baby it's changing time!

I was getting Levi ready for a bath. I changed his diaper. It was poopy, so I strapped him in and went to the bathroom to rinse out the diaper. I came back to find this. As a good mother always does, instead of helping him out of the predicament, I grabbed the camera.

 

Good thing I used the strap!

He seemed pretty happy about the situation.

 

Do you smell it?

FALL.

I can smell fall coming miles away, and this morning, it's here. A small, faint, but distinct smell, of leaves that are soon to change color, cool mornings, frosty dew, apples, pumpkins, hot cider... i could go on forever..

I LOVE FALL.
So this morning, I'll enjoy my warm cup of coffee, and the windows open on this brisk 45 degree morning. it's fantastic.



As a side note. Levi is doing a little better. I think he's feeling better, though he keeps waking up in the night. I tell ya, this kid fights sleep like it's his job. Last night he was awake for over an hour. He was just laying in his crib, talking to himself. But of course, I couldn't sleep. He's been coughing, and I'm wondering if it's waking him up?

We're going camping this weekend with my family for the 3 day weekend. Mike has been working a lot lately, which we are thankful for, but he is exhausted, and I think will enjoy a longer relaxing weekend.

sicko part duex

diagnosis: ear infection

After an extremely rough night here at the ok corral, I decided a call to the pediatrician was in order. Levi was inconsolable last night. We went out last night to a church thing. He fell asleep on the way home. He woke up when we were changing him, and it took us over an hour to get him back to sleep. He then woke up at 11:30 S.C.R.E.A.M.I.N.G. Nothing we did helped him. We thought maybe he was teething because when we gave him Hyland's Teething Tablets, he calmed down a bit. We finally got him to sleep about 12:30, I think out of pure exhaustion. Mike held him and they slept in the chair until about 2 when Mike woke up. He put him down, and Levi slept until 4, where he woke up again screaming. That time, I convinced him to nurse, and he fell back asleep.

I called our pediatrician, to which of course they said, well what are his symptoms? I had nothing other than.. "this isn't my kid" He's not fussy, he's not irritable and he is right now. Which of course the lady ran her list of questions. Is he running a fever, is he eating, nursing, okay? Is he pulling on his ear? I could sense her "you're just a panicked mom" voice as I responded to each question. No fever, eating fine, not pulling on his ear... but I just kept saying THIS ISN'T MY KID. I finally said, maybe it's just a cold, but I'd really like you to see him. I'll feel a whole lot better paying by copay and having you tell me it's just a cold if that's what it is. She finally consented. It was 10:20, she asked how far away we lived? I told her 5 minutes, and she said, we can see him at 10:30. So we got in, and the diagnosis indeed was an ear infection. I'm so glad we didn't wait, because I'm sure it would have only gotten worse over the weekend.

She said he probably got it from his cold. I asked about teething, and she had a look and said his top 2 will probably pop through any day now, so it could be a combo deal. I called my mom, and she said.. oh you had ear infections all the time!
J.O.Y.

sickos

my little boy is sick.

i'm not sure if it's a cold, if he's teething, or possibly allergies?

runny nose
goopy eyes
sneezies
drooly
a real low-grade fever last night
sleeping all day today.


i hate watching him feel miserable.

chocolate zuchinni bread

Chocolate Zuchinni Bread

I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it's worth it.

2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate ( I used cocoa powder and oil)
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil ( I used 1\2 C oil and 1\2 C applesauce)
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredient, add wet ones.. you know the drill for bread, i'm sure. :)
It makes 2 loaves 350 for 60-70 minutes

Um. yeah. I don't have a picture of it because it was so good we ate it way too quickly. I did have the foresight to freeze one loaf, but it does look tempting in the freezer.

try it out. you'll love it!

I also just got a recipe for imitation crab cakes with zuchinni.
i'm excited to try them

snakes

I"ll admit it.

I'm not a lover of reptiles. namely. snakes. I've never been a big fan, I think it stems from when I stepped on one as a young child. Anyway, like I said I'm not a fan of them, but I've tolerated them over the years. They live in their space, I live in mine, and we'll do just fine.

Last week, I was at my sisters house. She has a HUGE fear of snakes. We were working on taking some stuff to their garage. We opened the door from their house, and there inside their cozy warm dry garage was a snake, curled up on the floor. April really panicked and pulled the big sister card. ( I don't think she has ever pulled that out of her pocket) She ran inside screaming you're the big sister you HAVE to do something. I mustered up my courage, got a broom off the wall and pushed the thing out of the garage. I shrieked and yelled to April to shut the door! April then decided it was still too close to the garage so she made me push it again. So, I pushed it again. By now, Mr. Snake had caught on. He was NOT happy with the giant yellow stick attacking him. He had coiled himself up and was in strike position. I shoved him closer to the grass, and said, enough. close the garage. April then decided she wanted to conquer her fear so she came running at the thing with a snow shovel to whack it to death. To the snakes wise discernment he slithered into the grass and did not die by the our hand.

