Pomegranate Anyone?

We're walking through the grocery store and Reagan sees 2 pomegranates for $3. She asks if we can get one. Um, I don't know what to do with it. Would you believe they have a brochure right there with step-by-step directions for the pomegranate rookie? Thank goodness for that or we would have been lost. After a little knife help from Scott, Reagan got going on it.

See, there really is a brochure. Kind of looks like a biology class project.

None of us expected it to look quite like this.

After a bit Whitney walked up and honest to goodness says, "This looks like so much fun. Like picking scabs." Yep, that's my girl!!

They both looked like they had blood all over their hands,

but were total troopers in getting all of those seeds out.

The black trash bag was due to the juice shooting everywhere.

The seeds were quite sour, but worth the try. I'll be painting that back wall, the juice shot up and left it a lovely shade of purple! I love a good reason to have to paint. Here's to try more new foods!



Bonding Over First Aid & CPR

Scott and I have been working toward being the Cradle Care family for Adoption Dreams Come True. I have volunteered with the agency for a while and feel honored to have been asked to do this. What this would entail is our family taking in a baby after birth until placement. With open adoption it is more common that a family would be chosen for the child and would be placed right away. However, there are times when a mother hasn't chosen a family or the family she chose hasn't fulfilled all of their requirements. In these cases ADCT now will have a family for the baby to stay with. Again, we feel honored.

Scott and I have done everything an adopting family would in order to adopt - filling out tons of paperwork about ourselves, individual meetings with our social worker, meeting as a couple, a home visit, meeting the kids, finger printing, background checks, a CORE Training class (state requirement for all adopting families, great training) and now First Aid & CPR. The cool thing was ADCT has an adoptive dad who is an EMT and fireman who offered to certify us at our house. I acted out fainting at the kitchen table, Scott was a crazy diabetic who needed sugar, later he fell off a ladder hanging Christmas lights - to which I said if this was real, instead of "making sure the area was safe, putting on my gloves and calling for help" I would have said, "What were you thinking?" Then of course use my new first aid skills.

Brandon, our teacher, set up the scenario that I got stabbed by a

candy cane... the pen there. Scott did great bandaging me up!

 Working on good ol' Resuscitation Annie. We even learned to use an AED

(a defibrillator)...big time. And thankfully no full contact - the

germaphob was really glad she had a device to put over the mouth.

We'll have one more class on infant CPR in a couple weeks and then we're official. We are really hoping to be able to be a small part of the adoption process for a family. We look forward to the opportunities that may come.

Side note: As a Closet Genius I shocked Brandon. Scott asked what CPR stood for and after Brandon sat for a minute thinking he said, "Man that's a good question I haven't been asked that in a long time." I said, "It means Cardio Pulminary Resuscitation." Shock and awe, shock and awe!

Getting Really Tall

I've been getting a lot of, "Wow, Reagan sure is tall" comments. When you live with the person they are referring to it is hard to notice. I do recall one evening this fall when we were in her room and I felt like were we looking eye to eye. I kind of looked down hoping she was standing on something. No such luck! I soon realized she had grown an inch since school started. So here were are, Reagan and I on our way out to our Mother Daughter Book Club Christmas dinner. They are right, she is TALL!!

Me with heels...

... and without.

What is a mother to do? I guess buy higher heels!! And be thankful for such a beautiful daughter, inside and out.

Not So Gentle Nudge

Yesterday's task was to conquer the Christmas letters. Address the envelopes, fold the letters, stick on stamps & return labels and then... lick. Ick! If Moka could have done it I would have let her. I hadn't bought stamps so I thought I'd get out of the house a minute to do that. I went to the grocery store thinking it would be easier than the post office to buy my stamps.

