Your Future's So Bright...

It's been a delightful Saturday around these parts... my sweet husband allowed me an extra hour of sleep this morning, taking care of Phoebe's breakfast and early morning entertainment. We had a slooooow start as a result, and Michael and I were able to enjoy scrambled eggs on the porch. Our weather here is absolutely beautiful, and I think it's making me have a little bit of fall fever, if there is such a thing. Fortunately, one of us was productive today -- Michael got a great deal done!

He mowed the grass, ran some errands, and washed his truck. While he was washing and waxing his truck, Phoebe and I came out back, set up camp in the stroller, and watched DaddyTV. Phoebe was totally engrossed by her daddy's spraying and soaping. She thought my sunglasses looked fun, so I decided to let her play. Doesn't she look cute? We're a little biased, of course.

We're watching not much happen in the Bama game... in spite of our cheering, we're not doing much. Fortunately, neither is FSU. Let's hope it stays that way (FSU, not us... we hope we'll actually start doing much).

Phoebs is due to wake up any minute, so I'm going to get off of this... enjoy your Saturday!

Cuties

L to R: Kristin, holding Ella Kate; Sarah, holding Phoebe; and Carolynn, holding Callahan
(all three babies are engrossed by the Boise State football game on TV)

I had the particular blessing of being pregnant at the same time as three other girls in our LIFE group. Our babies were all born within 3 months of each other, and we're hopeful that they'll be good friends like their mommies! Parker (not pictured) and Phoebe were born the same week, and then Callahan came along a month later. Five weeks after that, Ella Kate arrived! Last night, Phoebe, Callahan, and Ella Kate played together while the grown ups enjoyed the premiere of "The Office". Miraculously, all three babies also slept at the same time, too! (There was a baby in each of the bedrooms, snoozing happily.) We were certainly blessed by our time last night!

Good Eats

We're having a get together for the premiere of "The Office" tonight, so I totally don't have time to blog. But I wanted to be sure and throw down a few great recipes for those who are interested.

Sausage and Lentil Stew ("Redemption Stew")
Serves 8, heartily

• 1 package of turkey sausage
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 3 carrots, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
  
• 1 starchy potato, peeled and diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon of cumin
• 1 tablespoon of paprika
• 1 dash of cayenne pepper -- NOT 3 hands full!
• 6 cups of water or chicken stock
• 1 large can (28 oz) of diced tomatoes
• 1 cup of dried lentils

Remove sausage from casings and brown in a large pot with a little bit of olive oil, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. After sausage begins to brown, add vegetables and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add seasonings. Stir in water or chicken stock and can of tomatoes. Allow to simmer for as long as you can stand it. (We actually put ours in the slow cooker on day 2 for about 6 hours and it was FABULOUS.) About 15 minutes before serving, bring back to a low boil and stir in lentils. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes or until done. Serve with cheddar biscuits (recipe below).


Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Makes 8

• 1 box of Jiffy biscuit mix
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 dash of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a fork. Spoon onto an ungreased baking sheet into roughly even dollops. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

And one more...
Artichoke Chicken Salad with Toasties
Serves 4

• 2 cups of cooked chicken, diced or shredded
• 1 can of artichoke hearts, drained and diced
• 1/3 cup of mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Mix ingredients in a medium bowl. Allow to refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve with toasties (recipe below)

• Lightly butter 8 slices of bread
• Sprinkle each slice of bread with 1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt and 1/4 teaspoon of paprika
• Bake at 450 degrees until toasted
• Allow to stand for 5 minutes, and then cut bread into 1 inch chunks

Spread your chicken salad on toasties and enjoy! (This recipe is my attempt to mimic my favorite chicken salad at Clementine's.)

Weddings, Opportunities, and Redemption Stew

Life has been busy these past couple of weeks... I feel like we've had non-stop "go time" without even a break on the weekends. Such is life during football season I suppose! Last weekend we traveled north (which happens less during the fall than during the spring) to help with a wedding my parents had in their backyard. The wedding was Sunday, so we worked all Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to ready things. Dad performed the ceremony, and Michael was also the wedding photographer. After all the hard work, we were certainly exhausted -- but the wedding was beautiful, and I feel like the happy couple was tremendously blessed. I was thrilled to be a part of it!

