Chloe,

You turned two last week, it was a week of celebrating you and what you mean to our family.  We celebrated your first birthday since coming home to us and then four days later we celebrated the day you became ours.

It has been a hard year for you.  You were fully aware that strangers had come over to your home and taken you from the family that had raised you since you were born.  Your loss has been so deep, but we have come so far together, just these past few months you have begun to seem happy, trusting, and at peace.

Isn't that just a mess, that you at the age of two have already experience more loss than I have in my entire life.  But this morning you insisted that you get back into bed with me and go "night night" just for the joy of being able to be snuggled by mommy, and I would have done it all day if school didn't beckon.  Somehow the mess has become joy (messy joy no doubt but still joy) and I will never find the bottom of my gratitude at getting to be your mommy.

You are two, like someone snuck you a copy of a parenting book and you memorized just how two year olds are to act, they could put your picture in the dictionary next to "two year old."  You believe that the biggest playgrounds were designed for your use (and your use alone).  That taking naps is something only the weak do, that throwing food is a fun pastime, and pulling hair should be an olympic event.

You are a talker, copying every word you hear.  You've begun to speak to us in long sentences, "Mommy all done, sticky hands, down please."  My friends without children laugh at how I can understand everything you say, so maybe I'm not the best judge but I think you speak so well.

I'm pretty sure you have 10 pairs of shoes, blame your big sister, they are all hand me downs, and back in the day she was all we had (and all the grandparents and aunts had :).  You have very strong feelings about shoes, some days are pink cowboy boots days (duh!) and some are slipper days (that would be crocs), but most days are any number of dress shoes, and if I'm lucky we get a tennis shoe day thrown in there from time to time.

For your birthday I made "Chick fila nuggets" and oven fries and gave you lots of ketchup.  Ketchup is your favorite food, I kid you not.  You had a Thomas cake, because you had stolen a thomas book from your brother's room and now ask every nap and night time for the "choo-choo" book.  You loved opening your presents and are very confindent that they are "mine" and enjoy playing with all of them.

For your gotcha day we went out for Korean food.  I made everyone dress up because it was a big day and you loved your Korean food.  I'm thinking that maybe your favorite food is actually rice.  Afterwards we went and walked around (Texas A&M's) campus because it's just what we do and it was time we let you in on the tradition.  You loved running around after your brother and sister and I prayed a little prayer that someday that space of earth would mean as much to you as it does to me.

You are my baby girl.  The one I never thought I would have and didn't know I needed.  Your smile makes our family brighter, your laughter is a joy we waited so long for, we are so glad that you are here, that you are ours, that we get to figure out being a family together.

For her biggest fans (also known as grandparents) some videos:

Spring has sprung

I credit Pinterest (and yes it is impossible for me to have a single post without talking about them) for it, this spring break has been amazing!  I am way more laid back and unorganized than I ever like to admit so most spring breaks we pretty much just take a break from, well, everything :).

We had our pajama/fort building/movie day on Friday and it was enough to fuel me for some get out the house time the rest of the week.  Monday we put on our rain boots and headed out for a nature hike.  The kids had so much fun and I hurt my cheeks smiling at their joy in splashing and their sheer excitement in finding a worm!! a rolly polly!! look mom a giant stick!!

We also had lunch with Daddy on Monday, which was Jack's only request for what fun thing he would like to do over spring break, now that will make a Daddy feel special.  Tuesday we headed to Target (which is a highly requested destination from the kiddos, though you know I happily oblige).  They love Target because they know they get to have popcorn and they wanted to spend some of their money that they had saved up or gotten as a gift.  Mommy got two new spring Essie nail polish colors with her money, so it was a win win.