Later on that week, I was at their house again. I was walking their dog, my parents dog, and pushing Levi in his stroller. We walked down to the playground. I tied the dogs to the bench and was pushing Levi in the swing. I could tell the dogs were watching something. yea. it was a snake. I gathered enough courage to untie them, and then we immediately left the park for home.

Yesterday I went to our garden. in 4 years we have NEVER seen a snake. and in fact, it's never even occurred to me that there could be a snake in our garden. I was picking tomatoes minding my own business, enjoying the sunshine, and the fact that I didn't have Levi with me. (thanks, Dad) when I heard... ***swish swish swish***
I looked up to see about a 2 1\2 foot snake maybe 2 inches in diameter slithering less than a foot away from me. I screamed, ran out of the garden, and left the rest of it unpicked. I hopped in the car and headed for home. Guess who will not be picking at the garden the rest of the summer. yeah, that'd be me. UGH. I just keep thinking about how that nasty thing could have been slithering over my vegetables.

That's 3 snakes in less than 2 weeks, and I'm done with them.
I hate them.

saturday

A day outside in the sun..
A successful garage sale...
Take-Out Chinese with Mike...
Sleeping Baby...
Movie night while snuggling.....

I love it!

craftiness

Why on earth I think I can be crafty is beyond me. We all have those moments right? I was wandering through Michael's yesterday, when I spotted it.
A No-Sew Iron On Baby Number's Book. You see, I've been eyeing this book for a while. I look at it pretty much everytime I'm in the store, but I never could justify the money for it. But, yesterday was my lucky day, it was on clearance! I scooped it up, overjoyed, thinking about how crafty I was going to be. (Note to self: I am NOT crafty) My sister in law is expecting a baby any day now, and I so I said I'll make it for her! PERFECTO!........ HA! This is why you should shop with someone. I needed someone to say.. uh, Jen? you're not crafty, remember? even when it comes to something easy like ironing.

So, needless to say I will not be giving this away as a present. It will be Levi's, because he'll appreciate his mama's inability to craft, right? Now, don't get me wrong it's not awful, it's just that some of the animals didn't iron on very well, like there is a dog missing a leg... hmmm....


This is the cover.. cute, right?



This is the number 9 page, see, 9 bees.. VERY cute.




And then.. here is the dog page... minus a couple of legs. sad.



note to self. don't try to be crafty.

crocodile dock

Wow, have we been busy.
Vacation Bible School set up, the garden is in full swing meaning i am canning, chopping, freezing, dehydrating every moment I have, we're having a Garage Sale tomorrow, and the list goes on.

We went to bible school the first and last nights to see how it went, and the last night to tear down. here are some pictures. that's the stage in full-use, lights and all. pictures do not do it justice. those trees you see are 22ft tall.



This next picture was probably my favorite part of the decorations. It was our dock. It was carpet squares that we painstakingly hot glued to cardboard. It took a very long time, but it was totally worth it. I loved it!



This is the shack that we built. It's 9 ft tall by 12 ft wide. We made it out of styrofoam. It was lots of fun, and looked awesome!




On the highest night there were 309 kids there. What a blessing, and what an incredible ministry. 309 kids heard the gospel this week, and we had a hand in helping to keep the kids attention in the swampy old lousiana bayou.
The kids brought in pop cans boys vs. girls to raise money for children's schools supplies in Burundi, Africa. They raised just over $1500. That's enough supplies for over 700 kids.

Praise God for His work!

to wet your tastebuds

for now..



that was the final design.

20+ carpet tubes
6 pieces of foam
numerous props
a 9ft tall shack
2 22ft tall trees
a carpet dock with cattails

and about 30 hours of work..

more to come when i have the time..

we're still here

I promise we haven't fallen off the planet. It's just been a crazy busy week. We spent every night last week decorating for Vacation Bible School. Levi was a trooper, especially since we hauled him with us every night. We worked 6:30-10:30 or 11 every night. Tuesday and Saturday were marathon days from noon til 11, and we were done.

Last night we trekked out one last time to see the first night in action. Everything looked great and the kids were having a great time in the swampy bayou. I will hopefully will get pictures up soon.

For now, I've got garden food to process and can, a house to clean, and a very fussy baby who has a cold, is teething, and schedule is generally messed up due to last week.

I promise a post with pics soon!

they're coming

I'm very excited about our first crop of tomatoes from the garden. It's taken forever for them to ripen because of our cool summer, but they are finally here.
It's not too many yet, but I know we'll be swimming in them very soon.

 

Don't they look delectable?

 

I ate grape tomatoes and zuchinni for breakfast this morning, I couldn't help it, it was just too yummy. Today I've put up broccoli and peppers into the freezer. I deydrate most of our zuchinni and summer squash, that way I can use it soups and casseroles in the winter. I'm hoping the tomatoes will hang on until this weekend when I can process and can them.

It reminds me of God's faitfulness and how He will provide for our needs.

the results

We went to the fair. It was disappointing.