We're also thrilled to be a part of a really exciting opportunity that's going on with Michael at work. Details aren't finalized, and it isn't my news to share, but let's just say that I'm excited. I can tell that Michael is too!

And finally... a few weeks ago, when the weather started to pretend to be fall-like, I decided to make a stew. Michael loves any kind of stew. As a general rule, I pretty much hate any tomatoey soup that also has potatoes in it (read: stew). As another general rule, I'm pretty bad at following recipes. I'll read about something that sounds good, and then I'll make something similar. Such is the case with this stew.

In the process of using up some veggies and protein in the fridge, I got a little excited about some of the seasonings. I was using a homemade stock that was well-seasoned to begin with, but then I dumped in something along the lines of 3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper. Kids, this was not four alarm. This was like, twenty-four alarm fire soup. And I like things spicy. It was completely inedible. My best efforts to make it edible (pouring an entire soup down the drain seemed VERY wasteful) included adding lemon juice, milk, half and half, another quart of water, etc. But despite my best efforts, it was still terrible. Completely inedible. Frighteningly spicy.

I cried, of course. I'm not used to kitchen failure (although Michael and I often laugh about the Brussels Sprouts incident back in college) , and I feel like kitchen failure is some indictment of my womanhood. Anyway, we let it sit in the fridge overnight while we decided what to do with it. With fresh eyes the next morning, we decided to drain it completely, keep the raw ingredients, and determine if they had been ruined as well. Fortunately they hadn't, so we started over with the meat and veggies, added water, some salt and pepper, and allowed them to hang out together in the slow cooker all day. Wonderful!

The whole event made me ponder redemption. Apart from Christ, we are unusable. Vile. Worthy of being thrown in the garbage. And yet, he takes our lives, redeems them, and makes them new. In Christ, we are wonderful, new creations. I love how the Lord can use something like stew to remind us of truths! Anyway, if I get some more time later today, I'll throw in the recipe for my Redemption Stew. It's delish, and perfect for these fall days!

Navy Beans, Navy Beans

As I have chosen to do nothing productive in the past three days, I am up to my eyeballs in laundry and housework today. What am I doing? Drinking coffee and blogging. Nice. Anyway, in the absence of anything real to post about... how about a recipe instead? We're preparing for a journey to see Mops and Pops, so we'll probably be scarce until the beginning of next week. Au revoir!

Slop, Sloppy Joes [hairnet not included]
Two Generous Servings

• one small onion, diced
• half a green bell pepper, diced
• two cloves of garlic, minced
  
• half a pound of lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
• salt and pepper
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 small can of tomato sauce (8 oz, I believe)
• 3 T brown sugar
• 2 hamburger buns (we used the not-so-fun light wheat buns, but I would definitely recommend the big honkin' deli rolls if you're not trying to lose baby weight)

Okay, so listing all of this made me realize that... if you are preparing empanadas AND sloppy joes in the same week (like we did), for the love, go ahead and brown up all of your meat with onion and a whole bell pepper and salt and pepper. Save time. I totally should've done that, and normally I do. Go figure! Anyway, onto the directions:
1. In a small amount of olive oil, cook onion, pepper, and garlic until just beginning to soften (about 2-3 minutes).
2. Add beef (or turkey or whatever) to the pan, and allow to brown -- break it up with a wooden spoon.
3. After meat is brown, add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Stir in next 3 ingredients and allow to bubble. Reduce heat to low.
5. Add brown sugar and stir. Continue to cook on low until your bread is toasty (see step 6).
6. Toast your buns, hon.
7. Spoon your sloppy mixture onto buns. Michael and I differ here: I eat sloppy joes with a knife and fork. He thinks that's sacrilege. I say, if you eat with a fork, you get more meaty goodness. Whatever. Do what you like.

I should also note that we would typically serve this with tater tots. However... well, okay. We're trying to keep baby weight off until there's an actual baby. :-D I also should note that this tastes nothing like Manwich, so if this is what you're expecting, don't make it. I, for one, could not tell you what Manwich tastes like, so. I think it' s great. Enjoy!

