Where Do Easter Eggs Come From?

So my brother calls me on his way to taking Stella Blu to get her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. He asks, "Do Bunnies lay eggs?" My response..."Uh...Only Easter Bunnies." Apparently he and Rhonda had quite the discussion over this today. Chris concluded that since mammals don't lay eggs...and rabbits are mammals...and bunnies are rabbits...then bunnies mustn't lay eggs. Nice logic, Chris!!!!

Anyway, the discussion went from there to "Thank you Easter Bunny, Bawk Bawk!" We both remember the commercial...but I thought it was foir Cadbury Eggs. Nope....That one went like this!



Hmmm....Maybe this is why Chris got confused...The "Thank you Easter Bunny" Commercial was for another product...It's funny that we remember the tagline but not the product....Do you remember the commercial? The product? Here it is. Fitting that it's one of Jecilyn's favorites!!!



As you can see from the photo at the start of the post, Stella's first encounter with the Easter Bunny did not seem to thrill her. Hey, at least she wasn't crying! But, here's a much better picture...where she's happy! Ain't she sweet!?!?!

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Better late than never!!!! Here are some photos from Jecilyn's Birthday Party which was held at Gold Medal Gymnastics in Smyrna. The girls had a great time. Jecilyn didn't want any boys at her party--she was adamant about that one...Which was tough for me since she has had some "boyfriends" since she was little. So, we just invited the little girls from her class. It was a small party. And, it was last minute. She really wanted to have a Princess Tea at home...but since Daddy wasn't home and the remodel wasn't complete, we couldn't do that. I told her we'd do that later, and she seemed to be OK with that. And, then a week before her birthday she freaked....WHERE ARE WE GOING TO HAVE MY BIRTHDAY!?!?! It was as if she wouldn't ACTUALLY be FOUR until she had a party. (Wow, I wish that worked for me!) Thankfully, Brenda at old Medal was able to work us in! And, of course, the day before her party, she decided that she wanted the boys to come too. Oh well...Too late.

Here's the pictures. Thanks to Hannah's mom for taking them!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Fairy and The Easter Bunny

Ok, yeah, I suck. It's been way way too long. It's been a crazy month. I started the major remodel of my "Game Room" and two days in, Jeff got deployed. Fun stuff. Gone, for 45 days. And, since the carpet was already set for installation, I couldn't push it back. Plus, I'd already torn apart the room...so, I was stuck. Thankfully, I got by with a little (A LOT) help from my friends! Liam, Scott, Rob, Nett, Hank and Derek really came through! (And Steph and Mom Mom and Pop Pop to with their help with the kids.). Pictures will be posted as soon as I remember where the damn battery is to my camera.

I missed Jecilyn's birthday. She turned 4 on March 9th. We had a gymnastics birthday party. I'll try to post pictures from that tomorrow. Her friend Hannah's mom took them...cuz I couldn't find the damn charger for the camera.

So, anyway, here's a cute story from my four year old. It's been a struggle to get her to sleep in her bed all night. So, I've been bribing her with m&m's. A few times, I've snuck into her room and put them in her hands ('cause, you know, they melt in your mouth, not in your hands!). One morning, we had the following discussion:

Me: Was there anything in your bed when you woke up?

Her: Yes. There were m&m's. You put them there.

Me: No. I didn't it wasn't me. It must have been the "Bed Fairy."

Her: No. It was you mommy, I heard your steps.

Me: What? How do you know that it was my steps? Maybe it was the Bed Fairy's steps.

Her: (Rolling her eyes and looking at me as if I am clearly the dumbest fool on the planet) Uh, mommy, Bed Fairies don't step. They fly. Duh.....

Oh, of course, what was I thinking. Silly mommy....

So, then, last week, I took her to an Easter Party. When the Easter Bunny (who's body and head had been riding around in my van unnoticed all day) made his appearance, most of the children were delighted. Some, were scared. My daughter takes one look at him and announces, "That's not the real Easter Bunny. I see socks."

UGH!!!!!

Oh Big Airplane!

I was leaving work the other day and I heard this song on the radio. I was sure I that I was out of my mind...and that I couldn't possibly be hearing it correctly--someone was actually singing about Delaware and Dover and C-5s on the radio?!?! Well, I am out of my mind...but someone WAS singing about Delaware and Dover and C-5s. The artist's name is John Flynn. He apparently wrote this song in response to the US policy of not letting the caskets of fallen American soldiers be photographed as they returned home. That policy has been changed. And, I'm not sure whether or not I agree with it...I think that should be up to the families of the individual fallen sodiers to to decide. I don't want to go into politics or opinions about the war. I just wanted to share a great song. Hope you enjoy!



For more information on the Big Airplane C-5, click here

Wheat Free Wednesday

Wow...It's been forever....So much for my New Year's Resolution to do a better job of blogging....But, hey...no where to go but up from this point.

I made this YUMMY dinner a few months back...but I didn't write down the recipe...BUMMER! I tried to replicate it--and this time...I wrote it down...mostly. I'm sure that REAL CHEFs don't scribble with chalk on chalkboards (because that's all they can find to write on in the midst of their creative burst!, but--whatever works.

