Long Time, No Blog

It has been so long since I have been to my blog that I didn't even remember how to get here.  LAME!  I am going to try to be better, really I am.  We have had a lot happen in the last 2+ years since I last wrote so I'm going to try to catch you up the best I can.  And by 'you', I really don't know who I am talking about bc I'm pretty sure no one will read this.  But it's cool, it is good for me just to actually do this.  Not sure why, I'm just gonna go with it.

So we moved from WA, because Julie took a new position at USC, to a wonderful, picturesque little town called Park Ridge, right outside Chicago.  Maddox goes to preschool (and next year Kindergarten) and loves it.  We have made amazing friends here and we absolutely love it!

Our biggest news is that we are expecting a new baby...soon!  I am 35 weeks pregnant with a little girl.  Her name is Mallory and we are VERY excited to complete our family this January.  It was a long, emotional, and expensive road but it is almost time to welcome our sweet baby girl and it will all be worth it.

I have also recently discovered the healing powers of essential oils.  For anyone who knows me you know that I am always on the prowl for more natural and healthy ways to do pretty much everything. I was introduced to a company called doTERRA and essentail oils a few months ago.  I was looking for a natural remedy to help my ankle that I broke a few years ago that still gets sore.  I found that and then some!  A few days after I got my first order of oils I got a sinus infection.  A nasty one, it felt like my head was in a vise grip, but I started using the essential oils and literally the next day I felt 90% better.  In 2 more days I was totally fine.  WHOA!!!!  I used to get sinus infections and be miserable for weeks.  Now I feel a little snotty and I reach for my oils and BAM, feeling great again!  I love how empowered I feel and that I don't have to A. be miserable B. take medications that have side effects and may be dangerous for me and baby Mallory C. go to the Dr and fork over Julie's hard earned cash.
I have also quit taking my Clairitin for allergies and so has Maddox. We just do our preventative oil maintenance everyday. 
Over Thanksgiving we were around lots of sick people and we continued putting On Guard (great for keeping bacteria and viruses at bay) on our feet every day.  Did we get sick?  Heck no!  Did Julie get sick?  Yup.  Was she putting oils on her feet everyday?  Nope, she is the stubborn one.  She is coming around though.  She is starting to reach for my oil bag when she needs something.  Her favorite being peppermint which is great for tummy aches, cramps, headaches, and many other things.

So natural healing and doTERRA essentail oils have become my new passion and I am really enjoying sharing them with other people so they can be empowered to help themselves and their families.  I am going to commit to being more diligent about blogging so I can share my new found knowledge with people who are interested.  If you are interested then check me out, if not, then I will never know that you turned and ran, so see ya!  Oh, and I will also have lots of pics of my adorable kid(s) so stay tuned for that too!

Hummus

So I had a request from a friend to do some "non Maddox" posts.  This friend apparently thinks there is more to me than my mom-ness.  And in looking back a few years ago, I think there was.  I just need to find out what happened to her and let her sit in front of the computer more often.  So as I think of interesting things to write about I will hop to it.

But until then, you get a hummus recipe since I have had several requests for it. I don't know about you peeps out there in cyberland but I love me some hummus.  It is very easy to make and really cheap.  I can make a batch for less than $1 and I think it tastes better than the stuff you get at the store.  Not to mention it is better for you.  No preservatives and junk.

So here is what I do.

Grab a can of garbanzo beans (chick peas) and strain about 2/3 of the juice out. 
Pour the rest of the juice and beans into a food processor.
Add a few (or more) cloves of garlic, a tablespoon or two of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, and some salt and pepper.

Here is mine, pre-blended.

Oh, I almost forgot the most important part.  The tahini.  Tahini is what gives hummus its hummus-y taste.  I found it at Albertsons.  That is the only place I could find it, so you might have to do a little searching.

Here is what my tahini looks like.

It has the consistency of runny peanut butter.

So now that you know what it is put some in with the beans.  I usually use a regular teaspoon and do 2 pretty good size spoonfuls.

Ok, now you can blend.

Here is what it should look like.  If you want it runnier you can add some water and blend again.

Yeah, that's the stuff.  It is awesome! Also very hot, go easy.

Of course you can add stuff to it to make it fancier, or leave it as is.  I personally like to add some Sriracha.  It is that Asian chili sauce that has the rooster on the bottle.

What a yummy snack. And healthy to boot.

Here is the original recipe I used but I don't measure anything. I like to wing it. You know, live on the wild side.