Out of It

It sounded like fun this morning to go shopping. Fallish weather, a morning coffee from Panera, a stroller, and no real purpose. Sounds perfect, right? Okay, I'm starting to see why moms buy online only. Just the in-and-out-of-the-car routine was enough to wear me out! Add a dirty diaper and a price adjustment fiasco... well, it's enough for me to want to pay shipping charges! Truly, it wasn't that bad... I got a few great finds (love end of the season sales) including a top for 5 bucks. And some khakis, which are part of my "look pretty, feel pretty" plan for fall. {I'll have to blog about this later!} Anyway, I enjoyed the shopping but it wore me out. So since I've been home, let's see... well, it's been four hours... I have:

• fed the baby
• played airplane with the baby
• played on the floor with my big girl baby, who sat up to play
• watched season 2 episodes of top chef
• surfed the internet
• drank a diet dr. pepper

It looks so accomplished when it's in list form! Anyway, the above picture is one I took yesterday of the aforementioned big girl. Who is now officially sitting up. Like a big girl. Michael's are much better, so I'll post one here too!

Someone's in the Kitchen, or, How To's

Okay. This started out as a baby food post, but I have to step back. Lest anyone think I actually know what I'm doing in the kitchen, let me report on what just transpired. Phoebe is napping, so I'm making tuna salad. (It's so much more fun than dusting!) Hard boiled eggs are essential, so I commence the hard boiling. Lesson learned today? Leave the eggs in boiling water long enough to make them hard boiled. Soft boiled eggs do not a good tuna salad make. Can we say do over?

I posted last month about my venture into homemade baby food. I do not wear a long denim skirt, nor do I forgo haircuts. I just thought it would be fun to make my own for Phoebe. A couple of friends have asked how it works, so here it goes. (Note: I still love Gerber! We exclusively use Gerber prunes, and it's all I use when I travel.)

Basic Baby Food - Vegetables
We have made sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, and spinach. This would work for just about any vegetable you can imagine!

• Peel and chop vegetables into small pieces. It's also necessary to remove any seeds.
  
• Place vegetables in a large pan and just cover with water. (You want to use as little water as possible in order to preserve the nutrition of your veggies.)
• Bring vegetables to a boil, cover with a lid, and allow to cook until fork-tender.
• Puree vegetables to an absolutely smooth consistency using a food mill (manual food processor) or a food processor/blender. [NOTE: if you use a food processor or blender, you need to push your vegetables through a mesh sieve in order to strain out any tough, unsavory bits. Your baby cannot digest these.]
• Add cooking water if necessary in order to make food absolutely smooth.
• Spoon cooled mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. One cube = 1 serving.

Note: all potatoes should absolutely be done in a food mill so that they don't get gummy. Peas are best when pureed in a food processor and then strained.

Basic Baby Food -- Fruit
We have made apples, pears, and peaches. For bananas, you can just mash a raw banana and thin with some milk or formula.

• Peel, core, and chop fruit. (Peaches and other stone fruit should be scored with an "x" at the bottom of the fruit and boiled whole, then chopped. This is the best way to easily peel them.)
• Cover with water and a splash of unsweetened apple juice for some natural sweetness.
• Boil until fork tender.
• Puree fruit to an absolutely smooth consistency using a food mill (manual food processor) or a food processor/blender. [NOTE: if you use a food processor or blender, you need to push your fruit through a mesh sieve in order to strain out any tough, unsavory bits. Your baby cannot digest these.]
• Add cooking water if necessary in order to make food absolutely smooth.
• Spoon cooled mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. One cube = 1 serving.

To serve frozen baby food, just take a cube (or two, depending on your baby's appetite) and microwave until thawed. It's that easy!

When making baby food, do not add salt or sugar. Also, I find that some foods (like green beans and carrots) work best for Phoebe when we add a little rice cereal. She prefers the thicker consistency.

I would highly recommend Annabel Karmel's First Foods if you are interested in making your own baby food!

Baby food is not that hard to make, although it does take some time. If you devote an hour a day for a week, you can stock your baby with enough food for 2 months. It is also significantly cheaper than buying baby food! Hope this helps!

