Whose Idea Was This, Anyway?

Well, I can't help it that Joseph is at that great age of saying funny things. So, I'll start with his, then I'll tell you about something Kaity said when she was about his age. Yesterday, Joe and I were snuggled together reading and (as is typical) he said, "Hug!" and grabbed me around the middle. His hand slipped up the back of my shirt so that when he pulled away, my shirt was pushed up a little. Feeling bare skin, he looked down and then started tugging at my pajama pants. "Joe, stop it!" I laughed, "What are you doing?" He went doggedly on and then said, "I wanna see your bookmarks!" Yes, folks, he was talking about my stretch marks! Little stinker.

When Katie was probably 2 we went to Wal-Mart to go shopping. She was sitting in the cart facing me and when we were on a crowded aisle she casually remarked, "I don't have a daddy." People turned to look at us. I was incredulous! "Yes, you do!" I said, loudly and sounding pretty unconvincing in the face of my daughter's sincerity. "No, I've never met my daddy." Argh! People were now not just looking, but giving us The Look. Horrified, I just said, "Yes, you have! Daddy's at work right now." But I don't think anyone around us believed me!

Now here is a picture of them being very well behaved and quiet and getting along famously.

Kaity Pittard, Published Author

Kaity's writing exercise in school today required her to describe someone. She had a list of questions to answer about the person. We took it a step further and I had her write out a paragraph with her answers. I was planning on posting it on the blog so that I'd have a Kaity-Story to go along with all the Joe stuff I've had lately. But of course, the subject she chose to write about was ... Joe! Anyway, here it is.

Joe, My Brother
He was born August 14, 2004. Joe's eyes are blue and his hair is blonde. Joe is always happy, and sometimes mad because I hit him. He wears a shirt and underwear and no pants (because he doesn't like to wear pants). Also, he wants all his clothes to match. Joe and I have races around the house. He always plays games with me. He is a really loud brother. When he goes to bed he calls for Mommy, because he wants her to sing.

She did mention his "loudness" several times in her description, but we edited it down to one, and she added in the "really" so everyone would appreciate his volume's superlative status.

Sunday Night

When Jeff and I began teaching the College&Career Sunday School class, we took on a lot more than an hour's worth of teaching on Sunday! They drop in at our house throughout the week, call us (at sometimes odd hours), and text movie quotes to us. We really love and pray over them all.

One tradition that we enjoy is Sunday nights. Every week after the Sunday night church service, we have anywhere from 8 to 12 people over for dinner. Mostly, I cook for everyone, but occasionally we do a "Bring-Your-Own-Fast-Food" night. I'd say the top three favorite meals are spaghetti, calzones, and chili w/ baked potatoes. Sometimes we just spend the evening talking, but we're usually playing video games (classic Nintendo, Wii, etc.) or board games like Battle of the Sexes or Scene It. Someone is always on the computer checking Facebook, "Googling" random topics, or looking stuff up on YouTube. Can you tell it's a technology driven generation?? One thing that made Jeff and me laugh when we first experienced it is their habit of having conversations with each via text messaging ... while sitting NEXT to each other! How random is that? But truly, it's the only way to get privacy in our little house. :)

These are just some various pictures of some of the crew at our house.


Pam and Kelli


Kelli putting Robby in his place.


Kaity snuggling with Mr. Chad.


Joe snuggling with Mr. Alan. (or as Joe says, Misser Awan)


Zach playing Guitar Hero.

The "Mystery Illness" and A Blue Bathtub

Well, nothing much new is happening around here except a mysterious virus. Kaity had a fever for 4-5 days that came and went, but that was her only symptom. She insisted she was fine the whole time, just tired. She's much better now. It hit Jeff harder -- he had a fever for a few days, along with aches. Joe has had a bit of a cough, but nothing else. I've been just fine.

Right now it's life as usual in our house. Kaity is doing handwriting -- cursive! Joe is on the couch "reading" Calvin and Hobbes. I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't let him get any ideas from Calvin! He comes up with enough on his own. A couple of weeks ago, I painted his room. He decided to "help" me. I thought I had secured the lid on the paint can -- of course not, not to a three-year old's standard anyway. He took the paint and poured it into the pan, put the roller together and rolled the bathtub blue. My friend Kelli was over and she said it sounded like a sitcom mom yelling her kid's name! He was alone (literally) for 5 minutes, for Pete's sake. The ironic thing is that while he was upstairs, I called him. "Joe, you had better not be in your room." He responded with something. A beat later, I said, "Come to the top of the stairs. I want to SEE you." Kelli laughed at me! I saw him and figured everything was fine. *Sigh* Anyway, he got paint dribbles and patches and splotches all over his carpet, naturally. It was definitely a "wait-til-your-father-gets-home" moment. For a few days afterward, Joe would randomly say, "I am not donna do dat adain."


