Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

I'm not very creative but one thing I know is that kids love to have a special activity on special days. We made turkeys out of fruit. That's about as crazy as I get.

Headcount: 16 people. 8 adults and 8 kids.

Made for a very action packed Thanksgiving dinner. No relaxing for the adults, until it was all over.

And then there was Pinewood Derby Car racing.

And yes, anytime my dad's in the house, there will be brackets tracking the winners.

The 23-lb bird. I'm sold on brining the turkey before baking. So tender and moist.

(One of our 8 cousins wasn't very happy... but she was still very cute.)

Two Tunes

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I used to totally be into worship CDs. I bought new CDs all the time in college and loved it. Those days are gone. I've literally purchased maybe 3 CDs in the last 10 years of my life. Crazy. But I (still) love (to) worship. I play the guitar (a little) and love to sit down and just play. But having 3 kids puts a cramp on my time (and finances) so having the latest and greatest music hasn't been much of an option for me in recent years.

My brother and his bride recently shared some fun tunes with me. These two songs have truly spoken to me recently, usually while listening to my Shuffle on the treadmill at the gym, or as I'm making a meal in the kitchen. Just thought I'd share the goodness.

I'm loving Kari Jobe's music recently. Ahh good stuff.

Email me if God's using something to move you to worship... I want to hear about it.

Surfin' Cousins

Are you sure this is November? I don't think wearing swimsuits like this is legal in November.

AWANA Grand Prix

J decorates his pinewood derby car.

Z's car "Rainbow" (Noah's Ark).

S's car "Cutie."

J's car "Blue Flame."

We "crashed" in on our old AWANA club's Grand Prix competition (sadly our club doesn't have a Grand Prix, maybe someday). They always do such a nice job and it was so much fun to see friends.

J's car took 2nd place (J has literally slept with his trophy a few times since race day).

So much creativity goes into the car designs!

The overall summary is that we are officially pinewood derby car addicts. It's so much fun for the kids to work with their daddy to build their cars, then race them. We just need to find wheels that last longer, as we break about 2 a week.

Thanks to the devoted Mr. Garland's handiwork, we now have our very own 2-track racing strip. If you've got a pinewood derby car of your own, bring it on over and let's race!

Workout Buddy

J, our 4 year old, today as we pull into the gym parking lot, about to get out of the car.

"But Mommy, you didn't tell me to put my shoes on!"

Breathe...

in, 2, 3

out, 2, 3.

(You know, getting ready for labor.)

It was cold this morning. J had grabbed a blanket and had it over his legs to keep him warm in the car on the way to drop his sister off at school. Silly Wendi assumed that he had put shoes on before getting in the car this morning. Silly, silly, silly.

The kid watch program at the YMCA wouldn't take him w/o shoes, so I had a shoe-less (unwanted) workout buddy with me this morning. The problem with the whole situation? He loved it, darn it. Don't worry, the devoted Mr. Garland and I came up with something later on that made him realize that all the fun he had hanging out with Mommy during her workout, really wasn't all that fun.

I know that every parent has at least one of these moments, and this is probably only the beginning for me. How embarrassing to try to explain this one away, and frustrating that it wasn't anything I did wrong. Our 4 year old son is completely capable of putting on shoes by himself every morning, and should not have to be reminded. He does it, by himself, all the time. But then one day he forgets, and it's all my fault? Excuse me?

I'm sure this is only the beginning of having our kids do silly things that have consequences that we as parents get to suffer. But on the other hand, what a joy and priviledge that one day J will consistently put his shoes on every single morning and he'll have us to thank for that amazing skill. By God's grace alone.

Looking on the bright side, right?

Jeff's 40th Birthday Celebration, Part II

The devoted Mr. Garland's birthday celebration activities!

First of all, Jeff got to take a 3 hour tour with our daughter S on the Privateer Lynx, a tall ship that currently docks in the Oceanside Harbor. Jeff and S had a great time, learning about the stern, bow, portside, starboard and the War of 1812. The only glitch to their outing was that their digital camera took a dive into a bucket of water aboard the ship. Oops. Killed that camera.

