I love you, Stinky Face

I love you, Stinky Face...is actually a book Julia listens to at bed each night on her radio.

It's a story by Lisa McCourt about a little boy and his mom, and the mom is telling the boy just how much she loves him and the boy keeps saying, mama, what if I were a big, scary, ape or a dinosaur or a stinky pig, or a smelly skunk, and each time she reassures him that no matter what she would love him.

We've had so many family and friend functions lately with birthdays and Memorial Day that I forgot to post pictures of our Memorial Day visit with our favorite Weaver family in Pennsylvania.

We visited with Bill and Christy and the kids on Sunday, May 29, after church and we spent the whole day there.  It was purely and simply wonderful. 

 

After eating lunch we celebrated Luke, Ben, and Marky's birthday since they are all in May.  Luke turned 19, Ben turned 10, and Mark 2.  Mark and Julia enjoyed the birthday cake (especially since we had some the day before for Mark's party, and the day before for Mark's birthday!)

The kids are so big now and comfortable eating all alone, and not needing much help from mommy, except for a wipe of the chin here and there.

 

We brought Mark's new motorcycle over and he got to show Uncle Bill how he rides it!

We also brought our bubble maker and Uncle Bill helped make huge bubbles and Julia got to pop them!

It makes huge bubbles!

We did lots of playing in the backyard and walking around.  The weather was just perfect.  And the kids loved the freedom of being outdoors.

I enjoyed chatting with Bill's sisters.  He has two.  Lynn and Meg.  Meg has three daughters, each a year a part.  She is such a sweet heart.  She was telling me exactly how she got through those years.  Now her girls are practically grown up teenagers.  I was telling her how I'd love a third baby, and she was saying, "Go for it! Do it now! Don't wait too much longer!"  It was fun swapping toddler stories and getting advice.  The Weavers have a special way of always making us feel like family.

Julia, I love you no matter what.  I love you when you are sweet, I love you when you are tired and cranky, I love you when you are squeaky clean and I love you when you have spaghetti sauce all over!  I love you when you are loud and boisterous, and I love you when you are quiet and snugly like when you first wake up.  I love you, love you, love you, my stinky face!

Mark I love you when you have that serious, determined look on your face.

I love you when you suck your thumb and say, "Mommy, hold me."

I love you even when you say, "I do it.  All by myself!"

I love you when you are getting your hair buzzed by daddy and say, "OOOOwhup!" like the sound of the razor.

I love you when you drink your sippy cup from the side of your mouth, while one hand is in your pocket.

I love when you sit on the potty to copy Julia, even when nothing comes out (which is always...:)))

I love you, Stinky face!



************************************************

Last week we had temps in the 90s and even hit 100 one day.  I did not feel like cooking.  So for two days I didn't...I took out my crock pot and let the crock pot do my cooking for me!  And my family LOVED when I made up....so I decided to share a Kristi Crock Pot original...honestly it's just chicken thighs and potatoes and carrots, but it is oh so good!

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken thighs
salt and pepper
lemon pepper
dried basil
dried oregano
1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped carrots
3-4 peeled and quartered potatoes
1/2 chopped onion

Directions:

1. Season your chicken right in the crock pot (use the seasonings to your taste and liking, I just eyeball it)
2. Throw in the potatoes, carrots and onion and season as well with salt, pepper, and oregano, and basil.
3. Add your water on top.
4. Cover and place on High for 4-5 hours.

I took the kids out to the spray ground for the day, and we came back around 12:30, it took me 15 min to chop veggies, and season the chicken and turn on the crock pot. And by 5:30 we had dinner!  My house didn't get hot and we still had a home cooked meal with very little cleaning up after wards!  I love my crock pot!  I was able to blog, read a book and rest while the crock pot did all the work.