Look at this BooBoo

Ouch!

The Bug's Big Reveal

Our

Kayter-Bug

is

so

BIG

... and cute.

Cute Girls and Cute Jewlry

This blog is giving a way a cute pice of jewelry.  The name of the jewelry is Emmie Kate. How fun is that!

Speaking of my Emmy...

She jabbers all day long. I especially love waking up to this sound.  She babbles so much that today Noah asked me if I could get her to be quiet because he was having trouble concentrating. I think that we may have another talker on our hands. 

Speaking of my Kayt...

She and I have a surprise for everyone and it's taking place very, very soon.  

Come 

back 

tomorrow

for 

the 

BIG 

REVEAL...  

The Weekend 10

1. Spent time with Mr. Ingram who was off work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Woot!

2. Went to the grocery store and spent $40, but saved over $50.  I came home with twelve steaks, four roasting chickens, a large roast, toothpaste and items to dye Easter eggs.

3. Wore my REAL jeans. The ones I wore before I began growing a baby. And I buttoned them without using a rubber-band.  So what if there was a little extra 'fluff' hanging over the top?!?  Take it easy on a gal, okay? :)

4. I did not take any cough medicine Sunday. Big step. BiG, BIG step.

5. Celebrated the birthdays of two of my loved family members, Famous Dave's style.  The German chocolate cake for dessert does not help eliminate the 'fluff'.

6. Had a great discussion with my hubby about James 4, humility, and pride. Love great conversations with my pastor-of-a-hubby.

7. Went to a little friend's third birthday party.  My children consider this cute girl to be part of our family.  Noah took his guitar and sang her a personal rendition of Happy Birthday. Precious.  I am saving the video for their wedding day.  You never know...

8. Kayt climbed out of her crib. A lot. I woke up to someone whispering "I need to potty" directly into my ear early, early Sunday morning.  That will freak you out. This means that it is time to do the switch to a big girl bed. This means that it is time to buy new bedding.  This means that it is time to re-do a bed. This means that I have a lot of work to do. This means that I need to get busy.  (FYI: her rail is lowered all the way. She is not going to topple head first out of her bed.)

9. I wore a white brown spotted shirt to church Sunday evening. Oddly, those brown spots resembled chocolate covered kiss marks.  Note to self: look in the mirror before going to be with a crowd of people.

10. The little boy got an early birthday present (not from us). Guess what it is....


                                          A Stage! A stage for our little performer. He l-o-v-e-s it!    

Today

My children are making me laugh today.  I am watching them sing and dance and talk and laugh and my heart is swelling.  They are at such fun ages.  Everything in our life is Exciting.  Adventurous. New. Thrilling. A Learning Experience.  

Oh, how I frustrate myself when my agenda and our to-do list becomes more important than this.

Confession: the only time I really get frustrated with my children is when I have an agenda.  I have something in mind, something to do and their actions are hindering ME from accomplishing what I need to do, get where I need to get, take the picture that I want to take, etc, etc, etc.  MY agenda. MY timeframe. MY needs. MY schedule. MY expectations of the ways something should happen.  And the result... MY frustration.  At those times I am forced, once again, to stare my selfishness straight in the face.  Thankfully the Lord has given me eyes to recognize this and see it for what it really is.  Typically, I am capable of stepping back from the situation and acknowledging the reasoning for my frustrations.  I can always trace it back to the root: my children's actions are not aligning with my agenda.  Thank you, Jesus for having compassion on me... a selfish child.  Confession over.

Right now we are enjoying the fun, exciting, adventurous, new, thrilling, learning experience that we call today!  Thank you, Jesus, for a new day... for TODAY!

Double Vision

One of my many favorite things about having two children of the same gender is this...

(E)

It is fun to let Emery wear outfits that used to belong to her older sister.

It brings back so many sweet, sweet memories.   

(K)

These pictures were taken exactly two years apart.  

Emery is three months old & Kayt was (almost) six months old.  

(E)

I also love how Emery weighs the same at three months (13.3 lbs) as Kayt did at six months (13.8 lbs). 

Kayt was my tiny girl and Emmy is my chunky monkey. 

(K)

It has worked out perfectly because now they were the same clothing at the same time which makes them resemble even more.  

I found this too. 

Old house. Long hair. Baby girl number one. 

Look how far we've come!

Oh, I LOVE the Word CLEAN

Anyone else? 

Clean makes my heart flutter. Clean makes my energy soar.  Clean helps me focus.  Clean empowers me.  Jesus does too.  But today we are focused on clean. I absolutely love for my house to be sparkling clean.   But keeping a nice, orderly, clean home is hard with three little ones.  Hard, I tell ya.  And it has become harder and harder with each child to find time to set apart to scrub the house.

