familiar, foreign, fantastic

i can't believe i haven't posted this yet...

last weekend gramma tina came to town to watch the kiddos. peter was officiating a friends wedding an hour and a half a way. we decided to stay there for the weekend since we had to attend the rehersal dinner the night before. friday afternoon gramma came and we were on the road. just the two of us! what a foreign way to travel, two adults and no children. we enjoyed the ride and had a few real conversations without interruption. i didn't know we could still do this! :o) we dropped our stuff at the hotel, went on to the rehersal and then dinner and had a great time. now comes the really good part.... on saturday morning we both got to SLEEP IN!!!!!!! when we woke up, we just laid in bed!!! it was soooo relaxing. then we went out to breakfast! i forgot you could go out to breakfast. more real conversations and we even got to read the Bible together, no interruptions!! then we walked back across the street to the hotel, went to walmart to pick up a few necessities and then back to the hotel with NOTHING TO DO!! peter had to go for pics and i was FREE!!

it was the strangest feeling in the world. i had nothing i had to do and i could do whatever I wanted!! how could something that used to be so familiar, feel so foreign, and yet absolutely FANTASTIC!! i just laid in bed to soak it all in. then i listened to a few songs, peter had brought his ipod. i read my Bible and enjoyed the beauty of "me" time. what a gift it was.

then off to the wedding & reception. we had a blast and danced till the dj stopped. then we slept in again!!! and got back to our church's extension campus just in time to check out there service. we went out for a quick bite to eat before releaving gramma of her duties.

and when we got home, we found out gramma had gotten sick saturday morning. poor thing threw up and was in charge of my kiddos and feeling miserable. bless her heart she survived and didn't even bother us, despite her condition.

thank you gramma tina. you are amazing and we are soooo very grateful for our first weekend with no kids! yep, you read that right. we have never left all the kids before! fyi: not because we were not willing! :o) we had a great time and of course, the kids had a great time with gramma!

it's a beautiful day

today we went with caleb's class to the shedd aquarium AND it only cost us $3 each! what a deal and what a blast!!

elijah was climbing on the rocks in the oceanarium

caleb loves to look at the map and see where to go

my brave child, the boys didn't want to sit up on the very safe wall to take the pic!

this pic is for you auntie amy in australia! did i mention it was 60 degrees today!

so as soon as we got home we spent the next several hours outside playing!!!
elijah took this picture, i was impressed :o)

we finally made it to the library today

and when we got home, here is what they did.
all on their own :o)

did i mention i love my kids!

can you guess who did this?




notice, two of my children are oblivious that i am taking pics while the other one is trying to be cute :o)

this is sooo yummy!

my friend shelley gave me this great idea of making soup for peter to take to work for lunch! i have run with it and am loving it (and peter is too!).

here the is chicken tortilla soup i made! it was EXCELLENT!! definitely one of my favorites.



i tweeked the recipe a bit...
INGREDIENTS
1 pound shredded, cooked chicken I PUT FROZEN CHXN IN CROCK POT AND SHREDDED AN HOUR BEFORE SERVING
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed WITH CHILES
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers OMITTED
2 cloves garlic, minced I USED 3
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin 1/4 TEASPOON
1 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 TEASPOON
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro 3 TABLESPOONS
AND I ADDED 1/4 CUP OF LIME JUICE (THIS PERFECTED THIS RECIPE FOR ME!)
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

WE DID MAKE THE TORTILLAS, BUT THE KIDS AND I PREFERRED IT WITHOUT THEM WHILE PETER ENJOYED THEM.

shelley, you gotta try this one!

i love my boys...

happy birthday auntie amy in australia!

for my sisters birthday we decided to suprise her with a webcam!! we called her on the morning of her birthday, 3:30 the day before here was 8:00am the day of!

we baked her a cake and sang her happy birthday, the kids blew out the candles and we enjoyed the cake, well all of us except amy that is :o)

regardless of missing the cake, the eating of it anyways, she loved the birthday present!


oh yeah, and we ran out of icing when we got to the last a in Australia :o) amy would have never known had i not blogged it!



i also wanted to video it. this was our first and attempt at using the webcam, it kept going on and off, and i was on my own with 3 kiddos dying for auntie amy to wake up so they could sing happy birthday and eat her cake. then waiting for the web cam to work properly. i was holding the webcam for her to see them and the video cam to record it(though i didn't do a very good job). i wished i would have recorded her on the computer screen, but well, my kids wanted that darn cake. first i thought they were just as excited about amy's surprise as i was. i should have known better. hope this video works...

well, it wasn't that great anyway!

still trying very hard to fix this video problem and getting very frustrated with it!!! urrrrrgh

laundry contest

you must begin reading this blog by reading my friend jessica's blog, indeed this is where it all begins...

jessica's blog


now i am stalling so you read before you see my beautiful photography...


more stalling...






ok, so i apparently have voluntarily added to the humor of washing the unwashable. however, i did not wash something that belonged to my husband. although i did wash his phone a few years ago (it did not fare as well as the iphone ear pieces).



i did happen to wash something that belonged to one of my children...





i guess after coming across thousands of diapers in my mothering days it's about time i come across a REALLY clean one!

who's next to add to the contest?