Secondly, we took a day-trip to San Diego, with several stops:

• UCSD. We drove through the University of California campus at San Diego (UCSD) and of course had to see the engineering building. Many, many years ago, I visited UCSD with my mom when I was deciding on colleges. So thankful that I ended up at Cal Poly, but UCSD wouldn't have been bad either. Perhaps one or more of our kids will attend some day.

Plugging in the gps coordinates.

Found it! The geocache loot box.

J (our 4 year old) took this shot.

Z (our 2-year old) took this shot of Jeff and I. Not too bad, right?

You're probably thinking, "What?!? You let your kids, let alone your 2-year old use a camera?" Perhaps that's how we end up with submerged digital cameras. Ahem.

• Mt. Soledad. Jeff grabbed his GPS on the way out and we completed a clever geo-cache on top of the peak. What a beautiful cross, with amazing views.

• Mission Bay. Wow, we really need to come back here with our bikes.

Now this cracked me up... a historic 1800s light house, well maintained... and it had a 120W lightbulb as it's light source. Now that's technology for you!

• Point Loma Light House (1855-1891)/ Cabrillo National Monument. There is an "old" light house and a "new" light house. The new light house is in operation so you can't visit (it didn't have much character anyways), but the old light house was open to visitors and it was amazing. Turned out the tower of the light house is only open to visitors 2 days per year. 2 days per year!!! And we happened to be there on one of those two days... what luck! The park rangers were dressed in 19th century outfits, so classy. The view from up top was amazing. The tide pools were also very fun.

• Fort Rosencrans National Cemetary. This was the kids' first experience in a cemetary, and it was good to talk about what cemetaries and wars were all about, esp. with the Veteran's holiday just last week. We're so thankful for our veterans!

Whew, all that in one day. Boy I really needed a nap (but didn't get one). It was such a fun and memorable day for all of us.

Jeff's 40th Birthday Celebration, Part I

40 fingers celebrating Jeff's 40 years!

For Jeff's 40th birthday celebration, we took a fun day trip (photos and details in Part II) but Jeff also got to pick out his birthday meal and cake. He made some delicious choices that I thought I'd share. For dinner we had one of Jeff's favorite meals, Thai Coconut Chicken (I always use whatever veggies I have on hand: green beans, peas, broccoli, etc.). Jeff's definitely a rice guy, he likes pasta but really really likes rice.

For desert, I tried a new recipe and it was a winner for sure. Chocolate or fruit for dessert? In Jeff's case it's always something fruity for sure (I'm always the chocolate girl :). I found this recipe for an Apple Skillet Cake a while back and thought it'd be perfect for Jeff's birthday cake. It was. And if you have a sec, go check out the site for the amazing food photos. If I snapped photos of my cooking steps, they'd be pathetic compared to Pioneer Woman's.

Four-Oh!

Yup, the amazingly devoted Mr. Garland is 40 years old today!

Happy birthday to the love of my life, fun dad to our kids and friend to me and so many others.

God has blessed you, and He's also blessed me through you.

We love you Jeff! You're the best.

Maternity Gadgets

I've officially given up running.

For a little while longer.

I'm nearly 6 months pregnant now, (G4 food size update: she's the size of a 12-inch ear of corn) and it was getting painful. Oh how I will miss running. Running (I'm a slow runner/jogger) is such a wonderful exercise. You get your heart rate up and get a great workout in short amount of time. I'm finding other activities to keep me lean and mean (ha!) though. About once a week I swim laps and being in the water is wonderful. Too bad gravity is always there to greet me as I climb up and out of the pool. I do yoga on occasion, but I'm pretty limited with some of the moves. Now in the gym, I'm trying to get excited about the stationary bikes and elliptical machines. But in any activity, I'm slow. I was slow before pregnancy and I'm even slower now. I'm even starting to waddle (eek!).

I have to get a nap. Every day. I realize this is probably TMI* but my varicose veins are bad. They cause severe pressure all up and down my right leg. I don't do anything in the morning until I have my support stocking on, oh those heavenly contraptions. Other than veins and napping, the pregnancy is going along splendidly... G4 is kicking up a storm and I love to feel her every movement. I forget how amazing it is to have another human being growing inside me. It is truly awesome.

