Merry Christmas!!

I'm feeling so very pampered right now. Quinn took me for a haircut last week, and we re-colored it to take it back to dark, so I'm a brunette again! He also brought home a pre-Christmas present when my little handmixer died, making Christmas baking difficult. I'm now the proud owner of a KitchenAid handmixer. It's beautiful.

 

  
Christmas was beautiful for us all as well. We got to have Quinn's little sisters here for Christmas morning, and we had a wonderful time with them. We picked them up at Becca's house the night before where we were celebrating Christmas with his Mom and siblings and brought them home for the night.We watched Despicable Me and ate popcorn and drank hot chocolate then all crashed shortly after midnight.


We slept in a bit the next morning, and woke up to a light sprinkling of snow on the ground. I knew that was supposed to happen, but didn't expect it to.

 

Charity-Christmas Morning

 

Tabitha-Christmas morning

 

Gavin's stocking

 

My stocking stuffer from Quinn *love*

 

 

Gavin and his stocking stuffers

Quinn going ape on his stocking

 

Quinn's Jos. A Banks coat that I got for him.

My Husqvarna Viking that Quinn got for me. Heck yeah.

After our morning together we went out to my family's house for lunch. It was a crazy fun little event that I took no pictures of, so I'll have to pirate them off of my Mom's laptaop. 

From there we went back to Becca's for Christmas with Quinn's Dad. Pictures from that:

 

My boys at Becca's

 

Grandpa Matt with the two Grandbabies: Gavin and Ella

 

Becca and I with our babies- best friends for 7 years now. <3 

Provision

We have a trip to Rockford coming up. As of last week we had no money for a trip to Rockford. 

Last week Quinn's check came in at $200 over what we expected. He checked with his manager and they confirmed that it was correct. 

We now have money for our trip to Rockford. 

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Our laptop has been acting up for several months. We figured we'd replace it after Christmas, but this month we started getting random bsod's, and figured we were about to be computerless. 

Last week we got a text from Q's dad, who is moving, wanting to know if we wanted his desktop. 

Yes. 

We did. 

So now I'm typing on a Dell desktop that has all of my pictures and music safely stored on it's hard drive, instead of a dying laptop. 

Too cool. 

God is so good. 

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Gavin's been a grump the last couple days, but woke up happy this morning. It's a relief. Of course, I'm not sure *how* happy he is because I haven't put him down yet, but he's happy enough to be sitting in my lap chewing his fist and gurgling at me. That's a huge improvement over yesterday's ultra clingyness. I don't think there's a dryer sheet big enough to cut the cling that was going on yesterday. He was crying within 3 minutes of being put down EVERY time I set him down except one 40 minute nap. Baking was difficult. 

Speaking of- I am going to go consume a bowl full of apple pie with milk for my late breakfast and put together a pot of beef and tater stew.

Random pics:

You Light Up My Life

 I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get things done these days....

 

The child is the embodiment of sweetness. You can talk him out of fussing, and he will smile for anyone. He's a snuggly little koala bear and I love him with all my heart.

Not that life isn't busy... I realized this morning that it has been at least two weeks since I've had a day to stay home. I canceled teaching my younger siblings today so I could do just that. I thought I was gonna scour the house, but instead I'm sitting on the couch with my sleeping baby listening to classical piano music on Pandora. *happy sigh*   I will have to make dinner soon, though, so my vegging is going to be cut short. 


Daylight savings is killing me. Yesterday morning I woke up in a panic because the clock said 8 o'clock and that meant that there was no way we could get out the door in time for church because it was acutally 9 o'clock. Quinn let me suffer for 10 minutes before he reminded me that it's fall... which meant that I was waking him up at 7am on one of the very few mornings that he had to sleep in. Darn.  Gavin was awake for the day though, so it didn't matter much.

 
He's got a wonderful little sleep pattern down. He's out cold by 9:30 every night and doesn't wake up until 5, then will go back to sleep 'til 7 or 8. It's wonderful for me. 

