Home Spa

Oh, how I love my home spa! After hours of weeding in the garden, or hours of working in the kitchen, my psoriasis-plagued hands always need some therapy. This has proven to be a magical combination for them.

As you can see, I'm not one to spend time decorating stuff like this. I mean, I didn't even bother to take the beef broth label off. But those jars work great!

The jar on the left is a coconut oil blend for moisturizing your skin; the jar in the middle is an exfoliating sugar scrub; the jar on the right is a store bought "heel of approval" from Bath and Body Works.

For my hands, I use the sugar scrub, followed by the moisturizing "cream." It's not so creamy in the summer when the heat returns it to liquid form, but it still works just the same.

For my feet, I soak in a warm, soapy sink of water, then apply the Heel of Approval. It's a bit on the greasy side, so just beware if you're stepping down onto a linoleum floor:)

Recipes:

HOMEMADE ECZEMA CREAM/SKIN MOISTURIZER (adapted from diyconfessions.com)
Items needed:

• 1/4 cup of oats
• 3/4 cup of coconut oil
• Few drops of rosemary oil {optional}
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 10-20 drops lemon essential oil (optional, but it's really good for healing skin!)

Recipe:

1. Finely grind the oats to a powder/flour consistency and set aside. {You can use a blender, food processor or a Magic Bullet type of appliance.}
2. Over a low heat, melt the coconut oil in a pan until it has a liquid consistency.
3. Add in a few drops of Rosemary Oil. {If you are adding it.}
4. Add ground oats in the pan and mix until well blended.
5. Now, pour the olive oil into the mixture until blended.
6. Once all ingredients are mixed, remove from heat and pour in to a small storage container. {It filled up 1 1/2 baby food jars.} Let it harden for several hours.
   Now that your recipe is complete… Apply to hands and skin as needed and feel the magic at work! This recipe lasts for a long period of time so enjoy!

Sugar Scrub (adapted from isavea2z.com)

Items Needed:

1. Dawn Ultra Hand Renewal with Olay Beauty Scent Dishwashing liquid
2. One container
3. Sugar
4. 10-20 drops lemon essential oil (optional, but again it's great for dry skin)

Pro TIP:   If you have extra dry hands or just like super soft hands then you have got to add 1 tablespoon of Vegetable Glycerin to this recipe!  It will stop the sugars from hardening and it traps moisture in your hands! 
 Directions:
First, add sugar to your container, leaving some room at the top so you can stir it. Next, slowly add Dawn Ultra Hand renewal and stir.  Be careful not to add to much at a time.  You want the consistency to be just like paste or peanut butter.

Freezer Meals, Take 2

I am FINALLY finished with my mega batch of freezer meals, and it *only* took me a week and a half to do it! (Note the sarcasm) It helps if you don't break a toe in the middle of a project such as this. This is my second time to do a hug batch, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. The last time was when I was pregnant with Dancy and wanted good meals stashed away to help me after she was born. It was fantastic to have them, and I knew I wanted to do it again for this pregnancy. Anyhow, here's a rundown of what we've got in the freezer to eat when Thora comes:

For the crockpot:
2 Creamy Chicken and Broccoli
2 Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
2 Sweet and Sour Chicken
2 Black Bean and Taco Soup
2 Beef and Barley Soup
2 Minestrone Soup
2 Pepper Steak
1 Salsa Verde Pork (for burritos)
1 Enchilada Beef (for Colorado Beef Burritos)

For the oven:
4 Chicken Pot Pies
2 Enchiladas
1 Lasagna

I still need to make another batch of Breakfast Burritos, but I don't have room in my freezers yet!

 

That's just one of my freezers. We've been eating out of the freezer and not grocery shopping for about 2 weeks to make space!

