Something is kickin my butt.

So, I may or may not have strep. The test tonight was inconclusive, even though the nurse practitioner looked at my throat a split second and said "If you don't have strep, run me over with a bus." All I know for sure, is I feel like I have been run over by a bus. This is very inconvenient. I have spent two days letting begging my kids to watch movies over and over. (They've watched Bolt 3 times in 24 hours.) I'm way WAY behind in sewing. But tonight, I'm loading up on enormous amount of drugs. Pray I can get some sleep. Goodnight!

The Money Beets

First rule in road-side beet sales: Put the most attractive beets on top. Those that make you pull the car over and go, "Wow, I need this beet right now." Those are the money beets.

-Dwight Schrute

If you read Suzy's blog and wanted to go out and buy and roast beets right away be warned--hers were the money beets. This post is about how beets taste like dirt. Sorry Dwight.

The thing I love about being in an organic co-op and a farm box program is that it forces encourages us to try new fruits and vegetables. Ones we might end up loving. Kale, for one, I will try again. This week we got beets. I was optimistic. Then I was really excited when my friend Sarah (you know, the fellow sewing, cloth diapering, classical schooling, army wife married to a Jesse with a baby Adeline- that one) sent me the recipe for "Beet Cupcakes". I got so excited that I took pictures along the way, and planned on posting them "Pioneer Woman Style".

The verdict. It was exciting to make them. The pink batter was beautiful. The icing was delicious (of course! It was cream cheese frosting) and the cupcakes were OK, with the lovely aftertaste of. . . . dirt.

So, since I have no idea who would choose to make these and eat them and I scratched the whole photo tutorial idea.

But the kids actually liked them. Si, in particular, couldn't get enough batter OR cupcakes (even as "muffins" aka without frosting!) But I guess that's a two year old boy for you.

"Tastes like dirt?! Sure! I'll take two!"

New Glasses

I got new glasses this week-after about 7 years! And do you know what I like about these glasses? I think they make me look smarter. And sometimes I want to look smarter. Because I am smart. And I used to be really smart. It was my thing, my identity. But as I wheel four messy kids around the commissary I don't think I'm quite the picture of a National Merit Scholar anymore. That's just fine with me most of the time. But every once in a while, I just want people to know. And that's when you'll see me in my new glasses.

this is my serious face. I'm thinking of lots of smart things.

PS. Don't these pictures look great all spiffed up? My new favorite photo editor- picnik.com!

PSS. I'm going out on a limb writing about how smart I am in a post which undoubtedly includes plenty of grammtical errors. Don't judge me. I also birthed 4 kids in less than 6 years.

Sidewalk art

We had beautiful weather today, so the kids and I spent as much as possible of it outside. We created a chalk family we wanted everyone to see:

Here are the kids posing next to their chalk drawings:

And here's me, cause I just don't get many picture up of me:

And something else I thought you might want to see, if you've never been here in person: Our house! Here's the link to our Virtual Tour. Go check it out, and if you know anyone moving to the area. . . .

http://www.coldwellbankerplatinum.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MLSNumber=56976&PRM_MlsName=SavannahGA&VAR_AgentCode=darleysh&VAR_OfficeCode=Abercorn&showBack=yes

The post where I am guilty of feeding my kids too much fast food

Josiah is starting to love drawing with markers. Sometimes he paints each of his fingernails. But sometimes he draws something recognizable. Today, he said, "LOOK! MOM!! I drew McDonalds!!!!"

Yes, he did

Then he said. "Now I'm going to make McDonald's happy." Huh?

Here it is, a happy McDonalds.

Beach Games

Realizing that my time on the coast is limited, I decided to take the kids to the beach today. So, after surprising them with the news this morning, we headed off to Hilton Head (I wanted to stay as far away from this as possible.) We made a quick stop at Target for sand toys (because He-Who-Stuffs-Things-When-He-Cleans put ours in the attic where I can't reach them and then left town) and another stop at the brand new Crocs Outlet (I know! Cool!) to pick up our summer shoe staples. This took waaaayyyy longer than it should because of one little four year old who will be impossible to handle as a teenager. The girl broke down in tears because she couldn't find a Croc she liked. Mind you, this is the OUTLET. There is every color, every style, every size of every Croc ever made. Mary Janes, Sandles, Flip flop, Crocs with holes, Crocs without holes, in every shade of the rainbow lining the walls. We tried on pair after pair. She didn't like the feel, she said. She wasn't happy buying them and she wasn't happy knowing she wouldn't get any. In the end, I picked out a cheap pair and placed it on the counter. By this time, it didn't matter to Ella because she was in full can't stop the crying mode. We got to the car, she got a spanking and apologized to me, Sam, and Si, took a drink of water, and was good to go. The crocs were not expensive, but the cost me plenty of sanity!

By the time we made it to the beach, via the piggly wiggly for the easiest lunch i could think of-lunchables (I was wrong) we only had about an hour before exhaustion meltdowns occur. One hour of Si kicking sand and throwing sand and Addie eating sand. But it really wasn't too bad. And we'll do it again, with a little better planning.

