7 Quick Takes Friday

Look at me! I actually remembered to participate in 7 Quick Takes Friday!!!

1)

Today has been a really great day. Evan didn't have to be in to work until 9, so I got to sleep in a bit, which is always appreciated. Plus, last night, V was the hardest to put down for bed that she's been in a really long time, so we went to bed later than anticipated. Sleeping in was such an added bonus after the hellish bedtime and burning my hand while making cookies yesterday.

2)

Uh, yeah, I totally burned my hand like I have never burned anything before. I was making cookies for our last RCIA class potluck. The stupid silicone baking mat started sliding off the baking sheet as I was getting the second batch out of the oven. The mat still had all the cookies on it, but was sliding from the cookie sheet to the oven door, which is slanted because our whole house is slanted, which meant the mat and all the cookies were headed for the bottom of the oven. Please tell me you understand my abundant fear of the cookies spilling onto the bottom of the 375 degree oven. What a freaking mess to clean up, right? Plus all the burn-y chocolate smell? Right?! Well, I took my toweled hand to try to stop the mat from actually slipping off the oven door, but the cookie sheet, which was also on the oven door, was precariously falling to the floor, so my non toweled hand instinctively grabbed it and...well, I won't type out the litany of swear words that ensued after I TOUCHED A 375 DEGREE COOKIE SHEET. Needless to say, I spent about 30 minutes with my hand in cold water and Evan and the girls helped me finish baking the cookies and went to the potluck ahead of me. My lovely neighbor, whose husband is a nurse and therefore has a huge stash of medical supplies for just such an emergency, was able to help me aloe vera and gauze my hand in a hilarious white mitten type of bandage to make sure Vivian (the most physical of my children) would remember not to touch my hand. I did make it to the potluck, which was nice because I am going to miss seeing them all every Thursday evening like we have been for 8 months. And, today, my hand is much better than I had thought it would be. 

3)

I went to a new-to-me restaurant today! Four of us from my neighborhood and most of our children headed over to an Italian restaurant called Purple Garlic. You could smell the deliciousness from the parking lot! True Italian fare and a beautiful patio area with a ginormous sand box for the kiddos to dig to their hearts content! My friend had already been there, so she told me to bring Vivian's dump truck for the sand. The kids gobbled up the food and we were there for over an hour. It was great!

4)

I had to take Ebeth clothes shopping today. She is in the last size of the little girls' section and I am sad...and not looking forward to traipsing about the juniors' section trying to find decent, modest clothes for an 11.5 year old. Bleh. Any good stores besides Target for juniors' clothes that are decent??

5)

Today, I got book mail! Jennifer Fulwiler (who hosts the 7 Quick Takes Friday!) wrote a book called Something Other Than God and it came out Tuesday. I pre-ordered it through Amazon and it was at my back porch this afternoon!  I have to finish my current book first, but all other books are going to be put on hold until I finish her book. So excited!!!!!!!!

6)

Today is Elisabeth's half birthday, but due to our air quitting on us (which is TERRIFYING when you live in Texas and it's already hitting the 90s daily), so she will be getting her half birthday cake tomorrow after the air is fixed and I can turn the oven on without killing us all by smothering us in heat. This also meant that I could try a recipe for an Avanti's type bread either, but no worries, I plan on tackling that this weekend as well.

7)

I need to tell you how much I love Dr. Who. We started watching it after much encouragement from Dr. Who fans in my life because we wanted something to watch on Friday nights with Elisabeth. Holy moly, we are hooked. We watch it every Friday night and, if she has a long weekend, we often try to squeeze in two episodes in one weekend. If we weren't having date nights with her to watch it, I think Evan and I would have already binge watched the series. I really liked the 9th Doctor (season 1 of the reboot since Dr. Who has been a show on the BBC since the 60s with a big break in the 80s and new seasons starting in 2006), but this 10th Doctor is just as fantastic as promised. If you are looking for a family show to watch with your older kiddos, I highly recommend Dr Who. We're in the middle of season two on Netflix and the BBC is going to be airing season 7 (with the 12th Doctor!) soon, so we have a bit to catch up on.

