Squash Soup

As the leaves turn and fall swings into full force, I've gotten out an oldie but goodie recipe I want to make this week.

I love this soup. Even my husband likes this soup and he does NOT like squash. My kids even eat this soup, although sometimes I tell them it's cheese soup and let them pour it over a baked potato like cheese sauce. Any way you eat it, it's good.

Squash Soup

6 Tbsp onion, chopped

4 TBsp butter

6 cups squash (such as Butternut) peeled and cubed

3 cups water

4 cubes chicken boullion

1/2 tsp dried marjoram

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 pkg cream cheese

In large saucepan, saute onions in butter. Add squash, water, boullion, spices. Bring to boil and cook 20 minutes or until squash is tender. Puree in blender or food processor with cream cheese until smooth. Return to pan and keep warm until ready to serve.

Oh Yummy. My mouth is watering already.

You can also add in broccoli, peppers, steamed carrots, potatoes or other veggies at the very end for variety or if you like your soups "chunky" but it's really good just as is. You can lower butter and cream cheese amounts to make it healthier and you'll barely notice.

Still head down...

Hooray! Headed to the midwife just to double check that baby is still headdown. She is. She's actually been hanging out in relatively the same position since Tuesday which is a first for her. Typically, she changes position every 20 -30 minutes...constantly from one side, to another, to diagonal, transverse, up, down, rinse, lather, repeat. She seems to have finally settled into a content position. The midwife suggested that perhaps she had been wrapped up in her cord funky, or something was going on that prevented her from feeling comfortable in one position. Hopefully, she is now settled in for the long haul.

Well, hopefully not TOO long. I'd love to have this baby within the next week.

SIKE!

Baby is head down again.

She's gonna give me a run for my money and she's not even here yet!

Prayers that she stays down for the rest of this pregnancy (which is hopefully not too long!) would be much appreciated!

Up, Down, Up, Down, UP

These last few weeks of pregnancy have proven to be filled with drama. This baby has been quite the mover and constantly in different positions. Well, a week ago, we discovered she was breech. I managed to turn her and when we went in for a version she was already head down. Hooray!

However, over the weekend she turned back up. I've been trying all the old tricks (and trust me, I have tried them ALL), but so far it hasn't worked this time, although I realize it's only been 24 hours. It's really frustrating me and making me really nervous. What frustrates me the most is that if I lived 3 hours south of here, no one would give me having a breech birth a second glance. But because I'm in Washington, if I go into labor right now with her head up, they will automatically want me to do a C-section.

I've had lots of opinions expressed to me, and a lot of people don't understand "what is so bad about a C-section?" Well, absolutely nothing if it is needed to save you or your baby's life. C-sections are a wonderul thing when needed. But why in the world would I want to have major abdominal surgery if it's not needed? Why would I want to endanger future births by having an unncessary surgery? Why would I want to go through the recovery and pain for no reason? And at this point, that is what it is for....no reason.

I've been spending countless hours researching breech babies over the last week and I'm not convinced that there is any reason I can't have one. Other than the fact that finding a practitioner who is skilled and experienced in doing so is nearly impossible because they would so much rather cut babies out nowadays.

I'm hoping beyond hope that this little one moves head down before labor starts, but I'm preparing myself for what my options are should she not.

I can:

1) Have a C-section because that's all Dr's know how to do anymore
2) Have an un-assisted birth (uh, no thanks. While that might be right for some, it's not right for me.)
3) Find a midwife around here who will come be with me during a breech birth.
4) Go spend two weeks in Portland where they do breech births.
4b) I could try heading to Portland during labor, but uh, that's a long drive!


I'm leaning towards option 3 right now. I have found a midwife who has experience with breech births and knows how to handle them. She has said that if I get myself in a bind, she will come IF she doesn't have a client of her own in labor. But what if she does? Should I take that chance? Should I just up and go to Portland? But the cost....oh the cost and then baby might flip head down anyway and it would all be for nothing.

I'm so confused. My husband gave me a beautiful blessing the other night that we would not NEED a back up plan. That baby would move into the proper position when the time was right. I'm trying to have faith, but alas, I'm failing miserably.

