I'm making this for dinner tonight. It's from one of my favorite blogs, 365 days of slow cooking. I think before I try to make it an entire year cooking in my crock pot, I should try to do it a whole week. That's a more realistic goal. She has lots of great recipes and ideas, and tonight I'm trying her orange chicken. I'll let you know how it goes...the sauce tastes yummy so I don't see how it could go wrong.
Noah is so adorable. When he gets on the bus I hear all these little girls go, "Noah, Noah, sit by meeeee!!!" The bus driver had to tell the other kids to let go of Noah, he had to get buckled up. Awwww....my baby. I'm so happy he's so well liked by his peers. I think it's every parent's fear that their child will be picked on. I try very hard to make sure my kids understand that bullying and being mean to other kids is NOT ok. Sometimes there are kids at school that you don't especially like, or get along with, but you cannot be mean to them. Those kids are someone's baby too.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Happy Birthday Luke!
My baby boy Luke Jacob Scovel turned 2 on October 13th....I cannot believe that he's been around for 2 years! I can't figure out if it seems like more or less time has gone by.
He was born 7lbs, 2oz and 20 inches long at 9:10 AM. His daddy was also born at 9:10 AM. He had the biggest feet and longest fingers I'd ever seen. Not much has changed, his feet are larger than Noah's, he weighs 36 lbs and is pretty tall for his age. He's a cute, active little kid. I have yet to go to Fred Meyers where someone doesn't comment on his hair or how cute he is. Happy Birthday Lukey :)
He was born 7lbs, 2oz and 20 inches long at 9:10 AM. His daddy was also born at 9:10 AM. He had the biggest feet and longest fingers I'd ever seen. Not much has changed, his feet are larger than Noah's, he weighs 36 lbs and is pretty tall for his age. He's a cute, active little kid. I have yet to go to Fred Meyers where someone doesn't comment on his hair or how cute he is. Happy Birthday Lukey :)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
On being a parent...
I need a new camera....badly....I need more photographic documentation of my kids' lives
My phone camera has been working so far, but I want a camera I can count on. I'm hoping that Aaron and I can buy one as our joint Christmas present to each other (last year we bought a carpet cleaner). We prefer to buy one big thing that we both want rather than giving individual presents.
This month we have two birthdays to celebrate. Luke will be 2 tomorrow and Ethan will be 7 on the 24th. It's hard to believe that the kids are getting so old. Ethan was just a little baby when I met Aaron. When I got pregnant with Zack I fully intended to get my tubes tied. I talked about it like I'd already signed the paperwork. A couple months before I had him Aaron said that he didn't want to do anything permanent. I was like, "ummm..you want MORE kids??" He said he didn't know but didn't want to have to make that decision right now. I thought about it a lot and decided I agreed. Now, a month after having Zachary I thank God that I didn't go through with it. We've already decided that we aren't done having kids and although I have no intentions of getting pregnant right away, I am so happy I didn't make a rash decision while under the influence of hormones.
Speaking of having more kids, it seems to me that people are fascinated with large families. You see it on TV with the reality shows (how many more do you think I'll need to have to get my own show, eh???) and when people comment on how many kids you have. In our church there are several large families, but I think that's pretty typical among the churchgoing demographic. I haven't always pictured having a large family, in fact I always said I would never have kids. Anyone who knew me prior to meeting Aaron can attest to the fact that I was NOT a fan of children. Ethan and Aaron melted my heart and the rest is history. There's something magical about looking at these small people who look up to you and count on your guidance to shape their lives. It's a lot of responsibility, but it's worth it.
My phone camera has been working so far, but I want a camera I can count on. I'm hoping that Aaron and I can buy one as our joint Christmas present to each other (last year we bought a carpet cleaner). We prefer to buy one big thing that we both want rather than giving individual presents.
This month we have two birthdays to celebrate. Luke will be 2 tomorrow and Ethan will be 7 on the 24th. It's hard to believe that the kids are getting so old. Ethan was just a little baby when I met Aaron. When I got pregnant with Zack I fully intended to get my tubes tied. I talked about it like I'd already signed the paperwork. A couple months before I had him Aaron said that he didn't want to do anything permanent. I was like, "ummm..you want MORE kids??" He said he didn't know but didn't want to have to make that decision right now. I thought about it a lot and decided I agreed. Now, a month after having Zachary I thank God that I didn't go through with it. We've already decided that we aren't done having kids and although I have no intentions of getting pregnant right away, I am so happy I didn't make a rash decision while under the influence of hormones.
Speaking of having more kids, it seems to me that people are fascinated with large families. You see it on TV with the reality shows (how many more do you think I'll need to have to get my own show, eh???) and when people comment on how many kids you have. In our church there are several large families, but I think that's pretty typical among the churchgoing demographic. I haven't always pictured having a large family, in fact I always said I would never have kids. Anyone who knew me prior to meeting Aaron can attest to the fact that I was NOT a fan of children. Ethan and Aaron melted my heart and the rest is history. There's something magical about looking at these small people who look up to you and count on your guidance to shape their lives. It's a lot of responsibility, but it's worth it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
That yummy yellow stuff.....
Since I've been not working my days have consisted of taking Ethan to school, taking Noah to to the bus stop, watching my DVRd shows, cooking, cleaning, facebooking and organizing. Today I decided I needed to occupy Luke for a while so I took him downstairs to the garage and we went through some boxes we have yet to unpack. I found some 6M, 12M and 4T clothes! I need to figure out a better storage system for the kids clothes that are currently not in use. Right now I just have random boxes and bins with a certain size in them. When a kid grows out of a size I just switch out the entire wardrobe. My friend Carla and I have been exchanging kids clothes for a couple years now and it's worked out wonderfully! I just lent her my 5T stash and I currently have her 3T collection. I think something I'll put more effort into is obtaining some more rubbermaid tubs that all look the same and puting each size in a different tub. Its a bit challenging right now because Noah and Luke are roughly wearing the same size.
