Summer Break

Brandon's finally finished with school for the summer! He has one month off entirely and then after that only 9 months until he graduates! I am already counting down the days! He also got good grades last semester and gets to keep his scholarship for being in the top 20% of the class. That alone is reason to celebrate!

His last paper was due at 11:59 pm on Friday night and he turned it in early... at 11:56 pm :-) Then he promptly came downstairs with a grin on his face, plopped down on the couch and said "This is the first time in over 10 months that I haven't either been studying or feeling guilty for not studying." Have I mentioned we're both soooo glad he gets a break?

On Saturday we enjoyed the entire day together as a family! We went blackberry picking in the morning and then to a park near the airport to watch the airplanes land, one of the boys' favorite things to do. I was super excited to find a place over here where blackberries grow wild and we could pick them for free. After growing up in Washington and enjoying the luxury of picking perfect blackberries by the bucketful, I could not bring myself to pay $5 for a 6 oz. container at the grocery store. So we just did without. But then I heard about a park nearby with wild blackberries growing, and less than 12 hours later we were out picking them! Well, Jack and Cullen only picked a few (none of which made it into the basket of course) and then tired of it quickly so Brandon played with them while I picked for a couple hours. By the time I finished, I was sweaty, a little sunburnt and my limbs were so scratched up it looked like they'd lost a fight with a weedwacker, but I'd say the 10+ pounds of free berries I picked were well worth it! This week, I'm going to attempt to make jam for the first time. Wish me luck!

Anyways, here are some pictures of Jack and Cullen, which I know is the only reason people visit my blog in the first place ;-)

Enjoying a popsicle on the front porch. It turns out our AC was actually broken during the heatwave last week. Figures. So we spent a lot of time at the pool and ate a lot of popsicles.

No he's not sharing his popsicle with the flowers. That would be silly. If you look closely, you'll see he's actually sharing with Bob's ceramic bunny ;-)

Helping Daddy cut the grass. He loved this! He was incredibly proud of himself and likes to talk about how he helped Daddy with the "lawnmower."

Eating blackberries of course.

All three of my boys took a long nap together after berry picking and Brandon took this picture when he got up. I think they're so cute when they're sleeping... maybe because that's the only time they're peaceful.

Brandon taught them how to throw a frisbee. Jack's a pro already!

Running to tell me that an airplane's coming!

Give Them Grace

"You're a Christian parent, but is your parenting Christian?" - Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson

Being a mom is hard. Especially for a selfish, lazy, immature girl like myself. I love my kids and want a big family but I often start re-thinking this after a particularly long, hard day with the boys. At least once a day (sometimes more if it's been a tantrum and tear-filled day) I find myself at my wit's end thinking (or sometimes yelling out loud) "Why can't you just OBEY ME?! That's all I want- just obey and BE GOOD for once!" Really I'm saying that I am the center of my own little universe, I want a stress-free, enjoyable day, I want perfect children who don't complicate life for me, and I deserve to have all this happen.

Of course I want my kids to grow up as Christians and believe the gospel, but I am beginning to realize that I am most concerned with the outward evidences of this rather than what's actually in their hearts. I am putting the most work into producing good, obedient children and am getting extremely frustrated when they don't behave perfectly. Why? Because I am a sinner. I sinfully idolize having compliant, obedient kids whose behavior is complimented by strangers. I am not focused on what really matters in parenting: sharing the gospel with my kids. Yes, they're only 2. And yes, they can barely speak. And no, they can't really understand big concepts like the gospel or that they're sinners too. Probably won't be able to for a long time.

But rather than pointing them towards moralism or legalism from a young age, shouldn't I be raising them to know the grace of God? Instead of using Scripture to explain why they have to obey me, "because God says so," shouldn't I be sharing the real message of the Bible with them? Shouldn't I be laying the foundations of the gospel in their lives now so that when they're older they will already be familiar with it and hopefully respond to it in faith?

I'm not taking the opportunity to confess my sins to them (like when I lose it and just start yelling at them), or to really explain why they should love their brother and share toys with him, or demonstrating real forgiveness towards them. Instead I'm lazy and say "You can't cry every time you don't get something you want. That's life, we don't always get what we want. You're being selfish, so stop right now." Then when he inevitably doesn't, I put him in time-out. All this teaches, though, is that tantrums are bad, you'll be punished for them, and once you pull it together and start acting good again, you'll be released from time-out. Great parenting on my part, huh? If I were trying to raise little hypocrites, I guess I'd be doing a pretty good job.