In all my years as a doula I have had to help countless women as their plans changed. I knew it was emotional for them, but I never truly grasped HOW emotional. All I want is my beautiful, calm, peaceful home birth. My last one was so wonderful. I'm all ready. I just hope baby is.

Just Playing With My Toes

So Melia still loves "This little Piggy" even at 5 years old. She never gets tired of it. I don't know how other families do it, but in ours the last little piggy runs wee-wee-wee all the way home and right up into a nice tickle session, which is REALLY what she wants, I'm sure.

So tonight after a couple of This Little Piggy games she asks me, "Where did you learn this?" I told her I had learned it as a little girl.

She cocked her head to the side and asked with an amused tone, "So you just played with your toes a lot when you were little and liked to tickle yourself?"

I'm still trying to pick myself up off the floor after that one. Hahahahaha.

Apple Cake

We had a Ward Potluck breakfast this morning for the holiday. It was tasty and I got a ton of requests for my recipe, so I thought I'd post it as well!


Apple Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cup milk
3 eggs
4 large apples (peel and diced)
2 TBS butter
2 TBS Brown Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
Streusel Topping (directions below)

Grease 9x13 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss apples into saucepan with 2 TBS butter, 2 TBS brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon (ok, let me be honest. I just threw stuff in. I didn't measure. I'm giving you an estimate of what I think I put in. So take that for what it's worth) Cook on medium heat for approximately 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. (again. I didn't time it. I'm just guessing on the time. It might have only been 2 minutes. Maybe it was 7. I don't really know. lol You can also use a can of apple pie filling, but I was looking for a way to use up my apples.

In bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, and milk. Stir in softened apple mixture.

Streusel Topping:
1 cup quick oats
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 brown sugar
1 stick melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix together to form scrumptious topping!


Pour half of cake mixture into pan. Top with half of streusel topping. Pour the remaining cake mixture and top with remaining streusel topping. Bake 45 minutes. Enjoy!

I have no idea how this tastes cold, but it sure was delicious piping hot! And it was gone in seconds.

First Day of School

Yeah, the first day of school has arrived. The kids have been anxiously waiting for this for quite a while now. Melia has been asking daily if it was time for school yet. They all asked to get ready for bed extra early last night and were up at the crack of dawn because they were so excited.
Of course, Emilee and Megan were too old to have me walk them to class this year. At least I still got hugs (and a kiss from Megan)...on school grounds no less. I feel lucky!

Melia looked really nervous while waiting outside her classroom.


She got even more nervous when we entered the classroom and I wondered if she'd let me go when it was time. Fortunately, she had a seat right next to a little friend from preschool last year so it was only a few minutes before she had warmed up. UNfortunately (for the teacher that is), I have a gut feeling this seating arrangement is going to be a bit.....noisy. This little girl is quite the little outgoing talker, and Melia feeds right off of her. She is SO adorable though and posed for every single picture I tried to take of Melia with a constant "Make sure I'm in the picture too!" ROFL.


Melia
What was your favorite part of the day? Eating Lunch!
What was your second favorite part of the day? Playing Outside
Were you scared at all today? I got used to it
What do you think of your teacher? Um, she's pretty nice and pretty beautiful.

Megan
What was your favorite part of the day? My favorite part was doing the vertical and horizontal project.
What do you think of your teacher? She is SO SO nice.

Emilee
What was your favorite part of the day? Doing Math with Skittles
What do you think of your teacher? She's really nice
Any other thoughts about today? Not really




Oh, and another first for us. Melia lost her bottom two teeth in this last week. Just in time for school! How did my baby get to be so big?

Date Nights

A long standing tradition in our house is Kid Date Nights. We started this when we had our second child. I wanted Emilee to be able to still spend one on one time with each parent and have her own time with each of us. Because Dad often works AND goes to school, his date nights with the kids are a bit fewer and farther in between but they still get done. The kids get to pick what they want to do, and I usually couple it with an errand or two that I have to get done as well. This gives them time alone with just us and I really enjoy it. They don't have to fight for attention from their siblings. They don't have to fight over who gets to sit next to me, or share the next story. I get to have a few hours of uninterrupted time to just chat with them, share some hugs and have a good time.

