Swimming, Anyone?

 

   To say we got some rain yesterday would be an understatement.  It poured. It was what my mom calls a “frog strangler”.  At one point Jason went outside to grab something out of his car and he came back inside and told me to get the camera.  When I asked why, he told me the water was ankle deep in our driveway.  It though he was exaggerating.  After all, we have lived in this house for 7 years.  In all that time, including one hurricane and many tropical systems, our yard has never flooded. It hasn’t even come close.  So I went outside and this is what I found:

That lighter color in the bottom of the picture is our driveway.

  Then we called Emma to come see all the water.  She didn’t think it was as neat as we did.

  Later that evening, Jason’s mom was supposed to pick Emma up to spend the night.  It didn’t quite work the way we planned – instead of Grammy coming to get Emma from us, Jason had to walk her (and her multitude of stuff) up to the front of the neighborhood.  When he got back, he said that there were a bunch of cars parked up there – our little subdivision was truly flooded and nobody could get home!

We Won! We’re gonna be famous!

 

  Okay, maybe not too famous. 

   Last year we went to the neatest place called Conner’s Amazing Acres.  Its a farm and cornfield maze that also grows organic produce.  There are all sorts of things to do there – from playing in the corn box, racing ducks, and riding the cow train to trying to find your way through the corn maze.  Oh, and the food!  Fresh grown, fresh cooked. Yummy. And to finish the day – fresh churned ice cream in all sorts of yummy flavor combinations.  We had a great time and we can’t wait until this fall to go again.

   I was visiting their website a few weeks ago and I noticed that they were having a photo contest.  The winners would receive a free pass for this fall and the picture will be featured on the website.  We won! We’re gonna be famous! 

  Now for the fun.  I couldn’t decide which picture to put on the post, so I added an album.  Now lets see who can guess which picture won.  Oh, and don’t try cheating.  They haven’t posted it to the website yet.

View Full Album

Why I only buy washable markers and crayons

 

  I was at Wal-Mart the other day, and I had a pack of Crayola markers in my hand.  They were only $1, but they weren’t washable.  The ones that were washable were $4.  Did I really need to spend the extra $3?  I looked around and found an knock-off brand for about $2. Good thing I did:

 

And my personal favorite:

I guess I am thankful that my kids are artistic, and that Jake has finally learned to draw circles.

Her “greatest day ever”

    I must start this post with how lazy I am.  I have a freezer FULL of yummy meals just waiting to be cooked.  I even have one thawing in the fridge.  But tonight, I was not feeling the kitchen.  I wanted comfort food – roasted meat, mashed potatoes, green beans…heaven.  My sweet husband that loves to fulfill my pregnancy cravings suggested we save the stuffed pork chops in the fridge for another night and go to Cracker Barrel.  (LOVE that man.)  We decided it was Emma’s turn to go out with us and headed dinner.

  Our normally very talkative little princess was silent in the backseat.  We thought she had fallen asleep.  Then Jason pointed out a rainbow over the St. John’s River.  Chatty Cathy awakens.  It turns out that she was so quiet because she was searching for rainbows. 

  By that time, the trees were in the way so Jason turned down River Road so we could see it better.   It was so beautiful, and I just happened to have my camera in the car, so I had him pull over so I could take some pictures.  I took a couple, then Emma asked if she could take some.  I am both proud and a little embarrassed to admit that her pictures were better than mine!

  I told her it was so good that I was going to send it into First Coast News.  That was the beginning of the greatest day.

   Once we got to Cracker Barrel, everything was great for Emma.  These are the things that make  a six-year old’s day:

1.  The waitress brought her a glass – not a cup with a lid.

2.  She beat her daddy at checkers twice, once in three moves.  Jason said she had moves “unlike he had ever seen before”.

3. She ordered all by herself.

4. She got 2 scoops of ice cream with chocolate syrup, AND whip cream.

5.  Mommy is sending her picture to First Coast News.

  She even had to call her Grammy when she got home to tell her all about it.  She is so hard to please sometimes that nights like these make all the difference.

Dozing with Dinos

 

  To let you know how behind I am in life, I am just now posting about our adventure from 2 weeks ago…

  Ever so often, the MOSH has what they call public camp-ins.  They have a special theme that runs through the evening, with a planetarium and laser show, an extreme science show, movies and snacks.  I heard about it on the radio and thought to myself, I’ll bet Emma would love that.

  I was wrong.  She loved the idea of sleeping in MOSH, but she was sure the Dinos were going to eat her, the lasers were going to kill her, and in her words, the science show was “extremely too scary.”  Of course, her father and I were not informed of this until we were already locked in the museum.  She came out from under her blankie long enough to figure out that the planetarium show was really neat, and the lasers were just pictures on the ceiling (not flying around the room) set to music. That part she enjoyed.  The science show was another story. 

  If you have ever been to MOSH, you know that it can get really loud inside the JEA science theater. When you add the electricity (that is visible) I guess it can be frightening to a child – but mine was the only one huddled under a blanket.   The two kids that were running the camp in were really great and demonstrated some amazing things to do with liquid nitrogen – including making a thunderstorm and ice cream.  They also made Dino Snot. (Green Jell-O with bits of pudding in it – I couldn’t even look at the stuff let alone try it. The ice cream was really good, though.)

 

  Then the real fun began.  Once we were let out of the theater it was a free for all. We were finally allowed to get our belongings out of the conference room and find a place to sleep – on a first come first serve basis.  Our family had no desire to sleep near the dinos (the prime location), but Emma wanted to sleep next to the big whale in the Atlantic Tales exhibit.  Since she had not had much fun up to this point, I was determined to get her next to that whale. 

