Is there such a thing?

Hello there CYBER MONDAY!

Can't believe Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is well on its way. My last post was reminding everyone to turn their clocks back one-hour. Anyway, so much to blog, where shall I start? I'll have to split this blog since I do have a lot on my mind!

First things first - COLLARDS!

Is there such a thing like over-salted collards? A boot camp buddy was chatting about her food menu for Thanksgiving and she ranted about making collards. I chimed in telling her I saw a truck on the side of the rode selling mounds of collards that were in the bed of his truck. Looked kinda sketchy to me. As she talked about how she cooked collards, I felt challenged. Shoots...this Hawaiian/Japanese girl can try this...looks and sounds easy! Long story short - the buggah was so salty. I did everything she said, PLUS I used tips that were posted from my Facebook friends. And yet - it was still salty. Cy ended up doing something to it (basically watered it down) and I think it lost its bacon seasoning or somethin'. At least I can say I tried making collards. I'll probably NOT make it again. Eeek!

Cooking collards w/bacon

I neglected to say that I cooked the collards on Friday, not Thursday for Thanksgiving. No offense to those true Southerners, but there was no way I was going to bring it to my parents house for Thanksgiving lunch. When I told my mom what I was making, she gave me that stink-eye look. I knew already that pot was going to stay home!

I felt like the weekend was going to fast. We did have Thanksgiving with my folks, and then we ended up just hanging at home. Sometimes its good to be a homebody. It sure felt good to stay home...no where to go! BUT - what do we have at home?? PROJECTS!! That's right, Cy started on the window project in the kitchen. Dude, when you live in a 50 yrs. + house...there's ALWAYS going to be projects! Last year, we managed to snag a nice size window from the Habitat ReStore. Yippee...something that would actually fit! However, we had to spend a few more extra dollahs for the side windows. As you can see...it was challenging. So thankful for the new kitchen windows...we no longer feel a breeze coming through the windows when we sit down for dinner.

This blog is getting to long...I'll come back and blog more later!

Don't forget!

This is a reminder to turn your clocks back ONE HOUR BEHIND this Saturday evening before you hit the sack.

Falling into Fall...

Wilbarmar Beach House, Sullivan's Island

Yahoo! Loving this fall weather. It’s about time the weather changed here in “Famously Hot” Columbia! I like the fact that it’s in the 70’s throughout the whole day; don’t care for that sweaty icky feeling anymore.

I had the pleasure of spending this past weekend drowning in memories of Jacob’s birth and 2008 Christmas! Yep, I’m at it again – scrap booking! I spent the weekend on Sullivan’s Island with a bunch of girlfriends who also love to scrap! Besides the wonderful company, cozy beach house and delicious food and snacks – the very best time was spending some time with God while walking on the beach. While doing that, I had a few God Moments. I’ll share a little bit….Wendy needs to be more humble and let God do what He needs to do. Wendy also needs to trust Him with all her heart that everything she does, she does it for the glory of God. AND Wendy needs to focus on Him more! I just love how God puts me into my place. I also started my exercise routine of getting up early and jogging. Having my iPod was super handy, but what was even better was my own little "personal trainer" Whitnie. She encouraged me to keep going to the next sign, and then when we got there, she would say, oh - lets go to the next sign. I needed that push! Thanks Nutty Friend!

Well, while I was enjoying myself, Cy and Evan took off to Sumter for a Ranger Kids overnighter. And Baby Jacob spent some time with Grandma and Papas. It’s funny how our family of four split up for the weekend to do our own little activities. Cy and Evan had a great time, Jacob was good for Grandma and Papas and I scrapped memories of my family. Life is Good!

My good friend Julie and I enjoying our special lunch!

Life is getting even better since my days are getting shorter and shorter from breast feeding and pumping. Mr. Jacob is eating solid foods like there’s no tomorrow, and I tried this new organic formula, and he loves it! It's called Baby's Only Organic Formula. Ahh…the weaning process has begun! We mix bm with formula and it doesn’t really phase Jacob. I LOVE the organic formula since it’s less “processed stuff” and it has brown cane syrup instead of sugar. AND best of all, it doesn’t have that metal smell and it doesn’t smell bad. I’m not here to offend anyone; I can’t help myself when I get on my “formula soapbox”. God blessed me with two assets and I’ve used them well, and went as far as I could go.

Enough said!

