Oct. 5 - Canvases, and Acrylics, and Elephants - Oh My!

 I got it in my head that we should do an art project together this afternoon as a family.  I had gotten the idea somewhere of cutting a shape out of paper, taping it to a canvas, and letting your kiddo paint like crazy all over it.  Then, when you peel the shape off, there is the white shape left behind.  Well, it started out all fine and dandy, but there is a reason you don't usually let an obstinate almost two year old use acrylic paints.....or maybe even paints at all.  Griffin has been going through a...."difficult" phase lately, and we got about halfway through the project before it became a total fiasco [think acrylic paint in hair, screaming "no", beating on the canvas, chewing on the paint-covered brush, multiple crying fits, etc.]  Ah, well.  I do know better.  It's a lesson learned pretty early on in motherhood:  Don't set your mind on having anything done a certain way or done at all.  Especially don't expect things to go smoothly, without trial.  It just doesn't happen much, and I need to learn to let go of words like "easy" and "smooth" because I just end up getting frustrated when I go into things with those expectations.  Anyway, I can't say we got a ton of enjoyment out of the actual project, but I love how it turned out!  We decided on an elephant for the shape.

 After Griffin had had his way with the paints, I filled in some of the blank spaces.  Once it had dried, it was time to peel off the elephant.

 Clearly, Mr. Elephant needed a bit of...help.  He was looking slightly amorphous.

 So, obviously, I made a cup of tea first.  Then, I sat down with the white paint to clarify things a bit.

 Cranky toddler in bed, happy apple cinnamon tea mama with said cranky toddler's work.

Motherhood ain't pretty some days.  Some days it doesn't look too hot on me.  When I look at this painting, there's no delusion...It wasn't pretty painting it together with my son.  Smudging, hitting, drooling, kicking, yelling, crying, flailing.  But the paint dried, and I came back over the rough edges to smooth them, filled in the empty spaces, and completing what we started together.  Isn't that motherhood, in a nutshell?  I think we are quite the unruly toddlers in how we act in life, toward others and toward God sometimes.  I'm so thankful that I have a Father who comes back over the rough edges to smooth them, who fills in the empty spaces, and who completes what He started in me.

Oct. 4 - Stew, Please

I have been craving me some stew lately, probably because of the shift in weather, and I came across this recipe in Rachael Ray's EveryDay magazine.  It was in the section of "Easy to Freeze $10 Dinners."  Yes, please.  Of course, my photo of the finished stew cannot hold a candle to the photo in her magazine, but I digress.  The recipe is for "Sausage and Lentil Stew," and boy is it fabulous, filling, and perfect for fall.  It says it serves 4, but only if she's talking about 4 giants or something.  It probably makes more like 8 servings.  Oh, and can we talk briefly about this adorable pot?  I found this in a set of 3 (small saucepan, medium saucepan, and this large soup pot) with lids (thrifters, you will know how amazing that is!) at a thrift store in Michigan.  Come to find out this brand is virtually impossible to find (can't find a single one on Ebay, if that tells you anything) and is super high quality [read: expensive]. They're enamel over steel, weigh a TON, and cook beautifully.  Have I mentioned how much I love thrifting?  Anyway, here is the recipe for this lovely aforementioned stew:

2 T EVOO (I used coconut oil)
1 lb. sweet italian sausage, crumbled
1 onion, chopped (about 1 1/4 c.)
1 large carrot, chopped (about 1 c.) (I used 4 carrots to get this much)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T. chopped fresh rosemary
8 oz. brown lentils, rinsed
4 c. reduced sodium chicken broth
1 head escarole, coarsely chopped
Salt & Pepper
Parmesan cheese to garnish (optional, but delish)

1.  In a large dutch oven (I used a regular ol' soup pot), heat EVOO over med/high heat.  Add sausage and cook until browned; transfer to bowl using slotted spoon.
2.  Add onion and carrot to pot and cook until slightly softened (3-4 min.).  Stir in garlic and rosemary and cook 1 min.  Add lentils, broth, and 3 c. water.  Bring to boil, lower heat, and simmer until lentils are tender (25-30 min.).
3.  Stir in escarole and sausage, cover and cook until escarole is wilted and sausage is heated through (3-4 min.).  Season with salt and pepper.

