Just Organizing the World

I really do have LOTS to tell and write, alas I am off planning and organizing the world, so I do not have time to write about it. But here is my sweet-almost-one-year-old, Annelise....though she is the size of a 6 month old (we will know more when we go to the doc on Monday).

More updates to come!

13 Reasons

Check this out...13 Reasons why you need to hire our buddies Grant and Jess.

Freezer

A couple weeks ago our brand new Kitchenaide refrigerator bit the dust. It was actually a complete nightmare. It died on Saturday (of course) and by Monday morning both sides were basically 65 degrees. Naturally I could only call the repairman on Monday, so by the time we could call we had basically lost everything. Long story short, by Wednesday we had a fully operating refrigerator (they had to order a new compressor) again. We tried for a couple days to keep things in coolers on ice, but then it just became painful (try doing that for 5 days). Dave was so irritated by the whole situation that he ran out and bought a small 5.5 deep freezer so we could save a few things (very few by the time he bought it). I was thankful for the freezer for an entirely different reason.

I had been wanting a deep freezer, but was just sure Dave would not allow it. He hates my innate pack-rat nature and tries to discourage it as much as possible. I knew he would be worried that if I had a big freezer I would begin to horde food that we would fail to use.

In any case, we now have a freezer and I am SO excited! I have been wanting to freeze meals, but was limited by space before. For the last couple weeks I have been cooking up a storm and freezing a bunch.

OK, true confessions, I LOVE cooking. It is one of my favorite things to do. We might not have a clean house, but we eat well, yummy, healthy, homemade meals. I love it! And the truth is if I can buy some things in bulk or when they are on sale I can watch our budget.

Dave works 4 long days during the week and he does not get a lunch break, so he packs his lunch and eats whenever he gets a minute. We have an obsession with soups which was fueled by our time in Europe. I had been getting him canned soup for his lunch which has been fast and easy for all of us. Unfortunately those cans are just filled to the brim with sodium. I bought him the new V8 Campbell's soups and his comment was, "they taste really salty, and aren't as good as your butternut squash soup." After I heard that I went to work. I made several big batches of some of our favorite soups, Lamb and Barley, Red Bell Pepper, Butternut Squash, Asparagas, and Mushroom and Barley. It was so fun to cook all day. I even made my own vegetable broth. Upon finishing I froze small 2 cup portions and labeled them all. Fun!

Since I have been in the mood I have also made mac and cheese, spaghetti, sloppy joes, chicken chili and chicken pot pie. Now I have several homemade yummy meals that I can just throw in the crock pot or microwave.

Nap Time

Yes, those are shoes on her feet. She is such a nut!

Fun with Pumpkins

We spent our family fun day at a pumpkin patch north of the city. I could not help remembering that last year during our trip to the pumpkin patch I was super large and in charge. It is nice to be a regular person this year!

Annelise enjoyed her first hayride out of the womb, and Hadleigh had a blast feeding fish and running around looking at all the pumpkins. She even wanted to take her pumpkin to bed with her (which we did not allow). Here are some fun picks from our day.

Bamboozled

If I was Dave, I would say, I have been mizled…but I am not entirely sure how he would spell it…and even then only my community group would understand the joke. It is true…I have been bamboozled and boy am I ever angry.

You know, I try to be super diligent about every penny I spend on groceries. I clip coupons, buy things on sale, cook for the season, I really try. I don’t always succeed in getting the best deals (I am not like that woman who buys groceries for her family of 5 for $38/week), but I really do try to be conscious of how much I spend and to save when I can.

