Hitting The (Cook)Books

We made a resolution to try new recipes this year, and while we haven't done them as often as we should have, we have definitely come across some yummy new dishes.

Over the weekend I made the Pioneer Woman's Comfort Meatballs. They were delicious! As we started making them it became obvious that we had a lot more meatballs than 5 people could put away, so we invited Anna and Chris over. We served the meatballs with mashed potatoes and rolls. Overall, they were pretty easy to make, despite the fact I missed a crucial step in the recipe. Sometimes I think I'm too distracted to be cooking. Like the time I almost used cinnamon in our spaghetti sauce instead of chili powder!

It was a great recipe and one we will make again, especially as cooler weather rolls in!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I've been pumping three times a day, five days a week, every week since January first. I'm no math whiz but I know that's well over 500 pumping sessions. Today I dropped down to two sessions a day. I must say it's been pretty liberating. We'll slowly wind down over the next month or so, leaving only our early morning and bedtime feedings. Allie doesn't seem to be ready to give those up just yet. She is more than ready for real milk and table food during the day though, so my pumping days are numbered. It will be nice not to have to carry my pump every day and make sure that all the pieces are washed and packed back into the bag each night.

I started thinking about how much easier the whole breastfeeding thing was this time around. It was second nature. I knew exactly what to do and I did it. Every mother should get to experience that third child feeling, and I don't mean just in regards to her feeding choice. I mean that feeling that you finally got it right. The feeling that, while you may not be perfect, your kids are turning out darn well. The confidence and experience that comes with motherhood times three is something I wish for every mother. I don't second-guess myself as often now. I am more of an advocate for my children then I was at age 23. I have learned so much, yet have more to learn.

As this breastfeeding stage draws to a close I am both grateful (12 months of wearing a nursing bra 24/7!) and a little sad that my baby is no longer a baby. And while this most basic need of hers has been met and fulfilled by my body for many, many months now, we must move forward into a place where my nurturing and mothering will take on new meanings and new manifestations. I sort of feel like I'm on the deck of an oceanliner. I've made this passage before, yet the ocean always changes and the winds blow in new directions. It is both exciting and sad because this time when I leave the shore, I won't be going back. An infant has passed through our house for the last time and now we face childhood and everything wonderful that comes along with it.

Sunday Sojurn

I've not been to very many places on this precious planet of ours, but of those I've visited, The Swag is near the top of my list. Mom and Dad were there for a few days and we were fortunate enough to visit them for brunch and hiking.

I have so many wonderful memories at the Swag - the first two nights of our honeymoon being one of them - and now we have new memories with our girls. It was a beautiful day. It was so healing to be in a place where you can hear the wind through the trees and the beat of a hummingbird's wings. I forgot what it was like to hear myself think. The Swag has always been a special place for our family, and now even more so.

If the Shoe Fits

Training for Goofy sort of unofficially started today. I ran 6 miles on the greenway early this morning. In addition to getting on the training wagon, I bought my next pair of running shoes. They were long overdue, but hopefully they will be *The* shoes I need. I bought them at my favorite running store. It's so nice to be understood and taken care of. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.

Here's to many miles on this new pair!

Better late than never

Recently we got a very special card in the mail from a very special address on Pennsylvania Avenue.

It was a welcome card for Allie's birth. I will admit that while I have meticulously kept up her baby book, I did forget to send a greeting to the White House until early July. Fortunately that didn't matter and we got the card in the mail just last week. I have one from our previous president in Anastasia and Ainsley's baby books as well.

It's a really cool card and a fun keepsake for my girls. I really like the wording on the card from the Obamas. How very special!

Loud and Clear

I have been wavering in my decision to run the Goofy Challenge in January. It's a marathon and half-marathon in two days. 39.3 miles in less than 48 hours. I keep coming up with lame excuse. I keep trying to talk myself out of it. Then on Thursday I got a phone call from my sister. One of her friends had heard I was running the race and wondered if I would be interested in running it to benefit a charity she is involved in. I hung up the phone and said to God, "Okay, I hear you. I'm supposed to run these races."

The charity is Inheritance of Hope. They provide, among other support materials, retreats for families dealing with the terminal illness of a parent. As someone who saw her best friend lose her mother to cancer at the age of 10, I know how important it is to have memories that don't revolve around hospitals and chemo. A legacy that isn't tied up in a diagnosis or treatment. I'm now exploring what my fundraising commitment would be and how to go about reaching that goal. It's a steep goal which worries me a bit, but I think if I work hard, I'll be able to meet or exceed it.

The Cisco Kid

The other night we were out for a walk/ride on the greenway when a man on a horse trotted by. The girls made me ask what the horse's name was before they approached him. Once they knew Cisco's name they politely asked to pet the horse. It was a funny site to see on the side of the greenway!

How many licks?

"Mom, can you lick your armpit?"

