Conversations with Elizabeth

A few days ago, Elizabeth and I read some bible stories before her nap. Here is the conversation that followed:

E: Where is Jesus.
Me: He lives with God in Heaven.
E: I know where He is. He lives in my heart.
Me: You are exactly right.
E: Mommy, what is heaven?
Me: Heaven is a wonderful place you go after you die.
E: I don't want to die.
Me: I know, you won't die until you are much older than Grandpa Phil, so let's not worry about it.
E: Where do we sleep in heaven?
Me: I am sure there are very comfy beds.
E: What do we eat in heaven?
Me: I am sure that the food is good.
E: Maybe pizza and chicken nuggets. And lots of McDonalds.

Phew, that is one of those tough conversations with kids that you want to give them the right information, but not so much that you overwhelm them. We also had the other tough conversation a few weeks ago about babies.

E: How do babies come out? Do they come out your belly button.
Me: No, they come out your bottom.
E: Oh, like poopie.

Thankfully she was satisfied with this and we moved on.

Little fish

Elizabeth has turned into our little fish. At the beginning of the summer we went to the beach with Bill's family. She was happy as a clam swimming around the pool in her little "puddle jumper" life jacket/water wing thing. She did not want her face wet at all. After the first session of swimming, she was not improved at all. I talked to the swimming director, and we pushed her up a class where she would be challenged a bit. We played "dunk you til you like it" one day at the pool, and I made her go under repeatedly and pulled her through the water. It paid off. During lessons now when it isn't her turn, she is underwater. Bill worked with her in the pool one day and got her to jump in without being caught. She swims by herself for a little ways now, she only starts to drown when she has to stop and take a breath. We are going to barrel on through another session before school starts.

Back in our house

So we are finally back together as a family again! YAY! What a long 10 months. We are still in a state of upheaval here. We decided to redo the kitchen as we were moving back in, and it is still in progress. Bill has done a fantastic job on everything. We have to finish tiling the floors and then are waiting on the counter tops.

We have boxes everywhere. We have unpacked a lot. Apparently Bill and I have become quite the packrats over the years. We are taking this as an opportunity to purge, and we have taken quite a few loads to the thrift store already.

The kids are adjusting to life without grandma. We spent the majority of the past 10 months with my mom, so now they only have mean old mom to deal with. They are doing fine so far. I have to get back into a rhythm of daily life here, then we will have smooth sailing.

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2008! I am looking forward to a fresh start and a better 2008. Not that 2007 was a horrible year, it just had it's tough spots.

We finished out 2007 with a Melikaliki Maka Hawaiian Christmas with Bill's parents. They were here for over a week. We tried to squeeze as much sightseeing, visiting, and relaxing in as we could. It was a fun week for all. We played Uno Attack (so fun), ate good food, watched Christmas movies and remarked several times at how strange it was to be at the beach for Christmas. We grilled out poolside in our neighborhood for our Christmas dinner.

My mom arrives later today. Yippee! She will be here for a week to help me straighten out things here, get things sorted out for the move back to the states. We have to sort through and separate everything that we brought to this house and have bought here so the packers can pack it up. That is a task my husband does not want us to leave to him! We will then fly back to South Carolina. She is a godsend to be helping us on these loooooooong flights.

The girls are very well. Sarah is sporting a new tooth, and is soon going to add a matching one to it on the other side. She once again is getting them out of order and is getting her cuspids/eye teeth before her molars. Elizabeth is, well Elizabeth. Full of stories, always suprising us with what she knows. She watched the movie Happy Feet the other day, and saw a penguin on it and asked me if it was a Macaroni Penguin, and of course, that is exactly what it was!

We made a really yummy dish for dinner last night- so here is the recipe.

Tomato Balsamic Chicken

4-6 chicken breasts- depending on how many you want
salt and pepper
2 TBS olive oil
1 onion sliced or diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes- do not drain (plain or balsaamic variety)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (do your taste buds a favor and use a good quality one)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
(I did not have the individual spices, so I just used a generous amount of Italian Seasoning)

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat oil and skillet. Brown onion and chicken.
Pour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar over chicken and add seasonings. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink. Serve over angel hair pasta.

Getting back on track

Alrighty, so I have already fallen off the wagon with this thing. Let's see. Since I last posted, I have moved thousands of miles to Hawaii. We are here temporarily. Long enough to not be vacation, but not long enough to really feel like we have moved here. It is absolutely gorgeous. Who can complain about 80 degree weather in December (although the North Dakota girl in me will be singing White Christmas all month.) We live a very short drive from the beach, so that is REALLY fun.

Sarah still has not said Mommy. She has learned to say yuck-yuck though. We had a whirlwind bout of the stomach flu in our house, so needless to say, she heard that word a lot. It makes me laugh every time she says it. I have to admit, I ask her to say it a lot.

Elizabeth noticed the Christmas decorations adorning the lamp posts at the shopping center we frequent. She said "Look Mommy, they have candy canes and Taco Bells." I snickered to myself, thinking that's my girl, LOVES Taco Bell.

Balloon before Mommy

Kids learn to break their mother's hearts early. I had accepted the fact that I would hear the words daddy and kitty (the cats are very popular at our house) before I heard mommy. That is the way it was with Elizabeth. Sarah said da-da, followed by ba-pa for grandpa. I was okay with that. Today, while playing with one of the helium balloons (still floating 5 weeks after her birthday). She started saying boooo over and over to the balloon. She did this several times. So I will continue to wait my turn for that magical moment when she looks at me and says ma-ma.

Very first post

So, this is my first attempt at blogging, we will see how this goes. I can't say that I will have all that much to talk about that is interesting. I am a SAHM to two girls, and they do provide me with great entertainment. I am homeless at the moment (well not really). My husband is in the Navy and we are en route to Hawaii. We are renting out our house in Virginia while we are gone, and I am staying with my parents while we are waiting for him to cruise to Hawaii on his submarine. We will only be there a few months, so I basically get an extended vacation.

My two girls- Elizabeth is 3 1/2, and the most interesting child I have ever met. My grandfather has nicknames for my girls, and he calls her the livewire. There is never a dull moment with her. The highs are high, and the lows are, well, that is a whole separate topic. She tells us the most amazing things, she is highly perceptive and she could make a million dollars if we could pen some of the stories she makes up.

Sarah- aka Happy is my 13 month old. She has been laid back since birth. Lately she has learned to be a little more demanding, and it is kind of funny. She is like one of those inflatable clown dolls that are weighted at the bottom and spring back up when you knock them down. Elizabeth will knock her over and Sarah just gets right back up and asks for more. She is at a really fun age, just at the beginning of toddlerhood, but not into the terrible phase just yet.

About the latte part- I love espresso drinks. This love/snobbiness for coffee bloomed while living near Seattle and commuting into the city. My bus let me off right in front of a Seattle's Best store, and there was a Starbucks in the ferry terminal. There was also a great coffee stand in the nursing building at UW where my classes were held. My husband is equally as enamored as I am. We just purchasers of coffee, but after a friend visited us and brought his espresso machine, we became home-baristas as well. We bought our own (Rancilio Silvia) and there you have it!