Twirls 'n Curls

Linking up with The Miller Racing Family for the first time on Wordless Wednesday!  Here are a few pics from Natalie's first birthday party when we were on vacation:

During our recent trip to the Midwest, several things were forgotten.  My husband, who never leaves anything anywhere it doesn't belong, somehow left his Rayband prescription glasses at a restaurant in Chicago.  Ouch.  (When he does lose something, he does it well!)  I wisely refrained from commenting.  A couple days later, I left my phone charger at the hotel we stayed at in Michigan.  Tom wisely returned the favor and said nothing.  From all collected reports, I've heard that we also left a pair of chonies and a Beauty and the Beast hair clip.  For five of us, I'd say that's pretty good.  But being home for the first time in several years, I realized I'd forgotten several other things: I forgot how cool thunderstorms are - I love rain!  But I also forgot how bad the resulting damage can be.  My parents' area had hurricane-force winds while we were there, and 80 trees had fallen onto power lines just in their small town.  They were without power for a day, bu

Linkin' up with my friend Jocelyn for a " Tempt Us Tuesday " recipe swap.  Only I'm trying not to bake so many sweets because I find that's how I wind up eating them - does anyone else have that problem?  ...so here's a great main dish that always seems to go over well. We have people over, like, all the time.  At least several times a week I find myself staring at my recipe books, thinking, "What did I make last time this family came for dinner?"  Or worse..."Does everyone in town talk about the fact that I almost always make lasagna the first time we have someone over?"  Silly, and vain, I know, but that's how my mind works.  I even used to have a book listing what I made whenever we had people over, but then I lost the book...anyhow, this yummy Mexican Lasagna is a nice change, and not quite so rich as its Italian counterpart:  Mexican Lasagna 10-12 tortillas 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef 1 1/2 t. cumin 1 T. chili powder 1/4 t.

  It's Miscellany Monday, time to think of all those tidbits that haven't made it into your blog but you feel the need to share anyway :) 1.  Weddings make me all romantical.  We went to a wedding for a dear friend from college last night.  The best part was enjoying it all with just my husband, we had a babysitter all afternoon and evening!  I felt like Cinderella.  It was gorgeous.  And expensive.  And ethnic.  We were the only white people on the groom's side - we actually got asked if we were seated on the wrong side!  2.  For a treat, sometimes I let the girls have "banana splits" for breakfast.  We chop up bananas and strawberries, then put yogurt and sprinkles (sometimes a little whipped cream) on top.  They get so excited, they don't even realize it's mildly healthy!  Now if only I could convince Tom to eat one too, I could get out of cooking breakfast entirely! 3.  I <3 Scentsy candle warmers.  I'm totally addicted to candles

We just arrived back from Chicago, visiting my side of the family.  We had tons of adventures and misadventures, and I promise to let you in on those later!  For now, here are a few highlight photos and lessons we learned along the way: When life gives you more than you think you can handle, go ahead and give it your best shot anyway. Don't complain about your food...it could always be worse! Fun is always better when it's shared. When your road gets a little slippery, don't be afraid to ask for help. You can do anything you put your mind to, as long as Grandpa lets you!! In the real world, even princesses have to clean toilets.   And finally, remember that sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs... In order to find your Prince Charming. (Seriously, we found out later they did in fact kiss the frogs..."But don't worry, Mom, they didn't turn into princes!")  Hope you're having as great a summer as we are!!

My girls have all become obsessed with some crazy stuff recently.  Veggie Tales, I understand.  Princesses?  Sure.  But since we did a homeschool lesson on dollar bills, Linsey has been obsessed with George Washington.  This has gone on for more than a year now.  She says stuff like, "And when I go to heaven, I get to meet George Washington!"  Then she stops and looks at me, "Mama, is he dead?"  "Yes sweetie..." Hannah, on the other hand, is obsessed with monkeys.  She LOVES Boots the monkey from Dora the Explorer.  And she'll play the Monkey pre-school game for hours on the iPad, it's the only time she sits still (we're def taking this on the airplane when we go on vacation!).  And she loves, loves, LOVES Curious George. So the other day, these two obsessions collided at the breakfast table. Linsey:  George Washington was so amazing!  Was he the leader of the whole world, Daddy? Tom:  Not the whole world, but he was a great leader of o

1.  I find weird stuff in the dryer - often.  Money is a luxury; usually it's crayons, balls, small stuffed animals, USB drives, shoes, plastic bananas, etc.  The other day I found half of a paperback book, kinda weird... then a couple days later, I ran outside because I saw Nattie scraping goo off the patio and trying to eat it (not usually a good sign).  It turned out to be the rest of the book, it shot out my dryer vent.  So...does this make her a 'bookworm?'    2.  I spent way too long trying to convince my daughter yesterday that someone' s dress size is not necessarily their age.  Finally she said, "No, really, Mom, I think she's six."  (she's not) But I gave up.  For the record, though, I'm pretty glad my dress size doesn't go up as fast as my age does anymore!!! 3.  Yesterday was even busier than usual for our little pastor's family.  We had about 10 key church workers call to say they wouldn't be there at the last minute.

