Here's Why:
-I woke up to the sound of Asa talking after 8:30. I slept undisturbed all night except for James kissing me goodbye as he left for work.
-Judah devoured his cereal this morning and cried when there was too large of a break between bites.
-Asa now says "Yeah, sure" when you ask if he wants to do something.
-Asa was listening to his Veggie Tales sing along CD and sang along. It was during "If You're Happy and You Know It." He said "hooray" with much excitement.
-Asa put some puzzle pieces together in a nice long row.
-Judah is taking a nap and I'm off to take a shower!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Giggles
I thought I would share this un-edited video from our fun in the backyard on Thursday. It was over 60 here in Kansas City in January. Since it was so nice I took the boys outside to play. I was not close enough to the boys the first time Asa rolled the ball down the slide and it hit Judah in the face. I was glad since Judah really liked it.
We had a lot of fun outside until Asa brought something to me. It was dog poop. We went inside after that and washed our hands. I told James that we need to buy a house with a private back yard so there isn't any dog poop that my kids can play with.
Thursday night we had "brinner." That consisted of hash browns, eggs and bacon. At one point of the meal I looked at Asa and he was putting hash browns up his nose. I didn't see any up there but he was sneezing a lot for the rest of the evening. I really thought there was something in his nose, yet I didn't do anything about it. Friday morning Asa sneezed and a white chunk came out. I inspected it and determined that it was a tiny piece of potato. I told Asa "that is why we don't put things in our nose" and "I bet you feel better now."
I'm waiting for the video to upload so I guess I'll keep typing.
Last night we went to see the movie "Fireproof" at a church. It was free and we took the boys to our free babysitter Dawn. She also had Caleb and Luke, our youth pastor's kids. It was a pretty fun night. We had pizza with Justin (y. p.) and Amy (his wife). My section was chicken alfredo with red peppers and onions. Delicious. James had spicy red sauce with chorizo, jalapenos and pepper jack cheese. He's nuts. I guess it wasn't really that spicy though. He is constantly saddened by the lack of serious heat in Midwestern foods. We did open a can of el pato sauce that was pretty hot this week.
Video is still uploading. Hmmmm.
Asa is still piling pillows on Judah when they are on our bed. It's really hard to get him to stop it since Judah thinks it is funny. Asa loves being under pillows himself. He usually sleeps with a pillow on his head. Speaking of pillows, Carol (James' mom's friend) made Asa a new pillow. I will have to take a picture of it to share with my faithful blog followers.
Judah had his tooth break through Friday morning. Also around the same time Asa pulled a chair over on himself. Later he was dancing and slipped and crashed to the ground. He seems to be free of serious injuries.
We had a lot of fun outside until Asa brought something to me. It was dog poop. We went inside after that and washed our hands. I told James that we need to buy a house with a private back yard so there isn't any dog poop that my kids can play with.
Thursday night we had "brinner." That consisted of hash browns, eggs and bacon. At one point of the meal I looked at Asa and he was putting hash browns up his nose. I didn't see any up there but he was sneezing a lot for the rest of the evening. I really thought there was something in his nose, yet I didn't do anything about it. Friday morning Asa sneezed and a white chunk came out. I inspected it and determined that it was a tiny piece of potato. I told Asa "that is why we don't put things in our nose" and "I bet you feel better now."
I'm waiting for the video to upload so I guess I'll keep typing.
Last night we went to see the movie "Fireproof" at a church. It was free and we took the boys to our free babysitter Dawn. She also had Caleb and Luke, our youth pastor's kids. It was a pretty fun night. We had pizza with Justin (y. p.) and Amy (his wife). My section was chicken alfredo with red peppers and onions. Delicious. James had spicy red sauce with chorizo, jalapenos and pepper jack cheese. He's nuts. I guess it wasn't really that spicy though. He is constantly saddened by the lack of serious heat in Midwestern foods. We did open a can of el pato sauce that was pretty hot this week.