I saw that Kelly @ Kelly's Korner had a great post yesterday where people left cleaning tips and ideas.  I cannot wait to find new, efficient tips.

A few tips that I have learned...

1. Like Kelly, I never leave dirty dishes in the sink.  I rinse dishes immediately and I run the dishwasher every night.  I unload the dishwasher while the kids eat breakfast and then load them throughout the day.  I detest scrubbing dried food off of dishes. Eck.  Noah helps me unload the dishwasher and he does a great job!

2. I use vinegar water to clean most things.  It's disinfecting, natural, cost efficient and works great.  The only place that I don't use it is on our granite countertops.  Mix half water with half vinegar in a spray bottle.  It also neutralizes smells like the microwave or refrigerator.  I add a splash of vinegar to warm soapy water when I disinfect the kids toys.

3. I keep Clorox wipes under each bathroom sink.  That way, it is easy to grab the wipes and do a quick swipe of the counter top, toilet or tub without having to completely clean the bathroom.  I do this most nights while my kids are in the bath. While they play, I give the bathroom a quick wipe down.

4. I sweep with a sweeper similar to this multiple times each day.  I sweep the kitchen at least twice, if not three times each day. It's easier to get crumbs and food up before they are tracked all over the house. Not to mention my children are messy eaters. One in particular. :)

5. I clean in intervals.  I dust one day, clean glass one day, mop one day, etc.  I wish I could do it all at once, but I don't have that amount of time. The down side to this method is that I never get the extremely clean feeling.  The upside: at least something is always clean.  I time myself for fifteen or thirty minutes and I clean all that I can in that time frame.  It's amazing how much I can accomplish before my timer goes off.  I also do a lot of five minute cleanings.

6. I NEVER leave clean laundry piles laying anywhere.  I fold clothes straight from the dryer.  It is much easier for me and our clothes are not wrinkled.

7. I wipe down the kitchen sink and all appliances at night.  It is so nice to wake up to a clean, orderly kitchen.  Shining the kitchen sink is a tip that I learned from Fly Lady.  Check out fly lady for quick tips to de-clutter and clean.  I used it for several months, and learned many helpful tips.


If only I could find tips for helping my (almost four year old ) boy keep his room clean.  Oh, the stress. Any suggestions? What are your cleaning tips/hints? By all means... share them!

p.s. One day I WILL have a cleaning lady. I have confidence in this.  And I will hug her every single time that she comes to my home. A big bear hug!

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda & A Recipe

Remember the cough that I told you about? As it turns out, I have bronchitis. And strep. And pleurisy.  If you've not ever been visited by the little ailment referred to as pleurisy, then just continue reading.  If you have had pleurisy, thank you for the little grimace you gave when reading this.  Ouch.

I assumed that I probably had bronchitis.  According to WebMD, bronchitis usually runs its course and then passes on without medical intervention.  I am a problem solver.  It must be in my DNA.  My cerebrum functions much more like a male's, I'm sure. I think that is why I liked research papers... I get an adrenaline rush from researching.  Thus, my love for WebMD.  I can self-diagnose.  I must be a doctors worst nightmare.  But back to the point; I thought my cough would run its course.  But it lingered.  And didn't get any better.  In fact, it got worse.  So our household went to the doctor.  My older two have strep also and my hubby was given an antibiotic too.

Because of all of this, we didn't go to small group last night and it was the perfect evening to stay home and play outside.  It. Was. Gorgeous.  We enjoyed some playful family time.  One of our neighbors and her sweet daughter also walked down to meet us.  They were great and I was so excited to meet some of the people who live around us.

For dinner last night, we had shrimp which Noah calls shramp.  There is no cute story with this, it's just funny when he says it.  He sounds like he has an odd accent.

Speaking of dinners, the Southern Living flop recipe was a lemonade cake.  I don't have the recipe on hand, but who would want a bad recipe anyway?  In defense of the cake, we had to make a slight ingredient alteration because the grocery store near by did not carry exactly what we were looking for.  I really think that if we had not done so, it would have been much better.  It wasn't gross, just tart.  REALLY TART. TOO TART.  So if you have a great lemonade cake recipe, you should share it and help the cake redeem itself.  Because every cake deserves a good redemption story. Right?

The recipe that we liked was a Chicken & Bow Tie Pasta. It was easy and yummy.  Two words that make my heart leap.

Chicken and Bow Tie Pasta

Ingredients

• 1  quart water
• 4  skinned and boned chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 8  ounces  uncooked bow tie pasta
• 1  cup  chicken broth
• 1  celery rib, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1  small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1  (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
• 1  (8-ounce) package pasteurized prepared cheese product, cubed
• Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Bring 1 quart salted water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add chicken, and cook 12 minutes or until done. Remove chicken from water with a slotted spoon. Add pasta to water in Dutch oven, and cook 10 minutes or until tender; drain. Keep warm.

