Recipe Sunday

Crunchy Apple Salad
Prep: 15 minutes + chilling
Yield: 5 servings

• 6 Tbsp. fat-free sugar-free vanilla yogurt
• 6 Tbsp. reduced-fat whipped topping
• 1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
• 2 medium red apples, chopped
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, chopped
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts

1. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, whipped topping and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Add apples and cranberries; toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving. Sprinkle with walnuts and remaining cinnamon before serving.

Nutrition Facts: 3/4 cup equals 109 calories; 3g fat; 3g fiber, 2g protein

Taken from: Healthy Cooking Magazine (August/September 2009)

2 years ago

Where was I 2 years ago, which was also the day before Thanksgiving? I was unknowingly getting ready to tell my cousin and friend, Shannon, goodbye until I see her again in heaven. I had taken Anna, David, and Beth to my house on Tuesday night so that Uncle Ray and Aunt Patricia could be at the hospital together. I had a day of fun for the other 3. We took them to the aquarium (which is still hard for me to look at those pictures because I remember all the emotion I was trying to hide and the kiddos didn't realize how their lives were about to change and neither did I). We had fun walking downtown and I think I wore them out. I then took them to Taco Bell and I do believe we ordered a TON of food. They ate every bit of, and we topped it off with Cinnamon Twists. I remember a phone call from Raun asking me where I was. What I didn't know was that Raun had come home from work early because my mom had called him to tell him the news. She wanted him to break it to me since he could be there to give me hugs. To this day, Raun says that was the hardest thing that he has ever had to tell me because he knew I would be crushed. I came home and was suprised to see Raun home early. I figured we'd leave to go to M-town early since it was the day before Thanksgiving. Raun helped me get everyone upstairs and turned on the television for them and told me to come with him. I immediately knew something bad had happened. He told me that we needed to pack and leave right away to head to the big city where Shannon was. He said that the doctors had told my aunt and uncle earlier that there was nothing they could do and the machines were the only thing keeping her alive. They had a horrible choice to make. After much prayer, they decided to unhook her from the machines, but were going to wait until we could get there so we could say goodbye to her one final time. I lost it, but when I look back, I am proud at how well I hid my intense emotions from the kiddos. My heart was breaking for them and it was breaking because I was a few hours too late on Sunday to hear her voice. I was supposed to stay with her at the hospital and she was looking forward to it. However, a few hours before I got there, she went downhill fast and was hooked up to everything. That is the worst part to me, because I wasn't there. I did go see her Monday, though, and I know she heard me when I told her "I love you" because her eyelids flickered. I even sang to her in hopes that it would calm her and her rates would start to move until I stopped. So, I'm sidetracking a bit. It's hard to write this post without sidetracking because I remember it so vividly. Anyway, we got to the big city and the child life director along with Aunt Patricia and Uncle Ray met us at the door and took the kiddos to explain to them what was happening to their sister. Beth got it completely, Anna got it some, and David didn't really understand. Daddy T and I went upstairs and that's when I let the tears flow freely. When we got off the elevator, my mom took me in to see her. She was so peaceful, and I couldn't imagine what life would be like without her smiles, hugs, massages, kisses, and all of the joy that she brought to our lives. She was a walking miracle and a testament that God can and still does work miracles. She was such a huge witness for Christ. Who cares that she looked different, was on oxygen, looked a little blue in fingers, and wasn't as tall as most kids. She was beautiful and that red hair attitude gave her more umph, which was good and bad at times! We left the room to go to the family room where Bob, Betty, Mom, Dad, Daddy T, the kiddos, Aunt Patricia's brother and wife, and myself were waiting. Aunt Patricia came in and said that we could go in to tell her goodbye because they would be the last ones to go in. We all sat around waiting, knowing it would only be a few minutes before her heart stopped. I texted my friends begging them to pray for us and for her. My brother was heartbroken that he didn't make it in time since he was working in Atlanta at the time. Uncle Ray came out at some point and Dad went to stand with him and to try to comfort him. Of course, it broke Dad's heart to see his brother in pain and he couldn't imagine losing a child. Aunt Patricia came in and said "she's gone." She was holding her in her lap like she did when she was born. She said she went very peacefully and she just sang to her. I will never forget her saying that to me. My heart broke for them losing a child and sister. I went in with Uncle Ray afterwards and it was really weird to see her there, not hooked up to oxygen or anything. I miss her.