Well, I just finished reading Give Them Grace and I have to say, I think it's the best parenting book I've ever read. But it's not really a "parenting book" in the sense that it gives you a list of good Christian things to do that are sure to produce good Christian kids. All it does is remind parents that the best thing they can do for their kids is to give them grace, just as Jesus did for us. Do this on a daily basis. Share the gospel with them when disciplining, talk to them about how they're sinners and need a Savior, confess to them that you're a sinner too and that's why you do bad things, demonstrate real forgiveness, don't convey to them that they're "good" kids just because they obey outwardly (that last one was a novel concept for me). Having good, obedient children is not the goal. Raising your children to know they're sinners and need Christ's righteousness in order to be truly "good" is the goal.

If my parenting is truly Christian, I will be sharing and living out the gospel with the boys on a daily basis and relying on God to help me do it. I won't just be setting down the law and punishing them because they can't live up to it. I won't be consumed by legalism and telling them they have to obey or be good just because the Bible tells them to. I won't be conveying to them that whether they are "good" or "bad" depends entirely upon their behavior that day. I'll be living out the gospel for them- or trying to at least. But even my trying (and usually failing) to do this is demonstrating the gospel, though, because it shows them that I am just a sinner in need of a Savior, just like them.

And, most importantly, I need to remember that it's not up to me. There is no magic formula that will produce good, Christian kids- not even sharing the gospel with them perfectly at all times. God is the one who saves, not me, I can't really do anything to control my childrens' hearts- or their behavior for the most part. I love how at the end of the book, they pointed out that before the proliferation of parenting books in recent decades, Christian parents had only the Bible as their guide. So what did they do? They simply loved their children, disciplined them and told them about Jesus. They recognized that God was in control and they were just called to be faithful parents who told their kids about Jesus. "When we make parenting more complex than God has made it, we afflict ourselves with burdens too heavy for us to carry, and we are unintentionally presuming that the good news of the gospel is insufficient." I don't know about you, but when I read something like that I breathe a big sigh of relief. God calls me to be a faithful Christian parent, but what a relief to entrust my boys to His loving hands knowing that He's the only perfect parent.

Sorry for my long, rambling post but if you struggle with the issue of how to parent Biblically, like I do, then I really can't recommend this book highly enough. My friend Jessica also posted an interview Elyse gave about the book that is incredibly helpful and encouraging. You can find it here. I kept getting interrupted and had to listen to it in 3 separate parts but it was well worth my time. And the book is less than $10 on Amazon, you can buy it here.

Hot Hot Hot

We've had the AC on since 7 am, but I'm not sure it can reasonably be expected to keep up with this crazy heat. It's 94 degrees outside but with the heat index the temperature is actually 109! It's been close to 100 all week and it's not supposed to cool off until the weekend. That's just ridiculous- no wonder my plants are dying! We're heading to the pool as soon as the boys wake up. I'm just hoping we don't suffer from heatstroke on the walk over there!

Other than lots of swimming, I've been keeping busy with the boys and Brandon with his classes. This summer term has been terrible for Brandon. I didn't think it was possible for him to be busier than he was during the spring, but I was wrong. He's out in just 3 more days though and then we can finally enjoy a normal summer- for 4 weeks at least! Friday can't come soon enough!

Here are some recent pictures of the boys:

At Chik-fil-A on Cow Appreciation Day, one of our favorite days of the whole year! The boys and I did this last year with my sisters in California and I'd been looking forward to this year's free meal ever since!

The closest Chik-fil-A to us is inside a mall food court. As we were walking into the mall, Brandon was desperately looking for somebody, anybody, who was also in a cow costume. When he didn't see anybody he said to me in a panicked voice "If this doesn't work, I'll never forgive you." He later acknowledged that it was well worth it and we're counting the days until Cow Appreciation Day 2012!

At the pool with their friend Amelia. Isn't that hat to die for?!

I love Cullen's expression in this picture, like he's thinking "Get your cootie hands off me, Amelia!"

Fourth of July. Unfortunately our car was broken and Brandon had to study all day/night so we stayed home and watched the fireworks on TV. We did take a walk to 7-11 for a slurpee after dinner though. Now every time we drive by that 7-11 the boys ask for more "burpee."

At Amelia's birthday party last weekend, Jack and Cullen kindly volunteered their present-opening services to her. They also repeatedly asked Amelia's mommy (or any other grown-up within earshot) for cake from the moment they arrived until it was finally served.

Cullen trying to walk off with the birthday girl's musical card

I'd been hearing a lot about the new "sprayground" in our town from all the local parents so we finally went yesterday. It was free, it was a super fun way to cool off, and it was only 5 minutes away. In other words, it was AWESOME! I think it's safe to say we'll be going back a lot this summer.

