Meet Rex

Well, I wish I could put his beautiful picture up here, but I'm not. I will tell you that is is 5 years old and that he is absolutely adorable. Our family sponsors him and a little girl through Compassion International. What a great organization! Anyway, the reason I brought him up is to ask for prayer for him. He lives in the Philippines and as you know, it was hit by Typhoon Ketsana. I have not heard how he and his family is doing, except that I do know that several of the Compassion sites have been hit and that several workers have lost their homes. Rex lives in a low-lying area with his mother, father, and his sisters. His oldest sister writes to us on his behalf to let us know all of the wonderful things God is doing and to tell us that he got clothes or school supplies because of us. Rex always draws us a picture and puts "I love you" on it. I wish I could meet him one day. Please pray that Rex and his family are safe and they they weren't hit by the storm. I am writing them a letter today despite the fact that it will probably take twice as long to get to them. I just want to make sure they are fine. Thanks for your prayers for our little sponsored boy!

Oh...and check out this video if you are in the least bit concerned about Iran. Joel Rosenburg is on it and explains some things. Crazy!

Squeals of Delight

Have I mentioned how much I have missed Blake's little squeal? I love hearing him say "Mommy" and "Daddy." He has also learned to say and sign "ball" and he loves to sign "wash hands." Hopefully the love of washing hands will get us through the flu season! When we walk into a bathroom, he signs "wash hands" and gets a goofy grin on his face.

At Mom's Morning Out this morning, we took the kiddos across the street to play in an open field. We opened the parachute and let the kids run under it and basically run as much and as long as they wanted. It was such a beautiful day for them to be outside. Blake would run under the parachute, scream his delighted squeal, and run out. Then he'd run across the field squealing and laughing. He truly had a lot of fun! I love watching him learn and experience these new things. Perhaps I'll take him to the park this week and let him do his favorite thing...slide and swing!

I've taken on a new music therapy client who has such a wonderful story. She was born 2 months early and has speech and other delays because of this. This little girl doesn't respond to OT or PT very well. They decided to try music therapy since she responds to music. This little girl is wonderful and makes my day! Her mom said that she can't believe the difference music therapy is making with her and that her daughter asks all day long when I'm coming. As soon as I walk in the door, she runs up and hugs me. That was the easiest therapy relationship I've ever formed and the quickest client I've ever gained the trust of. Apparently she has problems looking in people's eyes, but not with me! I never knew to address that issue because it never showed up with me. Anyway, all of that to say, that this girl is delightful and it makes me love what I do even more. What a great family! Have I ever talked about the power of music and how great music therapy is? Nah...guess I've never told anyone before.

What a personality!

My goodness! Blake has learned so much in the past week. I guess he's making up for the 2 weeks of being sick. He has been so pleasant and I didn't realize just how much I had missed his little hearty laugh. I hated to put him to bed at night because he was so much fun! He has learned where his tongue is and he thinks it's so funny for you to stick your tongue out so he can do it too. He still has to watch you to do it, but yesterday you could see him trying on his own. It was so cute. He also LOVES to walk backwards. He gets quite a kick out of this new accomplishment. He especially likes to do it when he has something that he knows that he isn't supposed to have, or if he wants you to chase him. Have I told you how much I love him?

Yesterday, our Sunday School class went out to eat at Moe's. One of the men in our class was holding Blake and noticed that Blake kept staring at these little girls (about 4 years and under). He asked Blake if he wanted to go walk by them and of course, Blake was game for anything that involved walking AND attention. So the first time they walked by them, Blake just laughed and didn't look at them at all. On their return trip, however, he turned his head all the way around and flashed the youngest girl his full-blown smile. When they returned to the table, Raun asked Blake if he wanted him to give him a dollar so he could go buy the little girl a coke. I, on the other hand, informed Blake that girls had cooties and that they were up to no good!

