Nothin' Says Lovin' Like Heart-Shaped Bacon

Somewhere, Martha Stewart's head is exploding, because my kitchen looks like this:

I love having a clean kitchen, but doing dishes seriously grosses me out.  I approach it in the same way I approach dirty diapers:  just hurry up and clean it, while trying not to think of what I might be sticking my hands in.

 My intention yesterday was to clean the kitchen after the kids went to bed.  Instead, I sat down "just for a minute" and PASSED OUT until after midnight.  Oops. 

By the time I post this, the mess will be long gone.  I'm not a barbarian, I promise. :)

Before I can clean, though, all my ducks must be in a row.  This is also true before I can pee, shower, think, make a phone call, finish a sentence, etc.  Can I get and "amen" on that one, mom peeps?
Here's what the ducks  were doing while I did dishes:

Littlest duck isn't mine, of course.  I take care of this little cutie during the week.  Sometimes it stresses me out, since it's like having a fourth child, but she's a doll and generally happy. 

Zoe drew a picture for her friend who lives down the street.  She thinks about her friends often and is always talking about them.  It's so sweet to see them together and listen to their little conversations.  I met my childhood bestie when I was 5 and we're still close now.  When she was done, we walked down the street so she could deliver it.  Her little friend was so excited!

Luke's new favorite thing to do after school is play the Wii.  I don't let him play for too long, but he really enjoys it, especially when he's doing well. :)

After the baby went home, I made breakfast for dinner for the kiddos:  heart-shaped pancakes and bacon, also heart-shaped! 

                                            

It was a hit!  Mike and I couldn't go out, so he went to the store and got a special dinner just for us: five cheese ravioli, garlic parmesan tomato sauce, fresh french bread, and salad. It was delicious. We put the kids in bed a little early, made a fire and ate next to it, using the piano bench as our table.  Nice, quiet, and just the two of us!  
I'm totally not doing the dishes until morning.  HA!
I hope your day was wonderful, too! 

New Year and Christmas Re-Cap

Happy New Year, everyone!  Our Christmas break is over as of today.  Sigh.  Now all the hectic schedules and rushing around starts up again.  It's been really great to not have a rigid schedule these last couple of weeks.  I am kind of ready for the boys to go back to school, though. ;P
Our Christmas was stretched over about four days.  We spent Christmas Eve with the Rice side.  Mike's mom was in town, and we gathered at Greg and April's (his brother and sister-in-law) house for ice cream sundaes and presents.  Seth read the bible, and we talked and laughed until WAY too late.

Christmas day didn't go as originally planned.  We were invited to friend's house about 2 hours away to have Christmas dinner and spend the night.  When these friends lived here in town, they had no family close, and we spend part of almost every holiday with them.  Unfortunately, some illness popped up and we ended up not going.  In order to keep from hurting feelings on either side of our family, we quietly stayed home and just had a day with the five of us. 

We decided to scale back on the presents this year and do a few presents for each kid, and one big family gift.  We decided to get a Wii (yes, I know we're late in the game) and have had a blast playing it together!  Even Zoe has gotten in on the action, and is pretty good at bowling and golf.
The day after Christmas, we went to Ft. Worth to see my brother and his family.  My nephew, Justin, turned 9 that day, so we got to have Christmas and a birthday party all at once!  My sister-in-law, Megan, made cake pops to look like red Angry Birds and some to look like Lego man heads.  Cute!  Our kids always play great together and there was much laughter and nerf gun shooting.
We got together with my parents on Wednesday and had a YUMMY dinner of sour cream chicken enchiladas and salad, followed by sopapilla cheescake.  Oh, MY!  I will post recipes for both in another post.  We all got some fabulous presents, including a juicer for me, (I made apple pear juice the next morning!)

a Kindle for Seth,

and Zoe's favorite gift of the season, her American Girl doll.

Her face when she realized what she had gotten was priceless.  She promptly named her new friend, "Little Zoe," and has carried her EVERYWHERE.  She woke up four times that night to come tell me about her.  :o)

 Luke's favorite gift was his remote control truck Mike's mom got him.  I haven't been able to snap a picture of that yet, so here he is with his Angry Birds shirt!

As the new year rolls in, I can't help but think of things I'd like to accomplish in the next year.  Here's my list so far:
1. Run a 5K (or two) and possibly the White Rock Half Marathon.
2. Grow my little business so that it can replace the work I do outside of the home.
3. By more from the fresh food sections of the grocery store than from the pre-packaged sections.
4. Read my bible EVERY day.
5. Go on a date with Mike no less than once a month, preferrably twice.
6. Spend time alone with each of my kids once a week.
Share your new year's resolutions/goals!  I'd love to hear them!

A Girl Changes Everything

My first child is a boy. He is all boy, always has been. Legos, army men, light sabors, video games. He is not particularly sporty, which is fine with me, as that will hopefully result in fewer broken bones. He is artistic and LOVES to draw, writing and illustrating his own comic books. He is fun, imaginative, and easily distracted...I adore him. He'll be 11 this summer...sigh.

My second child is also a boy. He is a little sportier than his big bro, loves cars, helping his Daddy, and copying everything his older brother does. His birth story is pretty special, but that's a story for another time. He has the best laugh ever, and I couldn't imagine life without him.

I was perfectly comfortable with my boy-mom status. When we found out we were pregnant for the third time, I lived in a state of shock for about three months. S was in 2nd grade, and L had turned a year old a mere month or so prior to this discovery. Yikes! I had never wanted three of anything...THREE kids? How was I going to do that???

Of course, I got over all that mess....I started to think I could handle it..especially if it turned out to be another boy. I was never particularly girly growing up. I have an older brother, and I was perfectly content with running, jumping, climbing trees, playing with Hot Wheels, toy guns, legos, all of it. I had slid into the role of boy mom with ease.

UNTIL...

We went to our sonogram at 16 weeks with eagerness. I always enjoyed getting to see my babies, to know that they were healthy and safe. I fully expected to see a little somethin-somethin on the screen...but there was no somethin- somethin. A GIRL. What?? A girl? For me? What the heck was I going to do with a girl??? I already have all the boy stuff! I'm a BOY MOM, for crying out loud???

As you can see, I was quite unsure. My husband was ECSTATIC! We had already made the choice NOT to tell anyone what we were having..not even our parents. That was hilarious. Everyone kept trying to trick me into telling them. A few people were successful, I admit, but for the most part, nobody knew until the weekend before Z was born...10 days late.

She is amazing. She is all girl, always has been. She just turned 3 two weeks ago, and she gets more girly by the second. I did not cultivate that, it's just in her. I adore her, she fills my heart. She has also brought out the girly-ness in me that I didn't even know was there. I now like pink...I even wear it from time to time. Thanks to my little Z, I now have a small business making beautiful bows and clothing for children. She is my inspiration for so many of my projects. Thank you, Little Z, for helping me discover my inner girl.