Dedicated to the One I Love

My dear husband or "DH" as they say in the message board world turned 33 this past Friday, so I thought I should write a short post all about how much I love love love him.  So here's 7QT all about Andrew.

1)  There's just something about Andrew.  I have seriously never ever met anyone with as many quirks as he has.  Whether it's his passionate stance on the metric system, how he can talk your ear off about local government, or the fact that he hasn't had meat (other than your random wild-caught animal) for over 10 years... he's just a little cuckoo.  Of course, none of those facts do justice to just how strange he really is.  But if you've met him, you totally know what I mean.

2)  That dude LOVES his kids.  Sometimes I see him smile at one of the kiddos in a way that only a Dad can smile.  Even when they're being crazy hooligans, he just gets this grin on his face that shows how much he digs the little people that they are.  I love how much he loves them.  And I especially love that he's helping them be at least slightly strange just like he is.

3)  Though he isn't the most romantic fellow in the world, he has given me a few trinkets of memory throughout the past 8 years that make me swoon.  Like when he showed up at my house on our first date with a pink rose in hand.  Pink because white means friendship and red means love... so pink was a mixture of that.  Or when he lay next to me on the big grass covered hill behind my parents house and told me that someday we could get married in the little Church that my mom, grandma and great grandma all got married in.

4)  His faith.  I love how he'll take the two littles to daily Mass on Fridays.  And how he makes sure we don't shop on Sundays because everyone needs a day of rest.  And how he'll pray over me if I ask him to... especially when I'm pregnant.

5)  His knowledge about politics.  He was the man who finally made me wake up a little bit a pay attention to our government.  He has taught me so many things about how some of our "pro-life" politicians are not doing very pro-life things, and how people really need to educate themselves before they vote along with write letters and make their voices heard.  And he does all of that... and that's cool.

6)  His heart.  While he doesn't really have the gift of empathy, I think my social working husband really does feel for the people he helps every day.  But he also wants to call them up to something greater.  He does such a great job when he works with nutty teens, because he knows they can and expects them to make better choices.  I think this is also part of what makes him a great dad.

7)  Everything else.  There are days when everything about him drives me absolutely to the nut house but I can't help but still think he's one of the greatest things God ever put on earth.  And I know he's the greatest thing for me and our family.  He makes me laugh constantly... sometimes with him, sometimes at him, sometimes at myself... but always laughing.  Never a dull moment.

Andrew, happy happy happy 33rd birthday.  I love you.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

I don't really follow recipes.  I like to google 4 or 5 different recipes for the same thing and then sort of mix and match and modify to come up with my own creation.  That's how I came up with these delicious muffins.  (I would post a photo, but we ate them too fast for me to get one.) I started with this awesome recipe and made my modifications.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups oats (old fashioned is best)
2 eggs
1 very ripe banana (the riper, the better)
1 cup pumpkin puree (about half a can)
1/2 - 3/4 cup honey (or sweetener of your choice)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp  pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease or spray down a cupcake pan. I really like how they turn out in my stoneware cupcake pan, but I've not tried anything else.  Word on the street is that they will stick to paper liners, so silicone or stoneware greased well is probably your best bet.

The easiest thing to do is throw all of the ingredients (minus the choco chips) into your food processor (I used my Ninja Pulse) and grind it up until it's pretty smooth.  After you've got it smooth, stir in some chocolate chips (or nuts).  Note: The mixture is usually a little too thick to poor into the pan so I scoop it out with an ice cream scoop.

Fill your twelve muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.  And then ENJOY some delicious health fiber-rich and vegetable-laden muffins.

Five Years Later

I know every parent says this... but time blinks away so quickly when you have kids.  The last time I checked I was taking care of this little dude...

He was my first little boy. The kid whose birth gave me such fervor to have another natural birth some day.  My little 9lb 6oz'er was born without pain meds, after contracting on pitocin for over an hour, and I was enamored with him.  I still am.  Little Vince is not so little anymore...

This little man turned 5 just two days ago.  Here are a few of my favorite things about Vince:

1) He's a "words of affirmation" person, just like his momma.  You can frequently hear Vincey passing along compliments.  And when you give him a compliment, he always answers with a "Well thanks!"

2) He loves cars.  Every night he asks me what to dream about, and no matter what I tell him, he always adds on something about car racing.  Dream about bananas, Vince.  He'll dream about bananas racing cars.  Dream about eating a giant house-sized cake, Vince.  He'll dream about a house sized cake that you can race cars into.

3) He's best friends with his big sister.  When you tell him to hug out a fight with his brother, he will squish that little guy so tight that they both fall down in giggles.  And he's enamored with his new baby sister.

4) He loves his daddy.  Every morning, he asks who will go to work first... mom or dad.  And he's ALWAYS bummed if it's Daddy.

5) No matter what time of year it is, whenever he goes to get dressed he asks "Will it be hot or cold today?"  Even in July. In Kansas.  When it was 103 the day before.

Sometimes during night prayers, he'll come over to cuddle with me and I cherish every squish I get.  I can't believe that one of these days he'll be too big to cuddle, but it's happening so fast.  I love you Vince-a-roo!!!!

Blast from the past

Well, this shows how much the hubs and I have aged in the last 6 years.  But OH the fun we had!

Nablopomo2013

People, it is national blog posting month, and I have already failed in my attempt to post each day.  But I had a fabulous weekend with great friends so I'm not even going to apologize.

Let's start this year's NaBloPoMo with 7 quick takes:

1). As discussed in my last blog post, I really don't like having lots of friends on FB.  Strangely enough, I've had like 4 friend requests since that post.  Pretty sure I only said yes to one.  But now someone else has got to go... Who will it be?!

