The Funky Chicken

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Little Boys

Sweet little boys on a Sunday morning.

Both boys now walk into their respective Sunday school classes without even looking back. They also both insisted on finishing their snack before they were ready to go. Oh how times have changed!

Saving the Children

Have you ever checked out this blog, or even this one? If you haven't you should. Be sure to take a box of tissues.

Ukraine will be voting soon to possibly halt all international adoptions from their orphanages. Orphanages that have heinous conditions, especially if you were born a special needs child. If this vote passes, hundreds of children who are in the process of being adopted will never meet their forever families. It is devastating to even imagine the possibility.

While we are not a family currently pursuing an adoption, we know some who are. We also have met sweet babies that were brought home from that country. Someone must speak for these children, and now here is your chance.

Take a moment to write to your congressman and senators. And more importantly pray. Pray that these babies will be able to feel the love of a family.

Seek justice,encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isiah 1:17

Funny Family and Happy Birthday

Our lesson this morning was about families. My template from my fun preschool book gave us 5 people in the family. Daddy, mommy, sister, brother and baby.

It quickly turned into Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeff and the three Georgia cousins. Why? Because we don't have a girl or a baby in our house and it was a source of confusion for my kids. That and when I asked Luke what Daddy was wearing he replied "hair".

James' masterpiece. They are apple picking. Aunt Julie is an amazing tree climber.

Luke with his family. Notice baby Dean is being held. So sweet.

And today is Uncle Morgan's birthday and we wish we could be there to share his cake. But since we are so far away, here is a little something from your cutest nephews.

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Happy Birthday Uncle Morgan!

Almost there

***Caution, this post discusses some aspects of potty training.***

Do you remember when I last talked about potty training? Yeah, it was in April. Why no news since April? Because for the last 6 or 7 months we have been attempting the whole potty training thing. Basically I felt like I was banging my head against a wall. Nothing worked.

Then miraculously, on Saturday night James said "Mommy can I sit on the potty?" I almost peed MY pants. Now that would have been counter productive. Anyway, since then James has been diaper free. That's right, no more diapers for James. We even braved church last Sunday without the pull-ups. He stays dry all the time. It makes me question, why did we start back in April? Oh right, because it felt like EVERYONE his age was already potty trained. We should have waited.

Now don't get fooled, we are still "potty training". I'll spare you the details, but there is still something he won't do on the potty. BUT, he also won't do in public. Enough said.

And to show how different my children are, guess who got the "potty prize" last week for doing something unmentionable.

Yes, it was Luke. He knew all about the prize. He heard me explaining it to James. So one night he said "potty", something he does a lot with a 25% success rate. But, last Thursday he did something James refuses to do and got the prize. I was not expecting that to happen.

My children are so different. And I love them so much!

Ahhem...my soap box.

Has anyone else noticed all the fighting among moms in the news lately? Stay-at-home mom versus the working mother versus "my parenting strategy is better then your parenting strategy". It makes me really sad to see us mothers tearing each other apart, all in the name of "stopping" the mommy guilt. You see, if one side can gain enough momentum, then maybe we can tell the other side they are wrong and make ourselves feel better. What no one is saying, is that everyone feels mommy guilt. You can't be a mom without wondering if maybe you should have done things differently.

I have never liked the term "agree to disagree". If you feel strongly about something say it. Which I guess is what all the hype in the media has been lately. I have heard working mothers described as "selfish" or they "outsource their loving". Also, stay at home moms are "uneducated" or staying home is "a right wing conspiracy to keep women out of politics". Really? Why all the mud slinging people.

What is being most left out too is the fact that children are blessings. Each child is a blessing, and has the ability to increase your joy. Motherhood is not a prison.

Make a decision for what is best for your family. Embrace it. Love it. Don't feel guilty.

Feeling Better and Fall Colors

Look who is feeling better!!!

A 24 hour bug, and only James got sick. Phew, I feel like we just dodged a major bullet. It is so much better to have a smiley happy James back with us. It is smiles like these that make me so thankful to be a mommy to such sweet boys. I have a feeling if we ever had a girl I wouldn't know what to do with her, because in this house we are all boy.

Here we all are enjoying the fall leaves and an impromptu photo shoot with Grammy.

Luke is always happy for a photo opp. He has been stringing together sentences lately, and if we listen carefully we can usually decode what he is saying.

My guys all looking cute in their red hats.

Coming soon, I may step out of my shell and stand on a soap box. You won't want to miss it.

Quarantine

Sweet James has a stomach bug. He is a sad little pumpkin and is busy napping, snuggling mommy and watching movies today.

Luke, on the other hand, is an energetic as usual and spending the day with Grammy. Does he even notice that I am not with him? No. Does he ask where Mommy is? No. Does he want to find James? Yes. Is he having a ball with all this one on one attention? Absolutely.

These boys are such sweet blessings even when they are sick and even when they forget about their super cool mommy. We are so happy to have Grammy here to help with our self imposed and possible futile quarantine. Luke especially because he gets a taste of being an only child for a day.

Homemade Ketchup

So yummy, you really must try it! John found this recipe on Chow.com and we were inspired to try it out.

You will need:

• 2 28oz cans of pureed tomatoes

• 1 1/2 cups onions, finely chopped
  

• 2 Tbsp mustard

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar

• 1/2 cup white vinegar

• 1/2 tsp ground allspice

• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

• 2 Tbsp dry mustard

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp celery seed

• 2 tsp garlic powder

Add all the ingredients to a large pot and mix well. Heat over medium until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least two hours or until desired consistency is obtained. Run it through your blender to make nice and smooth.

You may never go back to store bought ketchup again.

Something I Love to Hate

You know what I mean. Kinda like watching a chick-flick or book where you can guess the ending in the first 5 minutes. But yet you keep watching/reading and waste a couple hours of your life. You love to watch, but hate to watch. The Neti Pot is kinda like that. I hate to use it. Really hate it. But it works. Sinus headache that would take ibuprofen over 2 or 3 hours to "fix", gone in a matter of minutes. Seasonal allergies not responding to normal meds, clear nose after a few uses. This thing rocks, but I hate it.

And because no post is complete without a picture of my cute boys, here we are all decked out for our chilly weather. Luke loves his owl hat (Thanks Amy!).

And James loves mommy's old ski hat. I think he looks adorable too.

These two boys are the main reason I started using the Neti pot. Because I get grumpy when I am sick or congested. My mother was right (aren't moms always right?) when she said it would change my life. Now I am a not-so-grumpy mommy to these cute boys. Life if good!