 

 

General tips for making a load like this: 1. Start with your bag meals. Get all your gallon freezer bags out and label them with a Sharpie. It's really best if you do all your writing before you fill the bag, otherwise the Sharpie doesn't work very well. Label WHAT the meal is, and write cooking instructions, as well as anything that may need to be added on cooking day, or suggestions of what to serve with it. Whatever makes your life easy. 2. Cook your meats. Anything that needs to be cooked like ground beef or chicken, start it on the stove so it can cool for dicing or whatever. It's also really convenient to boil chicken if you need chicken broth for a recipe. 3. Cook your grains. I needed cooked lasagna noodles and rice for these recipes. 4. Chop all veggies. While your meats and grains are going on the stove, chop the veggies. I chop all the peppers, onions, etc. I need and then fill them into their bags, and I'm done with that veggie. For washing this much produce, I fill one side of my sink with cold water and pour in 1-2 cups white vinegar and let the veggies soak for 5 minutes, or until I'm ready to grab them. 5. Assemble the pan meals in disposable foil pans, cover with foil. I double foil mine. Again, best to write on the foil before putting it in contact with the food, as the marker will work better.

 

Here's the recipes:

 

 

Colorado Beef Burritos

Ingredients:

2 lb. stew beef

2 12 oz. cans enchilada sauce

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup beef stock

6 flour tortillas

2 cups shredded cheese

Directions:  Label bag and add the stew beef, 1 can enchilada sauce, onions and beef stock.  Freeze until ready to cook.  Thaw slightly and place in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours until beef is tender.  Remove beef and shred.  Divide beef between the flour tortillas, place in greased baking dish, top with other can of enchilada sauce and cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Serve with salsa, guacamole, shredded lettuce and tomatoes

 

Chicken Pot Pie

Yield: 2 pot pies (6 to 8 servings each)

4 cups cubed cooked chicken (ham, shredded beef or turkey)

4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups sliced carrots

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup flour

2 1/2  teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon pepper

3 cups chicken broth

1½ cups milk

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

pastry for two double-crust 9-inch pies, or use biscuit/baking mix to make crust. Or buy the ready made crusts (2 in a box) for $2.00 from Walmart. **This recipe actually made 4 pies for me. I probably just don't measure the ingredients and end up with that much filling. Instead of carrots, frozen peas and corn, I used 2 bags of mixed vegetables. I only crust the top, so I made the amount of crust that the recipe says.

Boil potatoes and carrots in a large stockpot. In another pot, boil cubed chicken for 8 minutes. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer vegetables for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain vegetables and chicken and set aside.

In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme, and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the chicken, peas, corn, potatoes, and carrots. Remove from heat.

 Crust option 1: Line two 9-inch pie plates with bottom pastry; trim even with edge of plate. Fill pastry shells with chicken mixture. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pies. Cut slits or decorative cutouts in pastry. Place over filling; trim, seal and style the edges. Bake one pot pie at 425ºF for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Crust option 2: Mix together 2 cups biscuit/baking mix, 1¼ cups milk, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, ½ teaspoons celery seed. (Mixture will be thin.) Sprinkle over top of chicken pot pie. Bake at 350ºF for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cover and freeze remaining pot pie for up to 4 months.

To serve frozen pie: Cover edges of frozen piecrust with foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 425ºF for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for 70 to 80 minutes longer, or until crust is golden brown.

Beef and Barley Soup

1.5 lbs Beef Stew Meat (I usually get top round and just cut it into bite size pieces).  Sometimes when you buy stew meat at the grocery store you still need to cut it into smaller pieces.  I bought the meat in this picture at Costco and it was enough for a triple batch.
-1 large red onion, chopped
-Appx 8 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced
-3-4 stalks of celery, sliced
-1.5 cups frozen corn (or you could use a 14.5 ounce can of canned corn)
-1 tsp parsley flakes
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1.5 Tbsp “Better Than Bouillon” paste or 3 cubes of beef bouillon (can add more to taste if you like)
-3 garlic cloves minced
-1 14.5 ounce can tomato sauce
-3/4 cup barley (pearled)
-5 cups water

When I made this as a freezer meal, I put all the ingredients in except for the 5 cups of water and tomato sauce.  On the outside of the bag I just wrote the date, the name of the meal, and “add 5 cups water and 1 can tomato sauce”.  Make sure to push out any extra air in the bag to avoid freezer burn.  The day before you want to make this meal take it out of the freezer and allow to defrost in your fridge.  The morning/afternoon you want to eat the meal for dinner just put everything in your crockpot, add 5 cups water, and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.

