Time, please stop.

It is early, not quite 8:00am. I am sitting at the computer, my normal spot on a lazy summer morning.

My son comes down from upstairs. I hear his soft footsteps come up behind me as I swirl the office chair around to face him.

"Good morning, baby," I greet him.

"Morning, Mama," is his soft reply.

"Come sit on my lap," I summon him.

He climbs onto my lap, still warm from his bed. He draws up his long, lanky, 5-year-old legs and curls into a ball on my lap. I wrap my arms around him and hold him tightly.

I push and sway, turning the office chair into an impromptu rocking chair.

"Time, please stop!" I scream in my head, as I hold my baby boy in my arms.

My mind drifts back several years and a two-year-old boy is curled up on my lap in a glider, curling his hair between the fingers of his right hand. We are moving gently back and forth in the chair.

"Time, please stop!" I scream in my head, as I hold my baby boy in my arms.

My mind drifts back a little further and a newborn is curled up in my arms. We are gently rocking. His eyes are closed and a slight smile passes across his face.

"Time, please stop!" I scream in my head, as I hold my baby boy in my arms.

But my pleas are not heard. The long, lanky,5-year-old legs slowly uncurl and he pushes himself out of my lap. "I'm gonna go play now, Mama," he says.

"O.k., baby. Go play," I say, as I turn my chair around to face my computer again, silently wiping away the tears that are streaming down my cheeks.

Yo! Yo?

My son rushed in the house, hot and sweaty after playing outside with the next door neighbors. He slung the refrigerator door open and grabbed three pouches of Capri Sun Roaring Waters. He slammed the refrigerator door closed and as he was heading outside I heard him yell to the boys, "I've got the Capri Suns, yo!"

Yo? Did I hear that correctly?

My son is five. His favorite color is camouflage. He likes trucks, Legos and pirates.

Yo?

Perhaps I should tell him that his street cred will go up if he hands out Gatorade instead of Capri Sun.

Miracle Monday

Last week, Beverly By Grace, was inspired to leave a sweet miracle after she read about Gracie's story.

Beverly wrote about a friend who lost a young child, Maci, to Leukemia and how her children prayed to God to save the child. In the end, the Lord brought Maci home to be with him but her death caused Beverly's children to start asking questions about God and what they could do to get to heaven to be with him.

We may never understand why God did not answer the prayers to save Maci but we can trust and believe that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

Please remember to pray for Gracie this week.

And if you are interested in teaching your children scripture, Beverly has a free printable to help you with this. Go check it out - after leaving your miracle here, of course!

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you have a miracle you would like to post. Or if you are looking for inspiration, please check out the link in the sidebar for all the other editions of Miracle Monday.

Bozo - 1, Mommy - 0

Sarah loves to wear make-up. Applying make-up before we go out is one of her favorite past times. Actually applying make-up for no reason at all throughout the day is one of her favorite past times.

I have had multiple conversations with her about the amount of make-up she should wear. So she completely understands that wearing too much make-up will make her look like a clown.

I've even told her very pointedly, "You don't want to wear too much make-up because you will look like a clown."

Yet she continues to come downstairs looking like this:

Bozo -1

Mommy - 0

How Does She Do It?

I took Peter and Sarah to the Children's Museum yesterday.

One of the things I enjoy doing while the kids are involved in all sorts of imaginary play is observing the other mothers. (That and drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee, which I don't even think I'm allowed to bring into the museum, but so far, no one has had the guts to tell me I can't!)

Most of the other moms are dressed like me - khaki shorts, flip flops, and black or white t-shirts. The basic stay-at-home-mom-is-going-out-of-the-house-but-not-just-to-the-grocery-store look. We were all clean but not dressed up. Our hair was washed but not styled.

But yesterday, I spotted a mom that stood out from the crowd.

She had three kids with her. Their ages roughly 8 months, 2 and 4. And their clothes were all clean. The 4 year old was wearing a polo shirt and the collar was even turned up.

She was cute and petite with a short, sassy hair cut. And not only was her hair clean, but it had a healthy shine.

Her toe nails were pedicured and her finger nails were manicured. And it looked to be a professional job.

She was sipping from a water bottle while I was slurping down my illegal iced coffee

She was wearing a very fitted tee shirt, little shortie shorts, lipstick and a big smile.

And of course she was smiling. This woman clearly had it together.

And I have to admit. I was jealous. Not because she was cute, trim, healthy and pedicured. But because this woman was cruising through the Children's Museum, chasing after three kids, wearing....

