Awesome apple pie

I made an awesome apple pie today with Ryan. I wanted to share my recipe finds with you.

This is where I found the pie crust recipe. It was the first pie crust (for an apple pie) that didn't taste like cardboard. Yay! I don't have a big food processor and just used my Kitchen Aid mixer.

Apple pie filling is pretty easy to make, but I used the apple pie recipe featured on McDougal's website (it's down the page a little). McDougal's is where we pick our apples. The only thing I changed was how I cut up my apples. Thin sliced cooks down too much for me. I don't like apple sauce pie, so I cut my apples a little thick.

Enjoy!

Timmy!

This afternoon, we tried to put both kids down for a nap at the same time. Tim protested. He threw out everything in his crib. His beloved blanket, his bear, Duke, pillow, sippy cup and even his diaper. Yes, his diaper. He took it off and threw it out of the crib. I would have never known had he not been screaming "mama," which made me want to go check on him. When I got there, I was shocked to see a bare-bottomed kiddo in his crib. I took a photo and sent it to Adam on his phone. He noticed Tim was missing a sock at first, not that he was missing his diaper.

Websites

Here are two websites that I go to often, for two very different reasons.

The first is Letter of the Week. My mom told me about it and we've started the three year old curriculum for Ryan. We're only on letter B, but he seems to be very excited about "school work." I hope it lasts! There's ideas for things to do with younger and older kids and I love it! I wanted to do some preschool stuff with him this year. Workbooks don't excite him as much as reading, field trips and arts and crafts do. This site has some great ideas for all of those things and even more. I had considered doing an expensive preschool reading program, but then my mom found this. I've also discovered some of the books on that expensive program at the library and get them there. I didn't think Ryan would be interested in a book about art (i.e. sculptures or paintings) but he really loves looking at the different types of art.

The second site I find myself going to a lot lately is the People of Walmart site. I laugh every day because of them and because I have seen the same types of people during my time at Walmart. I'm sure these people are seen in many places, but it seems like they all go to Wally World at some point. I am also amazed at how many people glue things to their car... not something I would ever think of doing.

I just thought I'd share a few of my favorite things with you guys.

Enjoy!

Iowa was fantastic!

I loved being back in the Midwest this past weekend. It was so nice to see Elizabeth and spend four days with her family. I felt right at home. I love her parents, John and Mary Jane, who made me feel just like a part of the family. While I missed the kiddos and Adam, I really did enjoy myself and had a blast. There were a lot of late nights, but it was well worth it.

Elizabeth's wedding was so beautiful. They had a brass band play and it suited her so much. So much of the wedding showed her personality. She and Chris are so happy! I am so happy for them. God really blessed them in finding each other.

Oh, and the only thing I missed having in the Midwest was biscuits and gravy...

Here are my two favorite photos of the trip..
.

Iowa here I come!

I can't believe that tomorrow it will be September! The year has gone by so quickly. I cringe when I think of all the scrapbooking I haven't done yet and the journaling I should have done to remember things my kids have said and done this year.

I am also excited when I think of this month! It seems like a long time ago that we started planning for me to travel to Iowa for the wedding of my second college freshman roommate! Now, it is upon us... and in less than a week Elizabeth will be a married woman! I am so excited to meet Chris for the first time and so excited that I can be a part of their special day.

For four days I will be away from the kids and hubby while hanging out with Elizabeth, her family and friends. Adam will have his hands full with our two little boys, but I have full confidence that he will do just fine and that the boys will have a great time with their daddy.

I have a lot to do this week. Clean, iron, plan meals, pack. I also have to hang out with the kids and make these things that I have to do fun for them. We're going to the beach tomorrow with a cousin of mine (I am excited about this!) and maybe heading to the pool at the in-law's house this evening. I expect to be tired when I hop on the plane on Friday morning, but intend to come home well-rested!

Iowa, here I come!

Ryan says funny things

Today, Adam and Ryan were playing on our bed when Ryan pinched Adam's nipple.

Adam: "Ouch, don't pinch my nipple, that hurts!"

Ryan: "You don't have nipples."

Adam: "Yes, I do and so do you."

Ryan: "NO!"

Adam: "Lift up your shirt and I will show you."

Ryan: (slowly lifting up shirt and points to belly button.)

Adam: "That's your belly button silly."

Ryan: (lifts shirt all the way)

Adam: "These are your nipples."

Ryan: "No it's not. It's a mustache!"


And in the car earlier this week, Adam was asking Ryan a bunch of things to hear his cute responses. He asks Ryan, "Who is God." Ryan doesn't hesitate and says "He's the guy that makes it rain all the time."

Don't you just love kids?

Property update

The neighbor's wall is not on our property. Yay!

Property drama

We are having our property surveyed because we want to put up a fence in the backyard. We live in-town on a relatively busy street and it'd be wise to have the kids in an enclosed area.