Video is still uploading. Hmmmm.
Asa is still piling pillows on Judah when they are on our bed. It's really hard to get him to stop it since Judah thinks it is funny. Asa loves being under pillows himself. He usually sleeps with a pillow on his head. Speaking of pillows, Carol (James' mom's friend) made Asa a new pillow. I will have to take a picture of it to share with my faithful blog followers.
Judah had his tooth break through Friday morning. Also around the same time Asa pulled a chair over on himself. Later he was dancing and slipped and crashed to the ground. He seems to be free of serious injuries.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Muffin Tin Mayhem
I've been having trouble with my muffin tins. I think it all started with my husband. Yes, I am going to blame this all on James. I made my mother-in-law's famous banana chocolate chip muffins shortly after James and I got married. I used the normal muffin papers that my mother used when making muffins. After all, I didn't want to ruin the new pans such a short time into my marriage. As a newly married woman, you want to make food your husband loves. I clearly remember sitting on the couch watching James eat his muffin, eagerly awaiting his judgment. The jury returned with a favorable verdict. The only problem was the muffin papers. Mother-in-law doesn't use muffin papers. (Here is where I have to say that I love my husband. He may be a picky eater, but I love him. I gladly amend recipes all the time to please him. And I say this honestly, really I do.) Because the muffin papers bothered James, I quit using them. Since that fateful day more than five years ago, I have been spraying my muffin tins with a non-stick cooking spray. It works pretty well but if I'm not careful, I have to scrub them.
Sunday I decided to make an angel food cake for our small group. The box goes to great lengths to make sure you make the cake properly. You may not use a bunt pan or an angel food cake pan that isn't the right size because the batter expands and will overflow. Since I don't have an angel food cake pan I decided to use my bunt pan and also make some cupcakes, which the instructions allow.
At this point in the story, I must interject another story. A few days ago I reached up for the can of non-stick cooking spray. Something had happened to it and I realized this when oil poured off of it and onto myself and the floor. This meant that the can is empty and I haven't remembered to get more while at the store since then. I have instead been using my silicone pastry brush and oil to coat things like the waffle iron and casserole dishes.
Back to the cake story. The box says that non-stick cooking spray is not required. "That's good because I don't have any!" I filled up my bunt pan and muffin tins and started baking. The muffin tin on the bottom rack was soon burned. (Gas oven, heat comes from the bottom.) The other pan of cupcakes turned out a little better. However, since I didn't use muffin papers as the box recommends or non-stick cooking spray, taking the cupcakes out of the pan was a little difficult. Angel food cake tends to mush when touched. We had severely misshapen cupcakes. I saved those for Asa. The actual cake turned out fine.
I believe that both of my muffin tins I used Sunday are ruined. Luckily I have one more that isn't quite ruined. I'm thinking of getting silicone pans. Does anyone have suggestions for me?
This morning I made those famous banana chocolate chip muffins in my one remaining pan. I decided that it would be fun for Asa to eat at a different place than the table. His high chair converts to a little chair and a little table, so I converted it for a different "view." Here was the problem: I didn't buckle him in. When he was finished eating, he started walking around covered in melted chocolate chips. I caught him before he finger painted anything.
Asa has been asking questions recently. "Where did it go?" (We often don't know what "it" is.) "What's that?" (Said while pointing to a picture in a book or holding a puzzle piece.) I can see that this is the beginning of the questioning age. It's all in the process of learning. I can't complain.
Sunday I decided to make an angel food cake for our small group. The box goes to great lengths to make sure you make the cake properly. You may not use a bunt pan or an angel food cake pan that isn't the right size because the batter expands and will overflow. Since I don't have an angel food cake pan I decided to use my bunt pan and also make some cupcakes, which the instructions allow.