Some Favorite Recipes

I already spend way too much time thinking about food but in my dream world I'd spend hours and hours each day looking at food blogs, cook books, and food magazines and then make any recipe my heart desired. Since this is a dream world, I'd also not gain a pound ;-)

Anyways, I just thought I'd share a few of my favorite recipes. These are all tried and true, and approved by all four of the O'Malleys, even our picky kids:

Balsamic Chicken Risotto - A lady from our church made a "dirty risotto" once when we were over for dinner. It was so good that I came right home and set about making my own version. I had never made risotto before so I googled a few recipes but none of them seemed like "the one," so I made up my own. Once I got it right, I wrote it down and I now make it regularly because it's one of Brandon's favorite dinners. My sisters also request it every time we're together. It's pretty darn good if I do say so myself. By the way, you really can't mess this recipe up, I almost never follow it exactly, I just used the measurements as guidelines the first few times I made it. You can add more or less wine, more balsamic, leave out the worcestershire sauce, you could even use regular white rice if you wanted (although you wouldn't get the delicious, creamy texture of arborio). Oh and I've also started adding about 8 oz. of finely chopped mushrooms to it and it's even better! If you use the mushrooms, add them with the onions.

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken THIGHS (you could use breast meat, but the thighs are sooo good in this recipe, why mess with a good thing?)
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp. olive oil
4 cups chicken broth (more or less, as needed)
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
2 cups red wine
1 tbsp dried rosemary (2 tbsp fresh rosemary if you've got it)
3 tbsp. cold butter, diced into small pieces
1 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated

1. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat until done. Slice into strips, set aside.
2. In same skillet, reduce heat to medium, heat the olive oil up, add onion, season with plenty of salt and pepper, and cook until soft and translucent. Add rice, stir to coat in the olive oil, and cook for a couple minutes. Add 1 cup of wine and stir; once it's been absorbed, add the second cup and the rosemary and stir again. Once all the wine is absorbed, stir in 1 cup of broth, the balsamic vinegar, and worcestershire sauce, stir well again.
3. Keep adding some broth to the risotto (about 1/2 cup or so each time), stirring continually, and once it's been absorbed, add some more. Continue this for about 20-25 minutes, until the risotto is creamy and has an al dente texture. Use more or less broth as needed to cook the risotto.
4. Turn off the heat, stir in butter and parmesan cheese. Then mix in the chicken and serve! Roasted asparagus or sauteed green beans go perfectly with this.


Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce - Besides my beloved Ina, Pioneer Woman is my second favorite go-to lady for when I want to eat something delicious. This is beyond delicious. I don't use the pine nuts because they're too expensive and I sometimes substitute half and half for the cream - but only if I'm out of cream and I have to, because everything's better with real cream! And (aside from the cream of course) it's pretty healthy. I serve it with whole wheat pasta and the boys always want second helpings. This is a good, sneaky way to get picky kids to eat a serving of vegetables! Oh and I always add a teaspoon or so of red pepper flakes because I like my food spicy, but it's delicious as-is too.

Mango Chicken Curry- This is delicious, healthy and incredibly easy to make. About once a week, I bake a few chicken breasts and then dice or shred them to use for quick dinners later in the week. So I just pull a bag of pre-cooked chicken out of the freezer, dice up some mangos, mix up the sauce and let the rice cooker take care of the rice. I can have this on the table in 15 minutes, it's delicious, the boys love it! This is a recipe from an old Better Homes and Garden cookbook I have (called BHG Healthy Family Cookbook). The only changes I make are to double the sauce, it's so good and I like to have extra to flavor the rice.

- 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 2 tbsp. lime juice
- 2 tsp. finely shredded lime peel
- 2 tsp. brown sugar
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
- 12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tsp. cooking oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup sliced red onion
- 2 cups chopped, peeled mango (or papaya)
- cooked rice for serving

1. In a small bowl, stir together the broth, lime juice, lime peel, brown sugar, curry powder, and cornstarch. Set aside. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, set aside. (Like I said, I usually use pre-cooked diced chicken and add it at the very end so I skip these chicken steps)
2. In a large wok or skillet, heat oil until very hot. Stir-fry garlic for 30 seconds, add onion slices, stir-fry for 3 minutes. Remove onion and garlic from wok, add chicken and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Push chicken from center of wok.
3. Stir sauce mixture and pour into wok, cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Return onion to wok, add mango and stir all ingredients together to coat with sauce. Cook 2 minutes more until heated through. Serve over rice.



