The Weekend

This festive weekend we have mostly visited with family. Thursday night Wesley's grandmother came in town (one of the first times she's seen Knox in person) so we came to visit Friday for most of the day. My mom being also in town, we visited with her over Mexican food for lunch before making the trip out to the country to see Mamaw & Papaw. Knox had a big time looking at the chickens and riding in the boat. He gets so excited about chickens and boats, but mostly boats.

While we were there, I sorted through some of my mother-in-law's cookbooks from her extensive collection, and found some really great sounding recipes that I have high hopes for this week. I'll try to remember to post how they went. Two in particular being Overnight Sticky Buns and a variation of Roast Chicken. Tonight we had breakfast as usual with my Dad, which was nice. Then we spent the day together as a family, and while Knox napped, Wesley & I watched The Spiderwick Chronicles. I enjoyed it, knowing ahead of time of the fantastical nature of the storyline. I don't think we could have watched it with Knox, though, which Wesley & I were both suprized for a PG movie. It was a bit too action-y and slightly grotesque at parts for him yet. Tonight my in-laws watched Knox so that Wesley & I could go into town to watch a movie that the downtown development group was playing for free. It was so nice to sit there in the street with a bunch of other locals just there to watch a movie. We watched Independence Day, which oddly enough, I had never seen. Wesley thought that was particularly funny, but it let me enjoy the movie that much more. After 1.5 chili dogs and 1/2 a funnel cake and a good movie, we were ready to call it a night.

Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday Wesley and I stayed in. My mom had stayed the night, so she took Knox to church with her, and we had the morning to ourselves. It was nice, honestly. We went on a pseudo-morning-date. We went to McDonalds (b/c Main Street Marketplace was closed) for breakfast, and then tried to rent a movie, but it was closed. So, we went to the park to swing instead. We watched all the different woodland animals run around, collecting their food, preparing already, I'm sure, for winter. There were woodpeckers, bluejays, cardinals, squirrels, and chipmonks. Then we took a nap, and went back to the movie store to rent No Reservations. We originally had plans to have a major junk night including local pizza, candy, brownies, cream soda for me and Strawberry Abita for Wesley, but after going to a "church fellowship" and filling up on junk there, we were too full to eat the original planned junk. But, the movie was still good.
Next, this morning we had breakfast (again) at McDonalds! haha, well, we never eat there, really, but the Marketplace was closed (again) for Memorial Day, so we went again with my dad and grandparents. Knox loved it.
I made my strawberry jam last night. It tastes very good, but apperently I cooked it too long, b/c it's more like the consistency of taffy than jam, but it's still very good. I think if you heat it a little it'll loosen up. For sure it will preserve this time. In just a little while we will be heading to the lake with a group of friends to ride on the boat , tube (though, sadly I cannot participate), and boil crawfish! Yum.

New Pictures

Knox on his "computer"

Just after his first haircut. We texted this picture out to people.

Wearing Dad's Glasses

Telling us something about the guitar on the floor.

A close up after his first haircut. I think actually this was the picture we texted out.

My cutie-pie! :o)

Knox In his toybox.

Again, In his toybox.

Listening to some iTunes.

His "Dums"

The usual: Sucking on his Blankie.

Oh man.

Tonight my Mother-in-law grilled steak and sausage, and cooked lobster, baked beans, and sweet potatoes. YUM. Tomorrow night we are eating chicken verde enchiladas. We strayed a tiny bit from the food schedule.

Tonight at my in-law's house we started talking at dinner about fuel costs among other things. I believe I may ask some of my dear friends and neighbors (who just Happen to be one in the same...minus an absent Merisha only for a short while) if they want to carpool to the grocery store. I may even try to round up a group to go once a month(ish) to Sam's. I figure we can split the fuel costs and save some moolah. I am excited that a produce store is about to move just yards from my house very soon. I shall be able to walk there this spring (Lord willing). I do want to grow my own garden, though, too. I am going to try to help plant my in-law's garden to get some experience so that I will have an Incling of an idea as to what I would be doing. I almost just spelled doing "dooing." Wow. Long day.

i'm dreaming of a white...

