Rachel Days

Rachel's K12 Blog

2011-09-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

I've had a hard time blogging lately - seriously blogger's block going on! I think I've broken through my block, though, as I've started a new blog to document Rachel's 1st grade year with WaVA/K12. I'll be writing about our daily adventures over there now - so come on over! :) I just posted a new post including some pics from her birthday yesterday.

Here is the link:

http://rachelk12.blogspot.com/

Still Here!

2011-07-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are still alive! I really shouldn't neglect this blog so much, I know. I'll just do a quick update about what all has been going on -

School is out for Summer!!! Yay! So far we have had a really fun summer. Rachel and I are visiting the library weekly and working on her reading. Her skills are really developing, which is wonderful to see. She is participating in the Summer Reading Program at the library and has already made past the half-way mark (400 minutes) of reading - so she got a prize last week. She chose a free ticket to the Children's Museum - so we'll be making a trip to the museum probably next week.

Other than reading, we have enjoyed some fun play dates, spent some time at the pool (one of the nice benefits of apartment living), and discovered Legos. Seriously, how is it that I never knew about Legos. Well, I knew about them - but not much. I just thought they were blocks that stuck together - nothing all that special. Well, Rachel and I have both fallen in love with Lego. Right now she loves playing with them and building her own creations, but when we get a set, she always wants me to build the actual item on the front of the box for her first. And yes, I am more than happy to do it, because seriously, it is FUN! Here is a link to the set that I put together today: City Corner . Looking at it brings back memories of playing with my little Fisher Price Village that I had (and loved) as a child. And if money were not an issue, I'd LOVE to have this set to build: Green Grocer . I'm not only amazed by how fun Legos are, but also by how expensive they can be.

Yesterday was Greg's birthday. Rachel complained that it is NOT fair that everyone decorates in red, white, and blue and that there are fireworks celebrating her daddy's birthday but not her birthday. :) I was brave and actually made a homemade birthday cake for Greg this year. Usually I'll just get one from a bakery because I am not a baker. I always seem to either burn things or not cook them enough. This year I made Greg's favorite type of cake - German chocolate. And it turned out perfectly! It was even a 3-layer cake, too! Here's a pic:

And finally, we have a fun new family hobby - Geocaching. When Greg first mentioned this to me about a year or so ago, and I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it. It just didn't seem like something I wanted to do. Well, I was wrong - this is so much fun! We pretty much spent our entire long weekend out searching for caches and exploring some gorgeous areas we'd never seen. We've discovered parks we never even knew existed, a beautiful garden, fun (and sometimes challenging, at least for us!) hiking trails, amazing views... it has been great. Rachel has been falling asleep in the car at the end of the days after "treasure hunting," happy and exhausted. Between the good exercise, the thrill of the hunt, and discovering new things in our community, this is definitely a hobby we will continue. Below are some pictures we've taken while out Geocaching, Unfortunately, all of these pics were taken with Greg's phone. I nee

d to remember to bring my camera next time.

Oh how she has grown!

2011-05-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

6 years old

19 months old

We spent the afternoon on Whidbey Island, and as I always do, I took a picture of Rachel sitting on the dog statue in downtown Langley. I can't get over how fast my baby has become a little girl. Rachel is so much fun at 6 years old, but oh how I'd love to go back in time and hold little Baby Rachel again! It is bittersweet.

Little Master Chef!

2011-05-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

Rachel loves food. Yes, she has been a picky eater over the years, but food has always been very near and dear to her heart. We used to laugh that she was definitely "food motivated." Over the last couple of years, I've noticed that Rachel has shown more and more interest in cooking. She likes to help whenever she can. She often will pull a stool up to the kitchen bar and watch me work in the kitchen. She also will sit and watch cooking shows! In fact, like me, she is a huge Gordon Ramsey fan and loves to watch Kitchen Nightmares.

Lately, she has talked more and more about wanting to learn to cook. She has even started being very open to trying new and different foods ever since Greg explained to her that if she wanted to be a good chef, she needed to learn to taste new things. So, today, I let her make brownies for Greg. And she did it! Seriously, all I did was get out the ingredients, read the directions to her, and put the pan in and out of the oven. She poured ingredients in the bowl and stirred them. She greased the pan. She tested the cooked brownies with a toothpick to be sure they were done. She even cracked the egg all by herself. I was so impressed! I had fully expected to sacrifice a few eggs in the process of teaching her to crack an egg properly, but nope, she did it on her first try with no shell ending up in the mix. I was also so impressed with how seriously she listened to my directions and did her very best. So often, she has a habit of rushing through things and not listening. But when it comes to food, well, that is important business to Rachel! I have a feeling she is going to be a much better cook than me...and hopefully soon, she can take over some of the meal prep around here.

Super Saturday!

2011-04-23T22:34:00.001-07:00

Today was busy and wonderful! The sun was out and it was almost 60 degrees. Finally, it felt like spring had arrived. We started the day off with our favorite breakfast, Baked Orange French Toast. Then it was off to an Easter egg hunt hosted by Christopher, one of the boys in Rachel's class. We discovered that he lives only 2 blocks from us, so we'll probably be planning some future play dates with him. When we got there, we discovered that Rachel was the only girl from her class that was invited! So it was just "Rachel and the boys" hunting for eggs in the playground across the street from Christopher's house. Here are a few pictures from the hunt:

After the Easter Egg hunt, we decided to head out to the tulip fields again. This time there were lots of gorgeous tulips in the fields. I am always amazed at how beautiful they are each year. We stopped for a couple of pics:

After visiting the tulip fields, we headed home for dinner and then dyed some Easter eggs. I have no pics of the eggs tonight, but will try to take some pictures of them tomorrow. And now, we are off to bed so that the Easter Bunny can come do his magic.

Most Embarrassing Moment Ever...

2011-04-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I had an appointment with another surgeon to discuss treatment options. I talked to his intern first and then they both came back in to examine me. Anyway, after looking at my back and discussing different possibilities, I was feeling rather flustered and nervous. Then they said they wanted to see the lump on my leg.

Well, I was in a gown but still had on my jeans. So I had to stand up and pull my jeans down below my knees so they could see the lump. I thought to myself that I felt a little awkward doing that. It is much more comfortable getting undressed in privacy than having to do it with 2 doctors standing there staring at me! Anyway, without thinking about what I was doing, I pulled my gown up close to my waist, undid my jeans, and then pulled them AND my pink panties down to my knees! EEK!!! I was so horrified to realize that I'd pulled down my panties, too, that I forgot I was still holding up my gown and basically flashing them for a second or two. Then all I could do was try to quickly find a way to pull my panties back up while trying to maintain some sense of dignity. So I quickly reached down to get my panties back up, but unfortunately, I didn't realize they had untied the back of my gown. And so of course my gown fell down exposing the rest of my body!

Seriously? I wanted to die. Rachel was practically falling out of her chair laughing and even the intern laughed! I think the nice doctor felt really bad for me and he didn't laugh, just kept saying "It's okay. It's okay...." and then he quickly said "Here, let me tie your gown back on." Did I mention that I just wanted to die? The intern ended up laughing and saying that if it made me feel any better, it wasn't the first time they'd seen a naked woman. Yeah, but was it the first time a woman decided to get naked for them after only being asked if they could look at her knee????

So yes, this ranks way up there on the most embarrassing moments scale.

Anyway, I did like the surgeon. He didn't seem as anxious to just immediately do surgery like they have done in the past. Instead, he wanted to get an MRI to better see what was going on. And then he was able to get me in for that MRI that same day. I'll see him again in a couple of weeks to discuss the results and the plan.

It ended up being a super long day because my MRI was scheduled for 6 p.m. We met Jennifer and her boys for lunch and visited for quite a while. After lunch, I took Rachel to the play area at the mall and just let her run around for a while. I also found a great little shop in the mall called Impress. They sell rubber stamps and all kinds of cool card-making supplies. Rachel and I both had so much fun browsing through the store and of course just had to buy a few stamps to share.

Then we went back to the hospital for my MRI. Since Greg wasn't with me, the techs were wonderful about playing with Rachel while I spent the next hour and a half in the MRI machine. It was a longer than normal test because of the fact there there were so many areas that needed imaging. I still have to go back for a 2nd MRI to look at the lumps on my leg. Anyway, towards the end of the test, the tech came in to inject some dye in my vein. I asked him if Rachel was being good. His reply was "Oh yeah. Hey, your kid is awesome!" Ahhh, I loved hearing that! It totally made my day. :)

1-year-old Rachel

2011-04-10T20:52:00.001-07:00

Colleen emailed me today talking about planning for Holly's 1-year-old portraits and that got me to thinking about Rachel when she was only 1. Rachel and I both browsed through old pictures together this evening. She was such a cute little baby! I found the pictures from when she had her very first professional portraits taken and decided to do a quick scrapbook page.

It has been a quiet weekend around here. Unfortunately, Greg started feeling bad with similar symptoms to what Rachel had earlier in the week, so we've just been hanging out at home watching movies and relaxing. Hopefully he will feel better soon. Tomorrow I see a surgeon down in Seattle for yet another opinion on treatment options followed by lunch with my friend Jennifer. Not looking forward to seeing the surgeon, but lunch will be fun!

Spring Break Update

2011-04-08T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, Spring Break hasn't gone exactly as we had planned. We started off with lots of rain and cold weather. Then Monday, Rachel complained of not feeling her best. By Tuesday? Well, here is how Rachel spent most of the day on Tuesday:

She had a sore throat, headache and fever by noon. By 6:30 she was literally moaning from pain from her headache, so I put her in the car and headed for the walk-in clinic. On the way to the clinic, she started throwing up repeatedly. Poor baby! I decided to go the ER instead and called Greg to bring her some clean pajamas. We quickly lost count of how many times she threw up. Even after 3 doses of an anti-nausea medication, she literally couldn't move without getting sick again. At one point she seemed better and they said we could go home, but as soon as she stood up, the vomiting started again. At that point, she got an IV for fluids and they started the process to admit her. Thankfully, though, she started improving quickly with the IV medication and fluid and we got to come home in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

When we got home, she and Greg went right to bed, but I stayed up and put poor Baby Dog through the washer and dryer (because of course she was holding him when she got sick in the car). I also wanted to keep an eye on her and be sure she was okay. I finally crawled into bed around 6:30 a.m. and slept until Greg left for work around 9:30.

Rachel and I spent Wednesday just hanging out at home. Fortunately, Rachel was feeling much better! Unfortunately, we had to cancel a play date with Colleen and Linlee because we didn't want to share Rachel's virus with the Young family.

When Greg got home from work on Thursday, we decided to take Rachel to Chuck E. Cheese since she was feeling better. She didn't really want to eat much pizza, but she had a great time playing games and even agreed to have a picture taken with the big mouse for the first time ever. She was still a bit nervous, though! Here she is in the car when we arrived at C. E. Cheese. Can you tell she is happy? :)

Today was a beautiful day with lots of warm sunshine, so we headed out to The Berry Farm in the middle of Skagit Valley. This is the time of year that I love living in Skagit Valley! The tulips and daffodils are beginning to bloom and there are so many great little produce farms to visit. Just being there made me feel so completely relaxed and like we were on a mini vacation. After we left the farm, we went to a local lake and just walked around for a little while. It was such a great day! Below are a few pics from our day. I didn't have my good camera with me, so we used Greg's cell phone.

The tulips aren't all up yet in the fields, but the daffodils were gorgeous!

So our week started off rough, but thankfully, the last couple of days have been wonderful. And now it is already the weekend and I'm so sad that I'll be packing her off to school again next week. How many more weeks until summer???

Rainy Monday and an update on me

2011-04-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

So today didn't go quite as I had hoped. Greg had the day off and we had talked about taking Rachel to the science museum or to play at Chuck E. Cheese today. Unfortunately, Rachel wasn't feeling her best due to a cold and I was having a lot of pain, so we decided to postpone our plans until at least Rachel feels better. I was a bit bummed. I'm having some cabin fever and I'm getting really tired of the daily rain and cold temps (around 43 for our high today). So we spent the day just hanging out at home. We played some games and Rachel did some more crafts. We did run out this evening for dinner at Subway followed by a quick trip to the grocery. And no, I'm not a fan of Rachel riding on the back of the cart, but Greg was with us and he likes to break my rules about that. :)

So I haven't written an update on what is going on with me lately. It has been a rough several months of surgeries, complications, and a quest for a diagnosis and cure! What started out as 2 benign tumors in September has now become 5 benign tumors...and this is after three surgeries since November removing a total of I think 4 tumors. Honestly, I'm losing count of how many there have been! There have been lots of tests, lots of second opinions, lots of "guesses" about how to best treat me. Two doctors at Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center have said that I've "failed" surgery as a treatment option and discussed radiation and/or chemotherapy. A couple of other doctors from Hutch say that these tumors will likely not be sensitive to radiation or chemo, and have suggested more surgery.

The tumors are mostly located around my chest wall and are pretty large (7 to 14 cm) and invasive, and I also have a couple on my leg now. Thankfully, the ones on my leg do not hurt and are not as large. I'm seeing another surgeon for yet another opinion next week, but at this point, it has been recommended that I have 2 more surgeries for the tumors I have right now. Very very frustrating! At the same time, I look forward to some pain relief once the tumors are removed. I am having to take pretty strong narcotics around the clock now just to function, which worries me and has caused me to have to take an extended leave from work. They are planning to send me to a pain clinic after my evaluation with the surgeon next week for some injections to block some of the pain. I'm really hoping that works.

Then, on top of the tumor issue, I had an airway reaction in the recovery room after a procedure a few weeks ago. They tried several things to help me breathe that didn't work and ended up shooting me up with steroids. A BIG problem when one is diabetic. As a result of the massive dose of steroids, my blood sugar shot up to dangerous levels and I ended up back in the hospital on IV insulin a couple of days later. I've been unable since then to get my blood sugar back under control and now have to take a sliding-scale insulin on an asneeded basis depending on my levels. We are hoping this will be temporary.

Anyway, to say I've been a bit depressed for a while is an understatement. I have felt like I'm never going to have a normal life again and I'm afraid I haven't been a great wife, mom, or friend lately.

But I think I'm getting to a better place emotionally now. I have decided to stop fighting against this and feeling sorry for myself and instead to just do whatever I can to manage it and enjoy my life. One thing I've done in the last few weeks is radically change my diet. I'm eating a lot more fresh fruit and salads now. I am eating very little bread compared to before, avoiding fried foods, and avoiding sweets. I'm happy to say that this is helping me feel much better as far as my energy level and I'm finding that I crave healthier foods now which is totally unlike me, to be honest. My new favorite treats: yogurt, apples with cheese, and cherry tomatoes. Who knew I'd crave cherry tomatoes so much that I'd get dressed and make a special trip to the grocery just for that? But the best thing is that by making these changes, I'm beginning to feel less at war with my body and also it feels good to know I'm doing what I can to help it get well. I've also started getting back into some of my hobbies (paper crafting, digital scrapbooking, etc) which feels really great and relaxes me. I am learning how to deal with stress better, and I'm beginning to feel much more like myself again. Yay! And on bad days I keep thinking of what my mom used to tell me during difficult times - This too shall pass.

First day of Spring Break!

2011-04-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

So today was actually the first day of Spring Break for Rachel since she only goes to school every other Friday and this week was her Friday off. She is happy about getting a week off school but has mentioned more than once that everyone from her class is going to Disneyland for Spring Break except her. In fact, she is pretty sure that everyone she knows has been to Disneyland before... except for her. Oh my, the injustice of it all! :) Actually, I am dying to take her to Disney! We've been waiting for her to get just a bit older, but at the same time, I want to go pretty soon because right now I think it really will be very magical to her.

