When you thought I wasn't looking.....

I was listening to our Christian radio station yesterday and Leslie Neese, one of the morning talk show hosts, read this poem below. It brought tears to my eyes as I thought of my precious girls and what an awesome God-given responsibility they are to me. As their mother, I want nothing more than for them to be all that God wants them to be. And to think I have a part to play in that...to teach their little hearts and minds and help them grow into great women of God. It's so neat because I already see how our Heavenly Father is drawing Emma in - asking and wanting to know more each and every day. And to hear her say "I love Jesus" just out of the blue just melts my heart (and I'm sure His too). Even though parenting can be frustrating at times, I need to step back more often and truly appreciate what a beautiful work God is doing in Emma & Aubrey.

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WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING

(Written by a former child)

A message every adult should read, because children

are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my

first painting on the refrigerator,

and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a

stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my

favorite cake for me and I learned that the little things can be the

special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a

prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always talk to and I

learned to trust in God.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a

meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I

learned that we all have to help take care of each

other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of

your time and money to help people who had nothing and

I learned that those who have something should give to

those who don't.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take

care of our house and everyone in it

and I learned we have to take care of what we are

given.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you

handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't

feel good and I learned that I would have to be

responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come

from your eyes and I learned that sometimes things hurt

but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you

cared and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I learned most of

life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and

productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you and

wanted to say,

"Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I

wasn't looking."

It's Winter, 70 Degrees & Sunny

It's still weird to think it's winter when you have warm days like we had today. I didn't have much work to do this morning and figured it would be a perfect day to escape to the park and have a picnic. Plus the kids needed to get outside and expend some energy.

Cool as a cucumber in her mellow-yellow John Lennon-looking shades
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The girls play so well together but Aubrey definitely wanted to be more daring on the big kid stuff with Emma. I had to hold her back a bit. Emma was good and joined Aubrey on the "baby stuff" too
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Food always tastes better outside while sitting on the grass. Aubrey enjoyed her first picnic.
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Taking time to smell the flowers...or uh er weeds.....weed flower :)
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There's a nice walking trail by the park we went to and along the way Emma gathered a collection of tiny little rocks - here she is showing them to me "Awww look mom...aren't they so cute?" Only a girl would call a rock "cute." I love it!
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Born sisters...Friends forever!

Today was perfect. The only thing missing was Jason.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Look how sweet - the sisters giving each other a Valentines smooch - I love Aubrey's face all squished up! This morning, Emma woke up before Aubrey and she kept asking to go get Aubrey. She wanted to play with lil sis who was still sleeping. Anyways, I thought that was sweet and had to share.I love this next picture. Aubrey is waving to the camera and saying "Hiiiiiii" in her sweet little voice. If only you could see her in person. She's growing up so fast and she is just so cute right now.

Emma actually took this picture - pretty good I thought.

Don't you just love the belly hanging out? Only when you're little
can you get away with that and it be considered cute.

I took this one of Emma and I holding one hand out - we're a little off centered
but it turned out cute. I'm hardly ever in any pictures with my girls.

One of my Valentine sweeties - taken before Preschool. She looked so cute decked out in her Valentine clothes but as soon as we got home they came off and the dress-ups went on. Oh well.

This was Emma enjoying her Chocolate Fondue for dessert. It was fun
and I think it's a Valentine tradition we'll keep :)

And last but not least (this was actually taken in the morning) - but this is typical Aubrey. She likes to do what I call "liquify" the food in her mouth. She either takes a way-too-big bite or puts too much in her mouth and then lets it sit there and turn to goo. Sometimes she swallows it but a lot of times it comes oozing out later. Ewwww - it's so gross. Especially the banana.

It's already been a week and a half since I last blogged - why can't I keep up with even a bi-weekly update: maybe our life just isn't all that exciting. Well last week, on my 33rd birthday, I came down with the flu and it hit me hard. In case your wondering....that was Aubrey's gift to me as she started with it 2 days earlier (although at the time we didn't know what was going on with her - just that we weren't getting a solid nights rest). Long story short, we're finally better and Monday was the first day I felt back to my normal self. We got a little bored being cooped up at home so Emma and I took some pictures of some doll house scenes to pass the time.

Baby is doing "tummy time" there on the blanket

Mom is cooking dinner while dad sips hot chocolate and eats cookies
Emma's hair has been getting really long lately and several other people have noticed as well, including her. Here she is showing me just how long. She keeps saying, "Mommy, I need to get my hair cut before it toucha my butt!" I think I am going to take her to my hair dresser for a cut. Silly girl.Oh - she was also pretending she was going to the pool - thus the swimsuit attire. This girl is ready for summer!!!

Miss Studious has really been into reading her books lately

OUR Dancing Princesses

We rented Barbie's 12 Dancing Princesses over the weekend. I think it has been watched at least 10+ times already. Here's some pictures of our princesses practicing their ballerina steps.

