Earthquake, Hurricane, Houseguests. Oh My!

Two weeks ago our house was a flurry of activity. Was it the earthquake? No. The hurricane? No. Those were barely a blip on our radar compared to the excitement of having some of our dearest friends, and family-by-love, the Tews visit for a week.

It all began about a month ago, when I mentioned to Sarah that the next time Eric had time off work, we'd love to see them. To my surprise, she asked about some dates less than 3 weeks away. I haven't had a chance to spend longer than a few hours here and there with their family since around the time David and I were married so this was exciting news. I later found out this was going to be their beach trip vacation. I can't tell you how blessed I feel that their family made this time to come and see us.

Even before I knew that we replaced fun in the sun, I wanted their visit to be special so I began meal planning, sprucing up the house and thinking of fun things for the kids to do. About the time I'd gotten the house under control and thought of meals that were easy to make double batches of, David's brother called. His birthday was that weekend, and he wanted to make the 5 hour drive down from New York to spend it with us. Well, once you've got 8 people in one house, what's one more? Plus we always love our visits from Josh.

The Tews arrived first. They drove up on Tuesday. I had just sat down from doing laundry in the basement and line drying towels in the back yard to eat some lunch. I opened up facebook and found out that everyone in our area (except for Caleb and I, apparently) had felt an earthquake. A quick google search confirmed that in my busyness, I had indeed missed feeling "the big one"...at least by East Coast standards ; )

Wednesday we took all 4 kiddos to the park. Caleb basically ignored all the playground equipment and spent 98% of the time throwing mulch into the air and watching it rain down onto his head. I had been so worried about how well he would nap with 3 kids in the house. I should have known that 3 kids in the house makes 1 exhausted baby. He wasn't a light sleeper this week!

Sarah and Caleb at the park. You can see how exhausted he is!

Thursday the Tews went to Gettysburg. Caleb and I caught up on some chores and grocery shopping. David was teleworking so we got to eat lunch together. That afternoon we broke out the (kid friendly) Bocce ball set and had fun playing in the back yard.

Sadly, during a later game of bocce that week, we found this victim of the hurricane. He'd obviously had a very unfortunate head-to-tree meeting take place, probably from all the wind. He didn't seem to be in any pain so we gave him some water and he'd passed away by the next morning.

Friday the Tews headed out early to Hershey park and to visit friends of theirs from the Navy days. David and I packed up Caleb into the car after work at took a mini date to Starbucks and Lowes. My how the standards for what makes a "date" changes after children. Still, Caleb was in a good mood and we enjoyed having a little time to ourselves after such a busy week.

Saturday was busy busy busy. The Tews and Josh would both be arriving in time for dinner and Josh's one request was a homemade cake. Insert *gulp* here. I rarely make new recipes for guests and, with the exception of Caleb's birthday carrot cake, had never tried to make a cake from scratch.

It took a good part of the morning, but fortunately I had a great article from Real Simple magazine (a publication that I am not otherwise impressed with, to be honest) all about making cake, frosting and fillings from scratch, complete with recipes. I wish I'd had time to get a bit more creative with fillings, but for a basic chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, it turned out wonderfully.

While the cake cooled I took a quick break from the kitchen and we all went outside and let Caleb run around the driveway with a vacuum cleaner. Why? What do you do with your kids on a lazy Saturday? It's been sitting in our garage since we tried to sell it at our (failed) garage sale and Caleb has formed the same approach/avoid relationship with it as he has with the vacuum we use all the time despite the fact we've never turned it on around him. Toddlers have strange obsessions...
First he loves it

Then it's time to run away!

Then it was time to return to the kitchen again. My friend Jen had given me some oregano and sage from her garden so I figured it was time to turn it into a marinade for the roast chicken. With Sarah's help, we made a birthday feast of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and some Al Dente green beans. Apparently I am making a tradition of under-cooking a vegetable when Josh comes for a visit. At least it wasn't the mashed potatoes this time!

As we sat around the table feasting, Eric told us stories about their time in Hershey that made us laugh until we cried. Apparently if you put 7 children in a room with two hamsters and a large maze, you get very tired hamsters. Eric said that one feel asleep after only a few seconds in his hands and you could almost hear it saying "Find your happy place, find your happy place!".

After dinner we sung happy birthday to Josh, dug into some cake and played several rounds of The Great Dalmuti. It was so wonderful to have everyone over, if only for an evening. Sadly, Josh had to leave after church to be back in New York in time for work the next day. Somehow he escaped his entire visit without a single photo. I'll have to work on that next time!

Monday Sarah and I took a road trip to Pittsburg to a see a massage therapist who pointed me in the direction of a clinic in Baltimore that may be able to treat my pain. My appointment is at the end of this month...the adventure continues! The drive to Pittsburg was incredible. We passed 4-5 state parks, a herd of buffalo, a Fort, and the Flight 93 Memorial, which we spent some time at on the way home. It was great to have some kid free time with Sarah. Special thanks to David and Eric who kept the kids entertained all day.

I'm so thankful we had this week of making great memories with family by blood and by love. Time passes so quickly. I clearly remember their 12 year old at Caleb's age. I was in middle school then...and now I'm a mom. It's surreal at times for sure and it reminds me to savor each season.

