The Little Things

One of the main reasons I started blogging again was to remember all the little things that go on each day. Here are some:

On Tuesday evening, James and I were playing with his wooden alphabet blocks, building train tracks by lining the blocks up. We then took his wooden Thomas trains and let them travel on our tracks. They would fall off, though! (because what toddler can line up alphabet blocks in a straight line?) James took me by surprise when, once they fell off, he stopped, placed his finger on his cheek, and said, "Hmmm, let's think." He then tapped his finger to his cheek while he thought, then, once he had figured it out, he held his arm up and said, "I got idea!" I know this is something he picked up at daycare, and it is the coolest little thing.

My little problem solver at work! If you look carefully, you can see his tongue sticking out as he works. It's something both Chris and I do when we are concentrating, and it looks like James has picked it up as well!

Allen, recently, has begun to do something so precious whenever he drifts off to sleep. Chris and I will place a pacifier in his mouth, and Allen will reach up and grab our hands as we place the pacifier in his mouth. He will grip our hand or finger and pull it to him, holding it tightly and not letting go. It is so sweet and special, and Chris and I talked about it in the car today as a little thing that can so easily be forgotten. I want to make sure that doesn't happen! Even though I cannot convey the depth of emotions I feel when his little hand grabs and clings to mine, I can at least capture the special moment in a picture.

Our Family of FOUR!

On Saturday, we took our first family of four pictures. I wanted to share!

"I wowe you, mommy!"

James and I were sitting quietly at the table, munching on our typical, snacky, Sunday night dinner. He was playing with a cheerio, making it "run the bases" on his baseball placemat. I am sad to admit that I was wrapped up in a game of Words with Friends while munching on my cereal,but a simple phrase pulled me out of that game and left an imprint on my memory.

"I wowe you, mommy! I wowe you, mommy! I wowe you, mommy!"

To those of you who do not speak toddler, that is my sweet, sweet boy telling me he loves me. Unprompted. Out of the blue. Totally and completely precious.

I immediately looked up from my phone and looked right at his sweet face. "Oh, sweet boy, I love you, too!" I exclaimed back at him.

I constantly tell James that I love him, and sometimes he says it back. This is the very, very first time that he has randomly, out of the blue, said it to me without being prompted to say so. I can't wait to hear him say it again, or, as he would say, "aaaaahhgin!"

Brothers: My sweet boys!

Allen is stretched out on our living room rug, trying his hardest to turn himself over on his tummy, stretching his long body out. Chris is stretched out on the floor as well, and I scooted myself onto the floor to be a part of it all. James stood up, spying Allen's green blanket, and quickly exclaimed, "Allen blanket!"

James toddled over to grab the blanket draped on the arm of our sofa, and plopped it down on Allen. James then grabbed Allen's "pa pa" (pacifier), and he held it up, yelling, "I get it! Allen pa pa! Here go, Allen!" He then dropped the paci next to Allen.

I gathered James into a big hug and thanked him for being so sweet to his little brother. James looked at Allen and pointed and said, "Brother!"

I nodded, always excited that he makes that connection. James then pointed at himself and said possessively, "MY brother!" He quickly got down on his knees and proceeded to baby talk to Allen.

James loves his little brother, and I cherish every sweet moment James has with him.

A Pizza Worth Posting

I am blessed in many ways by my husband, and he demonstrated two of those tonight. First, he loves to cook... way more than me, so he is mostly in charge of our meals. 99% of the time I am incredibly thankful, and then there is the 1% where I feel a little shameful, like I am less of a wife for letting him prepare the meals... but that is always quickly forgotten as I devour his culinary creations. Another way he blesses me is by supporting me and encouraging me. I recently joined weight watchers in an effort to shed weight I have gained steadily since joining the real world back in 2007, and he is all about digging up recipes and meals that help me meet my points goal for the day. The one he made tonight is totally worth sharing.

I am a pizza addict. I eat it at least once a week. I blame a good portion of my weight gain on that fact. He made the most delicious home made pizza I have ever eaten, and I am bold enough to say that it gives Amici's a run for its money, but that is just my humble opinion. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Publix pre-made pizza dough from the refrigerated sections (though I am sure any dough would work!)

Publix pizza sauce (though I am sure, once again, that any reasonably healthy pizza sauce would suffice)

2 cups part skim shredded mozzarella cheese (an entire bag, pretty much)

Parmesan cheese

olive oil

garlic salt

Cornmeal

non stick cooking spray

Preparation:

*follow all directions on package for dough preparation*

preheat oven to 400 degrees

Once preheated, place cookie sheet in the oven for 5 minutes to warm it up

Pull cookie sheet back out

Spray sheet with nonstick cooking spray

Dust cornmeal on cookie sheet

Lay crust out on sheet

Glaze edges of crust with olive oil

Bake crust for about 3 minutes

Pull crust back out

Prepare your pizza with sauce and cheese (feel free to add any of your own ingredients here!)

Place back in oven for 5 more minutes

Pull back out; glaze crust with olive oil again and sprinkle garlic salt and Parmesan cheese around crust

Let pizza finish baking for 13-18 minutes (whatever the dough directions say!)

