Animal Cracker Recipe

Here is the recipe for the animal crackers that I posted about yesterday. Like I said, this recipe is from my college roommate's mom, who introduced me to all sorts of healthy eating ideas!

Animal Crackers

Grind 2 cups rolled oats in blender. (Sub: quick
oats)
Add:
1/4 cup honey
1 t. salt
1 t. soda
3 cups whole wheat flour
Cut in 1 cup butter.
Add 1 cup milk or buttermilk.
Roll to 1/4 inch and cut with cookie cutters.
Bake at 400 degrees 8-10 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet.
Serve with love.

Back in mid-January, H1, H3, and I went to SC to visit Grandpa. H3 and I had visited back in November, but H1 couldn't go due to his work schedule. Grandpa said we needed to come again, with my hubby, so we planned this trip! I'm so glad we went. It was really good to see him again. He had a defribulator put in just after Christmas, and looks like he's doing really well. He's getting around a lot better than when H3 and I were there last. I've always enjoyed going down there, and I'm glad my family does too. Grandpa is lots of fun to talk with and I enjoy watching his interaction with H3. He has commented these last two trips about how energetic she is. I have to agree. I'm starting to think she may be related to the Energizer Bunny!


H3 loves climbing up on the green rocker sofa and perching on the edge!


Grandpa


H1 and H3


Staring out Grandpa's front window


This last week, I made animal crackers. They're a recipe my college roommate's mom gave me. She used to send them to me and Bethany at least a few times per semester. I love them! They're not sweet, but you can eat them with yogurt or honey. H3 likes them with honey.


Last Monday and Tuesday, H1 was off of school because we had 8 inches of snow and this area doesn't have the equipment to deal with any snow at all, much less that amount and an inch of ice. Since he had the time, he decided to make cinnamon rolls from scratch! They were amazing and the house smelled fabulous...I have to say "were", since they are gone now!



H3 walking in the snow a couple days later, with our neighbor's house in the background.


Walking with Daddy


Baby footprints


Happy baby!


All the first snow melted, and then in snowed a bit again yesterday. Initially, there were a couple inches on the ground, but since it rained the day before, it melted quickly. The sun came out today and it's almost gone now.


H3 at the last game of the basketball season. She really enjoys watching basketball. I have to keep that harness on her though, since she also likes running after the basketball! It's the cutest little backpack harness, and she wears it most of the time when we go out for walks.




This last month or so has been busy as always, but a lot of fun too. The week we got back from Grandpa's, I was called in to substitute at the high school for a couple days. We got to go to Virginia Beach and have dinner with a friend whom we hadn't seen in a while, and I spent a night and part of a day at the rescue squad. My next overnight there isn't for a couple weeks. I've been doing lots of organizing and baking, and working with H3 on some new activities. She is able to put shapes correctly into the corresponding holes in her red bucket how, and has also started signing "book", and "eat", adding those to her other signs of "more" and "all done". I'm trying to teach her to put together a wooden puzzle and her alphabet, but those are going to be a while in coming, I think!

I'm hoping to invite our landlord over pretty soon to ask about doing a few renovations. We would like to paint one of the bedrooms (the one we're moving H3 into later this spring), and we would like to replace the linoleum in the kitchen--it's really gross and wasn't installed properly to begin with. We'll pay for the paint for the bedroom, but I was going to ask for a discount in rent for a couple months for us to install the flooring. That way, he won't be paying full price to put it in and neither will we. The stuff I found looks really nice and would brighten it up a lot. I hope he'll let us do both! We'll have lived here for one year on April 1st, and I know this place looks a lot better than before we moved in, so maybe he'll say yes.