Oct. 3 - Tea and a Robe

I don't think I've posted a picture of just me, all by my lonesome, on this photo-a-day venture, and I feel....weird...by doing it.  Well, I'll just have to get over it because it's the only picture I took today!  The weather has cooled substantially (I'm talking it went from 90º during the day to 45º at night!), and I've been craving the smells, tastes, and sights of autumn.  It has gotten so chilly at night that it became quite necessary to bundle up in my fluffy, cozy robe (which I pretty much wear 90% of the time in winter) and enjoy hot beverage after hot beverage.  Since caffeine is pretty much a no-no for me (it's an anxiety trigger), I've been drinking a LOT of herbal tea.  Can't wait to get my hands on some cinnamon apple tea a.s.a.p.  Annnnnd a little secret, just between you and I...I've been indulging in a small cup of half-caf. coffee with pumpkin spice creamer here and there.  Bliss.  I love fall and have fully concluded that it's my favorite season.  Robes, hot tea, sweaters, moccasin boots, smells of cinnamon, spices, and fires in the air, changing leaves, getting chilly enough to want to get cozy, crisp breezes, warm blankets, new episodes of my favorite t.v. shows, the South Carolina State Fair, dressing my already quite adorable son up in a costume that somehow make him even more adorable, feeling like it is again acceptable to light a candle in my home (in the sickening heat of the summer, it's just.....wrong somehow).  Ahhh, autumn-I welcome you with open arms.

Oct. 2 - Beautiful Sunday

It's next to impossible to get a family picture.  All attempts today failed miserably.  So, we settled for some halfway decent mother/son, father/son pictures.  You've got to take what you can get.  Griffin looked so adorable in his outfit for church that I just could not let the day pass without pictures of him in it.  He looked like a little lumberjack in his flannel, plaid button-down, corduroys, and little boots.  Today was just as beautiful as yesterday, and the heat must come on tonight (it's supposed to get down to 45º!).

Oct. 1 - Meeting of the Olivers

Our friends, Kenny and Shari, recently had their second child and named him "Oliver!"  Big Oliver and little Oliver have met before, but I got some cute shots of them together this morning.  It was such a gorgeous day...the kind that only come around a few times a year.  Clear blue skies, 65 degrees, soft breeze, first smells of Fall in the air...ahhhh.  It was lovely.  Griffin and I started out the day walking to some yard sales where we scored a ton of great finds (including an end table, tons of books and clothes, toys, etc. etc.) for $10!  I haven't gone yard/garage saling in the south, and I'm so glad I finally did.  We stopped by my friend Anna's house and hung out for a bit.  Oliver came to get us, and we spent a lazy afternoon together with the windows open and pumpkin spice creamer for our coffee.  Tonight, Anna and I went to get cookout food, and we had a cookout over at her and John's house with their son, Sully.  What a wonderful, beautiful, so good, very nice day! 

It was the kind of day where you are enjoying it so very much that you don't want it to end.  We only get a handful of days like this a year.  I just could not absorb enough of it all....I'm feeling healthy and happy, energized and revitalized; I am thankful and content, friends surrounding me; I can go to yard sales and be around a bunch of strangers and not feel a twinge of anxiety; I feel so, so much better in every area of my life, and I think I can actually say that I'm "on the other side" of the anxiety and depression of this spring/summer.  I realized this morning that the weather today would not have been so completely enjoyable unless there had been about 2 weeks of steamy, hot, rainy days before this.  It's always the deluges in life that make you appreciate the sun, the heat that makes you appreciate the cold, the suffering that makes you appreciate the relief.  I'm so thankful to the Lord today for the suffering that He has used to change my life, to give me new eyes to see His goodness and love, to bring about a greater appreciation for His gifts.  I'm not perfect, and I may have more issues with anxiety in the future; but I'm not going to fear that possibility because I know that my God will use it for good in my life and for His purposes.  It will not be in vain, if I must go through it again, and He will be with me as He always, always is.

