BBQ Chicken

Rach over at In His Hands asked for some easy recipe ideas, so I thought I'd share my super easy recipe for BBQ Chicken:

Preheat oven to 350 (I always have the hardest time remembering to preheat, so I always write it in the directions)
Place Chicken drumsticks in 9x13 pan
Pour on a bottle of your favourite BBQ sauce (enough to cover generously)
Bake for 1 hour.

Devotions Please!

WE have a little childern's Bible on the table that we read for devotions after dinner. This morning Asher saw it & asked if we could read from it. But we had gotten up a bit late & PChad had to get to work, so we said no, but we'd read it after dinner.

Asher: "Can I read from that Bible?"

Us: "No, we'll do that tonight."

Asher: "Can I read from that Bible right there?"

Us: "Not right now."

Asher: "That Bible right there on the table, can I read it right now?"

Us: "We do that after dinner, not at breakfast time."

Asher: "Asher wants to read from that Bible on the table, right there! Please can I read it?"

We finally gave in & read one, he is nothing if not persistent!

So No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way....

I was given the "Friends" Award by none other than QuirkyLoon. She's a blogger who posts w/ a bit of snark & frankly, sometimes we all need a good dose of snarkiness.

The "rules" for this award are quite painless.

Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who can choose eight more and include this text into the body of their award.

Without further ado, here are my 8 nominees:

Rach @ In His Hands -She & her husband are eagerly awaiting the arrival of "Baby O" the baby they are adopting from Korea

Jen @ Absolutely Bananas -A Seattle stay at home mum who sees the humour in the day to day.

Nikki @ Blah, Blah, Blah Blog -She has the funniest dogs & the funniest sense of humour!

My Ice Cream Diary - She keeps it real & loves ice cream

Queen B - I just love reading about all her little family gets up to

Vintage Dutch Girl -She's Dutch, shops at Walmart & has the cutest kids

Elisabeth @ Roy's Progress -The sweetest lady who set up a blog about her husband's battle with cancer.

Andrea @ Forever Is Tomorrow Is Today -She recently moved back to the States from England, is into photography, & has such a cute little boy!

I'm so glad I have the opportunity to get to know each of these lovely ladies through their blogs, virtual friends are great!

A Whole New Way To Wake Up

Perhaps if Michael Scott had known about the "Wake 'n Bacon" he never would have gotten into this situation

How Does That One Go?

I don't know if there are any of you that take common songs & then change the words a bit to make fun little songs for/about your kids..... Here are a few of our favourites.

(to the tune of "Oh Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone")
Oh where, oh where, did Asher go?
Oh where, oh where could he be?
He was just right here a minute ago.
Oh where oh where could he be?

(to the tune of "Jesus Loves the Little Children")
Daddy loves his little Asher,
He's the coolest Asher in the world!
Everyday when I wake up
I know I'm a lucky man
'cuz Asher is the coolest Asher in the world!

Then there are the songs that we kind of know the tune, but not all the words, so we made up a bit:

(To the tune of "Lambert the Sheepish Lion")
Cle-ean up, it is time to cle-ean up!
Let's put all the books & toys awa-aay 'cuz it is time to clean up!


Be patient, be patient, don't be in such a hurry!
Be patient, be patient, you'll only start to worry (up 'til here we're good, then we improvised)
And then lots of bad things will start happening to you
'cuz everyone around you will become impatient too!


So I'm wondering what songs you've adjusted a bit, or maybe we're the only weird ones!

A New Favourite

In the last week this has become one of my favourite songs. It only took me about 15 minutes searching to figure out what the song was called & who sang it!



Carly Rae Jepsen - "Tug of War"

You may remember her as the little girl on Canadian Idol a few years back from Alberta. Well, she didn't win, but seems to have made it into the music business anyways!

Hold Your Nose!

My parents are watching my brother's kids for a week & I called to see how it was going & have a little chat. My niece got on the phone & was telling me all about the muffins she had for breakfast. Asher ran into the room requesting to talk on the phone too, so I handed it to him so he & Meghan could talk to eachother.

"Hi, Meghan! I tooted in my pants so I said, 'excuse me!' Ok, bye!"

He then handed the phone back to me & ran away again. At least he has good manners!

That same night I was putting Chancery to bed & told Asher to stay in his room until I was finished. When I came in & was congratulating Asher on a job well done, then I noticed an odour, so I asked if he had pooed in his pants.

"Yes, I have poop in my pants & I stink like a skunk!"

That's putting it mildly & a fitting follow up to the afternoon's phone call.

A Jokester Is Born

We were driving up our street the other night & Asher asked if he could trade the toys he had for some different toys to play w/ in the truck. I said, "No, we're almost home."