  I linked up to a cute writer's workshop blog this week, you can click on the button above to go there.  One of the topics I just couldn't resist, "Before I Was a Mom."  Truthfully, my mind gets a little fuzzy reaching that far back, but here's my life as I remember it:    Before I was a mom... ...I slept whenever I was tired. ....I thought you could control how big you got during pregnancy. ...I assumed breastfeeding came naturally. ...I thought I knew all the excuses for getting out of bed. ...I didn't understand there is a difference between "Be quiet!" and "Stop talking!" ....I was convinced that child-rearing books could answer all my questions.  But really, what do you say when your child is convinced that vinyl fairy wings can really make her fly?  Or that Skooter from The Muppet Show lives in her closet? ...I didn't know how interesting diaper contents could be, or how much I'd talk about t

     We homeschool, and I am determined my kids will not wind up...weird.  There.  I said it.  I truly think we can raise intelligent, Christian young ladies who are still able to get along in mainstream society.  I even know a few people like that, and it gives me hope :)  One way we're doing this is by making sure they are involved in some social activities with neighborhood kids, like t-ball this spring.  Linsey was super-excited to be on the team with one of her best friends (at 5, they're not allowed to be more than "just friends," but we're pretty sure they're secretly engaged!)      The first few practices had her all pumped up, even though the tee saw a lot more hits than the ball did.  I was so relieved that they get to bat until they hit the ball in bounds! Makes for long innings, but no tears.  The night before her first game, Linsey was lying in bed, daydreaming, er, night dreaming?  I came by her room, and she sighed, "Don't worry, Mo

  Happy Monday!!  Link up with Miscellany Monday above, too fun! I probably spend more time than I should thinking up random things to say, but I guess that’s part of the fun of it for me, so here goes: 1)    1) My mommy philosophy:  Why get mad at a mess when I can laugh and take a picture of it?  A seasoned mom (don’t you love those?) once advised me:  “Never get mad at your kids for acting like kids or because they inconvenience you.”  That has stuck with me over the years, and I try to laugh and make the most out of accidents and messes, rather than being frustrated.  I don’t want my kids to remember me yelling all the time!  Here’s my youngest last night, she crawled outside after dinner (we had company) and amused herself in the pool (it only had an inch or so of water), church clothes and all!!   2)    2) This morning, a friend of mine and I took our friendship to a new level – we worked out together!  We walked and jogged w/Leslie Sansone amidst 5 kids under 6

Today I felt a bit like this soda we found in our freezer...all stretched out and ready to burst. (and no, I'm not pregnant, mom!)  If you read my post last Thursday, you would think I had learned not to take all three of my kids out by myself...well, anywhere.  If nothing else, bathroom trips are horrendous to manage.  But my sister-in-law needed a ride to the airport, and I'm a softie.  On the way to the airport, we only got lost once or twice - I've been to the Ontario airport (near L.A.) just a few times alone, and it's about 90 miles from us.  The real fun started when we dropped my sis-in-law off.  I missed the "leaving the airport" exit, so we circled around.  The girls were getting antsy, so I promised them we'd stop for lunch since they had already eaten the lunch I'd packed.  I also told them we'd shop somewhere - visions of Ontario Mills Mall or even the Target we'd passed were dancing in my head.  Then I started seeing these detour

 My husband and I had been plotting our getaway to "Big People-ville" for several months, and the time finally finally arrived.  Last week, we went to Las Vegas (about 3 hours from us) to see the Lion King Broadway musical.  My husband skateboards and plays video games - I love music, cooking, and crafts, so there are few activities we actually enjoy doing together, but we both really like going to see Broadway shows.  Kind of an expensive hobby, so we only hit one every year or two.  It was AMAZING!  The music was superb, the costumes outrageous, I'd highly recommend it if you're into that stuff.  Tom's summary:  "A white man's way to enjoy ethnic culture."  We loved it! The girlies stayed at our house with a wonderful mom friend of mine who has raised 5 kids - I figured she was more than qualified for my 3 little ankle-biters.  Plus she had my 5-year old, who's pretty sure she knows everything about running our home.  The only questions the