Living, Loving, Learning

We had a GREAT weekend. We spent Saturday just trying to get some things done at the house in anticipation of a very busy week ahead. Sunday we got up and got going right away and headed to the Land Between the Lakes National Park . It only took us about an hour and half to get there - that is taking all back roads, avoiding highways, and it was a gorgeous drive. We are in love with the Kentucky countryside. The mixture of rolling hills, dilapidated shacks and charming small towns paints such a classic picture of Americana to me. The park was huge, free and well-marked - perfect to us. We started by taking a long (1.4 miles) walk. It was so peaceful and cool in the woods. Griffin did so well - he is really starting to find a rhythm when hiking (as long as he has a stick to carry!) We were starving after that a found a nice picnic spot right away. There weren't many people around and we thought we were alone..... This little guy was worse than our dog, begging for handouts. Some oth...

Lucy had her first giggle Wednesday night. I was giving her little tickles and it just trickled out of her! Now I know how to coax them out and do so every chance I get. It sounds like a little piglet rooting around for food and it is one of the most beautiful sounds ever. She is such a happy baby. I keep telling her if she smiles any bigger she will have rainbows shooting out of her ears. She also went to her first movie this week. The theatre here shows free movies on Tues and Weds mornings in the summer. I took Griffin and Lucy to meet our friends and to see Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Griffin and his buddy Jacob (also 4) loved it. Lucy and her buddy Carly (7 months) slept through the whole thing!!

This little friend lives in a burrow in the roots of some big trees in our backyard. I can count on seeing him most days.

OK...another new recipe for you! This one is called Pacific Pork Kebabs with Pineapple Rice...are you getting that I am in a "kebab" phase right now! You can find the recipe here at Martha's sight. It was soooo delicious and easy peasy. Next time I would add just a touch less ginger to the rice, I always seem to think ginger is overpowering. Bruce's only complaint is that it was totally messy on the grates and required some big time scrubbing before he could put anything else on the grill. I don't think that will stop us from making it again soon! I served it with greed beans but the flavors are so light and crisp you could pair it with almost any vegetable or salad.

We had a great laid back weekend. On Saturday morning we hit the farmer's market and whaddaya know...there were farmer's there for the first time this year. We were so happy to be able to buy fresh local food finally. Then we went for a drive in the country, not something we do often anymore. It was such a beautiful drive. We wrapped up the day having dinner at friends' house. Good food, good conversation - just what we needed. On Sunday we decided we had to get out in the woods and headed out to the Pennyroyal state park for a hike. We picked a trail marked 1.4 miles and I am proud to say Griffin did great!! It was quite hilly so it was some work but he just kept trucking along. We all felt so good afterward, of course. When we got to the car, Bruce suggested we check for bugs and I am so glad he did. We all had a few of these little tick looking bugs crawling around our ankles. We couldn't get our shoes and socks off fast enough. I was so glad that I had Lucy wrapped ...

Once again, this dude makes me weep tears of happiness. I love how he is a UNITER. Everyone loves to dance and act silly, it is something the whole world has in common, especially the children. After feeling so frustrated this last week, hearing more hate speech then I can tolerate, this beautiful reminder of how GOOD the people of the world are really touched me. Happy people enjoying the moment.

We have begun the arduous task of teaching Lucy how to use a bottle. No worries, I am still commited to nursing her 98% of the time. It is just that I would like to be able to attend my herb club meeting or have a date with my man, baby free. The first night (Tuesday) she was all "HELL NO, this is not an option!" Wednesday we moved on to "Uh, I really don't think this is a good idea guys." Last night she was more receptive and actually, gasp, let me put the fake nipple in her mouth for a few seconds at a time. I am committed to working on it twice a day, every day until she gets used to it. Wish me luck! Have a great weekend Friends!