So why share this story? Because I will always remember her with Thanksgiving. It was also the time that God gave us B. Aunt Patricia was so glad that God had given us a baby after He had taken one to heaven. Not only that, but I don't ever want to forget her or her story or her legacy. I know I write about her often and dedicate whole posts to her on the anniversary of her going to Heaven and on her birthday so who knows how much I have repeated myself. I have hopes of printing out this blog so B and all of our other children can one day read it and I want this story in there so they can know her and understand what we did 2 years ago today. And why B's birth was so incredibly special to me. Shannon would have loved him.

I end this post with a song by Mark Harris that was played at her funeral. The first time I heard it, I knew I wanted it played at mine. I had no idea I would be asking if we could play it at Shannon's. I think it puts death in the perfect perspective....from Heaven.

Wish You Were Here by Mark Harris

I wanted to tell you how closely I've kept
The memories of you in my heart
And all of the lifetimes that we had to share
Live even though we're apart
But don't cry for me
'Cause I'm finally free

To run with the angels
On streets made of gold
To listen to stories of saints new and old
To worship our Maker
That's where I'll be
When you finally find me

No don't you be weary cause waiting for you
Are wonders that you've never known
Just hold on to Jesus, reach out for his hands
And one day They'll welcome you home
And that's when you'll be
Finally free
Finally free

To run with the angels
On streets made of gold
To listen to stories of saints new and old
To worship our Maker
That's where I'll be
When you finally find me

I wish you were here, I wish you were here

And all of the dreams that you treasure
Will soon come together
And that's when your sorrow will find tomorrow
And you will rise again

We'll run with the angels on streets made of gold
We'll listen to stories of saints new and old
We'll worship our maker that's where we'll be
When you finally find me

I wish you were here



Shannon,
I love you so much. Life is definitely not the same without you here. You gave the best massages and the best hugs and backrubs. I miss you playing with my hair and yes....that one time you decided to be adventurous and cut my hair! But you know what? I'm looking forward to seeing you when God calls me home. Until then, I like to think that you're up there holding our baby that we miscarried a few months before God called you home. I love you, babe!

"toot toot, chugga chugga, big red car"

So this post was one I had written awhile back ago and had saved to post until a time when all I could do was click and post and not necessarily write anything. I'm still posting the pictures, but I wanted to write that so you didn't think that we allow our precious B to walk around in short sleeves outside in the winter!

B is recovering from his ear infection now and has had 2 different viruses in the past week. Both cause fevers, one between 102-103 and the one he has now is a much lower-grade around 100-101. He's absolutely pitiful. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow of how he has looked. He just lays on the floor with his blanket. For those of you who know B, you know that is unheard of. The boy is constantly on the move, so we know he's really sick when he sits still.

Enough of that, though. That'll be another post for another day. Gotta put the baby in bed!

Recipe Sunday

Apple Pie
Makes: 1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie

• 1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crust, Pillsbury
• 2-1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 5 apples)
• 2-1/2 pounds Braeburn apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 5 apples)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose baking mix, Bisquick
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400 °.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1 pie crust into a 12-inch circle. Carefully fit dough in a deep-dish pie plate.

3. In a large bowl, combine apples, sugar, baking mix, honey, and cinnamon; toss gently until apples are coated in sugar mixture. Place apple mixture into prepared crust, pressing down to pack apples. Roll remaining pie crust into a 12-inch circle. Gently place pie crust on top of apples in pie plate. Fold edges together, and crimp to seal. Brush top of crust with beaten egg. Cut several slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.

4. Bake at 400 ° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°, and bake 50 to 60 minutes longer, covering crust with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning, if desired.

(Taken from: Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Magazine, October/November 2009)

The Culprit

This little boy has been grumpy. I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but it's the utter truth. He has been whiny and clingy and just all around grumpy and NOT like himself the past few days. He had also been tugging at his ear since last Wednesday after the little accident occurred. I brought it up at the doctor's on Wednesday, but they said it was probably because his head was hurting from his falls and that his ear was okay. However, this past week I was convinced otherwise since he was still pulling on it.

That brings us to yesterday. We had to go to the doctor to get his stitches taken out. The doctor had some trouble with them because the scab had grown over the stitches. We had to wet them a lot to try to soften it so that the scab wouldn't hurt B when the stitches were being pulled out. It took 3 of us to hold him down because he had to be absolutely still. I let Daddy T cover for me at one point because he was better at it. I can't imagine having a baby in the hospital and having to watch this kind of thing being done to your baby day in and day out. I know they had to come out and he was perfectly fine afterwards, but I hated to hear him scream and looking up at me wondering what was happening. Some good did come out of him screaming, though. We were finally able to see in his mouth and check out his teeth! He has at least 2 of his 1 year molars coming in! That explained some of the crankiness. Just to be sure we weren't missing anything and because I didn't want to have to make a 3rd trip back, I had them double check his ear again. I was right. Something was wrong. The boy has an ear infection. Again. So he's on some new medicine that isn't as harsh as the last time he had it and is stronger than the first couple of times. Hopefully this won't lead to the horrid diaper rash. Just in case, I'm packing my homemade butt cream. It works wonders and does so very quickly!