We went Sunday Evening. We didn't have a lot of time, but we weren't sure how Levi would do and it's 1\2 price on Sunday's so we figured, hey... if he has a massive meltdown at least we paid 1\2 price, right? When we pulled into the fair, they gave us our price to get in. It wasn't 1\2 price. Apparantley they changed rules this year, but didn't tell anyone. I complained.. believe me, I complained, but it got us nowhere, except an extra $6 out of our wallets.

In case you haven't noticed, I have an extreme love for the fair. We've always gone. When I was young April and I would go with our grandparents every summer, then we'd go later in the week just our family. Our fair has 10 barns, filled with horses, beef cattle, dairy cows, goats, pigs, sheep, chickens, bunnies, draft horses, ducks, turkeys, a birthing barn.. everything you can imagine, and that's why I go to the fair, it's like a massive petting zoo, and i LOVE to pet the animals, (much to my husbands chagrin)

Our fair friends warned us that it might not be great this year. Because of the economy in our state the fair reduced their "premiums" which is what people can get paid for winning a specific class. They told us that, because of that, they were afraid people wouldn't bring their animals, and sadly they were right. There were basically 3 of the big barns with no animals in them. It was sad.very.very.sad.

Hopefully next year it will be better, and we will definitely be entering things, so if nothing else we'll help make the fair a better place.

Anyway.. onward and upward right? So we went to check out our swiss chard.
It received 2nd place. The one that won 1st was more evenly sized. Our pieces were all over the map, but this one every piece was basically the same size which we dutifully noted for next year.

 

Remember I told you about the market stands where you can win $500? This was the grand prize winner of that category. Something about the sign that says 44th year at the fair makes me think we have a ways to go before we can compete in that category.

 

And just because he's cute. Levi.. shall we say.... fights sleep?... on a regular basis. It normally means we put him down and he screams like we're cutting off his foot until he falls asleep. The other night after the screaming subsided I went in to check on him. This is how he had fallen asleep.. too funny.

 

oh.. and thankfully Levi basically cut the tooth in one night... thank the Lord! however, I think we may be working on tooth numbero dos.

3 things

1) Levi is teething. It's pretty much awful. We got about 3 hours of sleep last night. He's exhausted, but his poor little mouth is really hurting him. We froze all his little teething toys, we put ice in a little mesh feeder, we gave him tylenol, oragel. Any other tips?

2) Today is the start of the fair. I can not begin to tell you how excited about this I am. I can't wait to go. There will certainly be a post about our swiss chard this week. I fully intend on taking our camera and taking notes. :)

3) This is also the beginning of a crazy week. We are again in charge of decorating the stage for vacation bible school. we have been planning and plotting for months. This is the week to transform a regular ol sanctuary into a southern louisiana bayou. we've got a shack 12 ft. wide, by 9 ft tall that we built. We are currently building 20ft. trees. We have a boat, fishing stuff, several docks, and about a zillion other things that all have to come together this week. All while Levi cuts his first tooth.

Please pray for us that we will be able to get this stuff done this week, that it would be a great place for kids to learn more about the God we serve. That the space would invite them to a better understanding of Christ. It seems silly, but it's a job we all take very seriously. Would you pray with us that our work helps to further the Kingdom of God? Vacation Bible School starts a week from today.

And on that note, my poor little guy is awake and crying. pray for that as well.

pictures

last weekend we traveled to the toledo area to have some pictures taken.
we've been wanting to get them done, and the price was perfect. so we picked through our clothes and found something we loved.

she has posted one picture up on her blog of us.

i can't.wait.to.see.the.rest.

go check it out HERE!

priceless?

1 sore kitty
1 trip to the vet
1 anti-inflammatory shot
1 bottle of pills
1 partially dislocated hip
1 return follow-up visit.

so far the grand total is $53.

our cat has been hobbling around for a couple of days now. we were watching him, thinking that he had just pulled a muscle. after all he is just an indoor cat, what could he have possibly done. well today, he almost fell down the basement stairs. i decided enough was enough. we took him to our vet, and there ya have it. a partially dislocated hip. he said that with the shot the swelling will go down and hopefully everything will move back into place.

seriously. how does this happen? he lays around all day.
apparantley jumping up and down on the furniture proved too much for this feline.

oh beautiful fair

Yesterday, I received this book with details of how the fair works. seriously. It's full of every kind of entry you could possibly imagine.

 

See? Here's our entry #137.. Swiss Chard.

 

Here's said Swiss Chard that we packaged up and sent off to head to the fair.
Prize Money? $4 for a blue ribbon. Now, granted, it's not much. but hey, $4 is $4, and if you put a whole bunch of stuff in? Well, the sky is the limit..

 

See? the sky is the limit.
do you see the price on that? 500 smackaroos
I will enjoy the exhibit barn like I never have,
and be taking feverish note of what is a good entry, and what isn't.

 

dinner time

TOO...

 

CUTE...

 

FOR WORDS...