Sweet Pea Mash anyone?

My kids don't eat enough vegetables.  They eat lots of fruit but other than mashed potatoes and carrots that have been cooked in brown sugar and butter, they tend to shy away from anything that looks like it might have been grown in the ground.

So when I saw this recipe at Disney Family Food for Sweet Pea Mash I decided to give it a try.  I thought perhaps I could convince them that they were spooky Halloween mashed potatoes.

And they had a little bacon and a little sour cream in them so I thought they might actually be tasty.

So I drug out the ole food processor. 

I love my food processor but it's big and bulky and my kitchen is tiny with minimal storage so the Cuisinart spends it's time sitting forlornly on a shelf in the garage waiting to be used to create some grand food masterpiece.  And since I don't tend to whip out very many (um, any) grand food masterpieces it spends most of it's time gathering dust.

I cooked the peas.  I cooked the bacon.  I dumped it all into the food processor with the sour cream and some spices and I pulsed and I pulsed until I got this....

And yes, it was just as disgusting as it looks.

The texture was very course and grainy.  Even with the bacon and sour cream these had zero flavor.  And I never thought I would ever say that about any recipe that containd bacon and sour cream.

And even with lots of "Oooh!  Look!  It's the same color as Frankenstein!  These are Halloween Mashers!  Yum!"  the kids knew better and would not touch them.

Heck.  Even my husband who will eat anything I put in front of him would not touch these.  And I could only get down two very small bites before I officially declared these as inedible.

The only upside - the next time I feed them regular peas they won't seem quite so bad!

Proof! I finally have it!

This afternoon, Jennifer dropped off her two sons and her youngest daughter while she and her older daughter went to Brownies.

Sarah and Cheyanne practiced their handwriting and when they got bored with that asked to watch the My Little Pony DVD.

I popped up a couple of bags of popcorn because I knew the minute Cody, Colton and Peter smelled it they would drop their Lego's, guns and swords and coming running.

Sure enough before the second bag had finished popping the three boys began to come out of the woodwork. I assumed they would grab some popcorn and head back into which ever rooms they had emerged from to continue playing their testosterone games.

But no! The three boys sat completely rapt for over 45 minutes watching the Flutter ponies flitter and flutter all around Flutter Valley.

45 minutes! The popcorn was long gone so it wasn't the food that was keeping them there. I think they were actually enjoying the movie.

So I have it! I finally have it! I have proof that men do enjoy chick flicks.

It might be time to rent a good Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore or Reese Witherspoon movie and watch it with Dan. Surely he won't mind. After all - I have proof.

Grandma, Peter and Popcorn

Now that Peter is in Cub Scouts he gets to sell popcorn. (And by "gets to" I guess I really mean "has to".)

Since we live right next door to my parents, Grandma and Grandma are the logical first stop. (And based on Peter's extreme shyness perhaps the only stop.) So yesterday Peter and I headed over with the order form.

Grandma spent lots of time reviewing the form and writing down her order. As we were leaving I told her she didn't have to buy so much but she assured me that not only was it for a good cause it was good popcorn.

And last night during his bath Peter told my husband, "Grandma sure does love popcorn!"

No honey. Grandma sure does love you.

Tres Mocos

I'm working with the Kindergarten Enrichment program again this year. I didn't want to do it again but Sarah asked if I was going to "be in her class this year like you were in Peter's last year?" How could I say no to that?

Every Wednesday morning I assist another mom in teaching Spanish to all 5 kindergarten classes. And if you recall from last year when I wrote about helping out, I don't speak Spanish. I took French in high school. Luckily at this stage of the game it's pretty easy to keep ahead of them.

As we were sitting in a circle going through the numbers 1 - 10 in Spanish, I glanced around the circle and noticed one boy absentmindedly pulling his finger out of his nose.

And stuck to that finger was a big ole booger. And I say stuck because it was not a dry flaky one. It was a wet sticky stretchy one.

You know the kind I'm talking about.

And before I could even utter the words "Go get a Kleenex!" his finger immediately traveled from his nose to his mouth.

My eyes widened in horror and I felt my stomach lurch.

I sat still, silent and motionless. The damage was already done. Nothing could be gained at this point by interrupting the Spanish lesson and reprimanding and embarrassing this boy.

So I remained criss-cross applesauce on the floor with the kids trying not to throw up into the circle.

And the little boy continued counting...uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco.... completely unaware that I had witnessed his indiscretion. Heck - I'm sure he was completely unaware that he had even committed an indiscretion!

But it gets worse.

Not only did I witness this one kid pick and eat a booger, I witnessed ANOTHER KID from another class do the exact same thing. And once again it all happened so fast I didn't have a chance to stop it.

But the woman I work with is more astute and quicker-witted than I am because right in the middle of the number review in yet another class I heard her scream, "Noooooooooooooo! Don't put that on the carpet! Get a Kleenex!"

And she wasn't quite fast enough either because I looked over just in time to see this boy wiping his picker-finger onto the carpet.

TRES MOCOS. That's THREE BOOGERS in one morning!

Next week before we review the numbers in Spanish I think we need to review MOCOS and KLEENEX and how nicely the two go together.

Apparently I need a hobby.

Earlier this afternoon I emailed my friend Honey and asked her the Spanish word for booger. I told her I needed it for a blog post I was writing.

Honey is originally from Venezuela so she is my go-to friend when I need something translated. (Because I need things translated all the time. Don't you??)