So, as I clipped coupons on Monday morning I realized that Kroger was having several great things on sale this week. I didn’t need a lot of groceries, but just a couple filler things. Milk was listed at $2.99 and boneless chicken at $1.99/lb, avocados at 10 for $10, etc. I always try to stock up chicken when it is on sale, so I headed to Kroger. I try to avoid Kroger at all costs, but these things were just too good to pass up, so I decided I would make a little trip to Kroger. I packed up the girls (here is one thing in its favor, they have a grand selection of grocery carts that accommodate children…impressive) and headed in. My first stop was the avocados…sweet 10 for $10. Next I arrived at the chicken and was puzzled. It was posted as buy one get one free which put the price at $2.34/lb. I was a bit confused, but picked it up anyway and decided I would just ask at the register (I knew I was right about this…I had JUST looked at the mailer). I swung by the milk that was listed at $3.19…now I was getting worried and confused. I ended up at the register, and had to wait forever to get through (why is it that I never wait in line at Publix?). Upon reaching the register I immediately asked the cashier about the chicken. We had a 5 minute conversation as she tried to explain to me that once I scanned my Kroger card it would all be taken care of. I, in the mean time, was trying to kindly explain that half off is different than $1.99/lb. She finally called a supervisor (the people in my line were getting antsy), and I explained that the circular said $1.99/lb, etc. She understood and went on a trek…we all waited…and waited…and waited…Annelise begins to cry…I am feeling nervous.

The manager arrives back with the circular in hand, opens it up, and voila…there is chicken listed at buy one get one free. Wow, I was horrified and embarrassed! I humbly apologized (and was thankful that I had been polite), and made some comment about how it must have been cheaper at Publix. And went home. The minute I walked in the door I pulled out my circular…and it had chicken listed at $1.99. So confused, and angry, I looked to see what the issue was, did I have the right week, what was happening. I finally found it, in the fine print it noted that these were the prices for the Kroger up by Wal-mart…I never go to that Kroger, and it is at least a mile farther away than the one I went to. So, all the cheap prices that I went to Kroger for, were basically null.

And as I looked at my receipt I realized they charged me more for the avocados…$6 instead of $4. I was livid.

Dave got home, and I started packing up everything to take it back to Kroger. He actually talked me out of it…which I am still a little annoyed about. It would be a waste of gas and time to return those things and then drive to the correct store and try again. I also had coupons attached to my purchase, so it would have been difficult to get everything settled. So…I am eating the $8 I would have saved if I had gone to the right store…and am cursing Kroger in my head…NEVER AGAIN! I will not let you get me again. In the future I will always travel with my circular…and I think I am going to swear off Kroger for at least a month.

In happy news I did find red bell peppers for $1.59/lb at the farmer’s market…that sure beats $4/lb at either grocery.

Miss Hadleigh Claire is 31 Months

Oh my, what joy the little miss brings to me everyday...what drama and what joy! We have truly hit discipline in earnest this past month and I think I need a break! From the moment she wakes up we have a bit of a discussion about obedience. It pleases Mama when she obeys...and it pleases God. We are working hard...but oy...I think I need a break sometimes. But at the times when I SO do not want to discipline I think if I am consistent and regular, she will understand that I need her to obey the first time...and maybe the battle will be ultimately shorter than if I waver. It is hard to remember that sometimes the grace is in the discipline. Who wants to be around a 25 year old who acts like a 2 year old? And I have met some of them!

Our big discipline project of the month, other than the obvious "come to Mama", has been keeping her diaper on during nap/nighttime. What drama! She is potty trained, but we have some major poopy issues. I do not feel like going into it here, I have mentioned it before. So, we continue to work with HC on going poop regularly, and going in the potty. In any case she is still wearing a diaper to bed as I am just happy at any point when she poops. About a month ago she got into the habit of taking off her diaper which resulted in pee/poop in the bed/on her hands/nast! Thus the discipline began...for 2 straight weeks. Wow, really? And just when I thought I, myself, would die she woke up from her nighttime sleep with herdiaper and shorts still on. Victory! Did we ever celebrate! I created the "Shorts-on" dance which is really fun to watch/participate in (Annelise especially likes to shake-it). What fun! After every nap she greets me with a plea to do the shorts-on dance. I am actually thinking about making it a general obedience dance...how can we make obedience fun?

This has been a super difficult time, and of course I am terrified about screwing her up and it taking 5 years of therapy to set her straight...but she will need therapy if she is 25 and acts like a 2 year old...so can we really escape harming our children? I think it is inevitable. Even in the midst of the difficulties it has been a sweet time with HC, and I feel like together we are learning more about each other and also about the Lord. I am reminded myself that it pleases God when I obey him. That he will always love me no matter what I do/do not do. That choosing obedience has some fun results (Shorts-on Dance, anyone?). And that discipline is a form of grace, mercy and love. It is a lot of work, and tiring and emotionally draining. Ugh.

