An Ice Skate accident

This happened the day after Christmas day on 2015. We all went to the lake then went Ice Skating. My uncle was trying to help me learn to skate when I tripped and fell on the ice. My uncles skate blade sliced my hand open. When we went to the Emergency Room, my face was blue and my lips were purple.
I got 5 stitches! That was not a fun way to start my first ice skate trip.   :[

Clay's 50th birthday #Laser Tag!!!

A fun day in Tulsa playing laser tag,eating sushi,

milkshakes and other fun. What a fun way of spending 

a Birthday!I'm glad to have a father that enjoys laser tag.

My father enjoys playing with me, my brother, and my sister.

He likes hunting too! Sometimes he would bring me hunting with him! Me and my dad teamed up and went up against other players. It was really fun.

Eula's 1st Birthday!

How did this happen? has it really been a year since my sweet little Eula Beatrice was born? I havent even finished writing her birth story or a photo book for her;)! i need to get something done for her! poor little second child... a little neglected ;)

She is such a delight and just so happy all the time. She has started waving, clapping her hands and says mama, papa, bye bye and lots of little songs she makes up. Her favorite person is still Staughty. and he loves her right back. In the mornings, he comes running into our room, not to see clay or me, but to see his Eula. I love watching them together. I'm sure in a few years they will be driving me as crazy as my brother and i did to my mom.

We had a wonderful little party for her and she loved loved loved her cupcake! Unlike staughty, who at his 1st birthday party looked at me like i was crazy when i gave him chocolate!

I know everyone says it, but it really does go by too fast. In the past 6 months she has had so many developmental milestones that have quickly changed her from my little newborn to this TODDLER. I already wish i had soaked it up more..

I will start now with my babbling, beautiful little 1 year old.

EichelAdamsCravenChapman (minus the Adams)

A few weekends ago, we headed up to Robbinsville, NC to see some friends. We had a beautiful time in these gorgeous NC mountains with friends. Beth took us all kinds of places- art and pottery galleries, candle makers, and a farm where they make their own cheese from their cows. The boys went fly fishing and swam in the creek while Beth, Faye and I sat in the hot tub! here are a few pics

Laugh

No one can make Eula laugh like Staughty She reserves her brightest smiles and beautiful laughs for the person closest to her level. He is so good with her. The 3rd parent when i need him to be ("mama, eula has something in her mouth!") and her favorite playmate. He takes such good care of her and she often repays him by relentlessly yanking on those beautiful little blond curls of his. Here is a wonderful snapshot of their relationship.

Christmas

trying to catch up!

We had a lovely Christmas and there are many more pictures of Christmas to be posted later. Jen Jen and Rye Rye came down from Brooklyn and spent Christmas Eve with us. Then Donna spent the night Christmas Eve and spent Christmas day with us. She cooked an incredible breakfast- Lemon Ricotta Pancakes and Blueberry Sausage. then we went to my parents for another wonderful meal and family time. Lastly, to our friends the Galenkamps for some evening Christmas cheer. Then home, exhausted and happy. Eula chose the week we put up our Christmas tree to start crawling so i was pretty ready to take it down right after. All Staughty wanted for Christmas was a Batman costume. Luckily, Santa make a darn good Batman costume. He wears it every day!

Staughty and Sanders

drawing at the table like Clay

Making Carrot apple celery juice (in reverse order)

Whew... the longer i go without blogging, the more daunting it becomes. I will try to update a bit with a few pictures and then will try my hardest (maybe) to do better with this!

Staughty loves his cousin Sanders. Sanders is a year 1/2 older but they have this crazy bond. Clay once asked me who he thought Staughty felt safest to and I responded that of course it was his incredible parents. But Clay told me he thought Staughty felt safest with Sanders. I think he's right. Here is someone on his level, but a little bigger. Sanders protects him (from big boys splashing him at the pool) and teaches him (about Transformers, how to jump on the tramp, ride a scooter, play soccer and so much more). Often when Staughty wakes up crying in the middle of the night and we ask him whats wrong, he cries, "I want Sanders!". breaks my heart. We try to get the boys together often. Here is some pics of some of our latest dalliances.

Fowl Confusion

I got this email from my mom tonight- cracked me up.

Dear Children,

 

I think I am losing it.   I ran into Kroger to get a nice big  chicken to roast for dinner tonight.  The package said

'fresh oven roaster, no added preservatives.'    I grabbed it up with some carrots and potatoes thinking

we would have a nice easy dinner.

 

Well, when I got home, I noticed that it might have kind of a turkey smell.    I looked all over the package and there

is not one word that says if it is a chicken or a turkey.   Just a picture of this brown steaming baked fowl.

And, another clue, is that it has one of those pop-up timers in it, but maybe chickens have those too.

 

I put it in a roasting pan with the carrots and potatoes, and we are having either a very large chicken for dinner

or a very small turkey, I still don't know what it is.   Crazy.

 

Love, Mom

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1 medium head broccoli, cut into small florets
2 T olive oil
1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 t cumin
1 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1/2 t ground mustard
2 T flour
1 c soy milk (or skim)
2 c coarsely grated sharp Cheddar cheese
6-7oz firm tofu (apx 1/2 block)

I got this from a great blog that Faye shared with me. Fresh365.blogspot.com. i love it because it has protein from the tofu, and its not fatty. I use skim milk instead of soy, but you could probably use unsweetened almond milk too. i made this 2 weeks ago and have been craving it ever since. i double it so we have tons for lunch the rest of the week- if clay doesnt eat it all tonight and tomorrow!