Southwestern Quinoa Salad - This salad is really easy, healthy and delicious. We all love it! I try to plan at least one or two dinners each week without any meat and we often eat quinoa on those nights. I used the same basic dressing I always use to make a southwestern green salad but just made it with quinoa one day instead- because Brandon likes his dinners to be more substantial than a meatless green salad. If you want a quick and light dinner, this is perfect! I often make it on days when we'll be out running errands in the afternoon and I won't have time to cook dinner, we just pull it out of the fridge and eat!

- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 cup corn kernels
- 2 cups black beans (or one can)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1/2 cup cotija cheese (you could also use feta, grated cheddar, pretty much any cheese that sounds good to you)
- 1/2 cup lime juice
- 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. adobo seasoning
- Salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse and drain quinoa. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add quinoa, cook until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until quinoa has absorbed all the broth, about 10 minutes. Cool quinoa in fridge at least 10-15 minutes in a pie dish or some other shallow dish.
2. Mix together all the other ingredients in a large salad bowl, stir in quinoa, season with salt and pepper. Chill for at least 30 minutes, and serve! (Note: I usually leave the cilantro and cheese out if I'm going to refrigerate it all day and toss them in right before we eat)


Chipotle BBQ Chicken - This is a recipe from Rachael Ray's magazine. The first time we tried it, everybody pronounced it a keeper! Chipotle chiles are one of my favorite ingredients to cook with, they are delicious in anything!

- 3 tbsp. butter
- 6 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1/4 cup chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 3 tbsp. cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
- 8 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 3 minutes. Remove the garlic and set aside. Add onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally until golden, about 8 minutes.
2. Add the chipotle chiles, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, worcestershire and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Using tongs, coat the chicken in the sauce and place skin side up on the baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.


Grilled Lemon Chicken Salad - This is from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. You wouldn't expect something this simple to be so good, it literally has like 5 ingredients. But it's one of my favorite salads and we eat it for dinner a lot in the summer. Leave it to Ina to make something so good out of just a few basic ingredients I never would have thought to throw together. I gave it to the boys a few weeks ago as we had a picnic dinner in the backyard and they LOVED it! Anything that can get my picky two-year-olds to eat raw bell peppers and snap peas is a keeper for sure! Oh and the chicken is also delicious as a main dish so I usually make a double batch of grilled chicken and we'll eat half of it for dinner one night and then use the leftovers to make the salad later in the week.

To make the chicken:

- 2 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breast
- 3/4 cup lemon juice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 1 tbsp. minced fresh thyme leaves (1/2 tsp. dried thyme)

Whisk all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Place chicken breasts in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. Grill (or broil) the chicken until just cooked through.

For the salad:

- 2 lbs. grilled lemon chicken
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup raw sugar snap peas, stems and strings removed
- 1 red/yellow/orange bell pepper
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Slice the chicken, toss it in a bowl with the other ingredients. Refrigerate until chilled.

Hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we do!

Marching!

We watched the Jungle Book last week and ever since the boys have been obsessed with marching like the elephants! They march to the park, the pool, the mailbox... They love all the animals in the movie, but those marching elephants are the clear favorite. Prepare yourself for a ridiculous amount of cuteness!

What are Jack and Cullen up to?

I can't believe in exactly one week they'll be 2 1/2! Here's the latest on their rapidly developing interests and abilities:

*At last, Jack says “YES!” At 2 ½, one of them finally gets it! Until recently, they would only say it if we forced them to repeat it after us, and even then it was rarely. A couple weeks ago I heard him (or maybe it was Cullen) say it once or twice unprompted but this week Jack is suddenly saying it all the time! This is a big parenting triumph for me, I’m so glad to finally have at least one son who answers in the affirmative!

*They know most of their shapes including circle, square, triangle, rectangle, star, and heart. They can tell you that a circle is round and a triangle has three sides. They also just learned pentagons and know that Daddy works in one and they excitedly point it out every time we drive by.

*They can draw straight lines and circles. Jack apparently wanted to demonstrate his lines on our couch last week. So we’ll be investing in a couple of slipcovers this week.*Still completely obsessed with fire trucks and trains… and fire hydrants. I honestly never realized how many fire hydrants there are in the world until these boys took an interest in them!

*They can count to 5 and they try to hold up the correct amount of fingers. They’ve got 1,2,4 and 5 fingers down pretty well. Three is tricky though! They can actually count all the way to 10 but they usually skip 6 and sometimes 2 as well. They’re very proud of their counting though and will often shout out random numbers at strangers and then get extremely upset if their genius isn’t fully appreciated by these strangers.

*They’re beginning to memorize some of the lines on their most watched fire truck and train movies. I guess that makes me a terrible parent. But I already knew that.