At this point in the story, I must interject another story. A few days ago I reached up for the can of non-stick cooking spray. Something had happened to it and I realized this when oil poured off of it and onto myself and the floor. This meant that the can is empty and I haven't remembered to get more while at the store since then. I have instead been using my silicone pastry brush and oil to coat things like the waffle iron and casserole dishes.
Back to the cake story. The box says that non-stick cooking spray is not required. "That's good because I don't have any!" I filled up my bunt pan and muffin tins and started baking. The muffin tin on the bottom rack was soon burned. (Gas oven, heat comes from the bottom.) The other pan of cupcakes turned out a little better. However, since I didn't use muffin papers as the box recommends or non-stick cooking spray, taking the cupcakes out of the pan was a little difficult. Angel food cake tends to mush when touched. We had severely misshapen cupcakes. I saved those for Asa. The actual cake turned out fine.
I believe that both of my muffin tins I used Sunday are ruined. Luckily I have one more that isn't quite ruined. I'm thinking of getting silicone pans. Does anyone have suggestions for me?
This morning I made those famous banana chocolate chip muffins in my one remaining pan. I decided that it would be fun for Asa to eat at a different place than the table. His high chair converts to a little chair and a little table, so I converted it for a different "view." Here was the problem: I didn't buckle him in. When he was finished eating, he started walking around covered in melted chocolate chips. I caught him before he finger painted anything.
Asa has been asking questions recently. "Where did it go?" (We often don't know what "it" is.) "What's that?" (Said while pointing to a picture in a book or holding a puzzle piece.) I can see that this is the beginning of the questioning age. It's all in the process of learning. I can't complain.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Photo Essay
I've uploaded a lot of recent cute pictures of the boys. Asa is talking a lot better. He now says yes instead of yeah.
I'm trying to get Judah to be more mobile and able to sit on his own. We'll see how it goes in the next few weeks.
Here is Judah on New Year's Day trying cereal for the first time. He's still not a big fan of this new way to eat, but he is getting better at it.
This is Judah with a matching jammie, bib and blanket. All three came from totally different places.
Asa was helping unload the groceries and decided to rearrange the items in the refrigerator so the cereal would fit.
This is really mean but Asa woke up crabby from a nap one day. I think it was because his hair was all messed up!
The following picture is insignificant without an explanation. When I laid Judah down, his head was on the right side. Now it's on the left. He's a squirmy baby.
When a baby sits in this while pooping, it makes a big mess. And you'll probably have to give the baby a bath.
Here we have Asa holding Judah while sucking his thumb.
And finally here is Judah wearing his newest outfit.
It should say "Spoiled by Aunt Janet."
I'm trying to get Judah to be more mobile and able to sit on his own. We'll see how it goes in the next few weeks.
Here is Judah on New Year's Day trying cereal for the first time. He's still not a big fan of this new way to eat, but he is getting better at it.
This is Judah with a matching jammie, bib and blanket. All three came from totally different places.
Asa was helping unload the groceries and decided to rearrange the items in the refrigerator so the cereal would fit.
This is really mean but Asa woke up crabby from a nap one day. I think it was because his hair was all messed up!
The following picture is insignificant without an explanation. When I laid Judah down, his head was on the right side. Now it's on the left. He's a squirmy baby.
When a baby sits in this while pooping, it makes a big mess. And you'll probably have to give the baby a bath.
Here we have Asa holding Judah while sucking his thumb.
And finally here is Judah wearing his newest outfit.
It should say "Spoiled by Aunt Janet."
Friday, January 9, 2009
Goals for 2009
I've already posted these goals of mine on facebook, but I should do so here as well. I'll probably talk about it more on my blog than on facebook. These are things that I always have as goals but that I'm putting down as a specific goal for each day this year.
1) Treat my family with love and patience in my words and actions.
2) Have the house prepared for visitors any time.
3) Keep on growing in my relationship with God.
4) Read
5) Run (half marathon in October?)