April Reading Log

Just to warn you, this past month I did not read as much as planned. I spent half the month reading a very dense book by St. Francis de Sales that was written in the 1500s, but I only got half way through. Anyway, that totally threw my reading numbers off for the month. But, here's what I did end up getting through:

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
I bought this book after seeing Malala's interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I had heard of her prior to the interview, but didn't know much about her background, but felt that her book was a must read. I was correct. Malala tells the story of her country, Pakistan, and growing up under Talibanization. She has a very simple but beautiful way of describing some complex and terrifying experiences. The book is also a very glowing tribute to her father, whom she obviously adores and respects, and how he, too, is trying to make a difference for men and women in their home valley of Swat. I already handed the book over to Elisabeth to read and will be having all my kids read it (not to mention pressuring everyone else and their kids to read it) as well. It's very easy to get complacent about the freedom of education and I felt this book was a great reminder to appreciate the total accessibility of education in our country.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
I totally bought this book based on the cover (it was pretty!). Thankfully, my randomness paid off because this was a good book. Brunt weaves a story of love, mourning, and friendship by having 14 year old June tell us in her voice about losing her uncle Finn to AIDS during the 1980s. There was supposed to be a parallel between June's relationship with her older sister Greta that mirrored their mother's relationship to her brother Finn, but the June/Greta thing felt forced and underdeveloped. However, the dynamic between June and Toby was well written and great. A good read overall. Someone else should read it so I can discuss it with another person!!

Yep, that's it. Two books. I'll have to make up for it in May, I guess.
20 books for the year, for those keeping track.

Taking Stock

The lovely Sarah over at Harry Times posted this yesterday and it was fun to read, so I thought I'd give it a try, too.

Making : A family afghan. I'm almost done with it, which is good since it's basically summer here in San Antonio and making a large afghan in the summer makes me very hot. I get a smidge grumpy when I am hot.

Cooking : I'm trying to switch to the summer cooking mode where I make things that do not involve the oven. Lots of stove top, dutch oven, slow cooker, fresh produce meals. It's so much harder than it should be, especially because I can only handle so many salads before I begin disliking lettuce.

Drinking : Coffee. Sweet nectar of life.

Reading: Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis by Tim Townsend. My neighbor is lending it to me and it is such a great read. The chaplain it is about is my neighbor's grandpa, which makes the book even better.

Wanting: Some quiet time. Without children. It is long overdue.

Looking: Out my window is my almost depleted hummingbird feeder, which means the hummingbirds are coming to eat, but I have yet to see them. Both of the other girls have seen the hummingbirds eating from it, but by the time I get to the window, they are gone. Grump.

Playing: I've been watching lots of tball and softball games and practices. Watching them play is really fun, much more fun than I thought it would be when they first signed up two years ago.

Wasting: Time. I always end up frantically trying to get things done and wondering where all my time went every day.

Sewing: My sewing table is going back into my bedroom and the sewing machine that Jana bought me two Christmases ago is finally coming out of the box. My neighbor said she would help me set it up and show me the basics and I am taking her up on it!!

Wishing: That Vivian would sleep in her own bed for the entire night. She was kicking my kidneys, slapping my face, and asking for blueberries in her sleep from about 2am on. While I do love how cuddly she can be, I'd really love sleeping untouched more right now.

Enjoying: This random week of beautiful Texas weather. The highs are in the low 80s and it is so, so beautiful in the mornings!!!! Stay away 100degree temps!

Waiting: Is hard. Lots of unknowns are around us regarding Evan's job and Air Force job cuts. Waiting for answers about whether he'll  need to start looking for other jobs is frightening, but we won't know anything until August. Ugh.

Liking: Owning a belt. Evan convinced me to buy one (and not a stupid skinny girl belt that is made of plastic) and who knew that having my pants stay up on my hips would be so freeing?!

Wondering: Why I can never keep up with laundry. It's always sneaking up on me.

Loving: Having Evan home so much with this MLC job. I love knowing he'll be home for dinner every night, can take time off as needed, and we have all weekend together. I really wish he could retire tomorrow so we could just hang out all day.

Hoping: Man, I don't know what to write for this one. I better work on hoping more.

Marveling: At how big my girls are getting. Seriously, they are just all growing up so much so fast that it takes my breath away. No matter how often I have been told this would happen or to treasure them at whatever age they are, I seem to be smacked upside the head by how fleeting an amount of time they are truly little.

Needing: To get to the Y more. I am so inclined to laziness I could teach classes on being a sloth.

Smelling: Dinner. I love when my cooking fills the house with smells of deliciousness.

Wearing: Jeans (and a belt!!!), which I better enjoy before the weather turns into a huge sauna and wearing jeans is like wearing a parka in the desert.

Following: Elisabeth on InstaGram is hilarious. 

Noticing:  That it is almost 5 o'clock pick up time in my house. The girls will probably gripe, but oh my goodness, it is so helpful to have the living room, dining area, and play area picked up while I cook dinner.

Knowing: That I am blessed. I am thankful for my little life that I truly love.

Thinking: About how much I have missed writing. Maybe I should, you know, do it more.

Feeling: Happy. I like my little corner of the world.

Bookmarking: My book is just a waste of time if Vivian is anywhere near me. That girl likes ripping out bookmarks and cackling while she does it. I truly hope she uses her powers for good as she gets older...

Opening: A banana for a certain 2 year old because she has been begging and begging for one, her taking one bite and declaring it "Yuck!", is most annoying.

Giggling: May be one of my favorite sounds from my kids ever.

