This afternoon the boys sat down to a bowl of turkey and wild rice soup at their sweet lil picnic table in our dining room. There were bits of Theo's oatmeal/blueberries at his place setting and he sweetly asked, "Mommy, can you clean this up?" While I picked the morning's breakfast off the table, I asked Theo, "Why don't you just do it?" He said, "I'm not a girl......" Hmmm, could be indicative of how much they see their daddy clean up. Oh yoi.

This afternoon, Theo and I were reading through a Psalm (kiddified, of course) about God making the skies for us.

I paused, sighed and said, "I love God."

Theo paused, sighed and said, "I love God too .... and Barney."

Not sure if he meant Barnabus the cat or the purple dinosaur, I asked him which Barney.

"The dinosaur, mommy, and God," he replied.

a dance party. we have loads of reasons to dance.

"I'm on a roll... oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhhhhh"

Our trip to the zoo today.... The polar bear trap!
















The polar bears put on a LOVELY show for us. The picture does it NO justice.

















We are in the muskrat tunnels.... my dear friend got a good shot!


















Norah and Lena.... girlfriends ;)


















My new favorite picture of the boys.


















We had a lovely day with some friends today at the zoo. I know I've been blogging a lot lately - just trying to get back in gear.

Hope all are well!

CKs Chicken Pot Pie

It's all the rave ;) I took a recipe from allrecipes.com and adapted it to be my own. Here's how I do it -- I was to type this out as an email and thought I'd post it - as it is a family favorite. Isaac asks for it about 3 times a week!

Chicken Pot Pie

preheat oven 425

pillsbury pie crusts (for bottom and top layers)
1 pd chicken breast (I sometimes use a whole Costco chicken)
about a cup of potatoes
4 cups of frozen mixed veggies

--- I boil chicken breast and potatoes together until cooked and then add the frozen veggies to thaw. drain and combine w/ filling mixture:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup onion
1/3 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t celery seed
1 3/4 cups chx broth (can)
2/3 cup milk

--- cook onions in butter until soft. stir in flour, salt, pepper and celry seed. slowly stir chx broth and milk and simmer until thick.
--- place chx mixture over bottom pie crust, pour hot liquid mixture over. cover top w/ pie crust, seal edges and cut the access off (i never have any!) make small slits to allow steam out.
--- bake for 30-35 minutes and then let stand for 10.

Norah's crawling! Side note: turn down the volume... I'm quite annoying ;) Be prepared to deal w/ the obnoxiousness of a doting mother.

Matt's first post - Theo's first story

Well, here is my first post. Appropriately, this is Theo's first story that I have ever heard him tell. This is the what he said tonight at bedtime.

Theo (from the bottom bunk): I wfaght tdoou thdehl agh shctourghy.
Daddy: Theo, take your pacify out of your mouth.
Theo: [pop], I want to tell a story too.
Daddy: Ok

Theo: The little boy and the little bwather went for a walk in the woods. And they saw a tdwool.
Isaac (from the top bunk): a doll?
Theo: A troll. And he was big. Big, Big.
Isaac: A giant troll!
Theo: Then he ate the little boys.
Daddy: [?]
Theo: Then they flew up in the air and went to the door.
Daddy: What?
Theo: Then they saw the troll and he ate them again.
Daddy: Did they go in his belly?
Theo: NO. He put them in his mouth. And then they went down into his belly. And then they flew out.
Daddy: What?
Theo: They flew out of his belly. And they flew out to the door. And on the other side of the door was another one.
Daddy: Another one what?
Theo: A troll.
Daddy: Did he eat them again?
Theo: No, he ate a sandwich. The end.

I'm on a roll! I didn't even wait for an entire month to go by. I've been a terrible blogger these days - and hope to remedy that soon.

We have Andrew, my brother Tom's middle child, staying over night... our first over night guest (besides Eli's middle of the night visit when his brother was born!) The boys (Isaac and Andrew) are up there talking away... about bad and good guys. That followed a conversation about doing really funny things w/ their heads. I wish I had a video camera.

Today is my sweet little brother's birthday! He turns 27 and is about to have his first baby ANY DAY now. We had a lovely time celebrating his day and eating a lot of pizza. He and his lovely wife babysat ALL three of my children giving my husband and I a chance to visit my favorite uncle. I still can't believe they SO willingly took three kids on the verge of having their own... not only did they do it, but man, they did it WELL.

The stars alined perfectly this afternoon and we had the opportunity to get to spend time w/ my dear uncle. Uncle Jim has been really sick for well over a year now and I haven't had the opportunity to see him. I am amazed by the Lord's grace that has been eeking over him and my sweet Aunt Dolly and that home... I love my aunt's honesty about everything going on in her home and heart. I am blessed by knowing these two - truly. Being with them was THE single best way to spend my sabbath afternoon. Thanks for calling me back, Aunt Dolly. I love you guys. Please pray for my uncle... Here's a bit more about where they are.

I am so in love with our church. I love watching people lovin' on one another. I love the order of worship. I love the songs that we sing and HOW much everyone SINGS them. I love the preaching (& I don't just say that 'cause we share the same house.) I love how my children as so loved on and cared for. I love having my parents there every Sunday ;). CRPC has been such a gift!

BathTIME - Norah's finally added to the mix!














Our new favorite toy - the Leapster.














My sweet lil Norah. Do you like her hair Aunt Meggie?!














Norah and moving! Although -- she has mastered crawling just this week - I've not yet got any footage of it.