Phoebe's comments? . f bbbbbbbbbbbbb rrrrrd tttccccccccccccccccccj mcccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

Sitting Up

It's hard to tell here, but Phoebe Kate is officially sitting up! It's hard for her to play well while she's sitting, but she loves to be up and looking around. I'm so proud of my big girl! She has been trying SO hard. More later!

Soooooo Good

I am so proud of our little girl! Phoebe had her six month checkup today, which meant a lot of "tickling" from doctors and nurses as well as some yucky shots. Well, during all the tickling we found out that she's growing so well! She is 26 inches long (75%ile) and 14 pounds, 14 ounces (25%ile). Maybe she'll be taller than her Mommy! Even though she's very petite, she's growing well and developing just fine. She loved showing off her "grab-the-paper" routine, and thought Dr. B's hair looked like a whole lot of fun to grab. Phoebe was also the bravest she's ever been for her shots, and cried much less than she ever has. She has sacked out and is in the crib now, taking her first good snooze of the day. I think she's trying to teach her mommy that shots really aren't that bad!

I've decided I'm going to start posting some of our favorite meals on here, mostly so that I can remember them -- but also to share, if anyone is interested! It has become a hobby of mine to try and get the most bang-for-my-buck when it comes to grocery shopping, which really means strategic meal planning. And I love to cook and try new things, so it'll be fun to record what works and what doesn't! I think I'm probably much more likely to post them here than write them in a notebook. :)

Last night we had empanadas, which are really Mexican calzones. I adapted this from a Real Simple Magazine recipe. They were delicious and really filled Michael up (and left some leftovers, too.)

Empanadas
Serves 2

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 pound ground beef (I use ground sirloin, but you can also use chuck, or for something even leaner, use ground turkey)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper
refrigerated pizza dough (Publix sells their white mountain bread dough for cheap in the bakery, this is what we use -- half of the dough ball was enough for two LARGE empanadas)
flour for rolling
1 can refried beans
1/4 cup shredded cheese
nonstick spray

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Saute onion, pepper, and garlic for 2-3 minutes until slightly tender. Add ground beef and brown. Once meat is browned, sprinkle spices over the meat and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste. (You can also add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper if you want it spicy.) Allow meat mixture to cool.
Roll out pizza dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. You will need an 8 inch "circle" of dough for each empanada. [Note: Michael rolls all dough in our house because I hate dealing with flour and dough. Do what works best for you to end up with two 8 inch circles of dough; I really don't know how it's best done.]
Spread 1 or 2 tablespoons of unheated refried beans (technically they're already cooked if they're in the can) onto each piece of dough. Top with half the meat mixture and half the cheese. Fold over the dough so that it forms a calzone-type "pocket". (All of the filling should be tucked inside.)
Place empanadas onto a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Spray the tops of the empanadas with spray as well. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until the dough is golden and done. Enjoy!
(You will have leftover refried beans in the can; heat these to serve on the side or save for another mexican meal later in the week. If you're like us, you're eating Mexican at home something like twice a week anyway!)

For Funsies

I had about 3 minutes before I had to get Phoebs in the car for Bible study... so I thought I'd post a fun picture from this weekend, and a reminder to myself to post about last night. Later, of course. Today involves Bible study (morning), lunch with Michael/Daddy, hopefully a quick trip to Target, and Phoebe's six month well baby check-up and shots. Whew! Hopefully I'll be home by 5!

Anytime, Anywhere

This is the first time Phoebs has ever conked out in her high chair... we're keeping her in it during meals (our meals) so that she's used to it, and we noticed her starting to fade. It wasn't long before we saw this! She kept doing the nod-off, "I'm not asleep" face... she'd close her eyes, bob her head, wake up, and then look at us all serious like... she ended up finally falling asleep. What a cutie!

Never a Dull Moment

My faithful readers know that we take a picture every month on the 14th, to celebrate Phoebe's "Month Day". I've already blogged about Phoebe's six month, so I won't go into great detail... but as you can see, this month's picture was a little more exciting than usual!

