Luke Theodore, 1 month

My little Luke turned one month old yesterday.  Aunt Alice took some pics of him.  He wasn't too cooperative, but still cute.  :-)

Some say this pic makes him look like Daddy.  :-)

Thanks again, Auntie Alice!

My little monkey

Luke, 4 weeks old

Pic by Auntie Alice

What's Cookin'

Back at it.  :-)

Mon~Pork and gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans with company
Tues~Lasagne, bread
Wed~A friend is bringing a meal.
Thurs~Chicken chili (F), corn bread
Fri~Pork tinga enchiladas (F), chips and salsa
Sat~Pizza, cold veggies
Sun~Beef veggie soup,bread

*F is for Freezer meal!

Miracle Stain Remover

I recently discovered this recipe for stain remover and gave it a try today.
(And I just now reread the recipe and realized that I made a 1:1 ration, not 1:2.  Oops.)

Noah had a bloody nose a couple of weeks ago and I finally got around to cleaning his mattress pad.  I sprayed some of this stuff on, let it sit for 2 hrs and then washed it.  And there was no trace of stain when I pulled it out of the dryer!



Someone (who shall remain nameless since I don't want to embarrass him) has been frequently missing his diaper when he has a dirty pants, so I'm keeping a hefty supply of this stuff available!

A time to be born and a time to die

From my cousin Aaron's facebook page:

"It was one year ago that Grandpa Roffel passed away, followed 10 days later by Grandma. Here they are with their only great-granddaughter. Hard to believe a year later we'd be without all three of them. Our loss is heaven's gain."

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16:9-11

This Week in Pics

I told Noah not to smile.  This is what I got.


Wide eyed!





School time.


15 days old.


Ended up eating dinner with Uncle Don at McDonald's.


Cookie smile.



He slept through our whole trip to the museum.


Luke likes tummy time in the evenings.


Andrew and Noah's derby cars.


BIG yawn!

Meeting Great-Grandpa and Grandma

We took Luke to meet Great-Grandpa and Grandma VanDen Toorn last night.


Grandpa even got out of his chair to see his new great-grandson!  They were pretty tickled.


Grandma held him most of the evening and didn't even mind his fussing.


Grandpa got some snuggles too.

Joe Frog

Taken by Auntie Alice.  Joel stayed with her all week and learned how to put his clothes on by himself, practiced writing his name, and played with "gack."  He had a great time!

5 boys!

After much anticipation, Luke Theodore arrived on his due date, February 25, 2013 at 6:37 AM.  He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 in long.

I started having contractions at about 2:30 AM.  Since Joel was born after about 2 hours of labor, I didn't want to wait around too long to go to the hospital so we went in at around 3:30.  However, I wasn't dilated much farther than I had been at my doctor appointment earlier in the week, so the nurse sent us to walk for an hour.  We checked out the baby nurseries on a couple floors and then walked the entrance lobbies of the main hospital and the heart center, encountered a friendly old janitor numerous times who offered to let me mop the floor.  :-)  The nurse checked me again and since I had progressed a bit farther, they decided to keep me and said they would send me up to labor and delivery when they had a room available (It was a full moon and I guess it was crazy busy.).  About 10 min later a nurse came to walk me upstairs.  My contractions were coming a bit quicker now and the triage nurse noted that I had a different face than before.  By the time we got to the labor and delivery room, I decided I was ready for an epidural.  Or not.  Luke was ready to be born!  The doctor had to run back and forth from my room to the room next door, delivering babies.  Chris was quite surprised to have another boy!

So happy with my new boy!

Blue Grandma and Grandpa

Adrienne meeting her newest cousin.

Aunt Cindy, Bereket, and Tiz

Aunt Aimee, Cady, and Connie

White Grandma

Aaron meets his new baby brother.

White Grandpa

Aunt Angie

We had a huge room which is a good thing, because Luke had lots of visitors!