Saturday night was date night with Megan. She's been asking for months now to get a Henna Tattoo. We got one at the local Farmer's Market last year and it was fun. I finally found someone who does them so that is what we did for our date night (along with a trip to the grocery store, pet store and a Frosty from Wendy's!).

She wanted one on her hands. I normally make them put temporary tattoo's in a place that can be covered, but I was feeling generous and told her to go ahead. It wasn't until the lady asked Megan if she thought all the kids at school would think she had a real tattoo that I realized, "Doh! School starts next week!" I so would not have let her put them on her hands if I had remembered. *Sigh* Oh well. She loves them, we had a blast and that's what counts!

And of course, I had to get one too! Please ignore the bed sheet wrinkles on my beautifully pale, spotted ankle.

Back to Blogging

So I' ve decided to start my blog up again. Notice that the last date I posted was in 2007. It's been a long time! lol

I gave it up because I just couldn't keep up, particularly when I started working full time and James was in school all the time. But now that I'm back to part time, I have a "little" more time. It doesn't really feel like I have any more time, but I'm going to start blogging again because I've missed out on recording so many things I probably should have over the last couple of years.

Also, I took a break from my board this week so that I could get things done around the house. It worked....a little bit. I've just found other computer stuff to do to help my procrastination addiction.

Bare with me while I get my blog all pertied up. I'm not extremely talented when it comes to computers. I can type like a fiend but that's about it. And, I don't really have a clue what I will even say. Probably a whole bunch of nothing, but that's ok too. Some days, that's what my life is about.

McDonald's

So it's really difficult to plan two birthday parties just weeks after Christmas. But then I thought of McDonald's. It was the best idea I've ever had. It was SOOO easy, the kids had a blast and I didn't have to lift a finger.


However, there was this little boy who kept coming into the party room. He didn't belong to us...or to any of hte party guests, but he kept visiting anyway. No big deal....until he decided to come up and blow out the Birthday girl's candles, pick the candle up and lick all the frosting off of it and then proceed to swipe the frosting off with his finger. All the while he parents are just sitting 15 feet away ignoring him.



Extremely annoying if you ask me. Good thing he was cute.


Oh well. Overall it was a ton of fun and the easiest party I've ever done. I've decided that I will NEVER do a party where I have to set up and clean up ever again.

A little Bragging....

Ok, so a lot of bragging. Can I just say that my girls are adorable? I know, I know, I'm their mother and required by law to say that, but really, they are! Emilee has been asking to sing a solo in church for over a year now. I finally let her do it. I convinced her to let Megan sing part of it with her, which is a good thing because Emilee got a bit of stage fright and couldn't get all the words out. But she was a trooper and hung in there even though she was really scared.

I recorded them when they practiced and wanted to share it but as I am computer illiterate, I couldn't figure it out! A big shout out goes to wonderful, awesome and talented Kristie who helped me put the recording on her website so I could post it here! Thanks Kristie!

Emilee is singing the solo in Silent Night, Megan sings a couple lines of solo in Away in the Manger and they sing Picture a Christmas completely together.
Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever heard?
http://www.bloominbracelets.com/duet.mp3

And after you oooh and ahhh over my sweet adorable children, check out her awesome bracelets!

Ok, so now that I'm done bragging and being prideful, I'll share a little kid funny that happened the other day. Megan got a goodie bag at her preschool program. Melia, of course, being the younger sister and 2 years old (and you ALL know what that means!) decided to throw a fit becasue she didn't get one. Well, the nice preschool teachers found her a candy cane and gave her one.
On the way out I mumbled something like, "Well Melia, you threw a fit and got your way" to which Megan enthusiastically patted her little sister on the back and yelled, "Great job Melia!!!"

Ay yi yi.

The best part of Thanksgiving

We had a great, low-key Thanksgiving dinner yesterday with just our family and Grandma BeBe and Grandpa Brian. The food was great and we had a good time.

The hands-down highlight for me was at the table when I was talking with Emilee. She commented on how she loved Thanksgiving dinner. I told her that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday. She came back with the comment that was not surprising at all coming from a child.

"My favorite holiday is Christmas!" Well of course it is. Isn't every child's favorite holiday Christmas. Afterall, its the one day they know they will get spoiled with way too many gifts.

