Here's Me Writing

Okay, so I feel like writing but I have no idea what to talk about so we'll see how this goes. It's 11:19AM on a Sunday, and I'll write for 10 minutes. I wonder what will happen in those minutes...

This week was a week like any other. I played with the boys, took care of them, did tons of laundry, and cooked some pretty good meals. The one dinner that sticks out in my memory is the pumpkin soup of which I've blogged recently. I made it as usual, but 1/4 of the milk I used was evaporated milk. We also used homemade plain, full-fat yogurt to add some "zing" as a garnish. My husband could not get over how delicious it was! He said it was one of the best things he's had in a while. The fact that he said this about an almost-vegetarian dish (except for the chicken broth) astounds me.

 The soup of all soups. And some cheddar muffins I'll talk about later.

 The babe enjoyed both immensely.

 Yum yum yum!

 Sweet baby boy!

 He ate one spoonful of the soup & licked it clean. He then said, "I don't like it." This confounded his mother. He stuck with the cheddar muffins.

 "I'm happy at you!"

Sporting his empty bowl of soup. 

Sporting the same, only with the addition of my o.j. & vodka & million year old hoodie.

(It's 11:24AM.) Ignatius has not been the best of sleepers this week. I'm praying it's just a phase. *There he is waking from his nap! I'm now running to get him!* I've weaned him from nighttime nursing and instead of waking up every hour which is what he was doing all last month he's waking up once or twice at night. The problem is -- although he's sleeping for longer at night it is at times very difficult for him to fall back asleep.

I co-sleep and incorporate many of the attachment parenting values within my own parenting methods, but at times some of my own "mommy instincts" don't coincide with AP. One of these is ... DANG IT! It's 11:29AM. I guess I'll leave my post hanging so that you'll be eager to read my blog tomorrow.

Hehehe

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Lately due to the cold weather and Halloween just around the corner I've made several different things with pumpkins. My husband told me the other day, "I didn't know there were so many things you could make with pumpkin other than pie!" Yes, there are indeed many ways to serve the delicious mush, and here is a list of what I've made from the orange stuff:

1. Dinner in a Pumpkin

Image above comes from the blog post linked above

I was very intrigued when I found this recipe on Pinterest. As soon as we picked our pumpkins I was eager to try this recipe. You can't go wrong with ground beef, rice and cream of chicken as ingredients! We had a bit of fun by drawing a face on our pumpkin before he (or she?) went into the oven... Sick!

The artist at work.

 Is it fun pretending to be cannibals? Why, yes it is!

The result? It was pretty tasty!Will I make this again? Yes! I would, however, add some slivered almonds on top for some crunch. It tasted great when we added barbecue sauce to it. Julian did not touch the stuff, which is always a bummer. We're slowly acclimating him to food that isn't pizza, cream cheese on toast, and apple slices.

2. Pumpkin Cake Bars 

This recipe comes from my mom who has been making these ever since I can remember. Eating these bars really brought me back to my childhood. There's something about them that warms your soul. 

PUMPKIN CAKE BARS

2 C. Flour

2 C. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon     

½ tsp. salt

¾ C. oil

2 C. pumpkin

4 eggs

Combine first 6 ingredients.   Add oil, pumpkin and eggs, beat 1 min on medium speed.  Pour into greased 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  

I frost with cream cheese frosting. A great cream cheese frosting recipe can be found in your Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. You *know* you have that one. If you don't, buy it! It will be the best investment in a staple cookbook you can make.

Speaking of which...

3. Cream of Pumpkin Soup

This recipe is featured in my edition of Better Homes and Gardens, but as I discovered looking at my friend's newer version it is NOT featured in the later editions. Fear not -- I will let you in on this beauty!

Ingredients:

1 C. Canned Pumpkin

1 and 1/2 C. chicken broth

1 T. butter

1 T. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. ginger, nutmeg, or a combination of both

1/8 tsp. salt (I always end up using more than this)

Dash pepper

1 C. milk, half and half, or light cream

Directions:

Whisk together pumpkin and 3/4 c. of the chicken broth until well combined. Set aside. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour, ginger/nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Cook 1 minute more. Stir pumpkin/broth mixture and remaining broth. Cook and stir until heated through. If necessary, add more milk to get it to the right consistency. Season to taste.

