Not This Time

Last week I wrote about missing Little Man's first high diving experience.  The experience I missed.  I'm still seeking counseling over my error.

Last Friday, Little Man had another opportunity.  I didn't miss it.  Not this time.  I had my camera out, but failed to capture the pic fully because I didn't want to watch from behind the camera.  I wanted the full experience.

He was so brave.  Before his class could even finish getting out of the water, he was already at the bottom of the ladder.  He climbed right up, walked across, looked at me, and jumped.  My heart swelled with pride.  This moment was big for him.  He didn't have fear.  He just did it.  This is what we prayed for him.  The 'Can Do' attitude.

Little Man really excelled in his class.  By no means was he the best swimmer the first day, but because he's competitive he was the best by the last day.  One area that I was really impressed with was his work on the kickboard.  On the first day he was just figuring out how to balance his weight with the board, but on the last couple of days he was the lead kicker.  

On one occasion I caught him super far ahead of his group.  I went over to congratulate him on a job well done, when he ripped off his goggles like he was Micheal Phelps and said...

Well, I'll let you take a little quiz on what he said.  Let's see how well you know my boy.  Just remember, he is a small version of his father.

After beating everyone, did Little Man say...

A.) "Wow!  I did a really good job."

B.)  "I can't believe I won."

C.) "Man, I'm killin' folks!"

If you guessed "C", you are completely right.  I couldn't help but laugh when I heard him.  He's definitely not hurting in the self-esteem category.  So here's my boy, killin' folks...

As for Little Miss, she also did swim lessons.  However, she thought she was at a swim party everyday.  Her poor teacher. Such a young guy with a little spitfire.  I prayed for him everyday.  Here's Little Miss in all her swim glory...

And swim lesson wouldn't be complete without a pose with her cousin...

If you're wondering about Chubby Cheekers, he was there too.  Every day except one.  His Grammy took  pity on him.  She came over to babysit so he could get a full morning nap.  However, every other day he was doing this...

Please excuse my facial expression.  I'm obviously deep in thought.

A Weekend of Firsts

This past weekend we broadened our horizons.  We branched out.  We didn't do the norm.  We didn't even do Saturday/Sunday morning breakfast.  We broke up the monotony and lived on the edge.  As much of the edge that you can live on with a 4 month old, 3 year old, and 5 year old. 

Saturday morning we were up and out the door.  For years I have wanted to visit our local berry farm to pick fresh berries.  For years Steven gave me the eye roll.  For years I didn't give up.  All that persistence paid off because I got him to go, and he enjoyed himself.  Just check us out...

That's us getting our blueberries on.  We opted for the Pick and Share route.  For every 2 lbs you pick, you get a lb for free.  Apparently we were quite the pickers.  We ended up with 1.5 lbs of blueberries and 1.5 lbs of blackberries for free.  Little Man was the champ of all champ pickers.  He had a difficult time walking by a bush full of berries and not want to pick them all off.  He's a boy after my own heart.  I can assure you that berry picking will be our next date.

On next 'first' was on Sunday morning. Our good friend was participating in a local biking event.  We were pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed watching all the bikers.  His leg of the race was 30 miles, and he came in at the front.  We were super proud of him.  The 'professional' bikers were riding 120 miles and flying down hills and turns.  We were all amazed, especially me.  120 miles?  No thank you.  I don't even like to do 120 miles in the car, let alone pedaling myself for that long.  

After we finished watching the bikers, we visited a tent that had a course set up for kids.  They offered Strider Balance Bikes for the kids.  Each kid got a race number and a ribbon upon completion.  I loved watching Little Man and his main gal race each other.  Those two monkeys were so competitive with each other.  So awesome.  Little Miss and her self-claimed BFF were doing great just learning how to balance themselves.

 

Our last first was flying kites.  Unfortunately the kites were not so good, but we had fun.  My mom has all the pics on her camera, so I'll post those when she forwards them on to me.  Moms...they're so great.

If you're wondering about Chubby Cheekers, he didn't ride the balance bikes or pick berries or fly kites.  Poor guy just gets to come along for the ride.  I'm sure he'll have lots to say about that on his weekly post.

Menu Monday

This is a sad week for me.  Three-fifths of our family will be heading to Chicago.  Two-fifths will be hanging back because one-fifth of the family doesn't enjoy long rides in his car seat.  Since one-fifth can't fend for himself another member of the family will remain with him.  Since the one-fifth relies on milk from a particular member of the family, I will make up the second one-fifth remaining home, making up the two-fifths of the family.  Did you catch all that?

For you non mathematicians out there, Chubby Cheekers and I will remain at home while Steven takes Little Miss and Little Man on a road trip.  I'm bummed.  I don't do 'apart' very well.  Regardless of my bummed-ness, I'm excited for Steven and the kids.  I just hope I don't go bored out of my mind taking care of only one child.  Not to mention my MOTHER is going out of town too.  Do these people not realize I use them for entertainment???

Okay, pity party over.  Here's the menu for the week...

Monday-Sliders, Homemade Fries, Fruit Salad
Tuesday-Shredded Beef Tacos, Chips and Salsa
Wednesday-Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole and Parker Rolls
Thursday-Grilled Chicken Salad, Crescents
Friday, Saturday, Sunday- Who's adopting me?  What!  No takers?