Here's the story: every month, I get a mini strawberry bundt cake from Edgar's. (Please. You think I'm going to bake just to have a tiny little cake? So worth the 2.50.) We stick a candle in it, put the camera on a timer, and go. Well, Edgar's was out of the strawberry bundt on Friday, so I decided to settle for a slice of their oh-so-delicious strawberry cream cake. We didn't get around to taking the picture until Saturday morning (hence the Bama gear), and Phoebe was feeling quite adventurous. For the first time, she decided to "get into" her cake! It's hard to see, but she has icing on both hands, and Jake is also trying to get into the fun. (My pediatrician would freak, but we totally let her taste it, just for a second.) Note the look of panic on my face and the look of total delight on Michael's. Okay, it was really funny... I'm so glad my mom was around to photograph rather than just relying on a timer! (I also pretended to be Phoebe, eating the cake off my fingers.)

We had a blast at the Bama game on Saturday, even if it was a little hectic. And totally nervewracking. My stomach was still in knots when I went to bed at midnight on Saturday night! I was actually the goober in our crowd who insisted we leave after the field goal with just four minutes remaining... we ended up watching the exhilarating final minutes from the spiral roundabout. WOW. People were so excited... in my defense, I really wanted to leave to get an edge on the crowd so that we could get in bed at a decent hour since we had church at eight and had to teach four-year-olds after that. So seriously, I'm not that bad of a fan.

I need to get busy with some things while Phoebs is taking her snooze, but I'll be back later with more pictures!

By the way, Happy Five Month Day, Callahan! We love you!

Halfway

Half a year ago, I was wholly pregnant. People would comment that I did not look like I was nine months pregnant, but looking back... yeah. I was ready to pop. And so ready to meet our Phoebe Kate! I really loved being pregnant and truly can't wait to be pregnant again, but having her here is so much more incredible than I ever could have imagined. On the morning of March 14, I was truly jubilant -- even at 5:30 am -- that I was going to be having a baby!

Six months later, we realize we never could have imagined what being Mommy and Daddy would be like. Phoebe is a tremendous blessing, and such a good baby. I am not exaggerating when I say that it's like Christmas just about every single day with her -- we never know what new thing she'll surprise us with. She has done more changing and growing these past couple of months... her personality is really starting to emerge!

I'll put this in list form to save space, so here goes!

• She is both very intense and observant (especially in new situations; she is wide-eyed and really seems to focus on everything that is going on) and extremely funny. I think she'll have my intensity and Michael's sense of humor, which would be a great balance!
• Phoebe is very content and flexible, and she brings delight to all those in her presence (praise the Lord!)
• She is an enthusiastic eater, willing to try new foods (disliking only parsnips and spinach so far!), but not a big eater... I suppose her appetite fits her petite frame!
• She is beginning to nap better... naps have always been a struggle and, although we've always left her in her crib for naptime, she hasn't done well with sleeping for the duration of her nap. We usually can get her to fall asleep again after her 45 minute nap - then wake up. This is a huge blessing!
• She is still sleeping great at night, with the only occasional nighttime waking, which seldom needs "Mommy intervention"
• She is trying REALLY hard to sit up, and can do so for about 30 seconds if she's totally undistracted...but the minute she reaches for something, she topples over. (The bumbo seat is about to have to be retired, I'm afraid, since she likes to twist in it to get whatever it is she wants: salt shakers, blankies, placemats, etc.)
• She is beginning to play with toys, rather than just eat them. (This does not, however, diminish her love for putting anything and everything in her mouth.)
• She's sitting forward in her stroller and LOVING walks and strolls in the neighborhood and the mall!
• Phoebe is becoming interested in other babies -- she was especially fond of Jeb Ham (18 months), and kept trying to hold his hand
• Bathtime is still her favorite time of day -- she LOVES to splash, and we can't wait until she's stable enough to get her in the big tub so that splashing doesn't create a "Wet Floor Hazard Zone" in our kitchen

We praise the Lord every day for his goodness and his graciousness in giving us such a delightful little one! We are praying that in His timing, He will provide her with a little brother or sister soon!

We will be celebrating Phoebe's "Half Birthday" today with Mops and Pops, who will be arriving in town for our trip to T-town tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have our strawberry bundt cake (per tradition) tonight, if the weather lets up. It's a perfectly wonderful Seattle day, and I'm enjoying laundry chores and coffee as long as possible, but I refuse to take her out in the wet if I don't absolutely have to!