Heat 1/4 cup broth over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven; add celery and onion, and cook 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken, soup, cheese, and remaining 3/4 cup chicken broth, stirring until cheese is melted. Toss with pasta; garnish, if desired. Serve immediately.

All of the dutch oven stuff is nonsense to me, just cook chicken and add it. It kind of has a chicken spaghetti taste, but was much easier and I prefer the bow tie pasta over spaghetti noodles.

It was really good and would be a great meal to take to a friend who has had a baby or surgery or just to show your love.  We were cooking for a group so we doubled the recipe and it made a heaping amount. So it would also be a good recipe to use when cooking for a large group.

My family loves pasta.  In fact, we had a different pasta dish for lunch today my grandma asked Kayt if she liked pasta and she said, "Yeah. It's my favorite!"  with her little head cocked to the side like she does when she talks.  It's pretty cute.  And she is pretty funny.

The Weekend 10

1. Drove over twenty hours with my three nomads. They did ridiculously well and made me so proud!

2. Prayed for my hubby and a team of forty-five church friends who traveled to Belize to do Kingdom work.

3. Visited a wildlife museum.  My older two are still laughing about the chimpanzee named Brad.  The little things...

4. Took maaannny pictures on a daffodil farm.

5. Tried two new Southern Living recipes. One hit, one flop.

6. Ate breakfast at Burger King.  Who knew that they even served breakfast?

7. Came up with a plan for re-doing our sun room.

8. Watched my husband perform the wedding of new friends.

9. Swam with my older two only to discover that my big girl does not like for her swimsuit to be wet.  This could be a long summer.

10. Spent time with my wonderful, hospitable extended family.  And then returned home to my sweet family of five.  Nothing is quite as comfortable as being inside the walls of your home with ones you love mostest. :)

I love bullet points

-I have a nagging cough. I do not feel bad, but I have had a BAD cough for almost a week.

-It's quite annoying.

-Have I ever told you that my husband detests hacking coughs? It absolutely drives him crazy.

-And he has NO sympathy on the person who is actually coughing.

-So I am driving him nuts.

-I keep getting the look.

-Lucky for him, I am taking a little road trip tomorrow with his offsprings.

-And by little, I mean eight hours.

-I know.

-Yes, I must be loosing my mind. But my grandma is riding with us.

-Only sixteen episodes of Dora.

-Sixteen? Oh, Lordy.

-But I am looking forward to a change of scenery.

-There are trees where we are going. Trees that reach to the sky.

-If that is not impressive to you, you must not live where I live.

-Happy driving to us, I can already smell the pine trees! 

:::Busy:::

We have three children ages three and under. 

Life with three children is one thing.  

Life with a three year old, two year old and three month old is another and can be summed up in one word... busy. 

Yes. 

BUSY. 

When they wake up and want breakfast, it's busy.  They are famished.  Starving the very minute they roll out of the bed. 

Each morning while they eat breakfast I unload the dishwasher from the night before.  If that is the only time I unload the dishwasher in a day, I consider myself fortunate.

After breakfast, they get dressed and it's like chasing loose zoo animals.  Kayt sees absolutely NO need to primp her hair, much less comb it.  Noah typically dresses himself in some sort of uniform.  And then he changes to another uniform.  And minutes after, he changes to yet another uniform.  He changes so, so, so many times during the day.  I cannot even count.  I have tried to limit his clothes changing, but well... it has not really worked.  And I don't harp it too much.  He is happy.  And he is so literal that to assume a roll, he must dress the part.  I feel that when I limit him too much, I crush who he is and who he is becoming.  So I let him change over and over and over and over....

Lunchtime = busy

Cleanup = busy

Oh, and in between these things I have a nursing three month old to tend to. 

And then comes nap time.  Sweet, sweet nap time.  But nap time, too, is busy. Because there are clothes to wash, laundry to fold, floors to sweep, emails to return, a job that I do from home to keep up with, a baby to hold and many other things that require upkeep.
Busy.
And sometimes... on really special day... I give myself twenty or thirty minutes to rest. I actually time it. 

Then there is dinner to prepare.

And then the kiddos wake up and there is snack time.  

And play time. 

And more dress up time. 

See, I tell you it's busy. 

But for me, busy = fun.  

It keeps me on my toes. 

We also have Bible study to attend, play dates to participate in, and errands to run.  

So for all of my friends out there with three children (or more), you can feel a sister here. 

Right?

And for all of my other friends, see what you have to look forward to? 

Busy days.

Fun days.