6) Implement a cleaning schedule as follows-
Monday: Kitchen
Tuesday: Bathrooms
Wednesday: Bedrooms
Thursday: Living/Dining rooms
Friday: Basement & Garage as needed
At the end of week one, I cleaned the kitchen on Monday but it was messy again at the end of the day. Tuesday I didn't get to the bathrooms but I cleaned them last Friday. I had people over Wednesday and Thursday so the living/dining room was clean. I tried to organize some stuff in our bedroom this morning. I successfully made organized piles on our bed. I'll try to get those moved to their assigned places before we go to bed. I'm ignoring the basement and garage today! At least I have goals to break every week!
I also went out for a jog this morning. I did a 10 minute walking warm-up, 10 minutes of running and 10 minutes of cool down walking. It felt pretty good.
1) Treat my family with love and patience in my words and actions.
2) Have the house prepared for visitors any time.
3) Keep on growing in my relationship with God.
4) Read
5) Run (half marathon in October?)
6) Implement a cleaning schedule as follows-
Monday: Kitchen
Tuesday: Bathrooms
Wednesday: Bedrooms
Thursday: Living/Dining rooms
Friday: Basement & Garage as needed
At the end of week one, I cleaned the kitchen on Monday but it was messy again at the end of the day. Tuesday I didn't get to the bathrooms but I cleaned them last Friday. I had people over Wednesday and Thursday so the living/dining room was clean. I tried to organize some stuff in our bedroom this morning. I successfully made organized piles on our bed. I'll try to get those moved to their assigned places before we go to bed. I'm ignoring the basement and garage today! At least I have goals to break every week!
I also went out for a jog this morning. I did a 10 minute walking warm-up, 10 minutes of running and 10 minutes of cool down walking. It felt pretty good.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
I'm Officially an Idiot
I know what you're saying, "That's too harsh, Jodi. You're not an idiot. You're beautiful, smart, a great mother, bla, bla, bla."
Well, I am going to have to disagree with you. I'm about to tell a story that my friends and family still tease me about to this day. One day during the summer after my freshman year of high school I was making puppy chow. In case you live in a cave and don't know what it is:
Melt:
1 stick margarine
1/2 c peanut butter
1 c chocolate chips
Pour over 6 cups crispex cereal. Mix well and then coat with 2 cups powdered sugar. (I usually put the coated cereal in a big container, add the sugar and shake until it's well coated.)
Anyhow, I asked my mom which container had the powdered sugar and she got it out for me. I finished making the puppy chow and tasted it. Something wasn't quite right. I had used corn starch instead of powdered sugar. Ugh. I think we added some powdered sugar and ate some of it but it was terrible!
Fast forward to 2009.
A couple days ago I was looking in the cupboard at my baking supplies and noticed that I had both a container of powdered sugar and an opened bag of powdered sugar. That's perfect for puppy chow. This morning I got up before the children to do some cleaning and make puppy chow for the teens at church. I've made it a million times at this point in my life. People are always saying it's delicious and love it when I make the addicting treat. Well, after I added the powdered sugar, I opened up the container and it looked so delicious that I had to taste it. Ugh, I'm an idiot! It was corn starch again! It was a container of cornstarch in the cupboard, not powdered sugar. I guess I need to start labeling things in my pantry.
Well, I am going to have to disagree with you. I'm about to tell a story that my friends and family still tease me about to this day. One day during the summer after my freshman year of high school I was making puppy chow. In case you live in a cave and don't know what it is:
Melt:
1 stick margarine
1/2 c peanut butter
1 c chocolate chips
Pour over 6 cups crispex cereal. Mix well and then coat with 2 cups powdered sugar. (I usually put the coated cereal in a big container, add the sugar and shake until it's well coated.)
Anyhow, I asked my mom which container had the powdered sugar and she got it out for me. I finished making the puppy chow and tasted it. Something wasn't quite right. I had used corn starch instead of powdered sugar. Ugh. I think we added some powdered sugar and ate some of it but it was terrible!