I am not too happy with the preliminary findings of the surveyor. One of our neighbors appears to have stuck her fence on our property. It's about a foot on our property. This same neighbor cut down one of our trees about three years ago. When we called the cops on that incident, nothing happened. They said they weren't going to deal with such an issue. Both the neighbor behind us and I were so upset about this whole thing. Since when can someone just come and cut down your tree on your property?

In the end, we didn't like the tree anyway and didn't do anything about it. Well, at that same time she had her land surveyed and placed a temporary chicken-wire fence up to keep her dogs in her yard.

While our house was rented out, she put a wooden fence up. Our nice neighbors said they think they noticed her moving her survey markers one night. We couldn't be sure because at the time we had no extra money to do a survey of our own.

I'm really not up for this drama. I hope the guy is wrong and that he just made a big mistake today. I don't want to fight this neighbor in court.

Observations

We spent the afternoon at Funtown/Splashtown and had a blast! We are all tired and I'm not sure what I am still doing awake...


Anyway, I came away with a few observations from our time in the Splashtown area.


1. Bathing suits that are white should be lined. If they are not, you should not be wearing them. The rest of us don't want to see all of you, nor do we want to answer our child's questions about the parts of you that are showing.

2. Bathing suits with skirts at the bottom are not flattering. They just draw the eye to that part of your body and make it look bigger.

3. Too many tattoos just aren't attractive. We saw a lot of really ugly ones and just a few tasteful ones.

4. It's kinda funny to see a guy with a tan that outlines his wife beater!

5. Being too tan is actually kinda gross. We saw some people who were just orange and well, clearly too brown from spending too much time in the sun. YUCK!

Changing my picky eater

In the August Parenting magazine that arrived at my door yesterday, there was an article especially for me.

"Food for thought" by Celia Barbour gave five suggestions for the parent of the picky eater.

1. I am not a short-order cook. We never have been, though we will allow the kids a hot dog if they don't eat anything. I found it interesting that she quoted the Guide to your Children's Nutrition "Children will not become ill or suffer permanently if they refuse a meal or two, but parents sometimes act as though youngsters might shrivel up and die." I guess since Ryan has been considered underweight for awhile, I do wonder about him shriveling up and dying. She basically said what my mom has been telling me all along, "Ryan will eat when he's hungry."

2. I can spice things up. Kids shouldn't be subjected to bland food. I haven't done this and I won't. I like my spices and I want them to like them too.

3. I should give veggies the hard sell. If I mix the veggies with the main course, they will eventually eat them. She suggested if I put it on the table first, when they are the most hungry, they may eat them first too.

4. Eat dinner together. We try to,but often, Ryan and Tim are hungry before Adam gets home. It's just the three of us some nights.

5. My kids have to try one bite. Just one. If it makes them gag, they shouldn't be forced to eat every bite.

6. If all else fails, I should bribe them.... no dessert, no seconds and suggest giving it to the other brother. They hate sharing. This one, might actually work.

7. Make them save room for dessert.

I'll let you know if any of these work my picky eaters.

I have a job!

My interview on Tuesday went incredibly well. Being the good GC grad that I am, I prepped for this interview. I got my resume all pretty and my references all set up. I practiced answering online sample interview questions. I mean, I was ready.

The only question that I had to answer that I practiced for was "so, tell us a little about yourself." The rest of the time we just talked and laughed. I even commented during the interview that this was the first time I recall not being nervous on a job interview.

I left feeling really awesome. This morning I got the call I'd been praying for. I have the job!!!! I actually jumped up and down after I got the call. Ryan was a bit confused, but I had to express my excitement without waking Timothy, who happened to be having a nap.

I can't wait to start. I just have to find a babysitter for two weeks while I get my training. We're hoping family will be able to help.

Picky eaters

My boys have become picky eaters this summer. Ryan's kinda been a picky eater all along, but Tim would normally eat whatever you put in front of him (except eggs and cheese... he spits them out).

I've been reading online about picky eaters. I'm not sure I agree with sneaking healthy foods (like fruits and veggies) into foods for kids. I'm not sure that's teaching them the importance of eating healthy, especially when they get their broccoli or squash from brownies and breakfast cookies.

I'll be the first to admit it took a long time to like all the veggies that I do enjoy eating (I've been known to eat cookies, cake and brownies for breakfast and have had to stop this now that I have an example to set). There are few I refuse to eat, but I wonder if that is because mum always gave us veggies and we were required to eat them. I can recall only eating the tops of the broccoli and not eating asparagus, but these days I love my veggies... more than I love fruit.