1 can of chick peas drained but save the juice
2-3 cloves of garlic
juice of 1/2 -1 lemon
about 1-2 Tbs of tahini
salt and pepper
water

Enjoy

Camping

So today is camping day.  As I type we are driving up to Mt Rainier national Forest to do some old school camping.  Well, maybe just kinda old school.  There will no running water or the modern amenities of a KOA nearby.  We will be roughing it with our jugs of water and sticks for roasting food.  Oh and the 2 SUV's and 1 car packed to the brim of supplies.  Apparently 5 adults, 2 kids and 1 baby, and 2 dogs need A LOT of stuff to camp.  None the less the next 3 days promise to be adventurous and packed with fun.

This camping trip also promises to add back the few pounds I have lost over the last week and a half.  I was doing so well at working out. I was so disciplined.  grr.  Those damn smores...and chips... and beer...and hot dogs....and hamburgers.  Oh the carnage.  I did bring some veggies and hummus.  Can I live on that for 3 days and say no to the naughty stuff?  I will let you know on Sun night, but I suspect my answer will be no.

Hopefully I will have more pictures of this camping trip than the last one.  See you on Sunday!
J

P.S. I would like to thank U.S. Cellular for providing EVDO all the way up this lovely mountain. I love you USCC.

Maddox's New Hobby

Initial exploration

So over the last 6 months or so Maddox has been very interested in my cameras. Of course he is not allowed within 3 feet of my Rebel XTi but I do sometimes let him play with our little Elph.  It is small, durable, a few years old, and generally he is pretty careful with it.  He knows how to actually take pictures, although he composition is not so good.  Or really it is just bad, but he is only 2 so I cut him some slack there.  So I was on the hunt for a cheap camera for him to have all to himself.  I found him a little 2 MP camera on ebay for $10 (the perfect price) and he was not interested in it.  Apparently it did not do enough for him.  He needed zooming capabilities for all of his complex shots and more buttons for general clicking. So I asked Nana if she has an old one.  Bingo, she did.  So he finally got the package the other day and he was very excited to open the box.  He busted though the tape and stumbled upon and great little camera for him that has a flash, zoom and several other buttons. 

He decided he was going to shoot his Lighting McQueen car with his new camera

He shot in a few different places

He is making sure he likes what he got (even though it is a 35 mm camera and has no screen)

Maybe another angle???

Let's try a close up...

What a professional.

Must adjust for lighting...

All and all, he really likes his new camera.  He has been using it all over the house.  Thanks Nana.

Oh and he got a new hat too.  How cute is a little guy in a crooked cowboy hat, chaps and undies with cars on them???  I love that little guy.

Rough Weekend

So this weekend was a little rough for Mr. Maddox.  On Saturday he got his first sting.  I am almost positive it was a yellow jacket.  He was on the other side of the yard from me, standing in the garden, (like he should not have been) near where the yellow jackets like to play.  All of the sudden he screamed bloody murder (both the neighbors heard) and he was saying, "bee, bee".  Even though he think all bugs are bees, I think he was right about it this time.  We put baking soda paste on it and gave him some ibuprophen and Benadryl and the swelling went down but he cried and cried for about an hour.  A popsicle is what finally got him though the trauma.

Then the next day, after our weekly Mad Men watch party at the Triplett's house, Maddox was half asleep in his bed and he started screaming in pain.  I tried to comfort him and he just kept screaming and holding his leg.  We think he had his first charlie horse.  Poor guy, he cried and cried for a long time and I was nearly in tears with him because I didn't know what to do for him.  Finally the pain subsided and he went to sleep.  Since then things have been pretty uneventful - just the way we like them.



Here are a few shots of the last week or so.

He looks like he is ready for school but we were just going to the grocery store. (I am also aware that this will be us in a few years only he will be going to school.  The picture will not be as clear because I will be shaking from all the crying.)

That backpack is stuffed to the brim with Toy Story toys too.  He just can't leave home without them.

Picking apples at out local orchard.  He eats an apple almost every day now.

He was very proud of his harvest.

I made homemade pizza for lunch and Maddox and Wyatt were so hungry they watched until it was ready.

"Can we take it out mama? I'm starving."

Wyatt enjoying his pizza.

Maddox eating and wearing his.

I'm a Bad Blogger

Everyday I get on my fancy new computer and say, "I should update my blog".  Since it has been since the end of May since my last post, I have been feeling guilty every day when I turn the bad boy on.  Turns out I am running into the same problem with blogging that I did with writing in general when I was young, I can't get all the thoughts in my head into and understandable compilation so I don't write anything.  Really I need to suck it up and just do something.  If Pioneer Woman ( PW) can do it every single day with 4 kids then what the heck is my problem?  Well, I can't answer that.  Oh and if you don't know who Pioneer Woman is you should check out the aforementioned link. She is fantastic and has inspired me to be more creative in the kitchen and to do more with my camera.  I recently bought her cookbook and we are all benefiting from the deliciousness that pours from its pages.