 

Black Bean Taco Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey tastes so good in this recipe too!)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 package mild taco seasoning mix
1 16 oz can corn (undrained)
1 16 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (you could use kidney beans or pinto beans)
1 14 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 4 oz can diced green chilis
tortilla chips
Other taco toppings you like (cheese, sour cream, avocado, etc)

Directions:
Brown meat and onion, drain.
Stir in taco seasoning, corn, black beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and green chilis. Simmer on low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips and your favorite toppings.

This makes an easy freezer meal too! After cooking, let soup cool down and then dump into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag or other freezer container. When you want to eat it, let it thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and then simmer on the stove until heated all the way through or microwave until heated all the way through. You could also put it in your crock pot and cook on low for 2-3 hours to re-heat it.

 Sweet and Sour Chicken 

 Ingredients

3 large chicken breasts, cubed

1/3 cup reduced sugar ketchup

1/3 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 can low sodium tomato sauce

1 can diced pineapple and juice (optional)

1 onion, diced

 Directions

1. Throw all ingredients in crock pot, mix well, and cook on low for 6 hours. 

 

Clean Eating Minestrone Soup

Note: You need a BIG pot for this one!

Ingredients:

·         1 large red onion

4 cloves garlic

1 small bunch of chives

1 medium bunch of basil

3 bay leaves

3 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (no added sugar)

1 (28 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (no added sugar)

2 (32 ounce) cartons veggie broth (no added sugar)

6 large carrots

1 pound zucchini

1 small eggplant

2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans

1 pound frozen peas

1 pound frozen corn

1/2 pound mushrooms

5 large stocks celery

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Chop all your veggies.

Chop all your herbs

Saute your onions and garlic in 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil. Add your herbs.

Open your cans of tomato products and stock, and add to pot. Bring to a very soft boil.

Add your beans and all other veggies to the pot, and cook at a soft boil until all veggies are cooked through.

Allow to cool, and serve with a slice of whole wheat bread. You can also add leftover chicken to your bowl to get some protein. If you are vegetarian, add rice. The rice and beans will give you your protein.

 

Freezer directions: HOLY COW, this is a lot. This recipe needs to be split between two bags. I didn't put in any of the canned ingredients, because that's not hard to add later and the bags get too full. Chop all veggies and herbs. Split the peas and corn between the two bags. Open one can of tomato sauce and divide between the two bags. Write on the bag "add 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can stewed tomatoes, 1 32 oz carton veggie broth." To cook, thaw in the fridge overnight; dump in a large pot on the stove. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-40 mins, until veggies are tender.

 

Savory Pepper Steak

3 pounds of roundsteak but into ½ inch thick strips.
½ cup flour

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp pepper

1 large onion chopped

a few garlic cloves—I like to put 4-5 crushed into each bag

1 green peppers sliced

1 red pepper sliced

2  16oz cans of tomatoes

2 tbsp beef bouillon

4 tsp ofWorcestershire sauce

2 tbsp of steak seasoning (McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning is awesome!)

2 tbsp of steak sauce

Directions:  Toss steak strips in mixture of flour, saltand pepper.  Mix together beef boullion,Worcestershire sauce, and steak sauce and divide evenly into two bags.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cook on low 8 hours.  Serve with rice and a side salad.

 

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

 

12 new potatoes and cut into ¼ inch round slices or a large bag of frozen potatoes

2 cans of cream of your choice

2 cans of water

2 ham steaks, cubed

8 oz cheddar cheese

4 cups of broccoli

salt and pepper

 

Directions:  Divide everything evenly into two containers.  Cook on low for 8 hours. My bags ended up so full that I didn't have room for the cream soup or the broccoli. Must have been big potatoes. Oh, and I added one onion for each bag. We love our onions!

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli

3 chicken breasts1 can of cheddar cheese soup
1 cup strong cheddar
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp garlic
1 cup of yogurt (or sour cream)
2 cups of broccoli

1. Put everything except sour cream and broccoli in the crock pot.
2. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4.
3. Shred the chicken breasts with two forks.
4. In a rice cooker (or however you like) cook about 4 cups of rice.
5. Meanwhile, add broccoli to the crock pot and stir in.
6. Cook for another 30 minutes.
7. When done cooking, stir in sour cream with the crock pot mixture.
8. Enjoy over a bowl of rice.