It's Superbowl Sunday, and I'm making homemade pizza and nachos for dinner. We're also having hot wings, but I'm not making those. They came in a bag! I like them, but not enough to learn how to make them. H1 makes them sometimes, but wasn't in the mood today. I made some brownies too, regular fudge for half and mint for the other half. H1 loves watching football, and H3 seems to like it too. I watch a few games per year, but am not an avid fan unless Green Bay is playing. I think I'm watching this game tonight for the Focus on the Family commercial about Tim Tebow and his mom's decision to carry him through pregnancy, even though doctor's advised her it was dangerous. I'm amazed and excited that CBS is carrying this commercial and looking forward to seeing it.

Off to make pizza dough!

~H2

Traveling and other items of the week

This has been a fun and packed week! H1 has had 2 basketball games, as usual, and of course practice at night to go along with them. Tonight's game is about an hour away. Ugh! I love living in the middle of nowhere, but the downside is all the traveling.

Last night I had a meeting up at the Rescue Squad. We're supposed to be going to a paperless system within the next month so there's going to be training for that. The new laptops look pretty cool, but from what I understand are a bit of a hassle to get installed. Initially, they're expecting it to take us about twice as long to write our reports after each incident. Most of that will be from trying to learn the new programs and hopefully over time it will make things faster. There are a lot of other benefits for patient care and getting information in order, but it's still going to take a while to get used to. I'll be going for training in a couple weeks.


H3 and I went over to our church today and helped sort clothes for the "Need Stuff" ministry (it offers clothes and food to people in the community). Rather, I sorted and H3 unfolded everything and ran around the room. She loves "helping" with laundry, but isn't the best at keeping everything in order!

Tomorrow morning the three of us plus Peanut are heading down to my grandfather's house in SC. H3 and I went to visit back in November, but H1 couldn't come. Since he has a 3 day weekend though, we decided to take a road trip! I used to get down there 3-4 times a year or more, but since H3's arrival I've only made it down 1-2 times each year. Hopefully that will change as she gets older and can handle more time in the car. I'll post pics and blog about our trip when we get back--should be Monday evening.

~H2

Confession time

They say confession is good for the soul, right? Well, here's mine. I hate filing paperwork. When bills arrive, I open them, write a check for what I need to, then shove the rest back in the envelope and stick it on top of the filing cabinet. Old pay stubs, letters from the insurance company, and receipts from online bills find their way to the pile too. Pretty sad, isn't it? 2-3 times a year, I finally get sick of the huge pile of envelopes staring at me and I go through everything and file them, as is the case today. Today though, I decided to burn all the envelopes and other trash afterwards, which is the picture below. The fire was a lot bigger than that to begin with! H1 finds it amusing that I can be so obsessive about vaccuuming (which I do 1-2 times a day) and can't stand a single dog hair on the floor, but yet I'll let that stack pile up for months at a time. Oh well. At least I know that if I'm looking for something, it's gotta be in that pile somewhere. Maybe one year I will make a resolution to keep that pile at bay and file everything when it comes, but I don't think that will be this year!




~H2

Christmas, New Years, and everything else.

Two Saturdays before Christmas, we drove to the Roanoke area to visit our friends, Cate and Shawn. They were having a Christmas party/Open House night to welcome everyone to their new house and to find out together if the new baby, due in April, is expected to be a boy or girl. We all found out when they cut into the cake and there was a ribbon inside--pink!



On December 22nd, we drove to Cleveland, OH, to visit my folks. We stayed until January 1st, which is why there have been no posts until now! We opened Christmas presents in the morning on Christmas day, and H3 spent the rest of the day with a bow on her head!



H3 watches Grandpa remove Christmas lights through the living room window.



Showing Grandma a new toy.










Snow throne!



H1's birthday cake. Yes, it's a little childish, but I had fun! It was a strawberry cake with buttercream frosting. The theme is ducky, yes, but each ducky set also has something to do with an activity H1 enjoys. He used to be a golf coach and loves to play. He's currently a basketball coach. The swimming set is for the camp that we spend each summer at. He has been a waterfront director there for 6 or 7 years now. Not this year though! More to come on that....