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That afternoon we made cookies, well ok most people would not call them cookies, they were healthy peanut butter cookies from Dr. Oz (one guess where I found the recipe), they contained no butter or sugar and very little flour.  Anyways I've been trying to change our eating habits around here and so I was excited about these cookies and I had ever thing on hand.  Only after finishing the dough did I start to read the reviews and realize uh-oh everyone says they're horrible.  So I went back and added some baking powder, some salt to help bring out some of the sweetness, and some chocolate chips because let's face it my children will eat anything if it has chocolate chips in it.  They were still just barely pasable, but Kylynn loves them (I love that girl) Jack has managed to get down one (score, snuck fruit into him!) and Chloe loves to break them into a million pieces and feed them to the dog.

Wednesday was a bit non-spring break of a day for us, Jack had speech in the morning and then we ran errands.  But we got to have lunch with our adoption group and it was one of the highlights of the week for me.  The park was swarming with adoptive/interracial families, and I got to meet several new families.  It was so comforting to see something that I have been asking God for since we began this process become a reality, families like ours to walk along side of on this journey, God's goodness is always overwhelming to me when I stop and pay attention.

Source: littlewondersdays.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Today I kind of lost my mind and decided that I should do a craft with the kids, after all crafting is Kylynn's love language and it's something I never do with her.  I found this shaving cream painting project for Easter and thought I can do this...maybe (that's the best it gets when it comes to me and crafts).  First I gathered all my supplies and could not find the construction paper anywhere so we spent the next 20 minutes searching and gave up and headed out to the dollar store.  Perhaps it should be noted that I look like I have the flu with my sweats/old t-shirt/frizzy hair/no make-ups self, but we only need one thing, and I have no time for dignity when I just want to get this crappy fun craft done.  We came home with three things but still they were only a dollar and began our project.  Kylynn had fun and they even turned out like they did in the pictures on-line (mostly).   But the thing about crafts is there is always cleaning involved so I spent about 30 minutes returning our garage/children/cookie sheets back into their normal color.  So if you get an egg card from us for Easter know that it was 3 hours of my life I will never have back again, and that is how much I love you.

I will now go and recover by sleeping and then only if there's time taking a shower.  Tomorrow Daddy is taking off of work (can I get an Amen!) and we're off for an adventure and I do mean adventure because we have no idea what we're doing, but by golly we are going somewhere and doing something!

How's the break going friends?  What is the most fun things you've done?  Did it involve crafting :)?

This Birthday party was brought to you in part by Pinterest

blowing out the candles

Jack turned four at the end of February.  I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around that, four, four is a big kind, officially no longer a toddler.  And everyone knows a big kid deserves a friend birthday party, something I try and avoid when they're too young to know or care who attends their birthday party.  So I spent some time on pinterest and planned out a Fireman birthday party, at the request of the four year old.

we had a pinata, Chloe figured it out without instruction :)

First I did the ol' evite of course, but for the kids in his class I needed a physical invitation so I copied Rage Against the Minivan's idea and printed out the evite as a photo, to pass out to all the kids in his class.  They turned out great and cost me 10 cents a pop.

For the cake I knew that no amount of pinning would help me turn out anything other than a hot pink cake with chicken scrawl that said "Happy fireman Birthday party Jack." So I turned to a professional who also happens to be a dear friend (I'm telling you folks if you cannot craft to save your life surround yourself with those who can and you will never be disappointed).  When I saw what she had made Jack I cried, yes I'm for real, all I had told her was it's a fireman birthday party and ps- can you use lots of frosting because I love your frosting so much I want to eat it with a spoon.  And she came up with this amazing firetruck cake, with all these details like "ladder 4" and "JCFD" (Jack C fire department) on it.  I really couldn't believe that she expected us to cut it up and feed it to everyone like it wasn't a piece of art, until I remembered the frosting and I decided it was worth it.

Source: mamalovesfood.com via Jenny on Pinterest

I tried to keep the food simple considering the party was not going to overlap a meal time and it's enough to make anyone lose their mind trying to clean a house with three children still in it!  So I just did chips and candied jalapeno dip (it was ridiculously good), fruit, pigs in a blanket, and these amazing ham and cheese crescent rolls (have I told you how much I love that blog).  I'm known for overdoing it in the food department, but actually most of it was eaten up and it wasn't even me who ate it :).