Anyway, she loved getting to sleep in this morning and then spent some time playing with Jump Start and Math Blaster on the computer. Then we pulled out some craft supplies and spent quite a bit of time just playing. She worked a lot in her journal, which I love! She is now on her second journal this year. She likes to write about her days, draw pictures, glue in found treasures, etc. While she worked in her journal, I started making a mini recipe album. It is a cute album... very retro and includes clip art from old 1950's-ish Ladies Home Journals. I don't know that I'll ever actually use the album, though I'll probably display it in the kitchen when I finish. It's not finished yet, but I posted a couple of pics of it so far below. It looks more yellow than it really is because it was raining all day today and I just didn't have great light for the picture. Anyway, when it is done, I'll post a picture of the finished project. Oh, and I can't take credit for the idea... it is from a kit from Scrapscription. This is my first kit from them and I'm so impressed with it! I haven't done any kind of paper craft in a long time, but I'm having so much fun with this one.

I also have chosen a few Easter projects to do with Rachel. We're going to do Bunny Brownies in a jar as gifts for her teachers at school. Click HERE to see the cute jars! And then we're going to make THIS wreath and these cute little egg animals.

A clean room!

2011-03-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

Remember the picture a few days ago of Rachel's messy room? Here is another picture of her room before the massive declutter - just to remind you:

And here is that corner now:

She likes to pull the little pink chair up to her trunk and use it like a desk for coloring and drawing. And of course, it is her "teacher's desk" when she has "Dog and Cat School" with her stuffed animals. Apparently only the stuffed dogs and cats are getting an education! :)

Spring break is next week, so Rachel will be home all week. I'm excited about that and hope to do some fun activities with her. I feel bad that I've not been able to be a fun mommy as much lately. So I hope to make it up to her over this next week. I'm going to take her to the pottery place so she can paint and I think we'll do some Easter crafts together. I've picked out a few possible projects for Easter and will post about them a little later.

Weekend Recap

2011-03-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, this weekend flew past quickly. It was a fun and productive weekend. We made a lot of progress with Rachel's room, though it was slow going. I'm getting used to my new normal of having to do activities in short spurts followed by crashing, which is no fun at all. I'll be glad when the new normal reverts back to the old normal. But anyway, Greg really helped me and Rachel was very on board with the decluttering. We ended up packing up about 4 big boxes of toys on Saturday. Then today I pulled all of Rachel's clothing out of her closet and had her try every single item on unless it was a recent purchase. That task took a long time, but I'm so glad that we did it. Now I have a better idea of what I'll need to get her for late spring/summer. I have to say, though, it was really so hard to part with some of her cute clothes! She has had such a big growth spurt since last fall. She started the fall in size 5 tops and size 4 bottoms. Now I'm buying her size 7 tops and size 5 or 6 bottoms depending on the length. She could wear size 6 tops, but I'm buying them a bit big right now in hopes that the long sleeved tops she just got will still fit her for next fall/winter.

Greg and I got a new board game this weekend that we've really been enjoying, though I think he enjoys it a bit more than I do because well, I'm not very good at it! It is called Agricola and I was attracted to it because it reminded me of Farmville from back when I was on Facebook. I quit Facebook... but that is a whole other post! Anyway, it is a fun game. Greg has definitely brought out the "game board geek" in me, I guess. :) Oh, and we also played a fun game that we got for Rachel - Rat-a-Tat Cat. Very good game for little ones and it is good addition practice for them, too. I also did some cooking and meal planning and it feels great to start off this new week with some of the cooking done and some other easy meals planned.

I'll try to get some pictures this week. A post just seems so incomplete without a pic!

School Worries

2011-03-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

I'm glad it is the weekend and I have my girl home with me again until Tuesday. While Rachel has loved school for most of the year, she has been becoming increasingly stressed in the last few weeks regarding some playground issues. This has been a big change from the first 3/4 of this school year. Before, Rachel always said recess was her favorite time of the day and she had several children she loved playing with, including one girl in particular who was her "best friend" at school. Then a couple of weeks ago she came home totally stressed and near tears. It took a while to get her to even discuss it with me, but she ended up saying "Mama, I made the really hard decision to get out of the girl gang today."

Ummm.... WHAT??? Seriously? She is in Kindergarten! Why am I hearing the word gang from my daughter? Why is she telling me she is worried about leaving this "gang" because they told her once she is out, she is "out forever." She told me that this little girl gang started as a way to "protect" another little girl from a mean boy at school. Well, apparently this protection spread to where the girls were becoming aggressive with other children as well and Rachel decided that it wasn't fun anymore because they were being bullies and she didn't want to be a bully.

First, I have to say that I'm very proud of Rachel for not wanting to be a bully. But I'm also really very upset that she is having to deal with this kind of social pressure at school. Of course I know it isn't like this is a really bad "gang" like one might see in the high schools, but still, it is concerning. Plus, her public school goes through 9th grade, so maybe the girls are copying behavior they see among the older children. I don't know. Anyway, we met with her teacher to discuss it and she said she had no idea this was going on and told me she would meet with the girls and have a discussion about it. Well, of course the girls all said that they were just having fun, the teacher told Rachel that she didn't need to be concerned because it was all in fun, and apparently it was dropped. I'm not entirely happy with how it was handled because I feel like Rachel's concerns were just brushed aside...at least from what I'm gathering from Rachel. I do wish the teacher would communicate with me a bit about this issue. I hate to come across as a helicopter parent and continue pursuing it. But in talking with the mom of one of her friends, I found out that I'm not the only parent who is concerned, as her child also has come home upset.

The good news is that Rachel does tell me that the "gang" is no longer together. But she also seems more stressed in general, has trouble sleeping on school nights, and just seems more on edge when I pick her up from school. She also tells me that she is playing by herself at

recess most of the time now. Well, this keeping to herself at recess is so NOT how Rachel is! She LOVES playing with other kids! And so I'm a concerned mommy right now. I can't wait for this school year to be over. I wish I could be with her and protect her at all times, but I know that I can't. But I didn't want her having these worries at such a young age. I'm hoping these last 9 weeks fly by quickly!

Here's another recent picture of my sweet girl!

Should she be on "Hoarders?"

2011-03-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, I think yes. Yes she should!

Ugh! I can't believe I'm publicly sharing this picture. And this is just 1 corner of the room. Oh, but yes, the not quite finished Barbie Dream House is my fault. I really should put the roof on and add the elevator. Right now it just kind of looks like Barbie ran out of money before she was able to finish building her dream house, what with this economy and all...

But well, back to the topic at hand... Rachel's room is SO out of control! She has always been pretty good about keeping her room neat as long as I remembered to stay on her about it and helped her out from time to time. Unfortunately, in the last several months, the state of her room has been one of the last things on my mind. I've really let her slide and it has reached the point that she is overwhelmed by the idea of trying to get it organized again. I will say that she does continue to make her bed every day without us reminding her, and I think that is really wonderful. But well, we have to do something about the rest of this room. She has reached the point that she has trouble getting to the things she wants and is losing things.

Another problem is that Rachel's room in our teeny tiny townhouse is about a third the size of the room she had before. And considering that she never wants to get rid of anything, well, there is just too much "stuff" for the space she has.

So, tomorrow we are beginning our mission to get my girl's room back in shape. I want to make it pretty and functional and organized. I also think I've figured out the perfect way to ease her into letting go of stuff she really doesn't play with anymore. I'm going to box up toys she doesn't play with and have Greg put the boxes upstairs in our office. Once I explained to Rachel that the toys were not leaving us right away and would be upstairs in a box for a while, she was more

comfortable with this plan. Yay! Now, if I can just deal with my own sense of being overwhelmed by her mess, we'll get through it! I'll post an after pic when we get the task completed.

At least she is a very cute hoarder!

All she wants for Easter...

2011-03-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

are her 2 front teeth!

And I'm back...

2011-03-22T16:07:00.001-07:00

It's been just over a year since I've blogged here at Rachel Days. A rough year... but I've missed my "home" here at Blogger. So, I'm back! I'm pretty sure no one even knows I'm back here again... but maybe my bloggy friends will find me eventually. :)

A quick review of the past year:

Greg and I celebrated our 9th anniversary.
Rachel turned 6 years old!
Greg's mom moved in with us as well as his brother who was fighting ALS. We also had our 2-year-old nephew with us for a good bit of the time. Our house was full and busy for a while. Greg's mom has since moved to Colorado, and sadly, his brother passed away last week.
We moved out of my dream house and into a teeny tiny townhouse - temporarily. We are still in the teeny tiny townhouse, by the way... hopefully not for long.
Rachel started Kindergarten (after our epic failure at Kindergarten last year before she was ready). This year has been great, though! I'll post more about that in a later post.
I got a job doing medical transcription from home and I'm still in school studying, when I am able to, to get certified as a medical coder so I can move up the ladder a bit career-wise someday.
I'm still doing some digital scrapbooking and I'm exploring art journaling and card making now, too.
Homeschooling didn't happen this year because there was just too much else happening. We are revisiting that idea for 1st grade... more on that later.
I'm been in and out of the hospital since September having surgeries for recurrent benign tumors. It has been and still is a frustrating issue, but we are working on finding our "new normal" now while we continue to seek answers. More on that later, too.

So that is a quick update. I'm hoping I can get my blogging mojo back now!

And finally, how about a couple of recent pictures of Rachel? Can you believe how grown up she is getting?

New Things...

2010-02-03T23:02:00.001-08:00

I seem to be finding all sorts of things to be interested in lately. Not sure what that is about. I told Greg that maybe I'm just getting all "granola" living up here in the Pacific Northwest! Not really... I'm a long way from that. But I'm finding myself dabbling in things I never even thought about before. First it was homeschooling. I used to think homeschooling was just a little weird. Seriously! I was a school psychologist! I worked in the public school system. I would make a concentrated effort not to roll my eyes when an angry parent (and I saw a LOT of angry parents) would threaten to pull her child from school and just homeschool him. But now here I am... several years later... homeschooling Rachel. But you know, for multiple reasons, it just is what is working for our family. Rachel loves it. I enjoy it most of the time. Oh I have my moments that I want to throw in the towel and send her on the next school bus I see coming down the road (or any bus, really...) but most of the time homeschooling has been a really wonderful experience.

Then I started freezer cooking. Now, people who know me know that I have never been a "left-over" fan. I never want to bring food home from restaurants. I have never enjoyed frozen dinners. I used to hate cooking! But as time has gone by, I've started enjoying it more. The love of cooking doesn't come naturally to me, either. My mom was an okay cook... but she didn't really like it. She did typically cook every single night, but she didn't often invite me in to help her cook. I think she mostly wanted everyone to just stay out of her kitchen and let her get the job done as quick as possible. It was a chore for her. But it was also important to her that our family sit down together for meals. I remember finding a list posted inside one of the cabinet doors in our kitchen. At the top she had written "Things I Can Cook" and then she listed about 10-15 meals. I still smile when I think of that list. And yes, I made a list just like it shortly after Greg and I got married. I definitely did not feel at home in the kitchen and cooking was a chore. Funny how things change over time... because now I love it. And now I even do freezer cooking which is actually very satisfying. Because while I love to cook... I don't always have a lot of energy at the end of the day to do it. It is nice to have back-up meals ready to go. Now my meals are not as fancy or nutritious as the meals my blogger friend Lisa sometimes will post. Her menus make me embarrassed to post what I'm cooking!

The newest thing I'm about to try is making mixes. I am reading this book: Make-A-Mix. It is a good addition to my Fix & Freeze cookbooks in that I can make various "mixes" ahead of time to be used in preparing meals. It should definitely help lower our grocery bills... and it looks fun! Plus I think that it will be healthier to eat this way and reduce even more the different preservatives and chemicals found in food. It is amazing when you look at the back of a box of cornbread mix or cake mix and read all of the different chemicals that you can't even pronounce! I've never been one to be all that worried about such things, and I certainly won't ever be fanatical about it. But small changes like this can only be good for our health. So I'm going to try to make these changes. (But I'm not ready to give up my Diet Coke yet!)

And speaking of health... I'm still exercising! I didn't do my run today like I was supposed to... because The Wave arrived on my doorstep early this morning and I was excited to try it. The videos for it looked really fun and not too hard. Well, now that I've tried it, I have to say that it is PURE EVIL. I'm telling you... I have to be the most uncoordinated person on the Earth! It was a good workout, though. And it was kind of fun... just hard for me to keep up and get my body moving in the right direction the whole time. But I think as I continue to do it, it will get easier only because I'll be more familiar with the routines. So my plan is to alternate days between running and The Wave. Hopefully that will keep the exercise routine fun for me and I'll keep it up. Because really, it isn't just about me. I have a little 5-year-old daughter who, like it or not, watches me and looks to me to set an example. And I don't want to model "overweight couch potato" for her!

Couch to 5K Program

2010-02-01T19:53:00.000-08:00

So today was my first day doing the Couch to 5K program and it felt great! Well, okay, so my neck hurts a bit right now after finishing the first day (thanks to my ever so graceful fall off the trampoline last week)... but really, it wasn't a very difficult routine. Here is the link to info about the program: Couch to 5K

Basically it is a program designed to build endurance so that you can run longer and longer distances. The first day starts off slow... 5 minute warm-up, then 30 minutes alternating between 60 seconds of walking and 90 seconds of running. Over time, the time spent running gradually increases. I was able to download a podcast that has music and also tells me when to walk or run, so I don't have to look at a stopwatch. That worked out really well for me. Anyway, I'm making no promises that I'll finish the program, but I'm sure going to give it a try! You know, I've lost over 80 pounds in the last few years and I've never been this close to my goal. I have to get there! I am so determined to lose 35 pounds by the end of the year... and I really do think exercise is going to be necessary for me to do that. You know, since I seem incapable of giving up potatoes and bread...

And now... how about some humiliating pictures to help motivate me....
This was me in 2005 right after we adopted Rachel:

And here I am now after losing over 80 pounds
(Yeah...apparently the double chin may never go away.)
But anyway... I've come a long way. I have a ways to go. But I'm going to get there!

Those Backyardigan Bullies!

2010-01-29T00:03:00.001-08:00

This morning Greg went in Rachel's room to see if she was awake. She was...and the first thing she told him was that she had just had a BAD dream. She noted that it was not really a scary dream, just a really really BAD dream. And then she actually told him about it! This was exciting to me, because Rachel has never really wanted to talk about her bad dreams... and typically just glosses over them. Well, she was ready to talk about this dream. She dreamed that The Backyardigans had come into our home, uninvited, and proceeded to tell Rachel that they wanted to live in her bedroom and that she had to GET OUT of the house. Apparently she ended up in quite an argument with those bullying Backyardigans about whether or not she had to get out of her own house. It was kind of funny how indignant she was about the whole thing. Anyway, she says they were really very "mean" to her and she doesn't like them anymore!

I knew exercise was evil!

2010-01-26T22:11:00.000-08:00

You know that fall I had on the evil mini-trampoline on Sunday? Well, I found out today that I broke my back!

Okay... I'm being a bit dramatic and it really isn't as serious as it sounds. But I did chip a couple of vertebrae in my thoracic spine. Oh, and apparently gave myself a serious whiplash. Yeah, who needs a car accident? I can manage to find a way to injure myself in my own bedroom. The sad thing is that I got hurt when I was trying to be good to myself by lugging that darn trampoline back in the house so that I could get back into a good cardio exercise routine!