Joe's Blue Room (the door leads to the attic)

Our Anniversary .... Continued.

So what special way did Jeff and I celebrate our 10th anniversary? I'm glad you asked! We got Chick-Fil-A to go and ate it in the car on the way to get Kaitlyn from Nannie's house! Then we went to the urgent care clinic! Seriously, Cheryl called us yesterday afternoon to let us know that Kaity had a fever of 103.4, so we met her halfway to get our sick little girl. The doctor diagnosed her with the flu. She's feeling a bit better today, though, and her fever is down. Anyway, such is life with kids! We had a lovely evening anyway and played Old Maid and Go Fish while we waited at the clinic.

Another thing that happened is that Jeff's mom Cheryl gave us a lovely anniversary gift of dishes! They are so beautiful and match my kitchen wonderfully. The dishes we had previously were the ones I bought for $30 a few months before Jeff and I got married.

April 4, 1998

Happy Anniversary to my very best friend ...

Jeff and I celebrate ten years together today!

"This was the cream of marriage, this nightly turning out of the day's pocketful of memories, this deft, habitual sharing of two pairs of eyes, two pairs of ears. It gave you, in a sense, almost a double life, though never, on the other hand, quite a single one." Jan Struther, in Mrs. Miniver

Would You Like to Take A Survey?

We're a bit curious as to how many people visit our blog. To that end, I've created a poll just to see. I added a counter a couple of days ago out of curiosity and to my surprise, it logged 17 hits the first day! Honestly I didn't think but maybe 5 people even checked it (my mother included!). So, anyway, indulge us by voting for whichever answer fits you best. Thanks!

Oh. My. Word. Caesar Salmon Pizza

I just had a fabulous lunch! Because money is often tight, and we want to be good stewards even when it's not ... I try to make leftovers appealing. I also try to make sure that when I go grocery shopping I get food that will keep me from being tempted to go to Chick-Fil-A! One way I treat myself AND save money is with salmon. No one else in my family likes it, and it goes on sale pretty often. I get an 8 ounce fillet for a couple of dollars, marinate it (Caesar dressing is fantastic) and bake it for lunch one day. I usually bake a potato or mash a couple of potatoes, and serve it with fresh green beans or spinach salad. That's lunch #1. Half of the salmon is plenty for that meal, so I put up the leftover salmon for later. Lunch #2 is salmon patties -- mix an egg, salmon, leftover mashed potatoes or a handful of breadcrumbs, and seasonings, then saute in a little olive oil.

Today, I made an incredible pizza with the leftovers from yesterday's lunch #1. The good part is, I'll have enough for another day to make Lunch #2! I took one of the 7-inch prepared pizza crusts and brushed on olive oil and Caesar dressing. Then I spread on leftover mashed potatoes, added sliced Havarti cheese, leftover salmon, sliced green onions, Parmesan cheese, and squeezed a lemon over it all. I baked it for 7 minutes and presto! Lunch #3.

I love being able to eat like a gourmet, yet still stretch a buck!

Puppets!

Tuesday, we went on a field trip to the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts. It was just our family and two other families that went, but we had a lot of fun! We went to a puppet workshop before the performance and made our own stork puppets. After that we ate our bag lunches in a little lunch room downstairs. The performance of "Aesop's Fables" was really interesting and interactive. Two people manipulated and gave voice to all the puppets in the show. They were dressed in black against a black background, so that they were in sight throughout the show, but not distracting. The kids really enjoyed it and have been puppet-crazy ever since! We'll definitely try to plan another trip in the future.

Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful service Easter morning at church. It was an incredible celebration of our risen Lord and Savior!






I don't really do the "new Easter outfit" tradition, but the kids ended up with new outfits, anyway. :) I got Joe a dress shirt for $4, and the tie I could NOT resist. Kaity-long-legs had outgrown all her spring/summer dresses so Grammie bought her a dress when we were there the other weekend. (Kaity has new sunglasses, too, but somehow I don't have a picture of her in them. They've worn them everywhere since we got them!)