Sex, marriage, fairytales

A facebook friend shared this on his wall.  I watched it and wanted to share it with all of you.

LOL

"All you need in the world is love and laughter. That's all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other. "

Late night Randoms

A few things from this week that I don't want to forget:

• Today was the 100th day of school, I wonder what the teachers were thinking having us send 100 of some 'thing' to school.  100 pennies for the Red Cross, AND have a costume party for good behavior... Dear teacher, Halloween was 100 days ago, I just put away the costumes at Christmas.
• We have a mouse in our house. Scott set up a wipe out course with poison, sticky traps and snap traps... yet the little critter evades us.  This pisses me off.
• The other night there was a seemingly size able critter in our wall/attic. If it wasn't for the simple fact that all 4 boys were in bed I would have let Scott take shots at the wall with the gun.  I could stand new drywall in our bedroom anyway.
• Luke has started saying some new sounds that sound like a "ba" and a "ma" but he has always said them on accident, so I am not counting them as words yet.
• I love words with friends
• It has dawned on me that I don't have much to talk about that doesn't involve baby food, child raising, breastfeeding, pregnancy and babies.  This is starting to give me anxiety about going places where I have to talk to people about other things..
• So much of having school age kids stresses me out.  Peer pressure, bullying, drugs.... I just wish I could keep everyone as a baby.  Karter and I are in a really rough spot right now.  I'm not sure how to help him, or if my help is even what he needs. He is annoyed with me, some days that feeling is mutual, I just  don't know how to fix it.
• It has also occurred to me that I need to make more posts about Karter and Gavin,  I have a really good one in the works about Gav and Charlie Brown.
• Baby food making was a success! And I get some bonus points because they like it too.
• The boys started drinking from sippy cups today, can I just hit pause for a few months?
• My house is an udder disaster, I know it didn't get this way overnight, but gosh I wish it would get fixed overnight.  I feel like I am drowning in clutter and I am craving simplicity.  Its now when I do my make our households best donations to the Goodwill. 
• Scott and I are trying to get skinny, he is doing it for Get Healthy Iowa. I am doing it because I found a picture of myself from the Christmas before we met and I looked AMAZING, and I can remember how amazing I felt back then.  I want to go back to that.  I need to go back to that, me--with energy, and vigor, and pretty skin, hair and eyes.  I need that.
• I am pretty stinkin proud of myself.  I am still breastfeeding the boys, they will be 6 months next week.  I still get a little guilty about them getting a little bit of formula each day, but gosh darn it, I'm nursing TWO babies. Coincidentally, both boys started biting my nipples while they nursed this week... no bueno.
• I need to go to bed... I'm tired.

Let them Eat!

The boys have both really gotten into eating oatmeal.  It is so funny to watch! Luke took to eating really well, but it took Max an extra week to figure it out.  But now I think he really has the hang of it.  Arent they stinkin cute???

Just a funny little story, while I was videoing and feeding Luke at the same time, I was holding the spoon and he grabbed it, and oatmeal went all over his eye, too funny!

Today is my grocery day so I am going to pick up some sweet potatos and start working on making my own babyfood.  I havent done it before but thanks to this post I found on pinterest I think I can do it!  It should definately save some money, and some of the veggies are ones that I grew in my garden last summer.  This is on my list of things to get done this weekend, along with make us some laundry soap and visit the cake lady for Sam's wedding!  Busy weekend!

January 25, 2011

January 25, 2011 is a day I will most likely never forget.
January 25, 2011  is a day that changed our lives forever..
January 25,2011 is the day we went to a doctor appointment and saw this...well, these.

I remember being so worried about how we were going to do it.  Funny, some days I still am worried about how we are going to do this.  It seems cliche to say "one day at a time" but honestly, that is exactly how we do it, one day, (sometimes one minute) at a time.

And now, here they are, 25 weeks old.  I cant believe when I got my email from the bump, the "you baby is 25 weeks old" email.  I couldn't believe it, so I counted the weeks forward and back and sure enough, Luke and Max have been in our family for 25 weeks.  In many ways, it seems as though they have always been here, I cant imagine what we would do without them. 

Happy January 25th!

WTH?

I start a lot of blog posts, I also dont finish a lot of blog posts.  I know it really hard for you to believe, but sometimes I dont have a lot of time to finish what I get started wrting. :)  So, I save them in my drafts folder and try to come back to finish.