Anyway, the doctor wasn't all that impressed with the chipped vertebrae...not much that can be done for it and nothing to worry about, but she was concerned about my neck. She gave me a collar to wear... which Rachel thinks is VERY cool and therefore can't understand why I refuse to wear it. It is too uncomfortable and really, it doesn't do much to help anyway. The doctor also gave me pain medication, muscle relaxers and yes, a prescription for 6 sessions of massage therapy for my neck. Oh yes! Nothing like doctor's orders to go get a massage! I just wish I could wait until I'm all healed up and then go for the massages... that would be much more relaxing and fun, don't you think?

So that is the update on me. I have to say it was just a bit embarrassing having to explain how I fell. I seriously missed out on the "graceful" gene.

Sleeping again... but no exercise today...

2010-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone for your support on my last post about Rachel's night terrors. Your comments and emails of support and suggestions really helped more than you know. I'm going to try several of the suggestions and see how it goes next time we find ourselves in a bad stretch of difficult nights. Thankfully, the last couple of nights have been wonderful! Rachel has slept through the night peacefully... which means that Greg and I are also getting better sleep and feeling much more rested.

In other news... I pulled the dreaded mini trampoline out of the garage last night so that I can start doing my jogging on it again. I'm still losing weight at a very very slow pace and I want to speed it up. I very much want to get to my goal weight this year. But even more important, I will admit that I haven't done as good of a job dealing with my diabetes as I should. It is hard. Honestly, I love carbs. I don't really like meat all that much. I can go days without meat. Unfortunately, though, when one is diabetic, carbs become the enemy. Oh sure, I can still have them, it is just that they have to be balanced by the right amounts of fat and protein at each meal. And that is where I fail. So I'm going to work on that a bit harder. As well as getting more exercise. I've started doing pilates which is fun, but I also need to do something else that gets my heart rate up... so jogging it is!

So anyway, this morning I was just in a good mood and ran to the trampoline and jumped up on it. NOT a good idea! That thing is slippery... and my feet literally flew right out from under me and next thing I knew, my back was crashing down on the hard edge of the trampoline knocking the breath right out of my chest... and my neck whipped backwards towards the floor. Oh my gosh my body is in pain now! It hurts to walk around, turn my head, bend over...it even hurts to take a deep breath! So frustrating! And I had such good intentions for exercising this morning! Do I at least get credit for trying?

A Rough Night...

2010-01-19T00:00:00.001-08:00

It is midnight. I've been feeling on edge today and unhappy about some situational things in my life that I am unable to do anything about... and as a result I've been ready to just go to bed since 9:00 this evening. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be a while before I actually get to sleep, though. Rachel is having a really difficult night. When Rachel first came home from China, she had a lot of night terrors. As the years have passed, these occur less and less often. Thank goodness! They are frightening both to her and to her mommy and daddy! One thing that tends to trigger them, still, is when she is overtired. She still really needs to have a "rest time" every afternoon. Sometimes she will nap, sometimes she just lies quietly on her bed and looks at books or watches a couple of cartoons. If she doesn't get that nap... and if there is a change in routine or some extra stimulation during the day, I can almost count on her having a night terror that night. And sure enough... today she was not able to nap and played hard with a new friend all afternoon... and tonight she is having a really hard time.

Night terrors are scary because she doesn't really wake up all of the way, and it is literally impossible to comfort her - in fact, usually even touching her seems to exacerbate the terror. Thankfully, when they happen these days, they don't last as long as they used to. Unfortunately, though, she was so disoriented tonight during her night terror that she got out of bed and accidentally peed on the floor... and that really escalated her crying. Finally, though, she seemed to become more aware of where she was and who I was, and was able to calm down enough for me to be able to help her clean up and change her pajamas. Tonight, though, I was in tears by the time she finally drifted back to sleep. It is so hard to see my baby suffer with this and be unable to do much to help her. It is my job as her mommy to comfort her and protect her, so when I'm unable to really do that when she is obviously suffering breaks my heart. And my mind starts thinking about her first year in the orphanage and wondering if she was somehow harmed emotionally and that is why this happens to her. And those are very difficult things for me to even consider! She is my baby and the thought that she might not have always been loved or treated in the most caring way...that her physical and emotional needs were neglected... really upsets me.

Anyway, since that happened tonight, she is sleeping fitfully and crying here and there. So I'm on high alert tonight... and hoping that soon she will actually be sleeping peacefully... so I can, too!

In other news... I'm a failure at the Project 365. I've just been too busy. I am disappointed that I only kept it up for about 6 weeks because I do think it is a fun project. I just don't have it in me to do it right now. Too busy. Too tired...
Maybe another time...
I guess I'll buy Colleen a mocha. That's okay, I'll have one, too... or maybe a caramel macchiato...

Tomorrow will be a better day... I hope!

Cowgirl Princess!

2010-01-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight Rachel was doing a "fashion show" for us, putting on various dress up clothes and walking down the "runway." I had to take a picture of this outfit she put together... I thought it was a particularly creative look!

Rachel & Linlee... pretty ballerinas!

2010-01-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

I'm not perfect... and a funny

2010-01-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

So I may owe Colleen a mocha. Because, no, I did not take a picture on Saturday. I got to the end of the day and realized it. Rachel was asleep and I was also in bed when I realized that I'd not taken a single picture all day. And I had nothing worth capturing. Oh, Saturday was a terrific day! I met Kris and Colleen for lunch...then Colleen and I went to see a movie. But I didn't take my camera. And I guess I could have taken some kind of random picture of something around the house. But that would miss the point of capturing a picture that reflects my day. I even considered (only briefly) getting in the car and driving to the theater and taking a picture of the poster for the movie we saw. But yeah, that would have been a little crazy to get out of bed late at night to go take a picture of a poster.

Then I decided that I just don't have to be perfect! Seriously... when I drive myself crazy over a self-imposed challenge to the point that it isn't fun anymore... I have to stop and ask myself why? But I still won't quit. I'm still going to challenge myself to do Project 365 and to take a picture each day. But if I miss a day here or there... well, that's life! So maybe I don't owe Colleen a mocha after all... since I'm not quitting?

Anyway, Greg's sister Diana is still here visiting and so yesterday we went up to Bellingham for a little while and had dinner downtown at one of our favorite pizza places.

And then a funny...
The other night Rachel asked if she could pray before we ate dinner. And here is what she said: "Dear God. Thank you for our food. And thank you for all of my parts... especially my hair. Amen."
Well... I guess it is good to be thankful for all of "our parts!"

Busy Busy Busy!!!

2010-01-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm running around like a crazy person just trying to keep up with everything that needs to be done every day! I seriously need some time management coaching. But then, who has time to learn more about time management?

Seriously, though, my daily to-do list from Motivated Moms is helping me even more than I had anticipated. But I still find myself getting to the end of my days and realizing that I need a few more hours to really feel like I've done all I wanted to do. How is it possible that I'm busier now than I was when I worked full-time outside of the home??

Anyway, I haven't posted my Life 365 pictures the last few days. They probably won't be all that interesting... but they reflect my life this week. I'm working really hard to finish my MT training. There are a total of 18 sessions and I'm currently in session 16. Sounds great, right? I'm almost done? Except that the deadline for me to be finished is this week! So now I'm having to pay for a couple of extensions so that I can get done. Not exactly my favorite way to part with our money! But it will be worth it and hopefully I'll finish by the end of February. So now I'm spending as much time as possible stuck at my desk doing my practice dictations and taking tests. And starting in a couple of weeks is the RMT Review Course that will run for 12 weeks and prepare me to sit for my certification exam. I got an email from my school saying that I have to be in Session 17 in order to participate in the Review... so I'm really really pushing myself. Sometimes I wonder how much new info my brain can absorb on a daily basis. So anyway, on Wednesday this week I took a picture of some of the books that I'm living with these days. Not exactly the chick lit I like to curl up with in the evenings....

In other news, Greg's sister, Diana, is visiting us from New York this week. It has been fun to see her... and Rachel just adores her! I think Rachel thinks she has moved in with us permanently. We keep telling her that Diana is here just for a visit, but I think Rachel is in denial! Rachel has always so loved spending time with her aunts, uncles, and cousins. In fact, the other day out of the blue she started saying that she really missed her Uncle David! She hasn't seen him in a couple of years and I was actually surprised she has such clear memories of him and especially of riding horses at his house. Maybe the fact that I take pictures of everything helps keep memories alive for her, I don't know. Anyway, I just wish we lived closer to our extended families so that she could see them more often.
Here is a picture I took on Thursday of Rachel and her Aunt Diana:

And yesterday's pictures... well, it was a stretch to come up with a picture. We didn't do much of anything yesterday. Most of my day was spent doing school. The highlight of my day was taking a long hot bubble bath last night with the yummy Aromatherapy Sleep Bath & Body Works foam bath that Santa brought me for Christmas this year! I have to say, this was probably the best bubble bath I've ever used. There were a ton of bubbles and they lasted so long...and they really were more like foam than regular bubble baths. LOVED it. So... my picture to reflect my day yesterday... another book from school and my bottle of bubble bath!

Back to school...

2010-01-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

So we are getting back into our homeschool routine this week after a nice long Christmas break! On Monday I was ready to throw in the towel and enroll her in public school next year. It was NOT a good day for us in our teacher/student roles. I think part of the reason is that Rachel did not sleep much the night before. Which means I didn't sleep much the night before either. When we don't get enough sleep, I feel overtired and low on patience. And Rachel becomes deliriously hyperactive! So as I'm sure you can imagine, we do not make a very good pair when we are both lacking sleep. Anyway, Greg had a little talk with Rachel about trying her best in school, and we had wonderful school days both yesterday and today. I'm still undecided about next fall. Part of me wants to continue homeschooling. Part of me doesn't. I worry that I'll somehow fail her, I guess. I worry that I'm not an effective enough teacher. I just want to be sure that I do what is best for Rachel. And I see pros and cons with either choice. Parenting can be so hard sometimes...

In other news... I may be about to owe Colleen a mocha.
Because she bet me a mocha that I would not be able to stick to the Project 365.
And she may be right. I'm still on top of it. But I'll admit that I'm running out of things to take pictures of. I think my life might be too boring for such a project... But I'm not quite ready to call it quits. Yet...

Rachel's Room...

2010-01-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

I cleaned Rachel's room yesterday. It had totally reached the point to where she just didn't know what to do anymore when I would tell her to go clean her room. She actually does try to keep it neat... but it is a big task for a 5-year-old to actually get everything back into its correct spot. Especially when you consider all the little tiny parts to toys that seem to accumulate. Seriously... where do all those little things that can be found in her room come from?! Between Polly Pocket dresses and accessories, Barbie clothes & shoes, crayons & art supplies, plastic and wood food items from her play kitchen, Happy Meal toys, Pez dispensers, My Little Pony toys, Little People people and animals, Dora Castle accessories, dress-up play clothes... and list goes on and on, even I felt overwhelmed in her room yesterday!

And then I looked under her bed. Oh. My. Gosh. The sheer amount of toys and "stuff" under that bed was amazing! I actually removed the mattress and box springs from her bed in order to get everything out from under there. Then I ended up pretty much taking everything in her room and sorting it all into piles by "category." Then Greg and I rearranged her furniture (something I've wanted to do since we first moved here and I was too tired to carefully consider how to arrange her room) and then I found "home" for everything. Dolls in the doll bed. Animals on the shelves. Books all together in some storage cubes. There's a drawer for Barbies and accessories, a drawer for blocks, a container for crayons, a container for My Little Pony, a drawer for Polly Pocket... and on and on. I showed it to Rachel and she was so excited. And then I actually quizzed her on what toys go where... and she has it!
I think.
I've been thinking about going upstairs to see how it looks now... 24 hours later.
But I'm actually just a little scared to go look...

Here is a picture showing part of her bedroom after the big clean up:

And here is how we found Rachel when we came home from our date last night. Grandma said she never heard so much as a peep from Rachel while we were gone! I think she might like that Nintendo...

Eight Years!

2010-01-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

Today Greg and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! What an exciting eight years it has been, too... and how nice that I am even more in love with him now than I was on our wedding day 8 years ago. Happy Anniversary, Greg!
P.S. Rachel took this picture of us as we were leaving for our "date" tonight. She has now added "photographer" to the list of things she plans to be when she grows up (along with doctor, veterinarian, chef, mommy, teacher, ballerina, and yes, garbage man!).

Happy Birthday Linlee!

2010-01-02T22:26:00.000-08:00

Today I took Rachel to Linlee's 5th birthday party... and oh what a wonderful afternoon it was! Linlee was SO excited to be celebrating her birthday. She was standing in the window watching for us when we arrived... and then there was much joyful laughter and hopping around by the cute little birthday girl! Rachel was equally thrilled to be attending a party... she is quite the party-girl, you know...

Anyway... here are some pictures from today:

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I can't believe that it is already 2010! I love a new year. It always just feels like a great new beginning... and I always make resolutions that I end up not keeping. And I daydream about what adventures the new year will bring. I have great expectations for 2010.

I hope that this will be the year that Rachel learns how to read.
I hope that I will lose these last 35 pounds.
I look forward to beginning to work part-time again, probably in March.
I want to read through the entire Bible this year. I've never done that, though I've always wanted to. I found a great translation that is easy to read and understand and it is all broken down into daily readings. Hopefully that will help me this year.
I am doing the Life 365 photo-a-day challenge and hope to complete it this year.
I am starting a special savings account so that hopefully by the end of this year or early next year we will be able to take a really nice vacation. Some of my favorite childhood memories are the vacations we took, and I want to make memories like that for Rachel. I want us to be able to go somewhere for at least a full week... something we have never done (other than our trip to China to adopt Rachel, which was hardly a vacation!). I wanted to go to Disneyland, but Greg wants to wait until Rachel is just a bit older. So we are considering an Alaskan cruse...but I will need to research it a bit more.
I hope to do better with time management this year... finding time to keep up with chores around home, homeschooling Rachel, working part-time, getting regular exercise, and yet still having some time to do things I enjoy like digital art/scrapbooking, reading some books on my "to read" list, and just having some fun. There is just so much I want to pack into my days! I guess that is a good thing, though...

So... welcome 2010! Can't wait to see what is in store for us all...

And in the meantime, here is the cutest little cook ever (and my photo for Day 32 of Life 365):

December 31, 2009...

2009-12-31T16:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve!

Today we met Colleen and Linlee at the mall. We didn't do much shopping... mostly we just sat and watched Rachel and Linlee run around the play area. It was a really great way to spend a rainy afternoon. A few pictures from today:

Life continues!

2009-12-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted my pictures from the last 2 days, but I did take them! I may not continue to post them every single day, though... mainly because they aren't always all that interesting. But I will continue to complete my weekly review scrapbook pages and post those.

The last couple of days have been really busy. On Monday our new freezer was delivered. I love it! It freezes food so much faster than the little freezer attached to our fridge. After it was delivered, Rachel and I went out and did some serious grocery shopping to buy things we needed for the month of January. Then yesterday I cooked literally all day long and filled our freezer with several weeks worth of meals. It was a long day, but so worth it.

In other news, I have started learning Pilates! So far I love it. But that is probably because so far I've been doing the easier things. But I can already see how these exercises can tone the body. I was feeling some stomach muscles last night that I never knew I even had!

