our horse

we 1st made a hobby horse from one of Erik's old pant legs... and that horse was a Clydesdale!


to make our horse a little more Derby, we had to take it apart and sew up the sides of his face- so he was a bit more slender.

yee haw! Ride 'em jockey boy!

Get your derby on.

Is that one of the tag lines they came up with? I have no idea. at this point they've all become very ingrained in my head...

any how, Derby week has started as far as I'm concerned...
I began looking for kid's derby crafts and was shocked at how little I found... a few tutorials were out there- but none with pictures!! we'll have to see how creative I can get this week with the kids. I'll be sure to share whatever we come up with. In the mean time- check out Lier's horse (she links to the tutorial here). You can craft some horses for your little jockey's to ride next Saturday. :)

happy anniversary- a rough weekend, but counting blessings

This past Friday Erik and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. Erik planned a night away from home, just the two of us. He arranged for his parents to come to our house and watch the kids while we went to Indianapolis. Earlier in the week, Erik was feeling a bit ill, but I believe that by sheer will he MADE himself feel better so that we could make the trip.


We had a great time walking around the downtown area of Indianapolis exploring the city- and had an awesome dinner at Fogo de Chao (click the link to read about how this restaurant is different)... afterward though, Erik was having major stomach pain and issues. Believing that this was due to eating too much meat, we walked back to the hotel, changed clothing and then walked to the movie theater where we saw 'date night'.

The next morning we were formulating our plans to head to one of the many museums in the Indianapolis area after breakfast (even though Erik's tummy wasn't back to it's normal self)... then we got a call from the hotel front desk... our van had been broken into:

BUMMER!

I don't know what I expected a "broken into" van to look like- but I was a shocked by all of the broken glass.
Luckily the thief only took our roadside assistance kit and my super awesome leather backpack turned diaper bag.

I went through a lot of the stages of grief... with anger being the strongest... although it really only played out in me wishing to be detective like- spotting our diaper bag on the street where the thief would have thrown it having realized the contents- or me seeing the thug and clobbering them with the roll of duct tape we had to tape cardboard to our van.
Luckily our state is one that requires no deductible for broken glass on a vehicle and Erik's stereo (one of his Christmas gifts) was still in the van. Our only true loss will be that of the time and energy to get everything fixed.
Still feeling a bit sick, Erik decided we should head home (and I readily agreed, I was missing my kids).

When we arrived home, my parents hosted a nice pizza dinner. Then we went home- we were exhausted, and so were the kids from all their fun playing with Mia and Bebop.

thinking that was the end of the bumps in our weekend, we went to bed.

Then... at 4am, Erik woke up with a great pain in his side... he dealt with it for a few hours, but then as morning came, and the pain worsened, he decided he'd like a doctor's professional opinion- so we headed to the ER.
Thankfully Erik's parents were still here so we didn't even have to blink and eye to think about where the kids would go.
At the ER, blood work was done and a scan was ordered- there was talk about surgery for his appendix which appeared swollen and a surgeon was sent in to talk to us about either admitting Erik to the hospital for observation, or sending him home with the thought we'd come back in on Monday for surgery if the pain worsened. Then the blood work came back and we found that luckily Erik had "only" picked up a nasty virus~ we were sent home with prescriptions to ease his pain and nausea.

By this time my parents had already picked up the kids to take them to (my) Grandma and Grandpa's house for the belated Easter celebration there... so luckily they get to have another fun day of play- although sadly I'm stuck here missing them, wishing I could remember all of the things that are always on my list of things to do~ you know, the ones a mom of young kids has a hard time accomplishing because the kids want to help? yep. funny sometimes how that works uh? we always want what we can't have....

so- even though I'd like to say this was a really bad weekend- I'm trying to count my blessings
*Erik felt well enough we were able to enjoy the day of our anniversary and have a great dinner and even catch a movie
*we only lost a bag and some clothes from our car break in deal
*Erik's parents were here to seamlessly cover the care of our children while we rushed off this morning
*Erik does not have to have surgery
*the kids get to have another great day being doted on, Egg hunting, and visiting with their extended cousins, Aunts and Uncles
* I have some alone time~ in which I'm realizing that no matter the circumstances, the to do list will remain and so I should just enjoy life fully every day and forget my endless list of things and wishes do be done. I can learn to just sit and be content.

If you've stuck with me though all of this, thanks.



(the kids- egg hunting on Easter Sunday)

crayons

somebody doesn't like the paper on their crayons....

insulin resistant

that's me...found out today... no biggie though, it could always be worse, right?
anyhow, in looking for a few recipes that'll be healthy for me- I found this one at bettycrocker.com
not a perfect recipe in terms of IR healthiness, but much better than the sweet potato casserole recipe we've made in the past. Other than the brown sugar (which I might lessen and add some cinnamon instead) it's pretty good. I'm looking forward to trying it out tonight....

Make-Ahead Baked Sweet Potatoes

Stuff the skins with seasoned sweet potato filling ahead of time and bake just before dinner. Saving time never tasted so good.

Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 1 hour 20 min
Makes: 6 servings

6	medium sweet potatoes (2 1/4 pounds)
1/4	cup sour cream
2	tablespoons milk
2	tablespoons packed brown sugar
2	tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/8	teaspoon salt

1.	Heat oven to 375ºF. Pierce sweet potatoes with fork to allow steam to escape. Bake about 45 minutes or until tender.
2.	Cut thin lengthwise slice from each potato; carefully scoop out inside of potato, leaving a thin shell. Mash potatoes in large bowl until no lumps remain. Beat in sour cream and milk. Beat in brown sugar, butter and salt until potatoes are light and fluffy.
3.	Place shells in ungreased rectangular baking dish, 13x9x2 inches. Fill shells with potato mixture. Cover and refrigerate no longer than 24 hours.
4.	Heat oven to 400ºF. Bake uncovered about 25 minutes or until potato mixture is golden brown. (If baking filled shells immediately after mashing potatoes, bake about 20 minutes.)

un-toys

ran across this post about un-toys a few days ago... it really got me (re) thinking.
We'll see what new things around here we can add into our play (besides the normal spoons, cups, and pans that Sophia drags out...) :)

He's a lego maniac

Our Matthew has turned into quite the Lego maniac as of late.

For Christmas he got an Indiana Jones Lego set and he played with it quite a bit, then took a break... but these past weeks, it's the first thing he asks to play with in the morning, and the last thing he's playing with before bed time. Matthew has become quite creative.

He's adapted it to include his new favorite theme: Star Wars (more on how that came to be later- maybe tomorrow)


This is Darth Maul with his double ended light saber (life saver if you're Matthew, though I fail to see how those things have saved too many lives). And, when those poles aren't connected, each is a light saber for other characters.

Susan's boyfriend, Josh, showed Matthew how to use those apple baskets as backpacks/ capes, but the rest of it he's come up with all on his own.

Naturally, with so many little pieces, some are bound to be lost (currently Indiana J's hat, the guy in white, among other pieces). That does not deter Matthew- he finds a random building piece and ta-da! You have a battle droid.

He's even made a y-wing


I need to call the Lego company, we need to get a commercial deal. :)

* I feel the need to explain that Matthew has not seen any Star Wars movie- he received a toy, found an old poster and then began asking many questions. He's been shown a few select movie clips by his dad and they've played some Lego Star Wars "together".