Where did that bagel go?

Marin would like to point something out...

Owen has a blob of jelly bagel in his hair. The question we should be asking is how did it get there? Oh, he put it there.

You Know He's Serious When...

Yes he really is trying to destroy the house, oh look at those cute shoes, they must belong to someone trying to look like she has it all together and would never have messes like this on the floor, NEVER!

He makes huge messes when he eats, but if its left long enough he returns to finish it up. Usually after he is clean and wearing white.

Who needs a puppy, if the mother in that house gets lazy enough the baby cleans up after himself. This must mean he is either still hungry, or likes a clean house like his daddy.

When Marin Finds the Camera

I left the camera on the table today

Owen thought she was funny... but then everyone is funny to Owen, but she is usually the funniest

Coloring book, nice angle

Self Portrait titled; Jelly Face

Big Boy!

Guess who's standing up? Our Little Man learned how to pull himself up yesterday.

Now he can really get crazy, and it time to start bolting everything to the walls!

A Visiting We Shall Go

We finally made it back to the Midwest! Marin and I have not been there in almost three years and Owen... never, obviously. I went with the kids first and got to spend a few days with some of my bestest friends from college and high school. Yes I flew alone with both kids... and it was fine. I even snapped a picture of both of them sleeping on the flight. I don't know how that happened but both kids slept for over an hour!

Marin would like every one to know that she got to play in snow for her first time. And Owen was a bit worried about that white stuff.

He was not amused by the amount of clothing you must wear when its really cold outside.

Well maybe he was a little... its hard to keep that little boy from smiling.

And Marin got to ride a dolphin in the landlocked Midwest.

It was nice to be back for a visit.

Owen Crawls

Seasonal Healing Part 2!

I believe that nutrition plays an even bigger roll in our healing than medicines. So today I present to you my No-Recipe Chicken and Brown Rice Soup. (I say "no-recipe" because I didn't follow one--it's typical of me, I was raised with a little Italian Granny living in my house)

Cast of Characters (Take Two):
Carrots
Celery
Garlic
Onion
Parsley
Thyme
Salt and Pepper
Whole Chicken Legs (its important that they are not deboned or skinned)

Step I
Mid-morning some time (like when the baby takes his first nap)
1. Chop half of onion, half cup parsley, several cloves of garlic. and a few sprigs of thyme plucked (is that the right term for taking those tiny leaves off of fresh thyme?)
2. Fill soup pot 2/3's full of water
3. Rinse chicken legs. You can do this with a whole chicken, but be prepared for a lot more work. Also leave the bones and skin on.
4. Simmer for 1 hour. It can come to a boil a few times, but don't do that for too long

*** If you want to make your broth in the slow cooker use high for about 3 hours or until the chicken is done and falling off the bones.

Once you get soft chicken that is falling off the bones pull the chicken out of the pot and shred. Place in small bowl with lid in fridge.
Let the broth cool enough to place entire pot in fridge to cool.

Step II
Later that afternoon (like when the baby takes his second nap)
1. Chop several carrots (I did 4 but you can do more if you need more soup)
2. Chop celery (I did 3 stalks) and rest of onion
3. Cook Brown Rice (follow directions on back of bag)
4. Chop 1/3 cup parsley
5. Chop a lot of garlic... its great for healing fevers so get crazy!
6. Pull out the pot of broth and skim all the fat off the top (I just used a spoon) and using a slotted spoon scoop all of the onions out of the bottom.

Congratulations you now have a beautiful pot of chicken broth.

Finally saute for 6 minutes your veggies and garlic. Dump sauteed veggies, rice, parsley and chicken into pot. Warm and eat up!

Happy Cooking.

News Update!

Owen is now crawling forward. It happened on Tuesday afternoon, not morning. In the morning he was still going backward, but when he awoke from his nap...forward motion!

Our Valentines Day

I peeled a million crayons and made...

Heart shaped crayons for all 18 kids in Marin's class...

And sewed them into little packages.
They were really cute.

Matching shirts, my first attempt at matching their clothing. I loved their shirts, and smiles!

The kids and I made a fancy meals for daddy. Our first time ever to make home made ravioli! Yummy.

Good Morning

Best Part of Winter

We have a favorite sporting event here...

GYMNASTICS!!! Its a really big deal here, and I mean big!

See the kids love it!

Marin likes to wear a leotard to be a part of the event.

And we always make time to find the mascot!

Community Helpers Week

This past few weeks at Marin's preschool they have been talking about Community Helpers. She got to sit in the fire engine on the day the Fire men and women came to visit.

Owen got to see the Fire Fighters too, he wore his shirt with a fire fighting theme on it and brought his blankie.

Giving Mr. Thomas a high-five

One day a police officer came to visit with his dog. When I picked Marin up before we even made it to the car she said, "The dog jumped over the fence!" What? "A police man came with his dog and the dog jumped right over the play ground fence!" "It was soooooooo awesome!" Who taught you the word 'awesome'?

Once they were done with Community Helpers a Dentist and Vet came to visit. On the day of the vet Marin got in the car and said, "Mommy a veterinarian came to visit our school she brought a cat and two turtles when I grow up I want to be a veterinarian do you know what a veterinarian does? Mommy a veterinarian is like a doctor for like dogs and turtles and cats and mouses" (I know that is a run on sentence, but that's how she talks)

Some of Christmas

We discover Marin can feed Owen

Todd makes pancakes

Marin has candy before breakfast

Owen is happy and cute

Ohhh so excited!

Owen Eats

Owen ate more oatmeal for breakfast this morning than his sister... what sort of grocery bill are we looking at in the future?

*this eating carrots picture was taken a few months ago when he was just eating a few bites here and there.

A Few Holiday Events

First Church Christmas Songs

Mommy Decorates

Santa makes her nervous, but yet she's a bit curious

Preschool performance songs include: We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Oh My Lord

Holiday stripes and illness

Our Little Santa

The End...

Family Camping

We went camping at Grayton Beach State Park. Its a dune reserve, with a private white sandy beach, short kid friendly hikes, and great camp sites. And lots of room for treasure hunting...these are Marin's first treasures to find

The "Mysterious" trail (named by Marin)

Mommy and Owen hiking the trail

The fog settles in, and Todd wears Marin's sunglasses

She really does like camping...
This was our first time to take two kids camping. We really do enjoy camping and didn't know how it would go with a 6 month old and two small tents. We started the night with Todd and Marin in one tent and Owen and Mommy in the other, and then around 1am Marin wanted to switch into my tent. At some point in the night Mommy, Marin and Owen were all in the same sleeping bag... boy let me just tell you that's warm (but not very comfortable). The tent with three was probably about 95 degrees and when Todd opened the door in the morning a waft of steam hit him in the face. Well now we know, whoever gets to sleep with the kids gets to be warm.