From the Mouth of Babes (again)

Tripp's take on life lately-

"I have been doing a lot better on my disobeying, haven't I Mommy?"

"We need to get some Halloween decorations. Maybe a scarecrow and some pumpkins. And some of those flowers. That could be nice couldn't it Mommy?"

You know you live in a baseball town when first thing in the morning you hear:
"Did the Cards win last night?"

"I think I want to introduce my sister to my friends. Have my buddies met Lily yet?"

"Today Patrick did not have peas in his lunch. Just carrots. That was strange."

Sunday Morning Life

Since we have about five hours before church on Sunday mornings, Tripp and I usually do some kind of baking. This past Sunday it was home made cinnamon rolls.
First we made the dough (in the bread machine- best/easiest thing ever)

Then it had to rise some more.

 

Meanwhile, we played some games, watched some TV and went to the store to get the cream cheese for the icing. Lily had a snack.

Then it was time to roll the dough and spread the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture

Then we cut rolled it up and put them in the pan.

 

They had to rise some more so it was bath time!

And then they baked, we iced them and then we ate them. And they were sooo good!

  

And at almost one year old, Lily has decided that she might like us and like being here with us. We have gone almost 5 days in a row of her being happy pretty much all day long. She actually says things- like Mama, Dada and dog (both of our kids' first words were "dog." Not sure what that says about us). She points at whatever she wants/needs and babbles all the time. She still has three or more teeth trying to come through but they do not seem to be that big of a deal. The only thing I wish we could figure out is the early morning waking up, but since she seems to be a fan of that no matter what time she goes to bed, I think that is just our lot in life with her. Tripp has really started to like being her big brother (he in fact told me that the other day for the first time) and he loves to make her laugh, play with her and be around her. It's only taken a year, but we are finally getting to a happy place (and do not worry- I have been around the block enough times to know that it will probably change next week- or tomorrow for that matter- so I am just going to soak it up for now)!

In the Trenches

This past week, my poor sister-in-law Winsor has gotten a lot of phone calls, texts, emails, snail mail, smoke signals, etc about the frustrations of this year, month week. Things like poop on the floor, poop in the tub, "poop" hitting the fan at work, etc. Lots of poop this week- whether literal or more in the analogy form. But besides these things, one of my biggest struggle lately has had to do with this half marathon that I ran today. No the struggle wasn't the actual physical go out and run 10 miles kind of thing, it was more mental. In that I really wanted to do well, but not just for doing well's sake- for the sake that I feel like a total has-been. That might sound a little extreme, but it's true. It is really hard for anyone who has any sort of competitive nature in them to feel like it is ok to "just finish the race" or "well maybe you won't have to walk at all." No, I wanted to do well. I didn't want "just finish" cause then that would mean I was not a real athlete. And I was. I used to run cross-county. We were third in the state my senior year. I used to play basketball, I got all sorts of awards for that. I used to swim and placed at state in that too. So I was good. And that's just it- I was good. I am not that good anymore. And that was really discouraging. I felt like a has-been. I used to be able to work hard and see results. Now, when I work hard whether at work or at home, I don't get a trophy, a medal or an article in the newspaper. Instead I get poop. Literal poop. And whining. And spit up. And crying. And sleepness nights. And broken iPads. No matter how hard I seem to work, nothing seems to pay off. At least not like it used to. I used to go to two-a-day basketball practices, and we would dominate in our games. I used to swim till I sweat (which if you have ever swam before, you know that is hard to do), and we would win races. I would study hard for a test and get a straight A (and I usually took the test in half the time anyone else would take). I think you get the point. And it is kinda a depressing one. Until I, like any good Covenant College grad, started to think calling. My calling. From God. My calling right now is not to be a high school athlete. It is to be a wife, a mom, a church member, an employee. I am called to spend my time now correcting whiney attitudes, cleaning up an entire meal that was thrown on the floor, changing my clothes three times a day because they got spit-up on, etc. And it is hard because there are sometimes no results to anything- except bigger piles of laundry, stains on the carpet and tears that have been shed. We are in the trenches folks, but that is because that is exactly where God has called us to be right now. No where else. It might be unrewarding, tireless, and downright discouraging. But God gives grace and hope to handle it all. So I may be a has-been when it comes to really fast times and really high test scores, but I am an "am-now" (yeah I totally made that up) to a wife, mom, etc. cause that is where God has called me to be today. And for that I am thankful.

 

 (But trust me, I will still total revel in the fact that I got a medal today- a genuine medal that basically says - "you did it and you are awesome for finishing. and a lot of people haven't done that. so be proud.")

Those two...

These guys have been keeping us on our toes lately (but then again, what kid doesn't?). But we sure do love them!

More updates coming soon (like the fact that Lily is practically 11 months old- how did that happen)!

Delicious Dinners

Thanks again to Pinterest, I have had some more inspiration in the kitchen and now have two recipes to share- spinach artichoke pasta (which basically tastes like spinach artichoke dip) and then chicken bacon ranch pasta. Wow, both of these are so good and as Nelson said "I could just eat these every other day!" Lily ate more than any of us the night, so apparently these are kid-friendly too!

Filling our Days

During my days off, we do lots of random things. A lot of days we go to the park or zoo or play with friends, but some days, especially rainy days, we have what feels like a lot of time and not a lot to do. So yesterday, I asked Tripp what we should do for the day, and this is what he came up with:

Go to the re-sell it shop to look for boots for his Woody Costume (which we found but then also found this Dora):

Be Woody for the second day in a row and play play dough:

Let Lily eat the play dough and play dough containers:

Go to Target and look at the toys, which we did not buy but did find this awesome lunchbox we found for Lily in the clearance section:

And finally, not as a suggestion from Tripp, but Pinterest instead- I made breakfast burritos for the freezer for an easy, on the go breakfast!

Pinterest Lately

I tend to ebb and flow with how much I am on Pinterest and especially how much I actually use it. Well, recently I have been on a Pinterest kick and have made two batches of cookies and one pizza recipe. and let me just saw- they were all fabulous!! The cookies were the peanut butter nutella ones found here, then came peanut butter m and m cookies found here, and tonight was personal pan pizzas. You should try them all, you will not be disappointed!!