Random Friday

Today is just some miscellaneous posting of pictures from the last day or so!  You'll have to bear with me because these are some really random pictures!

Our power went out yesterday and luckily it came back on last night before bed.  I was never so glad to have power!  We are really lucky to have power when so many do not.  I tried to think of fun little things for us to do all day yesterday, but once it got dark we got pretty bored.  Yay for the power men working so hard to get everyone's power on.  Our gas logs kept us at a lovely 75 degrees in the den all day.  I'm so glad we have them!

Dinnertime is so much fun!

I can't believe we didn't lose our dish signal!

A double egg yolk; is that rare?

What a sweet face

Bundled up!

How pitiful!

[caption id="attachment_491" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Daddy and JM"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_499" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Mama and JM"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_495" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Look how thick!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_496" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Sometimes you just have to play with bowls from the kitchen."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_498" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="JM loves to play with the phone!"][/caption]

Happy Friday, everyone!

Woof!

Verse O' the Day:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

Titus 3:4-5

Say What?

This is John Michael's new schedule and I don't like it one bit:

1) Go to sleep at around 9-something pm

2) Sleep until 9:00 am

3) Not go down for a nap until 11-something then sleep for 2 hours, bypassing lunch (we used to eat lunch around 12:15)

4) Get so sleepy around 5:00 pm and take such a long nap that we have to wake him up at around 6:15 pm to eat dinner

All of this = It is 9:45 pm and he is STILL not asleep.  I got so tired of nursing him that I just went ahead and put him in his crib to hang out until he fell asleep.

I'm not sure why he's so off like this.  He used to wake up around 8, so our whole day is like an hour and a half off.  No way is he taking a 5pm nap tomorrow.  It's just not gonna happen.

In other news, did you check out Kelly's most recent post about baby Harper?  I about passed out when I checked it and I saw her holding her  with only a nasal canula for oxygen!!!!  I was so excited to see that.  She has made such huge progress.  She is such a blessing.  God has been been all over this story of this little girl.  I'm still waiting for those "See ya later NICU, I'm headed home to my fabulous pink and brown nursery" pictures!

I checked out BooMama's blog the other day and came upon this link for a blog that I just had to check out.  I could have looked around this blog for hours.  It was fascinating.  I'm not sure why it was so neat, but once I started clicking around I could hardly pull myself away from it.  It's called Conversion Diary: Musings of a former atheist.  I just found it so interesting how this lady and her husband used to be, pro-choice, high-rise-living total yuppies and now....well, perhaps you should go check it out for yourself.  Neat stuff.

One last thing, Yes, I do have John Michael snow pictures and I will post them later.  Seeing as how my child just went to sleep at 9:45 I'm not so in the mood to upload pictures.  I will leave you with these precious pictures of him riding his little rock and ride pony that Daddy picked up at the lovely Wal-Mart Associate store.  He balanced on it just long enough for us to get these pictures!

What you talkin' bout?

 

Verse O' The Day:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Ice, Ice, Baby!

We are most definitely in the midst of an ice storm!  It's really quite pretty, and I can say that because we have power.  The minute my power goes off I am going to HATE that ice with a passion!  Luckily, we still have power and we're safe and warm.  Since it is so cold and all, I thought I would do two things:

1) share a neat-o crock pot recipe

2) share some ice pictures I took this morning

I found this recipe in my crockpot cookbook and I almost didn't make it because it's not really something we would normally eat.  I mean the base of this soup is beans, beans, and more beans.  With that said, it actually turned out pretty good and it is probably very low in fat.  I'm sure it's quite high in sodium, but at least it's low in fat!  I replaced the sausage it called for with turkey sausage and you can't tell at all.  I personally think that you could chunk just tons of vegetables in here and it would be great, too!

Sausage, Vegetable, and Bean Soup

1 1/4 cup dry Great Northern beans
1 14.5 oz can Italian-style tomatoes
1 14 oz can beef broth
3/4 lb Italian sausage links (I used turkey - much healthier)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/3 cup red wine or water (I used water)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried italian seasoning
1/2 of a 10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed
1 large yellow squash or zucchini (I used zucchini)

Let beans soak overnight (or you can simmer them for 10 minutes and let stand 1 hour)

Combine all ingredients except zucchini and spinach.

Cook on low for 11-12 hours or high for 6-8 hours.  Squeeze liquid from spinach.  Stir spinach and zucchini into soup.  Cover and let stand 10 minutes.

For some reason John Michael spiked a low fever yesterday.  He napped for hours and I figured he might be getting sick.  It's a good thing that we're all home today just hanging out so that he can nap and get well.  He's not really sick, just a little fever.  Hopefully he'll be better soon.  If he were feeling better we could dress him up and take him outside for a few minutes to get his picture with his first snow.  Enjoy our ice pictures!

The gutter!

And YES, I'm aware that it's 70 degrees in Alabama today.  Nice!

Verse O' the Day:

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Isaiah 41:13

Aquarium, Part Two

While we wait for the winter weather to make its way in this afternoon, I thought I would post some more pictures from our day at the Aquarium.  I am hoping and praying that we don't have really bad ice!  As long as the power stays on I'm happy!

Verse O' the Day:

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.

Isaiah 30:15

Tulsa, The Other Windy City

Yesterday we headed over to Tulsa to visit Kelly and Scott and check on Baby Harper.  We had a great little visit and we were so happy to hear that Harper is improving little by little everyday.  She is a miracle and I cannot wait to see their Going Home pictures!  What a wonderful day that will be!

Before we got to St. Francis hospital we stopped off at Cracker Barrel for lunch.  Our lunch started out just fine.  John Michael was sitting in their little high chairs that look like real chairs.  He was having a great time and playing and looking oh so cute.  He batted his long eyelashes at strangers and our waitress.  He was too cute for words:

Reading the kiddie menu

 

Then, he had a meltdown.  It wasn't an all-out meltdown but it was pretty bad.  We were trying to keep him happy and quiet but we were still getting stares from surrounding tables.  You know those stares that come from people that don't have kids or old people who just don't remember when they had kids.  Thank goodness it was really loud in there!  I really didn't think we'd already be battling his test of wills this soon at 8 mos old.  He ate pretty decently but he wanted his spoon and he wanted it NOWand of course he wants to throw it.  If you don't give this child a spoon or his cup when he wants it he goes crazy.  Basically we took turns eating (reminds me of the colicky days) and I eventaully just had to leave the restaurant.  I didn't even get to look around the old country store and buy some 1960s candy that we don't need.  Some days I just can't figure out our firstborn.  Is he already a hard-headed little guy or is it me or is it already a test of wills with him?  Only the coming months can tell!

After lunch we headed to the hospital and by the time we got there the wind was so bad!  I'm not sure if that's a normal thing, since it IS Oklahoma and all, or if that was just an especially windy day.  I could hardly push the stroller against the wind it was so bad.  It took all of our strength to open our car doors!  I know it was hard for Jordan to drive in it.  It's pretty windy where we live, and we're still getting used to that, but I would be so mad if I lived in Oklahoma.  My hair would never look good and be full of volume.

Since we took about 200 pictures at the aquarium I think I'll break this post up into 2 posts so that all the grandparents get to see lots of pictures of John Michael at his very first Aquarium visit.  The Oklahoma Aquarium is pretty good.  It's got some neat things to see but it's pretty small.  If you're ever around Georgia, head to the Georgia Aquarium.  It is by far THE best aquarium out there.  You could spend all day there.  It is SO worth the trip to Atlanta.  We went the day after our wedding before we flew to Mexico.  Anyway, here are some pictures from our day!