Recipe Sunday

Makeover Gourmet Enchiladas
Prep: 35 minutes/Bake: 35 minutes
Yield: 2 dishes (6 servings each)
Calories: 1 enchilada equals 358 calories

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound extra-lean ground turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1-1/2 cups (12 oz.) 2% cottage cheese
• 1-1/2 cups (12 oz.) reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 cans (4 oz. each) chopped green chilies
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander

Sauce:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 12 whole wheat tortilla (8 in.), warmed
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1. In a large skillet, cook the beef, turkey, and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the cottage cheese, sour cream, chilies, cumin and coriander; set aside.
2. For sauce, in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, saute onion until tender. Stir in the tomato sauce, salsa, chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until slightly thickened.
3. Place a heaping 1/2 cup meat mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in two 13-inch x 9-inch baking dishes coated with cooking spray. Pour sauce over top.
4. Cover and freeze one dish for up to 3 months. Bake the remaining dish, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with 6 Tbsp. cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
5. To use frozen enchiladas:
   Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake as directed.

**Taken from: Healthy Cooking Magazine (October/ November 2009)

The zoo

We had such a great time at the zoo a few Fridays ago. It was relatively big compared to the one here at home. I can't wait to go back and see all of the animals again. We learned so many things about the elephants, the butterflies, monkeys, and lions. We learned how to tell how if a monarch butterfly was a boy or a girl. Who knew you could tell a difference! My best friends from middle school went with me since they live in the area. You know how good of a friend she is when she agrees to meet me in the rain to see the animals! Thanks, Heather! Of course, this was right before our family got sick. Hopefully Heather stayed well. I must brag on Heather for a second though. She's going to med school and I know she will be such a wonderful doctor. She's actually about to start her rotations. She is one of the most caring and compassionate people that I know of. We are so much alike in so many ways. We both hate conflict and we absolutely hate hurting others and we are both very conscious about what we say and how it could affect others. She encourages me in my Christian walk and we always are open about our struggles. I'm not afraid to ask her to pray for me in different areas, and I know that she is the same way. I'm so thankful that God blessed me with a friend that has stayed true through middle school, high school, different colleges, and now into our adult lives. I'm proud of you, Hettie!

Penguin lover?

I now know that I can go to South Africa to see penguins. Forget going to Antartica now!

This bear was up on a cliff and there was a bear up above it in a tree.

This bear was too lazy. It was at the end of the tunnel that you can go in. It never moved except to look at us once. This is as close as I ever want to be to a bear, though.

Thankful Thursday

Okay, I'm always thankful. It's just that I picked Thursday to actually write out some things I'm thankful for. I want to make sure that I remember all that God has done for me. Our pastor has really been talking about that a lot and it has reminded me that so often, I ask, but forget to thank Him. I either see it as such a small request that it didn't matter anyway, or I get busy and don't think about it. So, what am I thankful for this week?

• My son, who is starting to feel better.
• My house, that is still standing after this week.
• The rain, even though I agree with everyone else and think we may need to build an ark. However, it does help with the drought situations and our grass is incredibly green and tall.
  
• Mums! I just love their vibrant colors and how beautiful they are. They remind me of fall, which makes me think of open windows (so I can increase the allergy effect on my family) and pumpkin spice lattes!
• My family, who spent so much time teaching me about God and encouraging me to follow Him. I'm incredibly thankful that they taught me about Him.
  
• My salvation. Without it, I would be incredibly lost and who knows what else. To think that He loves me so much to die for me is incredible. To think He loves me so much to send His only Son to die for me is incredible.
• My friends that encourage me daily and that call or leave messages or send cards. They seem to always be just when I need it the most.
• My church family. They encourage me and challenge me to not only be the best wife and mom, but to strive to please Christ and follow Him. They don't shy away from the Truth just because they are afraid people don't want to hear it. They aren't afraid to step on toes and I'm glad they do!
• A job that I love, including both music therapy, Mother's Day Out, lesson teacher, consultant for Mary Kay and Discovery Toys (because they are both incredible and not very expensive) and a stay-at-home mommy (or is that bring-baby-with-me mommy?).
• A job for my husband that is flexible and stable (as of now), even though it drives me crazy so much of the time!
• The gym! (Does that make me weird?)
  

Too old or too young?

