set in his ways! Since there would be no talking Micah out of a cowboy, I thought Joel could be Buzz.

My plan did not work because Joel decided that he wanted to be Woody too. "Micah be Buzz Wightyear and I be Woody", is the refrain that I heard over and over. Mostly in the car, which is always lovely. With Micah arguing back that he lay claim to Woody as he wanted to be a cowboy. So I ended the argument by saying they could both be Woody. But I was NOT going to be buying a Woody costume. We have enough cowboy gear around the house. So when I got Joel up from his nap on Halloween and started putting on his "costume", he argued that his cowboy hat: "That not Woody hat, that horsey hat!" Somehow I talked him into it and hence you see the two happy cowboys.

Here are some pictures of Micah as a cowboy over the years:

Age 3 1/2







Age 22 months

I forgot that when Micah was 2 1/2 he was a pumpkin. You can see how that turned out:



This picture is as good as it got. I'm surprised to see Micah with a happy face. I remember lots of negotiation to get him into this costume. The thing was he said he wanted to be a pumpkin since Joel was going to be a pumpkin. Ahhh, 2 year olds. I also don't think the stem on his head didn't stay on very long.


Maybe next year we will be able to branch out a bit in the costume department. Joel has a train conductor hat that he likes to wear around the house. Maybe Sir Topham Hat will make an appearance next year. But if he does at least he'll have a cowboy for a brother to protect him.

Judson

A while back a posted about 2 1/2 year old Judson. It seems as though his battle is near an end unless God chooses to heal him here instead of Heaven.

Please keep the family in your prayers as I can only imagine what they are going through now as well as the next weeks, months and years.

Freecycle

I wanted to let you know about one of my favorite websites/online groups: Freecycle.

It is an online group based on geographic location a la Craig's List. The only difference is that everything offered is free. The purpose of the group is to find new uses for things that might otherwise hit the landfill. I hate to throw things away. And sometimes I just don't make it to the thrift store very often. So usually if I only have 1 or 2 items to get rid of, or I don't think Goodwill will take it, I post it on freecycle. If someone is interested in it, they will email you and you can set up a pickup time. I have also found some great things to use around the house off of freecycle. For example I've received a couple of trikes to use outside.

When you go to freecycle, it will direct you to your local group. I think most of them are yahoo groups. You will need a yahoo id first (which is free and easy to get).

You never know what you have sitting around that someone else might need or want. Especially if you just want to get rid of it and don't want to pay to drop it off at the dump.

What is your favorite?

On this day of candy... what is your favorite candy to raid from the kid's stash?

I can't resist snickers, kit kat, twix, m&ms and skittles. I detest anything with coconut or "nougat". Whatever that is. You can see I have too many favorites. All the more reason not to allow candy into the house!

------------------------

Okay rant: I don't think I'll be able to handle this. Our Christian music radio station, The Fish, I mean Spirit has now become Christmas Spirit. On Oct 31. If I have to listen to Felice Navidad from now until Dec 25 I think I will go crazy. I have enough things that drive me crazy. Time for a new station.

Shower for Baby

This weekend, some friends hosted a shower for Baby. Its such a blessing to be able to welcome baby #3 with friends. An extra blessing is that everyone brought us a pack of diapers!

They made all the yummy scones, tea sandwiches and treats. Doesn't the spread look so beautiful?

My sweet friends who hosted, Sarah, Ruth and Traci.

scone vs. biscuit

So we had a little discussion around here about a scone vs. biscuit. Certain members of our family claim that a scone is just a biscuit. To me they are distinctly different, but similar.


Scone: made with cream, sweet, usually with bits of dried fruit.


Biscuit: not sweet, flaky and buttery.


What do you think?

"Carving" Pumpkins

This year we found "Mr. Potato Head" pieces for our pumpkins. Micah made a Pirate.
And Joel made a clown. They are both very proud of their creations.

Notice the look on Joel's face? That is such a "Joel" face. He does this when we pray too. He folds his hands and bows his head. But he then knits his eyebrows and looks up and around at everyone to see if he is doing everything right. We need to get a picture of this.

Seahawks Game

Last Sunday 10/14, Aaron received some Seahawks tickets from work, so we got to go to the game. It was the first Hawks game for us both. They were great seats too! Ten rows back on the 5 yard line.

Even thought they lost to an 0-5 team, it was still fun. Quest Field is L-O-U-D. The announcers always mention how loud it is there. I think visiting teams playing at Quest have the highest amount of false starts in the league. I now can see why. All the fans were so into the game which made it tons of fun. I think everyone stood for almost the whole game, even though they were losing.