Life, in general, is wonderful for me. I'm not quite sure how to keep up with things yet, but I'm getting better. The bird feathers and dirty dishes usually are what gets to me. Today it's the grungy kitchen floor and the filthy toilets. I already did the dishes. 

I am so very glad to be home today. Did I mention that yet? I just finished six weeks of substituting as an orchestra teacher for a friend of mine who had her baby boy the day before Gavin turned 6 weeks old. That was fun, but killed two afternoons a week. Every Monday and every Wednesday I was leaving the house at 2:30 and not getting home til late because appointments piled up on top of each other. It's gonna be so good to own my weeks again. 

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Just discovered that Josh Groban is releasing a new album next week. I'm thrilled. Giddy. Excited... I've been wondering if he was working on anything new. I <3 <3 <3 Groban. Thankfully, Quinn appreciates his music too, so we can always enjoy it together. Our music tastes don't exactly perfectly align. 
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Going to make some dinner rolls and bar cookies and throw a beef stew together for dinner tonight. As soon as everything's cooking I'll go ahead and mop the floor, and maybe I'll find time to scour the bathrooms tonight. 

A Messy House, A Chunky Baby, A Tired Husband

I thought when I got home last night that I'd have an energy burst and whip this place into order.

It didn't happen.

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I used an old-school cheat method yesterday and weighed my baby---in the produce section of Price Cutter. He's 12.5 pounds!  that's a chunky, rock-solid  five-and-a-half-week-old boy. From 8 pounds 11 ounces at his one week appointment, that's almost a consistent pound-a-week gain.

But he really isn't that fat. He's got a few little rolls, but for the most part he's just solid.

Right now he's sitting in his baby rocker with a blanket on his lap that he keeps kicking off. Every time I lay it back over his lap he grins and starts kicking again. I think he's loving the fact that he has the power to make mommy look at him. 

He so loves to talk. Last night we tried to convince him into going to bed at 10, but ended up laying him between us with the light on having a three way conversation for a half hour. He loved it. He cooed and gurgled and stared at us and we just talked at and around him. He finally got tired enough that when I fed him at 10:30 he drifted off.

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Quinn had a three night string of 3-5 hours of sleep and two days of 10 hour work shifts, so last night he was pretty shot. We were both dead, actually, 'cause I'd been up and out the door at 8:15 after being out 'til 11 the night before, and had spent the entire day at orchestra, teaching and helping and hanging out with my family, and didn't get home until 5:30.  We thought about going out, since we hadn't seen each other for two days, but ended up snuggling up on the couch and watching "Prince of Persia."

It was a cute movie. Typica Disney; some crazy action, cheesy sword fights, decent effects and lame humor.

Oh, and an ugly hero.

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15 days 'til my dear friend, the Ashlily, is wed to her Danny-boy. I wish I had a scanner so I could show off the adorable invitations we received this week. I so love that girl.

We'll be having a crazy 4 days surrounding that event. Driving two hours to pick up a rental car so we can take it t TX (next state rule. It sucks) then driving down to Dallas for the night, then caravanning to OK for the next night, then back to AR after the ceremony on Sunday, then home on Monday night. Not sure how well little-big-man is going to do, but since he's pretty much always good, it'd surprise me if he was anything else.


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Missing my man today. Work is a necessity, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't rather have him home with me and our boy.

Oh, and the new quartet pictures:

Phone Pics

Quinn showed me how to pull the pics off of the phone and save them to the computer, so here are some of our mobile photos:

The Great Race

Quinn has become a blogaholic. I don't know how it happened, but I'm not keeping up with him. I suppose it would be easier if my posts weren't complete tomes, but hey, what's the use of talking if you're not gonna talk a lot? His blog is seriously fun though. It's a nerd/Christian/cyclist gumbo, and you never know what odd links and facts are gonna pop up on his page.

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Last night was insane. Quinn proved his ability to father with a 4 hour babysitting experience, while I practiced and took part in a photo shoot with the Amore String Quartet. Our organizer, Heidi, has purchased a web domain for us and her brother is creating a site, so we needed a 20 second clip of us playing and some new photos since we switched out first violins. 