So things that have been going on around the MusGus house as of late.
- Julie and I attend a weekly Mad Men watch party at the Triplett's house and we are totally sucked in - well I am anyway.
- Maddox is totally OBSESSED with Toy Story, he watches it daily and totes Woody everywhere.  We have to fight him to leave Woody so he can bathe and the first thing he says when he wakes up is "Woo-y".
- We went camping with the Gerkens and one of their friends a few weeks ago, it was awesome and we will do it again soon.
- We have been boating several times with the Gerkens and Julie wants a boat - BAD! ( And Maddox has very nice tan lines)
- Our garden looks like crap due to the weeds taking over.  I am blaming all of the travel we have done this summer.  I will stick to that story till I die.
- Maddox took swimming lessons and he thinks he can swim on his own now.  He is not afraid to jump in whenever, wherever and kick like crazy.  It is terrifying for me, but also adorable.
- We are very excited that we are about to have a new niece.  James and Elsa should be welcoming baby Esme any day now and we are VERY bummed about not being there for it.
- Oh and I am going to Vegas for the first time in Oct.  I am very excited but scared too bc we will be leaving Maddox for 3 days.  I know he will be fine but I'm just a mess without that little guy.

Here are a few pics of Maddox lately.

This is how I found them at nap time on Monday.

Maddox in time out.

This is what the mad face looks like.

Maddox hit Baxter with a baseball bat.I yelled at him to stop. He ran away to avoid time out and tripped on the corner trim and wounded his right toe.  The other band aid is there for symmetry.  Buzz on one toe, Woody on the other.

The banana from the banana fudge sundae.

Playing with...you guessed it - Buzz, with Woody in the background.

        For my 2 followers.....I will try to be a better blogger.  xoxo Jen

Memorial Day Activities

Maddox starts his morning with a caramel macchiato and some funnies.

                                                                                              Look what Garfield did, ha ha ha.

                                             Then Maddox had a nice long chat with Uncle Teo.  Actually Uncle Teo was on speaker phone and the moms had a nice ling chat.  But he laid on the bed the whole time with the phone to his ear and laughed and tried to contribute to the conversation.

Then we ran some errands around town and found a some great deals on plants at Lowe's for our front yard.  We have a a flower bed that is in front of the house that is full of bark but has no plants.  It used to have big pieces of driftwood or something.  What ever it was the people that lived here before like it I guess, but I hated it!  The front yard is already landscaped with rock so it needed something ALIVE, not more dead stuff.  So we found some cool shrubs that were a deal and could not pass them up.  Some are red with cute little flowers and some green ones with more cute little flowers.  And yesterday we put in some edging around our trees in the front and filled them in with the pile of bark chips that used to reside in our driveway.  I could not take that pile anymore.  Crazy that it sat in the driveway for 2 months and it took an hour to make the bed to put around the trees.  Another time that procrastination did not pay off. 

But I would like to thank Julie for putting in the shrubs.  Maddox and I took a nice long nap and I woke up to shrubs in the ground, a picked up house and dinner in progress.  She is so good to me!
Here is what we had for dinner. Pork chops on the grill seasoned with "mom's seasoning" (which is a special seasoning that Julie's mom makes that is freaking delicious on anything),  rice pilaf with mushrooms and strawberry salad.  It was very tasty!

                                                Very tasty chops.  On a side note, Baxter also thought they were delicious, or they at least they smelled delicious.  While I was in the living room and before the chops found a home in the fridge I heard the sound of Baxter's collar clinking in a curious way and a "plop" sound.  Yes, that naughty little pooch climbed on the table and grabbed a chop.  I yelled at her and she tried to escape what she thought was surly going to be a beating.  But alas, I don't beat my pets and so I merely yelled at here in the "mean voice" and threw her outside to think about what she had done.  I asked Julie what I should do with the chop.  Her answer, "give it to the dogs".  Um, no, I can't reward that kind of behavior.  So I put it in a baggie in the fridge - they can be rewarded tomorrow when Baxter forget how bad she was.  Poor Gucci, she had to suffer for Baxter's bad behavior.

Here is the salad.  It was fantastic!  Here is the recipe - we find most of our recipes online. Strawberry Salad .  We did some subbing due to lack of ingredients and of course my desire to not go to the store.  We were out of feta so we used mozzarella, we used pecans instead of almonds and I added a little red wine vinegar.  Oh and if you look really carefully you can see some lettuce from our garden.  There are a few spinach leaves from the garden too.  Oh wait lettuce looks like lettuce.  Trust me, some is from our garden.
If I have tome tomorrow I will put some pics of our outdoor handy work.
night