This simple sentence is one of the reasons I'm struggling this week. Struggling with the fact that I can't be with my kids more. Ainsley asked me that on our commute earlier this week, while trying to lick her little armpit. My kids are cool. My kids are incredible. And it just plain sucks that I am not the one sharing in their day-to-day business. Cutting up apples at lunchtime and pushing them in a swing. I want to be there for all the crazy, silly questions they have. I know I am fortunate to have a job and I truly am grateful, but it's hard to be into it when my heart lies elsewhere. Just one of those weeks that comes and goes.

Author's note: I cannot, in fact, lick my armpit.

Wordless Wednesday

Real Life

People like to say things to me like, "You're SuperMom" and "You have it all together!" To these people I would like to present exhibit A. Tonight for dinner I hate half a peach and a spoonful of peanut butter. Oh and then I polished off a bag of popcorn and some M&Ms at 9:15 at night. See, I'm not a superhero. I'm just another mom hanging on for dear life.

Dancing in the Kitchen

We don't have a dishwasher. I'll pause for a moment and allow your pity to wash over me. That's right, we - a family of five - have no way to wash our dishes except with our hands. It's really not a huge deal, but it is a huge pain. Especially because the water in the kitchen takes FOREVER to get hot. We actually heat the water in a big pot on the stove and then dump it into the sink (think Little House on the Prairie...with less cattle and no dirt floor). And wipe that smirk off your face...I didn't say no dirty floor, I said no dirt floor!

Anyway, the other night I was faced with a huge sink full of bottles, pump parts, dishes, silverware, etc. I put my iPod on shuffle and let the girls dance while I washed. It made the whole thing seriously more fun. I think iPod jam sessions will now become a mandatory party of dish washing.

Dancing in the Street

Yesterday on the way home, Ainsley and I were listening to a Motown for Kids CD. Track #4 is Dancing in the Street by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. We were really getting down when Ainsley said, "I don't think dancing in the street is such a good idea. You might get hit by a car or something."

I love this kid.

Playing Favorites

As a mother of three kids, I try very hard not to play favorites. But I must confess that the card Allie gave me for my birthday was my favorite gift this year.

I love it! Her teachers were so sweet to make it with her. They said she didn't want to stop painting because she loves it so much!

Crib Notes Update

We finally got Allie's replacement crib. I really love it! She seemed a little confused the first few days, but has now settled in quite nicely.

Impatiently Waiting for Isabelle

This is a picture of my niece Isabelle that Gran and Pop took earlier this month when they went down for a visit. We haven't seen her since May and she's obviously changed a lot since we were there. She and her mommy and daddy will be heading north for Allie's birthday very soon....and we can't wait!!

And so it begins

We don't have a landline phone these days. I can honestly say I like it. Less money wasted each month and no annoying telemarketers. Calling 9-1-1 was a big concern of mine, but I called 9-1-1 from my cell phone the day our house was burglarized and there was no issue. They knew my address and sent a deputy right away. As the months passed though, I have come to see that perhaps I was too quick to dismiss the landline.

Right after school started, my cell phone rang one evening. It was a local number, but one I was not familiar with so I didn't answer it. The same number called back minutes later. I didn't answer that one either, figuring they would leave a voicemail if it was important. I later learned that it was Anastasia's classmate calling. They had swapped phone numbers that day and since we have no home phone, Anastasia gave her the number she has memorized, which was of course my cell phone. She and her buddy have talked night after night for the last three weeks. They are so funny to listen to. Last Friday I was slammed at the office and Anastasia's phone friend called my cell THREE times. Anastasia has now informed the sweet child that they can't talk until after 5 p.m. each day. I thought we would have a few more years before the phone frenzy began. But then again, maybe not!

Wordless Wednesday

Monkey in the Moonlight

Allie isn't feeling 100% this week. She has a nasty cough and drainage that kept us up quite a bit last night. She's not running a fever and seems to be in pretty good spirits when she isn't sounding like someone who smokes three packs a day.

I snapped this picture of her last night before I went to bed. We've let her have Monkey for quite some time, but she never really seemed interested in him. Her sisters were attached to their respective loveys at an early age, but Allie hasn't shown a preference until last night.

Pre-Birthday Bash

I'm turning 30 on Tuesday and since that's not an ideal party night, Anna and Chris threw me an awesome birthday bash over the weekend. I'm so blessed to have so many family and friends who were willing to make the drive and spend the evening celebrating with me. It was a wonderful evening.

Checkout the AMAZING cake. Seriously...how cool is that? Although....since everyone decided I needed 30 candles on my cake, the poor little fondant Caroline lost an arm to the flames!

After I opened far more presents than I deserve we played games including Cornhole and the Bowl Game. It was exactly what I wanted for my birthday - a night with those who mean the most to me. What more could a girl ask for?

Saving the World, One Mountain at a Time

For the past several years I have produced the Friends of the Smokies annual telethon. It's kind of neat because I was part of the first telethon at back in 1995 at age 14. That was when dad was the organization's executive director. The group was still forming and organizing so volunteers often consisted of our family and friends.

Tonight from 7-8 p.m. the telethon on WBIR . I've been working on it for months and I think everything is on schedule. There are always some crazy kinks that pop up, but hopefully all will go smoothly. In case you can't watch, you can still donate at Friends of the Smokies.