Fast forward to 2009.
A couple days ago I was looking in the cupboard at my baking supplies and noticed that I had both a container of powdered sugar and an opened bag of powdered sugar. That's perfect for puppy chow. This morning I got up before the children to do some cleaning and make puppy chow for the teens at church. I've made it a million times at this point in my life. People are always saying it's delicious and love it when I make the addicting treat. Well, after I added the powdered sugar, I opened up the container and it looked so delicious that I had to taste it. Ugh, I'm an idiot! It was corn starch again! It was a container of cornstarch in the cupboard, not powdered sugar. I guess I need to start labeling things in my pantry.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Christmas
Our Christmas trip to Iowa was great! My friend Mariah from high school now lives in Tulsa but was in Oskaloosa visiting family. She came to my mom's house for a chunk of time Wednesday afternoon. Her husband Josh was there for a little bit. He is in med school and had just gotten his medical instruments. He was kind enough to look in my kids' ears and take my blood pressure.
Christmas Eve we made gingerbread houses. Asa just wanted to eat the candy. I have to post a picture of James' creation. I just put one together quickly and simply for Asa to decorate. James took an hour to construct his Frank Lloyd Wright house.
Later in the evening we read part of the Christmas story. Asa didn't have much patience for that. We let the boys each open one present, mainly because we had wrapped up some Christmas pajamas for Judah. Asa opened a Santa Mr. Potato head. It was nice and quiet at Mom's house because we were the only people there. My sisters got in late Christmas day.
Christmas morning we all slept in a little bit. I don't know if we will ever push the Santa thing, but I like having stockings. Asa delivered Judah's stocking to him. Judah got a cool alligator that says colors in three languages. I was very proud of this find. It was $13 retail at Wal-Mart but had a $5 sticker on it. To make a long story short, I got it for $5 even though it rang up at $13. I don't think Sam Walton is hurting because of my good luck Christmas Eve. Asa got Hershey's Kisses, an apple and a little monster truck in his stocking. James and I both got our favorite candies. James also got some coffee from the Roasterie in KC.
After a delicious breakfast of Almond Chocolate Chip Scones, we opened the rest of our presents. I won't share all of those details, but Asa said one funny thing. He opened another regular Mr. Potato Head. When I asked him what it was, he said "head." It was cute.
The next most exciting part of the day was the arrival of the cousins. Asa likes having little people to run around with and they like having someone to boss around.
On a side note, I'm going to have to condense a lot because this is too long!
The day after Christmas we had our Huff family Christmas celebration. We had a delicious lunch and the kids opened presents. A few years ago we just started having the kids draw names and get gifts for each other. I don't think we could afford any more than that and it's a lot easier. The living room was a huge mess with just a few presents.
I am having some trouble remembering details at this point. Here is what I remember:
-Margee's girls got a Wii from their aunt on their dad's side. That consumed much of their time at Mom's house.
-James and I went on a date to Tasos, the restaurant at which I waited tables back in my college days.
-We ate a lot of food. My mom made some great candies!
-We watched football.
-Asa helped my mom do her exercises:
I do remember how Sunday morning began. I was up early feeding Judah and went upstairs to see if church had been canceled due to the weather. I noticed my mom was coughing, but didn't think much of it. As I was getting out of the shower a few minutes later, Melinda was knocking on the bathroom door and walking in. I freaked out since I wasn't dressed! She said that Mom had taken two of her nitros. I didn't really get it at the time, but she thought she was having another heart attack. We decided to drive her to the ER instead of having an ambulance come to the house. I was in the driver's seat. Let me tell you this. It is a good thing there weren't many people on the roads because we may not have made it there. It was really slick and I was driving too fast. Well, as it turned out, Mom didn't have a heart attack. She did have some fluid on her lungs. I guess we're calling the episode congestive heart failure. We think she had too much sodium over the holiday and that created an excess of liquid which in turn backed up onto her lungs because of her heart. I'm clearly not a doctor. Mom was admitted to the hospital Sunday and was released Tuesday. We went home Monday afternoon. It wasn't the greatest end for our trip. I felt bad for Mom since she couldn't be home with her family. Anyhow, she's doing a lot better now. I think she's still trying to figure out what all she needs to change to prevent this from happening again.
