Chow Mein Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb egg noodles (i used spaghetti)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 carrots, cut into thin slices (i used shredded)
1/4 lb white mushrooms cut into fourths
1 1/2 cups snow peas
1/2 cucumber, cut into small sticks/pieces
1/4 lb spinach, shredded
2 cups beansprouts (i didn't add these)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sherry (didn't use this)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil

1. Cook noodles according to packet instructions. Drain, rinse under cold water and set aside.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the veggie oil in a preheated wok or skillet. Add onion and carrots and stir-fry for 1 minute (or more), add mushrooms, snow peas, and cucumber, and stir fry an additional minute (or more)
3. Stir in remaining veggie oil and add the noodles, together with the spinach and beansprouts.
4. Blend together remaining ingredients and pour the mixture over noodles and veggies.
5. Stir-fry until noodle mixture is thoroughly heated through (I cooked it until everything was soft enough for Eli).

Here's Eli's sign that he colored for our door using markers. Brandon loved it, of course! I've never let him try markers, only crayons, but he did a great job! Here's a video of Eli doing his "ninja" sound. He also says it when he sees a guitar (we're not sure why). I've really been working on steps and stairs with Eli. Teaching him to go down backwards and to crawl up instead of just stepping up. Today when we went upstairs to play I made him go down the stairs on his own backwards helping him along. He's going to have to learn, since his future room is up there! I'm still debating on a color for his room upstairs. Blue is definitely his favorite color, so we'll probably go with blue or teal. I found a few colors that I really like; I just can't decide! I went and got our band's Wichita River Festival buttons today. We're playing there Sunday 6-8:45 p.m. I'm excited to get to take Eli to the kids area sometime next week. They have little rides, puppet shows, etc. It will be a fun outing for us all! The Chow Mein recipe I made last night was AWESOME! I'm going to post the recipe it was so good!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Brandon called me a little while ago to tell me that he passed his oral test! He said he was so glad to have studied so much because it was really hard, but he passed with flying colors! I am so proud of him! Eli and I are going to have to color a congratulations sign. Yesterday, we colored him a good luck sign...Brandon loved it! So, you'd think for Cinco de Mayo I would be making Mexican food. Nope. I wasn't thinking and just made Mexican food, plus when Brandon called he was eating Mexican for lunch to celebrate. Instead I made hummus and am going to broil ciabatta bread and am making chow mein. It's the strangest combination I do realize. I had some produce left over from making risotto the other night that I don't want to go to waste, so I broke out my vegetarian cookbook. I try to cook really healthy now because of Eli. No fried, desserts, and no unnatural sugar. Plus, we eat tons of fruit and veggies. The only bad thing about that is that I need to gain weight. Between nursing and chasing Eli I am 5-10 lbs underweight. Not exactly the problem I thought I would have after having a baby. I've been buying some fattening things on the side to eat for snacks to try and up my calories. I have Eli down to nursing 2 times a day. Today was the first day I am really uncomfortable. Hopefully when I am done completely I will gain some weight back! Yesterday, I took Eli on a really long walk to enjoy the beautiful weather. I got all the way home before I realized he had kicked one of his shoes off. I was too tired to go looking for it until later in the afternoon. I considered back tracking, but decided to just re-walk it so I would remember exactly which streets I had taken. I was laughing so hard after walking for a half an hour and finding the shoe at the end of our block. I would have found it in a minute if I would have just gone backwards! Eli saw it too and started pointing at it before we got to it! He ALWAYS kicks one shoe off when he's in the high chair and when we go to the grocery store. Lately I've been noticing that he wants to hold his fork/spoon with his left hand. We were positive he was right handed, but now I'm wondering if he's going to be able to use both like Brandon can. We'll see! He's doing great with a fork/spoon. Usually I have to hep him scoop or stab the food, but he can feed himself otherwise (of course he'd rather use his hands anyway). Yay for independence! We've been working on manners. His version of "please" just kills me. He will use it, but I usually have to remind him. Eli is really sweet and affectionate. It seems like he's gotten even more affectionate lately. I hope it lasts! He's constantly running to me for hugs or snuggles, and he always is trying to kiss/hug Rica (yeah I know). They are definitely buds. Eli's really sweet/affectionate towards his doggy and other stuffed animals too. He'll give them hugs/kisses constantly. I taught him how to feed his doggy a bottle and burp him. So cute!

