They Must Be Taught Early

Well, the title is in reference to the picture of L in my Auburn hat. However, I really loved the picture of H wearing his Auburn colors with pride. War Eagle!

I Really Can Cook

Honestly, I can. Many of you know my ongoing saga with the corn. Well, I finally found a recipe for a corn casserole that was really good. It would have been better had I used the freshly frozen corn from my father-in-law but, alas, I broke down and used canned. (Insert very large sigh here). But it turned out great and the kids loved it. L helped pour the ingredients into the bowl, mix everything together, and put it in the casserole dish. Of course, when it came time to actually eat it, she was very hesitant but got at least one bite down. K, on the other hand, devoured it. I'm really praying that H is like K and will eat just about anything (as long as she's not allergic to it).

L is a picky eater but before you jump to conclusions about our eating rules, know that I don't fix her anything special for dinner just because I know she won't eat it. She gets what everyone else gets and has to take at least one bite of everything on her plate. She doesn't have to finish it but won't get any dessert if she doesn't and there are plenty of nights that K gets dessert and L does not.

I also was given a recipe for a side dish that K really liked and it goes great with just about anything. Take 1 can of corn (drained), 1 can of black beans (drained), and 1 can of diced tomatoes (can use Rotel if you want spicy). Mix them in a saucepan and heat through. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top. It was so easy and very tasty. You can also substitute the tomatoes with your favorite salsa and have a wonderful, sort-of-homemade, salsa. I wouldn't recommend heating it, though!

Chicks Dig Me

My aunt sent H this shirt right after he was born. It's one of my favorites. I remember thinking that it was huge and it would be forever before he would be able to wear it. Now that he's caught up in height and weight, he's wearing clothes that look huge to me but fit him just fine.

He's learned, recently, that he has an ear and is constantly putting his left hand up to his ear. When K did this as a baby, I thought she had an ear infection so I immediately called the pediatrician. The nurse very kindly told me that K had just found her ear and not to be worried since there were no other signs of an ear infection. Ah, the naivete of a first-time mother!

The Girls and the Rain

In addition to my attempt at finding the beauty in simple things, I'm also trying to take some more time with the girls. I've been so bogged down in getting other things done that I often forget to have quality time with them. Even if it's just 10 minutes of reading or playing outside, I feel that they've gotten the short end of the stick this summer what with Mama being in the hospital twice and recovering from two resulting surgeries. So I took my camera outside the other day to enjoy the girls playing in the rain.

I will tell you that L is a lover of rain. She opened the back door, as it was pouring outside, and said, "Oh, Mama! Do you hear it? That's the rain! It sounds soooo good." She comes by it honestly as I love to watch rain and thunderstorms. This was inherited by my father who would rather sit out on the front porch and watch the storm blow through than to do just about anything else. Except golf. Which you shouldn't do in a thunderstorm anyway.

Yes, that's K wearing a robe and L wearing a princess dress...backwards.

The Simple Things

I've been inspired by my friend, Mod Girl, to look for the beauty in the simple things of life. If you want to see some really wonderful pictures of the beauty in every day life, please check out her site. She has a wonderful eye for light and rejoicing in the world we've been blessed with.

In trying to see the beauty of every day life, I took a few pictures of things around my house. Now, I'm no photographer and I have no eye for light but I think they came out pretty well.

K colored on her hand with sidewalk chalk and water and put her handprints all over the wall by our garage door. I was about to get angry but realized that I had a real treasure in those prints.

K's tricycle in the yard next to our (overgrown) herb garden.

When the Hubby's Away

Hubby is on a business trip this week so it's just me and the kids around the house. I was able to snap a few pictures of H this morning as he was giggling in his rocker chair. Unfortunately, the really good picture of him smiling is on my phone, not my camera. Sigh. I also got a good picture of the girls helping me taste the icing for one of the cakes I made for the church dinner tomorrow night. It's plain old vanilla but it's loaded with sugar so they love it.

I wish I had more to talk about but I'm in survival mode this week, floating in a sea of dirty dishes, dirty clothes that need to be washed, clean clothes that need to be folded and put away, and general home maintenance. And what am I doing? Blogging. That's code for procrastinating. I'm very good at that. See? I've managed to get more sentences out because I don't want to clean. Ugh.


Enjoy the pictures!

Where Has the Time Gone?

I just noticed that it's been an entire week since I've posted anything. Was I really that busy this week that I couldn't find a few minutes to post a few words? I guess so. That, or I was being very lazy, wasting time in other areas.

I have zero pictures of the kids from this week. H is starting to sleep through the night with greater frequency and I'm lovin' it. The only problem is that he's very hungry throughout the rest of the day. I'm thinking it's time for some cereal or something other than a full liquid diet.

This week promises to be crazy, too, as S is going on his first work-related trip with his new job. Plus, I have agreed to help my mother-in-law with our church's Wednesday night meal. Add that to all the normal stuff we have to do and it's going to be one wild week!

Hopefully, I'll have time to take some pictures of the craziness.

