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on earth as it is in heaven

This video was just too adorable to not share.

An unexpected birthday celebration

Monday was my dear husband's birthday. One year older. I just love birthdays. They make me feel like a little kid again. Andy doesn't have the same enthusiasm about them as I do, but he still had a great time celebrating his birthday with those he loves. Since we were in Ohio, we were able to celebrate his birthday with family and our favorite friends around. It was such a nice evening.

I made Chicken Cilantro Enchiladas for everyone for dinner along with a side of Vigo rice and beans. The enchiladas recipe was the best one that I've tried yet. It's a pretty inexpensive meal if you're able to get the chicken on sale, or use a whole chicken. Here's the recipe:

The bonus to this recipe is that you can make extra and throw it in you freezer for future use.

tomorrow, we get to try it all over again

Yesterday I got pretty exhausted with mothering. It was just one of those days where things keep happening one after another. As much as I love having an infant, there are times that can be really trying on me. Owen was so run down from being over tired yesterday that he had quite the meltdown. Deacon, too, was acting very much his age when I tried to take him (and Owen) shopping. That was a bad idea. One should never attempt shopping with a grumpy two year old and two month old.

When we were at the store, Deacon saw a soccer ball on the ground and insisted on me bouncing it. Well, soccer balls don't bounce very well. D didn't really like that. Then he wanted to get out of the cart (or buggy as they say in SC) and hold the ball. He held the ball and started pacing around the store saying "find basket". I found a real basket and told him to put the ball inside the basket. But D said "scared basket". For some reason the basket frightened him. Then I had to go to the grocery store to buy some beer for Andy's birthday. It's special beer you can only get in Ohio. I must have looked so strange with a toddler in the cart (but trying very hard to climb out) and a baby in the sling and my 12 pack of beer. But we made it through the check-out. They didn't even card me, I must be getting old!

This morning the boys were back to their joyful selves. Smiling and playing like two sweet, normal children. They are both taking naps now and the house is eerily quiet. I'm thankful for good nights of sleep and new mornings. When they smile at me, I seem to forget all about the stress they put me through the day before.

waiting for that phone call

It's the call that you dread, but you know is coming.  I just got that call.  Andy's Grandfather has gone home to be with the Lord.  He was an amazing man and a tremendous example to Andy and his family.  He will be so greatly missed.  We were so fortunate to be able to spend time with him, really on his last day that he was really well last Monday.  That's when I took this great picture of him with his newest great-grandson, Owen.  We Love you, Papa Sam.  We look forward to seeing you in glory.

My to do list

So, I keep on reading different sites that make me want to make things. I'm going to jot them down here so that I know where to look when I actually get around to doing them.

Make White Bean Soup

Dye Play Silks with Kool-Aid -this one would be great to do with my sisters next time we get together

Rainbow in a Bag

A Pillow like this - Maybe a good one to handsew on a roadtrip

Fabric Balls 

T-Shirt Stencils -These are way too cool!

three ball cascade

We are on a two hour delay here at my house. Everybody went to bed last night two hours later than normal, woke up later, ate later etc. I'm still in shock that it is already 3:30 in the afternoon. I just finished lunch! Things in our house have been a little bit strange lately. We got back from our Ohio trip almost a week ago. South Carolina weather has been so great. We were even able to spend a good bit of Saturday doing some spring cleaning while the boys took wonderfully long afternoon naps. I can now see most of the floor and walls of the sun room of our house. This is quite an accomplishment.

I've been really jealous of Andy lately because he could juggle so well. Deacon really likes to watch him juggle things and often hands him three balls to juggle. When Andy wasn't around, he would ask me to juggle and I would try to throw two balls in the air, my sorry excuse for juggling. Eventually, I would actually try to juggle and fail miserably time and time again. After chasing balls all over the house, under couches and chairs, i decided that I wouldn't learn to juggle without some proper juggling balls. So I got some balloons and rice and made my own juggling balls. I even enlisted Deacon's help with making them. He thought it was so much fun. I wouldn't say I'm a pro, but I have been practicing for a few days now. I am not too shabby... for a girl.

Love was in the air

On Saturday night, we had the privilege of attending the wedding of our friends Luke and Kira.  It was a great time filled with so much love and laughter.  I just love how much fun people had at the reception.  Here in the south, they know how to do a wedding reception up right.  I think it's all about the appetizers and just floating around from table to table to visit with all the guests.  Everyone seemed so very joyful there.  We were all happy for the couple too.  We were able to watch their love grow basically from the beginning.

