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WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!

Baby #4 will be joining us in November! So far I'm feeling OK...a little sick here and there and way tired but overall, OK.

We are all very excited! I'll post more info as we get it, and of course, coming soon will be ultrasound pictures! Yippee!!!

Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day...otherwise known as...what we've been doing!!!

Yes, a long title I know...but I've been gone forever!!!! I really need to get better at this blogging thing! lol A lot has happened so without further ado...here's what we've been up to.

Did you know that Fat Tuesday is also known as Pancake Tuesday? Yeah, I didn't either until this year. And I saw some of the cutest ideas to make Mardi Gras colored pancakes on the internet. So I decided to take our favorite pancake mix from our dear friend, Dionne Newton, add some of my cake decorating icing colors and make some Mardi Gras pancakes for dinner. They turned out sooo cute, and were really yummy! The kids really enjoyed them. And of course, since the next day was Ash Wednesday and we couldn't eat meat I made some goetta for daddy so he could get his meat fix in before he had to abstain!

Green, yellow and purple...traditional Mardi Gras colors.

Aren't they pretty!?!?!

Happy baby!

Pretty girl!

"Mmmmm Mommy! You're famous pancakes are really yummy!" Yes, he really did say that! lol

 The next day, Ash Wednesday we attended Mass at St. Patrick's. The kids were, awful, to say the least! I wondered why we even bothered to take them for a while. But we know it's really important for kids to be in church in order to learn how to behave in church so we keep trying! They wanted to get pictures of their ashes when we got home so we took a few quick shots before bed.

 St. Patrick's Day I didn't take any pictures (bad mommy!) but we did celebrate! Thursdays are dance days in this house so we go from school, to dance, home for dinner and homework, bathes and then bed. But I wanted to do something so we ate "Irish" (well, kind of!!) I made Shepherd's Pie (which is more English, but we're not big corned beef and cabbage fans around here!) and Irish soda bread. I had never made that before and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. I used raisins instead of currants (I'm not sure my kids would eat currants) and it took more buttermilk than the recipe said, but I liked it...a lot! And so did the kids! Makes me want to try different recipes now! I got the stuff to make Shamrock shakes (mint green milk shakes) but we ran out of time...so daddy made them with the kids the following Monday while I was at a meeting. But we did change out the Valentine's Tree for a St. Patrick's Day Tree. It turned out super cute!

On March 19th my Nana and a lot of the family came down from Indiana for her birthday! Of course, I had already scheduled and paid to attend a 12 hour crop at Brianna's school that I attend every year! So I went for a few hours, came home for a few hours to visit, and then went back to the crop until the end. I was able to finish 15 pages (7 two page spreads and 1 one page layout!) I'll post pictures of what I accomplished when I get some scanned in! But here's some of the fun we had with the family while they were visiting!

Singing Happy Birthday!

Playing the Wii...yes, my son is dressed up like a cat...sometimes there are no words! lol

Well, that about gets you up to date. Other than these things we've just been fighting off sickness, enjoying the scattered days of beautiful sunshine, and waiting (not so patiently) for spring to come and rescue us! Hope you all have been well! I'll try not to be so long between posting next time! I'll try!

November 18

November 18! The countdown is on! The opening of "The Twilight Sage: Breaking Dawn Part I"! SQUEEE!!!!

Which means the return of this:

Could she be any prettier!?!?!

And this:

Yes, yes you are hot!

And my personal favorite!

Hello honey! How I've missed you!

And since I'm an equal opportunity swooner..I'll include a little of this:

So right and so wrong all at the same time! Hehehehe

And I'll say, I still want her hair!

Alice, you are fabulous! I wish you were my BFF!

Let's just say I'm a little excited! Especially when I see teasers like this:

Ugh! Could you be any cuter?!?!

And especially this one!

Heart. Temporarily. Stopped. Beating!!!!

  OH MY! This deserves a huge SQUEEEEE!!!!! Did I say yet that I can't wait!?!?!?! Think I'm going to go read the book two or three more times! Bye!

Making Changes

In November of 2009 I wrote a post titled Keeping the Home. In it I talked about cleaning schedules, and how I wanted to start cooking more from scratch. I was overwhelmed by the "real foods" movement, but felt like it was something I really wanted to get behind. I just didn't know where to start. Since then I've done a lot of research, and even watched documentaries like Food, Inc. and Super Size Me. (If you haven't seen either one, I highly recommend them!) That's enough to scare the crap out of you! But rather than scare me it really made me decide on some solids changes we could make around here. The other day at the library I picked up a book titled Radical Homemakers. While I don't think I could get as radical as some of these people, I appreciate what they are doing. It is an inspiring read for anyone interested in ecological and self-sustaining practices.

Some of the things I have tossed around (to myself, Steven and my mom) are:

1) Making our own bread (in fact, I made two loaves today, solo mio using my moms recipe that she used when we were growing up. The house smells so good right now and I am currently eating a piece, covered in butter and dripping in honey. Eat your heart out! lol!)

2) Joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). We have found a local Amish farm in our area that is offering 115 shares in their CSA this year. It runs for 32 weeks out of the year (longer than most of the others offered around here) and you can also pay a little extra and get eggs each week. It equals out to about $2.50 a week for eggs but I'm willing to pay that for farm fresh, free range eggs! And I love the idea of supporting a local Amish family!

3) Buying share in a cow, a pig and some chickens. I love the idea of local, fresh beef, pork, and chicken. It is so much healthier and we'd be able to visit the farms they are raised on and check out the conditions they live in, how they are fed, etc. No more antibiotics or hormones in our meat! And once again, we'd be supporting local farmers which is so important!