*Added note -- my husband and I LOVE this with a dash of cayenne pepper. We don't add it to the pot, however, because of the kids' delicate taste buds.

All I can say is: DELICIOUS!

4. Pumpkin Bread

Image above comes from the blog post linked above

This recipe is great! It has a very moist texture, reminiscent of good quality bread pudding. I used powdered Stevia instead of regular sugar and brown sugar to accommodate my guests, and it turned out great regardless. I used regular milk instead of almond milk as well. 

5. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds 

I've found the trick to making great roasted pumpkin seeds is letting them dry out for 24 hours after rinsing them. Coat them well in unsalted melted butter and kosher salt. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes, checking every 15 minutes to turn them. When they turn that lovely golden color, you're good-to-go. You'll have yourself a crunchy, delicious and nutritious snack. My almost three-year-old couldn't get enough of them.

There you have it, folks. I hope you can try some of these recipes out while pumpkins are in season and the canned stuff's on sale. Bon appetit!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

My husband had the day off this past Monday, so we decided to take advantage of the extra time we had together and go to the local pumpkin patch. We had a ton of fun together, and my eldest can't stop talking about it. Since then he says to me randomly, "Mom, I had lots of fun with you at the pumpkin patch!" He's adorable!

We happened to have picked out four pumpkins -- one for daddy to carve, one for mom to bake with, and two for ... well, fun I guess! Since we ended up with four I couldn't help myself and make it a photo-op moment. Here's the four of us with our "finds"!

I love being a goof, and I love helping our kids be goofy sometimes, too. Since they're little it's easy to take advantage of moments like this. I know someday getting away with goofy moments won't be as easy once embarrassment of this nature sets in. I must say, however, my dad's goofiness inevitably rubbed off on me. Here's hoping it will do the same with my kids.

All-in-all there was nothing super exciting about our excursion, but as I've said before it's little moments like this that make life spectacular. Happy Fall, y'all!

 

My Boys :: A Poem

Wind sweeps your curly locks
and dusts your long eyelashes,
While dirt and dead crumpled leaves fly
between fingers so eager to crush.
Only after a moment beg to be washed.

With fingers all ready to dirty once more,
These brothers come knock-knocking at my heart's door.
I open
and with their arms they open too.
One begs for a kiss.
Another a chance to stand tall.
I give, give, and they give to me even more.

My heart floods with meaning,
With purpose and joy,
When I keep close to this spectacular task:
Motherhood, Boys, is great and becomes greater,
When I remember to serve myself last.

Falling in Love with My Family

It is hard to describe the evolution of love I experience each day I share with my family. From the moment I said "I do" until now I find myself more-and-more amazed by the beautiful life God has given me. There isn't anything particularly uncommon about my life; I wake up, do my mommy thing, eat, sleep, repeat. Yet when I stop to think about it all I find that my life as a wife and mother is rich with purpose and meaning.

Let's take this day for instance. There is nothing out of the ordinary about a little trip to our favorite place, Harpers Ferry, a mere 20-mile drive from where we live. We do this sort of thing practically every weekend -- going out as a family to a place we can walk around and appreciate something simple and beautiful. But if I step back and see these moments as they are I realize we are creating a culture of joy and fellowship within the confines of our growing family. Each time we take the children out to stand in awe of creation or to worship Our Lord at Sunday Mass we allow them to experience a life that is brimming with goodness and Light.

I often find myself stumped for subject matter for writing on this blog. I sometimes am tempted to think that my life is boring and people wouldn't think that my billionth picnic at Baker Park isn't going to "wow" my internet audience. Then soon after this silly thought comes the truth, which I cannot deny -- my life is full of wonderful moments filled to the brim with joy.

The other day we went fishing at two scenic locations near our home. We didn't catch one single fish the entire day. By the end of the day, however, I turned to my husband and exclaimed, "Today was one of the best days of my life." Why? Because the simple act of enjoying each other's company in God's dazzling country was enough for me to marvel in the gift that is my family. It really, truly is as simple as that. Sure, much of my life is routine. We play the same games, pray the same prayers, and walk the same walks week-in and week-out. That's okay by me. We are in this together, we are discovering God's loving plan for us through the good and bad, and despite the obstacles we enjoy life with each other... and that's what makes my life extraordinary.

