Talking to Papa

The girls love pretending to talk on the phone, and Noelle has now picked up that Riley regularly has chats with Papa, Mike's dad.  So, this morning, Noelle decided she wanted to be the one to begin the dialogue.  I could hardly stand how cute it was.  Plus, they took turns.  Double bonus!

More Crockpot Goodness

Okay, I'm clearly trying to plan dinner right now, and I would be negligent if I didn't mention one of the best sites out there for cooking moms: A Year of Slow Cooking.  As an added bonus for my family, she eats gluten-free, so I don't have to make any adjustments.  So here, for your viewing pleasure, are a few of my favorites of hers that we've tried in the Green household.  Oh, and the other thing that I really like about her site is that she gives a verdict for the recipes, so you can adjust accordingly.  And without further ado...

American Chop Suey  We did this a couple nights ago.  It was my second time making it, and it was YUMMY!  The girls liked it, too.  Always a bonus.  When I told Mike I was making American Chop Suey, he, naturally, expected Asian-inspired flavors.  Don't be deterred if you don't like to order out or Chinese-- it's highly American and highly delicious. :)  I really like the leftovers, too, even though the noodles do get pretty soft.  The flavor's still great.

Creamy Tacos  We haven't tried this yet, but it got rave reviews from my friend, Celeste.  Her 22-month-old also ate it.  Again, if the kids eat it, even better.  I'm going to try it soon.  If I had chicken on hand, I'd make it now.  Next week.

UPDATE: I made this tonight, and Mike declared that it was "one of the best meals he's had."  This seems a slight exaggeration, but I'll take it. :)  I really like that you can throw random things into the crockpot, depending on your preferences.  I tossed some black beans and frozen corn in.  Yummy!

Enchilada Casserole  I love her description of this.  And I'd agree with it.  It's super yummy, and we don't care how it looks!  And as long as I don't overdo the enchilada sauce, it's not too spicy for the girls.  We do like Mexican in our house, mostly because it's often naturally gluten-free.  This one's simple and a winner!

Playmates!

 Somehow, the stars aligned for us this morning, and we were able to get together with two of our favorite families: the Barnetts and the Livingstons!  We met up at Atten Park, and it went swimmingly.  I actually haven't ventured to a park for quite some time because it just is so much work!  Noelle is mobile but not walking, and Riley is pretty timid, so she likes my attention more than I can always give it.  But this morning was wonderful! Riley loved playing with Robbie, Ellie and Clayton, and Noelle either was content on her own or had me all to herself.  Not bad at all!

 Four playmates "on the train"

 Robbie and Riley in the "dining car"

 This is my favorite picture from the morning.  Noelle was quite enamored with Robbie and even wanted to chase him up the slide.

 Aubrey is such a champ, just chillin' in her stroller while the other kiddos run around.

 Speaking of running around, Robbie, Clayton and Ellie had a blast running through the grass.

 Meanwhile, Riley was trying to get her baby fill.

And soon, Noelle joined her.

 Celeste is probably the most fun mom in the world. :)

As we got near the end, my girls decided to take over Aubrey and Clayton's stroller.  We, apparently, need to work on stamina. :)

Patience

God is really working with me on patience, which-- really, truly-- I'm grateful for.  But it's rough going. 

I started praying for more patience last week, when my exhaustion hit its peak (I hope!), and the girls were starting to drive me nutso.  I found that I was (and still am) overly reactive to almost everything.  But the problem with praying for patience is that, I'm pretty sure, the way God grants it is through helping you to practice.  Therefore, my exhaustion is still here; I currently have about 60% of my vision, due to what may be an upcoming migraine; Noelle freaked out about her feeding schedule, when I wouldn't give her more milk; God, with his sense of humor, even allowed my computer to go wacky, so I had to restart it when all I wanted was to freaking blog about patience!!! ;)

Needless to say, I'm excited about developing patience, and I'm not naive enough to think that this is going to be a one-time fix that I'll never have to go through again, but-- oh boy-- I will be thrilled when things get a little less crazy.

But for now, I'm rejoicing in God's provision and grace, that He loves me in spite of myself.

Girls' (and Babies') Night

We had a roomie get-together yesterday, complete with babies.  When you mix good friends and five kiddos, craziness happens.  I wanted to get these pics up earlier today, for the sake of my ladies, so in the interest of time, comments are going to be kept to a minimum.

 Noelle tickles the ivories as guests arrive. 

 Baby Gilead, who is growing at a crazy rate, is just so stinkin' cute!!

 Noelle was clearly a fan.  I didn't get a picture, but Riley kept "petting" Lee's head and asking me to do the same.  I think she'll be pretty excited when Baby Brother comes home.

 Look at that amazing smile on Dylan.

 Good thing Gracie's a tough little lady.  She took the brunt of the force during pillow playtime.

This next series cracks me up.  I think it was Swank who looked at the first one and said, "Well, that one's not bad."  And that's what we were going for: not bad. :)

And the complete degeneration into hilarity.  

I love these girls and their kiddos.

Steve, Culinary Master

We went to a get-together with a bunch of awesome friends, and everyone brought sides while the hosts provided the meat.  My brother-in-law, Steve, let me tell ya, is a whiz in the kitchen.  I was going to embarrass him by talking about how he's single and a total catch (you know-- smart, funny, handsome, generous, kind, a FANTASTIC uncle, athletic, etc), but then I decided that he'd probably prefer that I didn't do that.  So I'll keep my comments to the side he brought: a fresh corn salad.  It's an Ina Garten recipe, and if you know Ina, you know that she always provides you with winners.  I'm making it tonight for a girls' night with the old roommates, and I thought it only appropriate to post it here.  So here you go!  It's super simple and amazingly delicious.

Ina's Fresh Corn Salad

And since we're doing recipes, here's something I made the other day which was a big ol' success and took me roughly 10 minutes, total!  I may be in love with my crockpot.

Shredded BBQ Chicken

6 frozen chicken breasts
12-oz bottle of barbecue sauce
1/2 cup Italian dressing
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar

Throw chicken in the crockpot.  Mix other ingredients and dump them over the chicken.  Cook on low 6-8 hours, low 3-4 hours.  When done cooking, shred chicken.  Serve on sandwiches or over rice.

I actually only had 3 chicken breasts, so I halved the sauce but still cooked it on low for a little over 6 hours, and it was still a success!  We had it as sandwiches with sweet potato fries.  Awesome.

Little Crack-Up

 Noelle is a little comedian.  She has the most adorable, square-shaped smile I have ever seen.  And the little gap between her two front teeth certainly doesn't hurt.  But it's not just her cuteness that brings a smile to my face.  She really is hilarious.  She loves playing peek-a-boo, standing on her helmeted head, flopping on the couch or Kona's bed and dancing.

Plus, she's become quite the chatterbox.  Her favorite words, right now, are the following:

Bird
Hiiiiiiii!
Bye
Baby
Thank you
Up
Milk
Puppy

She also does a lot of cute jabbering and tells lots of stories.  I'm loving how she loves "reading"-- sitting with a book in her lap and flipping through the pages.  She really likes I Am A Bunny (especially the bird page) and Leonardo, the Terrible Monster.

She's growing so much.  I love it.