Corn, Revisited

Okay, so that was a bust. My first attempt at homemade creamed corn was just plain bad. K actually liked it as it was the first thing on her plate to be finished. Of course, she could have been saving the best, including homemade mac & cheese, for last. L wouldn't even touch it and kept screaming, "But I don't want corn!" I made S some plain old corn with butter. His looked much better than mine. Oh well.

Now, I consider myself a decent cook. I like to create things, to try new recipes, to please my family with food. Baking is really more my style while S likes to cook. We make a good team. And almost everything that he creates turns out wonderfully. Notice I said almost. Just ask him about the ricotta gnocchi. But this creamed corn was pretty gross. I ate it but I didn't want to save the leftovers. Fortunately, I still have lots of good corn left in the freezer to try a couple of other recipes. I'll let you know how they turn out. I have my eyes on a corn casserole recipe that looks pretty tasty.

So if anyone out there has a really good recipe for creamed corn, please share it with me. And I don't mean one you just found from allrecipes (which is where I found the recipe I used and it wasn't good). I mean a really good, been in the family for umpteen generations recipe. There's a good Southern word for ya. Umpteen. I love good Southern words. I remember the first time I used the word "tump" in front of S. He looked at me like I had two heads. It's a cross between "turnover" and "dump" and is usually in reference to accidentally knocking something over. It's a great Southern word.

That's it for now. I have some great football to watch today. It's September, after all!

H is Four Months Old!

So here are some pictures of my now 4-month-old son. He went to the doctor this morning and is a whopping 15 pounds and 24". He's in the 50th percentile for his weight for a normal, full-term 4-month-old so that makes this mama very happy. It means that he's doing great and catching up in the growth department. He's smiling more and more everyday and there are traces of a giggle. He is lots of fun right now and just kind of goes with the flow. Ah, the joys of being the third child!

Corn, Anyone?

I am so blessed to have the inlaws I do; they welcomed me into their family with open arms. My father-in-law is a true character. He does not know a stranger. He's now retired and spends half the year where we live. It's wonderful having them so close by because we get to spend time with them and our children get to know their grandchildren.

Among the many wonderful traits my father-in-law possesses is his need to find a deal. And it's not always the same thing. Often times, it's gasoline. He's always on the hunt for the cheapest gas. His most recent hunt is for the cheapest corn on the cob. This summer has not been a banner summer for corn. Or tomatoes for that matter. The ones I got from the local farmstand tasted just like the ones in the grocery store. I refuse to make a special stop for run-of-the-mill tomatoes. Anyway, back to the corn. Every time we see him, which is fairly often, he always mentions the price of corn. "It's $3 for 4! Can you believe it?!?" Okay, I'm exaggerating just a bit but it really has been more expensive this summer. And he has been on the hunt for decently priced corn. You'll just have to take my word for it.

So Sunday, after H's baptism, we all went back to their house for Sunday dinner as S and I wanted to have a little celebration in H's honor. As we're enjoying our lamb roast, homemade mac & cheese, homemade bread (thanks Gran!) and conversation, W (my father-in-law) mentioned that he had some corn for me. Wonderful! I'm thinking that's great since we haven't really had much of it over the summer. Conversation then turns to where he found it, how much it cost, etc. As we are leaving, he gets the bag of corn. I assumed that he meant he had, say, 4 ears for us. Not really. He had 12 ears for us. 12 ears?!? What am I supposed to do with all that corn on the cob? We are a family of five, one of whom is on a complete liquid diet, no solids allowed yet. Plus, there are two others who will eat maybe half of one cob at dinner.

Lest you think I'm wasteful, I figured out what to do with all that corn. I shucked every last piece of it and cut the kernels off to use in a myriad of ways. There's plenty to eat for dinner plus have some left to freeze for a later date. I found a recipe for homemade creamed corn (which is leaps and bounds better than the canned stuff) and corn casserole. I'll try the recipes and let you know how they turn out.

Oh, the best part is that I tried a new trick to get the corn off the cob. I heard somewhere, probably the Food Network, that to get the corn off the cob without making a huge mess you take a tube pan or an angel food cake pan and place the cob on the hole in the middle. Then cut the corn off with a knife and the kernels fall off into pan. It worked really well and creates another use for my tube pan. In the immortal words of Alton Brown, there's only room for one unitasker in the kitchen: the fire extinguisher.

H's Baptism

We had H baptized this past Sunday. He did great; didn't cry when the water went down in his face. It was very bittersweet as this is my last baby to be baptized! We will save the gown he wore, the one that the girls wore, too, for our grandchildren. Isn't that a strange concept!

He is now four months old and I can't believe how fast it's flying by. I will post more 4 month old pictures later as I don't have very many yet!

Can You Smell It?

Yes, my friends, that's the start of college football season. This is, by far, my favorite time of the year! I'm ready for the weather to cool off, though. Tonight, my beloved Auburn Tigers take the field and I'm anxious and excited all at once. H is wearing his Auburn outfit to get into the spirit of things. I haven't taken a picture yet and he's asleep right now. I'll take and post those when I get a chance.

So, happy start of football season to you!