Sometimes I go back and I re-read what I wrote before and think what the heck???? 
My top post in my drafts file talks about how exhausted I was, the kids were sick, I didnt feel well.  It started off with me telling you that I have done a lot of "hard" things in my life, and while taking care of 2 sick, whiney, cranky, needy babies isnt the hardest thing I have ever done, it definately is the most exhausting. Im exhausted. My house is exhausted, well its not exhausted, but looking at it exhaustes me more.  Followed by a quote by JJ Heller about praying for people.  See?  Completely random.  I was going somewhere, if I recall, I was headed towards the subject of mom guilt, but I just couldnt get there. I just hit delete.  I am way to tired to try to remember what I was thinking 5 days ago when I started the post.  So today I am starting over, emptying my draft file and letting it all go.  :)

On a happy note, I do have some pretty fun posts coming up... one about a special day in January last year, about Charlie Brown and about a seemlingly sizeable critter in our home. :)  Stay tuned!

Words with...Grandma.

Have you played Words with Friends yet?  In just a few short days I have become an addict, and can almost understand how Alec Baldwin could choose to get kicked off a plane rather than put his game away.  This game has become my favorite nursing pastime, it has even passed pinterest, and since I spend a lot of my time nursing these babies.... well, you get the idea.

Today, a problem came up.  Facebook wants me to "send a challenge to" my grandma.  My grandma who passed away a little over 2 weeks ago.  Its eery to see her name, because she is still my facebook friend, it hurts my heart because she was here, and now she is not.  I am so thankful to have such awesome grandmothers in my life.  My grandma Betty taught a lot of life lessons by just being herself.

Honestly, I have put off writing this post for the reason that I can not find the right words to adequately describe such a quiet but strong beautiful women.  A women who I find I am learning more about in her death than I knew about her while she was with us.  A women who had a baby while her husband was stationed in the Army, who selflessly gave herself as a homemaker (we all know how much work that is!) A women who fought infertility and came out on the other side with 2 more sons.  A remarkable record keeper, a beacon of strength for her family as her husband battled Alzheimer's.  She volunteered, she was a blood donor. These things don't even scratch the top of her awesomeness.  She was special to us, and so very special to a lot of people.

chocolate chip cookies!

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt and cream of tartar. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

holy schmoly!

I made these tonight and they were simply better than ANYTHING I have ever had in a restaurant! 
Heres how to make yours!

Easy Cheesy Potato Skins Printable recipe
12 medium-sized russet potatoes
bacon bits (i use the real bacon kind)
1/2 stick  unsalted butter
2 T olive oil
garlic salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper
Green onions, sliced
chopped tomatos
Greek yogurt or sour cream, optional

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Wash & dry potatoes, pierce with fork, and place on a baking pan or directly onto oven rack.
Bake until potatoes are tender; mine took just over 60 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
Don't turn off the oven.
The potatoes will still be quite warm, so you may need to use a folded paper towel to hold them.
Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out potato flesh into a bowl.
Be sure to leave some potato still attached to the skin.
Continue process until all potatoes are halved & scooped.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place potato skins cut side down.
Melt 3T of butter and add some olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder
Generously brush potatoes with melted butter.  
Return pan to oven, and bake for 7-10 minutes.
Remove from oven, turn potato skins over, brush with some more of the butter/oil
bake for another 7 minutes
Fill potatos with cheese & bacon.
Return to oven, and bake until cheese is melted & bubbly.
Remove from oven and garnish with tomatos, green onion and/or Greek yogurt/sour cream.
Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

New Years day!

Although there is no rule about checking off items from the 2012 Must take photo challenge in the order they are written, I am going to start with number one today! 
We had a great New Years day, we celebrated our Dannen Family Christmas and had an awesome time with all my cousins.  I posted some pictures here but heres a few more pictures of the occasion.

2012 Photo challenge

I am starting this 2012 photo challenge to work on my news years resolution of taking more pictures!  As I take them, and blog about them I will cross them off my list. I found the list on pinterest, but changed it a little to fit our life (for instance we do not celebrate Marti graa, nor do we have an academy award party)  I am hoping to have all 101 pictures taken this 2012.

Join me if you would like!!!

Prayer requests...

You know how they say things come in threes?  I feel like 2012 has gotten off to a rough start.  I am working on a letter to this year, demanding, begging, asking nicely for it to please turn around.
This post is coveting your prayers. 