And finally, a little discovery I found the other day for getting myself on a better schedule for keeping up with chores around the house as well as just improving time management. I have always been more productive when I'm checking off a list, so this little planner system will work great for me! Here is the website: Motivated Moms.
If you scroll down, you can see sample pages of the planner. I always buy myself a new planner at the start of each new year, so I got the full page-a-day one for myself. It has a list of daily chores, then it also has suggested things to do around the house that will take you throughout the house during the year getting things done that people like me forget to do. It has a section for writing down appointments for the day, and also a meal planning section. And it was only $8.00. Perfect! I'm going to see how it works... hopefully it will help me get my life more organized this year.

Okay... so here are the pictures from Monday and yesterday.

Monday: I have always been able to take pictures of Rachel while she was sleeping and it has never caused her to wake up. Well, on Monday I tiptoed into her room and snapped a picture. Turns out she was awake and pretending to be asleep... and ended up giggling when I took her picture! You can see the smile and one of her eyes half-open in the picture.

Tuesday: Ahhh... a new freezer filled with meals! That means less cooking for me for the next 5-6 weeks!

Life 365 - Day 27

2009-12-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

Wow! I've really made it a whole 27 days and have not forgotten to take a picture yet! For the most part, it has been easy. But then, the month of December is always pretty full of photo opportunities. We'll see how January goes...

So today was a really low-key day. Greg just wanted to enjoy hanging out at home before heading back to work tomorrow. I made a really good lunch - Cranberry chicken (one of my freezer meals!) and roasted potatoes. I used Barefoot Contessa's recipe for the potatoes. SO yummy and easy! We also played several rounds of the new game I got Greg for Christmas - Dominion. It is a strategy card game and really so much fun... you just want to keep playing it over and over. And Rachel spent the day playing with new toys... and Baby Dog, of course! No matter how many new toys she may get, Baby Dog is always right beside her. Here she is playing with her new pink Nintendo. I think she likes it...

Favorite Things...

2009-12-26T19:08:00.001-08:00

Not much going on today...so the above picture will have to serve as my picture of the day... the sweet little red gadget is the Nintendo DS Lite that Greg gave me for Christmas, and Rachel picked out the Starbuck's gift card for me. I'm feeling just a bit spoiled today!

I originally thought of a Nintendo as a gift for Rachel, but then the more I researched it, the more I knew I wanted one for myself. Then Greg wanted one, too! There are a lot of good games for children Rachel's age (Dora, Hello Kitty, Build-a-Bear, Ni Hao Kailan, etc), but the adult games are great, too. There is Personal Trainer: Cooking (which literally walks you through cooking gourmet meals from all over the world), Personal Trainer: Weight Loss (maybe this will help me lose this last 35-40 pounds I can't seem to get rid of), Brain Age (a game designed by an actual neurologist that tests your brain age and then gives training exercises to help get and keep your brain young), and more! All very fun. Except that the first time I played Brain Age it told me my brain was something like 85 years old all because it doesn't understand my southern accent! Seriously, I can too say "blue!" Greg says it doesn't understand me because "blue" is a 1-syllable word but when I say it, I manage to throw in multiple syllables! Thankfully I was able to find a way around the "no can understand southern accent" issue and now have my brain age down to a healthier 20-something range...

And that's all I've got for today!

Merry Christmas - Part 2!

2009-12-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

We had one very excited little girl in our house last night! She was SO thrilled that it was finally Christmas and that Santa was coming to her house. Before going to bed, she helped me make chocolate chip cookies for him. Then we poured Santa a glass of milk and kissed our Elf on the Shelf goodbye (since the elf would be returning with Santa to the North Pole until next year). We've never seen Rachel so happy to go to bed for the night!

So the rule this morning was that Rachel was not to leave her room until we called her to come downstairs. When we called her down this morning, though, she ran to the top of the stairs excitedly telling us that Santa had eaten all of his cookies and drank his milk! Greg asked her how she would know that if she had not been downstairs. She instantly stopped in her tracks and said "Uhhh... I don't know?" So busted!

So we all gathered in the front room and spent the morning checking out what Santa brought, as well as opening other gifts under the tree. Rachel played Santa this year, which was really nice for me since I usually end up doing that! Here are a few pics from the morning:

And finally, here is THE Picture of the Day!

Yes, that is a real children's saddle that Rachel's Uncle David & Aunt Linda sent her... along with all the cowgirl accessories. She was thrilled! Normally a child would have clothes on under such dress-up clothes, but nope, not Rachel! Oh well, it just makes the pictures even funnier. Now we just need Uncle David to send her a pony next year and she'll be all set!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T16:48:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2009

And for fun, here are Christmas pictures from the last several years...

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2005

Life 365 - Day 23 Christmas Shopping

2009-12-23T20:01:00.000-08:00

This was a very special night for Rachel. Why? Well, because her daddy came home from work this afternoon to get her and then the two of them went Christmas shopping together so that she could choose a Christmas gift for me. Then I took Rachel out, just the two of us, and let her choose a gift for Greg. She even got to hold the money and pay for the gift by herself. She was thrilled. Of course, she shops with me all of the time. But I think getting the chance to go out on the town alone with her daddy was a really special treat for her. We'll have to make that a regular Christmas tradition!

Life 365 - Day 22

2009-12-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

Days like today make doing the Life 365 project difficult... because there really is not much to report at all today! The day started out with a rather frustrating situation for me that really isn't worth blogging about. Then Rachel and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things we needed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Greg finished up work and got to come home earlier than normal... so that was a treat. Then we went to the post office. I guess there was a cute moment at the post office... the postal clerk asked Rachel to sing a Christmas song. So Rachel sat on the counter in the rather crowded post office and sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. (A perfect song, since she scratched her nose and looks just a bit like Rudolph at the moment). Anyway, the post office got very quiet and everyone listened... but she bravely kept singing. And when she finished, most everyone clapped for her! I would never have been brave enough to do something like that when I was 5 years old! Of course, I didn't have my camera... so no picture of that. And that really was the only thing exciting today. Well... Rachel did fall headfirst off the end of our bed this evening. It was like in slow motion watching her go down and seeing her little legs standing straight up in the air as she landed on her head. I hate moments like that. They aren't exactly picture-worthy, either. I did take some close-up pictures of Rachel today that I kind of like, though I'm not sure why. So I guess it's something. (I just wish I could snip off that hair hanging in her face!)
P.S. I can't get her to keep her clothes on, so once again she is wearing only panties. Oh, and my bra. Don't ask...

Life 365 - Day 21... and Week-in-Review

2009-12-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

After a very busy weekend, Rachel and I enjoyed a quiet day at home today. We did some Christmas baking together, and Rachel spent quite a bit of time drawing pictures. She also watched a Dora Christmas movie. I did laundry and worked on my school work. It was a good day overall, but my favorite part of the day was when we first woke up. Rachel often comes in our bedroom and just hangs out with us on the bed for a while before we start our day. I love that quiet time with my family. Here Rachel is lying on our bed this morning with Baby Dog on her head. A girl and her dog...

Yeah, she cracks herself up!

And finally, here are my scrapbook pages for last week:

Life 365 - Day 20 - Riley's Birthday Party

2009-12-20T23:19:00.000-08:00

Okay... so when you take a picture every single day for this project, there are just going to be those days that the picture isn't so great! I tried. Really, I did. But I had limited time to take this picture and in each attempt one or the other of these girls was looking away, looking down, closing their eye, etc. Oh well. I tried!

This is Rachel and Riley... at Riley's 5th birthday party! While Rachel was partying with Riley, Greg and I got to go see a movie and finish up some Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, we did not get to go out to dinner as part of our date... because Rachel ended up having a serious meltdown at Riley's house. Apparently Rachel got so upset that she just had a hard time recovering. That happens with her sometimes. She will get upset about one thing, and then all kinds of other things seem to snowball to the point that she has a hard time regaining control again. And this is much more likely to happen when she is tired... which after a very busy weekend with no naps (yes, she still needs naps or at least "rest time" every day) I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Still, I wish I knew how to make my girl who seems to be predisposed to a "glass half empty" attitude to be able to be a little more positive rather than focusing on what isn't going the way she wants things to go.... Anyway, by the time we got there to pick her up, she had recovered and was playing happily. Oh well... at least she was in a happy mood when she joined me and Greg on our dinner date... and honestly, we were happy to have her with us for dinner. So that was Day 20 of my project 365. Only 345 more days of pictures to go! I'll try to get the scrapbook layouts completed for week 3 and post them tomorrow...

Life 365 - Day 19

2009-12-19T20:23:00.000-08:00

Today we took Rachel and Grandma to see The Princess and the Frog. I loved this movie! I'm really not a big fan of animated movies and I get a little tired of all the Disney Princess stuff everywhere... but this movie was just wonderful. It is set in New Orleans and they did a great job with how they depicted the city and the swamp. It made me homesick for Louisiana! The music was perfect. The story kept my attention... and Rachel's. We've both decided that Tiana is our favorite Disney princess!

After the movie we went to our favorite Chinese/Thai restaurant for dinner...and I took this picture of Rachel and her grandma. They really do love each other so much!

Finally, after dinner, we drove over to a cute little town not far from where we live to see their Christmas lights. Rachel took this first picture of me and Greg! I think she is becoming a good little photographer.

And finally... how about a tired reindeer with attitude?

Life 365 - Day 18... Friends!

2009-12-18T15:51:00.001-08:00

Today we met Colleen & Linlee for lunch and some shopping... such a fun outing! It is amazing how much Rachel and Linlee adore each other. I hope they will forever be such special friends to each other.

And for fun... how about a look back at this sweet friendship over the years...

Life 365 - Day 17... Cooking Day!

2009-12-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Today I spent the entire day in the kitchen cooking...except for a quick dash to the store to pick up a couple of things I realized I needed at the last moment. Wow. It was a tiring day! I hope that as I get more experience that it will get a bit easier, because after today, I really have no idea how people are able to prepare a whole month's worth of meals in 1 day. And those people not only prepare main dishes, but also sides, desserts, snacks... I don't know how they do it! I managed to do about 14 meals. But I have to say, it is a very satisfying feeling tonight to know that our freezer is stocked with some good meals. All I will need to do is thaw and heat them... and prepare some side dishes. That will really be nice because while I love cooking, I don't really like cooking at the end of a busy day.

Here is what I made today (all recipes are from the book in the picture):

Glazed Apricot Chicken
Chili Con Carne
Kansas City Hot Wings
Sloppy Joes (just the meat, obviously)
Chimichangas (meat only, again)
Cranberry Chicken
Hashbrown Casserole
Spaghetti Sauce (enough for 6 meals!)
Shepherd's Pie

We actually ate the Shepherd's Pie (called Cottage Pie in the book) with some mixed veggies (mostly asparagus & squash) for dinner tonight and it was really very good! I was surprised I liked it so much as Shepherd's pies have always seemed a little strange to me. Hopefully all of the recipes will end up being so good.

What I've learned so far:

Have plenty of dish clothes around because you spend a lot of time washing and drying pots, pans, measuring cups/spoons, and mixing bowls when preparing this many meals.
Be sure to have plenty of activities to keep Rachel busy while I'm cooking. She did great today... mostly played at the kitchen table with playdoh and drawing pictures.
It's really nice to have a television in the kitchen... I got to watch a lot of HGTV today!
I really really want a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer...

What I'm wondering about:

I wonder if the meals will defrost and heat up well...and will taste good after being frozen like this.
I wonder if I'll end up giving us all food poisoning!
I wonder if I'll ever be able to do a whole month's worth of cooking in 1 day?

And now I'm off to remind Greg that he promised me a back rub tonight...

Life 365 - Day 16

2009-12-16T22:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the last AWANA meeting until January. Rachel loves AWANA, but I'm not sure who will miss it more these next couple of weeks - me or Rachel. Because as much as Rachel loves AWANA, I think I love having an occasional date with Greg while she is at AWANA even more! Tonight was extra fun for Rachel, though, because they had "store." She was able to take all the AWANA money she has been "earning" and spend it in their store. She was so excited to come home with a shopping bag full of the treasures that she had chosen. You know, things like Disney Princess lip gloss.

I took this picture of her in her AWANA vest... and somehow managed to cut off the side of her head. Hey...I thought my photography skills would be improving now that I'm taking pictures every single day!

In other news, today I spent what felt like the entire day grocery shopping, including a trip to Costco. I brought home all the ingredients needed to cook meals for the next couple of weeks. And tomorrow will be my first "cooking day" where I will probably spend the entire day in the kitchen cooking all of the meals and getting them into the freezer. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time! If we are able to stick to our plan, I think I'll be able to cut our grocery bill almost in half. And I love the idea of being able to quickly get dinner on the table in the evenings. I just hope I don't give us all food poisoning as well. Check back tomorrow for an update on how it goes... and I'll probably even share the menu...

Life 365 - Day 15

2009-12-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

So I don't even want to do this post tonight! Nothing much happened today that I wanted to take a picture of to remember. I did laundry. I cleaned the kitchen. I ran out of dishwashing liquid and had to run to the store so that I could finish cleaning the kitchen. I did a "pantry inventory." Rachel frustrated me by refusing to answer me as I was calling her from downstairs. When she finally did come downstairs, she actually admitted that she had heard me calling but that she didn't answer me "because she was busy." Hmmm...

I did go get my hair cut today and had my highlights touched up. So yay! No gray in my hair tonight. But you know, my time at the salon was not enjoyable. It took forever for Jennifer to put the little foil things in my hair. Then she put the little steamer thing over my head...and the thing malfunctioned. Seriously, the steam was coming out of there like crazy, my face was all wet, my mascara started running down in my eyes, and then my head started burning! Just as I realized something was not right (hey, I sound like Miss Clavel in Madeline!) and started trying to pull the hood up from my head, one of the other stylists ran over and got it off me. Then I had a special conditioning treatment after the highlights and got really uncomfortable having to lie there with my head tilted back in the sink for an extra 15 minutes. Finally, that was over and I got my hair cut and styled. The whole thing ended up taking 2-1/2 hours. Makes me wish I didn't like the cut and highlights... but I do. So I'm scheduled to go repeat the torture again in 8 weeks...

So, since the haircut was the highlight of the day, I decided to let that be my picture of the day. But I hate pictures of myself. BUT I just can't quit my Life 365 challenge on Day 15. So I tried to take it myself since Greg was at work. I'm not very good at self portraits! These are some of the pictures I came up with. Sadly, they are the best pictures I could get. I kept cutting myself off because my arms are not long enough.

So then I got frustrated... and actually managed to get a picture that shows the hair cut really well. But well, my face looks frustrated! (Notice the red eyes from having mascara run in them because of the malfunctioning steam machine. Yeah, that was fun.) This is probably how I looked when Rachel told me she was "too busy" to even answer me when I called for her. Actually, Rachel probably sees this look from me a lot...

Then, for fun I decided to try to do a picture for Greg where I looked all seductive and mysterious. Yeah... as you can see, I couldn't quite pull that one off!

Okay. Sorry about that!
Maybe I need to stick to cute pictures of Rachel...

Life 365 - Day 14

2009-12-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

I was startled last week to realize that Rachel had outgrown her car seat! I remember, when she was a little baby, thinking it would take forever for her to be that big. But well, she is 5 years old now! I guess she really is a big kid. So today we put a brand new big kid booster seat in my car for her. She is thrilled...especially because it is green!

It was just a little bittersweet for me, though, as I was taking her old car seat out. Just another piece of her toddler-hood gone...as I've said before, she is growing up way too fast for me!

