Monday, July 30, 2007

Henry Wants To Know Why I Don't Have Normal Dreams

Last night, just before going to bed, I was working on labeling some old posts and making sure all the names were changed (to protect the innocent, of course.)

I guess I was still thinking about the blogosphere when I drifted off to sleep...

And then I ended up DREAMING this

My memory starts with Ryan hearing me contemplate ways I can blog about things near and dear to my heart without the information being received by readers in an unintended way. His reply to me was something like, "yeah...cuz I don't really understand all this glyconutrient stuff you talk about."

I answered something like, "Really? Well sometimes you have to receive the info like a child and not like an adult."

I then proceeded with, "Can I help you see this from a child's point of view?"

Then I took out my magic wand and tapped him on the head. He turned into CAPTAIN! So I sat him in a high chair next to me and started drawing diagrams and talked about the "good guys" that make up our immune system and the "bad guys" that come in the form of viruses and bacterias. That's when Ryan/Captain started chewing on the paper I was using to draw diagrams of human cells.

I realized at that point that I had made Ryan TOO young so I tapped him with my magic wand again and turned him into Grayson "You'll Be Grinnin' When You Buy From McKinnon" Russell. Thankfully, that was a good match and he was able to listen to and understand exactly how glyconutrients help the immune system. After hearing my explanation, he nodded and ran off to the backyard to swing on the swingset.

Next thing I remember was a very crowded kitchen. Henry said, "Look! That's a lot of people for supper. Do you want me to start the macaroni and cheese?"

The last vision I remember of this dream is of the two boxes of Annie's Organic Macaroni and Cheese sitting on my kitchen counter. The boxes were orange so I obviously dream in color.

Crazy, huh?

It Ain't Easy Goin' Green....

Interesting.

Look who appears to have the greener house.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Cheeseball's Naughty Cousin


Yeah, I'm all about HEALTH but sometimes a little no-no dessert does a body good :) This is the yummy goodness I took to Jamie's the other day and what I'll be taking to the lake again tomorrow.

It's Cheeseball's Naughty Cousin - The Chocolate Chip Cheeseball!
This needs chill time so keep that in mind...

This tastes just like cookie dough and actually IS healthier than eating the tubed stuff!! Rolled in chopped pecans, this chip-studded spread is wonderful with graham crackers. I use the "stick" kind because they're easy for scooping. I think Nilla wafers would be yummy, too!

1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter (the real stuff), softened

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Graham crackers

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add sugars, and beat again. Stir in chocolate chips (minis can be mixed in with mixer on low.) Refrigerate for 2 hours. After firming, shape into ball and put in fridge again for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, roll cheese ball in pecans. Serve with graham crackers.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

IRL

There are Internet friends and there are friends IRL (in real life) but there is a double blessing when you have people who are BOTH!

First, I have my friend, Jen, who started as an IRL friend, then became a web friend because of distance, and ultimately stayed an IRL friend BECAUSE of staying in touch through the web. Now I'd like to CONGRATULATE her and her sweet family in the ultimate net-geek fashion, by giving her a "HAPPY NEW BABY" shout-out on my blog! Her new son Jake arrived yesterday and I'm just so excited for her and Chris and Luke! Can't wait to meet the little guy IRL :)

Next I have to say how cool and creepy it is that an Internet friend recognized me IRL and introduced herself to me at Walmart yesterday. It's totally awesome that she spoke up and that we were able to share a hug but also a little bizarre that my family is recognizable because of my posting stuff online! (Lisha, I'm totally glad you spoke, though! It was great meeting you! Even though I am saying it was weird that you recognized me, I TOTALLY would have spoken to you if the roles were reversed!)

Lastly, email, blogs, and internet forums have allowed me to become closer friends with Jamie, after meeting her IRL because of Jen. Today, we were actually able to hang out together and share a wonderful meal and afternoon together. Thankfully she took some pictures of our good time today! I'll have to continue relying on other people to help me with pictures until we find a solution to our broken camera. THANKS J for sending these my way!



Monday, July 23, 2007

Re-Visiting The Cows


Some of you have received an email from me requesting your vote in this silly little Chick-Fil-A contest. For those of you who have not yet voted, PLEASE consider doing it now. We're in the top 40 but we'd LOVE to end in the Top Ten!!