He replied, "We're not home, yet!"

At this point we were backing up the driveway into the garage, so I said, "See, we're driving into the garage."

Asher: "We're not home, yet!"

Me: "Yes, whose garage is this?"

Asher: "The neighbours!!"

I turned to look at him & he had this huge, silly smirk on his face. I think he's going to give us a run for our money, that one.

Sunday Pictures: week 27

Asher - 2.5 years
Chancery - 6 months
*********************************

Chancery: "Asher, are you ready for our weekly pictures?"

Chancery: "Alright, use your ears & listen to Mum, then
we can be done with this tomfoolery!"

Chancery: "I believe we are ready, Mummy,
how would you like us to sit this week?"

Chancery: "What? You want a kissy picture? Are you SURE?"

Chancery: "All right, fine, do what you must!"

Chancery: "Alright! We're done! Hooray!"

A Questionable Motive?

What do you do if you have a friend that has ignored all attempts to keep in touch (facebook, email) who suddenly contacts you b/c they are going to be in the area & were wondering if they could stay w/ you for a few days?

Do you take that as a sign they want to keep in touch once again & they've just been busy? Do you mention their lack of communication until now? Do you think maybe they are just trying to get a free place to stay for a few days? What's your take?

I'm Not Sure Of The Problem

Asher has resisted potty training in every conceivable way. He does not want to try sitting on the potty, & has no bones about telling us that. However, he is just getting to the stage that he will tell us that he has just pooped, is pooing, or is weeing. Since I have decided not to push him in the potty training arena, I usually just tell him it's ok, & maybe we'll go in the potty next time.

This morning the kids & I had just left Value Village & were in the parking lot loading our purchases & the kids into the truck. Suddenly Asher says, "Uh oh! I'm weeing right now!" as if he was wearing underwear & not diapers. I don't know why that warrented an 'uh oh,' but apparently that was not in his plan.

Yesterday after he woke up from his nap he stood at the top of the stairs & told me to come look at what he had put in his pants. He has some interesting ways of telling us...... perhaps it's time to get a bit more serious about potty training.

Feel The Burn

About 5 years ago I was having issues w/ my stomach every morning. Usually I can cope w/ such things, but it was getting out of hand. To the point where I couldn't drink my daily latte anymore b/c it was upsetting my stomach. We were trying to make a baby, but after countless negative pregnancy tests & continued morning sickness I went to the doctor to see what was up. Long story short, no, I was not pregnant, I had acid reflux, but they wanted to find out more.

After a few months of testing they figured out I had gastroparesis which means that my stomach takes too long to empty after eating (I never figured out how that works w/ also having a fast metabolism). I was given some erythromycin to help my stomach empty faster & also to combat the acid reflux. I was told I'd have to be on the erythromycin for the rest of my life b/c my stomach just needed some help, but since we were also working on expanding our family & that medication can cause complications, I just took myself off it & tried eating smaller meals more often. Things were going fine until last Friday.

Suddenly my stomach felt like it was on fire & my throat was full of acid. I picked up some Zantac at the pharmacy, but after 3 days w/o much improvement I went to the doctor yesterday & am now back on the reflux meds to see how they work. Why I've been fine for all those years & suddenly it's back is anybody's guess, but so far the medication's not working great, hopefully it will soon. The biggest issue I've been having is drinking water. The more water I drink, the worse it gets, but since I'm nursing Chancery I have to drink lots of it.

There are 2 ways this could go:
1. These meds work & I have no more issues w/ it. (A great option)
2. The meds don't work & in 6 weeks I have an endoscopy. (A fun option, they give you drugs that make you have a GREAT day!)

So, I'm hoping the drugs work or my body decides to correct itself again b/c I am not looking forward to 6 more weeks of this!

A Superfantastic Blog Giveaway

I'm always up for a giveaway (who's NOT into free stuff?) & if you are too, you should go check out Word To Your Mother's superfantastic blog giveaway! While you're there check out some of her other posts, she always has something that will make you smile!

"Cherish These Times"

I have found that there is no shortage of people telling young mum's to "cherish these times while your children are young, b/c they grow up so fast!" Ok, I can see their point, Sometimes I have trouble remembering what Asher was like when he was Chancery's age & that was only 2 years ago. I can only imagine how hard it will be to remember when in 10 years.

Sarah at Life in the Parsonage wrote a post yesterday that got me thinking. I do want to remember these time & I know they are special, but sometimes it's just so busy around here that it's not easy to take a minute of an ordinary day & think this is a wonderful time right now. That's part of the reason why I blog & take lots of pictures. I have found that I wish I had taken more pictures in the past, so I'm trying to make up for that now, so I won't be thinking that in 10 years as well.

