for the sake of sanity, let's be grateful

Because my babies decided they were ready for a playdate at 4:30 this morning...


Because my 4 year old has channeled the teenage version of himself and started challenging everything I say...


Because I have done eight loads of laundry since Monday and I am still not done...


Let's talk about the good stuff so I can maintain some sense of mental wellness, shall we?
I am thankful for:

My giving, caring, selfless husband. This weekend was rough. All of us, apart from Eddie, got whatever bug George had and it was not a pretty sight. But Nick rallied, and managed to take care of all the littles while I was either working or sleeping. And today, after his early morning guys group, he came home and let me go back to bed. Knowing the way to my heart is sleep, he took the boys to the park so the house was blissfully silent for more than an hour. Heaven. Plus, he is really cute.

At this very moment two years ago, we were on a plane headed cross country to welcome this little man into our family. We landed, drove to the hotel, slept 6 hours, and arrived at the hospital ten minutes before he was born. Our lives have been blessed everyday since then. His newest phrase when he wants to be held, "I see me," makes my heart leap every. single. time. Happy birthday a day early, my little pumpkin.

For Stacy, who is an amazing sister and aunt and all around gift to me. She is coming to watch the boys for a few hours in the morning. I don't even know what to do with myself. And she is pregnant with her first - a girl! My mom is basically beside herself at the thought of a granddaughter. Always gotta one up me, Stace.

And I am most grateful, above all, that

Without that, I'd be toast.

recipe time!

I thought I'd share this super easy little treat that is fun to do with a kid or two. Chocolate Haystacks - I think I made these in Home Ec back in 8th grade - they were good then and they are good now. And the best part? You only need two ingredients! But I used four, because I like to embellish a little. 

semisweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and chow mein noodles to start

just melt your chocolate chips and stir in the noodles and some white chocolate chips

start making little stacks on wax paper and get someone with really cute chubby fingers to add some sprinkles for a little flair

voila! now let these tasty little numbers harden for about an hour (if you can wait) (I couldn't)

this is Lute's personal creation. never enough sprinkles.

Now for specifics:

3-4 cups chow mein noodles

1 cup white chocolate chips

12 oz. package semisweet chocolate chips

Melt the semisweet chips with 1/3 cup of the white chocolate. The easiest way: zap them in the microwave for 90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. 

Pour chocolate over the noodles and stir to cover and cool the chocolate.

Stir in the rest of the white chocolate chips. (At this point you could add in nuts, marshmallows - whatever floats your boat!)

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto wax paper to harden. 

Add sprinkles to your heart's content!

Yields about 36 little treats - I am throwing at least half in the freezer to save for special treats and to protect my middle.

Here are a couple other summer treats I wanted to pass along - be careful! They're addicting.

Pioneer Woman's Iced Coffee

Smitten Kitchen's Summer Strawberry Cake

Enjoy!

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Also... If you like it here (and I hope you do!), do you want to take a moment and vote for my blog over at Circle of Moms? You'd make my day!

tell me what you think

Today has been awesome and hectic and maddening all rolled into one. It started at 3:30am with George demanding milk, which was way earlier than normal. It continued with more crying at 4:45. I threw off the covers in huff, sure that his early morning snack should have held him way into the morning. That's when I realized my poor little punk was sick and covered in vomit. He looked at me pathetically and said, "Ucky, ucky, ucky." Poor kid.




The morning rolled along, George improved, even took an extra nap. Eddie decided to hop in the shower and drench himself approximately 37 seconds after I got him dressed and turned my back to help Lute get a snack. I asked the boys to play in the living room 486 times so I could sweep the kitchen before they actually listened. I didn't get dressed until noon.


I didn't even have time to drink a cup of coffee.
Now you know it's serious.


Normally, I could roll with this with a little more grace. Kind of. But today was the first part of our home study and I wanted the house to appear at least semi-together. Thankfully, right before panic mode set in, Nick walked through the door and the kids went to bed, I wiped the last grubby fingerprints off the windows, and I put on stain-free clothing. Success!


The two hour interview went well. I kind of fell in love with our new social worker. I was sad that Claire, who did our last home study, moved cross country, but this woman is a keeper. She has an incredible background in social work, has also adopted and she has worked with our agency! God is good - definitely felt like it was a divine appointment.


It did not slip my mind that yesterday was the 22nd, which means it was time for Bakin' it to the Streets. We didn't make it out because of the pre-home study prep, but I have half of a vanilla chocolate chip cake that we are going to take out to the peeps tomorrow.


So here is my question for you: Should I keep going with the link up and stories of our trips to share our treats on the streets? I got such a good response in the beginning, but I am not sure people are as into it these days. What could we do differently? Have you been inspired to share with the world? I'd love to hear from folks who have been following along!

...and a pipsqueak?

I am not good at keeping secrets. I have been bursting to spill the beans, but wanted to wait until our family was in on the news... We got the adoption ball rolling again last week and I am beyond excited!

Our application is done and the home study begins on Thursday. Not much else to report as of yet, but I'm going to keep updates going on here as much as I think would be interesting or helpful to others along the way.

In the meantime, I will leave you with this: Lute wants a baby sister named Hawkalawkaboobooboo. I hope he's not too disappointed when we go with another option.

Pray for us!

bakin' it to the streets without the baking

A few months ago I started thinking about ways I could serve the community with my kids. Thus, the idea of Bakin' it to the Streets was born. About every two weeks I host a link up here for anyone the wants to participate - you can bake something, pick something up at the store, make an extra lunch - and take it to someone (or a lot of someones) in need. Maybe a neighbor, coworker, nursing home, food bank, or stranger you pass on your way to work or school. Post a story, recipe, photos, or leave a comment about your experience and link up below!

