What a long week!

I am starting to climb the walls in my house! I have been home all week with 3 sick kids and now I am sick myself. It's that time of year where the "school-starting" season brings colds into the atmosphere! It never fails that at the end of the summer/ beginning of the fall our family gets sick. It must be the changing weather or the new allergens in the air, but either way it's not fun!

You can't tell by reading this, but I have NO voice today! This awful cold has settled into my lungs and throat, so typing this is great because if you were to call me on the phone today you might not understand me! I actually have to strain my voice to speak and it hurts! Therefore the girls will probably watch tv all day so I don't have to play or read to them. It has been a challenge just to speak to them normally!

I can't wait until we all feel better so we can get on with our normal lives and leave this place to do something fun! First thing this morning Bailee begged me to just go somewhere... "Mama can we please go bye bye? PLEASE!" It was pretty sad because she was wiping her nose and barely moving from not feeling good, yet she didn't want to stay home again! We're so used to being busy so to stay home all week has not been fun!

In the meantime I will continue to wipe noses, administer medicine, give cuddles and I might make myself a cup of tea to soothe my throat!

Preserving Summer's Bounty...

I read a post from Keeper of the Home this morning and can't wait to devour all of the links on it. I love canning home grown goods and I like being able to provide fresh, preservative-free foods to my family all winter long.  This post was all about canning, drying, freezing, etc...

I think a lot of my followers could benefit from looking through these links, so I am sharing them with you today! I don't take credit for compiling this list, but I am going to take advantage of it and look through several of them later!

I'm curious especially about the sweet pickle relish and the chunky spiced pear jam!

Which ones sound good to you??? Check out the list of links here!

JJ Heller - Love Me

This song makes me want to seek someone out that needs REAL love... not judgement or correction! Have you LOVED someone today for who they really are? I am so grateful that the Lord loves us all as we are!

"A Princess & Her Castle"

Bailee is at such a fun age right now and her imagination is blossoming! I have seen her pretend play evolve and her art work come alive! I was coloring with her at the kitchen table the other day and she was VERY focused on her work! Her tongue was hanging out, her eyebrows scrunched and she was hunched over her paper like she was trying to protect it... actually I think Mia was trying to scribble on her paper too, so she probably WAS protecting it! :-)

A few minutes later I heard her asking Mia, "What you maked?" Mia replied by saying "A picture." You could tell that Bailee wasn't satisfied with that answer because her pictures now have stories to go along with them! She wanted Mia to have a story too. 

I proceeded to ask Bailee about her paper, and this is what I got as a response... "This is the American Apple Castle where the princess lives!" 

"What?" I asked her to repeat it and she continued to say that it was a castle for Mandy Oats.  (???)

Of coarse, I couldn't just leave the conversation there, I had to keep asking questions!  I quickly grabbed a piece of scrap paper and wrote everything down!

"Who else lives there Bailee?"

She replied, "Cinderella and her prince. This is a place for them to dance. They will listen to there own music and she will listen to her man." (I was trying hard not to laugh out loud!)

She continued, "She has purple hair. The prince likes purple hair, but she doesn't need a baby. When I get to be a princess then Jack will hold my hand and my castle and my dress will be pink."

She stopped talking for a minute, looked down at her paper and made a few more marks. I asked what that was and she said, "The water and some more water and then there is a bridge." I labeled the paper as she was describing everything...

(I was able to scan her picture onto the computer so you could all see it for yourselves!)

I am so glad I am a stay at home mom and get to see glimpses into their little minds! It's fun to see them blossoming into such fun characters and to listen to their stories! I could have sat there all day and listened to her explain her "American Apple Castle" but Jack started to cry and Mia dropped all her crayons on the floor...

Maybe Bailee and I will visit that castle some day...

My new online cookbook!

I have been looking for a quick and easy way to organize my recipes and canning experiments for a long time. I debated hand writing each recipe into my existing recipe box, but didn't think that would be very easy or quick! (plus my box is overflowing already!)

I like looking up new recipes online, so I was just saving them all in a word document and it was one big mess! I decided (with suggestions from friends) to start a recipe blog. It will be my own personal online recipe book!

I would LOVE it if everyone I knew would send me some of their favorite recipes and then I could add to my collection and try some NEW things!!! I already have a few from friends that I cannot wait to try, but would you be willing to send me some of your favorites as well? I promise if you send me something that sounds yummy to my family I WILL TRY IT!

