Praying...

Praying this isn't Parker's way of telling me he wants to get a tattoo or a nipple piercing.

You know you are a mother of boys when…

You know you are a mother of boys when…you think about posting the signs of a concussion somewhere where you can always see it!

I try to be a relaxed mom. I have boys. Boys will be adventurous. I was when I was younger. I used to walk across the top of the swing set (balancing on the metal rod that was on the top). I used to climb a tree, climb out on a limb (that didn’t quite go all the way to the roof), get on the roof and then sit at the peak of the house, with my legs hanging over and spit down on the boys playing basketball in my driveway (glad I’m a little more refined now!). I used to tie a rope from the back of my bike to my skate board and then take my sister down a big hill, as fast as I could. If I did that, I KNOW by boys will do more!

Jacob had a blanket tied around his neck…his cape and he was “flying”. He didn’t see Parker standing in the kitchen and just barreled over him. I was on the computer and just heard Parker land on the tile, specifically heard his head hit the tile. He of course was screaming and Jacob was upset. I got Parker calmed down and was just holding him on the couch. He was laying on me and was all hot and sweaty.

Thankfully, I am rational enough to stay calm and text Adam. I asked Adam to remind me of the signs of a concussion: vomiting, extra sleepy, overly lethargic. Adam told me that most likely he is fine. Easy for him to say. My first thought is that my child will die. Then I remember to breathe and instead pray that my child will not die. Throwing up. Ok, I got this. I stay calm until he throws up and then all rational thinking goes out the window.

No throwing up. No “extra sleepy” or “overly lethargic” (and if you know my children, you know that if this EVER described them then there would be something terribly wrong!). Parker is fine and I can’t help but think that these little “bumps” are God’s way of preparing me for some pretty big bumps as the boys get older. Hopefully I can stay calm, cool and collected then and help them pick out a cool color for their cast while posting graphic pictures of their “cool” injury on Facebook!

i LOVE his brain!

(Jacob calls my mom Sugar Bear)

Jacob: "In a minute is Sugar Bear going to have a baby?"

Me: "Why?"

Jacob: "So she {the baby} can play with Parker!"

Me: "Sugar Bear is too old to have a baby. She's already had her babies."

Jacob: "Ohhhhhhh! That's why she has us {Jacob and Parker} to play with!"

Yummy in my Tummy

We had the yummiest dinner last night. It was a bit more involved than I prefer, but (unlike some other meals I've tried before) it was WELL worth the extra effort.

Coconut Chicken with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 eggs

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 cup flour

2 cups panko bread crumbs

2 cup shredded coconut

1 tsp salt

Vegetable oil

Sweet chili sauce

Prep:

1. Cut your chicken into strips. If you cut diagonally, you will not end up with really short end strips.

2. Mix eggs and coconut milk in first bowl.

3. Mix flour and salt in second bowl.

4. Mix panko and coconut in third bowl. (I put my coconut in a Magic Bullet first as the smaller pieces stick better to the chicken, but that isn't necessarily)

Heat Oil: I used a dutch oven for mine so that the oil wouldn't pop out. A frying pan will work too. You want enough oil to not just cover the pan, but have a little to fry the bottom of the chicken strips in. Heat it until right before it starts smoking. Smoking oil is too hot. You can sprinkle some flour in the oil and if it bubbles when you put it in, it is hot enough. I kept having to adjust my heat down as the oil temperature kept rising. When it smokes, turn the heat down a little. You'll need to add some more oil as you cook your batches of chicken (4 breasts too me 4 rounds in the pan) and you want to make sure the new oil gets heated up.

Note: I worked with about 6 strips of chicken at a time. You don't want to crowd your pan as your oil will get cold and not cook as well. Plus it was easier to do the dredging process with 6 strips at a time.

Time to cook:

1. Put chicken in flour mixture and coat completely.

2. Put chicken in egg mixture and coat completely.

3. Shake off excess liquid and put chicken in panko/coconut mixture and coat completely.

4. Place chicken in hot oil and cook about 2min per side. You are wanting to give the strips a light brown color.

5. Remove chicken and place on paper towel to soak up excess oil.

6. Repeat until all chicken is browned.

7. Place chicken on pan and put in a 350 degree oven for about 10min (depends on the thickness of the chicken).

The chicken: it is possible to cook the chicken completely in the oil, but I didn't want to burn the coating and my trips were a little thicker. I found it was just easier to pop it into the oven to finish it off. Once out of the oil, you can test the done-ness by pushing on the chicken. If it is firm then it is probably done, if it is bouncy then it isn't done.

Serve with a Sweet Chili dipping sauce (we used Frank's Red Hot). So yummy!!!

Total time to prepare and cook: took me about 45min, but I think as I make it more, I can get that down to 30min. It seems really complicated, but once I got into it, I found it really simple. Looking forward to the leftovers today and making this again soon!

Original recipe found here. I tweaked things a little. She claims that this costs only $1.15 per serving!

Family Pictures Winter 2011

We got family pictures done in Winter Park by the oh-so-talented Christina MacPhie!!! They turned out soooooo good. I can't stop looking at them. I LOVE THEM!!!

Download the pics here

fun, custom cards

I love tinyprints.com! It is a card site where you can make custom cards with pictures. They can mail them for you or they can send them to you and then you can mail them out. I like for them to send them to me so I can look at them. It is so much fun to give a "professional" looking card with your pictures on them. There prices are really good, too. So, if you are looking for an extra-special card, check them out.

I haven't done Christmas cards before, but I'm thinking about doing them this year. There are way too many options to choose from, but I like these two:

http://www.tinyprints.com/product/27460/christmas_cards_traditional_wonder.html

http://www.tinyprints.com/product/19212/flat_holiday_photo_cards_festive_lyrics.html

DISNEY!!!

We had so much fun at Disney Saturday! It is still a toss up if mommy or Jacob was more excited! We left Parker at home and stayed all day. The weather was beautiful. It was perfect! Can't wait to take Parker back when he is older. We spent the day at Magic Kingdom, but we parked at Epcot. When Jacob saw the Epcot ball, he told us that it was a baseball trophy. I loved seeing Disney through his eyes!

Shooting the "a-lee-lins" on the Buzz Lightyear ride

Kristin was terrified of the "a-lee-lins" and I was determined to protect her!

He was so excited to meet Pirate Goofy!

It was cold that night!

He fell asleep waiting for the parade to start.

Like father like son!