First, my grandma.  She is ill with pneumonia, she took a fall early in the morning yesterday and was rushed to the ER.  She is in the ICU and really struggling.  She seems uncomfortable and tired.  Please pray for her, and for our family.

Also, please pray for a friend Christy. Her husband and best friend was in a head on collision Wednesday morning and is in critical condition, but thankfully alive! Pray for the doctors to have wisdom and guidance and for peace for my Christy , Todd, their two small children and the whole family. Please pray for healing and recovery!If you want to help there has been a Scentsy fundraiser set up:   you can go here or to www.kenzie.scentsy.us to place an order.  Just click where it says Friedman Fundraiser on the left side.  The Friedman's will get at least 20% of all things sold and if more than $2000 is sold that percentage will go up to 25%! The combine and save packages can be found on the left hand side of the page!

Could you also throw in a prayer or two for all those moms out there going back to work since having their babies? 

John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it

Thanks!

Lukes first bites

Luke had his first bowl of oatmeal today!  I tried it with both boys but Max was definitely not ready for it yet.  Luke has been nursing what seems like around the clock.  I was joking with my friend that I was really starting to understand how a dairy cow felt.  My lactation consultant suggested that he might just be ready to have something more than breast milk.  I wanted to wait until closer to 6 months, not for any real reason, but we tried it and he LOVED it!

5 months!

Luke and Max are 5 months old.

I cant believe we are so close to celebrating a half of a year with these babies!

Luke and Max are such good babies. As far as babies go, we tend to have some pretty great ones! Yesterday at our Dannen family Christmas, both boys hardly made a peep. They did such a great job!

This has been a busy month for us, family Christmas's, long shopping trips, school and church music programs. This month the boys have learned many new tricks. Both boys are rolling from their backs to their stomachs and on New Years Eve we watched Luke roll from his stomach to his back, although we arent sure if it was just an accident or not. This month also brought new changes, we moved both babies from sharing a bed in our room, to their own beds in their own room. This was a pretty seemless transition and both continued their awesome sleeping habits once in their new spaces.

This next month I am thinking about starting solid foods, that seems so funny, 1.) because its not like you are giving them a sirloin steak to chew on- pureed sweet potatos dont seem as though they should qualify as solid. and 2.) once you give them baby food you cant take it back, they are eating food, not breastmilk, toddlers eat food, toddlers are big, im not ready for them to be toddlers yet  (gee now that I write it-- it does kinda seem a little crazy huh?)

I am working this month to try to start beefing up my milk storage supply,  next month is a busy one with Sam's wedding and so I need to do what I can to have enough milk built up.  Not to mention the babies are still getting about 4oz of formula a day and I would like to get them transitioned to none.  It is only 4 oz after all.

Here is what Luke has been doing this month:

• Luke weighs 14lbs 9oz he is 25 inches long
• He is such a talker, yesterday at our family Christmas, we thought we heard him say "da"
• He still sucks his thumb.
• his hair sticks straight up after a bath, its so cute!
• Luke's eyes are still blue.  I am crossing my fingers they stay that color!
• He loves to chew on my chin, and we think he is trying to give us kisses by slobbering all over our faces. (well, mine anyways, scotts is too hairy)
• Luke is sleeping from 9:00pm(ish) until 7:45/8am.  He is so happy when he wakes up!  I love listening to him "sing" when he is waiting for us to come get him out of his crib.
• He loves his bee rattle and can bring it to his mouth to chew on it... he also loves to chew on our fingers. I am thinking a tooth may be in his future.
• Luke can still fit into some 3 month clothes, but 6 month stuff is starting to fit better.  He can wear some 6-9 month outfits but they are a little big.

What Mr Max is doing!

• Max weighs 16lbs 4oz and is 26.75 inches long
• His eyes are starting to turn more of a grey/brown/green color.  I imagine the same color as mine and the older boys.
• Max has found his feet.  He is not chewing on them yet, probably because he cant get them to his mouth due to his big ol belly.

• He is talking a little more.
• Max sleeps from 9:30pm (ish) until 8:30 am (ish)
• He is bringing a toy or anything he can get his fingers wrapped around up to his mouth.
• He is also chewing on my fingers.  I wonder if they will get their teeth at the same time.
• Max is so even tempered! 
• He is wearing 6 month and some 6-9 month clothes.  He is still in a size 2 diaper.

A few other shots from our photo shoot today!

Dannen Family Christmas

Lucas Dannen

Cousins