Spinach?

We try to encourage the boys to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Fruits are never a problem... they LOVE fruit. Veggies are hit or miss. We do well with green beans, broccoli, salad, carrots, corn, peppers and a few others as well. They struggle with others such as edamame and spinach (I can't comment on how they do with peas. Peas are on my top 3 list of foods that make me gag, so I never feed the boys peas because that would mean I would have to eat them and I just can't do it. I have to swallow them like aspirin in order to get them down and the smell alone is enough to put me over the edge... but I digress). I have recently learned, however, that if you put fresh spinach into a smoothie, sure, it turns the smoothie a strange color, but the taste of spinach is almost undetectable. It's fantastic! We told the boys they had spinach in their smoothie, but they didn't believe us the first few times. Then, they saw us putting the spinach in and were shocked. So, here's the tip for he day... add fresh spinach to your smoothie and get an extra serving of vegetables.

Tonight's dinner? Blueberries and whole wheat, white cheddar macaroni.

Smoothie (consisting of chocolate soy milk, frozen blueberries, raspberries and black berries, 1 jar of homemade yogurt, and about 2-3 cups of spinach. Sure, sounds nasty, but don't knock it until you try it!).
And one boy with Bert like uni-brow and handlebar chocolate mustache.

Solomon's Latest Trick

Solomon has a new trick. All my kids have had stages where they too have learned this trick. Solomon seems to excel at this trick, however, in the most inconvenient places (mainly, in his car seat which has a non-removable cover and says, "spot clean only" on the side). For the third (yes third) time this week, Solomon has decided that the best time to create an explosion so huge (that nary a diaper, no matter the size nor absorbency, could contain the force behind it) is when he is in his car seat... in the middle of a rather busy situation... with no bathrooms or changing tables in sight... and at least one brother in the midst of melting down and needing special attention. Today, he chose to load his diaper, car seat and suit in the middle of the grocery store. He really is getting quite good at this trick. Below is the clothing-carnage post-diaper change.

Visitors

Our good friends, the Carrolls, from Minot came to see us a few weeks ago. Mandi is a great photographer, and took quite a few pictures of her kids with our kids when we were together, as well as some from last summer. Take a peek at their blog.

Cool Beans

We went to a local cafe and play house today called Cool Beans. It's a place for kids to have creative play, as well as a coffee shop. At first, the number of children there was a bit overwhelming... but once the boys saw all the fun that was to be had, they were in the mix. There were tubes that the boys could drop different toys through which would land in different buckets.

Little trikes to ride.
A foam pit, complete with Tarzan-type ropes for swinging.
A big, fast slide.
Cars galore.
The boys had a great time, and I enjoyed sitting in a nice leather chair, watching the boys run like mad, making a wreck, in a place that was not our own, nor did we have to clean it up. Nice.

Obed's New Hat

There are some movies from which the lines just become part of our everyday language. For instance, rarely is a bag of tortilla chips opened without Vince or I saying that these are indeed holy cheeps. Or if I might prepare an awesome dinner of pancakes or PB&J, Vince will call to the boys, “Tina, come get your ham.” (Of course, none of this makes any sense to you, nor is it funny at all, if you are not a fan of Nacho Libre or Napoleon Dynamite). Just tonight, Ezra had on his long underwear pajamas and I told him that when you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants… it’s for fun. After a rough day, Vince will often comfort me by telling me not be jealous that he was chatting online with babes all day, since we both know he’s training to be a cage fighter.

Today was a movie quote in real life as we were preparing to head out the door. Maybe his head was cold? Maybe he’s 2 and wants to be in control and this was a power struggle? Maybe he’s just Obed and he’s goofy and strange and all together fun? No matter what the reason, Obed insisted today that his undies were actually a hat and left the house, in order to run errands, with his new hat on his head. Maybe Obed has heard us quote Raising Arizona a few too many times? But today, we were able to truly say, “Son, you’ve got a pantie on your head” and mean it.

Baby Holder

Ezra's my baby-holder. He loves to hold Solomon, in spite of the fact that the wee one weighs over half of what Ezra weighs and probably crushes Ezra's bird legs just a little.

Four!

Asher turned 4 on Saturday. It was a great day of remembering God's grace in causing Asher's early arrival to protect both he and myself. It was a great day of spending time together as a family. And it was a great day of playing with new birthday toys.

Asher awoke to Ezra singing "Happy Birthday To You" at the top of his lungs. Birthdays are a full day celebration in the Black home. Asher got up and immediately opened his birthday presents (never mind the Christmas wrapping paper. Asher wanted the Snoopy paper, so he got it, in spite of the Christmas decor, which he didn't seem to notice).

He got a police dress up set from his Aunt Megan and family, and amazingly, the helmet fit his (rather large) noodle.
He wanted a chocolate cake with cherries inside and white frosting... so that's just what he got.
Our favorite gift for him was a bike tag along. Asher knows how to pedal, but he just doesn't have the stamina to ride very far on his tiny little bike with training wheels. We bought him a tag along which attaches to mine or Vince's bike. As soon as Solomon is able to sit up, he and Obed will be able to ride in the Burly, Ezra can ride on his own, and Asher can tag along behind a bike. Hello family bike ride (we're so excited!).
We gave Asher every option we could think of for his birthday... Dinner out at a restaurant, a visit to Chuck-E-Cheese, bowling, a movie in a theater. Asher didn't want any of those things. He wanted to do a family date night. I LOVE his choice! We watched Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, ate popcorn, crackers and cheese, apple slices and M&M's and the boys got "bubble juice" as a special treat. It was a great day. Happy Birthday Asher!