Just before Chancery was born, Asher had just gotten to the point that I could really do things w/ him. We could do some crafts, we'd colour, practice the alphabet, read, etc. And then during his nap I could get the things done that I needed to & also relax a bit. I'm finding now that I don't have as much opportunity/time/mental capacity to do those kinds of things w/ him as much as I would like. During their naps (thankfully they take a long one at the same time in the afternoons), rather than doing things that should be done, I tend to try to relax a bit. I need to have that break in the middle of the day or I am NOT very patient for the afternoon/evening stint.

I'm trying to just make it through this first year so Chancery can entertain herself for more than just a few minutes here & there. When Asher was a baby it was fine b/c I wasn't trying to keep another kid entertained & out of trouble, but I'm finding 2 to be much more difficult than I anticipated. It's not just like doing it over again, it's a whole nother ballgame.

So, yeah, I am trying to cherish these times amidst the business, but I think alot of those who tell us to appreciate it now, don't remember that it was so crazy, either that, or they were just more organized & better at coping than I!

Mistaken Identity

We have our screen-saver set to show pictures from whatever month is is from years past (so right now it's showing Februarys from the years 1995-2008). Asher likes to watch the pictures & tell us who's in them. There are a few pics of horses that he was confused about & kept calling them cows, so we were watching w/ him. Suddenly he said, "There's Grandma V.. & Mummy!" Here's the picture he saw.

Do you recognize who this is? That's PChad! And here's a pic of me & my mum.... do you think they look similar?

Funny Defined

The other morning Asher was sliding down the stairs & declared,

"That's kind of FUN!...... And it's NEE!................... THAT'S FUN-NY!"

The Blindman Speaks

Asher had a bit of a rough morning in the nursery yesterday. When I got home I took his temperature & discovered he was sick. He had pink circles around his eyes at lunch time & refused to eat more than one bite of waffle, which is a food he loves. He was sitting in his chair while we finished eating & he kept closing his eyes. We were trying to figure out if he was sleepy, or if his eyes were just hot & it felt better to have them closed, but we weren't getting a whole lot of feedback.

I returned to the task of feeding Chancery her carrots (of which she is not a fan). She was making quite a mess & spitting them out, blowing bubbles on the spoon, etc. So I went to get a doekje (facecloth) for Chancery & promptly dropped it on the floor. I said, "Oops, Mummy dropped your doekje!"

The sleeping boy across the table (still w/ his eyes closed) piped up, "Why did you drop it?"

Sunday Pictures: week 26

Asher - 2.5 years
Chancery - 6 months
***********************************

Asher: "Greetings, Ladies & Gents! Today we are
going to show you something very exciting!"


Chancery: "We are going to show you how to read a book!"

Chancery: "You don't have a book? How are we going
to show them if we don't have a book?"

Chancery: "That's right, off you go, & don't
forget to bring a book back!"

Chancery: "You take the book like so, & put it in your lap,
then you stick your fingers in it so you can open it!"

Chancery: "See, we've opened it! Isn't that so exciting?!
And Asher's going to read it now."

Asher: "That's how you read a book!"

Chancery: "I just LOVE books!"

Pay Attention!

When my nephew was about 2.5 years old, we went w/ him to see Spirit in the theatre. He sat alright through the movie (not having kids ourselves, we thought he could have done better). There was minimal shifting of laps, kicking of seats & he only put his feet on the lady in front about 3 times.

I just realized the other day that Asher is now the same age as my nephew was. I am a bit more understanding now about why he was so wiggly in the theatre. In fact it is VERY doubtful that Asher would do remotely as well.

Some people say that short attention spans are linked to a more TV watching, well if that's the case, we're in BIG trouble. We are trying to have Asher watch TV to increase his attention span! So far, the longest that he will sit & watch is about 15 minutes, if we are lucky. We haven't even attempted watching movies w/ him b/c there is no way he'll sit still that long. And as for going to the theatre w/ him? That won't be happening for a Looooooong time!

This Might Sum It Up......

Of course I prefer Cherry Vanilla, but Original is pretty good too.

There's Animals In My Oatmeal!

Over his bowl of oatmeal the other morning, I hear Asher say:

"I'm an elephant..... oops, the elephant's head fell off."

He had a glob of oatmeal on the spoon that apparently looked like a... well, now a decapitated elephant. He ate that bite, scooped up another & said:

"Here you go, Head, you better find the elephant's body, in my tummy!"

Free Books for Ministry Wives!

