Week 31, Celebrate Good Times C'Mon!

Okay, so I'm a little late with this post...again.  What can I say other than that I've basically been partying for the past 2 weeks, so I haven't had time to post pictures and blog!  It has been a super fun 2 weeks, but for this post, we'll just focus on good ol' week 31!  The week started off with a party....that's right, a party on a Monday!!  It was the big 0-5 for Aubrey Carter (Leslie's oldest), and we headed out to a bounce party to celebrate!  Big shocker here--the boys had a great time (for proof, see below!).

Happy 5th Birthday Aubrey!!

Down the shoot!

Ethan decided to chill in the toddler area and slide down....

the entire 2 foot slide!!

Tommy loved traveling to all the different bounce "houses"!

Tommy climbing up the rope ladder on the obstacle course house :)

Look at those red faces--time for some water!!

Reagan didn't get the memo that it was Aubrey's party :)

Reagan and Tommy sitting in a tree...er...giant inflatable throne!

Then on Tuesday, we had the first of 3 party nights in a row with some special guests in from Cincinnati, Ohio.  As most of you know, my Dad played baseball at NC State.  He was a pitcher, and Gerry Feldkamp was his catcher.  We've been friends with the Feldkamp's ever since, and they came in on Tuesday to spend 4 days with us.  My Mom cooked on Tuesday, I cooked on Wednesday, and my Dad grilled out on Thursday.  It really felt like the weekend had just moved from Friday-Sunday to Tuesday-Thursday!  Gerry and his wife Meloney are a riot, so good times were definitely had by all!

Mom and Meloney getting it done in the kitchen!

Gerry's happy to let the women do their thing in the kitchen--spice cake anyone?!

Ethan slamming it home outside!

Check out this sequence of events...

Ethan is not impressed...

Tommy is not giving up.....

I think he has a little more leverage than E...

Granddaddy to the rescue!!

Tommy obviously had to make sure the court was free of all dirt and bugs O_O

Tommy delegating some of the work to Granddaddy  of course :)

Gerry and Mel kissing for the camera!

"Noooo No No...not today, maybe Saturday!"

Poor Ethy baby is all tuckered out!

Tommy thinks he's the man staying up late with  Uncle No-No!

On Friday, I was planning to kind of ease into the 'real' weekend, but it wasn't meant to be!  Leslie had to go out of town for the weekend, and she had all of this produce she needed to use up before it went bad.  Oh, hmm...free expensive produce...what to do, what to do??   Obviously I threw the boys in the car, with their pajamas on no less, and went and grabbed that produce before she left!  So, I spent the entire day on Friday cooking, and I still didn't get it all done!  So, the cook-a-thon extended into Saturday until we left to meet Becky and Steven at Bill and Susie's house for a little get together while Steven was in town for the weekend.  Steven fit right in with everyone, and the boys had a blast continuing their partying and staying up late ways!

Ethan standing in his glorious light!

Steven trying to prevent the inevitable :)

Proud Papa Bill helping Tommy play an old arcade game!

Daddy and Ethy dancing the night away :)

The future son-in-law and mother-in-law photo op!

The fam at a glance

Ethan trying to escape the grasp of the newbie!

hehehe...got em!

Aunt Becky played with Tommy all night!

"CHEEEEEESSSEEE Aunt Becky"

Tommy is too focused on the game!

Zoolander???

Ethan is getting sooooooooo sleepy!

Awww...look at Tommy looking up at Aunt Becky and Papa Bill with so much joy on his little face!

olololololol

Classic

Silly goose!

Believe it or not, Davey is not attempting to put a beat down on Ethan here!

Tommy chose Aunt Becky over Daddy lawl

Love this one so much!

Peter and Donna--do you recognize the monkey!?

Ethan trying to get his Woody so he can sleep in peace!

Finally!

Oh great...now, she's got my monkey...sigh :)

This picture is just too hilarious for words, so make up your own caption!

Wow, so time for Sunday--a day of rest, right?!  NOPE!  Thankfully, Bill and Susie agreed to let the boys spend the night and go to church with them on Sunday so that I could finish cooking and cleaning!  On Sunday afternoon, I was stoked to go pick up my good friend, Chris Boeh, from the airport for a week long visit--woohooo!!!!  I'll save the rest of that story for Week 32!