Feeling: Tired. I could totally nap right now, but than who would make dinner?!

Tea Party

Yesterday, Julia set up her tea set.

We bought it for her for her 5th birthday and she still loves to have tea parties.

Tongue out when concentrating is the norm around here:

May you have tea party worthy day today.

7 Quick Takes

Taking another stab at joining Conversion Diary for Friday's 7 Quick Takes. I seem to always remember that I want to participate in 7 Quick Takes on like the Sunday or Monday afterwards. 

So typical.

1)

It is supposed to be in the 90s for the foreseeable future. We've just had such nice actual spring time weather that having it jump up to the 90s so fast is disheartening. I love temps in the high 70s and low 80s, which is what it's been until this week. This is when it occurs to me that, ugh, I still live in Texas.

2)

Vivian is really into being a super hero. Here she is in what I can only assume is some sort of French Superhero costume...

3)

It is almost the end of April and I have not read that many books this month. Between being super busy with the girls' dance classes and tball/softball schedule, I just haven't had a chance to read as much. Plus, I have been into non-fiction literature lately, which takes WAY longer to get through. So, while I still have been reading daily, I'm not flying through them like I normally do. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I need my family to leave me for a huge chunk of the day so I can poor some coffee and snuggle on the couch with my books and read for hours on end. Think that'll happen anytime soon?  Yeah, me neither.

4)

Speaking of  books, I was telling Evan that my upstairs book was really good and I was going to be sad when it was over. He started laughing and said, "You are such a nerd. You have an upstairs book and a downstairs book?! Hahahahaha." Uh...yeah. Is that not normal? I also have a purse book because I keep my kindle in there. It's not just me, right? You understand having multiple location books, right?

5)

I love roses. I don't care how cliche that statement is, I truly love having roses in my garden. I know I've talked about my roses before, but I need to share some of these pictures with you all because one of the rose bushes in our front garden has not flowered at all since we've lived here. There were three rose bushes that we inherited and it was obvious that the family before us had not tried to take care of them. So, I have been determinedly trying to save them and after the first season two of them started budding and flowering (cause roses bloom all year here), but the smallest one just was so puny and in the worst shape. I refused to give up and after over 2.5 years, that little rose bush actually bloomed!!!! See:

How pretty are its blooms?!  I had no idea what color it would be, but am so glad it's a different color than the other original two (which bloom yellow and an almost neon orange). It had 11 roses that opened last week!!!

Here is my orange one that is thriving:

6)

So, I have been a very loyal Walgreens photo customer since forever and a day. I have used their site, printed to their stores, and never strayed. But, with their newest website update, it is darn near impossible to upload pictures quickly and I have moved on to Shutterfly. Added bonus: Shutterfly types the date the picture was taken on the back of the pictures. You guys, if I had known that I would have switched to them YEARS ago!!!!  Plus, I do like having them delivered to my house instead of making a trip to Walgreens to pick them up because I always end up finding other crap I "need" while I am there. It's really just a winning situation all around.

7) 

It's that time of year when the ducks that live at the Quadrangle come and visit our homes. Well, mainly they come and hang out in our trees and on our rooftops. It's very bizarre and hilarious. Julia saw these two in our neighbor's tree and ran inside yelling, "Mommy! Get your camera, quick! You're going to be so excited!" My children truly know their mother.

15

On the 26th of this month is our 15th dating anniversary.

That means that we will have been dating for the same amount of years that Evan was alive when we actually started dating.

That means next year, at 16 years of dating, Evan will have had me in his life longer than he was without me in his life.

Mind boggling.

Elisabeth has been very curious about how Evan and I met lately. She asks about when we met, our first few dates, etc. She thinks it's funny that Evan and my sister were in 4th grade and that I may have seen Evan and not known even known it. "Mom, what if you did see him! Wouldn't that be weird to see him and know that you were going to marry him?!"

I told Evan that I might write down our story for the kids. He asked why, "it's not really that exciting". And, to be honest, it's not exciting in a romantic movie type of way. There's no "love at first sight" moment, no huge dramatic break up scene, no old boyfriends or girlfriends to bicker over. But, when we are introducing ourselves to new people (which happens all the stinking time in the military), we often get asked how long we've been married or when we met. People always are impressed to find out we're high school sweethearts. They become amazed when they find out how young we were when we started dating (15 and 17, respectively) and that we never broke up. I had one spouse of Evan's co-worker tell me that Evan and I were a rarity. "You don't hear about hometown high school sweethearts too often anymore."

I'm not sure how true it is that we're a rarity, but I do understand wanting to hear more about how we met and ended up staying together. I love hearing how people met; I think it's a great way to learn more about them. There are usually funny stories or inside jokes that the couple has told so often they have it down to a finely tuned art when they tell the story to new friends. There's that history of a couple that shapes and develops them into who they are today as individuals, but more importantly, who they are as a couple. Those are the stories that Elisabeth is looking for, the stories that made her parents from being just Evan and Virginia into Evan&Virginia.

