God's Handiwork

I stumbled across this interesting information about the Surinam Toad last night. I know I just posted today about Christmas...but I couldn't wait to share this with you. I am amazed and think you will be too.


First the male toad helps the female toad put all the eggs on her back:




Then the skin on the "mommy" toad's back grows around the eggs to conceal and protect them. They go through the tadpole stage UNDER her skin.

Then once they have become baby toads, they emerge from the holes on her back.


This awesome youtube video captures it best:


(I found these pics/video at a blog called origami 'n stuff 4 kids by Tammy Lee)

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On days 4 through 12, we were REALLY busy! Here are the best pics of Christmas '09 in our house:






























And it went something like this:

12 kid movies rented (to let me get my Christmas prep done)

11 cups of birdseed (to make pinecone bird feeders)

10 loads of laundry (sitting in my closet all week)

9 NEW gray hairs

8 broken ornaments

7 cousins to buy for and LOVE ON!

6 Family Christmas Parties

5 lbs gained
4 lost presents (gone forever!)

3 kid music programs

2 Tired parents

and

1 VERY DEAD Christmas Tree

(and peace and blessings to you and yours)

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas, I will do a little "show and tell".

Last night (after my long day) I stole away to Ross Dress for Less in town. I found this sweet nightgown for one of Ruby's gifts from us this year.



And they have more people - $6.99 and a few different sizes!!! I think it doubles as a dress-up dress too!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas, I was going to give you the following advice - but my day was TOO busy, and I never got to it.

SOOOO, catching up here:

During this crazy busy time of year - please remember "That everything will turn out okay in the end".

Anyways, it did for me yesterday. You see, Ruby swallowed Daphne's pearl ring (cheapy version) on last Saturday. She choked on it, swallowed it whole and then threw up some afterward....no ring though. The on-call doc said not to worry too much, but to call on Monday am and make an X-Ray appointment. I did worry a bit all weekend, and drug all three kids into the pediatrician's after school on Monday. After reviewing the picture:), the very jovial doctor told me that it looked clear, so either she already "passed it" or will. He said I probably wouldn't notice it and don't go "a-diggin" either.

He also told me some crazy stories about these sort of things. The worst one was a child swallowing and "passing" a pocket knife!!! And the funniest one was how he slowly pulled a brontosaurus sponge out of a toddler's nose. He had stuck one of those disolvable tablets up his nose and the dino sponge grew way up there...Yuck!

Best part of the day was actually seeing the pearl ring in Ruby's diaper later that day. It actually was a relief.

Point and gift from me to you - No matter how busy we are...our little ones are going to keep us on our toes...Take a deep breath (my own counsel here), pay the x-ray fees and co-pay...kiss your child and move on with your day! And most likely....everything will turn out in the end - ha!

The 12 Days of Christmas

On the First Day of Christmas (Dec. 12)

I give my blog readers a great holiday movie recommendation:

I give my blog viewers a great holiday movie recommendation:

You won't be sorry!

Enjoy:)

Cuttin' Down the Tree

This year was the first year in many that we did not go to a Christmas tree lot in town. The last year that we drove out into the country to cut one at a tree farm, involved Mike carrying a tree, an axe and Daphne all at once. That's the story anyway, and I can't remember where I was...maybe I had a newborn in a bjorn...who knows. So, this year, we didn't set out for a Clark Griswald adventure or anything, but there was an axe involved. And I wanted the girls to pick our tree.

It was a beautiful day! I got some great pictures. The girls even picked out a little wee one for their loft upstairs.

The part of this story though, that I must record, because it so sums up my life right now is that it sat in our living room, in tree stand and all, BARE for NINE sad days. Every day I would say, tonight is the night. The problem was that I envisioned kids in bed, Mike in the office maybe, and me watching White Christmas, hopefully with some sort of warm winter drink and lots of energy. The last part happens rarely lately, so it just got put off.

It finally got "decked" the other night, after I peeled myself off the couch around 9ish. It wasn't a dream like moment, but I did get a second wind and it turned out pretty. I ended up watching The Rookie...go figure.

I should have taken a picture of my red gingham/stripes/polka-dotted theme tree...but that too, takes some energy. Another post...

Christmas Lessons

Is November over yet?:)

I signed myself up to post everyday this month and it has been SO fun! Though, some mom? out there wisely chose November and not December for the National Blog Month. Because I woke up today feeling life on a faster pace and the to-do list for this week made me want to stay in my cozy bed all day. (I finally crawled out at 7:15am...we leave for Kindergarten at 7:45am - eek!)

Although I have loved this and it had surprising rewards...I am ready for a break.

Until I post again, I shall leave you with two kid-inspired Christmas Lessons. It's best I tell you these now, so you can keep them in your pocket all month.

1. After Halloween, Maisie and I went into WalMart and she was awed by all the Christmas stuff up- you've all seen the displays...singing Santas, 40 lighted fake trees, the yummy scented pinecones etc etc. I will never forget buckling her in her carseat that morning and having her say, "Mommy, are they selling Christmas?"

Lesson - People, this December, let's not set out to "BUY Christmas". It's just not necessary. I think God tried to tell us Oregonians that last year with the snow...and again this year with the economy. Christmas is about celebrating Christ and our love for each other.

2. The other day we were riding in the van and Daphne was in the backseat singing Joy to The World. I wasn't paying attention to her completely, but I knew she was in song mode. All of a sudden she says, "Hey Mom,,,is it Lord or Lloyd?"

Oh, my...