But, before I leave, I know you're all dying to hear this week's life lesson!

Life Lesson #6:  Friendship

So, in the world of having 927 friends on facebook, it can become a little challenging to actually cultivate deep relationships with people.  Well, my friends, I think it is so very important to have real, true friends who you can count on, and who can count on you.  It is just as important to choose those friends wisely.  After all, as CS Lewis said, " The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are."  The Bible has plenty to say about that too--basically, if you hang around wise people, they will give you wise counsel and you are much more likely to make wise choices and become wise yourself.  If you hang around with fools or idiots, you will end up getting hurt in some way, shape, or form.  It's simply inevitable.  Choose the type of friend is who is always honest with you, because when you run up against adversity, those are the friends you can trust.  And, as far as it concerns you, be the type of friend who is there no matter what--through thick and thin.  Always tell your friends the truth--with gentleness, tenderness, and grace.  I will end with a favorite verse of mine from Romans (12:10):  "Love one another with brotherly affection.  Out do one another in showing honor."  Honor your friends by cultivating a real relationship with them.  Honor them by treating them as distinguished guests in your home, and by being a generous and gracious host.  And, finally, honor them by listening to their counsel.  That's not to say that you always have to implement their advice, but truly listen to it, and take it into consideration.

Week 30, The New Normal

Week 30, as you may have deduced from the title, began the start of a new normal for our little clan.  Davey has jokingly called me “all or nothing Emi” in the past (and has also bestowed this lovely title on Ethan!).  It is true that I tend to go full-throttle or do nothing at all.  It would probably be better to be more balanced, and it’s something I’m working on.  That said, after reading the first third of “In Defense of Food”, I decided it was time to clean house…or, pantry rather!  The whole family is on the “real food” plan now.  I felt so much better that I basically decided to impose it on the boys!  Now, I gave Davey a choice in the matter—he’s an adult and can make his own well-informed choices.  To my surprise (and delight), he said he wanted to do it with the family too.  Thus begins the new normal for our family.  In a nutshell, when we’re at home, we eat almost exclusively non-processed food, with a few very minimally processed foods sprinkled in.  In addition, we have for now transitioned to organic produce, meat, and dairy.  YIKES BUDGET!!  I’ll keep you updated on how that impacts us!

So, I spent a decent amount of time this week trying out new recipes, and therefore tasting new recipes.  Shockingly, I ended up still staying even on weight despite my quality control role!  I am proud to report that the food went over really well….well, for 3 of us.  I’ll give you one guess who it wasn’t super popular with?!   Even so, I was so proud of Tommy’s behavior and attitude this week.  I basically made them go cold turkey on things they are used to having every single day, and he took it like a champ!  He certainly asked me for his usual items, but when I said “No, we don’t have that anymore”, he understood and didn’t fight me on it.  Don’t get me wrong, he went several meals this week only eating fruit and milk, and that made him a little more ornery in general I think.  But, he wasn’t mad or arguing with me for not giving him his usual snacks which I was super pleased about!  And, a shocking thing happened too—he ended up choosing “the lesser of two evils” in his mind I think sometimes!  My favorite response though from Tommy this week—pretty much anytime he didn’t want to do something we asked him to do (eating food, getting dressed, pooping in the potty)—“Not today….Saturday”.  That has become his catchall stall tactic!  Ethan ate every single new item without complaint—woohoo!!  Davey landed somewhere in between.  He liked most everything, but is finding it hard if not impossible to give up his favorite bread in favor of whole wheat bread.  For now, I have compromised on that one, and we’re now having sandwiches on freshly baked white bread from our local bakery J.   Here’s a look at some of what we were eating this week—a special thanks to Scott Pfeif for the fresh garden tomatoes!!

Fresh tomato and mozzarella naan pizza for Davey!

Smoked salmon and tomato pizza for me!

The next morning for breakfast--smoked salmon, tomato, muenster, and avocado sandwich--yum!!

Arroz con pollo!

Davey's cheddar BLT...he LOVED it!

Homemade chicken nuggets--everyone but Tommy tried it and liked it!