Our last photo shoot was a totally impromptu event, following a wedding ceremony that we were part of. I was seven months pregnant, so we worked hard to keep the angles from showing my baby belly.

Here are a couple pics from that:

Liz, the one on the far left in both pictures, was our first violin, but we now have Nate playing with us. I can't wait to see the new pictures and the website. We did some pretty funky stuff for the photographer- I hope they turn out! I'm not sure which is worse though, doing a photo shoot at 7 months pregnant, or one 3 weeks post-partum with baby flab still hanging out 'round my mid section. lol. Oh well. One can't dictate the lives of 3 other people according to self-image issues. Darnitall.

Anyway, practice last night was fun. We were in an office that's in an old building downtown so we had the high ceilings and brick walls and the accoustics were fantastic. Quinn managed to keep Gavin happy for 2.5 hours while we practiced, then another 2 hours while we took pictures, which is worthy of a medal of honor in my opinion. The child thinks he's going to shrivel up and die if he hits an hour and 40 minutes (as opposed to his normal hour and 30 minutes between meals)  while I'm holding him. They were too sweet last night, and I can't believe I didn't get a picture. Quinn had Gavin in the infant carrier and a diaper bag over his shoulder and spent such a long time walking and bouncing him to sleep, and keeping the misquitos off of him.

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So, I better get off and get to work. I've got piles of unsorted laundry to fold and hang up and a messy kitchen to deal with, then I need to pack clothes, the air matress, bedding, the play pen, chargers, phones, cameras, etc, for two nights at Gramma's house in AR with the other 20-some members of my family, Then I need to run to Braum's and the library and get a shower, and it all needs to be done in 10 hours and 8 minutes, all punctuated by seven different 20 minute feeding sessions, which means that I actually have closer to 8.5 hours...

It can be done.

The Miracle You Are-

These little hands are miracle of grace.

Your shining eyes and your sweet and smiling face.

All that you are, and all you'll grow to be

Is evidence that God is ever merciful to me!

Oh, I see mercy in the miracle you are,

A gift to me sent straight from Heav'n above.

God the Father has made me a mother,

What a miracle of mercy and of love.

 
Looking at you, I'm amazed at what I see.

A bright, living miracle looking back at me.

Perfect according to God's divine design.

Oh, I know that I'm unworthy, but I call this treasure mine.
 
 

  For some odd reason my SD port won't read my memory stick, so these pics are all from last week, but he's still just as sweet and beautiful, so I think they're relevant. He does have a bad case of baby acne that makes me want to cry for him, but since it doesn't seem to bother him, and there's really nothing that can be done about it, we're just pretending that it isn't actually there.
 
   He's such a good baby. He's only actually cried hard enough and long enough to produce genuine tears on two or three occasions. He's quiet and content and sleeps and eats beautifully. Our first couple weeks working as a team have been just about as smooth and happy as my pregnancy was; he's gaining weight (he's a compact baby. Thick and snuggly and strong.) eating quickly and with no hassle, putting up with outings with almost no complaints, etc. Quinn is fantastic with him. They talk and walk and snuggle and have a grand time in general. I'm so madly in love with my boys that I often find myself so overwhelmed with feeling that I don't have to think. It's a lovely thing.
 
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  We've got a road trip coming up. We're heading to Dallas in October, then caravanning back N to OK with one of my bff's wedding party for a wedding at a bed and breakfast, then coming back home. This bride is a genius. She having all of us girls buy white dresses that fit our own personal styles, and she bought a dye in the color she's chosen so she can dye all of our different styles the same shade of eggplant.
 
  Of course, finding a white sundress at this time of year is proving to be difficult. I had no idea how much weight I was gonna gain during my pregnancy, so I kept putting it off. The entire time we were mall walking last month I was keeping an eye out, but nobody seemed to have any. Right now I'm scouring the internet, trying to find something that will be easy to alter if it doesn't fit just right. I need to get it shipped in, altered, and mailed to her before end of the month at the very latest. Eeek. Talk about crunching things.
 