If you're a pastor's wife, head on over to the Preacher's Wife, she's having a book giveaway, all minister's wives (w/ a blog) get a free copy & all you have to do is read it & blog about it afterwards! Here's the link:

The Preachers Wife: Free Books for Ministry Wives!

A Strange Sight

As I was driving down the road today I saw something I thought I'd never see. A woman was perhaps suffering from a bloody nose, or maybe just got tired of constantly blowing her nose due to it being cold outside.... I'm not really sure of her reasoning, but I can assure you, you will never find me, walking down the street with a tampon shoved up my nose!

Perhaps she saw "She's the Man" one too many times.....

Sunday Pictures: week 25

Asher - 2.5 years
Chancery - 5.5 months
****************************************

Ok, kids, look up please!

Chancery: "Were you talking to ME?"

Asher: "Would you like me to read this book to you, Chancery?"

Chancery: "If you can read, then I can FLY!"

The Last 5 Minutes

I mentioned awhile ago that Chancery has definite sleep patterns, today I'd like to tell you about another one.

Usually I put Chancery down for bed at night around 7. She's usually quite tired & drifts off to sleep w/o any problems. She also has a bit of a different pattern to her night sleeps than her naps. Instead of waking up after 45 minutes, she sleeps quite well until about 9:52. She's a quick nurser, for that I am thankful. Usually I am in & out of her room in about 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops.

The problem is that when she wakes at 9:52, she has no patience. She wants to eat NOW. There will be no "just a minute (or 8)." Take for example what happened last night. There I was, down in the basement, watching "Bones." Booth had been taken by the "Grave Digger" killer. Brennan & Hodgens had just figured out who that was & they had caught her. Booth's brother had been elicited to help & they were just about to expose her to find out where Booth was, meanwhile Booth was just about to escape from where he was being held! Oh the suspense!

"Waaaaaah! Waaaaah! WAAAAAHHH!"

As far as I know, Booth died, & the Grave Digger hasn't said a word...... Thus, I miss the last 5 minutes & have no clue how the show wraps up.

We're Whirlin' And Twirlin'

A few weeks ago someone gave me a bunch of baby items. Among these items was a Twirlin' Whirlin' Garden. Unfortunately it only came w/ 3 accesories. Since there are 4 pegs, it would be a rather boring toy to play with, so I was on the lookout.

Yesterday I was at Value Village & noticed there was a Twirlin' Whirlin' Garden on the shelf, so I decided to have a look on the "Wall o' Stuff" to see if they had some flowers. I found a bag containing 11 flowers & picked them up. Sad to say, that was the only bag there, so someone else will now be stuck w/o flowers, but we'll be whirlin' & twirlin' here!

One Of Those Days..........

Why is it that when you are trying to get something done, THAT'S when the kids don't cooperate & everything seems to go wrong all at once?

This last week has been a strange one. I'm not a great cook, but I do my best. I have my repertoire of meals that I can make fairly well that we like, & occasionally I like to step outside that box & try something new, maybe find another one to add to the list of regulars. For some reason a pork chop dish that I made last week went bust. PChad said it had some weird metallic aftertaste & so we threw it out. I had made this particular dish before & really liked it, so I figured I'd try it again this week. Once again, he said it had the same flavour. He thinks maybe I'm doing something wrong when I'm browning the chops (pan too hot? Too cold?) I couldn't say.

Yesterday I decided to make an EASY chicken & pasta dish. I've made it before & it was really good. Last time I even took it out 10 minutes too early w/o realizing it, but it was cooked perfectly. This time..... Let's just say we had to stick it back in the oven for another 20 minutes, & rather than wait for it, we had baby corn, rolls & ice cream for dinner.

Today I decided to make some stew in the crock-pot. It's a fairly easy thing to do, right? Well, I'm not hugely into soups/stews, so I've never made one before. I was doing just fine chopping the vegetables & adding them in, I got to the meat part & realized I'd have to brown the beef before I added it. JUST as it's getting to the point where you have to watch it & turn it, Chancery woke up from her nap.

I ran upstairs trying to get her to go back to sleep b/c she hadn't slept very long and I needed finish up in the kitchen. Asher opened the door & asked me something just as I got her calmed down, so I told him to go out of her room so I could put her back to sleep (all the while I'm getting a bit worried about my meat on the stove). Asher starts yelling, "Are you putting Chancery to sleep?" THEN the doorbell starts ringing.

I knew PChad was outside clearing the snow & I figured he just wanted the side door unlocked, but I was otherwise engaged at the moment...... But he persisted (apparently he had locked himself out), so I gave up on Chancery, left her in her bed (in case by some small miracle she's stop crying & drift off to sleep on her own), stopped on the stairs & told Asher he needed to be quieter, ran down, opened the door for PChad, & took my beef from the pan & dumped it in the crock-pot.