Here's the after pictures of little B and his scar. Just in time for Christmas pictures! Oh well. At least it's just a scar and nothing worse. I'm extremely grateful for that and for the people that were there when it happened.

Toilet Papering Already?

B has learned a new pasttime, except he doesn't wait until night, which is the traditional time to do this particular act. While Daddy T was steam cleaning B's room, he called me to come help him with something. As I turned to go down the hallway, I gasped. Daddy T heard the gasp and popped his head out of the doorway. This is what we saw.



That's right, he unrolled the toilet paper and left it in piles. This is following the day that he decided to stuff some in the toilet. Since this little experiment, we have learned to keep the door shut. Oh what fun we have in our household!

Trick-or-Treat

As promised, I have finally done the Halloween post. I'm glad to inform you that after the past week of hugs, kisses, and cuddles, B is doing quite well. His head actually looks worse than it is, I think. The blood is all dried, but we aren't allowed to get it wet so we can't really clean it. We go in on Wednesday to get the stitches taken out so I'll have to take a picture of the final result. We were told to put sunscreen on it to help limit the scarring, along with several other things. He has been a trooper, though. He has only lately noticed them, and I think it's because the scab is starting to itch and pull away from the stitch. Or he notices them when he's mad at us and wants to stick it to the man. Wait...B mad at us?.....When does that happen?....Is he 2 yet?.......Anyway, enjoy the Halloween pictures!

Before we did all of our Halloween partying, we went to my grandma's to attend a fish fry. B likes fish...and coleslaw and beans. Pretty much anything that Pops is eating or has on his plate. We got to see my great-grandmother who had brought B some balls that light up. B has fun playing with those. The dogs, not so much!




Uncle John has these drums. Uncle John has left these drums at Mom and Dad's house until his house is finished and one of his rooms is soundproofed. B is grateful for these drums. As soon as he enters the house and gives his rounds of hugs and kisses, he heads up the stairs to this. One day we let him wake up my mom with these. I can't wait until Uncle John and Aunt Molly are sleeping in the room below us! Oh what fun will be had! He actually has pretty good technique for a toddler and plays them in order. His favorite is....the cymbal. Like you couldn't figure that one out! Mom and Dad keep threatening to buy B a drum to keep at our house. What they keep forgetting is that I was in the drumline in high school and one year in college, so drums do not bother me. Need I mention that my brother was on the drumline with me, playing the snare while I played bass? Oh...and we have West African drums in our house and we frequently play them? So, you'll have to do better to scare me.....like threaten to give him a reptile or something. Yuck!



B loves to drive the tractor, look at the cows, pretty much anything that involves running free in M-town with Pops. Pops even fixed the horn just so B could blow it. Pops took us on a hayride around the cow field. Pleasant odors, I know, but B loves it so much. He squeals and laughs and gets to go feed the bull. Don't worry, he's never in any danger! Except when the mule is next door....and B will probably never pet a mule again!

Pops and B--or should I call them sidekicks?

Thankfully, we did not have to go trick-or-treating in our very hilly neighborhood. Not that we were really planning to! We went to M-town to a friend's house and went trick-or-treating with my friend, Mandi and her baby Turner (and her husband, Travis). Isn't Turner's costume adorable? Mandi has become quite a good seamstress! I think I will attempt that next year. B wasn't too fond of the wagon. I think part of it was because he was looking at a skunk, which is something he has never seen before. I can only imagine what the poor boy thought. He screamed enough when we put his costume on. After 6 times of it, though, he got to where he wouldn't cry AND he'd leave the hat on. B wasn't for sure what to think of going door-to-door until he saw Turner getting candy put into his pumpkin. B then decided that it just might be okay to go up to the door. He even got confident enough to put candy into his own pumpkin. He also thought he could trick the adults and go to the same house twice. We had to inform him that it doesn't work that way. They would remember Tigger!






Our church has a community fall festival that has food, games to win candy, and a ton of other things. One of those "other" things is a pony ride. I thought B might would like to ride it since he likes animals. Bear in mind that the mule incident occurred the day before. He was a little apprehensive about getting on this animal. After a little coaxing and me holding on to him firmly, he eased up at the end. I think he was still a little traumatized by the mule. He didn't dare hold on to the pony! I'll admit, though, that this pony was definitely one that would fit in our family. It would go for a few steps, then eat grass. After a tug, he would walk a little faster and then repeat the sequence. I thought it was quite funny. B didn't.