 

Chicken Enchiladas

1 chicken breast
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 c rice, uncooked (3 c cooked)
1 bunch cilantro
squirt lime juice
sprinkle cumin
Corn tortillas
shredded cheese
enchilada sauce

I forgot the corn on this! Ugh. Anyway, shred or chop your chicken, mix in the beans, corn, and rice. I really don't measure the lime juice or cumin, I just squirt around the bowl with the juice and shake in cumin. Fill and roll as many corn tortillas as will fit in your pan, cover with a can of enchilada sauce, or two if you like them extra saucy. Sprinkle with cheese.

For the freezer: cover pan with two layers of foil. If you thaw it before cooking, cook at 350 for 30-40 mins. If frozen, cook at 375 for 70-80 mins.

 Lasagna

I really don't have a set lasagna recipe, I just throw it together with whatever ingredients I have to fill it at the time. Use whatever lasagna recipe you like best. To cook frozen, use the same temperature as in your recipe's directions, but double the baking time.

 

And now is when I sit down on my back massager, in a recliner, with my feet up, and a cup of raspberry tea.

 



Homemade Bug Spray

I found a homemade bug spray recipe from One Good Thing By Jillee, and slightly modified it. Her original recipe calls for 2 cups witch hazel, 15 drops lemongrass essential oil, 15 drops citronella essential oil, 5 drops peppermint essential oil, and 5 drops lavender essential oil.

I mixed mine in a spray bottle with:
2 cups water
2-3 T vanilla extract (I just poured, I didn't measure)
15 drops lemongrass essential oil
15 drops citronella essential oil
5 drops peppermint essential oil
5 drops lavender essential oil

Haven't had any problems with bugs when I use it, and get compliments on the smell of it. Good to know, because I can only ever assume:) (I don't have a sense of smell)

Home Remedies

A lot of people are learning (if they didn't already) that I'm into holistic healing and learning how to take care of my body (and my families'). So here's some stuff that's come up recently:

Headaches

I had soooo many headaches when I was pregnant with Dancy, I really looked into this in depth. Here's several remedies I learned. For the most part, my headaches were stress-induced. Best way to combat that was to make sure I got enough vitamin B. If I could only manage to swallow one vitamin, that was the one I chose. Some days needed two. You can't overdose on vitamin B. Don't be alarmed if your pee turns neon green--that just means you got enough B in your system. I also paid close attention to my facial expressions. A furrowed brow often produced a headache. I started smiling more, doing eyebrow lift exercises and massaging my brow to loosen the tension out of my muscles. Cinnamon is reported to prevent or ease headaches. Either add more to your diet, or buy the cinnamon capsules found in any store's vitamin aisle. I always put cinnamon in my oatmeal, but I need to find more ways to use it. Or buy the capsules. The body has many pressure points to relieve headaches. Refer to this chart to learn them. I massage or apply pressure to as many different points as I can remember. I've also read that putting your hands and feet into hot water (I sit on the bathroom counter) with an ice pack (or frozen peas) on the back of your head/neck draws the extra blood from your head out to your extremities, relieving that throb that headaches often have. I don't remember how long that helped me when I tried it, but it did bring relief. Then there's oils. A drop of lavender or peppermint oil rubbed across the forehead and temples will ease headaches. And then there's this link that I have pinned on pinterest and haven't even read yet. Drink loads of water. Seriously, like a gallon a day. Or half if you can't manage that much. Avoid MSG--it never fails to give me a headache when it's highly concentrated like in bouillon. Trace amounts, like in ranch dressing, don't seem to bother me.

One last thing for headaches. I remember many, many years ago volunteering at some race in Colorado and one of the tents was a chiropractic group. They analyzed my posture and asked if I had any chronic health issues. I said headaches, but that has nothing to do with my back. They corrected me and said that had everything to do with my back and posture. They corrected my posture then to show me how I should be carrying myself, and I worked hard at it for a while and made it a habit. Guess what? The headaches disappeared. Now that I'm always either a pregnant or breastfeeding mom with extra front weight, it's hard to keep that up, but it is important!