She responded with my answer and informed me that requesting the Spanish word for booger was the funniest and most unexpected thing anyone has ever asked her to translate!

And for some reason that made me proud. And the pride that I took in myself for asking the Spanish word for booger also made me realize that perhaps I need a hobby.

Anyway, come back tomorrow and maybe if I have time between now and then I can write the post that drove me to ask Honey the Spanish word for booger.

I guess he really is growing up.

For the last 6 years I have had no peace in the bathroom. It seemed as if a radar went off as soon as I entered the bathroom causing one or both of the kids to barge in.

But I think things are about to change.

Over the last couple of weeks, if Peter opened the door on me while I was using the toilet he would quickly close it. And it's been a while since he's come into the bathroom when I've been in the shower.

But I didn't think anything of it until Sunday morning. I was stepping out of the shower when I realized I left my robe hanging on it's hook in the closet. I was heading to the closet to retrieve it when I could hear Dan say from Peter's room, "Go show Mommy what you have on and see if it's o.k. for church."

Peter charged into the bedroom at exactly the moment I was scurrying (completely in the buff) towards the closet.

When he saw me a look of wide-eyed panic crossed his face and he shrieked "Aughhhhhhh! Ewwwwwww! I see your hair! I see your hair!" and ran from the room covering his eyes.

It's taken over 6 years, but perhaps I can finally have a little peace and quiet in the bathroom.

And I think Peter's eyes have finally stopped burning.

Miracle Monday

It's Miracle Monday!

Today I want to introduce you to 4-year-old Gabriella. Gabriella was diagnosed in April with a severe and irreparable case of Myocardial Bridging which is causing Secondary Restrictive Cardiomyopathy.

Gabriella needs a heart transplant.

In fact, she was doing well enough that they she was going to be put on the heart transplant list on October 15th.

But on Friday Gabriella had a stroke. She has a blood clot in the left part of her brain and currently has no right side control and no speech.

In addition to this, her transplant is now on hold.

As I was reading the post updates that her mom Kristi wrote, I was amazed that she was able to see a miracle in this. She wrote:

"One miraculous thing I want to mention is speech. The location of her clot is directly on the speech area of her brain. Until puberty, children have the ability to relocate and reassign where the brains speech ability is located. Fortunately, she has the possibility of her speech returning because of how the brain performs this amazing change."

The human body never ceases to amaze me. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. - Psalm 139:14

Please pray that Gabriella's speech and movement be returned and if you have a moment, head over to their blog and let them know that you are praying for them.

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If you have a miracle that you want to share, it's easy! Just post about it on your blog and link to it here using Mr. Linky. Please make sure you link to the miracle and not to the front of your blog. Also mention A Mom's Life in your post and if you want to, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post.

If you have any questions, please contact me!

I wonder if he was actually aiming for the nose?

"Wanna know what happened at school today?"asked Sarah nonchalantly.

I would love to know what happened at school today I wanted to scream! But I decided I should keep my cool considering every time I ask her or Peter about school I am met with a shrug of the shoulders and an "I don't remember."

"What happened?" I quietly asked barely looking up from the cupcake batter I was cleaning off the counter tops and the back splash.

"Riley kissed me!"

Not quite the answer I was hoping for.

"Oh he did?" I said brightly. "Where?"

"In the circle at circle time."

Again, not really what I was looking for.

"No, I meant where. Like on the cheek?"

"No. It was on the nose."

At this point I was biting my lip to keep from laughing out loud. And then in my head I'm wondering if he was aiming for the lips and missed, or aiming for the cheek and missed or if he in fact was aiming for the nose.

"Do you like Riley?" I continued.

"Yes. But Kirsten doesn't."

"Well, it doesn't matter if..." I began to launch into my speech and I got cut off.

"I know. I know. Don't say it." I guess Sarah got enough of that lecture last year during preschool when she had a very strong-willed BFF who did not like it when Sarah liked people that she didn't like. It was a lot of 4-year-old drama.

And as she was brushing off my lecture it seemed like I was talking to a 15-year-old instead of a 5-year-old. I felt as if I was holding a heavy crystal ball.

I then changed my line of questioning and asked if she minding Riley kissing her. And she said yes she did mind.

So I told her if he tried it again she could say no and that would be o.k.

She seemed relieved at that answer and happily resumed gluing yarn to a piece of paper she had cut out with her nubby-tipped scissors and I was happy to be talking to a 5-year-old again.

Miracle Monday

It's Miracle Monday and do I have one I am very excited to share with you today!

I have written about Jeneil and Rhema before and I am so happy to be writing about them again!

Here's a quick recap of Rhema and her current capabilities as described by her mother Jeneil: "Rhema is a 5 ½ years old with autism, aphasia, and a seizure disorder – all of which make it extremely difficult… no, nearly impossible for her to speak and understand language. When last tested,Rhema had the expressive and receptive language of a 12-month old."

And if you will remember, Rhema's name means "spoken word" which is extremely ironic considering that she doesn't really speak.

Since Rhema was a little baby Jeneil has been quoting the following verse to her every night at bedtime:

"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:8,)

Please stop what you are doing and go to her blog to see what God is doing with his Word and with his beautiful non-verbal daughter Rhema.

Go! Now!

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. - Job 5:9


Do you have a miracle you want to share? If so, please post it on your blog and link to it here using Mr. Linky. Please mention A Mom's Life in your post and if you want to, you can put my Miracle Monday button in your post.