Sept. 30 - Slide

This picture is from Asher's 3rd birthday party, which was a while back, but I just had to use this shot.  I love how he absolutely refused to let go of Buzz or Bullseye to go down the slide.  Hahahah.

Sept. 29 - A Morning with Owen

Griffin's friend, Owen, spent the morning with us, kicking back and watching "The Street" (Sesame Street, that is) and going on a nice walk with Cheerios and drinks.  I must say, pushing two toddlers uphill is a much more difficult challenge than just one.  I definitely got my workout in for the day! 

Sept. 28 - Chasing the Cat

Sept. 27 - Best Burger Ever

Last week, I accidentally made the best burger I have ever eaten in my life....seriously.  And I live in a city with a burger joint featured on famous Food Network shows; its burgers are good, but not this good.  Of course, I had to try and reenact that wonderful accident A.S.A.P.  Tonight was the night, and Oliver and I agreed it was a success!  So, without further ado, here is the recipe for the best burger ever:
(I'm estimating here...never actually measured anything)
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
about 1/2 c. Italian bread crumbs
about 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
about 1/4-1/2 c. mustard based BBQ sauce (the gold colored kind)
2 t. minced garlic
some seasoned salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning
half of a small tub of feta cheese
Mix everything but the meat and feta in a bowl.  Put in the meat and mix well with hands.  Add in the feta.  Makes 4 patties.  I suppose you can grill these, but they don't hold together very well.  What I do is cook them in a non-stick skillet on the stove.  Annnnd voila!  Enjoy.

Sept. 26 - Profile

Sept. 25 - Jesus Clouds

This was God's sky tonight, after a day of strange downpours and an evening of odd light.  I stepped outside after putting Griffin to bed because I noticed that the outdoors were glowing heavily with yellowish-pink.  I had never seen anything like it, so I grabbed my camera, thinking to myself, "How do I capture this glow?"  And then, I stepped outside and saw it...  The sky was absolutely striking, and it made me think of Christ coming back, for some reason.  I suppose it just seems (in my finite mind) like the kind of breathtaking, dramatic clouds I imagine he will ride in on, the kind of clouds that would be appropriate for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the kind of clouds that bring one to a halt and demand a sort of awe and respect, the kind of clouds that could bear the One to whom "every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess the Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  (Philippians 2:10-11)

Sept. 24 - Race Car PJs

Forgive the horrible photo quality.  These were just taken with my point-and-shoot, and there is something wrong with the flash.  Anyway, I had to capture the moment tonight.  Griffin has been peeing or pooping (or both...) out of his diaper every single night for weeks now.  We've found the most absorbent diaper to be Target's Up & Up brand, but not even a size 6 can contain this heavy wetting boy's nighttime.  In an effort to save money lately, I've switched him back to cloth diapers during the day.  So, tonight, I tried a new contraption on him that involved 2 cotton prefold diapers, 1 Fuzzibunz insert, and 1 BumGenius insert all under an XL diaper cover.  And it.was.enormous...so enormous that Griffin could barely walk in it!  Over all of that, I put on his new Gymboree race car pajamas, which I recently found at a thrift store.  Can you believe they are 5T?!  My boy is a monster-a cute, cuddly monster that I just absolutely adore.  I'm happy to say that this diaper contraption did, in fact, work.  Unfortunately, I have to use so many diapers that I don't know if it's feasible for me to do this every night without having to wash diapers wayyy too often.