Muscle aches

Boy, let me tell ya I have had trouble with calf cramps this pregnancy! Again, peppermint oil is great for soothing aching muscles. Massage a few drops into the sore area and enjoy that chilling, tingling sensation! Getting enough potassium is also very important, though maybe a little difficult.

Warts

Apple cider vinegar! I had a wart on my palm back in June. I taped a cotton ball to the wart (medical tape or masking, whatever was handy) every night for a week and soaked the ball in ACV. A couple days after I stopped, the wart fell off. Win! Here's the home remedy page I found. It has 50+ remedies for warts.

Sebaceous Cyst

WARNING! The following content may be a bit graphic or too much information for some people, as I'll be talking about my BREAST, but if it happened to me, it can happen to someone else too. Information and knowledge needs to be shared. Back in January, I noticed a small lump near the nipple of my left breast. Given that I had just recently quit breastfeeding Dancy, I thought it might just be a blockage of some milk. Of course, there was also that back-of-the-mind worry that it might be the dreaded C-word. Around April or May when the lump had continued to grow, I asked my OB about it. She was great at putting me at ease, telling me it was a sebaceous cyst and completely benign. Just some blocked drainage that's accumulating and nothing to worry about. Whew! She said that normally, they'd just do a small incision to remove or drain the blockage, but that they don't do that when you're pregnant. It didn't dawn on me until June (when the cyst had grown to the size of my thumbnail in diameter and was starting to become uncomfortable) that if my doctor wasn't going to remove the cyst BEFORE Thora came, that it would be in the way for breastfeeding when she DOES come. That, or I'd have it removed and I'd be too sore to feed her. None of these options sounded viable to me, so I called to ask for the spelling of the term. Gotta know how to spell it if I'm going to search the internet for my own remedy! Here's the web page  I found in my search, and the remedy I chose to try was tea tree oil. I rubbed a drop of oil on the cyst as many times a day as I remembered to--often 5 or more. Within a week, there was a noticeable size decrease. After two weeks, it was back to pea-size, the size that I first discovered it. After three weeks, it was pretty much gone. My doctor was surprised and impressed when I showed her and told her what I had done. There's still just a small remnant now, but I kinda quit on the oil for the month of July when I was travelling and around people all the time. Once I get back to it, it'll be completely gone.

**DISCLAIMER**: I am not a doctor. I have no medical training. Every BODY is different. One body may respond well to one remedy, and not to another. Also, I am a big fan of letting a medical professional diagnose my ailments, and then I go treat it myself. Do what works for you, and listen to your body.

Holland Butt, Dragon Butt

This post is entirely devoted to quotes and anecdotes that have slipped through the cracks in the past months.

Tom:

"Tom is on the job." "Mom, you might need your son to clean up the living room." I asked Tommy what Shad says about hard things. "Hard things make you..." "Sad!" "No, goofy! Stronger! Hard things make you stronger!" "Ooooh, sexy momma!" Shad told Tom and Katie to thank me for the bed time ice cream, and they turned to me and said, "Thank you, sexy!" Tom and Katie have been going waaaaaay to biblical lately. Tommy used to propose to me every day. "Mom, will you marry me?" And after explaining to him why that would never happen, he'd turn to Katie, who would accept his offer. It's been a while since I've heard any of that, but now I just heard, "I'm going to have 10 babies. Katie, you can have one of my babies."

Katie:

"Mom, I'm big. Do you know why I'm big?" I said, "No, I don't. Please tell me why." "Because Martha wants me to be!" Katie is down to one diaper a day, only for bedtime. An ad I put out on facebook in June: "
Anybody wanna take Katie? She's available to a good home. She wants a new mom and is willing to go live at a new house, or let the new mom come to ours so that I can leave. Not even kidding, we had this conversation. She's upset at me because I made her lunch and she wanted her new mom to do it. She opted to go take a nap without lunch because I made it instead of her new mom."

