Silent Prayer Time

Well, believe it or not we got another couple inches of snow today. I guess I did not watch the weather very closely this morning. I saw that Texas was getting some snow, but I did not realize it was going to affect me at all. Boy was I wrong.

This morning after I dropped off the kids at Nanny and Poppa's, I decided to go to work a different way than I went the day before. The day before, I just went and hopped on the nearby interstate to avoid the snow mess on the side roads. This meant a longer trip around the city via interstate but at least I avoided the city streets.

Today I decided to go my normal route which is to cut across a smallish, less traveled street to reach a different more direct interstate. It did not take me long to figure out that this was a bad choice.

In some spots, the road was down to one lane. Not one lane in each direction, but one lane only. At one point, I kid you not, it was one lane up a hill! I was so scared and praying a big truck did not top that hill headed right for me.

Luckily, I made it to work okay but I will probably not take that road again until spring!!!

That prayerful trip reminds me of something that happened our first day out in the snow. I was driving that morning with Emily and Noah. Emily was just wearing me out with questions. One of her favorite topics right now is what she was like when she was a baby. "Mom, when I was a baby did I smile at you?" " When I was a baby, did I wear the same pajamas as Noah? Did I have a bear suit? Did I hold my bottle when I ate? Did you change my stinky diapers?" "Mom, does Noah have teeny tiny toes?"

I was trying to keep my little car on the road and needed to concentrate. So I told Emily that we needed to have some silent prayer time. Who can argue with prayer time, right? Every time she would ask another question, I would ask her to keep praying that we would arrive safely at Nanny's.

This morning when we arrived at Nanny's, Emily said "Mom, did I do good not asking you questions today?" I said she did an excellent job and she said "and I didn't even need silent prayer time today." Ha!

File under: how to keep kids quieter in the car

Result: Success!

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Braving the Elements

Today was the day that we decided to brave the elements and get out of the house to go to work.

Mike was not sure his work was going to be open today. He has to call a recorded message to find out what's going on. But the message is not updated until about 6am. So he called and found out they were opening a couple hours later.

The roads were bad, but they were not terrible. I did not really have any major problems. The traffic was slow and there was a tiny bit of slipping and sliding but it was okay. I took the kids over to Nanny and Poppa's house and then headed on to work.

My desk at work overlooks an intersection on a very busy street. All day I was watching people get their cars and trucks stuck in the snow drifts and in the intersections.

Between the stuck vehicles and the ambulances and firetrucks that race by a dozen times a day, I felt like my eyes were focused out the window most of the day.

I was glad to be out of the house though. I was glad I could make it back to work because I was really falling behind being home for two days at the beginning of the month.

And the bad news? We might get more snow early next week!



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Snow Angel

Yesterday afternoon after the snow stopped, Emily and I went outside to check things out.  It was so so cold!  I was ready to go back inside after about a minute and a half.  It was just awful when the wind was blowing.  I had on several layers, but it was not helping.  My hands were especially cold.

Pretty Girl

So proud of her snow chunk

Ohhh this is a big one!

Watch out, Mom!

Of course we have to make a snow angel.

Pretty good one, too.

 Putting a snow face on the snow angel.

We are stuck inside again today.  It looks like we might be able to get out and go to work tomorrow. Emily's school will be closed again tomorrow though.

Hope you all are staying safe and warm!

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February Snow

We are all home today for a snow day. We have several inches of snow. It is hard to tell exactly how much snow we have because the wind is still blowing it all around.

We have not been outside yet to check out the snow. It is bitterly cold. The high is 10 degrees today and we have already reached that. Now the temps are headed back down.

I've got a pot of vegetable beef soup in the crockpot. I will fix the cornbread later. Emily and I might make something special too.

The kids both got new coats just in time for this winter storm. Emily's is purple and green but she would not pose for a picture.

Noah got two coats. Here is a picture of him in one of them. Isn't he cute????
















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Whoopie

Okay, not really whoopie, but whoopie pies.

Emily got this box of Whoopie Pie Mix for Christmas. I think it came from Aunt Pat, but we had not gotten around to making them yet. They kinda fell into the same bucket as the Easy Bake Oven.