I MISSED IT!!!!!!!!!!

My oldest.  The boy who made me a mom.  He has my heart.  His excitement excites me.  He has such an innocence to him.  He's compassionate and accepting far beyond his years.  He's observant, and forgets almost nothing.  There's a lot I can learn from him.

He has so many good qualities, but one wee little area we have worked with him on is bravery and boldness.  He has come light years from his toddler days and I chalk a lot of that progress to prayer.

For example, when he was about 3.5 years old, Steven used to toss Little Miss high in the air.  She was 1.5 years old.  He could never throw her high enough.  She'd squeal and laugh and say, "More Daddy.  More."  When Steven would turn to Little Man and ask if he wanted a turn, he would reply, "No Daddy. Too high.  Too dangerous."  I share this story with you so you can fully appreciate what Little Man accomplished this week.

For the past two weeks, Little Miss, Little Man, and Chunky Monkey have been in swim lessons.  The place they are taking lessons have a high dive and a low dive.  He has no issues with jumping of the low dive.  He's been doing jumps of diving boards for 2 years.  However, I wondered what he would do if he had the opportunity to jump off the high dive.  I asked him.

Ah man.  Big mistake.  Not really in asking, but in the timing of asking him...right at bedtime.  He began to fret.  He wanted to do it, but fear was swelling up inside.  He decided that he would climb up to see the height and then climb down if it was too scary.  That didn't really sit well with me.  I told him once he climbed up, he wasn't going to climb back down.  That would allow fear to make his decision instead of doing what he really wanted.  Plus that would be quitting, and the Torres family doesn't quit.  This made him even more upset.  Since I really didn't know what to do, we prayed about it.  Prayed for God to give him strength to accomplish his desire.

The very next day he had the opportunity to jump.

And you know what my boy did?

He marched right up to the top and jumped off.

And do you know what this mama did?

Nothing.  I completely missed the whole thing.  I was keeping my eye on his ornery sister.

I didn't even realize what he had done until after class.  He told me what he did and I thought he was kidding.  Then he began to describe the experience and I realized there would be no way he could tell me what he was telling unless he really DID do it.  I MISSED IT!!!

All I can say is I am one bummed mama, AND tomorrow my eyes will be glued to that boy!  I'm not missing it again.

Seeing it or not, I am so proud of him.  More proud than if Little Miss had done it.  She's a little dare devil so seeing her jump off a high dive is expected.  Little Man...welp...that took some major courage for him.  Courage and bravery that he prayed for.

If you are in my area and are looking for a good program, leave a comment and I will send you the info.  We have been overly impressed with the program.  I am more impressed with this program than with Miller Swim School.  Much more concentrated work for consecutive days, allowing for a submersion type learning.

My New Motto For Life

Seriously.  How many times have you wanted to be brutally honest with someone who chalks each bad situation up to, "Well, everything happens for a reason."?  AND, how many times have I thought this of myself???  Too many times to share.   Enjoy your Wednesday.

Caloric Chicken

I'm about to let out a big secret.  You will never look at me the same again.  I am a recipe picture looker.  Doesn't sound that bad does it?  I am infamous for looking at the pictures and barely scanning the ingredient list.  Look at the directions?  Nah.  That would take too long.

This is precisely what happened last night.  I started to make Chicken Kiev.  Oops.  I was supposed to prepare it and then refrigerate it for at least an hour before baking.  Since I only had an hour to make it start to finish I was out of luck. No Chicken Kiev for us.

Being the desperate inventive cook I am, I put together a new dish.  I would like to name it Caloric Chicken.  The name should speak for itself.

Caloric Chicken

4 chicken breast thawed
2 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
4 Tbsp shredded cheddar cheese
4 tsp of green onions, finely diced
4 Tbsp Ranch dressing
garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste

• Using the flat end of the meat mallet, thin chicken to 1/4 inch thickness
• Season with garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste
• In the center of the chicken sprinkle 1 Tbsp of cheese, 1 tsp of green onion, and a pinch of bacon into each breast.
• Roll up each breast and secure with a toothpick.
• Drizzle 1 Tbsp of Ranch on each piece
• Bake, uncovered, @ 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until juices run clear

Happy Cooking!!!

Menu Monday

Holy Manoly.  I got hit with mastitis this weekend.  Never in my life have I been so thankful for easy access to health meds.  It's simply amazing how an antibiotic can make you feel 100% better in a 12 hr time period.

Since I was down and out this weekend and our week was full of fun, I didn't get a day-by-day menu planned. A few meals are carried over from last week and some meals will have to be put together by 'pantry shopping'. Steven will be so pleased :)

Here's some of the items on our list this week...

• Chicken Kiev, Broccoli Casserole, Crescents
• Butt (yep, you read that right), Mashed Potatoes, Salad
• Shredded Taco (with leftover butt meat...yum), Corn Saute
• Hamburgers, Raw Veggies with Dip, and Fresh Fruit Salad
• Dinner @ Neighborhood Block Party'
• Dinner @ Mom's
• Shop the Pantry