Random Happenings

The baby's asleep, hubby and oldest are away and I have a few minutes to spare to muse on here. I have no theme to present, so I'll just "bullet point" some occurrences that have happened lately:
- Ignatius is growing up way too fast! I'll have to buy some 6-9 month clothes for him soon. He's now wearing #3 diapers and has the cutest, chubbiest thighs a mamma could ask for!
- I love/hate Julian's energy level lately. He's such an eager learner, loves exploring parks, throwing rocks in rivers, and scaling tall playground equipment. It's great. It's wonderful. But oh! does it tire me out sometimes! I'm just glad I have a husband that does an amazing job keeping up with him.  
- I left my camera someplace-not-where-it's-supposed-to-be again. I can't help myself, it's in my job description to leave it at people's houses/on lawn mowers/on top of record players. So, I don't have great pictures to show.
- Here's some alright pictures I took with my cruddy phone camera.

 Cutie Pie Brothers

Wearin' ma bebe at the playground

 Say "Cheese"! Or just sleep, that's fine too!

 I'm so blessed to have two beautiful boys!

- Are you ready for this?

I woke up two days ago from my nap to a line of itchy welts running down my arm. They're smaller than this today and itch less, but man, yesterday and the night before were terrible. I have no idea what happened. If you know what bit me or if I got hives let me know. 

Okay, now the baby's awake, hubby and oldest are home and life resumes its normal course. I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday. Ta ta!

-------------------------------- UPDATE!!!--------------------------------
Bed bugs, people. BED. BUGS. They can hide in plain sight for several months before you realize that's the issue. Before spending tons of dollars on allergy tests and doctor's visits, if you have dots in a line like this please do yourself a favor and get a bug specialist to check your home. We went 5 months without knowing what we were dealing with. That was a most unpleasant experience, which I wish on no person.

Life with Two Babes

We're coming close to Ignatius' 2 month mark outside the womb. I can hardly believe he's as old as he is! It feels like yesterday we brought him home in his little cow get-up.

Since then he's grown from 0-3 months to 3-6 month duds! That hat doesn't fit him anymore as well. What can I say, we grow 'em big around here!

Life as a mom with two little ones has been an adventure thus far. Julian is extremely sweet with the baby, but a bit stand-offish. I actually don't mind this because I would be very concerned about Ignatius' safety if he wanted to be all over him all the time. For now, he gives him plenty-but-not-too-many hugs and kisses throughout the day. He'll say sweet things like, "It's okay, 'Nay-shus! We almost dare!" and "Don't cry!" when the crying gets a bit much. Of the most challenging aspects of this new phase of our lives is just the fact that Julian is a full-fledged 2-year-old. The tantrums are stronger and he's into EVERYTHING, but we've found the more attentive, patient and consistent we are the better behaved Julian is. So in other words, we rely on lots of prayers and caffeinated beverages around here!

Also, the fact that he can be this stinkin' cute helps especially in the patience factor.

Ignatius is such a beautiful, calm, observant, alert, and loving baby. He smiled a few days after he was born at his daddy, but he waited until he was just under 5 weeks to start smiling at mama. Now he'll smile at just about anyone who makes eye contact with him.

 Sometimes if he's crying and we come up to him he'll just smile at us and immediately calm down. Ignatius is definitely our little Love Bug.

He's one strong baby as well. He rolled belly to back 2 days after birth, and has rolled about 10 times since then. His neck is very strong and needed very little support from day 1. When he wants "out" of the moby wrap he gets OUT of the moby wrap! I call him my little Butterfly emerging from his cocoon. I wish I could capture on camera his little head wriggling out of his bondage -- funniest sight ever!

He wakes up 1-3 times a night, which is okay by my standards. We co-sleep so I just roll back to sleep when he's full of the Mommy Juice. He naps when Julian naps, and I think that's what has been my saving grace -- getting my rest in the middle of the day is the best gift this little guy could give me!

That's all for now. We love our little men, and they show us how to give of ourselves and love more purely every day. Life is a Gift.