Davey's new normal for chewy granola bars haha :)

We're calling these cereal bar cookies....a big hit with Ethan...still waiting for Tommy to try one!

Tommy was SOOOO HAPPY to eat his whole wheat "basketti"!
He said "I love it" about 20 times during dinner that night!

Ethy even liked his salad...as long as ranch was on it--not "real", but baby steps!

Not to worry though, we had a lot of fun this week too!!  On Tuesday, we had an exciting “first”.  The boys went to their very first movie in a theater!  I was soooooooooo nervous about it.  We went to the 10am showing of “Rio” at Beaver Creek.  I’m not sure why I was expecting there to be like 20 people there, because there were like 500….not kidding.  Every individual theater was open and either showing “Rio” or “Spy Kids”.  When we pulled up, I was like, “Oh crap…this is going to be a total disaster!”  Tommy had already said he was scared to go (I think just because he didn’t know what a movie theater was), and now we were accompanied by several hundred others, most of them older than my boys.  Well, as it turned out, the huge crowd was a blessing in disguise for us!  I think it made Tommy feel comfortable and like it must be something fun if all these kids were also here and seemingly happy about it!  Once we entered, Tommy was immediately amazed by the “really big TV”!  We each sat in our own chairs, with me in between the boys.  We made it almost through the entire movie!  Tommy could’ve easily made it—he was mesmerized!  Ethan on the other hand didn’t seem super impressed.  He liked the fact that his chair rocked and he had his own cup and snack holder on his chair, but after a little more than an hour, he started to get really restless.  I was psyched they lasted that long, so I figured we should just cut our losses and head out on a high note!  Since they did so well, I’m excited to try that out again soon--$3 for a family friendly outing in the AC is totally worth it!

The boys' first movie tickets...we had a great time!

Wednesday brought the beloved “double-dip”!!  I had a dentist appointment, so Davey took the boys over to Goggi’s house in the morning.  They seemed to have had a blast at the mall riding the carousels and motorized cars!  I wish I could say I spent the day having fun without the kids, but I can’t!  It was just one of those days where annoying errands had to be done.  I always prefer bunching them into one day when possible.  So, my day basically consisted of dentist appointment, Quick Kill out to the house to help us with our little earwig problem, having repair guys come out to fix the shutters that FELL OFF OF OUR HOUSE during the bad storm the night before and to repair our running toilet, and reorganizing the pantry!  

Full view of the newly organized pantry

Snack foods on the bottom so the boys can grab what they want!

Davey picked the boys up on his way home and dropped them off at Grandma’s house for part 2 of the double-header!  Speaking of part 2’s, we spent our evening watching the second installment of Sherlock Holmes before heading back over to pick up the boys.  They must have been worn out from their exciting day, because when we opened the door to Tommy’s room to wake him up, he didn’t even flinch!

He was so adorable wedged in his little crevice!

On Friday, we went to Hit & Run for some more “lessons” with Granddaddy!  Then, the boys had a “boys night in” so that I could go out with Leslie for a girl’s night!  While I was gone, the boys apparently had one of their famous dance parties.  One of the songs they dance to frequently is this crazy song called, “Tunak Tunak Tun”.  Well, needless to say, Tommy didn’t really know how to request that song, so he said, “Daddy I want the OOOOUUGGGHHHOOOHHHOOOOOOHHHHHH song!”  Now, click on the link and you’ll see what he was describing!

On Saturday, I wanted to treat Davey.  He is so wonderful about letting me have time with my friends, and watching the boys so I can have some breaks, and I wanted to repay the favor!  So, I took the boys to visit my Grandma Jan (Granny to them) and my Aunt Donna who was there for the weekend.  After a VERY rocky start to the morning for my tooterbear, we finally got loaded up and headed out to Burgaw!  The boys were very well behaved, and Granny and Aunt Donna were so excited to see them!  And, Tommy was more than a little excited to have a “special treat” at McDonalds!

My Aunt Donna and Grandma Jan (Granny) enjoying a little pick me up while the boys played on the playground!

Tommy going all Hollywood on us :)

Ethan loved being the center of attention while Tommy napped like a good boy!

Tommy and Aunt Donna :)

Aunt Donna showing Ethan where the paparazzi is!

