Chili Impaired

I love chili. It's one of my favorite meals. There's just one problem - I can never make it right. It seems so simple, yet mine always turns out wrong. I've tried a bunch of recipes and I still can't get it right. Not enough flavor. The beans aren't cooked enough. Too spicy. Whatever.

I found a recipe online that had a lot of good reviews. I decided to try it. It looked so good. I even doubled the recipe to give some to my sister-in-law. I dished it up and we sat down to eat as a family. Long story short, the boys ended up eating cereal for dinner. Bryan and I ate the chili, but also ate a lot of bread with it. It was just a little too spicy - okay, really spice. We were sweating by the time we were done. And I like spicy food.

Bryan was trying to be really nice. As he is shoving loaves of bread into his mouth to tame the kick of the chili, he says to me, "It's really good. I really like it. But I can see why other people won't like it." What?!? That doesn't help at all. Then he says, "We can't give this to Mindy." Duh.

Now I have an entire pot of chili in my refrigerator, sitting there being all spicy and not being eaten. I think I am chili-jinxed. So if anyone has a good recipe, please share it with me so I can probably ruin it.

On another note, I accidentally poured lemonade into Trey's cereal this morning instead of milk. I didn't even notice it until I gave it to him and he looked at me all weird.

Three-Year-Old For Rent

I'm not ready to sell him just yet, just rent him out for about 45 minutes each morning while he gets dressed. Then I'll take him back. The rest of the day, we have a lot of fun together. But when I get him dressed, he acts like I am sticking sharp needles in him. For some reason, most of his clothes bug him. Different pieces, different reasons. No rhyme or reason. A few months ago, after a particularly memorable morning, I wrote down what had happened. In case you're interested in renting him, this is what you'll be getting into...

"The jeans I get ready to put on Trey are brand new. Of course, he wants nothing to do with them. He throws a fit and I have to pin him down to get them over his legs. I'm pretty much sitting on him. I finally get them on, and he screams even harder because he can feel the adjustable waist belt inside the jeans. Finally, he calms down.

Next, the hooded shirt. As soon as I put it on him, he decides that the hood drives him nuts. Throws an even bigger fit. Almost strangles himself trying to get it off. He keeps trying to turn around to grab the hood on his back. If I weren't so mad, I would be laughing really hard. He looks like a dog trying to catch his tail. I don't have the time or the nerve to handle another drawn out fit, so I yank the shirt off him (maybe a little too hard) and put on something without a hood or anything that may set him off again.

Now it's time for shoes and socks. I open his sock drawer and realize that the three pairs of socks in his drawer are ankle socks, which he has never minded until I bought his most recent pair of shoes. Apparently, he will only wear long socks with these shoes - not ankle socks. Great. Of course. I try not to let him notice the ankle socks as I put them on. Doesn't work. Yet, another fit. I leave him in his room. I was so mad by this point that I had to just walk away.

Fifteen minutes later, he is still screaming and has both his socks and shoes off. I resort to digging through the dirty laundry to find the "right" kind of socks. He is now wearing dirty socks with his shoes. I put them on thinking the drama is over and he is finally dressed. He then points to the velcro on his shoes and tells me that I did it wrong. What!?! Apparently, I didn't do the velcro straight enough. He carefully replaces all four velcro straps to his standards.

He then smiles and acts like the last 45 minutes of the morning never happened. I, however, am still fuming. He is the only person in the world that makes me want to laugh, cry, and scream at the same time. Or beat him and hug him at the same time."

I only document this so that one day when he is much older with children of his own, he might thank me for resorting to screaming some choice words into a pillow instead of strangling him.

One day I'll laught about this. Right?

Here are pictures of just a few of our mornings the last few months. Yeah - I take pictures of him as he is screaming at me.

New Years Goals...

I'm not sure what 2009 will bring our family. Whatever it is, I am ready and I am excited for this year! I don't make resolutions every year, but this year I have a whole slew of them. Last year was a different story completely. My 2008 resolution was simply to hang on for another year. In a nutshell, 2007 was not a year I would want to relive and 2008 consisted of getting back up from the fall.

2009 is a different story, and I have a lot of goals to make this year the best it can be. I won't post all the boring details of how I plan to accomplish everything, but here is a brief overview of just some of what I want to do.

Become closer to Him.



Go here more often.

Read all of this.

Be better at this.

Fit into this.

Save more of this.





Do more of this.

And this.

And this.

Trey's Big Debut

Trey, bless his little heart, hates any sort of attention - even from Bryan and I. Anytime he catches us watching him doing something, he stops immediately, glares at us and then turns his back to us. He just doesn't like people watching him (or talking to him or looking at him). Also, he is very uncomfortable in new situations (new people, places, routines, clothing) and uncomfortable in any situation that he does not have some sort of control. Super easy child.

Needless to say he was terrified for his preschool Christmas program to happen. He had a few things working against him: It was in a new place (not his preschool), he had to wear a shirt that he doesn't usually wear to preschool (doesn't sound like a big deal but for Trey, it is traumatic), and he had to stand in front of a bunch of strangers and sing.

It took about 53 pep talks the week before and a bribe of an M&M cookie and chocolate milk, but Trey did not end up sitting in my lap and watching the program (which I fully expected). He stood with his class in front of everyone for the entire program. He even very quietly told everyone his name.

The program then consisted of about ten songs, none of which Trey choose to sing. But he did stand in front of everyone with his class while they sang. He even let his teacher put an elf hat on him (again, not a big deal to most children but the fact that Trey did not turn around and wack her when she put a hat on his head is huge).

