Another year of existence...

Here's to another birthday come and very shortly at midnight gone...it wasn't a bad day. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to go in to Cameron's class today and be the art appreciation teacher. The lesson was on lines and I have to say that I don't think I did all that bad. At least my 5 year old told me I did good and isn't that all that really matters?? :)

I thought I would compile a list of things that I really like. Things that make me smile and bring me comfort. Things that give you that warm and fuzzy feeling.

I love rain at bedtime and through the night. I love the sound on the roof and the windows. The rolling ocean would be a good second but I love rain.

I love small surprises. I love a card in the mail from someone I wasn't expecting one from. I love the little gestures that make me think someone was thinking of me.

I love hot tea. Earl Gray and Constant Comment are my favorite. Eli's, a coffee shop here in town, has the best Raspberry Earl Gray around. It warms my soul.

I love wine spritzers. I love any wine with 1/2 ginger ale or sprite. The fizz and the taste awaken my taste buds. Love it.

I love when my kids give me an unexpected please or thank you. It makes me stop and think that I may actually be doing a pretty good job. It makes me smile.

I love hugs from my baby. She wraps her little fat arms around your neck and just squeezes. She loves to smash faces together, too. She really is a sweet girl even if she can be a handful in the same breath.

I love desserts. I think this one unfortunately is obvious. I love sweets. It's a fact.

With that said I didn't have any sweets on my birthday so I hope to make up for it tomorrow with some friends. We are off to Columbus for Mike and his brother to run a 1/2 marathon on Sunday. A prayer for no injuries and a fun time would be appreciated! Go Mike!

Quick soup

It has been raining here almost non-stop for 2 days. Cameron was sick 2 days from school this week with a virus so I'm starting to feel a little bit of cabin fever. I say this carefully as a really do detest taking the kids out in the rain because I am always the one who ends up getting soaked. It it better now since we can load and unload in a garage. When we were in that dreaded apartment it was just awful in the rain. Everyone was wet but me the most! Typical of the us, we had a miscommunication between Mike and I and I thought he had class last night but he didn't. I didn't know this until 4 o'clock and had nothing planned for dinner. It was going to be one of those "anything goes" nights here. When I found out he was going to be home I thought I'd better make an attempt at dinner. But, what can you make in less than 2 hours with nothing thawed? I love scouring the internet for recipes and found this one under a 30 minute soup website. I have to say on a cold, rainy night it really hit the spot. I thought I would share a quick and easy meal that my hubby really enjoyed. He's not a fan of me experimenting on him but this one worked out!

Meatball Pasta Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes (I cooked it longer and let it simmer a bit)

Ingredients:

1 package (1 pound) Frozen Cooked Meatballs
1 (28 ounce) jar your favorite Pasta Sauce
6 cups water
1 cup pre-shredded carrots (I used baby carrots and cut them up small)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup orzo pasta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:
In large stock pot combined meatballs, pasta sauce, water, carrots and garlic. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes. Add peppers and pasta and cook 8 more minutes. Stir frequently. Serve with cheese.

I didn't add the green pepper because I didn't have any and I can't tolerate green peppers anymore (don't ask!). It would be really good with yellow or red pepper which I find more mild. I thought about adding a can of great northern beans to this and think that it would be a good addition. The pasta sauce gives it just enough kick and the orzo makes the soup a little thicker which I love. I bet you could use elbow macaroni or any small pasta as a substitution.

I really recommend this with a great hunk of bread or a nice muffin. Enjoy!

Our calendar girl...

Wow! What an amazing night we have had. I'll back track a few months and share that over the summer Molly was asked to be in the 2010 calendar for the Children's Hospital of Illinois. It is a fundraiser for their Child Life Department. The Child Life Specialists are the wonderful women of the hospital who do all the fun things for kids. When waiting to go into surgery they bring you movies to watch, they bring crafts and coloring books, they make sure Mom and Dad are doing good, they make sure that the kids aren't scared. When you are in radiology they play music on a CD player to help you relax, they blow bubbles while you are under the x-ray machine, whatever you need. When you are inpatient they plan pizza parties and snow-cone parties, they set up visits by local sports teams and local celebrities, they bring Wii game consoles to rooms for parents and kids to play. They are everything fun about the hospital! We LOVE these women and the important role that they have played in our daughter's success in getting well and healing. When they asked if we would be interested in being in the calendar I didn't even hesitate to say yes. It is their only fundraiser of the year and all proceeds go directly to their budget which allows all these wonderful events to take place every day at the hospital. These women were my sanity on many a long day with Molly. The calendar turned out beautiful! A local photographer donates her time to take all the pictures. Her work is breathtaking. We are so honored to have been apart of this year's calendar.

Here are some pictures from tonight...





Thanks to Dale, Margaret, Regan and Cailin for coming tonight, too! We had fun celebrating Cailin's b-day! It was also so special that Dr. R came, too. He had probably been in surgery all day but still made an appearance. He's very special to us!

On my soapbox...

Remember the DINK (dual income, no kids) days where we thought we knew everything and often said, "Well, when I have kids I'll never...(fill in the blank)"? I remember thinking that. I swore my kids would never go outside with out shoes (happened yesterday). I swore my kids would eat from all the food groups. Cameron can tell you in depth about all of the food groups but that doesn't mean he's going to eat from them. I swore I would never cook separate meals for the kids. I'm sorry but Mike and I love salmon and there is no way the kids are interested in it yet. The one thing I have learned the hard way is never to judge another parent. What works for us doesn't necessarily work for everyone else. I can't believe that we had an over 4 year old who still yearned and longed for her Nuk - a pacifier. I can justify it up and down until I'm blue but it was long overdue to give it up. But I can proudly say, when given the opportunity to show us that she is a big girl, Molly has been Nuk free for a month. On her own terms is how she works best. But, I'm sure that there would have been some judgement passed if others had known that she still wanted a Nuk at bedtime. I probably could judge myself!