WORDS

This morning I started taking an inventory of all the words that Eli uses consistently. I was amazed as I kept writing and writing. Of course a lot of the words are hard to understand...but he continues to use them! Here is the list:

Boy
Purple (puh puh)
Please (eese)
Broom (boom)
Bye Bye
All Done
Donna
Obama (bama)
Mama
Dada
Mail (meh)
More (mmah)
Ball (ba)
Blue (boo)
Baby
Poop
Burp
Spoon (poon)
Pen

Going Green is not a FAD!

It really blows my mind that people get so upset fighting about global warming and whether it's really happening or blah blah blah. The fact of the matter is, we should be taking care of the earth regardless of what you think. There are a lot of verses in the bible about taking care of the environment. It's nothing new! We've been commanded to take care of God's creation. It has really been weighing on me these past few years especially, when I start thinking about my children's future. I remember when I was in Germany and was amazed at how much they recycled...it wasn't an option...why are we so behind? Here are some things that we've been doing to try and do our part...of course there are SO many other things we could be doing, but at least we're trying. I love the Seventh Generation cleaning supplies motto by the Iroquois, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

-2x concentrated laundry detergent
-All cleaning supplies/detergents/dish soap etc. are Seventh Generation (organic all natural etc) or Babyganics (They do just as good a job and smell better than all other cleaners I've used)
-Try to eat organic fruits and veggies (especially for Eli)
-Made my own babyfood
-Breastfeeding
-Only organic products for Eli (soap, shampoo, lotion, etc)
-Growing organic vegetable garden
-Don't use any pesticides in any of our gardening
-Feed and water birds
-Try to plant butterfly and bee attracting plants
-Eco friendly light bulbs
-Only run full loads of laundry and dishes
-Recycle everything but glass (this only costs us like $24 a YEAR for our trash service to take all recycling twice a month)
-Try to cook homemade meals with fresh ingredients and not use prepackaged/premade

Hopes for the future:
1. Hybrid car (please stop making them look like eggs...then I could convince my husband...thank you)

Joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart! Where?

I've got a lot of joy today. Why? Well it's simple. Eli stayed in the toddler nursery at church today with just a tiny bit of whining. Brandon and I had both agreed that we just needed to tough it out and make him stay in there even if it took a few weeks of crying etc. The head of the children's ministry assured me that it wouldn't take long for him to adjust. They were right. One of the leaders slipped in during worship to tell me that Eli was having a blast and not to worry! Yeah! Praise God! I actually got to enjoy Brandon leading worship and a great sermon on worry and how it hinders our faith (I think I was meant to be in there for once)! Eli has moved up to the toddler nursery where they actually do a lesson and a craft. You and I both know there's no way that he's actually doing the craft, but at least he gets a lesson! Today it was on Elijah and how God provided food for him by sending it through the birds. Eli liked to kiss his bird. We helped our bass player and friend David Racchini move into his new apartment last night. It was fun fellowshipping with our friends. Today, I am marinating cucumbers to take to the engagement party tonight. I know it's summer when I can break out my favorite cucumber recipe. Man, I am craving it!

Some cheese with that WHINE!

So, yesterday was HORRIBLE! I had an amazing day Thursday. Eli actually took a 2 hour nap right at noon (which is my dream for him ;-)). That night my brother came for dinner, and we all enjoyed seeing him. He played basketball with Eli, and we took a little walk. Elijah was in such a good mood Thursday that I was practically jumping for joy that his teething discomfort was over. Not so fast! He was up from 11:30-1:30 a.m. that night. I definitely was cussing like a sailor and I may have pounded the bed with my fist a few times. Needless to say, he was tired and cranky all day Friday...and so was I! Brandon came home from work looking like a zombie from being up. Ah, the joys of parenthood! We went to bed early last night, and luckily we all slept good and Eli is back to his normal self today. I've been trying to do little things to celebrate Brandon finishing his "green belt" project at work. It's too hard to explain, but he just has to take a test this week and he's completely done. He's been going in to work early this past week to work on it, so it was a relief to finish. Eli and I got him a Cinco de Mayo balloon, Izzy drinks, and have been cooking special things he loves. This morning I made him Dutch Babies. I am proud to have survived the week and enjoying the weekend! We have a joint engagement party to go to tomorrow for our friends in our band. It's at the park, so Eli should have fun!