Here's the big girl checking out her new ride:

Yeah, I think she likes it...

Once-A-Month-Cooking? Freezer Meals?

2009-12-14T09:36:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited that we're getting a freezer this year as part of our Christmas. When we moved to this house, I was excited to see that there was a little alcove in the laundry room right off the kitchen that would be perfect for a freezer. My hope is that I can figure out a way to really use this freezer for two purposes: to help us save money and time. In my research on both of these goals, I've learned a lot about bulk shopping (which we finally have a pantry large enough to actually consider), coupon clipping, price comparing between stores, and finally, something called once-a-month-cooking.

The idea behind cooking once a month is that you'll buy your groceries in bulk, and then prepare all of your meals (maybe even including some sides, desserts, and breakfasts) for the coming month in one day (or maybe over a weekend). You then use various freezer bags and containers to pack the food, label them all, and place in the freezer. Then during the week, you choose each morning what you want to eat that night and pull it out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge until dinnertime. They won't all be complete meals... some will just be things like spaghetti sauce or sloppy joe mix...so there will be some prep work like cooking the spaghetti in the evenings or doing a quick side dish. But I think it will still be a big time saver. And of course, things like casseroles and soups would be really convenient right out of the freezer. So I'd save time... and save money by buying in bulk and not being tempted to just eat out on those nights that I'm too tired to cook.

In theory it sounds like a great idea. I love cooking, but there are days that by the time we get to the end of the day, I'm feeling too tired to do it. And I'm hoping to start working part-time again this year, plus I'm homeschooling Rachel. So the idea of having dinner ready and waiting in the freezer sounds appealing. I'm just not sure I'm up for doing a full month's worth of meals ahead of time! That just sounds a bit overwhelming. I wouldn't know where to start even... though there are some great books and websites out there that give a lot of guidance.

I think what I'll do is attempt to do 1 to 2 weeks worth of meals after our freezer arrives and see how it goes. I've done something similar, though not in my own kitchen. Back when Rachel was 2 years old and we lived in Texas, I found one of those Dinner's Ready places where you can go in and prepare a week's worth of meals to bring home for the freezer. I was really sick during that time, having just been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and adjusting to a lot of medications, and so it was really wonderful to be able to spend a hour or so preparing meals and know that dinner was taken care of for a while. And it was fun, too! Of course, doing it myself at home won't be quite as easy as going to Dinner's Ready... but it will be less expensive and I think I'm up for the challenge. Who knows, maybe I'll learn canning next! Or not...

So has anyone done freezer meals like this before... either the once-a-month cooking, or cooking a week's worth of meals... or even making 2 casseroles instead of 1 so that you can freeze one for later? How did it go for you? I've NEVER done this, so it is all new to me!

And finally, I did a quick scrapbook page last night that is not part of my 365 project. It was fun... and easy because it started as a "quick page," though I ended up changing it up a bit to make it more "mine." The text says "Dear Santa - Define good."

credit: Weeds and Wildflowers

I'll be back later with today's Life 365 photo...

Life 365 - Week 2

2009-12-13T14:46:00.001-08:00

Credits: Weeds and Wildflowers Holly Jolly Christmas

More pictures from last night's dinner are below...

Christmas Dinner with Friends! (Day 13)

2009-12-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight my friends, Colleen & Kris, and their families, came over for for a visit and pizza. It was such a fun evening. Rachel, Linlee, and Jake had a good time playing together... and of course, the food was yummy. I love having friends over during the Christmas season. It is just a great time to relax and remember how thankful I am for the wonderful friends in my life.

Of course we tried to get some pictures... However, getting a group picture where everyone is looking at the camera, has their eyes open, etc., is never easy. Here is one of the attempts:

Here is Kris, Jamie, and Baby Jake:

Colleen, Rob, & Linlee:

...and me, Greg, & Rachel:

Sweet Rachel...
And of course, trying to get three children, ages 5 and under, to pose for a picture...it is like herding cats! Not so easy. But I actually love these pictures of our attempts.

And finally, I called it good with this one!

Life 365- Day 12

2009-12-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

Today was not a fun day for me because I had to go to the dentist. Few things scare me more than the dentist! I honestly felt sick to my stomach just sitting in the waiting room... and I was only there for a consultation (because a crown fell out of my mouth). By the time I left the appointment, I had a raging headache and wanted nothing more than to just go home and go to bed. But now, thanks to some super wonderful Canadian Tylenol (it has codeine in it and they sell it over-the-counter! Oh how I love living near Canada.) and a nice dinner out with my family, I'm feeling much better.

After dinner Rachel and I walked over to a neighbor's house to take some pictures of their Christmas decorations. They did a LOT of decorating...this was only part of what they had done. It kind of reminds me of the Griswold's house on Christmas Vacation. I love that movie. And yes, Greg groaned when I made him watch it with me again this year.

Life 365 - Day 11

2009-12-10T20:11:00.001-08:00

Rachel loves our tree and today she spent some time rearranging some ornaments and showing me her favorites. Her very favorite ornament is a gingerbread family ornament my friend, Lisa, gave us... it is one of my favorites, too. Rachel told me that the green lollipop came in as a close second favorite because 1) she loves lollipops, and 2) green is her most favorite color!

Life 365 - Day 10

2009-12-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

When did she get so grown up looking???

Life 365 - Day 9

2009-12-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

Meet Santa Duck! This is the latest addition to Rachel's bathtub duck collection. Yes, she is collecting bathtub ducks... and My Little Ponies... and Polly Pocket stuff. Rachel is very much into collections these days. I've actually been rather impressed by how carefully she is taking care of these collections. She plays with her ponies and Polly Pocket stuff...but always very carefully returns them to their proper storage boxes when she is finished. I just wish she was so neat with all of her toys! There are days that I walk into her bedroom and it literally looks as if a tornado had just passed through. I often feel frustrated to find her clothes thrown in a heap on the floor instead of her hamper... or to realize that she has literally pulled all of her belongings out and scattered them throughout her room and all over her closet floor. But then, once I get over the shock of the mess, it is actually fun to walk around her room and see where her imagination had taken her that day. I'll find where she practiced making patterns on her dry-erase board. Then I'll see where she had set up a tea party for several stuffed animals. In another corner of her room, she once had several stuffed bears sitting comfortably in her big stuffed bear chair... each with an open book in its lap. And always there will be stacks of paper with drawings. Rachel much prefers a plain piece of paper that she can draw on over a coloring book, and she draws every single day. It has been fun watching her artistic skills grow over time. So while my first reaction is typically one of horror when I see her messy room... that horror quickly turns to a sense of wonder and joy as I allow myself to see the results of the great fun she had obviously been having as she happily played in her room

Vancouver Christmas Adventure

2009-12-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday seriously could not have been more perfect! Greg took the day off from work and took me and Rachel to Vancouver for the day. I love Seattle, but I would have to say that Vancouver has to be my favorite city ever. It is just beautiful. Driving across the bridge into downtown, I'm always amazed at how the city seems to almost sparkle...especially against the backdrop of beautiful blue skies like we enjoyed yesterday and the Canadian Cascades. I always feel the same sense of thrill as we approach that city!

Anyway, we began our day at Granville Island where we spent most of our time at the Farmer's Market and in the Children's Mall. Rachel loved looking at the various types of meats and bakery products at the Farmer's Market. When she got to the "fresh chicken feet," though, she just froze and stared for the longest time! I asked her if she wanted chicken feet for dinner... and she didn't know quite what to say...

Next we visited the Children's Mall. Rachel loves that place... it is an entire mall of nothing but stores for children! And this time, while we were at the Children's Mall, we ran into Santa Claus! He was rounding up all the children and inviting them to come upstairs for story time. It was the best "Santa Experience" Rachel has ever had. Because it was a Monday, there were only about 4 children there...so they each got a lot of special attention from Santa.

Santa read 3 books to the children. He also gave them various musical instruments to use and they sang several songs with Santa before lining up to sit on his lap. What was funny was how our normally super friendly and confident child became super shy when she got around Santa... as you'll see in the pictures below. Rachel seemed almost horrified to be on Santa's lap! But Santa was so sweet and just kept talking to her, and she did quickly relax and had a nice coversation with Santa. She told Santa that she wanted a McDonald's Play Set for Christmas. Santa said he had never heard of that... and Rachel quickly explained that "well... it is in the catalog, Santa!" And yes, my child had actually brought her toy catalog to Vancouver with us so that she could "go over a few things with Santa" if she saw him... and she was a bit upset that she had left it in the car! Bringing a catalog to Santa...that is so something a child of mine would do...

Ahh... post-Santa visit bliss... and now she is ready to go to the park!

After we finished shopping in Granville, we headed over to Stanley Park for the Bright Nights Christmas event. What fun! They had decorated the park with thousands of lights and other decorations. We visited the petting zoo first and then took a ride on the train. Rachel was beside herself with joy as we listened to Christmas music and rode the train through the beautifully decorated park. She kept saying it was the best adventure she'd ever been on!

We ended our evening down in Gastown at The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was the perfect ending to our perfect day! The food was yummy...and they even sat us in a big trolley car (that used to be an actual working Vancouver trolley car in the early 1900's) right in the middle of the restaurant. Rachel loved it! After dinner we headed back home... and Rachel was literally passed out and snoring before we were even out of downtown Vancouver. She was one very happy and very tired little girl after her big Vancouver Christmas Adventure!

Week 1 - Life 365

2009-12-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

Forgive the repost of the first page of my 2-page layout for week 1... but I just wanted the two pages posted together. I'm so happy that I actually took pictures every single day this past week...and that I'm finishing the week with a nice 2-page layout. I will be having these pages printed at Costco and hopefully in 1 year I'll have a completed Life 365 Album.

I'm really enjoying this challenge! Hopefully I'll be able to finish the entire year. Colleen sent me a link to a wonderful blog where the writer has almost completed her Life 365 photo-a-day challenge. What a great inspiration. And her photography skills are amazing. Here is the link: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.

I'm hoping that I'll improve in my skills over this next year. Anyway... here are the pages from Week 1.

Credits: Weeds and Wildflowers Life 365 Tool Kit and Holly Jolly Kit.

Dinner with Friends...

2009-12-05T23:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight some old family friends, Mickey and Laurie, came over for dinner. What a fun evening we all had. I made Paula Deen's Chicken Spaghetti, green beans with cherry tomatoes, and breadsticks, and Laurie brought salad and dessert... and Riley!

Riley is Mickey & Laurie's granddaughter. She 3 months younger than Rachel and they've known each other since they were babies. Last year they were in ballet together, though this year Riley is doing gymnastics instead. Anyway, I was so happy with how well the girls played together tonight! I do think life in general starts getting easier when children get to be around 5 years old. In the past it seemed every time we got the girls together, one or both of them would end up in tears because of the dreaded sharing skill that is so important for happy play dates. This has been really frustrating for me. But tonight these girls played together for about 5 hours...with no tears! We think maybe it is just that they are getting a little older. I don't know why it was better, but I'm just so glad! The girls were happy playing, and the adults were happy to get to sit and enjoy a nice visit. Perfect!

Pictures...

2009-12-04T23:53:00.000-08:00

So I've actually been doing great with remembering to take at least one picture a day this week. Of course, it has been less than a week. It will be interesting to see if I can actually keep it up for an entire year. My friend, Colleen, wrote that she thought I'd be posting my picture daily. I had not planned to do that, but I guess I can. Maybe that would motivate myself to actually start posting to this blog more often. So here are the pictures I took today and yesterday...

I took this picture yesterday while we were doing school. Rachel was working on a worksheet that tested her recall of a story we had read. She had to color a picture illustrating a part of the story, and then choose which of two other pictures depicted what happened next in the story. She did a great job. I've been really pleased with her progress in listening comprehension. When we started school in August, I was worried because she seemed to struggle when asked questions about things we were reading. I guess she's learned now that she needs to actually pay attention! Any guesses on what story we read for this worksheet? Hint: The story's main characters are a fox, a raccoon, and some birds.

Today we did some more decorating for Christmas and then Rachel helped me with some baking. Rachel adores cooking! She actually watches the Food Network with me. I got her a kid's cookbook for Christmas. I think she will be really excited about that. I'm glad she enjoys being in the kitchen with me. She even likes setting the table for dinner. I don't remember ever enjoying that chore!

Life 365

2009-12-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

Things have been so busy for me lately between trying to finish up my training so I can start working part-time as a medical transcriptionist again, moving to a new home, having Greg's mom move in with us, homeschooling Rachel, etc., that I have not been making much time for digital scrapbooking, which is my favorite hobby. I miss it and have been trying to find a way to start doing it again. I also have not been great about blogging lately and rarely take pictures anymore. All of these activities are important to me. So... I've decided to challenge myself to do "Life 365." This is a challenge to take 1 picture every single day for 1 year and then do a weekly scrapbook page with pictures and some journaling. I find I don't like too many pictures on one scrapbook page, so I'll be doing two page layouts for each week.

I'm excited to be getting back into scrapbooking and I think this will be an easy way to do it that won't be too time-consuming. The pages tend not to be all that "artsy" (which has become my favorite style of scrapping), but maybe in doing these pages, I'll get back into a groove of scrapbooking and will start doing more artsy pages, too. I also think it will be great to be able to have a book at the end of the year with a picture from each day. I think most people start Life 365 projects on January 1st, but since December is such a fun month, I decided to start mine on December 1st. I just completed my first page for Monday-Wednesday, and the second page will cover Thursday-Sunday. Here is the first page:

Credits: I'm using the Life 365 Tool Kit from Weeds and Wildflowers, my new favorite digital scrapbooking shop for most of my pages. On this page I also used part of their Jolly Holiday kit.

Okay, so this is my start. We'll see if I'm able to keep it up!

P.S. - Scroll down to see my post from yesterday about putting up the tree! I know! Two posts in two days!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2009-12-01T22:53:00.000-08:00

Today Rachel and I got our Christmas tree up and decorated. This year is already just so magical with Rachel. She was definitely into Christmas last year, but this year at age 5, she is even more excited and involved in all the preparations and fun. She has really enjoyed shopping with me and choosing gifts for friends and family. She told Greg that she thought she would just give him a "beautiful picture..." of herself! Yeah, no lack of self-esteem there! So anyway, today she was so thrilled to be putting ornaments on the tree all by herself and was so proud when we were finished.

Here she is putting the very first ornament on the tree...

And here is the tree before any ornaments were added. I actually thought it looked really pretty with just the lights! It is a very tall, skinny tree that seems to have been made especially for this space in our foyer - so pretty!

First Pajama Party!

2009-11-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

Rachel was super excited to go to her first Pajama Party last night. It actually wasn't an all night event, but our church hosted a pajama party for all the kids last night from 5:30 until 9:30 and the kids were all supposed to wear their pajamas and slippers. They were also instructed to bring a stuffed animal and blanket. Rachel, of course, wanted to bring her beloved Baby Dog and there were some tears when we told her she needed to choose a different animal to take with her. Greg finally convinced her when he told her that her new stuffed pig was replaceable, but if something happened to Baby Dog he would be gone forever because we can't replace him. She quickly decided that yes, her stuffed pig would be the perfect baby to escort her to the party! When it was finally time to go to the party, Rachel was so cute. She kept saying "I can't believe I'm going out in my pajamas! I can't believe I'm wearing my pajamas to church!!! I can't believe I'm bringing my PIG to church!!!!"