*They will literally repeat the same phrase dozens of times until you finally acknowledge them and either respond to their question or repeat the phrase back to them. A simple "Yes" or "Ok" doesn't cut it, they will keep up their constant repetition until get the answer they're looking for. I think this is largely responsible for the deterioration of my mental state recently.

*They recognize numbers 0-10 and several letters by sight. I was completely shocked when they first pointed to a 4 and said “Four!” So now that I know they’re capable of recognizing letters and numbers, we’ve begun working on it more and they’re picking up more numbers and letters quickly.

*They love to help around the house with little chores like watering the plants, feeding the cats, clearing the table, doing the laundry, dusting, and taking the trash out. And they’re wonderful at cleaning up their toys! We clean them up each day before naptime and again at bedtime. Sometimes they dawdle but they never complain, I’m thankful that they like to help so much!

*They are getting really bossy with each other. I think it’s mostly just their habit of copying what I say though. But hearing Jack tell Cullen he can’t have any candy because he didn’t try to go potty is pretty funny.

*Whenever I tell them something is gone or they can’t have any more they immediately say “Buy more ___________ at the store?” The other day I told them I wasn’t going to make any more pancakes because they had already eaten 3 each and so they asked me to go to the store and buy more “pay-pakes” all day.

*Still pretty picky eaters but not nearly as bad as they could be, I guess. I’ve heard of some kids who won’t try anything at all and live off of hot dogs or macaroni & cheese, so I’m thankful they at least like some healthy foods and don’t ask for sweets or snacks a lot. And I’m learning a lot of little tricks to make their food healthier. More bang for the bite!

*They’re just beginning to be interested in what they’re wearing but I think it has more to do with sibling rivalry than actually caring about their clothes. If one boy has a race car on his shirt, his brother also must have a race car or something equally as cool, like a fire truck. The other night we were getting ready for bed and I realized a little too late that the other race car pajamas were still in the laundry. It took about 5 minutes of consoling before Cullen finally pulled himself together, stopped sobbing “raaaace caaaar” and agreed to put on his animal pajamas instead.

*They love to go the pool but don’t really spend all that much time in the water. They climb in and out, walk around the outside, play with other kids, or just sit on the edge playing with their pool toys most of the time. The one exception is when we go to the big pool instead of the wading pool (which we only do when Daddy’s with us) and then Cullen wants to jump in whether you’re ready to catch him or not!

*Still great nappers too... most days at least! They actually play in their room together for an hour or so before they finally fall asleep. But since this means an extra kid-free hour for me, I couldn't be happier! Altogether, they usually are in their room, either playing or napping for 2 1/2-3 hours every day. I call this my 'down time' even though I usually spend the entire time cleaning, organizing, getting dinner ready, or doing other random household stuff. And if I'm lucky, I get time to blog :-) It doesn't matter what kind of morning we had, I always feel so refreshed having a clean house, a homemade dinner cooking and happy, well-rested kids!

Potty Training - Day 15

The first week of potty training was great, both boys tried every time I asked them and Cullen even went several times! Once he even told me he needed to go, so I took off his diaper, and then he sat down and peed in the potty! I was literally jumping for joy!

Unfortunately, since the first week, progress has stalled. They aren't quite as excited about trying (especially since we ran out of M&M's after their Daddy ate a few too many) and sometimes they just refuse to try. I've heard this is perfectly normal and most of the other moms I've talked to about potty training said their kids did the exact same thing. They said within a few weeks (or months) the kids usually become interested again. So I'm just going to stick with it and keep asking them several times a day if they want to try. I don't make them but if they want to, then great. If the weather's nice, I'll let them wear their underwear around the backyard. They really love their Thomas underwear so hopefully this will be an incentive to stay dry and tell me if they need to go.

Here we go on week 3! Wish me luck- I'm going to need it!

Recently...

What a busy couple of weeks. I'm not sure what has made them busier than any other time, but they sure seem to be! I still have a long list of to-do's that I've been working on and the boys and I have been continuing with potty training and keeping busy with little projects and activities. These pictures are from a couple weeks ago but I just haven't found time to post them yet.

On Memorial Day, we took the boys to the Air and Space Museum. We found out that if you go after 4 pm, the parking is free and admission is always free so this is a perfect family outing for us! The boys loved it of course and this is the only good picture I got because they were so busy running around looking at all the airplanes.
We had one week of crazy, record-breaking heat so we spent every waking minute either indoors or at the pool. Finger painting was just one of the many indoor activities we did that week. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the paints!