So?? Will you join me? Also, my recipe blog is public, so please try some of my recipes too and let me know what you think!!! Lets get cooking together!

Check it out! http://goodhomecooking-nicole.blogspot.com/ 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday is all about my son Jack's belly button! I noticed a few weeks ago that his belly button makes a perfect little "J" for Jack!!!!!! I LOVE IT! Check it out for yourself... pretty cool, huh!

August 24... the BEST day of my life!

Why is August 24th so important?

1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.

1682 – William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.

1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.

1983- Nicole Lee Couture is born at 7:59 pm to parents Ronald & Rhonda Couture.

1912 – Alaska becomes a United States territory.

1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop.

1967 – Led by Abbie Hoffman, a group of hippies temporarily disrupt trading at the NYSE by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them.

1995 – Computer software developer Microsoft releases its Windows 95 operating system.

2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is now considered a Dwarf Planet.

All of these dates were so important in history, but as any mom knows... once you have kids, your birthday is just another day in the year. Nothing special happening here and that's okay! I am incredibly blessed to be sitting here in my house with my 3 children and wonderful husband! That's enough for me to have another amazing year! So, Happy Birthday to me... ;-)

Are you being bossy?

"Are you being bossy Bailee?"

This seems to be a frequently asked question around here lately! Bailee is a first born daughter and is a VERY strong willed little girl! Lets just say that she takes after her mom!

All day long I am wondering if she is being bossy, or just following in her mother's footsteps. It's hard to judge sometimes when the girls are playing and she is instructing Mia what to do and how to do it. Mia usually goes along with it, but it borders on being bossy and naughty. I often times just let it go, but there are times when I feel like Mia is being walked all over!

This is what I heard this morning from Bailee...

"Mia sit down!"

"Mia, don't do that!"

"Mia, come out here Mama said no!"

"Put that on!"

"Don't take that!"

"Bring this over there!"

"No, No, No!'

"Mia lets go, now lets go back!"

"Mia pick it up, you dropped it!"

"Here you go, now go over there."

"You can't do that, do it like this!"

I heard all of that within about a 10 minute span and there were MANY more physical instructions Mia had to follow too! Bailee often takes her hand and leads her around the house, pushes her over and makes her sit in certain places. 

Because Mia is okay with this type of play I usually let them play until there is a fight over something. But every once in a while I step in and ask Bailee, "Are you being bossy again? You can't tell her what to do and Mia can play how ever she wants to. You can't always be in control."

Even in this picture I realized that she was pushing Mia down the slide! Ugh!

Sometimes I think Bailee is sincerely trying to help Mia, but it often turns out bad! She has to realize that Mia doesn't want help to do things Bailee's way, Mia wants to do it her own way! 

She says, "Yes Mama" and returns to their normal state of play. I hope Mia doesn't grow up to think that she always has to listen to Bailee as her authority! It should be interesting to see how this changes as they grow up together! :0)

A night at the movies!

Last night was a fun and interesting adventure! We took our two girls to the movie theater for the first time! Part of me was excited to try this new "big girl" activity, but part of me was anxious to find out how they might behave! Everybody that has ever been in a movie theater with a naughty toddler has gone home upset!

"I can't believe they let that kid run around like that!" 

"Did you see that mother? What was she thinking?" 

"I would never let MY kid do that!" 

"How rude to let your toddler talk through the movie!"

Oh, come on... we've ALL thought those things! :0) So, therefore I was a little nervous that my kids would be THOSE kids!

Here they are anxiously awaiting there first trip to the movies!

 (To the left- Waiting outside the theater until the movie was ready to start. I didn't want to make them sit too still for too long before we absolutely had to!)




(To the right- Watching Papa eat his Popcorn! They thought it was cool that they had their own juices and I brought hull-less popcorn for them!)

So, we successfully bought our tickets and our popcorn without any meltdowns. So far so good! We warned them that the lights would go out and that it would be loud and when it started they both giggled nervously. They weren't sure what to think yet. Once the movie got started they were so enthralled that they sat still for the first 20 minutes or so. Then the wiggles kicked in!

They had a hard time holding still, so I broke out the lollipops! I told them they had to sit still and they would do anything for a lollipop! :0)

Bailee LOVED the whole thing. She laughed when she was supposed to and liked dancing to all the musical parts!