And Rachel wasn't the only one excited... Greg and I were thrilled that she had an event to attend for a few hours because that meant we got to have a DATE! Yeah! So while Rachel was making reindeer antlers and gingerbread houses and watching a Veggie Tales Christmas movie with her friends at church, Greg and I enjoyed a nice romantic dinner for two. It was a perfect evening for all of us!

Here is the excited girl just before leaving for the party:

And here she is with her date for the evening, Mr. Pig!

And finally, here is the tired reindeer girl after the party.

Yes! I had to do it again this year! :)

2009-11-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

Two posts in one day! Of course, I guess this one doesn't really count. See below for an actual update...:)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

November?!

2009-11-10T14:33:00.001-08:00

I just can't believe that it is already November! It amazes me how fast the Fall season always seems to pass me by. I love this time of the year. But I just can't believe that it will be Thanksgiving in just over 2 weeks....and we really do have so much to be thankful for. I have already started planning my menu and I'm looking forward to spending the morning in the kitchen cooking a special feast for my family. And of course I'm especially excited that Greg will have a 4-day weekend! I just wish that more of our extended family lived nearby. It will be just our little family and Grandma. But it will still be nice.

Speaking of cooking, I made this soup from one of my Taste of Home cookbooks the other day that I just loved! It was super easy and makes great leftovers. Rachel's Grandma Watson asked me to post it here on the blog... so here it is:
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STUFFED PEPPER SOUPIngredients

1 package (8.8 ounces) ready-to-serve long grain and wild rice
1 pound ground beef
2 cups chopped green peppers
1 cup chopped onion
1 jar (26 ounces) chunky tomato pasta sauce
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) Italian diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (14 ounces) beef broth

Directions

Prepare rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook the beef, green peppers and onion until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the pasta sauce, tomatoes, broth and prepared rice; heat through. Yield: 6-8 servings (about 2 quarts).

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1-1/2 cups) equals 238 calories, 8 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 31 mg cholesterol, 917 mg sodium, 28 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 14 g protein.

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Rachel is still doing well in school, and I'm having so much fun teaching her! Math and science seem to be her favorite subjects. She especially loves learning about patterns in math. For science we have talked about the 4 seasons of the year, weather, and seeds. Right now we are doing a unit about zoo animals and animal habitats. I'd say her biggest area of struggle is writing...though the advisory teacher that is working with us told me that Rachel's writing looks great for her age. We have to send in a packet of Rachel's work each month and the advisory teacher reviews everything and sends it back with comments. We just got a packet back and her teacher is very happy with Rachel's progress. It really helps me to have that feedback.

Yesterday Rachel had ballet and she did really well. They worked some more on the dance for the winter recital...and by the end of class, Rachel was able to perform the entire dance from start to finish by herself - twice! She was just glowing with excitement. At the end of class they let her put on a tutu and a boa and then just let her do some free-form dancing. I sat and watched my little girl happily running, twirling, and jumping across the dance floor, and I wanted to freeze time. She looked so happy...and oh so beautiful!

And another...

2009-11-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

This page was done as part of a "challenge" on one of the digital scrapping sites...it was fun!

Creative Pursuit

2009-11-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

I've been frustrated lately because I have not been making time for digital scrapbooking. And then when I do try to create a page, I find myself really struggling to come up with anything. Today I finally sat down and made myself work through my "block" and this is what I came up with. It isn't my best page ever, but hopefully it will be a step back into my hobby...

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T23:05:00.000-07:00

We've enjoyed a truly wonderful day today! Rachel and I made Halloween cupcakes, and then we made a "Spooky Snake" (filled with turkey, ham, and cheese) for lunch. Rachel amazed me in the kitchen today with her skill in doing various tasks. She had watched a Paula Deen show yesterday that showed how to make the snake and today she totally remembered the steps we needed to take in making the snake and did a lot of it without me having to tell her how. She loves cooking, and I think I'll be having her join me in the kitchen more often.

Tonight we had dinner at the Young's house and then went trick or treating. Both girls really enjoyed themselves and as you can see, scored quite a lot of treats! We are so thankful for our good friends. See Little Red Riding Hood and the beautiful fairy below:

An Update!

2009-10-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wonder why I keep this blog going since I am not very good at keeping it updated lately. I have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed lately and the blog is just one of many things I enjoy that I have not been making time to do. Life is good... just too busy! So here is a quick update of just some of the things going on lately:

We celebrated my mother-in-law's 75th birthday a few weeks ago! There were actually two celebrations. The first was a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant with several of Donna's friends. Then on her actual birthday, we enjoyed a nice peanut butter cream pie with a fancy flower candle! Rachel just loves having her grandma with us. I know that she is going to always have such wonderful memories of their special relationship.

Rachel still loves going to her AWANA group each week. This past week she earned her "uniform" and two patches! She was very proud of herself!

I just got my hair cut! It was a bit traumatic... they cut about 8 inches off the back! I do like the cut so much now, though. It is SO much easier to take care of and I love the highlights they put in so much that I wonder why I haven't been highlighting my hair all these years. It isn't the best picture of me, but here is a pic of the haircut. It really does look much better in real life... oh and the back is shorter than the front and cut into layers, and then it angles longer in the front. It is a very different style, but I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to long hair again...We had a playdate with Colleen and Linlee last week. It was so fun! I cooked one of my favorite new recipes (Paula Deen's Chicken Spaghetti) and even got out the "good" plates. Rachel and Linlee did pretty well playing together and Colleen says that Linlee has been asking to come back! Yay! Here are a couple of pictures from the playdate. I stole the second pic from Colleen's blog because it was one of my favorite moments of the day. I was giving Linlee some "pretend tea" and she was just cracking up over it. What a cutie!

And finally, just a cute picture of Rachel playing in the back yard:

43

2009-10-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

Yes... I'm 43 today! My gosh, I'm getting old! But you know, that is okay with me. I think with each year that passes I'm more aware of what a wonderful life I have. I am happier and more satisfied now than I was at 33. And I don't even want to think about who I was at 23. Isn't it wonderful that every day we get to start over... and every year is just the beginning of new adventures, new goals, new possibilities. So I'll just say I'm happy to be 43 today...

And here is a picture that Rachel took of me and Greg this morning before we headed off to church. I think she did a good job taking this picture!

A Tour...

2009-10-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

I've had a couple of requests for pictures of our new house, so I thought I'd do a "home tour" post. I just love our house. It is not as new and modern as the house we had on Camano Island, but it is much larger and the overall style of the home is more "me." It just feels more like home. In fact, it is by far my favorite home ever (and yes, I know I've had a few!).

It was built in 1986 and, unfortunately, it apparently has not been updated much since it was built. That means that we have the blue wallpaper in the guest bath and kitchen that was oh so popular back in the 80's. Not my favorite look, but somehow I just don't mind right now. The house also has lots of stark white walls... also not my favorite. And it has probably the ugliest fireplace insert I've ever seen! But you know, I still am in love with this house. Sure, it needs some updates... but I think we'll get to that eventually.

So anyway, those are the negatives about the house. But the positives... oh, where do I begin? When I pull into our driveway, this is what I see (well, ignore my car):

Ahhh... home! You can't see this from the picture, but the house is set back a bit from the street and is surrounded by beautiful trees and shrubs, giving us some privacy from the street and our neighbors.

Then when you walk through the front door, you are in a large foyer that has a pretty curved staircase.

To the left of the foyer is my office/Rachel's homeschool room. And yeah, it's the room where she likes to play her Barbie Fashion Show computer game! :)

To the right of the foyer is the formal dining room, which has no furniture yet! But here is a picture I took standing in the middle of the dining room looking into the dining area off the kitchen.

And if you go straight through the foyer, you enter the family room. I love this room...even with the ugly fireplace! It has 2-story high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the back patio and golf course. We do have some trees in the back that give us some privacy from the golf course, but we can still watch the golfers which I really enjoy. This picture turned out kind of dark because of the light coming in through the windows...

Here is the kitchen. This kitchen is wonderful and one of my favorite rooms... though I really would love to have it updated. You can't see it in the picture, but to the right of the refrigerator is a big double oven. I'd always wanted a double oven! There is also another long countertop that can't be seen in the picture, a huge pantry, and a built-in kitchen desk that I absolutely love! There is a little hallway off the kitchen that leads to the guest bathroom, a large laundry room, and the door to the garage.

Here are a couple of pictures of our bedroom and master bathroom. I am really happy to finally have a nice big soaking tub again! Someday we will actually buy a real bed with headboard for our bedroom... I guess it just has not been at the top of our list of priorities since we upgraded to a King bed after the "Great Garlic Incident" of 2006!

Upstairs is Rachel's room which is huge. She adores her new room now, but will probably love it even more when she is older because it has a big walk-in closet, private bathroom, and French doors leading out to a balcony overlooking the backyard. She chose the bedding for her room, as well as the monkey-themed bathroom decor:

Upstairs is also Grandma's bedroom and private bath, another balcony, and a large bonus room that Grandma is using as her office space/kitchenette.

And finally, here are a few pictures of the backyard:

And this ends the tour! As you can see, it does need some work, but it has good "bones" and I just couldn't feel more at home than I do in this house.

North Cascades National Park

2009-10-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to drive up to the North Cascades National Park in hopes of seeing some fall color. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time...though there really was not much fall color to be seen. It has been such an unseasonably warm October here, I think that maybe it was just too soon. Of course, this is the "Evergreen State" and so it isn't like there is ever a LOT of fall color... but we do get some. Anyway, it was still a really great day. Rachel loved having Grandma in the backseat with her to visit with. And Grandma was very patient with all of Rachel's chatter! :) Here are a few pictures from our day:

School!

2009-10-03T21:39:00.001-07:00

Rachel loves school! She has really been enjoying her studies more since I switched up her curriculum a bit. We have been reading lots of good books together, she is learning to write all of her letters and the numbers 1-9, we've been learning about "weather" and "community" and we've also found a great website for reviewing letter sounds and learning to read. Here is the link if anyone is interested in checking it out: www.starfall.com
Rachel loves this website... it really makes learning fun. We are finally settling into a really nice routine of homeschool, ballet, and AWANA. Five is a fun age... though it can be a bit challenging, too. But that is a post for another day...

Bubble Bath Fun!

2009-09-28T20:07:00.001-07:00

Family Day

2009-09-25T21:07:00.001-07:00

Four years ago today I was in a hotel in Nanchang, China... holding my beautiful baby girl in my arms for the very first time. What an amazing day it was. I still remember practically every single detail of that day. I will never forget the onslaught of emotions I felt. That day changed me forever. And now, four years later, I look at my sweet little girl and I am still amazed that she is mine.

Happy Family Day Sweet Rachel!

Here is a picture of Rachel taken a day or so after we got her... so adorable! I can hardly even remember her being such a little baby...

Greg and Rachel on the last night of our 16-day trip to China. Greg definitely looked like a tired new daddy!

And finally, here is a picture of Rachel that I took today:

Our Little Cook...and a School Update

2009-09-23T09:51:00.001-07:00

The other night Greg and I were sitting in the living room when Rachel came flying down the stairs wearing nothing but this apron, hat, and oven mit! Too funny! She really does a great job of entertaining us on a daily basis.

School update: I talked with the Rachel's supervising teacher on Monday to review Rachel's progress so far and to discuss some of the concerns we have had about whether she is truly ready for Kindergarten. We have come up with a plan that I feel very happy about. We are basically going to slow down and do "Pre-K" with Rachel this year and wait until next fall to start Kindergarten. I feel relieved about this. I was really concerned that Rachel was going to decide that she hated school! We'll still work through parts of the curriculum that the virtual school sent us and do our weekly and monthly updates. But it will be a modified curriculum and I have found some other really fun pre-school level materials to use as a supplement. Rachel is now having FUN in school...and for a child who is barely 5 years old, I think that is what matters the most.

Just a few pictures...

2009-09-17T23:18:00.001-07:00

Fast forward...that is how life is feeling to me lately, and I feel like I just need to strap myself in and hang on. Not much time for blogging, but I did want to do a quick update.

Rachel loves her fall schedule and school is going well. I realized that I never did the "official" back-to-school photo. So here it is:

And just for fun, here is her first day of preschool photo from last year:

I wish I had thought to take a picture of her standing in that same spot on our balcony of our old house before we moved so that I could how much she has grown...

This week was Rachel's first week back in her ballet class. She is especially thrilled that Linlee is taking the class with her this year! Here are a couple of pictures from their first class. Rachel was really excited that not only was Linlee at dance class, but so was "Mr. Wob!"

Rachel started AWANA this week, too. She will go to that every Wednesday night from 6:00 to 8:15. She and I both love that! She gets to go play with other children, sing, do crafts, and earn badges. And Greg and I got to have a date night!

Rachel loves our new house, and especially the back yard. We finally have a back yard that is a good place for her to play! She has her own toy lawn mower, and lots of "gardening" equipment. Playing outside is definitely one of her favorite activities.

Settling in...

2009-09-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

So we are finally getting settled into our new house. And we have a new addition to our home... Greg's mom! (Welcome, Mom!) She moved in with us this past weekend, flying in from Dallas just in time for Rachel's birthday party. Of course, that made Rachel a very happy little girl. Of course, things are a bit chaotic around here, even with all the preparations I made in the house before actually moving in. But we have gotten mostly unpacked and we're beginning to settle in to a more normal routine. I will be very glad when we get ALL of the boxes out of our house and garage, though.

I LOVE our new house. I love the neighborhood. I love the new town. Life is good...

Rachel is still enjoying her Kindergarten homeschool. But Greg and I have decided to refer to it as Pre-K instead of Kindergarten. You know, I was really upset that Rachel missed the cut-off for K by only two days and that really led to our decision to go ahead and homeschool her for K since she has already been in preschool for a year. But as I've been working with her, I am realizing that maybe she really wasn't ready for Kindergarten. And it should not be a surprise to me. I do think she is a smart little girl, but Greg and I talked about it and considered the fact that she has been about 6 months to a year behind in all of her developmental milestones (which is not all that surprising considering her first year of life was spent in an orphanage in China). She did not crawl until she was over a year old. She did not walk until she was 18 months old. She was late to talk, late to potty train, etc. Now, once she started doing all of these things, she did great. She is just on her own timetable and so why I felt she was more than ready for Kindergarten, I just don't know!

But it isn't a problem... we are still going to work our way through her curriculum and then make a decision as to what we want to do next year. We may decide to do a second year of Kindergarten. Or she may surprise us and be ready for 1st grade next year. I guess we'll know what to do when the time comes. She really is doing well so far, but I do think she sometimes gets frustrated when it comes to expressing her thoughts verbally. She may be a bit delayed in language skills and I think I'm going to see about having her evaluated by the school system. But in the meantime, I just don't want to push her too hard academically and end up frustrating her. I think that would only result in teaching her to hate school!

Here is a picture of her feeling quite happy with the toys she bought for herself with some money her sweet Grandma Sue sent her for her birthday. She felt like such a big girl getting to keep the money in her pocket, choose her toys (Stuffed Hoho Monkey and some great wooden food for her kitchen) and then actually pay for them herself! Thank you Grandma Sue!
Coming soon... a picture of Rachel in the adorable new PJs her Grandma Watson sent her!

The Birthday Party!

2009-09-05T22:14:00.001-07:00

We had Rachel's birthday party at the ceramic studio today. What fun! I think all of the kids really enjoyed painting their own ceramics... and it was great to spend an afternoon with special friends and family. Here are pictures from the day:

The cupcakes:

Rachel was very excited to get started painting...