We know a couple who was recently judged by a complete stranger on their parenting skills. Someone approached them in a public place and told them that they weren't doing their kids any justice by rewarding bad behavior and that they should seek some parenting classes. They didn't know this person and the person didn't know them. The strange part of it is the couple didn't think that their children were acting up all that much. They actually thought they were having a good day. Regardless I have learned that you never judge someones parenting until you have walked in their shoes. This couple has more than one child and we all know how challenging it can be to keep more than one child in check. I keep thinking that what happened to this couple could have easily happened to Mike and I. You can't even imagine how many times a week someone says to me, "wow, you have your hands full!" I get it. I do have my hands full but this is what God intended for us and I have to also take the skills he gave me and do my best to raise nice, responsible and loving children. So instead of judging each others parenting how about a little support? It will go a long way!

Saturday morning means SOCCER!!...

It's another Saturday morning here and that means SOCCER! I wish our little soccer player went with as much enthusiasm. I think Cam likes it but he certainly isn't chomping at the bit to get out there. We all trek out and set up our chairs, have to eat the obligatory fruit snack, guzzle the drinks (remember drinks mean pee I tell them) and then get the fun snack afterward. I think my boy lives for the snack afterwards.

Here are some photos from the morning...


I love this one...the girls are more interested in socializing that doing the drills. It was so cute!



Here comes the mean coach breaking up the chatting party...



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Cam as goalie


We have selected our ideas for Halloween costumes and the orders have been placed. We can't wait for Halloween!

Today my niece Cailin turns 10!! Happy Birthday to one of the nicest girls that we know!! We can't believe you are double digits. I remember like yesterday the day you were born. Hope you have a great day! We love you!

Random thoughts by me...

I think I'm in a blog funk so I'll just put down some random thoughts and call it a post!

Our school year is going really well. The kids both love their classes and teachers. They both seem very, very nice. It's been good even in spite of the fall Cameron took off the see saw which cut his head open. Nothing a little staple couldn't make better! He took it like a champ - what a Hall he is!! They both talk about friends and Cameron already has his first "play date" set up for Friday. It's kind of strange for me to hear the kids talk about friends and not really know the kids or their parents. I have talked to one Mom on the phone from Cameron's class and know the mother of a girl in Molly's class so there is a little connection. It's been a fun time with school so far. Hope it continues for about 15 more years!

We have fun news from my side of the family. There will be 2 new babies in our family come April. And, NO!!, they are not from us! Both of my cousin's are going to have little ones. My cousin, Jessica and her husband, Dave, are expecting mid April and my cousin, Bill and his wife, Ricki, are expecting late April. Little Lily will be a big sister! All I can say is yea and thank god it's them and not me! We wish them happy pregnancies - such an exciting time!

How much fun did we have at Pumpkin Festival??!! A whole bunch! By Saturday we had had enough so after the parade we were done. If you didn't see our picture on Facebook of our candy loot, holy cow was it a lot! 8 pounds!! It was way too much but so fun for the kids to get. They loved it! We already look forward to next years pumpkin festival. It's the only place in the world where it's cool to wear a pumpkin shirt in September!

The weather here has been unbelievable! It's been a little rainy the last 2 days but we really need it. Not a drop of rain the entire pumpkin fest. Since today is the first day of fall I expect the temperatures to start to drop. Have you seen pictures of snow already in Colorado? Crazy.

A first in the Shook household...

What a weekend! Beautiful weather that started us at soccer Saturday morning. We ran some errands after that and then saw a very discouraging Buckeye defeat Saturday night. Today we headed out to church and then participated in rally day for Sunday School. It's the kickoff that starts the year at church. The kids had yummy snacks, got to go through a blow up tunnel, have their face painted (our kids just did their arm), and do an obstacle course where they got a medal. When we got in the car Cameron said, "Mom, that was REALLY fun!" We really appreciate all the hard work by the education department at our church. They make everything really fun!

After lunch we headed to Peoria and participated in the MS Walk 2009. One of the first families we met here in Morton has been affected by MS this year. Our new friend, Traci Sullivan, was diagnosed with MS in February. With the economy hard hit in our area she was hoping to raise $500 towards the fight against MS. As of today Traci's Troops raised $3,500. Isn't that awesome! I thank those of you who contributed towards my goal of raising $100. Here is a picture of Traci and her husband, Andy and their 2 sweet kids Max and Maggie.



I wish I would have thought to get a picture of us walking but I forgot. It was a great day to walk and there were about 65 - 70 walkers in Traci's Troops. A terrific turnout!

A really monumental event took place after we got home from the MS walk. I have an I've Never List and one of those I can know cross off. I know what you all are going to say. I can't believe this was on Beth's I've Never List but just remember that my Dad always felt this wasn't a girl kind of job. He worried about his princess oops I mean daughter. Well...Today I MOWED for the first time in my life!! Mike needed to mow and was procrastinating so we compromised. He would let me help but only in the back yard. We have 2 mowers since the previous owners of our house left theirs for us to have. Mike is very particular about straight lines but didn't think it would matter as much in the back yard. I set Cameron up wit the Wii and the girls were playing on the swing set and we were good to go. Here's a few pics from the experience. I told Mike afterwards I did an awesome job. He reminded me that every time he mows he doesn't come in the house and say, "I did an awesome job." I don't know, maybe he should, right? :)

I have named the mower Bessie...