5 orange potatoes

I stumbled across this blog and her post about doing outside activities with children, SO ADORABLE! The link to the activies is HERE, and her blog is HERE

Captain Craps

Sorry about the naughty word in the title but the story is hilarious. I have always had a hard time getting my kids to eat breakfast, they wake up around 8:30 and never want to eat until about 10, and when they do they just pick at their food and talk and it always drives me up the wall (any suggestions?) anyways...I was craving captain crunch the other day and bought some, lo and behold, the girls LOVE captain crunch, like love it. Em downed her whole bowl and drank the milk loved it, I was thrilled, what was even more thrilling was the following exchange:

Me: what do you guys want for breakfast?

Mailey: Craptain Crunch!!

Em: Yeah! Captain Craps!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Needless to say, Sophie had a smile on her face the whole rest of the day...week really.

Perfect Pancakes

I love love breakfast foods...I order breakfast for lunch, dinner, everything! But I've never really gotten on the pancake bandwagon, they're always dry and feel like they're choking me, you know? I follow the Angrychicken blog and she posted a blog with this recipe and mmm...these really are wonderful pancakes. I followed the recipe exactly, the key is to only heat your griddle or pan to medium heat, and to make little pancakes, I used about 1/4C everytime, they're sweet and fluffy and almost like a bread, like I think they'd be yummy with bacon and eggs sandwiched in between...anyways...I LOVED THEM! :) and the girls loved them and pretty much I wanted to share because I was so so so happy to find a recipe for pancakes that didn't need tweaking. BON APPETITE!!!!!

PERFECT PANCAKES

1C flour
2T sugar
2t baking powder
1/2t salt
1C milk
2T vegetable oil
1 large egg

mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl until no longer lumpy. Grease pan with butter and pour 1/4C batter onto hot pan, flip when bubbles appear on sides.

Playdough!!!!

Playdough is wonderful...its easy to make and its so nostalgic and gushy and fun to play with...THANK YOU AMBER for the playdough bin, its a very special toy for the girls, we put it up in the closet and bring it down when mommy needs a break ha...I made the playdough cuz its so fun and not stinky and I know all the ingredients...im weird I know...Here's the recipe! i love it love it love it, to get the colors really rich you need loads of food coloring though, we made pink and it creeps me out big time because it just looks flesh colored ha..like a big brain. ick.

Playdough Recipe
Ingredients:
1 c. flour

1/2 c. salt

1 c. water

1 tbsp. oil

2 tsp. cream of tartar

Food coloring by drops
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a pan and stir. Cook over low heat, stirring until a ball forms.
2. Add food coloring and mix thoroughly until desired color.
3. Cool on foil. Store in covered container.

Meet EyeBob

Okay...So Emry is a different little girl...where Mailey is dainty Emry is tough, Mailey breaks Emry pushes back, Mailey cries, Emry scolds...you get the picture. Emry is my little tomboy and three weeks ago she got into our arts and crafts box and found this googly eye and for some reason I still haven't figured out, she fell in love...like total head over heels love...she calls it her eyebob and it goes into every pocket every day and under her pillow at night. Its bizarre. I thought it was just a phase, but its been 3 weeks and eyebob is still the first thing she looks for, and today we lost it and she cried the whole way home until we found it hiding in her highchair...silly silly little girl...how did I live without her?

I did it! I finally got my blog up and moving…the point of this blog is mostly to keep a running diary of our time here in Chico, with A TON of emphasis on how my kids are growing, adapting etc.. but it will include our own lives and the church’s. Anyway.. Here’s some pics of a gorgeous park here called Bidwell, its huge... Like 99 acres huge…the part for the kids is called capers acres, and there’s this wonderful, magical pond called sycamore ponds, its man made and completely paved underneath for summertime swimming, but I love just coming to the boardwalk, sitting on the benches under the trees and reading while the girls color chalk on the sidewalk in front of me…seriously it transports me to a different place…Mailey and Emry LOVE Chico, such grand adventure for little ones, so many new parks and the downtown is always having events for families…oh! And we have a Barnes and noble right down the street with a twice weekly story time in their kid area which has a train table, toys, a stage (for preaching according to Em ha) and they literally let the kids play with all the toys and books as long as they put them back…Barnes and noble is Sophie’s savior ha, plus, free WIFI and a star bucks café inside…seriously, Jesus loves me.SO much has happened in the four short months we’ve been here, I don’t even know how to write it all.. So I’ll just start from here. For those who aren’t part of our church… we moved to Chico with the only motive of starting a church. It was crazy. We’ve started bible studies in our home every Wednesday and Sunday night and we’ve seen about 24 people saved, 8 come regularly, four fall away, 8 more replace the four… its been one of the most incredible experiences I have ever lived… in four months we’ve felt like we’ve accomplished and been through years and years of living.Pioneering is whole different ballgame. Its like…playing t-ball then suddenly you’re playing in the major leagues and you’re scared to death and pretty sure you won’t even round first base and that every swing will be a strike, then miracle of miracles, God is your pitcher and throws balls you can hit, some you cant but he lets you try again…sometimes he even throws underhand just so you can feel small victories…then when you’re ready he throws a hard curveball and your heart is pounding, your palms sweaty, your mind is racing and you think, I’ll never hit that, in fact I cant, I think I’ll just duck and cower, your legs are shaking and all you can see is the failure in front of you and you can only feel your heart in your throat… but in slow motion… you watch yourself swing and man…when you hit that grand slam, hear the crack! Of the ball connecting with the bat, feel your shoulder ache with contact… watch that ball fly out of the ball park and someone in the stands finally gets it… it’s a feeling you’ll never understand until it happens, you see the failure cower in the field arms over its ugly head, see the heavens stand to their feet in the stands, feel your heart break with victory…its truly…joy unspeakable.