Tiny Talk Tuesday

A: "I want to go down to the basement to jump and jump all by your big girl self."

(we have a bouncy house in the basement...best $40 we ever spent).

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Mommy: "Adeline, do you want watermelon or grapes?"

A: "First I would like wa-melon then cookies."

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We are working on getting Adeline to stay in her big-girl bed. Our rule generally is that if we find her out of bed, she has to go in her baby crib for a few minutes (which she hates and usually causes a tantrum, but she's confined and she gets the point). About a week ago, Patrick put her in the crib and she didn't cry. She started to not see this penalty as such a bad thing. SO, being the astute parents we are, we came up with plan B. We decided we would take something she likes such as her paci or bunny and keep them for a few minutes AND put her in the crib. The first night, Patrick explained the rules to her. Later that evening, Patrick finds her in the hallway and says...

P: "Adeline, what are you doing out of bed?!?"

A: Hands her daddy her paci and says, "I go baby crib."

Sigh...back to the parental drawing board.

Head over to Mary's blog to read about more tiny talkers.

Orzo and Corn off the Cob

It has been a while since I've posted a recipe, partially because I'm so bad at remembering to take pictures when I cook.

This is the first recipe I want to pull out of hiding when summer hits.  The corn was sweet and delicious (and finally a good price) at our local grocery store last week, and I couldn't wait to use the nifty new Pampered Chef gadget I purchased to cut corn off the cob (I highly recommend it...cuts way down on the mess of corn milk that squirts everywhere when using a knife).  I used fresh herbs I am growing on my deck, and I had half of three peppers (red, yellow, and orange) from a recipe a few days ago, so I used them instead of just the red pepper called for in the recipe.  This can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold.  It's delicious however you choose to eat it.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Orzo and Corn off the Cob

4 ears fresh ears of corn

1 1/4 cups Orzo pasta

1 med red sweet pepper, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup finely snipped fresh basil

1/4 cup finely snipped fresh parsley

1/4 cup olive oil

2 TBSP white wine vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Cut the corn kernels off the cob (should have about 2 cups).  Set aside.  Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling.  Add the orzo and cook, stirring occasionally for 8-9 min until tender, adding the corn during the last 3 min of cooking.  drain well and place in a large serving bowl.  Add the other ingredients and toss to combine.

Camille's Sunday Finest Debut!

Here are Camille's Sunday Finest pictures from the past two weeks.  Last week I forgot to take Adeline's picture before changing her, and this week she wanted NOTHING to do with the camera.  Oh well...

I bought this dress in Pakistan from a school for handicapped kids.  They learned the trade of embroidery so they could support themselves.  They did BEAUTIFUL work, and it was cheap!  I bought this before I even knew Patrick was on the planet, and I didn't find it until after Adeline had outgrown it.  What a blessing to wear it on my daughter and remember my time in Pakistan.

What I've Been Reading...

If I really want to track what I am reading, I really need to do these posts more often.  I haven't done one since the beginning of the year!

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer looks at the fundamentalist Mormon church.  The stories of young girls being forced into pluralistic marriages with men three times their age (sometimes even with a stepfather or adoptive father who raised them) is appalling and shocking.  There are stories of violence and even justifying murder through their faith.  I realize this is not the story of the mainstream Mormon church.  Just as you could find people who misinterpret the Bible and take their beliefs to an extreme that is not true of the majority of those practicing Christianity, this book is focusing on an extreme sect of Mormons.  However, the book also discusses Joseph Smith (who is described as a charming but drug addicted, convicted con man) and the founding of the Mormon faith which is applicable to a greater majority of those professing belief in this religion.  Krakauer combines history with current news reports and interviews with modern day fundamentalists (two who are convicted murderers).  Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys religious history and can stomach a bit of graphic violence.

 

Too Good to Be True by Michael Horton was my book club's selection for May, and it is the only one of the year that I didn't finish...not because it wasn't worth reading but because I was 9 months pregnant, low on energy and brain cells, and unable to commit the mental energy required to process the theological truths it contains.  Actually, there were several in our group that did not finish it (which is rare), but those who did said you NEED to read the end before you can evaluate it or really get the point.  So, I will stop this review here until a time when I am better able to review this work.