I love my three busy-bodies. 

And I am thankful that they are busy and that they keep me busy. 

Because busy is fun and busy is blessed!

Before/After: Part II

The living room.  

Also known as the couch laying, television watching, toy playing, diaper changing, wrestling rink, piano playing room. 

This room was ALL paneling. It also had avocado green carpet. Eck. 

I don't have a picture of it with full paneling, but you can imagine how dark it must have been since it had NO lighting? Oh, I forgot to mention that it had no lighting? Well then, it had NO lights. 

This wall with a window...

...became these doors that lead to the sun room. 

This outdated bookshelf...

...blends in nicely now.

Actually, reworking the items on this built-in is on my project list for the coming months. I put up random items to fill space and have never been happy with it. 

I want a more 'together,' yet 'fun' look.  I'm open to suggestions. 

Look at the sweet swinging baby. 

This was obviously post paneling and after the carpet was removed. 

This was post taping the seems, but mid-texturing. 

You can see that we are working by lamp light. 

And PRAISE JESUS, we had the popcorn ceilings scraped. 

ta-da!

Now, we can see one another clearly with our lovely canned lighting that functions on a dimmer switch. Fancy stuff!

Before/After: Part I

 I started this post with the intentions of showing you pictures our entire house before/after, but after I began I realize that I would be dealing with a lot of pictures.  For the sake of ease I am going to break it into a few posts. 

I am glad that someone asked to see pictures of our home. Now that we have been here for several months, I forget how much work that we actually have done so it was fun to reflect. 

The before pictures of our home are not actually from the very beginning. I think we were so anxious to start working and disassembling that I forgot to take pictures.  The pictures I do have should give an pretty good idea how far we've come.

This is our breakfast nook/dining room. It had floral wall paper, paneling, yellow linoleum, old windows, and bad light fixtures.   

And we replaced the door on the left side of this picture.

In the kitchen we scraped the ceiling, installed canned lighting, painted the cabinets, and replaced: the appliances, sink, countertops, back splash, flooring, & knobs. 

...after the cabinets were painted...

...and now...

And that folks, is our kitchen and dining room! 

The Weekend 10

Ten things I did this weekend...

1. Spent too much money at Target.

2. Ate out three times, only paying once.

3. Spent two afternoons at the park.

4. Played with our favorite cousin.

5. Laughed with two college friends that I do not see enough.

6. Waited for the laundry to wash itself.

7. Took one shower.

8. Went to the $2 theatre.

9. Touched a lobster.

10. Wore flip flops.



p.s. I am having a hard time with things to blog about. Any ideas? Any questions?  I'm just stuck.

The Baby

This is my eleven-week-old. 

She is an absolute joy! I would venture to call her my most laid-back child. She is content and  happy.  We only hear from her when she has an upset tummy which is usually followed by a nice, smelly present. :) 

She sleeps between eight and nine hours each night and is a very efficient eater. She lets her brother and sister kiss, pat, rub, and hug her all day.  She loves her swing and is happy to spend a large portion of her time there.  The noise and chaos of our home don't phase her in the slightest. 

Her smiles are easy to rouse.  She is alert and playful, but gets frustrated with tummy time.  She loves her pacifier and bath time although baths are few and far between. Ha! She has made our family feel complete and I love having a newborn around again.  She is so precious. And best of all, people say that she looks like me. This is music to my ears since my older two are told daily how much they look like their Daddy. After three pregnancies and three births, I am getting credit. And it's fun! 

Chicken Chili

Don't worry this blog will not be all about chicken, I just wanted to share an easy recipe that my entire family loves. :)

This winter has been unusually cold and snowy so our dinners have been bombarded with soups and crock pot recipes.  Winter and the slow cooker go hand-in-hand for me. Do they you? This is a recipe that I received from girl I taught with in Keller several years ago. I loved it then and now it is one of the kids very favorites. I serve it with corn bread that I cook in my lovely, new cast iron skillet that I received for Christmas (thanks, Mom).  You know that you are a real grown-up when a cast iron skillet and a mop bring a smile to your face. Humph.

I wanted to share this in time for you to make it at least once before the outdoor grill lures you away from the slow cooker.


Chicken Chili


4 Chicken Breasts cooked and cut into bite size pieces
1 Medium jar of salsa (I prefer Pace for this particular recipe)
2 Cans of Great White Northern Beans (juice and all)
1 block (1 lb) of Monterey Jack Cheese cubed
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 cup water


Put all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for several hours. Keep the lid on so that condensation will remain in the chili. 

Recently, I've began cooking an entire chicken in my crock pot over night with just a bit of chicken broth, shredding the chicken, and then using it for this recipe and many others. It is more cost efficient.

Hope you enjoy!