This picture is a little blurry, but you can see his hands held high in the air!

Okay, so these last two pictures have nothing to do with Halloween or trick-or-treating. These were taken when I went to stay with my parents a few months ago. B was helping Pops take the feed out to the cows. He had his own little bucket, but wanted to really be like my dad and kept trying to pick up his extremely heavy bucket full of feed.


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Recipe Sunday

Wake-up Wonton Cups

Prep/Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 10 wonton cups

Calories: 110 for 2 wonton cups

Fat: 1 gram

Protein: 7 grams

• 10 wonton wrappers
• Cooking spray
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
• 10 drops hot pepper sauce (I like it spicy, so I added more)

1. Press wonton wrappers into miniature muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Spritz wrappers with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the eggs, garlic powder and salt. Heat a small nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray until hot. Add egg mixture; cook and stir over medium heat until eggs are completely set.

3. Spoon eggs into cups. Top each with chopped tomato and a drop of pepper sauce.

Stitches

B got his first 3 stitches today. An eventful day, if I must say so myself. I was doing a Mary Kay party at a friend's house. We all had brought our kiddos there, so there were at least 10 or more kids. They were all playing and we were all keeping an eye on each other's kids at different points when I heard "Uh oh, that was B." When I picked him up, the space by his eyebrow was bleeding. Thankfully, all but one person was a mommy of two or more and one lady there was almost a RN so they kept me from freaking out. The almost RN stopped the bleeding enough for me to make it to the doctor's office to get stitches. He fell asleep after they numbed it, but had to awake him before they did the first needle. They didn't want him to be traumatized if he woke up! He didn't cry for the first stitch. I don't think he saw it or realized what it was. However, he screamed for the second and third ones. The nurse held his head while I laid my body across his feet and held his hands, singing to him and talking to him. He did so good. Oh...I left out that the falling on the fireplace was after he had fell down a step and busted his lip open. And got a bump on his head. So, once again, we are back in the process of not letting him sleep for more than an hour at a time during the day for 24 hours and waking him up twice at night. It took him a good 2 minutes for me to wake him after his nap this afternoon. I'm hoping it gets better. This poor boy has hit his head hard 3 times. Thankfully, the doctor said he hit the hardest part of his head and doesn't think that anything is or will be wrong. I'm so thankful that God put those ladies and friends there. At least I now know what to do during this kind of emergency. And I will now know even more childproofing problems! There's just no way to catch them all. With all of that said we have to go back in 7 days to get the stitches taken out. That is, unless B decides he can play doctor and take them out himself.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween, and yes, we celebrated it by going trick-or-treating in my hometown. I, however, forgot my camera so I have to wait for my mom to send me the pictures of B trick-or-treating. When I get a chance, I will post those and the pictures of the pumpkin patch and him riding a pony.

We went to Ma's house for a fish fry and got to meet all of Paul's family and see a lot of our family. B had fun eating who knows what with Mom and Dad!

Dad took him on a hay ride through the cow fields. He loves the cows and starts mooing everytime we step out of the car. He also runs to the window and starts mooing when he looks out at the field. While we were out in the field, we went to the fence next to Dad's and saw the mule and their neighbor. While B was looking at the mule, Dad let him pet him. And then we heard a cry. Apparently the mule got curious and in Dad's words, "it just lightly chomped on his fingers." It didn't do anything to him or break skin or anything.

We went to Jerri Lynn's afterwards and had a wonderful time at their party. We went with Mandi, Travis, Turner, and Mom to the different houses in their neighborhood to trick-or-treat. It was lots of fun now that he is old enough for it. He didn't quite understand it the first house we went to, but when he saw Turner getting candy put into his bag, he was all ready for his turn. When he left one house, he'd turn around to go back to it again. We had to remind him that he'd already been there and couldn't get candy from the same house twice!

I'll post more pictures soon!

Recipe Sunday

Oven-Fried Pork Chops
Makes: 4 servings

• 1/2 cup all-purpose baking mix, Bisquick
• 1/2 cup Italian-style panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 boneless, center-cut pork chops
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet; spray rack with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a shallow dish, combine baking mix and panko. In 2 separate shallow dishes, place flour and eggs. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Dredge pork chops in flour; coat in egg, and dredge in baking mix mixture. Place pork chops on prepared rack. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done.

(Taken from: Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Magazine: October/November 2009