My beautiful ballerina

Ainsley tried her hand at soccer in the spring but asked to take ballet this fall. I enrolled her in a Creative Movement class that will give her the basics of ballet and other dance basics. She started last night. In the weeks leading up to her first class she marked the date on her calendar. She laid out her shoes, leotard and tights. She "practiced" over and over again in the living room, always taking great care to keep her attire and footwear in pristine condition.

She loved the class. There are nine kids, including one of "those children." The girl ran wild while a bewildered mom watched during the parent time at the end of the class. I was ready to nominate the teacher for sainthood after putting up with it for the 45-minute lesson. I hope she isn't too disruptive. They learned how to walk like ballerinas and how to hold their arms. They were butterflies, ladybugs, birds, giraffes and elephants. As I said, parents get to come into the classroom and watch the last 10 minutes of the lesson to see what they have learned. My favorite part was when the teacher said, "Remember, ballerinas don't talk. They speak with their bodies." I'm gonna have to use that!

She had a blast and couldn't stop talking about it all the way home. She's already counting down the days until her next class.

11 months old

Allie is 11 months old today, so it's time for our monthly report. She has six teeth and is cruising furniture now. She can stand without support in the middle of the room for a short period of time and will take steps while holding on to your hands. She has a toy that she can push from behind and go all the way down the hall.

Allie loves food. She had lasagna last night for the first time and devoured it. Today when I dropped her off at school she was preparing to devour pancakes. She has dropped one feeding in the late afternoon/early evening which is both sad and liberating. Over the next month we will transition her to whole milk in a cup. She's been drinking water out of a sippy cup for a little while now, so I think once there's milk in there she will do just fine. My goal is to have her off bottles by her birthday.

She is a busy little bee at school and is anxious to move up to the "big kid" classroom. Some of her baby pals recently moved over there and I think she feels left out. She's one of the older babies now though and has run of the place. Her teachers continue to gush about how sweet and wonderful she is. We, of course, already knew that.

Homework Ace

Anastasia has been doing SO well at school. She made a 115 on her spelling test last week. ("I got all the bonus words right, Mom!") Yesterday afternoon the first set of homework that we turned in on Friday came back...she made a 100. She's rocking the math and phonics and her reading has really improved. Her art and music classes seem to be holding her attention and she loves having gym twice a week instead of just once. Sh also enjoys the fact that first graders get to bring home a library book as opposed to checking one out and only keeping it in the classroom like they did in kindergarten.

All in all, I feel like the transition to the new school has gone well. She seems to be thriving in the new environment. And speaking of environment, her classroom has tadpoles which have ow started to change into frogs!

Slip Sliding Away

Recently I bought a Slip-n-slide. Target had a sale and I bought one for $2.48. Not too bad for a piece of plastic for summer fun. It took a while to get going. I had no idea there would be such a learning curve on sliding down a hill on your belly.

Once they got the hang of it, they really took to it. We've done it several times lately to beat the miserable heat that has been plaguing us all summer.

And over the weekend....Granddad got in on the action. He threw caution to the wind and disregarded both the age and weight limit for our flimsy little $2.48 piece of plastic. Granddad even upped the ante by allowing the girls to soap themselves up with dish soap. Now we're talking!

Eating me out of house and home

Allie is going to be a foodie. I just know it. She's is a pretty adventurous eater so far. She's tried and enjoyed all sorts of delectable treats. Yesterday we let her have a cereal bar. She devoured it! I can't believe she's going to be a year old next month. She's into EVERYTHING. Today at church she was a daredevil in the nursery. They said she was afraid of nothing and into everything. We had her 11 month pictures made yesterday and she was such a poser. They turned out so well!

Super Shoppers

Kroger is throwing down some serious deals right now ($1.09 for a box of fruit snacks anyone?) so Allie, Ainsley and I hit the store after I picked them up today. I let them ride in the car attached to one of the carts and they LOVED it. And I loved being able to shop quickly and pay attention to shelf tags and my coupon keeper! I may go back tomorrow. They were practically giving stuff away!

Look Ma, No Hands

Allie is getting more and more brave these days. She has been cruising furniture and now has a little toy she can push around while taking steps. She's getting more steady on her feet too. She stood alone in the middle of the living room over the weekend. Her sisters are very anxious for her to be walking. I on the other hand, know that a walking Allie is even more dangerous than a crawling one!

Midnight Madness

I have a habit of getting myself into things. Too many things as of lately it would seem. Over the weekend I got to help direct a road race for the first time. I've run in dozens of races but had never been on the other side of them. I was brought on board in January so it's been a long 8 months of planning and preparing.

It all culminated last night at midnight with the Pigeon Forge 8K. We had over 400 runners from all over the country. It was, without a doubt, a success. I got to go up in the bucket truck to help fire up the runners before the gun. I took my camera (duh) and got some really neat shots.

The whole thing made me appreciate just how much work goes into those events. Jamie and Allie went up to Pigeon Forge with me since I had a hotel room for the night. Too bad I didn't get to bed until 3 a.m. Allie was up a little after six so I'm running on fumes. It was a great experience and we're already planning next year's event.