Den.

I have a laundry list of things I want/need to accomplish before school starts this year.

Namely.

The den.

I will post before and after pictures.

But just be advised.

It's gonna be big.

Daddy O!

Note: Belated Fathers Day post Ahead

Yup.
It's that time of year again.

The time when we reflect on your job well done.

The job that isn't actually a job at all.
It's actually the greatest blessing.
Ever.


The one that gives you the most precious title.
And has the shortest days, and  l  o  n  g  e  s  t  nights.
The one that puts all those gray {white} hairs on your head.
And makes your bank account shrink.
Your heart bigger.
And pays you in hugs and kisses.

Dad.

It's those bedtime stories, and sleepovers in the same twin sized bed several nights a week.

  And sweet nicknames. Even in front of your coworkers and guy friends. {honeybear daddy}

It's when you play or wrestle, even when you are sicker than a dog, and are likely to throw up at any given moment while doing so... but you do it anyway. With a smile on your face.

It's when you play golf... as a four year old's caddy. Early. With just a "guys breakfast" beforehand.

It's about falling asleep on the couch together. Even in the most uncomfortable positions. Just because it's Friday night.

It's how you block out your schedule at work, just so you don't miss his first Tball season.

It's how the kids run and hide when you get home, just so you will come find them. And tickle their armpits.

It's calling each other acorns and walnuts.
Every night. From the bottom of the stairs.

It's the special bond you have with each of them. Individually.
That makes my heart as your wife, just melt.

I look forward to the memories ahead.
And thank you for every single one that has already become a part of who they are.

So.
Dad.
Let's have a toast.
A cheers.
For you.
And these past four years!

Love you.

Life. In fast FOURward.

Belated post:
I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that our sweet boy is  

four.

I feel as though we are living life in fast forward.

I talk to him all the time about all the things he used to do when he was little [r].

He gets this goofy little smile and just listens to my stories of his younger days, and then will tell me later, "remember when I used to do this..."

He is amazing.
So smart.
So full of imagination.
And he has a great heart.

He loves his sisters.
And his momma.
And he wants to be just like his daddy.

He can be referred to as Batman.
Spiderman.
Or the Joker, on any given day.
As he climbs the walls, and the stairs.
Builds toy guns with his Knex.
And jumps around saying he is getting the bad guys.

I adore the way he wakes up. Thumping, bumping down the stairs.
And how he falls asleep. With requests for a book to be read, and to end with prayers, and a tickle fest. Every time.
I love the way he smiles. Especially when I have made him mad and he tries to hide the fact that I can still make him laugh.
And how he loves to wrestle. Even if I end up with a fat lip and a crushed rib. {which by the way has never happened, but it has sure felt like it the couple of times he has pile driven me with his head while wrestling on the floor}

I love that his daily menu is very plain. And often the same. Even if I have to force feed him things such as chicken off the grill, or brats, spaghetti. You know normal childrens food. {If it were up to him he would only eat Ramen noodles. Turkey sandwiches. Cereal. Pizza. Strawberries and Raspberries. Candy. Popsicles. And Taco Bell.}

I love that he has no fear. But it scares me... that he has no fear.
He is all boy.

Dirty.
Rugged.
And has stinky feet!
{already}
I love that he is my little fish. He loves to swim. And will just jump right in to any pool or lake. And then keep jumping in, no matter if his lips are turning blue, or the sun has gone down twenty minutes ago.
He loves to go fishing, even if he doesn't catch a thing except weeds.
He loves to golf, and play his Johnny Tincaps baseball.

He likes to help me bake. His favorite is cookies. Just so he can sneak a huge bite of dough when I am preparing the cookie sheet with parchment paper.

He is really good at counting. And can identify almost any number. Often calling them out as we drive.
He has written his name since he was three.

I am so very proud of who he is. And who I know he will be as he continues to get older.
Because this boy loves Jesus. And isn't afraid to let the whole world know it.
He recites his dinner prayer with minimal reminding, and will repeat after me with night time prayers.