4) Planting our own garden. We have crappy soil where we live, in fact most of it is rock! So we are going to build 3 or 4 beds and plant some of our own fruits and veggies to hold us over on weeks we don't have CSA deliveries and to use for canning, freezing, etc.

I know this seems like a lot at once, but the CSA and animal shares are really easy, it just takes some money. So we're going to use some of what's leftover from our taxes for that. The bread making is pretty easy too, and will just become part of my routine a few days a week. The most time intensive part is waiting for it to rise (and then rise again!) but I don't have to be standing there watching it, so it doesn't affect me or what I can get done around the house. The garden will be the most time intensive, labor intensive part, but I'm excited to get our kids out there working alongside of us. It's going to be a great learning, growing experience for our family. So that's what we are planning on doing around here to live healthier and more responsibly. What are you and your family doing to live a better life this year?

Quick, Easy and Yummy

I have been in real cooking slump lately! I don't know what is up with me because I usually enjoy making something yummy and healthy for my family. I have had no initiative lately! One thing I know, I have got to get back to menu planning! But I also know, days that I feel totally uninspired I have found some of my favorite, quick meals. Last night was no exception. It was time for dinner and that "What are we going to eat tonight?" question was looming over my head. I wanted dinner to be ready when Steven got home from work after picking Brianna up at dance class. As I looked around I found a few ingredients that looked promising.

I had a few cans of this:

A few slices of this:

And a can of these:

Thus tuna melt crescents were born! All I did was make up some tuna salad. (Mine for these was very basic: Miracle Whip, sweet pickle relish, some celery seed and freshly ground pepper) I unrolled the crescent rolls and then placed half a piece of cheese on the widest section of the roll. Next I spooned in some tuna salad and rolled them up. I stuck them in the oven at 375 degrees for the suggested baking time (basically until browned and cheese was ooie-gooie!). Since I said I was in a slump we ate them with chips, but we had the leftovers for lunch today (the boys and I) and I served them with mandarin oranges, some cottage cheese, pretzel sticks and chocolate milk. They were just as good today as they were last night! Definitely yummy, and something I will make again, especially since Lent will be upon us soon!

Update

I wanted to let you all know that Jonah is doing much better. A few hours after my last post he was released from the hospital and we came home. He is still a little puny, but is getting more active every day. Micah ended up getting sick late Saturday night, but he didn't have it nearly as bad! Thank God! Brianna got sick Sunday night and is still running a fever, luckily her vomiting/diarrhea was very minimal. Hopefully the fever goes away today so she can go back to school tomorrow. I woke up yesterday morning sicker than a dog! Every joint in my body hurt so bad! I think I slept all day long! Luckily this morning I woke up feeling much better and was able to eat and hold down breakfast so that's a great sign! Hopefully this is all on the mend and we can stay healthy until spring comes and we can open the windows and let all the sickies fly away!

Our Fighter!

These past few days have been so scary and so exhausting. Thursday evening I was at rehearsal and Steven came in. It was about 9:30 pm and he stood at the edge of the stage. One of my friends got my attention and told me that my husband was here. I went over to the edge of the stage and he told me that Jonah had been throwing up all evening and it now had blood in it! I ran over to the director, told him I had to go, changed out of my costume in record time and jumped in the car. We dropped Brianna and Micah off at home with my mom and then drove to the ER. We sat in the waiting room for a little while and then were led back to a room. The doctor came in almost immediately. They ran some blood work and then started an IV. He was very dehydrated. And he was so sick. He barely reacted when they did his IV! He absolutely broke my heart. Steven took a few pictures in the ER. Here's what our little guy looked like:

In the waiting room

Waiting for test results.

 

 

IV on board. Waiting for overnight room. Can you tell mommy is tired and scared?

Wiped out and sleeping good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At one point he started breaking out in a weird rash! It started on his stomach and then spread to his face. Around his forehead and around his ears were particularly red and splotchy. It was really weird and we still don't know what caused it. After some Benadryl it went away, but it was scary for a while. These pictures don't really do it justice!

By yesterday morning he looked like a completely different child! Seeing that smile did this momma's heart good! 

He had some visitors throughout the afternoon and evening. I went home in the afternoon to take a nap with Micah. It felt good to sleep in my own bed for a while but I was anxious to get back to my boy. My brother Michael and my mom came to visit. So did his grandma Kim and Aunt Shelly. Later his cousin Kristi, who is also his Godmother (or as Jonah calls her his "Fairy Godmother"-lol) came to visit. She got him to eat some jello and got some good smiles out of him!

By yesterday evening his fever was back up (it was 103 when Steven left to come back home so I could come back for the night!) and he just looked miserable again. His face was looking puffy and a little swollen. The doctor now says he think it's because he had more fluids on board then he was out putting. 

Now the IV has been unhooked to give him an incentive to eat and drink on his own. If he can eat and drink well this morning and afternoon we should be home this evening. I hope so. I know we're both ready to get out of here! He has been such a trooper and I've been so proud of him! Now he's starting to fight back though, which tells me he is feeling much better! It's been an experience...one I hope we don't ever have to go through again!

Oh, and the "official diagnosis" if you are wondering...well, we didn't really get one. The nurses say it smells (the diarrhea that is!) a lot like rota virus. They say once you smell it you never forget it! But the doctor never ran an actual test because there really isn't anything they could do even if it was rota virus. I wish they would have though..it would have been nice to know for sure!