What's On Your Mind?

Every time I see Facebook ask me, "What's On Your Mind?", ( <--- time out.  How do you properly punctuate that?  Anyone?  Grammar police?), I start thinking about all of the random stuff that really is on my mind.  Enter: MY BLOG.  So here's some of the random stuff that is on my mind right now.

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On the way home from dropping Addie off at kindergarten this morning, Brody and Chloe and I sat and watched a bunch of men tearing out a sidewalk and pouring concrete to fix it.  Cement mixers, men in rubber boots, tools, a dumptruck... Brody was completely entertained for a solid 20 minutes.  Gotta love little boys!  And then he stood up and said, "Okay.  Let's go home."  He knows his limits.

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Mmm-mm!  I've got BBQ pork in the crock pot and peach cobbler in the oven.  It's smelling good in here!  We're having company tonight.  I wish I planned this well every day.  It's kind of nice to already know what the dinner plan is.

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Last night I was reading to the kids and had them giggling so much that Brody fell off the couch from laughing so hard!  They always ask me to read "in voice" and they are so tickled by it.  The books that had them in stitches last night were I Am Going and Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems.

We love every single book Mo Willems has written.  The Elephant and Piggie books are our favorites! We love them because the girls can practice their reading by each reading for a character, and they're just so FUNNY.  His illustrations are so darn funny.  As I was reading last night, Gerald (the elephant) had a silly, "doofus" type voice, but it surprised them and had them rolling when little Piggie had a very deep, manly voice.  And Brody fell off the couch laughing when the tiny worms unexpectedly had robot voices.  

Okay, that sounds really dorky and unfunny now.  Maybe you had to be there.  Or maybe you have to be under the age of 8.

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I went to the rec center today to work out.  This is a major news flash, because sometimes I go to the rec center, put my kids in the childcare, and hide out in the locker room to read a book.  Sometimes I go there and exercise.  And by exercise, I mean I walk around the track, spying on the people using those big scary machines.  They terrify me.  I have about a 20-second section of the track where I can see those contraptions and I try to figure out how they work - how to sit, how to move, what to hold.

But today I actually had the guts to ask the lady working there to help me.  Guess what?  They're not that scary!  Granted, I tried the ab machine and about died, but I think I can work my way up from 0 lbs., right?  I even had the guts to use a machine next to someone.  And I made another discovery.  Last time I was there using some kind of bike thingy, I noticed the cute girl next to me, with the totally matching workout clothes and perky everything, wipe her machine down.  Oh.  Was I supposed to do that?  So today I took an old washcloth with me so I could act like a pro and wipe it down.  That's when I realized that no, nobody does that, they actually provide wipes to use to wipe it down.  Next time I won't be toting along my ratty old washcloth and look like such an amateur.  After all, I lift WEIGHTS now.

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Okay, if we're having company tonight, then I have a house to clean.  Happy Tuesday!

Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

Anyone who knows me personally or has read my blog for awhile is probably laughing that I'm posting a recipe.  I'm not a great cook.  I don't even really enjoy it.  The lasagna incident of '99 still stings a little.

But people.  This recipe is EASY and so, so, SO GOOD.  It's my girls' most requested meal, and what they wanted for their first day of school dinner.

Even Chloe likes it!

So without further ado, I present to you...

Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon
(taken from the Taste of Home magazine)

1 T brown sugar
2 t. butter
1 t. honey
1 T olive oil
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T soy sauce
1/2 to 3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 salmon fillet (recipe calls for 2 1/2 lbs., but I usually only make 1 3/4 - 2 lbs. for our family of 6.  Although we never have leftovers!)


In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the brown sugar, butter and honey until melted.  Remove from heat:  whisk in the oil, mustard, soy sauce, salt and pepper.  Cool for 5 minutes.

Place salmon in a large foil-lined baking pan; spoon brown sugar mixture over salmon.  Bake, uncovered, at 350º for 20-25 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.


I'm not a food photographer by any means, but here's ours from the other night:

YUM!  

Do you have any EASY and YUMMY recipes I need to try?

(Emphasis on EASY.  Ahem.)

A pretty big week

I didn't mean for there to be such a gap between posts this summer.  The upside is that we were out there, enjoying life and enjoying summer!  What would there be to blog about if we sat around doing nothing?  The downside is that a lot of fun stuff happened that I might have to revisit in future posts.  Chronological blogging?  Who needs it?!

So jumping right back into things...

It's been a HUGE week in the Flibbertigibberish family.  Every one of us had something big on our plates:

GARY:
Gary pulled off the annual Murder Mystery dinner for his high school students.  Thanks to his awesome team of volunteers and an incredible couple from church who graciously opened their home to the 250+ students/volunteers, it was a huge success.

Doesn't he look handsome in his suspenders and hat?  And to top it off, he preached in "big church" the next morning.  Whew!

EMMA & ADDIE:
First day of school!  Emma started 2nd grade and Addie started kindergarten. They're attending a new school this year, and we couldn't be more excited.

The charter school they attend is just down the street and so far we love it.  The uniforms/dress code have my girls all giddy each morning to see what they get to wear, and you won't hear this mama arguing!

Addie came home the first day and told me she'd made a new friend and was so excited that she was wearing the same thing as her!  Odds are pretty good when you have a uniform, you know!  So far she thinks kindergarten is "easy peasy."

Emma came home from school the first day and told me she'd met a girl whose hair is softer than cottonballs.  What more can you ask for in a new friend?!?

BRODY:
Over the weekend we went to the store and let Brody pick out a pair of big boy undies.  I guess that's all it took, because I'm proud to say that he is out of diapers!  Simple as that!

Day three and only two accidents and we're not looking back.  (Please note that his first accident happened while typing the previous sentence - no joke.  The second happened while finishing up this blog post hours later.  Ha!)

He's even slept overnight in those big boy undies!  He even took it upon himself to remove all diapers from his room before naptime.  He's serious about this.

CHLOE:
Chloe took her first steps last night!  She was so proud of herself as she walked back and forth between Daddy and her siblings.  She's still wobbly, but she's very close to just taking off -- not that I'm in any hurry for her to do so.

Last night I also nursed Chloe for the first time.  Emotional much?  Oh my word.  It didn't go as I imagined.  I thought the last time may have been over the weekend, but because THAT time didn't go as planned, and because I was still a little full, I decided to have another go at the official "last time." 

I picked her up and cuddled her, ready to soak up every sweet second of this last milestone.  I actually paused for a moment, and almost asked Gary to grab the camera, but I didn't.  Just as she latched on, she bit me.  HARD.  As if I had a piranha at my breast instead of a sweet baby.  I shrieked as I frantically tried to unclench her.  I cried.  I cried a lot.  I cried a big, loud ugly cry and handed her to Gary.  The golden, sunshiny, movie-moment I'd imagined had gone terribly wrong.  That was IT?  That's how we were going to end all these years of nursing?  I was crushed.  I fed her her bottle with tears rolling down my cheeks.

Friends have recommended going for another "last time," but I'm afraid that was it.  It's why there were multiple "last times" - the girl is a baby barracuda.  We're both finished, and I need to let go.  *sigh*

ME:
Well, all of these things are what have made it a big week for me.  Isn't that what being a mom is all about?  However, I was very sick last week, which made it a rough end to summer/start to school.  Fever, chills, sore throat... ugh.  I'm glad to be better, but unfortunately I passed it on to Emma who has already missed the last two days of school due to a fever! So, I'm praying everyone gets and remains healthy.

And I'm praying for a little less excitement in the next week!