All the decorating came straight from pinterest.  I thread balloons using a thread and needle and hung them up all over the house, we cut up plastic table cloths and hung them above the food table and the gift table, and at the last minute I rolled out some wrapping paper as a table runner on the snack table.  It was the most decorating I have ever done for a party but it was all easy and looked great.  I was up till the wee hours in the morning threading 50 balloons and hanging them though out the house, easy but time consuming.

The party really felt like a success and I think Jack felt loved and celebrated the way I hoped he would.  Besides his friends and their families we had a lot of our family come down, which was like icing on the cake (hah!).  I'm still finding a balloon here and there over a week later, and I've made a mental note: come July when the kids are making you feel like you might run away from home, head to the dollar store and buy them some balloons, fill them up and let them play, hours of fun!

Googling symptoms (bad), reading (good), and my friend Pandora

* I've been reading an amazing book lately called, Parenting your Internationally adopted child by Patty Cogen, it's really relevant to my children and frankly I should have read it before Jack came home and be re-reading it now to refresh, live and learn.  Anyways, it's making me see some of my children's behavior in completely different ways.  The other day Chloe threw a fit when I gave her lunch and no matter what I offered, something different to eat, to get down, keep eating, she was hysterical.  The words in the book kept coming back to me and I felt so defeated that I couldn't comfort her or anticipate her needs, I stated to fear we haven't made as much progress as I had thought.  And then she threw up all over me and was happy again.  I've never been so happy to be thrown up on :).

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*I listen to my Pandora station every night while I cook dinner, throw in a glass of wine and it almost makes cooking while three children scream/beg for food/hit each other over the head worth it.  But it helps, that's for sure.  I've had this station for a few years and it's really on the ball with playing music I like.  But the other night, they played some song that I didn't like so I hit the "thumbs down" button and was sure the next one would be one I had already approved, but no it was another song that I didn't like and instead of hitting the "thumbs down" button I just left it alone.  It occurred to me later, that I have begun to think of Pandora as someone with feelings and I just couldn't stand to hurt her (his?) feelings by disliking two of it's songs in a row.  Perhaps I need to get out more.

*In other news of being an overly anxious mommy, yesterday Chloe had purple lips in the morning after we got home from running some errands.  I started to decide it was no big deal, then thought well I might as well google it (always a bad decision).  It told me some possibilities and to look at her finger tips and tongue.  Her fingertips were fine but her tongue and mouth was also purple!  I decided that it was officially she is not getting enough oxygen and maybe there is something wrong with her heart and was just about to make an appointment when I noticed that her teeth were purple too.  That seemed odd, I mean I don't think our teeth need oxygen, then I remembered, she had spent the last hour drinking purple juice!  And I now remind you and myself that one should never google any symptom ever again.

Source: mamalovesfood.com via Jenny on Pinterest

*I found this food blog and even though I wasn't hungry, every single recipe made me start to drool.   People following my on pinterest are going to hate me, I pinned about 15 of her recipes in 10 minutes.  You should totally check out, Mama Loves Food, I'm making her baked potato soup (crock pot) recipe as we speak!!  Plus she has a recipe for cinnamon roll cookies, I know right!

*Jack told me the other day, "mommy your my best friend."  And that pretty much made my month.

*I just finished book two in the Hunger Games series and so far, I'm enjoying them, don't get me wrong but I've just not been swept away by them the way people say.  Lost on the other hand is consuming me I'm half way through the last season and I can't decide if I want to not sleep and stay up all night watching them or watch one episode per month so that it will last longer.  I am so sad that it's almost over.

Source: img4.southernliving.com via Leigh on Pinterest

*Did I ever tell you we got our issue with the IRS resolved, we did!!  I got our check a week ago, we're getting some new windows in our old house because currently our windows aren't doing much more than plastic tarp when it comes to being energy efficient.  This is one of the ways to tell that you are old, when buying windows for your home is an exciting purchase and one you put before buying new cell phones.

