Garage Sale Resale

I found these Pottery Barn Metro Mirrors at a garage sale for $10 each. They were in perfect condition. I decided to sell them on Craigslist for a profit. It took several weeks, but a buyer paid $125 for both. Sweet!

New hobby? I think so.

fun dip

First "Fun Dip!"
"I'll share with you!"
Crushed, when the sharing is through. No more fun!

Kate: Month-by-Month

Kate is 3 months old today and still the sweetest baby. She is cooing and "talking" more, laughing and smiling daily (she loves to stick her tongue out when smiling), and still sleeping like a champ. In fact, in the last 7 days, she has slept through the night 3 times! Amazing, amazing. I feel so blessed. This morning after her morning nap, I found her lying on her back...apparently, she can now roll over! I love these milestones!

Katers, we love you and are so glad you are in our family.

Maggie "reading"

We have several "books-on-CDs" that we love to listen to in the car, thanks to my friend Nicole. One book is Bears New Friend by Karma Wilson. Maggie has memorized most of it and I just found this out yesterday when she scooped up my Charmin coupon because it has two bears on it and proceeded to "read" it like it was the aforementioned story. It was so sweet. I love her inflections.

She'll be reading in no time.

two words: ginger molasses

Maggie and I whipped up a batch of these babies last night. These cookies are one of my top 5 favorite cookie recipes and are the epitome of fall to me: ginger molasses. I like this name better than "gingersnaps" because a gingersnap denotes a store-bought-crunchy-not-fresh-taste in my mind. And these cookies are far from that. They are warm, chewy, but not gooey, and have the perfect texture and flavor meld. Plus, this recipe differs from a few others I have seen where others call for baking powder (not soda), white sugar for the brown (I prefer the brown), and no cloves (which I love in this spice medley).

Thanks to my good friend Rachel (baker and chef extraordinaire) for making them for Aron and me 4 years ago on a visit to Chicago; fall has never been the same.

Tell me you feel the same way. Oh, and I'm serving them up at our MOPS group tonight with a side of pumpkin dessert dip (seriously not-healthy, but so tasty especially with these cookies!).

Recipe:

¾ c. shortening

¼ c. molasses

1 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground cloves

2 ¼ c. flour

¼ c. sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all ingredients through the egg. Beat until well combined. Next, beat in 1 cup of flour at a time. Then, using your hands, add ¼ c. flour as necessary—you don’t want to the tough to be sticky (as you’ll be rolling it into balls), so add a little more flour, feel the consistency, and add enough until the dough does not stick to your fingers. You may add a little more or a little less than ¼ cup depending on how if feels.

Shape into 1-inch balls and roll into granulated sugar to coat. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are set and tops are starting to crack (in my oven it’s usually around 8 minutes). Enjoy!

thumbsucker?

This week Kate found her thumb and really seems to like it. I think it's adorable and won't mind if it sticks around, as my other 2 weren't thumbsuckers.

hosting friends over "pick your own dinnerware" taco soup

Most of our friends do not come from the same group and this is something, ongoingly, that I lament. I long to have a half dozen couple friends who all hang out, all the time. But for now, I am thankful for what I *do* have. And over the last few weeks, I've realized that some of my loneliness stems from this fact and thus, have tried to set up dinner dates with these friends.

One of my favorite memories of childhood were the nights my mom implemented "pick your own dinnerware." My sister and I had a blast scouring the kitchen for unusual item might hold our meal: a mixing bowl? a juice glass? a serving platter? a cookie sheet? And of course, what utensil(s) we might use to eat our meal: a ladle? a giant serving spoon? a spatula? measuring spoons? We were giddy with excitement for over this one, simple pleasure. Kids are so easily pleased.

I've started this with my own family and I do find it works best with a soup-like meal. My meal of choice has been a taco soup in the crock-pot: 2-3 uncooked chicken breasts, 2 cans of corn, 2 jars of your favorite salsa, and 2 cans black beans. Cook on high for 3 1/2-4 hours, shred chicken and put back in crock-pot, then serve. Top with chips, tomatoes, cheese, greens, and sour cream. So good, healthy, and EASY.

Our friends Jason and Lindsey (who is starting a photography business, including newborn and birth photography; she's so talented!) joined us and rocked silly serving bowls (a star, anyone?), spatulas, and salad tongs. Another night our friends TJ and Jessie joined us and my crazy husband ate his meal out of a teapot. Maggie found it hilarious.

Try it one night, I promise for an entertaining family meal.

what's fall without a visit to Pumpkin City?

Last year, October 2009, with cousin Jacob

This year's sibling pic, October 2010, aka "do-you-know-how-hard-it-is-to-get-all-of-them-to- both-smile-AND-look-at-the-camera-simultaneously?!" (if you're a mama, of course you do)

Curren was in *hog heaven* both driving this car, the tractor above, and the train (not pictured)

things i may never get around to blogging about, but want to

I know I'm not the only one who goes through seasons of "we are doing absolutely nothing right now," and other times of "our calendars are too full, we are doing too much!" Finding that balance is tricky for me, as I like to stay busy, but I hate packing too much in and feeling overwhelmed. This photo to me is a summation of both--empty beach, yet one busy boy to chase.

Right now, life is all about living day by day (really, this is a good lesson to be learned for anyone). Each day's work for me bears much of the same mundane activities (making breakfast, cleaning up, reading books to the kids, enjoying my fresh, hot coffee and cream only to turn around and clean out the coffee pot to get it ready for the *next* morning) and trying to maintain a certain level of household cleanliness and order (cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, inputting the receipts in Excel, keeping up with the calendar, making a groceries list and trying to stay on budget, doing errands).

It's important to schedule in time for activities I love like reading, blogging, crafting, catching up with friends on the phone, etc. I came across this post last year from one of my favorite blogs, Simple Mom, and found it very helpful when it comes to "self-care" and I've been trying to follow it ever since.

Most days I feel I'm just going through the motions and not able to do a great deal of things for myself. One such thing is blogging about topics I want explore further or that have been on my mind for a long time:

*children learn best by playing

*my ongoing struggle with loneliness

*where is "home?" I've lived in so many places and yearn to settle down

*how I can be more involved in helping end human trafficking as a stay-at-home-mom; I mused on this in an earlier post

*is social media worth the time suck at this season of my life (probably not)

*teaching my kids how to save their money

*teaching my kids how to care about the people in the world around them

Maybe one day...

my amazing trio

LOVE them. That is all.