We are so thankful to have another healthy son.  Surely the Lord has been good to us.  Please pray that He will give us the strength and courage to raise these boys to serve and love Him, and that they would all come to know the peace that passes understanding.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

What's Cookin'

Maybe I won't need this week's plans, but better make them just in case.  :-)

Mon~Chix broc rice (freezer), rolls, spinach

Tues~Lasagne, carrots, garlic bread

Wed~Chicken and dumplings in the crockpot, applesauce

Thurs~Mexican chicken in crockpot, brown rice, corn

Source: chefmommy-brandao.blogspot.com via Heather on Pinterest

Fri~Pancakes or eggs

Sat~Pizza

Sun~Chix noodle soup, bread

Our Valentine's tradition

Neither Chris or I are big on celebrating Valentine's day in the traditional buying gifts/cards and going out for dinner without the kids, so we started a tradition a couple years back of putting the kids to bed and then sitting down just the two of us for a nice dinner.  Didn't quite work out that way this year, but we still shooed them downstairs for 15 min. while we ate dinner.

The boys enjoyed pizza lunchables (less than a dollar at Meijer last week):







Our menu (a little simpler this year due to my, ahem, condition):
Pork chops
Orzo with spinach
salad
bread
ice cream




Woohoo!  Good dishes!  :-)

Aaronism

The side roads around here have been pretty rough with frozen snow lately.  Chris likes to drive fast over the bumps while I complain he's hurting my belly.  So on the way home tonight, Aaron says, "Stop, Dad!  You're hurtin' my bewwy!"

What's Cookin'

Mon~Cheesy Ham Tortellini, roasted cauliflower, applesauce

Source: tasteofhome.com via Heather on Pinterest

Tues~Pork roast, mashed taters, green beans
Wed~Church dinner
Thurs~Valentine's dinner.  Will involve pork chops, not sure what else.
Fri~Chix broccoli rice (freezer), corn
Sat~Pizza, cold veggies
Sun~Veggie beef soup, bread

Considering upcoming childbirth

From 52home

Freezer cooking~Getting ready for baby

For the past 3 weeks or so I've been stocking our freezer with meals for before and after baby.  I don't have the energy for a monster all day session so I've done smaller chunks once or twice a week and that's been a great way to fill my freezer.  I've found in the past that we don't like casseroles too much and tortillas don't freeze the best, so I tried make things I knew we would enjoy eating.  Here's a few pics:

               
Chix broc rice, Chix spaghetti, Chix ench lasagna                    

 
 San Francisco pork chops

   
Pork enchilada filling                                                


Chocolate cake
 (a necessity!)

 
Mountain meaballs, brown rice


Baked Chix Penne, Sloppy Joes, Taco Meat
           
             
Spaghetti sauce and meatballs

  
 Farmer's Casserole

 
Beef Goulash, Beef and mushrooms (both crockpot meals)

I definitely prefer this way of freezer cooking.  No monster clean up and most of the time, I just doubled whatever we were having for dinner and put the extra in the freezer.  And I made my crockpot work for me A LOT!  Spaghetti sauce, chili, sloppy joes, taco meat, and pork filling were all made in the crockpot (plus I browned all the ground beef in it).  I have about 30 meals in my freezer now.  Yay!

Around here

Yesterday we drove past Panera and Andrew commented that we hadn't been there in a long time.  He loves their cinnamon crunch bagels (Don't we all?).  I said, "Maybe we can go sometime next week and do our Bible story and reading there while we have bagels."  Andrew wasn't too sure about this.  He didn't think it was ok to talk about the Bible or to pray in public.  I assured him that it was right and good to talk about God and to pray in public, and he said, "But Mom, the Bible says we are supposed to go into our closet and pray in secret!"

He wanted to have his cousin, Adrienne, over on Saturday so he wrote her a note.  He even wrote some instructions for the mailman:



He also had a thank-you note from his birthday to give to her.  After she read it, she said, "You forgot a lot of punctuation!"




We've had a very large box that the boys have been playing with for the last few weeks.  Aaron asked me to help him climb in this morning.  I gave him some books and he was happy for quite a while.



Just up from his nap.

What's Cookin'

Mon~Chicken Chili, bread

Source: food.com via Heather on Pinterest

Tues~Out

Wed~Firehouse Chicken Cordon Bleu, green beans

Source: amysnewkitchen.blogspot.com via Heather on Pinterest

Thurs~Chipotle Beef Taquitos, Cilantro Lime brown rice, black beans

Fri~Pizza, cold veggies

Sat~Breakfast for dinner

Sun~Beef veggie soup, bread