From June 19: "Please stop today before the messes get any worse! In chronological order, I've had to clean up: yarn ball mess that trapped Dancy, abandoned juice spilled by the one-year-old, Katie dumping a full bottle of soap in the sink to try and wash something, Katie needing her clothes changed because she's soaking wet, (all while I was trying to get caught up on dishes) finding dried poop on Katie's butt ...and clean underwear because it slipped her mind to tell me that what she was trying to clean in the bathroom was her own poop, Katie flinging her cup of milk across the room (accident, but still aggravating), Katie constantly making a mess in her bedroom, Dancy breaking a dresser drawer so that I can't open it to put laundry away, and a HUGE spider web built across the middle cushions of my living room couch as if we hadn't just been sitting there! This must stop."
Dancy:

Dancy is finally crawling down stairs! She signs more, all done, eat, water, milk, bed, please, thank you. She says mom, dad, bird, dog, hi bird, hi dog, uh oh, poop, banana, diaper, up, down, outside, blankie, baby, bye, boo, beep, and does a good job at repeating words she hears, when she's in the mood to, anyway. I heard "delicious" very clearly from her just a couple day ago. She has a proper princess wave--arm straight out and just waving at the wrist. Every night at bedtime after scriptures and prayer, we have our hugs and kisses time. Dancy just always lights up and gets so excited to come give everyone hugs and kisses. Sometimes Tom wants a group kiss for Dancy, so we all gather around her and kiss her head wherever lips can reach. She laughs with delight:) Shad is her love. She always gets so excited when he comes home. Yesterday, I had my neighbor Ashley come over to watch the napping kids for a few minutes when Shad came home so that we could look at a mattress. When we came home, Dancy looked at me, then looked at Shad and jumped out of Ashley's nap with a squeal and smile. I love seeing my kids love their dad:) Makes my heart rejoice. Dancy is 14 months old, 16 lbs, and still not walking yet. Shad and I have realized that it's not her fault though. She's so cute, cuddly and lightweight that we just carry her everywhere and forget to put her down and teach her to walk. She's a loving girl who only shares her love when it's spontaneous and genuine--doesn't hug and kiss upon request.

Dancy is a climber.

 

She crawled herself into the library's statue display case, and entertained Tommy and Braeden.

 

Then Tommy joined her.

 

I love teaching my kids the finer points of 90s cinema and getting to relive it all. We took a break after the holiday season when we watched Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Home Alone 1 and 2. Now we're back at it, with The Three Musketeers (Tom cheered when King Louis punched Cardinal Richelieu into the water: "Haha, YES! I KNEW he would die!"), The Sandlot, The Mighty Ducks 1 and 2, and all three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Still need to show them The Goonies, Neverending Story, and find access to Flight of the Navigator.

A couple months ago, Shad took the kids out for a walk and Katie came home with a new nickname--Dragon Butt. I understood right away. Boy, can that girl DRAG HER BUTT when she's not wanting to do something--even if it's walk home for dinner. On another walk I said something to the effect of, "You better be haulin' butt or I'm gonna get grumpy!" So that stuck too. We now have Dragon Butt and Hollan Butt, and they are applied to whoever is deserving of the name. In Colorado, Tommy walked to the park with Grandma and Grandpa before I was ready to follow with Jen and Becky. Tommy asked where we were and Grandma said I was being a slow poke. Tommy asked what that meant, and Grandma explained it to him. He said, "Ohhhhh! My mom calls that Dragon Butt and when I'm fast, I'm a Holland Butt!"

Cousin pictures

For the most part, these pictures tell their own stories. I'll just include the photographer prompts.

 

"K, guys! Get on the couch for cousin pictures."

 

"Okay, everyone right side up and sitting now."

 

"And smile! ...Dancy, here's your blankie."

 

(Blankie is magic.)

 

"Okay, now one nice one for Grandma."

 

(Bode's really good at smiling until you tell him to, Grandma.)

"Okay, we're all done now."

 



 

Another night at the park...

 

"Okay, guys, let's get a few nice ones."

 

 

"Oh, come on, Kate. You gotta try to look happy!"

"Okay, everybody say 'Bubba!'" (Jen called Bode Bubba once, and Tom and Katie have been laughing hysterically about it ever since. They still keeping taunting with that name.)

 

"I think they're arranged well."

 

"Say 'Lori!'" (Aunt Lori needs pictures of her nieces on nephews. She's on her mission in Reno)