Melt Me

He may not read my blog very often (or ever) and he may not follow my tweets, but my man loves me and sometimes for absolutely no reason at all he does very sweet things that speak my love language. Such as writing this:

There is a lot that husbands think but don’t say.  When I step through the door and the house is a disaster, the kids are a mess, the older is beating the younger over the head, and the first question posed is“ What do you want for dinner, because I haven’t a clue” the first thought that comes to mind is “I’m glad I wasn’t in her shoes all day”. The second thought is “I know she cleaned all day until finally won over by exhaustion, flying toy dinosaurs, racing trucks and finger foods(which actually weren’t finger foods at all) so she stopped an hour before I got home. That's eight hours longer then I would have lasted." The third thought is that kids fight when mom is distracted and daddy is gone. She probably tried to answer the phone for a change instead of letting it ring through and those little "cuties" took advantage of her. And that last thought is followed by immediate action. Hug your wife, mom of four, and whisper in her ear ” I don’t know how you do it.“  Oh yeah, and spank the kids, call for delivery and tidy up before the food gets there.

Divine Hot Chocolate

I made this for Christmas morning and it made me want to lay on the floor and kick and scream. Seriously, it'll make you cry it's so good.

I originally got the recipe off the back of the vanilla bean package, but then Jarrod threw it away I lost the package. So on Christmas morning I googled it and found it here.

Ingredients 

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup + 3TBS sugar
1/2 cup water
Pinch Salt
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chilled whipping cream

Directions 

Scrape seeds from vanilla beans into food processor; set aside pod. Add sugar to processor and blend for about 10 seconds.
Set Aside 3 TBS of vanilla sugar for later use.
Transfer remaining vanilla sugar to heavy medium saucepan. Add cocoa powder, water and salt. Whisk til smooth. Whisk over medium heat, just until bubbling begins.
Whisk in milk and 1/2 and 1/2. Add vanilla pod; bring mixture to simmer.
Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla extract, discard vanilla pod.
Beat whipping cream and reserved vanilla sugar in medium bowl until peaks form.
Divide hot chocolate between 6 mugs and top with whipped cream.

Lessons

Over the last year I've learned...

*that the prayers you offer up in the silence of your heart echo just as loudly in the throne room of heaven

*that God answers those prayers in His time, in His way, and usually not the way you expect

*that when someone prays for God to show you in a tangible way that He loves you, three weeks later a delivery truck will show up with new fully paid-for couches that you longed for but crossed off the list because they were absolutely not in the budget. The exact couches that you wanted, but someone else bought without knowing this.

*that if you pray for a girl, you might have all boys, not because He doesn't hear or care, but because before the foundation of the world He had planned for those little boys to come into existence and be raised by you. That there is a grieving process you must go through to re-adjust your thinking, and that is okay. That not everyone will understand this. That your own children won't understand this and will say things like "If you want a sister, you have to pray for a brother because when I pray for a girl we just get another boy." And it might make you cry. And it might make you angry and feel like ignoring God for a while.

*that every child is unique, and that each moment is precious because they will never be as small as they are right this minute

*that a true friendship is one where you can admit something shameful and shocking, and they will hug you and pray for your and support you, and really not be shocked at all

*that being a mom to four boys is a really hard job and it makes me feel kind of lonely a lot of the time, but as soon as J comes home I forget that I felt that way

*that my husband is much much better with money than I am and should have been in charge of the finances from the very beginning. It is so much more fun when he does the budget.

*that I enjoy editing other people's writing and should have gone to school to be an editor. I love to read, I might as well get paid for it. This may be something I pursue when my children are older.

*that I like paranormal fiction

*that OPI makes the absolute best nail polish and Hawaiin Orchid is my favorite color

*that my friends are the family I chose for myself, and they are special

*that buying an entertainment center at a garage sale for $40 can be a catalyst to transforming your home

*that I am a technology geek and would be lost without my iMac, my iPhone, and my Kindle

*that I like the color orange

*that shopping online for Christmas is way more fun than fighting the holiday crowds

*that when you halfheartedly pray for God to do something, He might reply in a still small voice that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than you ask or imagine

Goals, not resolutions

I'm not one to make New Year resolutions, but I am a big believer in goals. The power of making a list is evident in the things that we've accomplished over the last few years, many of them which seemed impossible when we wrote them down. Putting them on the list was almost a joke to us; but looking back, there are very few things that we wrote down as a goal that hasn't come to pass.  So with that in mind, here are some of my goals for 2010:

• Increase my repertoire of recipes that I am comfortable with and confident in so that hospitality will become easier for me. I'd like to try new recipes more often.
• Plan meals in advance to save on grocery bills and dining out.
• Paint the living room, kitchen, master bedroom, master bathroom, and guest bathroom. 
• Learn how to re-finish furniture.
• Learn how to use a power drill so that I can do more things around the house myself 
• Complete a shutterfly photobook
• BLOG MORE OFTEN
• Take some classes from Jessicasprague.com
• Support Jarrod as he budgets our way to a debt-free life 
• Get back into my jeans
• Take a Zumba class and start swimming laps
• Go to more garage sales 
• Follow through with the projects I think up, even if that means learning how to do something new
• play with my boys when they ask
• Ask for faith to realize the sovereignty of God
• Date my husband
• Two words: Storage Solutions
• Get inspired, discover what I love, and bring it into my home
• Discover who I am, and do it on purpose

Best of 2009

For all the blog posts I didn't write and wanted to, here are my favorite photos from 2009, because they make me remember and they make me smile. It was VERY hard to pair it down to just two or three for each month.