The contest runs for a while (sept) but I have no shame in asking you to vote for us with every email address you have and to ask others to vote for us, too! We'd just REALLY LOVE TO WIN SOME FREE CHIKIN!

So won't you please consider going to www.ShowUsTheCow.com and searching for "My Brothers and Sisters Are Cow-tagious!" by either finding us in the Top 40 or by doing a search for AL pictures in the "Vote for Photos" section.

You can also click here and go straight to the vote page. I recommend filling in only the required fields, and unchecking the the box for future mailings. Then you'll need to confirm the vote in your email box and that's it!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

And until our digital camera gets repaired, there won't be many new pics of us so help us make the most of the pics we already have! (And if we end with the top pic, we can REPLACE our broken camera with the new one included in the Grand Prize!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Dreams For The Future

When I imagine the future, I can't help but picturing my boys wearing my grandbabies and looking as cool as this Dad!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

How Sweet The Sound....

View this montage created at One True Media
Rocky's Baptism

(Click for photo montage. Opens in new window.)

Guess Who's In There!


Yup! I finally got the little bugger wrapped up on my back!!

Of course, I didn't get him there by myself. Henry was KEY to success. I hope to eventually master this carry on my own but until then, I'll just enjoy it when he can help me.

Captain's head bobbed over after falling asleep so I had to tuck his head in but I guess that's evidence that this carry is pretty comfy for the little guy!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Happy Cow Appreciation Day!


Yes, we are total nerds.

But our HUGE lunch at Chick-Fil-A only cost us $6 and some change! So NYAH!

See how you can get a free COMBO (that's right...COMBO!) at Chick-Fil-A today if you dress like a cow!!! But you've gotta hurry, if you want your supper to be FREE!

Muscle shirts not required! LOL (And THANKFULLY I talked Rocky out of wearing his black football pants and pads! He looked even MORE redneck than he does now!)

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Look How Easy It Can Be!


World Breastfeeding Week coming up August 1-7!

In India, Breastfeeding Crawl Initiative is saving lives!
http://breastcrawl.org/video.htm

Keys to Ease: Unmedicated labor/birth & Immediate/within half-hour Skin-to-Skin opportunity. From same site : Ten Steps To Success

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Presidential Candidates?

An interesting little survey to see which Candidate matches up best with your thoughts on some of the bigger issues.

Promising Data

People using natural mannose can't imply anything having to do with anything. Whenever that happens (even in the most innocent and loving of ways) people get their undies in a knot. I mean, if mannose actually positively affected ANYTHING health-related, then SURELY the drug companies would be all over it....right?

Turns out, they are.

Gosh...I wish there was a way to get the benefits of mannose without having to take a toxic, synthetic, side-effecting drug!

Monday, July 09, 2007

Just The Boys


My girls spent the night with Aunt Farnsworth last night so I was here with just my boys today. Look how big they're getting! See how Captain can sit all by himself? Isn't that adorable? :)

Welcome To New Visitors!

I had to add this post because I know of a few new people coming to the blog today and I can't let the "Dear Sister" post be the first one they see!!! WE REALLY AREN'T THAT WARPED! LOL

OK, maybe we are a LITTLE warped....but I promise there is a lot more to us and this blog than just that one post! I know we should be embarrassed by the sheer fact that we even WATCH SNL, let alone find things on it FUNNY, but I figured it was safe enough to confess that dirty little secret here.

For the newbies, I hope you'll read "Cast of Characters" and browse around.

Here's a little blog housekeeping : I just found 4 undmoderated comments that have been there for a few days. Sorry! They have been approved now :)

THANK YOU! Hope everyone is having an awesome Monday!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

We Are Weird

**links have been corrected now so you can see all references**

A few weeks ago, I was watching SNL by myself. Henry was either in bed or on the computer in the office or something. Wherever he was, he missed the original airing of the Dear Sister sketch when Shia Lebeouf hosted. I laughed. It was funny. But I did not know that I was watching a new moment in pop culture youtube fads. In fact, it seemed so insignificant to me that I didn't even tell Henry anything about it.