What a wonderful music therapy session I had today! It was great to be with my senior citizens. They are so much fun and full of life. I had the greatest compliment today. Or at least, I take it as a compliment. I was in the middle of singing a song and one lady piped up and said, "How do you know that song? You're too young to know that song. It was before your time." I smiled at her and said, "I know! However, when we rode with my grandpa, we listened to Mitch Miller and all of those older songs. We took great pride in learning the lyrics so we could be a human radio for them on our car rides to and from places." I then proceeded to sing a song that Ashley, Amber, and I knew by heart...."She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" AND "Five foot two, eyes of blue, woulda coulda cootchie goo, has anybody seen my gal..." I took great pride in singing those songs and watching her sing along with me. Who knew that Papa was setting me up for my music therapy sessions when I was just a wee little lassie (thanks, Dad). Thanks, Papa!

Blake on steroids...

You know, I never EVER thought I would hear or see me write/say that. In fact, I had always hoped he would stay so clean. We're getting off to a rough start, but hopefully he stays off the stuff as he gets older! You know, I don't think that words could correctly state what my house has endured since Blake has been on "the stuff." My poor dogs even run from him. He goes non-stop and does not sit or stop. Not that he really did before, but now he's running back and forth and it's like he has ants in his pants. The doctor was right about hyper. I just keep telling myself that I WILL make it through this day, despite the fact that I have a runny nose and feel so incredibly tired! So, since words won't do justice, I'll just show you pictures.

Hit by the Croup

Well....not me, but Blake has been. We took him to the pediatrician's office last night and he definitely has allergies (thanks, Raun) and is more than likely allergic to ragweed. If you don't live where we are, it's apparently been pretty bad in the past few weeks. He has been taking Zyrtec for the past two weeks, but his coughing got worse on Saturday. The doctor said that the Zyrtec helped to prevent an ear infection. Thank goodness! However, she said that the cough was the croup. She warned us about having to take him out in the cold somewhere (does rain count?) or putting his head in the freezer for a few seconds to help constrict his little airways. She warned me that it was a scary sound, but that it shouldn't last longer than 15 minutes. I'm hoping it doesn't come at all! She has him on 3 days of steroids. That's right, my baby will be pumping iron in the morning with me! Before she gave us the prescription, she said, "I'll just go ahead and tell you that steriods tend to make babies really hyper." I proceeded to ask the dreaded question of, "well, can we wait until the morning?" to which she replied "No, he needs to get it in his system tonight since the coughing is usually worse at night." Oh what fun! Raun and I were debating as to who gets to do the night call! Oh yeah....and the last thing she said was...."Don't be surprised if he eats a lot. My 2-year-old daughter just came in for this yesterday and is on steroids and she ate 2 peanut butter sandwiches in one sitting." Crazy! Guess grocery shopping is in my near future!

Recipe Sunday

Oatmeal Surprise Cookies
Makes: 3 dozen

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2-3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1-1/2 cups chocolate covered raisins

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Combine the flour, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in oats and raisins.
2. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Nutritional Facts: 1 cookie equals 149 calories

*Raun and I loved this recipe. It was very good. In Raun's words, "These are the best oatmeal cookies you've made!"

Recipe from: Simple and Delicious Magazine (September/October 2009)

Ode to Apt. D

We had the best apartments during our Junior and Senior year of college. It was located right off the end of the football field, extremely close to our 2nd home....ahem...I mean, the music hall, and within wonderful driving distance of the new Walmart. The best part of Cookeville is that it costs almost the same to live in an apartment as it does the dorm. Once day, I may even post pictures of our cozy little home. We had some of the best memories there. We had a wonderful cake fight in the middle of the night, we had some wonderful discussions, we practiced piano and decided it would be much more fun to put the beats on and dance, and we had diva week. Diva week? Okay, we stole that idea from our other friend's apartment. The week of each one of our recitals, we bought presents for the soloist all week long. The best presents were saved for the day of the recital. We reminded each other how they would do great, they were prepared, and we prayed for and with them. It was truly a week fit for a princess. During that week, we'd get massages, pedicures, chocolate, and usually Nessa would make us one of her frappacinos....and she'd even leave out the mint for me and Jen!