He is my angel.
My superhero.
My boy.

I cannot lie when I say, that I am going miss the three hours a day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this year when he goes to school. I already feel a little empty knowing he won't be around. Just making noise.
Starting petty fights with sis. And asking me for some breakfast and lunch. Or a snack.

But I am bracing for a year of new adventures for him. New friends. New experiences. New memories.
And that is something, I truly look forward to.

Happy Birthday, Nolan!

Your momma loves you.

May Day!

That title engulfs every meaning of the phrase.

After many weeks of unrelenting cries throughout the day and night, I was willing to do just about anything to get some relief for our third child. She has been suffering from eczema since about two weeks after she was born.

It started out as baby acne.

Then turned into very dry, flaky skin on her cheeks and arms.

I didn't think much of it at first, and would apply Jergen's Ultra Healing lotion after her baths.

But it got worse. So after talking with a phone nurse at around two months old, I was told to make sure I was washing all her things in Dreft or the like, and to get Eucerin lotion because it was hypoallergenic.

Fine.

Done.

I found a great hypoallergenic cream, Exederm, at the grocery and applied it the minute we got home!

And what do you know. It vanished!

For a week.
Then, it came back in a fury.

She was the worst she had ever been by Nolan's birthday.

Red red skin. And would just cry. For what seemed like hours.

I made an appointment with her doctor for the second time in a month.

She was developmentally on cue, but her skin was just terrible.

She was prescribed Hydrocortisone 0.5%

Something, I do not prefer using because it is a steroid... but it seemed to help almost immediately.

But after a while, it just seemed to adapt to whatever it was that i was using. I only bathed her once a week, and slathered her with the hydrocortisone often.

I was tiring of the process for her.
She hated it.
So I started to google natural remedies in the spare moments when she would nap during the day.
I came across an article in a Pediatric Journal that talked about simulating a chlorinated pool by adding 1-2tsp of bleach to her bath. Comments at the end of the article contested the safety of the eyes and getting rid of ALL bacteria {since the body has good bacteris too}.
But I was ready to try something.
Anything.

Later that night I started her bath, and added 2 tsp of bleach to the water.
I swirled the water with my hand and rubbed my fingers together.
It was slippery.
And it certainly smelled like I was sanitizing her little tub, not getting ready to actually wash her.

After a minute I just decided I would dip her in and see what she did. I had the water running in case I needed to rinse her off quickly. But instead, she proceeded to kick as usual. No side effects.
She was enjoying the water, and I was relieved.
I let her soak for about fifteen minutes before patting her dry.
Her skin was red. But it was always red after a bath.
I applied her hydrocortisone as usual and she dozed off to sleep.

The very next day, I saw amazing improvement. It was crazy how clear her skin was within just twelve hours.
I didn't have to apply her hydrocortisone for four days after that either! And that in itself was HUGE.

So needless to say, the bleach baths have become regular in our house. She gets one about every week to week and a half.
And we haven't looked back.
Nadie is actually sleeping four to five hours at night, and is mostly content throughout the day.

It has done wonders for the bags under my eyes!
And more importantly she is a complete joy to be around now.
Honestly.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter 2012!



Hey there little sprout!

Sprouts.

The wonderfully healthy wormlike little seedlings that you can add to salads, sandwiches, or just eat plain.

And I grew them myself.

In a Mason jar.

On my kitchen counter.

In four days.

Flat.

Want to know how easy it is?

Just follow this step by step guide.

Or if you choose to see a video, just google Mason jar alfalfa sprouts or something like that to be inundated with websites and youtube videos showing you how.

First things first.

The seeds.

I bought mine at the Natural Grocery store in the bulk section.

I got roughly 1/4 pound for a little over $2.

Next you need to find or buy a quart sized Mason jar. It needs to have an open top canning lid so you can replace the canning top with a screened one. Or you can use old pantyhose and a rubberband around the top too.