A couple of days ago, Henry emailed me the youtube version of this sketch. In the email he said something like, "I laughed til I puked..." (not really, I just don't remember exactly what he said.) I replied back to him that he was disturbed.

While on the youtube site, something made me want to search for "Bugs Bunny, Bugs Bunny, Rah Rah Rah" and I stumbled across a "Duck Season, Wabbit Season" parody of the Dear Sister sketch. It made me laugh.

Last night, while hanging with my parents and sister & her family, we started talking about this SNL skit. Uma could not believe we thought this sketch was funny. And Uma, being as insightful as she always is, theorized that SURELY this was based on some TV show or movie but none of us knew what it was. So we started googling and looking on youtube for the answer. Turns out the SNL sketch was a parody of the Season 2 finale of The OC.

Well, THEN we started looking at other goofy parodies of this parody (SNL parodied OC and everybody else parodied SNL!) There are some hilarious ones out there. But Uma emailed the best to me tonight. I wanted to share it with you.

Are any of you as weird as we are and think these are funny?

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Awesome News About Rocky



I wanted to make sure it was OK with Rocky to tell y'all before I posted this and since he said it was OK -- here ya go!

Several months ago, Rocky said he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. Henry read through a children's tract with him and let Rocky answer the questions. The 3 of us talked about it and felt very confident in his understanding and salvation and prayed through the prayer of salvation with him. At that time we talked to him about the importance of baptism and how it is the next step of obedience after the salvation experience. He was not ready to make a public profession and was not ready to be baptized. As the months progressed, he continued to talk about his salvation and his confidence in being saved but said he was too shy for the public profession. We knew he definitely had a faith in Jesus and a wholehearted belief & trust in Christ as his Savior but recognized an immaturity that made him not ready to "walk the aisle."

A couple of months ago, I just really felt Rocky was having some spiritual growth. I told Henry and the girls that we should all pray very specifically for Rocky to be open to God's leading towards baptism but that we should NOT say anything to him about it. The last thing we want is to convince him he needs to be baptized and make him feel pressured to do it just because we said to do it. And two nights ago, our prayers were answered!!

After family devotions, Rocky told me he wanted to say something when the other kids were out of the room. He then whispered in my ear, "I want to be baptized!" I was so excited and told him to tell his Daddy. He did and with a huge smile on his face! We asked if he was ready to walk forward and tell the church of his decision. He said, 'yes' and we asked if he was able to answer the questions Brother A would ask him, and he said 'yes'.

So, we just wanted y'all to know that Rocky will be walking forward to make a public profession of his faith in Jesus on Sunday, July 8 during our 8:45 service.

PRAISE GOD!

Yep...In Alabama

Watch this guy count to a million.

What Is Your Granola Factor?

Charlotte asked the question, "What is a non-crunchy Mom?" I realized that others of you might be wondering the same thing. Maybe this "Granola Factor" quiz will help you understand and decide if you are "crunchy" or "non-crunchy."

I scored 124 :)

Monday, July 02, 2007

No Solids Yet

It won't be long before Captain is chowing down some big boy food but for now, it's still just Momma's milk.

This will be baby #3 that we've waited for self-feeding and so far, it's worked very well. Both Rocky & He-Man were around 7 or 8 months old before they ate any type of solids. With Rocky, we just really wanted to make sure his little tummy was ready since he had dealt with so many pains of colic. We didn't worry a bit about his slow take to table food. He was nearly 9 months old before he was eating much of anything from the table but every bite that went into his mouth was put there by himself. He had a mouthful of teeth by that time (which might be why he was slow to take the food - his mouth was too busy growing teeth to learn how to eat!) and really was a great eater once he got going.

So now we're doing the same waiting with Captain. He's showing some interest in food (because he's often sitting in my lap during meal times) but we're not offering him anything until he can sit in a high chair (which will be any day now) and when he has a tooth or two (also right around the corner.) I think this will probably start happening sometime around his 6 or 7 month birthday.

This kind of info has been taught at La Leche League meetings for years but non-crunchy Moms often don't get the opportunity to hear it. So here's my part of sharing the news.

Babies should be breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life and should totally skip pureed baby food and go straight to baby-friendly, hand-held solids.