Sept. 23 - Park with Gigi

Griffin has started saying "Gigi!"  The only problem is that I'm pretty sure he is calling both Oliver's mom and Oliver's dad "Gigi."  This might get confusing :)

Sept. 22 - Toy Story Fanatic

This shot is from the day of Sully's birthday party, which also happened to be a day that Oliver's parents were able to come visit for the afternoon!  The Woody hat and Toy Story book were both party favors from the birthday boy...How great is that?!  Of course, this book is officially his favorite, and he wears his hat around the house constantly.  It's adorable. 

Sept. 21 - The Elusive Mom/Son Shot

I've been trying, to no avail, to capture the elusive quality mother/son shot.  This is the best I could come up with today.

Sept. 20 - Rejected Bunnies

Hello, picky toddler years!  I think Griffin has refused to eat anything but fruit, pb&j, cheerios, and oatmeal in past few days.  Mostly, he's been a great eater, but it's getting tougher and tougher to get him to eat even his favorite meals.  He even turns his nose up at his favorite snacks lately!  Hence these little rejected bunny grahams.  I mean, what kid rejects bunny grahams?!  We always point out the bunny's nose, ears, eyes, mouth, feet, and tail...It's tradition.  I guess not even fun snacks are enough to entice him!  Even though I'm starting to face the difficulties of the toddler years, I am discovering that he just keeps getting more and more fun.  I love this stage, in spite of all it's challenges.

Sept. 19 - "Tuh-two"

Griffin on a "tuh-two" (as he calls it) at the zoo today

Sept. 18 - Pure Joy in Motion

Sullivan has both Buzz Lightyear and Woody in full size, and Griffin is always in 7th heaven when he can play with them.  This picture is from Sully's birthday party yesterday.  Isn't he just the picture of pure joy in motion.  A lot of my pictures of him these days are literally a blur of motion.  He's certainly all boy all the time.

Sept. 17 - Sully is 2!

Asher, Sullivan, Hudson, Griffin, Owen

Griffin's friend, Sullivan, had his 2nd birthday party today!  It was a blast, complete with a Toy Story theme, pinata, and chocolate cupcakes.  Here are all the kids, minus the two infants, Oliver and Emerson.

Sept. 16 - Unmerited Flowers

Between finishing college, my anxiety troubles, and financial strain, there were enough reasons not to plant flowers this year.  But to my great surprise, some flowers sprouted up all on their own in one of the planters!  They have been so pretty all summer and have done quite well, in spite of my complete neglect.  As I walked by them today, I thought how wonderful it was that God had them just sprout on up without me doing anything to make that happen.  And then I realized how God has been making things grow all over my life lately, quite apart from my own strength or works.  Back in January, I had gotten pretty convicted about how I used my time.  So, I went wacko, making weekly, daily, hourly schedules, a huge home management binder with cleaning lists, daily tasks, blah blah blah.  I even [daily moment of humbling just ahead, folks...] laminated little index cards containing the schedule (cleaning, devotions, cooking, exercise, Griffin stuff, etc.), one for each day of the week.  Yes, I did that.  Yes, I still have them.  Anywho...moving right along then...  I got so focused on work, work, work, do everything right, don't mess up, do this, do that, and I totally missed the forest for the trees.  God was prompting me to give my time to Him, not give my time to everything else.  Sure, the schedules and lists were intended to help me be a good steward of the time God has given me, but it ended up being a task-master, rather than a help.  The reality was, I was trying to change and do on my own, out of my own strength.  This past spring/summer has been a painful season of refining, a season where I was brought so low that anything that has grown in me has been completely, 100% from the hand of God.  And I know that because I was incapable.  Even though I've recovered so much, I know that I am still incapable, that I must continue to surrender myself, my time, my body, my mind, etc. to the Lord if any real growth/change/renewal is going to take place.  So, I took a picture today of that little pot of flowers.  I did nothing to make them grow, yet there they are, beautiful.  Thank you, Lord, for making beautiful things grow in our lives, especially when we're suffering.  Thank you that this has nothing to do with our merit and that we have only to surrender to you, accepting your love.