2.). I got to spend time with bunches of my friends from back in the days of the Daisy House this weekend.  Man do I love those people.  FJ said the other night that it meant a lot to him that we were good enough friends that we could just invite ourselves over to his house. I kind of agree. I appreciate that my besties are comfortable rummaging through my kitchen for food and helping themselves to whatever. I also love when they invite themselves over.

3.). Related- have people lost the art of going visiting?  I totally remember buzzing around in my grandma's car with mom and gma when I was a kid and just randomly visiting their friends.  I really don't think anyone ever called ahead.  They just walked on up to their friends/family's door and invited themselves over for a visit.  It seems weird now. My house would be in total disarray (as it usually is) if people popped in on me.  Maybe back in the 80s people just didn't care as much what others thought so it didn't matter how they were dressed or what state their children or houses were in when visitors came.  That sounds nice. And terrifying.

4.) I just noticed that my punctuation is different for each of these numbers.  I'm not even going to fix it. #recoveringgrammarnerd

5.) What does the fox say? Ahe Ahe Aheeee. :-).    You're welcome!

6.) The other day I told Mia she needed to try to take a rest during nap time.  When she came out 30 minutes later she said she wasn't tired so she said a decade of the rosary instead.  This little girl blows me away.  Who does that at age 6? My kiddo inspires me and that's just neat.

7.) I'm concerned I will have nothing to write about this month since I drew a blank as soon as hit this number 7.  If you have suggestions or requests, I will happily take them.

Kristi. Out.

Kristi's Guide to Purging Facebook Friends

There's a lot of talk these days about people who are wanting to "quit" Facebook.  Maybe it's a time suck.  Maybe it's a privacy issue.  Maybe it's just too much drama.  Well, I say don't quit... just widdle down your friend list!  It's both fun and freeing!  Here's a little guide of how to decide who to purge from you social network.

Worth noting:  I do not advocate purging immediate family members or people you frequently see in the real world (you know that place where you walk around and speak audibly with others).  Purging people such as these tends to make life more difficult.  How will you respond when one of these purged people comes up and says "Hey... did you leave FB? I don't see your posts anymore." (And you know they would do that... because if you unfriended them, it's probably because they're totally weird.) Can you say awkward dot com???

On with the purging!!  These are the questions I ask when I'm in the mood to downsize my friend list:

1.)  Have I seen them or wanted to see them in the last year? - Now we all have those friends from college and high school that we like to keep in touch with, so I'm not saying scrap them all.  But if you haven't seen them in a year or more, and especially if you don't really care to see them in person, let them go.

2)  Do they perpetually use Facebook for lamenting? - No one wants to be friends with someone who spends all of their Facebook posts complaining about poop... or their lack of boyfriend/girlfriend... or how work is the most horrible place in the world.  Facebook should be a fun way to chill out after a long day of dealing with the above problems.  Not a place where you beg for attention due to your terrible life. Get rid of those Debby Downers.  They are crying for help in the WRONG place, and if you're not there to offer it... you best let 'em go.  Don't bring me down, BRUCE!

3)  Can you name their spouse/significant other/best friend?  If you don't know at least one important personal fact about your FB friend... it might be time to let them go.  Which brings me to #4...

4)  Are they a Facebook lurker?  - Lots of folks out there spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook just lurking around and seeing what others are up to... but never actually updating their own status/photos/timeline or offering a silly tidbit of their life.  I don't know about you guys... but these peeps FREAK ME OUT.  If it seems as though they aren't using FB, but randomly they comment on stuff... well... that's a little odd.  Stop stalking me unless I can mutually stalk you.

5)  What kind of a friend are they in real life? - Are they a person you enjoy hanging out with?  Or do they make you want to slam your head against the wall when you spend too much time around them? Yes, I'm here to tell  you that you CAN purge these little wonders of nature.  But be careful... some of these folks might be in the "see too frequently" or "family" categories that I mentioned earlier which is probably why you friended them in the first place.  You might be better off blocking their posts from your feed.

6)  Do their posts always piss you off? - This one is kinda like #2. I myself tend to be quite the potstirrer on Facebook (always posting some anti vaccination thing or some attachment parenting thing) but I also try to throw in some happy updates and silly statuses here and there.  If your FB friend constantly posts things that anger you, don't waste your worry, just un-friend-away!  I've been unfriended quite a few times for this one I think.  Oops.

7)  Would you attend their funeral? - People, if you don't care enough about your FB friends to at least attempt to make it to their funeral, maybe you shouldn't be a part of their online life.  You know their friends, their problems, how many kids they have and that they'd really like to buy a dog by February, but boy howdy... you would NOT go to their funeral.  You don't really need to know all that other stuff.

So there you have it... Kristi's Guide to Purging your FB Friendlist.  I have the best time attempting to keep my list at or below 200 people.  I challenge you to experience the joy of unfriending your "friends."  Feel the freedom!  Enjoy the click sound when you weed the garden of FB friends!  Good luck, dear readers and please don't come find me on Facebook. :)

Quite the spectacle!

Apparently something shifts in the minds of others when a family goes from three kids to four.  I can't tell you how many times since Greta was born that we've heard the question, "So are you done?" or "Is she your last one?"  Our canned answer is always something like, "Who knows..." or "We'll see," or "Well... we can fit one more in the van so..."

I guess it's unusual to see a family of six when all the kids are under 7 years old.  It doesn't seem that strange to me because we live in a place filled with big families, but maybe that's only in our little Catholic microcosm.  I really get a kick of watching people's faces when we're in a store or restaurant now.  It's like you can actually see them count the little people as they parade by.  This is always more entertaining, of course, when said little people are behaving themselves.

Speaking of little people, the tiniest one has decided to wake and holler so off I go.  Suffice it to say, I'm kind of liking being a spectacle!