The boys also went to their friend Rachel's 3rd birthday party a few weeks ago. The pink birthday cake and having their faces painted for the first time were the highlights. Jack wanted a spider and Cullen wanted a race car (actually his first choice was a pink butterfly but I thought Brandon would rather not see his boy come home with that on his face) and they were eager to show off their cheeks to any and everybody they saw that day. They kept trying to touch their cheeks while the lady was painting them, though. so they both had rather smudged faces.

Eating the cake that they talked about for days afterward

A couple weeks ago Renee and I drove out to see our friend Stephanie and her daughter Callie. We had a great time visiting and the boys were really well-behaved and even let me talk with my friends for a couple hours! That's the first miraculous happening- the second is this picture below with all three kids looking in the same direction and smiling! Incredible!

Cullen got a hankering for a peanut butter sandwich one day so he opened the pantry, climbed up the shelves,got the peanut butter and bread down all by himself, and then got a butter knife from the drawer. I discovered him trying to saw through the peanut butter lid and asked him what he was doing. He replied "Eat a peanut butter sandwich" and went right back to his work.

Even though we don't allow the boys to have pens (for obvious reasons) Jack found one lying around somewhere and drew dozens of lines across both arms of our couch. I was upstairs getting ready and needless to say, I was not happy when I came back down and saw this. I looked up what Heloise would do and am waiting for my dry-cleaning solvent to arrive today so I can try to clean it. Hopefully it will come off! I am thankful, though, that God has given me two little boys who constantly remind me that there's no use valuing material things :-)

Potty Training - Day 1

We're actually on Day 3 now but these pictures are from their very first day. And as a disclaimer, we're not "officially" potty training, they're still wearing diapers (and probably will be for a long time) but we've informally begun the potty training process. And I have a feeling it's going to be a long, long process. I still have my doubts about whether they're ready or not yet and my biggest fear is that potty-training will drag on for a year and a half (ughhhh) but we're starting slow and planning to see how it goes.

Brandon had been asking me a lot recently when I was going to start potty training them. I thought "When am I going to start potty training them? Am I in this all by myself?" Pretty much since he's not here some nights and when he is, he's studying. So I gave him fair warning that if he comes home and the house isn't tidied up or the made-from-scratch dinners suddenly stop, it's because potty training eats up a huge chunk of my day. I never realized how many times each day kids have to try and use the potty. Or how long they need to sit there to make anything happen! And we've only just begun!

The first day, we saw no action whatsoever and I was ready to throw in the towel already, convinced that it was indeed way too soon to start trying. But yesterday, Cullen gave me the boost of confidence I needed to continue when he peed in the potty for the first time ever! I think it was actually an accident but I'll take what I can get at this point. He was incredibly proud of himself and repeatedly pointed to it and shouted "Cu-hen pee pee in potty!" Then it was time for his reward (a few M&M's) and he was literally shaking with excitement as I handed his candy to him. Jack asked for "em ems" too and was a little crushed when I told him he only got one for trying. It's becoming apparent to me that Cullen is a little more excited about potty training than his brother. Jack seems to have no interest other than sitting on the potty a few times a day in order to collect his single M&M. But we're only a few days in so far, hopefully he'll get into it soon!

And as additional incentive to stay dry and use the potty, I let them wear their Thomas underwear around the backyard for a little while on Monday. These pictures were taken as soon as they put them on. Good thing because the underwear lasted all of 90 seconds once we got outside. At least they waited til they were outside though :-)

Recently...

It's been quite a while since I've blogged. I've just been too busy, but in a good way! Here's what we've been up to:

*Brandon finished his finals and we enjoyed a glorious 10 day break! Mostly just doing normal family stuff like going to the playground, running errands, and spending time at home together. Normal family time is a luxury for us right now and we all thoroughly enjoyed it! Way too much for me to take a break from it for blogging! :-)

*We had a weekend getaway to Virginia Beach, just Brandon and I! I'd been looking forward to this for months! We knew we wanted to get out of town but didn't know where until the morning we left. We ended up finding a great deal on a hotel in Virginia Beach so we jumped in the car and were there in just a few short hours! Virginia Beach is an awesome place by the way! A little shady (I've never been to the Jersey Shore, nor have I watched the show, but for some reason VB reminded me of how I imagine Jersey to be) with some interesting people-watching, but totally family friendly and affordable. There was real sand (unlike the other east coast beaches we've been to), a fun boardwalk, and lots of stuff to do. I just enjoyed a blissful day of lying on the beach, feeling the sunshine on my skin, and reading. We tried not to talk about the kids too much but everywhere we went we'd point out something and say "Jack and Cullen would love this!" We enjoyed it so much that we want to go back sometime and take the boys with us!