Mom of The Year

Well, my quest for "Mom of The Year" (imaginary as it may be) came to a screeching halt 2 weeks ago when, as any good mother would, I took Ezra to the dentist for his semi-annual cleaning.

The dentist came out after Ezra's examination and said that Ezra did not have one cavity (imaginary pat on my back). He did not have two cavities (self-high-five). He did not have three cavities (wait, this is sounding a little strange). He did not have four cavities (uh-oh). He did, however, have FIVE cavities... count them, one, two, three, four, five. And one of them was so large they could not put in a filling, but rather, they had to put some bling in his mouth and crown a baby tooth. What!?

How could this be? We brush twice a day with a soft bristled tooth brush. We even, on occasion, throw in an after-lunch brush just for good measure. He chews sugarless gum every day after his afternoon snack. He rarely drinks sweet beverages and drinks lots of water. He eats a healthy, balanced diet. Candy is a rarity. The one, apparently key (and so, so obvious) element I seemed to miss? Well, flossing, of course. Who knew you were supposed to floss your kid's teeth? I mean, it seems to obvious in hind sight... but I must say it never occurred to me to floss Ezra's teeth, and well, apparently he has very tight contacts (thus, 4 of the 5 cavities were between his teeth). I'm pretty sure he had food stuck between his teeth from the time he started on solids, 5 years ago.

Ezra was a crown-receiving-super-hero (after a bit of goofy gas made him nice and happy). All this to say, I'll have to pursue my imaginary Mom of The Year award next year, after the dental hygiene blight is cleared from my record.

5 Months

Today, Solomon is 5 months old. I know I say this often... but my, how time flies! Solomon is a pretty happy baby, offering lots of smiles for all his family, and often time strangers too. He was sleeping about 10 hours at night... ("was" is the operative word in that phrase since now he is going closer to 7-8 hours. I think he's a pretty typical baby in that you think you've got something figured out, and then he changes everything just to keep us on our toes!) His latest tricks include almost rolling over, exersaucing in his exersaucer, spitting and blowing a lot of raspberries, drooling a lot, turning his head when his name is called, and (my personal favorite) "singing" with me when I sing to him. When I sing, he will often start cooing and ooing with me as he just stares right into my eyes. Oh how I treasure these moments! What a joy Solomon Hosea is to us!

Don't Play With Your Food!

"Don't play with your food!" I'm quite certain every child, at some point during his or her formative years, hears this statement. I will argue right now, that although my children have heard this statement many times, they have a more challenging situation than most. You see, the children's father (who shall remain nameless for the purpose of anonymity) has a creative mind. Said father will often make mealtime creations from his food, thus, playing with said food. For instance, at breakfast, said father made this small banana monster from 1/3 of a banana, 2 Cheerios, 2 Kix, and one oat for the tongue. I guess my children will have to learn that if they want to be really, really creative, then playing with their food is totally acceptable.

10 Years

A decade ago today, Vince and I were married. He's the cheese to my macaroni... the crunch to my Cheeto... the chain to my bicycle... the butter to my bread... I could go on, but I suppose that would get annoying, eh? Either way, I'm thankful that God gave me such an amazing husband. And no, although the picture may seem to indicate otherwise, Vince's parents did not need to sign a consent form in order for us to be wed. He was older than 18 (although he looks about 14 in the photo). Happy Anniversary to us!

Catching Up

The new year is upon us and much has happened in the past couple weeks... my how time does fly! Although Christmas has passed, as has New Year's, I thought I'd do a quick blog on all the happenings of the last few weeks.

Each of the boys got to go Christmas shopping for their brothers. Ezra is getting so big and wanted to wrap the presents he got for Asher and Obed on his own.

We made our annual Christmas cookies as a family. We had a great, albeit, messy time.
Ezra liked to have a little cookie with his frosting.
Asher preferred to decorate each cookie with the utmost of care.
Since we were traveling for Christmas, we opened a few presents at home early, before we left. Each of the boys got a "food face" plate for Christmas. They enjoy decorating their plates with all different foods. It's a very fun and creative dinner way to do dinner (as you can see by the macaroni and cheese, cheerios and grapes for dinner).

When we were in St. Louis visiting family, we took the boys to Build-A-Bear. They had a great time. Asher picked out a frog, Ezra a bunny, and Obed a dog.

The boys and Papa.Christmas morning... Obed got the classic gift of underwear. Of course, when you're 2, underwear is a fantastic gift!
After we visited family in St. Louis, we headed down to Cape Girardeau to see Vince's family. Vince's grandma was able to meet Solomon, one of her great grandsons.
Grandpa took the boys on a ride on his tractor. Ezra enjoyed it. Asher, not so much.

Shortly after we got back from St. Louis, our friends, the Carrolls from Minot, came to visit us. Mandi is an amazingly talented photographer and sent this picture she took of Solomon when she was visiting.

We've had lots of fun and lots of adventures over the past few weeks. While it is always sad to see the holidays leave for another year, we're thankful for all the blessings of 2009 and look forward to experiencing more of God's grace in 2010.