Sometimes I feel like my heart is gonna burst. I love our church. Just love it.

haha... I just watched that video (yes, I didn't even watch it before I posted it.) Gotta love that Koerber singing, bless their hearts ;)

Here are a couple of additional pictures of our 4 year old's birthday!

The gang:














Rachel and Norah cuddle time:














Hiatt and Norah cuddle time:














Our pinata - yes, I felt a little comfortable bashing his head in with a bat, however, it was worse when the holder broke and we had to hang him by his neck -- which is in process of happening right now.














Pin the hook on the Pirate - designed by Matt: Our sweet cousin Paul!














My boy is growing up. Life is so quickly changing. I don't know if I like it.

Isaac's birthday party! We had a lovely time. He's FOUR. My baby is four. Holy smokes.

T fishing!

if you love new music....

www.noisetrade.com

amazing.

These are for you, Mrs. Cort! (and others... that don't facebook!)














A millipede that Isaac had the guts to hold!














Theo wasn't touching it!














Isaac assisting Theo's first bouldering attempts.














Brothers....














One of my all-time favorite photos.














I adore the look on Theo's face.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? Hmmm.... ten years ago this summer I was falling in love with one of Camp Krislund's Adventure Team leaders. To this day, actually, I had just gone to Creation to surprise the fellow that I was currently dating and ended up just hanging out with Matt's family in their little Creation Clearfield circle. I walked into that community and felt strangely at home. Little did I know, I WAS home. sniff*sniff.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today? (how about were?)
WHAT TO - DO LIST?! Just kidding.
I visited a new friend and her two girls up the street.
Make white chili for supper.
Return our library movies to avoid fines ;)
Ride the Carousal.
Drink Bubble Tea on Schenely Plaza's lawn.

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Bubble tea ;), freezie pops (lots of them), pretzels and cheddar cheese together (me and the boys had a pretzels and cheese party this afternoon!), combos (the more expensive version of cheese and pretzels.)

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
I would buy the Greenfield mansion. Well... the rest of it I'd give to Matt. heehee... there's a safe way to not own what I would do with it all!

5) Places I have lived:
Pittsburgh
Boston
State College
Bulawayo Zimbabwe - does 3 months count?

6) Jobs I have had:
TJ Maxx sales clerk and fitting room attendant
Eat N Park waitress
Geneva College admissions tour guide
Resident Assistant
babysitter ;)
Campus Minister
Physician Recruiter
Stay at home MOM

There you go Meggie pants! I just did this for you instead of suffering more losses to silly Scramble.

This made me weep.



While we were watching it, Isaac said, "There's our coach!!"

Regarding my BLOG - This is a temporary fix until I find my perfect graphic. Of course, you realize that I am the mother of three children and am married to a pastor - which really results in a life of chaos. Please bear with the changing page.

Beautiful things that happened this evening:

Me and my boys (Norah napped) had a date w/ "Meet the Robinsons." I was the only one who cried.

After a horrible temper tantrum resulting in having to go to bed without any stories or books, my eldest son hunted me down to apologize. He actually said, "Mom, I am sorry I cried so much tonight..." Whether the motivation was real repentance or getting his stories it was pretty amazing that he apologized! He is growing.

I made a chicken pot pie in 45 minutes... slowly perfecting what has become a family staple - and family favorite. I'm excited to know that I can actually cook the chicken/potato/veggie mix while working on the gravy. I used to do it separately and just shaved off 15 minutes! WOoT! Truly - beautiful. Now, if you really do care about that, I'll be impressed.

it's official. i am now a two cup morning coffee drinker.

T's new look!















At the Science Center -- AGAIN.















My three boys enthralled by the trains.















I left Daddy alone w/ the kiddos. He took them for a walk and apparently it rained. He kept running his hands through N's hair... and gave her a new do!















Here's a better view of that do.

A couple of videos too for you! My word... I really need to get at this computer more often.



Theo "praying."






They are pumping each other up ;)

As usual, my children are entertaining the be-geebies out of me.

We are well. Busy of course, but well. Matt was just recently at GA (General Assembly) and I managed OK home alone with all three. My mother had me over one afternoon (we were grumpy together) and I left quite cheerily but the proceeded to get myself into a little fender bender on the way home. I'm surprised they don't just automatically up your premium when you have more than 2 children. It is amazing that I get from point A to point B healthily. Anyway... the next day was bearable but come Thursday I called for reinforcement. We had a lovely family take the chillin's to their community pool - where both parties: me and them, got distance from one another. The boys had a blast ... and I got to walk around and get a couple of necessities.

This summer already feels like it's flying by. I feel like it should still be spring and technically it is - but we are already halfway through June! Doesn't that just feel odd? We have a couple of weddings this summer which we are looking forward to and a vacation in August. We have also just found out that two of our dearest friends who had a new little baby girl just a month after I had Norah are moving to Pittsburgh! We are thrilled to say the least!

Norah is moving around like crazy and really growing up far too quickly! I'm already missing my newborn. Theo is talking like mad and really quite opinionated. Isaac, well... he is just a little boy. I can't believe how little boyish he is.

Matt... well, he's growing up too ;) I can't believe how well I married. I definitely married up (I know you are going to read that mom, and say that I didn't -- I'm not knocking our family ;) I'm just sayin'.... I didn't think you could get better than the Baldauffs... heehee)

Alright. Signing out. I've been a terrible blogger - and for those of you that check frequently, I'm sorry! But hey, I'm the mother of three -- what do you stinkin' expect?

I have to do it! It is very entertaining....



Thanks Hannah.