A little under the weather

Friday Ryder woke up at 5:30 in the morning not feeling well. It turned into an all day whine fest and lounging on the couch. The poor guy even fell asleep at the dinner table!! Fortunately he made a full rebound (it's March, can't resist the pun) by Saturday morning and was back to the old Ryde.

Then the trouble really hit.

About 7:30 Saturday night Gage proceeded to throw up. This pattern continued until 3:45 Sunday morning until we revisited all that he had eaten on Saturday. He has pretty much been crying and miserable ever since with a major runny nose.

Daddy slept with him in the chair for a while, we're a little tired around here today...

Curly Sue:

Here is what happens to Ashlynn's hair after a bath. This is when we don't wash it or comb it out, it just gets damp from the splashing and drys like this:







Rough life, huh?

And the girl hates it.

I'm sorry, what was that?!??

Me to Ashlynn: "Can you please pick those Barbie shoes up off the ground, I don't want Gage to get them."

Ashlynn's response (while playing on pbskids.org): "Um, I'm on a really tight schedule right now and have to get this done."


Me to Ryde: "Ok buddy, it's time for bed, let's go brush your teeth."
Ryder's response (dragging himself across the family room looking very tired): "I want to let them live mommy. I want to go straight to bed and let them live."

"Let what live, buddy?"

"The cavities mommy, let them live. I am toooo tired to brush my teeth."


Where do they get this stuff??? I have never in my life said "tight schedule" what is that?? And I don't recall telling Ryder cavities were alive....I don't think anyway.

So much to blog...so little time!

We've had a busy week/weekend with Easter and some more beautiful weather. Though Sunday was cold, it's been nice to finally have some spring.

Here are a couple of pictures from the w/e:


The kids tossing coins outside the movie theater.



Ryder ready for Horton with a jumbo soda (Grandma Linda also brought her famous popcorn, m&m's, red licorice, and skittles. Needless to say, the kids have been on detox since yesterday! :-)



We stopped at the mega super furniture store to look in the clearance department for a bunkbed-success (picture of that later!)!!! Here is a reminder what you are not allowed bring into the store, just in case you were wondering.



Ashlynn and I in our dresses. I finished them at 1am that morning, silly, I know. It was so cold I wore jeans under mine, but you get the idea :-)!



Ryde with his Easter goodies.



Gage with a pink basket that was not his...I promise. Grandma Linda put a jelly bean in his eggs and with each one he found, he opened it up and ate the jelly bean. Thank goodness there was only one piece in each egg!


On Saturday we had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and the kids had a blast (I'll put those pics up later). We spent the rest of that day assembling the bunk bed that we got the most rockin' awesome deal on (pic of that later too).

We enjoyed Easter Sunday with another hunt at church and a great service. Hope you all had a good weekend!!!

Zoo pics!

Gage ate the entire day, he was happy, happy!




Ashlynn and Ryde in the dinosaur egg.



Note the Mohawk.




Note the similarities to the above. :-)


It was the most beautiful day of the year (so far) and we enjoyed our trip to the zoo. Linda is on Easter break, so she went with us-great fun!!!

Been crazy round here.....Happy Spring!!!!!

We've spent the week enjoying the gorgeous weather and welcoming SPRING!!!! Yeah!! Though it's supposed to drop back down for the weekend, we are enjoying the emerging warmth and subsequent thaw.

Some crazy house projects have been brewing and we went to the zoo again today. Will post some pics tomorrow....hopefully. Linda and I are taking Ashlynn and Ryde to go see Horton, so we'll see what's left of the day! :-)

Tucked in....

After saying prayers, Ryder leaned over to Ashlynn and with a big kiss says, "You are my good sister, Ashlynn. I LOVE you!"

"You are my good brother, Ryder. I LOVE you too!!" More hugs and kisses.

This is what it's all about.

The fat lip, sunshine and the zoo....

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so the kids and I decided to go to the zoo. We were all ready, lunch/snacks packed, and loading up the car when Gage tripped in the garage. The result, a big fat lip:



After some crying and ice, we loaded up and headed out. It was such a BEAUTIFUL day and we had a blast!! We even rode the new carousel-the boys really loved that. You'd think Gage would give up his thumb for a second or two....



We are due for rain today and the temps to drop back down in the forties, but it was a good taste of what is hopefully to come.

Sunday funnies....Part 2

We celebrated Dale's birthday on Sunday and we gathered around the table to enjoy some delicious strawberry shortcake and brownies with ice cream (super low fat and healthy, I know!). Linda sweetly offered "Would anyone like a cup of coffee?" The only response in the room came from my three year old son who very seriously replied: "Yes, please. I would like a cup of coffee."
Mimi, I hope you are proud. :-)


Later, in the car on the way home the kids were begging me to tell them a story. Ashlynn asked me to tell her about Jesus dying on the cross with all the details. When we pulled into the garage, I finished the story and started thinking, you know, Ashlynn always says how much she loves Jesus, but has she actually prayed to have Jesus in her heart? It's like, I know I've been over this with her, but I'm going to double check.