*And for the grandparents because I love you and I know you love her, here's a video of Chloe being cute, singing me a song from her book.  PS- I'm not sure why I end the video by saying, "goodbye I love you," like I'm getting off the phone with Chloe, I'm just not all here these days and it's my kids' fault.

Seollal, Hunger (Games and mine), and public manners

Source: maangchi.com via Jenny on Pinterest

*I'm sorry I have been absent so much from this blog, it has actually been a good thing, the month of January has had me catching up on a lot of my to-dos I had been behind on and enjoying spending much less time on the computer.  I seem to either spend way too much time here or ignore it alltogether, next month I need to work on finding that balance again so I can blog AND not waste hours on pinterest. :)

*Jack is a bit of an adrenaline junkie he loves to run really fast, jump off of high objects, and most of all talk of horrible things happening in a very excited voice.  He spends the entire day talking about imaginary scenarios where there's a fire (at the doctor's office we're on our way to) and the firemen will have to put it out!  Or an accident happening and the ambulance will have to come and help people!  Pretty much every scenario that sends me into a panic attack are the ones he loves to shout about as we drive in the car to our destination.

Source: maangchi.com via Jenny on Pinterest

*We celebrated Seollal (the Korean Lunar New Year) for the first time this year, we were a day late due to Kyle's schedule but we had a great time.  I made pajeon, dukgok, and both savory and sweet hoddeok. I cooked for about four hours so it definitely felt like a big feast.  When it was finally all done and we sat down to eat, I was both hungry and worn out.  I was really impressed with how good the food had turned out, since it was my first stab at Korean cooking (Kyle has always done it in the past).  Apparently I was enjoying my food a bit too much, Kyle pointed out that I was making a "mmm" sound every time I took a bite, I was grossing him out with my umm...enthusiasm, what can I say Korean food is good! :)

*To avoid that akward situation where you child points to someone and says, "look mommy that man is really fat", we have a rule that the only thing you can say about/to a stranger is a compliment, such as, "I like her dress."  It has worked really well and I have only had one embarrassing incident (so far) with each child.  Unfortunately most adults do not have as good of manners as my 5 and 3 year olds.  Twice a week we are at a building containing many doctors' offices and we have to ride the elevator.  Every single time we are there we have an adult on the elevator/hallway tell Jack that "he is tiny, small, so very very tiny!"  They say this as if they are paying him a compliment or as if he is not intelligent enough to understand them.  It always makes him feel uncomfortable and he looks at me to try and figure out what to do, and I'm at a loss.  For the record, boys who are almost four do not find being "so very tiny" to be a compliment and sometimes it's okay to not say every thought that comes to your mind.  Thank you!

Source: maangchi.com via Jenny on Pinterest

*I have been in a very experimental mood when it comes to food lately, I'm sure it's because of Pinterest.  Anywho, I want to pass on the best breakfast sandwich of all time.  I often make myself an egg and cheese muffin to eat on my way to drop Kylynn off of school but I thought I'd shake it up a bit the other day and wow! it was amazing.  Take a toasted (I like mine very toasted) english muffin, put blackberry jam on both sides, cook an egg over medium (so that the yoke is just a little runny), put a piece of swiss cheese on it while the egg is hot, and there you have it, so good!  You'll make noises when you eat, right it's not just me that does that sometime...

*I've started reading the Hunger games and since I'm only about half way through the first book I'm doing okay at not letting it take over my life.  So far I find it not half as addictive as the Twilight series, but I believe that the first book in Twilight did not consume me either, so we'll see.  Reading it is part of the reason I have been so productive lately, I've been making deals with myself of things I need to do before I read.  I haven't been so on the ball and so consistent in reading the Bible in months! :)

*If I talk about pinterest again will you stop being my friend?  I would, geez lady get a real life friend!  Ok, so I've noticed a trend in my use of pinterest I'll pin anything crafts I'll never do, clothes I can never afford, homes that will always be 47 times cleaner than mine, but the only thing I've translated from pin to real life: food.  I have cooked proably a third of all my recipe pins and haven't touched the other categories, I'm not even sure what's on my other boards.