This go 'round was totally different than the others. Mostly due to a total lack of time management skills and my forgetful nature.  In fact, this was completely spur of the moment, and not intended for the blog, but then I remembered today was the day, so it has become this week's act and involves absolutely no baking. C'est la vie.

If you read this blog regularly, you know I have a need/obsession with/love for coffee. I used to make it everyday and now, ashamedly, I find some excuse to leave the house on a daily basis for my americano fix. Yesterday I was running errands with the littles and pulled into the ill-designed local Starbucks drive thru. It really is strange, because when you're in line, you completely block anyone from entering or exiting the parking lot. I figured the woman in the car in front of me had never been to this location, because upon seeing someone leaving a parking spot, she drove out of line to let them out and thus let two cars in front of her. Maybe she wasn't in a hurry, maybe she really didn't care, but it struck me. As I ordered my drink and a little treat for the boys, I looked in my rearview mirror as the woman got back in line. Maybe she was just really nice. I pulled up to the window and and paid for my goods, and then I thought I'd pay it forward in gratitude for getting my caffeine hook up just a little quicker than I thought I would. So I bought her drink. It wasn't much, but sometimes it just feels good to share a little love for no real reason at all.

Now it's your turn! 

 

And a special shout out to our cousin Jack, who spun it into "Bacon it to the Streets" a couple weeks ago with breakfast sandwiches for the homeless. You are awesome, Jack!

why my birthday was rad

I know I am at an age where birthdays really shouldn't be a big deal. But I was kind of bummed out on Monday when my husband told me he was going to have a super busy day at work yesterday and I envisioned my normal, chaotic day of looking like a ragamuffin and waking up at 6am and trying not to go crazy when half a box of cheerios goes flying across the kitchen (which happened about five minutes ago). I should have known he was trying to throw me off his trail, but I am gullible like that.


Instead, what actually happened was a 5am wake up call by George the Punk - I like to think he couldn't wait to wish me a happy birthday. Then my husband took over, let me go back to sleep, went and picked up my favorite coffee drink, dressed and fed the kids, and let me roll out of bed at a leisurely pace. 


The rest of the day was perfect, too.

Nick got me this cute little wreath I was admiring on Etsy.

cupcakes delivered by my mama (who also babysat the dudes)

a tour of the local chocolate factory with Nick. We look good, no?

The moment you walk in, the scent of chocolate envelops you and puts you in a euphoric state. At least that's what happened to me. I was drunk on the dark stuff. I recommend this to everyone on earth.

Did you know that cocoa beans have the second highest concentration of antioxidants in the world? And that any chocolate with more than 70% cocoa is a natural cough suppressant? Like I needed more reasons to eat it, but there you have it. You're welcome!

Afterward, we stopped by a vintage shop and I found these amazing boots. I am happy.

Then I came home to these little rugrats and a visit with my Grams, my Mom and one of my awesome cousins. And thai takeout.

I mean, seriously, might be the best birthday ever.

explaining adoption to a 4 year old

I can hardly believe it, but it's been almost two years since we adopted Eddie. Need I say it? Time flies. Lute went with us to get Eddie, he was at the hospital when he was born, he met his birthmother, he was part of almost every moment of bonding with our little man. But at only two years old, I don't think he really got it. We read books about talking through the process, we philosophized about the conversations we would/should/could have with him. But when it came right down to it, we wanted it to unfold naturally. Nothing forced. We wanted it to be our version of normal before he ever thought about the fact that it wasn't everyone's version of normal. Also, we didn't really know what to say.

Fast forward to this week.
Some good friends of ours recently brought home their newest addition - a sweet little son from Ethiopia. They are also a family with three active boys, so in addition to the adoption connection, we can relate on all levels of little boy chaos (and sweetness, too). We have a picture of their family hanging on our fridge, which has prompted some insightful conversations with Lute.


Conversation #1:
Lute, after studying the photo for several minutes: "Hey Mama, Zeke looks like Eddie!"
Me (taken a bit by surprise): "How so, Lute?"
L: "Well, they have the same hair. And... look at his face, Mama!"
M: "Do you and Eddie look alike?"
L: thinking, thinking, thinking "Yes! We both have two eyes!"


It was sweet to hear his observations, unable to really pinpoint how Zeke and Eddie had similarities in their differences. The conversation didn't go much further, and I reveled in the innocence of his perception of the situation. I knew a deeper conversation wasn't far off.


A few weeks later, Lute was studying the photo again, and that led to
Conversation #2
L: "Mama, Zeke really does look like Eddie."
M: "What about them is the same?"
L: "Their faces are kinda the same. Maybe they're brothers!"
M: "But Eddie is your brother."
L: "Well, yeah..." (As in, "Duh, Mom.")


We talked about when Eddie was born and flying on the airplane and, of course, swimming in the hotel pool. We talked about how sometimes babies come from the same mama's tummy that you came from, and sometimes you get to fly to far away places and bring home a new baby. For the first time, we used the word "adoption" and how the coolest thing about it is that we are all adopted - by God Himself! Lute was pretty excited about that part, but seemed fairly unconcerned with the details. I think mostly because this is our version of normal. What more explanation does there need to be?


I know it won't always be this simple, and I pray for the right words when they'll want to go deeper. But there is something to be said for it happening naturally, not forcing understanding and over-explaining. 


They are brothers - there is no doubt about that.