"Ashlynn, would you like to pray and ask Jesus into your heart, forever?" Her response was absolutely priceless: "Well, I already let Him in my heart, but I guess I could ask Him too!" We said the prayer of salvation and after a big amen, she stated: "Mommy, we pray that in church almost every Sunday, I just prayed that this morning, I love that prayer."

Wisdom comes in all shapes and sizes!!

Sunday funnies....

Sunday morning I was being a good wife and ironing a shirt for my dear, sweet husband. The steam in the iron was on and I had my trusty can of spray starch....I thought.

The shirt was not ironing up well, but it was black, so I figured it was "good enough". Since beggars can't be choosers, Randy dressed without even noticing the poor workmanship.

Then last night Paula came to our room with a tall can in her hand and a funny look on her face. See, the iron is in her room and I left it up-who has time to wait for the iron to cool and put it away before church?

"Oh, no Liz. That was no big deal, but did you use Lysol when you ironed this morning?!?"

Use what?? Apparently in my haste I grabbed the can of Lysol on her dresser thinking it was the spray starch and actually used it to iron Randy's shirt. Now I know Lysol is super potent, but have you ever used spray starch? I hate all those smelly things and just try to get away from them as soon as possible.

We both started laughing until I was crying and we decided we had to tell Randy. He said he wondered why his "cologne" smelled funny after he got dressed, but then forgot about it at church. He told me not worry, I wasn't fired from the job, but there was definitely room for "improvement" :-).

Hey, at least he was disinfected for Sunday morning service.

I'm in love....

Thanks to some great advice from my big bro, we have successfully sold Randy's truck. See, we both have five passenger vehicles-four kids +mom +dad=cars not big enough.

Big changes are the plan.

Initially, we were going to sell my car and buy a minivan and keep the truck. but after thinking it over and realizing any time we used the boat we would have to take two vehicles (and you know how much I loathe driving on long road trips, or any other time for that matter), we decided to find one for me that could tow the boat and fit the fam.

Enter the Sequoia. One test drive (not a brand new one people, they're like 55G's-we're talking very used) and I was in heaven. Ok, so I know anything would be a step up from my 170,000 mile, ten year old sweet ride, but this SUV drove like a car. It didn't feel huge and awkward like I expected and it left room to grow, or at least for the kids to grow anyway.

So now I will be the owner of a big, bad SUV. But, hey, I paid my dues for the last ten years in my mini car shoving three car seats in the back seat and somehow "making it work"and honestly, with a family of six, what's a girl to do?

Wordless Wednesday: 27 weeks and counting....

Tree hugger.....

One of my favorite little restaurants in San Diego serves the best french toast in the world! Tree hugger, granola french toast, to be exact. After catching a good tip the other day, I decided to try and make it myself-again. You see, I've tried to duplicate this dish for years and just kept winding up with burnt granola that would never stick to the bread. The other day I saw someone grind up the granola in the food processor first and then coat the bread, so I gave it another try......it was awesome! Here is the recipe:

First you have to make the granola:
3 1/2 c Rolled Oats
1/2 c toasted coconut (I use the unsweetened and I don't pre-toast)
1/2 c wheat germ (you can also use ground flaxseed)
1/2 c chopped almonds
1/2 c shopped pecans
1/4-1/2 t salt
1/3 c vegetable or canola oil
2/3 c pure maple syrup
1/2 T vanilla extract
Any other dried fruits and nuts you desire!


Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix the oats, coconut, wheat germ, almonds and pecans in a large bowl. In a small bowl combine salt, oil and syrup. Add the syrup mixture the the oats and blend. Spread out in a large jelly roll pan and bake in the oven for 1-1 1/2 hours, occasionally mixing the granola for even toasting.



French toast dip recipe (Enough for six slices of sandwich bread):
2 large eggs
3 T Milk
2 T Flour
1 T Brown Sugar
1/4 t vanilla extract


Whisk all of the ingredients until smooth. I mix it in a 9x13 pan to making soaking the bread easy.

Putting it all together:

After the granola has cooled, place a portion in a food processor or blender and chop until it is coarse crumbs. Spread on a plate and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat an electric griddle to 325 degrees (this temp will keep the granola from getting burned).

Soak the bread slices for thirty seconds each side in the egg mixture. Dip the soaked bread in the granola crumbs until evenly coated. You can press it on with your hands to help coat more evenly.

Spray griddle with cooking spray and place the bread slices on. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden. Keep a careful watch not to burn, but the lower temp helps with that. Enjoy!!!

***The granola can be used on its own with soy,rice or cow's milk for a great bowl of cereal. We also sprinkle it on our yogurt or just eat it by itself for a snack, the kids love it!!