Easing my worried heart...

I finally got to talk to my boy. We had talked once briefly and he was in full on high school dorm culture shock. I was relieved to talk to him again and see how great he is doing now.

My boy is pretty animated, he loves to tell a good story. Oh he is going to have loads of them. His host family seems just precious... A boy his age, an auntie, a grandmother, and a Mom. They all crowded around the screen and we exchanged Hello's and Ni Hao's. I so wanted to take a picture right then and there but I resisted. I only got one of the Grandmother who seemed very interested in what he was up to and was peering over his shoulder for the majority of our chat. She seems absolutely precious. It is so strange to see them all interacting together and talking to my boy. He is psyched that his host mother owns a restaurant! I always tell Collin that when he is ready to get married to stand outside a culinary school and marry the first nice girl that walks out... He would be happy for eternity. I miss him but all the anxiety is gone. I am thrilled that he is having a good time. He finally updated his blog so I could see some photos of where he is ! www.beijing4dummies.blogspot.com

Cuban Sandwiches

I made a pork roast the other night, and as much as the men in my house love a good pork roast they usually don't overdo their consumption and are always keenly aware of the amount of left overs... only because they know what is for dinner the next night....IF we have enough leftovers. This is one of those foods that if you have never heard of it or seen it, the combinations sounds strange and not all that appetizing, but if you are lucky enough to have tried it you most likely LOVE it. My husband is half Columbian & I grew up in South Fl. so we love latin food. Here is one of our family faves... The Cuban SandwichINGREDIENTS: Cuban bread (or other soft bakery style loaf), sliced pork, sliced ham, provolone, pickles, mayo, mustard, honey & butter.
If you have a "helper" that will sit and snack your toppings that would be great too!
So just like you'd think, go ahead and put on some mayo & mustard, then layer pork, ham, pickles, then the provolone.
Close it on up.
Now mix up equal parts room temp butter and honey, yeah we are making honey butter. You could just buy honey butter, but I never thought of that until this very second. Spread it on real nice and thick. It's going to make the bread all crusty buttery and just a little sweet to go with the salty pork, ham & pickles.
Grill it up. I use a Ge*rge F*rman, because that's what I have. You could obviously use a panini press or the grill with a weighted brick. This works for me.
The pictures don't do it loads of justice because it was evening the lighting was horrible and I had a table full of hungry men that thought I had lost my mind because I was wasting time trying to photograph dinner before they could start eating.
Good thing Collin can't access my blog from China, he would be ticked if he saw this photo right now. This is usually his birthday dinner request. Try it sometime :)

Backing up a bit..

I feel the need to back up a bit... back to D.C. and the little epiphany I had while touring all of our nations history. See I used to be plagued with fear and worry. I used to think if I didn't worry about my kiddos then I didn't care as much.

Worrying is just what us good mommies do, right? The past few years have been a sort of pressure cooker of that seriously flawed logic, and I have given up many of my fears and worries and realized that I am basically just wasting my time. Anyhow, getting to my point... when I was taking in all the history.. the past presidents, the war heroes, the heart wrenching holocaust museum, centuries upon centuries of amazing people, ... it all made me feel really insignificant. My life, if lived carefully, if lived comfortably, if lived safely, if lived to perfect standards of society.... would be utterly forgettable and completely insignificant. And even worse, if I raise my kids to be so safe, never to step out boldly, never take risks... am I teaching them to be insignificant as well? On a lighter note... did I ever mention how cold it was while we were in D.C.? It was really cold. The reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial was frozen over, and the snow was deep. The only way for us to get to the Lincoln Memorial was to walk atop the frozen reflecting pool. If Forest can do it, so can we I guess. I felt kinda strange about it, but we surely weren't the only ones.

Yippee

After weeks of jumping every time the phone rings and trying to figure out an alternate plan to being homeless....we found out this afternoon that we got the house that we had been dreaming of. The perfect house ....the best part, an acre and a half of free range for our rowdy bunch Yippee.. One less thing for this mama to worry about.

I finally talked to Collin albeit way too early this morning. Reality has set in that dorm life in China may just not be all that he imagined. I am sure things will start looking up for him in the next few weeks. He started a blog just before he left.... Check it out.. the teenage perspective of it all..

www.beijing4dummies.blogspot.com

So I am back home from dropping my (biggest) baby off in d.c. and I am still in a bit of denial. He is still in orientation and will be flying to Beijing in the morning. I managed to hold myself together yesterday as I boarded the metro train, walked 8 blocks to my hotel room, waited for the elevator to take me to the ninth floor, opened my room door and then proceeded to throw myself on the bed and into a fit that would put my house full of toddlers to shame. Then...I was rescued... I had planned a full on 24 hour pity party... but my cousin wasn't having it. He just happens to own the most beautiful B & B just outside of D.C.. He swooped in and saved the day.