Then she finished her sentence. "Because Christmas is Jesus's birthday and I love to think about Him."

It touched my heart so deeply that I almost turned on the water works right then and there. What a sweet spirit I have in my home. How did I luck out to get a daughter like her? I certainly didn't give her enough credit. I am so thankful for her!

A great quote...

I discovered this quote the other day, and thought it was beautiful and thought provoking. I would love to hear others' remarks on it.

"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,but that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.There is nothing enlightened about shrinkingso that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously giveother people permission to do the same.As we are liberated from our fear,our presence automatically liberates others."

By Marianne Williamson
quoted by: Nelson Mandela

True Humiliation

Children have a way of keeping you humble. Just when you start thinking that you have the brightest, cutest most well behaved children....they do something to keep you in line.

I took the kids out to have donuts this morning. We went into the shop and there was this lady there (I'm sure you've all seen one like her before)....sitting there, not looking quite "right"....like maybe she lives in a special home nearby but can get out and walk around the neighbor hood. She's just sitting there, with her mouth kind of hanging open, slumped in her chair just kinda staring into space with glossed over eyes.

After about 5 minutes, Emilee askes VERY loudly, "Mom, can people die with their eyes open?" while she stares at this lady.

I wanted to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could have launched into a conversation about tact, about people with differences, etc. However, I was too busy trying to shove the rest of the donut into Melia's mouth so we could high tail it out of there!

Something in my ear

Have you ever just been sitting around. Maybe you're watching a good movie, sitting at your computer (and really, chances are it's the computer....admit it) or driving in your car when all of a sudden you feel something in your ear? Your ear tickles like something is a movin' and a grovin' in there?

Logically you know (or really really really hope that you know) that it's probably just your hair, but you can't shake the feeling that you have some horrible insect in your ear canal. I mean, if you're sitting still and just fine one moment, your hair is not going to just jump up and shake around in your ear, right? So it might be a bug? But then really, how common is it for bugs to crawl into people's ear in the middle of the daily activities (don't even get me started on the horror stories about how many spiders humans swallow in their sleep!)

*shiver*

So please, let me know you've experienced the same thing, or give me the name of the best psychologist in Washington please.

The scariest thing about Dentists...

Is not the drill, the shots or any other one of the torturing devices they have there. It's the Dentist himself. Why? Because he has the power to tell us whatever he needs to make money. How are we going to know any different?

I took Emilee to the Dentist a year ago. After waiting for TWO hours in the waiting room, we got in. They couldn't get Xrays on Emilee, because her mouth is so tiny (and she is so anxious) that she had a rough time getting the film in her mouth. But still, without Xrays, the Dr. was able to tell us that she had 3 cavities she would need to come back to have work on. She also, according to this dentist, needed about 6 teeth pulled. Nevermind that she was 5 years old and hadn't lost any of her baby teeth, yet. His reasoning was that her teeth were so crammed in there together, that her older teeth would not be able to come through.

We never went back to that dentist again because I had a weird feeling about it.

Fast forward to last weekend. We found a new dentist (one who is open on Saturdays. Hooray!) We got in within 5 minutes of waiting. The hygenist was spectacular and made Emilee feel at ease. They got Xrays this time because they were patient, and had these little tiny films for little mouths they could use. And guess what? No cavities! In fact, not only did she have no cavities, but the Dr. commented on how GREAT her teeth looked! THey even took her picture and placed it on the No Cavities wall. Oh, and as far as pulling teeth, she lost 6 teeth this summer, all on her own. Sure, she lost 2 teeth for every one that is coming in, but it's a lot less tramatic that going in and having them all yanked!

It makes me sick that I could have just listened to the Dr. and gone in, possibly traumatizing her at the tender age of 5 about Dentists for the rest of her life just by listening and blindly following one man's advice. A man who was probably trying to make more money by suggesting procedures there was hardly an oz of reasoning behind. I'm so greatful to have found a great Dentist! One who actually cares about teeth and not doing procedures. Three Cheers for Dr. McCullough!

What's a Bachelor's Degree?

The following conversation happened in my car yesterday. The 8 year old boy I watch was bragging that his mother (who happens to be divorced), is graduating tonight with her Bachelor's degree. He was so proud of her and he had every right. Then my daughter asked him what a Bachelor's Degree was.