Mia did okay, but did not like sitting still! I guess that's to be expected when you take a 1 year old to the movies! She ended up leaving with Tom for the last 10 minutes, but other than that they both did great!

We saw the movie Despicable Me and LOVED it! I was laughing through the whole thing and can't wait to buy it when it comes out on DVD. A great movie to see with the whole family! Have you seen it? What did you think?

 

A question for you moms....

Does anyone have any suggestions for a hip sling for babies? Jack is really heavy to carry in a regular baby carrier now and is starting to sit on my hip, so I was hoping to find something cheap or second-hand, but I need some suggestions.

I'm looking for something like this... 

I have never used one before and I'm not even sure if I would like it. Any ideas? Suggestions?

Truly Inspiring!

A friend of mine shared this with me and it made me stop and think of all the blessings in my life! There are so many things I take for granted every day! How about you? Do you complain when nothing goes your way? Should you stop and be more grateful for what you already have? I know that I need to!

16 vs. 19!

My two youngest children are quite different!

Mia is a girl. Jack is a boy.

Mia can speak full sentences. Jack only coos and cries.

Mia has a full head of hair. Jack is completely bald.

Mia likes to play with toys. Jack chews them.

Mia eats real table food. Jack drinks milk.

Mia likes to play with her babies. Jack IS a baby.

Mia is 23 months old. Jack is 4 months old.

But there is one thing that is not so different between them! It's their weight!

Mia weighs only 19 pounds and Jack weighs 16!!! 

At the doctor's office we were told that Mia is so tiny that she isn't even on the "average child weight charts" and Jack is at 80%! I have a petite little lady and one big boy! 

I love that they are so different but one other thing that they have in common is that they are the sweetest kids you'll ever meet! 

I love them both so much but I don't think it will be long before Jack is much bigger than Mia! :0)

How to brine a turkey!

I found this recipe from CDKitchen and it was really easy! 

Buy a 12 pounds uncooked turkey (not injected with a salt solution)
(Mine was actually a 14 pound turkey and it worked just fine! Mine was also frozen, so I had to take thawing time into consideration!) 


***Brine***
8 cups apple juice or cider (bottled or from frozen concentrate)
1 pound brown sugar (light or dark)
1 cup Kosher salt
12 cups quarts cold water
2 cups orange juice
1 tablespoon ground ginger
15 whole cloves
6 large bay leaves
3 tablespoons crushed garlic

Directions:

Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and salt in a large saucepan.

Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve sugar and salt. Boil for one minute and remove from heat. Cool to room temperature.

In a large food safe container (2 to 5-gallons), combine the apple juice mixture with the remaining ingredients, then refrigerate to 40-degrees F.

Remove giblets and neck from raw turkey and place turkey in the brine solution, breast side down. Place a heavy plate or bowl on top to keep the bird submerged, if necessary. Place container in fridge and brine the turkey for 24 hours.

Discard brine solution and rinse turkey well, inside and outside. Pat turkey dry and air dry in fridge for about 4-hours, uncovered. (I never wait the 4 hours, I just bake it right away! I'm just too impatient to wait!)

Coat turkey with light coating of oil or butter and bake in oven (or smoke ,outdoors, in bbq smoker) at 325-degrees F. until thermometer placed in breast reads 165-degrees F (about 3-hours).

I actually baked mine covered in tin foil at 450-degrees for 30 minutes and then removed the foil and baked it at 350-degrees for 2 1/2 more hours. The hot temp at the beginning makes the crust look nice and crisps it up! :0)

Now I'll throw some canned/ home grown potatoes and green beans on the stove and supper is done! We'll eat the left overs for the next few days and then I'll also make some turkey pot pies to freeze. Then, when I need a meal, but don't feel like cooking, the work will already be done!

I'll also save a few for "ministry meals." I like to freeze meals like this for a quick meal to bring to someone in need. We don't always have the extra money or time to bring someone a meal, but if it's done in advance then I can quickly grab it and it's all done!

Here is a great turkey website for beginners... it's really easy to do, but looks difficult... an easy way to impress someone! ;-)

Calvin & Hobbes Parenting Insight!

I think we can all relate to this! We have all said things (especially to our kids) that we regret! :0)

Yup, been there too! It's usually peanut butter and jelly for our kids when dinner doesn't look appealing to them! :-)

This one made me laugh, because it's usually the other way around in our house! I love reading bed time stories and sometimes I find Tom cleaning up while I read to them! ;-)

Hey Mr. Bus Driver

We've been having issues with Bailee going poop on the potty for months now. You're probably wondering "what does this have to do with bus drivers?" Well, I'll tell you!