Onto a new subject – SOCCER! We signed Evan up for soccer this year. He’s teamed up with a bunch of friends from his school. Therefore, they are called Harmony Dragons. Evan LOVES soccer. I knew he wasn’t ready last year, hence the grabbing the ball with his hands, but this year – he ROCKS! He is full of energy and loves being apart of his team. Aren’t they cute in their blue jerseys? Scroll down to the end to watch a little video taken at the end of their game.

Harmony Dragons

My Soccer Boy!

Jacob has his own little “stable” soccer game going. The boy can’t get enough of his Jump Johnny! He is a jumpin’ bean when we put him in there. We put him in there when we’re eating dinner. I put a little Christmas bell at the top and whenever he jumps, he jingles. It’s super cute! He also enjoys sitting up in his stroller. He loves looking around and always curious to know whats going on around him.

Jacob enjoying the Irmo Okra Strut Parade

** It's sideways at the beginning, but then I realized it and turned it upright!

Gone is August - HELLO September

Yes, August has come and past and boy did we have some activities going on in August. Here's a recap:

• Summer ended, but we still swim in our swimming pool
• Evan started Kindergarten at Harmony School
• Jacob's first vegetable was avocado - he loved it!
• Evan earned his ANTELOPE badge from Royal Rangers
• Jacob turned 6-months on the 25th and weighs 15 lbs. 11 oz. (bugga is getting big)
• Evan had his first sleepover at his friend's house - Cody, along with his other buddy Aidan (no one was hurt and everyone was on their best behavior)
• Birthday celebration for Cy - he is one year older than last year.
• Cy and I enjoyed a nice fancy dinner out using a gift certificate and then spent the night at a really nice hotel (for free!), while my mom watched Jacob (Evan was at Royal Ranger sleepover)
• Baby Dedication for Jacob at Seacoast was held on Sunday, Aug. 29th with the support of our family and friends (we had a small lunch for a few close friends - which my parent's hosted at their home)
• Jacob cut two bottom teeth - wow, much earlier than Evan's teeth
  

Now that September has arrived, we are looking forward to:

• Jacob sitting without support (he's almost there)
• A weekend of work down in Charleston (woo hoo!)
• Soccer Season - Evan's first game is Sept. 18th
• Birthday parties - Evan has three friend's birthday's this month, then celebrating my dad's and mine (wah)
• The fall weather, but not the falling leaves!

Happy Labor Day!

Enjoy the four-day weekend...I know I will!

First Day of School

When I hear, "first day of school" - I think of the movie "Nemo", when his father yells, "first day of school, first day of school", while waking up his son Nemo. All the while, Nemo was slow to wake and is taking his sweet time. How exciting...it was going to be Nemo's very first day of exploration, meeting new friends, and going to the reef! ooh-la-la

I felt like that this morning. Filled with emotion, my sweet #1 son Evan started his first day of kindergarten. Evan must've been super excited b/c we put him to bed last night around 8:15. He got out of the bed 20 minutes later saying he was hot, so I told him to change into different PJ's, which he did. Thirty minutes later, he got up and said he needed something for his mosquito bite. It was about 9:45 when Evan got up (again) and requested some water. By then, I just about had it and told him that he better not wake up in a cranky mood in the morning. And guess what -- he didn't!

My sweet sunshine woke up stir-crazy and rearing to go. Ate a good breakfast, got dressed, brushed his teeth, even had some cuddle-cute little brother time with Jacob. Loaded up the car and left shortly after 7:40 am. Our daily goal is to leave the house by 7:30 am. We were close, so I'm not complaining. We quickly dropped Jacob off at Lynn's and that went pretty well. Then it was off to Harmony. Both Cy and I dropped Evan off. Come on..this is HUGE! Of course I had my camera in tow and took a few pictures of him entering Harmony.

It's about 11:30 am now and they should be eating lunch right about now. I'm proud of myself because I packed a really great healthy lunch for Evan today - WITHOUT the reusable snack bag though! I had planned on making it before school started, but busy me was too busy. Give me credit - I did cut the material over the weekend, but didn't have time to sew it all together. Maybe I'll get to that tonight. :)

No tears were shed today. I managed to hold it together like a tough girl. I'm looking forward to hearing how Evan's first day of school went. In my parent pocket we received a few notes and one of them included his showday day - it'll be every Wednesday. Mr. Evan already has his "show day items" ready...that's how excited he is!

On another note....