That ends our Christmas story. I still have hopes to post a Christmas Letter Blog. We'll see if it happens.
Christmas Eve we made gingerbread houses. Asa just wanted to eat the candy. I have to post a picture of James' creation. I just put one together quickly and simply for Asa to decorate. James took an hour to construct his Frank Lloyd Wright house.
Later in the evening we read part of the Christmas story. Asa didn't have much patience for that. We let the boys each open one present, mainly because we had wrapped up some Christmas pajamas for Judah. Asa opened a Santa Mr. Potato head. It was nice and quiet at Mom's house because we were the only people there. My sisters got in late Christmas day.
Christmas morning we all slept in a little bit. I don't know if we will ever push the Santa thing, but I like having stockings. Asa delivered Judah's stocking to him. Judah got a cool alligator that says colors in three languages. I was very proud of this find. It was $13 retail at Wal-Mart but had a $5 sticker on it. To make a long story short, I got it for $5 even though it rang up at $13. I don't think Sam Walton is hurting because of my good luck Christmas Eve. Asa got Hershey's Kisses, an apple and a little monster truck in his stocking. James and I both got our favorite candies. James also got some coffee from the Roasterie in KC.
After a delicious breakfast of Almond Chocolate Chip Scones, we opened the rest of our presents. I won't share all of those details, but Asa said one funny thing. He opened another regular Mr. Potato Head. When I asked him what it was, he said "head." It was cute.
The next most exciting part of the day was the arrival of the cousins. Asa likes having little people to run around with and they like having someone to boss around.
On a side note, I'm going to have to condense a lot because this is too long!
The day after Christmas we had our Huff family Christmas celebration. We had a delicious lunch and the kids opened presents. A few years ago we just started having the kids draw names and get gifts for each other. I don't think we could afford any more than that and it's a lot easier. The living room was a huge mess with just a few presents.
I am having some trouble remembering details at this point. Here is what I remember:
-Margee's girls got a Wii from their aunt on their dad's side. That consumed much of their time at Mom's house.
-James and I went on a date to Tasos, the restaurant at which I waited tables back in my college days.
-We ate a lot of food. My mom made some great candies!
-We watched football.
-Asa helped my mom do her exercises:
I do remember how Sunday morning began. I was up early feeding Judah and went upstairs to see if church had been canceled due to the weather. I noticed my mom was coughing, but didn't think much of it. As I was getting out of the shower a few minutes later, Melinda was knocking on the bathroom door and walking in. I freaked out since I wasn't dressed! She said that Mom had taken two of her nitros. I didn't really get it at the time, but she thought she was having another heart attack. We decided to drive her to the ER instead of having an ambulance come to the house. I was in the driver's seat. Let me tell you this. It is a good thing there weren't many people on the roads because we may not have made it there. It was really slick and I was driving too fast. Well, as it turned out, Mom didn't have a heart attack. She did have some fluid on her lungs. I guess we're calling the episode congestive heart failure. We think she had too much sodium over the holiday and that created an excess of liquid which in turn backed up onto her lungs because of her heart. I'm clearly not a doctor. Mom was admitted to the hospital Sunday and was released Tuesday. We went home Monday afternoon. It wasn't the greatest end for our trip. I felt bad for Mom since she couldn't be home with her family. Anyhow, she's doing a lot better now. I think she's still trying to figure out what all she needs to change to prevent this from happening again.
That ends our Christmas story. I still have hopes to post a Christmas Letter Blog. We'll see if it happens.
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