Gideon, The King of Rolls

Meet Gideon. He is seven months old. Adorable. Full of rolls. Loves life, and Mommy and Daddy. Cousin to Steven and Rene. I guess that makes him my cousin too. You might be asking, "How in the world do you have a seven month old cousin?" Well, well, well, let me tell you a crazy story...

A little over thirty-one years ago, three babies were born. One set was twins. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii on a Marine base. When the twins father called home to Indiana to tell his mother and father they were going to be grandparents, he learned his mother was also giving birth. All three babies born on the same day. The identical twins were named Rene and Steven, and the other baby was named Jaime. The End.

So my husband, Steven, and brother-in-law, Rene have an uncle that is the exact same age as them. Steven's dad is the oldest of ten, and Jaime is the youngest of ten. I guess when you have ten kids it makes sense that the oldest son would have kids by the time the youngest is born. Pretty cool!

Now that brings us back to Gideon, our newest cousin. I thought my nephew was the chunk of the family, but I stand corrected. Check out the new champion. I call him Gideon, The King of Rolls...


Seriously, does it get any chunkier than that? I could play with those rolls all day! I couldn't get enough of them. The cheeks (on the front) just sit on his shoulders. The cheeks (on the back) well, I'll just let you see...
Hard to resist, huh? He is the cutest. You also saw how adorable his Mama is too. I was amazed to see how great (skinny) she was for having a baby seven months ago. However, when you carry around all that for the majority of the day, you're bound to lose some weight!

A pic of the cousins. Thirty-one years age difference...

On to the Next Chapter

Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out...

That was my mantra for last week. However, we successfully moved out of our first home and in with my father-in-law. So far, living with family has been very rewarding. The kids love seeing their Papi everyday, and Papi gets a home cooked meal. Pretty good trade off.

A while back, when I first shared that we were selling our house I mentioned sharing some scriptures we prayed. Steven and I are so thankful for our church because this is where we learned how to access the power of God's Word. We used the scriptures below daily in asking God to provide us with a new house, and believed that we would receive the things we asked. We were very specific in our requests. Asking God for exactly what we wanted. And you know what? We are getting all those things in our new home! It's very exciting.

So here are the scriptures...

Philipians 4:6

"Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything; by prayer and petition and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

1 John 5:14

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of Him."

Mark 11:24

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Matthew 18:19

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on Earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in Heaven"

I WON, I really WON!

So I posted about my bloggy friend's giveaway two posts ago, and today she announced the winner; which was me *blush*. The last time I won something was back in 1985. My mom put my name in a drawing for a kickin' Hello Kitty suitcase filled with all kinds of loot. So, 25 years later I have won again. I guess I'll have to wait 25 more years for my next win. Which means I'll then be almost 55...I am now depressed...

A Valentine Meal

Have you been to The Pioneer Woman's blog yet? If not, you need to rush over there ASAP! Well, after you read this post first of course ;)

For Valentine's Day we have family coming in from Illinois. Instead of making a reservation at a pricey restaurant, and rushing through a meal because we have 4 fussy kids aged 3,1,1, and 6 months, we all decided to eat in. Which means I do the cooking. I really don't mind because that means I get to make what I want to eat while everyone else chases Little Man and Little Miss around. Win-win situation for moi!

Now onto the menu. My mouth is watering already {insert heavy salivating here}.

V-Day Menu
Chicken Parmigiana
Recipe found HERE
{Picture from The Pioneer Woman}

Eggplant Parmesan
Recipe courtesy of my mama!

1 medium eggplant
1 egg
2 TBSP. water
3/4 cup dried Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 cup oil
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. savory
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 8 oz pkg. sliced mozzarella cheese (I used shredded)

Cut eggplant cross-wise in 1/2 inch slices. Beat egg and water. Dip eggplant into egg mixture, then into bread crumbs. Saute slices in oil in large skillet until brown on both sides and fork tender. Layer 1/2 of the eggplant slices over the bottom of a greased 2 quart casserole, then pour half of the tomato sauce, oregano, Italian seasons, savory, paremsan cheese, and mozzarella slices. Repeat layers. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes. Serves 4 - 6 as a main or side dish.


Seasoned Asparagus
Salad
Garlic Bread

Happy Cooking!

The Nasties

We have had the nasties at our house lately. Everyone but Steven has had the stomach bug, and it has knocked us down and out. We are on the mend, but wanted to apologize for the lack of blogging!

I do have a supercool link for you. My bloggy friend, Jesse, has an awesome giveaway. You must check it out if you have a little lady who loves dresses like the one above! You might want to stay and peruse her site as well. She posts some awesome interior design stuff.

Moving is F-U-N...

...if you are three or one years old. Otherwise, moving is W-O-R-K! Not complaining. Just stating that facts.

Now for the purpose of this post, my babies. Er, my babies and nephew. Which pretty much equates to MY BABIES (love them all the same). Since that's all cleared up, I wanted to share how you get things packed up all the while caring for a three year old and two one year olds. It's really pretty simple. You give each child their own box. The oldest coordinates a 'train', and then teaches the young ones to say (or rather scream at high volumes), "CHOO-CHOO". Kept 'em busy for about 30 minutes. In my world that's an eternity. At least 'an eternity' that allowed me to pack up all my decorative items in the living room/kitchen area. All-in-all I declared this day My One Productive Day!



Once my 30 minute packing frenzy ended, the Little Ones became so enamored with Chunky Monkey's belly button. You KNOW you're a chunk of a boy when you can stick almost your entire pointer finger INSIDE your belly button. I couldn't resist my moment to take a pic of this...

Of course is wasn't enough for Chunky Monkey to stick his own finger in his belly button. Little Miss had to take her chance too. All I can say is I am thankful these Little Ones were not smelling their fingers afterwards.


This last picture is to share some love with my biggest daytime helper. He helps me with entertaining the Little Ones, cleaning up, and keeps me laughing throughout the day. Because he is such a good helper, I look forward to doing little activities with just him. Today we went outside to play in the last of the snow. I love this Little Man, and consider each day a blessing that I get to spend with him.