His answer:

"Someone who goes to school without a husband."

His poor mom...she deserves so much more credit for her accomplishment! lol

One little bit of information changes everything...

It's amazing how one tiny tidbit of knowledge can change your entire attitude. That is what has happened in our household this morning.

Melia, my 2 1/2 year old, has been a bear lately. She's always been prone to phases of....um....high maintenance? But these last 3 weeks have been quite a doozy. It started off with some crankiness and a cold/cough. This cold has now been going on for 3 weeks, although for the most part she doesn't really "act" sick. She's been waking at night...alot. She's clingy during the day. She can be perfectly happy sitting on my lap, but if I dare try to walk away, she screams as if the world is ending.

Quite frankly, it's grating on my nerves. A couple days ago I just let her scream. She promplty responded to that tactic by throwing up all over my bedroom floor. Ear infection maybe? She doesn't have a fever. She doesn't pick or pull at her ears. I just didn't get the ear infection "vibe". But, since we didn't know what was going on, I was all ready to call first thing this morning and make an appointment for her. That is until...

Last night I was talking with a few friends. They both have one year olds and were sharing the woes of teething babies. That's when it dawned on me. 2-year molars! Sure enough, when I stuck my finger in her mouth this morning, two nice big fat molars have peeked through the surface. I'm sure there are 2 more working their way down up top. I bet that explains it.

I mean, it could just be that I have a tempermental, cranky and high maintenence child. But for now, I have some molars to blame it on. It's much easier to handle the clinginess when you know a possible cause.

Grateful to be alone.

You might think I'm going to talk about the truly heavenly bliss that comes from having some alone time, but I'm not. I'm going to talk about those moments that you are truly grateful that you are alone, because otherwise someone would see you acting like a complete idiot.

Take, for example, me. I'm in my room today, cleaning (gasp! Yes, CLEANING my room. There you go Mom and Dad, it only took me 28 years). I'm sweeping along the side of my bed when this THING....this small black and really, really, really fast thing comes running at my feet. This sucker was coming straight for me and I screamed like there was no tomorrow and leaped up onto my bed, jumping and screaming and basically freaking out. Then that nasty little critter ran into the wall and began running back to where it came from.

As I watched the little purple/black bead roll to a stop in the middle of the floor, it dawned on me that with my zealous sweeping, I had sent the bead flying, bouncing off a wall, and rolling straight back at me. But in my defense, it was moving so fast there was no way I could tell it was a harmless little piece of necklace and not some creepy, hairy, eight legged ball of terror. It probably took me a full 5 minutes to quick breathing heavily.

See, this is why you don't clean. I really don't think it's good for your health.

After 7 long years....

I finally did it. I splurged. And I don't just mean "oh, I just spent $40 on a pair of shoes"...I mean I SPLURGED.

I just spent $400 on a blender. Yes...but not just any old blender, on a Vita-Mix! The blender of all blenders! This thing can puree anything. You can make a smoothie and just peel an orange and stick the whole thing in there, seeds and all. I made soup the other day...all I had to do was stick an entire tomatoe in there, an stalk of celery, a slice of onion, green pepper and squash, a garlic clove and some seasonings. No slicing, no dicing. I didn't even have to use the stove or microwave, the Vita-mix heated it up for me! In the end I threw in some canned corn, black beans, chicken and tortillas to make it chunky and I had the most delicious soup. And best of all, I didn't have to chop anything or cook anything and it took me all of 5 minutes to make. And, since all those yummy vegetables were obliterated by the VItamix into a liquid, my kids were none the wiser! They also haven't realized that while Mommy has made them fruit smoothies and milkshakes ever day this week, I've snuck cabbage, kale and carrots into their daily "treat" becasue it blends so well it completely liquifies it and you can't tell they're in there!

Can you tell I'm happy with it? I've longed for one for the last 7 years. But I always let my head rule and would walk away. I decided to go for it this year, however and I couldn't be happier. And the best part is that it will pay for itself since I am now making my husband his rice milk, which costs about $4.50 a gallon from Costco but only about $.30 a gallon in my Vita-mix!

They should pay me for advertising.