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*On Seollal we also practiced our bowing and watched some Korean cartoons I found on you tube.  The big kids were instantly hooked on the Robocar Poli.  They begged me to watch it again today and sure enough they watched three episodes of a show in which they did not understand a single word.  I'm really excited about it, as Jack is really loving the fact that he is Korean right now so the more Korean culture I can incorporate into our lifes the better.  Of course the fact that it was Korean did not make Chloe want to watch it anymore than any other TV show, it's a sign of a bad mommy when you wish your child would want to watch TV, add it to the list.

How about you what bit of randomness do you have for me today?  Books I need to read, food I need to eat, movies to see, stories to hear?  Let me know!  I hope y'all have a week filled with random beauty, it's all around us if we just take the time to notice.

Modern day machines (the good and bad), teeth, and more on Pinterest

*Can I get a hallelujah for modern day machines.  I am finally finding the time to write because dinner is cooking in the crock pot and bread machine, the washer and dryer are cleaning my clothes, and of course the TV/DVD is babysitting my children.  I feel kind of like superwoman, which makes absolutely no sense because I am doing very little work at the moment.

*Chloe doesn't watch TV yet so she is not actually being babysat, just being ignored, which I will regret later.  Besides climbing and opening doors, she is really into hitting Jack these days.

*I'm making Creamy Chicken and Rice soup for dinner, oh man it looks so good!  Of course I pinned it.

*Jack is no longer being babysat either, due to 1)his decision that all movies (Corduroy is on) are scary, no matter what the topic, he tells me he doesn't want to watch this movie anymore after about 1 minute because it's scary and 2) Chloe and the whole hitting Jack fascination.

*On Saturday I had eaten a really large breakfast and so for lunch I decided to make this really yummy looking smoothie(from Pinterest duh), with spinach and all sorts of berries.  I loaded up about $5 worth of produce into my blender and it died on me, I was so upset at the thought of throwing away all that (expensive) food, that I put it in the fridge.  It's still there and it looks disgusting I really need to throw it out, but then I will have officially wasted all that food.

*Kylynn's first tooth is loose, last night at dinner she started crying about how her tooth was stuck.  I looked at it and it was really loose and bleeding a little.  Kyle and I both were a little freaked out about it (which says so much about us I know) and I realized that once again I've reached a stage in parenting where I have no idea what's happening.  Later that night she used my magnified mirror to check it all out and found that her permanent tooth has already broken through behind it.  If you're a tooth expert, let me know if for some reason that's a problem.

*I was over at a friend's house the other night and I walked in and instantly saw something on her wall and just knew...Pinterest!  But most of the time when I'm with friends and I try to tell them about something I saw on Pinterest (which is sadly often) they're not members and have no idea what I'm talking about.  If my phone wasn't from 1987, I could pull it up and show them, but instead I just say never mind and they're left thinking I need to get a life, which is entirely true.

*I have probably used Wikipedia about 3 times in my life and then today of all days I needed it to look up information on the Lunar New Year and how they celebrate it in Korea, we've never celebrated it and I saw some of my fellow Korea mommies do really cool things with their kiddos so I wanted to this year and of course today they're protesting with a blackout.  Unfortunately with the brain I have these days I will not remember to check back tomorrow.

*I'm sure that there was more randomness that I intended on writing when I sat down, but Chloe has come in every 30 seconds to pull on my arm and then throw herself on the ground in dramatic flair to inform me of her extreme dislike that I am not paying attention to her!  So for now friends I hope you have a great Wednesday, full of randomness, and that you see the beauty in all of it around you.

Oh crap Chloe's got the cookies and some of my pottery and is playing the "drums", peace out!

Let's talk Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Jenny on Pinterest

Have y'all noticed I've been a little absent on this here blog lately, it's because of a little thing called Pinterest.  Are you on Pinterest, if so let's discuss, if not well listen in and decide if the good outweighs the bad, I honestly don't know.

