Sunday, November 1, 2009
Blog Make-over
So.... It has taken me forever to figure out how to revamp the look of my blog, but after reading a bunch of tips online and searching countless websites for free backgounds, I FINALLY have done it! I'm so excited to have a fresh new look for my blog and I'm hoping it will get me inspired enough to start blogging "regularly" again. Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to my bro-in-law, Wit, for adding the super adorable picture of my girls to my blog header.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Cooking and Baking
I don't know if it's the weather, my cinnamon scented room spray, or some other unseen forces, but something recently sparked a cooking/baking frenzy here at our house. And it's not just me. My husband, Jim, has had the itching to be in the kitchen as well.
In the last 10 days we've made 2 pans of apple crumble, 4 pans of cinnamon buns, and chicken noodle soup all from scratch. It all started 2 weekends ago when Jim wanted us to put to good use the box of apples Kyra had picked on a recent trip to Linvilla Orchards. I too had been thinking of ways to deliciously utilize our overflow of apples and had found a recipe for apple crumble. I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so Jim and I went to work peeling, coring, and slicing apples. The crumble turned out so delicious that we decided to make another one immediately after polishing off the first one.
No sooner had I made the 2nd apple crumble when I had a conversation with my close friend, Emily, about some cinnamon rolls she had just made. She said she had eaten 5 in a 3 hour period, which said a LOT about how scrumptious the rolls must have been because Em is a Dietician by profession. As soon as we hung up the phone I found myself on the computer downloading the recipe for the cinnamon rolls from thepioneerwoman.com. Jim was equally excited about making the rolls and even did all the grocery shopping to get everything we needed. So Saturday night we went to work making the dough. It turned out to be hardly any work at all though. Sunday morning I rolled out the dough, added all the sugary, buttery, cinnamon-y filling, and baked them up. We halved the recipe and still ended up with 4 pans of 8 cinnamon rolls! I found a recipe on another website for cream cheese icing and made sure to lay it on thick when the warm rolls came out of the oven.
Somewhere in the midst of all the baking I became inspired to make chicken noodle soup. I'd never made it myself before, but Tyler Florence's recipe on foodnetwork.com just seemed so simple and flavorful, so I took it on. The aromas that filled my kitchen while it simmered were amazing. And then as we were eating it Jim declared it was probably my best homemade soup ever. (I've made other various potato soups, etc.) And it was even better the next day reheated since the flavors had more time to meld together as it sat in the fridge overnight.
Kyra's first soup!
I wish you all could have been here to taste everything, but hopefully the pictures will entice you enough to make the recipes yourself!
In the last 10 days we've made 2 pans of apple crumble, 4 pans of cinnamon buns, and chicken noodle soup all from scratch. It all started 2 weekends ago when Jim wanted us to put to good use the box of apples Kyra had picked on a recent trip to Linvilla Orchards. I too had been thinking of ways to deliciously utilize our overflow of apples and had found a recipe for apple crumble. I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so Jim and I went to work peeling, coring, and slicing apples. The crumble turned out so delicious that we decided to make another one immediately after polishing off the first one.
No sooner had I made the 2nd apple crumble when I had a conversation with my close friend, Emily, about some cinnamon rolls she had just made. She said she had eaten 5 in a 3 hour period, which said a LOT about how scrumptious the rolls must have been because Em is a Dietician by profession. As soon as we hung up the phone I found myself on the computer downloading the recipe for the cinnamon rolls from thepioneerwoman.com. Jim was equally excited about making the rolls and even did all the grocery shopping to get everything we needed. So Saturday night we went to work making the dough. It turned out to be hardly any work at all though. Sunday morning I rolled out the dough, added all the sugary, buttery, cinnamon-y filling, and baked them up. We halved the recipe and still ended up with 4 pans of 8 cinnamon rolls! I found a recipe on another website for cream cheese icing and made sure to lay it on thick when the warm rolls came out of the oven.