Our little artist:

Pretty Linlee...

We were excited that Rachel's cousins, Ben and Neal (and Debbie & Terry) were able to celebrate with us today, as well as Rachel's Grandma Davis.

After painting their masterpieces, it was time for cupcakes...

...and presents!

And finally, Rachel got to put her hand print on the "Birthday Wall." She thought it was very funny to have her hand painted green!

It was truly such a great day!
Happy 5th birthday, dear daughter of mine...

Happy Birthday Rachel!

2009-09-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Rachel is 5 years old today! I took this picture of her this morning... and wow. Look at my 5-year-old kindergartner!

Rachel and I are having lunch and going shopping with Colleen and Linlee today... and tonight Greg and I will be taking her to Chuck E. Cheese to play for a while. I think our girl will have a great birthday. We are having her birthday party at a "paint your own ceramics" studio on Saturday. Fun times!

One More Day...

2009-08-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

We have just one more day left in our house...and then the movers arrive early Saturday morning! I'm so glad that this move is about to be behind us. It has been a long HARD few weeks for me of packing and moving boxes. In some ways I think this was a great way to do the move. I've been taking boxes over every day and unpacking as much as possible at the new house. The good thing about doing it this way is that once the movers leave on Saturday, all I really have to do is make our bed and unpack just a few random boxes and we are done. Rachel's new bed won't arrive for another week or so...and we got her a little blow-up mattress to sleep on until it arrives. Anyway, we won't have 100 boxes scattered all over the house and we won't be having to search for things we need. The kitchen is totally set up already, clean linens are in the linen closets, clothes are already hanging in our closets, Rachel's room is completely set up except for the few items that she wanted to keep here until we actually move. The house is ready for us! But the downside to doing it this way is that I'm exhausted (and have been for about 2 weeks now), and it really stretched out the moving process doing it this way. But in the long run, I think I'll be very happy Saturday night when I can finally relax and actually enjoy our new house.

Kindergarten is still going really well. Rachel loves it and looks forward to school every day. She told me today that she LOVES math! That is certainly something I've never said about myself! I hope she continues to love math. The only concept that I'm having difficultyy explaining to her is "thick and thin." She has done great learning left and right, near and far, large and small, etc., but thick and thin is stumping her. And I'm stumped as to how to explain it better so that she understands. I've done countless comparisons for her using various objects, but it is still hit and miss and I can tell she is "guessing." We'll just keep trying...

Greg has been really sick this week with what he describes as "the worst cold he's ever had" and is finally beginning to feel better, though he still is low on energy. And now Rachel has it, too! She woke up crying last night complaining of a bad sore throat. I ended up lying on her bed with her for a while until she finally got sleepy again. Yesterday and today her nose has been really stuffy and she said her head hurts. Oh how I hope I don't catch that cold. I'm making sure to take my vitamins and drink orange juice!

First Day of Kindergarten!

2009-08-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

So today was our first day of homeschool Kindergarten... and it was wonderful! You know, I had been feeling rather apprehensive about it the last few weeks. It was like I suddenly lost sight of the reasons why we decided to try homeschooling in the first place. I was committed to doing it and was telling myself that it would be fine, especially since Rachel would not be allowed to attend public school this year anyway since she misses the age cut-off by 2 days. So what did we have to lose by attempting a year of homeschool to see how it went? We could always just put her into public school next year if I failed miserably (as I was fearing I would). I was worried that Rachel would not take it seriously. I feared that she would not try as hard for me as her teacher as she would try for someone else. I've continued to worry that she would feel isolated from other children...that I would not be able to find enough social outlets for her. In general, I've been worrying way too much.

But today we started school and I can't tell you how much fun it was for both of us. We read stories and Rachel answered comprehension questions. We did some art activities. We sang and danced to some music on the CDs the school sent us. Rachel practiced writing letters and did some fun beginning math worksheets. We sorted colored blocks and talked about "classifying." We talked about rhyming words and read some poems together. It was so much fun to see her face light up as she completed tasks and gave me high fives. The school sent very detailed lesson plan manuals and so it was easy to know exactly what we were supposed to do. As a first-time homeschooler, I really like the "safety net" of having those manuals and all of the books and workbooks that they sent me. It is nice not to worry about whether I'm doing it "right" or if I'm covering everything that I should. And finally, I know that we are really going to enjoy this special time together each day!

As for the worries I had about social outlets, I'm already feeling better about that, too. Rachel is starting ballet again in September. We also will be going to a weekly storytime for 4-6 year olds at the library, and she is going to be in a local Daisy Scout troop starting in September. We also are committed to finding a church in our new town and so she'll be able to enjoy activities with other children there. Between those activities and playdates with our friends, I think she will be just fine.

I'll have to post the annual back-to-school picture next week after we get settled into the new house. Only 4 more days until we move! Life is pretty busy around here...

Quick Update!

2009-08-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

I know I've been a terrible blogger. Stuff happens that I want to write about... but I just have trouble making myself sit down to write it. Anyway, life is pretty crazy these days with trying to move next week. Every day I pack boxes, load both of our cars with boxes, unpack boxes at the new house, bring boxes back home, sleep and then start all over again. I'm exhausted and muscles I never knew I had are hurting. My sister-in-law, Julianne, is a massage therapist and I so wish she could hop on a plane and come give me a massage tonight!

Through all of this, though, I've been totally amazed by our little girl. Rachel is just so adaptable to whatever our days bring. She loves the new house and is literally counting down the days until we get to actually start sleeping there. Her new bedroom is pretty wonderful... it even has its own private bathroom and she has had a great time helping decorate it. She chose a monkey theme, of course! Not the theme I would have chosen, but it actually is very cute. Anyway, she has been perfectly fine as I have started packing some of her toys. I know a lot of children get stressed over moving and are upset to see toys going in boxes, but not Rachel! She is totally on board with this move. She has also been incredibly patient with our long days of packing and unpacking boxes. I couldn't ask for a more cooperative little girl lately... I'm just so proud of her.

I have decided to take tomorrow off from working on the move, though. I think my body needs a rest and even though Rachel has been so patient with what must be some boring days lately, I think she is due for some fun. So tomorrow I'm taking her to see Ponyo at the theater. I'm not sure I blogged about it, but during the heatwave we had a few weeks ago I took her to her very first movie, Ice Age, and she loved it! She has been asking to go see another movie ever since. So I'm happy to reward her with a movie tomorrow afternoon and of course it will be really nice for me to just relax and not think about moving for a little while.

I took these pictures of Rachel today right after we got home from working at the new house. She was taking her "rest time" in her room and watching Shrek. Lately whenever I try to get pictures of her she makes these faces. Silly girl! I hoping that we'll actually get some good pictures of her in a couple of weeks when I take her for her 5-year-old portraits.
Yep... she's about to turn FIVE! What a big girl!

Our New House!

2009-08-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

The next 3 weeks will be super busy for me... because we are moving! I'm excited about our new house. I'll really miss our nice water views, but this new house will be so much more convenient for Greg's work. It will cut his commute time by at least an hour. That is very good news for Greg! And I do love the new house. It is larger and it just felt like "home" as soon as I walked inside... plus it is much closer to shopping, restaurants, etc. We are trading in our water view for a golf course view which is actually very pretty, and there is a pond... so at least that is a little bit of water.

I'll be packing and slowly moving things over the next 3 weeks...and we officially move in the last weekend of August - just in time to get settled before celebrating Rachel's 5th birthday the following week! Fun times ahead!

Sleeping Beauty

2009-07-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

I went in to get Rachel up from her nap yesterday afternoon and found her like this...and of course had to take a picture. What a sweetie...

A "Happy Day"

2009-07-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

As we walked in the front door late this afternoon, Rachel grabbed my hand, smiled up at me, and said "Mama, it was a happy day today!" Today we met up with Colleen and Linlee and then headed to the other side of the metro area for a fun play date at Logan and Ryan's house. While the children played, Jennifer, Colleen, and I had a nice time relaxing in the shade and chatting. It was a "happy day" for me, too! I'm so thankful for the wonderful friends in our life. Here are some pictures from the day:

Rachel, Ryan, and Logan:

Here is the "princess" letting the boys do all the work to pump the swing!

Beautiful Linlee taking a break to watch a video in the shade...

I was impressed that Rachel actually did a great job hitting the ball!

Time for a water gun fight! Rachel was so funny. She would fill her water gun with water, but then start running from the boys... who of course just followed her drenching her with their water guns. At one point, she attempted to shoot water over the shoulder at them as she ran from them giggling. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of that!

And finally, because I just love looking back at old pictures... here are a couple of pictures from the very first playdate Rachel, Linlee, and Ryan ever had all together shortly after they came home from China (Logan was not home yet). What a bunch of cute babies!

My baby's head...

2009-07-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

So remember how I was so concerned about Rachel's head and the big bump she had after her big fall into the coffee table? Well, the bump is still very prominent and it hurts her if anything touches it. Just pulling a shirt over her head can cause some pain! So I took her back to the doctor on Monday and found out that she actually fractured her skull in that fall. My poor little girl! I feel so bad that I didn't insist on a CT scan 3 weeks ago when she was in the Emergency Room after her fall... but the doctor that day didn't feel like it was necessary. Anyway, Rachel is doing just fine. Her pediatrician said there really isn't anything that they can do about it... it isn't like they can put a cast on her head! He said the bone would remodel itself over time... it would probably take about 9 to 12 months for it to completely heal and for her forehead to smooth back down. He also said that she may have some sensitivity in that area for another 6 months or so. Thankfully it only hurts when something touches it... otherwise she feels perfectly fine. And I'm just trying not to think about it too much because I just cringe every time I remember the thud of her little head hitting that table!

Vancouver!

2009-07-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a weekend trip to Vancouver, BC. I LOVE that city! We stayed at a beautiful hotel right on the harbor. When we checked in, Rachel did her job of charming the front desk people... and we got upgraded to a fantastic harbor view room on the 17th floor. It was so cool to look out and be able to see sea planes landing, cruise ships docked right outside of our hotel, Stanley Park and mountains in the distance. Oh, and you have no idea how BAD I wanted to bring home the robe from the room... it had to have been the softest, most luxurious robe I've ever worn! Anyway, we had a wonderful time. I was able to completely forget all the things I've been worrying about lately and just relax. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Greg and Rachel in front of the Steam Clock in the Gastown Shopping District:

The sun was so bright in these next two pictures that they look washed out... but I still love them! Rachel looks like she is about to take flight with the seagull. They have these seagull statues, painted in all different ways, all over downtown Vancouver.

A cruise ship docked right outside of our hotel... one of these days I will go on an Alaskan cruise! It was fun to see it so close and watch from our hotel room as it set out for sea.

At Stanley Park...

The pool at Stanley Park was amazing! It seemed as if it just flowed right out into the harbor... and the surface was like glass. SO cool looking... it practically called out for us to come jump in!

Today we went to Granville Market for lunch and a little shopping before heading back home. Here is Rachel eating a slice of pizza that is about as big as she is!
They had a really great Kid's Market... it was a large building full of shops just for kids. I could do ALL of Rachel's Christmas shopping there easily. Any kind of toy you could think of was there, as well as clothes for kids. They had fun games and ceramic painting upstairs, a diner and ice cream shop, and a park area outside. I think this was definitely Rachel's favorite part of the trip. Here she is posing against a mural from one of her favorite movies... Horton Hears a Who:

...and then outside playing in the park area:

I loved this little "Water Taxi" that some people used to get to the Granville Market.

On the way home, we had a bit of a wait at the Canada/US border. I glanced into the backseat to see that Rachel had decided to "read" my magazine while waiting...

More pictures...

2009-07-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

So we had a great 4th of July and birthday celebration for Greg. We let Rachel stay up until 11:00 last night so she could watch the fireworks with us. Last year we had a pretty good view of fireworks from our upper deck, but this year it was fabulous! I couldn't believe how great they were, and we could see so many different shows happening on both sides of the Sound. It was perfect and Rachel loved it. I don't think she really remembers watching the fireworks with us last year... she really got into it this year. It was funny how she was so convinced that everyone was celebrating her daddy's birthday!

Here are some pictures of Rachel dancing on the balcony yesterday...

Happy Birthday Dear Greg...

2009-07-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

More bruising!

2009-07-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

This morning Rachel ran up to me and said "Mama!!! My eye is worse!" And she was right... the bruising is darker and is now spreading down below her eye, too. Poor baby! I told her that it would probably get a even more bruised before it starts getting better. Today was the first time she seemed distressed about it. I'm really glad that I talked to the nurse yesterday and that she warned me this would happen... so I don't have to worry this weekend!

Here are Rachel and Baby Dog making a "worm family" for her daddy. She made about 10 play-doh worms and then carefully covered them with a hand towel to keep them "safe" until her dad got home from work. You'll noticed that I have her playing on the one tiny little rectangle of tile in our downstairs family room. That is because no matter how careful we are with play-doh, it always manages to get ground into the carpet all over the house! I have no idea how that happens. I think it is one of those weird mysteries of life... like how the dryer always seems to eat socks!

Should I worry?

2009-07-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from this morning. Her eye is actually a lot blacker than it appears in the pictures... I guess in that lighting it just doesn't show up as much. Her eye is even more black today than yesterday, and there is an area on her forehead that actually seems to have become a bit more swollen today than it was yesterday. I'm a little concerned about it... I have no idea if this is normal or not. She is acting like she feels okay, but says it still really hurts if anything touches her head. I'm wondering if I should call her doctor... but I'm hesitant to drag her to the doctor's office needlessly and expose her to a bunch of sick (and contagious) kids! And she very much just wants to stay home today. I may just wait another day and see how she is doing? Any advice out there for a worried mommy???

July! And an Owie.

2009-07-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that is it already July! We are getting ready to enjoy our 4th of July celebrations. The 4th is extra special in our family because it is also Greg's birthday! This year, Rachel and I are making his birthday cake... and Rachel is in charge of decorating it. I took her to the store the other day and she very carefully chose the decorations for the cake. It was really cute watching her as she considered all of the options!

In other news, poor Rachel had another altercation with our coffee table! Well, I should say ex-coffee table since that table has now been banished to the garage and will never be inside my house again! It was a super heavy, glass top table with sharp, pointed edges, and it was dangerous. Rachel once again was running for the sofa, tripped, and landed head first right on the pointed corner edge of that table yesterday. I picked her up and saw that the whole right quarter of her head had ballooned up in a way that I've actually never seen a head do! Freaked me out! She's had her share of lumps, bumps, and goose-eggs... but nothing like this! She cried and then got very listless and sleepy... and I got scared.

We ended up spending a good part of the day in the emergency room. They told me that she had burst an arterial vein and that tends to cause really big hematomas like she had. The swelling went down quite a bit over time, thankfully. They did a neurological exam on her and discussed doing a CT scan to be sure there was no skull fracture, but within an hour or so after getting to the ER she started acting more normally, was talking to us again, and we decided to wait on the CT. So they sent me home with instructions to keep an eye on her and also to check her pupils with a flashlight occasionally to be sure that her pupils were the same size and that they reacted to light appropriately. So yes, I understood their instructions for checking pupil size, but seriously, Rachel's eyes are SO dark, it was almost impossible for me to see her pupils! I spent the night feeling rather stressed and anxious... but she did fine and is totally back to her normal self today. And so today, I'm just feeling relieved and thankful.