Source: polyvore.com via Jenny on Pinterest

You see Pinterest is a little like crack.  Well I've never done crack (shocking I know), how about this Pinterest is a little like cheese puffs.  One taste and your hooked, before you know it you can't stop consuming until the last one has been eaten.  When it's all said and done you're left feeling a little guilty but mostly thinking about when you can have more.

Source: crushculdesac.tumblr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

For those of you not on Pinterest, it is website where you can create virtual pinboards of pictures (that include links to the website they're from) organized by category.  You also follow others and see what they're pinning, which if you're not creative (like me) you can just re-pin whatever they do.  I have a board with recipes, one with fashion, one with ideas for my home, one I used while Christmas shopping, and one for guilty pleasures, like this picture of my favorite vampire someone pinned and I literally could not stop myself.

Source: sassybitchface.tumblr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Here's the thing about Pinterest that separates it from all the other time wasters out there on the web.  After I spend an hour on Pinterest I feel like I just cooked this dinner and this one, made this dessert to boot, styled my hair, bought a whole new outfit, learned how to clean my bathroom with a grapefruit, and painted my island turquoise!  Only problem is all I really did was spend an hour looking at pretty pictures and pinning them onto my boards.

Source: fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

But believe or not I do actually use the things I pin.  I've become much more fashion conscious, well some days at least.  I've cooked many of the recipes I've found, and found that just because someone has a fancy camera doesn't mean their recipe is any good, but sometimes it does.  I've tried the sock bun for curling my hair, and it made my hair look like a rat's nest, but I'm hoping it was user's error and will try again.  I used it very effectively to pick out Christmas gifts, and have a list as long as Kyle's arm (he's got long arms) for projects to do around the house.  In short, it's made me more creative and eager to try new things then I've been since I grew up and lost that creative energy that used to drive me.

Source: jenniferjohner.typepad.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Are you on Pinterest?  If so let me know I'd love to follow you, because the more people I follow the more cool pins I see when I log on and the less likely I am to click on the "popular" pins link and find myself drowning in a world of amazing pins that never ends.  Afterall a girl's gotta sleep sometime.

*wow, the word "Pinterest is very hard to spell and blogger needs to learn it's a real word so I can easily see where I've messed up*

Friday night is pizza night!

This little beauty is one of my favorite kitchen appliances.  My absolutely favorite bread machine recipe is the pizza dough recipe I found at Allrecipes.  Whoever you are Kim, thank you for this one!

Ingredients

• 1 cup flat beer
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

Directions

1. Put beer, butter, sugar, salt, flour, and yeast in a bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting, and press Start.
2. Remove dough from bread machine when cycle is complete. Roll or press dough to cover a prepared pizza pan. Brush lightly with olive oil. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Spread sauce and toppings on top of dough. Bake until crust is lightly brown and crispy on the outside, about 24 minutes.

To make your beer flat open it up the night before or in the morning and let it set out, if you forget to as I always do, you can pour the beer into the measuring cup from high up, then do the same when pouring into the bread machine, it's not perfect but it'll make it flater and the recipe seems to come out just as well.

In addition to Kim's ingredients, I also use whatever Italian seasoning I have on hand, usually a combination of basil, rosemary, and oregano, I add about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of each, you can add whatever seasoning you fancy or just leave it out altogether.

Add all the ingredients in the order that your bread machine prefers (sorry for the horrible picture, P Dub I am not).  Make a little dent in the flour to put the yeast into.  Once the machine begins making it into dough make sure to check the consistency to see if it needs more liquid or flour.

This pizza dough is good, it tastes more like focaccia bread to me than pizza dough.  If you're a crust girl like I am than you'll love this, the crust is the best part!

Roll it out into a circle the size of a pizza pan (sorry folks I'm not good with measurements so that's as accurate as I get).  Use lots of flour to keep it from sticking and then transfer it to the pan or stone you want to cook it on.  