Last Friday, we celebrated Cy's birthday and I was determined to make him a cake (not buy it from Publix like I usually do every year). I envisioned a cake in a shape of a turtle since Cy really likes turtle. You all know I work full-time and then I go into mommy mode when I have the boys - so when the heck will I have time to make a cake, AND shape it into a turtle? Hah! I think not. I broke down Thursday evening just after putting the boys down for bed. I told Cy how I wanted to make him a cake, but I was just too tired to bake and decorate it. His words: "Then don't. I don't want you to stress out over it, relax Wendy...it'll be okay". Well, I said okay and then proceeded to clean up the kitchen. But then, a huge rush of energy came over me and I just started busting out the baking pans, and pulling out the ingredients for making a cake and BOOM - DONE! I made the cake. My frosting didn't turn out so well, so instead of stressing out, I went to Publix the next day and bought their butter cream frosting. Yeah, you can do that - buy their delicious frosting by the pound and be done with it. I take full credit for the cake I made...cake and frosting too! I love it when I'm not stressing out and everything turned out great!

Happy Birthday Cy!

Cy's birthday cake.

It's not a turtle-shaped cake, but I did manage to frost a turtle on it!

Pepsi or Sweet Tea?

I'm a fan of both. But when it comes to drinking one with a specific meal, and you get the opposite - its not so tasty to me!

I ran for the border today for lunch. Their two dollah meal deal is off the chain for something cheap and yummy. Taco Bell equals Pepsi -- ALWAYS! Not today. I ordered a Pepsi, but as I was pulling out of the drive-thru parking lot after I got my meal, I took that oh-so-refreshing sip of Pepsi and ughed! SWEET TEA - WTH?? It was like slow motion hands on cheeks...shouting Ohhh noooo!! Think fast Wendy, think fast...should I back up and switch and tell them they made a mistake? Oops..nope, the car behind me had already pulled up...can't do that. Should I turn back into the parking lot, park, and get out of the car, go inside and switch? That defeats the purpose of me going through the drive-thru.

I kept it and drank the sweet tea on my way back to work. My taste buds are confused now. Don't you just hate when that happens?

On another note...my reason for being out and about - my hubby's celebration of life (it's what Evan calls it nowadays) - aka burfday is 2morrow. Trying to be creative on the day before is not going so well. I'll take a picture of it and blog about it later. Before the pepsi/sweet tea mishap, I managed to get some eco-friendly material to make those reusable snack bags that I mentioned in one of my previous blogs. Now I just have to carry on and sew it together! School starts next Monday...I still have time, right?

Gifts from the Heart

I usually don't buy expensive toys - expensive meaning over $20 bucks (excluding games & books). But because I heard so much about Sophie the Giraffe and did some research - I broke down and bought it for my sweet boy Jacob. I've learned through my sister's kids, if you buy something for one child, its probably best to buy something for the other - especially if you don't want to see a meltdown, tantrum throwing, tears pouring out with boogies hanging out moment! So, I bought something for Evan too! I'm a good mommy to think ahead. Yeah - me!

For me?

These were "just because we love you gifts" for the boys - I told Cy. Actually, Jacob is drooling and teething and just munching on everything he touches and he needs something to sink his gums into. Solution: Sophie Giraffe. Got it at Be Beep Toys, free gift-wrapping (why not, its free) and also got something there for Evan too! Paid an extra dollar for Evan's gift to be wrapped since his toy was on sale. Like brother like brother...it has to be the same. AND since Be Beep Toys was closing for some floor renovations, I scored 20% off of my purchase. So Sophie was under 20 bucks!

Evan helping his little brother with his special gift

His very first teething toy - Sophie the Giraffe

Sophie's ear sure are tasty!

You know, you would think that Evan would be satisfied with his new water toy...but he was so interested in Jacob's Sophie, he kept asking why he doesn't have a Sophie. How many times can you explain to a five year old that Sophie is a teething toy made for babies without teeth??? A BUNCH of TIMES! Thankfully, two weeks have passed and he's over wanting a Sophie. Whew...

Another gift is going to the library! Especially when its Pajamarama Night! Here's Evan and Jacob listening to Miss Jane read some books. This was the night when we had a big thunder storm (including hail), we were the only ones who showed up!

Last but not least - having my Auntie come and visit was a nice gift!

She spent a few days here with us before heading to Germany to visit my sister. I'm so glad she made plans to stop by to see us! She had a blast and she even enjoyed picking fresh blueberries! This is was our 2nd time picking and trust me, I was super happy we went the first time at the end of June. This time, the crop wasn't so great, it was hot (even at 7 am) and we only picked 5 lbs.