Menu Plan Monday

Sunday: broiled salmon, risoto, steamed asparagus, red grapes
Monday: spaghetti (red pepper and tofu tomato sauce - SO yummy!), steamed spinach, canteloupe, cheesecake (FHE treat!)
Tuesday: Texas black bean chili, tomatoes, oranges
Wednesday: chicken caliente casserole, corn, pears
Thursday: white bean pasta soup, green salad, mango slices
Friday: left overs
Saturday: General Conference Homemade Pizza (cheesy, I know, but a family tradition)

Singin' in the Rain....

Well, we made it here to Oregon in one piece and in ONE DAY (we drove)! This is the first time we've driven straight through with the kids and we fully expected to have to stop but they did swimmingly! I probably won't have much time to post while here, since we have a packed schedule including a beach house, the Children's museum (Portland one is SOOOO much better than Utah's!!!), OMSI, Easter, and LOTS of family time. But I'll give an update when we return next week!

Sweet Grins

It is amazing how much joy something as small as a young child can bring to one's life. Truly incredible - their innocence and purity, their enthusiasm and zeal, their curiosity and sometimes mischeviousness. Every day I thank the Lord for my two beautiful little ones! They are more precious to me than anything else in this world. I hope I can be the mother they deserve!

I love both of my children equally, but in different ways. I find that I post more on Angel as she does more talking, etc - but my sweet Grins has a special place in my heart for his adorable dimply grin which almost ALWAYS lights up his face (I think the only times he is not smiling is while being attacked by his sister or sleeping - and even then he is often smiling!) and his enthusiasm! He is just too cute for words.

Our Little Doctor...

"Angel"'s new favorite game is playing "Doctor". She is quite good at it, if I do say so myself. The other night she was 'doctoring' Daddy. She looked in his eyes, ears, mouth and nose with her little otoscope and said "Everything looks good!" Then she pulled out her stethoscope and listened to his heart. She seemed to have a distant look on her face and suddenly jumped up, VERY excited, and said, "The baby is almost ready to come out!" with her mouth wide open. Daddy could not stop laughing. She sure is clever!

Stop and think....

An article by Shawni Eyre (daughter of Richard and Linda Eyre, mother of 5):

"The other day I finally got myself (and my two at-home-during-the-day kids) to the mall for some post-Christmas returns and exchanges. It wasn't fun. The girls were doing all kinds of acrobatics on the stroller and poor Claire had hurt her knee on the trampoline the day before and kept whining that she couldn't walk. So as I carried her through the mall in one arm while trying to contort my other arm enough to successfully maneuver my stroller laden with bags and a chunky baby, I noticed a mother with a new little baby...maybe a month old. He was fussy and she was trying to comfort him while maneuvering her stroller too. Oh I wanted to just ask her if I could hold him and snuggle him for a little bit. I wished I had my old Baby Bjorn to hand over to her. I could never go to the mall without it when I had babies that little. And then the thought of having my tiny snuggling babies right next to me while I did my daily tasks started eating at me. How they looked when they were sleeping, how they smelled, how they sighed in their sleep, and yes, even their sweet little newborn cries. Baby hunger crept in. "How could those days have passed so quickly??!" I asked myself in awe as I looked at my own crying "baby" and her whimpering sister side-kick.

And then a thought struck me. A few years from now I'll be roaming the mall and all my kids will be in school. I know, I know, it will be nice. It'll seem so free and strange in a good way. But, at that moment in the mall this week I realized that on that day in the future when I'm wandering the mall all fancy-free, there's no doubt I'll run into my double self from this week. She'll be wrestling with her toddlers with a frustrated look on her face, assuring them that they're almost done with the errands of the day. And oh will I ever wish I could go back, at least for a little while, and slow life down while I snuggle those kids up and kiss their chubby cheeks off. I'll try to envision them as their little selves climbing on me and whining and needy, and I'll probably tear up a little just like I am right now because I'll miss those little people. I know the bigger form of my little people will we wonderful. I can't wait to "meet" them and grow with them. But I just realized this week, once again, how much I need to cherish this time, right now, right here...snotty noses, whiny faces, dramatics and all that craziness in one great big package in a bow. Because when I blink they'll be all grown up."

My Life in a BOX

I saw this 'word cloud' idea on a friend's blog and decided to give it a go (you can try it here). So, there you have it. Kinda neat.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: soft tacos (by Jon - DELICIOUS!!!) and green salad
Tuesday: Black bean chili (bumped from last week) and cornbread
Wednesday: pork chops, red potatoes, steamed cabbage
Thursday: clam chowder
Friday: dinner out (celebrating Jon's spring break!!!)

I am trying to incorporate more beans into our diet, primarily for health reasons but also to help with the medical student budget plan...but I am in DESPERATE need for bean recipes! Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated.

Creativity, SNEAKY creativity...

Our darling daughter was uninterested in the delicious chicken pot pie her daddy made for dinner this evening. We insisted that she eat at least a couple of bites before excusing her from the table, as she has a tendency to declare "starvation" when going to bed if she doesn't have dinner. She was taking her own sweet time so the rest of us had excused ourselves from the table and were working on the dishes, bedtime preparations, etc when she announced, "I'm Done!"
Her father looked over to see her sitting in front of an empty plate which, just a few short moments previous, had been untouched. He was pleasantly surprised and smug that we must be doing something right as parents when he suddenly saw her holding, somewhat coyly, something in her hand, seemingly trying to conceal it. He opened her hand to find the sock she had been wearing.... but instead of hanging flaccid and empty it was stuffed like a stocking on Christmas morning. We had a good laugh and proceeded to fill her plate with a fresh batch of pot pie (and, of course, emptied her stocking.) She eventually cleaned off her plate.

Now, I've heard of tucking food under one's plate, feeding it to the household pet, and even putting it up one's nose (ask my husband!!) to avoid having to eat it. But a sock? That's a new one. Does anyone have any similarly devious stories to share? :)