Can you tell what happened here? See the black thing hanging in the middle of the picture? That is a TV camera that fell and missed Hasselback (the quarterback) by inches. Its one of the cameras that hovers over the field and is suspended by cables. The tension system some how came loose. Needless to say they didn't use it for the rest of the game.

Death in the Family ***updated***

Yesterday our first family pet passed away to fish heaven. Sota was a beta and lived a long beta life. Three years! I think most betas live only 1 year. We bought him when Micah was about 2 years old.

I was expecting some sad tears when Aaron told Micah, "Micah I have some sad news. Sota our fish has died."

"Dad, we should have ate him before he died!"

Hmmmm...

A few minutes later we hear from Micah, " Joel, I have some sad news...."

So we had a little fish funeral in the bathroom. Daddy read the story of Jonah and the whale. Then Micah said a little prayer. Micah did the honors. Mommy had a tear in her eye.

Joel said "Sota died, we flushed him in the potty."

Yup, pretty much sums it up.

***
Okay, lest you think that my boys have no compassion and were not attached to their fish... Micah did have a few sad moments throughout the day.

more easy recipes

I PROMISE this is not going to turn into a recipe blog. BUT I just had to to tell you about 2 recipes.

1st: Pumpkin Spice Muffins.

This is the *most* difficult recipe you will ever see. They are very yummy!
Mix one box of spice cake mix with one small can of pumpkin. Spoon into muffin tin and bake according to cake mix directions.

These muffins are so great for this time of year. I keep the spice mix and pumpkin can in the pantry for those "oh my gosh I forgot I signed up for snacks for Bible study" moments.

2nd: Chicken with Roasted Pears and Wild Rice.
From Jennifer. Susan wrote about it on her blog. If you haven't tried it yet, I'm seconding Susan's opinion. It is just awesome! Aaron said it tasted like something he would eat at a restaurant. Very tasty and pretty easy to boot. Now if anyone needs to start a recipe blog, its Jennifer.

Missions Fest Seattle

This weekend we attended Missions Fest Seattle. The key verse for the weekend was Micah 6:8-

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of
you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God.

The speakers spoke alot about social justice and what the church is doing about it (or not doing about it) in the world. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear alot of what the speakers said because
there wasn't a nursery and Joel was with us. I really enjoyed what I heard. I hope to buy the DVD of the sessions to watch at home without a toddler throwing airplanes and cars down the
auditorium floor. Go to Aaron's blog to read more about the weekend. He wrote a few posts about it.

One of the unique things I liked about the conference was the children's program. Starting at age 3 they had a program for kids to learn about non-judeo religions like: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and tribal religions. Micah came home telling us about the 10-40 window. I think making young children aware that there are people out there that think differently than us is a good thing!

EASY Chicken Tortilla Soup

Awhile back Susan asked for recipe suggestions for when company comes over. Tonight I made Chicken Tortilla Soup for us and 2 other families that just had babies. Super duper easy recipe, its yummy and the kids love it.



Chicken Tortilla Soup

serves 8-10



1-30 oz can of refried beans (large can)

4 cans of chicken broth or one of the super large cans (50 oz)

4-10 oz cans of Ro-tel diced tomatoes and chiles--undrained

(note: I only use one can of Ro-tel because it is too spicy for kids and me! I make up the other 30 oz with plain diced tomatoes. You can also buy other brands of tomatoes and chiles that might not be as spicy as Ro-tel)

1 can of corn, drained

4 cups shredded cooked chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts)

shredded cheese

tortilla chips

sour cream



In a large stock pot, combine tomatoes and chicken broth. Heat through. Add refried beans and stir until it gets mixed in. Add corn and chicken and heat throughout. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve in bowls and top with cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.





This is a good recipe for left-over chicken. Or you can just steam some chicken breasts or thighs on the stove top. What I also like is the cheese and sour cream is entirely optional and easy to leave out for our kids. You can make this pretty healthy if you use the fat-free refried beans and non-fat sour cream. I, however, very rarely get to eat sour cream, so I indulge on the real stuff.



I made a double recipe and it was more than enough for us and the two other families. In fact there was lots of leftovers for us to use for another meal.... or two.



I happened to glance at the clock while I was making it and start to finish (including cooking chicken breasts ) took 30 minutes.

Cash for your opinion?

On Thursday I got to be a part of a marketing focus group. The company doing the study called me out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to come in and talk about hair salons for 2 hours and they would give me $100 cash. Ummm, yes?