*TMI = too much information

Maternity clothes stink. Every shirt is as big as a tent, and I do my job and fill it. I'm 6'1" mind you so I'm a big girl already, but I'm especially big when I'm pregnant. Some dear ladies at my bible study (CBS) comment that they can't even tell that I'm pregnant (bless their hearts!) but sometimes being tall helps to hide being pregnant.

Also, I've tried very hard to stay in my non-pregnant clothes for as long as I possibly can ("Motherhood" brand jeans don't even compare to being as cool or long as my regular brand jeans) and I've done this by using some prenatal contraptions:

1. Tummy sleeve (aka Bella band) - brown T-shirt

2. Belly buckle - white elastic

I heard about these things from friends, looked them up on the Internet, and then jerry-rigged something using old T-shirts, elastic, buttons and my sewing machine to resemble these items, and I have to say they're working very well! They're very simple, but have really extended the life of my non-pregnant clothing well into the pregnancy.

My tummy sleeve is basically a tube of stretchy material (an old T-shirt that the devoted Mr. Garland donated to the worthy cause) that I wear around my waist to hide the fact that my pants are unbuttoned and unzipped. And the belly buckle is a piece of 1-inch wide elastic (about 10" long) with a button on one end and adjustable button holes on the other. The belly buckle helps provide a comfortable waistline.

My mom recently helped me morph some regular jeans over to maternity jeans and I'm so very excited. Maternity jeans are already awful, and then you throw in the fact that I'm over 6 feet tall that means that not only do the pants not fit, they're also too short. Maybe it's just me, but I've never had much luck in the maternity clothes department.

About 3 months to go... so excited!

Halloween

Between Legoland's Brick-or-Treat, the YMCA party, Princess/Pirate night at AWANA and regular Halloween festivities, we certainly got our share of costume-wearing in this year.

Z wore 3 costumes: superman, pumpkin and firefighter. I just love the faux 6-pack chest of a 2 year old in a superman costume:

S was a queen (she upgraded from "princess" last year although her costume was basically the same dress, just different homemade hat).

J was a knight, complete with sword and shield (that he saved up for and purchased from Legoland with all of his own money, so proud of our boy!). I used some left over material and even made him a cape, which will get plenty of use in the upcoming non-halloween months as well. This knight has a pirate's scowl goin' on.

Pumpkin carving is basically done by the devoted Mr. Garland, who does all the work: cleaning out the pumpkin guts, design and carving. I just keep everyone well stocked with snacks.

We purchased one pumpkin from the store (the biggest one), but we grew the two smaller pumpkins in our own garden this summer. Boy that was fun and we'll totally do that again.

Lastly, I'm so thankful for Jeff's job and his co-workers! It's so important for your husband to enjoy his job, and to be challenged. The mechanical engineering group dressed up as a basketball team for a company costume contest by department.

Bruised heel update: I mentioned in a previous post that I injured my left heel and was not doing well earlier this week. Thanks so much for your notes and prayers... I'm feeling about 90%, still a little tender but for the most part back to normal. I used a cane for a few days this week (boy did that look funny), and am walking on my own now. Hooray for my comfy running shoes with really good support. Glad I didn't have to go in to see a doc for help, it's just tricky to work in an appt. with 3 kids :) God is good.

Memory Monday: Sinking Feeling

October 2004: S at 1 year old, the good ole' days when she used to fit in our bathroom sink.

Prayer request: Yesterday while at the pool I jumped in and landed hard on my left heel, and now have what I think is a bruised heel. (I had an Adrenalin rush as I was going after Z our 2-yr-old who stumbled in the baby pool and was face down in the water, not a good thing. He's fine, thank the Lord!)

I've never had this problem before, but it is very painful, and I'm not able to bear full weight on it. (And you know I have a little extra weight to carry right now...) So I'm using crutches and a cane to stay off of it as much as I can, but if you could pray that it heals quickly this week, I'd sure appreciate it. God is always faithful. Thanks in advance and have a great week.