Now, little Tim will eat any fruit... many more than Ryan will eat. I've begun to wonder if that's because we mainly fed Ryan bananas and apples when he was a baby. Those are by far his favs, though he loves blueberries, grapes and recently has started eating strawberries. Tim only likes corn and peas for veggies and spits out green beans and the rest, though he'll usually eat one or two and then decide that's not what he wants to eat. I think I can win him over.

But with summer being here, it's so hot to cook and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for healthy summer meals for us and how to work with my picky eaters? HELP!

Job

I'd hoped by now I'd be babysitting for Adam's cousin. However, their loan fell through and they're working on getting another, or possibly renting in another town in the opposite direction from Adam's job.

I talked with her last week and told her that we really need some money, so I'd have to start looking for another job. If their loan comes through before I get hired somewhere else, I'd be happy to start working for them, but we just can sit around hoping that things will work out.

This week, I looked online at many different job postings. I applied for a part-time bank teller job and a job as a before and aftercare person for the YMCA. I also found out my dear old WM is hiring again and will apply there again this weekend.

On Thursday, within hours of post my resume online for the bank job, I got a call back for an interview. I really like this job idea. I love the part-time hours and so does Adam. It'd be Thursday all day and Friday and Saturday half day, which could work out with a schedule for Adam at his job. I asked Adam if he thought I would get the job and he said, "no." He said his feelings are not based on whether I am qualified or not, it's based on the fact that almost four years ago I applied for a bank teller job and was turned down. But, we're both hoping this job works out. We wouldn't need a second car and the kids wouldn't need day care (though we are considering signing Ryan up for a few programs at the Y because he is behind in his social and emotional development...that to come in a different post).

For those of you who pray, we'd really appreciate the prayers for a job. This job interview is Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Thanks!

Creativity

I'd love one of these for our kids play room. I think they are awesome, but at $600, the cost is just too much. We're on a tight budget these days.

We thought about what we could do. We could build one ourselves, but that still would cost money. Then I remember the guinea pig cages sitting in the basement. (We made our own guinea pig cage out of those cubes most college kids make bookshelves.)

We went to work.

This is what it looks like and I am happy with our creative results!

Weaning

We are weaning Tim from the bottle. He loves his "baba," so this hasn't been so easy.

This morning I gave him one of these sippy cups and he opened it and spilled the contents on the kitchen floor. Protesting? I think so.

Then I gave him one of these cups and he drank a little and then cried a lot.

I hate the crying part. He asks for his "baba" often. I know it'll be a few days of cranky and then he'll be happy, but I hate this part.

How have you guys made it through this part of toddlerhood?

We're here!

We moved all our furniture on a rather rainy day, but we made it here and just about everything is inside. I can't say the boxes are all unpacked, but that's okay, too. Things will slowly get put into their places.

The first night here, my brother arrived after midnight. His flight had been delayed and then Adam and I realized we needed a shower curtain for the morning showers. We were tired the next day, but the kids were up early and made sure we made it to our 9 a.m. appointment for the rental truck. It was pouring when we were moving things. It'd stop when we'd take a break and then the heavens would open up and more rain would descend upon us!

We made two trips of a full moving truck and called it a day, though I made great attempts to set up the kitchen.

Adam and Gillie came to visit, played with the kids, moved some boxes, washed dishes and then had dinner with us.

Yesterday, the kitchen was finally set up and the house was starting to look more like our home. We're really happy to be back and really thankful for friends and family. We were lucky to have my in-laws take us in for almost two years and are blessed to have Nathan here to help with so much. He's mowed the lawn, scrubbed the stove, fixed the tv and so much more. We're grateful to have wonderful friends, too.

More to come when the house looks better and I have more time to write.

Moving

Yes, we're moving in about a week. I am so excited to be getting back to our house. I hate packing though. I hate how I am confronted with just how much junk we've managed to collect, even when we've tried not to do that very thing. It's not all quite ready to go yet, but most things are in boxes.

Ryan is excited about our move. When we told him he wanted to go to our "new house" that very minute. He often asks if our tenants have moved out and when I tell him they haven't he says "tell them to go, mom!"

Basically, our tenants found a new place with more room, which is good becasue they now have five kids. When they moved into our three bedroom house they had four girls. The older girls shared one room and the younger ones shared the other. Then baby Noah came along and he's been sharing the master bedroom with his parents for about a year now. They really need more space.

I'll be going back to work. I'm going to be taking care of two other boys along with my two. I'm excited and have daycare lesson plans already worked out for a few weeks. I'll see how these ideas work out and then we'll move on from there. The extra money and potentially two full days off with Adam will be wonderful. The four children will be a challenge, but I'm sure I'll find my groove.

I did miss the boys the last two days, though I must admit, I enjoyed my time alone. I got to sleep in past 6:30, which was awesome and I got to do things without worrying about bottles, sippy cups, diapers and changes of clothes. It's nice to be able to be around them again, even if I can't hug and kiss them. Just a few more days and I'll be able to enjoy those hugs and kisses again.