I will confess, I was one of those who never planned to read the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.  I saw and enjoyed the first three movies, but as the story continued to get darker, I couldn't see how I would benefit from reading them.  There has been much controversy surrounding them in Christian circles (which is exactly why Patrick wanted to read them....he likes to find out for himself what all the hype is about).  I took the road of just avoiding them.  Then my book club selected the first book as one of our selections.  I found it to be an enjoyable story that was extremely well written.  Our discussion helped me to see that the series should not be discounted based on the magic and evil it contains (CS Lewis's Narnia series and Lord of the Rings both contain storybook magic).  What matters is the worldview presented, and in these books, evil is clearly evil, and good is clearly good.  The author does not try to paint sinful acts such as defiance, lying, or cheating to get ahead as acceptable or admirable.  The "good" characters portray characteristics that we would all want our children to model.

Unless you have been living in a cave, you know they gist of what these books are about, so I will not bore you with a summary.  I have read the first four so far, and I plan to read the last three.  If you have read the series or have been avoiding it, I would love to hear your opinions and reasons.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a memoir worth reading.  I love the review written by Brangien Davis on Amazon, so I will quote him rather than writing my own....  

"Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover."

For those of you who are Spurgeon fans, Bright Days, Dark Nights is a must read.  A women's group at my church discussed this book chapter by chapter.  Elizabeth Skogland spent years reading Spurgeon sermons, pulling out his thoughts on difficulties such as anxiety, depression, loneliness,  and change.  Spurgeon himself struggled through times of extreme emotional pain.  This book is 90% quotes from Spurgeon, and 10% the writing of Skogland.  Here are a few quotes from the chapter on anxiety...

"The Lord knows your troubles by His tender foresight before they come to you; He anticipates them before Satan can draw the bar.  The Preserver of men will put His beloved beyond the reach of the arrow.  Before the weapon is forged in the furnace and fashioned on the anvil, He knows how to provide us with...that which will turn the edge of the sword and break the point of the spear."

"Instead of forebodings and fears, there seems to me cause for hte brightest expectations, if we can only fall back upon the divine promise, and believe that God, even our own God, shall yet, in this very age bless us as he was wont to do in days of old."

"A certain class of persons are greatly gifted with the mournful faculty of inventing troubles...They feel certain about this dreadful thing and that, and fret accordingly.  None of these things have happened to them yet, and in the judgment of others they are less likely to happen now than ever they were, but yet they convert their suspicions into realities, and torture themselves with them though they be but fancies..."

Anyone else been reading anything recently that they would like to recommend?

Christopher's Photographs

We had such fun last Friday, getting together with our friends, Christopher and Rosie, and their two boys, Michael and Justin (each a few months older than our girls).  Christopher has been a videographer for years, but in the past few years has branched out to photography as well.  He offered to take some pictures of me and the girls (hoping to capture something similar to the one I have of Adeline and me when she was 6 weeks old), and we had SUCH fun!  Here is a sampling of what he captured...

...and I'm not even going to show you the one I chose to use for Camille's baby announcements (yet).

...and THEN, there are the jaw dropping, AMAZING shots of my precious, blue eyed Adeline.

...and lest you think this was easy, here is what happened when we tried to get a group shot.  Everyone was "all done" at this point.  Yes, sometimes the candids are the most fun.

Thanks Christopher (and the entire Apperson family).  We had a blast!

Me and my girls

Getting a decent family picture has just reached a whole new level of difficult...

Wordless Wednesday---Found this in grandma's room...

Adeline Pictures

Because it took me a while to figure out how to use our scanner, I am only now posting these pictures. These are from when she was 18 months old (I remember those curls....sigh). My favorite is the bottom right.

2 yo pictures...

Mommy (between wardrobe changes):

"Adeline, where's your belly button?"

YES!!!