Miss HC is doing a lot of things herself. She can dress herself, put her shoes on, go potty alone, get in her carseat, get in and out of bed/stroller/booster. She loves helping me around the house. She helps with laundry, cooking, baking, cleaning up, dusting, etc. What a helper, I love it! She will go and find things for me and bring them to me. She really likes things in their place, and sometimes makes up where they belong. I will find juice cups in cupboards (because she wants them up off the floor). If there are random clothes in her room she will pick them up and put them in a basket. She is my funny little OCD girl.

She rode a mini zipline for the first time. After she did the mini one (holding on by herself) Dave wanted to put her on the big one, but after some convincing, main Kris saying ABSOLUTELY NOT Dave kept her on the mini one.

Singing is still a fav. SHe picks up songs and words really quickly and walks around the house singing. Her new fav is Rainbow Connection, "...someday we'll find it, a rainbow connection, a lovers, a dreamers and me, la da da..." in her words. HA-larious.

Oh how she loves her friends! We took the girls and our community group up to Knoxvegas for a weekend away. What fun the little miss had with all her big girl friends. She got to show off all her tricks for her friends AND for Grandpa and Grandma. Big stuff. Everyday she asks to see her friends and have them come over and play or go to the park. By 9 yesterday morning I was so tired of her asking about her friends that I made a quick call to Christy and Brea to secure a playmate for the morning. They are so cute together!

Going places is also a fav thing to do. She will say, "Let's go in the van". It doesn't matter where...let's just go! She is saying the funniest things with the funniest expressions. It is hard not to laugh sometimes, especially when I should be serious. She will just look up at me with these big eyes and begin to talk really fast in words that undiscernable...hilarious.

My New Endeavor

So here is my new endeavor...a compost pile. I am very excited. Dave is going to make a spot for it, and I have been reading up on them. I wanted to begin this fall so that I have lots of materials to start my garden in the spring. My mouth just waters when I think of my own tomatoes, squash and bell peppers. Yummy! I hope it will be up and running this weekend.

The Elf is 11 Months!

Annelise is 11 months old today. Amazing. She is such a little person these days.

She finally cut her eighth tooth, which she was working on for a while. Dave is concerned, of course, because she is a bit behind in the tooth department even though she got an early start, with her first tooth at 4.5 months. I keep telling him you cannot be advanced in EVERY area!

She is officially crawling, though it is not her favorite thing to do. She actually prefers to do this little one-legged scoot thing. Hilarious. And her favorite thing is to stand and cruise. This week I did a lot of cooking, and she would crawl from the playroom into the kitchen, grab onto my leg and stand up. She would stand there as long as I was standing still.

Annelise is now really attaching to Dave which is so fun to see. When Dave walks in the room she gets a huge smile on her face and immediately scoots toward him. She enjoys spending her early mornings with Dave while I get in my shower.

Of course the older she gets we see more and more of her little personality. Dave was laughing because the other day she spent a good 10 minutes trying to get the outlet cover off. Hadleigh would never do that, so it is funny to see how different they are. Annelise loves going for all the buttons, tv, computer, etc.

She is a very good natured baby (these days). She will easily go and visit other people (unless it is after church and she has been away from me for a couple hours. She gives lots of smiles and waves and claps to most anyone. She also has a fabulous giggle and laugh.

Yesterday as I was driving home Hadleigh and Annelise were making each other laugh in the back seat. Hadleigh was turning her head from side to side really quickly, and then Annelise was doing the same. They were both in hysterics, so funny.

She plays reasonably well on her own. I can put her in the playroom with several toys and she will entertain herself for a little while, but she is so happy when HC is around to play with her.

Annelise is just generally at a fun age. It is nice to have arrived, and I feel like we made it over the hump. Things continue to get easier, and I am thankful for a little break. She is sweet, hilarious, and cuddly. We look forward to knowing her more and more.