My Favorite 3 Year Old

This boy is my favorite 3 year old. He is very sweet and cuddly. He is always quick to say "I sor mommy." He is always keeping me on my toes because you never know what he is going to get in to next! I love him with all of my heart......

Even when he refuses to completely potty train!! He is partially potty trained. By that I mean that he will do #1 in the potty but not #2. I know, TMI!! But that is my life right now. Continually trying to get him to do #2 in the potty. I am convinced that he will be wearing Pull Ups to kindergarden.

Yes, we all feel like this son!! Go to the bathroom already so that we can move on with our lives!!!

But then he grabs my hand and says "Help me mommy. I cant walk tru this snow wit-out you!" And we walk hand in hand through the 7 inches in the snow from the front yard to the backyard so that we can go play with Old Oliver. (the name that L gave him BTW) And it is at these moments that I want another baby just like him! :-)

And then he poops in his pants and all thoughts of another baby are forgotten!

Great Great Grandma

Ethan is always complaining about being cold after his bath. Never mind the fact that he does not like the water to be one degree to warm. The water must be the perfect temperature of lukewarm, warm enough to not be considered cold, but not anywhere near hot. CRAZY!! The things that we do to please our kids. ANYWAY........the other night while E was complaining about being cold, I remembered something that was in my closet. This robe was made for Cale by his great grandmother, Granny Gregory to be exact. It was a little bit big for him, but it kept him warm while I was getting his pj's together. Such a neat thing to have for our boys to see. (and use!!)

Bible Story Books

Since I had my first baby 6 years ago, I have been on the search for a good Bible book to read to my kiddos! We have bought a few through the years but I have found them lacking in many ways.

This was the first book that we bought. It is pretty good. There are many interesting facts to go along with the stories and good application questions that you can ask your kids at the end. My problem was that it left out quite a bit of information and that the stories are written so that Moses is telling his own story so he uses "I" and "me" throughout the story. Very confusing!!
This book is meant to be read every day. Good idea!! The problem was that they broke down the stories over three or four days!! My boys didnt want to stop at just one page. They also left out alot of information in the stories.

Cale's mom got this book for Ethan for his birthday. So far it has been very good. It is basically reading straight from the Bible, but there are pictures to go along with the stories. Some of the wording goes over their head, so we have to stop and explain what is going on. I would rather do that than have to fill in a bunch of things that the book left out!!

Here is a picture from the book. This is the story of Noah and the ark.

The one funny thing about this book is that Jesus has blonde hair!! I am hoping that the reasoning behind this is to make him stand out from the other people! It is REALLY bright!

I cant believe it!

E.!!!!

So precious! This is one of my all time favorites!!

The Made Man!! And of course the Passy!! So cute!

Please dont tell me I am so cute Mom!! And not another picture!!!

Early summer tan!!

My sweet boy!!

I cannot believe that you are so big!! I love you so much E! I love birthdays because they take me back to the special day when God gave me you. You are a miracle and have already done more in your six years than we ever thought possible. God has proven Himself over and over to me, through your life. You are so amazing and I cannot wait to see what God plans to do through you. My prayer is for you to find Him and follow Him with all of your heart.

Baked Oatmeal

Everyone knows that we are supposed to eat our oatmeal. It is heart healthy, blah, blah, blah. My only problem with it is that I cannot stand the stuff. I have tried it with butter and sugar, with brown sugar, cooking it in apple juice instead of water/milk, and my MIL eats with with salt. Anyway you fix it I cannot eat it! So how am I supposed to eat this superfood and get all of the benefits (high fiber, protein, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, thiamine, and the kitchen sink!!) that it contains??? I am so glad that you asked! :-)

This is my solution for oatmeal. It has blueberries and peaches and walnuts added to it. And it is baked instead of cooked on the stove top. When I eat it I am also getting other superfoods in the blueberries and walnuts! I feel so healthy! Maybe I will go eat a Snickers just to balance everything out! Ha!

Kid approved!! ( I think that he just wanted his picture taken!!)

The leftovers can be refrigerated and used the next day!! Just add a little milk to them and pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.

*****Thank you to my SIL Laura for making this wonderful dish on Christmas and for sharing the recipe with me. You have saved me from a lifetime of eating disgusting oatmeal!!!

Baked Blueberry and Peach Oatmeal

3c. old fashioned oats

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 egg whites

1 egg

1-1/4 c. canola oil

1 t. vanilla

1 can (15oz.) sliced peaches in juice, drained and chopped

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/3 c chopped walnuts

*In a large bowl combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk the egg whites, egg, milk, oil and vanilla; add to dry ingredients and stir until blended. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in peaches and blueberries.

*Transfer to an 11 x 7 in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Funny Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

I did not believe this was real when Cale showed it to me, but it is kind of funny. If you have already seen this video I am sorry for being redundant.

Naptime

Ahh....Naptime. My sweet boy still loves his naps. He has been trying to stay up lately, but is not being successful. He caves every time. I think the thing that I love most about this picture is the way that he is clinging to that Teddy Bear. He cannot go to sleep with out it and you can not pry it from his hands when he is asleep. And should he ever wake up in the night and come to our bed he brings the bear and now his new tractor pillow from Aunt Hope and Cousin Amy. He loves that pillow. You can kind of see it in the top left hand corner of this picture. I treasure this time in my life because I know that he will not always be the cuddly little boy that loves his naptime and his teddy bear. So Sweet!!

First Snow of the Year

We started January off with snow! We had so much fun playing in the snow, making a snowman, making snow angels and having snowball fights. L even like eating the snow! After we did all of that we went in the backyard and played with "old" Oliver. (as L likes to call him) Oliver LOVED the snow. He would sniff around and bring his nose up full of snow so that he looked like he had a beard. He did this so much that the hair around his mouth was full of icicles! We felt sorry for him during all of the cold weather and let him stay in the garage through the nights. Anyway, the weather is warmer now and I can be thankful for all that! I thought that I was never going to get warm with all of the snow and ZERO degree temperatures that we were having!! Happy Winter!!

I started a blog!!

Okay, so I have put this off, for a while, but now I am going to try and blog. Hopefully this will be a way for me to document our family life. I read about having a blog book made, and I am thinking that maybe if I can organize my blog then I can just turn it into a book and not have to do any scrapbooking.....which I can not stand doing! Anyway, we will see how this goes!