I poured the beef broth on top of the mixture, got ready to add the garlic & Worcestershire sauce & read Add broth, garlic & Worcestershire sauce to beef in pan, simmer & scrape up bits from the bottom of the pan & add to crock-pot.

So I've made a meal that in 3 hours time we'll discover if it's edible. I already warned PChad that we might be having pizza pops for dinner. I tried to console myself w/ a latte, but my espresso maker started steaming where it's not supposed to steam from & it tasted really nasty. I think if I'm left to it, we just might become vegetarians out of necessity.

We've Got Some Explaining To Do

Yesterday PChad had a funeral to do for a member of the congregation. We didn't really talk about it much around the house, but Asher must have caught wind of it somehow. After Asher woke up from his nap as I was putting his jeans back on he said:

"I'm going to the cemetary today."

Ok, I thought, he's thinking that he's going to go there b/c his Daddy is there, but I figured I'd ask him why b/c you never know what you're going to get.

"I'm going to the cemetary because I'm dead."

So I informed him that he wasn't dead b/c he was breathing, & walking, & talking.

"Yes, and sometimes I trip & fall, but not with my slippers on!"

Paper Books

When I worked at Frontier, part of my job was to make sure all the stickers/labels/tags were off every item we shipped out. There were a few reasons for this. Sometimes it was b/c we didn't want the customer to see who our supplier was b/c they could cut us out. Sometimes it was b/c the pricing of an item had gone up or down since the catalogue & we didn't want there to be pricing disputes.

Still to this day, if there is something I won w/ a sticker that doesn't belong, I feel the need to remove it. Now, I don't remove labels from jars, but price stickers, other people's labels on books, anything of that nature MUST be removed.

Asher seems to have picked up my habit. I have to remind him when we are in stores that he may NOT remove any stickers or tags until we have purchased the item & taken it home. Unfortunately this also carries over into his books. If the edge of the cover is a little torn, he will finish the job. If the decal on a toy is starting to lift, he'll take it all the way off.

For this reason, he is still restricted to board books. We have lots of paper books waiting in the basement for when he can be trusted to just read them & not destroy them & I'm getting eager to read them! I decided that perhaps we should slowly integrate so that instead of all of a sudden having hundreds of new books, we'd have a few new every now & then.

So I sorted through a box & chose 3 books that I wouldn't be too sad about seeing wrecked. This was quite a difficult task, since I had purchased each of these books b/c they looked so fun & interesting. He's had these 3 books mixed in w/ the board books for about a month & there's been no indications that he couldn't handle them. Last night as I was cleaning up from dinner I heard him reading "Moosey Moose" by Chris Raschka.

"Moosey Moose is MAD..... Moosey Moose is REALLY mad!"

Then I heard:

"Uh oh, Mummy, I broke this page..... I'm breaking this book's page!"

He had ripped 2 pages clean out of the book. I'm not really sure why b/c "Moosey Moose" was in fine shape. I suppse we'll wait a few more months before we try again..... *sigh*

An Update On My Dad

Thank you for your prayers. My Dad was able to come home from the hospital Sat. afternoon. He is feeling fine and has not had any lightheadedness since. We are so thankful he is feeling much better now. I talked to him on the phone the other day & he sounded "chipper". I think he's feeling better than he has in quite awhile, so hopefully they've got things sorted out & he won't have any recurrences. Thanks again for all your thoughts & prayers.

God Works In Mysterious Ways

Asher has been a bit under the weather for the past week. He's had a cold & the last few days added a cough & fever to the mix. As we all know, when you have a cold, your nose can become tender & wiping your nose can really irritate, but needs to be done.

The other day Asher informed me that he had an owie in his nose. I told him that I'd get him some lotion as soon as we had put his jeans back on (since it was just after his nap). He kept yunking & complaining about it, so I asked if he wanted to pray about his nose.

Asher replied, "And then God will come in my house & put lotion in my nose."

Sunday Pictures: week 24

Asher - 2.5 years

Chancery - 5.5 months
**************************************************

Chancery: "Can I pet Thanet too?"

Asher: "No you may not."

Asher, if you don't share, we'll take Thanet away.

Asher: "Ok, well, I'll just set him right here then."

Chancery: "Mum?"

That's not sharing, give him to Daddy.

Chancery: "Goodbye my Thanet!"


Asher: "Daddy took Thanet away, Chancery."


Chancery: "Maybe next time you should try sharing."