I meandered around, got a couple things and looked for the shortest line I could. I doubted self-check had stamps so I went to the 15 or under fast lane. I got in line behind an old lady with my cart of the 3 whoppin' things. Standing there with her ginormous glasses (too cute), her gray hair up with barrettes, and the hands of a sweet woman who has lived a full life, she says to me, "Oh, you can go ahead of me, you don't have much." Good grief woman, I can stand around all day (I mean I'm only 39, not even 40 yet), "No, I'm OK, but thank you." She stood there clutching her cloth bag of groceries - this should tell you she didn't have much either. As she unloaded her items - frozen entrees, a few boxes of jell-o, and something I couldn't recognize from the medicine aisle - I hear, "You should pay for her groceries." Whoa! My heart starts pounding, I get a little shaky and think, Should I? I thought that might be weird... "You should pay for her groceries." OK then, let's do this. I leaned into toward the cashier, my heart pounding out of my chest, and said, "Char, can you tell her that her groceries are paid for?" Char, the gal who normally rings me up every Monday morning, says, "OK. Well." I think she was thrown for a loop. I said, "Just tell her that they are covered and I'll pay for it with my stuff."

The old lady stood there with her wallet open looking for her total on the screen. Char said something I couldn't hear and the woman looked confused with her hand on her cash, ready to pay. I leaned forward, "I'm going to pay for your groceries. You have a great day." I had to repeat it, adding a Merry Christmas. With teary-eyes and a quiet voice she says, "Are you serious?" Yes, I was told do to it and I did. I'm kind of freaked out right now, but yes I'm paying for your groceries. If you start to cry or say much more I'm going to fall apart right here in the fast lane.

I turn to Char who is now teary-eyed as the sweet woman shuffles off. She says, "Well, she used coupons, it saved you a little." This helped lighten the mood. "Oh I don't care. I've never done that before... Wow." I was shaky, sweating and near tears. "The Christmas spirit is alive and well", she says.

I get in the car and call Scott, "I paid for an old lady's groceries." What? He probably had me repeat it because the last time I called with a shaky voice was to say I was in an accident.

Scott had just read this verse to the kids this week: "And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, your were doing it to me." Matthew 25:40  He was challenging them to find someone they could reach out to who might feel left out or needs a friend. Just as I had my not so gentle nudge, I thought of this. I had done this for this old woman, but really I did it for Him.

Friends, Food, Fun

I think my head is in party planning mode 24/7. I look at pictures in a magazine and think, "That would be a great party." Television shows, movies, pictures... they can all spark something in my creative juices. Recipes make me want to have different food themed parties. Even the Royal Wedding coming in April. I already informed the girls we're having a Royal Wedding Party, so get out your dress up gloves!

This year I found two new ideas for Christmas parties. First was a night of caroling with our Potluck group. We met at the fire station down the street from our house so we had enough room - all those people with winter coats, hats, boots - it was a great setting! Everyone brought cookies, we chose our songs and off a' caroling we went. We even had song books from one of our Potluckers, even though we only sang 3 songs. Addy (6 years old) asked, "Why are we singing the same songs?" "Um because those are the only 3 we all know!" The kids were a hoot... most had never been caroling and the way they ran from house to house was just like they were trick-or-treating. One house was quite the show for the kids who were right up front. After singing my friend jokingly says, "I don't know if we'll be caroling with you again next year. I mean with the nudity and all." Say what? I guess one of our little neighbor girls wasn't quite prepared for carolers and stood at the top of the stairs listening, naked like a jay bird, the entire time. Her mom emailed me thanking us for coming and that, "Autumn and naked Lily loved it".

The kids - Could you just eat 'em?

These kids are some of my kids very favorite people!

We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!

My girls with Cooper... careful, Scott might just keep that one.

Time for cookies and hot cocoa.

My other new party idea was a Christmas breakfast I hosted this morning. In my new found freedom with all 3 kids in school full-day, I decided to invite some friends for a Christmas season slowdown. Everyone brought an item to share and with 13 of us we had the FOOD! We spent a few hours catching up, chatting, meeting new friends, and chatting some more. You really can't beat time spent with girl friends.

Some friends I've made at the schools and others at church...

A fellow pastor's wife and a neighbor... 

Look-a-likes! My friend on the left and I have been mistaken for

each other often when I had the same hair style. My friend

on the right and I have been friends for 15 years... maybe

we have the same hair now, uh-oh.