More on our Little Lou

Yes, I believe in the Christan doctrine of original sin. I agree with my pastor that our children are fighting for control of our homes the minute they are brought home from the hospital. The thing is, until this last month, I kind of suspected that Adeline did not share the rest of humanity's fallen nature. Ooooh she's just so cute and sweet and, sure, she cries and doesn't want to be with anyone but me, but can you blame her? And yes, she never took a bottle, but, hey, is it really sinful? Like I said. . . until, this last month.


The girl is showin' her wild side. Her stubborn side. Her "I want it now" side. Our dinner struggles in that high chair have worn me out! She will climb out of every strap and stand up over, and over, and over again--one time I counted 20minutes straight of standing in the high chair and being corrected every 6 seconds.

But oh, she is fun to be around. She won't stop for a second, even trying to "eat and run"- not real pleasant for Mom. She bobs her head to the music and has HUGE grins for her siblings when they say hello. She waves and points and gives "high fives". Oh! And she has mastered the sippy cup! A light at the end of the tunnel! I've enjoyed seeing her attachment to her "lovey"--a little blanket. And her fun crawling around our bed. The nursery workers have discovered her love for Cheerios--she eats all day long on Sunday, but it keeps her happy.

So I guess a lot has happened this month for Addie. We treasure these days, while praying that our sweet baby (and all our sweet children) will see their sinful heart subdued by sovereign grace early in their lives.--

see how I tied that in with the beginning? Even though I've written this post on and off all day. . .

Happy Birthday, Sweet Adeline!

PS. I think these pictures from tonight show a little of her feistiness. I originally wanted to take her picture in this sweet vintage dress of my mother's, but she wouldn't hold still for a minute, hence the half-clothed shots above. She wants to eat my camera. This is all I got of that pretty little dress:

It really can't be the 15th already

No, she is not. Shut. up. There is no way my teeny baby is 11months old today. There is no way that her next birthday post will be her first birthday. And there's no way she's really doing this:

It's just a trick. Special effects. CGI. She isn't standing, because she's just a teeny baby.

That's all i can handle for tonight, folks. Let me live in denial just one more day, and tomorrow I'll come back and tell you all about Addie Lou and what she's done this month. Besides, she just texted me and told me she was ready for bed.

Aren't they too young for this?

A conversation we had while dropping Sam off for a playdate.

Sam: Sloan has Mario Kart on Wii.

Ella: The other Ella in my Sunday School class has a Wii too.

Sam: EVERYONE in our Sunday School has a Wii.

Ella: Yeah, EVERYONE got one for their birthday.

Josiah: EVERYONE.


I really thought I had a couple more years before the Wii peer pressure kicked in.

Spoiler Alert

And I'm talkin' grandparents, not LOST.

Ella Rosie brought this paper home yesterday and I had a good laugh. Her teacher is great and writing E's exact answers so here they are in italics.

If I could go on a trip, I would go to. . . my Mimi's and Grandma's

I would get there by traveling in a . . . car, I always do that.

Once I was there, I would like to. . . play with her toys downstairs (dolls, school stuff). . . play dinosaurs. . . . EAT HER PIZZA. . . .ICECREAM. ... COOKIES. . . BROWNIES.


I guess I have to admit that's what I like to do there too.

Menu Planning

Tuesday: Brown Sugar Chicken, rice and green beans (forgot to thaw the chicken last night)

Wednesday: pizza

Thursday: Party supper! Spinach Sausage Artichoke Dip with chips, Sisters Rolls with some Zaxby's chicken on it, maybe a veggie pizza.. . .

Friday: Chicken Enchiladas

Saturday: Burgers, veggies and dip, baked beans

Sunday: Cheese Tortellini with Spaghetti Sauce.

We are now leaving Sleepytown

Recovering from a cold and a whirlwind week selling my tees at the Coastal Kids Market. This 5lb bag of Ugly Mug coffee arrived at the perfect time. Mmmmm.

Menu Planning

Just a quick menu plan before I head out to the store. Busy week, since it's the beginning of Coastal Kids Market and our church's Missions Conference.

Tonight: Jess has the kids. . . better think of something. . . pigs in a blanket?

Thursday and Friday--dinner at church courtesy of the Barretts. Yum.

Saturday: Tacos--easy peasy.

Sunday: ham and cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.

Monday: this brown sugar chicken in the crockpot with rice and salad. The only meal of the week that requires any work or thought.


This is what my bedroom looked like during the last Coastal Kids Market, so I guess I'm doing pretty well this time around. Off to tag some tees!

get ready to squeal and giggle and then say "they grow up so fast."

I found these pictures the other day and fell in love all over again.

They are even more meaningful when I remember that they were taken very soon after Jess redeployed from his 12 months in Iraq. 17month old Ella has barely known her daddy here, but he has won her heart.