*You're probably wondering who watched our kids while we were sunbathing all weekend, right? Don't worry, we didn't leave them home alone. Brandon's parents flew over for a week to visit us while Brandon was on his break from school. They watched the boys and all four of them loved every second of it! The boys got to eat ice cream, play in the new pool Grandma & Grandpa bought for them, eat bear pancakes with candy eyes for breakfast every day, and play at the park each night.

*Once Brandon and I got back from our weekend in Virginia Beach, we also enjoyed spending time with his parents. We love when family come to visit us! We mostly stayed at home (we can't all fit into our car) but one day when Brandon was at work the rest of us took a fun trip to the zoo. And I think it was the best zoo trip I've ever had! We went early in the morning before it was too hot, all the animals were out and the boys loved it! Some highlights were seeing the 6 lion cubs and watching an orangutang (or "wane-too-tane" as Jack calls it) walking on ropes 4 stories above our head! So cool!

*I turned 26 last Sunday! I'm officially over the hump and headed toward 30! Does 26 count as "late twenties?" Yikes!!

*This might seem random and unimportant but it's something I'm really excited about so I'll share anyways: we put up a clothesline last week! And I'm loving it! Not only are we saving electricity from running our dryer (which is from the 1970's and sucks up energy like nobody's business) but we'll also be able to run our air conditioner less now that the dryer isn't heating up the entire downstairs. Win-win! The only downside: about 5 minutes after I took this picture this morning, a rainstorm came out of nowhere and soaked the clothes again! But now it's sunny again and they're almost dry so no harm done. I still love my clothesline!

*And last, but not least, my best friend Renee got engaged last weekend! I was excited to be part of the big event by planning to get a birthday drink with her. But she was surprised to get to the bar and see Jens instead of me! Congratulations you guys! Renee let me go dress shopping with her and her mom yesterday (which was actually the first time in my entire life I've gone wedding dress shopping since I bought mine on the internet) and we had the best time! She's going to be such a beautiful bride! I'm so excited for the wedding!

Countdown!

Only 84 hours until Brandon finishes his last final and we're officially done with this horrendous semester! Neither of us know why it seemed like a good idea to have Brandon take on a new part-time job, a new part-time internship, and a full-time course load all in the same semester. We must have been delusional. We knew it would be hard, but it turned out to be harder than either of us expected and made for a really, really tough 4 months. I started joking about being a single mom, but after a while it wasn't funny anymore. Probably because it was basically true! But we're so close to the end now! I'll get my husband back, the boys will get their Daddy back and Brandon will get his sanity back!

He gets a 10 day break before he starts his summer classes but he'll only be taking two classes and working just one job. We're looking forward to a much more normal schedule this summer! Hopefully we'll have plenty of time to just spend together as a family. The boys are excited to get to play with their Daddy every night and do a lot more of this:

As if I needed another reason to love coupons...

Guess how much I paid for everything pictured:

$2.66!!!!

I paid $1.00 for the half gallons of milk, and $0.75 each for the Johnson's baby wash. Everything else was free. I also got 2 free tubes of toothpaste and $0.99 razor refill cartridges at CVS this week. And no, that's not including the one Jack shoplifted. I got these ones for free legally ;-)

I'm serious, if you're not using coupons, you're crazy. I can't wait for my Sunday paper to come each week because it's filled with FREE MONEY! I shudder to think of all the money I used to spend on groceries, just randomly throwing items into the cart, not thinking of the price. Couponing has changed my life!

What are Jack and Cullen up to?

*They call each other by name now, "Dack" and "Hen." I love taking walks with them and one will turn around to the other and shout, "Come on Dack!" or "Heeeennnn, stop!"

*So easy to entertain, I just gave them a trash can full of water to play and it kept them occupied for nearly an hour :-)


*I'm blown away at how they've been combining so many two and sometimes even three word sentences lately. I think they'll be speaking in full sentences within the next couple months.

*They can easily count to three and sometimes even to five (with a little coaching)

*I've got two little echos who follow me around all day. They literally repeat every single thing I say. You know that saying, she's got a sailor's mouth? Well I've realized that I've still got a waitress' mouth- which is nearly as bad! But there's no better reminder for me to watch my language, because if I say something I shouldn't, the same word comes out of their mouths seconds later. Yikes!

*Speaking of profanity, the other day I told Huck to get off the table and Cullen immediately shouted "Off Huck!" Except when it came out of his mouth it sounded more like "Oh f***!" I laughed so hard I cried. No, that's an understatement, tears were rolling down my cheek! Here's what I've learned: it's hilarious when kids swear accidentally. It's not so funny when they repeat a swear word you just said. So enjoy it when it's an accident, but feel mortified when it's your fault.