RECIPE:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli, and cook until just tender, 2-3 minutes. Drain, reserving 3 cups water. Rinse broccoli with cold water to stop cooking, and set aside.

In a large pan, heat olive oil, over medium heat. Add potato, pepper, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add cumin, salt, pepper, mustard and flour, and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add reserved 3 c water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer (partially covered), until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add soy milk and Cheddar, stirring to melt.

Transfer 3 c soup to a blender, and add tofu (this may need to be done in 2 batches). Puree, until smooth. Return to pot. Add florets and cook over medium heat, until heated, 2-3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I added about 1 t more salt).

Me in Washington Square Park

Jennifer and the Bob she hauled all around NYC Transit!

well, its been over a month, but i wanted to share about my NYC trip to see Jen and Ryan. I wanted to take Eula up to see Jen while she was still very portable.This girl lives in a sling- and she loves it. i could write a whole blog on babywearing. moms love it, babies love it. At the time of the NY trip, she was getting a little big for the New Native, but My friend Marisa gave me a sling based on the Moby wrap and it was perfect for all the walking we did! Jennifer went though so much to get me this perfect BOB stroller that i thought Eula would sleep in and she wouldnt! so we would bring the stroller to put her in while she was awake and then when it was time to sleep, one of us would wear her. She would sleep for about 2-3 hours at a time on one of us!

I love going to New York to see Jen and Ryan. They have the cutest apartment at the bottom of a brownstone on the most beautiful street (that i have no pictures of). It is your typical Brooklyn street (FYI: Keri Russell lives across the street and Michelle Williams and Matilda live around the block) in Boerum Hill. After visiting them, if we suddenly became a big city dweller, i would insist on Brooklyn. Its has so much of the charm that we love about Decatur. parks, wonderful restaurants, family oriented. I love the subway system and that is a short ride into Manhattan. But then when you leave Manhattan, you truly feel like youre coming home to Brooklyn. They have made a wonderful home there. They are also great chefs. We made pizza one night.

and the pups snoozed

We mainly walked around Brooklyn and Manhattan and i was also able to see our friend Perry and Cruz and then also Rebecca and Logan. Logan is about 6 weeks younger than Eula. Rebecca took some amazing photos of Eula that will probably be Christmas presents for everyone ;)

One of the highlights was going to the Brooklyn Flea. Jen says its hands down her favorite place in Brooklyn. Every Saturday vendors open shop on a school play yard and the goods are incredible. Vintage clothing, kids clothing, food, furniture. Everything is local and mostly handmade. I even saw Home Brewed Beer. And this lady with the pig leg... we had some and it was good!

New York

Dropped Katie & Eula off at the airport yesterday morning to go visit her sister. Here's an iphone pic she sent from Brooklyn later in the day. Nothing eventful yet, aside from Delta loosing her one piece of luggage which they eventually delivered to her in Broklyn. Staughty and I are bachin it for the mean time.

Mobility!

it is proving hard to find the time to "blog", but still definitely something i want to do. As you can see from the pictures, we just got back from visiting Mark and Joi in Florida, where we spent lots of time at the beach, the alligator farm and drinking White Russians (my new favorite- Joi makes them perfect!).  We also got to see my dear wonderful friend Canaan and her family for just a bit. They happened to be in GA while we were in Florida, but luckily our trips overlapped enough for us to see each other for a second! I got us lost on the way home, but we ended up in savannah so we walked around a bit there too.

 

Eula chose this trip to roll over for the first time. Rolling over is one of the first big developmental milestones in a newbie's life. Other than "sleeping through the night" (which Staughty did not do for 8 months!). With the exception of sleeping,  Staughty and Eula are pretty similar as newborns. Like Staughty, Eula is a big girl at 16 lbs. @ 14 weeks.  Staughty rolled over at about 14 weeks and so did Eula. None of this would or should concern me except  I am now scared Eula will continue to follow in Staughty's footsteps. crawling at 5 1/2 months and walking at 8 1/2 months!!! I had to watch him constantly and still couldn't prevent him falling and breaking his front tooth @ 19 months which was followed by a root canal. But the one tooth smile fits our boy and I wouldn't change it! 

Mobility sure does change things. I have enjoyed this blob stage with Eula because it has allowed me to just get used to having another body around. I could set Eula down somewhere and know she wouldn't move. Now everytime I lay her in her bed, she rolls over. its like a magnet. With mobility, you also seem to get a little more personality. I love this.  Our girl smiles all the stinkin time. She'll be nursing and stop every few seconds to look up and smile at me. I have no idea how she is so fat because she wont stop smiling long enough to eat.

 I think God does these stages on purpose. You need 9-10 months to be pregnant for the baby to grow of course, but also for you to grow- physically and emotionally. I think i was in denial that i was pregnant until Staughty was born! They sleep for about 23 hours the first few days after he/she is born. Thats because you need to sleep as well! Then they slowly wake up just as you are about ready to. The blob stage comes in handy as you are learning to take care of the babe or take care of 2 at once! God definitely prepares for you for whatever life stage or situation you are in, and then gives you the grace to do it. I need that. I need growth and change even though so often i fight it. If it was up to me nothing would ever change. But then the change happens and it was needed. 

Mobility- i guess i'm ready for it. Lets hope for no broken teeth this time around. 

Mark & Joy's—San Marco, Florida

Josh & Clare's