Somewhere in the midst of all the baking I became inspired to make chicken noodle soup. I'd never made it myself before, but Tyler Florence's recipe on foodnetwork.com just seemed so simple and flavorful, so I took it on. The aromas that filled my kitchen while it simmered were amazing. And then as we were eating it Jim declared it was probably my best homemade soup ever. (I've made other various potato soups, etc.) And it was even better the next day reheated since the flavors had more time to meld together as it sat in the fridge overnight.
Kyra's first soup!I wish you all could have been here to taste everything, but hopefully the pictures will entice you enough to make the recipes yourself!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Christmas Card Photo Shoot
Yesterday, we had an abnormally warm day here in Southeastern PA so I decided it might be my one and only chance to get pictures of the girls outdoors sans heavy winter coats for our Christmas cards. I called up my gal pal, Angie, and got her, her boys, and her SUPER NICE Nikon camera to join us at Springton Manor Farm.
It couldn't have been a more perfect fall setting. The trees and grass were adorned with all kinds of multi-colored leaves and I knew I had a good chance of getting THE perfect picture/s. Ang turned over her camera to me and gave me a few quick pointers and then it was time to start shooting. I've always enjoyed taking pictures, but the moment I looked through the viewfinder on her camera, I was in love! That camera was designed to make you want to take pictures. It was super addicting and I now have the itch to get a really nice camera just like it.
I did bust out my little handheld Canon Elph a few times while Ang was shooting, and unfortunately for you, those are the pictures I'm putting in this post. I'm keeping the good pictures hidden for now, but here are several pictures that didn't make the cut for the Christmas card this year. Also, the dresses the girls are wearing were handmade in Africa and brought back by Aunt Susie on her trip earlier this year.
It couldn't have been a more perfect fall setting. The trees and grass were adorned with all kinds of multi-colored leaves and I knew I had a good chance of getting THE perfect picture/s. Ang turned over her camera to me and gave me a few quick pointers and then it was time to start shooting. I've always enjoyed taking pictures, but the moment I looked through the viewfinder on her camera, I was in love! That camera was designed to make you want to take pictures. It was super addicting and I now have the itch to get a really nice camera just like it.
I did bust out my little handheld Canon Elph a few times while Ang was shooting, and unfortunately for you, those are the pictures I'm putting in this post. I'm keeping the good pictures hidden for now, but here are several pictures that didn't make the cut for the Christmas card this year. Also, the dresses the girls are wearing were handmade in Africa and brought back by Aunt Susie on her trip earlier this year.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Driving Me Crazy
I've never thought of myself as a "bad" driver. I've never been pulled over for speeding nor have I ever been in an accident with another driver. However, I can't say that my driving record is perfect either.
For example, last night I hit my husband's (company owned) truck. Yep. I was pulling into our driveway and didn't gage my turn correctly and all of a sudden.... "What in the world was that crazy noise?! No! Did I really just...? How could I have...? Oh crap. I did." I snagged the back left corner of his truck and pretty much scraped up the entire right side of my *new* van. And that folks is what you call an "Epic Fail".
After mourning the injury inflicted on my beautiful van and a fatherly lecture from my husband about "driving being such a huge responsibility" and how "I shouldn't take it for granted", I began to reflect on my driving history. And thats when it occurred to me that with the exception of one major run in with a curb in a strip mall, all my accidents have been in my own driveway.
Accident numero uno was when I was still learning how to drive. I was 15 or 16 and driving a bunch of my sister's friends to our house from school with my mom in the front passenger seat. I eased our minivan into the driveway and to a stop behind my dad's work van at which point I should've put it in park. Instead, I took my foot off the brake BEFORE putting the van in P and we rammed the back of my dad's van nice and hard. (But hey, I was still a rookie driver, so its excusable, right?)
Accident number two was also with my dad's work vehicle (though not the same one as before). This time I was 21ish and living with my parents to save money for my wedding. It was around dinner time and I was in a hurry to meet some friends. I jumped in the car, threw it into reverse and floored it backwards, right into the side of my dad's van. I didn't even stop. I was too embarrassed because I knew my entire family had witnessed what had happened from their seats around the dining room table. Instead I called them on the phone and asked about the damage to dad's van. His van was basically fine. My little Toyota Tercel however, wore a dent on the right of it's trunk until the day I sold it.