I tried to put a headband on her to get some pictures of her "owie"... but it really hurts for anything to touch her head and so I wasn't able to get all of the hair out of the way. And it wasn't worth it to hurt her in order to get a picture! It is hard to see in the picture, but you can see where her head is a bit swollen and her eye is also a bit swollen and black... but as you can see, she is still her funny, beautiful self!

Swimming at Linlee's!

2009-06-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Happiness is...

2009-06-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

...getting dressed up to go shopping with your friend!
You'll notice that not only is Rachel dressed for the occasion, but even her stuffed horse is wearing a "dress," necklace and a blue purse hanging from her leg!

Update on my New Recipes for 5 Days challenge: I see that I definitely should have called it the "New Recipe for the Next 5 Times I Cook" challenge, because I don't actually cook every single day! We went out for dinner on Friday night. I did do New Recipe #4 yesterday, though... Chicken Mac & Cheese. I linked to it because we did not like it much and I don't feel like typing out the recipe! I definitely won't make it again. Greg and I both thought it had a strange taste and the sauce had a runny texture. We gave it 1 star. The funny thing, though, is that Rachel actually ate it! Well, she didn't eat much of it, but she ate more than she typically does and told me I was a "very good chef!" I suppose that means that she gives it 3 stars? Which of course makes me wish that Greg and I at least liked it a little bit. I'll have to keep up my search for the perfect Mac & Cheese. Actually, I just remembered that Colleen sent me her recipe... I'll definitely try it in the next few weeks!

Time Out

2009-06-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, little Rachel has been spending quite a bit of time in "time out" lately. She really is a very good girl, but lately she has been really bad about talking back, arguing constantly, not listening, and stomping off in a "pout" when she doesn't get her way. All behaviors that we want gone. I'm afraid that I have not been as consistent as I should be in how I discipline her. I told Greg that I'm actually very surprised by the parent that I am sometimes... considering that before being "wife and mom" I spent about 10 years being a school psychologist that specialized in behavioral intervention! Of course, I didn't work with children as young as Rachel... but still, something tells me that when it is your own children it is a whole new game! I just want her to be happy! I really don't enjoy discipline. I hate it when she cries. But at the same time, if I want her to be a truly happy child that others enjoy being around, who will grow up into a successful adult... then it is my job to teach her the appropriate way to respond to direction, disappointment, frustration, etc. So, I've vowed that EVERY time she misbehaves like this, she gets a time out. And she knows exactly what behaviors will lead to a time out. And she hates time outs. HATES them! So in her case, that is a good consequence.

The first day she ended up in time out 3 times in a 30-minute time period! It was no fun for either of us. But things have improved and she only went to time out once yesterday. But then this morning she did something (I don't even know exactly what because I wasn't in the room) and Greg had to put her in time out just before he left for work this morning. The interesting thing is that she was SO devastated that her daddy put her in time out! Somehow that made it much worse than when I discipline her. She is such a daddy's girl! She really can't stand it when she thinks Greg might be upset with her.

Anyway, I do think we are seeing some improvements now. This parenting job really isn't always so easy. This morning as Rachel headed downstairs in tears right after her time out and Greg was walking out of the door for work, I had to question this whole stay-home mom job that I have! LOL! HE punished her but then HE got to leave for work until tonight... and I get to be the one staying home with a little girl who has gotten her day off to a bad start. Now this hardly seems fair! I am just kidding, of course... I love being home with Rachel! But some days are just more difficult than others.

And here she is today... playing with her "babies" on her bed this morning. She seems to be feeling all better today! I'm hoping she is completely well now.

New Recipe Day 3

2009-06-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

Rob's Cola-Marinated Steak

1-1/2 lb top sirloin or other steak
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 can cola (12 oz)
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika

Place steak and onion in a large bowl. Pour cola over the steak. Cover and refrigerate at least 20 minutes. (I let mine marinate for about 4 hours.)

In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, pepper, onion powder, and paprika.

When ready to cook, remove steak from marinade and liberally coat both sides with the seasoning mixture.

Grill or cook in skillet for about 4 minutes on each side (or until desired doneness). Remove and let stand for a few minutes before cutting.

Recipe from: The Mixing Bowl magazine that is on newstands right now.
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So Greg really liked this steak... he gave it 3 stars! We did agree that I over-cooked it a bit. I cooked it for about 6 minutes on each side and really, 4 minutes on each side would have been much better. But the flavor was actually really nice. At least Greg thought so. I'm not feeling very well today and so it really wouldn't be fair for me to rate anything today. Steak is a rare treat for us, but I'll definitely make this again. It was a quick and easy meal, which is always a good thing for me. I also made mashed potatoes and a salad to go along with the steak.

Rachel's Review: She does not eat steak! She had about 1/8 of a peanut butter sandwich, some strawberries and Pocky for dessert. She is feeling better tonight, by the way. I was worried about her after her nap because she complained that her stomach hurt, but she seems okay now. I think she is definitely fighting some kind of crud right now... and me, too!

New Recipe Day 2

2009-06-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Sesame Chicken and Noodles

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions (optional... I left them out)
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp Asian garlic-chili sauce
6-8 boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets
12 oz dried udon noodles or whole-wheat spaghetti
3 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 small yellow onion, sliced
2 medium yellow, red, and/or orange sweet peppers, cut in bite-sized strips
Fresh cilantro

Cook chicken in a little olive oil. Remove. In medium bowl, stir together vinegar, green onions, honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic-chili sauce. Add chicken; stir to coat. Set aside to allow flavors to meld.

Then quickly stir-fry the sweet peppers and yellow onion. Meanwhile, in large saucepan, cook noodles in boiling water about 8 minutes until just tender. Drain noodles well and return to saucepan. Drizzle with oil and toss to coat. Add chicken mixture, peppers, and onions, and toss to combine. Transfer to bowls. Top each with cilantro.
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Review: This meal was okay. I served it with some egg rolls and cream cheese wontons. Greg said he would give the meal as a whole 3 stars. I liked it a bit less... I have other stir-fry recipes that I like much better than this one. But it was fun to try something new.
Oh... and Rachel ate 1 bite of chicken and said she was not hungry anymore. I guess that means she would give it 1 star. It is frustrating because we can take Rachel to a Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant and she will eat really well! She pretty much likes everything we've given her in those restaurants, including the soups... and she loves spicy food and always wants the garlic-chili on her food. So, I thought she would really enjoy this meal. It might be because she isn't feeling her best today (though she is doing much better this evening than she was this morning). But really, I think it is just because I cooked this meal!

Sick Baby

2009-06-24T10:03:00.001-07:00

Poor Rachel is not feeling well today... just a bad cold, but she is definitely not herself. We put her pillow and two favorite blankets on her daddy's chair in the family room and she is resting there with Snoopy and Baby Dog this morning, watching cartoons. Last night as we were going to bed, I commented to Greg that Rachel wears me down some days with her constant talking, hopping, spinning, and general noisiness! Well, today she is being much quieter and is just curled up in her dad's chair... and I realize that I'd take the talking, hopping, spinning and general noisiness over this any day! I hate it when my baby is sick. She is still pretty cute, though!

New Recipe Day 1

2009-06-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so yesterday was supposed to be the 1st of 5 days of cooking something new each day... and I flaked out! I was just too tired to cook last night... but I did cook tonight. Here it is:

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza

1 loaf unsliced French bread
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jar pizza sauce (14 oz)
4 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cups finely shredded pizza cheese blend

Heat oven t0 400 degrees. Cut bread loaf horizontally in half. Cut bread halves crosswise in half to make 4 pieces (to fit on cookie sheet). Arrange on large ungreased cookie sheet. (I lined the cookie sheet with aluminum foil for ease of cleaning.)

Cook beef and onion in a 10-inch skillet over med-high heat about 8 minutes, stirring until beef is brown; drain. Stir in pizza sauce. Spread beef mixture over bread. Sprinkle with tomato, bacon, and cheese.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until pizza is hot and cheese is melted.
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REVIEW: Well, this meal got mixed reviews from my family. Greg said he would give it "2 stars." Yes... Greg has his very own "star-rating" for meals. "1 star" means that we can't eat it and end up going out. "2 stars" means that it is fine, he doesn't love it but it is "okay." And "3 stars" means he thinks it is really good and we should add it to our list of regular meals.
So the Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza was "just okay" for Greg, and his favorite part of the meal was his salad. Rachel did not like the pizza. She ate all of her strawberries and picked the cheese off the pizza. And I actually thought the pizza was pretty good! I did make my pizza slice different from Greg's. Greg doesn't like tomatoes much, so I left them off his pizza. I had mine with extra tomatoes, and I also left the bacon off of my slice. So I think my pizza was probably just better than his! One good thing about this recipe was that it was super easy and fast... a good choice on days when you don't feel like cooking!

I did discover a really wonderful salad dressing today... it is Kraft's Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette with Roasted Bell Pepper. Seriously good salad dressing! It actually made my salad my favorite part of the meal, too. You know, considering that the salad was the favorite part of the meal for me and Greg, and Rachel pretty much only ate strawberries... I have to wonder why I'm cooking anyway!

Father's Day, a recipe, and a sunset...

2009-06-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

Since I'm talking about cooking and recipes this week... I thought I'd go ahead and post the recipe for the meal that Greg requested for Father's Day:

Thai Chicken Pizza

1 pizza crust, any brand (I use Boboli's Thin Crust pizza)
1/2 cup duck sauce or plum sauce
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 package shredded provolone or Monterey Jack cheese (2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 rounded tablespoonful peanut butter
2 teaspoons hot sauce (I use less so it won't be too hot for me to eat it)
2 teaspoons grill seasoning (I use Montreal Steak Seasoning)
4 chicken breast cutlets, 1/2 pound
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1/4 seedless cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup chopped peanuts, 2 ounces
Bean Sprouts (optional... I don't use them because they make me nervous for some reason...)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Place pizza crust on baking sheet. Top with duck or plum sauce - spread it around like you would pizza sauce. Sprinkle the pizza with some crushed red pepper flakes then top with cheese and red pepper strips. Bake until golden and bubbly, 15 to 17 minutes.

3. Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine canola oil, soy sauce and peanut butter with hot sauce and grill seasoning. Use the microwave to loosen up peanut butter if it is too cold to blend into sauce, 10 seconds ought to do it. Add chicken and coat evenly with mixture. Let stand 10 minutes then grill chicken cutlets 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until firm. Slice chicken into very thin strips.

4. While chicken cooks, mix honey and vinegar and add the cucumber. Turn to coat evenly.

5. Top the hot, cooked pizza with chicken. Drain cucumbers and scatter over the pizza. Garnish pizza with peanuts, cut into 8 wedges and serve.

*Recipe from one of Rachael Ray's 30-minute cookbooks. And it takes more than 30 minutes for me to make it!
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Review: This is probably Greg's favorite meal... so obviously it gets a good review from us! Well, maybe Rachel doesn't quite give it 4 stars. She typically refuses to eat this, but today she surprised me by eating most of her chicken off the top of the pizza. I think we are making some progress with her picky eating problem.

We've had a wonderful day celebrating Greg today... He truly is an amazing daddy to Rachel. She is definitely a daddy's girl and it just makes my heart swell when I see her go crawl in his lap with a book for him to read each evening or when she will suddenly stop whatever she is doing to run give him a big hug or kiss just because she loves him and suddenly felt an urge to let him know. They have an amazing relationship and I'm so thankful for that.

And finally... a picture of the sunset that I took from our deck the other night.

Weekly Menu Plan - Updated

2009-06-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

I've really been enjoying cooking lately and I have wanted to challenge myself to cook a brand new recipe every day for a month. But I'm just not sure that I would be able to make that goal. I'm afraid I'd miss some of my old standbys... and I'm not an entirely confident cook anyway. So... I've decided to try doing all brand new recipes this week (well, 5 days of new recipes since we eat out once a week and Greg requested one of his favorite dishes for tomorrow). I think I will blog each evening and share the recipe and give a review...and I'll be sure to include Rachel's review of each recipe, too! She is a picky one, though, so I don't have high hopes that she will enjoy all of my dinners. I'll have to be sure to throw in a few kid-friendly recipes in the mix each week... if I decide this is something I want to keep doing.

So... Here is the menu plan for the upcoming week:

Sunday: Thai Chicken Pizza (Greg's request for Father's Day)
Monday: Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza and Salad*
Tuesday: Sesame Chicken and Noodles and Egg Rolls
Wednesday: Chicken Mac & Cheese and Zucchini Saute
Thursday: Dorritos Casserole and Airport Bob's Green beans
Friday: Rob's Cola-Marinated Steak, Garlic-Parmesan Potato Wedges, and Salad

*Yes, there is pizza scheduled 2 days in a row. But neither of them are your "typical" pizza...they are actually nothing alike. And the Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza looks quick and easy, and since Mondays are hectic for me, it was the best choice for Monday.

And yes, I know I'm not exactly a gourmet chef... but I think this will be fun!
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UPDATE: I decided that I'd go ahead and post the meal that I cooked for a late lunch/early dinner today, since it was new to us (except for the biscuits). We often eat lunch/dinner around 2:00 or 3:00 on the weekends...

Here is what we had:

Cheesy Chicken Strips

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast strips.
2 cups cheese flavored crackers, crushed (1 cup)
1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg
Barbecue sauce, ketchup or ranch dressing, if desired

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray pan with cooking spray.
Mix crushed crackers and cheese in large resealable plastic food-storage bag.
Beat egg in large bowl. Add chicken strips to egg and toss to coat.
Remove chicken from egg, allowing excess to drip off, then place chicken in bag of cracker mixture. Seal bag and shake to coat evenly with cracker misture. Place chicken strips in single layer in pan.
Bake uncovered 10-12 minutes or until no longer pink in center.

French Cut Green Beans
with Almonds and Fried Onions

1 pound fresh green beans or frozen French-cut green beans
Salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup slivered almonds (2-oz package)
1/2 lemon, juiced
Ground black pepper
1 can fried onions (I only used 1/2 can and it was fine)

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a high-sided saute pan. If using fresh beans, cut them lengthwise while you wait for the water to boil.
Add salt and green beans to boiling water and cook until just tender. Drain beans and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Return the skillet to medium heat and add the butter. When butter is melted, add the almonds and cook until golden brown.
Then return the green beans to the pan, along with the juice of 1/2 lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with onions. Make sure it is warmed through and then serve.

Parmesan-Garlic Biscuits

3 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp celery seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 12-oz tube biscuits
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated

Coat bottom of 9-inch pie pan with butter. Add celery seed and garlic.
Slice each biscuit into quarters; arrange on top of butter mixture.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 425 for 12 minutes. Serve hot.
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Our Review:

All three of us loved the Cheesy Chicken Strips! I wasn't so sure about them as I was making them... I thought they would taste obnoxiously cheesy...but they really didn't. They seemed almost like a nice crispy fried chicken...only they were baked in the oven. They were super easy to make, fast, and I liked how the coating stuck well to the chicken as I was arranging it on the pan before cooking. Rachel and I loved them dipped in barbecue sauce, while Greg preferred to dip his in Ranch dressing. We'll definitely keep this recipe.
Greg and I both liked the Parmesan-Garlic Biscuits quite a bit, too. Health food they are not... but they were very yummy! Rachel did not seem to care for them which surprised me.
Greg really liked the green beans and I thought they were only okay. They seemed a bit bland. But they were green beans and met my goal of serving veggies. Unfortunately, Rachel refused to even taste the green beans. Normally we make her at least take 1 bite, but I didn't feel up to the drama of it all today.
Over all, this meal is definitely a keeper in our house!