Last night Bailee was having the urge to go #2, but refused to sit on the potty. Therefore I had to force her to sit down and waited while she screamed and yelled, "I won't go poop on the potty!" (Yes, this is a normal thing for her!)

We've bribed her, threatened her, put her on medications, etc... Nothing is working because she's stubborn and if she doesn't want to, then she just won't!!!

So, I got smart and started telling her a "story."

She's been talking about going to school and riding the school bus for a long time now, so I decided to use it to my advantage!

I started talking about "Mrs. Teacher" and "Mr. Bus Driver." I told her how nice they were and that they have a rule about going to school. It went a little bit like this...

"Bailee, you want to go to school right? (she nodded) Well, they won't allow children on the bus or in their school if they can't poop on the potty! No diapers are allowed and they won't let you on the bus if you don't learn to poop on the potty first!"

She was listening very intently and was very serious about it! Then she yelled, "But I don't want to poop on the potty now!"

SO I continued, "I guess we should call Mr. Bus Driver then and tell him to not pick you up. Do you think I should call him and explain what's happening?"

"Yes."

Well, now I was stuck, what do I do now? I know. Call my Dad! I was praying that he would play along and act as Mr. Bus Driver!

Luckily he figured out what was going on when I called him Mr. Bus Driver and explained that I was Bailee's mom. I put him on speaker phone so Bailee could listen while sitting on the potty. She couldn't believe I was actually talking to him and her eyes were as big as saucers!

The conversation ended by her telling the bus driver, "I will poop on the potty. I won't poop in my diaper no more and I am 3!"

We'll see if this little "story" works, but if not, we might have to call him back!!!

(Thanks Dad Mr. Bus Driver for playing along!)

A quiet cafe...

Oh what a glorious day to sit quietly in a cafe with girlfriends sipping a yummy hot chocolate (not worrying about the calorie content) and chatting for hours. Sitting peacefully in a room with breakables and using real glasses to drink from. Not rushing around to chase someone or finding a bathroom with a changing table. We could sit for a long period of time and have adult conversations!! What a glorious day that would be!

Instead my day is filled with baby talk and phrases like these...

Be careful!

Stop jumping off the couch!

Do you need to go potty?

Leave your sister alone!

Leave ME alone!

Get off of your brother!

Give that toy back!

What did I just tell you?

Do you need a time out?

Who had it first?

Stop it!

Did you hear me?

I said stop it!

Don't touch that!

Get over here!

Did you poop?

Stop crying!

Ah! I told you to be careful!

Sit down!

Watch where you're going!

Are you ok?

Where is your boo boo?

Eat your lunch!

Go to sleep!

Oh what a glorious day it will be when I can sit quietly with friends and not stress about what 30 little fingers are touching or where 30 little toes are going!

Who taught these kids to play sports?

While watching the kids playing outside Tom and I made a very funny observation! Every "sport" the girls play is incorrect! This is what we saw...

This was Mia's attempt at playing baseball... she was holding the bat wrong and she was hitting a basketball like she was golfing!

She then proceeded to kick it like she was playing soccer! And when we asked her what she was playing, she replied "Football!" We died laughing!!!

Bailee was trying really hard to get the kickball into the hoop (her version of basketball!)

Mia thought that looked fun, but grabbed the football! Hahaha!

Bailee then took a crack at playing field hockey with the same attempt that Mia took!

How do you tell your kids that they are WAY OFF? Well, you don't! You let them have fun with whatever they want as long as no one starts golfing with swords!

Tom, it looks like we have our work cut out for us! :0)

Wordless Wednesday

This is Bailee's new "trick" that she is so proud of! She always wants to show us her cool eyes! When she is looking at me she says, "Look Mama, I made two Mamas!!"

I'm not to fond of her "practicing" this new trick, but it does make for a great picture! Hahaha!

Dress up Daddy!

Every daddy loves to play rough with their kids and likes to wrestle on the floor! Tom is no exception! I often here giggling and screaming coming from the living room when he is playing with the girls! (sometimes followed by crying because the play got too rough!)

But not every Dad will do this...

Tom will sit with the girls and play dress up! Not dress them up... he lets them dress HIM up! Mia got a big kick out of it this particular day and kept brining him "pretties" to wear!

