Saturday, November 22, 2008

Contest

Alright, here's a little contest for you, my faithful readers. The winner will receive a virtual high 5 from me...I know, I know I'm so generous.

So here's the contest. Can you tell which boy is the 3 year old and which is the 5 year old?




Leave your guess in the comment section. I'll end the contest tomorrow evening, I imagine the suspense will be unbearable!

In the Words Of...

Hi my name is Charlotte. Some call me Charlie, Char Char, Char-latte, baby girl, girlie girl, the list goes on. I have the face of an angel but I've got a bit of sass in me :)



I started out life the perfect baby. I slept great, I ate like a champ, and I loved to sit and watch what was going on around me. And really, I still do all those things, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. I think I've got just about everyone fooled.



Oh and one more thing. I love my big brother. Really I love both my big brothers. But this one, my big BIG brother, he's really great. I have a hard time keeping my hands off of him. He reads me books and he can make me laugh so hard that I slip into that silent laugh thing where you laugh so hard you run out of air. You know what I'm talking about? It's really quiet embarrassing.



Well, I'd better get going. I've got several things on my "to do" list today.... flushing some toilets, ripping a magazine, drinking out of my brothers sippy cups, hiding toys in my mom's shoes, putting my shoes on, then off, then on, then off again...you know, important stuff!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Just Keeping It Real

I hope you all realize that this blog is just a snippet of my life. Those of you who know me well know WAY more than this blog allows to be seen. I try to blog about the things that I want to look back and remember 20 years from now.
But I do want to keep it real for those of you who don't know me.

So in that spirit....here's what my house looked like at 10:00 this morning. I hope to have it all turned around by 10:00 tonight.




Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Chicken Chili

I've made this soup 2 times in 8 days...it's THAT good. My kids even like it!

2 T oil
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion chopped
1 lb chicken, shredded
2-4 cups chicken broth (depends on what consistency you like)
1 jar salsa verde about 15oz
2 cans white beans
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans corn, or frozen
1/2 t oregano
1/4 t cumin
salt and pepper
serve with any of these: shredded cheese, sour cream, avacado, lime, totillas, etc.

Start by sauteing the garlic and onion in the oil. Add broth, salsa verde, tomatoes, and seasoning and bring to a boil, simmer for 10 min. Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer as long as you'd like. I usually make this during nap time and then simmer until dinner.

This week I made my own chicken broth and used the chicken and the broth for this soup (with lots of broth left over to freeze for later). Here's what I did...

Put all these into a BIG pot...
1 whole chicken (take out the "inards") and rinse
2 carrots, don't bother to peel
2-3 celery sticks with the leaves
1 onion chopped in half
rosemary
oregano
2 basil leaves
(or whatever herbs you like)
Cover it all with water, I fill the pot about 4 inches from the top.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Take the chicken out, pull the meat from the bones, put the chicken carcass back in the broth and continue to boil another couple hours. When it's been at least 4 hours, drain the broth from the pot using a large stainer over a large bowl. (Throw out the veges and chicken carcass, you've boiled anything good out of them.) This makes a ton of chicken broth and lots of great tasting chicken. What I don't use I divide into 2 cup servings in ziplock bags and freeze.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

A Letter

I did not write this, but I share this woman's sentiments.

********************************************************

Dear President-Elect Obama,

Today I shed tears of joy, along with hundreds of thousands of Americans, for the great victory of your election. The significance of this moment cannot be overstated. Our African-American friends have been oppressed and cast aside for generations in this country of ours. Now, may the shame be completely wiped away and may the glory that this nation represents and strives for become a reality for more and more of our once silenced citizens.

I confess I did not cast my vote for you. Not because you failed to inspire me with your speeches, because you did. Not because you do not impress me with your leadership and vision, because you do. I cast my vote for another based upon my concern for another segment of our society which is downtrodden and cast aside, the weak, the innocent; the unborn.

Mr. President-Elect, I pray that your heart would be burdened as well to do all in your power to encourage the life that is even now forming in many to come to fruition, to share in this great moment in our nation’s history. We all know the times are difficult and no one will escape the trials at hand. Just as this is true, so is the gift and privilege we have to live it. May the millions of unborn get this chance as well. May the virtue of responsibility reign as mothers choose to carry the fruit of their wombs to term, to give the gift of life to another. I ask, President Obama, that you would prayerfully consider your pay grade since indeed it has now risen at this moment in our history. May you be the champion of all those who are weak yet share the same right to life.

May God bless you and your beautiful family.

*****************************************************

This was published on one of my favorite blogs, Girl Talk.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

18 months old

Miss Charlie is 18 months old! Here she is in all her yumminess.



Here are her stats...
Height 35 in 99.8%
Weight 27lbs 85%

The amazing thing is, that even for as tall as she is, she's still smaller than her brothers were at this age.

In case you're wondering where I stand on Immunizations...she had 4 shots today.
Here's a great article in TIME about that. If you don't want to read the whole thing, here's an excerpt....

Some parents have taken to cherry-picking vaccines, leaving out only the shots they believe their children don't need such as those for chicken pox and hepatitis B—and keeping up with what they see as the life-or-death ones. But that can be a high-stakes game, as Kelly Lacek, a Pennsylvania mother of three, learned. She stopped vaccinating her 2-month-old son Matthew when her chiropractor raised questions about mercury in the shots. Three years later, she came home to find the little boy feverish and gasping for breath. Emergency-room doctors couldn't find the cause—until one experienced physician finally asked the right question. "He took one look at Matthew and asked me if he was fully vaccinated," says Lacek. "I said no." It turned out Matthew had been infected with Hib, bacteria that causes meningitis, swelling of the airway and, in severe cases, swelling of the brain tissue. After relying on a breathing tube for several days, Matthew recovered without any neurological effects, and a grateful Lacek immediately got him and his siblings up to date on their immunizations. "I am angry that people are promoting not getting vaccinated and messing with people's lives like that," she now says.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Calvin, this morning:

"Mom, my shorts are choking my tummy"

Could it be that my 3 yr old is outgrowing his size 5 clothing? wow

Monday, November 3, 2008

Halloween

Wow, this was our first BIG Halloween. With a child in school, holiday celebrations jump to a new level. I've always held to the idea that we don't as much "celebrate" Halloween as "participate" in it. Brennan's school had a fall party but there was nothing fall about it. It was a full spread of Halloween themed foods (none of which he could eat), ghosts hanging from the ceiling, etc. It was fun, but somewhat overwhelming.

The boys did have a great time in their costumes though!




Charlotte dressed up as a cute 18 month old. Clever, eh?


(a note about this picture. see the tooth brush and baby in her arms? she is rarely without one of these. she carries them all over the house. she comes to me with her toothbrush and toothpaste and hands it to me so that I'll put the toothpaste on the toothbrush for her. then she walks around "brushing her teeth" endlessly)

(another note about this picture. those of you who know me well know that the fact that she loves her "baby" makes me break out into a HUGE grin. this was SOO me as a child. in fact, this picture might bring a tear to my daddy's eyes.)

For those of you following Brennan's all natural diet, Halloween was easy-shmeezy! I really couldn't believe how well it went. In fact, he really acted as if it were no big deal. I signed up to bring treats for his school party (along with several other parents). So he was excited about the snack I brought and didn't even ask for any of the other food there. That night, I had bought a few organic candies, and when he came back from trick-or-treating he just traded all the candy he had received for the all natural candy. He loved it and was perfectly happy!