Time to reheat the coffee and move the laundry to the dryer... Happy Six Month Day, Phoebe!

A Bientot Escargot

The Phoebs and I are off on our midweek "vacation" this afternoon... I'm sure with seven kids underfoot, a brother having wisdom tooth surgery, four adults, and two dogs... well, we won't have much time to blog. See you Friday!

Sunday Afternoons

I absolutely love Sunday afternoons. Usually, I'm able to sneak into my pajamas and Michael is gracious enough to either take baby duty for a while and let me nap (which he did yesterday), or we manage to both squeeze in a nap while Phoebe is also down. Well, Phoebe napped and watched a little of the Braves game while I took my snooze, but Jake sweetly came in and woke me up so I wouldn't miss out on any of the fun. Fortunately, I was well rested so I didn't mind my alarm!

After Phoebe had her lunch, we decided to dig out some toys and play around in her room. She's starting to really learn so many things so fast: in other words, she plays with things in new ways other than just tasting them. We drummed on the wipes, cuddled Jake, moved around the busy beads, and "read" a soft book. Phoebe was delighted to show off for her daddy, who was snapping pictures as we played. This is only a tiny sample of the pictures we took yesterday! I can't believe how big she's getting... Phoebe will be six months old on Friday! YIKES! (Michael informed me that she is 1/32 of the way to driving. I could've smacked him!)

Anyway, after all the hard playing we did, Phoebe and I cuddled on the couch while Michael loaded up the pictures... it's hard to tell how she's laying, but she is on her tummy propped up against my legs. She stayed that way, still, for over twenty minutes! For those of you who have little ones, you know that even twenty seconds of being still is a small miracle! She ended up passing out in my lap and snoozing for a few minutes, which was, by the way, the duration of her afternoon nap.

We wouldn't have disturbed her, except that we had plans to go to Michael's grandmother's house to wish her a happy 94th birthday with the rest of the family. It was fun to play pass-the-baby and catch up with aunts and uncles, but Phoebe did not appreciate losing her nap when we got into the car. She struggled to fall asleep in her carseat, and we weren't even headed home! We were bringing her straight to the nursery so that we could go to LIFE group. Finally, after I broke several laws and climbed into the back seat, I was able to give her some more of her bottle and she conked. The nursery workers were gracious enough to leave her in her carseat for a catnap. I'm thrilled, too, because we really enjoyed getting to kick off the fall semester of group with our friends!

We returned to the nursery to pick up a happy baby who had successfully gone potty (a huge event in our house), and came home to feed our little angel -- who ate double her usual feeding!! I think she was hungry! Even though yesterday was totally chaotic, we managed to pull off some Sunday rest as well.

This upcoming week is particularly exciting: Bible study will kick off tomorrow, and in the afternoon, Phoebe and I will be heading to visit Mops and Pops! Michael is gracious enough to allow us to do another without-Daddy trip so soon... but it's an extra special reason! We're going to get to see the Ham family and all six of their sweet babies. Also, the Woodsers are having baby #8 (the reason for the Ham trip), so I'll get to see them, too! The Hams are sweet, sweet friends of ours... Mama Ham taught my 7th grade Sunday school class, and when her oldest two were born, I babysat them. They've since moved out of town, but the oldest three were in our wedding, and I haven't even met the youngest one! None of them have ever met Phoebe, either -- so it'll be quite an exciting week! Seven children under the age of 10 will be under my parents' roof! Yay!

Okay, I have about 3 minutes now to eat my lunch... gotta run!

Tuckered Out

Well, we had a most excellent day yesterday. We were all worn out by the end of a long day of football (Roll Tide!) and failed soup (more on that later). Phoebe took her fan-faithfulness into the crib with her yesterday at halftime... thought at least a few of our readers would enjoy.

Today was also quite wonderful, but as it's approaching 10:00, I think I'll save the post and pictures for tomorrow. So until then...

Rollin'

We may not be at the game, but we sure do know how to roll! Phoebe loves supporting her crimsom men, and especially thinks that Baby Alice her elephant is super cute. However, she's tuckered out from cheering and started her nap at the half.