I had the worst 2 minutes of my life yesterday. I am not exaggerating, they were THE WORST! So, I am at Walmart, (OK, OK, I hear you heavily sighing with disappointment. I know Walmart is the worst, soulless, earth destroying, people abusing, resource wasting, small business crushing company in the whole world...seriously, I really do. BUT, I challenge any of you to live here in Madisonville with 2 young kids for one month and see if you don't break down and shop there occasionally too! Remember, we are 20 miles from no where and with the price of gas these days.....) and I am finishing up the grocery shopping in the produce department. I have the baby in the Maya wrap and Griffin is walking beside me. Griffin was chattering on, debating whether strawberries or blueberries were his favorite fruit. "Oh yeah, I love pears too, and don't forget about blackberries Mama. ohhh and APPLES!" I reached the strawberry stand and was digging through the moldy, fruit fly...

This is the W.C. Handy Blues Festival in Henderson, Kentucky. It was such a fun afternoon. The park it was held in was so shady and big enough that Griffin had room to run around and not bug other people. We went specifically to see the band, The Organiks . My Bruce was excited to hear Bruce Katz play the organ...wow, he was great! The park was right on the Ohio River and the scenery was beautiful. Lucy was so hot, I kept getting up to stroll her around in the shade. Griffin made fast friends with the "neighbors".

We are doing MUCH better today! Poor little Lucy was miserable yesterday, for the first time in her little life she had moments when she was inconsolable. Finally about 9:30 she passed out but she was restless all night. When she woke up this morning she seemed to be feeling much better. I am hoping all 3 of us enjoy a long nap here in a few minutes! So, on to the snakes! We went to a very cool reptile show in Evansville last Saturday. Bruce wanted to go there and to a blues festival to celebrate Father's Day, so off we went. The reptile show was great. Many, many different types of snakes (a favorite of mine), some turtles and even a few lizards. Griffin had the opportunity to hold all different kinds of reptiles - not even a hint of hesitation from him, our brave little guy. There was even an old drunk (we strongly suspected) guy giving a seminar about snakes. He kept eating circus peanuts that Bruce and I thought sure were supposed to be for the snakes and talking ...

Sleep, NO! Cry for hours, YES!

Lucy just went to see her doctor. She weighed in at 12.4 lbs (50%) and 24" long (52%). She is hitting all her devolopmental milestones a touch on the early side and the doctor thought she looked great. Poor little thing had 3 shots and one vaccine orally. I am hoping she will nap for the next few hours!!

Bruce, today I thank you... - for being the most amazing Papa ever! -for honoring me as the mother of your children, treating me as an equal partner, desiring me like a girlfriend. -for teaching Griffin how to use a screwdriver, drill, whisk or spatula when clearly, it would be faster and easier to complete those tasks alone. -for knowing the difference when Griffin needs calm reassurance or stern discipline. - for spending HOURS on the floor playing, growing Griffin's huge imagination. - for always being "on" and ready to pitch in, be it first thing in the morning, the minute you walk in the door from work or in the middle of the night. - for demanding little to no "me" time...something we definitly need to give you more of. - for always making me feel like the details of my day are important to you. - for accepting the responsibility/position of King of this household and always treating me like your Queen. - for being the driver. :) - for offering to watch ba...

I haven't given y'all a new recipe in a LONG time! That is mostly because I haven't been trying anything new, sometimes it is a struggle to just get any healthy home cooked meal on the table each night. We have been really good at sticking to our commitment to only eat one meal out a week (for health, family time and budget reasons.) Now that the grill is the favored method for cooking it was time to get to trying something new. Most of you know that we Gasts LOVE Middle Eastern food. In Pontiac we would go to our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant, Cedarland , at least twice a month and bring home enough leftovers for two more meals. We haven't found anything even close down here and dearly miss the smells and flavors of all those wonderful spices. I went searching on my favorite recipe website and was lucky enough to find an awesome recipe for Kofta Kebabs . This was an entree we often ordered and I was eager to try it on the grill. The recipe calls for ground lamb, ...