Eat and enjoy (we sure did!)

When I entered it on my weight watchers recipe builder, I could not believe my eyes! When split into 8 servings, each slice is 3 points each; 2 slices is 5 total points!

We were once regulars at Amici's... we might become strangers there now! Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we did!

A Christmas to Remember

Christmas of 2011 was one for the record books.

Our celebrations started with a trip to Lights of the South with Chris' family on Tuesday evening, December 22. James was in paradise-- "our trees", Santa, "pretty lights," and, of course, the entire Edwards crew that James rattled off on the trip down there. "Mommy! Laura! D! Mommy! Grace! Hannah! Mommy! Daniel! Ethan!" I need to record how he says their names because all too soon he will be pronouncing them correctly. He loves spending time with them, and as someone who grew up 500+ miles away from her family, I am thankful for, and cherish, the memories we make together.

On that note, Christmas continued the next day to what we are now referring to as "Christmas Camp." As a present to all their children, Chris' parents rented two cabins at Hard Labor Creek for the next two nights for us to have a little country Christmas. We had a blast hanging out, opening presents, making ornaments, decorating the tree (making the star for it, too!), decorating cookies, making s'mores in the fireplace (because it pretty much rained the entire time we were there!), singing Christmas carols, sitting on the back porch listening to the rain, resting and relaxing, drinking delicious french press coffee, eating a ton of delicious food (I seriously gained 5 pounds over those three days...), and celebrating a wonderful season together.

We parted ways on December 23, but Christmas was not over for us quite yet! On Christmas Eve, my mom came down in the morning so we could bake a birthday cake for Jesus. James helped us make the cake, finally getting to use a whisk for its actual purpose (no, they are not for slinging balls around the house...), and once it was done, he put on the topper (a little baby Jesus in the manger), sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and ate the cake. The topper has not been put away yet, and James will still grab it and show it to me and in his precious voice say, "Birthday! Jesus!" After the cake, we did the Throckmorton tradition of Honey Baked Turkey sandwiches for dinner before attending the Candlelight Service at Lifebridge. It was wonderful to see people I grew up with and getting to share this special part of Christmas with my boys. I plan to keep going back there as long as possible! When we returned home, James helped prepare chocolate chip cookies for Santa. We changed into our Christmas jammies, and we watched The Polar Express while the cookies baked. Chris had fun with James, running out to the front porch and pretending to be Santa, hollering, "Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!" James flipped out! He got all excited, exclaiming, "C'mon, Mommy! Santa!" as he pointed to the front porch. Once I knew Chris was off of it, I took James out and we looked out into the night. I continued egging him on, saying, "I see Santa heading towards Madison! He will be back with your presents when you go to sleep! How sweet of him to check in on you!" James kept pointing at the sky, saying, "Santa!" Once we went back inside, he proceeded to drag Chris and mom outside as well, equally enthused. Jenn and Daniel soon arrived and we opened our one present, continuing the Throckmorton tradition. We then all settled in for "our long winter's nap," reading "The Night Before Christmas" before tucking James in to his bed.

The one morning we actually wanted James to get up early, he slept in until around 7am. I had to go in there and wake him up, which didn't put him in the best mood until he realized Santa had come, and we could open presents. As we opened many magnificent and unexpected presents (including a fire pit for Chris and a Kuerig coffee maker for me!), a delicious breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls baked in the oven, a new tradition I would like to continue for next year! Church was a perfect way to celebrate Jesus, and we came home to baked potato soup and Honey Baked Turkey sandwiches. We all then parted ways, and we enjoyed another "winter's nap."

Jenn and Jackson then joined us on Monday, and James loved having his cousin around to play with. They were two peas in a pod, doing everything together. We even dropped them in the tub together, and I have never experienced a funner bath time. They splashed, squealed, giggled, and played together so sweetly. The second night, Jackson didn't even need a bath, but he wanted in the tub with James. When we came home on Wednesday and James woke up from his nap and realized Jenn and Jackson were gone, he was inconsolable. He cried for an hour. At bath time that night, he asked where Jackson was. He still asks for them!

This is definitely the best Christmas I have had since Daddy passed away. Now that the decorations are down and packed up and Christmas music put on pause until next year, holding on to these warm memories will help make the bleak and grey days of January and February a little bit brighter. :)

New Year, New Goals...

Okay. I have done this before. I think I do it every year. I always set goals at the beginning of a new year. Do I ever meet them? Not really. But that doesn't stop me from trying. So as 2011 winds down, I think of more goals to achieve and maybe, just maybe, I will actually accomplish them this year... or maybe remember what they are... (for the life of me, I cannot remember my goals I set for this year... some encouragement, eh?)

Well, one goal I know I have for the new year is to REMEMBER. I have two sweet, precious little boys that provide numerous memories on a daily basis that I do not want to forget. I also have a husband who is a magnificent father to these boys and who blows me away with how he takes care of them and me. I want this to be a place where I record my life with them as it happens.

And hopefully, this time next year, I will be able to scroll through the pages and remember all the precious memories of 2012.