And I already told you about accident number three from last night. Hopefully that will be my LAST accident now that my driveway accident trifecta is complete.
People joke about watching out for crazy female drivers on the road, but in my case the roads are perfectly safe. Just don't park in my driveway.
For example, last night I hit my husband's (company owned) truck. Yep. I was pulling into our driveway and didn't gage my turn correctly and all of a sudden.... "What in the world was that crazy noise?! No! Did I really just...? How could I have...? Oh crap. I did." I snagged the back left corner of his truck and pretty much scraped up the entire right side of my *new* van. And that folks is what you call an "Epic Fail".
After mourning the injury inflicted on my beautiful van and a fatherly lecture from my husband about "driving being such a huge responsibility" and how "I shouldn't take it for granted", I began to reflect on my driving history. And thats when it occurred to me that with the exception of one major run in with a curb in a strip mall, all my accidents have been in my own driveway.
Accident numero uno was when I was still learning how to drive. I was 15 or 16 and driving a bunch of my sister's friends to our house from school with my mom in the front passenger seat. I eased our minivan into the driveway and to a stop behind my dad's work van at which point I should've put it in park. Instead, I took my foot off the brake BEFORE putting the van in P and we rammed the back of my dad's van nice and hard. (But hey, I was still a rookie driver, so its excusable, right?)
Accident number two was also with my dad's work vehicle (though not the same one as before). This time I was 21ish and living with my parents to save money for my wedding. It was around dinner time and I was in a hurry to meet some friends. I jumped in the car, threw it into reverse and floored it backwards, right into the side of my dad's van. I didn't even stop. I was too embarrassed because I knew my entire family had witnessed what had happened from their seats around the dining room table. Instead I called them on the phone and asked about the damage to dad's van. His van was basically fine. My little Toyota Tercel however, wore a dent on the right of it's trunk until the day I sold it.
And I already told you about accident number three from last night. Hopefully that will be my LAST accident now that my driveway accident trifecta is complete.
People joke about watching out for crazy female drivers on the road, but in my case the roads are perfectly safe. Just don't park in my driveway.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Laps for Little Ones
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16
There is a place in Tulsa, Oklahoma where lights shine bright, good works are a way of business, and God is glorified every day. That place is The Little Light House, a Christian Developmental Center that has been providing highly specialized educational and therapeutic services to children with special needs since 1972.
For those of you who know my family, you are aware of how much The Little Light House has always been a part of our lives. My mom began working there as the grants and fundraising coordinator before I was born. In fact, that is where she met my dad while he was doing some carpentry work on the building. A few years later, my parents were introduced to a little boy named Daniel, a student at The Little Light House, who became my brother when my parents took a step of faith and adopted him. As kids, we spent a lot of summers hanging out at The Little Light House and when I was old enough, I even got the chance to volunteer in the various special needs classes. While in college, I worked in the administrative offices and even got engaged during the time I worked there.
I have so many wonderful memories from The Little Light House that span over the course of my entire life. Some of the best memories though are from an annual fundraising event called Laps for Little Ones. It is basically a one hour jog-a-thon where runners raise support for The Little Light House. I have run around that track probably a couple hundred times over the years and spent countless hours cheering other runners on from the sidelines during the years I didn't run. I have vivid memories of jogging around the track as the hour came to an end and thinking "I just can't go any further". But then I'd go around the turn where many of the Light House students would be cheering on the runners from their wheelchairs or from behind a walker and would get an extra burst of energy to get in that one last lap to earn every last dollar I could for those kids.
Since I moved to Pennsylvania 6 years ago, I haven't been able to participate as a runner or cheerleader at this amazing event. For me, it is like missing a family holiday like Thanksgiving or Easter. But though I can't be there in person, I am still able to take part in Laps by sponsoring one of my siblings as they run in the event. On October 24, 2009 my brother, Ethan, my sister Krystal and her husband, Sean, and my sister Lindsay will all be participating as runners. Lindsay, who is now on staff as a classroom associate, is running for one of her students, Josiah.