We just want to wish our dear friend Jessica a huge CONGRATULATIONS on her graduation. We cannot wait to witness all the adventures that are coming her way!

The dog days of summer are HERE...NOW, like right this minute. It is 93 degrees and 90% humidity out. We knew Kentucky was hot but wow, it has been like this for a week already. I have kind of switched around our schedule so the kids and I are dressed and out of the house by 8:30 most mornings. We take walks, water the flowers, go to the park, play with water toys, ride bikes, all the outdoor stuff. I try to have us back inside by 11:30 or so to keep Lucy from overheating. We spend the rest of the day hiding out inside until sunset and we can go back outside for a little while until bedtime. We have been trying to get away with just one window airconditioner, but it is just not enough so Bruce is going to put a second in our bedroom this weekend. So, such is living in the south in an old house. We went out for a long walk after dinner last night and found this gorgeous patch of wildflowers.

"There could be some swelling at the injection sight." So we have this little paper here called the "Show 'N Tell", a freebie that comes out every Wednesday. It is 40 pages of local ads and free classifieds and there are usually none left by Friday, everyone in town reads it. Unlike similar periodicals found in larger cities, there are no ads for massage parlours, SGWFTRP seeking MBFPQZ or rock concert listings. The ads in this paper crack us up, you can find almost anything for sale around here. I am adding a new blog feature...every week I will post the funniest, quirkiest, weirdest ad. It will give you all a little more insight on how we do it in the 'Tucky. Hope you enjoy it.

Well, due to technical difficulties, (for some still unknown reason the insurance company dropped Lucy from our policy 30 days after she was born - and we just found out today when we got to the Dr.'s office....yeah, maybe we could use a little health care reform!) Griffin was the only one that had to face the needle today - 5 times. Poor little guy. But, I gotta tell ya, my kid is a ROCKSTAR!! He whimpered a bit as he saw the nurse unpack the 5 large syringes, cried out as he got stuck, but never actually shed a tear. Less than 1 minute after it was over he was off the table and ready to go play. Although it suprised the doctor and us, Griffin has finally hit the 50th percentile in weight. He has always been in the 0-15% range. That news felt great. We feel like he is really developing a strong and healthy body that will serve him well in the future. Oh yeah, and one more thing... YES WE CAN! We are happy voters tonight!

We need y'all to send us some good vibes this afternoon. Griffin and Lucy both have to go to the Dr. today...Griffin for 4 yr. old/pre-school vaccines and Lucy for her first round of vaccines. I am afraid I will be looking into the eye of a storm for most of the evening! When we resurface I will post their newest measurements. Thanks!

Bruce found these little friends when he was hanging out in the tree in our front yard. Actually, he was up there hanging a swing for Griffin. We love to hang out on the front porch swing in the evening and Griffin likes to play with the neighborhood kids. We were thinking the swing would be fun for them and keep them from draggin every outside toy up there...just because we live in 'Tucky doesn't mean we need to keep tons of crap in the front yard!! :) Anyways, speaking of the front yard, we spent the weekend doing landscaping and planting flowers working on our "curb appeal" and making the house our own. Come by for a visit soon!

Well, my moment of being a soccer Mama is over, for now at least. Griff had his last game yesterday...the game that destroyed his team's undefeated record. I blame it on the heat, 85 degrees, 90% humidity at 10 AM! Griffin really got into the swing of things and was participating in the game, he even ALMOST kicked the ball. This is Griffin with his soccer mentor, Phillip. Clearly, he may be more interested in playing a more "physical" sport in the future. We are working on keeping our hands to our self. He loved Coach Jenny. She was so good at encouraging him when he was into the game and just letting him be himself when he wasn't focusing on the game. I think the most exciting part of it was getting a trophy...it will always be special because it is the first one. No, we have not moved to the English countryside, after we got home he was sooooo hot that I set up the wading pool for him to use. I had told him to change into sandals to play in the yard and he could jus...