Me and H1 at Rocky's, a pizza restaurant my parents took us to for his birthday. H3 made such a mess that we ended up finding a broom and cleaned up before our waitress could. She was so sweet and patient with us, and my parents have seen her there for the past 4 years that they've lived in Cleveland. I was just too embarrassed by the mess of crushed Cheerios and pizza chunks that there was no way I could leave without cleaning up some!




We arrive home at 4:15 Saturday morning. H1 and I took turns driving, so we weren't completely dead when we arrived, but pretty close! Since then, we've pretty much been unpacking and trying to get the house back in order. Sunday morning H1 was playing on the worship team and I was teaching Sunday school for 4-7 year olds. I don't have a lot of experience with that age, so it was a bit of a challenge. That, and the fact that it was the first time the class has ever met! There are 4 teachers and we will be on a monthly rotation. My Sunday is the first of each month. It was fun, but I'll be glad when we get more supplies!

H1 started back to school today. I haven't talked to him yet to see how it was. He's at basketball practice now, trying to get the kids ready for the game tomorrow night. There will be a game each Tuesday and Thursday night this month, and then for the first week in February and the season may end there, depending on whether we go to play-offs, which could extend it a couple more weeks.

It's time to wake up Shannan from her nap and get ready to make tacos for dinner tonight!

~H2

Substitute teaching and other such fun

The last two days I have been substitute teaching at the high school. Their schedule is called Block Scheduling, so the day is divided into 4 90-minute "blocks". For the 1st and 2nd block, I had a Spanish I class with 13-15 students in each, depending on the day. 3rd block only has one student, an ESL student from China. I worked with her last year too when I subbed at the school, and she is one of my favorites. 4th block is Spanish II. We had a really good couple days, relatively. The first day was a bit more difficult, since the worksheets that the teacher left took very little time and the students had about 30 minutes of free time once they finished. Today was the same, except this time I was prepared! I brought cookies! For the 1st and 2nd block, I split the classes into teams and they competed for the right to choose which flavor of cookie the class would eat (I had to bring pre-packaged cookies since homemade goods are not permitted). For 3rd block I just saved out some cookies and my student munched while we chatted and played a game of hangman--it was actually a really good lesson for her since our hangman "words" were sentences and it helps with both vocabulary and grammar. In the 4th block we also played hangman, except we used Spanish sentences. Even though my background is in Spanish, the teachers don't know who the substitute will be while they are out, so it's impossible for them to leave a regular lesson plan for me. Since I don't know where they are in their textbooks ahead of time, I just have to make things up as I go if their assignments are finished early!
While I was at the school, H3 stayed with Laura, a lady who works as a night custodian at the middle school. She comes into work at 2:30, so she just brings H3 with her and drops her off with H1 until I get over there at 3:00. Yesterday Laura took H3 up to Petersburg for shopping and lunch at Cracker Barrel and today they put up decorations around her house. Laura is very good with her and H3 loves her. Apparently, she doesn't fuss at all while I'm gone! H1 and I like Laura too and I'm very comfortable leaving H3 with her when needed, so that's a blessing when I need to sub at the school for some extra money.
I'm not too sure what the weekend holds yet. Our plans are pretty non-existent, other than grocery shopping. Other than this weekend though, every other weekend in December is packed!
Oh, I'll have to put up some pictures of this later, but tonight, just before bed, H3 was playing near the dog's cage and all of a sudden decided to climb inside! It was so funny and I caught a couple cute pictures of it. Some wonderful moments can be captured on camera, but some of my favorites are just memories in my head, like H3 giggling on our bed while H1 and I tickle her, and that beautiful smile I get first thing in the morning when she wakes up. God has given me such a wonderful family and I treasure these times!

~H2

Aaaaaaand I'm behind again!

Well, yet again I'm trying to catch up on all that our family has been up to! Whew! I'm supposed to be decorating our Christmas tree tonight, so this is going to be a bit short. Where to start? Let's see.... The weekend of October 23rd, my wonderful father-in-law came to visit with Mathias, an exchange student from Denmark. They watched H3 for us so H1 and I could have our first date night out since she was born! We went to see Tim Hawkins, a Christian comedian, and then went to Applebees and split an appetizer. It was a fun date. While they were here, we also went to Norfolk and toured the Battleship Wisconsin, located at the Nauticus museum. It's a free tour and lots of fun!