This year, The Little Light House has made a leap into the 21st century and set up websites to help each runner to raise their support. Below are links to each of my sibling's support pages. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to check out The Little Light House website and if you are touched at all by their ministry, please consider supporting my family as they support the wonderful kids of The Little Light House.
For more information on The Little Light House click here.
The O'Nan Family support page (Sean & Krystal)
Ethan's support page
Lindsay's support page
Me with Co-founder Marcia Mitchell. I think I was a Freshman in high school here.
My mom and I. Here I was a sophomore at ORU.
There is a place in Tulsa, Oklahoma where lights shine bright, good works are a way of business, and God is glorified every day. That place is The Little Light House, a Christian Developmental Center that has been providing highly specialized educational and therapeutic services to children with special needs since 1972.
For those of you who know my family, you are aware of how much The Little Light House has always been a part of our lives. My mom began working there as the grants and fundraising coordinator before I was born. In fact, that is where she met my dad while he was doing some carpentry work on the building. A few years later, my parents were introduced to a little boy named Daniel, a student at The Little Light House, who became my brother when my parents took a step of faith and adopted him. As kids, we spent a lot of summers hanging out at The Little Light House and when I was old enough, I even got the chance to volunteer in the various special needs classes. While in college, I worked in the administrative offices and even got engaged during the time I worked there.
I have so many wonderful memories from The Little Light House that span over the course of my entire life. Some of the best memories though are from an annual fundraising event called Laps for Little Ones. It is basically a one hour jog-a-thon where runners raise support for The Little Light House. I have run around that track probably a couple hundred times over the years and spent countless hours cheering other runners on from the sidelines during the years I didn't run. I have vivid memories of jogging around the track as the hour came to an end and thinking "I just can't go any further". But then I'd go around the turn where many of the Light House students would be cheering on the runners from their wheelchairs or from behind a walker and would get an extra burst of energy to get in that one last lap to earn every last dollar I could for those kids.
Since I moved to Pennsylvania 6 years ago, I haven't been able to participate as a runner or cheerleader at this amazing event. For me, it is like missing a family holiday like Thanksgiving or Easter. But though I can't be there in person, I am still able to take part in Laps by sponsoring one of my siblings as they run in the event. On October 24, 2009 my brother, Ethan, my sister Krystal and her husband, Sean, and my sister Lindsay will all be participating as runners. Lindsay, who is now on staff as a classroom associate, is running for one of her students, Josiah.
This year, The Little Light House has made a leap into the 21st century and set up websites to help each runner to raise their support. Below are links to each of my sibling's support pages. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to check out The Little Light House website and if you are touched at all by their ministry, please consider supporting my family as they support the wonderful kids of The Little Light House.
For more information on The Little Light House click here.
The O'Nan Family support page (Sean & Krystal)
Ethan's support page
Lindsay's support page
Me with Co-founder Marcia Mitchell. I think I was a Freshman in high school here.
My mom and I. Here I was a sophomore at ORU.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Kyra vs. The Potty: Round 2
A long, long time ago....
I can still remember
How that potty did not make Kyra smile.
And I knew if she had a second chance
She could do that pee pee dance
And make mommy happy for a while.
But February made her shiver
And no pee pee did she deliver
Bad news in the diaper
I couldn't get too hyper.
I can't remember if I cried
When Kyra would go off and hide
To poo poo without me by her side
The day the potty training died.
So we said bye-bye to potty time
Put the pull-ups in the closet
To keep them dry.
And them good ol' diapers were back on her backside
Singing "Oh well, we gave it a try. We will do better next time."
Today marked the beginning of the "next time". After months of half-hearted attempts to get Kyra potty trained, I had finally had enough. Jim and I agreed that it was going to take team work and 100% dedication on our part to give Kyra a fair shot at learning to use the potty, so he took the day off work today and we began our "P90-X" version of potty training.