Coast [verb]: The intermittent practice of riding without moving the pedals and letting gravity or your momentum carry you along

Boy - I'm already a week behind in my blogging. I better get started and tell you about the adventure we had last weekend (Jan. 26th).
On Saturday morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the beautiful Appalachian Mountains on a quest to see snow and go tubing with friends. Although Charlotte doesn't do much for us as a city, it is centrally located whereby within 2 hours of driving, we can be in the mountains or at the beach. The best of both worlds. It was a nice drive and Jason and I were able to carry on a conversation that for the most part was uninterrupted (rare!). When we arrived at our snowy destination, Hawks Nest, which the locals refer to as "steep and cheap" (nice slopes but the lodge was a dump), we met up with our friends and had our lunch in the lodge. Then we put on the necessary layers and headed to the tubing area. Before they begin the tubing session, the staff goes over the rules and regulations. One of the things they tell you, is that you are to immediately get up as soon as you get down to the bottom (or pay the consequences of getting whacked by somebody else headed down behind you) - kind of hard to do when you've been going in circles about 25 times at 35 mph. (Every time Emma and I went down on the tube together we spun the entire way down...and the faster we went, the faster we spun). Then there was this conveyor belt (that you are instructed to stand perfectly still on) which takes you back up the hill - I felt like an egg being sent to be pasteurized. Then you get in line to go down again. There were 8 lanes but each session holds 150 spots so we were moving like a heard of cattle. The waiting stunk but we all had fun. It was a nice hill and the tubes went faaaasssstttt! For obvious reasons, Aubrey was too young to go on it so while we took turns taking Emma down the slope the other dragged Aubrey around in a tube. I can't believe this was the first time we even thought to go to the mountains. It was beautiful and quite honestly, despite loving the warm weather down here, we do miss the snow. We also want the kids to grow up seeing/playing in the snow as we both did as children. We vowed to go every winter from here on out (and several times if possible).

After our winter adventure, it was time to get changed and head out for dinner. We decided on Outback and our friends thought to do "call ahead" seating so we wouldn't have to wait. Good move because the kids were tired and hungry. Considering we had 4 kids and 4 adults, it was a pleasant meal all around. As we walked out of Outback, snow flakes were falling from dark night sky and it was magical to see (we don't see snow down here very often so humor us). We got into the van and needed to fuel up before heading home. But...instead of turning around, the driver (Jason) decided to get on our route home thinking we would pass one on the way. Well, about 2 miles or so into our trip home, we hadn't passed a gas station yet and our digital readout on the van read a big fat "0" on how many miles left. Zoiks!!! So we tried calling our friends who were ahead of us to alert them of our dire situation....to no avail. No cell service for a few miles. Mind you, we were driving on a skinny one lane road down the mountain. When we finally got through, we told them that if we suddenly started flashing our lights - we were out of gas. They also checked their GPS and the nearest gas station was still 8 miles away. So we coasted. Jason put the van in neutral and...well let me quote him on this one: "With God's help, I exhibited a feet of masterful driving that is yet to have been duplicated. Due to my intimate knowledge of a 6 cylinder engine, we drove 12 miles on a completely empty tank." I was praying the entire way and I have to say, God is good. He brought us to safety and out of a potentially dangerous situation (if the car had stalled on that one lane road...I don't even want to think about it). So...that was the tale of our Saturday last week....we coasted down the hill on a tube and a van. Jason has now promised that when we are that low on gas....just stop and fill up. Don't wait! God taught us a valuable lesson that day that will never be forgotten.

My Prince and I

On a regular basis, Emma talks about the life she will have one day with her prince and baby. Yes, I said baby (singular) not plural because "two babies would be too heavy to hold." She talks about them going to church, the zoo, shopping and what her baby will eat, wear, live, play etc. She's even talked about her wedding day (and she's already said that she wants to wear my wedding dress...I'm holding her to that one :-) ) It's all rather detailed and changes daily as her imagination continues to grow. Anyway, as we were driving today, Emma started talking about her prince and said that he will play with football stuff. I asked her if he would watch football on TV, to which she answered "yes." Then I asked her if she would watch it with him. She thought long and hard for a minute and then said "No, football is a boy show." Hee, hee, she cracks me up. Such a girl - already planning ahead for a husband and a family. She's so caught up in this whirlwind of life and love and a lot of what she imagines of course is what she sees through our life together. It's cute that she wants to experience what we have with her for her later life.
We had a rather yummy dinner and thought I would share it since it's easy, kid-friendly and healthy. We all like to have new ideas or a new twist to comfort food to feed our families. We all get tired of the same old boring stuff. So, from time to time, if I try something interesting, I'll post it for y'all (yes, the southern coming out in me) to try.

The Menu: Li'l Cheddar Meat Loaves with Sweet Potato Latkes & Edamame Beans (soy beans)
I usually buy Edamame pods because Emma loves to pop them into her mouth but this time I tried some frozen ones that we're already shelled. Don't knock them until you try them folks - they are delicious and kids love them! Just put sprinkle with a little salt.

Li'l Loaves (a new twist to old favorite)
1 egg
3/4 c. milk
1 c. shredded cheddar (I used mozzarella because it has less fat and it's what I had)
1/2 c. quick cook oats
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. lean ground beef
Mix well and form into 8-9 small loaves; place on a pam-sprayed 9x13 dish.
Topping: 2/3 c. ketchup, 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. mustard - mix and spoon over loaves. Bake uncovered at 350 for 40-45 min. (I do the ketchup topping a little different though - I add a little cider vinegar and a little less mustard).

Sweet Potato and Zucchini Latkes (from the South Beach Parties and Holidays cookbook)
1 medium zucchini (1/2 lb) ends trimmed
1 large sweet potato (3/4 lb), peeled
1/4 c. onion
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
3 T. canola oil
Unsweetened applesauce (optional)
Coarsely grate zucchini and potato in a food processor or with a hand grater; transfer to a medium mixing bowl. Add onion, egg, salt and pepper; stir to combine.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet (I used my electric skillet) over med-high heat. Working in batches, add mixture by heaping tablespoons to skillet, gently flattening with the back of the spoon as you go (I used my fingers - it's easier). Cook until golden (1-2 min.) and then flip and cook for another 2 min. The recipe says to drain on paper towels but I used only a little oil and didn't have the "oily" problem so I didn't need to do that. Serve hot with applesauce on the side if desired.