So the point of this post is not to share all of my college memories, although I'd love to. It would just be too long of a post and you'd probably skip over it! You may do it anyway. To the point. Cookeville has received a lot of rain apparently over the past week and our poor little Apartment D flooded. One of our friends lived there and put the pictures up on her facebook page. I thought I'd share it on my blog since it's so hard to believe. We miss you, Apartment D. If only walls could talk!

Dog house

Blake has found a new favorite toy. What would that be? The dog crate. Of all things. The dogs absolutely hate it that he goes in there to eat, but they don't want to be caught in there with him for fear that he may decide to lovingly pet them. Or maybe that's grab them? Either way, that is the worse possible punishment for the girls. Blake could stay int he dog house for quite a long time. He does nothing but crawl in, crawl out, grab his cheerios, crawl back in, entice the dogs by waving cheerios, and then chasing them out again. It's very funny to watch. One of these days I'll hopefully catch it on video. Never a dull moment at our house!

The Aquarium

We went to the Aquarium with our friend, Jaime, a few days ago. It was a quick trip through because Blake started to get cranky and just wanted to walk. I think he enjoyed the bright colors, though. He started to fall asleep watching the fish and the divers. He liked the otter that kept swimming around. I just happened to look down and caught his shoe before he had a chance to let the otter wear it. Jaime took off his other shoe and he began scooting on the rock, as if to say "I'm ready now. Let me in there to go play!" He did like the penguins. I had to pick him up to see above the water, but he liked it when they swam next to his head. I'm so glad that he enjoys doing all of these new things!

The new baby penguin is in there, too. He's in the plexiglass thing with his mommy and daddy. So cute! He hasn't had his innagural swim yet because he doesn't have his feathers.

Jaime and Blake looking at the otter and Blake wanting to hand the otter his shoe.

The Otters:

A little help, please!

We have hit the tantrum stage. I thought it was supposed to hit at age 2, but that is apparently not the case with us. Thank to my parents and all of my mommy's that I used to babysit their kids, I have learned the importance of consistency and discipline. However, I'm not for sure what to do 1)when they throw them in public and 2)at this age. We do believe in spanking and time outs. I know lots of people don't believe in spanking, but we feel that we are not abusing our child and it's not a bad thing. We never do it out of anger and we never spank him more than once or twice at a time. I'm sure I'll hear about how horrible of a person I am for admitting this, which is why I normally never mention it because I don't want to start any arguments. When we're home, I've started dragging out a blanket and letting him sit on it until he stops throwing a fit. Once he stops, he's allowed to get off of it. This is just what works for our family and it worked for Raun and I growing up. With that said, can anyone recommend any good books to read on disciplining at this age (even if it's creative disciplines) and/or any tips that you've learned along the way as a mommy yourself? Please leave me comments!!!

Recipe Sunday

Chicken Deluxe Serves: 4

• 4 uncooked chicken breasts (boneless)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 4 slices of uncooked bacon

1. Wrap each chicken breast with one piece of bacon. Mix together soup and sour cream. Place chicken breasts in baking dish and cover with soup mixture. Bake for 4 hours at 250 hours uncovered. Serve over rice or with mashed potatoes, using the liquid as a gravy.

Given by: Allison (my cousin)

Visit with Uncle John and Aunt Molly

We had a great visit with John and Molly a few weekends ago. We met them for lunch at a hot dog place that was really good. Not the healthiest, by far, but very good. At this hot dog place, you could order deep fried twinkies, among many other deep fried things. I opted out of that, as did the rest of the family, but I'll admit that was the best hot dog I've had in a long time. And yes, I've heard about all that goes in a hot dog. I just chose not to think about it!

The boys went to the park to play frisbee and to play on the playground while we had a Mary Kay party that afternoon. I really miss seeing them so often. I wish there was a way for us to live closer to each other. Hear that, bro? I think you need to move a bit closer! Or at least visit more often!

Outside their door, it opens up into a huge courtyard. It's very pretty out there. The temperature was nice and cool and perfect for running around outside so we let Blake play out there so he wouldn't destroy their house. John brought out a soccer ball and they had fun kicking it around. Blake laughed so hard when Raun would pick him up to kick it. He thought it was the best thing.