I took Treavor to his allergist a few weeks ago...and the consensus...He's fat. Woo Hoo! I'm so very proud of myself! The doctor was impressed! He told me I'm a great mom....and that he'd like to send all the other parents to me. I'm not quite sure how I mananaged to get out the door that day...You know, with my head being swelled up and all. I imagine a looked a little like Stewie from The Family Guy.

It was great...but I did not take all of the credit....I did own up to the fact that I had help from my amazing cookbook Sophie Safe Cooking by Emily Hendrix (To see the website, click here. The doctor asked me to take a picture of Treavor and hang it in his office with the front cover of the book. I did better than that...I contacted the author and she sent me some brochures....So cool!

Anyway....I'm no Emily Hendrix...but here's my attempt at a recipe. I had Aunt Net and Uncle Bobby over for dinner...and Uncle Bobby--a very tough critic--said it was good!!!!! If you try it, let me know!!! And, if you make it better (Emily!), please let me know!!!

Coconut Chicken:

6 Boneless Skinless Breasts (Pounded w/ Meat Tenderizer)

About: 3 T flour (I used the gluten free all purpose mix from Whole Foods), 1 c sweetened coconut flakes, 2 c crushed corn flakes, and a few shakes of chili powder mixed together in a ziploc bag

One can of coconut milk

Dip chicken in coconut milk (may need to heat milk first if it is solid!)
Place in bag and shake
Put on cookie sheet
Drizzle with coconut milk, oil or butter
bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Glaze for chicken:

2 red bell peppeers (finely chopped--I used food processor!)
3/4 t crushed red peppers
3/4 t chili powder
1 clove garlic (minced--or chopped w/ pepper!)
2T sugar
3/4 t fresh ginger
"Shake" cumin

Mix all together and heat. Serve over rice!

The sauce may be a little spicy--but Jeff liked it that way. I think it had a bit too much ginger....so you might want to adjust that a bit.....But it was good this way!

A Princess and a Virgin

As I've mentioned previously, Jecilyn loves all things princess--especially Cinderella. She is a little chatter box in the car. The other day, she told me that Cinderella HAD TO marry the Prince because she was going to have a baby.

"OH! NO! NO! NO!" I told her! "That is NOT how it works. Cinderella married the Prince because she loved him and her lived her." I went on to explain that FIRST you get married....and THEN you can have a baby. I told her that that's just the way it is. You have to be married first...

My darling little daughter thought that one over for a moment or two...and then she said,

But Mommy, Mary wasn't married when she had baby Jesus

...Now, what, exactly, was I supposed to say to that? It took me so off guard that I couldn't come up with a better response than

...Hmmm....Well, uh...maybe you need to ask Ms. Mary (her teacher), Ms. Dottie (the director of her preschool and the pastor's wife), or Ms. Ruth (her former teacher and current Sunday School teacher).

She seemed to be okay with that answer. Whew! Another parenting emergency diverted! I'm SO dreading the "Where Do Babies Come From?"Speech. And, at the rate she's going, that's likely to be before Kindergarten. I do ask her every once in a while how babies get in their mommy's bellies. She tells me that God puts them there. That's a good answer. And, she tells me that the way they get out of their mommy's bellies is....

The mommy goes to the doctor. And the lullaby comes on. And, then the baby comes out

.

Now, that would be PERFECT! Would it not?!?! She got that idea from being in our hospital. They play Brahm's Lullaby whenever a baby is born.

Happy New Year!

We set off to First Night Dover to ring in 2008...but we didn't quite make it. The kids tuckered out at about 10:30. But, it was still lots of fun! First Night Dover is an alcohol free celebration. Many downtown businesses and churches open their doors to host various entertainers. It's a great time...and the entertainment is always top notch. I always find it particularly amusing that several banks are used as venues. It just seems strange to me to have a bunch of people packed into a bank listening to a band!

This was our first First Night since we've had children. Jeff and I had gone a few times over the years pre-kids, but it's been a long time for us. We were both amazed and how much it seems to have grown since we've been to one. Although we didn't see a lot of the entertainment, we were very impressed with what we did see. Most notably was a guy names Dan Dunn who did a show called Paint Jam. It sounded pretty silly to me, but word on the street was that it was amazing. So, after watching Jessie & James' Nuts over Mutts, we stuck around for the "Paint Guy." This was mostly because it was warm and did not require walking.

Immediately upon taking the stage, this guy was entertaining. He was dressed all in black--and covered in paint sploshes. The lights lowered....and the music "jammed" He grabbed a few paint brushes and kinda just started throwing paint around in what appeared to be total randomness and chaos. We sat there just watching. Jeff leaned over at one point and asked, "What is it?" I shrugged my shoulders and said, "...I don't know...uh...a fish? A plane." Within maybe ten seconds of that exchange, the guy spun the canvas around. And there we were....Face to face with The King. Amazing...We were "All Shook Up." It was AMAZING!

So, here is a video of another painting this guy did. Be sure to watch the WHOLE thing...You can check out his website by clicking here Happy New Year!