JANUARY:

Haydn's first trip to the dentist to get a cavity filled. Every time he smiled at me it made me laugh.

Dog-Sitting for Grammie's dogs while they were in Chicago. Rowan was in hog heaven having "Pup-EEES" to chase around all day. Couldn't keep him out of the dog kennel though.

He went through a phase where he stubbornly refused to stay in his bed at night. If we got up for a drink at 3 a.m. we would inevitably find Rowan sleeping on the floor in the hallway, on the couch, by his brothers' room, or even behind his own door. One night J had him sleep in his diaper in the hopes that being cold would encourage him to stay in his warm bed... nope, just found a shivering pitiful little diaper-clad boy on the floor in the middle of the night. Love the puffer on the floor by his head.

FEBRUARY:

J took me to Seattle for a little "baby moon" before Brecken was born. We hadn't had an overnight without the kids since 2006. This *amazing* glass sculpture/chandelier thing was in one of the malls in Bellvue. It made me happy every time I saw it. Seriously incredible. 

Valentine's Day: Loved hearing their excitement when they saw the table decorated and the little valentine's gifts. We had heart-shaped pancakes too.

From the Annual Norwegian Feast at mom's house. She was teaching the grandkids some facts about the Norwegians, including how to give a proper toast by shouting the word "Skall!" One thing I appreciate about my mom is her genuine amusement at the little things my children do. You can always count on her to give a sincere belly laugh. 




MARCH:

Remembering our friend Jay on the one-year anniversary of his passing. We went to the ceremony on the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, where they had this bench dedicated in his name. He was barely 31 years old, healthy, active, a father, and a husband. 

The birthday flowers that were really from Greyson. I pointed them out to him in Costco one day and said "Tell your Daddy those are my favorites." He was SO proud when he marched into the house after a shopping trip with Dad and said "Look Mama, I remembered!" 

APRIL:

MAY: 

My doctor, Stephanie, who didn't go home but hung out at the hospital until 3 a.m., checking on me and encouraging me and giving me a blessed epidural, and when it was finally time to deliver she made us all laugh somewhat hysterically (you know, the crazy laughter you get when you havn't slept in over two days) by saying "All right, it's time to have a baby! Just let me slip into my birthday suit and we'll get to it..... er, I mean my delivery suit."

That FACE! The one that had our delivery nurse calling the other nurses to come in and see and they couldn't stop laughing at my poor little guy cuz he was just so darn cute. They even flicked the lights on and off a couple times to see if he'd do it again. I didn't know what they were laughing at because I couldn't see past the wall of nurses around him, but luckily Jarrod caught it on film. Welcome to the world, precious Brecken, who was born on Cinqo De Mayo and narrowly escaped being named Pedro.

JUNE:

Great Grandpa Russ and Noni came to visit in June. I love this picture of him interacting with Haydn, because really I just love him. He has made me feel so loved and treasured and welcomed into Jarrod's family from the very first time I met him. He is kind and gentle and sincere, and I'm proud that Brecken is named after him.

The pictures I took this day when Rowan was helping Jarrod dig a trench for sprinkler pipes are some of my favorites of all time. Priceless.

JULY:

He was sitting on the bench next to me when he suddenly jumped off and took off like a shot shouting "QUACK-QUACKS!!!!!" He then proceeded to chase ducks and gulls across the sand for two hours shouting for the Quack-Quacks to come back.

AUGUST:

Because we are not usually adventurous or quick to travel, going to Portland with four bambinos, one of whom was still very small, was a big deal. We did it though, and it really went smoothly. Stopping at Multnomah Falls was the highlight for me.

Oh man this picture makes me laugh. If looks could kill, I'd be dead.

SEPTEMBER:

Grey's first day of pre-school did not find him nervous. He was in full Greyson Mode.

OCTOBER:

NOVEMBER:

Because this set of boys looks eerily similar to the set of little boys in the next picture, which was taken five years ago.

And this is the "Real" story.

Because I don't have a lot of photos with my  mom and sisters-in-law, and I love them.

Because Great-Grandma Noni sat and listened to him read the ENTIRE story of how the grinch stole Christmas.

December:

Because she is going to be my new sister and he brought her home to meet us. Because I love him and I'm proud of him... and because  my dad is sleeping in the background. That's just funny.

It's not a great picture, but he believes and we were on our way to see Santa.

Because I have very few pictures of myself since I am usually the one behind the camera, and  Jarrod caught this candid of me playing with my baby.

Because it's a true candid, taken just the other day, of my boys interacting with eachother joyfully. We call them "The Bigs" and "The Littles" because we have two sets of boys, and whenever The Bigs play with the baby he just loves it.

Because 2010 is going to be a great year, and Rowan is going to be potty trained in it. Happy New Year!

Merry Belated Christmas

Yep, it's one day late, but nevertheless sincere!

Yes!

Guess whose finally taking a bottle!!