Summertime

Well, it's official.  School is out.  The weather is hot (and windy, of course)  The shorts are on.  And we cut up our first watermelon.  Yep!  It's summer!!

We also took advantage of the warm weather this weekend by spending some time at the lake.  The water was still a bit chilly (and by chilly, I mean I didn't go in past my knees) but my little water bug didn't seem to mind at all.  He loved it.  We finished the night with grilled burgers and a bonfire.  I love summer!!

Walking in the water.

This baby loves to walk.  Even if it is on mucky seaweed and rocks.

Playin' in the water.  Of course he had to taste a few of the rocks too .

Here's our little monkey toes .... eating with his feet.  Silly kid!

Toochie Trouble

Ok, first off ... the pacifier in our house is called a "toochie".  I'm not exactly sure that's how it's spelled, but it looks right to me.  It's pronounced "too" with the "oo" sounding the the "oo" in "look" and then "chee".  There you have it ... toochie.  It's what my dad's family called pacifiers and that's the only name I've ever used for them ... so it stuck.

Anyway, it's becoming an issue in our house.  Here's what I mean.  Brooks loves his toochie.  He sleeps with it, plays with it and now ... he drops it.  The other day we were sitting reading stories and he took the toochie out of his mouth, held it out and dropped it on the floor.  Not a big deal, right?  Then he looked at me and ... wait for it ... CRIED!  He cried as if I, the big mean mom, had just taken it from him and launched it across the room.  I was a bit puzzled by this since HE was the one to drop it.  So I picked it up and gave it back to him.  He had the begrudged expression of "well, that's better".  Hmmm, not sure what to do about this.

But here's the bigger problem.  While Brooks sleeps at night the toochie will eventually fall out of his mouth.  Then when he wakes up, he'll fuss until he can find it again.  Up until now he used to find it on his own and tada ... problem solved and back to sleep.  Now all of a sudden, he goes into these crying fits when he wakes up without it.  So I drag my weary self into his room (thinking perhaps it's lost in the blakent or something) only to find the toochie right next to his head!  Aarrggg!  "YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN THIS YOURSELF" I want to scream.  But of course, I don't.  That would take too much energy when I can barely even open my eyes.  But wait ... it gets worse.  This doesn't happen just once or even twice a night.  Oh no.  We're up to four and six times a night he goes into these crying fits becuause of a lost (but not so lost) toochie.

(sigh) So I don't know what to do.  Chris and I have talked about it.  We should just let him cry until he falls back asleep, we decide.  Yes, that will work.  Until it's 2am and he's been crying for over half and hour, meaning we haven't slept in over half an hour. 

I know he hasn't been feeling well and perhaps even teething, so I'm really hoping this is just a phase that will pass ... quickly.  But then I think, should we just wean him from the toochie?  Would that solve our problem?  And how exactly does one remove a child's item to which he is extremely attached?  (sigh again)  I'd certainly welcome any ideas or advice for our toochie troubles.  I'm stumped!

leftover taters

If you're anything like me, you always make waaaaaay too many mashed potatoes for a meal.  And I can never seem to eat them all, causing me to throw them out.  Boo.  But I came across this quick and easy soup recipe from my Miserly Moms book (more on that another time) that uses leftover mashed potatoes.  And since I have a big bowl of them in my fridge, I gave it a try!  It turned out aweseome!!!  Then I served it with homemade oatmeal bread (my first attempt at making bread - a success I think), thus creating this ... a very affordable, easy to make and delicious meal.

Here's the recipes for the both the soup and bread.

Quick Potato-Cheese Soup

1 T. butter
1 onion diced (I used onion powder since my dear husband won't eat actual onions)
2 T. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 C. water
1 C. leftover mashed potatoes
2 C. milk
1/2 C. grated cheese

In a saucepan, melt butter and saute the onion until light brown.  Stir in the flour and S & P.  Stir, forming a roux paste.  Add water, stirring constantly.  When mixed, add the rest of the ingredients.  Stir while it thickens and the cheese melts.

Note:  I also added 1/2 C. heavy whipping cream to ensure that the soup thickened ... and it did.  I also added chopped broccoli for color and flavor.  I doubled the recipe and put the extra in the freezer for another cold and rainy day like today.  My husband, who must have MEAT at every meal, didn't even notice the meatless entree I served this evening.  Even if he did, he didn't say anything.  All I heard was "mmmm, this is delicous."  I'll take that :)


Oatmeal Bread

2 pkgs (1/4 oz each) dry yeast
1  1/4 C. warm water
1  1/4 C. warm milk
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. honey
2 T vegetable oil
2 C. quick cooking oats
6 C. bread flour (I used all purpose flour since that's all I had)
2 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in water and add milk.  Add sugar and honey and stir.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.  Knead for 5 minutes, then let rise to double in size.  Punch down, then knead again.  Let rise once more to double in size.  Shape into two loaves and let rise to double again.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Note:  My bread turned out fairly dense.  Either it's supposed to be that way or I didn't do something right. (remember, this is my first time making bread) Either way, I really enjoy a hearty piece of bread, so I loved it.  It does take a little time to let the bread rise a total of 3 times, but if you're going to be around the house all day (like I was today), it's a nice little project to putz with.

Mother's Day

This year I was able to celebrate my first official Mother's Day.  Last year I was 35 weeks pregnant, so although I was already kind of a mama, I wasn't quite yet.  My boys spoiled me yesterday.  I woke up to find a cute boquet of flowers on the table with a card.

The card was my favorite part of the whole day. Here's why.

Brooks fingerpainted it for me!  And Dad was brave enough to fingerpaint with a 10 month old!  That's a sacrifice of love right there.  It was wonderful!

Chris made delicious stuffed french toast for breakfast and then we headed off to church.  It was a wonderful service and an amazing woman of God shared from her heart about being a "supernatural" woman.

After church we went to Qdoba for lunch (because I said I was NOT cooking on Mother's Day).  That was also Brooks' first time eating restaurant food.  He actually liked the bean and cheese quesadilla - I'm so proud.

Brooks and I spent the afternoon napping, then had an amazing supper with some great friends.  All in all, I'd say it was a pretty great Mother's Day.  I'm so blessed to be the mama of my sweet little Brooks and to share life with my best friend!  I hope your mother's day was just as wonderful as mine.

mother of three ...

... and no, I'm not pregnant with twins.  Starting last week, I started babysitting two 5 year old boys during the day (they're not twins ... but that's a another story).  Their dad stayed home with them the last five years, but he just got a job.  That's where I came in!  I figured Brooks and I were going to be hittin' up the library, swimming pools, the zoo, and more this summer.  Why not have a couple more kids tag along too?  It's been a good thing for everyone.  Mom and Dad happy to not put their boys in a daycare center and it's a little extra income for our family, which is nice too!  The first week was quite an adjustment though.  These two are not used to having babies around the house so I kept hearing things like ...

"Brooks keeps putting things in his mouth!"

"He's making such a mess!" [while eating]

"How come he can't talk yet?"

"He drools all the time."

Umm, yes, that's what babies do!  The second week was better though.  They're getting used to him now and aren't quite as irritated when we have to quit an activity to go home so Brooks can nap.  I think it will work out just fine for everyone.

Here's my three boys!

Drew and Cole

Brooks at the park.  And yes, he's eating woodchips. 

That's my boy :)