Planting a Rainbow

In anticipation of the weather warming up, the boys and I plant some seeds.  We put them in our kitchen until we can trust Mother Nature to stay warm enough for them.  

Howie labels each pot: 

A little inventive spelling of "Sunflower"...

20 minutes of peace.... is it worth it?

We have this thing at our house called "Playtime-Rest Time".  

The boys get to spend some quiet time in their rooms while we all take a rest 

from the activity of the day.  It usually occurs sometime around 2 pm and lasts for about 

30 to 40 minutes.  I encourage them to play the toys they have on their shelves, 

listen to some quiet music, or read some books.   

Just recently, Johnny was upgraded from spending this playtime-rest time in his crib
to being able to play in his room with the baby gate up for a boundary.
He has become increasingly mischievous during these rest times as he takes
liberties to dump toys and attempt to undo any order I have arranged in his room.  

This past week, he reached a new level of "liberties".  It was quiet for about 20 minutes.
I knew I should have investigated, but I had to get my grocery list made.  I just had to.
So I gifted myself the 20 minutes of peace, knowing full well that I would pay for it.  

And pay for it I did.  I hear Howie gasp, "Johnny, what did you do?!"  

Here is the scene when I walked up the step to get him:

This pile contains:

• Every article of clothing Johnny had in his dresser.
• All of his books.
• All the diapers he owns, including the diapers that were in the economy box from diapers.com that were in his closet.
• All of his blocks.
• Several packages of wipes.
• One package of wipes that was opened and each wipe was individually thrown over the barrier and into the pile.

I pretended to be stern with him, "John.  We do not make this kind of mess."
But inside, I was laughing so hard.
While I wanted to end the messes being made, this one was pretty funny.
Together, we cleaned it up, he was happy to discover all the items in the pile and put them away.  

And it was worth the 20 minutes of peace.  

Granola

As many of you know, we have recently done an overhaul of our diet as we address some of Howie's medical needs.  Going completely "whole foods" has been a challenge.  We eat lots of weird stuff (thanks to my hubby for tolerating the experiments that turned out pretty yucky) and it's such a reward to this Momma when I find a recipe, modify it to be within Howie's acceptable food list and it turns out.... YUMMY!

Below is my recipe for granola that several people have requested.  My Dad's eyes even lit up when he ate it- a true indicator of culinary success.  You will see the modifications I make for Howie since I get requests for both versions.

Granola

Makes about 5 cups

Dry Ingredients:
4 cups Rolled Oats (I use gluten-free oats for Howie)
1 1/2 cups Sunflower Seeds (I omit the seeds for Howie)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar or coconut sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Honey or Agave Nectar
(And 1/4 cup coconut oil for Howie's version)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degree.  Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a small pot, heat the oil and honey until warm.  Whisk in the vanilla.  Pour the wet mixture over the dry and toss to coat.

Spread mixture in a cookie sheet pan.  Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, turning the granola every 10 minutes.  After 30 minutes, pull the cookie sheet from the oven and let the granola cool.  After cooling, you can add raisins, dried cherries, chocolate chips, whatever you want to enhance the granola experience for yourself.

Howie's favorite version is the finished granola mixed with "chocolate sauce" which is agave nectar and cocoa mixed together until wet.  Put it in the freezer for an extra special treat.  Yum!

(Yes, that is chocolate on his face)

Soft Things

Tonight, our dinnertime question was, "What is the softest thing you have ever touched?"  

Johnny thinks for a moment.... then his face lights up... "Baby Jack head soft!"  

He's right, we were all thinking it was one of the softest things we've touched.  

Jack's head...and Bobo's.  

Making Time Count

We walked into the local elementary school building this afternoon and 

asked for a kindergarten registration packet.  

Gulp.  Deep breathe.  Smile.  

When did my baby get to be so big?  

It was all I could to resist the urge to rip up the papers and declare he would 

stay home with me forever as we left out of the parking lot.  

This upcoming new stage in Howie's life got me thinking... how well do I know my kid?  Am I spending the days wisely with him?  Is he really not going to be with me forever?  Big reality check.  

Where do I start with making the days count?  

My small step in a call to action was making a dish of questions for our dining table.  

Each night, we get to pick one question and talk about it.  

The questions are things like:

What is your favorite color?

What do you think is the best job in the whole world?

What is your favorite dinner food?

Name one thing you did today that was nice for someone.

What is your phone number? 

(I want him to be able to call me when he is big and left the nest!!)

We had a ball doing this last night as we answered the question, "What is your favorite Bible story?" and it felt good to be intentional about spending time together.  

What is the saying... the days are long, but the years are short...?

Welcome Baby Jack!

Auntie Sarah and Uncle Jason had their baby.... we are overjoyed to welcome Baby Jackson into the world.  What a treat to hold a brand new baby just an hour after being born!  

He made all those sweet baby noises and was as warm and cuddly as could be.  

Visiting "Ra-Ra" and "JJ" at home, the boys get to hold Jack at 4 days old.  

They were stoic and awed at their little cousin.  

Howie comments, "His head feels like my Bo-Bo," 

which is the best compliment he knows how to make.  

Animal Encounters

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful zoo in our fine city of Cincinnati.  

The boys love going down to observe the animals and get some walking exercise.  

Here are some of the encounters we had on Saturday...

Beautiful Great Grandparents

Florida!

We just got home from a long stay on the beaches of Bonita Springs, FL.  It's become an annual trip that we all really look forward to.  As soon as it gets cold in Ohio, we start grumbling to each other, "Let's go to Florida."  

This year was another great trip that did not disappoint.  Highlights were Howie swimming in the ocean, Johnny talking and talking and talking about the crabs that pinch, getting a little toasty on that day that the sunscreen was getting low, lots of trips to the Fresh Market (eating organic on vacation turns out to be easier than I thought!) and lots of play time and conversation time for the four of us.  

Here are some pictures that tell part of the story...