Radioactive Woman

Adam is calling my radioactive woman today because I received my radioactive iodine treatment today for my messed up thyroid. My morning experience left me wondering if I'd made the right choice, but it's too late to change things now.

I was up early with the boys and gave them lost of kisses and hugs before I left for the endocrinologists office. I won't be able to give them kisses for a week :( They then left to go to Manchester with Adam where they will be away from me until tomorrow night. The doc said the first 48 hours are when the iodine is most concentrated, though I will have to follow some precautions for the rest of the week.

Anyway, I made it to my appointment in the rain (will it ever stop?) and was brought into a little metal room where the doctor opened a metal safe and took out a metal canister. Inside the metal canister was a vial of one horse-sized pill that I had the joy of swallowing. I was then escorted out the back door. I felt a little like a leper.

It's okay for me to be around other people, but I can't share food or drinks and I should limit my time with pregnant women and children for the next few days. I had a nice relaxing day. I went to Borders and looked at tons of different kids of books... even read some magazine articles. I walked around the mall and had a pedicure. Yay for pedicure. I have pretty feet now ;)

Tomorrow I spend the day visit my regular doctor for a follow up, picking up prescriptions for both Ryan and myself (he started a script for GERD and broke out in a rash from it so we have to change the med) and then I get to go to a movie with my friend Jenni. This has been a nice break from the kids, but I do miss Adam and the boys a lot. It's soooo quite here without them. I am getting a lot of reading done!

In six weeks I'll have some blood work done to see how things with my thyroid are progressing. In most cases, people end up hypothyroid after this treatment and have to take thyroid replacement drugs for the rest of their lives. Some end up having their thyroid work like normal again, but that percentage is really low. The blood work will let them know how much replacement drugs, if any, I will need.

I love my kids

Some days Ryan can be a handful. There are days when I'm so ready to pull my hair out because he's cried all day about nothing. Yesterday wasn't too bad, but he did have a few moments where I could feel my blood pressure rising.

He was up late waiting for his daddy to come home. He's always wanted to be with his daddy at bedtime since he was little. He'd just wake up at the time Adam was supposed to be home and wait. He was so excited to see Adam last night. I love how they get when they're together.

Anyway, at bedtime, Ryan was playing with these magnetic balls and sticks and Adam made two microphones and started singing. I love how Ryan gets into the music and tries to sing. He sways from side to side and bops his head and sings the lyrics a bit late. I couldn't help but laugh last night because he has this little southern drawl when he sings. I'm not sure where he gets it from, but it's funny and cute at the same time.

I also love how Ryan will say "uh huh" when he doesn't know the answer to something and the default color of everything is green. We have these Brain Quest flash cards that we sometimes play with Ryan. I'm always surprised and humored at the answers he gives us. Last night was no exception. There was a picture of a mouse yawning and it asks "what should you do when you yawn." Ryan's response was "go night-night." Then there was a card with the letter "R" on it and we asked if he knew what it was. He said "uh huh" and we try to help him by saying it was the letter his name starts with. And he then goes, "Oh, it's MY letter." We kept trying, but only got answers like "it's my name letter." Of course we told him what it was and then moved on, but I just love these moments with him.

The other day at the grocery store he attempted to pay for the groceries with an expired LL Bean gift certificate. How cute! He wanted to pay with his money because he "eat(s) too."

All of these moments make up for those days when he's most difficult. They make me smile when I think of them and I'm trying to write as many of them down as possible so I can show him later just how cute he was.

Of course, Tim is also a lot of fun these days. He's my little talker and yesterday when we were leaving the park he started crying and pointing at the park and saying "park" in his little Mainer way. He's doing so much right now and it's a lot of fun. He's walking and trying to do everything Ryan does like jumping on the bed.

So while there are days where I feel overwhelmed, I love that I have days when they are angels and we have tons of fun together and they just make me laugh.

Photos and an update

The guys playing TMNT... I think.

The girls outside Shain's.

Can you see his chocolate ice cream mustache?

I love this photo of my boys. Right before I took this photo, they were all sitting in a row.

My update is that I will be having radioactive iodine treatment on my thyroid on June 24. The endocrinologist said this would be his best suggestion, though we did talk about going back to PTU (really not good long term for my heart) and surgery (not very cost effective and does have some risks). I knew my options because I had the same ones about three years ago. I took the PTU option because I wanted to be sure we could have a second baby. Adam and I had both decided that when the options were put on the table this time, we'd go with RAI and get life back to normal. I'm so ready for that, even if it will take 1-4 months to feel like a regular person again. Because I will not be able to hold the kids for two days after the treatment, Adam will be taking two days off with me and hanging out with the boys. I'll be packing to move back to our house, which we do the weekend of July 4! (that's some big news I haven't yet blogged about).