PS. Yes, I know I look like a giant in this photo. It's nice to be the tall one sometimes : )

Friday Favorites: Sweet Potato Muffins

Wednesday was one of those rare nights I find myself with no inspiration what-so-ever for dinner. These nights often happen after family or friends leave to go back home and this week was no exception. The Tews headed back to South Carolina Tuesday morning and I was in a rut. I didn't want to plan dinner, or cook, or do house work. I wanted to pout. And I did for about an hour.

Then my sweet boy woke up from his nap and we played in the yard, walked across the street to visit our neighbor, I got a phone call from Jen during his nap and that afternoon our back-yard neighbor stopped for a chat and to let Caleb pet their two dogs. God is so gracious to provide such wonderful friends and neighbors when I'm in a funk! Still, I found myself dragging a little bit on Wednesday and asking one of my least favorite questions to leave unanswered, "What's for dinner?"

I noticed 3 neglected sweet potatoes in the pantry and decided to make sweet potato fries. I didn't really have anything to go with them, so in a few minutes I found myself turning to my husband and asking how he felt about PB&J and sweet potato fries for dinner. Fortunately, I'm married to a very laid back guy who was actually enthusiastic about this plan. So I chopped up one for fries and baked the other two.

It was about this time I realized I had no plan for breakfast in the morning. I've been trying to feed us a warm breakfast each day. It doesn't always happen, but I love starting our day that way when we can. I remembered a sweet potato muffin recipe our friend Melissa had passed along to us and decided to try it. Here's the link: Whole Grain Sweet Potato Muffins

Not only did Caleb give them his enthusiastic approval, I really like them too. David says the texture is weird to him so he's been letting Caleb and I have the bulk. I omitted the dried fruit which would have probably put a more "grown up" spin on them. They are very easy to make and will definitely be a repeat recipe around here!

Caleb: 14 Months

I'm in such awe of this little person God has blessed us with. The pace at which he is changing still catches me by surprise. A month ago, he started walking, now he is trying to run everywhere! The adorable way he pokes out his belly and sticks his arms out to his sides always makes me smile.

This month, he went from only being able to put the circle in his shapes puzzle, to being able to do them all (most of the time).

David has taught him how to give hugs and I seem to have taught him how to give kisses. We've even gone several days without being bitten! The times where he stops playing to flop into our laps and snuggle close are the most precious of all.

This has been an absolutely wonderful month. Here's a list of a few of our favorite things to do during the day:

Around the House

Babyzilla Did you know I'm a part-time architect? It's true, I spend the better part of most afternoons building cities full of houses just waiting to meet their doom.

Out and In This works with almost everything and Caleb usually begins it completely spontaneously. First he dumps everything out of a (cabinet, box, container, etc.) and then he puts about 3 things back in. Ta-da!

Lid on, Lid off This game is the frustrating older brother of "Out and In". Caleb finds a top and bottom to a piece of tupperware and becomes obsessed with putting the lid on correctly and then taking it off again. Since his ambition outpaces his skills by a wide margin, this game usually requires lots of modeling and help from mommy and generally ends when the angry screams out number the giggles and mommy hides the offending container.

Ball Roll it, bounce it, throw it, hide it...Caleb loves it all! His collection now includes a basketball, a volleyball, a tennis ball, a ball with a bell inside, a ball with a light inside and the ever popular dryer ball.

Books These are still a favorite around here. He loves to turn pages and be read to. His favorites are books that rhyme. He has begun an unfortunate habit of bending the spines backwards...we're working on that...

Bubbles Who doesn't love trying to pop bubbles in the back yard?

Leaves and Sticks I have to watch him like a hawk because he tries to put everything in his mouth eventually, but he enjoys just crunching, tearing and looking at whatever is on the ground for quite a while.

Out and About

Library Caleb loves visiting the library and has recently begun having a mini tantrum when it's time to go (hey, at least it's a good reason!) Our library is so amazingly kid friendly. The baby books are shelved low and in no order. He loves pulling out and looking at books. There's also a bin full of toys to play with, puzzles, a play kitchen, bean bag chairs, and other kids. What could be better? We've really enjoyed checking out books on CD. So far we've done the Amelia Bedelia series and are now working on James Harriot's Treasury for children. It's enjoyable for me and him on those long afternoons!

Skating Rink We're blessed to have a roller rink that does toddler time every Wednesday. For $2, Caleb has an hour of fun pushing all sorts of fun riding toys, giant balls and pool noodles all over the rink. It's a great opportunity for him to socialize as well.

Farmer's Market Caleb has a bit of a fan club at the farmer's market. One of the little girls who comes with her mom will sometimes show him something interesting like a bouncing ball. Even just having an older child talk to him is such a treat to a one-year old. All the Mennonite ladies love to grab his "piggies". He seems to like it, but he's usually a little zoned out because it's right before morning nap time. Still, he gives our favorite farmer a big smile each week, which is priceless!

The Park Now that he's walking (and spending a little less time eating everything in sight) we've taken a few outings to various parks in our area. I'm quickly learning that our son is fearless! We took him to a splash pool and he ran straight in. Even when he fell face first into the water, or backwards (hitting his head on the cement) he just jumped up and kept going. On the play ground he is much more interested in throwing the mulch and dirt than the play equipment so he comes home nice and dirty.

He is such a treasure and even in the times he's licking the floor, testing the boundaries, having a fit because he doesn't know what he wants (or because I don't know what he wants), tossing his food on the floor or other wise acting like a one year old, I am so so so thankful that I get to be his mom!