Good friends for all kinds of reasons!

Tradition is a whole different area of entertaining for me. That blog will be coming I'm sure. But for now, these may become new traditions for our family and for myself. This is a magical time of year for sure. Whether bringing Christmas cheer through carols or sitting around a table chatting, I hope you find time to celebrate the season with your friends.

Namaste

One of my bucket list items before I turn 40 has been to try yoga. I only know one person who actually does yoga, the rest are celebs who brag their slammin' bodies are a product of yoga. So I figured it was worth a try. However, with my schedule I had to take the Sunrise Yoga class at 6 a.m... I don't really think the sun rose much while I was there.

Of the 16 people, yes I counted, I was the only yogi newbie - she called us her Yogis at the end of class. So, there I was praying like mad that I wouldn't make a fool of myself in front of the seasoned yogis who could contort their bodies like I'd never seen. Not all were amazing, only a small handful.

Kathryn, our teacher, started class in an unexpected way. We were all sitting on our mats and she starts talking about the mirror. She's been practicing yoga for 9 years - no wonder she could put one arm under her leg, the other behind her back while in a lunge and then proceed to lock her fingers. Psycho! Anyway, back to deep thoughts by Kathryn... She said the mirror has  been an issue for her all this time. We use it to bring ourselves down - look at my____ it looks horrible. Or to boost ourselves up - look how I awesome I look in that pose. She asked us to look in the mirror, What do we see? Now close your eyes, What do you see? At the end of class she brought it up again. "Look in the mirror. Did you use it for judgment?" I found it very profound, she was encouraging us to look at the heart, at what really matters.

Nearing the end of class she spoke of the power of intention - How are you going to live your life this week? That really challenged me. How intentional will I be in all that I do - as a wife, mother, friend, sister, and daughter. Good stuff to think about.

While I was grabbing some coffee, a veteran yogi asked how my first time went? I said, "We'll see later today by how sore I am, then I'll know." I asked her how yoga has benefited her the most. She said, "My head." A bit surprised by this answer I thought, the only thing my head did was get a head rush while I was in downward facing dog. She said, "The mental part. Accepting my body for what it is."

Here, here to acceptance! As I head quickly toward 40 I continue to work on acceptance of the body God gave me. Maybe these yogis have something for me to learn after all. In the words of Kathryn, Namaste.

Liar Liar, Pants on Fire

I have a little man in my life who likes to stretch the truth or dare I say lie. Some may call it good story telling. For example, he got some of the moms in kindergarten last year thinking I had chicken pox. At pick up a mom came to me, "Tennison said you have chicken pox, do you?" By the 4th mom I thought, this kid is going to prison via lies. I asked him about it and he said, "You have a red spot." What, a zit?  This same little man has the hardest time with being honest about washing his hands. I often have to smell his hands for proof.


Last night I asked him to hang up his coat and put his high tops away from basketball practice. After a while I told him it was time to head up to bed. He's got his coat in his hand and I said, "I thought you already did that?" He just looks at me with a smirk on his face. Busted!! Once we get in his room I see his laundry basket has shirts on top he's never even worn. Oh how this drives me nuts, too lazy to put away. I said, "Buddy, you'll always get caught sneaking or lying. Why do you bother?" So I went on to tell him how his heart is like a dry erase board. It starts out white and then when he lies it gets all brown, like when he mixes all the colors. But if you ask Jesus to forgive you it is like He's erasing the board and your heart is white again.

Laying in bed he started to pray in a quiet sweet voice, "Dear Jesus, help me not to lie. Please forgive me. Amen." When he was done he had a huge smile on his face - I told him how proud I was of him. He put his hand to his heart and said, "He's erasing it Mom." Lesson learned!

Today this same little conniver asks me, "Mom who says 'Oh, Oh, Oh'?" Hmmm, not sure. "Santa going backwards." Then, "Bree is so lucky. Her dad is Christian and her mom is Jewish. She gets tons of toys." Here's to hoping he doesn't "stretch the truth" to convince me he's Jewish for more loot. I love that boy!