Earlier this week, I took Kyra to Wal-Mart (ah, Wal-Mart) and let her pick out her "big girl" panties. She chose a 3 pack of Minnie Mouse and a 7 pack of Sesame Street themed underwear. First thing this morning, I put her on the toilet (Kyra has declared she'd rather use the "big potty" than the "little potty") and then into her first pair of panties. She chose a very chic Minnie Mouse glitter pair to get us started with a bang.
After breakfast, we once again sat on the potty, but after 20 minutes still had yet to put any pee pee in the toilet. Knowing it would drive us both insane to keep her on the potty for eternity, I opted to let her play for 10 minutes and then try again. Of course less than 10 minutes later she peed all over the play room floor and even managed to get the front side of the couch. I rushed her to the bathroom and put her back on the toilet to make sure she was finished while Jim cleaned up the mess. We then put on panty #2. And next I filled her juice cup.
Part of our strategy for the day was to keep her filled with fluids to give her the maximum number of opportunities to get familiar with using the toilet and that "gotta go" feeling. The first 4 hours of the day were measured by trial and error. We underestimated how quickly the juice would work it's way through her system and panty #2 didn't stand a chance. Neither did my entire outfit for that matter as I scooped her up onto my hip and raced her to the bathroom as soon as she began to pee.
By lunch time we had cleaned the floor three times and changed panties five. Panty #6, a simple little Elmo pair, actually lasted several hours. After Kyra's first 3 major accidents, she began to alert us right as she was about to start peeing and we were able to make it to the potty before anything besides her underwear got soiled. We had one more major accident toward the end of the evening, but Kyra managed to end the day in panty #8. Which means I didn't need to reuse the 5 pairs I frantically washed at noon "just in case".
All in all I would say today was a success. Kyra definitely is taking steps in the right direction and I'm hoping tomorrow she'll begin to give us enough warning to keep her cute little panties dry.
*Thanks goes out to Aunt Katie for encouraging me by recommending some blogs on potty training.
I can still remember
How that potty did not make Kyra smile.
And I knew if she had a second chance
She could do that pee pee dance
And make mommy happy for a while.
But February made her shiver
And no pee pee did she deliver
Bad news in the diaper
I couldn't get too hyper.
I can't remember if I cried
When Kyra would go off and hide
To poo poo without me by her side
The day the potty training died.
So we said bye-bye to potty time
Put the pull-ups in the closet
To keep them dry.
And them good ol' diapers were back on her backside
Singing "Oh well, we gave it a try. We will do better next time."
Today marked the beginning of the "next time". After months of half-hearted attempts to get Kyra potty trained, I had finally had enough. Jim and I agreed that it was going to take team work and 100% dedication on our part to give Kyra a fair shot at learning to use the potty, so he took the day off work today and we began our "P90-X" version of potty training.
Earlier this week, I took Kyra to Wal-Mart (ah, Wal-Mart) and let her pick out her "big girl" panties. She chose a 3 pack of Minnie Mouse and a 7 pack of Sesame Street themed underwear. First thing this morning, I put her on the toilet (Kyra has declared she'd rather use the "big potty" than the "little potty") and then into her first pair of panties. She chose a very chic Minnie Mouse glitter pair to get us started with a bang.
After breakfast, we once again sat on the potty, but after 20 minutes still had yet to put any pee pee in the toilet. Knowing it would drive us both insane to keep her on the potty for eternity, I opted to let her play for 10 minutes and then try again. Of course less than 10 minutes later she peed all over the play room floor and even managed to get the front side of the couch. I rushed her to the bathroom and put her back on the toilet to make sure she was finished while Jim cleaned up the mess. We then put on panty #2. And next I filled her juice cup.
Part of our strategy for the day was to keep her filled with fluids to give her the maximum number of opportunities to get familiar with using the toilet and that "gotta go" feeling. The first 4 hours of the day were measured by trial and error. We underestimated how quickly the juice would work it's way through her system and panty #2 didn't stand a chance. Neither did my entire outfit for that matter as I scooped her up onto my hip and raced her to the bathroom as soon as she began to pee.