I was filled with pure glee on Sunday afternoon when I made the boys matching elephant shirts.  The house was really quiet so I found some time to spend at the sewing machine.  I took a cue from an Etsy seller that I found and embellished some white T-shirts.  I thought they turned out pretty good for an amateur sewer.   Having two boys is going to be so very much fun!

This evening I am playing a house show at a dear friend's house in Ohio.  I'm really excited about it.  Since our car is so small, we opted to not bring up my guitar.  I get to borrow a friend's Taylor though and I'm really enjoying playing it.  I'm also borrowing a digital recorder so I'm going to try to get a recording that I can post on here.  Andy is going to play some percussion with me also.  I think it will sound really nice.

a treat for a rainy day

Today, the weather was rather icky and wet.  Even though I don't spend tons of time outside with the little ones, I hate it when I don't even have the option.   But Deacon and I decided to have some of our own fun in the kitchen.  I don't often bake sweets because they are too hard to resist.  But I love this recipe for whole wheat biscotti.  The ingredients are things I always have in the house and they don't make a big mess.  Plus, unlike traditional cookies, just one leaves you completely satisfied.  I found this recipe on a cooking website, but I'll just post it here with my own changes.

Whole Wheat Biscotti

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/4 t. almond extract - or you can use more vanilla if you don't have it, but I think the almond tastes better.

*optional- cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips, dried fruit, and/or nuts

Steps:

Heat oven to 350.  Mix dry ingredients.  Add remaining ingredients (reserving cinnamon sugar), mix well (with your hands).  In a 9x13" greased pan or cookie sheet, form a big flat log.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top (if using).  Bake for 30 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes.  Slice 3/4" intervals.  Cook in oven for 10 min on its side.  Turn it to the other side and bake another 10 minutes.  Cool completely and store in airtight container or ziplock bag.  It should be good for a week or two.

If you really want it to look pretty, you can drizzle melted chocolate on the top after they've cooled.  It was too much work for me today so I just baked it with chocolate chips.

You'll love the way your house smells like vanilla and almond after baking these!

you see colors differently than me

My son is a genius. Of course, I believe this because I am his mother. But it is true. Deacon always amazes Andy and me with how quickly he can pick up new concepts. He has all his letters and numbers down cold. But there's one area that he isn't so bright with and that is colors. Deacon has quite a few books on colors and even though he loves to read them, he just can't grasp which color is which. Then it started to make me wonder, what if he is colorblind. So Andy and I started to watch him closely as he interacts with crayons, paints, and books. We were always quizzing him on colors and he was always getting them wrong -especially red and green. He often says that the red crayon is green.

My father is colorblind. So is just about every male in his family. So I knew it was a possibility. Actually, I came to find out that my sons have a 50% chance of being colorblind. I don't see this as a disability though, my father is an accomplished chemical engineer who usually had no problems with his colorblindness. Occasionally, he would ask for our advice when dressing himself.

So here's something interesting: new research suggests that women who carry the colorblindness gene but aren't colorblind actually have an extra cone in their eye. This could mean that I actually see more colors than the average person. The funny thing is that I would never know what normal is to compare it with. And likewise, colorblind people won't know how normal people see things either.

I found this post by a guy who is red/green colorblind like my dad and possibly Deacon. There are more picture comparisons on there. I found it quite interesting.

I think there may be a song in here somewhere.

ahhhhhh

There are three sounds that you'll hear in our house quite often. First, you will hear the whistle of the kettle telling us that the water is boiling. Second, you will hear the whir of our coffee grinder turning our whole coffee beans into coarsely ground goodness. And finally, you will hear the beep of our timer telling us the coffee is ready. Some mornings, the time from when we combine the grounds and the hot water (200 degrees exactly) to the time (four minutes exactly) the coffee is ready to drink feels like an eternity. But I must say, we make the best coffee. There is really nothing like it. I'm so thankful to the girl that Andy dated before me who introduced him to the french press method of brewing coffee. We have never done well with drip machines. In fact, the machine that we had was actually infested with roaches. I guess that's what you get if you leave something that retains moisture on your counter in South Carolina.

In the mornings while Deacon and I eat breakfast, he'll often ask for coffee. He has been watching us drink it for 2 years now and since we are his heroes, he wishes to drink it also. I usually give him a small espresso cup to drink just a little bit of coffee and lots of milk. I know that he feels really cool when he drinks it. And after he takes each sip, he lets out a satisfying "ahhhhh" sound. Just like is mama and papa do while they drink their first cup of the day.

Thank-you, God, for coffee.