By the way, did you remember that the Easy Bake Oven uses a lightbulb to cook food? The papers said that it needs a 100 watt lightbulb. Not soft white. Not long life. Just a plain old 100 watt lightbulb. And did you know those are not exactly simple to find? Well it's true.

And anyway, back to the Whoopie Pies. You basically make some small flat cakes and then put butter cream frosting between the layers. Then you roll the sides in crushed peppermint.

Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Well it was not too bad. Just very messy.

Okay Noah is fussing so I gotta go, but here are some pictures for you.

Enjoy!

























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Who Wants Whoopie Pies?

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An Apple A Day

This evening Noah ate two containers of applesauce. He is really getting good at eating baby food. So far, he has enjoyed every food we have tried - sweet potatoes, green beans, squash, peas and apples.


Oh this is pretty good stuff.




I'm loving these apples.




Hey! Gimme back that spoon!




Oh yeaaaaah! I am so done.





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Want To See My Teeth?

Okay I tried really hard to get a picture of Noah's new teeth.

What do you think?






He hates the flash on my iPhone camera so that's the reason for the funny faces lately.


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The Way He Sleeps

I have mentioned before that Noah likes to sleep with his blanket over his head. That always worried me so we bought him a wearable blanket that you zip up so that he can't get it over his face. It's supposed to help reduce the risk of SIDS. Sounds great to me.

But Noah would not sleep with his wearable blanket on. Bedtime would drag on and on every night as he tried to go to sleep but cried and cried instead.

So one night, I put the wearable blanket (it's a microfiber Sleep Sack, by the way.). Then I put a light waffle weave blanket over him. He immediately pulled it over his face and was asleep in minutes.




So every night I let him put the blanket over his face. Then I wait a few minutes until he goes to sleep. Then I go in there and take the extra blanket off his face and out of his bed.




So far he had not woken up in the night looking for his blanket.

Sooo ... Is there a safe way to let him have a blanket in his bed? Or is he just too young right now?


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Chewy

Noah is working on getting hid second tooth on the bottom. I think his gums are bothering him because he is chewing on everything in sight.

Tonight when I was trying to take his picture, he kept putting his fingers in his mouth or chewing on his shirt sleeve. As fast as I could pull his hands out of his mouth, he would put them right back in.

These pictures are the best I could do.











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A Tooth

Tonight after Noah drank his night night bottle, I checked his gums for any sign of teeth.  He was pretty fussy yesterday so I know it's coming soon.  So tonight I checked and I thought I could feel a tip of a tiny tooth poking out of his gums.

So ... now this is the part that he'll be laughing at when he gets older and reads this blog post about his first tooth ... but I pulled out my iPhone and pulled up my flashlight app .. and turned on the flashlight so that I could look into his mouth and see his teeny tiny tooth.  And I could really see it!

My baby has a tooth!  My baby has a tooth!  My baby has a real live tooth!

Yep, this post will definitely embarrass him one of these days.  But it's okay.  It's not every day that your baby gets his first tooth.

I will try to get a picture of this little pearl in the next few days.  It's not easy to get a picture inside a baby's mouth though.  We'll see what we can do.

Hope you all are having a fabulous week!

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Bath Buddies - Take 2

I tried to post these Bath Buddies pictures last night, but they disappeared somewhere between my iPhone and my blog.  I am not really sure what happened.

These pictures were taken the other night when Emily was helping me give Noah a bath.  She is my ever present helper.  Noah just loves looking at her and watching her.  She can get him to laugh when nobody else can.

Tonight, Noah was having a bit of a fussy night.  He was asleep when we got home and slept for a few minutes while we ate supper. And when he woke up, he had his "Mr. Serious" face on.  Emily came over and was talking and mimicing playing the piano and Noah just started laughing.

They are so sweet. I love watching both my kiddos interacting with one another.  It just completely makes my day!

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It's Puzzling

Emily has recently started wanting to put together jigsaw puzzles. She got a couple puzzles for Christmas and she put those together in no time.

We got Emily a new puzzle at Mardels yesterday. It was 100 piece puzzle rated ages 6+. She sat in her room and worked on it all afternoon.





And by the end of the day, she had it completely put together! All 100 pieces completely put together without any help from anyone!




So today after lunch, Emily and I went by walmart and picked out three more puzzles. One has 100 pieces and the other two have 300 pieces each.