Here he is playing ball while wearing the necklaces Mia insisted that he wear!

:-)

The girls are also very in-tune to their "inner princess!" Here Mia's prince (aka Dad) puts on her glass slippers!

Every little girl's hero is her Dad... I'm so glad that Tom takes the time to BE with them every day!!!

Pickles Pickles Everywhere!!!

Last week was a busy week for me preserving foods and canning home grown goodies!! I made zucchini bread and jam... another project I took on was pickles! I had never made pickles before, but I decided to try when my sister gave me some extra cucumbers she had from her garden. I tried both dill and bread and butter.

I threw some onions, green peppers and cauliflower in with the bread and butter pickles for filler and I ended up with 6 quarts of each kind.

It takes 8 weeks for them to pickle, so I won't be able to tell you if I like them until then! I'll keep you posted!! :0)

Discovering Worms!

Two mothers days ago I was given a gift certificate to a local greenhouse from Tom to buy a flowering crab apple tree. I was thrilled, so when we moved into our new house I couldn't wait to go pick it out! Our summer has been a little busy, so we just got around to it this weekend. We went out and I picked an Indian Summer Flowering Crab Apple Tree. It will now be "My Mother's Day Tree" that will always remind me of how special my kids are to me!!!

Last night Tom went out to plant the tree and he wanted the kids to be a part of it, so he let them "help." (That basically meant that they watched and played in the yard!)

The best part of it all was the girls discovering worms. First they saw them in the ground, then Tom handed them each one from the wheelbarrow. It was funny to watch their responses. At first they were both excited to hold one, but quickly dropped them once they started wiggling around!

Tom then picked up a fat juicy one and was pretending to eat it... the girls freaked out! I thought Bailee was going to cry! :-) It was quite funny!

A lunch conversation with a 3 year old!

Our lunch time conversation today...

Me "What are you going to do when you get big?"

Bailee "I'm going to be a mommy when I get big like you!"

Me "What will you do with your babies?"

Bailee "I will hold there hands when we walk and I am going to feed my babies."

Me "What will you feed them?"

Bailee "When I get big I will feed them with my big boobies like you Mama!"

Me (laughing!) "How many babies will you have?"

Bailee "One. No Three."

Me "Who will be your baby?"

Bailee "Mia"

Me "Who's going to be the babies Daddy?"

Bailee "Teninch" (??)

Me "Where will you live?"

Bailee "At my own house that's pink. When I get to be a big girl!"

Me "What will you do at your house?"

Bailee "I will play at my house with my baby, that I will do!"

Me "Can I come visit you at your house?"

Bailee "Yes you can have one baby too and with Papa!"

Me "Will you give them things?"

Bailee "When my babies get bigger they will eat lots of food just like me! I will give them toys in their cribs."

Me "If you want to be a mommy you need to eat your lunch and learn to poop on the potty!"

Bailee "Yes I will poop on the potty when I get to be a mommy too!"

Yard Sale Finds!!

I love summer time for many reasons, but I really love summer because of yard sales!!! I am a nut for a good deal! I refuse to pay full price for most things and I get a rush from finding those treasures! Here are a few of my favorite things that I have found this summer! :0)

Rainbow Beach Umbrella Normally $30-$80- I paid $1!!! It works great in our patio table to keep Jack out of the sun while the girls play! :0)

For this Fisher Price Crawl and Cruise Jungle Normally $90-$110- I paid $15!

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn House Door Normally $80- I paid $5!

Dora Couch (my kids LOVE) Normally $30-$40- I paid $2

I have clothed my girls for the next few years of their lives from summer yard sale finds... most clothes $.25! These outfits cost $.50 a piece! Until my kids care about shopping for clothing, I'll stick with barely worn/new second hand clothes! Most things were name brands or brand new!

A dress for Alana $.25

Bumbo chair for Jack Normally $30-$40- I paid $10

Learning Journey Count and Learn Cookie Jar toy with "counting cookies" Normally $30 - I paid $.25! Bailee is learning her numbers and she loved playing with it! (She keeps pretending to bake cookies for me!)

This is probably my favorite find! I found 2 online... one was $80 and the other was $280- I paid $10 for this beautiful wooden high chair! It's so nice that I don't mind it sitting in my dining room! Mia also like it because it feels more like a big girl chair than a baby seat!

The summer isn't over... I might have more goodies to share later... :0)