You know that yellow yummy stuff that they serve on the side of the entree at Chevy's?? That corn meal goodness? Tonight I decided I just had to have some so I looked up the recipe and made some! Here is the recipe for this wonderful treat! For what it's worth, I totally screwed up cooking it for an entire hour. The recipe tells you to put the 8x8 pan over a boiling saucepan. Well....I did this, but steam was coming out around the pan and apparently did not work the way I thought it would. An alternative cooking method is to put the 8x8 pan in a 9x13 Pyrex pan with an inch or so of water in the bottom. I cooked it for about 40 more minutes and it came out perfect (I covered the 8x8 with aluminum foil).
Tonight we went to our first parent meeting for Head Start. Not a great turnout but it was informative. Aaron and I volunteered to co-chair the Parent Committee and I volunteered to be on some sort of special committee. I'm pretty sure I have officially overextended myself but I like to be busy.
I did some power cleaning about a half hour ago. I find that the BEST time to clean (deep clean, especially) is at night. There are no kids running around making messes or playing in my dirt pile while I sweep, no noises, no distractions and most importantly, no excuses as to why I can't be cleaning. Sure, I'm exhausted after waking up at the crack of dawn, but the feeling I get when I flip on the light in the morning and my kitchen still smells like bleach and the floors are lickably clean.....ahhhhh...it's unexplainable. I cleaned the hall bathroom, swept the floor, cleaned the clutter from behind/to the side of my computer (to be fair, I stacked it neatly in my bedroom to be sorted through later), bleached counters and dining room table, bleached sink, did dishes, cleaned range and microwave. Aaron told me yesterday that his only fear about me possibly becoming a stay at home mother someday is that I will most likely forget to wash the walls......he's so silly.
You know that yellow yummy stuff that they serve on the side of the entree at Chevy's?? That corn meal goodness? Tonight I decided I just had to have some so I looked up the recipe and made some! Here is the recipe for this wonderful treat! For what it's worth, I totally screwed up cooking it for an entire hour. The recipe tells you to put the 8x8 pan over a boiling saucepan. Well....I did this, but steam was coming out around the pan and apparently did not work the way I thought it would. An alternative cooking method is to put the 8x8 pan in a 9x13 Pyrex pan with an inch or so of water in the bottom. I cooked it for about 40 more minutes and it came out perfect (I covered the 8x8 with aluminum foil).
Tonight we went to our first parent meeting for Head Start. Not a great turnout but it was informative. Aaron and I volunteered to co-chair the Parent Committee and I volunteered to be on some sort of special committee. I'm pretty sure I have officially overextended myself but I like to be busy.
I did some power cleaning about a half hour ago. I find that the BEST time to clean (deep clean, especially) is at night. There are no kids running around making messes or playing in my dirt pile while I sweep, no noises, no distractions and most importantly, no excuses as to why I can't be cleaning. Sure, I'm exhausted after waking up at the crack of dawn, but the feeling I get when I flip on the light in the morning and my kitchen still smells like bleach and the floors are lickably clean.....ahhhhh...it's unexplainable. I cleaned the hall bathroom, swept the floor, cleaned the clutter from behind/to the side of my computer (to be fair, I stacked it neatly in my bedroom to be sorted through later), bleached counters and dining room table, bleached sink, did dishes, cleaned range and microwave. Aaron told me yesterday that his only fear about me possibly becoming a stay at home mother someday is that I will most likely forget to wash the walls......he's so silly.
I'm Baaaaaaaaack!!!
After a "brief".....(ok, two year) hiatus, I am going to attempt to blog again. Sometimes I'm doing something and think that it'd make a really good blog topic. I fancy myself a fairly organized mother of 4 children and perhaps I can pass on some of my stumbled upon wisdom to somebody else. I should probably start with a quick recap of the last couple of years. Firstly, Ethan will be 7 this month, Noah will be 4 in November, Luke will be 2 the day after tomorrow and I just gave birth to our 4th boy Zachary on September 13th. I took 5 months off after having Luke to just hang out and be a mom..I LOVED it but we needed to get back on our feet financially so I went back to work full time. I've been in Seaside at Wyndham Vacation Ownership for almost two years now. It's a crazy place to work, but it's been fun. I'm currently on maternity leave until November 8th. I've been enjoying every last second of being a stay at home mommy and overall slave to my kids :) Aaron has been very active in his latest computer programming endeavors. He is programming Xbox games for the Indie marketplace. He is doing some of his own as well as some freelance work for other game developers. He has really enjoyed it. Right now it's more of a hobby than a career, but we hope that it's heading that way in the near future.
Whenever I mention I have 4 kids people are shocked. They can't imagine how one could deal with all that having 4 boys entails. I like to tell people that it's not like they all popped out at the same time, and as 2 year olds....They came slowly, and our family grew and adapted with each child we added. Being their mother comes completely natural and very rarely do I truly want to yank out my hair and sell them to the gypsies.
Hopefully I can keep up with this at least on a weekly basis. I have so much I want to say and share with people. Bookmark me and check back often :)
Whenever I mention I have 4 kids people are shocked. They can't imagine how one could deal with all that having 4 boys entails. I like to tell people that it's not like they all popped out at the same time, and as 2 year olds....They came slowly, and our family grew and adapted with each child we added. Being their mother comes completely natural and very rarely do I truly want to yank out my hair and sell them to the gypsies.
Hopefully I can keep up with this at least on a weekly basis. I have so much I want to say and share with people. Bookmark me and check back often :)
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