Lesson - Our kids may have gone to church there whole entire tiny lives and we may be doing prayers at bedtime too. But let's purposefully teach them about the Lord this Christmas.

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

In April it will be five years since my dad was given a second chance at life with the gift of a new liver. On Saturday night, my brother Jon and sister Lesley and I took him out to dinner, along with our spouses for his 60th birthday. We recalled lots of fun memories and laughed a lot together.

Dad is still not in the best health - but we praise God for his presence here with us. There's still life to be lived for us all and each day is a gift.

Apple Juice Junkie

I believe that all parents of young children have a few family routines that they don't shout from the mountain tops. For us it is that Maisie drinks A LOT of apple juice. You see at age one, she proudly spit out her whole milk in my face and never again let her lips touch it's healthy countenance. Instead she has grown up on watered down 100% (mind you) apple juice. But when the American Pediatric Counsel suggests 4 oz a day of fruit juice, I know that we far exceed the recommendation.

Oh well, right. Maybe I would have done it different...but probably not????!!!! When a child is an early riser and a little sweetness in a cup allows me 1 more hour of delicious (no pun intended) sleep...who wouldn't have made that decision?

Now, however she is four. The "routine" probably needs to be changed. At present she gets a small sippy of her drink of choice at bedtime. Then when Mike and I are ready to go to bed, we fill another sippy of juice and place it by her bedside with a fresh pull-up. If and when she wakes up in the very early hours of the morning, she drinks her juice, changes her pull-up, and goes back to sleep. This tactic has kept her from waking us up in the am.

For lots of reasons I think she probably needs to be weaned a bit. One, I would like her to start sleeping in panties and two, sometimes she drinks her extra cup in the middle of the night and still wakes us up for MORE juice. (writing this down makes me realize the absurdity even more)

Last night at 3:45am was one of those lucky moments for me. She came aknockin at my bedside demanding more juice. I said no and then she went to her room crying loudly. I finally got out of bed and explained to her why she couldn't have more....laid with her for awhile hoping she would fall asleep again...didn't...I went and got her more juice...

BEST PART of POST:

When I handed her the cup, she said,

"Thank you mommy, this is the healthy drink in my world. Since it is made out of apples and all...And you know apple juice and apple pie are made out of apples."

Needless to say, I returned to bed with a smile on my face, knowing I had some work cut out for me, and began composing this blogpost right then and there.

Can you laugh with me now?

I Missed a Day!

Last night, after family movie night (a cute cute movie called Blizzard), Mike tucked the girls in bed and said he had 3 hrs of work to do in his office (our new routine). I kinda new that was coming, so earlier when I went out to buy the movie, I went into Safeway and purchased a Creme Brulee Latte in hopes that while Mike plugged away, I could too in the realm of laundry, dishes and dust. See we were thinking about getting our Christmas tree today, and I have qualms about decorating in a trash hole of a house.

So that was my plan - clean until late and be ready for the next day. But I guess the coffee didn't work, because instead of cleaning I decided to warm up with a crossword puzzle - and fell asleep on the couch.

Mike woke me up and dragged me to bed. As I lay there praising the Lord for flannel sheets, terror streaked through my body as I realized I hadn't posted yet. But, sorry there was no way I was getting out of bed at that point.

I did think about it, but I knew if I did, I would plunge myself into the world of one of those "If you give a mouse, moose, pig a _______, then you are going to have to..... children's books"

Eg - If you wake to go do your blog post, you might as well finish that online test you are taking for a new job, and once you finish that, you may as well, pull the clothes out of the laundry and fold them, and once you fold those clothes you might as well stumble into the kitchen and do the dinner dishes...etc.

My heart and soul weren't willing to play along. Thus no blog post - not the end of the world.

Dedicated to my husband

Today's Thanksgiving...don't forget your stretchy pants!

It's a great idea folks:)

I think I may have thought of a great idea for us parents of young kids! (although I imagine this has been done before, I just have never heard of anyone doing it:)

Today, Daphne came home with an envelope stapled to a piece of paper. The paper went on to explain that her school will be having a special event called "Little Shoppers" next week during lunch and afterschool. There will be a little store full of small gifts for their family members and volunteers helping the kids spend their money wisely.

At first I thought that sounded great - but she's not there at those times...so it's a little inconvenient, plus I would rather do it a little different. I think I am going to give them an envelope and either let them earn money to put in it during the next two weeks OR let them get money out of their piggy banks.

Then I am going to hire wise shopping and patient Grandmas to take Maisie and Daphne shopping for the people they want to buy for. I really think this will help them get excited about Christmas morning even more - the whole giving process AND will teach them a little bit about budgeting too.

I'm hoping the shopping trip will end with a wrapping activity too, so that their gifts can remain a secret.

What a great tradition to start with our kids!

Here's that envelope:

Let's "stuff" ourselves!

Here's a yummy stuffing recipe for your Thanksgiving meal:

1/2 cup butter or margerine

1 1/2 cups chopped celery (3 med stalks)

3/4 cup chopped onion (1 1/2 medium)

9 cups cubed (1/2 inch) cornbread or soft bread (I buy a bag of really soft rolls and cut those up!)
1 1/2 tsps chopped fresh or dried sage leaves, crushed

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1. In 10 inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add celery and onion; cook about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. Remove from heat.

2. In large bowl, stir together celery mixture and remaining ingredients. Use to stuff one 12-pound turkey OR sppoon into greased 3-quart casserole. Cover; bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer or until thoroughly heated.

10 servings (1/2 cup each)

Thanksgiving 2008 (warm inside, snow outside)

Picture of stuffing above.