On deck of the Wisconsin

The following Sunday, H3 and I headed for SC to visit my grandfather. It had been a year since we'd seen him, which is a little longer than usual between visits. We had a wonderful time chatting and watching H3 run circles in the house. She would start in the living room and run the loop through the kitchen and dining room and back into the living room. Before the trip she had just started walking during the couple weeks before, and by the end she'd gotten a pretty good grasp on it!
Sitting on Great-Grandpa's lap

Playing by the couch

We arrived home Thursday evening, and I had to turn around and substitute at the high school on Friday, so I was rather tired by the time the weekend hit and was happy to be home. The next weekend (Nov 14 - 16) my parents came down for a visit. It was really good to see them and my mom had a blast playing with H3 and taking lots of pictures. Since I'm an only child, H3 is the only grandchild on my side of the family. My mom really enjoys being a grandma. My dad enjoys his role too, of course, although judging by his choice in toys (dinosaurs and trucks), I think he may be hinting. That will have to wait for a bit though because I've got my hands full!

The children's play area inside the MacArthur Square Mall

Dad and Mom (I made a lunch from home that we brought and just bought drinks)

Playing in the children's area

The following weekend (Nov 21) I volunteered up at the Rescue Squad for a bit and then I spent Saturday afternoon baking for the church lunch on Sunday. H3 was quite the help. She sat at my feet, playing with a wooden spoon. At one point while I was kneeding dough, I looking down and she was sitting right next to my leg playing and the dog was laying next to her. It felt like a picturesque moment! The Thanksgiving luncheon at church was delicious, as always. The church provided turkey (deep fried) and ham, and then each family in the church brings a dish or two to share. I love all the food! It also gives everyone a chance to hang around afterwards. We do connect weekly in small groups, but it's nice to see everyone for a bit and chat longer than just over coffee before church. Our church is relatively small--about 60 adults and 40 kids, so we know a majority of the people.

This past week was Thanksgiving, of course. It was my first time cooking a turkey and it turned out surprisingly well. I made quite a few dishes, but smaller portions since it was only the three of us. H1 made the mashed potatoes--he's the best at those! I made rolls, jello salad, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, pumpkin pie and of course cooked the turkey. H3 seemed to enjoy sampling a bit of everything, although she wasn't so keen on the turkey or the green bean casserole, but I expected that. The turkey is still a bit harder to chew than chicken and she's not of fan of green beans unless they are purreed still.

This Black Friday was the first time I've ever ventured out, and I did so at 2:30am. I left H1 and H3 at the house to get more sleep and ventured out into the cold rain down to Walmart. They were having a sale on a particular item I wanted to get my Dad for Christmas and it was at a price I could afford, so I waited in line until 5am and got my mits on it. I'm sooo excited about it and hope he will enjoy it. I still can't believe I actually did something crazy like that, but I have to say it was worth it because otherwise I doubt we could have afforded it.

Today would have been nice to sleep in, but nope, didn't happen. I went to an 8am CPR recertification class and got that updated. Since I'm an EMT, I already had the training and certification and techinally it was still good for another year, but I wanted to go through the 2 hour course and get a couple questions I had answered about unique situations. I knew the guy instructing it and trusted him to give me the right answer. I can't say that for my last instructor.

Afterwards we took advantage of a coupon and got Christmas pictures taken at Sears. We were originally just going to have some friends take pictures but then could never nail down a date. With the coupon, we were able to get the sitting and prints for just $30. It's still more than I'd like to pay, but not awful and the pictures did turn out gorgeous!

Whew! Ok, so I did cram in more than I thought I was going to and my fingers hurt from typing so fast. Back to the tree! Good night!

~H2