{I actually didn't have a screen and I didn't use pantyhose. And you don't have to, it just makes it a little easier to drain... but I'll explain that in a minute.}

Now that you have all the components, you are ready to start growing sprouts.

Begin by measuring 1 Tablespoon of the seedlings.

Next pour the little things into said Mason jar.

Then fill the Mason jar about 1-2 inches above the seeds and soak for 8-10 hours.

This is best done overnight. You put the water in before bed and then when you get up the next morning you just drain the water out.

This is where that screen comes in handy.

If you have one just tip the jar upside down and let the water pour out.

If you don't have one...

you can just use a paper towel and hold it tight to the lip of the Mason jar while the water streams out.

The seeds that end up on the paper towel just need to be "tapped" back into the jar. There might be a couple casualties each time. No big deal.

Next step is to simply rinse the seeds at two different times during the day.

{Best if you do it in the morning when you get up and then before you go to bed because it is easy to remember.} 

The first day they won't look much different. Maybe a little swollen.

By day two you will begin to see sprouting. Or as my kids called it "worms" beginning to show.

Day three the jar is starting to fill up.

And by day four or five you can visibly see that it is time to harvest and start the process again.

I laid mine out on a paper towel before storing them in a sandwich baggie in the fridge.

Excited to top my lunchtime sandwiches with these little guys.

Momma's Movie Theater

I told the kids Wednesday, that on Friday night I was going to do a "movie theater" at our house.

Just for them.

I would supply the tickets, the movie, the refreshments and the drinks.

They just had to do a couple simple jobs in order to get some "money" to come to my Movie Theater.

So.

Nolan swept.

Nevaly picked up.

They both helped carry their clothes up to their room to be put away.

They both wiped down the tables in the living room.

And dusted the TV dresser.

Then, last night we went to Walgreens and picked out some of their favorite treats.

Circus peanuts. Gummy worms and bears. Mike and Ike's. Suckers. And Sour Patch kids.

Then I Redboxed the movie Puss in Boots and Mr. Popper's Penguins.

We ate at Pizza Hut before heading home.

When we got home I had to feed Nadie, and then began to "set up" my ticket booth and concession stand.

Nevaly had of course fallen asleep on the short car ride home {because they both failed at taking a nap earlier in the day}, but I told Nolan to go and hide so he didn't see my Movie Theater yet.

He was so excited.

I made tickets out of some thin cardboard I had laying around.

I had ice cold water in the bottle.

I displayed the candy we had bought in perfectly portioned snack sized baggies so he could pick what he wanted, and could see everything easily.

I had three different mixing bowls for the sizes of popcorn I was "selling", from small to large.

I got him a little coin purse with real coins and a dollar inside, then told him to come in through the garage and up to the booth to buy his tickets.

He had the most adorable smile on his face when he saw what I had out.

I had used our seated bench in the hallway with cubbies underneath to put my display of goodies on.

It was the perfect size for him to stand in front of and choose what he wanted.

My brother called just as I was getting ready to ask Nolan what he wanted, so instead of answering it I put the phone ringer on silent and pretended that someone was calling about the movies and times for that evening.

Nevaly woke up just in time to get in line with her brother and play along.

They both bought a ticket to Puss in Boots that was starting at 8pm.

Then they both bought a bottle of water and their choice of candies.

I directed them to the couch and told them I would be bringing out their stove popped popcorn shortly, and that I would come around to collect their tickets.

They loved it.

They simply ate it up.

They were both so happy and Nolan kept saying "I like your movie theater, mom!"

{insert big beating heart melting into a puddle on the floor}

We let the previews play so we could pop the popcorn, and then came around to collect their tickets.

Then as the movie started, I told the Hub to crank up the volume so it really felt like we were at the movies. We turned down the lights and their evening at Momma's Movie Theater was underway.

Nolan periodically would turn around and tell me "thanks!" and that he "liked my movie theater" again.

I know they both really liked it, because this morning when they woke up the first thing they asked for was to do the movie theater again!

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures.

But since I know we will be doing this again {soon} I will try and snap a few next time.

Until then...