Sisters

The first time my girls met, Adeline was gentle and timid.  She climbed in the hospital bed beside mommy and talked about her "baby sister."  She touched her gently and even gave her a kiss on the head.  She didn't want to hold her or get too close.  She was just taking it all in....

Soon she wanted daddy, and then she became more interested in the bus parked outside the window than in any of us in the room.

Adeline has not demonstrated many signs of jealousy.  I try to still give her lots of snuggles and kisses and tell her all the time how much I love her.  She says "Hi baby Camille" every morning.

  Adeline had a fever after we were home for a few days, so we had to avoid kisses with Camille.  One morning while I was nursing, Adeline came in....

A:  Hi mommy

Me: Hi Adeline

A: Hi baby Camille

Me:  She says hi Adeline

A:  I want to kiss her.

Me:  Honey, you are a little bit sick so you can't give her kisses right now.  Do you want to blow her some kisses?

A:  Blows Camille a kiss and then walks closer and kisses the back of her head.  Then to top it off, she nuzzled her cheek next to Camille's soft baby hair and says, "baby sister."

Melt my mommy heart!

For the most part, Adeline has been very gentle.  She loves to give and get hugs and kisses, so we have to make sure Camille doesn't get smothered sometimes.

When Camille cries, Adeline says, "Mommy, get her." or "She needs milk."

If I am playing with Adeline or tucking her in for a nap and I need to check on baby Camille, Adeline never complains.  She says, "okay."  I am amazed by her grace and maturity.  I am so blessed by both of my sweet girls.

Some days...

...are just easier than others.  One of my best friends told me (after her first child) that some days the only thing she got done was taking care of her baby.  I took that advice to heart and tried to remember that it is okay if the checks do not appear on my things to do list every day.  Tuesday was one of those days.  Camille had a rough night on Monday, and she needed held most of the day on Tuesday.  Adeline was a bit clingy too, and I just couldn't get anything done.

Then, God blessed me with Wednesday.  By 9 am I WAS SHOWERED and dressed, I bathed Camille, and both girls were in their daytime clothes.  Everyone was fed, the bed was made, and I folded and put away a load of laundry.  I KNOW!!!  As if that wasn't enough, Camille took a three hour nap in her swing, allowing me to clean up the kitchen and spend some quality time with Adeline (who ate lunch and went down for a nap without incident).  Then, I nursed Camille and took a little nap with her.  I felt so good, Adeline and I even made cupcakes later that afternoon.  It felt so good to have an organized and clean home for Patrick when he came home...not that he complains otherwise, but it was just nice.  Thank you, Lord, for days like Wednesday to make me feel like super mom, and thank you for Tuesdays that remind me whose I am and where my strength lies.

Wordless Wednesday

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Adeline is talking SO much these days.  I am amazed by how she is using sentences, and she has always had amazing annunciation.  Here are some of the cute things she said recently...

1.  We taught Adeline to fold her hands to pray (because when she was one she didn't understand why mommy and daddy were "restraining" her hands when we tried to hold them).  Several months ago, we tried the family holding hands thing again, and she loved it.  Sometimes, she still automatically reverts to folding her hands when we say, "Let's pray to Jesus."  The other night at dinner, Adeline had her hands folded, and Patrick and I put out our hands and asked her if she wanted to hold hands with mommy and daddy.  She said...

Adeline:  "I'm holding Adeline's hands."

2.  Two days after we were home from the hospital....Camille is fussing in her swing.

Adeline:  (with her head tilted and an "I'm going to teach you something" voice...)  "Mommy, she needs some milk."

3.  Me:  "Adeline, can you give mommy your paci, please?"

Adeline:  "No, mommy, I want to suck on it.  Doooon't bite it.  Suck on it."  

4.  Pretty much anything that beeps, whistles, or makes a loud noise is not on Adeline's happy list.  On a daily basis, she reminds us....

Adeline:  "Lawnmowers are noisy.  I don't like the lawnmowers.  I don't like the ambulance.  I don't like the ice cream truck."

5.  Prayers....Thank you Jesus for...

vitamins, milk, pizza, and baby Camille.   

Head over to Mary's blog to read about more tiny talkers....