Cereal Time!

Our Oso started eating cereal now... we started cause the doctor said we could...he's not really too interested in it...but he has been eyeballing us while we've been eating with that look on his face that says, "Where's mine?" So we figured we'd give it a try...

8 years and counting

Eight years ago today I was busy getting ready to marry the man of my dreams. Oliver fit the bill to a T: He was taller(by about 1/4 inch, but who's counting?), dark and handsome. He loved God, worked hard(had some mad muscles!), and loved his family; what more could a girl want?


He asked me to marry him in front of my whole family on April 27, 2001, which I know was difficult for him(his english was not nearly what it is now). Of course I said yes, how could I not?


My mom, sisters and I went the next weekend to Atlanta to look for my dress(I know, but I was excited!!)


Much happened that year between April and December...He moved out to Bonneau Beach(which is an hour away), but I saw him most weekends. We did our marriage counseling one straight week in July (THAT was interesting). September 11 happened. I finished another semester of school. We found an apartment nearby a week before the wedding. I couldn't wait to be with him. I had just finished exams the week of the wedding. My father was not a happy camper that we were getting married before I graduated, but I only had two semesters to go and I promised to finish. Both my parents jumped right in and helped make our Wedding Day memorable.


I often wondered what drew him to me; why he would be willing to be with me forever. But I am so glad he did. I truly made the best decision to marry him. There have been low points over the years, especially those first five as we struggled through the selfish tendancies and really got to know and love one another...but I can say the last three years we have been more content. Oliver is still all of those things he was on our wedding day(well, the muscles are hibernating...) and I look forward to many, many more years together!

The Truth About Christmas!

Our Princess and I had a deep discussion about Christmas, Santa and Jesus Monday as we put the last of the ornaments on the tree. We've never said that her Christmas presents come from Santa. As a matter of fact, we've always told her they come from Maga and Papa, even though they only say XOXO...but somehow she has gotten the idea of Santa Claus, from friends, I suppose. We've just never addressed it, I suppose thinking that if we never said anything, she would never ask? Naive I know. We just didn't want to make it official, you know? We didn't want her to be the brat at school who blurts out that there was no Santa Claus. We also didn't want her to believe in Santa Claus only to realize when she was older that we had lied to her. We want Christmas to be about Jesus, which we do push strongly at home.
So I sat down with her while we put up the Nativity under the tree. I told her about St. Nicholas, who was a man who loved Jesus so much that he spent his life doing good works. St. Nicholas loved children and often gave them gifts. He also helped the poor by leaving anonymous gifts(some new vocab for Our Princess) and often helped his neighbors in need. I explained that he did this to celebrate Jesus and his birth, not to celebrate himself. So he wouldn't want us to make Christmas about him, but about Jesus. Then we talked about why Jesus was born and why he was special. I told her about the story of Jesus' birth and Mary and Joseph and the angels coming to sing to the shepherds and the visit from the Magi...
Afterward we went through her toys and bagged up some that she doesn't often play with that are still good and took them up to the ministry center to be handed out when children come in. She was pretty good about giving them away; Our Fairy was a little (ok, a lot) hesitant, but she's still three... And when we went last night to work at the Ministry Center and she was able to hand one of her dolls to a little girl who had the biggest smile on her face, I think she realized the joy of sharing. Again, Our Fairy just didn't handle it well...we'll work on that.
I'm not sure how much she retained, but the explanation seemed to satisfy her enough. I did explain that it wasn't our place to tell other children about Santa, that we had to leave that up to other mommys and daddys...we'll see if it works.

Our Fairy

Our Fairy says the funniest things...and I believe that the funniest part is that to her, it all makes sense...Wednesday, she was singing "Jack and Jill went up a hill..." When she got to the part where Jack falls down, according to her, he broke his "king's hat."

Thursday morning we were leaving for Church and there was half a dead squirrel on our porch (bless our beloved puss). Our Fairy said, "Gato broke it." That's putting it mildly!

This evening, we were leaving work and she asked Aunt Laura where her daddy was. Aunt Laura said with Maga...Papa was her daddy. Our Fairy tells her, "No, Papa is Maga's daddy."
Well, since I refer to Oliver in front of the girls as "Daddy," she associates this with "husband." She wanted to know where Aunt Laura's husband was...Aunt Laura is not married (yet).

It's just interesting the things that she comes up with; she has a way of looking at her world that makes you stop and think about how things are related and what words really mean.

She's very literal. Our Princess I can tell to go put the clothes in the trash(as I have done before) meaning the laundry and she understands that I meant laundry(I know, scary). Our Fairy doesn't. She puts it into the trash, or fridge, or whatever word I get mixed up with...I often wonder if it's because we use more spanish with her than we did with her older sister, so she has to concentrate harder on what things mean, so it's easier to take everything literally.

Corn Casserole ála Maga

This we've made EVERY year since I was little...LOVE IT!

Swiss cheese Casserole

3-4 canned or frozen corn (drained)
1lb swiss cheese grated
sm onion chopped
Lg can evaporated milk plus 2 eggs mixed in
(Half recipe for smaller group)

MIX all together reserving some cheese for top
Sprinkle some crushed ritz type cracker over top
Bake 350 for 40 mins...sprinkle with some cheese while still warm'

All I'm gonna say is OH MY...

Corn Casserole á la Paula Deen

We've made this the last two years for Thanksgiving and it's fast become a favorite!



Ingredients:
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix (recommended: Jiffy)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with Cheddar. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes and then serve warm.
YUMMY!

Thanksgiving According to Our Princess

"The pilgrims came, maybe when Maga was little, I think. They came in a boat called the Mayflower and they drove, I mean boat...sailed! for a long time until they got here. They walked into the forest and they had to walk and walk and they saw a indian and they went too far and made camp and they had to eat that corn, you know that's too hard, it would break your teeth and they had to punch it with a stone to eat it. They went to sleep and in the morning the pilgrims got closer to the indians and they saw a indian named....I don't remember right now. The indian showed the pilgrims how to get the house and then the mother pilgrim and the kids stayed on the boat and some died while the Captain built the house and it was too cold and they got sicker and sicker and then they came off the boat and said, 'Thank you, Captain...' "

To be continued...(she said she needed to go to school to remember the rest...so we'll see tomorrow night!)


"That evening they had a feast. A feast is a kind of eat-together. They had Turkey and french fries. They were thankful for God and it was a good holiday."
That was it...Not sure why she needed to go to school to remember that and I cannot remember us EVER having french fries at a thanksgiving meal, but, hey, it's cute!