I love how we try to duplicate the stadium when we're at home... drinking out of houndstooth cups, steaming up some hotdogs with sauce, golden flake chips...

Drown 'em Tide!

Proof

I was just looking around the living room, admiring our "collection" of baby ephemera. (Honey, can ephemera be my word for the day?) Some people have well-ordered, well-designed homes, free of clutter and, well, baby stuff. It's brightly colored, large, and doesn't quite go with my decor. The bottles are piling up in the sink. The table is covered with links, a "bug", and a squeaky toy. And a baby bumbo seat. I'll pick it up in a few minutes, order things the best I can, and do it all over again in three hours.

Sometimes it can get really frustrating. I mean, I do and redo and redo again the same "pick up" chores sixteen times a day. But when I look around at all of the proof of Phoebs, I am so thankful. I rejoice that I even have baby mess to clean up! I started thinking about all of this this morning as I wiped spit-up off of my arm, jacket, foot, and flip-flop.

In other news, there's proof that fall may be right around the corner. Fall is quite seriously my favorite season of the year. Every year on my birthday weekend (in October), it seems like God makes the leaves tumble to the ground. It's remarkable! The cover of Southern Living is taunting me with autumn delights... I won't read it until it feels at least a little bit cooler outside. But this morning, Michael had me open up the back door to feel the breeze... and Phoebs and I decided to take a stroll. And even though I came home sweaty (I did walk for thirty minutes) and Phoebe came home tired, it didn't feel like it was suffocatingly hot. The breeze, the slight crispness.. all proof that fall is right around the corner.

And I'm reminded that there will be proof of an unclean bathroom if I don't get on the ball... :)

But my favorite kind of proof of all?
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Psalm 19:1

Handsome Fella :)

I love my husband. :)

<-- This guy, right here, swimmer, photographer, husband, designer extraordinaire, is the man. We have talked about having shirts made: "My husband is the man" (for me) and "My wife is hot" (for him). And truly, he is. Why, you might ask? Let me tell you why.

My husband is a featured designer on an icon website! I have no idea what someone would do with seven beer icons, but they're so pretty and fancy that they're featured on the front page of the site! DUDE! SWEET!

So anyway, go there, download his icons. Make his popularity go up so he can be featured with even more of his fancypants icons! Way to go, honey! I LOVE YOU!

Party Like it's 1969

That's right... she's a cutie. Rhiannon brought Phoebe a little prize last night when they came over...and it was this brightly colored, tie-dyed t-shirt! Michael's old friend from high school has found himself a lovely lady, and he was bringing her around to meet the old crew. Although I wasn't a part of the original crew, I've married myself into it... so I got to meet Elizabeth, too! She was a delight -- way to go, Andy!

Anyway, we went out for Mexican last night, and Phoebe put herself to sleep in the middle of the party (no surprise), but then when we got in the car, she decided her nap was over. At 8:30. Seriously. She stayed up, happy as a lark, until 10, when I made her hit it. (I was about to let her cry it out with a housefull of company.) Bless her heart, I think she just wanted to stay up and party. She was happy, too -- not that awful, cranky, tired whiney that she gets when she's up but really would rather be in bed. She tried to pull the same stunt tonight at 7:15, but my sweetheart got her to settle back down. We've got to get bedtime back in order! She's in the process of stretching her meals to "grown-up" mealtimes (just 3 meals a day, plus one a little later in the evening... her supper is at 4ish). And she's ready to drop her third nap (and does most days), but it makes getting her to make it to bedtime pretty tough. I'm sure we'll get through it!

On our Labor Day today, I did everything but labor it seems. I woke up in a funk and still kind of feel funky...except I'm almost positive that I'm coming down with something. I feel, in general, out of it. And extremely tired and achey. I'm hoping it's just a one-day thing! Michael was fabulous and did all of the chores I was really supposed to do, and I think our kitchen floors are cleaner than they've ever been. Thank you, honey, for being so gracious with me! I did venture out for a Hobby Lobby trip and a grocery run, and we made the requisite burgers and tater tots in honor of his day off. My chief 0accomplishment for the day? Finishing The Time Traveler's Wife. So good!

Anyway, I'm pooped. Goodnight!