Emily worked on the 100 piece puzzle this afternoon during naptime. And she had it completely put together in just a few hours!






Now she is working on one of the 300 piece puzzles. We will see how long this one takes her.

Any guesses??

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Mike's Birthday Lunch With Family

Today after church, we went to lunch at one of our favorite local Mexican restaurants for Mike's birthday.  I think we had a party of 18 if I counted right.

Noah was ready to drink his bottle pretty much as soon as we got there.  So he had lunch while everyone else munched on chips and queso and tortillas.  Then he was ready to smile at everyone and play.

Mike's mom made him a Mexican Cake for his birthday.  It was so so good!  I don't have her official recipe, but I found one online that sounds pretty close.  Maybe she will read over the recipe and tell me if it's good or not.  I'm betting she doubles the recipe for the icing though.

Here's the recipe I found:

MEXICAN CAKE  

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1749,149163-238201,00.html
Content Copyright © 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 c. flour
2 tsp. soda
1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple
1 c. pecans
Pinch of salt

Cream sugar and eggs. Add flour, soda and salt. Mix well. Add pineapple and pecans. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.

MEXICAN CAKE ICING

1 (4 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix well and put on cooled cake.

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Treats Before Church

Yeah, I did good. I made banana nut muffins before church this morning.




They were pretty good stuff. And I think we will even be on time for Sunday School.

And we will get there on time despite all the screaming and crying of the youngest female member of our family. Poor little Emily. Nothing goes her way.

But what is with all the screaming and crying and drama? Is it just a 5-year-old stage? A girl thing? Just her? I don't know, but it's a difficult time that requires much patience on my part.

Hope you all are having a fabulous Sunday. GOD is good!

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Completed Kindergarten Homework

Emily and I wanted to show you her completed homework assignment. She was supposed to put 100 items on her shirt for the 100th day of school.

We went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon to find 100 items for our project. Emily said she wanted sparkles on her shirt. And I think we found the perfect thing.

Here is our 100th day shirt with 100 jewels on it. What do you think?




Emily and I laid out the design on the shirt. We counted and recounted. Then I hot glued 100 jewels on the shirt.

I don't know what I was doing wrong, but I kept burning my fingers with the hot glue gun. I figured out pretty quickly that I needed to get the hot glue all the way to the edges of the jewels in order to get them attached securely. But that is when I started burning myself. It was really a no-win situation. But that's just one more thing I will gladly do for my kids.

I hope Emily is pleased with her 100th day shirt and enjoys wearing it to school next week.


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Oh yeah, the cake

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Emily and I made a cake for Daddy's birthday this afternoon.

It was his favorite - pineapple upside down cake.

Don't tell anyone, but it starts out with a box of pineapple cake mix. Fix the mix according to package directions, but substitute pineapple juice from a can of pineapple tidbits for the water in the instructions.

Melt a stick of margarine and pour this into the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan. Then sprinkle a cup of brown sugar evenly onto the melted butter. Then sprinkle the pineapple tidbits over the brown sugar. Pour in the pineapple cake batter and bake according to package directions.

When the cake is done, turn it out onto a shallow jelly roll pan to cool.

And there you have a delicious pineapple upside down cake. Easy as pie! Err, cake!

I have made this in a springform pan and it works great as well. I have also used pineapple rings for a pretty presentation.

I forgot to take a pic before we cut it, but here it is after we did some damage.






It was soooo good!

Happy birthday, Mike!


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Homework, Kindergarten Style

Emily and I are working on a homework assignment for the 100th day of school, which is next Tuesday.

Here is a tiny sneak preview. What do you think?






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Happy Birthday, Mike!

We're out and about today celebrating Mike's 39th birthday in style. Right now, we are at Hideaway Pizza having lunch. Yum!



More later!

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A Special Kind of Gift

Today I received a package at work. One of the account managers that I work with on a regular basis sent me a beautiful box of Godiva chocolates. She lives in a different state, but I create reports for many of her accounts each month.

This was certainly unexpected, but it was so sweet of her to think of me. I shared the chocolates with my co-workers today. And luckily there were a few left that I got to bring home to the family.

Let's just say there are none left tonight. They were soooo good! There were all different types and flavors. I did not hear any complaints about any of them.

It's nice to be appreciated.


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