*Not only do they boss the cats around, but they now tell them when they're being naughty too. Huck will often come out into the backyard with us but the second he jumps up on the fence the boys yell "No No, Huck! Bad! Down!" Then they'll tattle on him, telling me "Huck, out gate!"


*They love looking at pictures, especially of their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin Violet! They point to each person and name them, sometimes they'll even mention a memory or something about them. When we got back from Seattle, they kept talking about Grandpa giving them oranges or Auntie Rachel letting them blow out "fires" (candles). Now they walk around the house showing me where Violet slept or reminding me that she drank her milk out of a bottle. I love that they're starting to develop relationships with people!

*They've developed an especially good relationship with our next door neighbor, Bob. Bob and his wife are in their 60's with no grandchildren and so they've given the boys several presents and Bob often comes out to talk to them when we're outside. Whenever they see him, they shout "Hi Bob!" (over and over) and when he goes inside they yell "Come back Bob!"


*Cullen falls asleep in front of his bedroom door nearly every night. I spend 10 minutes gently nudging him with the door, trying not to wake him up, before I can squeeze inside and put him back in his bed. I'd leave him on the floor, except I don't think it's too comfortable and so it would probably make him wake up even earlier in the morning. Not an option, so I move him back to his bed.

*Jack had his first (and hopefully last) incident of shoplifting the other day when he stole a tube of toothpaste from CVS. He had it hidden under his leg and it fell out while we were at the library. Thankfully we were just across the parking lot from CVS and the manager was really nice and understanding when we returned it. Still embarrassing though!

*We finally got another tricycle last weekend so we went out and tried to teach them how to pedal. They didn't really get it but they sure enjoyed being pushed up and down the sidewalk on their trikes! The neighbor kids ride their bikes out front all the time so hopefully that will motivate them soon.

*Like most kids, they don't like vegetables. But the few that they do eat are the strangest ones. Tonight they each ate two helpings of salad and yesterday while I was cooking, they kept snatching raw onions off the cutting board and eating them. But broccoli or carrots? Not a chance.

*Their favorite book is the "Bible book" and they sit very still and listen intently when we read it each night. What a privilege to get to share the Bible with them!

Easter

I meant to post Easter pictures sooner, but life hasn't left me much time for blogging recently. So I'm just now getting around to it :-) On Easter morning, the boys were super excited to come downstairs and find Easter baskets full of toys and treats for them! Thank you to their grandparents for providing everything to fill the baskets with, Brandon and I didn't have to buy a thing! They loved the toys, stickers, books, playdough, candy (although we saved it for later since I knew they'd be gorging themselves on M&M's later in the day), sunglasses, and especially the cherry chapstick!

Then we dressed them in their adorable ring bearer outfits (an outfit that cute absolutely needs to be worn more than once!!) and went to church. After church, we spent the afternoon with some good friends enjoying Easter dinner. The boys even napped in their guest room so Brandon and I got to enjoy the whole dinner without any interruptions! This never happens so that alone made it a very good day for me ;-)

After their nap, the boys experienced their very first Easter egg hunt! Although there were 5 kids there, Jack and Cullen were the only ones old enough to walk so they dominated the hunt and got nearly all the eggs. They were pretty excited about the "treats" inside and quickly discerned the difference between the plastic eggs with candy inside and the real dyed eggs (aka the undesirable ones). After breaking open a few of the dyed eggs and realizing they didn't have any treats inside, they started shaking all the eggs they found and throwing the duds over their shoulder. Then they'd rush off to find more of the good ones!

Cullen opened all the eggs he found right away and dumped the M&M's into his basket, while Jack took the more efficient approach of filling his basket with eggs as fast as he could and opening them later. They're still talking about the eggs and treats a week later, so I'd say they thoroughly enjoyed it!

I'm glad we did an Easter egg hunt with them and I'm sure we'll continue to do it in the future, but I did realize how easy it is to focus on that kind of stuff and not on why we're celebrating Easter in the first place. The boys aren't really old enough to understand the gospel yet but I am looking forward to sharing the best part of Easter with them in the future! I pray that remembering Christ's death on a cross as a sacrifice and atonement for our sins will be the focus of Easter for them. I hope that someday soon they understand why we celebrate Easter and that it has nothing to do with plastic eggs or candy!

Thanks for the Easter baskets Nana, Grandma ("Hamma") and Grandpa ("Boppa")!

Every time they'd find an egg, they'd shout "A blue one!" or "A lellow one!" and show it off

Enjoying the fruits of their labor