Trey stood there frozen while everyone else sang, and I couldn't be more PROUD of him. I know he was extremely scared and uncomfortable but he stood up there, without a fight, in front of everyone, and that is a huge step for him.

WAY TO GO, TREY!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Here is just a small clip of Trey being Trey...

Our Gingerbread House

Kevin, Trey and I attempted to make a gingerbread house the other day. Usually, I try to control the decorating too much. This time, I let them do whatever they wanted. We had a lot of fun. Some of the highlights of the activity included:

*This conversation with Kevin...
Kevin: "Mom, you didn't become an engineer in college, did you."
Me: "Um, no. Why?"
Kevin: "Look at the house."
The roof had slid off. Again.
Me: "Oh, I'll fix it." Again.
Kevin: "You're not a very good gingerbread house engineer, mom."

*Trey freaking out because he got a small drop of frosting on his finger after putting candy on the roof. "Wipe it, mom! Get it OFF!" I know, most kids would happily lick their finger. Not Trey.

*Me knocking over the container of tiny, hard candy balls - sending them into a bouncing frenzy across the kitchen. And having no one to yell at but myself.

*Trey constantly telling Kevin and I that the candy needs to stay "organized." (I didn't even know he knew what that word meant).

*Kevin teaching Trey the lyrics to "Pinecones and Holly Berries." So cute. They both sang it over and over while they decorated.

*Trey jumping up and down in excitement because when he got the nerve to put another piece of candy on the house, he did not get frosting on his finger. "Look, mom, I did it! My finger is still clean!"
*Kevin telling me that I make the best gingerbread houses in the world. (Apparently, he forgot about his previous comments).

*Kevin making Bryan a map from the garage door to the kitchen where the final product was being displayed, so he would be sure to see "the best gingerbread house ever" when he got home.

*Trey giving Kevin a hug and telling him "I love you" with no prompting of any sort.

Old Photos and Memories...

I was tagged by my friend, Tina, to do this post. You are supposed to go to your sixth picture folder and show the sixth picture and tell about it. This picture is not very good quality. It was back in the olden days when we didn't have a digital camera - so this has been scanned and saved to my computer.
Anyway, this picture brings back a lot of memories because it was taken right before Kevin had surgery on his cleft lip when he was just a few weeks old. I know it wasn't major heart surgery or anything, but I was still terrified. He was my first baby. I was getting ready to give him to a doctor who would change the way he looked for the rest of his life.

I remember him not being allowed to eat for six hours before the surgery. For a baby who ate every two hours, that was a long time. I fully expected him to cry for the last four hours before his surgery, and I was dreading it. Bryan gave him a blessing the night before. Kevin didn't make a single peep the morning of his surgery. Didn't act hungry at all. I know it seems trite now, but to an anxious and frazzled new mom, it was a small miracle. It let me know that God does hear and answer our prayers - even if it's something as small as "please don't let my baby feel hungry for a few hours."

The surgery went great. He cried a lot during the next eight weeks. He had every right to. His arms were tied to his diaper so he couldn't move them enough to touch his face. He had plastic stints up his nose that didn't look comfortable at all. He had a metal bar over his lip so nothing would hit it, and every time I had to take the metal bar off, I ripped a layer of skin off of his cheeks with the tape. Not fun.

I was so worried about everything at the time. Looking back, it all seems so simple. Of all the things to go wrong, a cleft lip was an easy fix and a welcome "defect" (I hate that word) compared to most of the things I saw. I learned a lot during his first three months of life, and if I had a chance to do it over, I wouldn't change a thing.

Trey's Christmas Ornament

Every year around Christmastime, I buy the boys each an ornament for the Christmas tree. When they are grown and have their own families, they can have these ornaments to remind them of their childhood Christmas trees. I try to buy nice, timeless ornaments that won't look dated 20 years from now. That's the goal anyway.

Well, this year I thought it would be fun to let the boys pick out their own ornaments. We went to the store and found an entire wall full of Christmas ornaments. They were so excited. I thought to myself, let them choose whatever ornament they want. It will be more special if they get to pick it out all by themselves and it will show their personalities.

Kevin, who loves this kind of stuff, spent a long time going through each of the ornaments - touching, feeling, inspecting each of them to find the perfect one. First it was a snowman, then it was a star, then it was an ice cream cone. He finally settled on a candy cane. Not my favorite, but he could have done worse.

Surprisingly, Trey was even getting into it. I thought for sure he would have picked out the shiny car or the boy riding a bicycle. After much deliberation, this is what he comes up with...

Seriously?!? It's easily the UGLIEST ornament in the store. It's the ornament that I secretly said to myself, they better not pick that one. I know that I said that I would let them choose whatever they want - I meant, unless they pick that one. (No offense to anyone who may have this on their tree, but really?)

Once Trey makes up his mind, there is no going back. I tried my best. I showed him the shiny silver car and the boy riding a bicycle. I showed him snowmen and Santa Claus. I even tried bribing him with a trip to the candy store on the way home. Nothing worked. "No, I WANT the red bird."

So I bought the ugliest ornament in the store. I tried telling Trey that we should put his towards the back of the tree "so it would be safe." He didn't go for that little lie, and he put it front and center.

So for the next twenty or so years, we will put the ugly red bird on our Christmas tree. When Trey has his own tree, I will be sure to give it to him and let him know how insistent he was on buying such a special ornament.

(I think I'll be picking their ornaments from now on).