...mlk weekend...?
It snowed this weekend! I was so excited! I think it only snows like once every 10-15 or more years here, so we were VERY excited when the snow actually stuck to the ground! When Knox saw the snow blowing all around, he kept whispering, "Wow, wow, wow."I thought Knox would enjoy the blowing flakes, but when we stepped out in it, he cried. Its finally too cold for even my flip-flop self to wear sandles. I'm heavily layered with the scarves I've been knitting all year. Mom dropped by this weekend with a bounty of quilts she has picked up. I am very grateful for her good timing! My favorite quilt is ladened with bright poppies that is obviously hand-sewn. I am so impressed by the thought of women sewing such beautiful and useful objects. When I look at such an intricate quilt, I cannot but think, people are so foolish to think that married women of the past were stifled in their homemaking. They had wonderful creative outlets that the arts of are being extinguished today, such as quilting. It seems to be such a time consuming thing, and yet, what beauty out of scraps and what would normally be trash! What a way to renew the earth.

I'm dreaming of a white...

... MLK weekend...?



Saturday it SNOWED!!! I know this may sound insignificant to most of you out in blogger-land, but if you don't realize, it NEVER snows here. Seriously, the only time I know of it snowing was when I was on a field trip in town while I was in Kindergarten, and I didn't go to the window when they said it was snowing, so I never saw it. It melted immediately. It ices over occasionally (meaning once every few years), but snow is probably once every 10-20 years.



So, I was thoroughly excited when I awoke at 8 on a Saturday morning to my cellphone ringing to the joyous news that it was SNOWING!!! :o) I built a snowman about 6 inches tall from the snow that had accumulated on my car. We put Knox's tiny handprint in the pile of snow on a lid outside, and he cried. Apparently he doesn't care for the snow. I, along with many other people I know (judging from the enormous influx of snow pictures on facebook over the weekend), took lots of pictures of the snow. I even have a video of my dad throwing a snowball.








Here's a shot of Wesley I'm working on. I like the lighting. We're well into the CD process, and I think it's going well. We've been working on the actual recording lately, and soon we will be working on design and duplication phase. We are excited about seeing it release!

Thoughts on parenting

Wesley is in Nashville, and we are at home. Well, we're really at my in-laws' house. I am having issues latley with disciplining Knox. At the risk of shocking the world through a discussion on disciplining a 13 month old, here goes.
I guess I should start this conversation with the preface that we believe that a child-centered family is not beneficial to neither the parents, nor the children, nor the rest of the world, for that matter.
We began this process of trying to let Knox understand that he integrates into our family, and is not the center or purpose of it, quite early in his life by letting him cry himself to sleep. You may not initially think that coorilates to teaching him that he is not the center of the family, but let me assure you, it does. I know this from experience. I would have thought a year ago that this perspective is nuts and couldn't possibly make sense, but I know from experience it is true. Knox is a very strong-willed child. He demands his way. But when I give him no other option at nap time (or at bedtime) but to sleep, he cannot have his way. His body gives in to sleep eventually, and any crying (aka rebellion, in many cases) just helps my case by tiring him out more. When he got old enough, we started to teach him "no" by thumping him firmly, but not too hard, on the hand or foot. He did not imidiately respond to this, because, as I said before, he is a very strong-willed child. He would sometimes look at me like, "what do you think you are doing?" and continue to reach for whatever he shouldn't. But he quickly learned what "no" means. He now has an understanding of consequenses for his actions. By the way, let me also add that he responds sometimes well to praise, so I do not want to give the illusion that we only punish him. No, we understand that at least equally, he needs praise for him to understand to do certain things. We cheer his obedience and creativity on with gusto.
Well, lately (within the past month, noticably) a new streak of rebellion has popped up. He tries new tactics. Where formerly he would mainly cry to get his way, now he whines and yells. He actually told me "no-no" after I told him no. I have seen him laying down on the floor and crying in anger (throwing a miniature temper tantrum) after he doesn't want to do what I tell him to do. Knox is about 13-14 months. He is starting to have more responsibility, and with that, is also learning that he can be more rebellious. His little rebellions are even so funny and almost sweet sometimes in that I can see what a frail and tiny man he is, and it makes me almost laugh with joy about who he is becoming, but I know I cannot laugh when he is being disciplined so that not to cause confusion.
It amazes me the capacity to learn that he has at such a young age. I would never have guessed that he could actually put his toys away on command this young. I didn't know he could understand how to sit down, stand up, or lay down when I tell him to do so. But he does. Anyway, parenting is so much more than I ever thought! :)

one christian's thought on godliness in art and daily life

Ah, lately i have begun to paint again. My fingers feel alive for the first time in about a year. Wesley and I have been thinking about what it means to glorify God in what you do, and what to do to glorify God. How does one do this on a daily basis? More specifically, what does this mean to me? Even more so, what does this mean to me as an artist? Truely, I don't have to paint crosses or Jesus on my for or label it "Christian" for it to glorify God. And the things I create don't have to be just (or at all?) appreciated by Christians for it to glorify God, so what is it that glorifies God in what I do? And how do I do it?
And that brings me to my current thought: I am much more content about all of life when I paint (or sculpt, or whatever). Not just an "I'm happy" contentment, but a deep overwhelming contentment that doesn't come from reading a good book or eating a good meal. Something much larger than that. And I know that in and of itself is not something that creates godliness, but I cannot deny that God, being a creative and purposeful God, created an aptitude and desire for it for some reason.