So, I think I will write down our story. It may not be interesting to others, but I think our kids will appreciate having it someday when we aren't there to tell it anymore. Plus, I need to write it down before I forget parts. Isn't that sad to think that someday I may not remember all the details as well as I do right now? Like the first time I ever heard Evan's voice. Or the first time I went to his house. Or the first time we held hands.

But, I really feel that the part of our story that I like best is that because we decided to start dating, because we decided to really commit to our relationship forever, we have three beautiful people in our house that are here because of us deciding to be boyfriend and girlfriend 15 years ago.

So Very Two

I realize that I just recently posted to tell you all how Vivian is a menace trying to torture me to death by being two years old, but, you guys, seriously...the child is insanely exhausting. 

Let me think about where to begin...

Today I bribed her into letting me put her hair into a ponytail by giving her a piece of gum. Later in the day, I bribed her to stop chewing on rocks she'd put in a cup by giving her a piece of gum. (I buy a lot of gum)

Yesterday, I was cooking dinner (Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie, in case you were curious) (and, yes, it was delicious!) and it was just me and Vivian because Evan had taken the other two to their respected tball/softball practices. I was getting ready to make the pie crust for the top of the pot pie (Pioneer Woman's Pie Crust recipe, of course!) and went to grab the butter I needed except I couldn't find the half stick I'd left out. Now, I am naturally forgetful so I started looking in the places I might leave the butter--refrigerator, by the mixer, all the counter space. I was starting to get frustrated when it occurred to me who was home with me. Not looking, but hearing her making noises from the living room, I asked: "Vivian, do you have my butter?"

"Umm...."

I walk in and she is sitting in Evan's recliner with butter she'd dug out with her grubby little toddler fingers smeared all over his chair.

 She is never still. Never. She still sleeps with us half the night and even in her sleep she is just such a wiggle worm. She needs gross motor activities on daily basis or she is a beast. I am so, so thankful for our trampoline and large yard. Sometimes she will wrestle with Evan or run laps around the inside of the house on days when we can't get outside. I am always so relieved when they go to the YLand at the Y because it's like the playlands in restaurants and she can climb and slide while I'm working out.

 She is just so contrary. I will ask her to throw away the banana peel she just carelessly flung onto the couch and she will manically laugh as she tells me no. But, I tell her, "No, Mommy wants to throw it away," and she will scream, "NO! YINYIN (translation: Vivian) DO IT!". Sometimes trying to trying to use reverse psychology to get her to comply from the get-go backfires, though. You just never know!

 She's really cute when she's sleeping though. Or when she's restrained in a car seat.

 

 Taking her in public is like setting my pet tornado loose on mankind. Today at the library, I was in line to check out books. Again, we were alone (having the older two around is a HUGE HELP when anywhere with Vivian because they are fabulous older sisters who are fully aware that the youngest one is insane in the membrane), so every time I would try to corral her I'd end up losing my place in line. Finally, I gave up and just prayed she wouldn't tear the ding dong place down. After she tipped over the two gaming chairs in the video game area and yelled at me while sitting upside down in one and pointing to the second chair, "MOMMY! THIS-A ONE FOR YOU!", she proceeded to bring me every recycling and garbage can in the library. You'd think there wouldn't be that many cans in a somewhat small library, but you'd be wrong. She managed to bring me 5 before I was finished. How lucky am I that the librarians found her cute and were so sweet about her wreaking havoc?! I reassured them that she trashes my home as well.

 Don't get me wrong, the kid is a hoot! She likes to have us tie pieces of fabric around her neck so she can be Super Bunny and then she yells out, "SUPER BUNNY, AWAY!!!" and runs laps around the house.

Her love of dump trucks is so sweet. She asks every morning to dress up (translation: get dressed) so she can go get her pal Mac and go play trucks. We have a book with little poems in them and one is called Dump Truck. She has the whole thing memorized.

She is really stingy with her hugs, kisses, and I love yous, so we all feel honored when she actually consents to being kissed and hugged or actually tells you she loves you too after you tell her.

 Sometimes I weigh the pros and cons to taking her places because we have a very small window of what we all refer to as "Vivian Time", which means we have about X amount of time on any given errand day before she loses her mind in public and goes into full destruction/tantrum mode. If you were visiting us you would often hear us say, "If we go both of those places, we may be pushing our luck with Vivian Time" or "We are wasting precious Vivian Time!" or "We're almost out of Vivian Time, let's just go home after this."

There is a lot of stress when using Daylight Vivian Time.

We're going to keep her, I promise. I just...need reassured that I am going to survive this child being two.

And wine. I need you all to tell the Wine Fairy that my house needs stocked ASAP.