WEDGE HEELS!

I have enough trouble wearing my wedge heels to church on Sundays. And if you own a pair of wedges, then you know what I'm talking about.

They are cute, but you pay for the cute in blisters, red marks and general uncomfortableness.

So, yes. I will admit it. I was jealous.

And I consoled myself by thinking that she probably has a team of people helping her to pull off her look -a rich husband, a stylist, a trainer, a maid, a chef, a nanny and

a really good podiatrist!

What Do You Do When Good Bananas Go Bad? Make Banana Bread, Of Course!

My kids love to help out in the kitchen - especially Sarah.

But when the kids help, there is always a huge mess so I probably don't have them "help" me as much as I should.

But I guess I shouldn't complain because when the kids are awake, there's always a huge mess somewhere.

So a couple of days ago, when I couldn't stand the endless rounds of "Mommy, what can I do?" any longer and I noticed that I had four bananas that were drawing fruit flies, Sarah and I made banana bread.

I love banana bread. But I have high banana bread standards.

I want, no, I expect banana bread to be dense and moist. If it's dry, I won't eat it.

In 2001, a coworker brought in some banana bread and it was the best banana bread I had ever tasted. It was dense and moist and flavorful. It was everything I expected out of banana bread.

I immediately asked him to get the recipe from his wife. The next day he brought in the recipe and I made it multiple times trying to get the same results.

And every single time I made it, it was the driest, blandest banana bread I have ever eaten.

I am assuming that his wife purposefully left out her secret ingredient.

So (getting back on track here) Sarah and I made banana bread.

The nice thing about banana bread is that it can be made quickly and all in one bowl so the mess we created was minor:


But the smiles I got were major:

And well, the results were wonderful:

The recipe that I used has now become my banana bread recipe.

The recipe that I will make every single time I have bananas swarming with fruit flies.

The recipe that I will pass down to my grand kids.

And I would like to thank the Queen B and her Nannie for sharing this dense, moist, flavorful banana bread recipe.

And the best thing about this recipe?

Nannie didn't leave out her secret ingredient!

Nannie's Banana Bread

1 c. sugar3 over ripe bananas

1 c oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 c flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 c nuts (optional, I'm guessing)

1/2 t cinnamon

1 box instant banana pudding (the small box. she said you could use vanilla if desperate. but i don't think it would make her happy.)

1 t vanilla

Combine all that stuff. Put it in a lightly sprayed loaf pan. Bake at 350 for an hour or until done.

Fun With An English Idiom

Yesterday, Peter was excitedly telling me about the neighbor's cat:

Peter: Do you know how I know Tabby is a hunter?

Me: How, honey?

Peter: Because the other day he killed two birds, (pauses slightly)

Me: With one stone?

Peter: (looks at me oddly and finishes his sentence) two bats and a mouse.

I chuckled for the rest of the day thinking about that one.

A stay-at-home mom has got to have a little fun.

The Best Green Beans Ever

I'm not a very good cook. I like to cook but I'm not that good at it.

My husband is a good man. He will eat what I put before him and normally without complaint. But because I am not a good cook, it is also normally without kudos as well.

Last night, I had a bunch of fresh green beans in the fridge and needed to use them up before they spoiled.

I threw some olive oil in a skillet and let it heat up.

Then I chopped up a shallot I had that was left over from another recipe and I chopped up a couple of cloves of fresh garlic. I threw those in the skillet and let them cook until the shallot turned translucent.

Then I threw the green beans in and added more olive oil until they were coated.

Then I tossed in some red pepper flakes and let it all cook until the green beans were tender (probably about 30 minutes or so).

When we were eating dinner, Dan declared, "These are probably the best green beans I have ever eaten!"

I almost fell off my chair.

And when I told him I just sort of threw stuff in the pan, he told me I should write down the recipe so I wouldn't forget it.

So that's what I've done. This is my recipe for The Best Green Beans Ever.

Enjoy!

PS - I would have taken a picture but before I served them, I didn't realize these were going to be deemed The Best Green Beans Ever and after dinner there were none left.

Just a little bloggy business...

Just a little bloggy business....

Do you guys see that new ad under the BlogHer ad?

That's an ad for LeapFrog toys. LeapFrog has put together a quick quiz you can take that will give you customized ideas for educational things to do with your kids based on the results.

Take the quiz. Have fun with your kid.

It's all good.