stir fry

I have done it. I created a dinner full of vegetables that the boys will EAT! They like veggies under very specific circumstances… Raw with “dip” (usually salad dressing will count as dip), or steamed but not mushy are the only acceptable ways, until now. 

Green peppers, red peppers, onions, pineapples, and chicken sautéed in soy sauce and vegetable oil = yummy!  I am so happy. :)  Served with rice. Hooray! I think next time I will add cashews, water chestnuts, and a few other things.

silly

Lullaby makes this face all the time. It's her get-out-of-eating-anymore-food face. It's her I-think-I'm-super-funny face. It's her noise-making-silly face.

She always giggles afterward, and then looks a little like a puppy... tongue hanging out, but smiling. I love her.

The Garden

We did it, we are officially tree hugging, vegetable juice drinking, GARDEN GROWING hippies. :) We started our garden, it took a few days to do it, since first we couldn’t decide where it should go, and then we tried digging it out with only a shovel, then we rented this thing, etc.

Sakina thought we dug this out for her new giant dirt bed. She loves to lay in the dirt.

Did you know, that the Disney/Pixar marketing department doesn’t stop at toys, clothes, and food… ? They apparently also make Cars seeds! Well, knowing my boys, we HAD to have them. :)  So smart of Disney.  Thanks to them we spent an extra 15 cents on Lightening McQueen watermelon seeds…

Lullaby taste tested each seed pouch before we planted them.  Yum!

Thanks to expert advice from my Grandma Evie, along with the boys picking the coolest Cars seeds, and the limited amount of space we had, we planted only cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, beets, and watermelon.  It should make for an interesting harvest season. I think we might add a few more things later. My Grandma sent us a list of plants that like to be planted together, and ones that don’t so we might have some space later on and we will add some…  Only a few days after planting, we began to see spouts!! The ground is super fertile here and everything is growing!

chalk paint

This is one of the best things to do when you don’t have chalk. I did this before, but never with my kiddos. Hawken had asked to do some painting – a very messy and parent involved activity. I needed to start making dinner and wanted the boys to stay outside… Let’s make chalk paint and stay outside. Problem solved!  The way I make it is (maybe there are actual proportions out there somewhere, but I just wing it) take a bunch of cups or in my case a muffin tin (only one dish to clean later), fill it about 1/3 of the way with cornstarch and at least another 1/3 of the cup with water, then add a few drops of food coloring to each, stir and you have sidewalk PAINT! Super fun, I know. You can mess around with how much you use of the water and cornstarch.

When it first is painted it looks wet, like paint then a few seconds later it is lighter in color and dried and looks like chalk. The boys were mesmerized. It's nice because there isn't enough food coloring to stain anything, and it's all non-toxic since it's made out of food items, so you don't have to worry about curious babies getting too close. :)

We have done this a couple times since this first day and each time they love it. I am happy because it takes me only a few seconds to get it prepared and then it keep s them busy for a pretty long time.

Lullaby of course wanted in on the action, but settled for inching her way to the dirt and getting messy there.

Cris graduated!

My nephew Cris just graduated from high school! I have a few other nephews (Alex and Hans) and a niece (Mackenzie) that have also graduated, but I didn't get their walking across the stage pics, so I didn't post about them, but I am proud of them too! :)  Good job Cris! We are proud of you!

Anniversary!

6 Years ago, I married Paul. This was the best thing I ever did. Every year since then we have fun anniversaries.  Our first year, we went to Disney World.  No babies yet, although we wanted them.  We were living in Tempe while Paul worked on his undergrad.  I worked as a special education preschool teacher.

Second anniversary we were pregnant with Matix and living in Phoenix in a tiny condo.  I was in love with being pregnant, but tired from working 3 jobs...  Paul was tired from fixing up the house plus going to school full time plus working.

Third anniversary we spent out in Buckeye in an attempt to sell our condo in preparation to move to Dominica. Paul graduated and we lived at his cousin's empty house for the summer.  We were also pregnant with Hawken! Another exciting pregnancy.  We spent lots of time cooling off at the Buckeye pool with Grandma.

Fourth anniversary was spent living in Dominica while Paul was finishing his second semester of medical school. We loved it there. It was picture perfect from every angle. After a beachside anniversary, everything else is going to seem lame. :)

Fifth anniversary we were living in Miami. Pregnant with Lullaby, and LoViNg that.  Paul starting to study for his step1 test, and I was HAPPY to be off of bed rest.

Here we are, 6 cities, 3 states, and 2 countries later... 3 babies later... 203,322,420,799 kisses later... We live in Georgia now and are loving our life together more than ever.

I am so happy Paul and I found each other. It was a chance meeting, but it happened. It was a crazy long distance dating relationship, but it worked. It was a very young and naive beginning of our marriage, but we grew up and we grew together, and I am forever thankful for my wonderful hubby.  Happy anniversary!

Lula Lake preview

Quick preview of our fun day today. :) I downloaded the pictures and couldn't wait to share them. I will post the rest of the day's adventures in a lengthier post coming soon, but for now, enjoy. We went to Lula Lake up near Tennessee's Lookout Mountain.  So picturesque.

matching Daddy!

This was the day that I noticed Paul and Hawken were matching.  Yellow shirts, brown shorts and happy faces.

I remember doing this by accident when Matix was littler. So funny. Hawken loved it. :)

Carson's party

Carson had his 4^th birthday party! It was water themed and the boys were SUPER excited about it.  Carson is in Matix’s sunbeam class in church, but Hawken gets along with him really well too, in fact, I think he prefers Hawken, but at this point our boys are kind of a package deal. :)  Here is Carson, the birthday boy, with our boys.

The party was a blast and we all had fun.  There were water balloons, a slip and slide, a pool with a slide, a water table, super soakers, and more. It was too cute. 

How cute does little miss Lullers look?! That skirt was one of Allie’s (Carson’s little sister).  I wish I had taken more pictures of her this day, but she was pretty cranky (teething) so she needed to be held 90% of the time.

Tracy made this cake, and you bet I am going to ask her to make cakes for my kids when it comes time. She is so talented.

The party was so fun.  When we left, things got interesting… I warned Paul (who was driving) not to go too close to this huge curb cut on their street. He said, “I think I can make it.” Lovely last words before he popped our tire. Yep, there was a huge chunk taken out of it when he drove right into that ditch that I warned him about. :) Oh well. Luckily the other boys still at the party came over to help, and Paul had it fixed in only a few minutes.  Matix and Hawken were happily watching Speed Racer in the car and had no idea what was going on.  Lullaby and I walked back to the party to hang out with the other girls until the car was ready to go.

We drove to the tire store to get a new spare.  190 dollars later… after Paul said to “match the tires” meaning with the original luxury edition fancy $190 tires… We were ready to go.

This is how I felt about the whole thing.  Why do you not listen to your wifey Paul? :)