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  I just missed three phone calls and two texts from Quinn on his break.  Poor guy.  I hate doing that. The phone was on vibrate in the bottom of the diaper bag... I took a break from blogging and shopping to feed the little man and when I came back to the computer I noticed the time. I hope he's not too worried...
 
  Baby's grumping in his sleep and I'm thinking I'm a little hungry, so I'm gonna run for now. Thanks for reading.

Experiments

No dinner plan, end of the month, odd groceries...

So start throwing them together. Why not, right? Little bits can come together into something good, if you give them a chance.

This afternoon I made an empty-out-the-freezer casserole. It's delicious. (in my opinion...)

2 Chicken Breasts, cooked and cubed
6oz elbow macaroni, boiled and strained

1 pound mixed vegetables of your choice
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 stick margarine
1/4 cup of flour
1 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp salt
black pepper
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup shredded monterey jack
1/2 cup shredded mozzerella

1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 tablespoon pimentos
Milk
Bread Crumbs

I know that's a long list... but hang tight.

-Saute the onion in the half stick of margarine until tender, in a 6 qt pot. 
-Add flour and spice and cook over medium heat, for 3-5 min, stirring occasionaly.
-Add evaporated milk and three cheeses, cook until cheeses are melted. Turn off heat
-Add cubed chicken, mixed vegetables and cooked macaroni. 
-Add milk until sauce is a consistency you like, and everything coats evenly when stirred together.  (I used close to a cup and liked it, but Quinn thought it was too dry, so you might want more)
-Pour into greased 9x13, sprinkle wth bread crumbs (and more shredded cheese if you like)
-Bake at 400 for 30 min.

It needed more salt... but that I'll leave to your discretion. I didn't mean to make a 9x13's worth for two people, and baked half of it in a smaller casserole and the other half is in the freezer. Since Quinn thought it too dry, (he eats baked soup and calls it casserole)  I'll try making more sauce and pouring it over it before I rewarm it, but this was creamy without being soupy, and I very much enjoyed it.

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(This is Ethan, my babiest brother, during my shopping day with my family a couple weeks ago)

(And this is Ethan's nephew, baby Ned, who could quite easily pass as Ethan's brother. Ned is Sis-in-law Tyana and brother Josh's second born)

(This is still the same shopping trip. Leah, the fourth sister, is the one taking the pic. Ethan is in the front of the stroller, talking to Mom, who is sitting beside her Mom, who is my Gramma)

Aldi still has 99cent strawberries, so I'm planning on picking up another 10 pounds tomorrow afternoon, so I'm gonna use the last pound that I've been hanging onto and make a brownie and strawberry trifle.

Best brownies in the world:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted.
6 Tablespoons of cocoa
1 cup of sugar

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour

Beat everything but flour together, just until combined. Stir in flour, gently. Spread in greased 8x8 (or 9in round. I like making them in a round pan and cutting them in wedges) baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Cool in pan.

You can add anything to these and they're fantastic. Nuts, caramel, chocolate chips... I even like to beat cream cheese, an egg and some sugar and swirl that into them for a marbled look. It's divine.

Tonight I'm blending strawberries, cream cheese and vanilla pudding to layer with cubed brownies, and I'll top it with cool whip and chocolate covered strawberry halves. I can't wait. 

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Had a hummingbird at my feeder yesterday! First one of the season! But then... today the screen door, which came off it's tracks this week, blew over and smashed two of the flower inserts. *sob*   It was rather distressing. Thankfully though, it didn't knock the whole thing down, and Quinn said we can get replacements for the broken flowers.


Speaking of Quinn; He, being his ridiculously clever self managed to strip and splice the laptop's power cord using a pair of scissors and a pair of wire cutters. (I really need to get this guy some tools) so I'm actually writing from home, while doing other things, and without the obnoxious smells that belong to the library. He's so hot.

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Signing out. I have baking to do.