  As I was setting up our bedding beneath said whale, these two boys decided they were going to sleep there as well.  Now, these were not just any boys – these were the two heathens that had been LITERALLY climbing on all the exhibits and seeing how much damage they could do without anyone noticing.  I began by calmly telling them that they could not sleep there because we were sleeping there. Then the snotty heathen #1 told me (in snotty heathen voice) that there was plenty of room.  I (more forcefully) informed him that the only person that had the right to put their sleeping bag touching my mine was my daughter and I was not going to climb over him to get out of bed.  He then told on me to his father (I am not kidding - “that mean lady said we can’t sleep here”)   His father, who was not sleeping anywhere near his heathens finally decided to control his charges and told then to move.  I am really glad I didn’t have to find the museum guys and be a tattletale, but by that time mama bear was going to defend her den and cub.

   We slept okay and then had donuts and juice the next morning.  As much as Jason and I enjoyed the sleepover, I think that we’ll leave the museum for daylight trips in the future.

Our “Wicked” Little Surprise

 

     Now that my dear husband has finally told all of his family, we can publically share the news: we’re pregnant!

   It seems like the reason all our plans to go see Wicked fell into place so nicely is because this little spirit was so anxious to come to Earth. (The little prankster even seems to be able to render birth control useless).  We have one heck of a souvenir from that play!  I told Emma that if it is a girl we are going to name her Elphaba and if it  is a boy, Fieryo.  She loves the names. (I am going to hate to break her heart.)

  Now for the particulars….I am 13 weeks and 2 days today.  My official due date is January 25, but since my kids arrive around 36 weeks we are looking at a New Year’s baby.  Maybe I’ll get lucky and have the first baby of the new year! 

  I had my Ultrascreen done last week and we got the results today – NORMAL.  That blew my mind.  With our family history and my age I was expecting them to come back like Grady’s  - about a 1:300 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome.  Nope. 1:1,900.  Of course, Jake’s results were normal, too.  (But back then they didn’t do the ultrasound measurement of the “fat patch” on the back of his neck)  Like I told the nurse, we will wait until our big ultrasound on August 7th to celebrate.  They will be able to measure bone length ratio, check the chambers of the heart, fluid in the brain and womb, etc.  We will also know for sure the gender.

    As for names, she told me her name already.  Yep, I said she.  Early ultrasounds indicate PINK.  I will be shocked if it is a boy, for a couple of reasons.  First, I always knew we had four spirits coming to our family.  Even after Grady was born and Jason said we were done, I knew there was one more.  I also felt very strongly it was a girl.  The other reason is that while I was sitting there staring at that HPT, thinking “this can not be happening”, my mind cleared for an instant and “Gretchen” popped in.  This is a name that we never discussed for the others. It never even came up.  I didn’t even like the name too much until that moment.  But it fits: it means pearl. A precious gem to add to our collection.

   I just hope its not a boy – Fieryo really is the only name I like…..

“Ohh, It’s So Good!”

     First off, I am very happy to be back in cyberspace.   After buying a new computer and finally getting a new modem from our ISP, we are back in business.  2 months without access to the internet was not very fun.

  Now for the good stuff.  I like to cook, I'm just not very good at it.  I have no imagination, and my kitchen is small – which drives me crazy.  I also don’t like to cook when my family is at home – I want to be with them, not tied to the stove.  Consequently, we eat a lot of box dinners and drive thru (Bad Mommy!)

      Many of you know that last year I found a wonderful system that helps with my shortcomings called 30 Meals in One Day.  It is a collection of recipes that are freezer worthy, and easy to prepare.  It compiles a shopping list based on the menus you have chosen, and you can print out recipe cards, labels, and other stuff.   It was great – when I had energy and the kids were in school.  It did save money, both because we ate out less and we bought all the stuff in bulk.  However, between planning the menu, compiling the list, shopping day and prep day it took 2-3 full days. (Not to mention the cleanup!)  Needless to say, my freezer has been pretty empty the last month or so – but no more!

  I was browsing online the other day and found this wonderful place called Mr. Food’s No Fuss Meals.  I knew I had to try it as soon as I read over the website, and today was the day.

  I pre-ordered my choices from the menu online, and when I got there, everything was set up and waiting.  All the different meals are at workstations with ALL the ingredients pre-chopped, prepared and ready for you to assemble.  An instruction sheet guides you step by step, and the containers are provided.  The best part? NO clean up.  That’s done for you, too.

   What took me three days previously took me and hour and half.   No shopping! No chopping! No mess!  I was really impressed.  While I was building my dishes I was calculating the price difference between 30 Meals and Mr. Food. I came to the conclusion that I was only saving about .50-$1 per serving, and if you calculate shopping, prep, and clean time….there’s no contest.

   There was just one question left – how did it taste?  Well, tonight I made Little Italy Chicken Parmigianino. (Something I would have never made on my own – too labor intensive in my tiny kitchen.)

This is 1/6 of the entire meal.  I split a “large” portion into 2 dinners, and there was plenty for all five of us. (I did add a small salad and bread).   For the first time in recent memory Jake cleaned his plate.  Grady ate everything I put on his tray – he even threw his bread on the floor so he could have more room for noodles.  Emma gave it “five stars”.   Jason also cleaned his plate and what I couldn’t finish.  There’s no chicken left, but Grady has noodles for lunch on the menu tomorrow.  I can’t wait to try the Snickers Cheesecake later.

  

     So, who wants to join me for a Girl’s Night?  Check out the website: www.nofussmeals.com . Browse the August menus and let me know when's good for you!