I was worried that I wouldn't have much to say, but the group leader moved the discussion along nicely and asked good questions. I was the only mom there with young kids, so hopefully I represented us well! I stopped short of telling them they should offer in-salon childcare.

It turned out the client was the Gene Juarez salon which is a Northwest chain. I started going there when we moved here because I didn't know where else to go and they've been around forever.

So I think I might have a new job. They called and asked if I would come give my opinion on grocery stores for $75. Wow! And to think I've been giving out my opinion it for free all this time!

New York Trip

So I'm sloooowwwly catching up on the past month. It seems as if September FLEW by for me. Aaron was gone the beginning of September to Europe for a business trip where he got to see Susan and Chris. Aaron's mom came to help me out, then I got to go with Aaron to NYC. I've never been there before. Being in NYC was a surreal experience for me. Even though I had not been there before everything looked familiar since I had seen so many of the sites in TV and movies. I was also surprised at how clean everything was and how safe I felt there. I really enjoyed our time there, although very short. I was there Tuesday to Thursday. Somehow we managed to pack alot of fun in!

Above is me at Belvedere Castle in Central Park. Behind me is the big lawn where they hold all the concerts. Some of you have been asking for a belly shot. This is as good as it gets.
Thanks to Microsoft we got to stay at the W in Times Square. The lobby felt like it was under water. The hotel was very nice with a modern decor.

We got to see the Broadway production of Wicked and we really enjoyed it! It had some interesting themes about good vs. evil. It is the backstory to the Wizard of Oz. Sort of like seeing episode 1, 2 and 3 of Star Wars.
While Aaron was working I figured out the subway system and went sightseeing. Here I am at the lobby of the Empire State Building. Wow! That place has a line like Disneyland! They are definitely prepared for visitors! Fortunately in the morning the line wasn't too long for me. At the top they take a tourist picture of you. At the end of the tour you look to see if you want to buy it (a la Disney). The guy had a hard time finding my picture because he said "you don't look pregnant in this picture". I almost shelled out the 20 bucks right there! From then on I became a huge believer in wearing black (see above pic).

Aaron and I visited Ground Zero. There are still piles of rubble 6 years later.
They have set up a temporary visitors center on Liberty Street, right next to the fire station that responded first. Very moving experience... something to do once. It was hard to be in there, especially with pregnancy hormones--very emotional.

In the 2 1/2 days I was there I saw : Central Park, Empire State Building, WTC site, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty (from afar), Battery Park, NYSE, Federal Building (where George Washington was inaugurated!), Rockefeller Center, Sak's Fifth Avenue, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Wicked. Whew!

Now, what a more fitting way to close than with a picture of a toilet! The first night we went to an incredible Korean BBQ restaraunt called Bann. We even had ostrich! But what intrigued us was the toilet. The only other place we've seen this is at the Oklahoma City Airport. You push a button and it moves the plastic over to a fresh one. We joked that it was just going around and around in a big circle.

Have you ever seen this?

A New Toy

We have a new toy here and I hope it doesn't lose interest very quickly. It wasn't a birthday toy, in fact it was sitting in the closet all along.

A Dust Buster. I didn't think a 4 year old could find so much fun from a cleaning tool AND be effective at the clean up. I was getting ready yesterday and I heard the whirl of the dust buster. Coming downstairs I saw him busily cleaning up after himself. He was playing with play-do and while putting it away noticed some "crumbs". I didn't even know he *could* notice any crumbs. Then later after eating a bagel I heard the sound again. Wow.

He even knows how to plug it into the charger.

Happy Birthday, Joel!

Joel's 2nd birthday was September 23rd. We had a baseball-themed party on the 23rd at the park. It was a gamble to plan an outside party in late September, but decided to chance-it. Clean up is so much easier! (That's suppose to be a baseball cake!)

As you can see the weather cleared and we had a sunny afternoon at the park.

This is a partial picture of the Snack Bar. The kids played a T-Ball game and a bean bag game to win tickets. They got to spend the tickets at the snack bar to buy candy, peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jacks. The fruit was free. Unfortunately not many kids fell for the "free" fruit.

This is the baseball bean bag game.

Yummy Red Vines!!

Joel's new scooter. He calls it "My Thomas bicycle."

New dump truck from Great Grandma Exie

Couldn't resist this one!

Happy Birthday to our big boy!!

My favorite marketer...

Away!

So right now I am writing this from Times Square. I had the chance to get away with Aaron for a few days while he is here on a business trip.