And now for some pictures I have been meaning to post.

This is from Knox's first birthday party. Here he is with his great-grandfather Poppy, or as I call him, Granda:

Grammy KK and Aunt Lee:

With Daddy:

and an older picture from the Fourth of July: (Note the crazy outfit on Knox that my mom picked out. It had a hat that matched.)

North Carolina was fun. We were all crammed in my dad's decently sized truck, but the fact that it's not a small truck doesn't really matter when you've been driving ten hours with three other adults and an infant in a child's seat and you're still over 6 hours away. It was fun, though it may sound awful in writing. Knox did a good job staying content in his little seat for so long, too.

I have been cooking lately, too. Last week we had chicken enchiladas. They were wonderful. I will post the recipe in a minute. Last night I baked a chicken with herbed potatoes and pearl onions. We also had homemade macaroni and cheese with chips and salsa and bruschetta as an appetizer. So good. It was a lot of food, too, so we'll be eating it over the course of the weekend, as well. The macaroni turned out to be too much for Wes and I, so I gave some to my dad. Last week I made a pumpkin cheesecake from the Fall Kraft magazine from last year. It was yummy. If you don't currently get this magazine, click here: http://www.kraftfoods.com/promo/ffmag/FFMag_offer_signup_template.aspx?s=profile&m=/profile/profile_registration&u1=join&task=Join&taskset=Join&promo_id=2928&rmain=food_family_mag/ffmag_main&redirect=/main.aspx

It's totally free, and has some really good recipes in it.

Tonight we are going to eat with my husband's parents and grandparents. It has been a few months since they have seen Knox, so they are here for a visit. Actually, I don't think they've seen him walk yet. I should have just enough time to clean the house, put Knox down for a nap, and knit for a while before we all meet up to eat.

Knox and I are visiting family out of town with my sister, dad, and grandmother. The car is cramped. I'm enjoying the trip, though. Tonight my uncle is in a play (The Doll House, really a modern adaptation) but I'm sitting in a lobby with my child. I saw the first half while dad watched Knox, but I'm watching him now. He missed both naps today, so he should sleep well. Our vacation in TN was nice. We had a beautiful cabin in the mountains. I hope we go again sometime. I bought some Halloween decorations today. Tea towels for the kitchen, napkins and placemats for the table, and a wobbley cat for probably the table, too. Maybe for the mantel, though.

I started working only half days since Wes changed jobs. It has been wonderful. I am really enjoying staying home more. I can actually clean up and prepare dinner. Wow. I also like that Wes and I have the same morning schedule now.

I'm planning Knox's one year birthday party, and I'm not really sure what to do. I'm sending invitations to family, and I know to get a cake, but what else? Not games, surely, since he's too young. I've never thrown a birthday party for anyone before, so any ideas on what I do?

Vacation

Today is bittersweet. It is labor day, and i didn't have to go into work today. We got the day off. So, we decided to use the time to clean the house. It's still not finished, but it is MUCH better than before. My mom came to get Knox tonight to watch him for the week. Wesley and I are going on vacation this week, so we'll be leaving really early tomorrow morning. I'm excited about vacation, but I miss the little man, too. :)

July 26

Today i am twenty-three, and things are looking up. Knox slept most of the night!! Hooray!! (He's been in this kick lately where he doesn't want to sleep through the night anymore. We're fixing that.) Wesley called and sang me happy birthday! :) It was good to hear from him. This morning at work, a co-worker brought me a piece of cake. It is good, too. Yellow with chocolate icing and chocolate chip filling. Mmm. I have plans to eat lunch at the Castle with Mom and dinner at South China with Dad. Last night I cooked a seafood lasagna that Wesley has been after me to cook. I think we'll eat it tomorrow and freeze half of it. It is really large. It looks good! I took pictures of it, and I'll try to remember to post them later. It has shrimp, crab, and scallops. Yum! I've never tried to make lasagna from scratch before. I have a new appreciation for those that do.