He picked me up and battled the RidIculOus rush hour traffic and set me up for the night in this suh-weet room. You have to check out his place Stoney Creek Farm It is breathtaking. I also got to see my Aunt, Uncle and a few of my wonderful cousins as well. A true escape. I will be forever grateful.

dc

we are in D.C.! Collin and I had the best time yesterday hoofin' it around the city in waist high snow. Half the paths are cleared the other half are an icy mess just perfect for uncoordinated folks like ourselves. We saw several of the monuments and musuems and even spent a great deal of time getting lost wherever the metro train took us. We are excited to do it all over again today and see more. I have a feeling you could live in this city for a very long time and not even scratch the surface of things to do. Today will be our last day spent together before he leaves for Beijing. Tomorrow, Collin has his predeparture orientation and I will have to say good-bye to him after lunch. I am still in denial. Oh, and because I stress the small stuff.... I was just thinking about this horrible little trait that I have. I am "allegeric" to my own tears,,,seriously, as embarassing enough as it is to cry in public. When I do my whole face breaks out in red bumpy hives that last about 20 minutes until I have regained full control of my emotions. What the HECK am I supposed to do tomorrow when I have to leave my boy and then find myself to another part of this unfamiliar city all the while heaving and crying and my face looking like something terrible has just happened? It ain't gonna be pretty.....or subtle

To my Valentine...

I know things are pretty crazy around here and it's hard to have a second to ourselves, but I love you more than words and I love that you know how to tune out the madness and make me feel like you are my number one fan. You are the best.

This photo actually cracks me up. When we had our family photos done a few months ago (

www.audrabenderphotography.com). Our amazing photographer/artist took this photo, I have a feeling it went into the reject pile as it is not all that pretty. All the kids seem a bit lost and without direction, surely not hang over the fireplace worthy, but you know what, I think it is a great snapshot into our lives right now. Sometimes the rejects are most like reality :)

the beans..

**update. so we are still holding out hope, we were told we would hear by Thurs, then Fri now we should know by Tuesday, hopefully. It is looking like our long shot just got a bit longer. I am trying to keep the hope...

I know a few weeks ago I posted about making hard decisions. It's kind of a crazy story and it goes something like this.... for the past year I have had the itch to move. Just feeling not so content with my suburban life...I know, "get a problem chick", right? Well as we all know, now is not the time to put your house on the market and move on up. Especially with 5 kids under foot and my biggest baby moving to China in 4 days (excuse me while I toss my cookies). Anyhow a few months back I said a prayer that went something like this..."Dear God, I am making the choice to be content with my beautiful home with which I am so blessed. If you think our family should move then I know you have the power to send someone to knock on our door that wants to buy our house, until that day I will be content with my happy home. Amen." Well, just guess what happened in this super saturated buyers market....uh, someone came knocking on our door and wanted to buy our house. What the heck are we supposed to do with that...uh, but where are we supposed to live...but our kids will probably have to change schools.. but, but, but, but.... long story short, after much excited agony we are in the process of selling our house, and looking for a new house. Of course there is only one house that we like and of course it is ridiculously out of our budget. So today we have an offer on the table to purchase a fantastic new OLD house... I really want an old house, one of the problems with living in suburbia,,,most of the houses are new, big, and so NOT my taste. So the offer that is on the table is -to put it mildly, a long shot. The home is corporately owned at the moment so we are waiting on the verdict. So again today I am saying a prayer that goes something like this... "Dear God, you have miraculously blessed our little family and we are so grateful. Today there are some folks sitting around a table looking at the numbers for us to buy our little dream house. Dear God I know you are bigger than any number and that you are bigger than the odds of this actually working in our favor. If we are meant to raise our children in this place at this time, would you please sit in on this meeting, and get these papers signed. Thank you. Amen"

Now may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

OLIVE YOU!

Quick & Easy - Salty & Sweett

Here is a quick recipe for peanut brittle... this is REALLY yummy and way easier than you'd think to make.

1 cup corn syrup, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp butter, 3/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 10 oz raw spanish peanuts

Combine corn syrup, sugar, butter & salt in pan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the peanuts and bring to a low "bubble" over med heat .

Stir often until the peanuts turn light brown (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat, add in 1 tsp baking soda, and mix well.

Immediately pour onto greased pan. Let cool & brake it up & serve.

This would be great for super bowl too. I have a ridiculous list of junk food swirling in my head, I don't dig sports but I love super bowl...I'm in it for the food :) .

Have a great weekend!

Wordy Wednesday..

My great friend Jane and her kiddos came over yesterday to watch Mina and Finn (Thanks Jane, you are the bomb-diggity) so Collin and I could go do some shopping for his big move to China in 12 days :(

While we were in the checkout line reality started to creep in a bit, I just looked at Collin and said, "This is crazy". He replied, "I feel sick to my stomach". Reality makes us queasy, so we did a bit more shopping and skipped lunch.

I am going to fly to D.C. with him a few days before he leaves so I can spend time with my favorite history buff, and he can make me feel inferior by explaining everything to me. If anyone has any great D.C. tips or not to miss sights I would love to hear them. Things have been quite hectic around here the past few weeks so I have to get on the ball and get to planning our little adventure. We need to make sure we jam pack our days so we can ignore the reality of him being gone until mid summer.

Fun project

So remember last week when I said I love living in the South... I take it back. The weather has been N-A-S-T-Y!!! We have been playing with this super fun project.. and the kids have loved it. You can get this stuff at Walm@rt or Mich@els and it is pretty cheap. It is clay that you can bake. We have had a ball making little beads and animals.
This keeps them all occupied for much longer than you'd think. (except for Finn, we try to do this when she is sleeping, oh I can't even imagine the mess she would make) They are always super proud of their cool creations.
I made this cutie necklace for Kobi for Valentines day and she hasn't taken it off, makes me feels all special.
Try it, it's fun when you have no other option than to be stuck inside- grossly outnumbered by kiddos :)