Today I went down to Central Park, then we both went down to Ground Zero, Battery Park and Wall Street. Tonight we went to see the Broadway Show, Wicked. Its the story of the witches from the Wizard of Oz. We both enjoyed the story and the music. If you have a chance to see this show it is a good one!

Tomorrow I hope to see Rockefeller Center,Fifth Avenue and the Empire State Building. We'll see how long that all takes.

Reading

So, question for those of you with more education/experience in this area than me.



Yesterday at farm class, some moms were talking about preschool/kindergarten. One mom was distressed because her 3 1/2 year old was not doing his piano homework from piano lessons. Let me repeat that, her 3 year old has piano "homework". Apparently she started him on lessons at age 2. She also says that he is reading. The other mom said her 4 year old is reading. Wow. Am I behind the curve, or what?



Micah can sound some words out, but I would definitely NOT classify him as "reading". Micah is in a piano class, but if he wants to play at home, great, if he doesn't then that's great too. I want him to like music and frequently he makes up his own songs on the piano, ukulele or the tamborine. I see this as more beneficial than piano "homework".



So I asked these moms, "Does it really matter if a kid learns to read at age 2 or at age 6, as long as they eventually learn to read and they like to read?" They didn't really have an answer for me. What say you? Is there an advantage to someone reading early, say age 2 1/2??

Co-Op

Friday was the start of our new-to-us homeschool co-op which meets at a church nearby. Micah is taking a 2 hour kindergarten class and I am teaching a Hands-On Equations class to 3rd-6th graders. I loved it! It was so much fun to be teaching again! I have 5 students; including one 2nd grader, two 3rd graders and two 6th graders. Quite a difference between the 2nd and 6th grader, but it will be fine since there are only 5 kids. I've never taught students that young, so it will be a transition for me to remember how many instructions to give at one time.

(Not my student, but here you can see what the hands on equations looks like--there are game pieces you use to solve problems. Very fun!)

Micah liked his teacher and had fun in class. We are continuing the curriculum at home, hopefully daily. Today we did patterns with unifix cubes. Boy did he eat that up. He is very good at it too, making and figuring out some complex patterns.

Joel is taking a "mom and me" farm class through the city. (We actually have a working farm in the middle of our city!) Its been fun for him because Micah's taken programs at the farm (by himself, not with me) and Joel always wanted to stay and participate. Now he has a chance and we've had fun learning about cows and goats, so far. At bedtime he talked about feeding cowboy the cow and the goat parade.

Today Joel heard me talking about his birthday party and he was all over that one.

Joel: "I want to go to my potty"

Me: "What?" You want to go potty??"

Joel: " No, my potty"

Me: I don't know how, but I figured out he was saying party, not potty.

"OHHH, your party, well its not until next week. It hasn't started yet"

Joel: "My potty not open yet."

So several times throughout the day I heard him say "I have a birthday potty. My potty not open yet."

So I asked him about his party to find out if he really knew what a "birthday potty" was. I asked him what will be at his party.

Joel: "Toys"

Yup, he has the idea!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Daphne and Dave!!

Remember this?

Well, they are here! A little early at 34 weeks, so they will be in the NICU for at least a few weeks. Please pray that they will be out soon with no complications.

Twin A is 4 lbs, 4 oz.

Twin B is 5 lbs, 2 oz

So that makes 9 lbs, 6 oz of baby that was in Daphne. Wow, no wonder they came early. There couldn't have been much room left!

Would you Rather?

Would you rather clean up a kid's potty accident (not in a diaper) or throw-up mess??

Does your answer change if this is done at 2 am??

Happy Birthday! ***edited***

Happy Birthday to my baby brother!

************
Edited:
So I guess I would be remiss to say happy birthday to Rich and not tell any funny stories about him. His comment about the motorcycle got me thinking about this. =)

My brother and I had problems (Aaron would say I HAVE, present tense) with accidentally dropping food on our shirts during meals. We inherited this from our mom. Well, back in 1980-something there was this story in Japan about some earthquake where people were trapped for days. This guy survived by eating his shirt because he had spilled food on it. Okay, maybe it wasn't an earthquake, but somehow a guy was trapped. ANYWAY, anytime my mom saw my brother with food on his shirt, she had to ask him "are you saving that for when you get trapped under a building?" This was funny hmm, about maybe the first time, but it was EVERY TIME for the past 20 years! My mom had a way of running a joke into the ground like that.

Well, I hope that made you laugh Richard.

I have no idea where that motorcycle picture went!