By lunch time we had cleaned the floor three times and changed panties five. Panty #6, a simple little Elmo pair, actually lasted several hours. After Kyra's first 3 major accidents, she began to alert us right as she was about to start peeing and we were able to make it to the potty before anything besides her underwear got soiled. We had one more major accident toward the end of the evening, but Kyra managed to end the day in panty #8. Which means I didn't need to reuse the 5 pairs I frantically washed at noon "just in case".
All in all I would say today was a success. Kyra definitely is taking steps in the right direction and I'm hoping tomorrow she'll begin to give us enough warning to keep her cute little panties dry.
*Thanks goes out to Aunt Katie for encouraging me by recommending some blogs on potty training.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Craftiness
I am extremely blessed to be a stay-at-home-mom. But recently I found myself stuck in a rut. And this particular rut was the "lack of creativity when it comes to activities with my kids" rut. I was bored. They were bored. It was getting old fast. So, nearly a month ago, in a desperate attempt to claw my way out of the rut, I grabbed a flyer at the local mall promoting free kids art classes. And when we got home, it nearly ended up in the trash, but was saved by the nagging reminder of boredom in the back of my brain.
So now I had a way out of the boredom. I just had to get myself on the right path to reach my destination. In an attempt to chain myself to the train going that direction, I called my sis-in-love, Katie (who also conveniently is an elementary art teacher) and asked her if she would join us for Kyra's first "art class". She agreed and unknowingly locked the chain around me and threw away the key. We were getting out of our rut. We were trying something new. We were going to "Mommy and Me Sea Turtles" art class.
And it was a success. Despite the craziness that was Kylie without a nap. Despite the fact that the "teacher" nearly gave my twenty-something-year-old sister-in-love a stroke because she didn't really have a clue how to teach kids under age 5. Despite the fact that I carried two "turtles" made out of egg cartons around the mall for an hour so they could dry. It was awesome. We did something new and interesting and FREE.
And since that first introduction to the quaint little art class at the mall the experience has gotten better and better. Better because we have gone the last two weeks with our friends Foster and Rowan. Better because we discovered story time at Borders is right after the art class. Better because the Chick-fil-a cow visits story time and gives out goodies like balloons and crayons and FREE KIDS MEALS. Better because we immediately enjoy our free kids meals and then exchange the toy for free ice cream. Better because this week the free ice cream was 4 times the size it is supposed to be. Better because we're out of the rut. We may be getting into a new one, but at least this one involves crayons, paint, friends, cows, chicken nuggets, and ice cream.
So now I had a way out of the boredom. I just had to get myself on the right path to reach my destination. In an attempt to chain myself to the train going that direction, I called my sis-in-love, Katie (who also conveniently is an elementary art teacher) and asked her if she would join us for Kyra's first "art class". She agreed and unknowingly locked the chain around me and threw away the key. We were getting out of our rut. We were trying something new. We were going to "Mommy and Me Sea Turtles" art class.
And it was a success. Despite the craziness that was Kylie without a nap. Despite the fact that the "teacher" nearly gave my twenty-something-year-old sister-in-love a stroke because she didn't really have a clue how to teach kids under age 5. Despite the fact that I carried two "turtles" made out of egg cartons around the mall for an hour so they could dry. It was awesome. We did something new and interesting and FREE.
And since that first introduction to the quaint little art class at the mall the experience has gotten better and better. Better because we have gone the last two weeks with our friends Foster and Rowan. Better because we discovered story time at Borders is right after the art class. Better because the Chick-fil-a cow visits story time and gives out goodies like balloons and crayons and FREE KIDS MEALS. Better because we immediately enjoy our free kids meals and then exchange the toy for free ice cream. Better because this week the free ice cream was 4 times the size it is supposed to be. Better because we're out of the rut. We may be getting into a new one, but at least this one involves crayons, paint, friends, cows, chicken nuggets, and ice cream.
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