After I roll it out, I pierce it with a fork all over, put a little EVOO (love Rachel Ray!) on it and bake my dough for about 7 minutes before putting on any toppings.  I find that it comes out doughy if I don't do this pre-bake step, but that's just me.  After I put on all the toppings I cook it another 17 minutes or until it's done.

I made this Margherita (no sauce, mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil, drizzled in EVOO and sprinkled with salt) pizza a few weeks ago when I was still trying to use up the tomatoes from my garden.  My favorite to make when I don't have an abundance of tomatoes is BBQ Chicken (BBQ sauce for the sauce, cheddar cheese, chicken, and red onions) pizza.  

I haven't picked up a pizza for dinner since finding this recipe (unless we were out of town), it's that good and that easy!  Enjoy!

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July, friends!  I hope you're having a good one.  My kitchen smells like brisket right now and I'm about to make me this peach cobbler.  Life doesn't get much better than that!

What I'm loving this month

Our blackberry bushes were a bust this year, we got a total of around 22 blackberries out of 3 huge bushes.  On the other hand we have tomatoes, oh yes we have tomatoes in abundance.  I hate to waste food so we've been eating lots of tomatoes (and eggplants, onions, basil, and mint, our other bumper crops).  The other day it occurred to me I needed to eat some red meat soon, I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten any meat and it's no fun to be anemic.

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My favorite tomato recipes so far, tomato pie (thank you Elizabeth!) and fried green tomatoes.  I'll let Ms. Paul Deen tells you to make a tomato pie but for the fried green ones just do this, dip green tomato slices in flour, then egg, then panko crumbs, fry until a beautiful golden brown, remove from the oil and grind up some sea salt on top.  Oh my they are some kind of wonderful, I just drooled on my keyboard.

I got two of these dresses from Land's End and they finally came in this month, I waited two whole months, but let me tell you it was worth it.  I have a new uniform folks.  I wore it to the splash pad in 200 degree heat and I stayed cool.  I love it, it is very flattering, I wish I would have ordered three instead of two.

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I'm reading Bringing Up Girls, by Dr. Dobson.  I have cried my eyes out reading this book, mainly because I'm an emotional mess, but also because the book is so insightful into what little girls and women need from their parents.  This book is all about meeting your daughter's needs in such a way that she can grow up to be a successful, godly woman.  I think I'm going to have to buy it, it is a lot to take in in a few short weeks, and it is definitely a book worth owning.

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My pandora station introduced me to, Ray LaMontagne, I had never heard of him before and I am smitten.  His voice has some physical effect over me, I feel myself relax and refocus on happy things.  I wonder if there is any way I could stick my earbuds in my ears and listen to him during Jack's doctor appointments without looking like a crazy person, no?

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I drank a whole bottle of Simply Lemonade in about 2 days last week.  Oh my it is good stuff, it tastes like homemade lemonade, trust me I know.  For some reason I could never grasp today, before I had kids I regularly made lemonade from scratch all summer long, that's right I juiced the lemons by hand.  On that same note isn't it funny how before you had kids you thought you were "busy" and now you realize that you didn't even know the meaning of the word busy :).

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Did y'all watch Lost?  I didn't and I've yet to see an episode, but it seems like every week I read another blog about someone watching Lost on DVD and how much they've enjoyed it.  So it's not fair to say I'm loving Lost, but I'm loving the idea of watching Lost this summer, the problem is how to get my hands on the series for free to cheap, I am the only person in the world without Netflix (we use Blockbuster.com....long story), any ideas?

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Have you heard of Seeds Worship music, if you haven't here's all you need to know, it is scripture put to music for children, that will not make you want to "accidentally" break the CD.  It is good stuff, the Seeds of Courage CD is so good I listen to it by myself all the time, I'm often in need of courage.  The even cooler part is that all the CDs come with an extra copy you can give to a friend, free birthday present, score!

We finished our study a while back, before and after pictures coming soon, and my favorite thing about it is that I finally get to hang up this poster I bought from JollyGoode.  Flower patch farmgirl told us about her and really I might just plan another room around one of her prints, I love them that much!

How about you anything you're loving this month, let me in on it, please!