:)

"Granny's gonna get you!!"

Granny loves kissing that loveable soft face!

Granny loves Tommy too!!

Aww, I love this picture of Tommy snuggling up to Granny <3

Tommy even went down for a nap at Grandma’s house in a strange bed—score one for traveling in the future!  Ethan, however, was not so cooperative on the napping front.  Don’t get me wrong, he was EXHAUSTED, but he absolutely refused to sleep on the bed and/or floor of the other room.  So, he had his first day ever of missing a nap!  He actually handled it pretty well, but by 4pm, he was literally falling down walking.  He did get about an hour nap in the car on the way home :).  I was pleased to return home to find out that Davey did nothing but play FIFA Soccer on the XBOX all day—you deserved it babe!

On Sunday, we went to church—another excellent sermon btw if you want to check it out!  Afterwards, we headed over to my parent’s house to celebrate Uncle Nolan’s new job as an Editor at Castle Worldwide!!  CONGRATULATIONS NOLAN!!  

Aunt LoLo giving her main squeeze a squeeze :)

"Congratulations Uncle NoNo!!"

Life Lesson #5—Disagreeing in Style

I have been having some great discussions with people lately.  I love doing that.  I love hearing different people’s opinions on things.  Even when I disagree with someone or don’t share their same ideals or values, I enjoy the conversation and hearing their viewpoint.  Well, as long as both sides are being civil and respectful anyway.  I feel like this is a concept that has been largely lost in America today.  The concept of allowing someone to have and own personal views that are not widely accepted and/or politically correct seems to be a difficult one for Americans to handle.  It bothers me.  In a country where the First Amendment guarantees free speech, government leaders are trying to deny zoning permits based on a CEO’s stated personal beliefs.  I am speaking, of course, of Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-A and his support of the Biblical definition of marriage.  The “problem” is that his opinions are not widely accepted, politically correct, or popular in the majority of America right now.  That said, is he not entitled to have whatever personal beliefs he wishes to as long as he isn’t breaking any laws?  I know the issue of gay marriage is an extremely touchy subject, but let’s flip this situation on its head for a moment.  Can you imagine what would happen if a conservative mayor tried to forbid a Starbucks from opening because their CEO supports gay marriage?  For the record, I think both are/would be ludicrous.  Each person carries with them tens of thousands of opinions that form their own personal moral code.  It simply isn’t possible for everyone to agree with everyone else on every moral question.  I’m actually convinced that it isn’t even possible for any one person to totally agree with any other person so that their two moral codes are identical.  Indulge me for a moment here.  Let’s pretend for a second that there are only 100 different moral values, and that there are only two possible responses for each moral value—“right” or “wrong”.  Obviously, in real life there are tens of thousands of possible moral questions, and any number of responses in between the two extremities of right and wrong.  But, for this example, just humor me with the 100 values and two possible answers.  The number of potential different moral codes would be enormous—to be exact it would be 1,267,650,600,228,229,401,496,703,205,376.  I don’t even know how to pronounce that number.  For 10,000 questions, still with only the two possible responses, the number grows to 2 with 3010 zeros added to the end!  If every person researched the complete moral code of the CEO of every company, store, and restaurant and refused to spend their money anywhere that their personal moral code did not match the CEO's completely, there would be nowhere to shop!  My point is that disagreeing on moral issues is a part of life that we all will encounter and have to deal with.  You may not like someone else’s moral code, but it is their moral code—not yours.  Every person in the world has the freedom to at least choose for themselves what they believe in.  Hear people out, you might learn something, and you may even change your mind.  Treat others with different opinions with respect, kindness, and grace, and it is probable that they will treat you likewise.  Please remember that an ideal is not a human.  Disliking or disagreeing with a person’s ideals does not mean you dislike or hate the person.  You can support a person without supporting their ideals.  Treat people with love and grace.  As a Christian, our primary role other than our personal relationship with Christ is to love others—ALL others, where they are.  Loving a person and agreeing with everything they believe in and/or do are not the same things, but they shouldn’t be mutually exclusive either.  Never forget that we are all sinners, and that all sin has the same end result—no matter how small or large you think they are.  So, don’t ever think yourself better than someone else based on the way you sin verses the way they do.